Fallout from the Luka Doncic Trade and Texas Softball Coach Mike White joins the program

Get over the midweek hump with Craig Way and Cameron Parker on Wednesday's show. They visit with Texas Softball head coach Mike White ahead of their season-opener on Friday. Plus, fallout from the Luka Doncic trade, latest on Kevin Durant, and audio from Texas Women's Basketball head coach Vic Schaefer.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
If Wednesday is your true hump day, getting over the
hump and down the hill toward the weekend, I hope
it went well for you. For those of you for
who Wednesday is a Friday, good on you, Good for you,
Good for you, and enjoy those next few days off
after that. And for those of you maybe Wednesday's the
start of your week. If that's the case, hope it

(00:21):
goes well for.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
You as well.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Good afternoon, Welcome to the program here on thirteen under
the Zone. My name is Craig Way. Glad to have
you with us, and.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Glad to have the producer back in the studio.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
First time we've been back in the studio together since
I was since before I got violently ill over the weekend, and.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Especially on violently it violently well, the coughing was violent.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Put it that way. Cameron D. Parker is the producer.
The D on the per certificate stands for Dallas as
in a city in uproar. Still an uproar about that,
and it was so pain meaningful for my wife. Wanted
to watch Luka Doncic there at a Lakers news conference
yesterday talk about how he's excited about this, and I

(01:09):
know for a lot of Mavericks fans. Did you see
where the Mavericks have offered refunds on season tickets? I did, Yeah, Like,
if you're that upset about it, we'll refund your season tickets.
And there's people like you think, really really upset about
this deal. You know, so you and I haven't had
a chance really to talk that much about the actual

(01:32):
trade itself. And uh and in your first of all,
here's here's the question that everybody's asking. Did the Mavericks
get fleeced? Okay, all right, I don't think it's humn
the question anymore. Yeah, I started saying, I'm not going
to disagree with you on that. You know, they needed
a post president, needed a bigger presence inside and Anthony

(01:54):
Davis Gibson. Then, but when you got your your team,
I know they have Kyri Yarby, But when you got
your team by having kind of really the heart and
soul and some would say the calves of your of
your franchise that appeared on your doorstep at age nineteen,

(02:16):
and you built so much equity into him and heat
into you, and then you turn and send him packing.
Fans were going to be extremely upset about it. And
then the other ancillary parts of that deal don't necessarily
seem to favor the Mavericks as well.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
Did Jerry Jones send Nico Harrison a fruit basket? Everybody
asked that question first GM in Texas.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
If you've seen all the jifts that had, like Jerry
at a Mavericks quarter zip, stuff.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Like that, making these incredible it was incredible content.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
I still trying to make sense of it.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
Craig and I just keep coming back to the fact
that the Mavericks trade away a top three player. I
understand the condition, the concerns about his conditioning and being
overweight and the injuries, and not wanting to pay him
three hundred and forty eight million dollars. He's still a
top three player in the league. It's just inexcusable and
the worries, Yeah, we don't want to pay him that
he's twenty five years old.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
He's twenty six years old.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
Luka donca to a thirty years old is still going
to be a top five, top ten player. Now, maybe
Nico Harrison will be right. Maybe in five years to
the Lakers will be dealing with the same issues. In
first take, we'll be talking about you know, what does
Luca have to do? They get into shape and the
Lakers trade him all this stuff, But he's gone the
two Western Conference finals in the past three years. He's

(03:38):
gone to the NBA Finals a year ago. They had
a great roster this season. I know they had the
injuries with I think Lively and Kyrie and obviously Luca,
but still felt like they were going to contend for
the finals this season if all those guys were healthy,
and maybe they just aren't going to be healthy. Maybe
Mavericks know, Hey, this team, it's reached its ceiling to

(04:00):
the finals last season and we're completely outplayed by the
Boston Celtics who are right there, and the Caves are
back this season.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Maybe that's it.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
And of course we're hearing all these murmurs that the
relationship was beyond fractured, and maybe it is. You know,
we don't know what it's like to be in that building, Craig.
You know, maybe it was just it was incomprehensible what
was happening with Luca and the organization and the teammates.
But still I keep coming to the fact, coming back
to the fact that one you traded away a top
three point in the league in two you only spoke

(04:28):
to one team.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
You spoke to one team, that was it. Yeah, and
they found what they wanted out of the one deal.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
I agree with that. I think they had just gotten
frustrated and just were just done with him having the injury. Now,
you know, I've joked. I said this again on the
Area yesterday. I joked about the fact that Luca with
the calf injuries. I said, it's because he has cankles.
You know, he has those calves that go right into
the ankles there. But even so, the conditioning thing was
something that were really becoming exasperated with as it also

(04:59):
related to off season diet and conditioning, and so that's
what they were, you know, apparently frustrated with that he
wasn't following the conditioning plan and training plan that they
had for him. So I think I think there was
a lot of But still, I mean, I'm sure, I'm

(05:22):
sure Nico Harrison thought we're going to get backlash from
fans on this, But did he count on it being
as prolific as it was?

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Does it sound like it? Yeah? Does it sound like
I suppose not?

Speaker 1 (05:36):
And at the same time, you feel bad for an
Anthony Davis he's just showing up to work. You know,
he's he was surprised by it as well, So you
know what, you know, what are they going to get
out of this going forward? Was also what twenty twenty
nine first round pick out of the deal.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
Didn't even get the twenty thirty one first round pick,
just one first round pick.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Anyway, it's that's you know, that's unfortunate there, But we'll
continue to watch it and see I go. As they
lost by two last night, Davis was not available for that,
but he could be available for their next game, and
Luke could be could be ready for the Lakers next matchup.
All right, coming up on the program here in just
a few minutes, what a visit with Texas softball head

(06:20):
coach Mike White, the preseason number one team in the country,
although coach White said yesterday in a media availability, how
can that be?

Speaker 2 (06:30):
So we'll get his thoughts on all of that. We'll
do that. We have inconceivable this hour, we'll do that.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
We'll hear a little bit from Vick Schaeffer, Texas women's
basketball coach, because they played tomorrow night, and of course
tonight for the Longhorn men, big match up against the
Arkansas Razorbacks, an Arkansas team coming off of the win
over Kentucky and Texas with a big test on tap.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
So we'll look forward to that all right.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
But up next, Mike White, Texas softball coach, will join
us here on the Craigway Show on am D team.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Under the Zone.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
We wanted to take this opportunity because we are right
on the cusp of the start of a brand new
season for Texas. Off all, the Longhorns open in the
Louisiana Classic Friday afternoon at three point thirty against Longwood
and you can hear that on our HD three signal
FM signal here through iHeart and also online at Texas

(07:24):
Longhorns dot com. As they play the long Horn Lancers
on Friday, and then they'll take on Louisiana, the host
school on Friday night. So the two games Friday and
then on Saturday against Saint John's at noon, followed by
a matchup against Lamar and then you know it's on
the Huntsville for the Bearcat Classic on Sunday Tulsa and

(07:47):
Sam Houston, with a couple of games there before returning home.
So right out of the gate on the road, and
we're so pleased to have Mike White, Texas head coach
join us.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Now, Mike, I appreciate the time. How are you today.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
Doing great things?

Speaker 2 (07:59):
Craig?

Speaker 4 (08:00):
Obviously the widd of this week's has been awesome for us, awful,
So I get you thinking about it and now we're ready.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
To go, no doubt about it. The first thing I
got to ask is this, And I know from talking
to to Sark, from talking to Rodney Terry, from talking
to Vic Schaeffer, scheduling has become more and more a challenge.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Same thing with coach Las Nicole.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Scheduling has become more and more challenge and Intercollegiate Athletics
d SEAS for any number of reasons would would would
you say that this year was also one of those
more challenging years for you in terms of you and
your staff getting together the type of schedule that you
wanted to have for this season.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (08:38):
Absolutely, I mean we if we changed the schedule so
much this this full and kind of got late into it,
and that's why we've had this this fist matchup when
we were stopping in three different cities, which I've never
done before. Cert not something you really want to do,
you know, out of the gate, but something we had
to do. Its been difficult to get teams to come
in to play us, and then uh and also you know,

(08:59):
to play in other venues with some teams just don't
want to play you, and that's it makes it very tough.
So but we've been able to kind of work around
it and Coach Laski has done an awesome job with that.
And you know, we even going to Ohio State and
and you know late Uly match there and this could
be you know, it could be chilly up that way.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
Now you answered my first question because in looking at
the schedule, I thought, I don't think I've ever seen
that where you've played three consecutive uh you know, tournaments
or classics whatever. Uh and back to back to back
in three different cities.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
Laugh. Yette Beaumont in Huntsville.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Now, I know that's the I ten corridor until you
get to Houston and go up an hour to Huntsville.
But still, in all that that could take a little
bit of toll on the team. How do you how
do you and the training staff and everybody make sure
that everybody stays fresh. I guess it's also helpful that
it's starting out at the season and this isn't happening,
say two thirds of the way through, where it could
be a grind exactly.

Speaker 4 (09:56):
You know, it's going to be a difficult season as
far as travel goes anyway, going into the SEC schools
and having to travel a little bit more, I mean
having to take three flights plus the SEC tournament. So
that's this could be a good way for us to
get used to traveling, but you know, it's something we
had to do, and we just got to kind of
focus on doing the basically can during this stretch.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Well, I want to get your thoughts on the team.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
I got a chuckle out of seeing the sound bite
yesterday from you when I guess somebody asked you about
this preseason number one thing and you brought up the
fact that, well, there is a four time defending national champion,
and as far as we're concerned, you're the CHAMPI until
you get beat.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
I mean, what's your overall.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Feeling about this kind of thing and about preseason polls overall?

Speaker 4 (10:44):
Well, I think sometimes the preseason polls people just want
to see someone different, you know, and create some sort
of uh yeah sort of story. And so this is
a good one for them, obviously taking us from last
year being ranked one going into the College World Series,
so just to carry over there, but also has a
lot about players and our program and how that how

(11:04):
hard they've worked, and it's an on it, don't get
me wrong, for sure, but we also know there's a
lot of work ahead of us and a lot of
really good teams to get to play.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Heard Resatwood talking about it and saying, hey, you know,
it's nice and we remember last but we remember how
last year ended, and so we've got a lot of
work to do. Has that been the attitude that you've
seen from your group reflected early on about yeah, okay,
all that stuff is nice, but uh they know the
challenges and the task ahead of them.

Speaker 4 (11:30):
Yeah, it really is. And we've talked about it. It's
just a big elephant in the room, right and you know,
we know what it is. It's there. Now let's just
go play like it's not there and just play good softball.
Do the things we need to do to be able
to create, you know, good records.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
One is to qualify for.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
The postseason, Two is to get in the top sixteen,
and three is the top eight then hopefully win a
national championship on the end of it. But it's a
progression and it only rewards us if we play well.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
I've got to get your thoughts on this. I was
I was stunned, not only by the fact that, like
you said, here's here's Oklahoma, four time defending national champion.
They're not number one, They're not even number one or
number two in their own league. They're number three. But
does that also say something about how good Florida is
since the Gators are picked number two in the league.

Speaker 4 (12:15):
Oh yeah, Well, also, don't forget about Tennessee and and
m and you know all the others that are in
that league. And then of course outside of it, you've
got Jordi Ball coming back, you know, the Bill all
Americans for Okcahoma that transferred and was injured. And then
you've got Niga Canaday for Texas Tech now, and then
you've got UCLA and so you know, you've just kind

(12:35):
of looked past teams. And I'm sure they hope we
do look past them, but we certainly not. And we understand.
You know, any day you can get beat if you're
just done play good softball.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
No question about visiting with Mike White, Texas softball head
coach here on AM thirteen hundred The Zentner.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
You mentioned injuries.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you about when
you got the news about Vivi Martinez. How uh you know,
how difficult was that for you and for the team
to understand or to deal with the fact that you
weren't going to have her as important as she was
to your group last year, and I would imagine as
important as everybody figured she would be to your ball

(13:11):
club this year.

Speaker 4 (13:12):
Oh yeah, she just uh, you know, she's kind of
one of those players you'd pay to come watch. She's
so smooth and does everything well, you know, offensively, defensively,
great kid on and off the field, you know, doesn't
get rattled. And to see that happen was kind of devastating.
It was hard, you know, especially you feel more for
the kid than anything else because obviously she had big,
big expectations having a really good junior year and now

(13:36):
it's going to be put off another year. I'm sure
she's going to got back stronger. We have great medical
stuff and care and everything, but it is tough. And
then the only good thing is is Craig, Is it
happened in October where we've had time to now I
currently really work some players in and out of that
position and be ready for the spring.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah. Uh so toward that end, that's where I was
going to go with. I know it takes a team
thing all the way around, but off the top of
your head, who steps in Who's the one who gets
the first responsibility of trying to not necessarily fill her shoes,
but be able to step into the role and do
what's needed of that position.

Speaker 4 (14:11):
Yeah, we obviously have some athletic players, and we bought
in Katie Bennett the transfer from Abilene Christian as a
backup middle endfielder for second and short and possibly you know,
third base.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
You know.

Speaker 4 (14:25):
So that was one as we had trying out there,
and then Katie Stewart was another one. She'd played attle
bit of short stop and travel ball. Uh and then
Lynn Brister another freshman coming in. But eventually we decided
to go with Leanne Good at this point and it
could change, but you don't know, but Lian's played it
and travel ball before and she looks really good. Uh

(14:45):
So that's the way we're going to go right now.
And start with LeeAnne, and she looks so much stronger
this year. Last year she was still recovering from that
risk injury. Yeah, but this year she looks a lot stronger.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
Let me get your thoughts on your pitching.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
I know there's between Tea and Cavan and mac mooregan
and said, LOLLI Goodierras, You've you've got, uh, You've got
in Sophia Simpson. You've got some some known commodities in there.
I'm also curious about your freshman, Cambria Salmon and and
your thoughts on her.

Speaker 4 (15:13):
Yeah. Cam Salmon's someone we looked at for a couple
of years and we're excited to get her, you know,
committed and finally in a Texas uniform and reminds me
a lot of Jess Mullins, has you know, upper sixties
velocity with a really good change up, good demeanor. I
think she's uh, you know, she struggled a little bit
coming into full as far as like location and you know,
people not swinging at some pitches that we should be

(15:35):
swinging at and travelable. But she's learning quickly, and obviously
she has some seniors to kind of guide her along
the way. Cabin is awesome that way, So as Mac Morgan.
Sophia Simpson's been a big help and said Loly Gucci
Areas has really come on here lately this spring, and
I like what she's doing. So we had that solid stuff.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, That's something I think I've heard you speak of
in the past, is the mixture, uh, of what the
talent pool is from your pitchers in terms of the
gifts they bring to the party, meaning their specific out
pitches or how they're setting up hitters to get them out.
Do you like what you have in terms of the
variety of how your pitchers are working in the circle

(16:15):
with their different array of gifts to opposing hitters.

Speaker 4 (16:19):
Oh, no doubt. They're complimentary to each other, and you
want some of this a little bit different, you want
them all the same. The only thing were missing is
a lefty, of course, and with Check graduating, that's when
we don't have. But I think they have enough variety
amongst the group to be able to give us some
different looks and different options. You know, when it comes
to the time.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
Of visiting here with Mike White for a couple more minutes.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
I'd also be remiss if I didn't ask you about
Reese Atwood and what you're expecting at her coming off
of what she did and now she's preseason player, the
national player of the your watch list again and everything
that she did in an All American season last year
is to be someone now who has stepped up through

(17:04):
the last couple of years. How important is what not
not just the leadership thing, but also the productive side
of it. I guess both sides of it in terms
of leading your ball club on the field with what
she gives you.

Speaker 4 (17:19):
Yeah, I think Reese is one of those kids you
want to take it before and after pitcher, you know.
I think when she first came in, you know, she
she was pretty slight, and now you know, she's solid,
you know, and it's got a lot of home run power.
Every swing is an opportunity to leave the fields. And
you know, she just is not satisfied with her performance
at all, even though she was obviously one of the
best hitters, if not the best hit her in the
country last year. And she's pushing herself. And you know,

(17:42):
when you do that, you're pushing your teammates. Your teammates
are seeing that. And what I like about her is
she's wanted to step up and become a leader on
the program, leader a little more vocally as well. And
she's doing that, and so I like that we have
a group of leaders right now with her at Cavan,
you know, Jolie Mitchell and Katie Simmis. I think those
or really kind of pushing for that leadership role. We

(18:03):
probably won't name a captain this year. I don't think
we need one, but I think they're gonna lead by committee.
You know that play a lad is what you want,
And that's kind of what I had an Oregon there
towards the end was you know, it's kind of like
a snowball, it gets rolling, uh and and they kind
of kind of pushing each other, and that's what you want.
You want that internal motivation.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
It's an interesting thing you bring up about the captain thing.
Is that is that do you is your philosophy on
that is if your team needs one as an appointed
captain to be the leader, as opposed to a team
that you have right now where you've got several, uh,
several players who are wanting to accept that mantle of leadership,

(18:43):
so you just let them run with it and display
their own leadership.

Speaker 4 (18:47):
Well, I think that's it just let them run with
it and see what happens. And you know, hopefully they're
learning from from from being in these big tournaments. Now,
I mean the uh you know, you look at at
Woods as a junior. She's been there a colleor World
Series and that final. You know, several of them have
been in that being in that atmosphere, you know, playing
in the and they're playing in the Big twelve. So

(19:08):
they have that confidence about them. And that's what we want.
We want now to feel like we belong. You know,
we're not just you know, hey we got here, now
what do we do. It's like, hey, look this is
this is an opportunity for us to really take the
next step.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
One more thing for you here, Mike.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
It's when you have a team ranked as highly as
yours is there are very few quote unquote secrets or
unknowns or or something like that to a lot of folks.
But if there is a player on your roster that
maybe not that much has been said about or written
about that you think really could be on the precipice
of having a really big or breakout year, who might

(19:46):
that be?

Speaker 4 (19:47):
Yeah, I kid, I say it by everybody. I think
you might have a different answer for you all too.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, So I.

Speaker 4 (19:53):
Think Vic Hunter is another one I haven't really mentioned before.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
So yeah, Vic Hunter.

Speaker 4 (19:58):
Josh's the one that got that big hit in the
super Regional off of you know, the lifty for for
Texas A and M Kennedy.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
You know.

Speaker 4 (20:08):
So that was a big one for us. And she's
sitting the ball. But she sometimes she just tries to
do too much. So if we can get here just
to keep an eating keel, you think you could see
some big things from here, you know. So I'm excited
for her to see what she does.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
Texas opens the season on Friday afternoon. They're in the
Louisiana Classic. They'll play Longwood and Louisiana on Friday. They'll
get in the bus and motor from Lafayette, west On.
I tend to Beaumont to play Saint John's and Lamar
on Saturday in the uhl U event, and then then
go up by forty five to Huntsville on Sunday to

(20:44):
play Tulsa and Sam Houston. Mike, it's great to visit
with you as always, I appreciate the time and as
you embark on this journey, best of luck to you
and the long words the rest of the way.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
Hey, thanks Graig, Hook them, Hook them.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
That is the head coach of Texas Softball, Mike White,
pre season number one in the country. But as he
says it, as his players say, they got a lot
to prove, so they jump right into it. And again
you can hear those games on our HD two signal.
Believe CAM ninety seven point three.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
I do know it's KHD three HD th three iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, you listen the app for sure. Absolutely all right.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
We've got Inconceivable coming up next here on AM thirteen
hundred the zone.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
As always, we give you the.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
Opportunity to chip in to respond if you have some
sort of comment, some sort of thought, something that's gnawing
at you, or just you know, just your observation on something.
If you are interested in you know what we have
to say, and yet you have your own thought on that.

(21:53):
That's why we give you the opportunity. So that'll be
you know, that's available the our text line. So you
text the word Texas followed by your question or comment
to eight one five three zero. So it's the word
Texas follow by your question or comment to eight one
five three zero. Standard messaging and data rates may apply,

(22:16):
so so toward that end, here was here was a
text that didn't get a chance to get to yesterday,
and I wanted to. I wanted to because it's pretty,
it's it's a nice one. I like this text. I
mentioned that Mason Crosby of Georgetown, Texas USA, Georgetown, the
high school product University of Colorado, seventeen seasons in the

(22:39):
National Football League as a kicker for the Green Bay Packers.
The packers all time leading score announced its retirement yesterday.
He didn't he didn't play last year, didn't wind up
on a roster, and he decided to call equipped. So
he texted in congratulations to Mason Crosby in a great career.
For reference, old school Vikings kicker Fred Cox only made
fifty five percent of his career fel Mason Crosby hit

(23:01):
eighty one percent. Here's for reference, old school Vikings kicker
Fred Cox only made fifty five percent of his career
field goals. But he did invent the nerve football and
he looked like.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
A gooda.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Old school people ava gooda played fish. I'm Barney Miller.
He was Tessio and the godfather you've seen the late
Ape Fragoda on that. Uh, that's good, That's that's good. Yeah,
Fred Cox for there for you number fourteen straight on kicker,
Fred Cox.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
All right, here's here's.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
The part that I really shouldn't even bother with saying,
but I'll do it anyway, because every now and then
I'm okay, Cameron with allowing a little bit of sophomoric
high school humor on the program. I try to be
a little bit above it, and every now and then
I get pulled in, just like anybody else. When I
was a kid, I was a as always like I

(23:59):
am now a big Rams fan. Well, the Rams foil
in the playoffs all those years in the centuries of
the Vikings mainly and the Cowboys, but the Vikings. They
just couldn't get past the Vikings. And I have friend
of mine who had moved down from Minnesota. He was
big Vikings fans. He used to give me a lot
of grief all the time. And and you know, here
we are thirteen fourteen year old kids, right and he

(24:22):
says to me, hey, hey, he goes, you know a
Vikings kicker is Fred Cox. I'm like, yeah, he goes,
you know, who are big a big linebacker is I said,
Wally Hilgenberg And no, no, no, no the other one. And
I said Grady Alderman, No, no, no, no the other one.
What Jeff Seamen? I said, Oh, yeah, s I E
m O N. Jeff Semen was a linebacker. He goes,
I'm Minnesota. We used to say, you know, when they

(24:43):
had to kick a field, go when Cox goes in
to Seamen come out.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
And I was like, stop that he goes to If
I's just that's just it, you.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
Know, I said, it wouldn't make sense because that would
be on the offensive side.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
But he did. He did play on special teams as well.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
C B on the text line says, when you I'll
go to Dallas, do you stop at the famous check stop?
I know it's a must stop for Texas fans. And
he said, and is Katie going to be a son
when they come to the mood in a few weeks. Okay,
two separate questions. That second one. I was going to
get into at Cameron on this, but let's go to
the first one.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
First.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
Do we stop at the famous check stop? Yes, it's
still there. It's still alive, and well so too. CB
is the big modern glitzy one across the freeway, which
is Slavachics. Now, I know some long worn people who
won't go to Slavatics because it's a you know, it's

(25:36):
kind of an Aggie creation. The original Slavatics is in Snook,
you know, just just west of College Station. And that
dude that does the Texas Bucket List TV show, which
is based in College Station, he's a big Aggie and one,
and they're like one of their big sponsors in Slavatics.
I don't let that bother me if I want to
if I want a good klachi, I'll go there, or

(25:57):
I'll go to the check stop.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
So it's kind of.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
Also like going to kind of one of those kitchy
kind of BUCkies type of places with all that kind
of have you ever did you ever go to Slovachics?

Speaker 2 (26:09):
Okay? And check stop? This is that always? Why that
always stops at check stop? Okay?

Speaker 1 (26:16):
Your dad would appreciate this. You will probably be grossed
out by it. My wife at first was kind of
turned off by it. Then she tried it and then
she kind of liked it. Uh, if you go to
the check stop, they you just like at Slavotics. Both

(26:37):
of those places on either side of I thirty five,
and we're talking about in the lovely little town of
West West Comma, Texas, West Texas. It's on there and
I thirty five. The name of the town is West.
It's named after a person named West. That's why it's there,
West Texas. One of my favorite signs, by the way,

(26:57):
all those years are doing the high school show and
being on the road, was pointed out at me one time.
One of my favorite signs in the entire state of
Texas is the sign when you get off the exit
and you're coming from the south or from the north, whatever.
But if you're coming from the south and you pull
up to the stoplight and I have West, you got

(27:18):
to turn right to go into town and West it's
the sign of West pointing east. Same game, if you're
coming to North, it's it's pointing to the left, so
it's the sign to go west. You got to go east.
It's one of my favorite signs in the state of Texas.
Small things anyway, they have both of these places have
sandwiches of various and sundry kinds. You know, they have

(27:47):
some barbecue sandwiches and they have some you know meat,
different meat sandwiches, and they have all these different kinds
of salad sandwiches, like egg salad sandwich, and tuna salad
and chicken salad and ham salad. They have all these
salad sandwiches. My favorite one is a sandwich they call
the Arnold Palmer.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
I've not had that one. Yeah, now was it blowney? No? Now,
explain everybody what an Arnold Palmer is?

Speaker 3 (28:12):
So sweet tea or on sweet riding on your what'd
you like in lemonade?

Speaker 1 (28:17):
That's it And it was supposedly popularized by the immortal
Arnold Palmer, one of the greatest golfers of all time.
He was He was my family's favorite golfer when we
were real young, partially because he kind of bore a
somewhat striking resemblance to my dad. My dad and Arnold Palmer,

(28:39):
we were both from North Carolina, both from the same area,
and they they kind of looked a little like the
sandy air and all that other kind of stuff. There
was a lot of people who have thought that my
dad kind of looked a little like Arnold Palmer. But anyway,
that was the drink iced tea and lemonade, and it's
very popular. You can get at the store, and I
can get it wherever he get it. Ut club get it,
you know, a restaurant, whatever. Can I have an Arnold
Palmer place? Yeah, they know exactly what you me an

(29:01):
Arnold Palmer sandwich. According to the check stop in West
the Arnold Palmer sandwich is egg salad. Okay, all right,
So you take And this is the part that my
wife didn't understand it first, and then she saw it
in practice, and at first she was uh taking it back,
and then and she tried it.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
She liked him. So you have it.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
You have a piece of bread and you have egg
salad on one side. Then you have another piece of bread.
Instead of it being egg salad, it's tuna salad. And
then you put it together. It's half and half. She thought.
By when I said the Arnold Palmer's half tuna salad
and half egg salad, she thought one half of the
sandwich was tuna salad and one half of the sandwich

(29:46):
was egg salad.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
No no, no, no, no, no, it's put together. She's like, yeah,
I don't want to. I said, it's right, and then
she tried. She was that's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
I didn't think I would like that, but it is
I get that almost every time I go through there.
I know that probably gows out with some people because
some people that don't like egg salad.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
There's some people that don't like tuna sound.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
There's a lot of people I know they don't like
filling the blank salad sandwich. They're not in the chicken
salad or eggs. I like all of those chicken salad,
ham salad, egg salad whatever.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
I like all of those. But they have an Honorabd
Palmer there, so c B.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
Yes, I do stop at the check stop and when
I stop there, I usually get an Honorld Palmer sandwich
if I'm gonna have something to eat. Now to his
second point and his second question, he said, is Katie
going to be a son when they come to the
mood in a few weeks. We're rolling up on the

(30:41):
trade deadline. When does the deadline hit? It was Thursday night. Yeah, okay,
tomorrow Kevin's name has been mentioned or tomorrow at two
pm or something. And and you've been bagging on the
co Harrison And I don't blame you for it. What
if the Cohrrison and Lens Kevin Durant, Well, that's one

(31:03):
of the rumors.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
Ryan Windhorse from ESPN just reported that either Katie will
be a Phoenix Sun tomorrow night or Miami Heat. So
down the two teams. I don't do not think Mavericks
have enough to get Katie from from Dallas, and I
think Dallas, or rather I think Katie from decide where
he wants to go. Yeah, does not want to go

(31:25):
to Golden State, he said, yeah, So no return to
Golden State with Steph Curry, Drummond Green not going to
be a Phoenix Sun. So it appears either he's going
to be a member of the Miami Heat or or
Phoenix will just hold on to him and see what
happens this year.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
Wow. I hope he's not wind up in Miami, but
I think it'd be kind of cool to see him
play for pat Riley.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
That's true. That's that's that's a good point. I just
don't think about that because Polster is the coach, That's why.
And I have nothing against Eric Spolstra, but you know,
I just think about, you know, in the past with
the Heatles and all that other kind of stuff.

Speaker 3 (32:04):
Okay, you don't like that. Yeah, A very interesting, uh,
very interesting history. If if Kevin Durant somehow wins a
championship bring with the Miami Heat was also won by
Lebron James at one point.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
Absolutely, And he's on the verge of hitting the thirty
thousand point mark, isn't he believe he's pretty close? Yeah,
he should be getting pretty close to that. Obviously a
bona fide future Hall of Famer, no, no doubt about it.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
But but this the Suns do it, then that's it's
a just admitting defeat and kind of just we're gonna
tear down this team, probably keep Devin Booker, but wait
for Beal's awful contract to expire.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
And you know, if they if they.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
Of our you know, I guess they Jimmy Butler would
probably be a part of that deal. So I don't
think Butler, Beale, and Booker are gonna win your NBA championship,
But I don't know. Well, we'll see a lot of
This is a very active trade deadline.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
So you're feeling that if he, if Durant winds up
going to Miami, Butler will be in the Okay, all right,
we've got some football notes we've got to get to.
It is, after all, Super Bowl Week We'll get to
that coming up next here on A thirteen under the Zone.
We continue here on this Wednesday after day. Hey, we
were talking about Luka Doncic and how he's now in

(33:24):
Los Angeles. But you need to know that even though
Luca is gone, he certainly is not forgotten, as we
know in Dallas, to the extent that even though that
Luka Doncic tribute outside American Airlines Center was torn down

(33:45):
thrown away, the Doncic banners on the Arena and at
love Field were taken down, But that doesn't mean everybody
else around Dallas is going to forget about him, and
that includes the staff at Luca's favorite restaurant in the city.
Oh do you know what his favorite restaurant was?

Speaker 2 (34:06):
McDonald's. No. Some might argue that Nick and Sam's steakhouse.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
Oh, I've heard great things about you, and I rolled
right past it when we were there for SEC football
media days, rolled past Nick and Sam's. They have posted
on social media today that his signature dish is staying
on the menu Nick and Sam's. You know where Nick
and Simson, It's very close to where we did.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
The The.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
Did the show on Friday, the day before Texas ou
on Maple Avenue. It's very close to that because it's
on Maple, it's in the that Oaklawn area. So the chef,
Samir Durandar has said that in my twenty five plus

(35:03):
year career, I feel blessed to say I've met some
interesting and incredible people who have walked through the doors
of Nick and Sam's. But it's not often that you
come across someone as special as Luka Doncic. Luca is
one of the most caring, warm and funniest guys. I
know his love for Dallas shine through with every conversation

(35:25):
in every game. That's why we created the Luca a
dish we will continue to serve because his impact isn't
defined by his profession, but by his character. Okay, so
and there he is right there, that's the that's the
that's Luca with the executive chef there on that. There's
a reason why Luca likes this guy. You know what

(35:46):
the Luca is?

Speaker 4 (35:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (35:49):
Okay, Now, Nick and SAMs is A is a famous
steakhouse in Dallas.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
As we know, it's a it's a really really high
end to start with.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Well, then say that this is just a dish okay,
but who knows if that was part of it?

Speaker 2 (36:07):
Sure it was.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
It is a seventy seven ounce dry aged New York strip.
Seventy cent seventy seven is number right, sevent decent Who.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Can eat a seventy seven ounce stek. Luca obviously could.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
That's part of the problem, right, The Mavericks will tell
you too many of the Lucas eating too many.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
Of those, Fine, it's I mean, what are the sides though,
If we're getting like I want to hear it, like
lobster mac and cheese.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's supreame.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
Spinish maybe, and yeah, but the dish itself is the
steak itself.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
So it said.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
It's no secret that Luca loved grabbing an ice meal
at Nick and Sam's. In fact, most North Texas athletes
like the longtime Dallas restaurant.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
Seventy seven ounces.

Speaker 3 (37:03):
I mean, he's probably first team all Night and fourth
Mike and forth be as Eddie Ornan likes to say,
Eddie Eddie. Sure, I'm sure those restaurant owners are going
to be very sad to see Luca leve because now
you're bringing in because Kyrie's vegan, right, so he probably
only goes to you know, yeah, certain restaurants, right right,
and I don't.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
I don't know about ad.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
You know, he gets injured so much, he's probably like
pescatarian or something.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
Yeah, you could see that.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
Yeah, the Luca, I mean, shoot seventy seven ounces, Yeah,
I would. I can't imagine the bills the check for
about his restaurant appearances.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
Yeah, you know, uh ca't made it reference to it.
Eddie Orton, a broadcast partner in Long Win men's basketball,
says that Cameron is a charter member of the All
Knife and Fork team because when we're on the road,

(37:59):
Cameron is pretty impressive.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
And how he can you know, put away the chow
he can, I think he is on that team. And
he'll go back for seconds. I've seen that.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
I usually just try to, you know, get a plate,
a pretty healthy sized portion and just limit it to
one serve. He can take it to the play. I'll
go back for dessert, but that sort of thing. But yeah,
and he'll go back for seconds. He will if he
got some beef and go back and get a little
piece of fish on that. But he's impressed with how
you can have a good size play clean and off.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
Then go back.

Speaker 1 (38:33):
And refill it with the same items and then polish
it all back off again, and they say it's pretty impressive.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
They feed Texas basketball very well.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
They do. And I learned a long time ago. If
I tried to keep up with that, I would weigh
four hundred pounds. So I stopped. I learned that a
long time ago. In fact, when I got married the
first time, when Laurie and I got married back in
nineteen eighty six, I'm six feet tall and I'm still

(39:05):
six feet tall, six feet tall, one hundred and forty
seven pounds. I was rail thin. Now I did gain
like twenty four pounds the first year we were married.
I went to like one seventy one.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
But I didn't.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
But it was a slow climb to get me to
where I am now. But I had to stop eventually
because it would just, yeah, it would get too difficult
on that. Here's something else that Cameron is feasted on.

Speaker 3 (39:29):
Well, real quick, getcha is There's always cheeseheak available, There's
always cookies.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
And I had to cut back.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
You did that puzuokie thing last Friday night. Matton Rouge didn't.

Speaker 3 (39:39):
Yeah, me and coach Byron Jones we split a zookie
with a healthy scoop of vanilla ice cream line, which
was very good.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah. So I think it was called Slabs or Stabs
in the name of the restaurant in Baton Rouge.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
Which if you're in that area, you gotta check that
out here. Yeah, I was really impressed with it. It's
called Stab Stab that's the name of it.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
Stab Sta yep, like in the Dallas Forward there a
knife is a is a well known steakhouser. Stab is
the name of it. It reminded me a lot of
a place I go to in Myrtle Beach. In fact,
went there the night before Lyndon I got married, or
a couple of nights before, called New York Prime, which
is really not They have three locations, ones in New York,

(40:23):
ones in uh Atlanta, and ones in Myrtle Beach. And
uh it's it's it's a really it's a really nice steakhouse.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
Uh. And we have some very very nice steakhouses in
this town.

Speaker 1 (40:36):
You know.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
Uh Vin Junks Steakhouse is really really good.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
Jake Carver's Jake Carvers you can go to, you know, Flemings,
you can go to. There's any number that you can
go to that are really really good. Uh No, no
complaints about.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
Any of those.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
Another thing that I mentioned that camera would sink his
teeth into headline. Live Golf announces major change to its
scoring system. They announced a major scoring change today on
the eve of their season opening event in Riod in
Saudi Aradia. That whenever I think a Riod, remember Riod

(41:13):
is where the US base was. My younger brother was
in the Air Force in the Persian Gulf War, and
there was all of this concern on the first night
when the January sixteenth to ninety one, when the US
launched Operation Desert Storm and went in and attacked Iraq
and all of that. The was all of this question is, well,

(41:35):
Iraq has these scud missiles and let's see and they're
going to.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Launch them at it.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
And my brother the way, my brother tells that we
had these Patriot missiles which we hadn't even tried out yet,
so we weren't one hundred percent sure.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
They were going to be okay.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
But they put them in, they put them in practice
on the first night when Iraq tried to launch the
scuds and the Patriots took them all out and they're like, hey,
it works. That's pretty cool. So he was at Riodd
and was one of the people that would be sounding
the alarm and stuff would come in. So anyway, here's
Live Golf as a season opening event in Riodd in

(42:12):
Saudi Arabia. For the first time in Live Golf's history,
every player scorer in every round will count toward his
team's total score. Why does that seem Why would that
be such a hard thing to adopt? Anyway, last season,
the best three scores were taken in the first two rounds,

(42:33):
with all four team members scores counting only for the
final eighteen. Live Golf acknowledged several potential ramifications related to
the format change, including increased volatility on the leader board
range goats GC captain Bubba Watson said it does make
volatility bigger, crazier.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Nobody can hide. You're gonna have to be committed on.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
Every hole, every shot I scorers will be a killer. Previously,
any golfer who had a bad day in the first
two rounds could hope to be bailed out by his
three teammates, and Louis use Taysen said there's no more
looking at the scoreboard and thinking, Okay, I'm Okay, my
team's playing well.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
That definitely changes things.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
Depth now at a premium Legion thirteen captain John Rahm said,
I like it. I think it benefits a team like ours.
I think we have four really strong players that are
really consistent.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
What do you make of that? I don't know, Craig.
I mean, I'm not a big live golf guy.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
I mean it does kind of make sense to you know,
have all the guys points count towards the team when
you play the Ryder Cup?

Speaker 2 (43:37):
Right?

Speaker 3 (43:38):
Yeah, you don't take away well, well, ever had the
worst match doesn't Those points don't count, you know.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
I mean they have best ball when they play best
ball or alternate shot, right, but.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
Each match points count towards the total. And with this,
you know, the lowest score didn't count. So again, this
is not going to change the way I view live
golf or do not golf. The big thing, Craig, is
that the USGA is going to offer up a special
exemption now to live for the US Open starting this season.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
All right, So is that a step closer to this
whole merger thing? Is this thing gonna happen or what?

Speaker 2 (44:13):
It's a great question, Craig.

Speaker 3 (44:14):
It's been We're close on what two years, Yeah, and
nothing's really changed, you know. Kind of reading through the
press conference scripts from this year of guys like Rory
and JT and Speeth and Scotty, and it's it seems
like it's getting closer, but we're still seem to be
some far you know, far away.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
I don't. I'll tell you this, Craig.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
If we do get some sort of merger between Live
Golf and the PGA Tour, it's not going to be
everyone playing the same tournaments each week. Live Golf is
going to have their schedule. Phil Mickelson, Bryson, Brooks, all
those guys will continue to play on the Live Golf Search.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
So it's not going to be emerging then. No.

Speaker 3 (44:51):
They might be part of the same ownership group or
something like that, but there will still be separate tours,
separate tours, separate tours for sure.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
In the pg Tour will continue to navigate.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
What they want to do is possibly be able to
have these guys like maybe Brooks and bryceon want to play.
They might schedule it to where the week of the
Phoenix Open instead of having a Lift Golf tournament this week.
They might have won the week of I don't know.
They are sim classic and that way, guys like brooks In,
Bryson and Phil and whoever can go play the WM

(45:23):
Phoenix Open upon for the tournament. They continue to play
their lift golf schedule. But I don't know how it
would work for PJ Tour guys who want to play
the live golf schedule. And I don't think PJ Tour
players want to go play in Ria, Dad, or go
play in in Europe, or play in South America or
South Africa. They want to be able to play in
the US because they live in the United States. So

(45:45):
if we do get some sort of framework framework agreement,
they're still going to be two separate tours. The thing is,
can we get these guys on live back in the majors.
I'll tell you what.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
There's a lot of difference between Pebble Beach and Riodd
to tell you that, although some would say there's not
much difference between Phoenix and Riott, it's pretty warm in
both places, all right. More coming up here on AM
thirteen hunder the Zone, ares we continue on a yacht
rock Wednesday here on thirteen hundred Zone. Speaking of yacht rock,
some of these said is Michael McDonald the Michael Jordan

(46:17):
of yacht Rock? I believe it to be true. Well,
that would depend on if you feel that Michael Jordan
is the greatest NBA player of all time, the greatest
basketball player of all time.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
And if you think that his.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
Sculpture, like the George Washington one, should be the first
one on there, because Michael McDonald absolutely is that. Absolutely,
there's no question about it. And again I felt that
long before I saw the documentary and I saw the
Lennon and I watched the documentary two three weeks ago,
and it confirmed everything that I always thought and felt

(46:59):
about yacht rock, how it kind of melded together in
a mishmash and really starting the seventies, and that all
roads led back to Steely Dan, the session musicians, Michael
McDonald and even Toto, all other musicians who played on
so many of these other things. So it all kind

(47:19):
of led back to if you're talking about bands on
the Mount Rushmore, obviously Toto would would be the lead
one on that, but there were several as well. But
that also depends on how you feel about, you know,
whether Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time
where do you stand on I've forgotten where do you
stand on that?

Speaker 2 (47:37):
Yeah? Greatest of all time? Yep, Lebron's best career of
all time.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
Okay, all right, I'm glad you said it that way
because I'm I'm not going to say I had a
struggle with it, or we're even beginning to have a
struggle with it. I've always felt that that Michael Jordan
was the greatest player of all time, and I still
believe that. But the the more Lebron James does, and

(48:03):
the more he continues to achieve, and the more he
continues to age and yet continue to achieve. Now he's
forty and he's still hitting milestone after milestone, you know,
and the greatest scorer of all time. There are people

(48:25):
that will argue that and say that he's the greatest, greatest.
Encompasses a lot of different things. It's not just statistics,
it's how you affect the game. Lebron was always at
his best, I thought, when he had really good players
around him, who then elevated his greatness to super stratospheric

(48:47):
levels at times. But he had guys with him who
could make that And that could be said for just
about any great great player, you got to have a
supporting cast, but he seemed to benefit from it even
more than others. Or Michael Jordan could have some absolutely
spectacular moments even when he didn't have the.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
Best cast around him. Is the way.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
By the way the game last Wednesday went all miss
was that was Scottie Pippenson across the floor from us.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
Right it was.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
Yeah, he was behind me in the check in line
after I ubered up to Memphis to fly home. Yeah,
I didn't notice it until after I checked in, and
then I turned around and there was Scottie. They had
had a bucket hat on hanging out with he had
somebody with him on that.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
So he was there to take in the.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
Game on Wednesday and then was back out there on
Thursday morning on that So to answer the Texters question, yeah, yeah,
I guess you could. I guess you could say that
that also, you know applies you could do that. Somebody said,
as a former member of the sports media during my twenties,

(49:57):
the best parts of the job are free tickets, free food,
and mileage reports. Well, uh, the mileage reports have kind
of gone the way of the dinosaur. In large measure.
There did did some still like writers still kind of

(50:18):
deal with it. We don't really tickets don't really you know,
we get those on a on occasion, that sort of thing. Food, Yeah,
there's media meals. Some media meals are better than others.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
The barbecue chicken at Baton Rouge the other day wasn't bad. Good, Yeah,
that was that was okay. I don't always eat the
media meal for the same reasons that we were talking
about earlier. If I if I ate every meal that
was offered to me on a trip, i'd weigh four
hundred pounds. So I don't, you know. But but yeah,

(50:54):
there's there's that. So I get that. I I understand that,
and I understand how that means a lot that some
guys on there they sure they eat to. My oldest son,
Andy is a is a videographer and an editor at
k x AN. When he came out of college and
he was the baseball team videographer at Angelo State, one

(51:15):
of the top Division two programs in the country. In fact,
they're the defending national champions, I believe, and they're number
two in the country in the preseason. Polar're really good
and they were good when he was there, and you know,
for the old quote unquote typical poorole college student or whatever,
you know, one of the baseball team on the road
and they're getting everybody, you know a burger and fries

(51:36):
and something whatever at McDonald's whatever.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
That mental life.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
And then when he got out of college and he
was working in minor league baseball for the Lexington Legends
Royals low a ball team. When he was working for them,
he made sure he ate at the ballpark in the
clubhouse every day because otherwise, you know, if you's gonna
eat that day or whatever.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
So I get that. I understand that. That makes sense.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
Somebody said, I hope you tip your Uber driver, because
I sure didn't. Sincerely, Scotty, no tipping, Pippin. I did
tip my Uber driver because that was an eighty mile
Uber driver. It was an eighty mile trip on Uber
to get me up to Memphis to where I could
fly home, and I did. I tipped him. Oh, he

(52:24):
did a good job on that. Pippin probably didn't tip.
I think I told this before.

Speaker 5 (52:29):
You know.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
I have my brother and sister in law are retired
now and they live in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
But for twenty five almost thirty years. My older brother
managed the hotel and casino shuttle drivers at all of
the station casinos in Las Vegas, Boulder Station, Sunset Station,

(52:49):
all of those in Las Vegas. My sister in law
dealt Bakara in the high limit room at the Venetian.
So she got a chance to to, you know, deal
baccarat to some big names like Mike Kruszewski, who was
always a really good tipper, she said, Charles Barkley, great tipper,

(53:12):
Michael Jordan, good tipper.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
Tiger Woods.

Speaker 1 (53:16):
Eh, you know, not much, but okay, Dennis Rodman, fabulous tipper.
Scottie Pippen, no tipping Pippin. There's a reason he is
the name. So yeah, so, and she said she never
said anything or anything anybody. She kind of knew in
advanced what was going to be the case there. So anyway,

(53:38):
all right, we'll be back to wrap up hour number
two here on thirteen under the Zone, and then don't
forget Longhorn basketball tonight as long. Oorne's take on the
Arkansas Razorbacks at Moody Center seven point thirty is our
pregame star time here on AM thirteen under the Zone,
as well as on ninety eight point one FMK vett
uh and the tip off at eight o'clock important game

(53:59):
for Texas and I opportunity to draw even in conference
play at five and five, and the way the SEC
is going these days. Listen, if you can be around
the five hundred mark, you're going to really enhance your
opportunity to make the NCAA tournament. We talked about the
bracketological prognostications yesterday from both Joe Lenardi at ESPN and

(54:21):
Jerry Palm from CBS Sports, and Lenardi at Texas is
a nine seed matched up with Baylor.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
Interestingly enough, Baylor and eight sea.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
Of course, Taylor didn't do itself any favors with its
loss in Luba last night to Texas Tech, but they
had that match up in Raleigh with the winner to draw. Duke,
you'd be all right with that, though, North Carolina native
that you are. You'd be okay with going to Raleigh
for the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
Huh.

Speaker 3 (54:50):
I would be okay as a basketball fan getting to
see Cooper Flag play.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 3 (54:55):
Now, as a worker employee of the University of Texas,
you know, not facing the second round would be ideal
or even even Baylor, but it probably wouldn't be too bad.
I mean, we were just there a few months ago.
I mean looking at the other locations for the first round.
Craig not not too excited about it, to be honest.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
With you, but part up about which star are you?

Speaker 3 (55:17):
Not from what I've heard from you and some of
the other guys. But hey, if you're dancing, you're dancing right,
that's exactly right. Cleveland would be all right because rock
and Roll Hall of Fame. I've never been there before
I got up there. I have anything Cleveland that might
be worth going to.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
Seattle is Seattle. None's wrong with Seattle. I heard that
this year they're going to be inducting your supply, so
maybe we can. I'm not going then if that's I'm
just kidding out.

Speaker 1 (55:40):
If they ever get into that, that's when I boycott
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame if it happens
that way. But anyway, yeah, we'll see important game, definitely
for Texas tonight. To try to draw it in Arkansas
with the winter For Kentucky, now, some might question how
well that's going to agents Kentucky. He was summarily flattened

(56:02):
by Ole Miss last night. Boy, they just could not
miss from three point range. It was good that the
log Wrens defended the three pretty well against them, and
they didn't make that many threes, but they made some
in that game a week ago tonight over in Oxford.
But they just they blasted Kentucky with that. So, you know, again,
if the log Worns were able to keep pace with

(56:23):
some of these other teams, and that would include Kentucky
right out about the five hundred mark in conference play,
if they're able to do that, that enhances their tournament profile,
and their tournament profile is being upraised and uplifted simply
because of what they are capable of doing, what they

(56:46):
have done, and what they can still do in conference
play because as we know, the non conference schedule wasn't
one of the top of the line non conference schedules.
They had a difficult time trying to schedule some really
top flight non conference opponents. Was the best of those
and you kind has even fallen off some and inn
C State it's it's a five hundred n C State

(57:08):
team that they played in the sec ACC Challenge, you know,
playing Syracuse and Saint Joe's.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
Okay, you know, in.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
I mean, that's not playing Saint Leo's or something like that,
or a D two school or anything like that, but
it's you know it, it puts a real push on
you to make sure that you can continue to get
quad one victories. And almost not maybe not every game,
almost every game in conference playing the SEC is a

(57:40):
quad one game for Texas. So tonight they play Arkansas
and again that comes your way at eight o'clock and
we'll have it for you. You're on the zone beginning
at seven thirty. And of course the Texas women play
tomorrow night against anderbill As they try to keep things

(58:01):
rolling there. They're up to number four in the country
most of the I think most there's only a couple
on the women's side. For the bracketologists have Texas as
a two seed right now. When we had Vic Shaeffer
on last week, he said, you could bet your bottom
dollar that if they defend their home court, if they're

(58:24):
a two seed or even a one, and defend their
home court, win their first two games at Moody Center,
he said, you can bet your bottom dollar that. And
of course, in the way, in the women's turn of
the way they do it, they put two Sweet sixteen
slash Elite eight regional sites in the same city, in

(58:45):
the same building. They tried that last year for the
first time with Portland and Alby this year it's Spokane
in Birmingham and Vic says, you bet your bottom dollar
they won't be in Birmingham.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
He goes, oh, they'll send us out west.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
And he told the story about when they were one
seed and missus state and got sent to Eugene, Oregon
where Oregon had Sabrina Unesque and all them and they
had to play as a one seed basically in a
hostile environment there in the Elite eight and got knocked out.

Speaker 2 (59:18):
And he's right, it makes a good point. A one
seed should not have to deal with that.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
But he thinks that And if you look at those
prognostications they have Texas slated to go to Spokane. I
think everybody can probably figure out South Carolina would be
one of the ones that would be slided to Birmingham,
and probably LSU would be the other, unless Texas handles

(59:45):
its business down the stretch beating LSU and then beating
perhaps one of the other two big heavyweights that are
still to come on their schedule. Obviously, South Carolina the
Sunday Super Bowl Sunday, a week from tomorrow, they go
to Lexing and Tuck and play Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
That's a big game.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
Kentucky has only one conference loss, LSU has only one
conference loss. South Carolina has no conference losses as we know,
and Texas has one loss. So they're all chasing South Carolina.
But there's these other teams. LSU and Kentucky were right
there with Texas. And as I said to Kathy Harston

(01:00:23):
the other day on Sunday after the win in College
Station over Texas, A and M, all the Logorns did
was to hold serve and they did do that and
stay with only one loss in conference play as they
turned the corner toward the second half of conference play.
So anyway, that's tomorrow night. That's an eight o'clock game
tomorrow night at Moody, and we'll make the same suggestions

(01:00:45):
you that we did last week and even the week before.
This is a three consecutive eight o'clock starts for Texas. Well,
it was supposed to be the Tennessee game got moved
up one hour as we know, because of the travel
issues with the snow and everything that LSU had trying
to get to South Carolina. But as we said, we

(01:01:08):
make the same suggestion to you that we did last week.
Walghorn Weekly with Rodney Terry is tomorrow night at six
o'clock at Pluckers, the West Campus location. So why not
go out there to Pluckers and get yourself ready for
the ball game. Listen to Coach Terry talks some Longhorn
men's hoops action, and enjoy some great wings and then

(01:01:30):
when it's over at seventies, still got plenty of time
to go right down the road over to the movie
center to see this Texas women's team in actually against Vanderbilt,
which will be a good test for them. Vanderbilt ranked
twenty fourth and they have a win over Tennessee this year.
Shay Routh the former big time post player for Yukon
in the early days of Geno Rims dynasty building in Stores, Connecticut.

(01:01:53):
She's the head coach at Vanderbilt. So anyway, that's for
tomorrow night. But for the Long Corn men, it's tonight
against Arkansas. And then speaking of Vanderbilt, and then the
Long Wrorn's gone on a plane Friday fly to Nashville.

Speaker 2 (01:02:09):
They played Vanderbilt at noon on Saturday, so noon.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
On Saturday for them, and then come back after that
and then they go back to that Tuesday of rotation
at least for one week because the Alabama Crimson tied
number four in the country, come in the following Tuesday.
And then they have another Wednesday game that would be
against Arkansas in Fayetteville, so they still have that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
So there's still a lot to come on the schedule.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
Some big games for Texas, Kentucky at home, like I said,
Alabama at home, and they have to go to Arkansas again.
But a chance if the Longhorns handle their business, they
have Georgia at home and they have Oklahoma at home.
If they can finish at or pretty close to five hundred,
like eight and ten, if not nine and nine or

(01:03:00):
ten and eight would be even would be fabulous in
this league. But if they if they're able to finish
somewhere in that neighborhood, I think it would lock them in.
It would cement them in into being in the NCAA tournament.
But you know Rodney talks about you know, live where
your feet are today, and so that means tonight in
getting ready for an Arkansas team that comes off it's
very impressive win over Kentucky on Saturday night, and they

(01:03:23):
have the three former Kentucky Wildcats on that team as well.
We've talked quite a bit about that earlier in the program,
and it'll be it'll be a good test for Texas
tonight at eight o'clock. All right, We've got some other
things to get to when we get to some NBA
coming up, and and then there's kind of an important
birthday to take note of, and I'll I'll pass this

(01:03:48):
along to Cameron Parker, the producer, because it might have
some interest for him.

Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
I'll just leave it at that, and I'll put it
I'll put it that way, so we'll get to all
of that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
We'll cane here on this Wednesday afternoon here in the
Greater Austin and Central Texas area.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
Hope your day is going all right again.

Speaker 1 (01:04:09):
If you like to text the program, all you have
to do is text the word Texas follow by your
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(01:04:29):
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If you don't have a downloaded downloaded, it's free, easy
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There's two buttons. One is the little white one with
a like an arrow triangle, that's if you want to

(01:04:52):
listen to the programming. And then the other one has
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There's also preset you can put in there as well,
but anyway, the red button with the white microphone is
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Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
Leave us a talkback message. You have up to thirty
seconds to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
So a couple of different ways to reach us if
you want to text us or leave us a voice message.
All right, more coming up here on this Wednesday afternoon
here on AM thirteen hundred the Zone. I mentioned Vick Schaefer,
Texas Women's head coach, and we want to give you
a little bit of what.

Speaker 2 (01:05:28):
He completed in his his media zoom availability. Today.

Speaker 1 (01:05:37):
We'll give you a little snippet of the bulk of it,
because you know, Vic, Vic is a volume. You know
he's it's a solid it's a solid chunk of material.
And it's pretty good too. It's really good listening. You
learn a lot, not only about basketball, but about human
relations with basketball players and history and all sorts of things.

(01:06:00):
So we're going to bring you the bulk of that tomorrow,
but we did want to give you a little taste
of it today as Texas is coming off of the
win last Saturday and Sunday excuse me in college station
over Texas A and M, and now getting ready for
this matchup with Vanderbilt tomorrow night at eight o'clock at

(01:06:22):
Moody Center, a game you can hear on one oh
three point one FM, Austin's eighty station.

Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
We'll be on the air at seven forty five with
that one. So I'm going to give you a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:06:32):
This is from some of the Q and A that
the media had with Vic talking about specific players, talking
about the matchup, talking about what his team needs to
do here down the stretch of the regular season, not
only in terms of enhancing their NCAA tournament seating profile
trying to get to that one seed, but also just

(01:06:52):
to be playing their best basketball going into the postseason,
because you have to have that on hand when you
go into the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
He's some thoughts from Vick Schaefer.

Speaker 6 (01:07:01):
Do you worry about losing that a key element of
your defense, like in the men's game, the full court press,
like you said, because of the ball handler shooters, it's
all but disappeared from men's college basketball. Do you worry
about losing that from your team someday?

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
No, I don't, you know, Mark, even.

Speaker 5 (01:07:32):
Even when people, you know, we see every press attack
in the country, you know, and m was screening this
the other night with their five player or they were
breaking their five player up, you know, to get the
inbound even getting your five player. Think about it that
five players used to what Okay, they scored, Let me

(01:07:56):
run down to the other end, getting my cubby hole
down here and do my thing. Now they got to
worry about Okay, I got to set the screen. It
has to be legal, which a lot of them aren't.
I got to make sure it's legal so I don't
get a file. If I do catch the inbound pass,
I gotta have ball skills to be able to get it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
Back to my guard.

Speaker 5 (01:08:19):
So the stress of even breaking to get open, the
energy exerted you do that over a forty minute game,
even that can wear on you. And that's sometimes where
you see in the last five ten minutes where.

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
Sometimes teams are just giving it to us. They're just
so tired of dealing with it.

Speaker 5 (01:08:40):
So it can be as good in the first five
minutes as it is in the last five some nights.

Speaker 6 (01:08:46):
Thank you again.

Speaker 2 (01:08:50):
From what you've seen on film. What do you like
about michaeleb Blake's and just her what your thoughts on her? Overall? Game?
Boy means all three levels.

Speaker 5 (01:09:01):
You know, plays really hard, smart, reads defenses extremely well,
great in transition, So I mean, you know, she's got
the total package and uh, you know again a three
level score that again can make the pass as much
as make the shot. So she's she's a really really,

(01:09:26):
really tough match up and uh, you know, we'll you know,
you you have to try to. And the thing is
they have three players, y'all that have taken over one
hundred shots in conference, and so you know, our players
are very familiar with that, and it really stresses you.

(01:09:49):
Everybody usually has one player that's a good defender. You know,
a lot of good teams have two. Not many teams
can go three D going, hey we can shut with
this kid, this kid, and this kid. And I think
that's the challenge, you know for people guarding us, because
we have multiple offensive players. You know, the kid at

(01:10:11):
A and M said it the other night in the
press room, you got to pick your poison with them
because they have a lot of weapons. Well, you know,
I think anytime you get into a team like a Vanderbilt,
who's got but then you better not take your eye
off the other two.

Speaker 2 (01:10:26):
I mean, they're shooting it at a high level.

Speaker 5 (01:10:27):
They're good players, they're obviously smart and heavy, and so
you know, it's just a really good team.

Speaker 2 (01:10:36):
And they're an NCAA tournament team. And I don't think
anybody wants.

Speaker 5 (01:10:39):
To see a kid that can get fifty seven or
fifty three whatever she got that night. I mean, but
she's done it all year. I mean in conference alone,
twenty seven points a game. That's our average. And then
you go eighteen in sixteen, So it's not just her.

(01:11:05):
You got to keep an eye because you know what,
eighteen and sixteen can both go for thirty and so
you you know, it's really going to put some pressure
on our kids to really be focused. I'm talking about
all of us. You know, I'm not sure you do
it one on one with any of them. I think
you have to really be cognizant and try to try
to do it with five.

Speaker 7 (01:11:28):
Bright Yeah, I think I just wanted to ask you about,
you know, Vandy itself. You know, you're you're one of
the few coaches that I know that that took over
a struggling SEC program and lifted them back into the spotlight,
like what Shay has done at Vandy. I mean, what's
the secret for her? Is it just sprinkling yukon magic

(01:11:50):
all over the place and it worked?

Speaker 1 (01:11:51):
Or what.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
Do you see in their rise that you either admire
or don't like or love. I don't know. Well, as
y'all know, the only thing harder than building it is
sustaining it. I mean, that's it's really hard.

Speaker 5 (01:12:13):
And to build a program in the SEC from the
ground up, you know, like we did at Mississippi State,
she's doing it now at Vanderbilt. I mean you have
to respect and admire the job that she's done, her
and her staff.

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
And so, you know, I.

Speaker 5 (01:12:34):
First of all, I have a lot of respect for
and we've had you know, we don't know each other
real well. I've only been back in the league, you know,
this season. But you know, I know how hard it is,
and I know the job she's doing. I mean, they're
they're just really good. And you know it's hard to do, y'all,
and so you have to you have to admire that.

(01:12:56):
And uh, you know, she seems like, you know, a
great part soon when I've had a chance to visit
with her and talk with her and at meetings and
and so it's hard, you know. But the only thing
built harder and building it sustaining it. And I think
that's true no matter where you are.

Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
You know, it's this, y'all heard me say this. We
talk about all the time.

Speaker 5 (01:13:23):
The standard is a standard, right, and it's you know,
for y'all, you're probably going to it's another cliche, it's
something else coach says. It's you know, he's got a
bunch of T shirts over there that got all that
on there and and and part of that's true.

Speaker 2 (01:13:37):
But here's the thing, y'all, Like.

Speaker 5 (01:13:42):
The standard is so different for so many different people,
for so many different programs, like it. It's I pick
up the newspaper and read about teams and coaches and
how they're evaluated in what they consider a great season.

(01:14:05):
And it's so different for everybody, sometimes not even fair,
but it is what it is.

Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
And you know, it's almost comical.

Speaker 5 (01:14:23):
But you know, for us, for anyone who lives in
the SEC and tries to survive, because that's what you're doing.
I mean, you're you're living in the biggest, baddest conference
in the country.

Speaker 2 (01:14:37):
You're living in a.

Speaker 5 (01:14:39):
Fish pond full of sharks, and every night can be
a dog one bloodpath and so you've got to have
that edge, that mentality, and y'all, that's what I'm telling you.
It's so it's so hard to keep that with eighteen
to twenty two year olds just don't have any idea.

Speaker 2 (01:15:01):
I mean, you don't have.

Speaker 5 (01:15:03):
Any idea what they're doing on campus other than you
know they're going to class. They got study all. I
got kids that got study all at eight and eight am.
They got tutors. Then they go to class. We're trying
to get them to eat right, and they come over
here and we get them for a couple two three
hours try to go through film practice, then they got
more studying. I mean, it ain't like we're at some

(01:15:25):
three named directional school that's you just show up and
learn by osmosis. It's a hard place to learn, hard
place to to you know, it's a great education, but
it's really hard, so.

Speaker 2 (01:15:41):
It's a it's a challenge.

Speaker 1 (01:15:46):
So there's just a taste of it there with Vic Shavor,
the long wards head coach, and we'll hear more from
Vic tomorrow on this matchup with the Vanderbilt Commodores and
the down the stretch portion of the regular season. All right,
we have more coming up as we continue here on
this Wednesday afternoon, so stay with us here on AM
thirteen one hundred the Zone. Tomorrow on the program, Bill

(01:16:08):
Sheney's going to join us talk about the new edition
with the Spurs, and the Spurs of course play tonight
against Philadelphia and then I think turned Charlotte tomorrow, so
Bill will join us on the program tomorrow. We'll hear
more from Vic Schaeffer on the program tomorrow as well.
So we'll look forward to bringing you the program tomorrow

(01:16:29):
afternoon with those guests and features and a couple of
other things that we'll get to as well, now, a
couple other notes I wanted to get to since we
were talking about the NBA in the trades like the
Mavericks Lakers trade and the Spurs trade. There was more

(01:16:53):
before the trade deadline with the Bucks trading Chris Middleton,
the former Texas A and m Aggie to Washington. And
he was a guy who was really kind of a
cornerstone of that of what was built there for that
Milwaukee Bucks World championship team a few years back. Kyle
Kuzma will go to Milwaukee in exchange, the Bucks also

(01:17:13):
sending rookie guard A. J. Johnson, the first round draft
selection last year and a pick swap to Washington. They
also sent Ford Patrick Baldwin junior and second round draft
compensation to Milwaukee. So again teams getting into the act
here before this thing is done and rolling right up

(01:17:35):
on the trade deadline.

Speaker 2 (01:17:37):
So yep, you had another NBA note made there.

Speaker 1 (01:17:42):
And then there's then there's this interesting note from the
National Football League Players Association.

Speaker 2 (01:17:54):
If you're a little bit OCD like me, you probably.

Speaker 1 (01:18:01):
Are just a little bit off put or let's just
say out of balance, not necessarily you know, irritated or
anything like that. But just just kind of feel a
little bit out of balance with a seventeen game NFL schedule.
I've been like that ever since they went to it.
It's just it's odd. It's an odd number, seventeen. It's

(01:18:23):
a prime number. Remember, we all learned about prime numbers
in school in math. Prime numbers. It's only that number,
you know, that is divisible to itself, to the number one.
Seventeen is one of those numbers. Well, they've been playing
seventeen games, so naturally it's the very logical thing for

(01:18:47):
Texas fans and for not Texas at Cowboys fans. I
started to say, excuse me, and Texans fans and NFL
fans in general, to say, if you're going to have
seventeen games, why not just go ahead and make it
eighteen like they do in the Canadian Football League. Go
ahead and play eighteen, get rid of one more of

(01:19:10):
those preseason exhibition games.

Speaker 2 (01:19:13):
Cut it down to two. You'd have nice round numbers.
Two preseason games.

Speaker 1 (01:19:18):
Every team can play one at home, one on the road,
and then you play eighteen games, and you'd get back
to a balance schedule, at least pretty close to a
balance schedule. Right, made sense, and Roger Goodell, the commissioner
in the NFL, was having conversations with the NFL Players
Association about it. So in a week and I mentioned

(01:19:39):
this yesterday on the program, where there's a lot of
conversation that goes on in news conferences and things of
that nature during Super Bowl week. So like Godal's already
had one news conference, he'll have his big State of
the NFL address coming up on Friday. Players Association they

(01:20:02):
have their big news conference. Then if you've ever been
on radio row for the Super Bowl, it's just this
one continuous cavalcade of current and former NFL players representing
a product or service, and they'll hop on with you

(01:20:23):
for a few minutes if you let them, you know,
you know, push their product or service on the air.
So it's kind of a trade off on that deal
they're doing that you're getting it for the interview. It's
that sort of thing. They hop on and they get
a chance to mention who they're representing and so on
and so forth. All right, So anyway, all of this

(01:20:43):
stuff happens during the course of the week, and so
the media never ever has as much access to the
commissioner of the National Football League as they do this week.
The media never has as much access to the players
Association as they do this week Super Bowl week.

Speaker 2 (01:21:02):
So quick show of hands out there.

Speaker 1 (01:21:04):
If you know who the executive director of the NFL
Players Association is, put your hands down.

Speaker 2 (01:21:10):
I know you don't know. It's Lloyd Howel Junior.

Speaker 1 (01:21:13):
Right, Okay, this whole thing about the eighteen games makes
perfect sense to you and me. Right, eighteen games makes sense.
Nice round even numbers. Get back on more of a
balance schedule.

Speaker 5 (01:21:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:21:28):
Lloyd Howell Junior pushed back today against Roger Goodell's statement
that safety data favors expanding the regular season. Quote, Frankly,
we're not sure how he's reaching that conclusion based on
the data we've been given access to.

Speaker 2 (01:21:45):
He had his news conference today.

Speaker 1 (01:21:47):
Howell was asked about the nflpa's current stance on an
eighteen game season, two days after Goodell had a news
conference where Godell said that eighteen regular season games and
two preseason games might be a possibility, citing safety data
that put concussions at a historically low level during twenty
twenty four. But how came back said players are against

(01:22:10):
another regular season expansion after expanding the seventeen games in
twenty twenty one quote, no one wants to play an
eighteenth game. No One. Seventeen games is already for many
of the guys too long. Seventeen games is also so
lengthy that you're still dealing with injuries going in the
next season, So there are a variety of issues that
hang off of the length of the season before any

(01:22:31):
formal negotiations. Howl and Gadell both said this week that
any discussions regarding eighteen games has been informal. The current
collective Bargaining Agreement, which was ratified in twenty twenty, expires
after twenty thirty. The length of the season is written
into the CBA, so it would have to be voted

(01:22:51):
on and agreed to by both the owners and the players,
and Howell said any commentary outside of a former negotiation
is just commentary.

Speaker 2 (01:22:58):
It's a player's decision to what they will agree to
do or not.

Speaker 1 (01:23:03):
Hou said several issues would have to be addressed before
any true negotiations could be open into expanding the season.

Speaker 2 (01:23:10):
He cited the number of bye weeks, roster.

Speaker 1 (01:23:12):
Size, practice squad size, the length of the offseason, and
the amount of international games played, which the CBA currently
caps at ten. He said, when you talk about eighteen games,
what does the international composition look like at where there's
evidence that they would like us to go as far
away as Australia, in Middle East, India, you name it.
They truly want to look at the international aspect of

(01:23:34):
the game. So how does that fit into eighteen games?
We could fit in in eighteen games. What I'm not
understanding is if you're dumping a preseason game to do it.
It's one last game.

Speaker 2 (01:23:45):
And I get it.

Speaker 1 (01:23:47):
There are teams that don't allow their starters even to
play a snap of the preseason. The team I root for,
the Rams, Sean McVay, his starters never play in the preseason.
So you're saying it's apples and oranges. You may pull
out a preseason game and go to eighteen regular season
games in two preseason, but that's still the wear and

(01:24:09):
tear on the players because they're not even playing in
just about all of those preseason games anyway. Well, everything
revolves around money, so that's what it would come back
to to see if they would go to But it's
just me. I'm thrown off a little bit by the
odd number of games of seventeen. You know, I think

(01:24:30):
eighteen would make sense with two preseason games. You play
two preseason games and you can get after it. But
the Players Association is not seeing it that way. All right,
We will be back to wrap up today's edition of
the program here on AM thirteen under the Zone