5-2-24 Hour 3

Levack and Goz breakdown Game 6's storylines between the Knicks and 76ers
Brian "The Closer" Mariano on the Patroons and Kentucky Derby
Albany Firwolves Anthony Joaquim on this weeken's semi-final matchup

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Guys on the voice of the CapitolRegions sports fan Fox Sports ninety five,
nine and nine. Ah yeah,Game day baboo is Uh, it's a
beautiful day to be a New Yorksports fan as the all many Firebirds getting
ready to host the National Cats.Of course at the MVP Arena where I
am. Uh, the GT ToysStudio that's Toys and a Ze, where

(00:22):
Gazi Bear is is where you willbe able to listen to the Knicks tonight
as they try to lock it upand shut it down against the filthy seventy
six ers. Uh. I am, I'm pumped, I'm excited. I
think this is going to be agood night for all of us. And
guys, do you agree is this? Do we all get it done?

(00:43):
You have Firebirds? If you couldbet Firebirds slash Nicks, would you somewhere?
Ryan McCarthy's like, ooh, isthat a parlay? I know we
talk pinstrit parley in the play ofthe day, but they all Capital Region
parlay. I will not I willnot pick the Firebird Cats game because I
am a true basting professional and Idon't need social media yelling and screamed at

(01:03):
me. I will do like thekirk Herb Street not allowed to pick the
game for that one. I don'tknow what precedent was set for that.
I think it's the national broadcast.Although right although, the Firebirds sign my
paycheck, so I think that mightbe where i'd lead since I'm played by
them, so I can't pick thegame. But I will say this about
the Knicks. If you told methis question instead, who do I think

(01:26):
is more likely to win tonight?Between the Firebirds and the Knicks? I
would say the Firebirds because the Firebirds, what are you trying to say,
aren't gonna win tonight? The Firebirdswill be considered the favored against the Nashville
Cats, and the Cats probably playedthe third best in the league. The
only team that probably played better thanthe Cats is Orlando, and an argument

(01:49):
can be made that Orlando played thebest, even though they lost that game
against Albany in Week one. Theproblem the Knicks is they're the underdog in
this game. I would be veryfearful if I was a Nick that if
things go wrong in the first half, if the things go wrong in the
first ten minutes of the game,if all of a sudden the Knicks are
down by double digits quick in thisgame. I wonder how much of it's
mental over physical about New York,about a hometown crowd in Philly. About

(02:14):
the topic, we covered a littlebit yesterday about Michael Rubin right buying all
the tickets two thousand plus to makesure the arena is not taken over by
Knicks fans again and Sixer fans.So I feel moves. Yeah, I
also think it's super lame. Iwould say it's more likely that the Firebirds
would winsnight because they're gonna be consideredthe favorite at home in comparison to the

(02:35):
Knicks, who are the dogs athome, who I believe should be the
underdog at home. I don't know, I know that line's a little odd
to some people. I have noissues with the Knicks being the underdog at
home in this game because of howclose the series has been. I kind
of have an issue with it becauseyou need you needed MAXI to do an
insane amount just to get things doneto get over the hump, to get

(02:57):
where you needed to be. Sothat being said, why would I expect
to do it again? Joel Embiidwas literally limping to the finish line,
So I mean, why would yoube the favorite when your biggest star is
hurt and your biggest opportunity is aguy who's a little, a little,
a little flashy. He comes andhe goes. I think the Knicks should

(03:20):
be the favorite, and the factthat they're two and a half point dog
bothers me, you know, ifanything, it kind of speaks to me
about what you're saying, like it'salmost like they're begging you to take the
Knicks, like how But I don't. I don't like it. I don't
think it's right. I think theKnicks should be the hands down favorite,
and I think it should be.That should be the end of it.

(03:42):
It's easy to say that the Knickshave been the better team in this series
because they had the lead the seriesand they're still one game away from punching
their ticket to the next round.This series, we knew going into it
was going to be more than likelythe most competitive of the first round matchups.
Even with when the line opened andthe conversation started, the Knicks where
the un your dog in this series? I wonder what has changed? Like
the two easy answers of why theKnicks would be listed as the underdog tonight

(04:06):
are one. As you said justmoments ago, how well Maxie's turned in
this series for the Sixers. Ithink the casual basketball, even the casual
sports, tend and be like,Okay, someone's got to be on the
team besides Embiid and it's not whothey wanted it to be years ago.
He could run through the list ofwho they wanted the Sixer number two to
be. James Harden was in Thatmakes it one point. Michael Carter Williams

(04:27):
was a unanimous Rookie of the Year. It's not him. Remember when they
wanted to be Ben Simmons. Wasn'tJimmy Butler on the Sixers at one point?
Like they've run through everybody to bethe number two on Philly, and
I feel as if Maxie's career hasbeen looked at like we already tried this
man. There's been about five otherguys who are way better than you were
supposed to being beats number two,but he stepped up. So the reason

(04:49):
why it feels like New York's theunderduck now is because of the emergence of
Tyrese Maxey with one and to howclose the series has been. And I
know New York Sports fan doesn't wantto hear this one, But you could
really look at some of these gamesin this series and they feel like coin
flip games is as impressive as thecomeback was for Philly, or, if
you want to be negative, asbig as a choke job it was for

(05:12):
New York. That same thing happenedearlier in the series with the Knicks.
The Knicks had an unbelievable comeback,or Philly had a great choke job.
Spin that narrative however you feel ona Thursday in the five o'clock hour.
But that's the two big reasons whyPhilly's gonna get the love here is the
favorite at home because of how closethe series has been and what people didn't
realize how good MAXI can be.Yeah, yeah, I just all right

(05:34):
so home Court. But just thelittle things, the little little things when
your organization knows that they have toplay defense before the first whistle, there
has not been a jump ball yet, no one's even dribbling on the court
yet, and you've got to playdefense and go buy out two thousand of

(05:55):
your own seats and go hand themout. Like I'm a big fan of
taking care of first respond and fansgoing out there and doing the right thing
by people. I love that stuff. Like whenever I get an opportunity,
we do a littlecture for the vetshere at the Firebirds game. We will
hand it out tickets at the firstresponders and stuff like that. But like,
that's just because we love our community. That's not because I'm afraid the

(06:15):
Nashville Cats fans are gonna represent atMVP Arena. They're so scared of the
Knicks fans. They had to goout and play defense already, two thousand
seats, two thousand they had togo give away just to keep Blue an
Orange from taking over. They're scared. They're shook. We're coming for you.
It's over. It's over, Johnnythe Knicks. You're gonna win this

(06:35):
game, Darian, maybe double digits. Maybe double digits, guys. And
one point, I thought you werequoting what's arguably the greatest hip hop rap
beat of all time, which isShook ones by Mob Deep. I thought
you're scared to look scared. Heshook ain't no such things as halfway crooks.
Mike is levec about to call theSixers crooks right now and drop a
Mob Deep reference, Like Wow,let them go. I just want to

(06:58):
say that God's drop the mob deepthe mob deep reference. I'm gonna give
you cool that boy. That wasnice. One of the great all time
REP beats, if not number oneof all times shook ones. Uh so,
yeah, the sixers and the nexthere. Look back now that I've
actually sounded cool for once on theshow. Now let me go back and
morph into my no, no,no, I have to morph back in.

(07:23):
I have to morph back in asports talk cliche radio guy with this
question pressure, the classic pressure questionin the postseason. There we go tonight,
these two coaches are coaching up theirsquads. Which one of these coaches
is under more pressure to win Gamesix tonight? Tom Thibbudeau, nurse.
You don't have to ask. Iwasn't even gonna offer up nurses the question,

(07:45):
but you know what I was gonnaoffer up, Tom Thibodeau, I
guess nurses in there. Maybe Ididn't factors. I thought the other intriguing
one was Doc Rivers tonight, becauseDoc Rivers is in a Game six and
if Milwaukee loses, they're done.I thought about Rivers, But you know
what, maybe you want to makea case for nurse. But I'll ask
all three. We'll do all three? Which coach of those three nurse Rivers

(08:07):
or Thibodos are the most pressure towin tonight? Uh? The only wow,
the only problem with the with theDoc part is pressure implies that there's
a good outcome. I don't feellike he has a good outcome, Like
I don't like you were brought inas like a mercenary and it and here
we are. It's not I don'tknow. I'm not buying it. I
don't think you. I don't thinkhe. I don't think there's a win

(08:30):
for Doc Rivers, even winning.I think he ultimately eventually is out the
door. Uh tibeau, I thinkhe he. Nick fans love him right
now, Like there's gonna be somebacklash if he only runs seven tonight,
if and they lose, like ifthey run seven to night, they like
they're out of gas and they lose, there'll be some backlash. But the
end of the day, Nick fanshave to remember that this was a team

(08:50):
that we thought was a piece away, and not only was it a piece,
like you know, do we notadd that other piece until og and
Andobi we in Julius Randall and welost Ognobi for a while, and we
lost Mitchell Robinson for a while,and we lost you know, everybody was
hurt this year. So I thinkultimately, you know, Tim's is good,

(09:11):
but Nick Nurse is popping off.He's running his mouth, he's blaming
the refs, he's blaming the he'sblaming the team. And sure the refs
suck. Don't get me wrong.We've now had them apologize for a call
that went for the Knicks and apologizefor a call that went against the Knicks.
It's just frustrating. But I thinkthe way he runs his mouth and
the fact that he's got a teamthat should have been a top three seed

(09:35):
if MB didn't get hurt, andhe can't even sell more seats to seventy
six Ers fans the Knicks fans,I think he's in trouble tonight. I
think he's the one who has tomake sure that the team doesn't they quit
on him at any point during theevening. Why this question is so interesting
and intriguing is because the things youjust laid out there about Nurse and Rivers.
I'm totally with you on the problemwith Doc Rivers. And you know

(09:56):
this because We've been doing this along time. I've been a Doc Rivers
critic, Like, why does hekeep getting opportunities because people like him,
because he's engaging, because he soundsgood on a broadcast, because he's had
the career, and he won achampionship with the Celtics as a coach.
You look at every spot he's beendue, from Lob City for the Clippers,
to the Sixers to even Celtics.Fan could argue he underachieved for the

(10:18):
Celtics and now he gets hired fromthe broadcast. He'd booth after a guy
who won the NBA championship and theteam's not in a better spot. Problem
is with Rivers and Nurse, theyboth can go back to what you just
said moments ago about an excuse andbeats hurt. Well, we didn't win
this series because our best player washurt. Okay, I guess that's true.
Uh, Rivers, Anton Acoumpo andDamian Lillard were hurt. You can't

(10:39):
win in the postseason, Okay,Like that can get those guys a little
bit more time. Fan base doesn'twant to hear it. They think they
should win. The expectations are higher. But that's a legitimate, true excuse
of why you weren't good enough,which is why Tom Thibodeau is in this
equation because you can directly point atGame five and say the lack of decision
making by time, whether it's notfouling at the end of the game,

(11:03):
whether it's giving brunts in the balltoo much, whether it's playing seven guys.
That is the rare time we've criticizedTom Thibodeau the entire season, and
now Game six is gonna roll around, and there could be the same things
we talk about where the Knicks looktired because they're not deep enough. I
guess they've dealt with injuries to JuliusRandall, but comparison of Randall, Embiid

(11:24):
and at Decumpo, Randall's a deepthird on that list. So the Thibideaux
excuses TIBs and that H and Iwill drive me nuts as we talk about
this, as it always does,of what's the excuse you choke the game
away? Your team wasn't deep enough, you're alied too much on a superstar,
and these are these are legit criticismsof what could happen in game six.
So I feel like the answer isTom Thibdau because the other two have

(11:46):
a good enough excuse. But let'shope it's not about coaching. Again,
Like, if you're a Knicks fan, you gotta hope that Brunts is the
best player on the floor. Youhave to hope that Josh Hart steps like
he's done this series, Devincenzo getshot. If this comes down to fourth
quarter decision making again or the overtimeor strategy advantage Nick Nurse advantage sixers,
which is frightening to say for NewYork fans. I don't I don't see

(12:09):
it, man. I think Ilike, I like it. I like
that you're trying to be contrary.I like I like that, that's your
gig, that's what you do.I think this if if this, this
should not go to seven. Ifit goes to seven, even though it's
a masters regard, and then thepressure all falls right on the Knicks shoulders,
it's a problem. I feel likeJosh Hart's gonna score. I think

(12:30):
I think that's that's been the missingpiece. He plays with such energy and
everything. It's great. But again, I just I think the only way
that the Knicks lose tonight is likeif Brunson doesn't play well if if everybody's
gassed in the fourth quarter, theperfect scenario for me, nice big league
going to the fourth see some bigsneeze out there, a little precious to
you, a running around with alittle a little little new energy, and

(12:54):
then you know, hammer this thinghome, get it done and uh and
go kick your feet up and watchsee what hap between Milwaukee and Indiana.
All right, that's that's that's thedream scenario. You let this off,
asking for a prediction out of meor a parlay pick, I will give
you this. The Sixers are gonnawin tonight. And the reason I'm leaning
towards the Sixers more than the Knicksis is you listen to Levakys, whether

(13:15):
it's Apples, Spotify, the iHeartapp No one is more stubborn about not
giving up on a preseason prediction ora prediction that hasn't paid off yet.
Then old Ghazi Bear, I toldyou nix and seven, the Sixers win,
it goes seven. I take theKnicks and seven. So because I
called Nick's pre series not season series, I will take Philly tonight in New
York to close it out in Gameseven. I'm I'm going I'm going Knicks

(13:41):
I'm harder than the Knicks. It'sgonna be a thing. This is my
squad's my jam. Nine o'clock tip. I'm gonna have to have the updates
coming through the phone and just behopeful. And again it's it's gotta be
a team game. They gotta goout there, they gotta handle business.
But I think they can. Ithink it beats Bert. He's game time
decision. The Nick's got Mitchell Robinsongame time decision. I think you have

(14:03):
to. Watching Mitchell Robinson walk isalmost as painful as watching Joel Embiid walk.
But we still got hard and steam, and we also got precious about
You are the big sneeze. Ifeel I feel good man, We're deep.
We're ready for this. All right, Lovic, let's do this.
I've kept you on a game dayinto the five o'clock hour, so let's
do this. Final two conversations onthe way, we're gonna talk to our

(14:26):
guy. You've already talked him abunch. Probably you would argue too much
in your life. The closer BrianMariano, who usually we're talking horses with.
We're gonna talk horses, but sometimeswe forget. He is the voice
one half of the broadcasting team forthe Albany Patroons, him alongside Rich Becker,
So Brian Mariotto is gonna join usto talk some Patroons, some hoops,
some horses, and then after thatwe are gonna have the one and

(14:48):
only Anthony Joke him gonna join usfrom the Albany fire Wolves. So some
Firewolf talk, some Patroon talk.I will let you go, my friend,
but before you leave us, beforeyou get ready for tonight's Thursday night
matchup with the al Many Firebirds takingon the Nashville Cats, and I guess
I'm not allowed to say meaw onthe broadcast. Can you tell us?

(15:09):
Can you tell us about our friend? Drew Prescott? Uh Prescott pw dot
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(15:31):
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(15:54):
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build your financial future together. Getthat good plan and again, remember finances,
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you go to Prescott pw dot comor call five winning two zero three nineteen

(16:17):
eighty three. Gods, hurry upto face the show. You gotta get
over here. Bye, see youlater. I'll catch in a few hours.
Man, looking forward to all thepeople. Join us at MVP read
I will finish up the show.Get out of here. We got more
on the way the closer. BrianMariotto joining us next here on Fox Sports
Radio ninety five nine and nine eightyIt's Leaveking Guz on ninety five nine Fox
Sports Radio. We got a lotof things to clear up here. We've

(16:37):
got one of our favorite people theCapitol region, Brian Mariano, joining us.
So two things of note here.One, I believe just a few
minutes ago I gave Rich Beckerson lovethe former broadcaster the Albany Paturons, now
Jeremy Frail doing the games closer,still part of that broadcast team. I
know there's a new young cat inthe mix as well, so let me

(16:59):
clear that up. Art One alsocloser. Don't you worry. We will
talk about the horses. I know. I saw the social media post from
you that nine years ago today,days before the Kentucky Derby even ran,
someone called American fair to win thetriple crown. That's the guy on the
phone with us right now, beforewe talk derby, before we talk horses.

(17:19):
More. Welcome back, my friend. How are you? I'm great,
buy, Thank you so much forhaving me on again. And listen,
you've been throwing some shade my way, maybe telling me I'm fired without
actually letting me know. I don'treally know what's happening here, but at
least I'm happy to say that I'llbe back doing Patroons games more often than
I think you're telling me. Iguess no, no, no, wait,

(17:41):
the young broadcaster Jason Planski's his gameright Like, there was questions I
didn't do that. I know you'rea part of the team, you know,
these young cats out there trying tomake their claim, the young Lions,
trying to mark their territory. Yeah, Jason's a great young broadcaster man.
He has a lot of stuff aroundthe area, the Jim Rant Challenge,
stuff like that. So when gameand I can't make it, schedules
getting busy doing a lot of differentstuff, so he's able to jump right

(18:04):
in and fill in. So hedid that last night's game and did a
great job and of course for agreat Patroons win, one that they desperately
needed, although the five one edidn't get the opportunity to hear those dulcet
tones of yours on the broadcast lastnight. Let's talk about this Patroon team.
What stands out from the games thatyou've been able to call this season
on this twenty twenty four squad.Yeah, this has been kind of one

(18:25):
of Derek Rowland's best hatch works.I say because a team. Now.
The way the TBL has changed overthe last year or so is that they've
added this Basketball super League in Canada. What that has done is it's created
a lot of these players that wewere used to seeing. The Chandelle milling
Houses, which made his he madehis return last night in the Patuon's uniform.

(18:47):
A lot of these former players thatwere in the TBL moved up to
this super league. Obviously better pay, a little bit better of a league.
But what they're doing is now thatany season the playoffs are start in
the Super League's a lot of theseplayers that didn't make the playoffs are now
coming back into the TBL. Soelmilling House, who played last year with
the Patroons, came back last night, had himself a tremendous game and a

(19:11):
win, a huge win for thePatroons. Well, it's been a patchwork
for Derek Roland because in the beginningof the season they'd lose two close games
to an expansion team in the FrederickFlying Cows. They are the top team
in the Atlantic Northeast Conference and thenor the division rather and you have another
team in the Virginia Valley Vipers thatwas another close loss by the Patroons.

(19:33):
So Derek Rowlands added put some newpieces in. They added Jacquay James,
who was a TBL All Star fromlast season to play in the backcourt as
well. You had that with TravisWish and now Chandelle milling House. They
have two bigs underneath with Josh Williamsand Amar Yusef. They have a complete
team now. So Derek Rowland Ithink has made the right move to get

(19:56):
this team competitive and we have justa month left in the regular season for
them to try and get one ofthose top seeds in the Atlantic. Northeast
of e Ran marionald joins Us areon the phone lines Fox Sports ninety five
nine to nine eighty one. Arethe storylines about this Patruon season. You
touched on the roster adjustments and thingsthat have had to be made. The
storyline of the strength is team isthat a lot of the players that are

(20:18):
in successful Patroon squad in twenty twentythree were back on the roster in twenty
twenty four. Have you noticed thatteam chemistry? Have you noticed that being
in an advantage for this Patruon teamthat a lot of these guys in the
coaching staff all know each other beforethis season. Oh sure, I mean
you're going to get that if youhave a squad. Even it starts at
the top with Michael Schumaker, theassistant coach, and Derreck Rowland the head

(20:38):
coach, bringing back those same piecesand one who actually had a rough start
to the season with Travis White.She's a guy you could pencil in for
twenty four, eight and eight everynight, and he started off was dealing
with a little bit of an ankleinjury, so overcame that and within the
last three weeks you've seen him justexplode, being able to have games where

(21:00):
he had eleven and then fifteen assists, and then the next game they needed
in the score a little bit moreso he had thirty four and eight.
So he's one of those well oiledmachines where he'll do whatever's asked of him.
Now, adding Chadell Millinghouse, whoplayed last season as well on this
team, you could see them inlast night's game just almost as if they
had been practicing together for the lastthree months. You could see that kind

(21:22):
of cohesiveness with all of the players, and with that kind of comfort level
gives this team a big edge whenwe get towards the end of the season.
Now Frederick again a team that's atthe top of the division, a
team that has a lot of allstars from other teams that are starting to
get that cohesiveness as well because they'veplayed together now for the last three months.

(21:45):
But right now the Patruons, Ithink they're hitting and playing at the
best time of the year, atthe highest dride that they can. The
fun part about Patroons games too,is that not only do you have the
crowd that's passionate about it and capitolisand sports fans that are coming up,
it always feels like there's guys whosurprise you with their athleticism. I know
lows More was it attendance a fewweeks ago and he had the forty inch
vertical in the picture of him skyand above the rim? Is there a

(22:08):
highlight real player you would hope forthe Patroons, But you've covered a few
games this season, it feels likeguys play above the rim like nothing else
in this league. Yeah, ifyou want to come out and see some
athletic guys throw up some big alioops and some slam it's amazing to watch
the athleticism that you can go rightdown to the armory and see a guy

(22:30):
like Arcedio Arrington who stands tall,but he's kind of lanky and his wingspan
is incredible to be able to blockshots. He had four blocks the other
night as well. But when himand Ed Diyson, another guy who's a
key contributor, both of them cameinto last year as kind of a hey
we played together in the TBL beforeCoach Rowland says to Ed, hey,

(22:53):
you know I might have someone elsethat wants to come and play too.
So they came as a pack andnow they're starting five on this roster and
talk about lesson our sinel Arrington canknock down a fifteenth foot jumper with anyone
in TBL. But he also cango high above and put down a slam,
as we've seen a couple of times. One of the guests that we
had earlier this season was ESPN's Marquesascherwho joined me on the halftime show and

(23:15):
he put up on Twitters. Hesat right underneath the hoop when Trevis Weis
threw it off of the backboard intoour sineo and then he slammed it and
then he had a great picture ofour Sinio just almost poster like still on
the rim. So there's definitely somehigh flying action in a team the way
Derek Rowland coaches. They want tocoach defense, but they want to entertain

(23:37):
as well. They do that everysingle game, high flying, quick action
and a lot of scoring. Makesure to check them out. Albany Patroon's
Basketball dot com. Again, that'sthe website, Albanny patrons basketball dot Com.
Check it out. Check out thehome schedule, games on the way,
all the big matchups and more thatare coming up. Support the Albany
Patroons. A lot of great athletes, a lot of great storylines. There

(23:59):
a member of the broadcast team,our pal, Brian Mariano, joining us
here on the phone lines. Theelevation ten thousand phone lines. Elevate your
brand today with elevation ten thousand,some people hear that name, Brian Mariotto
and think horses. For the longtime this capital region, you've been talking
ponies. Am I allowed to saysome potential news that the summer has for
you? In liner We got tokeep that hush hush still no, no,

(24:22):
we can announce it if you want, we can break it. Right
here on Fox nine eighty. Iknow you want to clicks for your personal
page, but guess what now,I put you on the spot. Let's
go ahead closer. You can stillshare it later. I have no problem
with that. Yeah, we'll pushit through on all the social But I'll
be lucky enough to be joining theSaratogian this summer. Oh, I'm doing
all my picks for the Belmont Steaksthe four days of the Belmont Steaks Festival

(24:44):
at Saratoga, and of course allforty days of the race we meet with
Saratoga. So when you go tothe track by the pink sheet support the
Saratogain, you'll see my beautiful mugon there and hopefully take a lot of
winners throughout this Belmont Steaks meet andof course the forty day Saratogary. So
I'm looking forward to it. Welldeserved, my friend. You've put the
time, you put the effort in. I'm glad more people across the Capitol
region you see those picks, thepatroons and everything else. Don't think you're

(25:07):
hanging up without us talking Derby though, I feel like before we even talk
about the horses, isn't Bob Baffortlike the storyline of the twenty twenty four
or Derby, or is there somethingelse that stands out to you? Yeah,
it's amazing to think too, thatyou're coming to Kentucky again without a
Bob Bafford horse. And with allof that being said, it's one of

(25:30):
those years where he has two orthree Derby horses, but you're not going
to see them run on Saturday becauseof all the violations that he is up
against now. They tried to goto court and try to get that pushed
through so he could have any ofthe runners run in this year's Derby.
It was denied. He didn't wantto transfer any of the horses to different
trainers. He could, theoretically,or an actuality, send them to another

(25:55):
trainer at Chad Brown at tim Yachtinor a Todd Pletcher and then the horse
would run underneath that trainer. Hedecided not to do that, so you
will not see any of those horses. But depending on how the outcome comes
this Saturday, in two weeks atPimlico, you could see a lot of
those Pafford horses ready to run intoprevious rumors out there that weather potentially could

(26:15):
play a factor on Saturday. Whenyou're handicapping the run for the roses,
what's standing out to you. Yeah, there's talks of rain late Friday possibly
affecting the oaks, and then maybesome Saturday people that I've talked to out
at Churchill Down say that they're expectingit to be a dry track by the

(26:36):
time post time comes around at sixfifty seven on Saturday. I did look
at a couple selections in case thatis not the case. In really,
one of the horses that I lookedat that I thought would have a chance,
especially elevated on a sloppy track inSierra Leone. That's that Chad Brown
three to one second choice with TylerGafflee Ow and up. He win two

(26:56):
starts to go on the slop atin the Risen Star at fair rounds and
one. So not a lot ofstarts for these horses, so you really
don't have enough to go off of, but especially for him, a gun
runner son, I'm going to likethat opportunity there if he's going to run
in the slop, so he wouldbe elevated and the number one door knock
as well. We lost the Sierraalone last time out. In the Bluegrass

(27:18):
ran fourth and really a horse thatcan elevate as well. One at Aqueduct
last year in the Remsen on anoff track, and then ran second in
his first start a maiden back lastsummer at Saratoga. So the wet track
really won't knock him at all.If you go off of door knock.
I expect him to be twenty fiveor thirty to once a little bit of
a price there if we do havea wet track come Saturday night. Just

(27:38):
a reminder real quick. I knewI knew you were going to pick Sierra
Leone. I knew I could feelit in my veins. Closer Chad Brown
and you similar high school, samehigh school, mechanic Ville Oon. Yeah,
gosh, So I will say this, guys, is that is specifically
for if there's an off track.I now looking at the race in total

(28:03):
fast track, good weather, noproblems at all, advantages with the track.
I don't know if I love SierraLeone as much as other people do.
Now you look at past Derby's,Yes, you've seen a great run
from rich Strike. You saw bythat bird be able to come from way
off the pace and be able topick up the pieces late when you have
certain horses and I'm not sure howfast this pace is going to be.

(28:26):
And then and so know the horsefor brad Cox Scratch earlier this week,
that's another pace horse that is outin this I'm really worried if there's not
enough pace up front that fierceness isgoing to be able to go either to
the lead or sit right off.And if this time the first quarter is
twenty fourth second quarter becomes forty sevenor forty eight seconds, I'm really worried

(28:48):
that no one's going to be ableto catch them. And I don't really
want deep closers if there's not goingto be a fast pace upfront. So
that kind of downgrades Sierra Leone forme, because from the two hole door
knock's going to go from the ramwell, I think he's going to be
sitting twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth,and then he's going to be stuck inside.
So trying to find that clear runlike those big sweeping moves he made
in the Risen Star Affair Grounds andthen winning the Blue Brad last time out

(29:12):
of Keeenland, I don't know ifhe's going to run into too much traffic
trouble, so it downgrades him forme. If there's a fast equal track,
I've got another data to side onmy pick. Unfortunately for you,
we had to make you make thepick on a Thursday compared to a Friday.
Right now, I'll just tip myhand a little bit catching Freedom.
I'm gonna talk myself into I thinkyour scouting report on fierceness a spot on.

(29:34):
It's been a long time since youand I agreed on the favorite in
the Derby scouting report. I thinkyou're spot on on that. But I
think I'm gonna talk myself into catchingFreedom. And I'll be texting you as
we get closer and closer to thegates opening on Saturday to find out if
I changed my mind though I wanta Maggie. It came mage like finish,
like we had, like we hadvery recently closer. I appreciate the

(29:56):
time Brian mary On. I cancatch him on protruon games, you can
catch him on social media. You'regonna see with the Sarah Togain, it's
a pack summer for you, myfriend. Thank for taking the time.
We'll talk in soon. Thanks somuch for the time, my friend.
And may the horse be with youthis Saturday. Oh that was good.
The May the man May fourth.Oh my gosh, it's too good.
There he goes our guy, theCloser, Bribe Ariano joining us, talking

(30:18):
Patuons basketball, talking horse racing anymore. That's not the last time we're gonna
talk about the run for the Roses. Andrew Champagne's gonna join us tomorrow.
Love, think about that combo wegot here on the vaking gouse. Andrew
Champagne, Brian Marianna bringing you thatand go on support the Albany Patuons man.
Always some great stuff going on whenyou head over to the Armory this
summer, do yourself a favor yougo to watch Patuons basketball in person.

(30:40):
Make sure you're rolling up at abeautiful ride you like. You don't want
to be the person who has likecould hear coming from blocks away, if
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(31:04):
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(31:25):
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spring. In the summer, stopboardto Glennville, Stop over to Mohawk Honda.
See the renovations in more. It'sMohawk Kanda are they always go out
of their way to please you.We've got a member of the FireWolves joining

(31:45):
us next. He is making hisshow debut he's gone, as the leaders
of the team find out more abouthim on the way next to to our
number three, it's Lavack and guys, right here on the Voice of the
Capitol Regional Sports Fan, Fox Sportsninety five, nine and nine eighty,
backing Guzz the Voice of the CapitolRegions Sports Fan, Fox Sports ninety five,
nine and nine eighty. We thoughthis teammates and coaching staff would have

(32:08):
warned this guy to come on thevacuum. Guys, Anthony Jocob was still
mad enough to come on the show. All the nonsense we put his teammates
through this season, we are happyto welcome him, one of the leaders
of the Albany fire Wolves, tothe show. Anthony, appreciate you doing
this, man. And before weget into all the things involving your career
and the matchup, let's recap.Let's go back. What was it like

(32:30):
in the locker room following that victoryin the quarterfinal matchup this past weekend?
Uh, it was amazing obviously rightthat the team has done accomplished a lot
this whole season, and making intothe postseason was a goal and then you
know, climbing that barrier of gettingit win was amazing. The guys were

(32:50):
all excited for one another and itwas well earned victory. So we are
excited for sure. And for thosewho don't know, it's just not twenty
twenty four year time with Coach Clarkstarts with way back in twenty eighteen.
You were drafted by Coach Clark inthe New England black Wolves, so it's
been six plus years that relationship andmore. Let's go back to twenty eighteen.
What was it like getting that phonecall from Coach Clark that you were

(33:13):
gonna be playing with him six yearsago? It was awesome. He actually
coached me in junior lacrosse as well, so he's been coaching me for a
couple of years probably i'd say eightalmost eight years ago now. So just
having that connection, I guess,or just working with him made that transition

(33:36):
easy from juniors to the pros anddefinitely was a dream come true getting drafted
to play in the NLL. Thewild part about this your NLL experience is
that you've tasted the glory. Youwere an NLL champion. You won the
title in twenty twenty two with Colorado, now on the FireWolves after a trade
here in this twenty twenty four season. You know the makeup of what it

(33:59):
takes for a team to become achampion. You know what it takes in
the NLL in particular, to wina title. When you start evaluating this
locker room and these guys in thisteam, do they have that championship mentality,
that championship pedigree that you saw fromColorado two seasons ago, we definitely
do. I have one hundred percentagree with that. A lot of people

(34:19):
have been doubting us all season,obviously, with like all the youth and
inexperience, but that's just kind ofadding fuel to the fire. And you
see when teams try to get underour skins and try try to get us
off our game, they it kindof doesn't work in their favor as to
what happened in the quarterfinals. ButI do like to fight. I like
the belief that all these guys have, and again, I'm just trying to

(34:44):
show them what worked in the pastand hopefully translate it to this year.
And I do believe having a greatgoalie and a great faceoff guy goes a
long way as well. And youknow, we definitely have the pieces.
So I'm excited to see what wehave this coming up from the semifinals.
You mentioned face off, you mentionedgoalie. Let's just give some love to
your teammate Dougie Jamison. He wason the show with us last week.

(35:04):
We were hoping some good karma rubbedoff on him. Hopefully good Kara rubs
off one. You joining us too, but just give a little love to
Dougie Jimison. What was it likewatching him stand on his head in that
quarterfinal victory? Amazing? Obviously,Dougie's been our backbone of the whole season,
and just having someone in the netthat you rely on to make big
saves time after time again, obviouslymaking the saves that he does on a

(35:29):
regular basis, but also stealing acouple here and there gives a huge energy
boost to the team. So Imean he played lights out. We were
kind of joking after the game,like you stopped fifty two or fifty five?
What happened to the other three there? He couldn't stop those ones,
But no, it was awesome,Like just shutting out a high power offense
to only three goals was amazing.And then, like I said, Dougie

(35:52):
making some doorstop saves or stealing asave or two, you know, just
add some extra juice to the teamand and inspired the defense and offense to
kind of raise their level of playas well. Anthony Joke Jones here on
the phone lines Fox Sports twenty fiveto nine to nine eighty the Albany FireWolves
and l semi final matchup Game onein San Diego, Friday, May third.

(36:16):
How about that ten thirty eastern faceoff, and you flip it around
for Sunday game two? Right backhere to ENVP Arena as you take on
the San Diego Seals in that sidematchup again three o'clock inside ENVP Arena Sunday,
May fifth. Before we talk aboutthe Seals, let's talk about that
travel schedule from San Diego for anight game back to the East Coast for

(36:38):
a Sunday how if it all?Are you going to offer some advice to
your teammates to make sure their bodiesare ready for that type of travel in
a playoff setting. H Yeah,it's definitely not ideal, but you know,
you pick up some things along alongthe long couple of years I've played
in the league. Right, Justgood high drason, chrying to play off

(37:00):
your feet as much as you can. Stretching in the hotel, eating the
right foods just goes a long way. All those little things add up,
and even just throughout this whole weekright, making sure we're getting some workouts
in, but also taking care ofour bodies. A bunch of guys obviously
had bumps and bruises from last weekend, So making sure our body's right in

(37:21):
a good mental state, you know, some light reading stuff like that.
All those little things go a longway. It will be a grind,
but the thing is it's happening forboth teams too, so it's kind of
more mental than physical at this point. And you know, I'm just trying
to relay that message to where they'rein the same boat as us. They
got to do the exact same travelschedule as us. It's just in between

(37:44):
the years. I think, comethat second game, no doubt, the
San Diego Seal teammate tough squad,one of the best squads in the nl
L in twenty twenty four. Whenyou scout out this team, when you're
evaluating this matchup for this upcoming weekend, what stands down to you looking at
the Seals very similar to us,right, they have a really good faceoff
guy. They have a great goalie, great young goalie. Their offense,

(38:07):
they have some veteran players that havewon in the past and they kind of
click on a high cylinder. Soit will be a battle with you know,
having two really good goalies and tworeally good faceoff guys. So kind
of the the in between plays,you know, momentum plays going between the

(38:28):
two teams will be huge. Sojust kind of taking a one shift at
a time. It's going to bea grind. It's going to be a
battle. But I do like ourchances in our youth and athleticism to kind
of get up and down on theseguys a little bit. To think about
this. The FireWolves won their firstfranchises playoff game just this past weekend,
and the season can go even deeperif they have success against San Diego.

(38:49):
One more time to remind you,the al Many FireWolves start off their semi
finals on Friday night on the WestCoast against San Diego, Game one,
ten to thirty Eastern face off.You can watch that action on ESPN you
ESPN Plus, ts N Plus,and then back here inside MVP Arena on
Sunday with face off set for threeo'clock against the San Diego Seals. For

(39:09):
more information, including ticket availability,check out all Manyfirewolves dot com. Anthony
one more time before we let yougo, give some encouragement to the Firewolf
fans, Capital Regions sports fans andmore. Tell them why they got to
come out on Sunday and support youand your teammates and the coaching staff and
more on this semi final run.We definitely feed off the energy from the

(39:30):
crowd. That's just an added bonus, right seeing some of the fans kind
of affect that the Halifax players goesa long way as well too. So
just the energy, the noise,the atmosphere that the fans bring goes a
long way and can give give ourteam an extra boost as well come that
third and fourth quarter. So youknow, we love our fans and are

(39:52):
excited to get as many people outthere as possible cheering us on, because
again that fuels us to go thatextra mile and and get the job done.
We're gonna try to take credit asmuch as we can to back my
coat and I about Dougie having thegood game on the week of doing an
interview with us. We hope thatKrmer rubs off on you and you have
a fantastic weekend leading the FireWolves,and you get one step closer to a

(40:15):
championship appearance and a title and allthose things. Anthony Man, we appreciate
you. Best of luck this weekendand good luck to you and your teammates.
Yeah, thank you very much.It was awesome to chat with you
guys, and let's go FireWolves.Love hearing it. There goes our guy,
Anthony Jokum right there when the leadersof the Albany FireWolves this season the
semi final action, you can tasteit. It's so close, it's just

(40:36):
around the corner. Cannot wait toroot for the FireWolves upcoming to get more
information at Almedifirewolves dot com, getyour tickets, go out on Sunday,
support that squad and more. We'vegot more on the way on this show.
We're gonna close it out, comingup next with the dump everything you've
missed. But before we get tothat, let me tell our friends over
at Lily and David Fine Youlers Shopsat Wilton, Guys. Mother's Day just

(40:57):
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(41:22):
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(41:44):
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Guys, go out and support familyowned and operated businesses. This is
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(42:05):
Wheelers. That's it. We gottamove. We got a pack day coming
up again tonight. If you're anAlmedy Firebird fan, I'm gonna be on
the call. Andrews Santillo and Ibringing you all the action inside MVP Arena.
Hopefully can watch that game, listento it, join us Firebird action.
We got more Albany Firewolf talked tomorrow. Another opportunity tomorrow, win some
tickets previewing the derbing. Don't forgetGame six tonight right here. Our coverage

(42:27):
gets underway nine o'clock Eastern. Afew minutes after that, you're gonna be
a tip off of Game six betweenthe New York Knicks and the Philadelphia seventy
six ers on your home for DicksBasketball, Fox Sports ninety five, nine
and nine eighty until tomorrow. Washyour hands, don't touch your face.
It's Fox Sports ninety five, nineand nine eighty Covido. When Rich is
next, I'll hit the button