The Bernie Fratto Show talks Luka and the Lakers in Peril, Michigan's dominance of Arizona, and the MLB ABS challenge system!

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

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Well that's right, you heard the man, and in the
word of Austin Powers, allow myself to introduce myself. My
name is Bernie Fretta. We are comedy line from the
Fox Sports Radio studios here in Las Vegas. We'll take
you up to three am Pacific, six am Eastern and
as we sit here on April fourth, if you're in

(00:29):
my time zone, or April fifth if you're in the
Eastern time zone. Well, once again we find ourselves in
a cornucopia of well choices to well delight even the
most discretionary sports fan. Monday, we have an epic matchup
with plenty of storylines, Michigan and Yukon. Major League Baseball

(00:53):
seasons underway with much fanfare, and you know why, the
NBA Playoffs just around the corner the NFL Draft. You
get my point, and once again sports teaches us that yes,
it is the greatest reality show and you can script
everything but the ending. Just a few days ago, we

(01:14):
had sixty eight teams. Now we're down to four. Now
we're down to two. And before I get to my point,
because I'm fascinated with the storylines behind this matchup, on
Monday Night. I had the good pleasure of working many
years in the media in Detroit, cut my teeth at

(01:35):
WTK and an Arbors starting in nineteen ninety four, graduated
spent many years at CBS ninety seven to one at
the time it was WKRKA Announce ninety seven to one.
In the ticket allons pre and post for many years
covered all the World Series, NBA Finals, Michigan football, you
name it. But during that time, perhaps what stuck out

(01:59):
most to me was watching up close to the great
Scottie Bowman, the head coach of the Red Wings, who
I have argued is the greatest coach in Indy sport
of all time anywhere. He won nine Stanley Cups with
three different teams in three different eras, and while with
the Red Wings, did it with three different goalies Chris Osgood,

(02:21):
Mike Vernon and Dominic Kashick. Which leaves me to Monday,
because the storylines to me make this game what it is. Yukhn.
I bet you didn't know this, or maybe it did
and you didn't think about it. They're looking to capture
their seventh seventh basketball championship since nineteen ninety nine, also

(02:49):
with three different coaches, Jim Calhoun, Kevin Ollie and now
Danny Hurley, And who knew? Come on, you didn't predict this.
I know I didn't. I think I had him get
into late eat or something, because I know that Danny Hurley,
who's now nineteen to one in his last twenty NCAA games,

(03:09):
he turns it up to a different notch when March
Madness starts. But again, who knew? It wasn't that long
ago that Yukon lost unceremoniously to Saint John's twice, including
by twenty. On March eighteenth, they lost at home to Creighton,
and they lost the Marquette. Those weren't good teams. They

(03:34):
find themselves a seven and a half point underdog to
Michigan on Monday Night. Meanwhile, Michigan, they're looking to get
their first titles since nineteen eighty nine, and the first
for the Big Ten since two thousand, when Tom izzowin
Company beat Michigan and Teddy Dupe and that whole group
Eudonis Haslam back in two thousand. So put this in

(03:57):
your pipe and smoke it. Yukon is looking to get
or seventh since nineteen ninety nine. The Big ten, their
first in two thousand one school has that many championships
over an entire conference, but it's going to be a
tall order. Did you happen to see the game Saturday night? Yeah,

(04:20):
it was number one versus number one, But if this
had been a fight, they might have stopped it. And
full disclosure, I thought Arizona would win. I had them
winning the whole thing in my Fox Sports bracket, which
looks like a jigsaw with a couple of pieces gone,
Thank you, Jim Crouching, actually a bunch of pieces gone.
And Michigan has pretty much laid waste to just about

(04:44):
anybody in their path this year. They when they decide
they want to and maybe you first took notice when
they beat a pretty good Gonzaga team by about forty
back in November. But they have twelve wins this year,
but at least three points in seven by at least forty.
But this was Arizona, a team that has also left

(05:06):
a similar trail of dead bodies throughout the season. You
didn't suspicion Michigan, as a one and a half point favorite,
would do this. Five minutes into the game, Michigan was
out to a sixteen to five League, and the next
thing you know, they're leading by sixteen and a half.
Even though their best player, arguably Yaxil Lendeborg, only played

(05:28):
five minutes due to fall trouble and some sort of
knee and ankle injury. He was grimacing, he was doing
his Fred Sandford walk around the arena. I didn't think
he'd come back in the second half. And the most
alarming thing about the first half is that Michigan didn't
even really look great on offense as they built that lead.

(05:49):
They had eight offensive rebounds and nine forced turnovers that
gave them a bunch of extra possessions and that helped
them stack up points to their advantage. If you're gonna
beat Michigan, it looks like you're gonna have to play
a near perfect game. Black Duke did, like Wisconsin did,
like Purdue did. They're not unbeatable. But Nolan Ryan once said,

(06:10):
the mark of a great pitcher is when you can
beat guys and you don't have your best stuff. Michigan
didn't have their best stuff. How scary would it have
been if their shots were dropping right away? Okay, back
on November twenty sixth, and you can find it on Twitter.
Michigan's the Axella Lindeborg said, quote today was about putting
the world on notice. We're the best team in the nation.

(06:33):
Reggie Jackson said, it ain't bragging if you can do it. Now,
they've got one more to go. At one point, they
let Arizona by thirty and Michigan scored ninety one points.
That's a new record. They became the first team in
the history of the tournament to score ninety in each
of their first five games of an NCAA tournament. Now

(06:55):
this may sound like I've been into Grandpa's cough suroup.
I don't think they're scoring ninety against Danny here. I
can't wait for this game. Don't think that Yukon can't
win this game. I saw Wisconsin beat Michigan. I saw
Purdue beat Michigan, and I saw Duke beat Michigan. But
Michigan right now is a runaway train. And if the

(07:16):
three pointers are falling, all that's gonna do is make
Yukon's life much more difficult. But again, don't think Yukon
can't win this game. I don't know if Arizona's coaching
staff was distracted this week. It doesn't matter Okay, I've

(07:36):
praised Arizona all year, and they deserved it. They could
light up the scoreboard. Two they weren't nearly as reliant
on three pointers, and in today's game, that's kind of
a unique quality to have. But if the other team
is rating triples like it's a Texas rainstorm, the simple
mat tells you it's going to be a long night.

(07:58):
The box score will show Michigan made six more triples
in Arizona in the contest, which made the final margin
eighteen points, and that's the exact margin that Arizona lost
by coincidence. Still, congratulations to Arizona. I thought they had
an excellent season. This is a hard tournament to win.

(08:22):
Onto Danny Hurley and the Magic Act. He apparently had
Illinois number Illinois number, because if you believe the Ken
Palm numbers, Illinois entered Saturday with not only the best
offense in the country this season, but the number one
all time since efficiency rankings first started twenty nine years ago. Now,

(08:43):
Dan Hurley does not live a life on stats. I
realized that Illinois has now played thirty seven total games
this season and they failed to score more than sixty
two points twice. The opponent you guessed at Yukon, Illinois
does have an electric offense. They relied heavily on floor

(09:04):
spacing and pretty much every player on that roster is
capable of knocking down triples. That typically puts great pressure
on a defense. However, I think Yukon is the best
team in the country at on ball defense, and because
of that, that limits the need for help defense. And

(09:26):
so without wide open looks to put the scoreboard to
light up. To get the scoreboard to light up, Illinois
only finished with three assists on the night. So look,
if you recall, this isn't the first time I have
the tremendous respect for Brad Underwood in Illinois. This is
the second time. Now, how did Danny Hurley do this?

(09:46):
Back in twenty twenty four when Yukon, when all their
games won the tournament going back to back by double digits.
They held the align that year to a season low
fifty two points. Yes, another defensive masterclass, just the latest
notch in the belt of the crazy outrageous John Wooden

(10:08):
type march madness resume Danny Hurley is building. He doesn't
have the longevity of the of all the all time
greats but in terms of win percentage, Billy Donovan pretty
good win percentage right, seventy four point five percent. He
won thirty five tournament games. Roy Williams seventy four point
five percent of his games, Mike Krzyzewski seventy six percent

(10:31):
of his games. Danny Hurley, he's twenty and five eighty
percent of his games, only behind the great John Wooden,
who won eighty two percent of his games. Now I
get it. Dan Hurley has only been in only twenty
five March Madness games, much less than his brethren. Give
him time. Okay, Hurley's numbers get even more impressive when

(10:54):
you look at the betting line. It looks like Danny
Hurley is now a perfect eleven to zero against the
number in the sweet sixteen or later. And yes, he's
getting seven and a half points on on Monday Night.

(11:15):
And give it up to Terris Reed Junior. His tournament
performance is, you know, up there with guys like Shaquille O'Neal.
He has one hundred and four points sixty five rebounds
in this tournament. Only in the last fifty years, there's
only been five players to ever do that. I want
to hear their names. You may have heard of. Larry

(11:37):
Bird did it at Indiana State in seventy nine. Larry
Johnson Grandmama, he did it for the national champion unv
runner Rebels back in nineteen ninety. Chris Webber did it
for Michigan in ninety three, Nick Collison at Kansas, and
then Zach Edy just a couple of years ago. Terras
Reid rode Illinois like a stick horse in the first half,

(12:01):
eleven point six rebounds by the break. Now foul trouble
and I think some weird offensive sets and frankly, some
questionable calls. He only got to take two shots in
the first fifteen minutes of the second half, but what
he does on offense gives Yukon confidence. But both Arizona
and Michigan had massive front courts with plenty of bodies

(12:24):
to throw a terrorist Reid in the title game, whether
it would have been Arizona or Michigan. However, again, don't
think Yukon can't win this game on Monday night. I
guarantee you Michigan will throw everything at him but the
kitchen sink, and may throw that too. As that for

(12:46):
a lowsy cliche, but so far Yukon and Terras Reid
have answered every challenge. Who knew you get sacked by
a mediocre Marquette team, a very down season for Creighton,
you lose to Saint John's by twenty. You lose to
Saint John's two out of three, and you're playing for

(13:07):
your third national championship in four years. Like I said,
sports are the greatest reality show. You can script everything
but the ending. I can't wait from Monday, he'd be
sure to subscribe to the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.
Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube. You'll see our
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(13:30):
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Coming up, Luka Doncic was dealt a bad hand the
other night. Now, Lucas had quite a season and he's
played sixty four games. You see where I'm going with this,

(13:51):
and it doesn't look like I don't know if he's
going to be available for the first round of the playoffs.
We have to see how his plays out. Doesn't look
like it, but we all due respect. If he saw
Luca try to play defense against oll Case the other night,
he looked like one of those guys wandering around them
all parking lot because he couldn't find his car. They
hunted him and scored seventy percent of the time that

(14:13):
they took shots when Luca was guarding him. Maybe that's
why I pulled his hand. And this is the second
time he's done it this year. But Luca had designs
on winning an MVP as well. We'll talk about how
he can still do it, or at least be eligible
to do it. But it's going to be a long,
tall order, tough break for the Lakers. I know, I
know this year was supposed to be different. Right now.

(14:36):
They're two and twelve their last three playoffs. They won
fifty games last year too. He said the same thing
last year. Not you, but you don't know what I'm
talking about. He said the same thing last year. Minnesota
clowned on him. They're two and twelve the last three years.
I don't think they would have won a playoff series
this year. Now, I'm not gonna be able to prove it,
even though they would have had Luca and Austin Reeves

(14:59):
on the four. Anyway, we'll chop this up coming up.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
Luca.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
Look, he is a human being and this is a
this is a tough one. This is a tough one
for Laker fans, and it's it's a tough one for
Luca on two fronts. We'll chop that up coming up.
I'm Bernie fraddlewic keviny lyon from Las Vegas, Fox Sports
Radio Studios. Keep it locked, you're listening to the Bernie
Fraddle Show.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Don't listen to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

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Speaker 2 (15:58):
All right, back of the Bernie Fradle Show, Fox Sports Radio.
Come to live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios here
in Las Vegas. Take up to three am Pacific, six
am Eastern. We are thirty six minutes away from the
midnight hour. From where I sit, it will turn midnight
literally here in Las Vegas, perhaps the same for you,

(16:19):
but figuratively it's the midnight hour for everybody. We get
calls from Japan, Ireland, Canada, England, Hell, even Detroit, so
we look forward to hearing from you, because no matter
where you are, it's the midnight hour, and that means
you get the last word. By the way, a little
later in the show, I'll have a championship game overview.

(16:39):
Michigan again is a seven and a half point favorite.
They say styles make fights, and you couldn't have two
more disparate styles here. Michigan ranks twenty second nationally in tempo,
Yukon ranks three hundred and nineteenth, and Michigan's three losses
this season have one thing in common. They played in
games where there were six, three or fewer possessions. They

(17:03):
typically averaged seventy one to seventy two possessions per game.
If Ukon can slow that pace to make it a
half court game. Secondly, we really don't know the injury
status of Yaxel Lendeborg, and I sung the praises of
Terris Reid again. Another storyline. Did you know he's a
Michigan transfer? You probably do that. If you didn't, you
know it now, all right, So it looks like Luka

(17:27):
Doncic is going to be sidelined for the rest of
the regular season and quite possibly longer. He had an
mlright revealed a Grade two hamstring strain. And this is
the second injury of that sort for Luca on during

(17:48):
the season. And it happened in a forty three point
loss to the Thunder on Thursday night. Frankly, the game
wasn't even that close. I'm really not even sure why
Luca was in the game. After after halftime, he grabbed
his hamstring and pain driving to the rim. This is
a massive gut punch for the Lakers, I said. Everybody

(18:11):
made fun of Nco Harrison, laugh, Cloud, laugh all you want,
I get it. He saved the Mavericks four hundred million dollars. Okay,
he did. Now the Mavericks winning a championship this year,
but either at a Lakers I said, I would not
judge his trade fully for three years. And I may

(18:32):
be the only person in the Western Hemisphere or even
in Upper Mongolia I don't think they'll ever win a
championship with Luca. He can't play defense. And I love
Austin Reedis, but he's not a great defensive player either.
And I don't know, maybe Lebrono hanging around seventy eight
more years he can't play defense either. That's not good.
I mean that was ugly Thursday night. You talk about

(18:52):
a fight. They would have stopped that if that was
a fight. They ran circles around the Lakers. They hunted.
Luca scored set the time they hunted. Austin Reeves scored
sixty five percent of the time Luca was on a
place on defense. Look loss, But I digress. Per the CBA,
a player must participate, as you know, in sixty five

(19:15):
regular season games twenty minutes minimum. You can't just check
in play two minutes and you need to go have
a hot dog if you want to be eligible for
awards like Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year. Yeah, yeah,
Luca will win the Defensive Player for the Year, sure,
but the All NBA and All defensive teams. Again, Luca's

(19:38):
only played sixty four games, with only five games left
on the Lakers schedule. I don't see how Luca hits
that threshold. Now here was a possibility that Luca could
still be eligible under a certain exception that was create.

(20:00):
But I don't know that he'll check those boxes either,
because in the league's CBA, a player could qualify for
end of season awards if you play at least sixty
two games then suffer a season ending injury while having
played in at least eighty five percent of the regular
season games prior to suffering an injury. While Daunchick's okay,

(20:21):
try that again in English, Dachik, While Luca checks the
box of having played sixty two games, believe it or not,
he doesn't meet the requirement of having played in eighty
five percent of the team's games. He's played in eighty
three percent. So in order for Luca to have met
the season ending injury requirement, a doctor selected by the

(20:43):
NBA and Players Association would act to determine it's substantially
more likely than not then Luca would be unable to
play through May thirty. First, hope you followed all. That
is actually one other possible windw of opportunity for Luca

(21:06):
to still perhaps half awards eligibility for MVP and all NBA.
In order to do that, Luca would have to file
what's called quote, an extraordinary circumstances grievance per the league's
collective Bargaining Agreement, And to do that, Luca would have

(21:26):
to prove three things. One, due to extraordinary circumstances, it
was impracticable impracticable is that a word? Impracticable for him
to play in one or more regular season games. Two,
you'd have to satisfy the award eligibility criteria had to

(21:47):
be in every game that he missed due to these
extraordinary circumstances. And as a three, as a result of
the extraordinary circumstances and quote, taking into account the totality
of the circumstances, whether the player did not play another
regulars in which he could have played during the season,
it would be unjust to exclude him from award eligibility.

(22:08):
Here's where it this get dicey. But I think his
agent and Luca will try that strategy because remember Luca
missed two games on December fourth and December fifth, when
he caught a flight to Slovenia so he could be
present for the birth of his youngest daughter. Interestingly enough,

(22:32):
if Luca would have satisfied the award eligibility criteria had
he not missed those two games quote for extraordinary circumstances.
Now Luca has one week. He has until midnight Eastern
Standard Time on Monday, April thirteenth, the day following the

(22:54):
last day of the regular season. To give a written notice,
it would have to include witnesses, a list of witnesses,
relevant document documents, all kinds of evidentiar immaterials for the
case to perhaps have a chance. Now, the decision will
end up being made by an independent expert, and you know,

(23:16):
the Players Association, they will you know, be part of
selecting who this expert is. And this expert will hold
a hearing within two days after Luca presents the challenge
if he does it by April thirteenth, and then make
a rule. It okay, Luca is having a record breaking season.

(23:38):
That's undeniable. You may not know this. There have been
two players in NBA history that have scored six hundred
or more points in the month of March. Some guy
named Michael Jordan back in nineteen eighty seven scored six
hundred and seventy six and Lucas scored six hundred this March.

(24:00):
By the way, in case you're wondering Kobe Bryant. Even
Kobe Bryant never did that. He scored five hundred and
seventy eight in March back in two thousand and six,
but that is not six hundred. Look, I think Luca
will have his day in court, as it were, for

(24:22):
lack of a better metaphor, and I think they'll work
with the Players Association in the league office to try
to come to a fair outcome. It is a somewhat
complicated process, but I think Luca would like to remain
at least eligible for end of season awards if he
chooses to, you know, go down this strategy. Right, It's

(24:46):
been a heck of a year personally for him offensively,
five forty point performances of sixty point operased against Miami
just what two weeks ago. Now, I don't think his
case for MVP is gaining steam. Look, they won fifty
games last year, they won fifty games this year. When
you look at what Jalen Brown has done in Boston

(25:06):
without Jason Tatum, he's higher on the list in my view,
same with Kid County Ham. But the man for me
that if they don't give it to Wemby, this is
stupid Nicola Jokic as well, but I think people have
Nicola fatigue. I'm looking at you, a Kendrick Perkins. He

(25:28):
probably doesn't think Nicole Colas should have won any MVPs.
But how do you not give it to Wimby. San
Antonio two years ago looked like the Washington Generals in
red klotts. Last year they won thirty four games thirty
four This year, I expect him to get to the
conference finals, and if they, if they play the Lakers

(25:49):
somehow in the playoffs, which I don't see, even if
the Lakers had their full squad, san Antonio would beat
them like a rented mule. Okay, but you could argue
Lucas within the top four in two terms of MVP votes. Okay.
So we'll see how this rule pans out, how this
exception pans out. And I think this is what this

(26:11):
is going to be, is a precursor for the league
and the players Union to decide to maybe soften up
some of these guidelines going forward. This is sort of
the reality. You got one guy who just had a
historic month was really a key cog and carrying the
Lakers to the third best record in the league. In
the you know, since March, the first week in March,

(26:35):
and he might not be honored in the history books,
or at least eligible because he felt one game shy
of an arbitrary rule. So I thought this rule would work.
I don't know that it is working now. Again, if
it was just a bunch of load management, we're not
having this conversation. But you heard me lay it out.
And I think I think, I think Lucas Case has merit.

(26:56):
I try to maintain my objectivity in these things, and
I think Lucas Case has merit. I don't remind everybody.
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(27:18):
by bet MGM, every Saturday and Sunday morning right here
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app. Coming
up twenty five minutes away. The dance Sensation sweeping the nation.
What kind of brand new No no, no, What am I
talking about? Talk about?

Speaker 6 (27:33):
No?

Speaker 2 (27:33):
No, no, no, forgive me, folks, I have been drinking
the Midnight hour eight seven, seven, nine and nine on
Fox eight seven, seven, nine nine six six thirty sixty nine.
We have a couple of great topics, and then we
have the rant tonight. If you want to add set
on your own, I haven't done that in a while.
I may lead the witness give you a couple ideas.
We have two. I think very that'll be fun, provocative topics.

(27:59):
And I think there's gonna be mostly agreement on these.
Maybe not. And you know how I feel about this,
the most foreign conversation certainly on the radio or ones
what everybody just simply agrees. So this should engender some disagreement,
but I know it will engender some I think thoughtful
emotional comments because both subjects are going to be things

(28:23):
people can really relate to. So we'll get to those
coming up to bed that hour now just twenty four
minutes away. We'll set, as Lee Hamilton would say, the
topic saw on the table coming up. I'm Bernie Fradderwick
comedy line from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Don't go away or listening to the Bernie.

Speaker 6 (28:42):
Frader Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup
in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR
to listen live.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
All right back in the Bernie Fritter Show Fox Sports Radio,
seventeen minutes away from the Midnight Hour eight seven seven
nine ninety six six three six nine eight seven seven
ninety nine on Fox. You Know the Great bum Phillips
Classic football coach was once asked about Earl Campbell, is

(29:22):
he the greatest running back you've ever seen? And he said, well,
I don't know if he's head of the class, but
it don't take long to call a roll. Let's talk
about Gino Oriema. This is our first subject tonight on
the Midnight Hour. I don't know if Gino Oriema is
the sourced loser in the history of losers, skipping the handshake,

(29:45):
making in accurate claims about the game, classless, stupidity, geno.
You know, you can't deny the man's success, But that
means that doesn't mean you can go around life looking
like you just smelled a bad fart with that face
out all the time. The guy bugged me, I can
hold two thoughts. Concurrently, he's got a body work, but

(30:05):
he bugs me. Okay. His confrontation with Don Staley in
the closing seconds was terrible. One hundred percent on Staley's side,
he loses respect. I think he embarrassed himself. And I
want to get into this a little bit more before
I solicit your opinion where I think. I want you,

(30:27):
the callers, to go with this when you weigh in.
So again, I don't know if gino Orima is the
source loser of all time, But as bum Phillip said,
I don't know if he's the head of the class.
But it don't take long to call role. But let's
talk about what happened. Let's break this down a little bit.
Gino Oriema was wrong. He was wrong to throw Don

(30:50):
Staley under the bus in an in game interview. He
was wrong to confront her and get in her face
at the end of the game. He was wrong to
leave the court without shaking hands. He was wrong to
suggest Staley didn't shake his hand prior to the game.
I think there's that I don't know that there's evidence

(31:10):
that Don Staley didn't do that. And you think that's
what really pissed him off. No, he's pissed off that
he lost. You think that Geno Oriama would have acted
the way he acted at the end of the game
if he had won the game. So I don't buy
this lame explanation about how he waited three minutes at

(31:31):
half court before the game and Don Staley didn't shake
his hand. I'm not buying it. Now, let's keep it real.
Gino Oriama has done a lot for the women's game, yes,
but that was the lowest point in Orima's career and
he's done. He's done, you know, goofy things. Before he

(31:52):
made some terrible, inaccurate, inflammatory comments about Caitlin Clark before
sheevver played one game in the w NBA. But I
think this was lower than that. He diminished what was
a hard fought game. He overshadowed everything that Yukon had
done in earning the right to be a seven point
favorite at that game. But where here's where being accountable

(32:17):
can be hell for certain people. These I believe based
on my research, are Gino Orima quotes quote. Here at Connecticut,
we have won so much that I think we know
how to win. I think we know how to win
with class, and we know how to win with dignity.
We win with humility. That's what Oriema said after his

(32:39):
fifty four game win streak ended on a fourteen point
loss Friday to South Carolina, And here comes the rest
pee wee but quote the true test is how you
handle yourself in this moment, the way they were in
the locker room, how they handled the moment. I want
always for our team to be handled both moments in
exactly the same way, meaning whether you win or lose. Quote,

(33:00):
no one's won as much as we have, so when
you are a part of that, you have to be
gracious and you're losing. I never want to be anything
other than that and treat people with respect end quote.
Yet did Gino Orima do any of that? Did you
see that? People have bad days? And by the way Oriama,

(33:23):
I understand they had run into with Kim Molkey and
Muffett McGrath as well. Those just didn't happen to be
in semi final games. I get it. Coaches lose their
mind now and then they chirp at refs. They get technicals. Yeah,
if Don Staley's done it too. All the good ones
have Kim Molkey, Jeff Walls, even Don Staley, Vic Schaeffer

(33:44):
if you're not playing the game and work on the
refs on the sidelines, then while you're maybe not doing
your job. And yes, Gino Orima has won twelve national
titles and twenty five Final four appearances, and that is
all the more reason for him to have conducted himself
much better that you know, then he has and we

(34:08):
get it. Dan Hurley has had some goofy. Maybe something's
in the water at Yukon. Okay. Dan Hurley, who's Oriama's
counterpart at Yukon, He's had referees where he is looked
like the crazy man. But then you know, Oriema started
to lament the disparity in foules. He had that in
game interview with Holly Row. But then he made it

(34:30):
personal and he said, quote this is another quote I
believe their coach referred to Don Staley rants and raives
on the sideline and calls the refereence of names. You
don't want to hear what you're talking about her for now. Again,
we come to the event with the second ticking down,
just like Isaiah Thomas did back in nineteen ninety one

(34:51):
in Chicago Bulls, Just like Lebron did a couple of
years ago, you know, they leave the court without staying
for the traditional postgame. Hand but on the way, Orima
and Staley exchange words and I understand had to be
separated by the members of their staffs. Okay, Staley kind
of looked around a confusion. Orima left the court. He

(35:11):
did not stay for the traditional postgame. Han Chack now
neither coach really wanted to talk about it afterward. It
was on Oriema. He's the one that should have explained it.
All he said was quote, I said what I had
to say when I asked what happened? Nothing. Nothing. That's
not good enough. If you're going to do that, and
you got twelve championships and you held yourself quote to
high standard, you got a problem. You owe the world

(35:33):
an explanation, You owe the one. And then he apologized
the course, the gratuitous apology. And by the way, Yukon
didn't lose because it got a job by the refs. Yes,
I realized that South Carolina went to the line sixteen
times more. Yukon lost. They couldn't handle South Carolina's defensive
pressure period. So I ask you, I ask you, should

(35:57):
there be some sort of punishment. I think O less
you'ld be suspended five games or something. You tell me
what you think. You can give me your thoughts. But
topic number one Geno Orema. Should he be suspended for
what he did? And you can give your thoughts about
how you know observed what happened there? Just terrible, I

(36:20):
really mean it. Second, do you know that nearly nine
and ten Americans believe that our tipping culture is completely
out of control. You can't go anywhere, whether it's Starbucks
or you go pick up takeout food at a restaurant,
someone's gonna put a digital screen in front of your face.
They want a tip. You see it again, takeout Kiosks.

(36:45):
It's guilt tipping. They call a tip creep. This is
a trend that is now causing consumer fatigue and I
think frustration among customers who believe the percentages that they
default to and pressure to tip for virtually no service. Now,
the problem is, I'm a stooge, I'm a slappy. I

(37:06):
always tip. My Catholic guilt kicks in. I go out
to the meal. My wife and I go out to
eat all the time. And I like fine dining and
I like you know diners too. I like the full gamut.
I always leave minimum twenty five percent. Went to an
Italian restaurant tonight. I left a little more than twenty
five percent. That's just me. I just want to, okay,

(37:27):
because I remember during COVID when they were told they
couldn't go home and couldn't work. That was a rough one.
It's a tough profession. It's not an easy job. The
trick is making it look easy. But this tipping culture
is out of control. When you go get a takeout
Hamburger and they shove a digital screen in front of
your face for what But I'm still I'm still slappy.

(37:48):
I want to get your thoughts on tipping culture in America. Okay,
do you have tip fatigue? Are you tipping less? Are
you avoiding businesses with aggressive just to tip options? Do
you believe that tipping has shifted from this voluntary reward
for good service and do some sort of expected demand?

(38:10):
Eighty three percent of consumers believe automatic service charges should
be banned, and people feel tips should be earned, not expected.
I don't know. Again, I'm a slappy, but I think
this is silly. How far this has gone and they're
getting away with it. The truth of the matter is
you've all experienced it. It's out of control and some

(38:31):
consumers are pushing back. How do you feel again, are
you one of the nine to ten who believe tipping
culture is out of control? Or I'll tell you what,
maybe you work in the food service industry and you
have a different take. I want to hear it. I
want to hear what you've got to say. So you're
doing the hard work, so you know where I'm going
with that. So topic number one, gino Oriama, you heard

(38:54):
my rant? Should ye be suspended? I say yes, Season starts.
You can't let this go. Make them accountable. The second
topic is the tipping culture out of control, guilt, tipping,
tip creeping, high default percentage of shoving a digital screen
in front of your face. And then we're gonna do

(39:15):
the rant. You want a rant on the third one,
do it quickly. Maybe you feel Luca should be included
in the MVP voting something like that, or maybe you
got something that just bugging you and you want to
get it off your get it off your chest. Eight seven, seven, nine,
nine six six three sixty nine. We got geno Oriama,
sore loser, tipping culture out of control, we got the

(39:38):
Midnight Hour eight seven seven nine nine six six three
six nine. Keep it locks the Bernie. That's right, you
heard the man. Bernie Frowners show keeps rolling right along.
You've come to the Midnight Hour eight seven, seven nine
nine sixty six three six nine eight seven seven ninety
nine on Fox. Yep, you know where I'm going, Gino Orea,

(40:01):
I think he deserves to be suspended next year for
what he did. You heard my rant, he's tipping culture
out of control. You may have saw the visual I
posted on Twitter. Some sign from a restaurant said, polite
reminder to all customers, please do not order food. You're
not going to leave a minimum twenty five percent tip.
And then of course there's a rant. If you want
to get something off your chest, it's time for the

(40:23):
Midnight Hour. All right, we go back out to the
great Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Were joined by Jim. Jim, you're
leading off tonight, Buddy. Let her rip.

Speaker 7 (40:41):
Bernie as far as the Coach of Connecticut goes. If
you remember when he was winning all those championships with
Tarrasci and everything, he was beating teams by twenty twenty
five points.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
Yep, you know so what coaching skills when needed back then,
But as the years went on, all the other programs
around the country udied him and picked a little of
this caught up to them. So now it's more even now,
where's your coaching skills now? Like you said, they were

(41:11):
getting pounded on defense and everything. He should have made
adjustments at halftime and he just couldn't do it. So
then he gets all upset because he lost to a
better team, you know, and he should get suspended for
five games and to show that he's really out there.
I mean, I can see a little bit of motion
during the game, but he was very articulate when he

(41:33):
ranted on.

Speaker 7 (41:34):
Caitlin cup Box. He was just sitting there and I
saw a video like he's he's the god of women's
basketball and what I say is religion and and that
turned out to be wrong. And of course he had
all of his stars at that game, carrass you know,
all of them like to back them up because I
think in his mind he knew whoever won that game
was going to win the championship.

Speaker 8 (41:53):
And that's probably what.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
You have a really good point. Over the years, I've
often wondered, he's he really this coaching genius or he's
just really getting good players and he's got better athletes
every year, any year in and out. And I remember
there was one something blowing in the wind years ago,
mighty Beaterterson coaching an NBA team. Like what, so we're
an agreement, Jim that he deserves some kind of suspension.

(42:16):
What are your thoughts about tipping culture out of control?

Speaker 7 (42:20):
Burning a tipping culture. I went in to the store
the other day and they had a tip tip can
up in front of the butcher guy, you know where
you get your cut meats and everything and stuff like that.
I went into a store the other day and they
have like like a buffet type of thing and you
do everything yourself and you get up there and you pay,

(42:42):
and when you put your card in, it asked you
for a tip. You know, I always thought I'm old school.
I always thought tipping was the guy a girl. You know,
it's their first job, you know, earning money, like a
lot of kids in college and stuff like that. That's
what they do to get money, you know, do whatever,
and it's about you know, helping out your fellow human being,

(43:05):
not just you know, giving money because the machine says
to or anything else says to So I'm all, I'm
all against that tipping culture. I think it should be.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
You know, who greets you, who serves you, and if
they respect you.

Speaker 7 (43:18):
And how you how you are, and that's where the
gratuity comes from, is how you are the human being
taard me and I'll pay you for.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
That, you know, so good Stuff'm leading us off tonight. Yes,
nine and ten Americans believe this culture, tipping culture is
out of control. Thanks Jim Tyler and Minnesota. Welcome into
the Bernie Froutter Show.

Speaker 9 (43:38):
Hey, buddy, the Gino Rima stuff like, I just think
that sour Graves he was he's never had well, he
always gets the best players, but they never have any
you know, they never have any. They've been pretty much
have been ahead for their whole lives. Win every game
by thirty forty fifty, Find me a game, get a

(44:00):
little bit of controversy, and Gino arny Emma could handle
it that, you know, when it came time to it.
So he kind of exploded. But he's not used to
that because they're always winning every game.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
And he took it out on Don Staley and confronted
her and looks a bad visual my question, and I
appreciate your call. Do you think he do you think
that there should be some repercussions, like a suspension next year?

Speaker 9 (44:24):
I think the way he acted there should be something.
But in the grand scheme of things, even if he
gets suspended for a game or two, what does it
really do? I do think he should get suspended for
at least something there, but because he overreacted like it's
a guy, it's a rich guy in the room fittioning
about Oh sorry about that effing, but it's a guy

(44:48):
in the room, you know, the rich guy in the
room explaining about the other peasidants that finally kept up
to him, like Carolina kept up to him. They could
and shoot, they couldn't make anything. He was frustrated they
couldn't get the follows, which I get if they missed
one when the jersey got tossed, fine, it's fine, whatever

(45:11):
that's that happens. But to blow up like that with
Holly Rohan's tough on the side, and.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
Then and then and then the getting down stately facing hands.
So all right, we're an agreeing that there needs to
be some accountability. What what that will do? If he
suspended it's simple send a message. No one, no one
can no one. No one's gonna get away with this
uh uh tipping culture.

Speaker 9 (45:32):
That's likeski complaining about something. It's like you got duke,
like you got to.

Speaker 2 (45:37):
Got it, I got it, got my friend. Uh tipping culture. Uh.

Speaker 9 (45:42):
I'm a bartender for seventeen years, so okay, people tip
me way too much, way too much.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
Like so you're you're working hard, didn't drink so fast.
You have to know what the drinks. But I'm gonna
ask you a question. How do you feel when you
walk into a Chinese takeout they hand you a box
and a digital screen and they want a twenty five
percent tip? Or Starbucks? I just do it because I'm
a slappy How do you feel about it when you're
a consumer?

Speaker 10 (46:07):
I feel guilty.

Speaker 9 (46:08):
I want to tip more because I come from a
small towns so a lot of these people tip me
way too much. So I feel like if I go
to their businesses, I want to give them the appreciation
as well. So I feel a little guilty of over tipping, right,
you know that, And that's a weird one. But also
I work in a job where people will tip me
way too much. And I'm like, you couldn't, you shouldn't

(46:28):
do that, but they just like I love you by them.
They give you the money, and.

Speaker 8 (46:34):
That is what it is.

Speaker 9 (46:35):
But also I go to other places where I'm like,
I put it in an online order, I go there,
do I really have to tip you this much? When
really just I'm picking it up, You're just making That's That's.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
Where I'm going with this. Hey, good stuff, Good stuff, Tyler,
don't be a stranger. We do this every every weekend.
Thanks for your input. Tonight, James and Tacoma, Washington, welcome
into the Burning Frattle Show.

Speaker 11 (46:59):
Yeah about Luka, what is Adam Shower gonna do If
a player plays sixty four games but then the loser
missed a couple of games to the birth.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Of a child.

Speaker 2 (47:11):
We're gonna find out he's gonna file the He's going
to file the appeal by April thirteenth, I'm told, and
an expert that's collectively appointed by the Players Association, et cetera.
We'll hear the case. We'll hear the case. So I
think I think you just go ahead.

Speaker 11 (47:29):
But you agree that if the rage is any player,
this is the game is because of the birth of
a child.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
That shouldn't count, right, That's yeah. I think that's fair.
I think that's fair. And this is a new rule
and we'll see if these exceptions pan out. Your thoughts
on Geno Rama. Should he be suspended? No?

Speaker 11 (47:50):
Because he did he did apologize, you know he did.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
That was weak and you know what, Okay, fair enough James,
but he I don't I didn't hear him apologize to
on Stalely. It was one of those gratuitous and my
staff if it was a weak ass apology and it's
too little, too late to continue on.

Speaker 12 (48:08):
I think it's not the culture.

Speaker 11 (48:11):
One problem I have the tips is that most places
in Seattle now they push site posted it for all
all parties of six or more. There's an eighteen percent
go two d on. They added, you're still still sill
some TIFFs, All right.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
That's that's a little different situation. I I I get
that that I can live with. But you take you know,
Chinese takeof food, or go get a cup of coffee
or like you hear Jim say, you go get a
cut of meat. They got a How about that? Is
that out of control?

Speaker 8 (48:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 11 (48:41):
Because some places in Seattle, you at size up there,
do you not, Kiff, because it's the fact they're out
charge right away because waiters out the minimum waiting to
see out now twenty three dollars in tens just an
hour in the Seattle minimum twenty three dollars. Yeah, wait,
you's to get good money now, so they're gaining Paydallas

(49:04):
undertee that people do not give interesting.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
Hey, good call, good call James. A couple of good
things there. Appreciate it. Jeff and Denver, welcome back. And
Bernie Frowders Show.

Speaker 8 (49:14):
How are you good?

Speaker 7 (49:16):
Bernie?

Speaker 2 (49:16):
So what are we going to do? Brand new? Fuller
you I've done it the last two weeks? Where you been?

Speaker 8 (49:22):
I have I listened last week?

Speaker 13 (49:24):
Maybe cash we did?

Speaker 2 (49:25):
We did, We did it the last two weeks. Now
tonight I got a great Major League Baseball guest on
and we got we got important topics. It's back. It's
going to be back most few weeks until football starts.
But yeah, we we did it actually the last two weeks.
All right.

Speaker 14 (49:40):
I'll try to listen a little longer, but it's touching
on the look.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
It also listen on the podcast, with which Brandon will
posted at the end of the show. Go ahead, well,
touch it.

Speaker 14 (49:49):
On the look at thing, that whole sixty five game thing.
I liked it for the reason that it was done
for this damn beload management. But the injuries right reason.
The other stuff should be set aside and taken in
regards on a separate level, because that's not well.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
That part has been as long as you play eighty
five percent of the games prior to your injury. And
I gave the three criteria, but you know, we look,
Lucas case is going to be heard. You bring up
a valid point, gino O, I Ama, does he deserve
to be suspended or not?

Speaker 8 (50:25):
Yeah, because talk is cheap. If you're going to do that,
you can at least walk over.

Speaker 14 (50:29):
I don't I don't care your attitude, I don't care
your demeanor, but at least walk over, shake the dut
hand and say all right bye. But at least walk over.

Speaker 13 (50:37):
Don't don't pull the.

Speaker 14 (50:38):
Lebron thing and go to the locker room with two
minutes left in the game.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
Yeah, that coast Isaiah Thomas being on the Dream Team.
Promise me, I'll tell you that. I'll five time. I'll
tell the story on the air later. And he did
it in ninety one he walked off against the Bulls. Jeff,
one of your thoughts is tipping culture out of control?

Speaker 14 (50:57):
Absolutely, that is just I think I can say as
a nine on the radio.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
Yeah you can. That is just.

Speaker 8 (51:04):
That is just stupid.

Speaker 14 (51:05):
Like when you at the at the games, the person
is there all.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
That's another thing. Yes, oh my god. I went to
several minor league good call. I went to several minor
league baseball games last year in multiple major league games
around this. You walk up, I'll take a hot dog
and a coke or whatever. They hint it to you,
and they want to tip there and I do it
like a stooge. Continue on.

Speaker 14 (51:26):
All they do is turn around, grab a beer and
put it on the counter.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
That's not right. A plus good stuff.

Speaker 14 (51:32):
When you you I was a beer vendor for like
fifteen years at the stadium. I'm the one that's like
cold beer here.

Speaker 15 (51:39):
So I'm humping the.

Speaker 14 (51:40):
Beer seventy five eighty pound tub humping the beer up
and down the stairs. Yeah, I'm doing something for you.

Speaker 8 (51:48):
So a tip is you know, I.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
Can accept that you're making a trip to somebody's seat
so they don't have to get out of their seat.
That's fair. I got no beef for that hit.

Speaker 14 (52:00):
A tip should be rewarded for service, not expected for
doing nothing. And some of these things they won't even accept.
You try to hit zero and they won't even accept it.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
I'll be damn. I haven't had the guts to do that.
That's interesting.

Speaker 8 (52:15):
Might have to try that.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
Well, all right, Yeah, good stuff, Jeff, appreciate you, man,
Spock Sweed. Here we go.

Speaker 15 (52:24):
Hey, Bernie, how are you doing, Sarah?

Speaker 2 (52:28):
I think I'm doing pretty well?

Speaker 15 (52:30):
All right? Then, well, you know, I was going to
spare your audience my usual crap, but I'm a moss
to a flame. Man. I can't help but call in,
all right. I think it's good, just so anyway, So yeah,
Gino sore loser. He's supposed to be a professional. He's
supposed to, you know, be an embodiment of the game.

(52:53):
I think that, you know, he could use some suspension.
And what he really needed to do is going to
redemption tool or or at a very leashed joined tiger
woods in his rehab area and go to Switzerland or
whatever it is. And rehab is secret.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
Amption, Gino? Or can you imagine Dido Oriema with any
kind of contrition oh gosh, get your order. If that happens,
I mean, the apocalypse is upon us. I think he
deserves to be suspended. Send him asy, You're.

Speaker 15 (53:27):
Not above the lost bud, No not, No, he's got
some gonna have to have some Coili was involved if
that's the case.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
So, yeah, I can't get behind illegal drug use. But
you know, I'm not normally an agreeable guy spock.

Speaker 15 (53:41):
Normally in Switzerland it might be legal. Who knows anyway. Yeah,
tipping culture, yes, it is indeed out of control, and
I and I control it by having a lot of
ones in my wallet. So I do overtip to the
people that I know, I like to right to overtip
the people that that I normally frequent, you know, wan

(54:04):
with the elks. I'll pay thirty percent, and I'll do
what I need to do. If I'm on a pizza
place and they throw some at me, I'll put I'll
hit zero, and then I'll put a couple of bucks
that I think is appropriate into the deal, so I
I will tip in cash instead of hit the little
buttons and stuff.

Speaker 2 (54:23):
Okay, so it's out of control, but you'll take it
on an individual basis, which I think most reasonable people do.

Speaker 8 (54:29):
Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
I mean, like, if you're going to a drive through
coailude place and they hand you your quailage, are you
gonna tip battery?

Speaker 15 (54:35):
Oh gosh, if they give me an extra coylude, I'm
giving him twenty bucks.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
Well see then see then they're going to see it coming,
they're gonna do it.

Speaker 15 (54:43):
Well, then I have to have my twenty bucks. And
that's for sure, right all right? Any remember anybody remember
the Fraser episode when he said, here's your potential tip,
and I'll add moreny to it if you please me,
and I'll take money away from if you don't.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
Yeah, see I don't. I gotta tell you. I was
getting out of a New York cab once with a
buddy of mine named Pete who had the balls with
a burglar, and we pull up and we start to
get out of the cab and the cab he turns
around to Pete and says, you're gonna give me a tip.
He goes, yeah, here's your tip, buy IBM stock loser.
And I'm like, whoa, whoa, this is one hundred years

(55:21):
ago before the stupidity happened. I can't do that, man,
I can't you know, I can't do that, but I
do look askance when I go into a place and
you know, to get a takeout hot dog and they
and they want a tip. So that's just me. You
got the last word. Go ahead quick.

Speaker 15 (55:38):
If it was twenty fourteen, I'd tell him to buy bitcoin.
But you know that that ship is oh my anyway.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
All right, spot, good stuff is always, buddy. You enjoy
your evening, Tony in Miami. How you been, Tony?

Speaker 16 (55:53):
Hey, Bernie, this is only in a solo call, just
to wish you happy Easter.

Speaker 11 (55:58):
And I'm gonna keep the sport.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
It's light.

Speaker 16 (56:00):
I don't have anything on GINO. I do have a solution.
I like what the last caller said.

Speaker 8 (56:07):
I was going to mention that too. You do control.

Speaker 16 (56:11):
What's happening when you have cash, and I'm saying you can.
You can even pay it down here. There's a lot
of people that are adding in, whether it be fifteen,
twenty five, thirty percent, and a lot of the guys
are drinking. And then there's another thing that is an
open line where they're not they're they're kind of kind
of you.

Speaker 11 (56:32):
Know, get a double tip.

Speaker 16 (56:35):
There's also extra fees, especially on the beach. So at
the end of the day, it's like, you want to
support these guys, but it's begetting so corrupt and they're
all closing.

Speaker 8 (56:46):
There's all a.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
Good word and you know what, I think people hold
that thought, Tony, because people have good intent. I think now,
my wife and I travel a lot, we fly a lot,
we check in our look at jetside. Why don you
men get the same guy and he picks up our luggage.
I get him ten bucks every time grabbing our luggage,
doing the whole deal. You know, he never makes you weight.
He's asked. I'm quite sure a couple of times my

(57:09):
luggage might have been over the weight limit. He just
looked right past it, right whatever. And they're not asking
for tips, but they're doing They're working their butt off
in the hot sun here, So you're right. I think
you're right. You want to be reasonable when it warrants,
and you do want to help people. It's Americans inclination.
But when you put up signs like I shared or
on Twitter, go ahead, Tony, continue on.

Speaker 16 (57:32):
No, no, no, I think you're you're beyond the classy guy.
I wish I had you know ten percent of what
your capacity is to do. I just you got to
understand those too, please burning like the other calls that
have cash, because I know, guys, look you, I've worked
when I was younger, but the weights run now they're

(57:54):
not even getting that money. And the guy was right,
you fold up, you know, whether it's singles of five
or ten, and you give it right to the gentleman
or lady and say that's for you.

Speaker 6 (58:05):
And that that's kind of time to be Yes, yes,
that's that's kind of how to be done.

Speaker 16 (58:09):
And and I'll leave if anyone has, you know, real
money out there listening.

Speaker 9 (58:14):
This is the resolution.

Speaker 16 (58:17):
I used to live in Japan when I was young,
you know, like before.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
Middle school, they considered an insult.

Speaker 16 (58:25):
Well, here's here's how things go there.

Speaker 11 (58:27):
This is what unless America.

Speaker 16 (58:29):
I don't think we're going to be going back to
Sweet Caroline in the summer of eighty nine anymore, or
drinks some fifty seventy five cents and everyone's just kind
of jolly and everything's affordable unless that day happens, I
don't know.

Speaker 3 (58:41):
But for moving forward, I think.

Speaker 16 (58:44):
To keep establishments open and you know, for a decent
amount of time. I really believe that would do what
the Japanese do, which is so much more honest.

Speaker 11 (58:54):
Have everything in.

Speaker 16 (58:55):
The price up front completely and if you if you're
not sure, you just go home and cook, go home
and drink. Dude, just go home, don't do it. And
that's how it is in a lot of parts of Japan.
But it's more honest, and the people that serve there
serve because it's in their soul.

Speaker 11 (59:13):
It's a part of what they are, and it's out.

Speaker 16 (59:14):
Of honor, and so there's so much more honor and something.
Even if it says forty four dollars for a burger
in Tokyo, it's that's what it is. It's not this
tax and this you know this and all these fees,
and there's no one guilting you. You just get excellent everything.
And it's just from top to bottom. It's so much

(59:36):
more of a fine tune run machine than the insanity
we've gotten here, especially the last seven eight years.

Speaker 2 (59:44):
Good stuff, Tony, Appreciate you man, joy your weekend. Happy
Easter to you as well. And I use the word guilt,
and I think that's what they're playing upon people, guilt,
and I kind of think it works with me. But
I want to be generous. Done well in this life.
I want to give back. I think you know. I'll
tell you real quickie out there. If you're a food server,
you want to get a good tip. Refill their drink

(01:00:06):
before they ever have to ask for it. That's a
metaphor pay attention to the order. My wife and I
went to this pizza place that's a ten restaurant. I
got the Saint pizza I always get. I always ask
for extra sauce. I'll pay extra for it. I know
if they're paying attention. Sometimes the waiter or waitress will
come back. I didn't get my extra sauce or whatever.
I always tip this place really good. They never mess
it up, so for what it's worth. Okay, good start

(01:00:29):
so far. Art in Arizona, Obi in Los Angeles, Andrew
and Bakersfield, Damien in Omaha, Nebraska. You're up next. Hang tight.
I appreciate your patience. I want to hear from all
of you. Eight seven, seven, nine, nine, six six three
sixty nine and the men that hour is off and
run it. I'm Bernie Frattle. We're come to you live
for the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. Keep it
locked or listening to the Bernie Frattles.

Speaker 6 (01:00:49):
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Speaker 4 (01:01:01):
Hey, it's me Rob Parker.

Speaker 5 (01:01:04):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
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(01:01:26):
Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
All right, we're back in the Bernie Fratto Show, Fox
Sports Radio. The Man that Hour continues back out to
the phone lines. Art in Arizona joins our thanks for
your patience. Welcome in.

Speaker 8 (01:01:46):
O can you hear me?

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
Yes, sir, we can hear you.

Speaker 9 (01:01:49):
Hey, you knowing Bernie.

Speaker 8 (01:01:50):
Great shows, longtime listener, first time called.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Welcome in. Don't be a stranger.

Speaker 8 (01:01:55):
But oh no, if I'm listening, I don't have to call.
But you know, r arman. He needed he should be
as handed himself. I'm gonna hit you with this, Bernie.

Speaker 17 (01:02:07):
Did he ever do that?

Speaker 8 (01:02:08):
What pass on it?

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
I don't recall he I'm one hundred percent on I
will just say this. He shouldn't do that against anybody.
And I'm one hundred percent on Don Staley's side.

Speaker 8 (01:02:22):
She didn't do that, but this had that was totally disrespectful.
You got our coach, man, Yeah you did. Let's just
get that went out the way.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
I believe I said it earlier in my commentary. Continue
on and.

Speaker 8 (01:02:37):
Let's sten to you. But I'm giving you my time,
many a few beers.

Speaker 17 (01:02:41):
I'm in the garage getting ready to get East. I'm
smoking turkey wings on the smoker. I'm getting ready for
easther matter of fact, have because it used to where
you at. But hear me out, that's totally disrespectful. He's
just suspending himself. You got out, coach. But you know
this day and age, Bernie, women equality, I guess they

(01:03:03):
call it right.

Speaker 8 (01:03:05):
You can't disrespect women. Man.

Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
He disrespected her and he disrespected the game, period. And
I'm sick of the guy. I'm sick of high here's
my thought. I'm gonna let you continue. Are if they
don't suspend in their enabling his behavior. Continue on.

Speaker 8 (01:03:23):
But you know that's why you can't coach male like
you know you No, he ain't nobody gonna respect them
do no, no, not no males. But I'm not gonna
go that way. But you have to respect women, especially
this day and age. Dude, you can't do that. And

(01:03:45):
I got one of my daughters. She got an offer
from Yukon. She didn't want to go because she's I
don't like m right. I couldn't say nothing if she
went to us. He I'm not gonna call her name.
I'm not gonna say nothing. But she stopped playing sports
and she got her physics degree, so we're gonna leave
it at that.

Speaker 17 (01:04:05):
You know what I'm saying?

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
All right, good stuff? Continue on. I want to get
to all the callers. What are your thoughts in the
tipping culture?

Speaker 8 (01:04:11):
Art the tip stuff? I'm cod cash, I'm delivering man,
but if your service is superb, don't even worry about it.
I'm a black.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
Part's all good. I'm talking about with your show for
a takeout Chinese food and with a good continue on.
You know where I'm going.

Speaker 8 (01:04:26):
Well, I'm not gonna pay no no, whatever they call
that up.

Speaker 18 (01:04:29):
Man.

Speaker 8 (01:04:30):
No, I'm gonna pay you for the food if I
walked up and guard it myself.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
That's what's happening on the hit me out Burning.

Speaker 7 (01:04:39):
I don't have to worry.

Speaker 8 (01:04:39):
About that kind of stuff because I'll cook it at home.
I'll tip myself, and I'm gonna leave you with that
brand show. Have a blessed easter man, and you do
a wonderful job.

Speaker 16 (01:04:50):
Man.

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
Thank you for all the kind words. Happy easier to
you art, Thanks for checking in. You brought us some
good points. And I maybe shame on me. I didn't
even go about around the disrespecting women angle, and it's
a very real one, and I think he brings up
a very a very valid point. I'm mad at Geno
oriama uh Obi in Los Angeles. Welcome into the Bernie
Frattle Show.

Speaker 8 (01:05:12):
Good evening, mister Fred. How are you doing today?

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
Good? How are you fine?

Speaker 8 (01:05:16):
Thank you, Happy Eastern you. I actually am a ukond
of alumni. I actually was there eighty five when Gino
first got there.

Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
Wow.

Speaker 8 (01:05:26):
So he's always he's always been like this, and he's
gotten away with it because he wins, and when he
loses he usually is a little bit more. He's actually
always been like this, it's just that now it's the
stage is really big and he looked really bad, and
so it makes him really bad. As far as suspension goes,
I don't know, because we don't want to over highlight

(01:05:48):
his poor behavior by suspending him, because that would then
would then focus more about the behavior. We'd have to
look back at that.

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
You think about that, Obi, it's a it's a double
edged sword. Is if you don't do anything, aren't you
essentially enabling his behavior?

Speaker 8 (01:06:05):
True? True, But on the other end, if you do
do something, you then highlighting that behavior. So it's a
hard call. It really is. He is he is getting
his just rewards because everybody's talking about how poorly he reacts.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
Fair.

Speaker 8 (01:06:17):
Fair, So that's that's fair. But again, you know, like
I said, I was there when he first started, so.

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
This is no Yeah, I am aware, this is not
This is very well within his persona and this is
how he rolls. So you were an agreement on that one.

Speaker 8 (01:06:33):
As far as the typic culture goes, So I'm with
you in terms of like when you do like takeout
and you're like, it's it's basically take out and he's
still asking for you know, anywhere from twenty two to
you know, anywhere from eighteen to twenty two percent. That's
kind of ridiculous. I have been doing, just like a
lot of your other callers do. I tipping cash to
the person who's actually serving me, who's you know, bringing

(01:06:54):
the food and so on. So I'll do that, and unfortunately,
you know, I overtip because as a black person, we
get looked upon as poor tippers, so we a lot
of times get bad service. So I try to overcompensate
so we get better service. So the next person who
comes after me, who happens to be black or hispanic
or minority doesn't get treated poorly. And there has been

(01:07:16):
a rumor that black people don't tip, so we get
bad service. So that's why I overtip.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
I overtip as well. And whatever people's reasons are, I'm
for I've never worked in the industry, so I don't know,
but I think it's generous. I almost think it's kind
of a form of tiding. You don't know that person
maybe be supporting three kids. You don't know their personal situation,
their health situation. It's a tough job.

Speaker 8 (01:07:39):
Continue on, Yes, and the one last thing I wanted
to add, I wanted to rant a little bit about
the basketball. What's it called the lack of playtime. So
my feeling is is that we're not doing enough to
talk about the owners and coach years to tell these

(01:08:00):
guys not to play. When I played sports, I did
what my coach told me to. So if I told
told me I'm not going to play, I wasn't playing.
That's that's that. And I think a lot of times,
and I'm sure the NBA is trying to address this,
but as far as a little manager goes, a lot
of it is the ownership is saying to the players
they're not.

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
Playing that that's been the golden state excuse.

Speaker 8 (01:08:21):
Yes, right, they have like we'll say, well, I'm not
playing them because.

Speaker 2 (01:08:26):
We're potential future injury from through fatigue.

Speaker 8 (01:08:30):
But we want we make money when we go to
the playoffs, so if we lose a game in December,
it's not as important to making sure we make the
playoffs in April. So I think a lot of this.
As much as we are mad at the players, we
also have to look at the coaches and the organization
for doing the part of it's.

Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
Part of it, though, all right, appreciate joby ju, your holiday,
and thanks for calling in. Don't be a stranger. Andrew
in Bakersfield, welcome back in. How are you.

Speaker 8 (01:09:01):
Hello?

Speaker 18 (01:09:02):
Can you hear me?

Speaker 2 (01:09:03):
I can hear you? Now, go ahead, Andrew, all.

Speaker 18 (01:09:05):
Right, I would say Geno or ari Emma. I never
really liked him, but I think it needs to be
seen whether or not, not that it matters really, but
just to know whether or not the other coach shook
his hand in the beginning, just to know. But I

(01:09:25):
don't think he should be suspended. I think he should
be fined.

Speaker 2 (01:09:30):
Is that something Anything's possible. I don't expect it. I
just think there should be some measure of a penance,
because otherwise you're just enabling this behavior. Okay, And I
don't care if his excuse that allegedly she didn't shake
his hand before the game, he wouldn't have acted that
way if they don't won continue on.

Speaker 18 (01:09:51):
Okay, but you still should know whether or not it happened,
just to know.

Speaker 8 (01:09:55):
But I think, well, where we.

Speaker 2 (01:09:56):
Are hearing that there's not a lot of there's evidence
to the cond Oh, so that's what we're hearing. But
I that's all I can say.

Speaker 19 (01:10:03):
On that.

Speaker 18 (01:10:03):
Go ahead, Okay, the tipping culture I could see before,
and I was a server at I started as a
busboy and then I was a server at a spyglass
restaurant in Shell Beach. Do you know where that is? Anyway?

Speaker 2 (01:10:19):
I don't.

Speaker 18 (01:10:21):
Okay, it's right when you come into Shellbach from sam
Luisivisco area. But I don't know what that means. I
appreciated a good tip one time when I was out
of Denny's, I left a fifty dollars bill, and so
I'm like you, I like to tip good because generosity

(01:10:43):
will come back to you probably possibly.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
Usually it does. You don't get with that in mind,
but usually it does. And look, I help a legitimate aspect.
Did you go out for dining and someone's working, and
a lot of time it's a team effort. Absolutely tip
and BJ and you know what, I just go while
I got your stand the line. I discovered something about
twenty years ago that back then he'd be like fifty

(01:11:09):
percent twenty percent. I don't know what the norm is.
I tip what I tip. But if you go out
for typical meals like sixty bucks, let's say, well, you
want to tip twenty percent that's twelve bucks. You tip
twenty five percent, that's fifteen for three more bucks. And
I've always believed that the server knows the percentage in
their head. For three more bucks, you make someone happy
and typically I'll leave it round up. All right, I

(01:11:30):
got to wrap this up and you go ahead.

Speaker 18 (01:11:33):
Okay. My last thing is a rant for Luca. I
think that you can probably play soccer. I played defender,
and there's a term called shepherding. Why don't you apply
some some tactics from soccer and just do drills where
you go line to line and you bend down and

(01:11:53):
you touch the line with your hand at the same
time as you touch it with your foot, and I
bet a lot of these injuries not happened.

Speaker 2 (01:12:01):
Fair enough, all right, buddy, we'll see you take it
under advisement. Thanks as always, Andrew. Squeeze one more in here,
Damien and Omaha, welcome in.

Speaker 12 (01:12:09):
Hello.

Speaker 19 (01:12:09):
How are you doing?

Speaker 17 (01:12:10):
Can you hear me?

Speaker 2 (01:12:10):
Yes? Sir? Go ahead? All right.

Speaker 20 (01:12:14):
So first, Geno, I don't think you can suspend them
just because the simple facts of where you going to
draw the line with coaches getting into arguments and suspending people.
So hopefully what's gonna happen is people are gonna seize
behavior and be like, I don't want to play for
that guy. And I'm thinking this is actually going to
affect his recruiting coming up soon.

Speaker 2 (01:12:33):
So that's my hopefully. I don't think it could it
could You never know. I hear you tipping culture, Damien.
What are your thoughts? Is it out of ConTroll?

Speaker 20 (01:12:43):
So I've been in the I've been in the hospitality
industry for three years.

Speaker 2 (01:12:47):
Okay, we're mad.

Speaker 10 (01:12:48):
At the wrong people.

Speaker 20 (01:12:50):
So what the companies that build these credit card machines
for these takeout and I'm just strictly talking about takeout
and pickup, they discovered that when you tip, you and
cree stim out of that bill and they can charge
these restaurant companies more money. So that is why it's
on there. It's from that standpoint of it. It's not
the companies coming up saying, hey, tip us. These companies

(01:13:11):
that make these machines and the credit cards, they've discovered
that the higher their bill is, they can charge these
restaurants more money. That's why some companies will say if
you pay with ashes this amount, if you pay with
cards this amount, because they're trying to upset that up.
Well that's the reason for that, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:13:28):
That's some damn good insight, and I appreciate that, Damien
and I I don't know if anybody's mad or who
they're mad at. I just think they're the public, by
and large is reacting to what's been a sea change.
So anyway, thanks a lot, Damien. Coming up, we're gonna
wrap it up with Christopher, Rick, Marcel and Kevin. I
want to get to all of you. Keep it locked.
You're listening to the Bernie Frattle Show on.

Speaker 1 (01:13:49):
Fox, you're listening to Fox Sports, or back.

Speaker 2 (01:13:57):
In the Bernie Fraudle Show that midnight hour continues. We
got four callers left. I want to get to all
of them. Christopher and London, welcome back in How are
you this good?

Speaker 13 (01:14:08):
In the evening surgerod Morning from a frosty London.

Speaker 11 (01:14:11):
I just wanted to start by this.

Speaker 13 (01:14:14):
I lived in Michigan. I saw what happened with the
Red Wings when.

Speaker 17 (01:14:18):
They had.

Speaker 13 (01:14:20):
Likenvcock and how he dictated things. I lived in Connecticut.
I watched how you know Oriama deals with things. So
let's take a look at the reality of sports today.
The issue that comes in today is it's dictated by
how profits are margined. Now they spend the action.

Speaker 10 (01:14:38):
But does that? Does that?

Speaker 18 (01:14:39):
Does that?

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
I wish I wish you'd call earlier in the show
so we'd have time to go down this road. I
just want to know. Do you think he deserves to
be suspended.

Speaker 13 (01:14:47):
One thousand percent? That's the only way that they're going
to enforce the ability to have the NCAA thank you,
it's going to stop and it's going to start.

Speaker 2 (01:14:54):
How I feel number telling me go ahead?

Speaker 13 (01:14:57):
Yeah, you have been to Europe. You insult people when
you tip in Europe.

Speaker 2 (01:15:02):
You know I've been there.

Speaker 13 (01:15:05):
People expected. The issue comes into play is I tip
based on my service, not based on the organization I
get good service being a blind person. I tip well
to my drivers on you Uber listed right shaares. I
tip well to restaurants and help read the menu to me.
If I get poor service, you get a poor tip.
I get poor food. You get a poor tip. You

(01:15:27):
treat me like crap, you get a poor tip. You
have to justify yourself what you're doing in Europe. As
I've traveled around, you start tipping, they will look at
you oddly and you will poor food.

Speaker 2 (01:15:41):
YEP, Hey, listen, Christopher, I wish you had more time.
You're welcome to revisit this in the future. I want
to get to the other calls. But thank you Rick
and Louisiana, and welcome back in Buddy letter rip. Oh right,
how are you, Bernie good? Sir? You good?

Speaker 8 (01:15:55):
Yeah, doing well. I just want to stay with the
Geno album. Know about him getting suspended, but I think
if you hit him in the pockets, that'll that'll set
the come for not just him, but others and you know,
show they don't need to show a little sportsmanship. As
far as the tipping, I try to be consistent when

(01:16:15):
I go out, and especially if I'm going to the
same restaurant on a regular basis. One thing I've been
on both sides of it. Early in my career, I
was a waiter and I saw.

Speaker 2 (01:16:28):
Some things too.

Speaker 8 (01:16:30):
And I do know one thing that workers do not
forget you if you if they served you and served
you and you don't give them a tip, they don't
forget you. And one thing I don't do. I mean
I tip because I think that's just the right thing
to do because that they're part of their salary. But
the other thing is is that I don't want to

(01:16:52):
get a special sauce on my SI.

Speaker 2 (01:16:55):
I've always wanted. Hey, Rick, I wish I wish we
had more time, Pal, I got to get through the colors.
But listen, you brought up a great point. Thanks Rick.
I've always wondered if servers remember you, so if you
tip well they remember you, or if someone doesn't tip
you just pointed that out, Marcel and Kansas City welcome in.

Speaker 8 (01:17:14):
All right, what's up? This is actually cut?

Speaker 2 (01:17:17):
Okay, I'm sorry, sir, go ahead, continue on, Pal, No.

Speaker 12 (01:17:22):
No, no, I actually said my.

Speaker 2 (01:17:25):
Birth and I so should Gino be suspended? Your thoughts.

Speaker 12 (01:17:33):
Only, it's going to take money out of this pocket?

Speaker 2 (01:17:36):
We Yeah, I would say it's suspended without pay if
he's suspended, but I just don't think he can let
it go if it's.

Speaker 7 (01:17:42):
Going to be.

Speaker 12 (01:17:42):
But I do believe the best thing to do is
to you know what you always do the people do
in power.

Speaker 2 (01:17:48):
Hey, money, that's fair, that's fair, that's fair. Your thoughts on, uh,
it's tipping culture out of control of Marcell or I'm
sorry I called you the wrong name again.

Speaker 12 (01:17:58):
I can't believe the hipping is out of our culture
because I know, I happen to be the great aggress
of a railroad. What they did and how shipping became
comments because the Europeans coming up there and they would see, all.

Speaker 2 (01:18:18):
Right too, do me a favor? Call in again? Would
we do this earlier in the show. I want to
hear more from you, but I don't want to leave
the last guy short. So we get everybody. Thank you, sir,
appreciate your thoughts. Kevin and Idaho wrap us up tonight.

Speaker 21 (01:18:34):
Hey, how you doing so?

Speaker 8 (01:18:36):
So here's here's what we got.

Speaker 21 (01:18:37):
I'm thinking if the NFL imposed the same thing as
what the NBA is doing right now, guys like Deefon
Diggs and Antonio Camarte, if they took a game off,
they'd only be, you know, to be thirty or forty
percent of the season right there, and you know, you
get a maintenance day and next thing you know, they're
only playing half the season. So I mean, they're never

(01:18:58):
gonna figure it out if they get a day off
for every.

Speaker 8 (01:19:00):
Time they have a kid.

Speaker 2 (01:19:01):
Well, look, well that's fair. But the NBA is different
because they played any two games and the little management
things that drives people nuts. That that's what that was
born of and we'll see. We're going to report on him.
Lke will have his day in court, as it were,
GINO or are to be suspended.

Speaker 15 (01:19:17):
Well, here's the thing.

Speaker 21 (01:19:18):
I'd rather go here. I know you're saying, you got
very easy, very easy. Back back to the blind guy.
If he's been paying the same price at the subway
for the last twenty years and all of a sudden
he has to pay another twenty five percented tip, what
service is he getting he's getting this?

Speaker 2 (01:19:36):
That's where we're going with this. You nailed right, you
nailed it. That's where we're going with this. Should GINO
be suspended, I don't know.

Speaker 13 (01:19:45):
I don't know.

Speaker 21 (01:19:46):
We'll I would probably say yes, but we'll see what
happens there.

Speaker 2 (01:19:51):
Kevin, I wish we had more time for you. You
were waited patiently online and I appreciate it. Please try
to call an earlier when we do this. I hate
to cut anybody short, but I got deadlines to meet here,
and so that's what that's what happens. So we find
ourselves in a situation where not everybody feels the same
way I feel about GINO, but tipping some good comments

(01:20:14):
coming up. We switched to the NBA lots happen. Yep,
you heard the man. The Bernie Fowlers show rolls on.
Thanks so much to all the callers in the minute hour.
I'm sorry if I couldn't give you quite as much
air time as you deserve. Please call back again and
we'll get that worked out. Sometimes the topics themselves get
a little meaty, like they were tonight, and we do

(01:20:36):
the best weekend and I appreciate everybody took the time
to call. You were outstanding. All right, So more news
in the NBA this week, and it just seems to
pile up on top of each other. It's that time,
all right. Welcome in, Mark Mendina. So we begin with
the obvious. The Lakers, Mark get a double whammy. Let's

(01:20:56):
take them one at a time. Luca the severity of
his and when can we really expect him back?

Speaker 22 (01:21:03):
Yeah, Luca, doctors great to left hamstring strain. I talked
to a few doctors outside of the Lakers, and they
to me that timetable is usually four to six weeks.
So when you look at the counter of that, that
means that the best case scenario, most likely scenarios, he's back.
If the Lakers are in the second round, and that's
obviously a huge eff with Austin Reeves. It's same sort

(01:21:27):
of timetable. So I think moving forward, the Lakers are
in the playoffs, the seedings still in flux. They could
be third or fourth seed. I don't think they'll lose
home court advantage, but obviously when you lose your top
two players, you know it goes out saying they have
no shot winning championship. But now their playoffs ceiling is
pretty short.

Speaker 2 (01:21:48):
Yeah, you know how I feel.

Speaker 8 (01:21:49):
I did.

Speaker 2 (01:21:50):
They weren't going to win a championship. They're two and
twelve in the last three years, and I don't know
how this year was really going to be any different
if you saw that game against Oklahoma City. But be
that as it made. There's an angle here that I
want to pursue because now it's back to being Lebron's team,
and how much of what took place and what might
transpire here in the new year term might effect whether
Lebron is really back as a Laker next year or

(01:22:12):
do those things correlate.

Speaker 22 (01:22:14):
I think everything correlates. I think the complicated thing with
Lebron in his futures, there's so many variables you know,
it's his health, it's his performance, it's how the team is.
You know, I think if I had to guess that
these injuries don't help. But at the same time, you know,
I'm seeing the Lakers play Cleveland. I know this is

(01:22:36):
with Luca and Austin, but Cleveland seems to be like
a hot mess with that team, and I don't see
outside of that any other team he joins, because I'm thinking, well,
what's the point if he goes to Golden State and
he has that cool moment with Steph Curry that he
did in the Olympics, I don't think it does anything
for him, Like he's not going to get credit if

(01:22:56):
they win, but all certainly get criticism if they lose.
So I think in the short term with the playoffs,
I think the very interesting irony here is that Lebron
is obviously had a body of work and very comfortable
in high stakes playoffs games being the number one guy,
but the context is completely different. He's forty one years old,

(01:23:18):
twenty third season. He's healthy now, but you don't know
how that's going to play through a growing first round
playoffs series and without Luca. Doctor Johnson reeves you miss
a lot of scoring punch, and I do stress that
they played really good basketball this fast march beyond them,
DeAndre Aiden's finally buying into his role and they're actually

(01:23:39):
being a good defensive team. But it was all tied
to how well Luca and Austin played. And so I think,
obviously Lebron has the muscle, memory and the wherewithal to
be the number one guy, but everything else around him
is going to be a lot more flawed and a
lot less margin for air, so it's going to be challenging.

Speaker 2 (01:23:58):
Again, I stick to my I can't prove it now,
but I said it last year and the year before,
you know, going nowhere. I mean, look, don't look now,
but Houston's won five in a row. They don't look
that bad. I don't think they're beating Denver. They're sure
as that wouldn't beat at Oklahoma City or San Antonio.
And I don't even know that they'd beat in Minnesota.
But that's a superfluous argument now because I can't prove

(01:24:18):
it because we're not gonna have Luca or Austin leaf
for the first round. It doesn't appear to be that way.
I just think Lebron wants to stay in LA and
he's gonna finagle it any way he can. I could
be wrong. I don't have any proof what percentage chance
will leave it there is Lebron back with the Lakers
next year.

Speaker 22 (01:24:39):
I can't really put a percentage because all this stuff's
very fluid, But I will say this, Like two months ago,
I thought it seemed inevitable. The time has run his
course and both sides are gonna say, you know, goodbye
after the season. I think that's shanged here, and I
don't know if that means he's tilting the scale toward

(01:24:59):
the Lake curse. But it's not out of the realm
of possibility. But you know, there's just too many moving
parts to put a percentage on it. I think the
interesting thing with this Lakers playoffs is that clearly we're
all on the same page. That championship thing that's completely
out the window. It's challenging first round, but their first

(01:25:20):
round matchups. I know the Rockets, Yeah they're five game
winning streak, but I think they're kind of fools. Gold
Kevin Durant is still playing at all time level, but
I'm pretty skeptical on those on their young guys and
how consistent they are. The Minnesota Timberwolves. Yeah, they had
the Lakers number last year, but I think they've been
more inconsistent this season. The Nuggets are the team that's

(01:25:42):
the real deal. But I think mathematically it seems pretty
likely that they're not going to face the Lakers in
the first round, but they're now i think, eclipsing the
Lakers for third in the West. As far as you know,
how good they are, So I think before these injuries,
it wasn't ever enough to seriously challenge San Antonio or

(01:26:04):
Oklahoma City barring major injury. But I think it was
pretty clear that they're a lot better team. They could
at least make a competitive second round series, and now
it just seems too much to ask. And the last
thing I'll point out here is I did talk to
doctors about Luca's injury. This is before Austin's injury, but

(01:26:25):
they said, like, the timetable is aligned for him to
come back in the play in the playoffs in the
second round, and if they're able to escape the first round, okay,
like this is an injury that you can heal pretty
well if you do it correctly. But with Austin, now
that completely changes the dynamic here.

Speaker 2 (01:26:45):
Well, if you've got Luca and Lebron that are both
Hall of famers and they're complaining they don't have Austin,
I mean, I'm sure I don't want to go down
this rabbit hole. But if you watch the game against
Oklahoma City where they they haunted Luca, he looked like
a guy in the mall parking loft couldn't find his car.
It was not funny. I'll just leave it there. The

(01:27:07):
games are going to be de saided on the floor.
Let's you see what happens. Uh. Meanwhile, Jannis is furious
and now they I understand the league is investigating his
injury in the air quotes and apparently the relationship with
Milwaukee's really in the toilet. Now, Uh, what are your
thoughts on that?

Speaker 22 (01:27:28):
Yeah, it's really sad it's gotten to this point because
I mean, the NBA is an investigation still ongoing, but
I think it was telling that, you know, the League
office had said that, you know, they already determined that
the Bucks had scheduled Giannis to do some three or
three scrimmages last week as part of his return to
play process, and Giannis declined to participate. So you know,

(01:27:50):
Jannis is giving all these interviews, rattling his sabers, saying, hey,
I want to play. I want to play well if
you do, like go through the recovery process here, and
I'm not naive, Like clearly the Bucks aren't in the
position of wanting to win games or out of the playoffs.
They want to maximize their draft pick. But Giannis has

(01:28:10):
an actual injury. It's a calf injury, and these calf
injuries are very delicate. And so just because you say, oh,
I'm ready to play well, if they're clearing you for
three on them, three scrimmaging and you say, no, okay,
you don't really have a case here. So what really matters, though,

(01:28:30):
is clearly the relationships fractured and it's inevitable he's going
to be dealt. But there is all I also want
to be surprised. I don't think this is going to happen, Bernie,
but I also want to be surprised if Jannis blinks,
because he's clearly trying to set it up that I
don't want to be the bad guy. I know their

(01:28:52):
choice but to ask out. But he's eligible for an
extension October, and he's never turned down an extension, so
we'll wait and see. I think he will be trade
this offseason because now there's gonna be more bidders. There's
gonna be more draft picks being dangled before the draft.
But I think that Giannis is doing this to set

(01:29:12):
the narrative that, hey, I'm not the bad guy here.
I wanted to play. I want to compete for my teammates,
but the Bucks didn't allow me. But the NBA is
kind of exposing that isn't entirely accurate.

Speaker 2 (01:29:25):
Any truth to the rumor that the Golden State Warriors
will make overtures toward.

Speaker 22 (01:29:29):
Giannis, Well, for sure, they'll make overtures, but they made
overtures in February before the trade deadline and the Bucks
weren't interested. So what's going to change. I think there's
going to be more bidders. Maybe there's more draft picks
that the Warriors can package. You know, regardless of what
what Mike Dunleavy say publicly after the trade deadline, it's

(01:29:52):
clear that Draymond Green or Jimmy Butler is going to
have to be part of that deal. But I there
also might be better, better offers available, whether it's with
the Knicks, whether it's with the Lakers. That just happened
when you have a full off season of negotiating as
well as draft picks being available, because that's just the

(01:30:14):
nature of negotiations lean into the draft.

Speaker 2 (01:30:18):
One last thing about Luca. I think he has a
valid case with the NBA for the anyway circumstances clause
whatever they call it, to be eligible to be voted
for m v P. I guess the case will be
heard between the thirteenth and fifteen, as long as he
files it. You think Luca prevails, Well.

Speaker 22 (01:30:36):
I don't think he was gonna win MVP regardless. I
think it's gonna be Shay giligis Alexander. I would have
put him third behind Shay. But the larger point, yeah,
I think that they will rule in his favor for
all NBA because that's another thing. The sixty five game
rule isn't just about you know, m VP or Defensive Player.

Speaker 2 (01:30:58):
Of the Year award.

Speaker 22 (01:30:59):
It's all NBA and Luca is literally playing sixty four games.
So to doc, hey, you miss one game. You know,
he's had some injuries, but not major and some of
the games that he missed was because you know, the
birth of his daughter, and you could give an excuse
for that because that's a huge moment and very very important.

(01:31:19):
So yeah, I think the NBA will rule in the favor.
But frankly, Kate cutting him should get the same treatment
because he's on the borderline too. And this show is
that the sixty five game rules flawed. And I'm not
saying this to you know, cast any like empathy for players,
like there should have been a better management with making

(01:31:39):
players more consistently available. But the NBA, you know, over
over course corrected. They didn't need to give guidelines to
voters like Bill Walton is literally the only player that
was ever vote MVP that played under sixty five games
in an a two game season. All the other players
it was because of lockout seasons or this season was

(01:32:01):
an eighty two game season. So yeah, Adam Silver, I
think last month said they're keeping the sixty five game role.
I think they're going to change that moving forward.

Speaker 2 (01:32:10):
All right. Last thing, Adam Silver I believe has put
forth what he believes are aggressive anti tanking measures. I
don't know of any of them. I know what they
all are. I'm not going to list them. Pick which
one you think they'll adopt. You think any of them
will work.

Speaker 22 (01:32:26):
Well, what they're showing now isn't going to work. I
mean you can dock draft picks, but you know, I
think teams just you look at that as the cost
of doing business. Right, it's the same thing as tamper
and a slap on the wrist. I think really the
only thing that solves is they abolish the draft, treat
drafts as free agency. I mean, we're already opening up
the can of worms with nil that. Just adapt and

(01:32:51):
do all that and allow teams that are actually bad
to have a tool to help them rebuild. And you
don't allow teams to have repeat lottery picks, and that'll
I think, help at least mitigate it. So I don't
know if the NBA will actually do that, but that's
the easy solution.

Speaker 2 (01:33:10):
Yeah, I'm thinking the two year record tracking has some area,
But if you look at this list, I think they're
they're grabbing his straws. I think they're just spitting cheese
was into the wind. I don't know. There's always going
to be workarounds, just my opinion.

Speaker 22 (01:33:24):
Yeah, there's always going to be a workaround, But like
with anything, it's always about trying to find a new
proposal that at least reduces the severity of the problem.
And I don't think what I've seen really does fair.

Speaker 2 (01:33:37):
All right, Mark, We'll see you man.

Speaker 22 (01:33:39):
Predy appreciate you as always.

Speaker 2 (01:33:41):
All right, So coming up, you know, one of my
callers brought up Tiger Woods. It's why I love them
in that hour. Our callers are thoughtful and they go
with several angles. And he might have been brought up
tongue in cheek. But you know what's interesting, they keep
covering this story. Nick Faldo, the Great Nick Faldo, Cirin

(01:34:03):
neck Faldo had some very scathing remarks on his judgment
of Tiger Woods, and he was in a Telegram article
I want to share with you because I cannot recall
ever in thirty years anybody speaking this kind of ill
will against Tiger Woods in public. You are going to

(01:34:24):
want to hear it. By the way, with the iHeartRadio app,
you can stream this wherever you happen to be. Catch
us at all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live
twenty four to seven and the new and improved iHeartRadio app.
Just heard Fox Sports Radio in the app to stream
us live all day every day. Be sure to select
Fox Sports Radio is one of your presets in the
iHeart Radio app, so we'll always pop up at the

(01:34:44):
top of the screen.

Speaker 8 (01:34:46):
Coming up.

Speaker 2 (01:34:47):
The Bernie Fradle Show continues. Keep it locked. It is
the Bernie Fradle Show.

Speaker 1 (01:34:51):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:35:02):
We're back in the Bernie Frata Show. Fox Sports Radio.
Take up to three m Pacific, six am Eastern. I
want to remind folks for the best pregame show every weekend,
be sure to turn into Fox Sports Radio's Countdown presented
by BETMGM every Saturday and Sunday morning. Sunday morning feature
I'm man Bill Krackman from nine am to noon Eastern

(01:35:23):
six to nine Pacific, will count you down to all
the biggest games of the weekend. Tune into Countdown presented
by BETMGM, every Saturday and Sunday morning right here on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio App. I wasn't sure
that the Tiger Woods story would have this much legs.
It continues to be covered in fits and starts all
week by the media and not just sports channels, and

(01:35:46):
I was surprised to see cause I think people have
their limits, and I was surprised to see what Nick
Faldos said. And I'm just gonna read you the quotes
from a Telegram article written by a gentleman named James Corrigan.
This is what sir Nick Faldo had to say about
Tiger Woods and his recent indiscretion. As it were, quote

(01:36:08):
Tiger Woods should not be welcomed back with open arms.
The Englishman also believes that the Englishman meaning Nick Faldo,
he believes that the fifteen time major winner quote should
not be welcomed back. He's perturbed by the manner in
which Goal's authorities responded. Now Augusta National set out a

(01:36:31):
similarly fawning statement after revealing Woods had withdrawn from next
week's Masters, and they seemingly brushed it under the carpet.
Nick Foulder didn't like this. He said, the tour will
look after him, they always have done. But then you've
got Jack Nicholas saying it is tarnished the entire sport.
There has to be some accountability. That's what I said

(01:36:53):
about Gina Oriema for what he did in front of
God and everybody in a semi final game, after making
statements about how you got to you win with dignity
lose with class. He didn't do that, okay, But here's
where Faldo kicked it into high gear. Believing there should
be some sort of recrimination from within this sport of
golf VSA v. Tiger Woods. He said, quote, our sport

(01:37:17):
is based on discipline. You rule yourself, you police yourself.
I would have thought that the PGA Tour behind closed
doors must be very disappointed. They paid Tiger tens of
millions to be on the course and off the course
with his business role he got as chairman and player
of the Player Driven Futures Competition Committee. Quote he has

(01:37:39):
only finished nine tournaments in the last nine years, or
checked that five years. Nine tournaments in the last five years.
Yet they feel he is the future on the golf
course and the future of the decision making. And they
must say, quote, oh boy, what do we get out
of that. In the normal walk of life, there would

(01:37:59):
be some accountability. He's not wrong, he's not wrong. I
don't know what's gonna happen with Tiger Woods. And I
got to tell you by saying that he needs help,
and I guess he's going out of the country. He's
you know, it's a quite it's a tacit admission that
there was something going on that day and the substances,

(01:38:21):
even though he wouldn't. I think his lawyers have a
little bit more of a battle now than I would
have originally originally thought. And you know, I again, we
rehash this last week, so I don't need to revisit it.
But I would just say, you know, fool me once,
shame on you fool me four times? Well, you know
or that I'm going with that, it's been a it's

(01:38:43):
been a rough week. Look La fans before Luca got hurt,
and I genuinely was looking forward to seeing what the
Lakers could do with Luca and Lebron and Austin Reeves
and I will just you could run back the tape,
find the podcast. I said they wouldn't do it anything
the playoffs last year they lost to Minnesota. They did

(01:39:03):
not look good doing it. The last three years, we
have the same hope and optimism. They're two and twelve
in the last three years, and I don't think it
would have been any different this year. That's just how
I feel based on what I've seen. The playoffs are
a far different animal, and you got three guys on
the floor. If getting significant minutes and none of them
can really play defense. But be that as it may,

(01:39:24):
and I think Luca deserves to have an opportunity to
be eligible for the All NBA team. I believe that.
And I said earlier in the show, you know, LA
fans were rejoicing. Only two players in NBA history have
scored more than six hundred points in a month of March.
The first Michael Jeffrey Jordan back in nineteen eighty seven

(01:39:45):
March scored six hundred and seventy six points that month.
Luca scored six hundred points March of twenty twenty six.
By the way, even Kobe never did that. He scored
five hundred and seventy eight points in March of twenty
oh six. And you may have heard me sing the
praises the Dodgers. Money can't buy a pennant, It can't.

(01:40:09):
It's been tried. Only the Dodgers seem to have cornered
the market on that. I know it leaves people ticked off.
They're out of the gate in a huge way. And
how about shoheo tani is John Facenda, God rest his soul.
The voice of NFL Films used to like to say
if he was talking about Joey Atani, he would say
he is to drain the vocabulary of superlatives. And Shoey

(01:40:31):
has two Major League Baseball leading strenks right now, anybody
talk about this. As a hitter, he's got the longest
current regular season on base streak of thirty six games.
As a pitcher, show hey, the longest current regular season
scoreless any streak twenty two in the third innings. Both

(01:40:52):
of those belong to the city of Los Angeles, and
I think they must be happy they do. I want
to read a tweet from Purito here. Prito, Danny, longtime listener,
appreciate you. He says, you haven't shared yet. But I
agree with Faldo. Tiger has ran to rehab every time,

(01:41:13):
trying to avoid consequences, not for actual help. And his
whole act about calling Trump as a low key bully
tactor to the officers Bush League. He's lucky he hasn't
killed anyone yet. He's not wrong. Prito is not wrong.
Take this. Let's be honest. Here that situation back in
twenty twenty one, he almost lost his leg. Look at

(01:41:36):
the car. It was mangled. And again, this isn't the
first time. So you heard what you heard what? Actually
he sent a tweet before I read Nick Fellow's comments,
but he was kind of prescient. That's where Faldo Falo
was going. And again I want to reiterate my thoughts. First,
Luca now reeves. I get it. This was supposed to

(01:41:56):
be a different year. That is bovine scatology. If you
just simply watched the Lakers, how far off course they
were against Oklahoma City they lost. They could have lost
that game by eighty points. And the way this team
is constructed, you've got two Hall of famers, once past

(01:42:17):
his prime, even though he can put up numbers, and
he wants to stay around and be part of the spotlight.
I think that's only his only motivation. And I know
it's against a lot of practice psychology without a license,
but that's simply how I feel about that. So prove
me wrong. Prove me wrong, go out and beat somebody
in the playoffs. You're two and twelve in the last
three years. Hey, guess what two weeks for Thursday, we

(01:42:40):
got this little thing called the NFL Draft. Who bettered
awigh In Now not sure if he's including it in
this week's feature, but pretty soon, some of these big
names you've been hearing are going to be on NFL
rosters and perhaps on your fantasy roster count September. Remember,
the future always has a way of arriving at a schedule.
Once we've had the draft in the NFL, things really

(01:43:02):
start to pick up steam. Signed up for Brandon's Fantasy Files.

Speaker 6 (01:43:09):
Fantasy Files with Brandon Deutsch, your go to fantasy football
segment are got one gone?

Speaker 23 (01:43:17):
What is up everybody? And yes, Bernie, we are going
to be talking about the NFL Draft exclusively today in
Fantasy Files because a lot of these prospects will possibly
be on your rosters this upcoming season, or if you
have a dynasty league, maybe a little sooner, depending on
when you have the dynasty draft. Now, I wanted to

(01:43:37):
dedicate this segment today to best fits and worst fits
for these prospects that I think are entirely known by
a lot of the fantasy public. And these are the
top prospects at the playmaker positions for this NFL draft.
And we'll start with Denzel Boston and I think the
best fit is the Patriots. His last name is Boston

(01:43:58):
for gosh sake, right, Like, this guy is built to
play in New England. I think he's gonna fall, and
if he falls past the forty nine Ers, I think
he goes to the Patriots at thirty one. Drake May
needs a wide receiver one. I don't think he has that,
And maybe they still have that deal that they claim
some sources claimer in place post June first, so the
Eagles can save some money for aj Brown. But even

(01:44:20):
if that's the case, Denzel Boston's a perfect fifty to
fifty ball guy, contested catch guy for Drake May, and
the forty nine Ers would only be a perfect fit
because Mike Evans is there, and who's even calm to
Mike Evans. Worst fits would be the Browns and the Jets,
and I'm sorry you're gonna hear those two teams a
lot on this list, no quarterback typically means not a
great fit for a wide receiver. Now there's only a

(01:44:42):
few wide receivers that it really doesn't matter where they go,
but it always matters a little bit, like Cleveland doesn't
have a quarterback. I don't care how much you like
Shador Sanders. He had the worst season statistically in a
long time for quarterbacks, and I get he was thrown
into an unfortunate and really not a situation that was
helpful for him, But he still had Harold Fan and
junior at Quinn John Judkins touring the end of the year.

(01:45:04):
He still held the ball for twenty to five seconds,
it seemed like every single play before going through his reads.
So yes, I don't think Shador Sanders is the answer,
and I do also want to see another season for
him Jets. Obviously Geno Smith is not the answer. So
you're gonna hear those two teams a lot throughout the segment.
Let's get to Casey concept. She and I think the
best fits are the forty nine ers for one reason,

(01:45:25):
kick returner and the forty nine ers lost sky More.
They need a kick returner and a punt returner, but
that's not who you're spending your first round pick on.
He's also a yards after catch guy who can fit
the Brandon ayukroll that they're ultimately gonna lose. They're gonna
they're holding on brand and I trying to get a
seven round pick from the Commanders, but they're ultimately not
going to mend things with Brandon Ayuk. This is a
guy who can fill his role and also provide some

(01:45:46):
versatility by returning kicks. Steelers is another good fit for him,
just because they lost to Austin And I think they
could use a receiver like Concept Shean to kind of
fill that yards after catch slot receiver role.

Speaker 1 (01:45:56):
He could do that.

Speaker 23 (01:45:57):
Worst fits again Jets Browns, But I'm als still gonna
the Bills. They have too many yak guys already. They
just traded for DJ Moore. They don't need another small
receiver like Casey Concept shown to just do yak stuff
for Joe Brady's fascination on yards after catch types of receivers.
They need a really a true X receiver like Boston.
They didn't hit on Ken Coleman, And no, Boston is
not Kean Coleman. He's ten times better than Coleman ever

(01:46:19):
was as a prospect. Mackay Lemon best fits Rams and Chiefs.
Why two elite quarterbacks. Rams perfect fit along alongside pookinakoy
He's a proven blocker, plays a lot like pukin Akua
in terms from the slot. But Puka was used on
the outside and the slot all over the place, right,
So having another slot guy like McKay lemon isn't.

Speaker 2 (01:46:40):
The end of the world.

Speaker 23 (01:46:41):
You can always move Pooka outside. They've utilized him in
multiple situations in their scheme. Chiefs is another good fit
simply because of Patrick Mahomes and just what they do
with the yards after catch stuff. If for she Rice,
I know the stuff came out that he's not going
to be disciplined for the new incident, regardless, he's still
a good fit.

Speaker 7 (01:46:58):
There.

Speaker 23 (01:46:58):
Worst fits jets Rave, Why the Ravens, Well, they have
Za Flowers. Kay Lemon is not a vertical threat. He
is a slot receiver. They have Za Flowers, they do
not need mkay Lemon. So let's go to Carnal Tate
and the best fit is the Ravens because they don't
have that. You could argue they've never had a vertical
threat at wide receiver for Lamar Jackson that was any good.
So Carnal Tait is a perfect fit. So you could

(01:47:19):
stop throwing fifteen yard route like passes to Zay Flowers right.
Worst fits would be Commanders and Chiefs. I just don't
like Carnal Tate's fit alongside Xavier Worthy and Rashid Rice
personally in that offense, you can use Worthy as a
vertical threat and the Commanders. I just don't like his
fit alongside Terry McLaurin. Let's get to Jeremiah Love, Chiefs, Giants, Commanders.

(01:47:40):
I think all are great fits. He's going to one
of those teams. I don't think the Titans are at
play there at four, unless Dallas jumps him to take
David Bailey at three, which has been talked about. That's
a whole separate conversation. But I do think the worst
fits would be Titans in Miami, obviously because Devon a
chance there and his teammate from Notre Dame, Jendarien Price
best fit as the Seahawks. I think that's who they're

(01:48:01):
going to target in round two. It's looking like only
one running back's gonna go a Round one, but remember
Bucky Irvin in the past went round three after not
having a great Pro day. I'm not saying Price didn't
have a great Pro day, but I'm just saying it.
You don't have to be round one to be a
star in fantasy football, right and Omar Cooper Junior will
end here before we get into this again next week.
Steelers forty nine, Ers, Bills all great fits just because

(01:48:24):
he can do so much great footwork can be utilized
all across the field. As a yak guy in the
backfield worst fits though. Cowboys don't think about taking a
wide receiver. You need defense. Everybody knows it, and the
Jets for obvious reasons, no quarterback back to you, Bertie.
I'm Brandon Deutsch. You can find me at BSD takes
on X and Brandon S Deutsch on TikTok.

Speaker 2 (01:48:44):
Good stuff. On Denzel Boston. I think Newinga could really
use him, especially in cool weather. He lit it up
at Washington. Then he's a big receiver with an attitude
and so, and I agree with your assessment on shudor
one percent. You know who Cam wore, Cam Newton, by
the way, I like cam Ward. Look that Cam Newton

(01:49:05):
had to throw to his rookie year. Okay, yes, he
had a Steve Smith who all commanded double teams and
he had a rookie in I believe gre greg Olsen
got Brandon LaFell and a bunch of no names and
he still lit it up. So you know, you could
give shoodor Jerry Rice. I'm not. I'm not buying the
whole act anymore. And I've given I've given enough minutia

(01:49:27):
about that. All right, good stuff. The draft is two
weeks from Thursday. I know Brandon has some really good
stuff on that coming up. The ABS system, Okay, now
I don't want any you know, I'd like to get
Mike Greenberg in a room and debate him. He is
oozes with a self a grand divesment about if you disagree, well,

(01:49:49):
you're traditionalists. No. No. Over the years, I've enjoyed the
evolution DH Dome stadiums. After turf wild Card playoffs night
Baseball at Wrigley I got. I think to pitch clock
is good, bigger basis, no big deal of shift band.
I hate the ghost runner. Baseball is a thinking man's game.
You know, advanced scouting and knowing your opponent's tendencies is huge.

(01:50:12):
Same with knowing a play DUNP player. Okay, I get
that ABS has captured the imagination of fans everywhere. But
is this turning the game into a game show circus
or is it actual strategy. I'm gonna give my thoughts
on the ABS system in Major League Baseball coming up.
By the way, if you miss any of tonight's show

(01:50:32):
you want to catch the podcast, just search Fox Sports
Radio wherever you get your podcasts. Right after the show,
Tonight's podcast to be posted. Be sure to follow the
podcast rating fire Stars. You can even provide a review. Again.
Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts.
You'll find tonight's full show posted right after we get

(01:50:53):
off the air. The Bernie Frautles Show continues. Keep it
locked you're listening to the Bernie Fratudle.

Speaker 6 (01:50:58):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (01:51:14):
All right back at the Bernie Fotle Show Fox Sports Radio.
Before I get to my thoughts on the ABS system,
which I get kind of makes for good TV, digress
for just a second. I got a tweet from monkey Biz.
Doug in South Korea said, living and working here in
South Korea, just like Tony said, there is no tipping

(01:51:35):
and the prices are upfront with excellute service and pride.
That was from our midnight hour. We talked about the
tipping culture being out of control. You you know, order
takeout and they put the digital thing in front of
your face. You get where I'm going with at so
want to include as much input from the folks as possible. Look,

(01:51:56):
let's talk about the ABS system, because eighty five percent
of people love it. I'm not against evolution in baseball.
So when you know, people like Mike Greenberg come out
and say traditionalists hate this, he can go kick rocks.
So I'm not really sure how he defines traditionalists. But
I've been around this game a long time and I've enjoyed.

(01:52:16):
I've said the evolution of the dh Dome, stadiums, AstroTurf,
wild Card playoffs, night Baseball at Wrigley. Okay, I've always said,
just don't mess with sixty feet six inches and ninety
feet between the bases right to the pitchclock. I think
it's good, bigger bases. No problem with that shift band.

(01:52:37):
You want to do that, Okay, hitter got to keep
one foot in the batter's box. Now I hate the
extra innings ghost runner because baseball is a thinking man's game.
And my beef with the ABS is teams advanced scout
like crazy. They know hitters tendencies, they know defensive tennancies,
they know umpires tendencies, knowing your opponent's tendencies is huge,

(01:52:59):
same with the player umpire. Now I get it that
ABS has captured the imagination of fans, But I ask you,
is this turning baseball into a game show circus or
is there real actual strategy here? Now human umpires make

(01:53:21):
the actual calls, but you can trigger an instant technological
review you get you have. Everybody starts the game with
two and you can be wrong twice and that's it.
You're done with your challenges. But if you keep getting
them right, hell, you can challenge with all you want right,

(01:53:42):
you retain your challenges if you're successful. That's what That's
why I call it like a game show. I got
to thinking about this. I think there are some teams
maybe it's starting to happen now that figure out it
may not be so smart to challenge early in the
game when you might want that challenge later when it matters. Like,

(01:54:04):
you know, if you're trying to tie a ball game
with men in scoring position, you're down a run and
someone gets wrung up on a bad third strike, call
Kyle Schwarbro, who I think is one of the best
players in baseball. Obviously, I saw one of his bats
about ten days ago. It was like the third inning.
I believe he challenged a strike two call and he
was wrong. It got overturned, so they lost the challenge.

(01:54:27):
And then the very next pitch, it was worthy challenge
because it looked a little low, but sure enough, the
baseball was barely touching the box, the strike zone box.
That's you know that the computer relies on, the eagle
relies on if it's just barely touching. It's just like

(01:54:49):
if the basketball, you know, offensive goaltending. If the ball
is just touching the rim but hanging off and you
touch it, you're screwed. So the very next Kyle Schworber
was rung up, punched out on a pitch. It really
did look low and he was on it. He couldn't
challenge it. There were at challenges, so he challenged it

(01:55:09):
on two strikes. I don't know why you would challenge
early in the game because there's so much more baseball.
You can't win a game in the third inning, and
typically you can't lose it in the third inning.

Speaker 12 (01:55:22):
It can't.

Speaker 2 (01:55:23):
But let's not split hairs here. But when you get
to the seventh, eight to ninth, when baseball becomes so
much more specialized and especially the ninth when you know,
darn well it's hardest for the pitcher to get those
last three outs. Maybe you need to push one run across.
You don't know. You let the game dictate. But I
would only want to challenge on a third strike. That's
just me. And if there were men in scoring position,

(01:55:45):
and you know, I think right now it's pretty preparent
to me that the catcher should really be the only
one to challenge, you know, the pitch, because they're receiving
one hundred pitches every game and they have to have
that perspective in getting a feel what the umpire tenancies are.

(01:56:07):
And when I look at that box, how do we
know that's even accurate? That artificial box? You can question
that as well, right But the game show factor teams
are learning that not all challenges are equal. Again, they're
giving us statistical models that's suggest challenging early in an
inning with multiple runners on base, well, that provides the

(01:56:30):
highest positive run value, but it's a very small sample size,
whereas challenging with two ouss often less viable unless it
prevents an inning ending strikeout. Well, hell yeah, that would
be more valuable in my opinion. You got to put
the ball in play, and if you're wrung up on
a bad pitch that you couldn't hit with the canoe paddle,
it could happen. I know, Angel Hernanez isn't working anymore,

(01:56:53):
but look, ABS uses this hawkeye camera to track the
ball's path through a two D zone. So one of
the things this does take away is traditional framing from
a catcher. I don't know a pitcher that doesn't like
a catcher who is good at framing. It gives you
an opportunity again, baseball, so the thinking man's game to

(01:57:15):
potentially fool an umpire. Now that's becoming far less relevant
in these high leverage spots where challenge is available. The
only good thing I like about is there's a two
second rule. Challenges must be made within roughly two seconds
of the umpire's call. This prevents from the bench and
all this data analysis to influence a decision and study.

(01:57:38):
So this is forcing players in the heat of the
moment within two seconds to rely purely on instinct and
their internal feel for the strike zone. What we're finding
is a lot of the better hitters in the game
might just know the strike zone better than umpires. Well
they should because they're paid to hit. Okay, again, back
to the game show aspect, it's almost like wants to

(01:58:00):
be a millionaire? Do you save your challenge? Do you
save your lifeline? Because now we're finding teams maybe need
to do some late hoard, late game hoarding. Keep at
least one challenge for the eighth or ninth inning. That's
going to be critical for high leverage game over scenarios.
All right. By the way, hitters now have to adjust

(01:58:21):
to high breaking balls that nick the top of the zone.
What looks high to the human eye is now a
strike to Abs. Well, if I will take the human
eye over Abs anytime, do you want Abs to fly
an airplane? Now? Major League Baseball has banned tools like

(01:58:41):
the green card system, which the Brewers tried it to
prevent the bench from signal League players win the challenge.
One good thing about the rule is you get to extreenings,
you get a reset, you get one challenge, perenting if
you're already out of challenges, okay, I will. And apparently
League Baseball they're trying to, you know, prevent people from

(01:59:04):
doing workarounds and cheating. They're delaying all broadcasting game day
pitch tracking data by you know, ten seconds or so.
That will ensure players can't get outside help before the
two second window closes. So look, and we're gonna talk
to Larry Sorenson about this. He pitched in the Major
League for ten years, one ninety three games. He retired

(01:59:26):
nine straight men in the All Star Game. He threw strikes.
He knows what a strike looks like. I'm guessing he
probably likes it. But we're gonna get his thoughts. We're
gonna get his thoughts on it. But I really take
on brage with if someone says, well, you're just a traditionalist. No,
I take a you know, I take it as it comes.
I've said it again, I'll say it again.

Speaker 8 (01:59:46):
D H.

Speaker 2 (01:59:46):
I was okay with it. Dome stadiums, AstroTurf, wild Card playoffs,
night Baseball at Wrigley, the pitch clock, bigger basis, the
shift band, although I thought was stupid because if you
want to compromise your defense because someone's stubbor, but they've
been doing that since Ted Win playing. So the long
and the short of it is, by the way, monkey
bizdug another good tweet here, who certified to adjust standardizer

(02:00:09):
check abs against the set standard that's the thing. I
don't know if there is a set standard. They want
to sell us that there is, but I am not
so sure. But we'll dive into this coming up. Look
it's here to stay, and I'll tell you this. It's
a precursor to where they're going to call every pitch.
The Empire will stand there, but he'll be there, Stu
Je only keep a lock. You listening to the Bernie

(02:00:29):
Frattle Show on Fox Foorth. It's right, you heard the man.
The Bernie Fraddle Show keeps rolling right along. We'll take
you up to three am Pacific, six am Eastern. Let's
shift our attention to baseball. The season is well underway
with lots of storylines already. It's welcome in our baseball
on Saturder. And you know, in the history of Major
League Baseball, twenty two thousand people have played Major League Baseball,

(02:00:52):
but only one retired nine in a row in a
Major League Baseball All Star Game, including four Hall of Famers.
I think he think knows a thing or two about
throwing strikes as welcome in. Larry Sorenson, Hey, Larry, I
appreciate you getting up early. Man.

Speaker 10 (02:01:05):
Bernie, how are you doing?

Speaker 18 (02:01:06):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (02:01:08):
So I want to dive right into this ABS thing,
which is really sort of the headliner of the season
so far, before I get into specific questions. Now, give
me your overall take on at pros and cons and
if you like it.

Speaker 19 (02:01:20):
Oh, that's a great question. I think the jury is
still out as much as anything. And I know that's
pretty noncommittal, in a little bit weak, but I think
that it's not interfering with the flow of the game.

Speaker 2 (02:01:31):
I really like that.

Speaker 19 (02:01:33):
I think we're seeing more pitches overturns than I thought
we would. I thought the percentages would be a little
bit different. That's been a little bit surprising to me
because I had a chance in the college getting to
see some of the scores of umpires, and there were
a lot of umpires that were getting ninety plus percent
on their game notes for a day. It's all involved

(02:01:54):
in So think about it, Bernie.

Speaker 8 (02:01:55):
You know how hard it is to get You've been
in the box.

Speaker 19 (02:01:58):
Looking at guys throwing non five with the ball moving
two different directions.

Speaker 10 (02:02:02):
Well, it's just as hard to umpire as it is
to hit it.

Speaker 2 (02:02:06):
I could agree more. And I'm concerned about the integrity
of the strike zone box that little box they put
up there. What are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 19 (02:02:16):
You know, I don't think that the first one was right,
and I'm not entirely sure that they've got around. I
think the one that we all got so used to
watching and taking for granted as the end all be
all with that box that we saw on TV, there's
a lot of things that can affect that. And I
didn't believe in that one, and that was proven to
be true that it wasn't entirely accurate. And again I'm

(02:02:37):
going to withhold judgment on the new one. But I
think they've made the system better. I think they're closer.
I'm not sure we've got the final product yet.

Speaker 2 (02:02:46):
No, it's well said. I think you're spot on, And
part of it is team strategy. Why would you Why
would you engage in a challenge early in a game?
And if it's not a third strike punch out, why
would you do it any other time? Maybe I can
learn something here, but it seems like you want to
do it in a high laverorage situation. It might cost
your runs with men in scoring position. What are your
thoughts it's.

Speaker 19 (02:03:07):
Like withholding good time out till the end of the game.
I agree with you one thousand percent that why waste
one early and cost yourself something when it's not in
a crucial situation.

Speaker 10 (02:03:18):
Unless you're trying to prove something to the umpire.

Speaker 19 (02:03:21):
I think that there's still also a lot of experimenting
going on by the players that are trying to find
some things out. How and the teams, you know, what
is the best strategy, How do we use this to
the best effect that we possibly can? And I think
that it's going to take a while for it. Like
anything else new in the game of baseball, it's going
to take a while for itself to settle out.

Speaker 2 (02:03:42):
But there's one aspect of this that concerns me a little.
We both agree baseball is a thinking man's game, and
you won ninety three games in the big least. You
don't do that without preparation. No one hitters tendencies, no
umpires tendencies. And I'm sure you love a good catcher
who knows how to frame and maybe full an umpire.
It seems like we're taking some of that element out
of the game. That's the part I don't like your thoughts.

Speaker 19 (02:04:05):
Well, I think that the few amount of times that
you can use it has a little bit of an
effect on that because I think you still use the
catcher's ability to frame.

Speaker 10 (02:04:13):
The ball for the majority of the time.

Speaker 19 (02:04:16):
You know, we're only talking about a couple of appeals
per game, so you still have to do the work
the rest of the time. And you know, as you say,
all the time, by any games in baseball is a
game of repetition. And so the fact that you're throwing
a couple of hundred pitches on each side during the
course of the.

Speaker 10 (02:04:32):
Game, but you can only use a couple of appeals, I.

Speaker 19 (02:04:35):
Think still makes those other factors important, still makes trying
to steal a strike importance, still makes the way that
you receive a ball important to the way that the
game is played.

Speaker 2 (02:04:46):
So I want to make sure I'm not wrong on this.
I think every teams go ahead, Larry, that would be
a first you being wrong. Here's where I was going
with that. So I believe every team is gifted to
challenges to start the game. You only allowed to be

(02:05:08):
wrong twice, but as long as you keep getting them right,
you can keep challenging. Is that not the case? I
kind of like your idea where you only get to period.

Speaker 19 (02:05:18):
Well, that's the way I understand it as well, And
I've got no problem with continuing if you're right, And
I'll tell you why, because I know the way that
I felt as a pitcher, that I knew the strike
zone and had a really good idea. But I also
knew that I wore contact lenses in my foot yard
very severely when my foot hit the ground and then
I had my follow through, so my head was moving,

(02:05:40):
and so I didn't get as good a look at
the ball as sometimes a hitter in the umpire drew
either and you're on a windy day out in San
Francisco or a rainy day someplace, or you know, it's
hard for the picture to understand exactly where his strike
zone is as well. And I don't think that the
players are correct one hundred percent of the time either,

(02:06:00):
So I don't think that we can assume that the
players always know. Again, the ball's moving ninety five ninety
seven miles per hour in two different directions, and where
is it crossing the plate? And you know, in the
plate seventeen inches wide, so it's really really can be
a difficult thing. And guys, you know, when you're barely

(02:06:21):
scraping that little box that they put up. It's a
pretty fine measurement.

Speaker 2 (02:06:27):
Especially if there's twilight, shadows, a bad hitting background, too
much sun. Yeah, it all factors in well.

Speaker 19 (02:06:37):
And you think about you think about it. You know
again it comes and as baseball very frequently does, things
are it's more than a century old. You're trying to
square a round objects up with a round bat and
trying to square it up. You know, it's a difficult
thing to do. And if you're a dime off on
the sweet spot of.

Speaker 10 (02:06:56):
The bat, you're getting a pop up for a round ball.

Speaker 2 (02:06:59):
So it's a tough thing to do. One of the
most astude adages in baseball. You fail seven times again,
you check out. You fail seven times out of ten.
You might get Hall of Fame votes. You got eight
times out of ten. You're talking on I'm talking on
the radio. Anyway, you brought up something because you threw
to Buck Martinez, who was one of the brightest catchers

(02:07:20):
to play the game. I have a chance to talk
to Buck many times. You threw to him anytimes. We're
finding catchers are becoming cool to chief of challenges because
they're seeing one hundred pitches a game. I think that
part's good. Would you have deferred to Buck on a
challenge if they had it back when you were playing?

Speaker 19 (02:07:35):
I certainly the Buck Martinis on everything during the course
of the game, and that was one of the reasons
I had the you know, the limited success that I
did was because he took a lot of the thinking
part out of it for me. Bernie, and I told
you this story before, but I would throw eight change
ups a game just so that the advanced scout from
the other team would go back to his team and

(02:07:56):
write in his report, will throw a change up to
a right hand or all the left hander, And that
got the hitter thinking about three pitches instead of just
the two pitches that I wanted to get him out with.
Because I was a thinker, slighter change guy, and I
just wanted to have it the report that I had
it and would throw it, and so I'd go along,
you know, and it would come to a spot where
I knew it wasn't gonna hurt me. I didn't care

(02:08:16):
if it was a ball or if it was a strike,
or what it was going to do. I just wanted
to throw it to show up and I'd look in
and I'd say, well, I'll get a fool almost here,
and I'd look in and sure enough he's wiggling his fingers.

Speaker 10 (02:08:28):
Saw him for a change up, you know.

Speaker 19 (02:08:29):
So he was a bright guy. Just retired broadcast. He's
been the Blue Jays broadcaster forever. It seems like after
being their manager and chatting with him recently we were
going to have we were going to have breakfast, and
then they retired the same day.

Speaker 2 (02:08:42):
He's great. He's a great guy. Great guy he was.
And I'll tell you right now a little inside baseball stuff.
If you got a hit her thinking you've already won, Larry,
you can't hit and thinke it. He just can't do it,
all right. One last question on this well, one last
question on this subject. I believe I'll defer to you

(02:09:03):
that this is basically going to be a precursor and
it's just a matter of time before you have an
umpire standing back there like a cigar store Indian, but
a robot umpire whatever you call this, hawkeye whatever, is
going to tell him to call a ball or a strike,
and every pitch is going to be dictated by this system.
Is this a precursor to that?

Speaker 19 (02:09:25):
I think the possibility is there I really hope that
it doesn't because I still love the human element of
the game, you know, I still like the fact that
an umpire gets makes the fall at home Steve Anna
to see if it's right or not, both on the
on the actual play and on the pitch, and we

(02:09:45):
get another look at it. But it amazes me how
many times they do get it right. I think one
of the you know, one of the great things about
it is that no matter what the umpires say, the
fan is still going to have their own interpretation. Look
at the comments on social media sometimes when they put
up a place safer out, you know, and look at

(02:10:07):
people interpret it, and you get fifty to fifty depending
on whether you're a fan of a home team or
you're not a fan of the home team.

Speaker 10 (02:10:15):
So that on thement's always going to.

Speaker 8 (02:10:16):
Be there too.

Speaker 2 (02:10:18):
I'm in agreement. I hope they keep this wards at
and again, I still think it's a thinking man's game,
and people, Larry, you knew not to doubt my mind.
You knew umpires tendencies. Some guys saw the little pitch,
some guys did, and some guys are you know, carrying
a little more weight than other guys. Et cetera, based
on their body type, whether they set up behind the

(02:10:39):
plate where you get all that, and I just I
hate to see that go. We get the last word
on that.

Speaker 19 (02:10:45):
Let's see right at the end of at the start
of my career was when they still had the outside protectors.
Oh remember that protect goodness, Yes, I think people don't
remember those. A lot of people don't remember those. When
they had the outside productor is a big thing that
they had the lug around that interfered with everything, which

(02:11:05):
was really interesting. And then they went to the test
detectors like the catcher where which was much better for
the game. But yeah, we had an umpire we called
rough guess because rhyme's just his name. And I'll let
you figure out what I get figure it out.

Speaker 2 (02:11:21):
And I'm not gonna I'm knocking out the guy. I'm
not going out the guy. But you had big guys
like John McSherry.

Speaker 19 (02:11:27):
Look the problem was a great, excellent umpire.

Speaker 2 (02:11:32):
And a great banquet speaker too. But the thing is
you're right about that giant and I bet you on
some levels an amateur ball they might still use it.
Maybe not, but I would just say this that truly
inhibited an umpire's vision, but so and so does a catcher,
and so does the various lighting. Would you agree, Larry,
you hit sixty at bats to the big leagues it's

(02:11:53):
easier to hit at night than during the day. Right,
you see the ball better night? Is that fair?

Speaker 19 (02:11:57):
Absolutely?

Speaker 2 (02:11:58):
I agree with that, So that that factors into hold
this whole thing as well, seeing it and hell with
the damn robots. All right, I want to talk about
this because it is a story, and I know you'll
be objective and fair. Tony Vatello took over for the
Giants this year. He's an interesting interview. There're three and
six means nothing. I think you got to give at
least forty to fifty games to see what they look like.

(02:12:20):
But you were part of multiple organizations, solid organizations, the Oklonas,
the Saint Louis Cardinals, the Milwaukee Brewers. How would you
violencely felt? And I know you played for one of
the great college coaches of all time and will be benedict.
But the professional, the major league game, it's so much different.
How do you feel of a guy walks into the clubhouse,
what does he have to do to win over that clubhouse? Well?

Speaker 19 (02:12:43):
I'm not sure how objective and fair I can be
about it, because there's a small history there, but from
the regional's a couple of years.

Speaker 10 (02:12:51):
Putting that aside.

Speaker 19 (02:12:52):
Putting that aside, I think the thing that I think
about the game of baseball is it's a game of endurance, right,
one hundred and sixty two times in about one hundred
and ninety two in about one hundred and ninety days,
you have to go.

Speaker 10 (02:13:05):
Out there and play, Okay, So it's a grind.

Speaker 19 (02:13:09):
And I don't believe you can get into an emotional
roller coaster every single day.

Speaker 8 (02:13:16):
I just don't think you can do it.

Speaker 10 (02:13:17):
I don't think you can play at one.

Speaker 19 (02:13:19):
Hundred percent of your mental capacity every single day. I
don't think anybody in any job anywhere can go in
every day and say, boy, I really was at one
hundred percent mentally sharp and physically start today. It just
doesn't happen. It's too much of a grind. And I
think that what Tony Battello tries to bring in is
that let's go get one for the different guys and

(02:13:40):
you know, rah rah rah. And I don't believe that
you can do that, and I think that's going to
wear the players down after a while, different series, World series, playoffs,
you know, things in that nature. When you're playing five
games in a week in the playoffs, that's a different story.

Speaker 10 (02:13:57):
Then you can bank on that emotion. And the other
factor is the.

Speaker 19 (02:14:01):
Emotion sometimes can hurt you just as much in baseball
and in basketball, come to think of.

Speaker 8 (02:14:07):
It, but it can hurt you just more.

Speaker 19 (02:14:10):
In baseball because.

Speaker 10 (02:14:11):
The harder you try to throw, the softer you do,
the harder you try to swing, the more.

Speaker 19 (02:14:17):
You disrupt your swing. So sometimes letting that emotion take
over in key situations can hurt you as much as
it helps you.

Speaker 2 (02:14:24):
I might not have brought the subject up tonight, but
after the Giants started going too, he had a new
Rockney speech. I just don't know how that's going to
play at a major league clubhouse, with all due.

Speaker 19 (02:14:33):
Respect, And you can't come up with fifty or sixty
new Rockney speech is a year and expect it to
have any effect. Yet, you know, it's like cursing. If
every other words an fbomb, using an F bomb doesn't
mean anything.

Speaker 2 (02:14:49):
It loses effectiveness. Yeah, very very true. Well, I hear
there's good news. He's instituting something. When they win, they
get a snow colne after the game. But maybe that'll
work all right, you know, I gotta have a smart ass, Larry.
This last subject really looking forward to you diving into,
because there is this overarching cloud. We now find out

(02:15:10):
that the Major League Baseball Players Association, which as you know,
you were a player rep you were part of it
in eighty one, and then the four day deal in
eighty five, it's lookingomymous when you hear that the union
has accumulated a five hundred and nineteen million dollar war chest.
What are the odds, I don't mean to put a
gun to your head, what are the odds that there

(02:15:31):
is some sort of work stoppage either heading into twenty
seven or maybe even before this season ends.

Speaker 19 (02:15:38):
Well, I think there's a really really good chance we're
going to have some kind of a work stoppage. And
I'm not sure which party is going to be responsible
for it, but I think that there's a very very
good chance that we will have some kind of a
work stoppage. And you hate to see it.

Speaker 8 (02:15:50):
It's not good for the game.

Speaker 10 (02:15:51):
It's not good for the players, it's not good for
the owners.

Speaker 2 (02:15:54):
Both.

Speaker 19 (02:15:54):
Everybody loses. When you have that kind of a situation.
The great thing about it is that fans are resilient
and fans will come back. And you, yes, you will
lose some, no question about that. But I think that
it's a very low percentage because people love the game.
People love watching the game and getting excited about it

(02:16:14):
and cheering for their home team, and the fans will
come back.

Speaker 10 (02:16:18):
And that's probably not the right way to look at it.

Speaker 19 (02:16:22):
But it's too great a game to not continue and
not go on. And I hate the fact that I
believe it's going to happen. That money goes in a
hurry too. By the way, and by the way, it
has always been there for the players. You know, They've
always had a ward Chester reserve. That's been one of
the strengths of the union as well, is that the players.

Speaker 8 (02:16:39):
Know the union will be there for them and they've been.

Speaker 7 (02:16:42):
Able to count on that.

Speaker 2 (02:16:44):
I agree with all everything you just said. The question
I have is how delusional is this group of owners.
It's a different group than nineteen ninety four. Do they
really think the players would bend the need to a
salary cap? I can't see ever happening, but they may
believe that is the truth to that.

Speaker 19 (02:17:01):
I think they're fooling themselves if they believe that. And
I think the other thing that's hurting the owners is
that we're starting to see the values of the teams
when they're being sold and they're being turned over a
little bit more rapidly. But when you see the pod
Raids estimated to have a value of three point two
billion dollars, it's a little bit difficult to say, well,
to you, why aren't you spending more to win more?

Speaker 8 (02:17:22):
You know?

Speaker 10 (02:17:23):
And how do you spend more if you've got to
salary that.

Speaker 8 (02:17:26):
So I think the.

Speaker 19 (02:17:26):
Fans believe that the owners rightly or wrongly, fairly or unfairly.
I think the fans and players believe the owners have
unlimited resources.

Speaker 8 (02:17:37):
To be able to use it.

Speaker 19 (02:17:38):
And there's too many times when they have shown that.
And when you have organizations like the Dodgers coming out
with deferred payments, that's.

Speaker 10 (02:17:45):
Starting to become a trend.

Speaker 19 (02:17:47):
Now all of a sudden, we realize they figured out
a loophole that does make it possible to have the
big salaries for their team, And now the fans just
start believing, well, our guy is just too cheap to
dig in if she doesn't have the resources, somebody else
takes the team over.

Speaker 2 (02:18:04):
Yeah, that's just common sense everything you just said there.
And the thing that bothers me is in this day
and age, with regional national TV contracts and merchandising, every
team starts the season with one hundred million in the
kiddy before selling a ticket. And there are multiple teams,
not a few, that their payil is below a hundred million.
And that's that's egregious.

Speaker 19 (02:18:23):
I just agree adds one thousand percent. Agree with you,
A thousand percent agree with you if you do have
it the I you know what happened to your competitive
spirit as an owner?

Speaker 7 (02:18:33):
Right?

Speaker 10 (02:18:33):
You know if you're if you're not.

Speaker 19 (02:18:35):
Getting over money you already have in the bank before
you before you start adding on the sideline things.

Speaker 2 (02:18:41):
Well, the Griffith family was the last true baseball family.
The other team it's all corporations now, all right.

Speaker 19 (02:18:46):
I can't let you go without asking this next week
when they walk all of them too.

Speaker 2 (02:18:51):
Somehow they were repetitive in the sixties. They were they
were good, you know, I don't know, maybe Halsey Halls
of well that's a different story for Larry Ken. Let
you go without asking you Monday night, your Wolverines trying
to do the Big ten right since two thousand, against
a team looking for their seventh championship since nineteen ninety nine.

(02:19:12):
Do you like Michigan Monday night?

Speaker 19 (02:19:15):
I do like the Michigan But boy, that's an awful
lot of points that they're talking about.

Speaker 8 (02:19:19):
Seven and a half.

Speaker 10 (02:19:20):
That's big in it in a championship game.

Speaker 19 (02:19:23):
I was a little bit surprised by that. But watching
the way that they played last night without their superstar
makes you wonder. They're pretty deep in you know. It
goes to they talked about all the time. Nine starters
on a basketball team. That's what makes teams win well.
And in baseball, you don't win with twenty five. You

(02:19:43):
win with thirty five or forty, you know, and your
superstars have their years the other people after contributing. I
think that's one of the great things Michigan's got going for. Yes,
I do like them very much. In that game Monday night,
they were dominant last night. They're playing their best basketball
at the right time of the year. I think Dustin
Mays a great coach and is going to be there
for a long time, and the program's in a pretty

(02:20:04):
good spot right now.

Speaker 2 (02:20:06):
Well, give it up to your alma mater college baseball
World Series championship game or the best of three and
twenty nineteen national championship in football, and now who you
got a shot in basketball? Other than that, not much
going on right Larry. I can't I can't thank you
enough for your expertise. A thirty year broadcaster, ten years

(02:20:27):
in the major leagues. You've been there, done that, and
you can articulate it. So I hope to get you
on more off And I just feel guilty of getting
you up early in the morning, but I really appreciate it.

Speaker 19 (02:20:36):
I'm awakes anyway, Bernie, pality time.

Speaker 2 (02:20:38):
Good good. We want to lean on you because this
is going to be an interesting season and there's plenty
of other subject matter to get to. Thanks so much, Larry. Oh,
by the way, tell where they can find your stuff
again on the pitch Logic Baseball.

Speaker 19 (02:20:50):
Hey, pitchlogic dot com.

Speaker 8 (02:20:51):
Check it out.

Speaker 19 (02:20:52):
You can get an individual player package, or you can
get a package for your entire team or your entire facility.
And we were talking about setchers and framing strike. I've
got coaches that turn the camera on the catcher to
see how they're receiving the ball because they know what
the pitch is and they see how the catcher's catching it.
So you can do catchers drills well, but as well
as doing pitchers.

Speaker 2 (02:21:11):
Drills, very good soft hands help too. That those help too.
I'm just saying, Larry, great stuff, as always, man and
Pitchlogic dot com. Please check it out. This is the
future of baseball and I think it's a if you
want to be better, you want to reach your ceiling,
whatever that may be, you'd be wise to check this out. Larry, again,
appreciate you very much.

Speaker 19 (02:21:32):
Talk to you Sun.

Speaker 2 (02:21:34):
All right. That's Larry Sorenzon ten. You're major leaguer, thirty
year broadcaster Pitchlogic dot Com. Always a good, heady conversation
about baseball. We agree baseball's a thinking man sport should
be treated as such. Coming up to Bernie frattleshow continues
Keep it locked. This is the Bernie Frattle Show on five.

Speaker 6 (02:21:53):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (02:22:09):
All right, back on the Bernie Frattle show Fox Sports Radio.
As usual, I have about eight hours of material tonight
we try to fit into four. One of them had
to I was I'm gonna do this in a future show.
But we've talked in the past about the nine nine
to nine Challenge and the Saint Louis all you can
eat and if you sit in a certain section, and

(02:22:31):
I was going to do a thing to that. On
exotic foods in baseball, not just in America. Were in
Seattle late. It's not just hot dogs, crackerjacks and peanuts,
it's toasted grasshoppers. Yeah, I mean, it's there's some crazy
stuff in San Francisco going around. But in Tokyo, by
the way, if you're at the Tokyo Dome, which I'm

(02:22:52):
gonna be at later in the year, they tell me
to check out the takoyaki. You know what that is?
Friday octopus. Yeah, they sell it at the ballpark. Yeah,
I'm gonna get into this. You wouldn't be some with
stuff to sell in Denmark and South Africa and Bangkok
at sporting events. You'll get a crack up. You'll love
this segment, but I'm gonna save it for when I

(02:23:14):
can give it its full due. Well, we're about sixty
five days away from World Cup Soccer. Yeah, it is
upon us, right here on our soil. US team once
again look about as sharp as a donut. Sorry, gotta
call him as I see him. It's sign for Chris
Perfet's World of Soccer.

Speaker 6 (02:23:34):
The greatest goals, the thrilling finishes, the international drama.

Speaker 1 (02:23:50):
It's all here in this report from the World of soccer.

Speaker 24 (02:23:54):
So unfortunately, on the world of soccer, we have to
do a little housekeeping to start. I screwed up last
week in talking about World Cup qualifiers. I was under
the impression that Italy had cleared that for the first
time since twenty fourteen, that Italy would return to the
World Cup and try to actually continue their legacy that

(02:24:16):
is now twenty years old now of their World Cup victory.

Speaker 14 (02:24:19):
I was wrong.

Speaker 24 (02:24:20):
I had thought Northern Ireland was the one that got
them in. I had completely forgotten that they had had
a second game against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now, Bosnia and
Herzegovina should not have been much of an issue for Italy. Unfortunately,
I remember saying the same thing when Italy had to
play North Macedonia to get into the World Cup. One
one went to penalties and Bosnia should lackt them on

(02:24:44):
penalties for one. So Bosnia is in the World Cup
and Italy for the third straight, for the third straight
World Cup is not going to participate. It is embarrassing
for the Azuri. At this point, I once again reiterate
bo Italy has not won a knockout round game since

(02:25:08):
they took the Cup in two thousand and six. There
is an entire generation of Italian fans who have not
seen their country win anything outside of maybe a group stage,
and even then that's getting old. It's really they haven't
been to World Cup since twenty fourteen.

Speaker 1 (02:25:26):
It's not good.

Speaker 24 (02:25:27):
Meanwhile, for Bosnia and Herzegovina, they celebrated in the streets.
It was miraculous scenes in Sarajevo. You should go look
them up.

Speaker 4 (02:25:36):
A lot of people.

Speaker 24 (02:25:37):
It's a great, wonderful, wonderful story for them. For the Italians,
it is back to figuring out what the hell has
gone wrong with this generation, and the Italian coach Gennaro
Gattuzo is out by quote mutual consent.

Speaker 1 (02:25:53):
That seems appropriate.

Speaker 24 (02:25:54):
If I sound disheartened, if I sound upset, it is
because I have grown up as a fan of the Ajuri.
I have not watched this team do anything relevant since
Francesco Toddy, my favorite player, was on the World Cup
team over twenty years ago. And Francesco Toddy had not
been on the World Cup team for a long time.
And even before Covid he took his final farewell victory

(02:26:16):
laps around the Stadi Olympico in Rome.

Speaker 1 (02:26:20):
It's been a really long time.

Speaker 24 (02:26:22):
This is a team that won euros in twenty twenty,
and yet even with that squad to win Euro twenty twenty,
they did not qualify for the next World Cup. It's
not good at all. It's really not good. Now we
have to continue on a story we did last week
as well, which is the United States because in their
second international friendly against a European side, Portugal. In this case,

(02:26:48):
the United States was once again completely completely outclassed in
an embarrassing way to nil. Portugal takes that victory on
US soil in Atlanta, and credit to United States coast
Maurcio Pochettino. Taking the chance to make a massive change
the lineup, six changes to line up versus what he

(02:27:10):
had taken against Belgium, he put Christian Fulosic in a
central role at the top of the formation. He didn't
help Pulisic at all. He is still in that scoring sclump.
He is the eighth straight game for the United States
without a goal, and he still hasn't scored a goal
for his club team Milan since December of last year,

(02:27:31):
so Captain America is not exactly shining. Meanwhile, Portugal was
out without Christiano Ronaldo or Bernardo Silva, two of their
biggest stars out there. Ronaldo is injured, Silva was not
part of the team for the March window. They still
dominated the United States and I don't know. I think

(02:27:52):
I was talking with one of our other producers who says,
Pochettino looks like he knows that he's a guy who
is going to get fired at some point. I don't
think that'll happen before the World Cup, and quite frankly,
at this point, I don't blame Bochettino as much. I
think he's been struggling with this, but we've watched I
don't know how many coaches now struggle with this group

(02:28:12):
of American talent. That he's gotten more depth than ever,
and this is still a team that just can't get
it done. I just don't know what's gonna happen to
the United States come the World Cup. At this point,
DraftKings has them at minus five seventy five to get
out of the group stage, and I almost feel like
taking a bet against that.

Speaker 1 (02:28:30):
At this point.

Speaker 24 (02:28:31):
It's just frustrating to watch the United States puts against
anyone outside of a CONCACAFT tournament, and I don't care
that they do very well on a CONCACAFT tournament. It
doesn't translate, apparently, Why doesn't it translate? Meanwhile, I look
at Mexico Mexico, and I hate to bring up the
past US generation, but this current Mexican squad has the
same gritty, nasty attitude that that the Donovan era US

(02:28:56):
team had. They have an US versus the world mentality.
They also played Portugal and Belgium in friendlies and they
took both them to a draw nil nil against Portugal,
one to one against Belgium. I don't know if that
gets you anywhere in the World Cup. They have a
slightly tougher group, especially being paired up against Checchia, but
at the same time, Mexico is at least resilient in

(02:29:18):
a way that this American team is not. And I
know that makes Americans fans rankle to hear that. And
you want to talk about Dosa Sara all you want,
I'm sorry, man. The scoreboard's up there right now and
it says the US is getting its butt kicked by
Europeans once again on their own turf. We must add
Mexico happened to play at Soldier Field against Belgium again.

(02:29:40):
One more friendly to go at the end of May.
And who knows, maybe Polistic will get out of its
scoring slump, or maybe a Senegal victory will be utterly
meaningless and this United States team will still struggle in
its group, or maybe they'll get through an easy group
and still get just beat around in a knockout game.
But the eternal question, as everyone parachutes in the World Cup,
will always be ken the United States to win the

(02:30:02):
World Cup. My answer is definitively no, not now, not
this year, never in a million years, can they win
the World.

Speaker 1 (02:30:08):
Cup on US soil.

Speaker 15 (02:30:10):
They can't do it.

Speaker 1 (02:30:11):
This team stinks, They stink.

Speaker 24 (02:30:13):
I've been trying to be nice, I've been trying to
give them the benefit of doubt. But at this point
it's a rap. I'm closing the blinds. I'm not watching
this game anymore from them. Maybe the next generation of
American players will be the greatest generation we've seen, and
maybe they'll actually be able to deliver against some European competition.
But that's it for the world of soccer, Bernie. We'll
see you next time. We've got a lot to talk
about on the mess that is Liverpool next time.

Speaker 2 (02:30:34):
Holy Boats. Yeah, hope Spring's eternal, but not so much. Unfortunately,
it wasn't that long ago. November twenty fifth, twenty twenty two,
during the group stage of the twenty twenty two feet
for World Cup and Cutter or Katar or however you
want to pronounce it, we're all geeked up their game
against England and it ended up being in a zero
zero tie, and people were like celebrating in the US

(02:30:59):
went nowhere, there's there's there's objective truth, and there's personal feelings.
Don't get your personal feelings in a in a wrinkle
on this the US. Really, that's soccer just not our
game because we don't care. We just don't care. If
we cared, well, I think you might have a different different.
And I don't say that we don't. I don't mean

(02:31:20):
that we don't care. It's that the action and the
investment and your best athletes are going to any other
sport but soccer. And until we start getting the Adrian
Peterson's and the Bo Jackson's of the world that want
to play soccer, then we're not. I don't think we're
going anywhere anytime soon, but well maybe hope does Spring Eternal.
We'll find out in June. The games that we played

(02:31:42):
on our soil. Coming up, we wrap up the show
and we look ahead to Monday night, Yukat and Michigan.
I'll give you the keys to the game and some
strategic sort of matchups to look out for. I'm Bernie Fratle.
We're coming to line from Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Keep it locked. You're listening to Bernie Froddle.

Speaker 1 (02:32:00):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (02:32:10):
All right, we are wrapping it up on the Bernie
Frauter Show. Wean'll thank my producers Mark and Brandon for
all your efforts to around the dials, keeping us glued together,
hitting all the brakes, marks all the good stuff. Callers
you need professional producers to do a radio show, especially

(02:32:31):
the national radio show, appreciate all the efforts. Uh Monday's game,
as you may have heard me say in my opening monologue,
is it not just features a clash between the two
top seeded teams. You got to you got a one

(02:32:51):
seed and the two seed going at it. It's more
than that. There's history here. You've got Yukon looking for
their third national championship in four years. They're seventh since
nineteen ninety nine. Meanwhile, a single a Big Ten team
hasn't won the NCAA championship in college basketball since two

(02:33:14):
thousand when Tom Izzo in Michigan State beat Florida and
that team with Teddy Dupe and Adonis Aslom and Mike Miller,
et cetera. So you've got a team with Danny Hurley,
who's the single team that's won going for their sabbath.
They've won six in a time. An entire conference, maybe

(02:33:36):
maybe the best basketball conference in the country, is looking
for their first since two thousand. So if you take
a look at this game, Michigan enters as a seven
and a half point favorite according to bet MGM, and
based on that line, they've got a seventy three percent

(02:33:58):
chance to win. But if you don't think this Yukon
team can't win this game, I beg to differ. I
beg to differ. Let's start with some key matchups. You've
got a couple of a battle of the giants. Terris
Reid junior for Yukon, who ironically is a transfer from Michigan.

(02:34:21):
He started as a Michigan guy. He's been maybe the
tournament's most dominant force on the inside, but he's going
up against an interior with that Amra who's seven to
three Morris Johnson Junior six'. Nine they may try to
Wear Terris reid. Out he's averaging twenty two points a
game and fourteen rebounds in the. Tournament but where Terrorist

(02:34:44):
reid has really been sensational is second chance. Opportunities it's
getting almost six offensive rebounds per. Game that's. Huge Can
michigan neutralize? HIM i would Say Morris, johnson who's also
a strong player on his own, Right maybe he Engages.
Reid marri swoops in as a help side defender to

(02:35:06):
try to block a. Shot we'll. See it's all, theoretically
but here's where the contrast in styles really REALLY i
think raises an. Eyebrow michigan likes to play. Fast they're
the only team in the history of the tournament that
scored ninety points to each of their first five. Games
and it's not fair that the last impression that folks

(02:35:30):
are going to have Of arizona is the fact that
they were trailing by thirty and they never were really
in the game and they got ridden like a. Stickhorse
arizona was a great, team and they had a great.
Season michigan got, him but earlier in the, Year wisconsin Got.
Michigan so to produe and so Did Duke and how

(02:35:52):
did they do? That the commonalty in all three Of
michigan's losses this season occurring games where they played. It
they played game where they had sixty three or fewer.
Possessions The michigan averages about seventy one seventy two possessions a,
Game so if you allowed them eight or nine below their,
average If yukon can force a slow, pace they significantly
improve their odds of an, upset which frankly is what

(02:36:15):
they're probably going to. Do and this is just how
this is not some you, know new fangle. Strategy Dan
hurley prefers to deliver at half court Slugfest. Yukon they
rank three hundred and nineteenth in temple out of three
hundred and Thirty Division one. Teams michigan ranks twenty. Second
you say styles make, Fights, well those two styles are

(02:36:36):
going to make this fight very. Interesting one of the
other things we have to watch For. Michigan they're stopped
for their star, forward their top transfer the Excel lendeborg
to say he's hobbled as an. Understatement he had some
sort of knee and ankle, injury left the, game came
back in hit some. Threes how's he going to feel

(02:36:56):
when he wakes Up sunday Or. Monday you don't. Know
ALL i know is walking off the. Floor he was
doing That Fred sandford walk and he didn't look. Good
i'm sure he's gonna Play. Monday they're gonna march him out.
There but does it limit his, Mobility, yes it's good
to limit it his. Mobility how might that Impact michigan's

(02:37:18):
defensive versatility and their ability to score in, transition Which
michigan is really good is really good. At, plus let's
not forget That lindenborg leads a team he's averaging just
under sixteen points a, game and he's a critical. Playmaker
he plays the forward position as well as you can
play it in college, basketball and he's a future, pro
no two ways about.

Speaker 19 (02:37:38):
It.

Speaker 2 (02:37:39):
Now both teams can shoot from the. Outside michigan is
more so Than both teams are very defensively. Oriented but
it might come down to which team is you got
the streaky your shooter that. Night think about. It michigan
averages their for the. Season they're averaging eighty seven points a.

(02:38:02):
Game that's largely because of their. Pace yukon is averaging seventy,
seven largely because of their. Pace And yukon only gives
up sixty. Five michigan gives up sixty. NINE i don't
know how this, correlates if it. Does this Is michigan's
eighth trip to the. Finals the only time they won
one was in nineteen eighty nine when they BEAT. Pj

(02:38:24):
carlssimo And Seaton. Hall you remember that's the Year Steve
fischer took Over. Bosham beckler, SAID i want A michigan
man Coaching, michigan and well the rest is. History, Okay
so how Does yukon? Win maybe they got the best
coaching staff In. AMERICA i mean they got a. Coach
he turned down seventy million to go to The. Lakers

(02:38:47):
you Got Alex. Carabon he's Been hurley's rock the entire.
Time he was a freshman starter on the twenty twenty
three national champions and by the, Way michigan's won six
in those final, Games yukon six to. Zero they've won
six championships since nineteen ninety nine With Jim, Calhoun Kevin
ollie and Now Dan. Hurley Terris reid's been the best.
Player the truth of the matter Is yukon sets up

(02:39:09):
a maze the. Screens they have a big. Lineup they
hold their opponents to thirty percent shooting from three point
line all. Year if The wolverines are cold from deep
and the game is close, LATE i Expect curly could
work as late. Magic, michigan, though they are a chance
to be an all time great college. Team they Beat

(02:39:30):
San Diego state by, Forty gonzaga by, Forty auburn by.
Thirty they've won multiple games by thirty points this, year
games by, forty and they have average ninety points in the.
PLAYOFFS i have a hard time Seeing michigan getting Beat Monday.
Night but there's no way in Hell i'm laying in
the seven and a half. Points michigan's transition game is

(02:39:53):
so hard to, Stop Eliot condo's passing vision is second to,
none and even a Hobbed lennenborg look pretty good in
the second and. Half it just feels like it might
Be michigan's. Year it just. Does But i'm not laying
the seven and a half, Points so take that and
do with it what you. Will it should be an
epic Matchup Saturday night with history on the line either.

(02:40:15):
Way no matter who wins this, game it's gonna do
it for The Bernie Fratto. Show stay tuned up next
The Great Andy furman On Fox Sports. Radio happy app

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