4-17-24 Hour 3

The Belichick-Kraft story and connections to the local areaAlbany Firewolves Sam Firth Levack reads angry Boston Red Sox emails

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
It's Lavak and Guz on ninety fivenine Fox Sports Radio. Our number three,
Levac on this Wednesday. I'm ready, I'm ready. I know I
asked you this during football season.I know I asked you this because Tom
Brady is no longer part of thePatriots. Our friends. If you're listening
on Western New York side across theiHeart app we appreciate you. You might

(00:21):
know Levak is the leader of HatriotNation. As Buffalo Bill's radio network learned
about it this past fall, ourguy sell Capaccio, when you did a
hit out there as you prep forthe season, even though you are the
leader of Hatreot Nation, you havenot resigned the position post Brady and Belichick.
Right, I have to like remindpeople that even though you've hated the
Patriots, they hate is still strongas it was in the early two thousands.

(00:46):
Yeah, well maybe not as strong, like the Chiefs are doing a
lot to get my attention. Butno, there's until what was stolen from
us is made right. Yeah,No, I'm always gonna hate them.
The Tuck roll. The Tuck rulelaunched one dynasty and I think crippled another.
I think the Raiders had a chanceto win maybe two Super Bowls over

(01:08):
three to four years if they ifnot for the tuck rule, I really
I think they would have beat theRams, and then who knows from there.
There's a reason I asked that question. I'm glad. I'm glad you
clarified that because this is important forthis conversation we're going to have, and
this has been one of the biggeststories of the day across sports. We've
held it to the third hour becauseof the report that's out from the Four
Letter Network. When you hear thesethree names, if you ever hear these

(01:30):
three names investigating something, just hideeverything, move to a different country.
If you hear Don Van Nada,who I know made a lot of his
career off the Balco scandal with BarryBonds. I believe Seth Wickersham, who
was the first one who did thePatriot Brady Belichick split story. Who's letting
Wickersham get all this in for me? Sh and Jeremy Fowler, that poor

(01:53):
guy Levick. I feel like there'sany reporter nationally you could feel with it's
Jeremy Fowler. You might remember himfrom his hit says the guy who had
interview Antonio Brown, leaning down likeyou Mariah Carry at his house, he
might have blocked all that out.Might remember that. Boy. So when
you're Jeremy Fowler Seth Wickersham and DonVin out of doing a story, you
know it's a big, heavy hitterthe meat of the story. And according

(02:15):
to all three of them that thereason Arthur Blank, the owner of the
Atlanta Falcons, passed on Bill Belichick, was because of Robert Craft. Robert
Kraft had a discussion with Arthur Blankand said this that Bill Belichick can't be
trusted. Quote Robert called Arthur towarn him not to trust Bill. That's

(02:38):
been backed up by multiple sources.They also said he spoke with Canter to
Blank about Belichick. One source saidhe was a big part of the reason
why the Falcons passed on hiring BillBelichick. Now I get it, I'm
going up against reporters who are thestrongest in this field. But do you
believe it's as simple as the headlinesthat are coming out of the today And

(03:00):
I'm painting with a broadbrush here.I understand that that the reason why Belichick
wasn't higher this offseason was because ofCraft undercutting him or he's not trusted what
do you make of this story thatthe reason he wasn't closest because Craft was
really the one manipulating other owners.I mean, you've got to sit down

(03:20):
and think about this for a second. Right where we all went, he's
the guy in Atlanta, He's theguy like I kept holding on to Washington.
I just thought that made sense.But there was no there was no
like, there was no smoke tothat. I just it was just something
that added up in my brain.You know, it just seemed like a
very Washington thing to do, eventhough the ownership changed everything. But we
got to a point where everyone waslike, it's a done deal. He's

(03:43):
going to with Atlanta. Get ready, home depot. You know, he's
your guy, Lemon Pepper wings atthe Strip Club. Here it comes Belichick's
you know, he's on to Atlanta. It was done. And then all
of a sudden he was out andyeah boy Raheem Morris was in and it's
like and we all went, something'sweird. That's a like either the reports

(04:03):
were way exaggerated or something drastic changedthat whole situation. It appears as though
something drastic happened and it was Craft. I said the word manipulate that might
have been too strong. And Iuse that because well, Craft did this
so other teams wouldn't get Belichick becausehe knew how strong he was. Well
more reports are saying that one ofthe things he might be sure to tell

(04:25):
everybody is that Bill Belichick is very, very, very three varies, arrogant,
not worthy of your trust. Imean to think that this guy was
so successful Bill Belichick multiple Super Bowlswith the New England Patriots, part of
the New York Giants staff in thepast thirty plus years in the NFL that
an owner who was his boss beforemade one phone call to the Atlanta Falcons

(04:50):
and said that phone call carries moreweight than anything Belichick's ever done in his
career. This to me, sniffaround and I don't feel like I've been
sniffing a lot here in April.Yeah, you need to calm that down
a little bit. Him with hayfever or something. Sniffing around. This
feels like Craft wanted this out there, Like Craft. This feels like too

(05:12):
much of a flex for me.How would they get this from Craft?
So here, here's here's where thisis. It's a very interesting dance for
me because it would if it's thatlevel of hatred between the owner and the
head coach who are so successful together, this would actually surpass the Jimmy Johnson
Jerry Jones hatred because unless unless JerryJones was just better at keeping a secret,

(05:36):
I don't believe that he went outand sabotaged Johnson in any way.
You know, Johnson was able toget the job in Miami, it didn't
work out as well like to go. If you believe that the ego the
arrogance of Belichick surpasses the skill andthe talent of Belichick, why wouldn't you

(05:57):
want him to go to a competitor. Why wouldn't you want go to thirty
one of the thirty one other teamsthat can up they could take away a
title from you. Like I'm surethere's a little bit of an old boys
network where you know, if you'rea Robert Kraft and Arthur Blank, you
run similar circles. So whatever,But like to take the time to make
sure he doesn't get that gig thatthat seems petty. It does, see
it seems a little petty, butit's hard. Like if I've had I've

(06:25):
got three championship rings at an arenalevel. Right, I could argue I
was helpful at all three times,but there's at no point do I feel
like I was the defining reason whythat those rings were one. I don't,
but I'm still pretty arrogant about thosethree rings. Like I'm like,
I'm I will if somebody in thearena level of football starts talking smack to

(06:47):
me, I'll I send him thatpicture in about three seconds of the three
rings and the Executive of the Yearball I it doesn't. I've got it
saved on my phone just for thatcase. And that's like this dude's got
got tro man, He's got whatsix Lombardes in a place that wasn't even
sniffing Lombardes. I would be prettyarrogant too. Robert Kraft wants to be

(07:09):
considered one of the great owners inNFL history, and he feels like his
resume speaks for itself. And BillBelichick wants to be considered the greatest coach
of all time, and Tom Bradywants to be considered the greatest play There's
a lot of egos at play here. I want to give credit to CBS
Sports on this because I like theirmusical chairs that's the term we used a
lot during the coaching carousel of whereBelichick was gonna land. Just a quick

(07:30):
run back of what it was likethis past off season for those who forgot,
remember the teams that could have hadopenings or did have openings. Where
was Belichick going to land? TheEagles, there was reports that they really
weren't gonna move on from Sirianni.But if they did, then they were
gonna have to start over. MaybeBelichick's not the way you want to do
that because how much time does hehave? Okay, that makes sense.
The Cowboys quickly brought back Mike McCarthy. The Raiders. Your Raiders fired too

(07:53):
Belichick disciples, So it'd be weirdif they got rid of Belichick like guys
and then brought in another Belichick actuallyBelichick himself. Not to mention, you
had an intern coach the team loves, you moved on from him. It
didn't work out for a Belichick disciple. Now you've an intern coach the team
loves and they really really responded toyou move on to him for Belichick,
Like, like I told you,if you hate me, wish for that.

(08:15):
The Chargers wanted Harbaugh. They hada different guy. Okay, the
Panthers had David Tepper, who wascriticizing play call on. How do you
think that would have flown with Tepperand Belichick in the same Now, that
was never gonna work. The Commandersmight have been the closest. But according
to reports there locally in Washington,the new owner, Josh Harris, wants
to build it like the Sixers andthe Devils, strong GM, strong,
head coach working together. Okay,that's probably not gonna work the Titans.

(08:41):
According to reports, that's when comesfrom both CBS and ESPN that he was
just too stubborn, like no,no, no, you worked Mac Jones
to the end, Like, that'snot gonna work here. We would rather
have somebody who's more flexible with offense. Why Brian Callahan got the gig insince
so I just makes sense to goyou go a defensive minded guy who played

(09:01):
for that guy to a defensive mindedguy, like it just seems like you're
extending what you were already pretty muchwere. So that was a big spin
around we did there really out loud. None of those things made sense for
Bill Belichick, even with the sixSuper Bowls. I can't make a strong
push like, oh, so Idid leave out one team Atlanta? Right
now, here's here's here's my thought. Right. You said after he didn't

(09:24):
get in, he was probably done. Right You think Kraft leaked this.
I don't. If somebody leaked it, I think it's Belichick's side. Ooh
interesting, Well, because like ifyou're if you're now sitting around and you're
wondering, what did Atlanta know?Well? I didn't because these guys all
like you think you know stuff,you think you've learned stuff, you think

(09:46):
chefter knows stuff. They're security officersin the NFL for each team, who
knows stuff, like they know,they know if a dude's got a wart
on his butt cheek, like theyknow everything. There there was people were
reporting back to their gms and theirtheir owners and stuff and going, yeah,
Belichick's about to be in Atlanta,Belichick's in Belchick. All of a

(10:09):
sudden they had to come back,go Belichick's out, And maybe they don't
know why, maybe they do knowwhy. Who knows this? If I'm
Belichick, this is my way ofgoing. Everybody who who is still kind
of interested in me, I justneed you to understand something I didn't not
get the job I wanted because ofme, because of my track record,
because of my interviewing. I didn'tget it because a salty billionaire hosed me.

(10:33):
A guy that I handed six trophiesto, who's hanging out with Meek
Mill now, who's busy in theorchards of Asia, getting happy, happy
at conclusions nice. I'm trying toat least I was dress it up a
little bit. He decided I didn'tdeserve that job. He decided the guy
who was so arrogant that again probablyyou know, not exactly willfully hear these

(10:58):
women, all this stuff he's doing, all all these things. He decided
I was too arrogant to work forthe Falcons. So just keep that out
there for you guys. If youhate craft, you hate the Patriot way,
how you doing, I'm your guy. Get ready because I'll be ready
to work when you're ready to fireyour guy. It makes a lot of
sense with you laid out there.I think we got to add a few
other elements to this, and Patriotfans and NFL fans, there's a lot

(11:20):
to this story. As deep asthe story was. Today that the Apple
Plus documentary came out about the PatriotDynasty. Now, if you're a Patriot
fan, you loved it. Iwatched a few episodes. I didn't watch
it. It was good, Butthere's a reason it didn't get us.
Maybe it's Apple Plus. The subscriptionsaren't as high as they want us to
believe they are. Maybe it's justa lack of the audience for people who

(11:41):
are Apple Plus subscribers. But thatdid come out, and from the takeaways
from that documentary, the people wholooked the worst were Belichick and craft Craft
because some of these manipulaty I'll usethat term again, power hungry ego things
came out in the dock and thenall of a sudden, now here's another
story about Craft being power hungry,ego driven. But Belichick was awful in

(12:07):
it, and not awful because likehe's a bad person. But in comparison
to other sports docs, you getthe personality, you get, the stories,
you get the engagement. Belichick feltlike he gave you nothing during it,
like this was supposed to be theraw raw, Look how great you
are. It felt like he's likeI'm not done yet, Like I'm not
retired. I don't want to dothe last dance I'm not old sitting in

(12:28):
a rocking chair in Montana. Idon't want to do this. So I
think a little bit of the documentaryplayed a factor in this of like you
said, who's really at fault here? You laid out the scenario that Belichick
feels like the reason I didn't getit was because of Kraft. There's another
side of that ego. And Ilove that you brought up your executive photos
you have because everybody and if youdon't think you have this, you are

(12:52):
a liar whatever you do for aliving. And how this goes to people
who are in high school, playin sports and youth sports, everything else.
Everybody's got an ego, everybody,every single person. There are people
who when they walk out of theirjob, whether it's retirement, whether they
quit, truly believe the business willfold without them. And they can tell

(13:13):
you why in certain ways, ofhow in which this building's gonna never survive,
blah blah blah. And some peopleare probably right. Some people are
probably right, but those things happen. But here's the thing about Craft and
Brady and Belichick, Like Tom Bradycan smoke a cigar and say, oh,

(13:33):
you thought it was Belichick the reasonI was great? Where's he working
after me? Like I left?How do you do after me? Robert
Kraft can say, oh, youthought the Patriots became a dynasty because of
Belichick and Brady. Okay, we'regonna find out now may we'll find now
I gotta do without them, andBelichick's gonna be like, oh, you

(13:54):
guys think you can win without me? Let's go see it. Like there
is still a story to be told. And I hope we all understood where
I went with that, where it'slike everybody thinks they're the reason, whether
they want to say it publicly ornot. And you listening right now,
it's okay, like lovak and Icould give you about eight minutes of things
that we think we should take creditfor, and who knows and how long
this topic goes, but of hey, and it's healthy, like it's ppetition

(14:15):
the one thing that I have Ihave learned and that and maybe it's it's
probably a lot easier to be humblewhen you're not a billionaire, it's probably
and if you've been humbled, likeso, I stepped away from radio for
two years, right about two years, maybe a little more. I had

(14:35):
a lot of people come to mein the midtime, like would you like,
what about doing a show without Gods? What about doing it? And
It's like, Dude, I firmlybelieve I could do a radio show with
just about anybody. I want todo the radio show with Goz because Goz
has he has something that I havenot found in anyone else. He has
a very friendly ability to verbally rollhis eyes. So like when I say

(14:58):
something really stupid that offends people,God's reaction is that of the person who's
offended, but in a way thatsoftens their reaction, like it's it's he
he has way more than that.But it's the one thing that I think
has made people like me over thecourse of this experience, more than other
co hosts have ever been able todo. It's it's something that I'm very
much envy and and and and youknow, would I would I want to

(15:22):
do the show without it? Icould? Would? I want to know?
Like That's why I think, Likewhen I see a guy like Brady,
a guy like Belichick, and it'slike I did it, No,
I did it, No, Idid, Like shouldn't you shouldn't shouldn't there
a point where you look at eachother and go, Brady, go like
I was. I was still availablein the sixth round, and I was
the biggest note of me is Iwas Dowey. Uh. You took me

(15:43):
and maybe you didn't want me outthere right away, but you gave me
the opportunity. You stuck with me, and then I made you look like
a genius. Like you and thenBrad and then Belichick come back and be
like, man, we did luckout a little bit. I've I've tried
to draft the next Tom Brady afew times. Hasn't worked out. We've
been a good team. Do wefeel like we do it without the other
one? Brady? Yeah? Iwant I won a trophy in Tampa,

(16:07):
Belichick, I would have won onein Atlanta. I swear like at some
point there's enough. When you gotsix trophies and you're a dynasty, you
can all kind of swim in it. You can all enjoy it together.
Yeah. I appreciate the comments,thank you, and I will I thought
you were gonna go somewhere else withthat. Let's let's talk about local sports.
Thought I was gonna go like waymore no, no, no,
no, no. I thought Iam amazing. I thought you were gonna

(16:29):
go with local sports because as weirdas the sounds, there are some connections
with that Patriot story we're talking aboutof who gets credit for what and where
their future goes here in the Capitolregion. Like we'll just use Will brownford
example. Like Will Brown was firedas the U Almney basketball coach. He
went off and coached the Patroons andhe coached Sienna. There was rumors about
Sienna. He coached Saint Rose.Saint Rose women were successful, the Patruers

(16:52):
were successful. You already basketball,no disrespect anybody over there not as successful
since Coach Brown's and he could lookback and say, hey, look what
I could have done over here.Coach Karen is in this spot right now.
He was let go by Sienna.He might be looking at Jerry McNamara's
future to be like, what canI like, we can pick a ton
of these scenarios locally that have happened. I thought you were gonna take a

(17:15):
different angle when it comes to localsports because there is a time and I
hope I'm not embarrassing you body stretch, but I know there are people who
looked at the Albany Empire pre COVIDin post COVID and there are some people
here locally that can't piece it together. And sometimes there's like, hey,
Levac as the team president, thatteam won two championships and he sold it

(17:40):
to a person who thought would havethe future, and they had the executive
the year, Like, you know, he's accomplished a lot there. The
team that was before that folded anddidn't win a championship and compete in a
four team league, Like, hey, you can do things like that.
There are things locally that happen,right, Like, you don't get enough
credit for that. Sometimes I don'tknow. We're sharing complimence back and forth,
how great we are, but like, this is real stuff that's happening

(18:02):
right now in the Capitol region.I will say this though, the difference
between the two empires, right,well, I guess there's three empires.
Now. There's there's the George ManniusEmpire, There's the Mike Quarter Jeffalovak Empire,
and then there's the Antonio Brown Empire. One of them crumbled, the
other one too. Well. Yeah, but the first one, the empire
was fine. It was the leaguebecause one thing that that George Mannius did

(18:27):
way better than me is put buttonseats and you know there's reasons, there's
other things whatever, But the endof the day, there were people touching
rafters in eighteen and nineteen. Ihaven't done that yet, I've but I
I've two rings to his one.I'm just kidding, but what I meant,
but no, But it's like,but like you, I think that

(18:48):
there's something that you lose something whenyou need to be the responsible party for
everything. Like I am more thanhappy to tell you where I was right,
but I'll admit where I was wrong. Like that's something I've learned over
there, especially over this last coupleof years, because it's like, hey,
look, I fell for it.Like I was one of the guys

(19:11):
in the room when Antonio Brown satthere and said, I want my kids
to see the field their grandfather playingon. And he looked at me quietly,
Like the one like one on oneconversation between me and Antonio Brown before
all hell broke loose that I lovedwas I jokingly said to him, Hey,
I'm a Raiders fan, and hewent and he like gave me that

(19:32):
look like whatever I go, Igo, I don't I'm not gonna hold
it. Guys like it is whatit is. It's funny, like I
was a fan. This is different. It's just I'm like, I wanted
to see what your reaction be.And then we like had a real conversation
and he said to me, JerryJones started as an arena football owner.
And I went, this guy's gota vision. He's got a plan.
So between the the emotional heartstrings ofhis of his kids, seeing where touchdown

(19:55):
any brown caught touching, and thenthe the he's got a vision he wants
to be an NFL owner. Oneday I was like, you know what,
maybe he'll hold it together. Ithink he'll hold the guy at least
for a while. And I waswrong. I was completely wrong. He
as soon as as soon as hehad power and leverage, he exploited it.
Whatever I was wrong, I wasone of the people who said,

(20:15):
I think you have to do it. There's an old expression and it is
really cliche. Now I feel soI feel like I should be laying on
a leather couch right now. Thisis so nice. Talk about what else
I was right and wrong about.Sorry to Sam Firth, we're cutting into
his time here a little bit.We promise we will call you Sam the
Albany firewalls. We're coming up herein a little bit. But there's there's
a cliche that you hear all thetime that you want to leave a place
better than you found it. Yes, but I think there's a lot of

(20:38):
lies to that, Like there islike in sports in particular, maybe not
every single business, maybe not evenevery single college, but like there are
lies to that, especially in thesports wheld and maybe media a little bit.
But just to focus on sports here, like I think what a lot
of times athletes don't understand, andthis is again more professional than college,
that when you have success for certainfranchise and you're the only banner up there,

(21:03):
we'll use the Bucketeers aren't a greatexample, but like a team,
the Saints will use randomly of theSaints. Okay, the Saints sucked.
They were the Aints, they wereterrible, and then they got Drew Brees,
they got Sean Payton, they wona Super Bowl. So if you
ask a Saints fan who's the greatestteam of all time, it's the team
that's up in the rafters, theteam that won the Super Bowl. Okay,
but when I was a sudden threeor four more Saints teams win Super

(21:23):
Bowls, you start questioning where thatfirst win ranks in the history of the
franchise. But when they stand bythemselves, there's no question. So I
guarantee you whether they'd ever say itout loud or not. The Saint fans,
excuse me, the Saint players whothe fans cheered for, they don't
mind they're the only one up therebecause it elevates their legacy. And that's
what's happening here for New England.Somebody wants their legacy elevated. But that

(21:48):
quote that we talked about, youleave a place better than you found it,
some people aren't able to realize thatif it's actually better five years,
ten years, twenty years, thirtyyears from when you left it, they're
like, oh, so and soworked there. All the reason why that
place is awesome is because remember whenthey used to have so and so and
so and so, and they builtit up, like well the house that
Ruth built the house, Like ifyou if you're so successful, that that's

(22:11):
why success is now bred by thatorganization. That's but people, you want
people to remember that, yes,exactly right, Like we'll use our field
media right like television stations here locallyhave changed. There used to be bigger
sports departments. That's different. Wehave the Gazette in the Times Union.
I would love for the Gazette theTimes. You have sports columnists again,
and they compete against top stories andeverything else. Like Arrival now is a

(22:36):
company. We worked for ESPN Radio. It doesn't help us that it in
turns on afternoon Drive, you knowwhat I mean? Like it doesn't.
It's like I'm not trying to bemean. I'm not. I'm that was
not to be a shot I don'thire and I hired the other one,
you know what I mean, Like, that's not to be mean. That
was not to be like I swear. The point of that is that,
like we root for the business tobe better, like the Patriots, you

(22:57):
should not have this like I hopethey suck without me. It doesn't do
you any good. It gives youlike a cool thing to say in stories
like this, but after it doesn'thelp the legacy pro sports. I just
give you the point. It does, but about ninety nine percent of other
things in life, you get theone thing to say to your buddies and
then it doesn't help you anymore.I think there's just listen, everybody's just

(23:18):
gotta you know, choose, choosekindness, you know, just just be
nice to each other. That's all. Grover said that on Sesame Street.
I heard that two days ago withmy son. You can learn a lot
from the Muppets, Tory Kelly singingthat song. You can learn a lot
from the mump. Kenny is aspecial word today, you know what,
you know what? There is apoint where you actually, like feel successful
and it changes all that like belachick, Brady and and crafts example.

(23:41):
But I'm saying they must not feelas successful because they're trying to tell you
it's theirs. Yes, like Ithat's exactly. Yeah, I feel I
feel like I've accomplished a lot ofthings. Me too, So I feel
pretty good. And I'm more thanhappy to tell other people who helped me
get here. You know where I'vehad people, I've helped them get where
they are, and my name don'tcome out to mouth. And that's the

(24:03):
odd weird part about this. LikeI guarantee you Belichick and Brady and Kraft
don't want to give the other onecredit privately publicly, They're all smart enough
to say the right things. ForHall of fame, speeches and articles and
everything else. Well less seth Wickor Sham's got a microphone and it's an
unidentified source or anything else. Thisstory. I hope this isn't the last
one. Like we just did twentyfive minutes on this. I want more.

(24:26):
Give me another documentary, Let itsit for another twime. You almost
got me ready to watch it.You almost got be ready to watch it,
especially if it's better, like youknow, you walk by like whatever.
Unfortunately, like man, when Ihit the pillow, I'm out,
bro, And I don't mean todo a natural transition into the Integrave Sleep
Center, but it's happening, likeI'm I've been sleeping. Usually I watch

(24:48):
those things at two in the morningwhen I can't sleep. I've been out
like a light. And it's becauseof the mouthpiece, my friend, the
Integratve Sleep Center, emboss that SPA. The process is simple and easy.
You call five and eight eighty eightfive six one eight five, you set
up the appointment, You go in, you talk to Lorian. They work
with all the insurance companies. They'regonna do everything kind of gets taken care
of. Uh. They they'll walkyou through the process. A couple of

(25:11):
scans, see what's going on withme. I have what's known as obstructive
sleep APPIAM, my abnormally large softpalate has It causes me. How you
doing. I ain't bragging what's up? It causes me to snore at night.
It blocks my airway. So Istopped breathing in the middle of the
night. I had severe sleep Batman. I did the I did the sleep

(25:32):
study and in which we found outat sixty three events, so twelve minutes
an hour. I wasn't breathing everynight. Yeah, that's fun if you
put it all together, not allat once, but just under under little
mouthpiece. He's my airway open.I'm sleeping way better. You can feel
that same way. Five eighty five, six eighty five, six one five.

(25:52):
Doctor Frederier and the Integrave Sleep Centerhelping me sleep better. They canna
help you sleep better? Two.Sam Firth and the fire Wolves. No
sleep till the playoffs are here,right right, We'll find out next right
here. Fox Sports Radio ninety five, nine and nine eighty. I think
guys on the Voice of the CapitolRegions Sports Fan. Fox Sports ninety five,
nine and nine eighty Magical Seasons takingplace over at MVP Arena, and

(26:15):
my favorite so far has been theFirewalls. This is a team that wasn't
great last year. We were warning, hey might take a little while from
a jail. This year they comeout of the gates so strong that they
lock up the playoff spot and nowwe're waiting to see if we're gonna get
a little bit more action at theMVP Arena. Joining us right now on
the elevation ten thousand hotline is Sam, if you're not Firth your last how

(26:38):
do you like that? Think likethat? Yeah, that's pretty good.
I've heard that a couple of times. It's pretty good. I thought that
was new. I thought I wasnew. Did somebody a fan have that
in the crowd at one point foryou, Sam, Ryan, Yeah,
yeah, there was a there wasa poster of the crowd with little kid.
Yeah. I think so that kidstole that from me and I want
it back. No, Sam,it's good. It's creative, Sam.

(27:00):
Like before anything else, just justthe fact that we are here in the
Capitol Region, and and you knowit's a it's a they're learning box lacrosse
as we go, and for youguys to rip off as many wins as
you did early, just to kindof to like the fever, get things
rolling in the right direction. Nomatter what happens next, it's it's a

(27:21):
winning season for us here in theCapital Region. So congrats on that,
and thank you before I put pressureon you, No, thank you guys.
The support this year has been beenawesome. So yeah, it's been
great to have a bit of success. Hopefully we can keep it going these
next few weeks as well. It'sone of these odd things where I'm sure
if we had Coach Clark Coach Gibbonson they would say, no, we're

(27:41):
not worried about that, We're justworried about our opponent. But for you
guys in the locker room, you'reall fully aware of what the impact of
this final regular season game can bewhen it comes to the postseason and what
the future could look like. Uhyeah, for sure. Yeah, we're
trying to win this last game.So we're playing play in that playoff game
at home and not we're not travelingsomewhere else. So all right, the
the so you win your home Imean, you're and you're one of the

(28:03):
guys who is here in the CapitolRegion who's been going to schools, teaching
people and everything like that, soit means even more to you and the
guys we're here to try and stayhere. Definitely, definitely. Yeah,
We've been able to go to schoolsall across the region, UH meet to
meet lots of great kids, lotsof fans and stuff, and they've been
doing a really good job supporting usthroughout the whole year. So we definitely

(28:25):
like to pay back to them andend up end up with a playoff game,
having that playoff game at MVP Arenaand feeling that sport, especially the
most recent game as well. Itseems as the seasons rolled on a little
bit more that fan base has continuedto grow in a lot of this because
of the winning for you guys andmore. Now you're at the stretch,
run Man Leveck. You said theword pressure earlier in the interview. Do

(28:45):
you feel it yet? Do youfeel like every game almost the playoffs have
started for this final regular season game? Yeah, yeah, definitely a lot
of the teams we've we've been playingthese last few weeks, like Panther City
last week and they needed that winto UH to keep the season alive.
So we've been kind of playing PlayoffFall for for a few weeks here,
so it's good. It's good preparationas well for us. Yeah, twenty

(29:07):
four, but it was on thisteam. I mean, you're you're you're
no old Fogy twenty four, butit likes on this team. I mean,
you're no old Fogy twenty four,but like you're you're one of the
elder statesmen with this team. Whenyou look around, you just kind of
go, you guys, you guys, we got to do this. You
have no idea how great it is. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I
think that was probably one of thegreatest experiences in my life. There's nothing
like winning. So yeah, it'dbe really special to share that with the

(29:30):
guys. The guys here as well. We've got Sam Firth from the Almny
Fireworlves How many fire Wolves he's obviounlysaying fire birds too much lately, Sam,
how many fire Wolves? With usright here in Fox Sports Radio ninety
five nine ninety Well, I thoughtyou were gonna say attacked there, Lavac,
because we've talked about it so often. Let's go back. I know
we're looking forward to this weekend,but we've had an opportunity to talk to
some of your teammates and coaches.Let's go back to that game when you

(29:51):
guys represented the Attack. What didit mean for you seeing that new uniform
and what was it like seeing theCapitol region respond to the throwback night.
Yeah, it was really cool.They did a really good job with the
jerseys. They're really nice and itwas cool to we actually got to see
some of the original opening Attack jerseys. Some of the fans are wearing them
in the building, so it wasreally cool to see see that kind of

(30:12):
continued support and see fans kind ofcoming back from the previous previous team.
But the whole night was done reallywell. Yeah, it was really cool,
really cool to wear those jerseys.Sam, I only have one issue
with your coach because Glenn Clark's gooddude, all around nice guy, but
he played for the Rock back then, so he didn't get to wear Attack

(30:33):
stuff. Right. We didn't soilthe Attack with a Rock guy, did
we? No? No, Idon't. I don't think so. I
think Gibby had his jersey on.No, he played for the Attack and
he brought his jersey out for practiceand shooter, and it was pretty cool
to see that as well. Let'stalk about the team that you're concluding the
regular season against. That's the NewYork Riptide Saturday night down at Nassau Coliseum,

(30:55):
seven thirty April twentieth. When youtalk about and look at this New
York Rip Tide team, one mostobvious thing is Jeff to you, I
think that the most obvious thing isJeff. Do you Probably they got the
best player in the in the worldon their team, so I think we'll
try and do as much as wecan to contain him. And same thing
for them. They have to winthat game to get in the playoffs.
So we know they're gonna they're gonnabring their their best game and they're gonna

(31:18):
be competing right from the start towe have be ready to go. Sam,
you're having a career year this year. What what's what's clicked? What's
made it a little bit easier foryou out there on the on the turf.
I think just a bit more confident, feeling a bit more comfortable with
the offense. And I think justkind of getting a little bit older,
getting a bit more experienced, calmingdown a bit when I'm out on the

(31:41):
floor. It's kind of helped meout this year, and the system we
play is kind of suited for mygame as well. So I think a
bunch of different things are kind offactor into that when you see the difference
between the guys who are here,because again there's there's four of you who
are in the community all the timeyou're here, you're you have to work
together a little bit more than therest of the crew travels around. Which
way would you prefer, you know, long term, would it be?

(32:01):
I mean, obviously, you knowyou've been a major part of the community
before your game and for the chanceto like, you know, work at
home and stuff. Which would beeasier for you long term to be the
travel guy or to be the homeguy. I think it makes it a
lot easier to be in market,just so you can kind of focus on
focus on training throughout the week,you're not traveling back to wherever you're from.

(32:23):
It makes it a lot easier onyour body, and it makes a
lot easier to focus on the seasonand focus on training, training each week,
making sure your body's feeling good.There he goes our guys, Sam
Firth right there, the albiting fireWolves. Levic, would you say you
liked out there, and you're notFurth your yeah term my mic on if
you're not Firth your last I knowit's not original anymore. But get those

(32:45):
tickets, man, check them outwell. Hopefully be able to get those
tickets on this twenty eight Yes.And I think the reason he may have
forgot that is I could have swornthe last time we talked to Sam we
were either in Las Vegas or headingto Las Vegas, because I think he's
got a pass with Las Vegas.Yeah, he was in Vegas in twenty
three, right, so it's like, okay, uh we our minds were
a little focused on something else,and either you find kid something My my

(33:08):
brain is the consistency of tap yocapudding right now, Like I I had,
I had a couple of people cominglike, hey, we're gonna help
you out today. We had wedid a lot of work with like the
the dasherboards and stuff, getting thoseready for the season, and then I
go out to my office. Everygoes, okay, what do you need?
And I go I listen, I'mputing my list together right now.

(33:29):
Within thirty minutes, I had fourpieces of paper approximately like noe pad size
this size. I had four ofthem full, Like I just it's every
time I think I'm caught up,I'm not. So if I misspeak,
I own it like it's my brainis putting right now. Well, thank
you to the fire Wolves, andthank you to Sam and Steve and Coach

(33:50):
Klark, Coach gibbson everybody because youmade this easy for fans and media members
about the playoff scenarios usually hit thefinal week of the regular season. I
know earlier in the show we talkedabout the NBA playoffs, the playing game
and the Western Conference of the EasternConference tonight and matchups and what this is
easy win home playoff game the followingSunday and you can root on the FireWolves

(34:12):
in the Capitol to reach it fortheir playoffs. Simple and easy. I
think kind of need that mode turnertoo, you know what I mean?
Like that, if you go beatup the rip Tide, you're gonna feel
really good about yourselves and get itdone. Like I don't you know,
knowing Coach Clark to the to thelevel that we've got to know him and
the guys, they're gonna go showout wherever they are. They're gonna give
it their all. But I knowthat if you get this win, get

(34:36):
a little momentum in the first roundwith the home crowd. Who knows,
Skoy could be the limit for theFireWolves. It could really really be just
all around different. Let's go FireWolves. We're rooting you, guys on We've
got one segment to go here ona Wednesday show, Lavac back by popular
demand. Whose demand it is Levakie'sAngry Ball, It's Lavack and guys on

(34:57):
ninety five nine Fox Sports Radio.Dude, this is like, I just
want you guys to understand how magicalI am. I'm gonna go right from
this to flock you. I'm gonnamake it happen. I'm gonna make it
happen whole nother show you can ifyou can, you can experience it live
at Corner Bar and Grill in acouple of minutes, or you can listen

(35:21):
to it Saturday mornings, nine amright here on Fox Sports Radio ninety five
ninety ninet eighty. That's that's howI now have done the calculations. Sixteen
hours a week, and I stilldon't have a base salary. Sixteen hours
of radio, which is literally likea fifty hour week job. And no
base salary. I'm the mother freakingTeresa of iHeart Albany. I am all

(35:45):
welcome. Also the mental anguish yougo through working with me hour hour,
I didn't even want to get intothat. That's for the lawsuit in the
movie. That's not that's for awhole other animal. Well, speaking about
animals, speaking about lawsuits or peoplegetting angry one together. Gee, let's
get get there. I think I'mgonna do a lot of that in this

(36:05):
segment. We promised you yesterday wewould be back today with another edition of
Red Sox Angry Emails at Levak.I'm giving you a warning before this.
I've just emailed you over Please don'tread any of these yet, because each
one of these has a story.I'm gonna have. I have two over
here, You've got three three eachone of these I have to give a
setup to. This could be thelast time we ever do this, and

(36:27):
I'll explain more through that. Bythe way, there should be one on
one line, one online two andthen I'll read those, but first let's
give love. This is another editionof and now we return to another thrilling
episode of Angry Bust in Red SoxFan emails read by your lovable entertaining host,
Jeff Levac. I sustained myself onyour tears Red Sox fans, I

(36:52):
just need you to know that,all right, how do you want to
do this? So? When doI read? What do I read?
Email number one? Just read thisone straight the one line of the top
of your email. Why aren't youcarrying Red Sox games this year? Please
reconsider Carrie? Thank you. I'mglad I added the name that I'm glad
you read the name Carrie. Carrie. I've responded to you multiple times.

(37:15):
Please stop emailing ninety eight three tryAh, Jamie Roberts. Jamie Roberts says
nothing to do with this. PoorJamie Roberts, the matriarch of radio here
in the Capitol region, pulled measide and then did it a second time.
She said, guys, what ishappening with the Red Sox W Can

(37:37):
you tell people to stop emailing me? I don't know why, Jamie Roberts
at ninety eight three try is involved, Carrie. Stop emailing Jamie Roberts.
And like the beauty of that isif you ever needed more evidence that it
was a it was a sound killingof the Red Sox here on WOFX Fox

(38:00):
Sports Radio ninety five, nine andnine eighty. The most upset and consistent
complainer doesn't even know what station theywere on. That should tell you all
you need to know, Red Soxfan. No, no, but wait,
there's more, all right, SoI see this as labeled unidentified sales

(38:23):
member and the email was did welose a few Red Sox games this week?
That's right? The calls coming withinthe house. A member of our
sales team here still thinks the RedSox are onund at iHeartMedia sent me that
email on April sixteenth, yesterday,wondering if we missed a few games this

(38:45):
week. Remember the Major League Baseballseason back I believe started in the last
week of March. We've almost gonea full month here on the station.
And this member who will remain unidentified, not only emailed me that, but
when he or she saw me inthe hallway moments later and said, oh,
wow, we stopped there in theRed Sox. Wow, how are

(39:05):
people feeling about that? Doesn't knowthis exists, this whole segment that is
our most popular digital segment of twentytwenty four, But the podcast audience can't
get enough of has no idea theRed Sox stop daring and this is a
bit we're doing on the air.That's our sales unidentified person from earlier this
week. I feel they have narrowtedthe three suspects mail. That's a good

(39:31):
start. Okay, I'm between thetwo. I'm really between the two.
Why don't you lay off the casesof who it might be? I don't
know if I confirm their identity,so I'll just go first names. Bruce

(39:51):
kind of a he's an old schoolsales veteran. He's kind of setting his
way, does what he wants todo, how he wants to do it.
Don't communicate with a lot of peoplebecause he's busy selling. So I
could see him potentially being this individualwho's unaware of it. But then again,
he there's no sponsorship sold, sohe wouldn't really care because he only

(40:12):
cares about that. Chris, we'llsay, uh kind of own own world
has a tendency to if you're lookingto calm down, Chris tends to go
into his own little corner of theuniverse. I can see Chris being shocked
by it, or Dave Dave again, I don't see him a Ton,

(40:37):
I do want to point out thatall three of those people miss labeled the
name of the show. When givehim the opportunity, I can guarantee you
it is one of those three.I won't have to We're gonna go Dave.
Yeah, it was him at Daveand now our last one here,

(40:58):
this one is but I do weneed to have it needs to be a
come to Jesus. I thought Itook care of this when I when I,
when I ate them all live afterthe after the market quiz. Well,
I guess some people are still confused. Well, we have this one,
okay, So let me set thisone up here, because what you're
about to hear on this email Ihave been I will fully admit I've been

(41:22):
studying this email. I've got threescenarios of what went wrong here. I
think I figured it out though.This email comes from a listener named Anthony.
Now, earlier this month, Igot a call from a listener named
Anthony. Now here's the call Ireceived from Anthony about three weeks ago.
Now, he's gonna say the nameChris in this call. Chris is our

(41:43):
on air boss who works in Poughkeepsie. So when you hear him referring to
Chris he called our boss and Poughkeepsiewith this voicemail. So again, this
is Anthony. You do the sameguy. You'll understand why in a second.
Here's any good morning. My nameis Anthony, and all I'm trying
to do for the last half hourspeaking to seven different organizations on phone links

(42:04):
and the options on the phone.I listened to your station all the time.
I went out and bore a littleAMFM radio this weekend to listen to
the basketball. I'd love your station. I used to listen to him because
all I want to find out iswhen are the Yankee uses, the Mets
and the Redstck on the radio herein Auburn. I've called the Times Union,
I've called CBS six. I can'tget to to anybody. I just

(42:27):
wanted to listen to a ball game. And I spent a half an hour
calling seven different people. I finallythought the core you quotes and get the
new permission to you because I listenedto you channel all the time. But
if you call me back sometime todayI would appreciate it, right, thank
you very much. So that justsounds like a passionate sports fan looking to
find some baseball. Okay. NowI called Anthony personally back, you did,
I called him back? Okay?So I got on the pane with

(42:50):
Anthony. Huge sports fan, lovesit. He was so happy I called
him back. Was in a greatmood, just wanted to listen to baseball.
But something happened on this call thatI thought I wouldn't remember, but
I do now. Near the endof the phone call, he said,
Hey, I'm a sports encyclopedia.I listen to you guys all the time.
I think you guys should have meon the show. You should book

(43:12):
me as a guest. So Iyou know, I thought he was joking
around, but before the call ended, he goes, hey, here's my
phone number. Seriously, you shouldguys should book me as a guest on
the show. Now, to mostpeople hearing that conversation, you'd be like,
Okay, that's not a big deal. I would say this, and
Lavac's been with me and we've allseen this hap before. I would say
in the interactions when people say thatthat quote to Levac and I probably fifty

(43:34):
one hundred people have said that,maybe I'm being nice here. At the
end of a Wednesday show, eightypercent of the time. When I get
that message, it means people justlove sports and they really just want to
be a part of the show andtalk about it. But there is another
twenty percent of people, and Ibelieve that's not put an eighteen twenty that
the reason they want to be onthe show or booked as a guest is
because they want to prove they knowmore than Leavack. And I like,

(43:57):
there's some ego thing like I coulddo what they they better put me on
that show. They don't know howgood I am at this. I think
there's a lot of competition of sportsfans that want to prove it, like
I can prove I'm as good asLevac and guys. Now you might think,
guys, that's narcissistic. How couldyou think somebody with a nice phone
call like that is trying to challengeyou, guys and do everything else.
Again, his name is Anthony.I never got back to him Levac.

(44:22):
Weeks later, we got an emailfrom a listener named Anthony. I edited
some of this so we could readit all on the air, but Levac
read that long email if you don'tmind, from a listener named Anthony.
All right, here we go.What is going on at nine eighty.
Who is the mastermind PD that keepspreempting the Fox national programming for this local

(44:46):
garbage. It was bad enough whenyou pulled the Gottlieb Show for the Toad
Twins, marvel Mouth, Post yourchildren for heart disease and diabe I have
neither of which, thank you,But now you've had an hour to that
poop show and taken an hour awayfrom Caveno and Rich WTF which he put

(45:12):
exclamation voice not a question mark.They are one of the hottest shows on
a national scale and you take itdown for more of tweetl ed and tweetled
dumb you buttholes are obviously totally clueless, and I know I am not the
only one that is really ticked aboutthis. Friends have also voiced outrage.

(45:37):
Do your advertisers pay rates based onthe numbers generated by the C and R
show, which are zero? Bythe way, afternoon drive slots are important
advertisers. Thank you for teaching usand this slop you have from three to
six sucks? How soon before youtake the six to seven away from them?

(46:00):
Thank god for streaming Now I havezero reasons to listen to your excuse
for a Fox Sports affiliate. Soso before you comment on that, I
set that up again. It couldbe Anthony, it could be a separate
Anthony or My third theory is thatbecause and I knew this day was gonna

(46:21):
come, because this has become sopopular, people are making right. Okay,
because this one because we've had thisbefore. This is that caller from
before you you played the Voicemobile.Yeah, we talked about how fat we
were and whatever, the toad Twins. I'd like to know that the basis
for the toad Twins, because I'mnot opposed to a new nickname. We're

(46:44):
also not very short. I don'tknow does that matter. Yeah, we're
fat, I get it. It'sradio. It's not like you know,
it's not We're not running around doingcrazy stuff. Uh. The I can
tell you right now an additional hourof the shows. I don't have that
kind of time. I'm these thesecowardly emails, cowardly I here's what I'll

(47:12):
tell you what. The majority ofpeople really don't want this show anymore.
I'll step down. I'm more happyto take a little bit of my day
back. If if if, ifAnthony the Toad King is correct and I
mean friends, like, how manyfriends do you think it really has?
I feel like it's kind of funny, probably some friends. It's not it's
not untrue. Here's my two theorieson this last one. And this could

(47:36):
be the final time we do RedSox gangry emails, because that felt two
insider like. He's using terms likeprogram director, p D streaming Covino and
rich fans. I know they're upnext national scale. That's the first time
we've ever got a Cavino in arich complaint in a year, knowing how
popular allegedly they're doing. Average.That seems like someone who either listens to

(47:58):
the show with terms we use,or someone who's in radio. So I
feel like it's fake or this wasprovoked by me that Anthony really got mad
that he wasn't on the air.He didn't realize he was talking to me
and fired off that email. SoI think I brought this on ourselves and
taking down the Red Sox promoting howwell this is doing. This might be

(48:22):
on me, Lavac. It iswhat I mean. Listen, I don't
know, kind of funny some ofit funny. I'm not gonna I'm not
gonna crush it too much. Letthat sit in your brain for about a
day. I just hope, Ijust hope he has the guts to set
us a picture. I bet youhe's a big fat fatty moll thing about
it, big fat fatty because youyou don't harp on the big fat fat

(48:44):
unless you are a big fat fattyor I stole your girlfriend, which is
possible to you could have. Thisis another person who's maybe seen us out
though I don't know. I mean, we're I'm fat and you you're not.
You're not this felt machine you've oncewere. I'll put that out there.
The corporate life has treated well.We enjoy life, my friends.
That's what there's there's a lot ofcalories and carbs in enjoying life. That

(49:06):
is the last maybe potential. They'regood, they're good, bring them out.
I just like I said, Iyou know, I'm My feelings aren't
hurt because I eat them. Butuh, you know, I I love
the pretending Covino rich is good.That's that's where it doesn't. But you
cannot like us and but admit thatCoveno on rich socks like that. That's

(49:31):
it. I'm sorry, it's butwe take shots. I like those guys.
I've heard them do a million differentthings on like different stations and something
there. I just don't that's notmy show to gather. We take shots
at Cavino and Rich, We havefun with them. Those guys are sort
of like us, a little bitmore lifestyle, a little less ex'es and
o's. That's why I feel likeit's a fake email. And I didn't
want to get to the point wherewe're getting fake emails. I feel like

(49:52):
that's a fake email or it's Anthony. So you got let us know what
you think at the j FLBACKO onTwitter at Tom guys, two MG was
easy w effects nine eighty. Youcan write in you're angry, but maybe
I'm I love the question about oursalesforce. Or they don't even know what
shows a hunt, they don't knowwhat team is on. There's like two
dudes over there working hard. Onethere's a nice young lady who just started

(50:13):
of iobes. Nobody knows if theydon't care, they just show up,
pay their mortgage and go home.Ugh, now I'm depressed. What do
you mean You're supposed to be depressed? At Sue. This is why we
can't do it anymore. Anthony's gotyou shook. I don't know. I
don't care about Anthony. I'm moreworried about the sales. Dude going,
hey, do we miss some games? Like this is like two weeks after

(50:35):
they were they didn't know the nameof the show. You know. Let's
see them over here trying to doa good thing. Let's do this.
Let's get you out for Flock University. This addition to that is gonna air
replayed audio version nine am on Saturday. Have the Detroit Pizza, have a
great time. You're off. Yougotta get moving right now. But before
you go, let's talk about peoplewho SUP sponsor the show, support us.
I think it's suppository, so Idon't want to usx pest Cantry.

(51:00):
You and I are both members ofthe Platinum Package. They've been taking care
of us. They can take careof you across the Capital region right now.
To keep your home safe. Yeah, I mean it all starts with
that free inspection usxpest dot com.They come to your house, they do
a full walkthrough. They explain toyou why the signs point to troubles in
some areas and no worries in others. Everything from getting bats out of your

(51:21):
house safe and effectively, from yourattic to keeping mosquitoes and ticks and everything
else out of your yard. Itis top to bottom just complete covers the
Platinum package with USX Pest Control.Yeah, all right, I'm gonna I'm
gonna go do Uh, I'm gonnago do the Coach Show, Flock University
where I'm appreciated. Uh and Richhave never been on the show and never

(51:43):
will. Cavino and Rich are upnext tomorrow. We are live at Mohawk
Honda. Come join us three.But if I keep talking, that means
no Covino and Rich and I ruinwhat's his face? Yeah? I might
keep talking as all right, washyour hands, don't touch your face.
Anthony and Levac do whatever you want. Hit the button, guys. Fox Sports