The Bernie Fratto Show reacts to UCLA upsetting Penn State, Evaluates the NFL New Coaches So Far, & MORE!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You don't listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Yep, that's right. You heard the man that time of week.
My name is Bernie Frattle. We are coming to your
line from the Fox Sports Radio studios here in Las Vegas.
Absolute jam Pack Show tonight. We'll take up to three
am Pacific, six am Eastern. We're gonna get to it all.
By the way, congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers winning

(00:26):
five to three. Historical data shows that five game series
team that wins game one win seventy three percent of
the time. I know people have been worried about the
Dodgers since, mate, I haven't. I really do believe in
this team. But I move on because here's where I
want to start. Look, when you cover sports, when you

(00:51):
are a fan of sports, even a casual observer, you
think you've seen it all and then you see something new.
And if you happen to be watching a little college
football today, here's a little stat for you. There are
one hundred and thirty six college football programs that compete

(01:14):
at the FBS level. That's the Bowls Series level, not
the FCS. I'm talking about FBS one hundred and thirty
six programs up until Saturday. All of them but one,
and this includes teams that hadn't won a game it
least led their opponent at some point this season, all

(01:34):
except one, and that would be the UCLA Bruins. Interestingly enough,
that Penn State hadn't trailed even one second at all
this year at all, and they faced UCLA, who was
a team. Let's just put it this way. They've started

(01:54):
slow and then faded until Saturday. They had already fired
their head coach, they dumped their offensive coreator number seven.
Penn State coming into town a twenty four and a
half point favorite. Sureley pissed off about choking it down
last week against or their last game against Oregon, But

(02:15):
don't call me Shirley. It turns out that maybe Nico
is going to pay dividends. Penn State coming to town.
Nico has struggled. Penn State a twenty four and a
half point favorite. And oh, by the way, thirty three
year old Jerry new Heisel, a young man who'd never

(02:36):
call plays, never been an offensive coordinator. Now he's got
good he's got good jeans. His father, Rick new Heisl,
is an extremely bright guy who's an above average UCLA
quarterback and I believe he's a lawyer. He's a very
buttoned up guy. That's his dad, So I think he
learned a lot from his dad because it showed on
the field. Nico dominated with Jerry new Heidel's game plan,

(03:00):
Go dominated Penn State through FO one hundred and sixty
six and two touchdowns. Ran the ball sixteen times for
one hundred and twenty eight yards and three touchdowns. And yes,
the Bruins got four hundred and thirty five yards. They
out gained Penn State by about one hundred yards, which
is an incredible achievement considering UCLA entered the game one

(03:22):
hundred and twentieth in the country and offense out of
one hundred and thirty six teams. By the way, this
is a Nitney Lions team led by defensive coordinator Jim Knowles,
who makes three million a year. Okay, arguably the best
DE coordinator in college football. People can argue that he was.
I believe Ohio State's de coordinator is a national champion

(03:43):
team last year, and he got schooled. You hear bells.
You hear bells, Jim Knowles, you got schooled. Now, I
don't know what's going to happen going forward. But if
Nico can keep this up, the Bruins are going to
be a threat to people on their schedule. But regardless,
they can sure celebrate sat about playing spoiler to a
Penn State team that started the season ranked number two.

(04:06):
Everybody told us this is their year. They resemble what
Michigan looked like two years ago, who won the national championship.
Everybody back a loaded, experienced team. You got it. Same
with Ohio State last year. You knew they'd find a
way to screw it up. And I got no beef
against James Franklin. You can have them. Look, he gives

(04:26):
them the best chance to go ten and two every
year and hope springs internal the following year. You should
be used to it by now. Who are going to
replace it with Bobby Petrino? So I think his job
is safe. Oh, by the way, there are fifty million
reasons to think that James Franklin's job is safe, because
someone's got to write him a fifty million dollar check.
By the way, they're not only zero to two and
Big Ten play. I don't see any path for them

(04:47):
to get to the Big Ten Championship game. They could
still go to the twelve team playoff. But what are
they gonna do when they get there? I know last
year they beat Boise State, and that's mute. All due
respect to those two teams in State, I think you
can you can scratch them off your dance card for
you know, being in the semi finals or the finals.

(05:08):
Now I may eat my words, but you know, the
show's tonight, as Arnie says. So look, the bottom line
is Penn State lost to in a row. Didn't look
good doing it, but that really paves the way for
the larger point I want to make. You know, someone
once said, you know, give the people their bread and circuses.
People want to be entertained. You go to ball games,

(05:30):
you watch them on TV, you go to restaurants, you
go to concerts. Whatever people do to entertain themselves, and
hopefully they listen to Fox Sports Radio because they want
to be entertained. Well, someone told me a few years ago,
and I argue vehemently that the preseason polls were merely
for entertainment purposes. How would they know? I said, no,

(05:51):
I don't know if that's not necessarily true. I think
some thought goes into some research, but you know what
turns out predicting the future isn't so easy for some people.
And I digress because maybe I was dead wrong. See
the preseason AP poll ranked Texas and Penn State had
number one and number two respectively. Even last week we

(06:13):
each had one loss, the most recent polls still considered
them both to be top ten teams. I don't think
they are top ten teams based on their mutual lack
of power conference wins. Both teams proved Saturday they had
no right to be one and two before the season started,

(06:36):
and probably not even top ten because they both lost
as favorites. I don't care if they were on the road.
They both lost as favorites. Penn State getting beat by
ECLA is a very egregious setback. It's a very embarrassing
loss because look, Penn State, for stretches most of their games,

(07:02):
is the better team, but they look very much like
the second best team on the field Saturday against the
winless UCLA team the entire game and once again their
passing attack we talked about this last week. They don't
produce explosive plays. Drew Aller had nineteen completions, went for
just two hundred yards. We've heard for it seems like

(07:23):
decades now that all Penn State needed were legitimate receivers
for aller Okay, well they got them on paper, that's
what we were told. And against Oregon and the way
UCLA has played this year, Penn State, well they should
have been able to get some production out of those receivers,

(07:46):
but they didn't. However, Penn State's real issue Saturday was coaching.
Let's face it, when you have an interim boss and
a first time play caller seemingly more prepared outside scheming
out schooling, not preparing James Franklin and Jim Knowles, Penn State,
you got a problem, you really do. You're going to

(08:08):
have to seriously lower your expectations.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
The Bruins scored that early touchdown and that surprise on
sidekick that immediately set a tone that this would not
be the get in, get out, get nobody hurt.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
It's an automatic win on the schedule. As Penn State
was looking at, I know it's against a law of
practice psychology without a license. And if eik on bashing
Penn State and I need to go to Hell on
a scholarship, that's a you problem. Because at the end
of the day, the film don't lie. The end result
was the first loss. And now you've heard of a
thousand times already had my note first loss by a

(08:44):
top ten team losing to a program that was owned
four in four years. Now I mentioned Penn State and Texas.
Texas goes down to the swamp. That's not a good
loss either. There's no such thing as a good loss.
I hate when people say that, well, it was a
good loss. No, it's like a good kidney stone. But

(09:05):
at least you can somewhat swallow the Texas loss regardless
of how Florida looks, because you go down to play
a game in the swamp and it's never going to
be easy. But now Texas heads into the Red River
rivalry without a power conference win he needed as Penn State,
and I know arch Manning continues to be an easy

(09:25):
target two more picks, but the Gators defense lived in
the Texas backfield the entire game. Six sacs, eight hurris,
seven tackles for loss, ruined any offensive potential rhythm for
the long runs. And I'm not defending pet or arch Manning.
He's got to do it. He's you know, I know
he didn't ask for all these accolades. But he's sure

(09:47):
been given a fabulous opportunity. I mean when Mahomes lost,
he told us was his fault, never the guy. Okay,
it is. He's part of the problem. March Manning, I
get it. I don't care what anybody says. It's an opinion,
and pay to have opinions. I think he's physically hurt
from the minute play one at Ohio State. He ruled

(10:07):
it was right, threw across his body and threw a
bounce pass to receiver opened in the flat fifteen yards
down the field. I said, what the hell was that?
Maybe he should have hit his cutoff man, But that's
not the arch Manning. We thought we knew. But I digress.
Preseason polls Texas and Penn State one and two respectfully. Yeah, hell,

(10:28):
why didn't they rank North Carolina in there? You want
to talk about a dumpster fire that we already knew
we saw coming. Oh my god. ESPN shared an interview
with his student, a North Carolina student going into commercial
with Clemson up twenty eight to three, and he said,
this is the saddest I've ever been as a North
Carolina student. And I've even failed midterms before, so that's

(10:50):
saying something. So while Texas and Penn State we're number
one and number two respectfully preseason, I don't think anybody
thinks there now. North Carolina is arguably the worst Power
conference team despite all the fanfare, despite hiring a coach
who'd won all those Super Bowls, They've been outscored by

(11:13):
twenty nine points per game, the second worst margin among
that cohort, which begs the obvious cliche look. Pete Rose
said it best, coaching college football is like driving a
stage coach. If you ain't got the horses, you ain't
going forward. North Carolina doesn't have the horses, and I

(11:37):
questioned the coaching too, because they don't look prepared at all. Hey,
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(11:57):
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Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and subscribe. Coming up, Andy Isco.
Everybody knows him here in Vegas. Vegas, Andy the logical
approach one of the brightest guys, you'll ever hear ivyly educated,
one of the most perspective handicappers here. We're gonna go

(12:19):
over that NFL slate, which starts in seven hours and
seventeen minutes. Yeah, the Vikings, they decided to stay overseas.
They had so much fun last week. So that's one
of many games we'll break down. Coming up, I'm Bernie Frader.
We're come to your line from the Las Vegas Fox
Sports Radio Studios. Keep it locked right here. You're listening
to the Bernie Fratto Show on Fox Sports Radio.

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Speaker 2 (13:24):
Hi, right back in the Bernie Frattle Show Fox Sports Radio,
coming live from the Fox Sports Radio studios here in
Las Vegas, is welcome and a gentleman for seven hours
and nine minutes from the resumption of NFL Week Five's
welcome in Andy, Isco. The logical approach an absolute computer
of information, well known, will regard it here in Vegas

(13:46):
and ivy think educated. Andy.

Speaker 7 (13:48):
How are you, buddy, I'm fine, Bernie. It's good to
join you. And I did catch the start of the
show and you did touch upon the where did that
come from? Today? Game? And it's usually where one team
is involved in this case, where did that come from?

Speaker 8 (14:02):
Both of those teams?

Speaker 7 (14:03):
An amazing performance by UCLA and rather I'll be kind
and say disappointing performance from the Midley Lions.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
Right past this prologue. All right, let's dive into this
rapid fire fashion. We've got another London game. Dylan Gabriel
making his major league debut, first time a quarterback will
ever make his first start in an international game. Vikings
lay in three and a half. I'm sure, Brian, the
Vikings defensive coordinator, Brian Flores is going to try to

(14:31):
confuse him. What are your thoughts on that game?

Speaker 7 (14:34):
You know it's you. I'm in that Survivor contest over
at CIRCA and you know that's the content where you
pick one game, one team to win a game, and
you can only pick it once. And I strongly considered
Minnesota as the pick tomorrow because there are a lot
of unique situations surrounding this game that I that I
like you talked about Brian Flores, and he has a
very good record both as defensive coordinator and head coach.

(14:57):
Going up against the first time starting terbacks. You have
the travel situation for Cleveland, which means that they've had
even less time than they normally would to prepare to
get a rookie involved in his first start. He saw
a little bit of action earlier this season, but his
first start, so that prep time that he would normally
have if they were state side he doesn't get to get.

(15:18):
And of course Minnesota's already been over there, having played
last week in Dublin, taking the short slit flight over
to London. They do have some concerns. I do like
the fact that they do have all of their receivers
back now healthy. With Addison back last week, we had
a nice little game. I like the Minnesota running game
that has been able to be solid. Both of these

(15:39):
teams play outstanding defense. The Browns number one in the league.
The metric I like to look at is yards per play,
not totally yards defense, but yards per play, and they're
allowing just a shade over four. And the Minnesota's pretty
good too. They're number eleven at about four point nine.
So it handicaps as a low scoring game, but that's
reflected in the thirty five to thirty five five and

(16:00):
a half total. One of the things I like to
look at as efficiency, and Minnesota has been the more
efficient of these two teams. Cleveland's been plagued by turnovers,
and I think you mentioned the key. I think Flores
is going to show some disguised looks to confuse Dylan Gabriel,
who the Browns are very very high on. They thought
he had an outstanding summer, made a lot of really

(16:20):
good decisions. It'll be a big test for him. And
then the other thing that I'm really surprised about. Most
teams have the opportunity to take a bye week after
this international game. That's what Minnesota did, because they're off
next week after two game stateside Cleveland. They were not
rewarded for saying we'll take the buy a little bit

(16:41):
later their game next week, and they may be preparing
a little bit more for that. They're at Pittsburgh next week,
big division rivals, so a little bit unusually scheduling. So
I think a lot of the dynamics as well as
a lot of the fundamentals. Carson Wentz has had some experience,
He's had success, you know, throughout the years, he's had
some injury issues. But I think he's comfortable now with
the flow of the game plans for the Vikings, and

(17:01):
I think that's going to be the difference. I think
he's the quarterback likely to make the fewer mistakes.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
All right, let's go to Philadelphia. The Eagles are four
and oh, but they've been not gained every game this season.
AJ Brown not happy. Meanwhile, Denver comes into the game
seventy eight sacks in the last twenty games and most
in the NFL. In Bodenik's off his best career game.
Phillies Philly Lean three and a half. Do they continue
on undefeated? Do they cover the spread?

Speaker 7 (17:29):
The most intriguing game and one of the more difficult
games to handicap. In fact, I sort of took.

Speaker 9 (17:33):
The easy way out in this game because I've.

Speaker 7 (17:35):
Got Denver hooked up in a teaser at getting the
points up to plus ten in that situation. I know
a lot of sharp folks who do like Denver to
be the team to end Philadelphia's winning streak. What are
they twenty in their last twenty one game? Something like that.
They've gone a really good defense. Philadelphia's defense not at
the level of last year yet, but they had some

(17:57):
people to work in there. I like what the bo
Nix has started to do the last couple of weeks.
Philadelphi is just and you're talking about being out gained,
and that's somewhat of a misleading stat that sometimes when
you're out gained, it means you didn't have the ball
as much because your defense was setting you up in position,
you had special team scores, et cetera. So I'm not
all that concerned. I think Philadelphia is deliberately slowing the

(18:20):
pace down a bit this year. I think they want
to save the wear and tear on Saquon Barkley for
later in the year when they really need him, because
he was a workhorse horse last year. I like Philadelphia
to win this game. Like I said, I'm going to
play the teaser. If I hadn't choose which way to go,
I would still go with the Eagles because I still
think they make enough key plays and the defense is

(18:42):
rounding into shape again with the new faces. They've not
got four games of experience, well three if you include
the new suspension for Carter in game one.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, I took a hard look at Dender. I haven't
fired on that game at all. I think the Eagle's
breaking in six new guys on defension, but they're just
took kind of filing themselves. But they're finding ways to
win all right. Two to one in three teams. Houston
visits Baltimore, Andy. This game is really interesting because just
two weeks ago the Ravens were laying nine. I have
never seen, well maybe a couple times in my life,

(19:11):
all of a sudden, Houston shows up as one and
a half point favorite. We know why Cooper Rush will start.
The Ravens are hurt all over the place, but they've
also allowed a league high thirty three points per game.
So look, games without Lamar Jackson since twenty eighteen, the
Ravens are only eight and fifteen. Meanwhile, Houston leeds the

(19:32):
NFL and scoring defense at twelve twenty points. But here's
my point, I just can't picture Baltimore as a home
dog losing. I don't care if you know who's playing
for the Ravens on a one game affair, your thoughts
on that game, I sort.

Speaker 7 (19:48):
Of like they're with you. Yeah, the game flipped from
actually I saw nine and ten out there when they
reposted the game last Sunday night, it went opened up
well after adjusting. It looks like a pretty sure that
Lamar was going to be out this week. They already
adjusted the line to three and a half and it
already and it didn't take very long for to flip over.
In fact, Houston was as high as a two and

(20:09):
a half point road favorite. And you talk about Baltimore's
defense and everything, and yeah, the injuries, but I wonder
how many teams would have fared much better when they
opened the season at Buffalo, at home to Cleveland, a
good defensive team, at home against Detroit, and at Kansas
City that is a very, very tough part of the schedule.

(20:29):
Houston is perhaps the weakest of the teams that they
will to face. Beaus, I still think Cleveland with that defense,
has to be a former of opponent. Then they play
the Rams, and then they finally have an open date,
and then if you look at the latter part of
their schedule, seven of the next nine games are against
teams that didn't make the playoff last year. So I
think Baltimore gets a little bit healthy as the season
wears on. I wouldn't write them out of the division

(20:51):
contest yet. As far as winning that the AFC North,
I like him tomorrow. I took the money line when
the line was up to two and a half. I
think Baltimore wins this game. Cooper Rock had success when
he relieved that Prescott a couple.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
Of I'm with you, Andy, I'm with you. I think
you got a winning ticket there. That's just the way
I see it.

Speaker 7 (21:11):
I think the defense has been hearing about their performance.
They finally take a step down in class as far
as the offense that they're going to face, and I
think we're going to see a better, better effort out
of the defense tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Tampa Bay is three and one at Seattle three and one.
This should be a heck of a game. I gotta
tell you the Bucks, even though they've trailed to the
fourth quarter of every single game this year, you got
to get them down and kill them if you're gonna
beat them. Meanwhile, Seattle has not allowed more than twenty
points in any game this season. Perhaps some tough travel

(21:46):
for Tampa Bay. The Seahawks also laying three and a half.
Do you like a side in this?

Speaker 7 (21:52):
Tampa Bay does have some injuries. They've had offensive line injuries,
some receiver injuries throughout the year. We don't know if
Baker Mayfield's but that guy is a gamer and he's
made all the difference in the world. Of course, Tampa
Bay now four straight NFC South championships, started what three
and ozero this year, and they don't win games pretty,

(22:13):
but they hang in there well enough to do things
take advantage of breaks. I haven't played the game yet.
I want to see if it goes up, but I
did use Tampa Bay as another part of that teas
or tease them up to. I think I got them
at nine and a half or ten. I think it
was in the one with Denver. I think this game
stays close. I wouldn't be surprised if the field goal

(22:34):
decided either way. So I'm hoping to see perhaps a
plus four out there. A lot of people do like
Seattle because of the Tampa Bay injury situation, and of
course I think this is like one of the furthest
trips that you can make. But this is a solid
Tampa Bay team. They have a lot of confidence. And look,
they've been a winning organization for the last number of years,

(22:55):
and I'm talking about even after the time that Tom
Brady left them.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Very true. All right, Kansas, he's starting to get healthy,
they're getting their weapons back. They travel to Jacksonville, and
I got to tell you, Kansas City some Monday night game,
still getting respect in the markets, laying three and a
half on the road against a very good Jacksonville team.
Got thirteen takeaways this year in the NFL, the most

(23:19):
in the National Football League. Patrickholmes coming off a four
touchdown game last week versus the Ravens thoughts on this game, Andy.

Speaker 7 (23:27):
I believe you mentioned one of the key stats. I
think last year Jacksonville forth only nine turnovers all season,
and they've already exceeded that they've got a new coach then,
Liam Cohen. I think the players respond and Ten has
found his initials as a running back after coming out
of Clemson. With you, there's a former Clemson mate, Trevor Lawrence,

(23:48):
who still struggles a little bit. But I think now
that they've got a reliable running games that back them up,
we may start to see a little bit more innovative
and creative game plans from the offense. And I think
the defensive improvement is an indication of more physicality that
they are using all over the defensive unit, and the
city has improved. But I'm not totally sold on them yet.

(24:10):
This will be a key taste. Can they a key test?
Can they continue the momentum that really started at the
end of the Giants game two Sunday nights ago when
it was nine to six and the fourth quarter scored
a couple of late touchdowns. I need to see more
than one good performance. I would not be shocked if
Jacksonville wins the game. If they pull the upset here,
I'm hoping to see the line go to plus four.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
Interesting. All right, my beloved Lions, who are covered for
many years. Three and one it feels like a you know,
cupcake game at Cincinnati Sunday. But you know, don't tell
that the Penn State, but the Lions and NFL best
thirty four points per game this season, Andy and the
Bengals have been outscored by sixty three since burrows injury.

(24:54):
It feels like this is a layer for the Lions.
But I'm not you know, I'm not in a hurry
delay that number your thoughts, although I expect them to cupboard.

Speaker 7 (25:02):
Actually, yeah, it's the only side I can play in
the games. I mean, Cincinnati is a totally different team
without Joe Burrow. And he actually wasn't all that the
office was not that potent when he was in there,
and that you know game, plus that that he played
the you know, you tell me the Cincinnati Bengals allowed
sixteen points in the game, as they did against Cleveland

(25:23):
and the opener, I say they win the game by
three touchdowns. Of course they won seventeen sixteen in that game.
So yeah, and now you're and now you're you're doing
with a backup quarterback who has been let's say undistinguished,
we want to call it. In his first couple of seasons.
The Lions. They were the They were actually the fourth

(25:45):
most popular team picked in Survivor this week, over.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Seventeen hundred See why.

Speaker 7 (25:50):
Of the twelve thousand and I think that and they
did it, I think because they wanted the gimme. Even
though Detroit is one of those teams that plays on Thanksgiving,
so you know, for that contest, you do have to
be aware for that short week that they have. I
don't know that I'm going to play the game. I
probably won't. In fact, the analysis I did suggested that
the best play in the game would be the over.

(26:12):
But I'm not quite sure if Cincinnati will be able
to get to help Detroit getting to that over forty
nine and a half. I think we see the Lions
getting between thirty and thirty four, and I'm not quite
sure if Cincinnati is able to crack seventeen Andy.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
I've only got a minute left, but let's finish with
the Raiders. They're catching seven at Indianapolis. Ginos throwing a
league leading seven picks this year. Tyler Warren looks very good,
leading all tight ends and yards per catch and other statistics.
What do you expect to happen here in Indianapolis today?
I just got about a minute.

Speaker 7 (26:43):
Yeah, well, well I heard a lot of sharp proofs
were playing the Raiders this week. Plus thing I get
to that, yeah, and plus the seven. And I don't
know if that's the setup to try and get money
to follow and throw that number down a little bit.
But they've struggled, and I take a look. You know,
Daniel Jones been reincarnated as a quarterback now that he's
over with the Indianapolis Colts. And you look at the

(27:04):
Colts and the way that they've played so far this season,
I expected them to be an improved team, even that
loss last week against the Rams. I don't downgrade them
because of that effort. I liked what stich It has done.
He's built teams the first two years there nine and eight,
eight and nine, and I think he's putting things together
this year. I'm not sure if I would play the game.
The obvious play I think would be to tease the
Colts down to pick them or minus a half, and

(27:27):
I might end up going that way. But if I
were to play aside, i'd lay it before I take it.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
Andy, great stuff. We'll get you on before the scence.
You do over joy your Sunday.

Speaker 7 (27:35):
Andy, you too, Good luck to everybody.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Thank you, Hey, Candy is good. The logical approach ivally educated.
It's you Welcome information. By the way. For the best
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For all the best plays up to the second injury news,
tune into Countdown to Kickoff, represented by bet MGM, every

(28:01):
Saturday and Sunday morning right here on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app. Get your fingers ready. We're twenty
five minutes away from the midnight hour from where I sit.
As you know, I'm in the Pacific time zone. It
will be twelve midnight literally from where you sit, perhaps
the same, but also from where you sit, it will
be the twelve min night hour, the midnight hour, figuredly

(28:23):
and literally. Because you get the last word. Now, I
expect we have two We have three topics tonight. The
third one is fairly benign. The first two or doozies.
I expect fireworks tonight, Callers, of what made this this
segment so good over the last couple of years. And
I usually don't do this, but I'm gonna give you
a quick tease just to set the record straight. Angle

(28:47):
Bert Caitlin Clark got her twenty eight million dollars Nike
deal in April of twenty twenty four, a full month
before she ever made her w NBA debut. Oh, by
the way, the WNBA averages about eleven thousand fans per game.
Is that good? I don't know. You tell me. The
USFL averages twelve thousand. Power five Division one women's basketball

(29:11):
teams average almost fifteen thousand. Now we're headed toward we
are headed toward an October thirty first deadline. And I'll
set up what I want the callers to weigh in on.
But I want to set the fact straight so people know, okay,
because all the news that comes out of the NBA
is always negative and it's off the court and it's

(29:34):
just asinine rhetoric. But if you think you're going to
beat your chest and you're gonna challenge this was done
in two thousand and three, and David Stearn says, you
got thirty days to get a deal you don't I
cancel the season. Well guess what they got one. Now
they're beating their chests. There's this newfound you know, bravado.

(29:57):
And you may agree with them, but take heed. The
NHL learned their lesson back in four and five when
the players went on strike and no one cared and
the season was shut down for a year. And I'm
telling you, the NHL was hot in man, that's before
they had the Globe Puck and the NHL the coolest
game on ice. They were coming off ratings. Everything was wonderful.

(30:21):
They were on fire, and they were canceled for a
year and it hurt them badly. Major League Baseball, who
can forget the nineteen ninety four strike that took the
World Series away? It took five years for baseball to
recover thanks to Mark maguire and Sammy Soso, and you
know what happened there. Hey, the NFL learned their lesson.

(30:44):
They had replacement games for three weeks back in nineteen
eighty seven. Mean, well, look the NBA. They've had four
work stoppages ninety five, ninety six, ninety nine, and twenty eleven,
and after every one of them, there was fan dissatisfaction.
There were lower TV ratings, lower ticket sales. These are
established leagues that have been profitable. The WNBA has done

(31:06):
nothing but lost money. They get their new TV contract
next year and it's ten years and two hundred million
a year, and you better be careful what you wish for.
Neil Pilson did the same thing with CBS back in
nineteen ninety. Gave baseball a billion, they lost money, He
lost his job. That's one of three topics we're going
to have, but I haven't set up yet what I
want to hear from you on I just gave you

(31:27):
a little tease because we try to deal in facts here.
There are objective truths in our personal feelings, and that's fine.
If you want to call in a way in their
personal feelings and believe the WNBA players should be paid
what they want to be paid, fine, make your case.
That's what the Man that hour is all about. So
we'll set up all three topics coming up. I'm Bernie
friderwer Comedy Alive from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios.

(31:50):
Keep it locked right now. You listening to the Bernie
Fraddle Show on Fox Sports Radio. All right Back in
the Bernie Fratle Show Fox Sports Radio to you Alive
from the Fox Sports Radio studios here in Las Vegas,
and we're fifteen minutes away from the midnight hour eight
seven seven nine nine six six three six nine eight

(32:11):
ninety nine on Fox. Can't wait to hear from you.
These are our three topics. I think I've pretty much
teased the first one. We're going to talk about the
WNBA for a very good reason. It all started last week,
I mean around Tuesday, when the FISA call you're a
star player for the Minnesota Lynx. Decided to eviscerate the commissioner,
Kathy Engelbert. Before she got to that, she talked about

(32:34):
the poor officiating and the bad leadership and need for changes.
And then she did what very few people are willing
to do in any major sport. Well, WNBA is not
a major sport, and take whatever the hell they want.
But they're not, but they are identity. She started to
describe her interactions privately with WNBA league officials about Kathy Engelbert.

(32:57):
She quote characterized Engelberg as dismiss impersonable, condescending, and callous,
even saying that back in February, allegedly Kathy Ingelberg told
her that Caitlin Clark should be grateful she makes sixty
million off the court, because it off the platform the
WNBA gives her. She would make anything that's funny. She
got the twenty eight million dollar contract from Nike a

(33:19):
month before she ever set fun on an NBA court. Now,
Ingelberg has been barbecued by the players, the fans, media
members the past five six days, and it hasn't been
pretty if you're a Kathy Ingelberg fan. But you know what,
the NBA's shorts aren't cleaning this damn deal, eid. And
either Kathy Engelberg is the least efficient leader of any

(33:42):
of the major sports, or she's a puppet. I mean,
the NBA has got kind of a unique ownership structure,
and I'm not going to go into that right now,
just to say, the NBA owns forty two percent of
the league and they've basically subsidized her for twenty five years.
They wouldn't be here. They've lost a billion dollars. Now
they get a TV contra, YadA YadA ya, and now
all of a sudden, everybody's fat and happy. Careful, careful,

(34:07):
he remind me of the guy who goes to one
karate lesson wants to fight the biker bar. You better
be careful. Yes, the d WNBA could face the lockout
or a work stoppage because negotiations for the new CBA installed.
They've got an October thirty first deadline. That's when the
CBA expires. Now, the damn season doesn't start till next May,

(34:28):
but you could have a delayed season, a canceled season.
Players are demanding a lot better salaries, more equitable revenue sharing.
They argue that their current compensation does not reflect the
league's growing revenue. No, no, I don't know if any
of that's true. Maybe maybe not, but I'm not here
to debate that. So right now we know this for sure.
The stalled CBA negotiations are real. The FISA Collier, I think,

(34:52):
was supposed to meet with the commission this week and
she canceled it. She cancel it and so so look,
a failure to reach out agreement could delay the start
of the season or, worst case scenario, lead to the cancelation. Okay,
they think they have momentum, Now I'm not really entirely
sure if they do, real they don't, We're being forced

(35:13):
fed the hell out of the WNBA. If you like it,
that's okay. I'm not here to bash it. Do what
you want to do, live how you want to live.
The question I have for the callers is simple, do
you think this is headed for a work stoppage? And
if so, what happens? Is this league sustainable in your view?

(35:34):
Or do cooler heads prevail and they work this out.
I really want to know what people think, because all
we see our negative craziness and irrational freaks yelling at
each other. It hasn't been good. I mean, we're way
past the Caitlin Clark stuff. The men at Kennedy Carter
slammed her from behind and a dead ball when nothing
was even going on around her. I could live with

(35:56):
a hard follow. She's driving to the basket whatever that happened,
you know, all day every day. But when you're not,
that's not a basketball play. No one does anything, should
even get a foul, The commission does nothing. Who's running
who's running this? You know monstrosity. On the other hand,
the NBA, the w NBA does have a cadrea fans
small that are devoted. So I want to hear from you.

(36:19):
Do you think this is headed for disaster or cooler
heads are going to prevail, and if there's a work stoppage,
it's this league sustainable. Number two. Remember John Gruden, he
ain't going away, peeps. He might have been kicked to
the curve four years ago, but all of a sudden,
all of a sudden, the Nevada Supreme Court decided on
Thursday to unanimously, unanimously reject the NFL's petition to rehear

(36:44):
a previous decision grinding discovery. To Gruden, the long and
short of it is, here's what's happening. The NFL likes
to have their own arbitration managed by Roger Goodell, So
it's kind of a rig deck if you get my
drift and back in August, I mean, Gruden says, no,
we don't want to go to Europe. Roger Goodell leed arbitration.
We want to go to court. And back in August,

(37:07):
Nevada's High Court ruled with five and five to two
in Gruden's favor that Gruden's lawsuit had to be litigated
in court. So the NFL took it up a notch. Now.
On Thursday of the Nevada Supreme court decided by seven
to zero vote to deny the NFL's petition for the
rehearing of the decision. This public litigation could potentially be

(37:28):
very embarrassing and damaging for the NFL because of the
nature of the discovery process and for you. I've got
a smart audience, So you know, discovery and law is
a pre trial phase. What happens is the parties to
a lawsuit to gather evidence, They obtained the evidence from
one another, and they share it. In this instance, this
kind of discovery could lead to both Gruden and the
public at large receiving access to some potentially very embarrassing

(37:53):
and damaging materials that are related to what the NFL
has been investigating into the Washington Commanders, which started six
years ago, which initially uncovered the Gruden emails. So what
are your thoughts on the Gruden thing. He's gonna get
his day in court. What do you think this head's up?
Do you think the emails are released? Do you think
John Gruden wins his case? And do you think in

(38:15):
doing so, and again we're nowhere near a trou It's
gonna be. It's gonna be, you know, wild. Okay, Gruden,
he sued the NFL, claiming they intentionally leaked the emails
in order to force him out of his job. I
don't know what happened, but he got forced out of
his job. Okay. So Gruden is fighting back and he's
winning in the courts right now. So he got the WNBA.

(38:39):
There gonna be a work stoppage. What are your thoughts?
Is this leak sustainable? If they have a work stoppage
or the season doesn't start or whatever, where does this go?
Or do you think cooler against prevailed? Or Burnie? What's
wrong with you? This product's good? Don't you like it?
John Gruden? Is he gonna prevail against the NFL? And
if so, where does that end up? Finally, I want

(39:00):
to stick up for Sean McVay. I respect tremendously what
Sean McVay did on Thursday night. In Sean mcvay's career,
he's gone forward on fourth down eleven times and made
it six so he's, you know, fifty five percent, and
he opted for Bigvey opted to go for fourth to

(39:21):
one in overtime rather than kicking a field goal to
tie the game. He knew we can't win the game
if we kick a field goal here, there's not gonna
be enough time. Barn some miracle, you know, he might
have a Joe Pisarstik fumble or a butt fumble or something,
but the bottom line is that's not likely. So he
went to win it and he didn't. He played to

(39:43):
win the game herm Edwards. Then the Rams were stopped
and lost the game, and McVay later stated that, you know,
his decision to run the ball on that play was
a bad call, although analytics wonks say the decision to
go for it gave the Rams about a forty nine
percent chance to win probability out of a thirty eight
percent chance by attempting a field goal. So those are

(40:04):
your three topics, Sean mcvay's three, John mccrue, John Gruden,
Gruden easy for me to say these two and number
one the WNBA and you know the context eight seven
seven nine nine sixty sixty three sixty nine eight seven
seven ninety nine one. Fox, let's have some fun. Dial
it up, be prepared, have your opinions, make your case.

(40:26):
I'm really looking forward to hearing from you. It's time
for the midnight hour. You're listening to the Bernie Frattle Show.
On Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
That's right, you hear the man. The Bernie Fraddle Show
keeps rolling right along. My name is Bernie Fraddle. Would
come to your line from the Fox Sports Radio compound
here in Las Vegas. Take you after three and Pacific
six am Eastern, just getting started and listen. We have
three provocative topics without two of the three. You know
my thoughts on the WNBA as we marched out October thirty. First,

(40:59):
David Stern wasn't it back in two thousand and three
he said, you walk goodbye. We shut down the league.
We don't know what's going to happen here. That's why
I want to hear from you and your thoughts. You've
heard my setup. Also, John Grutin continues to win in court.
The NFL might not have their way and have the
Roger Goodell air quotes kangaroo court, where you know it's

(41:23):
kind of a kind of a rig deck arbitration. And
then of course Sean McVay went forward on fourth and
one Thursday night, went for the wind, beat himself up.
I defend his decision, I really do. I know that's
kind of a minor topic. But hey, it's here. It's
the midnight hour alrighty eight seven seven nine nine six
six three sixty nine, and it's here from you. Bring

(41:46):
it hard as always and happy to hear from me.
Jim in Massachusetts starts us off tonight. Jim, I got
a feeling. I know where you're gonna go. But let
her rip.

Speaker 10 (41:56):
Absolutely, let the WNBA crashing spur. It's where they should
be going. I heard that the commissioners talking about the
lady that came out against her. Where do these people
come from? You know what, it was a closed group
for over a decade. You know, it's all about you
know what they want, and no one's really watching. Then
you have a star show up like Caitlin Clark and everything,

(42:19):
and then everybody starts watching, even people that don't like
to sports start watching and to see what's going on.
I cannot believe the type of refereeing I'm seeing there.
I mean, Katel's out now. Other people are getting hurt.

Speaker 7 (42:34):
They're not calling anything.

Speaker 10 (42:35):
It's right in front of it. It's like, you know,
something happens, and then when they look at the ref
looks back like what are you looking at that? There's
nothing here?

Speaker 2 (42:43):
It's just let's work stand the line, stand line, let's
wargame this. The question is, because these are all hackneyed,
you know, subject matter that we've known about for a while.
But let's say the deadline passes, they don't have a CBA,
where does this go? Do you think it gets spilled?
The next season is not even going to start until May.

(43:05):
So the question is where does this go in terms
of is this league sustainable if they if they don't
come to a CBA agreement here.

Speaker 10 (43:14):
If they don't have the agreement before the time it's
over burning, they're not going to go They're not going
to lose money anymore or any of this other stuff
going on. I just don't I just don't see it
going forward. But that's me, and I got blinders on it.
I can't stand anything that I'm seeing. No one can
make a shot seven feet in from the basket, even
your great players.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
It's just yeah, I'm not I'm not big in the
product EITHERY I'm with you, pal. I just I'm trying
to get to the vibe from the callers as to
as we head into next year. Uh, you know, all right,
let's move on real quickly. John Gruden. Is that going
to rear its head again? Is the NFL about to
be embarrassed?

Speaker 10 (43:53):
Oh, you have no idea. I love John Gruden. I
always had loved John Gruden, even when he went to
the Raids fall of players that were due to exit.
Always got a second shot with the Raiders, you know,
he brought him in the second shot with them, and uh,
he's just you know, NFL coach everything. But this dirty

(44:14):
stuff that he's going to get out now now it's over.
It already went to the Supreme Court now though, and
now they're going to have depositions and everything else.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
The NFL may take it to the Supreme Supreme Court,
but I don't even know if they'll hear the case.
So do you see, they're.

Speaker 10 (44:30):
Not going to get involved in that we got we
got legs and everything else going on. They're not going
to want to hear from those clowns. They're just going
to say, let the previous you know, Supreme Court stand,
which happened to be undefeated right against the NFL. It
was not all right. They're toast, they're toast all.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (44:48):
Yeah, Sean McVay. I'm not a fan of Sean McVay.
But you know, going for it like that. Yeah, I
can see where the guys, you know they do you know,
double sessions practice and they'll wait room and all that stuff.
And he's given pride in to them to make it
and they didn't make it. But not going for the time,
trying to win an all the time, you know that's

(45:09):
a double edged sword. Yeah, but I'll go with him
on that call.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
Just appreciate it as always, Jim starting us off. Look,
it's one of those deals. It's like Pete Carroll in
the Super Bowl back in twenty sixteen. If it works,
you're a hero. If it doesn't, use the villa Jilliet idiot,
Andrew and Bakersfield. You're up next. Welcome and Andrew.

Speaker 11 (45:29):
What's up, Bernie? How's it going?

Speaker 2 (45:31):
Good man?

Speaker 11 (45:33):
Okay, So I have a little rant, Go Dodgers, where
are you at? Ben Mallard? Stand up, Ben Mallard, Clap
Ben Mallard. And then I have a quick comment on
the WNBA. Just my dad had said, I can't remember
if it was about women's soccer or women's basketball, but
I think women's basketball. He said, the women are they

(45:58):
play the game in the right way. And so the
fact that they can't jump and dunk at this most
of them at this particular moment. The fundamentals, the passing,
the spacing and all that.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
And so well they play it good. I'll give them
that they play a good brand of basketball, Andrew, And
I'm not disputing anything you said when I'm trying to
figure out here among the callers is in twenty four days,
this CBA ends. And if you look at the other
leagues that laid out NHL, Major League Baseball, NFL, they
all learn their lesson in their own way to be
careful and they will established leagues. So what happens if

(46:36):
the CBA ends and there's a workstop? It's where does
this league go?

Speaker 10 (46:41):
Well?

Speaker 11 (46:42):
In general, I think that they should realize their value
and the league's value because the human beings and they
have value and fair.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
But is it going to survive if they dare walk
the plank?

Speaker 11 (46:59):
I mean eventually, all right, I think it should and will?

Speaker 2 (47:04):
Okay, fair enough, Andrew. And finally John Drudin, you're gonna
beat him up for going forward on fourth and one
or say, hey, that was a good call.

Speaker 8 (47:10):
Oh you try McVeigh.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Yeah, yeah, Sean McVay, I'm sorry.

Speaker 11 (47:18):
I don't know. I think the NFL should take out
the tie because that probably had something to do with
his decisions. And I think the tie that's fair.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
That's fair, Yeah, yeah, fair, all right. I don't like
you overtime. I don't like the yvertime. They do it
one way in the regular season, another way in the
UH in the postseason. I don't like that either, Andrew.
I appreciate you your patience and checking in tonight eight, seven, seven,
nine and nine on Fox. UH. I want to hear
from from the peeps. Man did did? This is something

(47:46):
that's newsworthy the first sports fan Mike and Modesto been
a minute. Welcome back in Mike, how you been?

Speaker 12 (47:51):
I'm pretty good, Bernie, great show is always. I'm gonna
be honest with the WNP. I just don't care about
it any way possible ever, so I'll just pass on
that one. John Gruden, John Gruden, I hope he does
embarrass the league, but the league is smart. They'll just settle,
pay him, get it over with. Don't be embarrassed. That's

(48:13):
the smart move because he's holding.

Speaker 2 (48:15):
You bring it an interesting point, Mike, but it's my
understanding he doesn't want to settle. It's not about the money.
He got a nice path from the Raiders when he
got booted, and I think you got a situation where
he wants to clear his name.

Speaker 12 (48:29):
So yeah, yeah, brit because obviously someone had acted the
grime with him and they purposely did that to him,
and he probably wants for advantage.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
He does want, that's Swell said, And he does. And
I think that's when discovery comes out. And I explained
what discovery was earlier. That's where the NFL could really
be exposed. Finally, Sean mcvagh and his call Thursday night,
I've got to pat him on the back. It didn't work,
but still thoughts.

Speaker 12 (49:00):
As you know, I am a Rams fan and I
totally agree with the call for the reasons you said.
He played to win. The only thing I had to
done different is I to put the ball in Stafford's hands,
especially since they're not doing good and short yardage ever
since the Eagle game. Their their guard went out late
in the fourth quarter, and even the announcer commented when

(49:23):
they went on a fourth down, why would you run
that play when the guy that replaced them has been
getting pushed back in the backfield and that's what blocked
and field goes on and burning. It's the reason they're
being blocked is they're blowing the guard three yards in
the backfield on the Eagle game and the Niner game.

(49:46):
So why would you try to do the play he
ran when you're just getting beaten that bad on short yardage?
Put the ball in Stafford's hands and go with it.
All right, thanks for the time.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
Burning your spot on, Mike. And that's therein lies the
essence of why Sean McVay beat himself up in retrospect.
He was more beating himself up with the actual play
call itself than the fact they went for it. Pat
and Florida joined. Just welcome in Pat to the Bernie
Frattles Show. How are you hey?

Speaker 13 (50:19):
Good Bernie?

Speaker 2 (50:19):
How are you good? What are your thoughts on these subjects?

Speaker 10 (50:23):
Well?

Speaker 13 (50:24):
I didn't catch the beginning, but I had to call
in because my thoughts on the best of the WNBA
is as followers and I've been waiting so sports in
generally entertainment. I watched sports for entertainments my free time,
and in my free time, I watched men's sports.

Speaker 14 (50:44):
I don't have time to watch women's sports.

Speaker 10 (50:47):
I love the ladies.

Speaker 14 (50:48):
Believe me, I love the ladies.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
Well, you know enough about it, you know what exists,
and there what I'm trying to get from the people
pat is if these if this group overplays their hand
when they've all they've done, does lose money for two decades,
what happens is the league no longer become sustainable. That's
all I'm trying to find out for people.

Speaker 10 (51:10):
I don't think it does.

Speaker 14 (51:11):
I don't think it has the backing.

Speaker 13 (51:13):
The majority of people who go to NBA games or
football NFL games, the majority of people in the stands
are men.

Speaker 10 (51:19):
The minority of people that watch sports or men.

Speaker 14 (51:22):
The women that watch sports are the wives and girlfriends
of men, usually, so men dominated. There's not how many
people are going to do how many women are going
to w NBA games? I just think, and again, nothing
against the ladies. I don't think it's good money and
all that, but if they expect to get the same
amount of money that men athletes get, it's a different ballgame.

(51:46):
You can't I believe it.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
Well, I don't know if they expect to get the same,
but they are some outrageous demands. I think you've made
your point, John, Gruden. You see what's happening there is
the NFL going to get embarrassed.

Speaker 14 (52:00):
I think John Gruden wants to clear his name.

Speaker 15 (52:04):
And absolutely absolutely it's pride for him, you know. And
he's a football guy. He should be in football. He
should be coaching, he should be broadcasting. He's good for football,
I think, And you.

Speaker 10 (52:17):
Know what he said.

Speaker 14 (52:18):
I don't remember the details, but it's some.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
It's not good. It's not good.

Speaker 14 (52:22):
I don't believe John Gruden is a racist person.

Speaker 10 (52:24):
I don't think that at all.

Speaker 14 (52:26):
I mean, I don't know the guy, but I don't
think he's a racist person.

Speaker 2 (52:30):
Real quickly at anything.

Speaker 13 (52:31):
On Sean McVay, I think he's a great coach and
I think the Rams might still be in the super
Bowl this year.

Speaker 10 (52:38):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
I think what he did Thursday night, and I don't
mean to be sure with you, Pat or I just
need to get to the other callers. Thank you for
checking in. I applaud what Sean did. All right, Jeff
and Denver Dan in Wisconsin h won the five back
in the fold. Good to hear from you, Good to
hear from all of you. We're gonna get right to

(52:59):
you coming up please hang tight. I'll make it worth
your weight. I want to hear from all you real quickly.
You know, people like to weigh in on these things,
and what we had one particular gentleman, Ryan Burns. He said, Bernie,
a big fan of your show. But if you're going
to talk about the NBA, please include the fact average
price of a franchise is sorted by over one hundred

(53:21):
and eighty percent in one year's time, from ninety six
million to two hundred and sixty nine. Man, I have
no reason to doubt them. I don't know if that's true, though,
but I do know this. Historically, that league has financially
struggled badly. They've operated and lost tens of millions of
dollars every season, and their operating costs are increasing. They're
expansion the investment in new facilities for teams to push

(53:41):
or hire player salaries. They've added substantial costs that are
not yet matched by revenue. Plus, there's a very complex
ownership structure in the WNBA that makes it difficult to
achieve overall consistent profitability. And now you've got player demands.
Jeff Dan Hugh, hang tight, you are up next. I'm
Bernie Fradder. We're come to your line from Las Vegas,

(54:02):
Fox Sports Radio Studios. Keep it locked. You're listening to
the Bernie Frattle Show on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 4 (54:08):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
listen live.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
All right, we're back on the Bernie Frattles Show Fox
Sports Radio. The Mannight Hour is off and running. We
go back out to the phones. We're joined by Jeff
in Denver. Jeff, welcome in.

Speaker 10 (54:32):
How are you hey?

Speaker 2 (54:32):
Bernie good Man? Thanks?

Speaker 16 (54:35):
He first John Grudin the whole thing when that erupted.
He wasn't even in the league. He was just announcing.
That was just a total BS. And I am totally
behind him on getting back on whatever he can get
back to, because.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
I realize you're supporting him. But what do you think
is gonna happen?

Speaker 7 (54:56):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (54:56):
If this is heard by a court and discovery comes out,
you know it's not gonna be a good look for
the NFL or anybody.

Speaker 16 (55:04):
No, it's gonna be a good look on the NFL
because they screw it up. He's totally in the right,
I think, because he wasn't even in the league when
this thing came out.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
Fair enough, Okay, we'll leave that there. Any thoughts from
a man on the WNBA debacle that's about to happen.

Speaker 16 (55:21):
They needed to keep the WNBA for women, for girls, ladies,
you know, give them a professional sport. I support it,
don't necessarily watch it all the time, but I have watched.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
And that's fair. That's fair. No, that's fair. There are
people who do support it. I understand that. But August thirty,
October thirty, first, their CBA ends they're talking about a
potential work stoppage, which wouldn't happen till next May, of course.
But look the NHL, Major League Baseball, NFL, NBA, they
all learned their lesson over the years, and they were established.

(55:56):
I don't really feel like this league is as nearly
as established as wants to believe it is. So what
happens if there's no CBA.

Speaker 16 (56:04):
It's gonna come down to it's gonna come down to
the title nine argument.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
Well, that's that doesn't apply here, my man. That doesn't
apply at all. Gender equity is only in it's an
educational it's a scholastic thing that Richard did signed into law.

Speaker 11 (56:19):
There.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
This has nothing to do with title line. I don't
mean to jump on you there, but it has nothing
to do with title nine. Nothing.

Speaker 16 (56:25):
No, But if the women deserve to have a professional league,
I have one.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
They have one. So don't walk off your job and
and you know, make some money and maybe you'll make more.
But I like your I like your points, Jeff, You're
you're definitive about your points real quickly. Anything on Sean McVay,
I don't.

Speaker 16 (56:43):
Know, Man, I would have I would have went for
the tie, kicked it for the time, okay, ris losing
the game.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
I accept that. Good good stuff, Jeff, appreciate you, man,
and uh, I accept that because down the road, that's
one less loss and lost column. Assuming they tie, who
knows the Niners would have got the ball back still
with a couple of minutes, Dan Wisconsin joins, Dan, is
this your first time joining the Bernie Frowder Show.

Speaker 17 (57:08):
Yes, but I've been listening to you for a lot
of time. Thank you for being my best friend. And
I man, I listen to you every night. I went
through a lot of things and having your you know,
listening to your show. It's been fantastic, just great. You
know what to cut the juice, man, you know, m
they eat a horse of peace really like if it

(57:29):
worked whatever. You know, that's how people like kind of
view those things. And as far as the w NBA goes,
it's like, man, I like that competitive thing. I like
sports in general. Right, they just don't have a big lens.
It's hard to compute that, you know what I'm saying.

(57:50):
It's like, I get why people don't like it, and
I do. I'm a fan, you know, not like ultra
fan like the NFL or the NBA or MLB. But
you know, right now I'm in Wisconsin. My Brewers are thinking.
But and I'm really happy about that. So you don't

(58:11):
you know what I'm saying, Like the Jews, they just
don't have that juice.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
So they average eleven thousand fans a game and the
USFL averages twelve. Right A bout your stats, So be
careful if you bite the hand to feed you. I know,
the TV t K next year? Anything on? Uh on
John Gruden?

Speaker 16 (58:30):
Oh yeah, you know what, I don't know.

Speaker 17 (58:33):
I really believe that Gruden.

Speaker 10 (58:36):
I don't think he's a bad dude. You know, I
really don't.

Speaker 17 (58:39):
I think he's good, like you know for sound bites
and stuff like that. I don't think he's a bad
human being. And it's really easy for people to criticize
people all the time. It's like, come on, man, the
guy's cool.

Speaker 16 (58:54):
Let him roll, like, let him roll.

Speaker 17 (58:55):
That's how I look at it, Dan.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
I appreciate you taking the time to check in and
sit your listenership a lot. Hold it down there in
the great state of Wisconsin, Hugh on the five is
back bit a hiatus, but you take it away.

Speaker 10 (59:08):
Man, Hey, how are you so? I have a question
for you.

Speaker 18 (59:11):
This is an honest question. I'm not coming out here.
I'm curious what is it about the WMBA that it's
a topic on your show for quite some time now?

Speaker 2 (59:24):
Because it's a highly charged, polarizing topic that crosses several spheres,
and you know, I don't need to spell it off
for you, Hugh. What I try to do is create
open ended topics that are that are topical. I've had
a radio I've been doing radio since June twenty seven,
nineteen ninety four, and I have a rule. Why am
I talking about this today? You know? Why did you

(59:45):
see in DEFEASA, Collier's remarks the commissioners being raged over
the poles, and you got a CBA, the CBA that
expires October thirty first, and they're talking about a workstopic
And the last time that happened was two thousand and three.
And David's Darren said, you do that, keep going, we're done. Well,
you don't have that kind of leadership now. So there's

(01:00:06):
all kinds of reasons to be talking about this right now,
just the way I did with Major League Baseball back
in twenty twenty one and the NBA back in twenty
right on down the line. So continue on.

Speaker 18 (01:00:17):
That's why people love you, man, and I love your
passion Jesus. So yeah, I think the commissioner just dug
the grave basically with those comments. By the way, all right,
so I'm Gruden. I just think he's a character, he's
a football mind. He would be good to be in
the NFL active.

Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
That's how I do. That's fair. But here's the deal.
I could you're a thoughtful guy. Hugh John Grewen is
suing the NFL for orchestrating quote a malicious and orchestrated
campaign to destroy his career by leaking emails containing offensive
comments he sent to the media that led to his resignation.
I'm reading a quote. He's mad, he wants to find

(01:00:57):
out who did this. He wants to barbecue him. Supreme Court,
may hear the case in Nevada. Supreme Court, Go ahead?

Speaker 10 (01:01:04):
Yeah, Well that.

Speaker 8 (01:01:05):
Says it all.

Speaker 18 (01:01:06):
He's got it out for them. But I still contend
regardless if he's coaching.

Speaker 10 (01:01:16):
You know, he's a character, and characters in football are
are good for football. That's that's all I'm saying. And
he's not.

Speaker 18 (01:01:23):
And he knows what he's doing too, right, So I
think maybe he can separate the two things. He can
have his contention, But that would be funny. If he's
coaching in the NFL and he still has a lot
of going on, that'ld be funny.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
Okay. I don't think you'll see him head coach in
the NFL anytime soon. But I heard no joke. I
hear there's whispers out of Arkansas. Bring him here. We'd
love to have him. And after Penn Stake continues to
poop the bed, right, good, go ahead, you got the
last word, John McVay.

Speaker 18 (01:01:49):
I think he's a lot of the NFL though, So
Sean McVay, dude, there's one thing.

Speaker 14 (01:01:56):
You know, the call.

Speaker 18 (01:01:57):
Okay, it's early in the season, it's not really going
to be so meaningful when it comes down to it.
But there's one thing I can't get out of my mind.
And when they played Billy in the playoffs in the
snow last year, I couldn't believe that they just did
not run the ball once or twice instead of trying to.

Speaker 16 (01:02:16):
Pass pass pass path.

Speaker 18 (01:02:19):
In the snow in the fourth quarter because they were
actually gashing on running.

Speaker 7 (01:02:26):
And so.

Speaker 18 (01:02:28):
That thing is never going to leave my mind.

Speaker 10 (01:02:30):
I think he's a great coach.

Speaker 18 (01:02:32):
I think he lost his mind when they were playing
in Philly and didn't just run.

Speaker 9 (01:02:36):
The ball once or twice.

Speaker 10 (01:02:38):
And so how does that relate.

Speaker 16 (01:02:40):
To what the call was the other night.

Speaker 14 (01:02:44):
Maybe they don't relate, but.

Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
Maybe they do.

Speaker 18 (01:02:47):
I don't know. There was another caller that I did
here recently who said, you know, I didn't really agree
with the call, and maybe that's the answer. But man,
I cannot believe they did not run the ball in Philly.
They had that game, would have run the ball a
couple of times in the fourth quarter instead of just
trying to pass it in the snow, Hugh.

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
Always good to hear from you, man. You take care,
Dana and Denver joins us next welcome in, Dana, Hey,
thank you.

Speaker 19 (01:03:15):
As far as the w NBE goes and what will happen, honestly,
I think that the you know, if they push the
envelope like they seem to these women, I think it
deserves to get blown up.

Speaker 7 (01:03:27):
However, I don't think it's going to.

Speaker 19 (01:03:29):
I think the optics will look terrible on all sides,
all the way around, and I think somehow, some way
it's going to survive, whether it.

Speaker 11 (01:03:37):
Deserves who or not.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
Okay, that's a fair point. Any thoughts on the situation
regarding John Gruden, and if you have thoughts on Sean
McVay and the callid fourth to one go ahead.

Speaker 19 (01:03:49):
Sure as far as John Gruden goes, I in some
ways I feel sorry for the guy. I feel like
the overreach seriously by the NFL, and I don't know
if they were trying to punish in going after him.

Speaker 16 (01:04:02):
It was excessive, it was ridiculous.

Speaker 19 (01:04:04):
And in some ways I can't again.

Speaker 17 (01:04:07):
Kind of hope it does blow up.

Speaker 19 (01:04:08):
I think that the NFL is so powerful, and I
think that that was a total overreach, And you're right.
I think if that stuff does, you know, depositions and
all that happen, it's going to be ugly.

Speaker 16 (01:04:21):
There's going to be things very ugly.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
Because those comments were racist and very offensive, and I
you know, if I'd have made those comments, and I
can't imagine I'd be working. So it's in one of
those situations where it's it's someone had an agenda here,
and so if this comes out in Discovery. Any thoughts
on Sean mcvay's call Thursday night.

Speaker 19 (01:04:42):
You know, Sean, sometimes I don't get paid the big
bucks to make those decisions. I'm conservative. I would have
went for the tie, But every once in a while
it seems like they McVeigh gets too cute for his
own bridges. I don't know if he's overconfident sometimes, but
you know what, fifty to fifty on that one, that's

(01:05:03):
a tough call to make. I'm glad I didn't have
to make it because he's now you know, he's paying
for it, isn't he.

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
He's beaten himself up. Thanks a lot for checking in
a lot of good first time callers tonight. I appreciate
everybody weighing in. Steve from Kansas City most decidedly not
the first time caller.

Speaker 9 (01:05:18):
Take it away, Steve, Hey, Bernie has it going, buddy,
All right, man, go ahead, you know.

Speaker 20 (01:05:24):
I mean, this has been a huge news story with
the w NBA commissioner getting thrown under the bus by
our own players.

Speaker 9 (01:05:31):
And this was predicted a long time ago by by
Skip Bayless that said there's going to be a mutiny
against against their own league.

Speaker 8 (01:05:40):
Now, the.

Speaker 9 (01:05:43):
Players do have a federal right to a safe working environment.
What's going on here, I think is that they are
they have obvious phasings against the rookie players. I mean,
it's in controversial evidence. All it's going to take is
one player to federally sue them and and the whole

(01:06:05):
league may go down. I mean, they all just gonna
take this.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
What I don't want to do, you're, you're, you're, you know,
you've got some interesting angles. Usually what I don't want
to do tonight is great problems that don't exist yet
and try to solve those. I want to get your
thoughts on the real problem here, short and sweet. If
they don't get a deal done, CBA by the deadline.
Is this league sustainable?

Speaker 9 (01:06:28):
Well, my thought is it wasn't sustainable to begin with
without Caitlin. You know there, it doesn't. I don't trust
the league. I don't trust the league as this constructed
the way it is now that they're going to.

Speaker 8 (01:06:42):
Be able to fix it.

Speaker 9 (01:06:43):
I mean, this is always the last. The commissioner says, well,
I've got a new competition committee that I'm going to.

Speaker 10 (01:06:49):
Save the league.

Speaker 9 (01:06:50):
I mean, I don't believe that's going to do anything.

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
I don't believe that's the bottom line. Is the bottom line,
Steve is, is you feel this this league's head headed
in the wrong, a collision course with nowhere fair.

Speaker 9 (01:07:03):
I feel that we need Adam Silver or some or
some other entity to step in to save them.

Speaker 2 (01:07:11):
Well, they the the NBA has been subsidizing him since
last century. So all right, real quickly on John Gruden, Steve,
your thoughts on him?

Speaker 9 (01:07:19):
I propose that John Gruden become the head coach of
the North Carolina tar Heels effective immediately?

Speaker 2 (01:07:28):
Why not? Why not? All right, little little comic relief,
and real quickly on Sean McVay. The play didn't work,
but I give him credit for trying it.

Speaker 9 (01:07:38):
Yeah, I don't have a take on Tom, but my
wild card is the super Bowl halftime.

Speaker 10 (01:07:43):
I think we need to say we're gonna save the
w n b A.

Speaker 9 (01:07:47):
Let's save the super Bowl halftime and get some get
some more marketable, marketable people in the entertaining entertainment field
to h to perform at the football game. Think the
the NFL is really going downhill, and I think we
need to we need to get me fix that once
we fix the.

Speaker 7 (01:08:07):
W n b A.

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
Take care Bert, Thanks so much, Steve. I'm guessing I'm
not that smart. I'm guessing Steve is not a bad
Bunny fan. Poppy, it's anyego. What's up, Poppy? Hey, well Poppy,
go ahead.

Speaker 7 (01:08:21):
Hey Bernie.

Speaker 21 (01:08:22):
Yeah, Well, you know about w n B A. We really,
we really love them, and uh, I mean hopefully they
come back next to because we really love them, man,
and they better think right before they do a decision
or else.

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
You know, I just have consequences. Any thoughts on John Gruden, Yeah, on.

Speaker 21 (01:08:42):
John grudin Chucky? Actually I love Chucky, you know, and
uh actually I think like he deserves to come back
and get another opportunity. Look at Bryan Flores, But you
know he's in the loss. I think currently's doing the
loss of and he's with the Vikings, and the Vikings
are looking pretty good. They're going to be playing the
Brown right in London. So I think Chuck as you

(01:09:02):
deserve another chance. And I and I threw my conspiracy theory. Yeah,
someone went out there to attack them and humiliate them,
and there's a backstort like like it seems like someone
wanted to do something to get revenge on Chucky. Now
Chuck is going to get revenge on them, and you know,
I'm glad that.

Speaker 7 (01:09:19):
He's trying to.

Speaker 9 (01:09:21):
He's Inspector Gruden.

Speaker 21 (01:09:23):
And I really want to know who went after him
so he could hopefully come back and coach again in
the NFL like he deserves. And what's the third one?

Speaker 7 (01:09:33):
Burnie?

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
Just real quickly, Sean McVay went forward on fourth and one.
He took a lot of heat, just real quickly Toppy go.

Speaker 21 (01:09:38):
Ahead, Okay, Yeah, And Sean McVay like, you know, it
is what it is, and he's gonna learn, Like what
would I have done? I cut in my head, I
probably would have gone for the type. But as long
as he learns his experience and his rams get better decision.
That's all that matters, you know, And I'm glad he
took responsibility like a man and he said he made
a mistake and learned from them.

Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
Hey, Poppy, appreciate you man. Sorry about your padres. Thanks
for checking in. We're going to continue. Paul in North Carolina,
Rick Louisiana. You'll be up next. Tank Tight. I don't
remind everybody with the iHeartRadio app, you can stream us
for wherever you happen to be. Catch us in all
of our Fox Sports Radio shows live twenty four to
seven and the new and improved iHeart app. Just search

(01:10:22):
Fox Sports Radio in the app to stream us live
all day, every day, and be sure to select Fox
Sports Radio is one of your presets in the iHeart app,
so we'll always pop up at the top of the screen.
When the midnight hour continues. Paul and Rick from Louisiana
will be up next. I want to read an interesting
tweet quickly from Curtis Erhard says Bernie with the Gruden

(01:10:42):
thing and feels like what he said is getting lost
in the sauce. He said it, it's proven, so all
he can do at this point is take people down
with him. He can't quote clear his name while he
can do his take others with him. Kind Of an
interesting viewpoint because if you saw in print with a
lot of us saw in print, oh man, oh man. Really,
I'm Bernie fraddlewar Kemy lyon from the Las Vegas Fox

(01:11:04):
Sports Radio Studios. Keep it locked. You're listening to the
Bernie Frattle Show on Fox Sports Radio. How we're back
on the Bernie Frattle Show, Fox Sports Radio. The Men
at Hour keeps rolling on. Quick tweet from Don the
Tennis Donald little comedy. You can kill two birds with
one stone. Solve WNBA problem and the NFL Gruden have
John Gruden become the WNBA commissioner. There you go, little levity,

(01:11:30):
Little little levity. On a Sunday morning, Paul North Carolina
joined us as we resume the Men at Our. Paul,
thanks for hanging on. How are you hey?

Speaker 20 (01:11:40):
Good morning, Bernie. Hey, let's not jump in your compet
right away. Big big difference between the work stoppages of
the sports you brought up versus WNBA. Of course, the
other sports. The outletes are making tens and tens of
millions of dollars and the public has zero sympathies for
these work stoppages versus what WNBA salaries are. Bernie, I

(01:12:02):
manage a restaurant by a two million dollars a year restaurant.
I make more a year salary wise than Caitlin Clark.

Speaker 2 (01:12:09):
So there is a well, okay, hold on, hold that thought.
Stand line Paul real quickly. Because the reason I invoked
the prior workstoppage just from the various leagues is though
even though they were established and even though they had history,
they suffered with their work stoppage and they able to
bear the brunt of it. And my point is could

(01:12:30):
the w NBA be strong enough to bear the brunt
of a work stoppage? That's really the point I'm trying
to get people way.

Speaker 20 (01:12:36):
In on yes, yes, Bernie, and yes Bernie. And I'll
tell you why, because I think the public perception that
hurts these other sports is it's greed. When if there's
a WNBA workstopics, I don't think the public is going
to perceive it as players being greedy.

Speaker 10 (01:12:49):
This isn't, This isn't.

Speaker 2 (01:12:50):
I think they're gonna perceive them as being stupid. And
you're a business owner, and you know what, it's like
to have to make payroll found nine forty one taxes,
So I tip my cap to you. But sure, I
think the w NBA, if you line up any league,
is the least popular league in the history of mankind. Continue,
you got the last word.

Speaker 20 (01:13:06):
Go ahead historically, Bernie, maybe, but the women's basketball is exploding.
WNBA has that a five new franchises. Look at the
growth of women's basketball collegiately like there are marketable stars.
I think workstopp that is going to bring shed light
on the on the difference between the benefits and the
salaries of men's game versus women's game. But the w

(01:13:28):
NBA sent commercially until a year ago, so I don't think.
I think the workstopp is going to bring more light
to the plate of the w NBA players versus the
greed of big players making tens and tens of millions
of dollars in other stories.

Speaker 2 (01:13:42):
I accept your premise. It's an interesting angle and I
appreciate you taking the time to share it. Any thoughts
on the John Gruden.

Speaker 20 (01:13:48):
Debacle, Yeah, I mean this, and Bernie gets your popcorn ready.
John Gruden has more money than he knows what to
do with. He has no interest in settling. He has
the NFL. He has the NFL by the cahoons and
then less you mentioned a few minutes ago, you don't
see John Gruden coaching again unless if they come to
him with an opportunity to coach, and this kind of
quietly goes away. But if that opportunity is not there,

(01:14:10):
I think John Gruden has the opportunity to ride this
out distance and it is going to be a horrible
result for the NFL if it does go to distance.
So but the money Gruden has. Get your popcorn ready,
We're in for a.

Speaker 2 (01:14:22):
Shame, Paul, excellent, excellent call. Is this your first time
checking into my show?

Speaker 20 (01:14:27):
No, Bernie, I've been in a couple of times, and
real quick just won with the Sean McVay got.

Speaker 2 (01:14:31):
A click, okay, sure, go ahead.

Speaker 20 (01:14:33):
So there was three minutes and forty one seconds ago
and San Francisco had to time out when McVeigh went
for unfourked down, So going for the tie the average
the average field position, I want to kick off this
and then thirty five. So if you would have kicked
the field goal and tied it, San Francisco had gotten
the ball on the thirty five with three and a
half minutes the only timeout that San Francisco were going
down the field and won the game. I think McVeigh

(01:14:54):
would have been more excoriated for kicking the tie than.

Speaker 10 (01:14:58):
He would up going for it.

Speaker 2 (01:15:00):
Three excellent points. You nailed it, Paul, excellent, my friend.
Thanks for checking in. I you know, I appreciate that
people like John Gruden. I just want to put this
on the record because I deal in facts. When the
NFL released those series of emails back in twenty twenty one,
they included homophobe, but racist, misogynistic messages while he was
working for ESPN as a Monday night football analyst. I

(01:15:23):
can't spend that in any positive way. Rick, bring us
home tonight. Rick in Louisiana will wrap it up on
the midnight hour, looking forward to here. What you got
to say?

Speaker 11 (01:15:31):
Rick?

Speaker 10 (01:15:32):
All right? How you doing?

Speaker 2 (01:15:34):
Bernie good Man.

Speaker 8 (01:15:36):
Good good, Thanks for taking my call.

Speaker 7 (01:15:38):
One.

Speaker 8 (01:15:38):
As far as the WNBA, in my opinion, I think
it depends on who wants the lead to stay open,
even though it may need to, you know, business wise
and mathematically, you know, it may be that it's losing money.
But if there's certain people who want it to continue,
they can make it happen. So I think it just
depends on who wants it to stay.

Speaker 2 (01:16:01):
Well, that's an excellent point. It looks like the NBA
wants it to The question is how much are they
willing to pay them to keep it open. No one's
threatening to shut down the league yet. But Rick, here's
the situation. They want more money based on the car
when this new TV contract and there's no evidence that
they're going to make money in the future. That's all.
That's all we're dealing with here.

Speaker 8 (01:16:20):
Continue on, Rick, right, right, But I'd like I say,
I just think that sometimes when you have, you know,
the want that's asking for this, but you know they
can't afford it, then they just will have to compromise
and take maybe just a small increase in pay even
though it's still not making money.

Speaker 2 (01:16:39):
And maybe there will be maybe they will may be
cooler has failed. Go ahead, go ahead, Rick.

Speaker 8 (01:16:43):
Okay, the next one. As far as Gruden, I know
you said that he probably won't ever coach in the
NBA or I mean NBA NFL anytime soon. But I
also think if there is a college team that's considering
him after the fact, I think that parents and the
children that are going to be under him should get

(01:17:05):
a should be you know, made aware of the comments
that he made. Those emails should be made made public
to them so that they know what they're getting into
before they do.

Speaker 2 (01:17:19):
Yeah, I think you can be sure that would happen.
As I've always said, it'd be a tough press conference
to sell man. Go ahead, Rick, anything with Sean McVay.

Speaker 8 (01:17:26):
Yes. One of the things I don't always agree with
is analytics. I think sometimes they use the analytics as
an excuse to take a risk, but they throw away
common sense. And what I've seen a lot of times
is a team that can be on the road, they
can do the you know, they may have a fourth

(01:17:47):
and one, they're playing ketchup or whatever, and then they
go for it when they could have taken points for
a field goal. And I think sometimes you just need
to take the points. I'm always a firm believer of
the point.

Speaker 10 (01:18:01):
And you know, you.

Speaker 8 (01:18:03):
Take the risk, that's fine. You have analytics, analytics to
back you. But in my opinion, for the most part,
if you play up, if you on the road, take
the points, you know, good stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:18:15):
Rick. I gotta thank you, Rick, and I got to
agree with you. I did what over one hundred and
sixty Detroit Lions pre and postgame shows. The first points
in the game are the hardest. And the thing about analytics,
I get it they have their place, but I think
analytics should be a guideline, not an inflexible anchor. So
excellent calls tonight. I appreciate everybody weighing in. I can

(01:18:37):
tell you that the drama is only can continue to
intensify with the w NBA and the FEASTA. Collier canceled
the meeting with the commissioner and now the commissioners denying
that she made certain remarks about Caitlin Clark. There have
been even prior players. I believe Stacey Dale's a very
respective reporter weighed in. She played in the league, and

(01:18:59):
she said she did an event a few years ago
and WNBA didn't even help or recognize or never heard
from the commissioner. So angele Berk's kind of backtracking. And
somebody said, where's Adam Silver in this? And I agree,
war is Adam Silver in this? Meanwhile, John Gruden has
been trying to take his case against the NFL to

(01:19:20):
the court system for many years, and this past week
he got a major boost because the Nevada Supreme Court
ruled in their decision that Grudin did not have to
take US case through arbitration within the NFL. Instead, he
can take US case to the normal court system. That's
big because in the discovery process, a lot of stuff
is going to be made public that's going to embarrass

(01:19:40):
a lot of people. I believe. I believe the mbil's
in the NFL is trying to avoid that. Whereas if
it had gone to Roger Goodell's arbitration, which some have
referred to some have referred to as a canerewcord because
he's in charge, I don't know, it would have been
perhaps quashed. So these are stories we're going to be following.
These have legs. Whenever there's news, we may or may

(01:20:03):
not revisit him again. As long as there's news and
there's something specific to report coming up, we're gonna stay
with basketball. Mark Medeena, Medina Magic Our NBA. Fox Sports
Radio Guru joins us. Keep it locked Bernie Frattles Show,
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (01:20:17):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio's right?

Speaker 2 (01:20:21):
You heard the man. Bernie Frattles Show keeps rolling right along.
My name is Bernie Frattle. We come to your line
from the Fox Sports Radio studios here in Las Vegas.
Take you up to three am Pacific, six am Eastern,
five hours and twenty nine minutes away from more NFL
in London. Another huge thanks to all the men at
hour callers who took the time to call. And we'll

(01:20:41):
get to some more tweets in a minute. But you
know what, you loved me. You can't live without three
simple words. It's that time. Mark Medina Medina Magic are
Fox Sports Radio NBA guru. You hear him every Saturday
night heading into Sunday morning on the Bernie Frattle Show.
And the NBA is upon us. We've got pre season

(01:21:04):
games and soon we'll have regular season games. But Mark,
I want to switch gears and do something I've never done.
I really would like you to weigh in on this
w NBA tet of tech that's coming to a head
because the CBA expires October thirty. First and last time
there was this kind of rhetoric was three and David

(01:21:25):
Stern basically said, if you walk out, we will just
shut the league down. Now we're not at that point
this time, but it's very contentious. What are your thoughts
is the NBA continues to subsidize this league, and Mark,
here's the real question. I want to ask you, if
there was a work stoppage, does this league no longer sustainable?

Speaker 22 (01:21:44):
Well, that's the ultimate thing, because for a while the
league wasn't sustainable and finally they turned a corner and
found that tipping point where women's fast fall is becoming
more popular. A lot of it because of Caitlin Clark,
but there's also a lot of other star plus. So
I don't want to say that the league would collapse
if a work stoppage would happen, but that snowball effect

(01:22:06):
of momentum, of all the growth of that has been
created the last few years would come to a halt here.
And you know you mentioned the WNBA and the NBA.
I do want I want to be surprised if the
NBA ultimately gets involved because there are a lot of
NBA teams that subsidize those teams. And I think that
one thing that we have to keep in mind is

(01:22:28):
that you know, this isn't the first time, won't be
the last time that players get upset with a commissioner,
And when it comes to collective bargaining. You know, the
league office is at odds of the players' union, but
historically speaking with the NBA, even when it was David
Stern and now Adam Silver, they recognize that whether you

(01:22:49):
agree with it or not, it's always about the players,
and so they can have you know, they're back and
forth and their antagonism with the union lawyers and everything else,
but they know that the players are the golden Jews.
So you know, Katy Engelberg and the fisha Collier, only
they will truly know exactly what was said and how

(01:23:10):
it was said. But you can't get into a public
spot with a player because they're the ones that drives
the popularity to the league.

Speaker 2 (01:23:19):
Well, you're not wrong with the cat's already out of
the bag and you braise it a good issue. I mean,
going back to the days of Pete Rosel and certainly
my Entreander radio was a ninety four baseball strike and
don fear they wanted to hang him in effigy, right
or not down fear the commissioner, Bud Seilage for allowing
this to happen. Even George Steinmender said in nineteen eighty one,
if buikuon were alive today, we never would have a strike,

(01:23:41):
and of course Bowekoon was very much alive. We get
that part of it. But if you have a situation
where this league hasn't made money for two decades and
yet they want more, and the way that the public
optics and the way this league has been portrayed, there's
never any good news on the floor. It's always this
back and forth diatribe pick your day, and now it's

(01:24:05):
heightened to a different level. That's why I ask, because
I don't think they have much public support. Mark, you
got the last word on this.

Speaker 22 (01:24:11):
Yeah, I mean, there's definitely been a lot of soap
opera news this last year or so with the WNBA,
But I think that you know, there is a lot
of interest in the WNBA the same way that the
NBA is that the competition is good, the players are
transcending stars. Yeah, there's a lot of soap operantics and

(01:24:31):
physicality with each other and antagonism back and forth, but
I would say that actually helps make the league more interesting.
So I'm with you that when it comes to collective
bargain walkouts, that's never good for business, but I would
argue everything else is because it gets people in tune.
You have people that are devout, you know, followers because

(01:24:54):
of the game, and then you have the casuals, and
then they have ones that hate watch or criticize you know what.
That gives a lot of things to talk about in
the league. And it's the old saying any publicity is
good publicity.

Speaker 2 (01:25:07):
Again, you're not wrong. The question is the budget and
what can you afford to pay the players and that
will let them. Do you think they get a deep mark?
Do you think they get a deal to cooler heads
ultimately prevail? Where does this end up? I don't thin
they're going to get a deal by Halloween. I don't.
But what does this ultimately end up in your view?

Speaker 22 (01:25:27):
Yeah, I can't tell you exactly chapter verse only because
I'm not following it like it.

Speaker 10 (01:25:32):
Would be with the NBA.

Speaker 22 (01:25:34):
But if there is a work stoppage, frankly, I don't
think it's going to take long for them to resolve,
you know, for two reasons. One, I think the league
is very well aware that they could really do itself
some serious financial damage the longer it holds out, And
they don't have the same stomach as NBA owners would
have had in these previous work stoppages, and the old

(01:25:57):
adage with players is that they only have a certain
shelf life, and even for people who are more business
savvy and have been good savers, these are your prime
earning years. And so I think with that there might
be a work stoppage, but I don't think it's going
to drag that long because of the stakes.

Speaker 2 (01:26:15):
Okay, buddy, let's leave it there. Let's move on to
more pertinent subjects like you know, the James Gang. Let's
start with the James Gang. Brownie and Lebron Brownie won
for twelve the other night from the floor. But if
I'm being fair and honest, he can play little defense.
What are your thoughts is he is he rounding out
as a defensive player?

Speaker 22 (01:26:34):
Yeah, he is rounding out defensive player. And I think,
ironically enough, JJ Reddick has observed that he's actually made
more progress with his offense than his defense. One defense
was supposed to be his calling card, and so I
think JJ's message to Brownie is that he obviously wants
to see growth, but you know, there's one thing to

(01:26:55):
show offensive growth in the individual workouts or in practice setting.
But Scott A translating five on five has to translate
in the game. Obviously, this preseason opener, he did not
shoot the ball well one to twelve overall, one of
eight from three. He was aggressive getting in the basket
when five to six from the free throw line. But
Bronnie afterwards was pretty even keel. He said he liked

(01:27:18):
the shot selection. He felt it was more of a
product of his legs still not being fully underneath him
because of these conditioning heavy practices. But I think bottom
line burning here is in all seriousness, we would like
to make jokes about Bronnie, but he is showing improvement.
But I don't think he's going to be a major
part of the rotation. He's going to be a nine

(01:27:41):
to ten, eleven or twelfth guy. I think it was
very telling when I asked JJ Reddick after practice the
other day, you know, how is he evaluating the guard rotation.
He didn't get into specifics on his criteria Byon's health,
but he named names. He rattled off the guys that
are going to be getting played time in the back court.

(01:28:01):
Luca Dodgers, Austin Reeves, Marcus Smart Gave, Vincent, Jake Klauravia
gets who are the guys he left out, brought in
James and Dalton connection. I think that that'll, you know,
stay true through most of the season.

Speaker 2 (01:28:14):
Talking about Mark Medina Dina Magic. You hear him every
Saturday night and Sunday morning here on the Bernie Frattle Show.
Now I say to someone, tongue in cheek, we know
Lebron can be a bit of a pain in the butt.
Now he's got a pain in his butt.

Speaker 22 (01:28:28):
Send your server tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:28:31):
Hey, don't forget to try to semi boneless spaghetti. I'm
here all week. In all seriousness, He's got a little
nerve issue in his posterior. That's a weight bearing injury. Now,
when you hear nerves, that can be serious. But I
don't want to cast this version. What's going on is
it's just a bunch of michigan Os and we'll just
wait till the season starts. At what's really going on here?
Because he is almost sixty three years old.

Speaker 22 (01:28:53):
Now yeah, I mean you subtracked up by twenty three,
but he's still old an NBA years at forty years old.
He's going to be forty one December thirtieth. I don't
think that they're manufacturing injuries by this time of age,
everything aches, But yeah, he's dealing with some nerve and
as you know what now, I think here's what's telling

(01:29:14):
the la JJ Redick on one hand is saying, yes, he
expects him to be ready for opening night. He does
have a hope that he'll play at some point in preseason,
but he didn't know when that would be. I thought
he was a little cagy before the game, expressing some
optimism that he could I quote, sort of become a

(01:29:36):
full participant. And I thought that was telling, because you're
either going to become a full participant or you're not.
And here's the reality. He's not playing Sunday against the
Golden State Warriors. Now there's Luka Doncic. Those reasons more
had to do with Luca played a lot of EuroBasket.
They're trying to think ahead here or not tax them
too much. But with Lebron, I think the bigger thing

(01:29:59):
is he's forty years old to twenty third seasons could
be his last, and they're trying to be very, very
careful so that you know, if he has father time
knocking on his door this season, it's not because of
him playing too many preseason minutes.

Speaker 2 (01:30:15):
Of course, and I know Luca's going to stay out
a couple of games too, which makes sense. Let's talk
about the other team in Los Angeles because I'm really
actually very much looking forward to this season, Mark because
the logjam in the West. You got to give some
respect to the Clippers, and always say this every year.
I know they lose Norman Paul coming off the best
season in his career, but you pick up Chris Paul,
Brook Lopez, Bradley Beal, John Collins. On paper, they look

(01:30:39):
like they're pretty good to be, maybe even better than Lakers.
Am I am I crazy?

Speaker 22 (01:30:44):
No, I think you're on the sewing. But here's the
key thing about the Clippers on paper, they always look good.
In reality sometimes a different story. Look, I think from
a basketball standpoint, the fit should be good. Kawhi Leonard
has shown when healthy he's one of the best player
of the NBA. The James Harden's credit, he has been
willing to adjust his game. Chris Paul has shown in

(01:31:05):
recent seasons he's willing to come off the bench. That's
going to be the same thing. Bradley Beal, Yes, it
was an adjustment with the Phoenix Suns, but you know
his agent Mark Bartleson told me over the offseason that
you know, it's not about who's starting, coming off the bench,
how many minutes. It's about his ability to make an
impact right away, and he has an ability to do that.

(01:31:27):
But I think the reality is this, it's an old
roster and with that you almost have to expect that
there's going to be injuries that are going to have
to deal with, whether it's Kawhi Harden, Chris Paul Beal,
maybe all of the above. Yes, they have a lot
of depth of EACHA. Zoubots is becoming a very good center,

(01:31:48):
and outside of Joel Embiid, Nikole Jokic and Victor Wan Binyama,
maybe he could be considered fourth. He's he's been developing
that great as a as a score in the pick
and roll, in the post, great defender, great lob threat,
great rotator. But it's always health and how fragile that

(01:32:08):
is in Clipperland. So I got my arms crossed from
now until the end of the season because of the.

Speaker 2 (01:32:15):
Well said I can't disagree with anything you said real
quickly as we prove through the West, because I think
that's the balance of power. A shame the Houston Rockets
won't have Fred van Vliet, but they do have Kevin Durant,
and I expect Dorian Finnish Smith to make a real contribution,
as well as Clint Capella. So when I look on balance,

(01:32:37):
I gotta believe the Rockets are. They were good last year,
but they're even better this year. Do you agree with that?

Speaker 22 (01:32:43):
I do agree with that, but that Fred van vleet
absence is huge, steady locker room guy, great point guard, fights,
he defender. They got better because they got Kevin Durant.
When on the court, he's still efficient, one of the
best scores ever in the history of the game. And
yes there's questions about his durability for the last six
years ever since injuring his achilles, but went on the court,

(01:33:06):
he's very lethal. He's a fishing team guy. Aman Thompson
is becoming one of the best young two way players
in the game, and I think that his role is
going to increase some point guard responsibilities because f Van
Vleet's out. But when I look at them, I think
that their third best in the West. The Denver Nuggets
and the Oklahoma City Thunder are just a whole different stress.

(01:33:28):
The Thunder won the championship, they have their same quarterback,
they're all pretty young. With the Denver Nuggets, they got better.
They got Cam Johnson, great two way player. Bruce Brown,
one of those great defenders on that championship team in
twenty twenty three, is back. And you know, I was
a Nuggets camp through this week. They're down in San Diego,

(01:33:51):
and there's just a feeling that there's a lot of
fresh energy for a few reasons. Obviously, Nikolejoki is still
in his prime. Jamal mur Urr, he's healthier, a lot
of guys in this past summer to start in formal camps,
and their roster depth is a lot better. And I
think that there's a lot of respect for David Adaman
for how he handled that, you know, the interim role

(01:34:13):
following the abrupt firing with Michael Malone. So it just
feels like there's a lot less tension than there was
at the end of last season, and there's a lot
of great depth roster continuity ahead of them. So I
would say flip a coin between the Thunder and the Nuggets.

Speaker 2 (01:34:32):
You really brought up some great points here, So I'm
not going to mention the Warriors. We'll throw them into
the mix. We're up to five six teams now, the
last one I'm going to talk about that. I really
want to see what these guys look like in April
fingers cross they're all healthy, because you're not gonna have Kyrie,
but you're gonna have Cooper Flagg, D'Angelo Russell, and hopefully
a healthy Anthony Davis. I am really curious to see

(01:34:53):
what Dallas looks like when they run into shape February
March April. I think they're going to be a real
problem if they're healthy. Do you agree?

Speaker 10 (01:35:01):
Yeah?

Speaker 22 (01:35:01):
I do agree. Now the huge qualifier if they're healthy,
I mean Kyrie Irving. He's going to miss at least
half the season. Usually when players come off an aco injury,
they're not the same player. They need to have that
half season to try to shut off the rust, the conditioning,
just getting used to their body. So I think we're
going to see a diminished version of Kyrie this season.
I think that he'll be what you saw pre injury

(01:35:24):
next season. But they have a lot of good pieces.
You mentioned Anthony Davis. I know everyone brings up his injuries.
He obviously had an injury situation last year, but he's
been a lot more durable than he was during his
time with the Pelicans. With Cooper Flag, he's going to
win a Rookie of the Year. I know that, like

(01:35:45):
even for someone of his stature, there are going to
be ups and downs. But talking with trainer Mac mackenzie
left me really encourage with how Cooper Flag's going to
be the reason. He's a huge suit of the game.
He's been watching so much film. It's been a point
of emphasis with getting stronger, doing things to reduce the
possibility of hitting the rookie wall or having major injuries.

(01:36:09):
And he's going to link up with DURKNOVICKI. He already has,
but throughout the season the plan is for him to
do some workouts and also just kind of picked his
brain on what it took to be such a great
NBA star, had that patent to jump back, fall away jumper,
as well as just be a potential face of the franchise,
and Cooper Flag very might be that player. So yeah,

(01:36:32):
I'm bullish on the Mavericks, but I want to put
them in contending status because there are going to be
question marks that will continue with them with their.

Speaker 2 (01:36:40):
Health absolutely well, one team lasting for me, Mark, I'll
let you run. I'm very bearish on the Milwaukee Bucks.
I mean we're talking about a team been underwhelming for
two years. They want to take a total of three
playoff games, got knocked out the first round both years.
No more Damian Lillard, no more Brook Lopez, no more.

Speaker 10 (01:36:59):
Pat on It.

Speaker 2 (01:37:00):
I think this team goes off a cliff.

Speaker 22 (01:37:02):
Your thoughts, well, unless Gionathontatkupa demands a trade and leaves.
It's hard for me to say, Okay, they fall off
a cliff, but I don't look at them as an
Eastern Conference contender. They'll still be in the mix because
you have Jasnta Tokumpo. But yeah, they got Miles Turner.
He's a great center. But outside those two players, I

(01:37:22):
just don't really see the roster death. Yeah, Kyle Kusman
is a great player, but he can be inconsistent. They
really don't have the same kind of calling card that
made them such a good team before. So in the East,
I think it's all about Cleveland running a back because
they have that core. They underachieved in the playoffs, so
that second round exit to the New York Knicks, and

(01:37:43):
that's going to be the nixt under to Mike Brown.
They still have the same roster for the most part
that they had under Tom Thibodeaux. But they did make
some additions gain Jordan Clarkson, and he's a good secondary scorer.
So I think it's those two teams in the red
in the East. The rest of these isretty much a
shell of themselves because of what we mentioned with Milwaukee,

(01:38:03):
because Boston doesn't Jason Tatum this season, Indiana doesn't have
Tyres Albern. I think the Orlando Magic could be a
pretty dangerous playoff team because Paul ben Carroll is a
great two way player that doesn't bane a free uh
trade is huge because he's a great locker room guy,
great defender, great shooter. But even though internally they do

(01:38:27):
have optimism they can contend for a championship, I just
think that the Cavaliers and the Knicks have too much
more continuity than the Magic have at this point.

Speaker 2 (01:38:36):
Well, and the reason I said what I said about
the Bucks, they won forty eight games last year. They
had to win eight in a row to get the
forty eight. They were better than five hundred on the
road into prediction, and you hold me to it and
hit me over they had with a sledgehammer when.

Speaker 22 (01:38:49):
Well, look, we want to say saying the same thing.
I'm not projecting they're going to be committal, but pung balls.
But might be, you know, another first round exit for
the fourth consecutive year this time.

Speaker 2 (01:38:57):
So they toy. I think there's gonna be two games
over five hundred. That'll be it.

Speaker 22 (01:39:05):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:39:05):
Yeah, they just hold me to that, Hold me to
that because that's how I feel. But we'll do it. Mark,
great stuff. As always, the season is upon us. More news,
more stories and all good stuff. And appreciate you.

Speaker 22 (01:39:18):
Man, appreciate you. And let's not forget that brawny James breakdown.

Speaker 2 (01:39:23):
Oh no, that's that's why people tune in worldwide. Listeners
know two ways about it. And by the way, for
the best pregame show every weekend, be sure to tune
into Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by BED
MGM every Saturday and Sunday morning. We will count you
down to all the biggest games for three hours right
up until kickoff. For all the best plays and the

(01:39:44):
up to the second injury news, tune into Countdown to
Kickoff presented by BEDMGM every Saturday and Sunday morning right
here on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Coming
up at the bottom of the hour, we'll have fantasy files.
And by the way, I'm going to share with you, you know,
the Ravens. A lot of people had the Ravens and
the Eagles in the Super Bowl. I don't have either

(01:40:05):
one of the Super Bowl and I didn't before the season,
but I'll share with some inconvenient truths about both teams now.
Of the two, I think the Eagles are going to
be back in the playoffs, maybe the Ravens too, but
they ain't going to The Raves ain't going to the
Super Bowl. Some inconvenient truths about both teams. I bet
you didn't know from a number standpoint. I'm Bernie Frattle.

(01:40:27):
We are company live from the Las Vegas Fox Sports
Radio Studios. Don't go away. You're listening to the Bernie
Frattle Show on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 4 (01:40:34):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
listen live.

Speaker 2 (01:40:46):
Hire back of the Bernie Fratle Show. Fox Sports Radio
Company Live from the Fox Sports Radio studios here in
Las Vegas. We are just five hours away now from
the Vikings and the Cleveland Browns for another London game.
Dylan and Gabriel will be making his debut as a

(01:41:06):
starter and coming up in a couple of minutes, we'll
have the fantasy files for you. I want to look.
The Philadelphia Eagles are four and oh, yet they've been
out gained in every game this season. They're still figuring
things out. I think A. J. Brown is unhappy. But
they're four and oh. But here's an inconvenient truth. The
Eagles offense in total yards per game, they rank thirtieth,

(01:41:30):
only two hundred and fifty one yards a game, yards
per play four point two. They ranked thirtieth pass yards
per game one hundred and thirty eight. They ranked thirty
first rushing yards per game. Remember they got Saquon Barkley
Kenneth Gainwell, they ranked twenty ninth, only three point gay
three point five yards per rush. And you know what

(01:41:52):
they're They're facing a tough Denver team that's got seventy
eight sacks in their first for their last twenty games.
So I'm not seen the Eagles can't get back and
make a deep run of the playoffs. But those numbers
must hold up. The must not hold up. Let's put
it that way. That's not sustainable, and neither is the

(01:42:13):
Ravens defense. Phillies offense is stuck in neutral. Well, the
Ravens defense couldn't stop a nosebleed. Last in the NFL,
and points per game allowed at thirty three, thirty first
in the NFL. At passing yards per game allowed at
two sixty five, they've allowed eighteen plays of more than

(01:42:37):
twenty yards that's considered a big play. They ranked thirty
first in the league. The Eagles do in terms of
getting first downs per game, they ranked thirty first, oh,
by the way. And sacks, well, they've been sacked a
few times too. So the long and the short of
it is this Ravens No I got that backwards. The

(01:42:58):
Ravens have only got four sacks. That's thirtieth in the league.
So much for that daunting defense. And they're all banged
up Sunday. So for things to turn around, I'm not
saying they can't, but don't tell me, show me. We
go through this every year with people who want to
convince this how good their team is or how good
a certain player is the film Don't Lie. So Eagles,

(01:43:20):
you face a tough Denver team in a few hours here,
and the Ravens, well, you know they've got a team
in Houston that's really scuffling. And look, yes, the Ravens
are allowing thirty three points per game, but Houston their
defense is only allowing twelve points per game. But Houston's

(01:43:43):
defense offense is not great. And that's exactly why every
time this week we bring you the Fantasy Files.

Speaker 4 (01:43:53):
Fantasy Files with Brandon Deutsch, your go to fantasy football
segment are one gone.

Speaker 23 (01:44:01):
Welcome to Fantasy Files. I'm Brandon Deutsch. Let's get into
sid start suggestions for the week, and we're gonna start
with somebody that I think should continue to perform at
a very high level, and that is Trevion Henderson against
the Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo Bills really have a tough
time against pass catching running backs. They've had that problem

(01:44:22):
for years. It's continued to be a problem, and we're
going to see Trevion Henderson, who's increased.

Speaker 2 (01:44:28):
To snaps more and more each week.

Speaker 23 (01:44:30):
Because of Vermandro Stevenson's fumbling go off again. He's he's
going to get another touchdown. You in a touchdown a
few weeks ago. I think this is the first game
that he eclipses twenty fantasy points. I truly believe that,
even if Antonio Gibson gets some snaps. Next, we have
to sit Jerry Judy against Minnesota. Jerry Judy hasn't done
anything all year. Dylan Gabriel is a rookie who's starting

(01:44:52):
his first game. I don't think that Judy may even
get a catch in this one. I'm not even kidding
about that. Like, this is going to be a brutal
game if you, Jerry Judy, continue to sit him. He
hasn't mignitted all year. Make sure to start Chris o'lave
against the New York Giants. Love what o'lave has brought. Obviously,
last week we started him, he threw a pick, so
it was a little weird his fantasy point points at

(01:45:13):
the end because he ended up I think with twelve
or thirteen. He caught a touchdown, but he threw a pick,
so that was minus two fantasy points on some weird
trick play. Either way, he's still top in targets in
the NFL, close to the top at least. He's going
against the Giants defense that only looked good last week
because both charters offensive linemen, their left and right tackle,
we're out, and that's why they were able to get
pressure on Justin and why they were able to win

(01:45:33):
that football game. I've sid Kean Coleman against New England Patriots.
Christian Gonzalez looked very good. He's back, he's healthy. Keon
Coleman is going to have a tough assignment against him,
and he's been inconsistent all year. I really don't like
guys that are cryptocurrency players, and what I mean by
that is DeVante Smith, Keon Coleman. AJ Brown's another one.

(01:45:54):
You can look at Jalen Wattle as somebody like that.
When Tyreek Hill plays what I mean by this some games,
T Higgins some games twenty five Fantasy points, in others zero.

Speaker 2 (01:46:04):
I hate playing those.

Speaker 1 (01:46:05):
Guys in a weekly basis.

Speaker 23 (01:46:07):
Coleman's kind of entering that range where he could fall
out and get you thirty Fantasy points or he could
get you about zero. So again, I'm out on him
this week, and I'd start Rico Dowdle against Miami. Let's
get to a running back there, tru Bah Hubbard is out,
so obviously you cannot play him. Rico Dowdell is his backup.
Trevor Etn. Travis Etn, Junior's brother, is also a valid

(01:46:29):
I guess in flex if you're in a fourteen or
sixteen man league, although I would feel way more confident
giving the start to Rico Dowdell this week against Miami.
Miami's run defense is not good this year, so I
like him against Miami, and I'd sitch just this Hill
against Houston. Remember when Corderyl Patterson toward the end of
his career was not great anymore. He had that crazy
year and then all of a sudden everyone drafted him

(01:46:50):
and he had one week of twenty five Fantasy points
and didn't do anything the rest of the year. That
is Justice Hill last week. Oh, should I play Justice
Hill over Derek Henry? What are we talking talking about?
It's Derek Henry versus Justice Hill. Sit Justice Hill against Houston.
This is a Houston team that has an elite defense,
top tier, and they'll be ahead the entire game because
Lamar Jackson is not playing.

Speaker 1 (01:47:10):
Start Rashad White versus Seattle.

Speaker 23 (01:47:12):
Love that matchup for him, even though Seattle's defensive line
is very good. And why do I like that matchup? Well,
you have to understand something. Bucky Irving is utilized in
the passing game an enormous amount right on the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers. Rashad White now fills that role. And we've
seen Rashad White finishes the RB three just a few
seasons ago, so I'm confident he can put up an

(01:47:34):
extremely extremely productive fantasy day, especially catching the football, and
if he gets a touchdown, that's icing on a cake.
That's twenty plus fantasy points against the Seattle team that
is really good. I still like Rashad White. This week,
sit Ramondre Stevenson against Buffalo again. The fumbling machine we
set him last week, we did well. We're sitting him again.
Make sure you keep them on your bench. Same thing
with Antonio Gibson and a start that I love after

(01:47:56):
last week's breakout performance. What he marks against Baltimore. Gaint Baltimore,
No Lamar Jackson. They should be up the entire game,
which means they're going to run. And I don't really
care about the snap percentage of Nick Chubb versus Woody
Marks and even when Joe Mixon comes back. What I
look at is guys that are efficient. What he Marx
has that check and can catch passes at a high level.
What he Mark's gonna do that better than Nick Chubb.
Not saying he can do it better than Joe Mason,

(01:48:17):
but Joe Mixon isn't healthy, so wood he Marks is
a lock it in start this week. I'd sit to
Cory Krossky Merritt versus the Chargers. Not a great showing
for Bill, but it's really not his fault. He was
pretty efficient. He didn't get many snaps. Chris Rodriguez got
a lot of snaps. Now Jayson Daniels is back, I
don't know if that's going to be smooth sailing against
the Chargers defense that I think he's still very good.

(01:48:37):
I would keep Bill on the bench and start David
Montgomery against Cincinnati. This is the bounce back after last week.
This is a two touchdown performance for Montgomery. I would
feel super confident starting him and sitneing Isaiah Pacheco against
the Jaguars.

Speaker 2 (01:48:49):
Don't like that at all for him.

Speaker 23 (01:48:52):
Make sure to start Jalen Wattall against Carolina without Tyreek Hill.
Obviously he's going to get a boatload of Target's final
set of the day, AJ Brown against Denver, the Certain Shadows,
real guys, certan shut down receivers all of last season.
He's done it again this year. He's gonna do it
on s AJ Brown. Let me know what you guys think.
You can find me at Brandones Deutsch on TikTok, BSD

(01:49:12):
takes on x and of course Brandons Deutsch as well
on Instagram. Back to the Bernie Fratto Show. I appreciate
you guys. Let's all win our matchup.

Speaker 2 (01:49:21):
Yeah, so I you know, full disclosure, I no longer participate.
I partake in fantasy, but I agree with Woody Marx.
He's emerging as an every week starter. Houston is going
up against the depleted Ravens defense. He had a Woody
Marx had a breakout week last week when they beat
the Titans. I know the Titans might be the worst

(01:49:42):
team in the NFL. Nonetheless, Woody Marx helped the Texans
beat the Titans, and I think he's looking to further
establish himself as as a guy who's a regular fantasy option.
So he's got a larger role now and he had
a touchdown last week. He carried the ball seventh ten times.
I think even caught some balls, caught some passes. So

(01:50:04):
he's getting touches, he's scoring touchdowns, and he's gaining yards
on the ground. So just my two cents on the
Woody Marks name and I'll leave it right there. Coming up,
we talked about Dylan Gabriel, Jerry Judy. Let's take a
quick look at that game in London. Coming up. I

(01:50:24):
am Bernie Frowdle. We are Company line from the Las
Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. Keep it locked. You're listening
to the Bernie Frattle Show on Fox Sports Radio. We're
back on the Bernie Frattle Show, Fox Sports Radio Company
live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios here in Las Vegas. Yes,
we will take you up to three am Pacific, six
am Eastern top of the ar. We got a lot

(01:50:45):
more NFL stuff to get to. The Eagles are doing it,
but if they perfected the art of winning ugly, we'll
take a look at it. You know, there's plenty of
new coaches that have joined the NFL ranks this year.
I think seven to be exact. Let's take a look
in this coaching care ofsel check in and give our

(01:51:06):
thoughts on some of the coaches making their debut. How
have they done so far this year in the NFL.
By the way, there's one league having no issues with
ratings at all. None. We're gonna get to that. We're
gonna give them their props, very well deserved props. And

(01:51:28):
before I get to the Browns game in a minute, here,
I thought you might like to know that the NFL.
I happen to be someone who likes these international games,
and living out here near the Left Coast, it kicks
off at six thirty am, fine with me, no complaints.
And the folks in the East who have to wait

(01:51:49):
for games to start at one o'clock and I lived
that time zone for seventeen years. I think they like
it too, nine to thirty. And what's interesting is the
NFL and their international slate of games. And by the way,
next up is going to be Australia. They're going to
play a game there. They are going to be introducing
it looks like sixteen international slate of games every season,

(01:52:15):
that's what I'm hearing. I don't know if it starts
next year, but think about it. When the NFL created
Thursday Night Football and it's been nineteen years now. It
was basically a package of five games that didn't start
to like the round Thanksgiving. But half a decade later,
Thursday Night Football expanded to almost every week of the season.

(01:52:38):
And now what's interesting is and now the games are
on Amazon, and those Amazon games bringing a billion dollars
annually to the NFL, and they exclusively stream the games,
the primetime games on Thursday nights. So look at how
the evolution of Thursday Night Football has grown. We are
expecting the same exact thing for international football. International games. Okay,

(01:53:04):
you see them in London, you see them in Ireland,
you see them in Brazil, Germany, Mexico City, Australia being next.
So as the league began this season, the theory is
that the same way Thursday Night Football grew, international games
are going to grow. So this fall there will be
a record seven games, seven NFL games played outside the US,

(01:53:28):
which we've already had two. We're gonna have a third
later today at Friday night game in Brazil between the
Chiefs and Chargers to kick off the season about a
month ago. Of course, the United Kingdom will once again
host three games. I think two will be played at
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. I went to London with my wife.
I toured that, got the Grand tour of the stadium,

(01:53:49):
used my Fox input. It was fantastic. And you know
I went to Wimbley Stadium as well. Germany. He will
get another game in the NFL is going to make
its debut. It already did in Ireland. It'll make its
debut in Space. Now. The NFL had an option of
scheduling an eighth game overseas the stadium, but for somehow
the plans to return to Mexico fell through. I think

(01:54:10):
it had more to do with renovations that are being
made at Aztec Stadium in Mexico City than anything else.
But think about that. That's pretty aggressive. As this game
continues to be growing internationally, So what's next. The international
slate will likely be sixteen games. This is something Roger
Goodell and actually multiple influential team owners have been wanting

(01:54:33):
to do for a long time, many years. Arthur Blank,
the Falcons owner, was on the NFL network during training
camp in July and he said, yeah, that's very much
on the horizon, and that the NFL Spring meetings last March.
Clark Hunt, the owner of the chief said the league
has a short term goal of getting to eight, which
would have happened this year, and down the road as

(01:54:56):
many as sixteen. And Goodell's been tiling the potential games
for a year. I'm talking about sixteen international games. He
told CNBC back before the summer. He thought expansion could
happen to get to sixteen games within five years.

Speaker 19 (01:55:13):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:55:14):
If you're already playing five six different countries, I suppose
you could add a couple more in London Ireland. These
games are packed and they're terrific. There's something about them.
They got a kind of a cool aura about them.
The other international expansion is going to actually now also
probably pave the way. It's not imminent, but you know

(01:55:35):
they're pushing for it. First, the NFL had fourteen games
before that a thousand years ago before I was born.
They had twelve, then they had fourteen, then sixteen, now seventeen.
It's just a matter of time before they add an
eighteenth regular season game. That's got to be collectively bargained.
The current CBA runs through the twenty thirty season, so

(01:55:56):
that's a few years away, and the league can opt
out of its most current one hundred and ten billion
dollar media right steal after the twenty twenty nine season
and what they can try to do. I think they're
going to do that and try to sell a TV
package that's going to include its international schedule, which they
also believe. Remember the Thursday night schedule brings in a
billion annually. The international schedule is projected to also bring

(01:56:23):
in a billion dollars. So Roger Goodell's stated goal when
he became commissioner back in two thousand and six to
make the NFL a twenty five billion dollar annual league.
I think he was about halfway there, if not, if
not more so, Well, in what four hours and thirty
nine minutes, it'll kick off the one in three bounds Browns.

(01:56:44):
It's technically a home game for the Vikings. Well why not.
They've been there, They've been over across the pond for
a week. They were in Ireland last week and got
their butt handed to them. Didn't look good doing it.
But they'll be facing a Cleveland Browns team that's one
to three and they're turning to the key quarterback, Dylan Gabriel.

(01:57:04):
They are hoping he can somehow jump start this offense.
The Browns have the second worst offense in the league,
the only average fourteen points a game, and Dylan Gabriel
will have the distinction of being the first ever quarterback
to make his inaugural start, as it were his first

(01:57:27):
start his debut in an international game. But from what
I'm hearing, and there's a reason they drafted Dylan Gabriel
in the third round, and I know people dogging him
for his size on it. Did you see him play
at Oregon? Did you see him play at Oklahoma?

Speaker 10 (01:57:42):
Now?

Speaker 2 (01:57:43):
Not exactly easy duty overseas when the Browns are a
hot mess and Brian Flores and his defense will dial
up multiple looks to confuse him. But if there's one
thing that they say about Dylan Gabriel, he's prepared. He
will be prepared. I think if you look at the
Browns and their game plan, if they take advantage of

(01:58:06):
Gabriel's He's got better mobility than people give him credit for,
and he's accurate on the run, So they use a
lot of rollofs in RPOs to try to get some
offense going. Jerry Judy complimented Dylan Gabriel this week. He
said he really knows where to go with the ball.
He knows what Kevin Stefanski wants to do within the
framework of the offense. So he's not going to play

(01:58:26):
playground football and run around and take six seconds to
get rid of the ball like some people. All Right,
the Vikings, who I think are trying to glue this
season back together. J. J. McCarthy may be on hold.
Carson Wentz is capable, but you don't really know what
you're gonna get with him. The Vikings spent a week
in London. I think they have to figure out what

(01:58:47):
they're going to do with their offensive line. It's got
injuries up and down, and it's a very concerning situation
because the Browns have one of the best defensive fronts
in the National Football So you don't know what the
Vikings will put out there. But in a worst case scenario,
the Vikings could be starting the third string center and

(01:59:09):
their third string left guard and their number two right
tackle against the defense that leads the NFL in pass
rush win rate fifty six percent. They stopped the run
pretty well too the Browns, but their offense not great.
Seventeen or fewer points in nine straight games going back
to last season. That's not a good streak. So you're

(01:59:31):
hoping for you know, you're hoping for a good debut
if you're a Browns fan out of Dylan Dylan Gabriel. Meanwhile,
the Vikings and Jordan Mason. He's combined with Aaron Jones. Look,
Jones is out actually, so they do get Jordan Addison back.
Feels like a very low scoring game. I didn't play
this game, but it feels like a very low scoring game.
Coming up, we continue with the NFL and many other

(01:59:53):
subjects on the Bernie Fraddle Show. Keep it lock. You're
listening to the Bernie Fraddle Show on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (02:00:00):
Dore, listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (02:00:03):
That's right, you heard the man. The Bernie Frawder Show
cames rolling right along. My name is Bernie Freddle. We're
come to the line from the Fox Sports Radio studios
here in Las Vegas. Take you up to three and
Pacific six am Eastern, four hours and twenty nine minutes
away from some more NFL football. Just to put a
cap around some unfinished business. We had a great, another

(02:00:25):
spirited midnight hour and then everybody calls in. Some people
like to tweet. My man Fish faints and a tweet
kind of covered all three subjects. He said, First, the
WNBA better not shoot the golden goose. They only make
money because they're subsidized by the NBA. Well, he's right,
they're only subsidized by the NBA and they don't make money.
But he's not wrong, Gruden. This is coming down the pike.

(02:00:48):
This is gonna be something to see. If it's heard
in court, it'll be highly charged. He said. Grude's too
smart not to have a trick or two up a sleeve.
He might so far he's winning in but it's pretty
damning what he said, and he put it in print. Finally,
Sean McVay is a genius. But taking that loss is
as bad as it gets kicked the field goal stop

(02:01:09):
Matt Jones with that d it should be easy. Well,
nothing's easy in the NFL. But I appreciate the variance
of opinions. I defended Sean McVay. If you missed the
midnight Hour, I know he's beating himself up. He particularly
in retrospect, not fond of the call. And you know
how it is just like Pete Carrolyn's Super Bowl. Who
wasn't super Bowl fifty? No, yeah, fifty. I think we

(02:01:36):
all know about the play. Everybody thought Marshawn Lynch should
have got the ball got picked off against the Patriots.
Maybe it's a Super Bowl forty nine. But here's the point.
If you're right, you're a genius. If you're wrong, you're
the village idiot. Well somebody that some people think this
guy's a village idiot, Nick Sirianni. But it is tenure.

(02:01:59):
He started four and oh three times. And Nick Seriani
coaches the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. They're twenty
and one in their last twenty one games, of course,
including their their big win over the Super Bowl Chiefs
in the Super Bowl, and also including their win last

(02:02:19):
week thirty one to twenty five over the Tampa Bay Bucks,
who were also undefeated on the time. I excuse me,
also undefeated at the time. They're only blemish in that
twenty one game. Street were three days before Christmas against
the Washington Commanders. They lost thirty six to thirty three.
And let's not forget they started Kenny Pickett in that game. Okay,
they started Kenny pickt Canny Pickett had a good game,

(02:02:41):
but they lost. Now the Eagles are one of two
four to oh teams this season. Two teams left are undefeated,
the Buffalo Bills and the Eagles. But if you look
at the stats, you may look at the Eagles and say,
especially since they've been outgained in every game, hall the

(02:03:02):
hell a they have four to zero. We football can
be situational and they find ways to win. Now, many
many years ago, I got a sharp audience. You may
remember the Texas Rangers had a manager by the name
of Doug Rader. I mean, this has taken you back
into the eighties, and they were winning and winning, but
no one knew how they were doing it. And of
course they didn't win a World Series or anything like

(02:03:24):
the Eagles won the Super Bowl. But Doug Rader says,
we win ugly. We went ugly. But a win is
a win is a win. So stealing a line from
Doug Rader, are the Eagles merely winning ugly? Will you
tell me? And then win over Tampa Bay last week
Nick Siriani's team. The Eagles led by three touchdowns in

(02:03:45):
the second quarter and eighteen points in the third quarter.
It was thirty one to thirteen in the third quarter,
and Jalen Hurts did not exactly break the bank that day,
fifteen to twenty four for a buck thirty two touchdowns,
didn't throw a pick, but he had a passer rating
of one to four point five. But he completed all
those passes in the first half. He threw eight incompletions

(02:04:06):
in the second half of the game. Hertz also ran
the ball for sixty two yards, which was good Casequon
Barkley only gained forty three yards. He did score a touchdown,
put forty three yards on nineteen carries for Saquon Barkley.
That has you raised a little bit of an eyebrow,
doesn't it. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay outgained the Eagles. He had

(02:04:27):
three hundred and seventy six yards. Philly had two hundred.
That's a knemick in this man's NFL outgame by one
hundred and seventy six yards, and you still win. As
I said earlier, probably three or four times during the show,
Nick Siriani's team has been outyarded in every game this season.
So I don't know. This isn't necessarily you can say
the offense has been stuck in neutral But Dick Fangio,

(02:04:52):
legendary defensive coordinator, you play complimentary football in Philadelphia. You
win games, Okay, A win is a win is a win.
And leave it to Saquon Barkley, the measured you know,
the voice of reason. He says, I don't care what
it looks like. Just win, whether I rush for twenty
yards or two hundred yards, whatever it takes. If the
golore six to three or thirty six to four, we're

(02:05:14):
going to be four and oh. Now if it was
thirty six to four, I gotta believe that'd be a
new score of gami. But what do I know? Okay, Well,
the only other four to oh team in the NFL's
modern era to be gained in all four or four wins.
You got to go back to twenty twelve, the Arizona Cardinals.
They got away with that hot start until they didn't.

(02:05:35):
They won one game the rest of the season and
finished five to eleven. Now, I am no way in
hell predicting that's going to happen with the Eagles. But
to keep winning at the rank, at the rate they
are and be a short list for the Super Bowl,
this you can't say this is sustainable. This really isn't sustainable.

(02:05:58):
You know, Tampa Bay gave them everything they could handle.
And they held them off. But this isn't the first
game where the Eagles had had that situation, right. How
about against the Rams, I think an earlier kick caller
brought up. Jordan Davis blocks a kick, Josh Carty lines
up for forty four yard field goal in Week three,

(02:06:19):
you talk about a bad beat if you had the
Rams plus three and a half that day, kind of
like I did, and a lot of professional gamblers I
know in Vegas did that one hurt because I think
at one point the Rams led like twenty three to
nine anyway, or something like that. Anyway, the next thing
you know, it's twenty seven to twenty six Eagles, but

(02:06:41):
the Rams are lining up to kick that forty four
yard field goal. Had Cardy made that kick three seconds
left in the game, the Rams would have escaped with
a win and that would have been that. But Jordan
Davis not only blocked that kick, he rumbles sixty one
yards for a touchdown, which they didn't need to do.

(02:07:02):
They already won the game. You think you fall down right, Well,
no you don't. So instead of covering, you lose thirty
three to twenty six. And I'm believe in a lot
of money shifted hands. But again there's another situation where
the Eagles only put up two hundred and eighty eight
yards that day. The Rams put up three point fifty six,
So the Eagles, though, again you find this is what

(02:07:24):
great teams do, and in fact, Franklin Nolan Ryan said
it best. The mark of a great pitcher is when
you beat teams and you don't have your best stuff.
The Eagles became the first NFL team in forty seven
years to block a kick, whether it be a punt
or a field goal, on three consecutive opponent possessions. Football's

(02:07:46):
played in three phases. Special teams. Guys have roles as well,
So when you're well coached and you got guys dogs,
this is what happened. Now, look, we're not going to
go over every game and what happened. I think there's
awareness in Philadelphia. Jalen Hurts basically said that we have

(02:08:06):
to stop playing not to lose and start playing to win.
He has a valid point, okay, but Sirianni and all
of his you know, mad scientists ways, he started four
to zero in three different seasons since he got the
job in twenty twenty one, and he talks the way
he talks about, it's the process and then the coach speak,
because Philly turned over a lot of players. They turned over.

(02:08:28):
We talked about this heading into week one when they
were laying a bundle against Dallas and I like Dallas
that first Thursday night game and they ended up covering,
you know, and he says, hey, we're not turning it
over now. Defensively, you can't give up explosive plays. We
give up explosive plays. And then in a couple of
games they turned it over and Sirihanna says, well, we
want to be aggressive, but we want to play the

(02:08:49):
second half, and we want to play it all three phases.
And he credited Baker Mayfield, and he credited Todd Bowles,
and he credited all their talent. But somehow Philadelphia found
a way to win. So they seem comfortable living on
the edge. And so far, you can't say it's not

(02:09:11):
working out because they're four and zero and they're you know. Now,
they faced Denver later on today. Philly's a three and
a half point favorite, bo Nick's coming off his best game.
Denver has seventy eight sacks in their last twenty games. Meanwhile,
you know, I've told you about the Eagles, and they're
Travail's on offense and AJ Brown is unhappy. I think

(02:09:34):
they need to get I think Eagles need to get
AJ Brown going two catches for seven yards on nine
targets last week. And I think there was, you know,
the typical cryptic tweet post game. But AJ Brown has
been held to twenty seven or few yards in three
or four games. He's not playing for Tennessee anymore. And

(02:09:55):
by the way, again I mentioned this earlier. Philly's passing
game ranks thirty first in the NFL. So look, Brown's
asking for the ball. He deserves the ball. The Broncos
defense is no joke. But I would say Denver's really
gonna have to bring their AA plus game to beat Philly.

(02:10:17):
In Philadelphia, they're getting used to their new personnel. They're
nine to three against the spread in their past twelve
games as favorites. They're just tough and it's a tough
place to play. And before last week, when Knicks had
his best game of the year, he hadn't had a
lot of success getting the ball down the field to
kick start the offense. But he was settled in Monday

(02:10:37):
night showed good footwork, good patience. This will be a
real test in Philadelphia, though, because even though the Eagles
haven't looked good, they're still winning and frankly, you gotta
be glass at full. I think that should be of
concern to their opponents, their future opponents, and well their
past opponents already know. By the way, if you missed

(02:11:01):
any of tonight's show, you'll want to catch the podcast.
Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts.
Right after the show, tonight's podcast will be posted. Be
sure to follow the podcast rated five stars, and you
can even provide a review. Again, just search Fox Sports
Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and you'll find tonight's

(02:11:24):
full show posted right after we get off the air.
Coming up, we are going to continue with our NFL coverage,
but I want to switch gears ever so quickly. We
talked about the travail's that the WNBA has had with
their TV ratings and their revenues and things of that nature. Well,

(02:11:47):
I've been saying this since the beginning of the year,
and I can't believe I've still heard people on the
air in April, May and of the summer saying baseball is
not popular anymore. I don't know what you've been smoking,
but I don't want it. I'm willing to debunk that
theory and find Feddle coming up. I'm Bernie Fradderwick Company
Line from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. Keep

(02:12:07):
it locked. You're listening to the Bernie Frattle Show on
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 4 (02:12:11):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. All right back in the Bernie Fraddle Show
Fox Sports Radio, coming to live from the Fox Sports
Radio Studios here in Las Vegas. Take you after three
and Pacific six am Eastern, four hours and ten minutes

(02:12:33):
away from the Vikings and Browns. I'm gonna call an
audible here.

Speaker 2 (02:12:43):
I want to save my commentary on the Major League
Baseball National TV ratings in the dramatic numbers they've put
forth this year on all of their platforms. I want to.
I want to do that to close the show. I
want to I want to dive into and by the way,
congratulations the Dodgers for drawing first blood in Philadelphia after

(02:13:04):
trailing three nothing. I'm telling you, October Baseball is different,
and the Dodgers are built for this man. It is
in their DNA now that they got one under their
belt last year. With this group, they are going to
be a very tough outu and based on historical data
Major League Baseball data, game one winners in a best
of five series advanced about seventy three percent of the time.

(02:13:25):
So Philly better get their split Monday or it could
be a long winner. And I know Bryce Harper would
love to win one after getting that big deal back
in twenty nineteen. But I digress. Playoffs are upon us
October Baseball. We'll be talking more about it as we
get closer to the World Series. But there are seven
new NFL coaches, and I want to check in and evaluate,

(02:13:47):
or at least give thoughts and opinions on all seven
new hires, because the league turns over every four or
five years unless you're one of these veterans like Mike
Tomlin or you get the picture right, I want to
start with Ben Johnson. And by the way, four weeks
of regular season play is frankly a small sample, but
you can certainly form impressions and those impressions are often

(02:14:12):
justified later by, you know, continued action or non action.
Ben Johnson is two and two with the Bears. Now,
depending on what your expectations were with this team, because
I don't have great ones. I know that Caleb Williams
had a good game last week. You're in Las Vegas,

(02:14:34):
but I still think he plays playground football, and I
think there's tension there. They're working through it, but I don't.
I'm not nearly as optimistic. So again back to the
old you've heard me say a thousand times, don't tell me,
show me. I think Caleb Williams is the next coming. Fine,
don't tell me show me. So if you're going to
assess Ben Johnson in his first month, if you got

(02:14:54):
to juxtapose that against whatever expectations you had, if you
thought that Ben Johnson was gonna be be a mirror
worker and turn the Bears offense into the greatest show
on non turf, or be the next Lions, because the
Lions had all kinds of talent, then you may not
be super happy right now. That's the long term goal,

(02:15:14):
and Ben Johnson may well have success in Chicago. I
don't know that it's going to be overnight. I don't
know that it's going to be this year. I don't
know they're ever going to have it. But it was
completely unrealistic to assume that the Bears would come out
of the gate the same way the Buffalo Bills have. Okay, fair,
So yes, we're back to the old It's a process,
regardless of how badly and I get it. The Bears

(02:15:36):
fans would like to see their team make it happen
forty year anniversary of the eighty five Bears, right, And
of course they did get to the Super Bowl in
two thousand and six, when the two thousand and seven
when they lost to Peyton Manning and the Colts. But
Ben Johnson was the big shining new tell me the
big splashy offseason higher. So there have been some flashes

(02:16:00):
the Bears are heading in the right direction. Johnson has
an offensive system that's a tremendous upgrade over what the
hell they were running last year. But I still don't
see the consistency that they think they're going to have.
Caleb Williams, can you say he looks a little bit
more comfortable than he did last year as a rookie? Yeah? Yeah,

(02:16:21):
that's like being the best hockey player in Argentina. I
don't know, how can you really again? You need more?
Chicago doesn't really have a great running game. And the
truth of the matter is one of the things that
made Detroit's offense run under Ben Johnson so well is
that you had two stud running backs. Okay, if you
really want to unlock whatever potential Caleb Williams has in
the NFL as an NFL player, you got to open

(02:16:43):
up passing limbs by running the ball.

Speaker 10 (02:16:46):
Right.

Speaker 2 (02:16:47):
If you think Chicago is going to be in a
position to push for a playoff spot, well then maybe
you make a move with the playoff deadline or the
trade deadline. I don't see that happening. I think right
now the jury's very much out. The returns on Johnson's
hire are if he but it's new. Remember they blocked

(02:17:10):
the field goal against the Raiders, or they'd be one
and three and one in three. Just for some reason,
it sounds way worse than two and two. On the
other side of the ball, Dannis Sandals defense has actually
been okay. He's a veteran coordinator. He doesn't have a
hell of a lot to work with on that side
of the ball. But again it's Ben Johnson's team. They
been up and down, they're two and two. The early

(02:17:31):
signs are they are what you want them to be.
If you think they're promising and you're a Bears fan, fine,
they're promising. But a year from now, if they look
about like they look now, you know, I don't know.
He's either going to be the hot shot coaching hier
that lives up to his hype or just another story
from the Naked City with the vast majority of hot

(02:17:52):
shot coaching hires don't live up to their hype, Which
brings us to Mike Vrabel, who's also two and two. Okay,
start in New England didn't get off to the most
you know, heartwarming start if you're if you're a local
Patriots fan, right especially that week went home lost to
the Raiders and that cowardly fourth down decision and you

(02:18:14):
know they lost to the Raiders at home. Uh but
I think uh Vrabel learned that, you know, you know, uh,
what's what's what's what's the old saying? Uh, Fate favors
the bold. Maybe he's a little bit more bold now
and since then he's attempted seven fourth down conversions. In

(02:18:35):
the next three games, six to seven, six to seven. Now,
assuming Vera Bral be unics if I could speak English,
Vrabel is in the process of trying to up his
game management skills and modernizing his game management. The truth
of the matter is the hype that some people were
talking about New England UH this year, including me saying

(02:18:58):
I thought that we're going to be better. How could
they be worse? Might be, you know, warranted because Rabel
does have a reputation for program building and getting the
most out of his players. Okay, he's been a coach
in Tennessee. Ben Johnson's never been a head coach. The
Patriots roster has a lot of glaring holes, even though
they had a pretty busy offseason. But again, you have

(02:19:22):
a situation. They beat the Panthers and a lopsided game,
and then when it could be three and one, if
you know how many times did they fumble against the Steelers,
and again they played a poor game against the Raiders.
All Right, I'm not really a Josh McDaniels fan, but
they say it's a stroke of genius. And if he
likes him, what am I to say? If he can help,

(02:19:43):
If Josh McDaniels can help Drake may take the next
step in his development. Fine, he's completing seventy four percent
of his passes. He's showing real potential, which he also
showed last year. I don't think Josh mcdamis will never
get ever, get another head coaching job again in the NFL.
Learn in Denver and they didn't learn here in Las Vegas,

(02:20:03):
then don't. I don't know what you're thinking.

Speaker 11 (02:20:06):
But.

Speaker 2 (02:20:08):
If given the opportunity and enough weapons, they might produce
offensively in New England, which will be part of Mike
Rabel's success, and certainly a situation where at the culture,
at the players, at their game plan in three phases.
I think Rabel's actually off to a better start than

(02:20:28):
I would say for Ben Johnson. I would that feels
the situation in New England feels less tenuous to me
that it does in Chicago. That's come to Las Vegas, Pete,
Pete Carroll one and three. Uh, here's the thing, though,
Pete Carroll made it clear when he got to Las
Vegas he's not here to to to, you know, be
part of this protracted rebuild. He wants to win now

(02:20:50):
because that's what he's always done. They ain't gonna win.
Now they're one and three and they're head to Indianapolis
later today. And no Colt Miller, I don't know about
brock Bowers, Geno Smister on seven interceptions and hope always
brings eternal. Here in Las Vegas, I constantly hear the
local media this is a year man start the car
Then Josh mcgaine's, oh, he's our man. Every year it's

(02:21:13):
the same bs just again, don't tell me showby. Nobody
talks more. The Raiders are an iconic organization and the
NFL is better when the Raiders are good. Let's just
face it, because people either love them or hate him.
I think they're you know what Al Davis created. They're
still living in the past. They don't win on the field.
Come on now, Carol's number one staff hire Chip Kelly,

(02:21:36):
and he made him the highest paid offensive coyd ender
in the league. I can't exactly say chip Kelly has
provided a great return on investment. Yet the scheme is like, uh,
the offensive line struggled and it's been listen some of
the breakdowns and pass protection and then the run game
have been downright. Well, look like Benny hill ye, and

(02:22:00):
I get it to Aston Genty had a breakout, breakout
game last week. Good for him, but it was against
the freaking Bears. The Bears stink. I'm sorry. We'll see
what they do against the Colts later on today. Right now,
the Raiders are kind of competitive. But to get to

(02:22:20):
be competitive, where they find to win the game. Find
a way to win the game. Like last week they
would have been two and two instead of one and three.
They found ways to lose it, blown assignments, penalties, turnovers,
the field goal getting blocked. I think there are ways away. Okay,
how much longer would Pete Carroll coach? Let's say it's

(02:22:42):
at least three years. I endorsed the higher I thought
it was a good hire. But if he didn't get
it done in three years, I mean, look what's happening now,
and Antonio could have done this. But I digress, all right.
I was a big Liam Cohen fan in Tampa Bay.
Went on Jason Smith's podcast. I said, watch it. I

(02:23:04):
do it right before the season every year, and I said,
people aren't talking about this guy. His offensive genius is
rock Trees. Baker Mayfield had a baffo year. He started
out three and one on Jacksonville. Jacksonville, it was you know,
Punttt said that Jacksonville was taking a bigger risk by
hiring Liam Cohen only because, yes, he had great success

(02:23:25):
in Tampa Bay during his one season as the offensive coordinator.
The question was was that enough of a resume for
a successful head coach. But as it turns out, I'm
gonna say thumbs up. Okay, he can't make any totally
definitive judgments and predictions about where Jacksonville's going to be
curious to see how they do against Kansas City this weekend.

(02:23:46):
But this dude, Liam Cohen has command of this job period.
He has shown the same schematic genius that made him
a rising star while he had Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay.
The run game has been a breakout. They had the
same personnel from last year. Okay, but Travis atn is

(02:24:08):
averaging six point one yards of carry. He didn't do
that last year without Leon Cohen. They're doing it this
year now. The passing game hasn't been on the same level,
and Cohen probably knows he needs to get the ball
more to Brian Thomas and Travis Hunter. But let this
marinate because you know, we talked about the Bears showing

(02:24:29):
some flashes, Jacksonville showing some flashes, especially considering Trevor Lawrence
has been a bottom five quarterback in terms of his
inaccuracy and he's not really recorded a lot of big
time throws this year. But Cohen also built a great staff.
He's a guy, and he brought in Anthony Campanille as

(02:24:50):
his offensive or defensive coordinators scuse me, and that's been
a great hire so far. Jacksonville's defense has been incredibly productive.
They don't have the best secondary, they have a mediocre
secondary and paper, but somehow they've led the league with
nine turnovers and they're sitting taged with the Rams for
second in the yards for place. So the Jags hit
a home run with his staff. Okay, the New York

(02:25:13):
Jets on four and they deserve to be on four. Now.
Aaron Glenn was a great player when he was with
the Jets, and I think there was a they tried
to romanticize that when they brought Aaron Glenn in and
hired him away from the Lions. Okay. The other thing, too,
is Aaron Glenn is a no nonsense, no BS guy

(02:25:34):
and given the last decade or beyond with the Jets organization.
Not only was it going to be a challenge to
correct that that completely scattered shot type of organizational culture,
there was a thought that it would be hard for

(02:25:54):
the Jets to get a top candidate. All right, So
the Jets believe they have on an Aaron Glenn. All right,
he's a CEO type of a coach, and I don't know,
he's a defensive guy. And Collins Coward's got this theory
that all you got to have an offensive coach to
have a good quarterback and a well, come on Belichick.

(02:26:16):
With how many years with Belichick in New England, that
offense did pretty well. The odd defense did as well.
But you can eat a player, you can't. And you
know how I feel about Justin Fields. Love the guy.
I just don't want him as my quarterback and I
don't think he'll be their their long term Quarterback'd be
curious to see if the Jets select a quarterback because
they're going to draft near the top of the draft clearly,

(02:26:39):
all right, now, Glenn had an impressive run as a
defensive coordator in Detroit top ten despite injuries, and I
think there is still optimism what he can do with
this Jets defense, but the early results again bottom five.
So the truth of the matter is, either it's going

(02:26:59):
to take time for Glenn to clean these things up
in New York. He built it Detroit, but you had
a ton of talent there, and so maybe with a
couple of good drafts, maybe some acquisitions, whatever, it's going
to take some time. It's really going to take some
time with the Jets. And let's be clear, it's been
since twenty ten since the Jets were lasting the playoffs.

(02:27:23):
All right, everybody made fun of this higher maybe they
made more fun of the process. But even though Brian
Schottenheimer's won two and one and Jerry Jones took a
lot of heat for hiring Schottenheimer, I think again he
took more heat for the way he handled the process.
This dude has impressed me with his demeanor, his physical latitude,

(02:27:45):
his comportment, the way he handles things. He was an
offensive coordinator for the last two years of Mike McCarthy's tenure,
so he knows what he's doing on that side of
the ball. Is his son of Marty Schottenheimer. He just
seems to have the temperament and the intellect he's been
around the NFL. I think the team believes in them,
and I'm really impressed with what Dak Prescott is doing.

(02:28:07):
Dallas has got a lot of holes on both sides
of the ball, and they lost Michael Parsons. But let's
give Dallas credit. Remember how we were raving about this
green Bay defense, including me, Well, this Dallas team put
out forty points against green Bay and yeah it was
a tie, but that was a loss for green Bay. Okay,
that's the fourth best offensive showing the Cowboys big day.

(02:28:31):
Was even more impressed. And when you consider that most
other teams had their offensive explosions that are ready to
head to Dallas against helpless defenses, the Packers defense is
already good. They've been stacking first round draft choices for years,
and now you acquire Michael Parsons and it was a
revenge game. Now there's one problem. For some reason, Selma

(02:28:55):
said Kertsche Brian Schottenheimer hired Matt Eberfluss. Ah, that's the
barrest guy we were just talking about. With all due respect,
the defensive unit has been as bad as it can be. Now,
maybe Jerry Jones made the decision to hire Matt Eberflus,
But with all due respect to Matt Eberflus, it was

(02:29:17):
a nightmare tenure in Chicago, and it feels like that
might not have been a good hire. And so you know,
that's what Schottenheimer's dealing with. But as far as things
that are in his control in the offense, so far,
so good. I think Dallas can win eight nine games
this year. I think they can. They got to clean
things up. They've had a tough, tough schedule. We had

(02:29:37):
a Green Bay and you had Green Bay in Philly
the first four weeks not easy, and you have the
Jets this weekend. Kellen Moore, we don't We have no
idea what kind of coach Kellen Moore is going to
be as the tenure goes on with New Orleans. He's
kind of a journeyman coordinator. You know, he was part

(02:29:59):
of the Super Bowl championship team with Philadelphia, and I think,
you know, you have to give Kellen Moore some rope
because the Saints are going to rebuild and they just
seemed they're just gonna have to fill out the roster
before they can become a contender again. And everything is cyclical.

(02:30:22):
They will be again at some point. Okay, look the
salary cat mismanagement dating back to the Sean Payton era.
It's gonna take a while before this team can turn
the tide. They're coming off a three and fourteen season. Then,
by the way, you could put Sean Payton as head
coach of this team. I don't know how well you
do with the talent. Okay, they'd have, but I think
when you saw the way the Saints competed like they

(02:30:44):
did last week in Buffalo, I think Saints fans should
be cautiously optimistic that they can turn it around. It's
just gonna take time. Kellen Moore has at least put
Spencer Ratler on the offense in position to be competitive,
and they were competitive against the real Super Bowl contender.

(02:31:05):
So you know, let let it let it pan out.
So all the coaches, the jury is out. The jury
is out. For me, I'm most impressed with Brian Schottenhirron,
Liam Cohen. You already know what Carol can do, Rabel
can do, We'll see what Ben Johnson can do. These
jobs ain't so easy, and there's only thirty two of
them in there, and they're you know, they're highly coveted jobs.

(02:31:27):
But what's the old joke that's been overstated about eight
billion times. The NFL stands for not for long. If
you don't you know't win, and that's the way it rolls.
So again, we're less than four hours away from the
NFL Week five resuming, and it is a week two
week league, so don't be surprised if there are surprises.

(02:31:49):
By the way, the Major league playoffs continue off and
running hard with a vengeance. And we talked about the
w NBA TV ratings and such. The Major League Baseball
national TV ratings have risen dramatically in twenty twenty five.
By the way, I'm going to tell you how much.

(02:32:11):
It's a situation that bodes very well for the national pastime,
whether people want to believe it or not. I'm Bernie Fridda.
We're coming to your line from Las Vegas, Fox Sports
Radio Studios. Keep it locked you listen to the Bernie
Fradle Show on Fox Sports Radio. Wrapping up on the
Bernie Fraddle Show Fox Sports Radio. Coming to live from
the Fox Sports Radio studios here in Las Vegas. Thanks

(02:32:33):
so much to my producers Mark and Brianna. Appreciate all
the efforts. And by the way, uh, you know, the
NFL is hot and heavy, and we talked about the
NBA earlier with Mark Mark Medina and the baseball postseason
is here. Will the Dodgers become the first team in
twenty five years to repeat? Well, they're alive. They're more

(02:32:55):
than alive, So we'll see. But this is a I
want to share some information that is something I think
has been brewing for a while, and that is baseball
is very alive and well see because not only did
baseball report solid attendance numbers this year, but the story

(02:33:16):
on television is really the story. Baseball finished the twenty
twenty five regular season with incredibly strong viewership increases on
every one of its national TV partners, and that just
speaks to the momentum that's building around the sport. ESPN. Now,
remember it's been ESPN and Baseball have been a staple

(02:33:40):
since Moby Dick was a minto. But this is ESPN's
final season with Sunday Night Baseball after thirty five years,
and they average one point eight million for all of
its regular season coverage up this year, up twenty one
percent from twenty twenty four. Meanwhile, on Fox the game's
on brock as to average two point four million viewers,

(02:34:03):
while cable games on FS one averaged about three hundred
and twenty four thousand viewers, both ten percent increases over
last year. TNT, remember that's Warner Brothers Discovery outlet. They're
about to head to Discovery Global and this corporate split,
they averaged four hundred and sixty two thousand viewers for

(02:34:23):
the most were non exclusive Major League Baseball games this year.
That represents a twenty nine percent increase from last year. Meanwhile,
MLB Network, now that's the network that's run by the league.
They average about two hundred and sixty one thousand viewers
for its out of market showcase live games, which is

(02:34:45):
up thirteen percent from last year. So between ESPN, FOX, TNT,
and Major League Baseball Network, all four entities saw the
national TV ratings by double digits. Now, there was also
a game in attendance this season, fans coming out to
the ballpark, not maybe as dramatic as the gains in

(02:35:08):
TV ratings, but what it does is it builds onto
a three year run of growth. And this is the
biggest three year consecutive run of growth in twenty years.
Oh five, oh six and oh seven were the last
time they had this kind of growth in fan attendants
at games. By the way, listen uh. The Major League

(02:35:31):
Baseball has also completed a reworked rights deal for the
twenty six through twenty eight season because those rights are
being forfeited by ESPN. So Baseball and their fandom and
their attendance and their TV viewership, he's in great hands. Now.
I don't know that. I'm I don't I don't want
to bash rob Man Freddie He's I'm underwhelmed by him.

(02:35:54):
But he has been he has been a part of this.
And he's got a new deal with NBC that includes
his Sunday night presence on the wild Card Playoffs, and
another one with Netflix that's going to be based in
part on the home Run Derby. So these are things
that are coming down the pike next year. There's some
other key metrics. There was a thirty four percent increase
in consumption from MLBtv, meaning in the number of minutes

(02:36:19):
that were watched. Okay, I don't even know how to
put this in a perspective. Nineteen point thirty nine billion
minutes were watched on MLB TV. That's a thirty five
percent increase. By the way, you know, you hear numbers
like million in billion. Let me give you some perspective
on that. If you started to count to a million
one second at a time, it would take you twelve days.

(02:36:41):
If you started to count to a billion one second
at a time, that twelve days jumps to thirty three years.
Twelve days, thirty three years. People watched MLB TV for
nineteen point thirty nine billion minutes, another league record. By
the way, average game times actually we're two minutes longer

(02:37:04):
this year, two hours and thirty eight minutes, but they're
still well below the twenty twenty three measures you know,
you know, notably the pitch clock and those types of
things that keep the game moving faster. By the way,
another feather in their cap, Japanese viewership posted huge totals
not only during last year's World Series, but also during

(02:37:27):
this season's opening series, which averaged just under three million
viewers per game. That's also up another twenty percent. By
the way, it's not just national TV, it's local increases too.
Game viewership across the league on regional sports networks go
two percent. That's something Main Street Sports they're the largest
single operator of baseball broadcasting through its Fan Duel Sports Network. Well,

(02:37:50):
they said major League Baseball coverage across their owned and
operated outlets, they have about fifteen of them averaged one
and a half million daily viewers across all their p
which is also an eighteen percent increase from twenty twenty four.
And by the way, there was a real turnaround this company,
formerly Diamond Sports. They re emerged from Chapter eleven bankruptcy

(02:38:14):
with a new name and they have a new vision
and they're big on digital access to live games. So
keep an eye on Amazon channels. Major League Baseball on
Fan Duel Sports Network generated that generated more than two
point eight billion minutes of consumption this year, which is
double what it did last year. So the truth of

(02:38:35):
the matter is we know that they're all the beneficiary
of strong baseball seasons, sensational stars being developed and performances
you know, like Shoheio Tani and the Big Dumper and
so on and so forth. But the fans are showing up. Okay.
The other component is that the audience has benefited from
this access model and the way baseball is propagated now,

(02:38:58):
the way you watch it, and it's it's better than ever.
I don't know if the announcers are better than ever,
but between the graphics and the camera work and the
way that a game is produced, it's next level stuff.
So major League Baseball, and as these playoffs continue, it's
been a banner year. We'll see if they can grow
from here. We'll see. Could you imagine if we have

(02:39:21):
another Dodgers Yankees World Series? It could happen. It's gonna
do it for the Bernie Frattle show up next, the
great Andy Ferman, the Fox Sports Radio

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