The Bernie Fratto Show with Chris Plank talks OKC vs. San Antonio, the MMA DEBACLE, Aaron Rodgers returning to the Steelers and MORE!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio. Here we go
for the next three hours, fifty eight minutes and forty seconds.
Not like I'm countdown or anything, nor should you. Maybe
you're working tonight, Maybe the countdown's on until you're done.

(00:21):
Maybe you're just insomniac. I don't know. Maybe you're partying.
Maybe you're just hanging out with us, regardless of where
your lot in life is, Welcome to the Bernie Fratto Show.
Bernie is out tonight. My name is Chris Plank. Border
to border, coast to coast, the vast Fox Sports Radio

(00:43):
Networks East of the Rockies, West of the Rockies. Let's go.
We have a very busy program. You know. Usually I'm
giving Bernie kudos for when he times his nights off,
because Bernie's been really good. I can count on on
the week before the Super Bowl. Bernie always takes that

(01:06):
Saturday night off, so I usually get to fill in
the week before the Super Bowl. And then usually it's
the week before the start of the NFL season because
that's when college football kicks off. So Bernie always likes
to make my first Saturday of college football extremely burdensome

(01:26):
by adding this program. But tonight. I'm not gonna lie.
I was a little bit worried because, in fairness, the
way the NBA Playoffs have gone, with san Antonio taking
care of Minnesota on Friday night, what I view as
I don't know if it's a lack of interest, but

(01:47):
I think people look at Detroit and Cleveland is very
much kind of like the B side of the forty five.
There's a portion of the audience that makes sense to
there's a portion of the audience it has no clue
what I'm talking about. But calvs Pistons. It's funny. I
filled in for Ben Maller on Wednesday night. Wednesday night,

(02:08):
I guess in a Thursday morning, and they played an
overtime game and Calves won. It looked like they were
on their way to the Eastern Conference Finals with a
home game looming against Detroit. And I couldn't even muster
up a call on the game Wednesday night, and it
was an overtime game. It was, oh, lack so much interest.

(02:31):
But you had that go down and doesn't really seem
like many people are interested. Listen. I love college softball
and college baseball. But if I bring that up tonight,
my man shady Sean Ford twenty will shame me off
the air. But tonight was one of those nights where
as we started putting together the show during the week,

(02:52):
I thought, damn, Bernie, you usually leave me with a
lot going on in the sports world, and it just
doesn't appear there's going to too terribly much on Saturday night. Well,
I could not have been more wrong. Hat tip, Berdie Frado,
because what looked like your normal run of the mill,

(03:12):
like late spring entering summer sports Weekend has absolutely in
NASCAR terms, done blowed up right in front of our faces.
I am a combat sports fan. I have opinions throughout
the night on exactly whatever that was we watched. Now,
I'll be honest with you, I had no interest in this,

(03:35):
none whatsoever, in two fighters facing each other who hadn't
fought in almost what a combined thirty years between Crowno
and Rossi Rousy. I was like, I have no interest
in this, whatsoever? What are we doing? But then you
kind of started seeing the card. All Right, I'll watch
a das fight, even if it's at a bar at

(03:56):
two am in the morning, And then when you watch
the fight, you're like, I don't like watching a das
fight whenever he's not the dude that can sit there
and smoke weed and pound pound lung darts and still
go win a fight. I thought tonight was an embarrassment.
And I know they're all gonna make a lot of money,
and congratulations, congratulations to them. And I'm a Jake Paul fan.

(04:18):
I think what he's done for a lot of these
fighters has been incredible, But tonight was an embarrassment of
the sport. And we'll talk about it. You have out
of nowhere today some breaking news in the National Football
League where, thankfully, I mean, there's certain things that I

(04:38):
don't know. You pray for the health of your kids,
new job. Again, I said, it's one am. God's time
zone and the Central time zone. You might be praying
just to be able to go to bed right now.
But I've in my content prayers, I've prayed to the
Good Lord upstairs to not have to talk about Aaron

(04:59):
Rodgers cure for any amount beyond just I don't know,
a segment or two this summer. Thankfully, thankfully, for some
unknown reason, we get that taken care of today where
Aaron Rodgers returns to the Steelers. I want to get
your takes throughout the night, whether it be on X.

(05:20):
I'm very active at Plank Show. Everyone should be following
us at Fox Sports Radio, whether it's on X or
whether it's on the phones. I don't know, Brandon, when
do we usually open up the phone line? So we
do an hour two? Hour three? What's the rules here
on Bernie Show? Is it hour three?

Speaker 2 (05:35):
We can do it whenever? Typically whatever? Well, typically Bernie
opens the phones before the midnight hour, but since we're
not doing the midnight hour, I'll just open them right now.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Can I ask, like a dumb question, just because I
don't get to listen, how can he call it the
midnight hour when a midnight hour is so different in
every single time zone that's being listened to right now?

Speaker 2 (05:53):
I think we just have to ask Bernie. He's in
Japan right now, I don't know what time is it
in Japan.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
Well, it's definitely not midnight in Japan. Now, it's a
seven hour difference. Okay, you know, you know what makes
us all smarter around? Uh here, what time is it
in Japan? The Google search tells me immediately that in Tokyo,
Japan right now, we are currently sitting at Oh my
goodness three oh seven pm. Birdie might be tuned in.

(06:20):
Does the iHeartRadio app get to Tokyo? Let's go, But
I'd love to get your calls throughout the night. Toda
eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven
nine ninety six six three sixth Night. Aaron Rodgers return
to Pittsburgh in a division that has seen you know,

(06:40):
half of the lead half of that division turnover. I
mean you got and in the two places that honestly
you actually seventy five percent of the division is now
a turnover because keep everyone wants to just forget about
the Browns, and I understand why. But you know, three
of those four teams in the in the in the
north of new coaches right now. Who would have thought

(07:03):
that we'd be talking about new coaches in both Pittsburgh
and Baltimore and midway through the season last year, but
here we are. Do you maybe give Pittsburgh more of
an edge with McCarthy and Rogers? And I'm not gonna
lie to you. I didn't know that that was a
good relationship. I thought, like most of aarn's relationships in life,

(07:24):
at least from what we know about him. I thought
that one did not end well, if memory serves me correct,
I felt like whenever McCarthy got the boot in Green Bay.
I know Aaron stepped up for him publicly, but I
also felt like there was a little shiving, a little
knife in the back going on beyond it. But hey, man,

(07:47):
bygones could be bygones. Tito Ortez ended up fighting for
Dana White later in his career. I mean, bridges can
be rebuilt. But whatever it is, I find this to
be a fascinating pairing in Pittsburgh. We're gonna get into
it coming up. You have what I think is a
very compelling PGA Championship going on right now. But again,

(08:09):
I'm not gonna be one of these people that jumps
on here and acts like an expert about something that
I haven't watched. It's got zero of my attention right now.
I mean, outside of Big Dom voicing the open for ESPN,
He's like, what are we doing? I mean, it's Philadelphia.
I appreciate the Big Dom has become a star, but
really that's who you're gonna have voice. You're open for

(08:30):
a PGA championship that's featuring one of the greatest sports
cities in the world. We're going with the Eagle security guy,
like what do we do in ESPN? What are we doing?
But with that in mind, it's ended up being a
hell of a weekend, So we can get into that
if you want. Did I mention you got spurs and
thunder that's gonna start this week? So what at the

(08:50):
beginning of the week you looked at and thought, gosh,
we gonna are we gonna end up talking about Lebron
again for four hours, which we'll get too. I think
there's Lebron conversations to be at. You end up sprinkling
a little Lane Kiffin and maybe even a little bit
more controversy about where we're going in college football for

(09:11):
the overall playoffs and how many teams are going to
be involved. Man, we are loaded here on a Saturday
night into a Sunday morning right here on Fox Sports Radio.
Allow me to take a moment to introduce the crew.
Of course, Mark's running the show. Mark and I used
to have the Friday night beat together. I don't think
it's been too terribly long. I filled it not too

(09:33):
long ago. For Bernie. How's it been going, Mark? Life? Good,
staying busy.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
Life is good, staying busy, all is well, good, good good.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
Of course, the saga will be silent on our updates tonight,
but Brandon will not. Brandon Deutsch running the show in
chair two, third, Mike second, Mike one A Mike, if
you want, what's going on? Brandon? How's your week?

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Bed, I'm doing great. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Chris.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
I'm just itching for the nf season, for the college season.
I'm already sick of the NBA. I'm not even gonna lie.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
You know, I'm in an NBA market and we finally
have the series that we wanted. You get the Spurs
in the Thunder, and I think for me, it ratchets
up a little bit, Don't get I don't think I've
ever seen any better example of what winning could do

(10:27):
for a sport and a team in a city like
winning is done for the NBA and the Thunder franchise.
You know, I tell this joke a lot, but I've
been doing sports radio for a really long time. Started
in nineteen ninety seven and we had a local show
in Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma. We would talk about the NBA.

(10:50):
People would call and complain, why are you talking about
the NBA. Nobody. It was probably you, Brandon Well, I
know you probably weren't born in ninety seven, but with
the way that you feel about the NBA and many
out there, I don't want to talk about the NBA.
I don't want to talk about individuals. Now you fast forward,
you know, thirty years later and every wow, you know,
I'm telling you right, no one's ever gonna beat us?

(11:12):
Were the greatest? Ya, Suddenly everyone loves it and it's great.
It's great, but these playoffs have lacked a little bit
of ump right now. I don't know if you're saying
that because you just don't like the NBA period, or
if these playoffs have been, in a word, underwhelming to you,
Which way would you go underwhelming?

Speaker 2 (11:29):
For sure, I'm a big NBA fan. In fact, NBA
was Basketball is my favorite sport growing up by far
that in baseball. And it is funny. It's similar to
when I started drinking coffee. When I turned sixteen or seventeen,
NFL became my favorite sport. I liked coffee. I'd never
drank coffee before an NFL became my favorite sport. But
I think also like after the Lebron Warriors, series is

(11:52):
like I was in high school when those were happening,
so like that was that was when the NBA was
the most talked about, when Lebron and stuff were still
their prime. But I feel like after the Warriors last
title was that twenty two twenty two, right, it was
twenty twenty two after that, I just feel like there
was just a lack of popularity in the league. Part

(12:14):
of it due to you know, Curry, Lebron, and Durant
getting older, even though they're still all great, and part
of it due to small, small market teams winning championships
like Denver, Oklahoma City. I know Boston won one and
that was obviously huge for that city.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
But Milwaukee in there.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, Milwaukee was twenty one I think was pre Warriors, right,
but no one cared about that play I mean, you
could argue that twenty twenty one playoffs was more fraudulent
than the twenty twenty just because there was no time
off for the teams that got deep in twenty twenty
and then all the teams that were the final four
teams in twenty twenty one have yet to make it
back to conference finals. I believe unless Boston was Boston

(12:53):
one of those final four teams, they might be the
only one in.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
Twenty twenty one, these fraudulent NBA playoffs that you had
that talk. Yes, the Phoenix Suns played the Milwaukee Bucks
in the NBA Championship Series. Mike Budenholzer was the head
coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. I mean, we're going back aways,
so by you say not not necessarily in years, but
when you look at where those two franchises are, it

(13:18):
does seem like a lifetime ago.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
But that's only one point, Chris, like Adam Silver not
doing much about the refereeing and how bad it's gotten.
That's another thing. Like no one, no one. I know
you're in Oklahoma and I don't know what your thoughts
are on this, but like I feel like the general
fan is just kind of sick and tired of the
thunder already, and not just because of how good they are,

(13:39):
not just because of how good they are, like they're
obviously good. It's annoying and frustrating as NBA fans, and
maybe I'm speaking for too many people that the refs
even help them because they are so dominant. And what
I mean by that is it's not Shay's fault that
he's molded part of his game to get calls, and
same with Luca and samuth Reeves. Is the officiating. It
is the official's fault. And I don't think the NBA

(14:01):
has done enough in that regard because no one used
to play like that five ten years ago. That wasn't
a thing like. That's why people are on x right
now saying, oh the Warriors, they they were an ethical dynasty,
you know what I mean. That's kind of like the
thing right now. Okay, See, unethical dynasty is say what
you want, Like, Shay's incredible. He's one of the best
players I've ever seen in my two eyes. There's no

(14:22):
doubt about that, and that's what makes me even more angry,
Like he doesn't need those calls, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
The Warriors were an ethical dynastics.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
That's what's been talking ones.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
If they watched raym graine during that run, I mean, well.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
I think ethical in terms of setting picks. It's just
being that much better without referee help, I think is
what they're I don't.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
Think the thunder are getting referee help. I just think
they're damn good, and no one has an answer for
it because I'm old enough to remember when the San
Antonio Spurs were winning everyone called it boring and how
no one wants to watch it and they're getting Tim
Duncan cries about every call. I just I think that listen,
there's a good chance the Spurs can beat them. The

(15:02):
Spurs are a really good team and for some reason
have had a key to frustrating the Thunder. And let's
remember OKC has gone eight to zero the playoffs so
far by without one of their best players, if not
their second best player. Now you can argue about Chad
versus Jada, that's fine, but I mean they've won one

(15:23):
title so far. I mean, I don't even know if
we can call it dynastic yet or even think about it. Now.
If you want to talk about the Western Conference finals
and being a one seed, absolutely you can do that.
But man, I here's a funny thing is this is
the biggest pushback that Thunder fans here, and they come
loaded with receipts and look at the free throw attempts

(15:45):
and look at this, and look at that. I don't
feel like you have to fight that fight. I feel
like it's the league. It's the way that it is
It's just it adapts and and teams adjust to it.
Would a Thunder have been this good with this roster
during the Rockets are during the Warriors run. I don't know.
We can't go back in time and do it, but
I don't think their games would have been that much different.

(16:05):
I don't think they would have had to change what
they did. And I'm not listen. I don't have to
sit here and defend the Thunder. I'm a frustrated Lakers
fan who loves this iteration of Oka see because I
love Mark dagnal. He's become one of my favorite dudes
to cover. But I completely and totally with all that
laid out, understand why anyone would look at this and
say not interested, not interested. Also, I mean, think about this.

(16:31):
The Thunder were so good against the Lakers without Jalen Williams,
without Jada, that you literally had Mark Dagnol doing a
sympathy press conference for the Lakers. I mean, what are
we doing here? It's the Lakers.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
But I hear what you're saying, Well, they didn't have
their best player, but yeah, I get it. Oklahoma City
is incredible, and I do think they would be dominant
in any era. I know we can't quantify that or
discuss that.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
Nope.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
The issue is I think there's there's like the league
in general, there's a massive issue with officiating. There's no
doubt about it. And I think that is a reason
why there are some positives like Weben Yama Sha Luca,
Like the popularity in terms of viewership is coming back
a little bit statistically, it's a fact like this year,
in this postseason, I think Wemby's a huge part of that.

(17:24):
But also like as a Lakers fan too, Chris, like,
I'm just I'm so mad at Darryl Mory for just
gifting Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder And it
just seems like Sam Presty is so much better at
his job than anybody else. Maybe this burs GM, but
now the it's like a company being sued for monopoly.

(17:46):
That kind of seems like what's happening with Oklahoma City
and SANATAI over the next five years, Like there's nobody
else that will compete with them. There's nobody that can
even try. It seems like just with how they're structured
and maybe they are just better. But I don't think
that is great for the league.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
They've got a lottery pick this year too, I mean,
which is crazy. They're going to get another player of
a high caliber. Nicole Topitch has been working through the
G League and might be their point guard of the future.
Who knows for Okac. But I'm I am intrigued by
one thing I've noticed here, and this is maybe me
needing to adjust. Are two like two different eras of

(18:27):
Lakers hands. You immediately said whenever say, the Lakers lost
in four to the Thunder, but they didn't have their
best player, right, Lucas out and we all can agree
to that, But when did Luca get hurt? When did
he go down in a game where they were getting
beat by thirty against the Thunder? So to me it
was a well, they weren't even close to begin with.

(18:48):
And then b you play okayc in a series where
you get Austin Reeves back and Okay sees down one
of their better players and you still get housed. That's
what's frustrating to me. It's like, I know the and again,
maybe this is old Lakers fan, Maybe this is me
needing to adjust my way of thinking. And I don't know,
I might be too old. To adjust my way of thinking.
And that's fine. But when we're high five in everyone

(19:10):
because we only lost by five, Like, what are we
even doing right now? Where is Los Angeles as a franchise,
But that's where the West is. Everyone's going to be
looking up at san Antonio and Okasey and the way
things are looking barring one of those teams not making
some stupid move. I think about this, and I know
we got to break. It's Berney Fritto show. I'm Chris

(19:32):
Blank sitting in here on Fox Sports Radio. But Milwaukee panicked. Now,
I don't know if Milwaukee had a Milwaukee did not
have a roster quite like Gosh, I don't even know
if I don't even if they had a roster quite
like the Knicks whenever they were making their run. But
they panicked and made several moves that moved on from

(19:55):
kind of core guys to try to bring in star
around Eanni's and it just didn't work. I don't see
san Antonio or ok See doing that. But you're right,
that seems to be the only way right now that
anyone's going to be able to truly catch these two teams.
I hope I'm wrong, because I think parody's good for
the league, and I think inevitably, you know, you kind

(20:18):
of you have one team dominating. I know that it's
one thing whenever it is Golden State, and it's one
thing whenever it's the Lakers. It's kind of tough when
it's a smaller market franchise. It just is. And I'm
not I'm saying that as one of the biggest fans
of them. So it's a fascinating time to be an
NBA fan because right now, these playoffs, unless you're a

(20:39):
fan of the team, have not really given you those moments.
I mean, look at this, a game six when Minnesota,
a franchise, a city that has been starved, starved for
any type of success with a don't where would you win?
Anthony Edwards right now, one of the more magnetic personalities
in the league. I don't think he's true. I don't

(21:01):
think he's truly polarizing. Quiet yet we haven't started hating him.
But they gotta be by thirty thirty in a game
at home that was supposed to be a moment to
prove that they belong thirty. So give me something more
me How about this? Brandon can a good Spurs Thunder series.

(21:23):
Pull you back in. Are you done? No?

Speaker 2 (21:26):
I mean I'll watch it. It's just to me, it's
a foregone conclusion. I know we gotta go to break,
but this it's like the NFC Championship, Like whoever wins
out series is going to steamroll bulldoze. The Knicks or
the Caps are the Pistons in my opinion, Like, I
don't think it's going to be particularly close. These are
by far the two best teams in the league.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
Don't tell that to Arnie Spanier because he'll start yelling
at you and ask and tell you he's a bigger
fan than you. Oh, I guess I watch a different
game than you. I'll be right, because I'd love to
see some competition coming out of the East. But you're
watching your TRIMBA finals with San Antonio and Oklahoma City.
That's gonna be awesome. All right, we'll get a break.

(22:05):
I want to talk combat sports. I know this is
a dicey and slippery slow, but we good fam with
what just went down tonight. Are you guys celebrating this
because I share l ain't hit me up on the
X I met plank. Show everyone to go follow us
at Fox Sports Radio and we can open it up
early at eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox eight

(22:26):
seven seven nine nine six six three six nine In
for Bernie Fratto, I'm Chris Plank, and this.

Speaker 4 (22:31):
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Speaker 3 (22:44):
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Speaker 2 (22:55):
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(23:43):
Simply search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and subscribe. It's
the Bernie Fratto Show right here on Fox Sports Radio
eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven
nine nine six six three sixty nine. Now, before we
get to the phones and I see their Joe from Charleston,
I think I think we're speaking the same language. Tonight

(24:04):
was a very interesting night in combat sports because what
I thought was going to be an absolute joke, a farce,
a scam pretty much pretty much ended up being that,
but gave us some great knockouts and some bloody moments. Now,
let me make a quick comparison. If you watch NASCAR

(24:28):
for the crashes, then anyone can set up a field
where all you're gonna do is watch a race with crashes,
or just watch a restrict plate race. You know, it's
like you can find a NASCAR race where there's nothing
but crashes. If you watch and like Combat Sports MMA

(24:49):
of course UFC, then any matchmaker can set up a
card that has nothing but knockouts. I mean, there was
a there was a old promotion called Strike Force and
Strike Force I'm pretty sure it was somewhat. I don't

(25:12):
want to say short lived, but it didn't have the
longest life for a promotion. But yeah, no, I guess
maybe I stand correct. A eighty five to twenty thirteen.
And what did they do? He get sets you up
a card that would have all the knockouts you could

(25:32):
possibly want. And I feel like that's what happened here tonight.
I'm not anti Jake Paul. I want to make that
very clear. I love what he's doing for fighting. It's
getting people paid that, in my opinion, deserve to be paid.
It's putting on events that match up people that we

(25:54):
think we want to see fight. Right, even if you
go back to the boxing match, I think you go
back how long ago was the Tyson five? Was that
four years ago now? But all of us in my
gen X demographic, we're like, yeah, I get Mike Tyson
out there to kick Jake Poles there, slifts go, and
then when Mike Tyson gets out there, you're like, oh,
I forgot He's like sixty.

Speaker 6 (26:15):
You know.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
It's it was heartbreaking, and I feel like with the
debut of Most Valuable Promotions tonight, Jake Paul and his
partners played the hits. You know, they brought names out
that you want to see, like Nate Diaz, like uh
Francis and Ganu, you know, like Ronda Rousing and if

(26:39):
you're an old school fan, you kind of Junior Dos Santos,
who got k the f ode tonight? You know, these
are people that you want to see. I was. I
was at dinner with my wife. We've had a we've
had a wild time. We've moved. We can't find anything
in any boxes, and so we basically have started buying

(27:00):
things that we Hey we can't find the pants, all right,
let's go buy some pants. Hey we can't find this,
all right, We're gonna go buy it. But we went
and we were eating at Buffalo Wild Wings. I can't
believe that everyone decided they wanted to go to Buffalo
Wild Wings. And the dude behind me so Buffalo Willowings,
of course, amazing, all the TVs, all the games they got, NASCAR,

(27:21):
college softball on, hockey's on. We're watching the Habs and
the Bruins, and it's great. It's great, mom, and then
I'm into it. All of a sudden, this dude sits
down behind me and asks them to put on the
Ronda Rousey fight, and in my mind, I hadn't even
really looked at the card. I'm just I feel like
honesty is the best key. Hadn't looked at it, hadn't
even thought about it. And as they open up the broadcast,

(27:44):
they start showing the card and I feel like a
little kid again. I'm marking out on every single name
that pops up. I'm like, Nick d has this fighting tonight?
For instance? In God, Who's fighting tonight? Jiuniro Santo's Let's go.
And I'm not even kidding you. For a moment, I
allowed myself to really get excited about it, and I

(28:06):
even went home. And I usually I'm a big napper
before filling in on the overnights, and I catch up
on things whenever I'll get to the studios, like I
am tonight. I didn't app tonight because I watched that
I wanted to see it, and then I watched it
and realized that I'm so damn glad I didn't have
to pay for this. Now again, it's Netflix, so technically

(28:26):
I pay for a subscription, but holy smokes, holy smokes. Now,
kudos to Dana White who found a way to try
to implode a little bit of anghanu because there's not
a good relationship there of his moment in the sun
whenever he announced the return of Connor McGregor, or, as

(28:47):
Jake Paul put it in the postfight press conference, the
Kocatta is back. But I I don't know how long
you can play on nostalgia because we the royal we
as fans of this sport, as people who's hard earned
money is usually spent above and now obviously there's a
different structure to pay per views, but when it comes

(29:12):
to pay per views or when it would come to
going to fights, it's not cheap. And to be in
the position and the situation that we're in when this
what we saw tonight is supposed to be the next
big thing. These are these are very successful businessmen and
I wish them all the best. But as a fan,

(29:33):
as a consumer, that ain't it. That ain't it? It
was slow? It was embarrassing, your ballyhooed fight where one
of the you know, pioneers of women's MMA is talking
about how she lost one hundred pounds just to be
able to fight. I mean, Gina Cronell looked amazing to me.

(29:56):
I don't know you had to lose one hundred pounds
to fight in an MMA fight and then you get
tapped in seventeen seconds. It happens. It's it's combat sports.
But you're not going to compete outside of the bombastic,
Carnival Barker nature of Jake Paul. You're not going to
compete with a skilled in their prime fighters. You're not

(30:22):
going to compete with UFC if this is what we're getting.
So at eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox. I
understand combat sports can be a hard sell on national radio,
and I'd love to get your reaction tonight on the exit.
Plank showed at Fox Sports Radio on the phones at
eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox. But it's just
it to me was something that I got excited about.

(30:46):
And as my man Conrad Thompson would say, and then
the bell rang, And as soon as the bell rang,
You're like, what are we even doing here? Let's go
to the phones on this. Jerm And Charleston checked in
as soon as we brought it up and said, I
have takes on this. Jerome, you're first up. Welcome to
the show. You're on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 6 (31:04):
I think Dana White as scumbag. Okay, people feel that way. Yeah, yeah,
he's a bomb. I don't watch that craft. They're so
little to watch now, man, I can't stand it. This
country just baptizes everything man like gambling and the lost
denominator of appealing to people. Now it's a sad man.

(31:28):
Daniel White TuS a bottle man. You went cock fighting?
Now seventeen seconds.

Speaker 7 (31:35):
That's what you want to watch?

Speaker 1 (31:37):
Well, hold on a second. Drum, drum, drum, Hold on
a second, Hold on a second. This wasn't a Dana
White event tonight. This was a different promotion Dana White's UFC.
This was Jake Paul and his MVP MMA promotion. So
I know there's a lot of people that feel that
way about Dana White, right, And that's fine. You're you're
entitled to your opinion. But just for the sake of

(31:57):
of I guess facts here, this was a completely separate
promotion outside of UFC.

Speaker 6 (32:04):
Wasn't he charged with fonsal abuse in the White Huh?

Speaker 1 (32:08):
I mean, I don't know why I sitting here talking
about combat sports. I think it's a lot of bad
people that are in this and in this sport.

Speaker 6 (32:18):
Two people have fathered pickleball and all of us our
crap they come up with. Man, I can't watch this this. Hey,
I used to have a subscription, you know what. I
watched all the channels. I just dropped that. I'm not
paying that to watch this crap. That's all of the
boat crap to watch. I can't watch it. I keep
my TV off board and I keep it all. I

(32:40):
was not fascinated. This isn't my generation. I'm not fascinated
by this stuff.

Speaker 1 (32:46):
Then what are you watching? What peaks Jerome and Charleston's
interest these days?

Speaker 6 (32:50):
Look? I watched the Nbas sometimes and all I do
is yell at the off because they don't know the
damn rules. I saw them called in a row and
almost fell off my bed, I said, couldn't believe it.
You know, you see the clerics on the on the
salines doing all this gyration where your arms ain't traveling,
and if Christ, you're just standing there like it's nothing.

(33:12):
You know, hey, you know how to Mexico on won
the title. They gon want the towel if Adam Silver
can reggae for them to get all the calls when
they played your Homa SETI started you, okay, you see
their recking against Oklahoma, CETI the seven being like they're
like seventeen and three against them and at home get
the at home at one and nine in their own

(33:35):
building against Okay, she's good in lock because you're going me.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
Thanks for the phone call, Drum and Charleston. I appreciate it.
I I mean the Thunder I think have won like
seven in a row against the Knicks, So I mean
they don't play a lot, because I think they've only
I think they only played twice this year. They go, Okay,
see one both of those games. Hold on, let me

(34:02):
look here, Landofbasketball dot Com. Yeah, the Thunder of one, two, four,
six in a row over the last three years over
the Knicks. Good games though, good games every time. Hey man,
I'm not gonna sit here and fight with you over
whether or not there's tons to watch. Well Murray phrase it.

(34:22):
There is tons to watch on TV right now. There's
tons of sports now. I don't know if they're the
most compelling things. I've told the story a lot over
the last few days. I am now in a world
where we don't in our move, our in our recent
move that we had, we haven't got everything hooked up yet.
So I don't have internet, I don't have cable or

(34:45):
direct TV at my house or whatever, so I've had
to be watching, had to be watching a lot of
things on my phone. I'm still kicking myself that the
last thing I remember watching when I still had service
was the World Excel Spreadsheet Championships on like ESPN two
the other night. We're not at a shortage of things
to watch, but I can understand where the frustration lies

(35:05):
that I ain't gonna sit there and watch fake tennis
with whiffle balls and have people try to tell me
it's a sport. It's just it is what it is.
Thanks for the callg You're home, all right. We gotta
get a break when we come back again. Maybe I'm
the lone wolf here. Maybe what took place tonight is
what you guys want to see. I know this much.

(35:27):
Shady Sean Ford twenty on the ex is there with
me riding the whole MMA world is trash and a
complete joke. UFC and MVP washed fighters headlining fight cards.
It's trash. It's trash, man. We'll get to more of
your calls in next right here. The Bernie Fratto Show,

(35:49):
Chris Plank sitting in do're listening to Fox Sports Radio?
All right, welcome back. It's the Bernie Frattos Show here
on Fox Sports Radio eight seven, seven ninety nine on
Fox eight seven seven nine nine six six three six nine.
As always, you can hit us up on the X

(36:11):
I'm at Plank Show. Everyone go follow us at Fox
Sports Radio. We've got a Game seven coming up in
the NBA Calves Pistons. We can talk a little bit
about that if you want. Lebron's future will and always
has been a topic. Come on, man, it's Lebron James
and we're spending a lot of time, at least in
this first hour on the first Jake Paul event tonight

(36:34):
on Netflix, especially whenever you have Ronda Rousey who it's uh.
And I don't know that there's been too much coverage
of this. Like I said, I didn't even know the
full card until they hit the air tonight and you
started seeing the promos for it. I'm like, wait, n eight,
it's gonna fight tonight. Let's go. And then he got
the throttle. I mean, thankfully someone threw in the towel form,

(36:58):
but it was I mean, it was a fun idea
but an absolute nightmare to wash Now. A couple of
the submissions early on from X at Plank Show at
Fox Sports Radio. James Wrights, Hey, are you upset that
the Raiders didn't have but didn't have one primetime game

(37:18):
this year? Also, five teams are not getting a primetime game.
It seems pretty crazy to me. You know, it's funny
here Thursday nights like Amazon Prime and what used to
be the NFL Network game. I don't know how, but
I'd always sold my family that that was somehow some

(37:40):
major game. And they would always like, leave me alone
and let me watch the game. No any other time,
you know, I'm gonna have to pause games. I don't
have to do something here or there. But for some reason,
I don't know, I don't know how I accomplished this,
but I'd sold them that Thursday night was some sort
of marquee game. Didn't get a night game, they get

(38:01):
a Monday night game. Raiders, even at their worse, was
a staple on Monday night football. It's and then, I
mean again, I understand the schedule makers have their job
and what they've got to do, but to have like
Mike and North the schedule not the former Fox Sports
radio host and the King of Chicago, Mike North. But

(38:23):
the executive EP of Scheduling or whatever his title is,
come out. It's like, you got to earn a spot.
I'm like a few, buddy. You know how many times
that they've thrown a team out there because they had
the quarterback number one in the draft or they had
a no name coming out of college. I mean, I
don't know if the Raiders would have come out and

(38:44):
been open or out there about, hey, mendoz is going
to play right out of the gates, then do they
have a primetime game? I don't know. I mean, I
haven't heard the whole segment, but we've got the promo
that runs here on Fox Sports Radio where Patrick talks
about if arch Manning was the number one overall pick
in the draft, that the Raiders absolutely would have a

(39:06):
primetime game. And you're right, You're right on that front,
but guy, it hurts. It kind of gives you a
really really bad feel about how the league views you.
Where's the list? Becauseean had sent me this list, and
it was because it was the Raiders, the Dolphins, the Titans,

(39:30):
the Jets, and the Cardinals. Now the Dolphins are two
years removed from the playoffs. The Titans have I think
an exciting player in cam Warden have spit in free agency.
The Jets. The Jets have been awful, but it's New York, right,
and you kind of think that that could draw something.
Now you want to dog the Raiders for having the

(39:51):
combinations of Cousins and Mendoza. I don't know if Jacoby
Brissett is going to put butts in seats for Arizona,
but yeah, I James, it was very humbling. It was.
It was very humbling. It was one of those moments
where as a fan, if I could just try to

(40:12):
take off my radio guy hat. You're kind of going
through as the schedules releasing, It's like, Okay, where's the
Monday night game, where's the Where's where's the where's the
Monday night game? Where's the Thursday? There's no Thursday game.
There's there's so many overseas games now too, Like I
not not even one of those. It's the Raiders, for

(40:35):
goodness sakes, Just win baby. I allowed myself to deal
with it. I immersed myself in it. I guess maybe
not having a primetime game means I don't have to
figure out what streaming service it is on and whether
or not I have it. So I guess that's good,
But no, I was definitely buttered about it. There's no question,
all right, when we come back, see guys lined up,

(40:56):
we'll get your calls at eight seven, seven ninety nine
on Fox or game seven. We got a Game seven
coming up Pistons Cavaliers. I mean, I don't know how
to view this Pistons run. I really don't, except to
say that unless you're a Detroit Pistons or Cleveland Cavaliers fan,

(41:17):
it doesn't feel like this is one of those series
that has captured your imagination. But if you're there, game on,
game on, what a fun environment that should be tonight.
I still am trying to figure out how that rocous
rabbit environment in Montreal went from the Canadians leading three

(41:38):
to one literally at the drop of the puck, to
Buffalo winning eight to three. In fact, every single time
I hear Desager talk about it in the update, I
feel like it's wrong. PGA Championship. Some dude named Alex
Smalley is in the lead, but there is a lot

(42:00):
of known names I can't I don't know if I
like anti sports or what. But I haven't found myself
too tuned into the PGA Championship. Maybe that changes today show,
Hey Otani five runs batted in the Dodgers smoke the
Angels tonight fifteen to two. Aaron Rodgers signs a one
year deal to return to the Steelers. We'll go in

(42:21):
depth on that at the top of next hour. And
Ronda Rousey made a return to MMA in a seventeen
second submission of Ginacrano. I love MMA. I think I
still love USC UFC. But here we are. Here, we

(42:46):
are now with Jake Paul's production, having a bunch of
has beens and a seventeen second tap out crazy. So
let's go to the phones and get your takes on it.
Here an hour two, eight seven, seven ninety nine on
Fox eight seven, seven, nine nine six six three sixth night.
Let's go Poppy. Let me get some picks to start

(43:07):
this hour off. Poppy is in San Diego. Poppy, Welcome
to Fox Sports Radio. What's going on?

Speaker 8 (43:13):
Hey, Chris is right here, beautiful San Diego.

Speaker 9 (43:16):
You know San Diego Local New San Diego tied soccer
three three with Cincinnati, you know, great.

Speaker 10 (43:22):
Soccer night over here but you know, talking about the UFC, Well,
I'm going to talk.

Speaker 9 (43:28):
About the UFC. Put that new promotion on Thattrix Crip.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
We're talking about Ahrding.

Speaker 8 (43:33):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 9 (43:34):
A good lineup.

Speaker 8 (43:35):
Run A Rousey.

Speaker 6 (43:37):
I said that, look she's gonna win, and.

Speaker 8 (43:39):
People were calling me crazy. This guy warned him. He
did a parlay Chris so he did Juan years with UFC.
He wanted a card on the fight night and then
he was so confident that Running Rousey was gonna listen, like,
no big mistake. She won by submission, like seventeen seconds
made her tap out.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
You know, it was a little bit I'm still trying
to figure out, Like I couldn't tell with all the
lights if the crowd was good or not. I really
couldn't get a gauge on it. But I don't know, Poppy,
I felt like it was a pretty underwhelming card. And
you spend all that money and you get a seventeen
second TapouT in your main event against two has Beens.

(44:19):
That's rough, man, that's rough.

Speaker 6 (44:20):
For me, It is wrough.

Speaker 9 (44:22):
But look, I'll be watching the last time it.

Speaker 10 (44:24):
On metfix of people that didn't watch it live. You
can at least watch it on recently on Netflix.

Speaker 9 (44:29):
But look, I wanted to talk about the UFC card,
and you know with Dana Why, with Connor McGregor announcing
that against Max Halloway, I think that's gonna be a
good card.

Speaker 6 (44:40):
I'm actually gonna be.

Speaker 9 (44:41):
There, Chris for the summer League, so it's gonna be good.
Somebody asked me, hey, are you going to be.

Speaker 10 (44:46):
Going to the fight over there. I'm thinking these tickets
are going to go on selling May the twenty nine.
The cheapest ones are going to be like over seven hundred,
just because it Connor McGregor.

Speaker 9 (44:55):
But UFC. I love UFC. It's a top notch in mine.

Speaker 8 (44:59):
Look, give me some picks, and I know you guys want.

Speaker 9 (45:01):
To hear picks and they do good. But I want
to talk about n B A. I love UFC. The
card was mediocre for me. UFC is the top king.
I love you, and see this one. You know, Jake
probably could do his promotions.

Speaker 7 (45:13):
Whatever for me onto the NBA.

Speaker 9 (45:15):
Chris, I'm gonna give you guys a pick. Look, we
have a game. It's gonna be awesome. We're gonna have
the Calves against the Pistons.

Speaker 8 (45:23):
Chris.

Speaker 9 (45:24):
Look on this one.

Speaker 8 (45:25):
Look, I just feel that the NBA wants the Pistons.

Speaker 9 (45:29):
So the Pistons, if you can give me the line
on that four and a.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
Half four and a half, Troy is a four and
a half point favorite.

Speaker 8 (45:37):
I'm taking them minus four and a half. Look, I've
said it before, Chris. I know on this one, Scott
Foster has to come on here. I have to get
it right. I know you're gonna be thinking about it.
With Scott Foster's there, it's over. Pittness is gonna go
on there. I said it before, to the next map.

Speaker 11 (45:53):
Look, the Pistons are gonna beat the next whole Nicks
this and that. No, be careful because once the Pistons
going or they're gonna do shu. But I also agree
agree with you in the first hour. The Thunder Spurs
is going to be an amazing series. Whoever wins that
one is gonna be the NBA champion on that. But
just remember the Spurs are the kryptonite the season to

(46:14):
the Thunder. It's gonna be a great, great series on
that one. I'm not gonna give like no prediction wins
that one yet, But whoever wins this Chris Plank that series.
I agree with you, for they're gonna be the NBA
champions because the West is the best and the East
it's a joke, the Eastern Conference.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
Chris, what do you, Poppy? Have a good day? Man?
It's he could have gone with the West is the
best and the East is the least, so he could
have kept the rhyme rolling on that thunder by the
way open as a six and a half point favorite
in Game one on Monday Night, it's stayed there. There's
been no movement at all on the line. I don't

(46:54):
I think having Jay the the other Jalen Williams, the
good Jalen Williams. I think having him back is really
big in this series. So to me, in my world,
I'm a believer that Okase could struggle a little bit.
Jalen Williams matters a lot in this series, and he's
mattered a lot against San Antonio. But again, we don't

(47:16):
know what a status looks like. We'll see what it
is going forward. Thanks for the call, Poppy, I appreciate it.
Eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox, Colin is in Virginia.
What's up? Colin? Welcome to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 6 (47:28):
What's Up?

Speaker 1 (47:28):
Chris A.

Speaker 12 (47:29):
I'm eleven hours into a fourteen hour night out here
driving the delivering fuel and my wife, she was watching
the fight earlier. As I'm driving, She's sending me snapchats
of what's going on, and she said, I'm surprised you
didn't take off today and watch a fight. Well, when
the fight was over, I said, well, now you know
why it didn't take off good. I mean, you know

(47:50):
I was I'm old enough to remember the post Tyson
jail fights with the Bruce Selden and the Frank Brunos,
and you know people pay in forty fifty sixty dollars
for that kind of stuff. Did you have you actually
researched or seen anything on any of the paydays for
these fighters to yes, yes, yeah, it's crazy because, like

(48:13):
I think, it said, Gina was supposed to make somewhere
between four and eight million, Nate was supposed to make
up around ten million, Mike Perry was supposed to make
four hundred thousand, and then they said somewhere between Gina
and Ronda together between fifteen and twenty three million including bonuses.

Speaker 6 (48:32):
And I'm like, what is the bonus for?

Speaker 12 (48:35):
So yeah, but I'm not any I'm not a fan
of anything to do with Jake Paul. I mean it's
I'm a UFC fan, even though I'm you know, I've
kind of lost touch with the top guys. It's just
it's to me, it's not what it was back when
you know, Nate was fighting Connor or even before that.
I mean, I've been watching it for a long time,
but they just don't really have any top notch stars

(48:59):
right now. And that's what Jake Paul selling is the names.
I mean, think how many people probably didn't even have
a Netflix subscription they just signed out just to see
this fights. Sure, yeah, so, but anything with Jake Paul,
any of the fights he had, I'm just not a fan.

Speaker 7 (49:16):
And I mean, I know what it is.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
It's a side show. It is it is. Hey, Colin,
be safe for the road, man. I appreciate you checking it.
It's Colin in Virginia. Now. The numbers that are announced
are much, i think lower than what Colin said, but
that's purposeful. I follow at Twitter feed because I'm a

(49:41):
nerd called front Row Brian, but he seems to have
a lot of insight on the fight world. Like it's
kind of funny. I'll follow all these people. I'm like,
do they really know what they're talking about? But I'll
just buy it. It's Twitter, why not? And according to
his rundown, the the Ronda Rousey payday was two point

(50:03):
two mil. Gina Carano was announced at one point oh
five million, Nate Diaz five hundred k, Mike Perry four
hundred k, and then Francis Ganu one point five mil.
But Brian says they're actually understated purses to avoid the
California state income tax, which is thirteen point three percent,

(50:27):
and that the actual pay might be many, many multiples
of that, which to Collins point, might be around what
they're looking at. And I'm here for it, like, make
all the money you can. You got your head beat in,
you train like crazy. That's the big knock on UFC
as a whole. They don't pay the fighters, right, they

(50:49):
don't take care of them. You're right, you're right. But
there is what could be considered smart investments. If Netflix
is on board and they're happy with it, and they're
going to keep shoveling this s down our throats and
we're still going to watch it, They're still going to
pay for it, and there is that alert. I think

(51:10):
Colin and I probably are very similar. You know, this
is really going back many many moons ago, well before
Brandon Deutsch was probably even walking whenever. Mark was still
a young hipster. Back in Chicago, I did the weekend
show Ben Maller was on during the week He had

(51:31):
just moved from the weekends to the weekdays. And when
Ben took over four George Sadano I took over Friday
night into Saturday and Saturday and a Sunday's around seven.
So it was a much different world in college and
pro and combat sports. And we had a crew and

(51:54):
I'll never forget our producer at the time, Canadian Mike
Mike Dunsmore, said, Hey, there's this UFC fight that I
think we need to talk about and I think people
will call and I think they'll care. And it's Rampage Jackson.
He had just beaten Chuckledel and we talked about it
all night long, whether or not that's the future and
if UFC can grow into something bigger and better, and

(52:14):
it did, and it done blowed up. But now we
know it's it's almost Colin and I think feel the
same way because I feel like it's so oversaturated, and
I never know if what I'm watching is the major
event or just another like side card we're getting. We're
getting a UFC event in Oklahoma City in June. Very

(52:36):
excited about it, but then I also know when am
I getting a fight night? Am I getting an actual
good card? I know I'm not getting a pay per
view quality caliber card, but it's kind of it's a lot,
It's everywhere, and the play on nostalgia will only last
for a while because it's just they're not good fights.

(52:57):
Back to the phones at eight seven, seven ninety nine
on Fox eight seven seven nine ninety six six three
sixty nine. Let's go to Kyle in Vegas. What's going on? Kyle?
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 7 (53:09):
Well's up? We'll sup what's up? Roman numeral topic number
thirty six.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
For those that don't get the reference. Every Sunday night,
I do a show with Arnie Spaniard ten P to
one A. And Arnie is old school. He doesn't type
anything up, I think because he doesn't know how to
use his computer and his rundown is always usually using
Roman numerals because that's what he was taught.

Speaker 7 (53:33):
I love Army. Either that or he hit you with
the Miami Dolphins are going to the super.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
Bowl every single Sunday night.

Speaker 7 (53:39):
Every every time.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
Love it.

Speaker 7 (53:41):
No, So I guess I didn't miss nothing too exciting
tonight then, because I had a watch party that I
could have went to go see the fight, and then
I got invite it out to go see the memoral combat.
Sounds like both were similar in every aspect of the
way and every facet of the word similar. The movie

(54:04):
was garbed, was it that yeah? Yeah, yeah, no spoilers,
no spoilers. If I had to rate it on a
Lotten Tomato, it did a five point three.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
Mmm.

Speaker 7 (54:16):
It's it's it's it's not that good, but it's not
that terrible either.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
Hold on, hold on, I'm very you got to help
me out here, because I'm fired up to go see it.
Are you saying, don't go see it and lower my expectations.
Are you saying just don't see it at all?

Speaker 7 (54:37):
Go see it, just lower the expectations. It's very mean.

Speaker 1 (54:41):
Okay.

Speaker 8 (54:42):
It could have did more.

Speaker 7 (54:45):
It could have followed a better premise, could have held
a better engaging storyline and make you want more, and
the more wasn't there. It's kind of like how UFC
is right now to the audience that the more of
the excitement isn't there anymore. Like you said, when you
get oversaturated with something for so long, it just becomes
a terrible thing. But in closing, what I wanted to

(55:06):
finish up with with, NFL had its off season moments
during the NBA regular season, and you know that was
great and everything. But the NBA this offseason is going
to have massive breaking news, whether it be from Lebron James,
the Giannises, the Celtics with their decisions and what they're

(55:27):
going to do going forward. You got all these guys,
these young players from the Oklahoda City Thunder who might
be wanting new contracts elsewhere and somewhere in Philly. They
got to be kicking themselves because this kid, Jarret McCain,
who they let go, turned into something phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (55:43):
This is going to be Thanks for the call, Kyle.
This is going to be a pretty wild off season
in the NBA. Now, I'm trying not to be that
guy that on what is it May seventeen, whenever we
haven't even played the Game seven in the Eastern Conference
semi finals, nor had the entire final schedules set yet

(56:06):
in the Eastern and Western Conference finals. I'm trying not
to be to get me to the end of the
season so we can see the player movement. Kind of
a guy, but it is gonna be fascinating. He hit
on a couple there. We have our contractually obligated lebron
segment coming up next, we have Jannis. Right. Don't you

(56:30):
get the sense right now, Brandon that if this is
the year where Jannis is going to finally be moved, like,
this has to be it, right.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
He's one hundred percent going to be traded.

Speaker 1 (56:42):
Has to There's you know, I wonder, I wonder about
guys like Joe Ellenbiid. You know, what's his future look like?
He's seems to be kind of mom about it. You
know what is going at? Is Anthony Davis still a
guy that people would want to bring in? He's bounced

(57:02):
around a little bit. What's his future look like? What's
Minnesota gonna do? Right? Where's Minnesota at? Oh Man?

Speaker 2 (57:11):
That one's I mean. I did a TikTok video just
about their whole offseason. Took six minutes, and I couldn't
figure out a way they could compete with Oklahoma City
and San Antonio because Randall. No one's gonna take a
Randad's contract. They just extended him last offs. He's making
thirty three million a year, go bear thirty four million.
Now they have sixteen million until they're in the first

(57:33):
apron and twenty seven million until they're in the second apron.
Don't ask how I memorize those numbers, but I did.
And iod soon moves a free agent. Right, they're gonna
have to resign him because they have his bird rights.
He's the only guy they can really give a ton
of money, and that's still not going to fix the issue.
I guess they could get Theoretically, they could get a

(57:54):
point guard like that dude from Stanford that's small late
in the draft. Maybe they could trade back Cup or something,
but it's looking grim. No one's gonna take Randall or Gobert,
and without that, like, you can't get Yannis with those assets.

Speaker 1 (58:09):
The Sager had a wild update the other night. They
gave up more picks for Rudy Gobert than points he had.
I mean, that's just that's not a smart investment. So ill,
By the way, add to this, of all those off
season storylines, we might have one of the more compelling
NBA drafts then we've had in quite a while. This

(58:30):
is a draft that is loaded with potential talent. Off
season storyline Scalore, all right, hey, do you want to
fit Andrew and Baker's field in before the break? Randon?

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Yeah, let's do it.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
Okay, Andrew, what's going on? Man? Welcome to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 13 (58:46):
What's up?

Speaker 1 (58:47):
Chris so.

Speaker 13 (58:50):
Burnie has said many times that the reason or what
he says is it may not be midnight where you are,
but as far as where I'm at the coast, it is.
And that's why we call it the midnight Hour. I'll
take you get the last call.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
I like it.

Speaker 14 (59:07):
I like the last word. You get the last word.
But yeah, I don't know what it is at the NBA,
but I'm just not interested. I was interested when the
Lakers were in. I was kind of interested when Detroit
came back and was up to zero, but on board

(59:32):
with the Detroit Cleveland series. You know, I would have
enjoyed probably the Detroit Knicks, which can still happen, but
That's kind of where I'm at with that.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
Hey, you know, the Knicks and the Pistons in the
Eastern Conference Finals, what play on nostalgia A little.

Speaker 13 (59:48):
Bit, right, Yeah, but I'm so bored right now. It's like,
get to it and now Cleveland could win and don't
want to really watch. I don't know, but you know
what we got now we have ourselves at midnight hour
kidding all.

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Right, Thanks appreciated, Andrew. I can't make you on board
with the NBA finals are Eastern or Western Conference finals.
I just can't, nor do I feel like I need
to sell it. You know, we people now look back

(01:00:28):
glowingly on the Spurs runs when all everyone did was
bitch and moan about it when they were winning. It's like, oh,
so boring. Who wants to watch someone feed the post
and watch Tim Duncan do a little jab step and
throw up a fade. I don't want to watch this.
I The only the only team, I think during the

(01:00:52):
last twenty years it had a run that we didn't
seem to get bored with was the Warriors because they'd
be banging threes. You'd have you know, Draymond start and fight.
It's like we didn't like them, right, And I guess
it was more was that they're ethical, But I mean
everyone always we always complain about the NBA always, and

(01:01:17):
I don't. I don't know. I don't sit down and
watch a ton of NBA. I watched Thunder and I
watch the Lakers. Am I gonna watch a Hawk's Wizard's
game on a Wednesday night?

Speaker 13 (01:01:29):
No?

Speaker 1 (01:01:30):
Am I gonna break down the magic in the Brooklyn Nets? No?
But there's a faction of our sports world that will,
you know, and that's all they do. I don't know
how those people aren't losing their minds. So how are
you saying right now? I mean, at the very least,
as a football fan, it's kind of like football being
my one to one. At the very least, you know,

(01:01:51):
it's a limited number of games, a limited number of weeks.
So even if it's a bad season and every game's bad,
you know, there's gotta be someone that's a little bit better.
There's got to be a matchup. It's better NBA dad,
really have that. And when the playoffs are featuring teams
that either you don't care about our stars you don't
know yet, I think it makes it even more disconnected

(01:02:16):
from the fans. And let's be honest, we haven't really
had a signature moment in these playoffs yet. You haven't
really had a series that you look back on and thought, damn,
that was awesome. You know, it's funny now that I
was thinking about it. We laid out all those potential
NBA offseason storylines. What did we not mention the Nuggets?

(01:02:37):
I mean, you want to talk about a team that
could have a fire sale. Everything's on the table except
moving on from Jokics, Right, isn't that what their owner said?
Fascinating times? All right, we'll get a break when we
come back. The Lebron James saga. Where is the future
home of Lebron? What's the best fit? And if you're

(01:03:01):
trying to sell me this, man, I don't want Lebron talk. Buddy,
you better buckle up because it's pretty much all you're
gonna get over the next few weeks, not just here,
but everywhere. Plus more of your calls at eight seven,
seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven nine ninety
six six three six nine, It's the Bernie Fratto Show.
Chris plank in right here.

Speaker 4 (01:03:20):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 1 (01:03:38):
All right, it's the Bernie Frattos Show here on Fox
Sports Radio eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox eight
seven seven nine nine six six three sixty nine. Hey,
don't forget For the best pregame show every weekend, be
sure to tune into Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by
BETTANGM every Saturday and Sunday morning from nine eight to

(01:03:59):
noon Eastern in six to nine a Pacific, we will
count you down to all of the biggest games of
the weekend to any Countdown presented by BETMGM every Saturday
and Sunday morning right here on Fox Sports Radio and
the iHeart app. Did you see right before, speaking of
the great Bernie Fratto, did you see him trying to

(01:04:21):
start a little fight in the X world before he
took off on his vacation. I think it was Nick Wright?
Was it not Nick Wright? Through and again, I don't
know what's aggregated and what is and I don't know
if it's taken out a context, right, But Nick Wright
had tweeted, someone needs to come to me and explain

(01:04:42):
to me what Michael Jordan on let me rephrase it.
Someone needs to come to me and explain to me
what Jordan is better at than Lebron without saying the
word six rings, to which Bernie replied, Nick wanted to
debate me on national TV. You never saw Jordan play
court side? I did recuse yourself and check yourself before

(01:05:05):
you wreck yourself too late? Did he just drop an
ice cube lyric and going after Nick Wright on Twitter?
Well done?

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
He may have.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
Is this what people do? Not? Bernie? By the way,
whenever you kind of run out of things to truly debate,
like you're on these debate shows and it's like, dude,
what do we talk about? Let's talk about Lebron and MJ. Well,
it's kind of tired. Well say something really stupid. Got
you say that we can't have a debate unless you
take out the six rings in the championships? Beautiful? What

(01:05:39):
are we even doing? What is Bernie doing in Japan?
By the way, is it just a vacation or is
it a regular trip?

Speaker 2 (01:05:45):
I think it's vacation.

Speaker 1 (01:05:47):
Huh. Do you have any desire to go to Japan? Do? I?

Speaker 2 (01:05:51):
Yeah, I have to go to Europe first before I
visit Japan. I need to go to Italy.

Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
Mark any desire to go to Japan.

Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
I would like to go to Japan, and I would
like to go to Rome. Huh, she need to call
to see him.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
I have no desire to do any of that. I
don't know why. Maybe that time in my life has passed.
I mean, Brandon, are you in thirty yet? You're like,
what twenty five?

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
I'm twenty seven. Unfortunately I'm pushing thirty. Yeah, but you
know what Europe does not have, and that's probably why
you don't have any interest in going. You know how
many SEC championships, how many college football playoff wins, and
how many Super Bowls?

Speaker 1 (01:06:28):
Europe has none? Exactly zero point zero. And I could
see we have a very budget conscious family, so I
could see me not being able to fly the way
I would need to fly to go overseas for something
like that. I need to be put in something that's

(01:06:48):
gonna knock me out for that twelve hour flight or
whatever it is. So Bernie's out tonight, he'll return, I'm
assuming next Saturday night right here on Fox Sports Radio. Okay,
big night, because we have Game seven coming up this
evening between the Pistons and the Cavs. Thunder Spurs get
underway tomorrow night Okse is a six and a half
point favorite. In Game one tonight, Dana White announced that

(01:07:11):
on July eleventh, UFC three twenty nine, Connor McGregor will
make his return after five years away. And in the
first Jake Paul Mma event, Ron de Rousey tapped out
Gina Carano in seventeen seconds. It was, in a word,

(01:07:33):
not good. I always wanted to have a senior NASCAR circuit,
you know, where you just had all the old NASCAR
guys come back and drive. I think that would be cool.
But I don't really know if like over the Hill fighters,
over the Hill baseball players, football, I don't know if
that's the way to go to get butts in seats

(01:07:55):
and to get dollars and cents. But if Netflix is
paying for it and Jake Paul making a lot of money,
more power to him. Now every show in sports radio
is contractually obligated. I put my pen to paper, signed
on the dotted line whenever I greeted his show, and
in the rundown it said you must have a Lebron

(01:08:19):
James segment all right now. The Lakers were knocked out
of the playoffs this week. As an old school Lakers fan,
it's embarrassing, but I do have to keep reminding myself
they were without their best player. And did we ever
get an update on Vanderbilt. I mean, it's almost as

(01:08:39):
if he tore his finger off on the backboard and
then we never heard anything more about him. It's scary gross.
But is he gonna be Okay?

Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
I have no idea, but I think he's gonna get traded.
He is a very tradable contract, and they have Thierro
who can come in and just kind of players. I mean,
the problem with Jared Vanderbildt is, you know, I use
this term, I don't use this term for a lot
of players, but he literally can't hit water if you
thought of a bow. Yeah, he's not a shooter, and

(01:09:11):
it's I don't mean to be too critical, but he's
one of the best defenders in the league, but he
can He cannot shoot to save his life.

Speaker 1 (01:09:17):
Yeah. So we have a lot of different theories now
on what exactly is the future of Lebron James and
if it's with the Lakers now. In the postgame presser
after the loss to the thunder Lebron was, as he

(01:09:37):
typically is, noncommittal, and I don't blame him. Nobody has
to commit to anything, you know, the day after you
lose in the playoffs and your team gets knocked out.
But I feel like we've done this every off season
for about the past two or three years. You know,
you have certain athletes when they get to this point
in their career, it's what they do. They contemplate retirement.

(01:09:58):
We did it for years with far We've done it
for years with Aaron Rodgers. Who am I leaving? Now?
There's others, but Lebron James spoke and talked about his
future and what the next few days and weeks are
going to look like in.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Your career as the season played out.

Speaker 1 (01:10:14):
What do you feel like it's left for you in
the NBA.

Speaker 15 (01:10:19):
Well, I think you guys asked me about it, and
I'll answer questions. Yeah, I don't think I've come out
with like, oh, retirement is coming. Uh yeah, So, I
mean with my future, I don't know obviously. I mean,
it's obviously we're still fresh from you know, obviously losing, you.

Speaker 1 (01:10:36):
Know, and I don't know.

Speaker 15 (01:10:39):
I mean, I don't know what the future holds for
me obviously as it stands right now. Tonight, I got
a lot of time, I'll sit back, Like I think
I said it last year after we lost, I think
to Minnesota there, go back and recalibrate with my family
and talk with them and spend some time with them.
And then when the time comes out, obviously, you guys,
you know what I decided to do.

Speaker 1 (01:11:01):
We don't know what that time will be. We don't
know what it will look like. You know, I thought
he looked great. I thought he looked great. And it's wild.
It's wild to think that the dude is forty one
years old and is out there doing what he did,

(01:11:22):
I mean incredible, and he is. He's entering an offseason
without a contract or a contract option, and will be
an unrestricted free agent. I didn't realize this. His time
in LA is his longest consecutive stint with any team

(01:11:46):
that he's played for now. He had the fractured time
with Cleveland, but eight straight years in Los Angeles. He
made fifty two point six million dollars. This year, he
averaged twenty points almost twenty one, twenty point nine, seven
assist six boards. He was even better in the playoffs

(01:12:09):
and won a series over Houston in six games in
which Luca Luka Doncic and Austin Reeves missed well. Luca
missed them all, but Austin Reeves missed the first four games.
He basically took a different role. And when he did,
from late February through March, the Lakers won sixteen of eighteen.

(01:12:34):
And if you look around the league, this is a
fascinating offseason. And if you look at the Lakers, he's
one of what onunty three six guys? You got Lebron,
Austin Reeves, Ruy Hashima, Jackson, Hayes, Luke Kennard all five

(01:12:55):
because Marcus Smart and DeAndre eight and have player options too.
All right, so there's a lot of different angles here.
Let's just focus on the Lebron angle. Brandon, where do
you stand right now? You're my analytics guy, you're my
numbers nerdy. You know. Financially, I think he's still gonna

(01:13:16):
get paid. I don't think you get paid for two
million dollars. But what does it look like where is
he a viable option? And is that still back in LA.

Speaker 2 (01:13:26):
I do think he's going to be back in LA,
and I do expect it to be between fifteen and
twenty five million. I don't think it goes above twenty.
I think he's going to take a substantial pay cut,
and I think at this point, if he wants to win,
he should probably take the VET minimum. He's not going
to do that. He might leak to a reporter that
he is interested in possibly playing for VET minimum, just

(01:13:49):
wants to win a championship, just so that you know
a puff piece is out there about that, and then
he'll sign for like fifteen million, which he deserves. He's
still an incredible player. There is a way they can
sign Austin for forty in Lebron for fifteen and still
have some money left over to use Ruy in a
sign and trade and get assets back. That's probably the
best course of action moving forward.

Speaker 1 (01:14:11):
I was reading what Brian Wenthorst because I kind of
feel like he's always been the beat guy for Lebron James,
and he had talked to an Eastern Conference team strategist.
What a line quote by our metrics, Lebron James remains
a top twenty five player in the league, and if

(01:14:34):
not for his age, we'd probably assess him at near
a max player level. Our coaches would tell you he
ranks even higher than that. When his legs and back
are feeling good. I mean, does he want to go
play in a place like Chicago or the Brooklyn Nets

(01:14:57):
and be Washington Wizard Michael Jordan? Does he want to
you mentioned the Veat minimum, would he look at a
place like Golden State and think I can go there
and play with Steph and I would assume Draymond's still
going to be there. I don't know, is there really

(01:15:17):
a disconnect between he and Luca? Like all of these
things in my world factor in, But I don't know. Man,
It's it's wild. It's wild to think of how good
he's been at his age, that he has put the
Lakers in a position and put the rest of the

(01:15:38):
NBA kind of unnoticed that hey, you know, we might
want to look at this, we might want to look
at bringing him in, and then he's got to decide
what do I really want out of what might be
my final year or two. There's not been many people
and I know we got a break Mark, I know
we got to hit it here. There's not been many
people in their careers that, whenever that decision is being

(01:15:58):
made about their few that they have the kind of
resume that Lebron James still has with what he's doing
on the field. Usually when you're making a decision about
your future, it's you know, the production is dipped, not
been as good, probably needs to go. I mean Lebron's
he's been great. Now what do the Lakers do? Let's

(01:16:19):
dive into that. Next, it's Bernie Fratto show Chris Blank
sitting in right here. Listen sports Radio. A couple of
CK's reactions to this. James writes, Lebron needs to retire.
Go be an orner a orner? What's an orner an owner? Sorry?

(01:16:41):
James Steve writes, Bernie Fratto has Lebron derangement syndrome. What's
what does that mean? Is Bernie anti Lebron a little bit? Okay?
I mean to each their own. Here's my thing about Lebron.
You can't argue his greatness. You want to question his motives,

(01:17:05):
that's fine, but you cannot argue how great of a
basketball player he was. Here's my thought on what's next.
He always seems mad like when I watch him play,
he doesn't seem like he's having fun. And maybe he is,
and it's just kind of how he shows it. You know,

(01:17:26):
I'm fifty I'm fifty one now, and I always feel
like I'm happy. I always feel like I'm in a
good mood. And my wife or my daughters will get
on me and they'll say, he looks so grumpy. You
look like you're not having fun. I'm like, I'm having
a blast. Maybe it's just an age thing where you
don't show your excitement and energy like you once did.
I don't know, but he always seems angry, always seems

(01:17:49):
a little bit disconnected. And maybe that's just me being
an observer someone who is a fan, which is why
I'm doing what I do. But I don't know where
he would.

Speaker 16 (01:17:59):
Be happy, because if you think about the potential options
out there, if the Calves get eliminated tonight, well that's
a hell of an option, right A team that would
still you think, and Brandon, we'd have to really nerd
out on there.

Speaker 1 (01:18:17):
I don't know if you've looked at their you know
what their roster looks like. Financially, I don't know if
you've done the dollars and cents on that. I know
Jared Allen makes a lot of money. James Harden always
makes a lot of money. But I mean, it would
make sense that if you come up short, bring the
kid back home, you know it theorizes I mitched the

(01:18:39):
Brian Wyndhorse projections on what he thinks could happen a
place like Brooklyn that's looking for a star, place like
Chicago that you know, might might be a little closer
than we'd think. I don't know. Lakers return is always possible.
Playing with Steph at Golden State, you know, Steve Kurz
coming back. They seem to like each other a lot. Like,

(01:19:00):
what do you see as true viable options out there
for him right now? Because to me, it's kind of
like go back to the Lakers, or you know, really
accept a unique role somewhere else. And I'm not saying
anything's going to damage a legacy, but it could be
a little bit damning, right.

Speaker 2 (01:19:17):
Yeah, I mean I could see the Warriors as a
viable place for him, you know. I Like they don't
have much. They wouldn't compete for a championship, Like the
Warriors have some delusion that they can still win a
championship with Steph Curry, you know, which is like they're
so far removed from that. They have the oldest team

(01:19:39):
in the league, Like they'd be even older with Lebron,
but he would play well for them. I think he'd
fit in perfectly. Cleveland. Harden would have to decline his
player option, which I don't know if he would, depending
on you will depending on how this you know, how
this game seven coasts today. But yeah, I mean I
think there's there's three options. It's it's Lakers, Cleveland, and

(01:20:02):
the Warriors. I don't think you would con brio Windhorse,
says Brooklyn. He would never consider a place that's just
not going to be in the playoffs at all.

Speaker 1 (01:20:10):
I don't think so either. And here's the other thing,
who are you bidding against? If the Lakers start to
make an offer and they're like, listen, we want to
keep you on, I mean, are you then bidding against
Golden State?

Speaker 2 (01:20:29):
I guess. I guess so that'd be the only team.
Cleveland would only do it, probably for that minimum if
if that's all they would have, right unless there's a
sign in trade with the Lakers.

Speaker 1 (01:20:40):
But this is gonna end up being one of those
situations that we talk about here in mid May, and
we wont It's like what's going to happen? Like who's
going to even be interested? And then whenever it like
he hits the open market, they'll be like ten teams.
It's like, we'll bring him in here because he'll he'll
draw fans, he'll bring people, and I could see Atlanta
be like, I'll bring him in well. But again, it's

(01:21:02):
a very unique situation. It's unlike anything we've seen in
the NBA. It really truly is, and it'll be intriguing
you see which direction he goes. All right, there are
our contractually obligated Lebron James segment. When we come back
your calls. Next on Fox Sports Radio, let's roll man,
Let's go through the night, all night. It's the Bernie

(01:21:25):
Fratto Show. Bernie is on vacation. It's Fox Sports Radio.
You heard the update from the SEGA. A couple of things.
We spent a lot of the first hour talking about
where combat sports are after the debut of Jake Paul's
UFC knockoff, and I really appreciate the effort because I'm

(01:21:50):
a fan and I like to watch fighting, but it
just it was bad. It was really bad. And you
know there's this line between and you're not a big
MMA guy, right, Brandon, So whenever I'm talking this world,
you can't break it down for me like you can

(01:22:11):
the San Francisco forty nine ers draft class or their
current payroll. Right, I would assume that's a yes. But
I sit in this world where if I'm starting a
professional fighting league, I am okay. I don't play a
good deal man. I'm not going to put myself in
a position to where I'm going to either overspend on

(01:22:38):
retreads or invest in unknowns. It is a tough world
because the market's cornered. UFC has all the names, but
maybe you find a guy here or there, and maybe
in Francis and Gano you could have that person that
can headline cards and instead of going and finding washed

(01:23:01):
up has beens. And I say that knowing that Nate
Diez could destroy me if we ever fought. But in
the world of professional combat sports, he's over master ride Now.
I mean, come on, the promo for the fight has
the guy sucking down a lung dart. I don't think
that's the best way to go, but I'm sure people watched.

(01:23:23):
I'm sure we're gonna see your release coming up, probably
if not by the end of the show tonight, at
some point tomorrow. Where it was the most watched X
on Netflix since the Jake Paul might Tyson fight, and
as long as you people tune into these side shows
will continue to get him crammed down our throat. But Netflix,

(01:23:44):
they've they've got a formula and with the Jake Paul fights,
apparently it's worked. We spent a lot of time last
segment and most of the second half of Last Hour
talking about Lebron James in his future. I'd love to
get your take on it at eight seven seven on
Fox because as we enter in to a wild NBA

(01:24:05):
off season for teams who have just been eliminated, you
got two of the bigger stars in the league, and
Giannis and Lebron that are likely going to be on
different teams next year. We think so is that team
for Giannis the Lakers? Do the Lakers have the kind
of package they can put together to get them? Will
the Bucks be interested in Austin Reeves and a bunch

(01:24:26):
of picks? I don't know, but it's one of the
more I guess you could say intriguing in underlying storylines
to the off season. Do you know it's interesting the
Thunder and the Spurs play in the Western Conference Finals.
It gets underway tomorrow night. There are rumors and it's
really one guy right now, that are being floated about
the future of Jalen Williams. The thunder have a choice

(01:24:47):
to make. Do you continue to invest in lou Dort,
the Isaiah Hartensteins of the world, prepare for you know,
big contracts for guys like and I know check just
got paid, but continue to invest in that world. Or
do you start thinking about the future and a guy
like jadab Jalen Williams, put him on the market and

(01:25:09):
see what you can get. I mean, would you be
able to get the number one pick from the Wizards
for Jalen Williams. That was a theory post on Bleacher
Report this week. But I think Oklahoma City needs to
do what it can to keep this entire core together,
all right Williams, Shay Gilges, Alexander and chet Holker build

(01:25:30):
around them. He found Caruso, he's been in and aj
Mitchell is the guy that's making this all seem to
be somewhat possible because of his emergence over the last
couple of seasons. Does he make Jalen Williams, you know,
tradeable asset and Sam Presty I mean, if he calls

(01:25:51):
me to make a trade, I ain't picking him the phone.
I'm like, no, I'm good. But we know this much.
They are positioned to get back to the NBA Finals,
but the team they're facing in the Western Conference Finals
has been their biggest problem this year. Did they figure
it out? Is in a matter of getting the right
piece of healthy? Isaiah Hartenstein hadn't played in a couple
of those matchups. Is that a difference maker against Wimby?

(01:26:12):
We're about to find out? And where is your interest
level in game seven? Tonight? We have a Game seven?
What does every nerd want to tell you? The two
greatest words in sports? Game seven? Well, in my experience,
game sevens have kind of sucked, but maybe we get
a different feel Tonight eight seven, seven ninety nine on
Fox eight seven, seven, nine nine six sixty three sixty nine.

(01:26:36):
All right, let's go to Sacramentum. Chris will kick it
off this hour. Chris, what's up? Man? Welcome to Fox
Sports Radio.

Speaker 6 (01:26:42):
Thank you.

Speaker 17 (01:26:43):
Let me just explain this as nicely as possible. Go ahead,
Nick rock Is one thousand, two hundred and twenty seven
per sake. Correct, You cannot stay here and tell me
I grew up watching Michael Jordans. I grew up boxing
doing with Lebron James. I've seen Michael Jordan's Michael Jordan

(01:27:05):
is not better than Lebron James at all. The only
thing he's better at Lebron James is the killer mentality
with the six championships. That's it. That's all of you
that Nick Wright is right, that's all you guys got.
He is not a better defender than Lebron James. Is
not a better and Lebron James' prime. You can honestly

(01:27:30):
sit there and tell me that Michael Jordan would be better.
You are ripping. That dude is assists a kill little
brick house. It's just amazing what he's done and people
just want to knock on him because of what happened. Like,
I'm sorry, dude, Michael Jordan is not better than Lebron James.

Speaker 1 (01:27:53):
That's all.

Speaker 17 (01:27:54):
That's that's all Nick Writ's writing.

Speaker 1 (01:27:56):
Thanks you a phone call. I don't care. I don't care.
It's the most tired conversation in sports. I don't care.
Bernie was the one that was fighting with Nick right
about it, not me. So Bernie will be back next Saturday. Night. Chris,
that's a very passionate take. I appreciate it. I do
think that championships matter. So I think when you're like,

(01:28:18):
my point is, you can't bring up six titles. It's
part of the DNA. What about Robert or No, this
is different. Come on, man, Yeah, everyone knows it's six
titles matters. But I don't care. I could not care less.
The only thing that I could care any less about
is people that want a debate whether or not Tom

(01:28:41):
Brady's the goat. I just in general. Now, Brandon, you
like to go conversations. Bernie likes them. I don't. It's
just it to me is one of those things that
everyone can go round and round and we can scream
and yell and call each other stupid and morons and idiots,
and you're a loser. You don't know what you're talking about.
I saw him, I watched him. I was there. Check yourself,

(01:29:04):
get out. I don't care. It's because we're never going
to have a definitive answer.

Speaker 3 (01:29:10):
So, Chris, I have the hometown bias person.

Speaker 1 (01:29:13):
Right, because you're a Jordan, you're a Chicago.

Speaker 3 (01:29:15):
And I guess when people argue about that kind of
stuff sometimes they bring up how many times did Lebron
win Defensive Player of the Year, how many times? And
how many times did he win the scoring title? And
so if you don't want to bring up the six rings,
people throw that into the mix about defensive you know,

(01:29:36):
and then defensive and scoring titles.

Speaker 1 (01:29:41):
I just I feel like legacy debates are ridiculous. It's hard,
it's pointless, because Chris FROMS and somewhat say, what do
you mean? It's the lifeblood of sports talk radio. Probably probably,

(01:30:05):
But I like to talk about the games. I like
to talk about where players could end up. I like
to talk about team building, drafts, free agency. This is
a crazy thing. If a game happens, I like to
recap the game and debate whether or not a coach
made a bad call or a player made a bad call.

(01:30:25):
I like to look at something like the Canadians having
a three to one lead at home and the crazy
home atmosphere and somehow the Sabers win the game. What
was it? Eight to three? I mean, these are the
things that like in my world. I love the debate
and I love to talk about I just I feel
like it's really become tired not saying Chris doesn't have

(01:30:46):
his points, not saying I could open up my Twitter
account right now and look at eight thousand different tweets
about this, not to Sam, and Hollywood has checked in already.
He wants to fight with Chris on it. It's it's
low hanging fruit, man. It's like fishing and throwing chum
in the water, Brandon, because it's the kind of things

(01:31:07):
that people respond to and everybody gets it.

Speaker 3 (01:31:09):
I hate the idea that I was, like I told
you and I talked about yesterday on the show. The
all are nothing conversation with all the fans and the
other broadcasters are saying that what will Lebron do? Is
it a failure? It's like they have to if it's
going to be about words. Was it good? Was it great?

(01:31:30):
Or was it fantastic what he did for the Lakers.
I mean, like everybody said, he chose to come here.
I guess because he wanted to come to this great
place called the Lakers in Los Angeles and all the
things that can go into that. But and then the
fans want to argue what he has said in the

(01:31:50):
past about I'm the greatest, so okay words whatever, But
it's all or nothing. It should just be it's going
to be about words and all that kind of stuff.
Is it good for him? Was it great? Or was
he fantastic? While he's here?

Speaker 1 (01:32:04):
I think it was all of them. But it Keith, Keith,
hits Keith. You and I could hang here rights if
I cared enough, I'd call in and hurt that caller's
feelings about its Lebron argument. But I'm over it. It's like,
to me, it's a crutch, it's hacky, and I I

(01:32:28):
feel that whenever you get into these kind of debates,
it's because you've run out of things to talk about.
But that's me, and I'm old school. I guess I'm
old school now. I I appreciate the passion, though, Brandon,
would you like to throw a final thought on that?

Speaker 2 (01:32:46):
I'm it's tough because I do compare players a lot.
It's tougher in basketball, but I feel like, more than
any sport because there are singular players, I feel like
that can leverage your team to championships more so than
other sports. I think, you know there's five players in

(01:33:07):
a quority of ten players in rotation max right, Whereas
in the NFL, like Tom Brady, I know is like
the undisputed goat because the rings and yes, a quarterback
does a lot, but it still takes an entire team,
Like he never wins super Bowls without that defense at
Belichick orchestrated.

Speaker 1 (01:33:23):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:33:24):
In the NBA, Lebron has single handedly taken teams to
the finals, and I know he's lost a lot in
the finals. Sure, I wasn't alive to watch Jordan play basketball.
I don't like to name or deem one or the
other the goat, but I will say unequivocally, Lebron James

(01:33:46):
is the most talented player to ever touch a basketball. Now,
does that make him the best? I'm not arguing that,
but unequivocally top to bottom, like prototypical basketball player, assists points,
impact like deef everything.

Speaker 1 (01:34:00):
It's him, you know, physically, he's a freak, absolute freak show.
And that's the modern era too. I mean, if Jordan
would have grown up in Lebron's time, if his first
year would have been, you know, Lebron's first year with

(01:34:20):
weight training and nutrition and everything the way that it is.
I mean, I don't know if the DNA was there
where he could have been. You know, what is Lebron
like two twenty five or what a two forty whatever
he is. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:34:32):
I don't figure. I think I think he's probably two sixty.

Speaker 1 (01:34:34):
Oh is he okay to sixty? Whatever might be. I
maybe it's but I just gosh, man, that was off
mentioning one tweet that came in earlier. One to show
you how passionate people are about this, Like I you
mentioned it one time. He is right, I hate you.

(01:34:55):
He's the greatest ever. There's no debate. It's funny everyone
wants to try to stand on like Defensive Player of
the Year and All Defensive Team and things of that nature.
I'd be willing to bet without googling. There's not many
people out there that could even name the last two
NBA Defensive Players of the Year. I mean, it's just
it's kind of funny whenever you know, you want to

(01:35:19):
talk about a player who had won Defensive Player of
the Year, had been All Defensive Team. Yeah, I'll realize
the last two winners of the Defensive Player of the
Year in the NBA were Evan Mobley and Victor winbin Yama.
I mean, it's just it's it's insane.

Speaker 2 (01:35:31):
I would have said Jaron Jackson junior, I forgot that,
uh MOBILEI won two years ago.

Speaker 1 (01:35:36):
MOBILEI one of two years ago. All Right, I feel
like I need to cleanse my palate. I feel like
I need to get some ginger in here because I
had a sushi role that was a little bit too hot,
and now I need to calm things down a bit
eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven
nine ninety six six three six nine. Now, in all
the lebron talk, there is one other story line. There

(01:36:00):
is one other major potential move that we've talked about
quite a bit, and that is the future of Gianni's
Ante Tumpo. And this week, Miles Turner made an appearance
on Who Is It Brianna Stewart's podcast? Is that right? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:36:21):
I believe it?

Speaker 1 (01:36:21):
Yes? Yes? Does everybody have a podcast? Now?

Speaker 2 (01:36:26):
I believe so.

Speaker 1 (01:36:27):
I do know this you mentioned. I don't know if
we did this on the air or during a break,
but Jalen Williams has announced that he is healthy. But
he didn't do so in a overly I guess you
could say public form. He didn't do it on Fox
Sports Radio or ESPN or anywhere like that. No, he
did it on his YouTube channel. Which has quite a

(01:36:49):
few subscribers, and he vlogs rather you know, regularly. But
I mean, I guess everyone now has a pod. I
don't know. I mean, honestly, I don't know how everyone
has enough time to consume all these different entities. Like
I I feel like this is my job, and I
listened to a lot and I barely have enough time

(01:37:09):
to listen to like my three or four regular pods
that I listened to. But that's not the point. The
point here is how Miles Turner, a teammate of one
Yannis last year, talked about doc Rivers and kind of
how things seemed to go sideways with the Milwaukee Bucks

(01:37:30):
last year. This is a shot at doc Rivers. But
I do find myself intrigued by the Yannis take doc Rivers.

Speaker 18 (01:37:37):
He didn't find anybody ever, So guys were late all
the time. Guys were you know, showing up the film
whenever they want to show up. Guys were missing meetings,
like it was one of the crazy things I person
ever experienced. But any other team I've been on, guys
got fine, and there was a sense of order and
a sense of understanding. So yeah, you're lates to the
plane fine, you're lates to treatment, fine, you're late to film. Fine,

(01:37:59):
But I personally did not experience that last year for
the first time in my career.

Speaker 1 (01:38:03):
Now, he would go on to say, because Stuart played
a pretty good podcast host here asked who was guilty
of being late the most and who he say, Yannis Yannis.
I still don't understand how you could have a flight
that's scheduled to leave it to and people were so

(01:38:25):
late it wouldn't leave until four thirty. Like there are
flight plans. I mean, you do, you do have to go,
not everyone is just going to wait on a player
to show up. But from that and what's going forward,
I wonder if it was just Gianni's being upset with
where he is. I wonder if it's something that could
play into whether or not a team might raise their

(01:38:47):
eyebrow a little bit if they want to make a trade.
I don't know, but it was very obvious, was it not?
Brandon from listening to some of that, And that's a
very shortened version. I'll play the longer version when we
come back. There was a major disconnect between doc Ren
that team last year.

Speaker 2 (01:39:01):
I mean, it didn't take a I'll just say This
doesn't take a genius to figure out when you hired
Doc Rivers that there'd be a disconnect from the team.

Speaker 1 (01:39:09):
Historically, he's been a guy that has not been able
to sustain consistent success at least, So it.

Speaker 2 (01:39:17):
Was just I know, we got to go break, But
it was just hilarious how they hired him because Griffin
was winning and Yannis didn't like him, and that that's
inevitably why I got fired. But they were winning games
and then Doc Rivers comes in and they suck almost immediately.

Speaker 1 (01:39:34):
They fired a guy after basically a month of the season.
If even that, it's crazy, all right, when we come back,
When we come back, get some of your calls, going
tweets have been a really good tonight that Plank Show.
You can hit us up. Also, make sure you follow
us at Fox Sports Radio at eighty seven seven ninety
nine on Fox. That's the way to get in touch
with the program. Eight seven seven nine ninety six six

(01:39:55):
three sixt' nine. Hey, don't forget with the iHeartRadio app.
You can stream us wherever you happen to be. Catch
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(01:40:17):
top of your screen.

Speaker 4 (01:40:18):
This Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup
in the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app, search FSR
to listen live.

Speaker 1 (01:40:33):
It's Bernie Frados Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Oh man,
I haven't even got as in depth as we want
on Aaron Rodgers. Can I get one Steelers fan in
here tonight at eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox
or on the x at Plank Show, Like, where do
we stand right now? Steeler fans? Are we fired up?

(01:40:56):
It doesn't change my opinion too much of how I
felt about Pittsburgh. I think they're going to be good.
I still it's gonna take some getting used to with
how different that division is going to look. Oh and
speaking of the AFC North, We've got to have a
Deion Sanders a coach prime conversation at some point.

Speaker 19 (01:41:18):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:41:18):
I want to do this whenever I know coach isn't
up and listening, because, as we have learned, Prime has
antenna ears, which means he hears everything in anything that
appears to be said about his team or his boy
and man. He unloaded on Mary Kay Cabot, he unloaded

(01:41:39):
on kind of his son's treatment, and seems to be
pretty positive about the future of Shador Sanders in Cleveland.
If you were to bet right now, let's go around
the horn on this one, Brandon, if you were to
bet and place your money on who would be the
Brown starting quarterback in week one? Who you placing your wager' on.

Speaker 2 (01:42:04):
I'm pretty confident it's gonna be Deshaun Watson.

Speaker 1 (01:42:07):
You know what. Dang it. I was hoping you'd say
something like Shador say the Shad or just to make
me feel better, mark who you taking? You know, I'm
gonna go with Shadoor. Oh see, No, I think you're right.

Speaker 2 (01:42:20):
After careful thinking, I think you're.

Speaker 1 (01:42:24):
Right, Brandon. I think it's gonna be Deshaun Watson. And
it's funny because Todd the Monk's a pretty good quarterback coach,
and no DeShawn looked and what so is Kevin Stefanski.
So it's not like we're shortened Stefanski here too much.
But I don't know if DeShawn Watson has anything left.

Speaker 3 (01:42:46):
Don't you tellt me want to get the rest of
their money? Is worth that out of him? At least
try to If you can walk around, you can throw,
then let's try to put him out there.

Speaker 1 (01:42:54):
Has there been you know, this might be a fun
June show. Has there been a We've seen bad trades
where guys get dealt and then they just fall off
the map. Right, Maybe it's the first time they got paid,
Maybe they don't like their new city, maybe they don't
like their new coach, whatever it might be. But have
we ever seen anyone drop off like DeShawn Watson did?

(01:43:19):
And I don't even mean just the off the field stuff.
When he played he was bad, So I complayed that.

Speaker 2 (01:43:29):
Yeah, and Baker was still pretty good with Cleveland beforehand, right,
So you can't just blame it on the Browns organization.
I know why they're going to start DeShawn.

Speaker 1 (01:43:40):
By the way.

Speaker 2 (01:43:41):
I mean, it's God, it's like they're going they know
what Shador is like. Sure he has to improve, he
can't get any worse than we played last year. And
I know there were a lot of factors that weren't
in his control. Right, they got more pass catchers, the
line at issues. He did hold the ball on average,
I believe, the longest in the league when he was
in there. So that's why I got sacked a bunch

(01:44:01):
and made a lot of mistakes. Nonetheless, you can't tell
Miles Garrett with a straight face and the veterans on
that team, hey, we're going into a Week one with
should Or Sanders as our quarterback because Shaudor Sanders didn't
earn it. He didn't play well enough last year. So
if you tell them that we're wasting another season because

(01:44:23):
that's what's your what's your what you're inevitably doing with
Shadoor Sanders, then it's like, Okay, the players aren't gonna try,
they're just not gonna respect you, and it's gonna cause
much of friction and store is gonna be bad off
the jump. And I'm not saying Deshaun's gonna be much
better or any better. What I'm saying is there's still
this like thing like, oh, DeShawn was that guy once,

(01:44:46):
So maybe you know veteran been in the league a
while and it was coming off an injury, but maybe
there's that sparkle that he showed toward the end right
before he got hurt, where he had a few good
games in a row, and I think, to a veteran team,
that's what my trying to do as a new head coach,
because if he just gives the reins to Shadre Sanders,
there's just a lot of attention to Sean's like I'm

(01:45:06):
making all this money. Dylan Gabriel's like I was statistically
better than shad Door Sanders and you're not playing me,
And then it's just it causes everyone problem. Should or
will get his chance by week six when the Browns
are out of the postseason run, but like you know,
it'll take a few weeks.

Speaker 1 (01:45:22):
I don't know that I've seen Cleveland a fan base
that was more well, actually I have, because I was
gonna say, I don't know if I've ever seen a
fan base that got more excited over someone that was
mid than Cleveland. It over shoud or Sanders. But I
still remember New England a Monday night football game against
the Bears where Bailey Zappi came off the bench from

(01:45:45):
Mac Jones and let him on a third quarter touchdown drive,
and that place was electric, and Twitter was a buzz
on the next great quarterback for the Patriots, Bailey Zappy
A didn't last too long, but Coach Prime standing up
for a son, We got that for you coming up
here in just a bit. I wanted to play the
full cut from the Miles Turner conversation because I don't

(01:46:09):
I don't know if I don't know if what I
played gives the full kind of context of exactly maybe
the term is how frustrating or how disappointing things are
for the entire Bucks organization right now. And there is
this part of me that does kind of feel for
Miles Turner because in fairness, in fairness, now he left

(01:46:35):
what was a team that went to the finals. Now
he left with their star player being injured and likely,
you know, not going to play for a while. But
he left for Milwaukee, and he left with the idea that, hey,
I've got an opportunity to play with Giannis and do
something special. But here's that full question and answer from

(01:46:56):
Branda Stewart's podcast, in which he talked about the frost
of playing for Doc Rivers.

Speaker 3 (01:47:01):
Who's the teammates that's most likely to be late?

Speaker 18 (01:47:03):
Oh, that's easy. Honest, Jannie is going to show up
whatever he wants. Really, you know, I think that that's
kind of just came with the territory at that And
once I kind of saw what was going down, I
was like, a man, more power to you.

Speaker 1 (01:47:13):
They ain't gonna find you. Do what you do. More
power to you, they ain't gonna find you do what
you do. A en if you get a trade package
that Milwaukee says yes to, and you feel like Jannis
is a missing piece. If you're the Lakers, if you're
the Warriors, I mean, I don't think they're gonna trade

(01:47:33):
him in the East. But if you're the Suns or
the Rockets or somebody, I think you still do it.
But that's damning to me because I kind of fall
for they, honest that I see, like, oh look at him.
He just loves being in a small market and just
a great teammate. And here's Myles turning. It's like, dude
was always late for flights, and the time whenever I

(01:47:56):
stood up is like, you're not gonna be latest. When
we were going to Dallas, it's like let's go. We're going.
But it'll be fascinating to see exactly how that plays
out this offseason to the X at Plank Show. Everyone
should follow us at Fox Sports Radio. It's the best
way and the quickest way to get in touch with
all of your favorite Fox Sports Radio hosts. And whenever

(01:48:18):
you have a hot take, whenever you have something that
needs to be addressed, when you feel like you're bringing it,
that's the way to do it. At Fox Sports Radio.
You can get at me at Plank Show. All right,
let's roll through a couple of these because they have
been good tonight. Here is Steve, Steve trying to make
me feel a little bit better about the Raiders not

(01:48:38):
being in primetime. Plank, the Raiders having won in forty
one years. Unless you're from Las Vegas, I say, jump ship,
come on over to my Los Angeles Rams, currently the
best organization in the NFL. I don't think that's how
that works. I would love nothing more than to say

(01:49:02):
I'm in let's go, I'm here. Here's a problem. I can't.
I've tried. My wife and my kids make fun of
me because every year they hear the same spiel from me,
And you know what it is, y'all, this year is
gonna be different. We've got X Y and Z player.

(01:49:24):
We are focused, we are ready. This year is gonna
be different. Go to the playoffs, go to the super Bowl.
Every fan base is like this, and guess what happens
every single year. I'm wrong. I wish I could move on.
I wish I could find another team that wouldn't break

(01:49:44):
my heart. I don't even really have a secondary team.
Here's what I found. When I was a kid, I
used to love the Raiders and the Oilers, but the
Raiders were always number one. The Oilers were because come on, man,
the run and shoot offense. Warren Moon, Ernest Gibbons, Alan Pinkett, Oh,
it was crazy good. They were the greatest show on

(01:50:07):
turf before anyone knew who Kurt Warner or the Rams were.
They were awesome. But they moved. They become the Titans.
No offenciating Sean, It's not as easy to watch. And
I'm just a Raiders guy now NonStop. I can't have
another team. It's like I'm too invested. I'm in this.
It's like being in the marriage for fifty years. You
might despise a person you're married to, but what are

(01:50:29):
you gonna do? Go out and find another wife? At seventy. No,
you're stuck, and that's where I am right now as
a Raider, though I appreciate the offer. If I could
pick another team though to be a fan of, and
the Rams wouldn't be a bad choice, Brandon, you're a
frustrated Niner fan. If you're looking across the league, you
know Patriots wouldn't be bad either, because they seem to

(01:50:52):
always find a way. If you could pick another team
outside of the Niners that you weren't hopelessly addicted to,
who would it be.

Speaker 2 (01:50:59):
If I could hick a team like bias aside, because
obviously I would never pick anybody in the Divis like
I hate the Seahawks.

Speaker 1 (01:51:05):
Ram, I know you got the disclaimers on it all. Notice,
just pick a team like your team, okay, that you
would be as passionate about as the Niners, because you
don't want.

Speaker 2 (01:51:15):
Your heart broken, because I don't want my heart broken. Okay, Uh,
that's I guess. I don't want to steal yours with
the Rams. I could never say the Rams.

Speaker 1 (01:51:28):
Though, right, because you're Niners.

Speaker 2 (01:51:29):
Yeah, I guess Kansas City.

Speaker 1 (01:51:36):
Kansas City would be a good pick.

Speaker 3 (01:51:37):
Because they've in his head right now, I was gonna say.

Speaker 2 (01:51:41):
I mean, twenty seven years on this earth, and all
I've seen is chokes in the Super Bowl. And if
you had asked anybody before nineteen ninety nine, what have
the Niners done, They've won every Super Bowl they ever
played in. Well, that's not the case in my lifetime.

Speaker 1 (01:51:56):
Mark, you can have a team other than the Bear
and the frustration they have brought to your life. So
it looks like they're trending up right now. Or whom
would it be?

Speaker 3 (01:52:06):
I just don't want the Bear to be embarrassing. But
I when the Texans came on board, I just love
their logo. So if I had to pick another team
and buy a hat, I would pick the Texans because
I like the logo. Their quarterback is not doing a
great job, but I would pick them.

Speaker 1 (01:52:27):
William writes, I haven't watched much of the playoffs in
the NBA. The NHL has captured my attention more and more.
I will watch the conference finals. In the NBA finals,
I have to see if Arnie is leading the Knicks
victory a parade in June. Well, you know what, William,
it doesn't matter if the Knicks win it or not.
He'll still be celebrating like they did. I was proud

(01:52:50):
of Knicks fans who basically shut down the area around
Madison Square Garden when all they did was make the
Eastern Conference Finals last year. At least it was a
little bit more or subdued this year. But I mean,
if I could pick another team that I could be
a fan of, just to be that I mean, almost
insanely obsessed, I think it'd be the Knicks. They're crazy.

(01:53:13):
They're crazy fans, and it doesn't matter if they're good
or not. They're still gonna tell you that the greatest
things you've ever seen analog al rights man. In typical
Poppy fashion, I noticed he didn't mention any of his
crummy picks that he gave you on Wednesday night. Was
he bad on Wednesday night? It's been a while. I

(01:53:37):
really don't know. Here's what's terrible, and Poppy, I apologize,
but I usually write down your picks. I did not
do it on Wednesday, so I don't know how terrible
they were, but I do appreciate you still bringing them
to the program. Though, if I had one piece of
advice for Poppy's picks, I wouldn't count on Vin or

(01:54:00):
Brian or Bernie or the FNA guys on Friday night,
Kfe and Adam. I would have the spread ready when
I called. You know, I kind of feel like that's
a necessary thing. I'm not going like my man JT
and telling you how to be a caller, but I'm
just saying, when you call a radio show, it's kind

(01:54:20):
of nice to be prepared a little bit. And then
the opera cat again, trying to make me feel a
little bit better about things. Right, If the Raiders are
better than expected, then they'll be flexed to primetime. Happy
to the Bears last year. Yeah, but didn't you guys
at least have like a Sunday night game or a

(01:54:41):
Thursday night game or something. I mean, we didn't even
get that. We didn't even get that. You want to
talk about depressing, not not even a primetime game, Mikey
b good to hear from you, Mikey. Either schedule release
with the step Brothers theme is the best thing I've

(01:55:03):
seen on the internet in twenty twenty six. Go Colts.
Did you see the Colts schedule release? It was a
Simpson themed schedule release. It was fantastic. Now, I didn't
play Halo, so I didn't get the Chargers one. But
I might be alone in that, were you a Halo player, Brandon,

(01:55:23):
I was not, okay. See, I was like, oh my gosh,
did you see the Chargers schedule release? Yeah, and I
didn't get it. And I mean, give me some Metroid. Okay,
Halo makes no sense. All right, we gotta break line
them up. Eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven,
seven nine nine six six three sixty nine. We got
two Georgia's on hold. So we're heading to Pennsylvania, Virginia

(01:55:46):
and your city and state next. Right here, it's the
Bernie Fratto Show. Chris Plank sitting in on you're listening
to Fox Sports Radio Radio. Hey, don't forget the best
pregame show every weekend is right here on Fox Sports Radio.
Be sure to tune in to Fox Sports Radio's Countdown,

(01:56:09):
presented by bet MGM, every Saturday and Sunday morning from
night to noon Eastern that's six to nine am Pacific,
We'll counting down all the biggest games of the weekend
right here. Countdown presented by bet MGM, every Saturday and
Sunday morning, right here on Fox Sports Radio. It is
a busy Sunday morning. I guess we can stop saying

(01:56:32):
Saturday night. Well, it's not even two am. Bars aren't
even closed on the West Coast. I mean, am I
an old man who bars still close at two am?
Or is that a not a thing anymore? Brandon? You,
I don't know if you live that life or not.

Speaker 2 (01:56:45):
But I think bars, yeah, I mean there's okay, A
lot of my friends still go out to like three
or four whoa, so wow, that's still a thing, still
a thing. I've been to a club in a while.
I think those go a little later. But bars, I mean,
I don't know. You should probably leave the bar by
like two.

Speaker 1 (01:57:04):
I would say, well, you know what time I like
to leave the bar by is like six pm. Go
a happy hour. That way I can be in bed.
My buddy, Well, we don't. I mean, listen, I don't
go to bars anymore. But when we're on the road,
we'll go have a nice dinner, maybe we'll have a drink.
And our rule is always we want to be in
bed before ten. So that is my idea of partying.

(01:57:28):
If I'm in bed by ten pm, it is good.
But be safe out there. Kids, don't drink and drive
if you've had a few Uber Live designated driver, don't
make a poor choice this evening. Now, I want to
get a couple of calls in here. Your pick. Are
we going to Pennsylvania or Virginia first?

Speaker 2 (01:57:50):
Brandon, Well, I think you wanted a Steelers fan. Yeah,
George may be a Steelers fan. He's from Pennsylvania. I
don't know if George and Virginia is a Steeler he
may also be a Steelers fan.

Speaker 1 (01:58:00):
I'll start with George and Pennsylvania because I need some
Aaron Rodgers talk. What's going on? George? How are you?

Speaker 6 (01:58:05):
Gentlemen?

Speaker 20 (01:58:06):
Great show, and just give you a little round up
at that PGA. I mean, everybody's involved in it.

Speaker 8 (01:58:12):
Man.

Speaker 20 (01:58:12):
There's a couple of hot door vendors, a couple of
strokes out, a couple of caddies are right in the
game there, and it's going to be it's gonna be
some Sunday afternoon up there and just outside of philand Delfiet. Yeah,
Steeve Curtain. You know, let's face it, the last few years,
I don't care what anybody says they got rid of

(01:58:35):
the coach. They're too late. They should have got rid
of him five years ago. Some reason, the Rooneys loved
him and whatever, and he was able to hang on.
I thought he was horrible the last four or five years.
And Ben Steelers. The Steelers, you know, they always seem
to have a decent team, but they they just can't
get it over the top anymore. I don't care who

(01:58:56):
the coach is on that team they're bringing in. I mean,
I don't think it signed the antique. If they do,
you know, it's great, but you better make sure you
protect them because he's an antique, you know. And by
the way, guy, did he did Mike the Leprechaun call in?

Speaker 7 (01:59:11):
Not yet, they ain't calling it, you know, but.

Speaker 20 (01:59:14):
He's supposedly put on a pretty dog good performance up
in Btown last weekend. He ran a free events.

Speaker 1 (01:59:20):
Hey, you know, I was. I was in George on
Wednesday night and I got the full rundown from Coop
and Loraina and he called in on Wednesday and I guess,
I guess. Oh, Mike the Leprechaun put on a show. Now,
he claimed that he only had a couple of drinks,
but many around him thought that he was quite faded.

Speaker 20 (01:59:42):
Well, he is a leprechaun anyway, and he claims to
be the world's toilers leprechaun. But uh, I mean he'sn't
time to enjoy himself. But if he's running those events.

Speaker 17 (01:59:53):
Yeah, you don't want to get you know, you don't
want Jack.

Speaker 20 (01:59:55):
Daniels in Southern Comfort to take over the show.

Speaker 1 (01:59:58):
Either, you know.

Speaker 20 (01:59:59):
And being Town is an unusual place, you know, the
south he's dead and north end. You right out to
the park area, the Wall Street area and their version
of it anyway, and then he's out. They say he's
his wall shift in that bean town, even though he's
from Ireland and he is a leprechaun. And I just

(02:00:21):
look at it this way. You go out there, you
have fun. You don't know who to hack your party
and win except for a few maybe bring a couple
of friends with you.

Speaker 21 (02:00:28):
But it's just it was just a meeting of all
his uh, all the calls and people who you know,
listen to the show of Big Van Malla and I
guess the regular is in the bar there too, and
they've like sort of probably overwhelmed when they see all
the some people from all over the country coming into
some like old bar and.

Speaker 1 (02:00:46):
Yeah, got be crazy. Geort check out a run man,
I'm up against it, but I appreciate the phone call.
Like he had all the stars there. It was called
Alpheo Piner was there. Yeah, Mike the lepre Kahn. I mean,
Lorraine is sending me pictures and saying and this is
that guy, Like these are legends in my book. But yeah,
I mean, listen, this is kind of late for Mike.

(02:01:07):
I don't know if we'll get a chance to hear
from him in the final hour or not. But George,
I appreciate the phone call. Referring to Aaron Rodgers as
the antique is something now. According to reports, it's gonna
be a one year deal or twenty five million dollars.
The deal is expected to include a base salary between
twenty two and twenty three with a couple of million

(02:01:29):
in incentives, and Aaron Rodgers will turn forty two. They've
got to protect ea quote unquote antique if they want
to get back to where they want to be. It's
the Bernie Fratto Show on Fox Wow Final Hour, Power Hour.
As my man Arnie Spaniard calls it, It's the Bernie
Fritto Show right here on Fox Sports Radio eight seven,
seven ninety nine on Fox eight, seven, seven, nine, ninety

(02:01:52):
six six three, six nine. We'll leave the lines open,
get your calls throughout this hour if you'd like to
jump in. Many topics we've tacked. Now there's some meat
on the bone left this hour, time permitting. We got
a little Pistons Calves Game seven preview. I could talk
Western Conference Finals all day. I think War. I think

(02:02:13):
the Thunder Spurs series is going to be fun. Spurs
have been I don't want to sound too cocky, but
like the only team that is given the Thunder any
problems this year, and I know that Thunder fans aren't concerned,
and I know that Spurs fans are optimistic. I heard
a really good take I don't remember if it was

(02:02:35):
Jason or Aaron Tours on my way in, and they
were talking about this great debate about how one team
has been there and experienced it and another team really hasn't.
One coach has been there and experienced it and won
in Mitch Johnson hasn't, so how they can handle it.

(02:02:57):
And that's one of those where you kind of don't
know until you see it. You know, the Timberwolves went
to what back to back Western Conference Finals and they
didn't look equipped to handle anything in that series with
the Spurs. I mean Anthony Edwards is shaking hands while
the game's still like, what six minutes to go in
the game, He's shaking hands and basically congratulate. In the Spurs,

(02:03:21):
you have Nasrid that comes out and hear me read
this quote exactly from nas who, whenever he was asked
what went wrong with the t Wolves quote probably just
the moodiness. You look at both of those teams and
they're playing for one another, They're excited to be on
the floor with one another. They're a team where they're selfless.

(02:03:42):
I think we've had more than enough talent. I think
we have more than enough guys bringing that to the table,
competing in a high level, but just being less moody.
What are they mean girls? What is this a sorority? Nas?
But the point is, I mean the Timberwolves, so a
team that have been there twice and yet they look

(02:04:05):
like that and there's moodiness whenever it comes to a
series against the Spurs team that had never been there
before with this core. So I don't know how big
of a storyline that is, but I think it's going
to be a great series. It was a fun first hour.
Not to say the second and third hour haven't been
a blast, but we really hit on the uf the

(02:04:28):
MMA event tonight. Now, in the middle of the MVP
MMA Jake Paul produced event, there was some big news
involving one of the biggest names in UFC, Connor McGregor,
as Dana White announced right when Frances and God who
was coming to the ring coming to the cage, that

(02:04:48):
Connor McGregor was back July eleventh, the McGregor will fight
after five years off. And I don't really know if
we were give been a good product tonight, not in
the future McGregor fight, but just in what was the
debut for Jake Paul's UFC knockoff. I'm all about watching

(02:05:11):
people I used to love try to continue to do
their thing they were great at. But that was pretty gross.
And when you have an event that not only you're
leading up to it and one of the participants is
bragging about having to lose one hundred pounds in getting
ready for this fight and then it goes seventeen seconds. Hell,

(02:05:35):
they hugged longer after the fight than the fight lasted.
I mean, what are we doing? But that's part of
sports today, right, and it's part of where we are
and kind of what we're doing. We're not always going
to get bangers. You're gonna get disappointments, and more often
than not, what again Jake Paul has produced has been
money makers for him, but I think disappointments for fans.

(02:05:56):
We have not been given our worth. It's been just
appointments all the way around. Now, we spend a lot
of time on Lebron James at hour two, did we
come to a consensus or not? Brandon, do you feel
like he's going to be back or do you think
that it's a situation where he might try to play
the field or at the very least see what the
field is out there for him.

Speaker 2 (02:06:17):
If the Lakers are giving him any type of offer
that other teams are giving him, he will be back.
There's no question his son plays on the team. He
loves Los Angeles. All this talk is all just mumbo jumbo,
Like if the Lakers will give him something that he's
willing to play for that other teams won't exceed like
twenty million, he'll be back in La.

Speaker 1 (02:06:39):
Is there any chance he's just done?

Speaker 2 (02:06:42):
Zero? Zero percent chance? I know he said it. I
know he said he didn't want a whole retirement tour,
but he deserves to be appreciated.

Speaker 1 (02:06:50):
Agreed, agreed, But there is this part of me that wonders,
if you don't want to risk one more year, you
don't want to tempt fate. There are certain things in
this life that are undefeated, death taxes and father time

(02:07:11):
is gonna get you. Every single time it got Tom Brady,
It's gonna get you. And I think he comes back,
I really do. But be a pretty cool time to
step out after what you did this year. Now everyone
wants to end with a title. Why would you quit
You're lost in the second round of the playoffs. Well

(02:07:34):
maybe he looks at it and says, I'm not going
to the Lakers, I'm not going to the Spurs, I'm
not going to the Knicks. You know, I know that
Indiana kind of came out of nowhere last year, but
they didn't win a title. So this whole idea that
everyone has a fairy tale ending is just not realistic.
I mean, look at wrestling, for goodness sakes, what do

(02:07:54):
all the legends do they lose in their last match?
No one anyone gets but they do, so I don't
understand why some would think, no, you got to go
take one more run at it. I don't think. I
don't think their strife between Heat and Luca, I really don't.

(02:08:15):
I don't think Luca is a drama guy. I think
he's a injury prone dude, but I don't think he's drama.
I think he's pretty drama free. But again, like I said,
watching Lebron a lot, he seems unhappy. And maybe that's
old age. Maybe when we hit about forty one, we
all look grumpy and like we don't like what we're doing.

(02:08:35):
But I'd like to I'd like to see him give
it another run. Now. The honest side of this is fascinating.
Larry Brown Sports how To report this week that the
first team up for Giannis would be the Miami Heat.
And I don't know, you know, if the Heat or
one player away from being back in the mix in
the East. I'm not gonna lie to you. I don't.
I don't really know what the hell's going on in

(02:08:56):
the East. I'm still shocked at the Knicks are where
they are because I thought they were vulnerable, but when
you make threes like they are right now, there's not
going to be many teams that can beat you. I
mean the Hawks, I felt like they had them and
then somehow lost the game by like fifty against them
in Game six. I mean, it was just crazy. So

(02:09:16):
maybe there is a chance for Miami to get a
Yiannis or go out and make a play for Lebron
to bring him back to Miami. I don't know, but
the East is a fascinating, fascinating area whenever it comes
to what teams are trying to do. Because Troit looks good,
but I'm even going to get out of them get
to the Eastern Conference finals. Cleveland looks good, but kind

(02:09:39):
of been there, done that with this team the postseason.
They've been disappointing the last couple of years. They could
pull it off tonight, change the whole narrative, But I
don't know, man, And they're counting on James Harden. James
Harden has not been that guy when it comes to
game sixers or Game sevens. Speaking of the NBA, are
we preparing ourselves for one of the wilder off seasons

(02:10:01):
that we've seen? One off season checklist has already been marked.
Steve Kerr will return to the Golden State Warriors had
the press conference, he talked about how close he came
to walking away. Did that surprise you at all, Brandon
that he came back, because it kind of did me.

Speaker 2 (02:10:18):
I'm not gonna lie, Yeah, it surprised me a lot.
They have no chance of competing. His legacy is cemented
as a head coach. I just don't get it. I
don't get it at all. It reminds me of if
Phil coming back after a while.

Speaker 1 (02:10:33):
He kind of reached that point where it's, hey, what
what do we have right now? What more can we accomplish?

Speaker 2 (02:10:40):
Or Phil continuing to coach rather Yeah, I mean it
was at the time was up and they just kept
trying to get something else out of it. And just
because you have one player like the Lakers did with
Kobe and the Warriors do with Steph, I mean, he's great,
but you're not going to beat these young teams.

Speaker 1 (02:11:00):
Meanwhile, we have one other major event today that I
haven't talked about much. It's the PGA Championship. Here is
what earlier today Rory McElroy said, Because I mean Rory
was out of this thing, as were many of the
top players, and then boom out of nowhere. You look
at the leaderboard and they're they're right there.

Speaker 22 (02:11:20):
Yeah, I you know, I think I pride myself on
managing my game well, on learning as I go on,
trying to I has problem solve as the week goes on.
And yeah, there were some things in my game, especially
in the driver I didn't like on Thursday. So I
went and I worked on it, tried to tried to

(02:11:42):
get a feeling that I was comfortable with, and I've
I've certainly driven the ball.

Speaker 1 (02:11:48):
Better the last couple of days. Still not perfect, but.

Speaker 22 (02:11:53):
Much better, and I given myself opportunities from the fairways
and being able to make more berties because of it.

Speaker 1 (02:11:59):
Mackel three shots back after shooting a four under today,
and also right there is Shane Lowry. But Shane Lowry
was interesting. Maybe I should rephrase this. Shane Lowry is
a guy that was there early on, shot a first
round sixty eight. Then he went seventy six and seventy

(02:12:23):
so he was right there in the mix. Then the
bottom fell out. Listen to this explanation as to why
he thinks golfers are struggling in Philly. There's been criticism
of a set up here. Yes, Wake at a Robinik.
What have you made of it?

Speaker 23 (02:12:37):
Yeah, I think it's a great golf course, but I
think a husbands oh pretty poorly.

Speaker 1 (02:12:41):
I like, you know, I guess that people.

Speaker 23 (02:12:44):
Saying the home on the couch can say whether there's
some people are making birdie, some people are shooting good scores.
That's always going to happen. You are the best players
in the world. But you know, when you see I
was happy to hear Rory and Scott his comments, yes, sir,
because it wasn't just me feeling it out there. I
feel like when you see the best players in the
world struggling from ten feet, you know that there's something
wrong somewhere. So I think they got wrong in the

(02:13:05):
first to days. It looks like they've you know, it
was certainly a little bit easier today and it looks
like that's kind of maybe a reaction to the first
two days, which.

Speaker 1 (02:13:14):
Is not right either.

Speaker 23 (02:13:15):
You know, we want to play like that similar setup
every day, and you know the course you want to
play a golf course. It gets harder as the week
goes on, especially in these major championships, and you look
at the field so Bourns maybe that's a reason for
the setup.

Speaker 1 (02:13:28):
Who it is. By the way, when you get mad
at players who complain in the NBA about foul calls
and thinks of that nature, just to remember every single
golf course you can fire ore, every single golf event
you can find a player who's going to complain about it,
win or lose. Shout out by the way to the
leaderboard where Alex Smalley has the lead, but there's John

(02:13:52):
Ram two shots back, there's Rory McElroy, Patrick, Reid, Sanders,
Shoftley all right in the mix. Should be a fun
final today out in Philly. And then real quick to
put a rap on this first segment of the Final Hour,
we mentioned coach Prime standing up for his guy. Now,
we had a bit of a debate earlier about the

(02:14:12):
Browns and what we think might happen at the quarterback
position in twenty twenty six for Cleveland. Well, Dion Sanders
came out this week to stand for his son and
met with Todd Monkin and they met father to son
or coach to coach. Here's what Dion had to say

(02:14:34):
about it.

Speaker 24 (02:14:36):
I was supposed to go actually next week, but I
got to shoot a commercial to Cleveland to meet him.
Because I want to meet him because I think it's
vital that as a coach, not today, I could tell
him a few things about growing how to get him
going that wasn't asked of me a year ago.

Speaker 1 (02:14:56):
I don't understand it.

Speaker 24 (02:14:57):
Like even a guy like Travis hunter named draft to
Jacksonville and I've had him for the last.

Speaker 1 (02:15:03):
Three don't you think you would want to talk to
me to let me.

Speaker 24 (02:15:06):
Know, to ask me how what what gets him going
and what backs him off? And like you wouldn't want
to know that. So I anticipated that. I can't wait
to have that conversation with coach Munkett.

Speaker 1 (02:15:23):
Dion is different than most dads of both of his sons.
I say that in quotes with Travis Hunner and of
course his biological Sunshin or Sanders. But he wasn't done.
He wasn't done asked about the pre draft process for Sanders.

Speaker 24 (02:15:41):
You know, it was some ignorant things came out about
him pre draft and all that, and that was a lie.

Speaker 1 (02:15:48):
Like he would never go.

Speaker 24 (02:15:49):
Into a meeting with headphones on, He would never go
into a meeting unprepared, Like.

Speaker 1 (02:15:54):
That's just not who he is.

Speaker 24 (02:15:56):
It's no way he could accomplish the things he accomplish
with that being prepared, so that all that stuff was
a line man. Now that that bothered me. It didn't
bother him, but that bothered me.

Speaker 1 (02:16:10):
So usually whenever things are fabricated, it's to benefit somebody, right.
In other words, Gosh, we were talking about in the
draft this year that they were trying to raise concerns
about that Reuben Bain in his arms right, and I

(02:16:31):
took him off for a draft board because his arms
are too short or things of that nature. Well, teams
might want him to slide. Now there's measurables there. So
it's a little bit different. But maybe it's attitude, maybe
it's the way that they handled things in team meetings
or whatever. But you always have some sort of underlying

(02:16:51):
theme or plan. There's always a reason behind it. But
I don't know, I kind of what Dion's saying here.
We do have a world that we don't really dig
too terribly much to see if something is real, and
we'll just go with it and we'll run with it.

(02:17:11):
And then when you find out that it's not real
or it's fake, it's usually a reaction of oh well,
oh well, oh well, Arnie's guilty of that. Arnie, that's
not fake. Oh well, all right, that's not real. That's fake.
Well well so, I mean it wasn't out there from
team guys. It was out there from draft reporters, but

(02:17:32):
it was enough to where Dion felt the need to respond.
And oh yeah, in a time where everyone faces tough times,
apparently no one has faced tougher times than Shodoor Sanders.
Listen to this.

Speaker 24 (02:17:43):
Well, he take off his shirt. I see the scars
on his back that he's been through hell. But he's
made it through hell. See a lot of people stopped
in the middle when they walking through it.

Speaker 1 (02:17:52):
He kept going.

Speaker 24 (02:17:54):
And he matured, not like he was a child, but
matured spiritually.

Speaker 1 (02:18:00):
Well, I understand you. Game forced is okay, great, great,
This is a dad proud of his son and his
spiritual maturation. But come on, man, hey, he's he was
an All world college player. You retired his number after
being there for two whole seasons, and you never won

(02:18:24):
a bowl game and you only went to one. He
was drafted, albeit lower than some expected. He made an
NFL roster, started NFL games. Plural took some criticism on
social media, but he's been out there and in it
his whole life, and he's grown up when the ex

(02:18:45):
world and the TikTok world and the Facebook world, I mean,
criticism be damned. Don't try to tell me. Don't sell
me on the hell that he's been through because some
people questioned the kind of football player he was. Come on,
you were an NFL player. Financially, this kid's been set

(02:19:08):
his whole life, been through hell. Why because people question
his motivations it happens. Are you a believer in Brandon
real quick? Before we break on this, and I didn't
mean to have a whole shitt or segment here. Are
you a believer in him as an NFL player? Because
I'm not. I mean, he looked okay. I don't think
he's a future quarterback.

Speaker 2 (02:19:26):
No, But it's also ridiculous. When you make this much
money and you have all the opportunities that you have,
you're going to get criticism when you're in that public right,
Like players are always like, oh, people are so critical
of us writers and stuff. Well, you're making one hundred
million dollars, right, not schudu or in this case, But
there is a lot of privilege that he's carried throughout

(02:19:48):
his career. That's just a fact.

Speaker 1 (02:19:51):
The appearance was on a show called The Barbershop with
Garrett bush Man. I mentioned everyone has a podcast? Does
everyone have a bar rb shops show now too? They
asked about Shiloh Sanders and his comments to Mary Kay
Cabot in which he told her to go make a

(02:20:11):
sandwich or make me a sandwich. Mary Kay's longtime reporter
for the Cleveland Plain Dealer quote, deon Sanders, we don't
talk about nobody. We don't do nothing to nobody. I
know Shiloh had a little altercation that he spoke for
his brother. You've got to understand, man, that's his brother,
and God blessed Mary Kay's soul. That's his brother. I

(02:20:34):
mean she said something, he said something like media is
different today. I know a lot of people don't respect
the old school. I do because I grew up in
that era that we didn't have to say, we didn't
have a say so. But Shiloh spoke up for his
brother and was ridiculed for that. Dion, you poured beer

(02:20:57):
all over our water whatever, all over Tim mccarver's head
while he was doing an interview, because you couldn't stand
the way that he had talked about you, And you're
gonna tell me you didn't have a say so players
would use the media and writers differently because we didn't
have social media. But come on, it's different. But stop.
He said something that was out of line. Sure he

(02:21:21):
was standing up for his brother, but just because I'm
standing up for somebody doesn't mean it's okay to be
racist or misogynistic or whatever whatever term you want to use.
I don't. I gotta listen to this whole thing now.
I gotta see what else I'm gonna learn from Prime.
But there you go. Deon's added again Megan headlines and

(02:21:43):
do you know what he's not talking about his football
team that hasn't won a bowl game since he took
over as the head coach. That it's not very good.
But boy, that two and oh start his first year,
three and oh start, I'm sorry three and oh and
they only won one more game. That was really something.
All right, it's a Bernie Fratto show here on Fox

(02:22:05):
Sports Radio. When we come back. Hit some calls at eight, seven,
seven ninety nine on Fox Jumping. If you want on
the X I'm at Plank Show, everyone to go follow
us at Fox Sports Radio. It was also a very
interesting week in the world of college football. Now, don't worry,
Shady Sean. I'm not going in depth on the games.
I'm not talking about preseason polls. I'm talking about Lane Kiffin.

(02:22:26):
Got a little lane next right here. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com and
within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live. It's
the Bernie Fratto Show here on Fox Sports Radio. You
guys know, I am hitting the road after the show.

(02:22:50):
I've got a big road trip coming up. My son
is graduating next weekend, and we are celebrating his graduation
by basically taking twenty five family members cross country. Now
everyone's going at different times, so I'm leaving tomorrow to

(02:23:11):
get there early. We're going to do a big celebration
for him, my mom and my dad's family. My mom's
family are leaving later in the week. My seventeen year
old daughter and my mother in law have already left,
and we got a crew meeting us. But the reason
I bring this up because I need some help, Mark Brandon.
I am hitting the road for a twenty two hour

(02:23:34):
road trip one way, which means coming back. Math is
not the best, But that's a forty four hour road
trip with a twelve year old and my wife that
I'm sure is going to include many stops that will
add at the very least an hour to it factor

(02:23:56):
in traffic, maybe like an hour and a half, almost two.
So I'm looking at, I don't know what, two full
days on the road with that in mind, because I'm
open for options. Here, go to road trip, gotta have snack, Brandon,
I'll start with you. What's the go to? God? Now,

(02:24:19):
don't tell me you've never been on a road trip.

Speaker 2 (02:24:21):
No, I have been on. Yeah, I've been on a
lot of road trips. Okay, good, I'd say, I mean
this is generic. I'd say protein bars that.

Speaker 1 (02:24:32):
Is very generic, but like Cliff like, is there a
certain brand?

Speaker 2 (02:24:38):
No, not cliff Bars. More what brand do I?

Speaker 1 (02:24:43):
Okay, okay, don't say protein bars. You're cheating. You're gonna
get a candy or you're gonna get something. What would
be the I can't. I mean, I understand your workout warrior,
We're both are the same. But I'm looking for something
that either sweet or spicy or something other.

Speaker 2 (02:25:00):
Than healthy for me. Yeah, okay, milk duds, I guess.

Speaker 1 (02:25:07):
He is human. Ladies and gentlemen, Mark, what is your
goat to?

Speaker 3 (02:25:12):
I'm going to go for the crunch and the salties.
So either a bag of fre doos or a bag
of a box of Pringles.

Speaker 1 (02:25:19):
See you know what's weird about? Okay, that's that's really good,
because what's weird about? Because I don't I mean, brand
and I are very similar in this. I try not
to eat too many sweets. But you have a very
tough choice to make, because let's say you're right, you
get free Doos. There's no longer like a bag that

(02:25:40):
is normal. It's either the smallest bag you've ever seen
in your life or the largest, right, So there's no
one between anymore. Same with pringles, you get the whole
can of that little bit tiny one that's not enough
milk duds. Do you worry about milk duds? Well? And
if you don't eat him a lot anymore, do you
worry about them getting stuck in your teeth a little bit?

Speaker 8 (02:26:00):
No?

Speaker 2 (02:26:01):
I have them again, this is like what I would
have in a movie. I'm just thinking of, Like that
would be the same thing that I would have on
the road.

Speaker 1 (02:26:11):
I'm not a big candy guy, but I become a
big corn nut guy. You guys have had corn nuts before.

Speaker 2 (02:26:18):
Yeah, I'm terrible for you. Not a big corn nuts guy.

Speaker 1 (02:26:22):
Gotta have strong teeth.

Speaker 2 (02:26:24):
You gotta fight your radar on my radar, not on
your radar.

Speaker 1 (02:26:28):
You gotta make sure you soften them up a little bit.
But I am. I am road tripping with family twenty
two hours one way. So no, I'm not missing the
show tomorrow night for softball. Softball will be done by
the show. I'm missing the show tomorrow night or later
tonight with Arnie because my son is graduating from college

(02:26:49):
and I'm going to celebrate it. I'm missing everything this week.
It's the busiest week of the year, and that's how
much I love my boy. Just gotta go, gotta be
there now. It is kind of crazy because when I graduated,
there was one event, the graduation. Did you guys have
anything more when you graduated, Brandon? Was it just a
graduation or were their dinners beforehand?

Speaker 2 (02:27:12):
Yeah? I had no, it was just a post graduation thing, right.

Speaker 1 (02:27:18):
But from the school right, there wasn't anything more than
just a graduation.

Speaker 2 (02:27:21):
I mean, I went to a pretty big school, so
where'd you go USC? So it was you know, it
was the We actually had it in at the coliseum.

Speaker 1 (02:27:31):
So everyone graduates or do they break it down by
the different schools, because I'm gonna o you here, they
have like all the like the Business College will have it,
then they'll have that. Everyone will have a different graduation.

Speaker 2 (02:27:42):
Yeah, it's broken down by different schools.

Speaker 1 (02:27:45):
He has events all the way around. I don't think
I've ever seen anything like this. There is a ball,
there's a ceremony, there's the actual graduation itself, there's a
commissioning that takes place. Like literally, I'm gonna be sitting
at events all week and long, and again, not complaining,
I'm celebrating. But different world man, different world. Now. As

(02:28:11):
a father, I don't feel like I'm gonna have to
go out and say anything to anyone to help defend
him or stand up for him as he graduates and
moves in to a career in the military. But there
is one famous father that stood up for his son
and it made headlines for years and years and years,
and that one father is arch Manning. Archie Manning back

(02:28:34):
in the day, son of Peyton and Eli grandfather of
the greatest quarterback apparently that's ever played college football in
Arch Manning. Archie became famous for his great played Ole
miss for his time. After being the number one pick
in the draft with the New Orleans Saints, arch Manning
was an icon. Never had the on the field success

(02:28:57):
that his sons did, but had legacy. One of those
is of saying, my son will not play for the
Chargers because there was a time when the San Diego
Chargers were in position to draft Eli Manning and he

(02:29:17):
kind of, you know, it's one of those how could
history have been different kind of a moment, What if
Eli Manning had ended up with the Chargers? YadA, YadA, YadA. Well,
I'm always intrigued by even if it is, what in
this case, you know, twenty five years later, the kind
of why behind it. And on this week's Busting with

(02:29:38):
the Boys, Eli Manning is their special guest and Taylor
Lawan asked a question that I would want to know
from elis wrong with the Chargers.

Speaker 19 (02:29:48):
I just didn't feel like they were the most committed
team to winning at the time. Marty Schottenheimer was the
head coach who was awesome had great respect for him,
but like they came to work me out in New Orleans,
went to dinner, and like there was this friction between
you know, the head coach, general manager, like the owners.
They're all like yelling, kind of like fighting. We're at

(02:30:09):
a Marriotte like restaurant, and you know, Seanheimer's mad that
were He's like, we're in New Orleans reading now a
Marriott and you know, so he's like pissed. They're like
kind of just bickering, and it just seemed didn't seem
like there was a whole lot of like agreement on things,
and like they were kind of like committed to building
a great, winning franchise at that moment.

Speaker 2 (02:30:27):
My parents really weren't supportive.

Speaker 19 (02:30:29):
My dad didn't like the idea, and he came to
my defense and like supported me after everything was going down.

Speaker 2 (02:30:34):
But a lot of you didn't like that.

Speaker 3 (02:30:35):
You were kind of demanding, I don't want to go
to Sandy, right.

Speaker 19 (02:30:38):
He didn't like he didn't like that, and afterwards he
took like a blunt of a lot of the criticism
because he kind of came to my defense and you know,
people are saying, oh, you played in New Orleans, all
those years you didn't win, so you're trying to dictate,
like where your son's going. He's and and he just
kind of, you know, bit his tongue and said, I'm
just you know, like, this is what he wants to do,
and I support him. And he kind of did some

(02:30:58):
media to try to save me from doing all the
media and taking the hits.

Speaker 1 (02:31:02):
So that's interesting because I think for a lot of us,
we look back at that and it was Archie trying
to dictate the path for Eli. And we hear so
many times about horrible interviews that take place, teams asking
terrible questions and things of that nature to change anyone's

(02:31:24):
perspective at all, or have they been able to manicure
the story over the last few years. It's one of
my favorite what could have been moments. Now I don't
want to get into the what could have been moments
with the NFL draft, with the Raiders and the guys
that they passed on only to see them be taken
one pick later. That's a graphic I never want to
see again in my life. When you think about your

(02:31:46):
greatest misses for your Niners, just one pop to mind,
because I know mine's drafting Fabian Washington instead of Aaron Rodgers.
That hurts a little bit. Robert Gallery ahead of Calvin
Johnson are actually that would have been JaMarcus Russ ahead
of you. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:32:01):
I was gonna say there's some other Raiders drafts. I
actually think none of those were the war I mean
the worst draft ever was like twenty and twenty one.
I mean the Ruggs. Should have been a good player,
should have been a good he was gonna be a
good player, you know, like that was It was the
rest of the draft like our ned in Like was
Leatherwood the next year? Oh my god. I mean yeah,
there were some bad, bad picks. I've disliked almost every

(02:32:24):
Niners pick the last like five years. I mean, Lynch,
you know what's crazy is like to be such a
great drafter when he starts and again there's a lot
that goes into it. Like he drafted Deebo, Samuel Dray Greenlaw,
and Nick Bosa all in the same draft in twenty nineteen,
drafted Fred Warner the year before, and then twenty twenty

(02:32:46):
Javon Kinlow over Ceedee Lamb as well and Justin Jefferson.
You get ay, you Cane that draft looks like a hit.
But since then one all pro just one that he's drafted. Now,
the trades he's made have been great, like Christian McCaffrey,
Trent Williams, that's why they've stayed competitive. They hit on
Brock Party, who was notoriously a Brian Greasy pick was
not a John Lynch pick. So like the one is obvious,

(02:33:09):
it's Trey Lance, right, But I feel like the pick
at the time wasn't that bad. It was the three
picks they traded that was the bad part. Because Lance
is a prospect, was had immense upside. He just didn't
play enough in college, right, Like I was less mad
about the pick, still not mad about the pick. Mad
that they gave up three firsts.

Speaker 1 (02:33:29):
Yeah, because you even look back and let's see here,
So they took Lance number three. Jamar Chase will look
pretty good in a Niners uniform. But I don't think
they were going to trade up to get a wide receiver,
you know, maybe Penny Seul. But I mean things have
worked out okay with Trent Williams, Mike Party. I'm just
still getting guys who went after him. But they gave

(02:33:51):
up a lot, a lot they traded let's see here,
first and second round. Wait, hold on, it's not the
right pick that I'm looking at. First and second round picks,
a twenty twenty first round selection, a twenty twenty two
sixth round selection. Now you gave up a lot, a lot, yeah,

(02:34:14):
to first and a third.

Speaker 2 (02:34:15):
I mean, no one will ever do a deal like
that again because of that, and he stoles a job.
Because of Rock.

Speaker 1 (02:34:21):
Perdy, Miami traded the third overall to San Francisco in
exchange for the twelfth overall pick, first and third round
picks and a twenty twenty three first round pick. It
was bad, but I will say, I don't know if
you had a dad dictating who wanted to go? Whar

(02:34:41):
all right? One other loose in that I need to
tie up before we get out of here. Lane Kiffin.
What a week for Lane Kiffin if you missed it,
The old Miss coach, former Old Miss coach, now current
LSU coach spoke to Vanity Fair, which again never read

(02:35:01):
in my life, but apparently from everyone who covers college
football they tell me it is a left leaning magazine. Whatever,
and Lane Kiffin lamented the fact that while he was
at Old Miss, he had problems getting people to come
to Old Miss because of the lack of diversity. Now,
we all know that racism is a problem, and we

(02:35:24):
all know that there aren't many places where racism was
more prominent and prevalent than in the South. But to
bring it up now when you're at another school and
it's a place that treated you so well, seems a
little bit odd. But Paul Feinbaum ESPN's well, I kind
of look at him as the guy that comes on

(02:35:45):
and dumps all over college football anytime that they talk
about it. Had an interesting perspective on the reason why
he thinks Lane Kiffin said what he's saying.

Speaker 25 (02:35:55):
I talked to the writer who did the Vanity therapiece
the other day, Kurt Smith. He said he didn't even
asked Kiffen about the racism aspect of it.

Speaker 1 (02:36:04):
Kifvin just started rifting.

Speaker 25 (02:36:06):
And this is Kiffen trying to wipe All Miss off
the face of the earth. He is still very bitter
at them, even though they're the jolted lover. He's bitter
at them Greenie because they wouldn't let him coach in
the playoffs and he has to recruit against them, And
he also has to play against them on September nineteenth,
a game that will gain a little bit of attention now.

Speaker 1 (02:36:28):
I had not thought about that too much. If you're
still holding ill will because they didn't let you coach
in the playoffs, the number one why leave in the
first place? And number two why not just say it?
Why not just say it? Hey, man, I'm mad they
didn't let me coach. I think we could have won
a title. They almost did without me. I think with

(02:36:49):
me there, we would have won a national championship. Say it.
You don't have to. You don't have to suddenly become
the pied piper of all things that were wrong, because
you sure and sech weren't complaining about any of those
issues when you were there. But a wild week for
Lane Kiffin, a wild week for college football, which I

(02:37:10):
guess unless I fell for another fake tweet, has led
to Lane tapping out on social media for a while.
Don't blame them. It's time to talk about your team. Man.
If I sat around and talked about my ex all
the time, I kind of do. But if I really did,
what would I be accomplishing in life? You gotta move on.
Talk about where you are the now. Gotta break. We'll
get you ready for what's next right here on dor listen.

(02:37:34):
Hey no, Fox Sports Radio, Hey, don't forget. If you
missed any of today's show, you can catch it on
the podcast. Just search of Fox Sports Radio wherever you
get your podcast. Right after the show, today's podcast will
be posted. Be sure to follow rated five stars. You

(02:37:55):
can even provide a review, say something nice about the
great Bernie Fratto again in Just search Fox Sports Radio
wherever you get your podcast, and you'll find today's full
show posted right after we get off the air. All right,
gut feel right now? Game seven, I've got the Pistons.
Which way are you leaning? Brandon Piston's calves?

Speaker 2 (02:38:16):
Yeah, I have to trust James Harden on this. No,
I'm kidding. I'm gonna go with Detroit. I just like
for what I said, like Thompson asked to guard Mitchell.
So he's gonna be in hell the entire game, and
that's gonna rely on James Harness to win you the game.
He's not going to Pistons are gonna waker.

Speaker 1 (02:38:32):
Staff this week had something very hilarious to say the
Piston's coach, which can be confusing because he was the
Calves coach before he was the Piston's coach. But the
Detroit Pistons coach had this to say about James Harden.

Speaker 26 (02:38:48):
He's got an unbelievable ability to manipulate what the rules are.

Speaker 1 (02:38:52):
Right.

Speaker 26 (02:38:52):
And we were together four years in Cleveland or excuse
me and Houston, and you know, you would watch him
and he had I would play one on one and
he would valbate me, you know what I mean, Like
he would use him serious, Like he would only get
to play offense and I would play defense, and he
would practice those things and he would work on them,
you know, even just playing one on one versus me.

(02:39:13):
So it's like he has a great understanding of the
rules and then how to manipulate him in his favor.

Speaker 1 (02:39:19):
Now again, I don't think that's a knock. It's very concerning, right,
But Harden's been one of the best in the league
at drawing fouls. And you know the thing is we're
in a league or that's a head coach, and he's
been a head coach at several places, Memphis, Cleveland and

(02:39:40):
now obviously the success he's having a Detroit were praising that. Oh,
you know, he's good at what a midrage jumper. No
three point shot? Driving to the rim? No? What rebounding?

Speaker 25 (02:39:55):
No?

Speaker 1 (02:39:55):
What is it drawing fouls? What? So James Harden in
the big game has been less than stellar. We'll see
which way it goes here tonight. And you know, it's
kind of funny because we didn't spend as much time
tonight on Aaron Rodgers as I thought we would, probably

(02:40:17):
because there wasn't much doubt about whether or not he
was gonna come back. But it does, it does kind
of magnify, how you know, at a place like Pittsburgh.
You know, I think you're thinking about this when you
have vet quarterbacks across the league, you gotta start thinking
about your plan for the future at QB. And I'm
I don't know Will Howard is that for the Steelers

(02:40:40):
or not. I mean, Mason Rudolph has been there forever,
but he's not a starter in this league. They don't
have a plan for the future right now. So pair
up Mike McCarthy with a guy that he's familiar with,
he's had some success with. They know how to use him.
They got to detect him. What did George say the

(02:41:02):
antique when he called in earlier this hour. They got
to protect the antique, and I think Pittsburgh has a
good shot as good a shot of it as anyway.
I think Jesse Minner is a hell of a higher
in Baltimore. I think they're gonna be fun defensively. We'll
see how they look offensively as well. It's obviously a
new air in Cleveland. I mean, heck, the only regular

(02:41:23):
thing coming back in that division is Zach Taylor. But
who knows about the health of Joe Burrow Right, got
to keep him healthy. But a fascinating time in the
AFC North with the return of one Aaron Rodgers and
I how about the story of the night haven't even
talked about it? The Texas Tech softball team was down
eight zip down to their last out and they came

(02:41:45):
back and won the game, won the game? Who does
that all? It's a busy day. We got you covered
talk in Game seven all day long right here on
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