The Bernie Fratto Show talks NCAA Conference Tournament Championships, Aaron Rodgers, NFL Free Agency & MORE!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You don't listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Well, that's right, you heard the man. It is that
time a week. My name is Bernie Frattle. We are
come to your line from the tyrek dot com studios,
Las Vegas, Nevada, Fox Sports Radio tyrack dot com. We'll
help you get there, non max selection fans, free shipping
for your own answer, protection and over ten thousand recommended

(00:25):
installers tyraq dot com. The way tire buying should be
absolute jam pack show Tonight, we are sixteen hours away
from selection Sunday. You'll be g looted in front of
your TV, and so will I and U. You know
it's simple. We're a society infatuated with sports. We go

(00:49):
to games, we watch them on TV. We compete well
into our later years. We don't have royalty in this country,
and March Madness is a huge part of Americana. You
ever wonder why we are so passionate about sports? What
is watching someone else compete at a high level give

(01:09):
people such strong feelings. We crave more, we want more. Look,
nothing exemplifies this more than March Madness. Sixty eight teams enter,
only one remains. Twenty gut wrenching days later later on
the show, I will give my annual perspective on how
March madness. Frankly, well, March madness is life and the

(01:33):
truth of the matter is we're all here for in America.
May be part of our midnight hour topic as well,
so we'll be ready for that coming up at twelve
midnight Pacific time from where I reside eight seven, seven
nine to nine on Fox eight seven seven nine nine
six six three sixty nine. Colors have been fantastic. Of course,
we'll talk a lot of March madness tonight. Mark Medina

(01:56):
will join us in about twenty minutes or eighteen minutes thereabouts,
and we got a lot of stuff to go over
with him. I haven't forgotten. I'm gonna give you a
recap on what happened an NFL Free Agency this week,
the highlights and the takeaways, the quarterback carousel. Yes, we
are gonna get into the Aaron Rodgers situation. Believe it
or not. I've done a lot of research on this.

(02:18):
One man holds his fate. One man and I'll give
you that man's name a little bit later in the show.
And of course, you know to the two am hour
Pacific time brand newfool what my name, fresh fresh editions
of that. But what takes center stage right now, that's

(02:38):
simple selection Sunday. It's upon us starting to take shape.
And look, even though Auburn lost to Tennessee and the
SEC Tournament semis semi final Saturday, Jerry Palm still projects
the Tigers to get the number one overall. See when
the bracket's unveiled, and at this point, I think that's
pretty well baked into the cake. Other teams Indiana, in

(03:01):
North Carolina and Texas, I doubt they're gonna sleep well
tonight given their respective tournament hopes. Colorado State they did
what they needed to do. They're what you call a
bracket steeler, whatever the new term you're hearing this year,
a big steeler. They won the Mountain West Conference title
here in Las Vegas, and fine Fashion destroying a Boise

(03:23):
State team and look Auburn Duke Houston they all entered
today is near locks to receive a number one seed,
but the final spot's still up for grabs. The final
number one seed, I think is gonna go to Florida
or Tennessee since Michigan State was upset by Wisconsin in
the Big Ten tournament semifinals. But there's a big game Sunday.
Tennessee will face Florida, and you know the tournament committee

(03:45):
will be watching that. So who were the winners and
losers on the final full day at college basketball heading
into selection Sunday, Well, I think the SEC is a winner.
They're gonna get two number one seeds on selections. I
think Auburn is all set the other one to beat
Tennessee or Florida, though joined Auburn as set as the

(04:07):
SEC teams leading their region. Florida entered the week and
as the final number one seed in the latest Brackontology projections,
and I think if they beat Tennessee and their favorite Sunday, well,
they're gonna stay there. How the committee handles the rest
of the seeding, there's a glut. And by the way,
speaking of a glut of SEC teams, we think there's

(04:29):
gonna be thirteen SEC teams get the NOD. That was
set a record, by the way. The old record was
held by the ACC back in twenty eleven. They had
eleven teams in the tournament, but an ACC team did
not win the tournament that year, believe it or not,
of the eleven teams that got into the tournament that

(04:50):
year from the ACC, only one even made the final four.
That was Kentucky and they didn't make the final game.
You may recall Yukon in a defensive struggle beat Butler
in twenty eleven. So where am I going with this?
Just because thirteen SEC teams get in doesn't mean an
SEC team is gonna win the tournament. And before Cooper
Flag's injury, I duke win it it and I gave

(05:14):
my reasons, and I'll give him again later in the show.
I don't know now. I got to see what happens.
My gut tells me from what I can gather, you
may not see Cooper Flag play Thursday, maybe next Sunday,
but if they get into the second weekend, you'll see
him play. Then. I believe you'll see him play.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
Then.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
One of the big losers Sunday was Boise State. They've
got to go to bed. They're gonna have a rope
burns from their rosary, hoping that the Committee answers their prayers.
They controlled their destiny. All they had to do was
beat Colorado State. Here today in Las Vegas at the
Thomas and Mack and that would leave no doubt they
would be in the Mountain West Tournament. Champion gets an

(05:56):
automatic bid. But Colorado State made a big statement nine
six over Boise State. Had the Rams lost, their chances
of reaching the NCAA tournament would have been virtually nil.
But Poise State entered the weekend on the bubble and
now I'll have to sweat it out. But they may
have a glimmer of hope. We'll see what happens Sunday.
Another winner, Duke. How well, look they won the ACC title,

(06:21):
in my opinion, incredibly in impressive fashion, even without superstar
Cooper Flagg in the lineup. Duke won three straight games
at the ACC tournament. They knocked off for number two
Louisville by eleven to bring home the title, and Flag's
classmate con Kannoople he scored eighteen points tyresee Procter ad
a nineteen. Duke got more good news before the AEC

(06:43):
title game when the NCAA Vice President of Basketball Dan
Gavitt told CBS Sports, I know I'm being a little
redone in here, that Flag is expected to return for
the NCAA tournament, So fingers crossed. That leaves me to
believe he will not be back next year. There was

(07:03):
some talk about that. I've heard from people I trust.
He's up offered upward a ten million to return. I
think he's gonna be the number one overall pick. And
the flag is healthy. I gotta tell you, it's Duke scary.
Duke to me is really scary. They've got the most
the highest ceiling if they bring their best. Yes, I

(07:24):
know they got the youngest rotation in the country, but
if Cooper flag is healthy, I will probably go back
to selecting Duke. If he plays, Let's put it that way.
We'll see what happens. Give it up to Wisconsin. They
really surprised me a little bit today. Michigan State had
a bit of a meltdown, very uncharacteristic for them. But

(07:46):
let's look at Wisconsin's John Tanji, who's got big headlines
all year, and he's lived up to him. He stole
the show. He's he's you know, I think he's he's
an All American. When they name the All American team,
I don't know how he doesn't make it. Thirty two
point seven Boards had a huge clutch block secured the
win over Michigan State. Tanji's offensive output alone was a

(08:09):
master class superstar show, but his timing to see the
win was even better and went end of the floor.
He misses a free throw that would have effectively ended
the game, but on the other end, he totally redeemed
himself with a timing block that could not have been
better coordinated. Paging Charles Barkley. If you ever remember the
round Mounder rebound in the tournament, man YouTube it. It's

(08:29):
a thing to watch. And to that end, Michigan State
is the loser of the day. They missed a real
chance to possibly move up to the number one line
entering the weekend the Spartis where they were one of
a handful of teams still in contention to earn a
number one seed. It's unlikely MSU is a number one seed,
and after being on the wrong side of a three
point loss to Wisconsin, but they'll still earn a number

(08:51):
two seed in the bracket. Knowing Tom Izzo, look, I
don't believe there's such a thing as a good loss.
A good loss is like a good kidney stone. You
don't want it, Okay, But knowing Tom isn't having covered
that team for years, he'll find a way to use
this as fuel. So I think Michigan State is a
real fighting chance to be a Final four team. Look

(09:12):
what went wrong? Basically, Michigan State couldn't stop Tanji. He
made four to three pointers. Now, Michigan State. You know
it's funny. I heard a Jay Will on some national
TV show. I can't really say I'm a fan of his.
I don't know why. He says, Well, Michigan State will
chase you off the three point line. No, they won't.
They give up thirty two three threes to Wisconsin. Last
time they played, problems was constantly made five. They defend

(09:34):
the three incredibly well. Michigan State closes out on shooters well,
but ironically they allowed more three pointers than any other
ranked team in the tournament or any other ranked team
in the nation, and that roaredd sdlyhead. But since losing
to Indiana last month, Michigan State had won their last
eight game. Six of those eight were against ranked opponents.

(09:55):
So don't go to sleep on the on the Spartans. Okay,
they'll away through a draw. We'll see what's now, and
we'll see which region they go to on the other
side of the state half in our Way and ann
Arbor team. I also covered Tray Donaldson was the hero
not once but twice from Michigan. All Right, we got
a real glimpse of what March Madness is going to
offer these next few weeks. There is no one great, crazy,

(10:16):
stupid team. There are a lot of very, very very
good teams. And I you know, as I mentioned last week,
I think in my opening monologue, there are eight teams
that can win it. I don't think there's more than eight,
maybe seven, and I'll give my reasons later. They all
have one potential fatal flaw. But Donaldson hits a clutch
three pointer in the final minutes to give his team
the lead, and then he scores that layup, you know,

(10:39):
invoking memories of Tyus Edney I have for you, Steve Hartman,
and in incredible. I think it was against Missouri. Dandy
Inge also did it back in the day against Notre Dame.
You take the end down pass, you scream up the floor,
and the next thing you know, you're scoring a bucket
and then the arena goes sald. Everybody knows wonders what happened.

(11:02):
Bubble teams Memphis their top seed, they gave some bubble
teams to scare. They fell behind Tulane in the final minute,
but they scored, checked that, they came back, and they
managed to escape with a seventy eight seventy seven win.
So now teams like Xavier, Texas, North Carolina and everyone
else's sweating right now. They have a spot alive. And

(11:24):
that's what these teams hold for. Finally, give it up
to Houston. They started out four and three. They're twenty
six and one since Arizona put up a fight, but
Houston left no doubt about its status. Is a number
one seed with an impressive eight point wins seventy two
to sixty four over Arizona. They win the Big twelve
title game just minutes before or checked that after that

(11:45):
game ended, Saint John's got over the hump. They'd beat
Creighton by sixteen Madison Square Garden. Give it up to
Rick Patino, and I'm very curious to see how Saint
John's does in this tournament. I love John's, I love
the way they play, I love the way they're coached.
If you've done your research, you'll know that they rank

(12:05):
outside the top seventy in offensive efficiency and the Big East.
If I'm being honest, wasn't real good this year. And
when I saw Saint John's get on the floor against Georgia,
they lost. They got on the floor against Baylor, they lost,
taking nothing away from Saint John's. But who do you
trust Saint John's will. I will not be picking him

(12:26):
to win it. I'm not even sure I will be
picking him to get to the final four. But they're
gonna have a good run on the tournament and they
make it to the final four. I got to see
the brackets and when everything comes out and who's going
where and you that'll all be coming out tomorrow night.
By the way, be sure to check out the Fox
Sports Radio YouTube channel. There's a ton of great videos

(12:48):
for many of our Fox Sports Radio shows. Just search
Fox Sports Radio on YouTube. You'll see a whole bunch
of video highlights from our shows. And be sure to
subscribe so you always have instant access to our Fox
Sports Radio video on YouTube. Coming up, Medina Magic Mark Medina,
Lots to talk about in the NBA never fails. Another
big week of news headlines. I'm Bernie Fraddle. We're Comedy

(13:11):
Line from Las Vegas. Fox Sports Radio. Tireck dot Com studios.
Keep it locked. You're listening to the Bernie Frattle Show
on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
All right back at the Bernie Frattle Show Fox Sports Radio.
You know him, you love me, can'tley without him. He's
their NBA grew with three simple words. It's that time.
Mark Medina, Medina Magic, our Fox Sports Radio NBA guru.
You hear him every Saturday night in the Bernie Fratle Show. Mark,

(13:53):
Good evening, How are you? Another rockous week in the NBA?

Speaker 5 (13:56):
Another crazy week? I think last week weren't shouting the
Lakers the hotest team in the NBA, and now it's
some full circle with a lot of loss. Is interesting.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
We're gonna we're gonna address that. But I want to
start you to written a piece Mark earlier in the
week about when will Kyrie Irving returned from his aco
and did his usage rate contribute to his injury. The
reason I'm opening to that is because I think this
Dallas story is going to pick up steam if for

(14:25):
some reason the twenty five to twenty six season goes
into toilet as well. So your thoughts on what's the
situation with Kyrie?

Speaker 5 (14:34):
Yeah, well, the PC allude to which I do for
sports Kid to talk to outside medical doctors for their
perspective on Kyrie Irving's ACL injury. They don't have direct
because they don't work with the team, but they can
be candid. Here are two things. One, as far as
usage right to the contribute to the injury. They said generally,
when you're fatigued, when you're having a heavy workload, that

(14:57):
can increase the likelihood of getting hurt. But there was
some pushback from some doctors I talked to on that
being the factor because it was mostly a non contact injury,
so they feel like it didn't have much to do
with it of all the different kind of factors, that
it was more random. But the second thing, which is

(15:17):
most concerned, when Kyrie Irving's back, it's not going to
be at the beginning that next season. It might not
even be at all next season because the normal timetable
can range anywhere from six to twelve months. Six is
an out wire Adrian Peterson returned from there, but usually
it's eight to twelve months. So the best case scenario

(15:37):
is Kyrie Irving returns the middle of next season sometime
in January, or misses the entire season. So if he
misses the entire season, things are just going to get
ugly and uglier because the Mavericks are going to have
to evaluate, you know what, do we just tear this
down to the studs even if he comes back in
the middle of the next season, and what will they
look like? How good will they be? Will they even

(15:59):
be compared by that point? And here's the thing. I
think the logical answer is that they should tear it down,
But I don't think that they would do that because
that would immediately concede a mistake. And it was a
huge mistake to trade Luka Dodvich. But you know, I
don't think they foresaw, even though Andy Davis, Kyrie and
Irving or laying their career, that it would be this

(16:20):
huge domino effect right out of the gate.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
And these the other partner in this whole saga soap opera,
Luka Doncic is now out. I'm understanding with a left
calf injury and a right ankle injury. I don't want
to cast dispersions. That can't be good. What's the situation

(16:46):
on that now?

Speaker 5 (16:47):
Yeah, well he missed the game against Denver because of
those injuries that you mentioned. Now, what is he going
to be for the game against the Suns on Sunday?
You know they did list them as probable. So I
think it's one of those things. It's day to day.
In the Lakers case, they're playing second night of back
to back and that is a tough back to back

(17:08):
to travel from Milwaukee to Denver. So I think that's
more what it is. I don't think it's considered a
major injury at this point. It's more about just we
hate to hear the word, but it is what it is,
road management. But he's expected to play a Sunday against Phoenix.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
He is listed as probable, and with four other players out,
they're really counting on him to carry the load. And
I don't know this is So let's go back to Lebron. Now,
what is his timetable or a week into it? They
said one to two weeks. I know how these groin
injuries can linger. It can be easily reinflamed. What are
your thoughts on that?

Speaker 5 (17:45):
Yeah, well, he already reached the one week. Not clear
if it's going to be the whole next week either,
but he's definitely out for Sunday's game against Lebron. I
think what's going to be taling is because he's in
Los Angeles, there should be clarity. Four veteran for worse.
So okay, what work, if any, is he allowed to
do to start ramping up to come back. Because Lebron

(18:06):
was adamant when he injured that growing last week in Boston,
he said it doesn't feel as bad as it was
when he injured his growing in twenty eighteen Christmas Day
against Golden State. That injury caused him missed the next
seventeen games regardless. This is a very vulnerable stretch that
the Lakers are facing because every game can almost determine

(18:28):
whether they're the second seed or they're a playing team.
Because right now they're fifth in the West after losing
four games in a row. They only have two games
ahead of Golden State to get that sixth seed. They
only have two and a half games ahead of Minnesota
to be in the playing tournament, and it also cuts
both ways. There are only two and a half games

(18:48):
behind Houston to get the number two seed. Now, you know,
talking to JJ Reddick a few days ago when they
were in town, I asked him, you know, where he
ranked seating compared to all the other things through that
that's important through this last stretch. He downplayed the stadium,
but he made it clear he wants to avoid the plan.

(19:08):
And that might be obvious because you're vulnerable with the
play and you might lose a game and all of
a sudden you're out. Even if you advance, you play
that one extra game. Now you have the fatigue against
the team that's more rested. So regardless of how quickly
or not Lebron comes back, they're vulnerable regardless because of

(19:30):
just this game separation.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
Well, Mark, you're spot on, and I want to take
that advance at a step further. You mentioned the Timberwolves.
They've won seven in a row, eight of their last ten.
The Lakers have lost four in a row, and I
don't see them getting out of this funk anytime soon.
I'm not saying they're going to have an extended losing streak,
but they're you know, after being on fire, they're six

(19:54):
and four in their last ten. Meanwhile, Golden State is
nine to one of their last ten. They've also won
seven in a row. So those are the two teams
that could potentially unseat the Lakers and put the Lakers
back in the play in tournament. So these streaks, how
teams are trending, how they're playing, Now, how much do

(20:14):
you factor that into this?

Speaker 5 (20:16):
I really factor in the Warriors. I mean they, like
the Lakers, have been a dramatically different team from the
trade deadline Lakers with getting Luca Dodgic to Warriors with
getting Jimmy Butler. They've only lost one game with Jimmy Butler.
And when you look at just what he's done before
the trade, the Warriors for thirtieth in free throw attempts.

(20:36):
Now they're first because he drives to the basket, he
knows how to get fouls, He's a great mid range shooter.
We know obviously Steph Curry, Steph Curry being a great
outside shooter. But finally he has better floor space and
when double teams are coming his way. But I think
that they're more of a real deal than Minnesota. Yes,
Minnesota has been able to get Julius Randol back. That

(20:56):
obviously helps, But when you look at that seven game
winning streak, quality opponents. Isn't that good? They beat Phoenix, Philadelphia, Charlotte.
The Phoenix has been up and down. Philadelphia and Charlotte
are terrible this season. San Antonio, you know they're gon
be down with out for the year. Now to Aaron Fox,
you know, they did have some quality wins against Miami, Denver,
and Orlando. But again, I think what we're seeing with

(21:19):
Golden State is this. I'm not going to put them
as favorites to get out of the West. That sustinction
still belongs to Oklahoma City and Denver. But if the
Warriors face the Rockets or the Grizzlies in the first round,
I think that they easily beat either of those teams.
If the Warriors play the Lakers, I think, you know,
you have to obviously factor in health and where Lebron

(21:41):
James's injury is at, et cetera. But if all things
are equal with that matchup, it's flip a coin, get
your popcorn, enjoy a seven game series.

Speaker 2 (21:50):
All right, I'm gonna take this one step further. We're
going to nerd out here a little bit, but this
is important. The Lakers mark by the time you and
I talk now Saturday night, they will have played five
games between now and then. Now they're all at home,
but the likes of Denver, Milwaukee, you're part of the mix.
And then after we sign off Saturday night, they'll play Monday, Wednesday,

(22:15):
Thursday and Saturday. So he'll be doing nine games between
now in March thirty. First, that's got to take a
serious toll on that team. Can they how do they
handle that gauntlet?

Speaker 5 (22:27):
Well, obviously it depends on when Lebron James comes back.
And here is an interesting wrinkle to that we've seen
ever since he's been with the Lakers. This is at
the latter stage of his career when on the court
he's been playing at all star caliber level, but when
he gets hurt, it takes a while for him to
come back. And so they're not the ultimate fork in

(22:49):
the road where they might think, you know what they
and they're not going to know the answer to this,
but they very well could be one of these things.
You know what, This is the perfect time for him
to heal up. It's not just the growing injury, but
twenty two years in the league, all that mileage. She's
recharging the engine before the playoffs. But it could also
be a precursor of worse things to come. Now, when

(23:09):
he comes back, I trust he's going to hit the
ground running. He's going to be fine. It's more of
the question of how long he's going to be out.
And you mentioned these cautlety games. It's a lot of
challenging games. There are a lot of winnable games. I
think they get Phoenix tomorrow. They play San Antonio Monday
on a back to back. But then here's where it
gets tough, playing Denver Milwaukee Again, those are tough games.

(23:31):
I think it goes to Denver Milwaukee, they get Chicago.
Chicago is going to be barely a playing team if that,
so they get Chicago. So when you look at this week,
it could be three and two. Next week they then
play Orlando, Indiana, Chicago, and Memphis. I think all those teams,
with exception of Chicago, are all tough outs. So this

(23:54):
is very much a thing where it's a coin flip
because Lebron James is at obvious of a game changer
on where the Lakers' fortunes are going to lie these
next two weeks.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
All Right, you mentioned in Phoenix Suns and I'm going
to get to them in a minute to have a
whole other different question. They're fighting for their playing lives
as well, and they're only one game back and the
lost column against Dallas, and I think Dallas is just
going to skid off the rails. I can't see Dallas
as a playing team. So I expect Phoenix to give
an effort in a last ditch effort. Do they have

(24:27):
one last hurrah in them starting Sunday at twelve thirty
against the Lakers.

Speaker 5 (24:33):
Yeah, they have one last surah, probably because of what
you said that Dallas, even though they're technically tenth right now,
they're going to continue to implode. They only have a
one and a half game lead over the Suns. The
Suns are going to make the play in tournament. Yes,
they have what it takes to catch lay in a
bottle to get into the first round of the playoffs
because they have Kevin Durant. He's still playing a high
caliber level went on the floor. He's an efficient shooter.

(24:55):
I think Devin Bookers also play well. But it's not sustainable.
You know, they grated use of Nurkics before the trade
deadline for a reason. He's not great as a defender.
But they really haven't picked up the slack Outside of that.
Mason Plumbley great backup big, but it's unfair to him
to you know, give him starters minutes. So yeah, they

(25:16):
could win a playing game, but that just sets themselves
up really to you know, you either get slept or
you know, losing five games Oklahoma City.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
Aren't you a little baffled by Phoenix? They have talents
and my question, aren't they if memory serves, aren't they
the highest paid team in the NBA?

Speaker 6 (25:35):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (25:35):
Yeah, I think it's two hundred and thirty million dollars.
I am baffled because I had a lot of questions
about them defensively at the beginning of the season, but
they started off really well. And I think one of
the key things is obviously the big three were healthy
Kevin Duran and Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. But you
know they had some sneaky, underrated offseason editions. Tyas Jones

(25:56):
great point guard. He added Claire to the Suns. Who's
going to be man handling the ball. He also was
going to be addressing one of the Sun's primary weekends
his last season, that's Turnoversias Jones is the king of
assist a turnover ratio. But the Suns are just so
bad defensively. Kevin Durant had an injury at the beginning

(26:17):
of the season and they just spowed after that. Bradley
Deal wasn't able to be healthy, and it's just wow.
But this just really illustrates that they're a top heavy roster.
Even though that to a man, they have decent rotation
players like Tyas Jones, it's still not enough when you
don't have elite defenders. It also shows that you know

(26:38):
they're shuffling with coaches. Isn't the answer. Frank Vogel did
a really great job last season on the defensive side
of the ball. It's just he can only do so
much on offense when their main guys aren't healthy. And
so Mike Bornhole's are a great coach, but we've seen that,
you know, coaches, how they succeed or fail fail is
largely dependent on just roster instruction and how available guys are.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
Paging Paul Westfall, what do you think of that? Can
they bring him back? That's a little humor, a little
levity on a Saturday night, all right, wrapping it up
with Mark Madina, last thing I understand that the NBA
is launching maybe I don't want to over dramatize this
an investigation of sorts into the Oklahoma City Thunder for

(27:26):
sitting all five stars in a game the other night.
What can you tell us about that?

Speaker 5 (27:29):
Well, I don't know what there is to investigate. Yes,
they've sat all five of their guys against Portland last
week and they still won the game. Yeah, the NBA
doesn't take kindly when they're such blatant this regard for
the player participation policy. I think you know, when you're
looking at Oklahoma City, they're not the most egregious offender.
I mean, they're first in the West. You know, they

(27:52):
had a stretch of games, you know, three and four
nights they're playing the percent Johns Portland. Even though they've
improved lately, there's still not you know, a serious contending
type team. So they just try to think a big picture.
They still won the game, you know. I think the
bigger offenders are all the teams that are tanking to
try to improve their odds to get Cooper Flag in

(28:12):
the lottery. So that's why the Utah jaz has also
got one hundred thousand dollars. Fine, first sing Laurie Market
and all of a sudden, Now he said.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
For multiple games, though not just one game.

Speaker 5 (28:23):
Yeah, yeah, that's too Yeah. But what I'm saying is
all of a sudden, after that one hundred thousand dollars, fine,
he was miraculously back in the line up, fully healthy.
So well, I think that I think that bigger offender.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
I'm glad you mentioned just we'll wrap this up quickly.
I'm glad you mentioned the league's player participation policy. The
question is that, okay, see really violated. It's my understanding
that Shay Gil just that's only the second game he's
missed all season. I think this is I think I
think our commission are our venerable Commiss Adam Silver. He's

(28:57):
maybe his ears are burning from people ripping on him
from being too soft in the league. That's what I think.

Speaker 5 (29:02):
Yeah, And here's the other thing. I mean, teams, especially
at this time of the year, all players technically have injuries.
No one's fully one hundred percent. So when you look
at injury reports, a lot of teams list so many
players just to cover themselves, you know, in case they decide,
you know what, we're going to fit someone because we're
trying to take the long game, or if that player

(29:24):
actually has you know, one of his injuries turn for
the worst where it is a catastrophic thing. So it's
a game of chess. And you know, sometimes the league
office allows, you know, the teams to move their chess pieces.
Sometimes they put them in check made and then they
see what happens.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
All right, great stuff. Let's see what the Lakers do
this week. And I know some people see why do
you guys talk about the Lakers as much? Come on,
he's serious. I mean, the storylines around this team right themselves.
It's one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports,
and I think we're all waiting, watching and wondering to
see what happens in the Luca Lebron Act. There's no guarantees, mark, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (30:05):
I mean, look, Lakers are global franchise. Lebron James is
one of the most iconic players ever. They've just made
the biggest trade of this season with game Luca doncers.
Of course we'd be talking about the Lakers. Oh and
you know, prior to this week, they were playing really
good basketball.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
Listen, They're they're in the mix. I mean, there are
there are odds to win the champion. We know they're
not going to do that. I don't even think they're
gonna get the NBA finals. I think they're gonna start
to sink under their own way. I think we already
see it happening. But you know what, they're relevant. We're
paying attention fair of course.

Speaker 5 (30:37):
Yeah, we play the hits.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
That's what radio is all about, exactly right, Mark, great
stuff as always, and uh, we'll see what happens next week.
Between now and next week, and if not nothing else,
let's see where the Lakers are, Lebron's energy injury, and
we'll get to Wenby and a few other things next
week as well.

Speaker 5 (30:54):
Looking forward to Thank you.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
It's Mark Medina, Medina Magic. You hear him every Saturday
night at eleven twenty pm Pacific time. The reason for
the time change is during football season he's on. It
was on at midnight, but non football season, this works
better and it opens up our midnight hour, which is
coming up in twenty one minutes. Twenty one minutes, the

(31:19):
midnight hour will come up. Your calls eight seven seven
nine nine six six three six nine eight seven seven
nine to nine one Fox callers have been fantabulous. You're
gonna be no different to that. I expected to get
a little saucy. I'll give you a little tease, but
I'll get into depth. I'll talk. We're gonna talk about
watch manness, but I have some very specific angles. I
have to revisit Miles, Miles Garrett. But comes out of

(31:41):
that knucklehead's mouth. Come on and I will tell you.
One very prominent reporter said the Brons made a major
mistake resigning him. You can tell me if you agree
or disagree. And you know what I thought. We were
done with Aaron Rodgers. We are not close to being
done with Aaron Rodgers. He's holding up a team and
one other man holds his fate. We're gonna get to
that in just a minut. By the way, like basketball,

(32:03):
tractor Supply knows that a winning season takes practice, teamwork,
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(32:25):
a twenty five hundred dollars gift card to Tractor Supply
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You'll win a million dollars. You can pre register now
and be sure then to fill out your bracket between
Sunday night and next Thursday morning before the games begin
at Foxsports Radio dot com. It's all sponsored by Tractor

(32:47):
Supply for Life out here. I'm Bernie Friderwer coming toy
line from Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio, Tyrac dot com studios.
Keep it locked. You're listening to the Bernie Fradle Show
on Fox Sports Radio. Our back of the Bernie Frowder Show,
Fox Sports Radio, comeing to you live from the tire
Ac dot com studios here in Las Vegas. We are

(33:08):
thirteen minutes away from the midnight hour. What does that mean?
It means it'll be twelve midnight literally here in Las Vegas,
perhaps figuratively where you are, perhaps literally where you are,
but any way you slice it, we want to hear
from you. Eight seven seven nine nine six six three
six nine eight seven seven ninety nine. On Fox. We've

(33:29):
done the midnight hour for about eighteen months. It's caught
on like fire. The callers have been fantastic. I really
look forward to hearing from you. We have a lot
of great regulars and we get some new ones every week.
So what are we going to be talking about tonight? Well,
come on, we have to be talking about March Madness, right,
But where am I going with this? I want to
just get some generic thoughts from people on March Madness.

(33:52):
For instance, there is a committee right now meeting that
will likely expand the tournament to seventy six teams. It's
at sixty eight, now would you like to see it expand?
A lot of people don't even like the sixty eight,
but I think it's a virtual certainty it's going to expand,
which would bring in eight more teams and two more

(34:16):
games or four more well however you figure it out.
But I think they would be in the form of
the playing type things on Tuesday night and Wednesday night
that people have come to a joy that allow you
know you do it gets you, It gets you, A
little jump doesn't get you. Those aren't official bracket games,
but you're you're kind of in the tournament at sixty eight, right,
they're talking about going to seventy six. Do you like

(34:38):
that or not? Do you think that the Thursday. There
are sixteen games on Thursday from Stem to Stern. It'll
start about nine to fifteen am Pacific. They won't to
wrap up for thirteen hours non stop. I know, Vegas
is bananas. The people are already started to descend. Is
Thursday the greatest sports day that first day or not?

(35:00):
I mean? Where does it rank in your world? How
does it compare to the World Series? How does it
compare it to the Super Bowl? So I want to
get your thoughts on March Man. It's take it anywhere
you want. Would you like to see them expand not expand?
Good idea, bad idea? Where does the Thursdays you know
extravaganza rank in your world? You know, how's it compared
to the World Series? Super Bowl? Any of the other

(35:22):
great events I have to talk about Miles Garrett. Miles
Garrett was absolutely roasted by fans this past week for
good reason. A week ago we were on this show,
Miles Garrett not only reiterated his desire to be traded
from the Cleveland Browns so quote he could go to
a winner. But and this all started on February third,

(35:46):
he issued a statement, but he wants to play for
a chance and play for a team with a chance
to contend for a Super Bowl. Then Garrett reportedly threatened
to quote take drastic steps if the team did not
accommodator's request. His request was to be traded. Okay, then

(36:07):
what does Cleveland do? They give him one hundred and
sixty million dollars contract, He says, oh yeah, I think
I can hand with you guys for a while, and
then he goes on to state what it's never been
about the money. You will see my heart's in the
right place. It's about winning. What excuse me? They offered

(36:28):
you the money. You could have said no, thank you,
thank you, but no, please trade me. I want to
go to a winner. What we you know?

Speaker 7 (36:36):
What?

Speaker 2 (36:36):
Do you all right? I'm gonna let the callers deal
with that. I want to get your thoughts because I
want to also here, do you think the Browns did
the right thing? I don't. They're not gonna win now
they were. If they weren't winning with him, forget it.
Get the biggest call you can get for the guy
to be rid of him. I'm not saying he's not

(36:58):
an elite player. How's that work? O, Cleveland? You can't
find your ass with both hands. By the way, there
was a very unflattering report put forth by a gentleman
named Jason Lloyd to the Athletic, and I'm quite sure
that he had his ducks in a row before he
made these accusations. I'll quote him. It's well known within
the Browns that Garrett is frequently late to the facility.

(37:20):
He's skipped mandatory team activities on multiple occasions. Veterans typically
police the locker room on those types of things and
create a culture of accountability. But here it's the best
player of breaking the rules. That has to change. Now, obviously,
the Browns don't have very significant concerns about any of that.
They completely reset the market when they gave Garrett a
deal forty million annually. Now, how are they're going to surround?

(37:42):
I mean, they weren't going to be outdone by the
crazy Deshaun Watson contract, so why not double down. They're
not winning with him. This isn't about Jason, this isn't
about Miles Garrett. It's about logic and running a business.
You want of the Browns have never been to a
Super Bowl. Come on, man, And to be fair, Garrett
has one hundred and two sacks in eight seasons. He's

(38:02):
had fourteen each of the last two and he's kind
of a game changer on Defix, except they don't win.
So did the Browns make the right decision? And when
you saw, oh, it's never been about the money. Meanwhile,
the only reason he stayed was because of the money.
That kind of stuff, you know, I just that makes
my teethhitch. Finally, we have to talk about Aaron Rodgers.

(38:23):
Yes we do. This is a story. This is a
future Hall of Famer. He is currently holding up the
Pittsburgh Steelers, a quality franchise. Boy, that would be a
great fit. I think Tomlin in that system, you got
George Pickens, you got DK Metcalf. Now you got a
running game, you got a defense, you got a culture.

(38:45):
But Aaron Rodgers has a different preference. And there's one
man that actually holds that fate. He could he could
snap his fingers and with a stroke of a pen,
Rogers could be with that team. We're gonna get to that.
But what is your take on Rodgers making it all
about him again, milking it all for all it's worth.
If you're Pittsburgh, this has to be a bit of

(39:05):
a cautionary tale that if you do get this guy,
he may he may or may not help you win.
I don't know, but you are gonna have drama because
this dude just doesn't ever take a break from his
me first mentality. So I want to hear about that
from you, folks. March madness? All right? Should they expand

(39:28):
to seventy six? I think they're gonna do it seventy
six teams? What does the Thursday Big Day mean to you?
Or was it Rank World Series? Super Bowl? You know?
Miles Garrett, The fans roasted him, a reporter roasted him.
To Cleveland do the right thing by breaking the bank
and putting themselves in salary cap hell again. Finally, finally,
Aaron Rodgers serving notice that I hope to sign with

(39:51):
a certain team. And meanwhile, the Giants they wait, the
Steelers they wait. Midnight hour eight seven seven nine to
nine six six three. Let's hear from you. It's the
Bernie Fraddle Show, Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
Yup, that's right, you heard the man. Bernie Fraddles show
keeps rolling right along. My name is Bernie Fraddle. We
aren't coming you alive at tyrack dot com studios here
in Las Vegas, Foxsports Radio tyrack dot com. We'll help
you get there. An unmatched selection, fast, free shipping for
your roll, answered protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers.
Tyrack dot com. The way tire buying should be eight

(40:32):
seven seven nine nine six six three six nine. It's
the midnight hour. Let's hear from you eight seven seven
nine to nine on Fox. I want you coming from
the top rope tonight. Give me your thoughts on March madness?
Should they expand to seventy six?

Speaker 3 (40:46):
No?

Speaker 2 (40:47):
Yes?

Speaker 8 (40:47):
No?

Speaker 2 (40:48):
The Big Thursday sixteen games? Is it the greatest sports day?
Or used to lect the World Series? Super Bowl? Better? Whatever?
You know? College football? Miles Garrett, you know what I
feel about that. I want your thoughts on that. And
I'm gonna get deep into Aaron Rodgerson because it's gonna
come and go. But you need you. You deserve to
know what's happening. And by the way, we have a
thing called the rant too. If you want to call

(41:08):
in and talk about something else, anything else ta get
off your mind. This is your hour, your our eight
seven seven nine nine six six three sixty nine. If
those three topics don't crack a crank your tractor. Well,
then uh, let's let's get something that you'd like to
talk about. But we go to our mainstay, Glad. He
always leads us off. Jim in Massachusetts. Jim, we got

(41:29):
three topics where you want to.

Speaker 8 (41:30):
Start, Buddy, Well, let me start with Aaron Rodgers. There
ain't no way that he's going to go to the Steelers.
The Steelers are a football team or a team of character,
you know, and in their trench, the trench warfare, he's
not going to sit in there. So I think that's but.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
You know, they offered him, Jim. You just to be clear,
you know they've offered him. That's happen.

Speaker 8 (41:51):
Yeah, well you know, just because they offered him, it
doesn't mean that he's gonna go there.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
And that's that's that's the problem. They're in line, that's
the problem.

Speaker 8 (42:01):
But that whole team, that whole team in their history,
a guy like that's the nuts fit in there. It's
gonna be it's gonna be nasty, and I just don't
see him going there.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
There's one thing, Jim, just before you get to the
next topic. Uh, Over the years, Pittsburgh has had their
share of guys that you would call, you know, putting
the load in the shorts category, if you just managed
to keep it under wraps because there's such a dignified
organization continue on.

Speaker 8 (42:28):
Well, then again, I could be running. He could go
there and won a couple of Super Bowls. Who knows,
But I don't think so not right, fair enough, just
too He's just too smug and arrogant as an individual.
I don't think that it's like vinegar and water in
the locker room, ain't gonna happen. I don't think on
Gerick on Garrett. He's one of those guys that I
want for me and the heck with the rest of you.

(42:50):
And football is a team game, you know more than
any of the others. So you got three facets, you know,
your offense, defense, special teams. He is just now. But
that's Cleveland. You know, they like that stuff. So if
I was, I'd be turning in my season tickets, you know,
or something like that. He's just going to destroy that team.

Speaker 6 (43:09):
You know.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
That's well, he's not going to help him win. He's
going to have some personal statistics, but we already see
they don't win with him. And he said he wanted
to go somewhere to win, and now it's the you know,
why do you you know, why do you come out
and say it's not about the money when it was
clearly not about the money. It's so stupid anyway, continue on.

Speaker 5 (43:29):
I know, I know that's bad.

Speaker 8 (43:31):
All you heard was kachin kaching, and now everybody else
is going to want it, you know, on that team,
and now you can't. It's just but their ownership and
their management has problems. It all send them, man, you know,
it all flows down.

Speaker 6 (43:43):
Still.

Speaker 8 (43:44):
The other thing on March madness, No, I don't want
it opened up. I didn't even like when they opened
it up, the four more teams and went from sixty
four to sixty eight or whatever. And indeed, we're talking
about kids nineteen twenty twenty one years old. Ninety nine
percent of them want to go to the NBA and
ninety nine point nine percent of I'm gonna make it

(44:06):
in the NBA, and they're just trashing their young body.
They're just treated like me. I mean, all the sports
on the callege, it's all about money now ever since
gambling gone into sport, it's just ruined, ruined everything. And
I just I just feel bad for him. And from
what I've seen rest and everything, I just in the
in the peer pressure, that's a you know what I mean.

(44:27):
And the peer pressure is just every parent out there
thinks they got the next Michael Jordan's, you know, the
next Ted Williams, you know, on the next Lawrence Tale
and hey, no it's no. I just feel bad. It's
really taking a turn for the worst us as a
nation towards sports.

Speaker 6 (44:42):
I really do.

Speaker 2 (44:43):
Thanks for checking in, Jim. I always appreciate it, and yeah,
you're at It is always about the money, unless it's
Miles Garrett. His heart's in Cleveland. It was never about
the money. I think the fans will see that. Let's
go up to Seattle. Zach joins this. Welcome in, Zach,
you're on the Bernie Frattle.

Speaker 3 (44:59):
Show y, longtime listener, first time caller. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
Welcome in, don't be a stranger.

Speaker 3 (45:07):
Oh yeah, I'll listen to you a lot when I'm
driving around doing Uber eads store dash for my little
side hustle for my two young daughters.

Speaker 6 (45:15):
So I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
Very nice, very nice.

Speaker 6 (45:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
So the Aaron Rodgers thing, right, first off, it's like
I don't understand why NFL teams can still potentially have
any interest in him. It's like when he was there
was a floor. They what did three straight NFC championship games?

Speaker 2 (45:35):
Right, I gotta tell you a big fella. It's and
someone who covered the lines for ten years, up close
and personal. Yeah, quarterback is the thinnest position in all
of sport. And if you can play it, they'll put
up with a lot. And he might have a little
gas in the tanking. Look they got All they do
is rave about Justin Fields, and I do too, except

(45:57):
when he's under center. I like, everything does except play
a quarterback. They've bring in two stud wide receivers. Oh well,
hell let's get rid of Justin Fields. We don't want
him throwing the ball. But that answers your question. You'd
be you'd be amazed, Go ahead, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (46:12):
Well I get so like you look at the Packers'
history that they had Brett Favre and Aaron Ruggers and
combined over what twenty two twenty four years whatever it
was consecutive they won two Super Bowls, fair and so
many opportunities, and it's like, Okay, then he goes to
the Jets. I understand that the Achilles thing was not

(46:33):
his fault, but but all the drama that he brings
and the divisiveness, I just don't get. My teams are
still like would even consider.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
Him, you know, So that's I don't so the fair
The bottom line is, and I want to get to
all the other callers. Everybody hanged tight. There you stand
on line, Zach, but Poppy and Berto Gunner Mark you
hang tight. We're getting to all you. What I wanted
to say to you, Zach was do you at least
agreed that if Rogers were to go to Pittsburgh set

(47:02):
us sat or personal feelings, which is not always easy
to do. Is it not an upgrade over justin fields
or for either to go to the Giants? Is it
not upgrade?

Speaker 3 (47:10):
Well, here's the thing. Being a Seattle fan, as you know,
I call call him from Seattle. So DK goes over there,
Pittsburgh signs him five years. You know, one hundred and
fifty mils and Russell Wilson was there, which played with
DK for three years. They have a connection and they're
not signing in Russell. It's like, what are they doing?
It's so unlike Pittsburgh like, I don't understand what they're doing.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Well, they know what that actually looks like, and so
they're trying to they're trying to see you.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
Oh, you're right, and it shouldn't be Rareon Rodgers and
it shouldn't be Russell Wilson. But I was just amazed
that they traded for DK and did what they did,
because that's not the Steeler way. The second topic he
talked about March madness. Yeah, uh, there there was a
six eight year period of my life where it was
it was better than the Super Bowl. Now, I didn't

(48:00):
have the fortune of going to the Super Bowl when
the Seahawks won it in New York against Denver, I
was very fortunate to be at that game and watch
that happen. And you know, we'll never forget it.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
But if you're they rode him like a stick horse
man that came was over the first five minutes.

Speaker 4 (48:17):
Go ahead, Oh no, you're spot on.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
I was in the a quarter end zone where the
safety happened the opening play of the game. I'll never
forget it. But March madness, it's like, even if you
don't have a dog in the game, but you're like
into sports and you're into betting, especially if you get
down to like Vegas or somewhere like that. That that vibe,
that that three four five day vibe with that opening round,

(48:40):
there's nothing like it.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Now, agree real quickly anything, buddy on Miles Garrett.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
Oh man, he sleep, he fleeps the Browns.

Speaker 8 (48:49):
He knew that.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
If he's he knew how to work them, just like
Deshaun Watson massage them. Miles Garrett, massage brown.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
You're on fires. Act all in a color next week, Buddy.
I mean, first, the Michael Vick reference, if you caught it.
I know he didn't mean to, but you get that.
See what he did their little wordplay with Zach and
Seattle strong Poppy in San Diego, Hi, Poppy, welcome in, Hey,
Bernie no.

Speaker 9 (49:16):
Great and not here at San Diego into San Diego side.
But you know, a Miles Garrett, what I was gonna
say over here, like before preseason? I would always talk
when I was back into college, what team's gonna do
good each season? Like where are things going to go?
My sleeper team was every year with the Cleveland Browns,
and you or later they made it to the playoffs. Right,
But now it's like they're just a clown show. Miles Garrett.

(49:39):
You know, I think it was just like a setup
and like, yeah, this and that, that tension the headlines,
and he's just a clown, like what.

Speaker 3 (49:49):
You know, like a circame.

Speaker 9 (49:50):
Yeah, the circuit might as well put Aaron Rodgers right
there as a quarterback and they have a whole circuit
show right there.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
Right, So, so I think Garrett's a clown. Not too
good defensive end, but clown. I'm going to do thoughts concurrently.
The question I have though primarily is did the Browns
do the right thing? Because they are hamstrung themselves payroll wise,
what are they going to do now? I mean, he's
the highest non paid quarterback in the history of the
NFL paid non quarterback if you like to speak English,

(50:20):
go ahead.

Speaker 9 (50:21):
Yeah, I did it a bad job. I don't agree
with the management, but hey, the Browns are who we are.
They make horrible decisions, and I it's the thread, the thread,
you know. The the analytics, my poppy analytics is going
the same direction.

Speaker 8 (50:35):
They're going to keep on making the.

Speaker 9 (50:36):
Same mistakes over and over and.

Speaker 6 (50:38):
On to the college.

Speaker 9 (50:39):
Mark Martinez, I love my madness. So I think it's
gonna it was good.

Speaker 10 (50:43):
It did to sixty eight.

Speaker 6 (50:44):
I thought it was good.

Speaker 9 (50:45):
But now extending it, do I want that?

Speaker 6 (50:48):
Nope.

Speaker 9 (50:49):
But for the business, they are going to do that
because money talks, and they want these networks and everything.

Speaker 5 (50:54):
They want more.

Speaker 9 (50:54):
Blank blank blan guys, and uh for uh did you
talk about.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
Aaron Rodgers yet? We'll call Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 9 (51:04):
Look, I don't know where he's going to go. If
I had to make a crazy prediction, I wouldn't be surprised.
Why not to him in there with the Browns.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
He's down there, he won't. It won't be the Browns.
That's there's zero chance they have no There are three
teams that are on the docket and at the top
of the R one a m unlet's some Carlors fill over.
Everybody's getting in. I'm going to talk about the three
teams and the pluses of minus is but go.

Speaker 9 (51:27):
Ahead, and the other thing I want to talk about
Indian Wealth and is my hometown, Coachella Valley. The champion,
you know, Carlos Alcatrack. He lost, So I think tomorrow
it's going to be a good game at the finals.
So everyone listening to tennis, I think Daker's gonna went
from England and the woman who got Tobick Sabanska. We're
they're playing against a seventeen year old kind of reminds

(51:51):
me of Serena Williams, but it's not Serena Williams. And
she's actually seventeen years old and her name is and
she's rocking.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
All right, Poppy. I appreciate you, Poppy. I got to
get your other callers, big failure.

Speaker 11 (52:06):
You know.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
I love you like a fat kid loft cake. But
those clicking sounds across the nation where radio is being
turned off because no one wants to hear about tennis. Well, Poppy,
the tennis, I don't know, man. Unfortunately this ain't nineteen
seventy five anymore. Just no one cares about it. But Poppy,
good stuff as always. You know, you're always welcome. Let's go,
Let's stay in San Diego. On Berto, where have you been? On? Berto?

(52:31):
We haven't heard from you in a minute.

Speaker 10 (52:33):
I've been listening to you, but I kept waiting for you.
On Fridays you don't come up, and I don't know
what happened. And I hear you obviously.

Speaker 2 (52:42):
And on Saturday with well, I made a personal family decision,
and I've been some time in coming or my wife
and I are traveling the world. I got a giant
family that I missed a lot of events, and so Saturday,
I'm here for the next thirty five years. But Friday
I had to I had to make way. And you
just can't climb two mountains in life. Humberto and a

(53:04):
family is very important.

Speaker 10 (53:06):
Definitely is definitely, Bernie, and I'm happy for you, and
listen on your topics, my friend, don't the nc lebl
A eventually is gonna go to one hundred and twenty
eight gay teams?

Speaker 2 (53:18):
Okay, because I'm not gonna say you're wrong, We don't know.
The question is do you want they're gonna go to
I won't predict they'll be at seventy six within two years.
Do you want that? Yes or no?

Speaker 4 (53:29):
No?

Speaker 10 (53:30):
Definitely not because there's a lot of bad teams, a
lot of bad products.

Speaker 12 (53:33):
But who cares.

Speaker 10 (53:34):
They want MTV time, They want the money, and that's
what they're gonna do. And regarding Garrett, yes.

Speaker 5 (53:43):
What did you expect?

Speaker 10 (53:44):
What did you expect from the Browns administration and the
ownership with the Hackets.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
You know you're not wrong. You're not wrong. So how
does that make them win more games next year? They've
just hands strung their peril.

Speaker 10 (53:58):
They didn't They don't care but winning. I mean, they
gave two hundred and thirty million dollars guaranteed to watch
them for nothing. They had their quarterback, Baker Mayfield, and
they tweeted him back and now karma, you know what
it is, and he's coming back to them, and I'm
happy forgetting hold on.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
That's a great point in Berto, And I'm gonna tell
you why everybody forgets that Baker Mayfield took over a
team that had been one in thirty one the prior
two years and got onto the playoffs in year two.
So you're not wrong. Continue on anything on Aaron Rodgers, Well, what.

Speaker 10 (54:32):
Else can we say? I just hope that he goes
to the Steelers tomally has a mulligan because he could
be facing his first losing season. That's what he's gonna
get because I don't right Jos about himself, and I
think they already made the big mistake of getting the
Meca Medicas because they have nobody to throw the wall

(54:54):
to him, so they started with that and I'm really
surprised the Steelers went that way, But don't be surprised.
Like you called it last year, the Cowboys are gonna
have a bull loosing season. I remember when you called it.
I'm telling you the Steelers might have their first loosing
season on the Tomlin if they could right, It's entirely possible.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
Thanks so much, Embaritot, appreciate you, buddy. What I think
would be ironic is you know, there's really no deadline
for this to happen. There isn't. And by the way,
speaking us money, Rogers costs the Jets forty nine million
dollars in a salary cap hit when they let him go. Look,
I think it would be ironic as hell if Tomin

(55:38):
woke up Thursday and said, Okay, Eron, you have made
up your mind, don't let the door hit in the
ass in the way out. Okay, we don't want you anymore.
We wanted you, but if you're going to play that
game with us, we're the Pittsburgh Steelers, not the Hoboken
Zephyr's good luck. And at top of the ar I'm
going to reveal the one guy that holds Aaron Rodgers
faith facts is a highly respected guy and an offensive

(55:59):
gene and if he decides he wants him, it's game,
set match, and this is where Rogers will We'll end
up a Gunner. Please hang tight, Mark in Los Angeles,
please hang tight. We're getting to you. We want to
hear from a lot more at eight seven seven nine
nine six six three six nine and the midnight Hour.
And by the way, for the best pregame show every weekend,
be sure to tune into Fox Sports Radio's Countdown presented

(56:23):
by BETMGM, every Saturday and Sunday morning from nine am
to noon Eastern six am to nine Pacific. We will
count you down for all the biggest games. There is
no better place to prime you for the tournament and
how to complete your upcoming bracket. Tune into Countdown, presented
by BETMGM, every Saturday and Sunday morning right here on
Fox Sports Radio in the iHeartRadio app. Coming up, Gunner

(56:46):
and Minnesota, Mark and Los Angeles and the rest of
your calls. Eight seven seven nine nine six six three
six nine, It's the midnight hour. Keep it locked. Listen
to the Bernie Fril Show on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 4 (56:57):
the Nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
All right back on the Bernie Fratter Show Fox Sports Radio.
We are in the throes of the midnight hour, coming
to you live from the TEK dot Com studios here
in Las Vegas eight seven, seven nine, nine six six
three sixty nine eight seven, seven, nine and nine on Fox.
We want to hear from you. We're talking March Madness Tournament.
Do you think it should expand? What does it mean

(57:30):
to you? And I'm gonna believe it or not, some
very intelligent people in high places gave three very good
reasons intellectually why they think it should expand I'll get
to that later among the Roger thing and the Miles
Garrett thing. Let's go back out to the phones. Uh,
Gunner in Minnesota, thanks so much for your patience. You
are up next.

Speaker 12 (57:49):
I got it.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
Hello Gunner, Hey.

Speaker 13 (57:51):
Mary, how's it going good?

Speaker 5 (57:53):
That's good.

Speaker 13 (57:54):
I'm thinking I hope that March Madness expands because I'm
a fan of that.

Speaker 9 (57:58):
I want to see more games.

Speaker 13 (57:59):
I want to see more team get in.

Speaker 12 (58:01):
I want to give a chance a chance.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
I'm going to not only predict what's gonna happen within
two years. But Gunnar, this isn't the first time that
there's been a proposal. It wasn't until two thousand and
one that they got to sixty fifteen because that was
added when the Mountain West Conference was created. But believe
it or not, in twenty ten they tried the NCAA
wanted to go to ninety six teams will the negotiating
the new TV contract, and that's where they settled on

(58:27):
sixty eight. We're still there.

Speaker 13 (58:28):
Go ahead, all right, Yeah, that would be way too
many ninety sixteens.

Speaker 5 (58:32):
That'd be way too many.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
And about Rogers, I.

Speaker 9 (58:36):
Hope he going to mannsta complete the far thing. That'd
be just hilarious.

Speaker 13 (58:40):
I would just flap at that because I have a
lot of people up here that are not Aaron Rodgers.
Hands and be funny, just blasher Facebook all it.

Speaker 9 (58:48):
Hi, you guys got Rogers.

Speaker 13 (58:49):
Now, I'm not a fan of the bikers anyway, Well.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
You hang on with us tonight. I'm going to be
in the air for two and a half hours, but
within the next hour I'm going to talk about the
Aaron Rodgers situation, where he might very well, could end
up at one person holds his fate. And I guarantee
you've heard of this guy's name. Any thoughts on Miles Garrett, Oh.

Speaker 3 (59:12):
I think he's delusional.

Speaker 2 (59:18):
It's all right. We had a little bit of I
think a cell phone pneumonia there, but good stuff. Appreciates you, Gunner.
I think you know Miles Garrett is delusional, and you
see I like you know. I've always said the most
boring conversations when everybody agrees, and that's why they've been
that Colleins Beensico. We have a gentleman here who hopes

(59:39):
they expand hang tight. You know, some very intelligent websites
to do this for a living. Gave three very good
reasons and why they think they should and will expand.
I'm gonna get to that in just a second. Mark
in Los Angeles, Welcome into the Bernie Frattle Show. How
are you?

Speaker 7 (59:53):
Oh? Good, Barnie. Bernie. I want to tell you, I'm
not trying to kiss anything, but I think you're awesome
and I agree with you nine what you have to say.

Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
Well, I appreciate that. I guess I got to work
out the other ten percent exactly now.

Speaker 7 (01:00:07):
I wanted to say, bellfore I talk about Miles Garrett,
Why would Minnesota want Rogers when they've got McCarthy, and
don't they want to get him going?

Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
Well?

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
Certainly, certainly, but this is a clear and we don't
know that Minnesota wants him. We know that they're talking
about it. But with Daniel Jones departing, And I said,
watch this last week on my show. If Daniel Jones departs,
it's a game changer, all right, So they let Sam
Darnold go. You've got to get McCarthy on the field

(01:00:37):
this year. You don't want to him not on the
field for two years. But you got to win too.
This is a win now team. It's not a win
now team this year. It's a win nine team for
the next two or three years. So to answer your question,
here's a guy wh's minue Super Bowl was an MVP.
You still don't know what you have with JJ McCarthy.
I think a lot of him, and I think he's
probably gonna do well, but you don't know that. It's
all theoretical, Mark No, No, I understand that.

Speaker 7 (01:01:01):
Okay, So the deal with Yeah, the Browns are just
they're a joke. It's just it's pathetic and I don't
want to get too emotional about it, but they need to, Okay,
if Miles Garrett had any character or respect when they
made that offer, he'd say, no, I want out of here.
And the Browns never make the right decision phrase him

(01:01:24):
and get as many first or second round picks as
you can't. Like you said, they're not going to win
with him anyway. What's the point of giving him all
that money. It's just insanity completely.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
I could have said it better trade op season, get
out Dual Carter. You want to address you're so bad? Finally,
so March Madness. You want to see him expand.

Speaker 7 (01:01:44):
Yeah, you know, I make the most money when I
bet on March Madness, So I don't give a damn
how many teams are in there, as long as I'm
making as long as I'm making money.

Speaker 5 (01:01:53):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
I appreciate hearing from you up there in Minnesota, Gunner
as always or check that you're Mark apologize, I haven't
been drinking, honest, Mark and Los Angeles, thanks so much
for checking, and you've been a regular. Greg and Texas,
welcome back into the Bernie Frale Show.

Speaker 6 (01:02:08):
How are you hey, How are you doing?

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
First?

Speaker 3 (01:02:11):
Of all, I just want to comment and.

Speaker 6 (01:02:12):
Thank you for bringing over the midnight hour into the
Saturday show. I really appreciate that it gets everybody to
get a little bit more insight how the whole nation
is feeling about things.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
But fair enough, he's here to stay.

Speaker 6 (01:02:27):
Yep, yep, oh great, okay, So okay, First of all,
I'm a lump. Aaron Sanders, Aaron, Aaron, there you go,
Aaron Rodgers and Miles Sanders in the same group. I
think they're both living They're they're very egotistical. I think
Rogers is living through Tom Brady vicariously trying to get

(01:02:52):
another you know, trying to keep up with him or whatever.
I think Miles Garrett, you know, just finally said, well whatever,
just give me the money. And that's where I feel
about that. I don't think either one of them are
interested in winning as far as right now, I think
they're interested in me.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
Oh, you're right. I do think they both want to win,
especially Rogers known he's the clock's taking big time. Miles Garrett.
If Miles Garrett after what I saw last week and
some of the and I hear, he is a nice
guy and he's a good player. I get all that.
If he told me he was going to be eighty
and sunny tomorrow, buy three top coats.

Speaker 6 (01:03:29):
You got the floor, Okay, going to the brackets. I
was disappointed when win from sixty four to sixty eight.
I think it's nothing more than the money grab. You know,
if you're not going to let these other sixteen teams
in on this whatever on the original sixty four, why

(01:03:52):
let give them a chance. It just waters down the
whole field. I understand the reason is miss midweek Basketball.
It's numbers and it's eyes and it's all money. But
I'm just not a big fan of it. But it
is what it is, and I'll watch it when it
comes on.

Speaker 2 (01:04:12):
All right, anything else, but we're good.

Speaker 6 (01:04:14):
I think we're good because I live in Dallas, so
I don't think I want to go anywhere from here.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
We'll see how those cowboys do next year. You got
a few heigh paid players. Well, thanks, Greg, don't be
a stranger. Doug in San Diego joins us. Doug. Welcome
into the Bernie Frawder Show.

Speaker 6 (01:04:31):
Bernie Burn, Baby Burn.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
How you doing doing well, sir?

Speaker 5 (01:04:34):
You God love you.

Speaker 14 (01:04:36):
I'm doing great. March badness. Okay, three of very important
words about March badness. Less is more. I don't want
them to add another team. I think your prior caller
called a good thing there. Sixty four teams was fine.
Sixty eight with all these playing games and whatnot. I mean,

(01:04:58):
don't get me wrong, I'd like to have a game on.
But I really think less is more when it comes
to March madness. And I want to put a shout
out to UCSD. The Tritons get it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
Yeah, they got their ticket punch, great school, you know what.

Speaker 14 (01:05:17):
I'm a huge Aztec fan, said he was stayed and
we're on the bubble big time. But to see UCSD Gideon,
it's really unbelievable.

Speaker 5 (01:05:27):
First year of eligibility.

Speaker 2 (01:05:28):
They earned it. They earned it, you know what. They
earned it. There's there's no large deal there. They earned it.

Speaker 14 (01:05:33):
And uh, Aaron Rodgers, oh my god, this guy's unbelievable.
I don't know what's going to happen when no one
else does either.

Speaker 6 (01:05:42):
I don't think Aaron knows at this point.

Speaker 14 (01:05:44):
He really is a He's a basket case, is what
he is.

Speaker 6 (01:05:49):
And frankly, there's not.

Speaker 10 (01:05:52):
Many teams who want him.

Speaker 14 (01:05:53):
I guess the Giants and the Steelers maybe, but after
that it's pretty slim pickings for the guy.

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
Now that's it. There are three teams in the mix,
the Giants, the Steelers, and now my brain has gone dead, Vikings.
But I'm going to get to they're all. They're the
only ones being talked about the top of the hour
here coming up in twenty six minutes. I'm going guys
behind the curtain a little bit, all right, So anything

(01:06:20):
on Miles Garrett, Well, you.

Speaker 14 (01:06:23):
Know what, the guy I thought was sincere about wanting
to win, and I still think he wants to win,
but he wasn't good to turn down that kind of money.

Speaker 5 (01:06:32):
I don't have.

Speaker 8 (01:06:32):
Anything against that.

Speaker 2 (01:06:33):
I understand see that. I get somebody sticks one hundred
and sixty million in front of you, it's pretty hard
to turn down. But he's the one that ran his
mouth and said he was threatening drastic measures, including missing games.
Where the hell's that.

Speaker 14 (01:06:49):
Guy is putting his mouth a little bit? But overall,
he's such a great player, and I believe that he
has a great competitive spirit and wants to win. And
money comes along when you're a great player.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
All right, All true. I can't disagree with with that
part of it. Everything has a context, Everything has a subtext.
I look at it this way. Look, you know the
great branch tricky One said, hey, we finished laught with you,
we can finished last without you. I would have moved on,
got as many draft picks as I can. He would
have had a huge market. You got, you know, six

(01:07:22):
weeks here to make heay for yourself start over. Cleveland
needs all kinds of help, and all this does is
hamstring them and their ability to get the kind of
help that will, you know, certainly perhaps allow them to
at least make an attempt to overcome teams like you know,

(01:07:42):
Cincinnati and their division and Pittsburgh and their division. So
it's it's not a picnic. And he I wouldn't have
done it, big mistake eight seven seven nine ninety six
six three six nine eight seven seven ninety nine On Fox,
The Been That Hour continues. One of the topics that

(01:08:02):
it's gotten a lot of more run night. A lot
of folks really don't want to see the tournament expand,
and I don't know if I do or I don't,
I'm going to still watch it anyway. But there's been
some very intelligent journalistic reportage on this recently and shared
some facts that I think are worth worth noting. Okay,

(01:08:25):
first of all, there are a couple of narratives that
always raise their head when you know they talk about
doing this, for instance, diluting the tournament. All right, they've
been using that same argument every time the field got bigger.
The first time they expanded was nineteen seventy five. They
went to thirty two, then they went to forty eight

(01:08:47):
and sixty four. It's been changed multiple times. And one
of the things I bet people didn't know is that
in the last thirty five years, since the tournament was
expanded significantly, the number of teams in Division one has
grown from two eighty two to three sixty four. There
are now eighty two more Division one teams. That means

(01:09:10):
we've gone from twenty three percent of the teams making
the tournament, we're actually now down to eighteen percent. So
if you add eight more, that would bring it back
to twenty two percent twenty three percent. Right now they're
talking about going from sixty eight to seventy six, that
would get it back to twenty three percent. Again, people
who will expose oppose the expanse. You'd argue that it

(01:09:31):
would dilute the field, it would devalue the regular season
and admit too many mediocre teams. But again every time
they every time the tournament expanded, they said that keep
this in mind. Okay, because that argument doesn't really hold up.
Between nineteen seventy nine and two thousand and five, only
one double digit seat, that's LSU. In nineteen eighty six,

(01:09:54):
they were an eleven seed made the final four. But
since then then the tournament's been expanded significantly. Five double
digit teams have done it. Before two thousand and six,
the nineteen ninety six U MASS team was the only
mid major team to make the Final four since Indiana
State and Larry Bird did it in seventy nine. But
guess what since then, since two thousand and six alone,

(01:10:16):
and this is after expansion, and everybody said it was diluted.
George Mason, WICHITAF State, Butler, VCU, Gonzaga, Loyola Chicago, Florida Atlantic,
and San Diego State have all made it to the
final four. Gonzaga, Butler, San Diego State all made it

(01:10:36):
to the final game. And in the first thirty two
years after the tournament expanded to sixty four teams, a
number one. I checked out at number sixteen seed, had
never defeated at number one. Now it's happened twice in
the last seven years. And by the way, in just

(01:10:56):
two three years ago, Saint Peter's became the number. Check
that the first number fifteen seed to reach the Elite eight.
So and by the way, the first four you know
the plan. Some people complain about it's only been around
twelve years, believe it or not. Okay, but two at

(01:11:17):
large teams played in the final game or played in
the final four. Check that VCU and Shock as smart
and twenty eleven and then UCLA three years ago they
made the final four. So the second thing is a
reason that people are saying this is a good idea.
It would spice up Tuesday and Wednesday. Believe it or not.

(01:11:40):
If you've watched, some of the best games over the
last twelve years have happened during the first four, especially
the ones between the number sixteen seeds. But people aren't
watching as much and a lot of people don't care
because they don't think it's the real tournament. They're not wrong,
but they're not exactly one hundred percent right either either.
So if you add eight teams That means Tuesday and
Wednesday would pack a lot more punch. One of the

(01:12:01):
proposals floating has twelve games taking place those first two
days and then fifty two teams would receive buys into
the first round. That would draw a lot more eyeballs.
The committee believes, and the tournament directors believe.

Speaker 8 (01:12:15):
Do we know?

Speaker 6 (01:12:16):
We don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:12:17):
The question is whether or not they expand, or whether
or not they should expand. Who would play in those games? Well,
you don't know. That's under discussion. One of the models
is that, you know, you want the Power Conference folks
to get more preferential treatment, as it were. You know
who wants expansion more than anybody else, the Power Conferences.

(01:12:38):
For those who say growing in the field by you know,
eight teams or four teams would ruin the NCAA tournament.
The truth of the matter is the Power Conferences have
talked about blowing up this tournament and creating a tournament
on their own. Do I think that will happen, No,
But it's being talked about. Things change in this country.

(01:13:00):
I mean, we once shot fought wars with a single
shot rifle. Anything is under investigation or under possibility, but
it would take away the similar Ella stories. And don't
think for a second that a basketball tournament involving, you know,
Cinderella stories isn't valuable, it's valuable property. Okay, Athletic directors,
commissioners of the Power conferences, they've been the most vocal

(01:13:24):
proponents of that expansion. And it's not necessarily because they'll
make more money, because they won't, but they want more
of their teams to play in the tournament. They believe
their teams are better than some of the mid majors
when you have all season to prove it. So they
haven't expanded in forty years. And it may sound crazy,
but it's not as crazy as you think when you

(01:13:45):
start to listen to intelligent journalists who have brought this
to the forefront, and you know they're sort of revisiting
this because at the end of the seventies, college basketball
was kind of at a crossroads. But they got a
lucky spark when Magic Johnson played Larry Bird in March

(01:14:06):
is seventy nine. That got a twenty four point one
Nielsen rating, the highest for any college basketball game or
pro in history. And what did the NCAA do. They
capitalized on that and they expanded, so as crazy as
it may sound to some people, it's not on the
realm of possibility. Do I think it's gonna happen. Yeah,

(01:14:26):
I do. Actually, I'm just not sure when. But I
think you'll see seventy six teams coming up. We wrap
up the Midnight Hour. Man, Will you will be next?
My man? I want to remind everybody, like basketball, Tractor
Supply knows that a winning season takes practice, team work,
sure to complete your bracket at Fox sports radio dot

(01:14:48):
com beginning on Sunday night. Tonight, visit foxsports Radio dot
com to a register and get rules. The winning bracket
in the Fox Sports Radio Bracket Challenge will win a
twenty five hundred dollars gift card to Tractors Supply, and
a perfect bracket will win you one million dollars. You
can preregister now and then be sure to fill out
your bracket between Sunday night and Thursday morning before the

(01:15:09):
games begin at Fox sports radio dot com. It's all
sponsored by Tractor Supply for Life out here. The Midnight
Hour continues, Manuel and Guardina, you will be up next.
Keep it lock. You're listening to the Bernie Fratle Show
on Fox Sports Radio. All right, back of the Bernie
Frawdle Show, Fox Sports Radio. We are wrapping it up
on the midnight hour. Let's go out to our men

(01:15:30):
in Guardina. Manuel, Manuel, always good to hear from me.
What do you got for us tonight?

Speaker 12 (01:15:36):
Saatisfaction came in the chain reactions because I just want
to selebrace Hey, Bernie so first off, and I'm with
him Bartel, When is enough already? I mean, what are
they gonna start doing? Hanging giving out participation trophies, hanging

(01:15:58):
out banners for the Sweet sixty four?

Speaker 2 (01:16:02):
Come on, man, where it is sweet sixty four.

Speaker 10 (01:16:07):
It doesn't need to get any more diluted.

Speaker 12 (01:16:11):
When does the greed end?

Speaker 11 (01:16:13):
You know?

Speaker 1 (01:16:14):
So?

Speaker 6 (01:16:14):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
Never, the had never ends. Oh that's hard. No, that's
you know. I got you. Okay, you can go to
Aaron Rodgers or Miles Garrett next poison.

Speaker 15 (01:16:27):
I'm gonna well another one of the callers sentiments with
Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 12 (01:16:31):
First off, who in their right mind.

Speaker 15 (01:16:34):
Is gonna give this guy the fifty million that he wants.
I mean, he's not Aaron Rodgers one point zero anymore.

Speaker 12 (01:16:43):
He's he is, He's done. Man. I mean, I think
his best knit honestly, and I know people are not
gonna agree with this.

Speaker 1 (01:16:52):
Would be New York because of the Giants Ball.

Speaker 12 (01:16:55):
Yeah, because pain ball had some successful Josh Allen and
Aaron Rodgers has a rocket arm like Allen, and if
the Achilles were to.

Speaker 15 (01:17:05):
Heal, he has a little bit of mobility like Josh Allen.

Speaker 12 (01:17:09):
So I think that would be his best fit per se.

Speaker 9 (01:17:13):
Plus they got that stud receiver.

Speaker 12 (01:17:15):
But everybody knows he's trying to get Minnesota to bring
him in, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:17:22):
I mean, I'm gonna talk about that on top of
the hour I am. And look, I don't think he's
gonna command fifty million. I don't, nor do I think
the Steelers would offer him that, nor do I think
any of the other teams would offer him that. But
to your point, you know, can he really be worth
whatever money they offer him? Continue on?

Speaker 12 (01:17:42):
Yeah, I mean at this point, he's worth what Russell
Wilson got last year from Pittsburgh.

Speaker 15 (01:17:47):
Yeah, they got him for.

Speaker 2 (01:17:49):
A hot talk and a coke because of the contract.

Speaker 12 (01:17:50):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 15 (01:17:52):
And Miles Garrett, Hey, man, I'm gonna go with an
old Jim Romanism.

Speaker 12 (01:17:56):
Whenever anybody says it's not about the money, it's about
one thing.

Speaker 2 (01:18:01):
So money, what a million percent?

Speaker 15 (01:18:05):
He did, and he wasn't lying.

Speaker 12 (01:18:07):
He was going for winning, and he won that negotiations.
He pulled the wall over the Brown's eyes, and God
bless him. Man, he conda be laughed in all the
way to the bank.

Speaker 8 (01:18:19):
Bernie, keep up the good work.

Speaker 15 (01:18:21):
Is always Love you, my brother.

Speaker 2 (01:18:22):
Thanks, Manuell, appreciate you, appreciate Manuel and all the callers. Tonight.
I'm gonna close by saying I still believe the Browns
should have traded Miles Garrett rather than signing to this
ridiculous historic extension. Not because he's not a good player,
but you're not gonna win with him. You're not. And
I know there are cap complications if you trade a
Miles Garrett, tough, you gotta do something. The Browns are

(01:18:45):
not even close to a Super Bowl to Deshaun Watson.
Trade wreck the contention window. This group of veterans, they're stuck.
They're in denial. The Browns are absolutely in denial. The
question is, can the Browns find a veteran quarterback this month?
Maybe grape into the playoffs next years a seventh seed.
Maybe it's the NFL teams at the bottom rotated annually,

(01:19:07):
but there is a very wide gap between playoff contender
and Super Bowl contender. The Browns are not even realistically
contending for a playoff, not much much less as Super Bowl.
A lot of things have to go right for this
team to be a playoff contender, much less as super
Bowl contender, and Garrett seemed to realize what he initially
made his trade request. Nothing's changed, Jimmy haslim. Look, they

(01:19:30):
got money. They throw money at all their problems, but
it doesn't work, and it just hasn't worked. The Browns
restructure contracts or create caps base. They do a good job,
but we have one play don't have one playoff victory
to show for all that spending in the last five years.
They just have a lot of receipts coming up. I'm
gonna take you behind the Aaron Rodgers curtain. Keep it locked,

(01:19:51):
Bernie Fraddle Show, Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (01:19:55):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:19:58):
Well that's right, you heard demand the Bernie Frattle Show.
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(01:20:20):
tyrat dot com. The way tire buying should be. By
the way, I want to remind the folks. Shortly after
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you missed any of tonight's show, be sure to check
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follow rate review the podcast. Again. Just search Fox Sports

(01:20:41):
Radio The Bernie Frale Show wherever you get your podcasts,
and you'll see the show posted right after we get
off the air. You know, the opposite of love is
not hate, it's indifference. People hate Aaron Rodgers, some love
Aaron Rodgers. One of the earlier callers really brought up
a great point. I wish I could remember who did it.
I'd be happy to give you credit having to do

(01:21:04):
with liking. Would like to see Rogers go to the
Vikings like Brett Farvre did. And maybe it was a
different caller or that same caller referenced the fact that
d Rogers is still very protective of his legacy. Okay,
and much the same, And there's no doubt in my
mind Travis Kelsey wasn't going to retire after that Super
Bowl debacle. He didn't want to go out that way.

(01:21:25):
Didn't want that to be the last one. I don't
think Rogers wants the Jets stop to be his last
one because if you look at Tom Brady's legacy, yes,
he left New England and they can say it was messy,
but he goes to Tampa Bay, wins his Super Bowl,
his legacy secure. Brett Farvre, if you recall, left Green Bay,
went to the New York Jets, got into the playoffs,

(01:21:46):
then went to the Vikings and was very close to
get into the Super Bowl. They threw an ill advised pass,
to which Paul Allen said, why do you pond or passing?
Probably find that great sun by somewhere from two thousand
and nine so far went to other franchises, helped make
them a winner. Green Bay has gotten better since Aaron
Rodgers left and the Jets not so much. So I

(01:22:08):
think Rogers wants to clean this up. So all of
a sudden now here we go once again in Rogers's
Milknness for all it's worth, we're talking about Aaron Rodgers again.
The opposite of love is not hate. It's indifference. You
didn't care, you wouldn't care. What is that? That's not
real profound, but you get my point. Loving hate watching

(01:22:30):
Aaron Rodgers is provocative for people as the people who
do rut for Aaron Rodgers and I do the Gisson fans. Okay,
so the most likely destinations are the New York Giants
and the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the Minnesota Vikings also remain
in the market for a veteran quarterback to pair with
JJ McCarthy. In a minute, we're gonna break down all

(01:22:52):
three of these destinations, why each one potentially makes sense,
and why each one doesn't makes sense. But it appears,
and I've been teasing this for an hour and now
Aaron Rodgers has a clear preference where he wants to
play next year. The question is is it mutual? You see,
it's pretty clear to me Aaron Rodgers hopes to sign

(01:23:15):
with the Vikings, and I think has since been reported
by the athletic. Meanwhile, the Steelers and the Giants who
I think are a distant third in this conversation, are
waiting for him to make up his mind. Now, who's
the one guy that I've been talking about for the
last forty eight minutes that holds technically Aaron rodgers fate
in his hands if he wants to be a Viking.

(01:23:37):
That would be Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell, who I
have an immense amount of respect for. Kevin O'Connell holds
the cards. He has the biggest influence over whether or
not Minnesota will in fact actually pursue Aaron Rodgers. The
truth of the matter is Rogers might be the biggest

(01:23:58):
nominal in free agency. Look all these teams traded for quarterbacks,
signed quarterbacks, move quarterbacks around, And I'm going to get
to some of the free agency stuff at bottom of
the hour because it was a very active week. The
truth of the matter is it is the thinnest position
in all of sport. And does Rogers have one more
in him? You don't know what you do, not know

(01:24:20):
what you have in JJ McCarthy. Now, I realized that
his numbers weren't fabulous at Michigan, but he wasn't asked to.
But when he needed to. He came up with the
big throw, but he had him to the keys of
the car. I'm inclined to think JJ McCarthy is going
to be an above average quarterback in the NFL. I
believe that, but you sew it after Sam Darnold was

(01:24:40):
great during the regular season. I think those two postseason
games are checked out. It was just one postseason game
and then a debacle against the Rams left a bad
taste in their mouth. All right, So we know the
Vikings have JJ McCarthy. They drafted number ten overall. He's
on the roster. Missed all of his rookieyear due to
two separate meat knee surgeries. And by the way, I
didn't mention that, that's another what a huge question mark.

(01:25:01):
You know, where is his you know, recovery at this point?
Then you let Sam Donald go. He enjoyed a career
renaissance here with the team. He walks out in free agency,
but to Seattle Mariner or Mariners. Seattle Seahawks gave him
a hundred million reasons to sign. We know the Giants
are in desperate need of a quarterback. They met with
Joe Flacco, they met with Russell Wilson. So far, no news.

Speaker 6 (01:25:25):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:25:26):
Rogers spent the last two seasons in New York, although
it was with the Jets, and then of course, you know,
he only had four snaps two years ago to really
just last year the Jets. Here's here comes the bad news.
They were five and twelve with Rogers under center. But
he did throw for thirty nine hundred yards, twenty eight touchdowns,
eleven interceptions. Numbers are funny. Everybody's raving about Geno Smith

(01:25:47):
coming to the Raiders. He's so much better than Sam Darnald. Really,
he threw twenty ten touchdown passes and had fifteen interceptions
last year. He got a boat load. He's six years
older than Sam Donald. They say you can play another
five more years. Gino can maybe, but I'm off on
a tangent. Signing with the Vikings would be eerily similar,
obviously to the trajectory Brett Farvad that was Rogers predecessor

(01:26:09):
with the Packers, and you know what that went from there.
You know, had stints with the Jets and Vikings. Just
like I said a minute ago. After spending seventeen years
with Green Bay, Rogers spent eighteen years with the Packers
So could the Vikings be Aaron Rodgers next stop? It's
up to Kevin O'Connell. Why would it make sense? Okay, first,

(01:26:31):
let's make this clear. The Vikings thoughts on JJ McCarthy
have not changed. They do believe he is the franchise's
quarterback of the future. They do not want to slow
down his path to the starting job. So how could
Rogers still make sense? Because the Vikings have said they
want a veteran quarterback to pair with McCarthy, and right

(01:26:52):
now Rogers is the best veteran available. Now head coach
Kevin O'Connell knows what can happen quarterback plan goes sideways
just two years ago Kirk cousins story's Achilles. By the way,
Cousins will be back with Atlanta once he crossed a
date this past week. He got a ten million dollar bonus.

(01:27:12):
They're not paying him the ten million dollars bonus to
release him. He'll stay in Atlanta. Okay. That injury in
twenty twenty three completely torpedo the Viking season. McCarthy is
coming off of torrim moniskus that forced him to miss
his entire rookie season, and while the Vikings have spoken
very positively about the progress that McCarthy has made in

(01:27:32):
his rehab. They stuff to prepare for the worst, so
Rodgers would at least provide insurance for a team that
spent a ton on players like Justin Jefferson, and they
are a win now franchise. They have the talent to
win now. Rogers is also close and this is important
with former Packers running back Aaron Jones and safety Harrison Smith,

(01:27:54):
so he wouldn't be walking into a completely unknown situation.
And Kevin O'Connell knows what Rogers can do when he's
on his game. But for this to work, I know
one of the callers said, fifty men, I think Manuell,
I don't think Rogers will get that. He may want it.
People in hell on Icewater, so they're looks like they're
both thought of luck. Rogers would be willing to sign.

(01:28:14):
He's gonna have to be willing to sign for this
to work for a minimum amount. That's just a fact.
And the Vikings would also have to be okay with
the ramifications. And it starts at the top on down,
just like the Hardball situation a few years ago, when
he thought he was getting hired by the Vikings. There
are a lot of land mines here. But if Rogers
priority is shifted from being a mentor and supporter in
the quarterback room, I think that could go a long way.

(01:28:38):
And the Vikings seriously considering this, but he's got to
get reps. Why would it make sense. There's a lot
of reasons it wouldn't make sense in Minnesota. How might
it affect JJ McCarthy's confidence. How would the addition of
Aaron Rodgers affect the culture that Kevin O'Connell has built.

(01:28:58):
The Vikings have a fact this culture. I don't you know?
All the callers are so good tonight. Rogers just like
to fly in the ointment for he's doing it again.
He's making Pittsburgh. I don't even have to justify or
lay out the specifics. You know what Aaron Rodgers is about. Okay,
So what would happen if McCarthy struggled in training camp

(01:29:19):
and all of a sudden, Rogers look like five years ago.
These are all hypotheticals, but they could happen right now.
All of a sudden, You've got questions, and you've got distractions,
and you've got conversations, and all of a sudden, The
Vikings are at the center of you know, the water
cooler NFL talk, and they don't like that. The Vikings

(01:29:39):
have a good culture. Any if McCarthy struggles in the
least all of a sudden, now you're gonna have Kevin
O'Connell having asked ten answer ten questions today, whether or
not Rogers is an option to start, which I think
you bring him in to start. You want to win now.
But the other dilemma you have is if Aaron, if

(01:30:01):
jj McCarthy doesn't play at all in twenty twenty five, geez,
you've got two full years now, and did you waste
a draft pick now? I can't say he wasted it,
but he ain't off to a good start. He still
has a rookie deal. I know you can point to
Jordan Love, but that's an outlier. That's an outlier. He
was there for three years when Rogers was still there.

(01:30:22):
And the Vikings, by the way, they've spent three full
years trying to get to this point. They are a
respected organization around the league. They have a quarterback that
looks like he's got all the potential on the world,
that's likable, won a national championship in Michigan and he's
on a rookie contract, and they spent a lot of
money around that young quarterback, which they can't do in Cleveland.

(01:30:43):
Now on a roster that can compete in what might
be the toughest division, the NFC North with you know,
of course the Lions and the Packers and the Bears
would be better. So if you add Rogers, who a
player has not been a backup since what two thousand
and eight? He would that could throw a major wrench

(01:31:04):
just into the hole, you know, zeitgeist around the facility.
Let's go to the New York Giants. Why would it
make sense for Aaron Rodgers to go to the New
York Giants. Well, hell, they don't have a starting caliber
quarterback on the roster. I got no beef with Tommy DeVito.
They might be better off with Danny de Vito at
this point because he's not going to get you to

(01:31:25):
the playoffs. I like Tommy DeVito des there being an
NFL roster. They need someone. Tommy DeVito is not going
to get them to the playoffs. So why might it
make sense? What the hell Rogers did win a Super Bowl?
He's a four time MVP. Now a very respected writer

(01:31:48):
who covered the Jets last year's name is Zach Rosenblack.
He's talked about the pros and cons Rogers Giants. You
know connection because he sat there, watched Rogers up close
and personal two years with the Jets, and what Girls
in Black wrote quote was Rogers was probably bad to
terrible in a little more than half the Jets games,

(01:32:10):
average for a handful and good to great for the others.
It was a mixed bag, but there were still flashes
of the old Rogers in there, even if they didn't
show up as frequently. Mike the Vikings talent around him
bring that out. It's worth noting, Okay, the season doesn't
start for almost six months, a little less than six months.

(01:32:31):
It's worth noting that by the time August rolls around,
July rolls around, Rogers should be his healthy, as by
far it had been two full years since tearing his achilles.
But why would Rogers choose the Giants? Well, they do
have some things going for him. Malik Neighbors is an
emerging star receiver. And then there's a location. Maybe you

(01:32:51):
don't feel like moving again. Luckily for Rogers, he wouldn't
even have to pack up his home. He already knows
his way around MetLife Stadium. That's been his office the
last two years. So why wouldn't it make sense. Well, look,
because this feels all this waiting feels like Rogers is
dissing the Giants. He has a giant and I'll get
to the Steelers in a minute. He's got him kind

(01:33:13):
of on standby, you know, waiting. You wait over here
and I'll let you know if I'm interested. And he's
not even on their roster yet, he's not even you know,
the Giants are desperate to find the starting quarterback. But
the last five days, what I believe is this has
given us an odds preview of how business will be
conducted when you have Aaron Rodgers on your payroll. You

(01:33:35):
know I'm right on this one. Not to be fair
to Rogers, I'm not advocating that anybody has to make
a rush career decision. You always want to make the
most informed career choice you can. But having been in
the New York market the past two years, Rogers, well,
you know what that media does. You know that how
Rogers didn't necessarily I don't know that he was being

(01:33:59):
publican to me. Number one, like a lot of people
make them out to be. But you've got a Giants
regime head coach right on to They're on the hot seat.
All of a sudden, you're gonna bring us all this smoke,
all this baggage, and you're gonna have to cater to
Karen Aaron Rodgers. And what if he starts insisting on
certain roster choices. Thank god, he can't have Davante Adams.
The Rams mark my words, overpaid for him. Prove me wrong.

(01:34:23):
You don't like what I said, don't tell me, show
me now. The GM for the Giants, Joe Shane said
at the combine, he's looking for, quote, the best player
that can help us win games in twenty twenty five.
You may swallow hard, you may hold your nose, but
Rogers right now the available players is probably that best
player that could help them win games. But you know,

(01:34:44):
it's the potential for all the stuff that comes along
with it, the off field storylines. That is what's gonna
make your teeth itch if you're a Giants fan, because
Aaron Rodgers brings, you know, baggage. Finally, the Pittsburgh Steelers,
why would it makes sense? Well, at the combine in
the last couple of weeks, the Steelers General manager Omar

(01:35:05):
Kahn said all options are on the table to address
the quarterback situation, which I don't believe they ever were.
They could have kept Justin Fields. You brought in two
more weapons for him, and obviously the last guy they
wanted to throwing to DK Metcalf and George Pickens was
Justin Fields. Sam Donald may have kind of been in
the mix, but not anymore so. Donald Fields has gone

(01:35:26):
to New York. Donald's gone to Seattle. So considering the circumstances, well, Rogers,
he may be the best chance to give the Steelers
to win this year. Okay, I mean the Steelers already tried,
you know, Russell Wilson. I think they know what they
got there that didn't do kind of with a collapse

(01:35:48):
down the stretch. And then I from what I'm hearing
that you know, Russell Wilson, I don't know if it's true,
but it's what I heard, had some real issues with
their offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. But the Steelers are table
environment and guess what they have the NFL's highest paid defense.
They have a very good offensive line that they've invested
a lot of money in the last few years, and

(01:36:10):
they commit to running the ball, and there's no question.
I don't think i'd get much argument on this. Then
Aaron Rodgers would be a lot more successful in Pittsburgh
than he was in New York. Now, I know em
Berto thought it could be Pittsburgh's first losing year. That's possible,

(01:36:30):
certainly possible, depending on how things But he's not even
on the team yet. We got to see what happens. Okay,
this feels a little bit. You may accuse me of
this being a stretch, like Peyton Manning going to Denver. Okay,
an aging veteran, his arm strength was gone, but he

(01:36:50):
was a guy that used his brain, his experience, and
his influence in the locker room to really help that
Denver team win a Super Bowl what was it twelve
years ago. Now that's the kind of hope that the
Steelers would have. And then you still got the twenty
twenty six draft class. Next year. I don't think the
Steelers are gonna draft shoo Door Sanders at twenty one.

(01:37:12):
He may not be available there, but even if he is,
they'd be crazy. And this is not the quarterback draft
class to bring one in the Steelers can win now too,
Maybe not with Super Bowl, but they could make some noise.
So finally, Pittsburgh, why would it make sense. Look, you've
heard me say it a couple of times because you

(01:37:32):
can't tell the story without narrating this. Rogers is a
four time NFL MVP, he is a Super Bowl champ,
He will be a Hall of Famer. But you have
to think here and now, what is he right now?
He's gonna be forty two years old, eighteen months from
a torn achilles. The Jets found out they failed to

(01:37:54):
score a touchdown in three full games this year, including
two of the eleven games Rogers played along side his
buddy that he wanted to get DeVante Adams. Okay, so
you know future what do they say? What are those disclaimers?
Future performance? That is not predicated on path performance? You're
on your own good luck. He takes your chances. So

(01:38:15):
those are real concerns. And then there's a scheme. In
his prime, Rogers was able to use his mobility a
lot to extend plays and create outside of structure when
the play broke down. But last year Rogers was a
little bit more Timmy timmid. Excuse me, he was far
less willing to take shots downfield, so that right now

(01:38:41):
doesn't mesh with the Steelers current roster construction. They got
two elite wide receivers I think, in DK Metcalf and
George Pickens, they're explosive deep threats. I don't think Rogers
armstrings the issue, but Rogers gets real pissy when receivers
don't run the proper routes, and DK Metcalf and George

(01:39:02):
Pickett's have been known to be free lancers a little bit,
all right. The other thing, too, is I think Mike
Tomlin wants to play old Pittsburgh Steeler football ground and pound.
They got a new offensive line, or certainly an upgraded
offensive line, and you have a situation where you know

(01:39:23):
they want to ball, control field position, don't commit stupid penalties,
don't blow assignments, and grind teams down. All right. And
by the way, you know, the Ben Roethlisberger thing is
rearing its head because he got old and Pittsburgh Steeler
fans remember that. So there I have it. We'll see
what happens. The Aaron Rodgers saga continues coming up. NFL

(01:39:47):
free agency started Monday, for real. I got several takeaways.
You're gonna want to hear him. I'm Bernie Fraddle WI
come to your line from Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio,
Tirec dot com studios. Don't go away. You're listening to
the Bernie Fratter Show. Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 4 (01:40:00):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
listen live.

Speaker 2 (01:40:12):
We're back on the Bernie Fratters Show, Fox Sports Radio.
Comedy line from the Tarak dot Com studios here in
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(01:40:34):
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on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app. Well.

(01:41:00):
The NFL Free Agency began in earnest this past Monday,
and boy took off like a rocket and continued. Some
people were quick to crown the Bears his offseason champs,
but the Vikings fans had, you know, a say in that,

(01:41:23):
believing they really liked what they did. And you know,
I guess you could say that Minnesota has almost addressed everything.
But the things they did address were things that they
were very decisive about. They you know, a lot of
folks anticipated the possibility of a Sam Donald departure. I

(01:41:47):
was wrong on this. I thought they might franchise him.
They didn't. They were decisive. They made a decision. But
they did resign their cornerback star Byron Murphy Jr. They
did resign their running back Aaron Jones, and theyocused on
improving the interiors of both lines. That's how you win
in football, your block and tackle. So Donald's in Seattle,
that's according to plan. Murphy and Jones are back. The

(01:42:09):
Vikings bolster their interior line. They bring up a top
rank GARB by the name of Will Freeze, who reunites
with another former teammate from the Colts, Ryan Kelly. On defense,
they added two excellent interior players, a defensive tackle Jonathan
Allen and Javon Hargrave the only thing missing. They still

(01:42:29):
got to get that quarterback to pair with JJ McCarthy.
But look, the scouts love JJ McCarthy now that they've
really looked at him. And here's one. Here's one from
an unnamed scout. Coot did not expect him to look
that good. His anticipation throws were excellent. His athleticism is

(01:42:52):
in the in the pocket is excellent. Willingness to throw
over the middle was very impressed. See Justin Fields can't
do that. Guys wide open over the middle. I'm sorry,
I love you, Justin just don't like when you play quarterback.
But the timing and anticipation that McCarthy has shown from
sideline to sideline shows his potential. But no one's told

(01:43:14):
me what his health is this year, so that's looming
over as well. Give it up to the Buffalo Bills.
They added some real weapons. They signed two ex Chargers,
wide receiver Josh Palmer. He's only twenty five years old,
but he's a guy that can take the top off
a defense. He can get enough separation. Josh Allen can
throw a freaking ball eighty yards. And by the way,

(01:43:36):
I've always thought the world of Joey Bolsa. You just
wish the guy could stay healthy. His numbers are through
the roof. I talked about how great Miles Garrett is.
Bosa has better numbers when he's healthy. He's still a
strong pass rusher when he's available. He's thirty now, he
needs to stay healthy. But Buffalo gana for a tidy
twelve million that could be a real value. They also

(01:43:58):
got Steelers defensive tackle Larry Ogan Joby one year, eight
million dollar deal and a former Ram Michael Heckt, a
defensive lineman three years twenty four million. Why look what? Okay,
So what did Buffalo struggle with last year getting pressure
on the passer, especially in the latter half. They addressed it.
Joey Bosa, Larry Ogan Joby, Michael Heckt, and they got

(01:44:20):
themselves a nice wide receiver. Buffalo very active and very
productive in NFL free agency. Looky here, Kyle Shanahan finally
got Mac Jones. Remember back in twenty twenty one, when
everybody was saying, you know, they were gonna draft Mac
Jones in the first round, and I believe he was,
and I believe he got talked out of it. They

(01:44:41):
trade three first round picks to get the legendary Trey Lance.
All due respect to Trey Lance, he's not a major
league quarterback. Do you ever figure that out? By now?
You could pick on mac Jones all you want. In
the right system, he could do just fine. Now, you
wondered if Kyle Shanahan would finally ever get his day

(01:45:02):
in court, and he with with with mac Jones and
then Brock Purdy fell on their lap. It was amazing
by the way. Trey Lance afore mentioned Trey Lance. He's
still only twenty four years old. He started whopping five
games in four years since being drafted. He has not
looked impressive at all. You can pick on mac Jones

(01:45:25):
all you want, but he's got a much higher ceiling.
And they got him on a song mac Jones two
year deal up to seven men. He'll back up Brock
Purty and in that system, in that system, you do
just fine. Remember he got to help get the Patriots
to the playoffs two years ago. He's not that bad.
He's got His ability to process between the years is

(01:45:48):
off the charts. He's walking into the line of scrimmage
making pre snap reads that veterans don't make. So you know,
it's a smart move by Kyle Shannehan. You really got
to have two quarterbacks in this league. Anything can happen.
The Saints actually improved. They were very active in free agency.
They have a pretty good cap situation, so resigning players

(01:46:11):
to larger extensions, truth of the matter is, is cheaper
than actually letting those players leave. But that's what you
got to do sometimes. Okay, their new coach Kellen Moore
and Mickey Loomis, they put their heads together. They resigned
their tight end Juwan Johnson and Chase Young. I always
had great expectations for Chase Young out of Ohio State

(01:46:31):
as a defensive end. I don't know if it's injuries
or what. He hasn't really quite lived up to what
I thought. But maybe he's maybe he can find the
fountain of youth this year, like you know Gino Smith
did sort of. They also signed Justin Reid, a very
talented safety away from the Chiefs on a three year
deal for thirty one million. And you know he'll play

(01:46:52):
alongside Tyron Matthew. He's only twenty eight years old, so look,
Justin Reid is actually consider one of the best open
field tacklers in the National Football League. And in case
you missed it, the Saints finished last season with the
seventh highest missed tackle rate. So they improved. They did.

(01:47:17):
We'll see what happens. The Colts now have their quarterback competition.
Like they said they wanted to give for Anthony Richardson,
they got Daniel Jones a fourteen million dollar one year deal.
It's a proven deal. It's a little bit more money
than the Vikings gave Sam Darnold last year ten million.
Jones is only twenty seven years old. He does have

(01:47:37):
one road playoff win to his credit that he actually
beat the aforementioned Vikings in Minnesota. And look, let's be
honest about this. I think Daniel Jones will win the job.
Could I be wrong? Sure, and be wrong. I think
he'll unsee Anthony Richardson from the number one role. But

(01:47:58):
the real goal, because Daniel Jones, I doubt, is a
long term solution. They really want to try to somehow
get what they can out of Anthony Richardson. He's only
twenty two. Their hope is that Daniel Jones pushes Anthony
Richardson to improve. And if he wins the job, outright,
so be it. But if he were to pitch, if

(01:48:20):
Daniel Jones were to push Anthony Richardson to improve to
the point where he actually wins the job, that's a
bonus for the Colts. I don't have hope given Richardson's
age and inexperience. He's only started fifteen NFL games. He
needs to jump dramatically. He needs to have dramatic improvement.
He actually completed forty seven percent of his passes last

(01:48:43):
year in the NFL, last among anybody who started a game. Okay, regardless,
if Richardson can't beat out Daniel Jones for the starting role,
then guess what The Colts have found out that Richardson
was never going to be the franchise quarterback that they
hoped they were getting when they selected in a back
in twenty twenty two, Right, don't. I don't think he's

(01:49:05):
getting great reviews across the league. Another reunion I talked about,
you know, Kyle Shanahan getting his guy Mac Jones. Sort
of he did get him that sort of, he did
get him. The Chargers brought back one of Justin Herbert's favorites,
wide receiver, Micha Williams. Remember him. He got a very
team friendly deal worth up to six million. He just

(01:49:25):
he was gone only one year. He got released to
avoid a twenty million dollar cap hit. And I think
you'll see more signings from the Chargers. They have about
thirty three million dollars in remaining cap space. They really
got to approve the interior of their offensive line.

Speaker 6 (01:49:39):
You saw.

Speaker 2 (01:49:40):
I mean in some of those games, especially in the
playoff game against Houston, give the Texans credit. You know,
Justin Herbert got hit more than a Rocky Bell ball.
And so you know they've got the Ryan Mackay, Beckton,
Brandon Schurf. We'll see what the Chargers do, but they're
looking to bolster their offensive line. Some running actually found

(01:50:00):
some homes, you know, Javonte Williams and the Cowboys, Najie
Harris goes to the Chargers, Rico dadel At the Carolina Panthers, JK. Dobbins,
Nick Chubb, Gus Edwards, Rohe Mostert. They're still available for
teams that need running backs. You know, And I've never
at some point I'll give my commentary again, I've never
once believed that running backs were expendable or diminished. They're

(01:50:25):
very important. What we found out is that they're interchangeable.
You had a guy out of the seventh round Rutgers
take over for a first round pick and led the
Chiefs to a Super Bowl two years ago, rest for
one hundred and thirty one yards. He had the same
thing with the Rams right years ago. So you take
one guy'll plug at another. I don't know that Taquon

(01:50:47):
Barkley would be so easily replaceable, but he's an outlier,
all right. Finally, Cooper Cup, he was earlier in the
week became the top receiver available, but that you know,
he's since signed with the Seahawks, and I don't know
why the Rams gave up on him so quick, honestly,

(01:51:09):
would I Maybe I'm just not that smart or I'm
not inside the four walls, and I don't see what
the Rams sy. I wouldn't much rather have Cooper Cup
than DeVante Adams for a thousand reasons. Okay, it's it's
a great landing spot for Cooper Cup in Seattle because
he's replacing basically DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Okay, you know,

(01:51:33):
basically Cup, would you know, become the He'll become the
Lockett replacement. Okay, he doesn't have to be a downfield threat.
He still hasn't been in the past.

Speaker 8 (01:51:42):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:51:42):
By the way, there's still some guys out there available.
Happy go Lucky, Stefan Diggs, so Darius Smith who flop
with the Lions in my opinion, m Guy, Beckton, Lamark Cooper,
Keaton Allen. We'll see what happens. They're not done yet. Well,
by the way, quarterbacks, Okay, Daniel Jones wasn't the only
one who got paid. Jacobeid a guy always like, consummate professional.

(01:52:03):
Two years twelve and a half million with Arizona Cardinals.
Mason Rudolph is back with the Pittsburgh Steelers two years,
eight million dollars. He was the recipient of the swinging
helmet by Miles Garrett. Those two teams get to play
each other twice next year. We'll see what happens if
Mason Rudolph's he's on the field. Josh Dopps a company man.
Two years with the Patriots eight million dollars. Mac Jones

(01:52:25):
two years seven million, Nick Mullins two years six and
a half million. He signs with the Jacksonville Jaguars. And
Zach Wilson, Remember Zach Wilson. He goes to the Miami
Dolphins one year, six million dollars.

Speaker 8 (01:52:43):
Coming up.

Speaker 2 (01:52:44):
Let's go back to a little bit of March madness,
because I've said earlier that I think there are only
eight teams that can win it all, maybe seven. I'm
gonna give you, though, what I think the Achilles Heel
is for all of them. I'm Bernie Fronower, Kemy laf
for the lost Figgas Fox Sports Radio, tire Wrap dot
com studios. Don't go away. You're listening to the Bernie

(01:53:04):
Frattle Show on Fox Sports Radio. How We're back on
the Bernie Frattle Show, Fox Sports Radio. Come you live
from me tyrack dot com Studios here in Las Face.
You know like basketball, Tractor Supply knows that a winning
season takes practice, team work in a can do attitude.
It's Bracket Challenge season. Be sure to complete your bracket
at Fox sports Radio dot com beginning on Sunday night tonight.

(01:53:29):
Visit foxsports Radio dot com to register and get rules.
The winning bracket in the Fox Sports Radio Bracket Challenge
will win a twenty five hundred dollar gift card to
Tractor Supply, and a perfect bracket will win you one
million dollars. You got to happen. You can preregister now
and be sure to fill out your bracket between Sunday
night and Thursday morning before all the games begin at

(01:53:52):
Fox Sports Radio dot com. It's all sponsored by Tractor
Supply for Life out Here.

Speaker 5 (01:53:58):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:53:58):
I was all set to predict a Duke Blue Devils
would win at all. They're an elite roster of highly
talented players period. But what worried me? In addition to
having their rotation being the youngest in the country, you
had two veterans dealing with injuries. I think Malik Brown

(01:54:20):
is done. He was sidelined with a dislocated shoulder. He
came back the other day and redislocated the shoulder. I
think he's done. Look Tyrese Proctor building on the bone bruise,
and now Cooper Flag. I don't know the extent of
his injury. I don't know their saying's going to be
available for the tournament. What does that mean? I doubt
he'll play Thursday. It's presumed Duke would be to you know,

(01:54:43):
sixteen seed, they're gonna be a number one seed. They
aren't it? Okay, they moved through the a SEC tournament.
What is there? You know? Bugaboo the youngest rotation in
the country, that's all. And now they're down two really
good starters. And over six games, you gotta win six
games of oral. So who do trust when heat gets
hot and it's hard to breathe? I trust coaching. I

(01:55:04):
trust backcourts. Look the SEC teams. The SEC is gonna
get thirteen teams in there. They're gonna be a bear.
Doesn't mean they're gonna win it. The ACC got eleven
teams in back in twenty eleven. They didn't win it.
They had one of the eleven get to the final four, Kentucky.
That was a year Yukon beat Butler. Anything can happen

(01:55:24):
in a one game of fair guard play will be important.
They can control the game. Isaiah Thomas once told me
he believed point guard was the most important position in
all sports. Why because one man with the ball in
his hands could control the actions over eleven check that
nine other people. All right, So can Michigan State win it?
They're one of the seven? What's their bugaboo? You saw today?

(01:55:48):
They actually allow more three pointers three point attempts. They
typically defend it well. The last time they played Wisconsin,
Wisconsin attempted three two three pointers, only made five. Saturday,
Wisconsin got off the bus and started shooting threes. Michigan
State melted down. They couldn't stop John Tanji and Trey

(01:56:09):
Holloway made a big mistake and it turned the tide
of the game. That's their bugaboo. Florida. Everybody's gaga about Florida. Hey,
they should be, They're good. I don't like Florida's inconsistency.
If you're down to Georgia by twenty six points, you're
down to Missouri by nineteen and down to South Carolina
by three thirteen, that tells me you might have a
few holes in your game. Florida can win it, but

(01:56:30):
that's their bugaboo. How about Alabama. I love what Nato
has stud is done. I love what he did at
Buffalo Alabama. Ironically, they're two reliant on threes and they
actually rank outside the top one hundred on threes, and
you're gonna need those Tennessee. They're tough. Then we'll see
if they They're playing Florida Sunday later today in a

(01:56:52):
few hours for the SEC Tournament Championship, and I think
the winner of that game is going to get a
number one seed. Tennessee could get a number one seed.
But Rick Barnes gets to the tournament every year. He
has a tendency to go at a slow pace, which
doesn't really bode well sometimes in the tournament, and dares
to beat you with threes. I don't know what it
is with Tennessee and Rick Barnes. And I'll say the

(01:57:14):
same thing in a minute about Bruce Pearl and Auburn.
You just get to that juncture in the road in
the tournament and they can't quite get over the hump.
We'll see if Tennessee can make a liar out of me.
I don't think they will. I like Auburn a lot.
What's not to like, even though they got beats Saturday,
But their ceiling actually is not as high as Duke's
when it comes to talent on the floor. As a

(01:57:35):
matter of fact, I'll share this with you, the last
fifteen champs had at least one NBA first rounder. I
don't think Jani Broom is a first rounder. He may
sneak into the first round a hell of a player,
but I don't think he's a first rounder. Just something
to think about. How about Houston. This is the best
version of the Houston Cougar's we've ever seen in the

(01:57:58):
terms of the way they play. It's too bad Jamal
Shed went down last year. They would have been a
final four team. I believe they might have even gotten
to the finals. Will never know. But their offense always
struggles in crunch time against quality opponents, and they have
more offense this year. They've answered every challenge. Started out
four and three, gone twenty six to one. But they're
going to have to prove it to me. You already
know how I feel about Duke. I still think they

(01:58:20):
can win it. I just don't know what the situation
is going on with Cooper Flag. So these are the
teams Michigan State, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Auburn, Houston, or Duke.
Those are the only ones I think can win it. No,
I don't think Wisconsin, Perdue or Michigan can't. And I
know you're saying, why didn't I mention Saint John's hell Man.
I love Rick Patino, I love what they've done, but

(01:58:43):
did you know they rank outside the top seventy and
offensive efficiency that's going to catch up at some point
in the tournament. They're tremendous defensively, and how much were
they really tested in the Big East This year? The
Big East was down. It was not a great conference.
When Saint John's gone on the floor against Georgia, they
lost sixty six sixty three. When they got on a

(01:59:03):
floor against Baler they lost ninety nine to ninety eight.
I'm not holding that against him. I'm just saying I
want to see what they look like when they get
into this six game. Gonelin, this is, you know, not
Rick Patino's first barbecue. He knows what he's doing. But
I'm concerned by the fact that Saint John's ranks outside
the top seventy in offensive efficiency. It's gonna be fun

(01:59:24):
to watch. We're gonna follow it all week all during
the three weeks on my show up next, What kind
of brand new fool? What my name? Keep it locked?
Bernie Fraddles Show, Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (01:59:35):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:59:38):
Yep, that's right, you heard the man. Bernie Frawdles Show
keeps rolling right along. My name is Bernie Fraddiwick Kenny
Lyon from the tarret dot Com studios here in Las Vegas,
Fox Sports Radio, tierrec dot Com. We'll help you get
there an unmatched selection, fast free shipping for your roadazer
protection and over ten thousand recommended installers tyrec dot com.

(02:00:00):
The way tire buying should be, Well, we've come to
that juncture in the show You Know You Love You
canley without it, you see, because we observe a lot here.
Yogi Berrett once said you could observe a lot by watching,
and that's exactly what we do. And around the country
and the globe and from seed oil, you see, every
day people engage in activities. And sometimes these activities they're

(02:00:22):
silly and stupid and innocuous but not very smart. Other
times they become far more serious. You run to follow
the law and even end you up in well that's
not English can you can even end up in jail.
But any way you slice it, any way you characterize it,
any way you describe it, these activities always leave us

(02:00:42):
scratching our head and asking ourselves, what kind of brand
new fool are you?

Speaker 4 (02:00:53):
So?

Speaker 1 (02:00:54):
What kind of brand new fool are you?

Speaker 3 (02:00:57):
So?

Speaker 2 (02:00:57):
This one's got a lot of moving part. And I
wanted to be the only times on what kind of
branding fool of you? That I may use the word
allegedly allegedly because if this person did this, you're fool
if Okay, apparently they're two sides of the story. But
we take you to lynch Virginia on what looked like
a routine track meet, a women's track meet, and what

(02:01:23):
happened when viral and is all over YouTube because one
of the teenagers on the track team at Norcombe High School, Portsmouth, Virginia,
excuse me not Lynchburg was seen allegedly bashing an opponent's
head with a baton during a high school track meet. Well, uh,

(02:01:46):
what's interesting is this individual had a rally supporting her,
and she delivered a tearful speech and thanked her supporters
and said thank you for supporting me. Her side of
this story is no one wants to hear my story
except the people that know me. I would never do
anything like that. I would never harm anybody. I'm not

(02:02:06):
a fighter, I'm not even confrontational. I wouldn't do that
on purpose. Thank you all for believing in me. And
she got a lot of loud applause. Okay, here's where
I say if and allegedly, because if that were the case.
The day before the rally, the young lady was served
with a misdemeanor charge battery and assault. Now full disclosure.

(02:02:31):
I have not seen the video, but I've read about it.
And apparently they were rounding the bend. You know, in
these relay races and track meets, you carry a baton,
and somehow the baton was allegedly raised up and smashing
somebody over the head. And she's got supporters. It was

(02:02:53):
a championship meet. But why if she didn't do it
or whatever, or didn't me, I don't know what. I
don't even know how to describe this. Then why was
the whole team disqualified? They disqualified the whole team, and
the individual who was on the recipient's end of the
whacking over the head with the baton was diagnosed with

(02:03:16):
a concussion impossible skull fracture because and then the you know,
footage of the incident went viral and the young lady
said the hits were accidental. That was the official statement. Now,
the Virginia High School League is not common on individuals
or disciplinary actions and those types of things. And all
of a sudden, now you know, he eats. Look, she's

(02:03:40):
she's got defenders. She says she's not an attacker, she's
an honor student star athlete put The video again, which
I haven't seen but I've read from credible writers, tells
a much different story. So if track Runner in Virginia
actually hit, if you'd did this, I gotta ask you,

(02:04:02):
what kind of brand new fool you? All right, Brianna?

Speaker 16 (02:04:08):
Alrighty.

Speaker 17 (02:04:09):
So diamonds are forever indigestible. So shout out producer Shay,
We're going to head to Florida. You know, always always Florida, guys,
and Jay.

Speaker 2 (02:04:19):
Was always that was always his favorite state for doing
a brand new fool.

Speaker 16 (02:04:22):
Yes, So I saw this and I was like, I
think we should honor him today. So this is for him.
So Jaython Gilder so kind of like a Jonathan and
a j I guess is like his name. He's kind
of in between.

Speaker 17 (02:04:35):
He told employees at Tiffany and Company at the Mall
in Orlando that he was a representative of an Orlando
Magic basketball player before he was taken to a VIP
room and shown several high end pieces of jewelry. He
was shown a pair of four point eight carrot diamond
earrings worth one hundred and sixty thousand dollars.

Speaker 6 (02:04:56):
Wow.

Speaker 16 (02:04:57):
A pair of eight carrot.

Speaker 17 (02:04:59):
Diamond earrings is worth six hundred and nine thousand dollars,
and then a four carrot ring that was worth seventy
five thousand dollars. He then grabbed the three pieces of
jewelry and struggled with the employees, dropped the ring, and
then just fled the store. I think he wondered if

(02:05:20):
they were going to like kind of think he was
a little suspicious before he like ran. So the security
cameras captured him leaving in a blue Mitsubishi and then
they found him on inter State ten in Tallahassee, and
he was going back to Texas because that's where he
came from. As he was being taken into custody, he
swallowed that all those ear rings did diamond ear stomach

(02:05:47):
a little bit, Oh my gosh, Yeah, seven hundred thousand
dollars worth of earrings, just swallowed them.

Speaker 3 (02:05:54):
And so.

Speaker 17 (02:05:57):
The the Affidavid said, these fourign object are suspected to
be the Tiffany and Company earrings, but will need to
be collected dot dot dot dot dot after they passed
through Gilder's system digestive system. While he was sitting in jail,
he spontaneously asked the police staff, Am I going to

(02:06:18):
be charged with whatever is in my stomach?

Speaker 14 (02:06:21):
Like?

Speaker 16 (02:06:22):
Okay, that's just like come on, bro, Like, am I
going to be charged?

Speaker 10 (02:06:25):
What do you know?

Speaker 16 (02:06:26):
They're going to let you go just because you digested it.

Speaker 17 (02:06:28):
So he was booked on suspicion of grand theft and
robbery with a mask and he is still in custody
at this moment.

Speaker 16 (02:06:35):
So, Jathon, whatever kind of name that is? Gilder? What
kind of brand new fold are you?

Speaker 14 (02:06:41):
Dude?

Speaker 2 (02:06:42):
Well, that's our food on multiple accounts, on multiple accounts. Now,
mister Ramsey, I know you're a very busy man. You're
under no obligation to do this one of these nights.
Just for posterity, we should have you do one. Do
you might any chance to have one for tonight?

Speaker 1 (02:06:57):
I do not.

Speaker 2 (02:06:58):
Okay, hopefully in the future. Hopefully in the future, one
time or not, it's all good. You're busy man. All right, Well,
that will conclude another arousing edition of what kind of
brand new fool You, which now opens the door and
allows us to our second favorite bit, which we refer
to as what my name? And we will be employing

(02:07:22):
my wife's suggestion to give us clues. I was wrong.
I'm glad the clues have gone over well because it
wasn't my ideas my wife's, and we're gonna it seems
to be working. So we're even gonna add a second
step tonight. If I'll give three choices, if I sense
after I asked for the name, there's a little bit

(02:07:43):
of hesitation, no problem, These aren't always easy, then then
we'll have clues and then perhaps three choices. So let's
start with this one. I am currently or currently will
the oldest NFL coach to ever Grace a NFL head

(02:08:03):
coach to Grace a sideline in the NFL, Mark Ramsey?
What my name?

Speaker 1 (02:08:11):
Could you please repeat it?

Speaker 8 (02:08:13):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (02:08:13):
I know I didn't do a good job there. I'm
the oldest coach in the history of the NFL, the
oldest head coach to Grace's sideline, Mark Ramsey, what my name?
And just be coaching this year. It's it's it's just
a manner of speech. He's still working, basically, he's the
head coach still working this year. All right. The choices

(02:08:36):
are Don Shula, Pete Carroll, Vince Lombardi.

Speaker 16 (02:08:42):
I'm gonna go with Pete Carroll.

Speaker 2 (02:08:43):
He just got hired you got it, Pete Carroll all right,
in the history of the National Football League, I was
actually the youngest coach to ever be a head coach
in the NFL. In gracing the sidelines, Brianna, what my name?

Speaker 16 (02:09:00):
Sean McVay.

Speaker 1 (02:09:02):
Got it?

Speaker 2 (02:09:02):
Sean McVay. He beat out. He was thirty years old.
He beat out a couple of other coaches, just just
by a very slim margin, guys like, believe it or not,
John Madden, and I think Josh McDaniels is down on
that list too, many many years ago, also a Raider, Okay.

(02:09:23):
I was the head coach of last year's NCAA champion
basketball team. Brianna, what my name? He's still coaching this year?

Speaker 16 (02:09:35):
He's still coaching this year?

Speaker 17 (02:09:37):
Why am I even?

Speaker 16 (02:09:38):
I don't even remember who won last year?

Speaker 2 (02:09:41):
Sorry, so I'll give you three choice, thank you. It's
Rick Patino, Mick Cronin or Danny Hurley. Danny hur It
is Danny Hurley going for a three p Danny Hurley
going for the I don't think he's gonna get up
a boy going back to back. That was John Wooden Territory.

Speaker 17 (02:10:01):
Those press conferences were so legendary last year I don't
know why I missed that.

Speaker 2 (02:10:06):
So yeah, anyway, all right, we're gonna switch gears here.
I'm a legendary Major League baseball player, and I'm not
in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but I'm actually in
the wrestling Hall of Fame. Mark Ramsey, what my name?
I've talked about him many times on my show Wrestling,

(02:10:29):
but he's not passed away recently. Pete Rose, it is
Pete Rose. Good job.

Speaker 5 (02:10:34):
Mark.

Speaker 2 (02:10:36):
All right, there's a little bit of a tricky one.
But if you think I'll just blurt it out, Okay.
I spent twenty years in the major leagues and only
struck out four hundred and thirty four times. I spent
four years playing college basketball. In only four years, I
had five hundred and ninety assists. Brianna with my name.

(02:11:00):
Tony Gwinn, Tony Gwyn, the clue was going to be
a player in the same city. Tony Gwyn was a
great basketball player at San Diego State. Was actually drafted
by the old San Diego Clippers, and he was tremendous,
tremendous passer and great first step. Yeah, Tony Gwyn, all right,
last one. Uh, I am still the all time leader

(02:11:25):
in n c A basketball national Championships. No one's won
more than me. Mark Ramsey, went my name.

Speaker 16 (02:11:34):
And we're talking player or coach?

Speaker 2 (02:11:36):
Oh? I'm sorry? Did I not apologize? I am the
all time leader as a head coach in NCAA basketball Championships?
Mark Ramsey? What my name? I coached at u c
l A.

Speaker 1 (02:11:50):
Uh not Walton?

Speaker 2 (02:11:53):
I coach Bill Walton? All the hints is it? Is
it Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski or John Wooden?

Speaker 16 (02:12:03):
Woulden?

Speaker 2 (02:12:04):
It is, in fact John Wooden. All right, A clean
sweep across the board by everybody. Great job. That will
conclude another rousing condition of brand newfool and what my name? Excellent?
By the way, folks, you can stream this show and
all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live twenty four

(02:12:27):
to seven in the new and improved iHeartRadio app. Just
search Fox Sports Radio in the app to stream us live.
And one of the newest features in the app is
that you can select Fox Sports Radio is one of
your presets, just like the presets on a radio dial,
So be sure to preset Fox Sports Radio in the
iHeartRadio app. It will always pop up on the top

(02:12:50):
of your screen coming up. We have some Nick Max
news and events that took place this week. And by
the way, did you guys remember the Dodgers open up
and Tuesday and they might be without one of their stars.
We'll talk about that. And by the way, another luminary
when viral on a podcast, he had some second thoughts

(02:13:12):
about Lebron. We'll get to add all that and more
coming up. I'm Bernie Fradder. We're coming to line from
the Las AGAs Fox Sports Radio TARAC dot com studios.
Keep it locked. You're listening to the Bernie Frattle Show
on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 4 (02:13:25):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
listen live all.

Speaker 2 (02:13:38):
We're back at the Bernie Fraddle Show Fox Sports Radio,
coming to line from the tarat dot com studios here
in Las Vegas. I want to remind them folks like
basketball tractors, supply knows that a winning season takes practice, teamwork,
and a candow attitude. It's Bracket Challenge season. Be sure
to complete your bracket at Foxsports Radio dot com. Beginning

(02:13:58):
on Sunday night is at Fox sports radio dot com
to register and get rules. The winning bracket and the
Fox Sports Radio Bracket Challenge will win you a twenty
five one hundred dollars gift card to Tractor Supply, and
a perfect bracket will whin you one million dollars. You
can preregister now, then be sure to fill out your
bracket between Sunday night and Thursday morning before all the

(02:14:21):
games begin at foxsports radio dot com. It's all sponsored
by Tractor Supply for life out here, just some house
cleaning to talk about. And by the way, next week,
I want to let everybody know I want to get
into this Pete Rose thing. Here's what I mean. His

(02:14:43):
family reached out, The Commissioner met with him January eighth.
He has the power to reinstate him. Once he reinstates him,
or check yet you know, removes him from the lifetime ban.
Then a whole series of events have to happen and
the ARAS Committee would have to vote him in and
years and I go back over at but I really
want the cars the way in next week. I'm just

(02:15:04):
giving you a preview because some people I respect think
think that if Rob Manfred does it, he's just given
the family, the middle Finger, wait until he was dead.
I don't know if he'll ever do it. Why not
do it, believe it or not. There're one hundred and
seventeen major League players major League Baseball players that have
been elected to the Hall of Fame posthumously, including Dick

(02:15:26):
Allen just a couple of months ago. My good buddy
Andy Furman knows all about that. So look, the bottom
line is I want to get into this because I
don't know what's taking Rob Manfred. It's coming up on
three months. It's going to be part of Manfred's legacy
and now he handles this situation. So just some food
for thoughts speaking of baseball. If you're here on the
Pacific time zone as I am Tuesday, or check at

(02:15:50):
March eighteenth, at three ten am, the Dodgers have their
season opener in Japan against the Cubs. Yo Chernobylma will
start on the mound for the Dodgers, and you know,
this is a real game. This is part of the
Japan World Series, not World Series, but there's a there's

(02:16:11):
a name for it, the the World Tour Tokyo Series
is what they're calling it. And so they'll play a
two games series with the Cubs, and they'll come back
and the rest of the spring training resum so the
Dodgers will have two games under their belt. You can,
you know, like I said, watch it at six o'clock
in the morning and Eastern time ort three o'clock Pacific time.

(02:16:31):
But you might not see one of the big superstars
that the Dodgers have playing. That would be Mookie Betts.
He's at risk of missing the team's opening series in
Tokyo against the Cubs. He's been dealing with an illness
while in Japan this past week. Apparently missed a few
Cactus League games before they left for Japan. He's still
under the weather. He's lost some weight. According to Dave Roberts,
he has a couple of days to get back at

(02:16:52):
full strength to March eighteenth, that's considered opening day, but
he's very much a question mark. Bets is going through workouts.
They're going to re valuate Bets Monday. They're off day.
I had a Tuesday's first game. So by the way,
the Dodgers are also playing two exhibition games in Japan.
Bets isn't playing in either one of those. Remember this

(02:17:12):
guy's a key guy. Number two hitter and starting shortstop
and I kind of, yeah, I kind of expected Dodgers
to repeat. I really do, because they have the DNA
and everybody's pissing him on about Garrett Cole getting hurt
in New York and it's not fair.

Speaker 8 (02:17:27):
You know, you know where.

Speaker 2 (02:17:29):
But hey, the Dodgers at one point last year had
four or five starters out and they still won it.
So look, I'm not necessarily a Dodger for I don't
root against him either. I respect excellence and that's that's
what that organization is and that's what they've shown. Finally,
another bit of business that took place this week might
have been a letter under the radar, you know last

(02:17:49):
week that you know, Brownie James continues to be a
hot NBA storyline because his dad, Frankly, drives most of
the drama. That's just the fact. Okay, when you're draft
in the second round and you got a little help
from your dad and you know you're having to defend him.
So we know what happened last week On March sixth,
Lebron stepped up to Stephen A. Smith, you know, in

(02:18:11):
mid court there in front of God and everybody, and
we really don't know what happened, and Smith kind of
downplayed it and then was kind of silent for a
few days. And I like Steven Ay, I think he's
very misunderstood guy. Look, what was interesting is that it
appears that Lebron tried to intimidate him during that confrontation,
and so all of a sudden, a few days went by,

(02:18:35):
and then on March eleventh, Stephen A. Smith went on
the Gilbert Arenas podcast. I think and decided, I think
I'm gonna get the last laugh, Okay, because when you
looked at the cameras and you got Lebron with that
look on his face, and he didn't come off so
well in front of the cameras, and he looked like

(02:18:57):
he Smith was temporarily humble, certainly taken aback by the
whole thing. I thought it was inappropriate the way it
was handled. But what are you gonna do?

Speaker 6 (02:19:05):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (02:19:06):
We we we report, you decide. Long and short of
it is this apparently what what what Stephen A said
to Lebron on the Gilbert Arenas show says quote, I
was not talking about your son. I'm talking about your
it rhymes with grass. I'm talking about your grass. All
of us reporters as a league had to sit back

(02:19:28):
and be quiet to capitulate to your ish.

Speaker 8 (02:19:32):
You did that.

Speaker 2 (02:19:34):
Now, both sides were somewhat dismissive of the beef after
it happened, but now five six days later, stephen A.
Smith took the first big swing during that podcast with
Gilbert Arenas's former NBA player. Smith on the podcast said quote,
I thought it was weak. I thought it was Bull's hit.

(02:19:58):
That's what Smith said. Steven A's retelling of the confrontation
included a very profane speech by Lebron. In other words,
he divulged what Lebron said, and stephen A. Smith made
it very clear that Lebron Lebron had vented his frustrations
as a father rather than a player. And obviously this

(02:20:23):
is radio and you gotta be careful, but I will
get my point across and you'll get the flavor for
what Lebron actually said. Apparently he got in Smith's grill
and said, quote, yol, you got to stop talking ish
about my son. You got to stop effing with my son.
That's my son, that's my son. End quote. And I

(02:20:46):
guess stephen A. Smith was like, what nah f that
and Smith allegedly said to him, Yo, let's talk later.
That's what stephen A told Lebron, and Lebron said, nah,
f that f that. You got to stop effing with
my son now. I Steven A. Smith went on to clarify,

(02:21:08):
I wasn't talking about your son quote. I'm talking about you.
I know he's the fifty fifth pick. I'm talking about
your rhymes with grass.

Speaker 8 (02:21:16):
You did this.

Speaker 2 (02:21:17):
You're the one who had us reporters sit back and
be quiet. You did that. Smith admitted during the podcast
he'd held his tongue on certain matters like Brownie getting
first quarter minutes against the Sixers, which is very generous
for the player who's really a G League type of guy, right,
and so look, stephen A. Smith went on to say,
they put him in, he gets stats, he gets on

(02:21:37):
Sports Center, and he believed Lebron was overreacting and that
he believes that chips it away to this prestige in
the public eye. Duh, that's what Lebron does. Scores a
lot of points. I get it, but you get the picture,
all right.

Speaker 6 (02:21:50):
So there you have it.

Speaker 2 (02:21:51):
We'll see how this continues. Bronnie actually had seventeen minutes
against Denver the other night. We'll see. Okay, we covered
all on this show. We've talked a lot of football tonight.
That's American football, but we also talked to the other football,
which is spelled futbol. It is time Chris Purfetts World.

Speaker 18 (02:22:13):
Of Soccer, the greatest goals, the thrilling finishes, the international drama.

Speaker 1 (02:22:31):
It's all here in this report from the World of Soccer.
Load management.

Speaker 11 (02:22:36):
It's a very heavy term in North Americans sports, especially
around basketball, where it has become the forefront of conversations
about rest, about optimum health for players, and specifically about.

Speaker 1 (02:22:49):
What matters most in play.

Speaker 11 (02:22:51):
Does it matter to play regular season games or should
you only be focused on the championship? And trust me
when I say this, Burnie, that soccer is no stranger
to this at all, although it may indicate in a
different way, not be about load management as much as
match management. This is to say that the biggest teams
and most important teams across soccer tend to end up

(02:23:13):
playing a lot more matches in a given week than
some other clubs, especially as the soccer calendar continues to
crowd more and more. We haven't really talked too much
about it, but there is a FIFA Club World Cup
that will be coming up. As FIFA tries once again
to dip its ink and try to drink the milkshake
of YUEFA Champions League. There is the UEFA Champions League

(02:23:35):
and all of Europe if you play over there. MLS
is splitting its time between its season right now with
the Conker Calf Club Champions Cup, and even a premier
team like Inter Miami is not immune to this. Where
once again Lionel Messi is at the forefront of some
consternation as he has been being load managed. The manager

(02:23:58):
for Miami, Mascherano, chose to rest my Messi for three
matches after a very busy start to the twenty twenty
five MLS campaign had three games in seven days. Messi
has failed to appear against Houston Dynamo, Charlotte FC and
Cavalier FC in a CONKCAF Champions matchup, before he was

(02:24:19):
able to appear in that second leg of the Capellier
Champions Cup. Now Messi is old, there's a lot of
injuries he's had to deal with and this is part
of one of the.

Speaker 1 (02:24:28):
Issues of it.

Speaker 11 (02:24:29):
However, it has led MLS teams struggling to really figure
out the disappearance of Messi in these games after they
had been selling their fans on extremely marked up prices
and tickets to see Messi, scrambling to try to figure
out what exactly to do. But three games in seven
days is a lot for a soccer club and it's

(02:24:51):
a lot for a player. Even some of the best
clubs out there that have to play in multiple competitions
have to really ration how they use their players because
otherwise they're just.

Speaker 1 (02:25:02):
Going to run them into the ground.

Speaker 11 (02:25:03):
On a season that goes for over nine months out
of a year, it becomes a case where sometimes I
believe less is more. For instance, Liverpool happened to lose
in the Champions League they were knocked out by Paris
Saint Germain. However, it has now allowed them to focus
on their remaining targets. They are fifteen points clear of
winning the Premier League right now with about I would

(02:25:25):
say nine matches to go, or so they play in
the Carabao Cup final on Sunday. It's a feature and
not a bug, of soccer being allowed to set multiple
goals for yourself. It also means that losing in one
such contest isn't really the end all be all, and
thus you can continue to pivot. However, the calendar still

(02:25:45):
clogs up with more and more of these contests. On
top of that, friendlies, especially in places where you're trying
to grow your fan base or appeal to international fan
base not in your country, do take up a lot
of this time as well, and cuts further and further
away from rest for players. One club has had enough.
On Saturday, Real Madrid escalated complaints. Manager Carlo and Salati

(02:26:08):
confirmed the team will refuse to play in the future
if players aren't given a minimum seventy two hours rest
between matches. On Wednesday, Real Madrid played their crosstown rivals
at letty Co Madrid in a Champions League Round of
sixteen second leg. It kicked off at nine pm local
time and last one hundred and twenty minutes plus a
penalty shootout ended close to midnight imagine, which Real Madrid

(02:26:32):
ended up losing on penalties. Then on Saturday, they played
Villa Reale in Laaliga play, which with the match starting
at six thirty local time. Anclati said that he had
asked LaLiga to change the time of the game twice
and they didn't do anything but quote, this is the
last time. And if asked to confirm the team just

(02:26:53):
won't show up to a game without seventy two hours rest,
he said, no, of course not. This is a very
tricky tight rope for everyone involved to walk. Real Madrid
is one of the most successful clubs in the world.
It is one of the most popular clubs in the world.
Thus it means they end up playing a lot of games.
It also means that because they play a lot of games,
they have the stress to manage all of these players,

(02:27:13):
to make sure that they are healthy, to make sure
that they keep continuing to win. On the other hand,
leagues like the Champions League and La Liga both want
Real Madrid available for primetime audiences. In Europe, FIFA itself,
the arbitrator of the game itself, recommends a minimum of
seventy two hours rest between games. This has not been

(02:27:34):
honored in many cases as the game continues to chase
more and more games, for more and more viewership, for
more and more money.

Speaker 1 (02:27:42):
It's curious to see.

Speaker 11 (02:27:44):
I am curious to see if Real Madrid has the
power to actually change things here by putting their foot
down and if they do, maybe it might be a
signal to the rest of the world. Maybe seventy two
hours even that isn't enough. Maybe we're pushing this way
too much. It's time to scale things back. That'll do
it for us, Bernie. We'll see you next time on
the World of Soccer.

Speaker 2 (02:28:04):
Always news on football, no matter what country it's played in.
And oh, by the way, this just in when Larry
Brown Sports is reporting, and you know the the lovable
Aaron Rodgers may make a shocking decision. Turns out he
really wants to play for the Vikings, even though the

(02:28:25):
Steelers and Giants are in hot pursuit. But what is
Larry Brown Sports reporting that Rogers is considering? Well, if
the Vikings don't want him, he made you snub the
other two and retire. Okay, all right, the soap opera continues.

Speaker 1 (02:28:42):
Do with that what you will.

Speaker 2 (02:28:43):
We'll see if that goes anywhere. Remember last week he
had Miles Garrett threatened to sit out games. Maybe those
two can put their heads together and make a rock pile.
Coming up, we wrap up the show, and I want
to give a tribute to John Einstein, a man who
wrote forty eight books, twenty three made the New York

(02:29:04):
Times bestseller List, and of course, his first book, The
Season on the Brink, made him a household name and
spent seventeen weeks on the Times the bestseller list. He
also wrote a good walk Spoiled about the year he
spent on the PGA Tour in the nineties.

Speaker 12 (02:29:19):
The Guy.

Speaker 2 (02:29:20):
He was brilliant, one of the best sports writers of
all time. A brilliant author. They don't make them like that.
He told stories. You know, there's an old saying, share,
give me a fact, I'll believe it, Give me the truth,
I'll accept it. But share a great story. He lives
in my heart the rest of my life. So I'm
going to give a tribute to John Feinstein coming up,

(02:29:43):
and I want to tell a great Bobby Knights story
that has to do with John Feinstein's inner workings with
Night during the year the team won Night's final national
championship in nineteen eighty seven. That team had Steve Alfred,
Darryl Thomas, Dean Garrett Smart, all played in the NBA.
And when I tell the story, and I know my

(02:30:04):
buddy Andrey Furman, I'd be shocked if he doesn't bring
up John Feinsteins, and no one's talked about him a lot.
But we're going to You're gonna really like this story.
I'm Bernie Fratto. We're coming to a line from the
Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Tirack dot com studios. Keep
it locked or listen to the Bernie Fraddle Show on
Fox Sports Radio. All right, we're wrapping it up on
the Bernie Fraddle Show, Fox Sports Radio. Come to your

(02:30:26):
life from the tarat dot com studios here in Las Vegas.
Where I go any further, I want to thank my
broadcast team back in Los Angeles, Mark and Brianna turning
all the dials, keeping usclude together, brand new fool what
my name? Appreciate all the efforts tonight. By the way,
like basketball Tractors Supply, those of the winning season takes practice, teamwork,

(02:30:47):
sure to complete your bracket at Fox Sports Radio dot
com beginning on Sunday night. Visit Fox Sports Radio dot
com to register and get rules. The winning bracket in
the Fox Sports Radio Challenge will win twenty five hundred
dollars gift card to Tractors Supply and a perfect bracket
will win you one million dollars. You can preregister now

(02:31:09):
and then be sure to fill out your bracket between
Sunday night and Thursday morning before the games begin at
Fox Sports Radio dot com. It's all sponsored by Tractor
Supply for Life out Here Rest in peace. John Feinstein
died the other day at sixty nine years old. He
was a regular sports columnist for The New York Post
wrote forty eight books, twenty three bestsellers. His most notable

(02:31:33):
book was The Season on the Brink, which chronicled the
eighty five eighty six Indiana University basketball season. It made
him a household name well the following year. John Feinstein
was still very close to the Indiana team the following year,
which actually went on to win the national championship. But
John Feinstein the exquisite storyteller. He was told the story

(02:31:57):
that probably a lot of people don't know about it
because heading into the season, Bobby Knight knew he had talent.
He had four players on that team that got drafted
into the NBA four Steve Alfred, Dean, Garrett Key Smart
and Darryl Thomas. This was a quality team that had
all the potential in the world. But Bobby Knight felt
there was just something missing. So back then, the season

(02:32:22):
didn't start till the end of November. So one of
the Boosters had a Thanksgiving dinner at their house and said, guys,
instead of going on for Thanksgiving, I want everybody Thanksgiving
dinner at the Booster's house. And all the players attended,
and they all had their dinner, and they stayed and
then they had dinner and left, And Bobby Knight lotted

(02:32:45):
that in the back of his brain because he saw
a fatal flaw with this team that could prevent them
from winning the national championship. Sure enough, four games into
the season, they lost to Vanderbilt, a team they never
should have lost too, but they did, but in the
end righted the ship. They did have one loss at Iowa,
who at that time was ranked number one in the country,

(02:33:05):
so you'd forgive them for that, but they got blown
out by thirteen points at Carver Hawkeye Arena. And then
the season was going swimmingly well. Okay, they were like
twenty six and twenty five and two, and then all
of a sudden, their final two road Big Ten Conference
games at Purdue they lost by eleven and at Illinois

(02:33:31):
they lost by They lost sixty nine to sixty seven
two days apart, and Bobby Knight blew a gasket, slammed
the door, held a team meeting and says, it's coming
out now, and we're getting ready to go to the tournament,
and it's coming out. You guys bug me. You're all selfish.
You're all selfish people. You've been that way all season.

(02:33:55):
You've probably been that way your whole life. And then
Bobby Knight reiterated or checked that he reminded them of
the Thanksgiving dinner that they'd had prior to the beginning
of the season, because I watched you guys. You all
went there, you ate your meal, and you got up

(02:34:15):
and left. Did you any of you one of you
thank the host who went to all the work to
prepare the dinner? Cleanup? Did any of you offer to help,
Did any of you offer to clean up? Did any
of you, you know, bring a gift? None of that
happened because you're all a bunch of selfish people, and
all you do is really care about yourself. And Night

(02:34:38):
went bananas and told him that this is what bothers
me about you, that if you weren't selfish, you can
win a national championship, and that message must have really worked. Now,
this is John Feinstein, one of many thousands of stories
he told. Five days after losing to Illinois, they beat
Ohio State by nine, and then they opened up the tournament.

(02:35:00):
They crushed Fairfield by forty. They beat Auburn by eighteen.
Then they ran into a very tough Duke team in
the sweet sixteen but prevailed eighty eight eighty two. Then
they had the one surviving advance game against LSU with
a very good team back then. This game was played
in the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati. I bet my buddy
Andy Furman remembers this. They beat LSU seventy seven seventy six.

(02:35:25):
The following week in the Final four, they beat a
very plucky Jerry Tarcadian coach UNLV team ninety seven to
ninety three. And that got to that famous game against
Syracuse in the Louisiana super Dome where Deans Smart the
key Smart excuse me. Keith Smart hit the last second
shot to beat Syracuse seventy four to seventy three, and

(02:35:48):
Knight had his national championship. For the record, that team
was thirty and four. It would be the last national
championship Bobby Knight would ever win. Obviously, he was unceremoniously
removed from Indiana and the faculty a few years later,
and that's that. But give it up to John Feinstein,

(02:36:11):
an exquisite writer. He also wrote books about the Civil War.
He was honored, you know, by lots of organizations, and yeah,
I don't have enough time to really go through what
he did. But if you get a chance to read
a season on the brink, that takes you behind the
scenes and Bobby and I still holds up today. He's

(02:36:31):
written movies about everything from minor league baseball to the
Civil War. Again, forty eight books, twenty three were New
York Times bestsellers. Rest in Peace, John Feinstein, a couple
of other things. Again, I want to reiterate the Aaron
Rodgers thing. I want to be fair about this, all right,
because we took a fair amount of time in multiple

(02:36:52):
midnight hours, bashing him for good reason. But all of
a sudden, there's a theory emerging that the reason he's
holding up the steel and the reason he's holding up
the giants, it's not that he's trying to get a bittymore.
This is a theory now reported by two reputable agencies. Okay,
the reason Rogers has been so deliberate taking his time

(02:37:15):
and not having a situation where he's giving answers right
away and meanwhile the you know, the Steelers wait limbo
and they're kind of twisting in the wind, and the
Giants wait limbo. One of the theories that's coming out
now that if the Vikings don't want Aaron Rodgers, and
they very well might not, or they might. I don't know.

(02:37:36):
It's going to be up to Kevin O'Connell. Rogers may
just retire. So maybe he doesn't want to go when
he was or play anywhere else, you know, because he
dome a great offense, a team that could win.

Speaker 8 (02:37:46):
Now.

Speaker 2 (02:37:47):
I don't know, man, the guy. This is how he's
managed to, you know, live his professional life. He kind
of gets what he wants. He did this at the
end of his tenure in Green Bay. He did it
with the New York Jets. I don't know if the
act's going to play now, but that could very well
be the reason Aaron Rodgers is so deliberate, taking so
much time and all the above. All right, we are

(02:38:07):
twelve hours away, a little over twelve hours away now
from the full sixty eighteen bracket for the men's tournament
to be revealed. There will be five final automatic qualifiers
determined later on today on Sunday. What's interesting is the
big tit championship game doesn't even until like three thirty
Eastern times, well at a couple hours for selection. Stidy,

(02:38:29):
so lott know what they're gonna do. I'll tell you
some teams that are gonna be nervous. One of them
is gonna be North Carolina. They're sweating it out. The
poor kid. They had a lane violation. They're a lane
violation away from tying the game, potentially tying the game,
potentially taking Duke to overtime in the a SEC tournament,
and then UNC outscored the Blue Devils by eighteen in
the second half. They showed game. I don't know if

(02:38:49):
it's gonna be enough to get in the tournament. Texas
is also gonna sweat it out Colorado State. They stoleed
their bid, They took care of business. West Virginia is
hoping they're safe, Xavier's hoping they're safe. And again we'll
have five more automatic qualify our bids, and what we
call March madness it is upon us. Thanks for listening,
Bernie Frattle Show. I'll be back in these airwaves next

(02:39:10):
Saturday night, eleven pm. Keep it locked. The Great Andy
Furman up next. Fox Sports Radio

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