5-3-24 Hour 3

Patrick Beverley's antics after Game 6 Andrew Champagnane previews the Kentucky DerbyFirewolves' Nathan Grenon and TNA's Brain Myers

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's Lavack and GUYZ on ninety fiveto nine Fox Sports Radio Live in the
GG Toys Studio. That's Toys witha Z. It is Lavack and Guys,
and it's the last segment for you. You are about to finish off
the weekend. That five o'clock Fridayfeeling is here. We've got a lot

(00:20):
of interviews coming up. We've gotBrian Myers from TNA Wrestling. We've got
Nathan Grennan who is live out inSan Diego as the FireWolves prep for the
San Diego Seals. We've got misterChampagne Poppy himself, not Drake. I
know you're not a fan of Drake, but our guy, Andrew Champagne Closer
was on yesterday, Brian Mariano AndrewChampagne's gonna preview the derby. That's all

(00:43):
coming up. I will handle allthat because you've been powering through the day.
But I want to thank you,Levac, because you did not let
your players act like Patrick Beverly inthe postgame press conference and during the game
last night for the Firebirds like heacted for the Milwaukee Bucks and their loss
of the pay serious if you,if you think about it, go back
a week right, the Orlando Predatorswere so frustrated with the flock the nest

(01:10):
that one of them went into thestands or tried to. At least that
same weekend the FireWolves, there wasHalifax. I don't remember what we're playing,
dude tried to climb out of thesinbin, tried to climb out of
the penalty box to get to thefans. I for me, I love
it, like I think it's hystericalthat I've got the kind of fans at
the m v P Arena who youneed to at your poketch you get to,

(01:33):
you make, you make your breakdown. And I got the kind
of players on the on the theFirebirds who know better, you know,
because it ain't gonna be the fansthey gotta worry about. It's gonna be
us. We we we we are. We love our guys, but we
will be we will be strict parentswhen it comes to kind of like if
you can act like a child,we will act like parents. I don't

(01:55):
know who gets to do that withPatrick Beverley, Like, who gets to
act like dad? Is it DavePortnoy? Is that who needs to step
in and talk to this dude?Because I've always liked Patrick Beverley. I've
always thought that he he has alook, a swagger, he has a
style of play I enjoy. Hey, go on, hang on, I
gotta stop you about why you likePatrick Beverley. Is it because of his
play? Or is it because ifyou embracing the heels there's a there's an

(02:21):
interview out there. If you signingwith Dominic Mysterio, I think there's a
part of you that embraces the villainof that's different because that's his job.
Like his job, Pat Pat Bev'sjob is to play hard and nose basketball.
You bring him in, He's notHe's not the hockey goon, but
that is kind of his deal.Like he's he's like a modern day Charles
Oakley who plays better, a littlemore, a little more offensively better,

(02:44):
not better all the way around,but offensively better. And Mysterio is just
he's great againting like you you hatethat dude, you're met him. It's
hysterically. I love that man's father. He's my favorite wrestler of all time.
Raymondster What are you hiding? Ray? Why you wear a mask?
Huh? When you hide and lookkind of blowed in your old age.
I'm just saying, man, it'salmost fifty. Yeah, well your dad's

(03:06):
what seventy? He ain't fat,skinny hear in anyone. Here's the deal.
I think that he's gone too far, like the stardom, the thing
I mean, Oh, he's goingtoo far. Shocker to throw the basketball
in the stands once. Okay,you know what we can I could.

(03:28):
I could write a narrative where heit's like, you were after me all
game, you got to us.Congrats, here's a prize, go away.
The dude tosses it back gently,gently and gets it, you know,
gets the chest drill. That's whatare you doing? What are you
doing? But that's not even mylike, that's not even the worst part

(03:49):
of the night for me. Ohit's not. But just to talk about
the throw, it is one ofthese things that rarely do we say.
Thank goodness for social media, andthank goodness everything's caught on camera. Now
most people's lives, they would hopethat wasn't the case. Imagine this is
like the nineteen seventies and you justsee a newspaper headline or a radio report.

(04:10):
Star athlete for Bucks throws ball atfan and stands like what what do
you mean through the ball what like, it wasn't as bad as we think.
But there are only a few athleteswhere you think, like, Okay,
was it Patrick Beverly? Was itRon our Test? Was it Lance
Stevenson? Was it enis Cancer?You know, there's like ten guys who
probably would do something like this,And this fits the Beverly heel, bad

(04:36):
boy, get under someone's skin.Draymond's in that conversation too, Rodman,
like from the nineties. So ifyou told me, tell me who you
think did it. Beverly's built thisreputation of being that guy still uncalled for,
still on brand, but still uncalledfor. Yeah, but there's there's

(04:57):
this I'll give you a heat ofthe moment, like I'll give you it's
I expect more from you. Definitelygetting a fine, not from the league,
from the team and the league.Probably you may not be back.
You know, I may not haveyou back, But but there's also gonna
be a part of me that's gonnago heat of the moment. It happened,

(05:18):
you lost your temper, like Godonly knows, He's still looking for
people to understand like they were theywere chirping as the entire game that was
going on, the entire game,he said things to me the entire game.
I finally snapped, I asked forhelp, and I didn't get it.
But you gotta be tougher like youyou got it. You have to
be tougher like there's a certain partof that uniform that has to feel like

(05:42):
a bulletproof vestment. Comes to insults, you have to be that way,
like, you know, not totake it to it too far of an
extreme, but I will. Likethe reason Jackie Robinson was the first African
American baseball player was they knew thathe could mentally handle it. They knew
that, like, no matter howhard you pushed him, he wasn't gonna
push back because he knew how towin. He knew how to beat you.

(06:04):
And that was why playing great baseball. Like these athletes don't have that
at all, And not just likeon a black white level or anything like
that. I'm just saying, likesome of these guys, they that uniform
is almost paper thin. It goesright through him and he's that dude.
Now, Like now he's that guy. I know if I'm an a hole

(06:24):
fan, I can get under padMAVs skin, I can cause him problems
the rest of his career. Likethat's it. But again for me,
that to sit down to find it'sa conversation, it's a punishment of some
variety. We figure it out,you know, in house, we don't
even tell people what it is,you know, the other parts what really

(06:46):
got me, Yeah, it wasjust one other quick thing before we get
to that other part. It's alsowhere the fans are sitting. Like I've
said for a while that eventually courtside seats are gonna be taken away because
an incident's gonna happen because the fansare so close. This is technically not
court side, but it's pretty closeto be Like, it's like it's behind
the bench. You're part of theirbench. Yeah, there's a group of
Pacer fans or whatever the hell theyare there on the bench. They're on

(07:10):
there on your bench, like they'reright there. Usually again not defending Pacer
fan. We're trying to find outwhat they said. Usually, when you
have that good of seats, youdo everything you can never to lose this
seat. Usually the heckling does comefrom deeper in the arena than the best
seats in the house because people don'twant to lose those seats. So that's

(07:30):
why I find that odd. Well, that's the spot. Hold on,
please, I know that I amnot the president of the Indiana Pacers,
Milwaukee Bucks or any of that,but as the president of the Albany Firebirds
once the Albany Empire, I onelove the group that I've got that bought

(07:55):
their tickets behind enemy lines. Theybought they When they went and bought their
season tickets, they said, wewant to sit dead close to the visiting
bench as possible, and they boughtthem and they've had them ever since.
They are the originators of when Istarted calling it was gonna call the defense
for the Empire, but it wasthem, the Pearl Street Bullies. That's

(08:18):
them. It wasn't the players.It's them because they rattle the other team
and I love it. I loveit. I gave them free T shirts
because of it. So this groupthat the Pacers have, they're not losing
those seats. If anything, theymight go to them, Hey look,
dude, we're gonna move you forlike two games just so it looks like
we did something, but we're gonnapay for your next five games. Yeah,

(08:41):
or here's here's the five hundred certificateto the team's store. They're gonna
reward those fans because it's hysterical tothem that Pat Bev blew up. Keep
it clean, don't go viral withinsulting comments like really are over line?
You get under their skin. Soyeah, noose sticks, no stones.
Here we go. We're me halfwayon this. Okay, you've teased this
twice. Now about what do youactually feel a little bit more bothered by

(09:05):
with Beverley yesterday? The arrogance ofkicking a woman out of the press conference
because she doesn't subscribe to your podcast? And why even ask like how,
hey guys, you subscribe my podcast? No, why would you tell me
that I can't verify it? Imight verify it right there. I'm like,
I'm five seconds from a shower,Like you know what I mean?

(09:26):
Like, like, what what wasit about? What was about that woman
that he was like? I don'tthink she listens to What is the Pat
Bad podcast? I don't even know. I don't even know what it is.
I thought he didn't want with abarstool. I know he was doing
stuff with the ESPN. I don'tknow what his podcast is. I don't.
I have no clue. I thinkyeah, but why even like,
yeah, yeah, I do listen. I love it. What's the name
of pad bad podcast? I don'tknow. I listen for you. Why

(09:48):
even ask? He's something about her? He was like that chick does not
listen. So and then the kickerrnot just tell her she can't ask questions.
He makes her leave. He makesure leave the area, like the
arrogance of this dude. We've gotthe sound here a little back. I
believe this is a clean audio versionof this. Here is what you're talking
about. Patrick Beverley telling a femalereporter to leave here. I'm sorry,

(10:13):
you subscribe to my pot? DoI scribe to you so you can't interview
me? In no disrespect? Yousubscribe? Okay? Cool, that's cool
again. There were a couple oftimes within a bucket or two in previous
games yell have been able to kindof get over that humber. Maybe was

(10:35):
it anything they did in particular?Was it just one of those where the
bucket didn't go down, There wasn'ta stop they made one. What what
kind of prevented that you all fromme able to get over? Kind of
like you haven't it depends good moodthat might please or just get out the
circle please for me, please,ma'am. If you're not subscribed to my
pot, I appreciate it. Thatthank you like tells you she can't ask

(10:56):
you a question first. Then youknow what those mikes there, they're big,
man, Some of those mics likeshe had. The one she had
was like an older school you know, the one you normally see reporter at
the big phone ball. You knowthe windscreen. He has got my face.
Okay, you know I can getthat. It's right here. Order
okay, moving again. She movesit again and he goes. He got

(11:18):
the circle gets he kicks her out, won't let her do her job.
That's it right there, she can'tdo her job anymore. You and I
feel a little bit different about otherpeople who might be hearing this story about
what just happened to that reporter,because it is very uncomfortable to being a

(11:39):
locker room when you are a mediamember, Hell Levek, it probably feels
times might feel like I've room foryou is someone who's the team president.
But the dual role you've had inyour career both media member and team president
of the locker room to let otherpeople in where it feels like it's a
safe space is difficult. And thento be a female work do we have

(12:01):
to go over why it might beeven more difficult for a female because usually
that doesn't happen like that. Itusually is not doing those things. Oh
yeah, Molina Adams is in theretrying to do her job. She's been
a thirty forty year plus media memberfor ESPN, So even though she doesn't
subscribe to the pod, Beverly throwsher out like that's about as disrespectful as

(12:26):
it gets. This is the badguy in the movie. We've heard reports,
I believe Susan Waldman and others who'vetalked about how difficult it is to
be a female media member in sports, But this is a whole other level
of Hey, not only do Inot want to talk to you, you
have to get out of my facewith the microphone. She's not jabbing it

(12:46):
in his face. She's just sittingthere getting sound, doing her job.
Just a punk move by Pat.Now, look, since that's happened,
she's gone to Twitter and said PatrickBeverley personally called her an apologize, and
the Bucks called her and apologized.She said she's accepted the apology, she's
moved on. But it's out therenow. Man, that's out there to

(13:07):
see in that moment, that's howyou treated somebody. And look, the
apology means a lot to me personally, like because again heat of the moment,
I'm I'm not clean. He ofthe moment, I've said, I've
done a lot of things. Iwish I could take back some things.
I wish people just understood how funnythey were. But this is one of

(13:28):
those things, you know, whenyou when you don't apologize, then you
still think you're right now. Ishe apologizing because he was totally had to?
Is he apologizing the same face?Does he really mean it? Those
are Those are the things that wedon't know. We'll find out with his
actions moving forward. But I'm justtrying to think what could be said to

(13:48):
you during you know, look,it's emotionally, you're losing a basketball game.
That means you don't move on.You're you signed up with the Bucks
thinking you were playing in the inthe Eastern Conference Finals, maybe the championship.
You're losing the to the six seedPacers. What's being said to you
that's got you so shook? Thatyou're acting this way because he does have

(14:09):
a reputation, yes, but notas bad. This is new, this
is a new low. So I'dlike to know what I said. I'd
like to see if it's something thatwould upset me that much, and if
his actions reflect the apology moving forward. Cool, we're good, We're done.
But there's a word that's very overused. And I think when I saw

(14:33):
him tell this woman, even thoughhe did it politely to leave the circle,
he was being a bully. Andthere's like, I know, the
Pearl Street bullies. It's playful,right, that's between the lines, right,
that's that's in the game, inthat moment, in those things,
this that that was just something thatdidn't need to be done. It's something

(14:54):
didn't need to happen, so Isaid, moving forward, If his act,
if his life reflects the apology morethan the actions, let's go.
If not, Portnoy might have totalk to him. Portnoy, ESPN,
his agent, future media companies.Look, I love pro wrestling, you

(15:15):
know. I talked about it afew minutes ago, about the fun that
is good guy versus bad guy inthe entertainment level and people going in a
different direction to stand out. Maybethis is just an example of a person
acting like a bad guy that isa bad guy, like when we keep
getting examples of them beating the villain. Maybe it's not an act. Maybe
it's not because always a great defender, he to annoys people and gets people

(15:37):
agitated in that. Maybe it's notan act, like, maybe this is
just him, which makes it evenless appealing. Well, yeah, I
mean, what's the old saying,someone tells you who they are, You
should listen here it is, Ilike said, he's always amused me.
I've always been entertained by But Igot no use for him tonight. Did
you just start petting your beard duringthat segment? So I was giving my

(16:00):
beverly taken and he took out,you've got your beard brush. I didn't
put any product in a beard today. I'm barely moving. Wait, how
often you put product in your beard? Every day? Every day? Yeah,
I've known you for almost ten years. I didn't know first. The
only time I thought you ever putstuff in your beard was shout out to
those guys the guy's death wish coffee, who I believe at one time gave

(16:21):
us that stuff. Just we're beingfriends, are like hey, take your
beard stuff. Dukes dukes and dukesas well. I still have duke stuff.
Actually, Weny, you mention thatbecause my wife asked me. She
goes, why don't you use this? And then I tell her I don't
have as big as a beard isyou need to use that this? Ah
yeah, I get that to myhouse. Maybe not during the show.

(16:45):
All right, go ahead. Whatdo you want for me? I want
you to leave. I want youto enjoy the weekend. I because I
didn't tell you how much I lovemy truck, was going to tell you
to get your truck. I wasin a I was in a truck off
last night. Oh oh yeah,oh yeah, my boy Christmas. One
of the one of the security guardsover at VP Arena. I know he's
listening. Punk thought he could thoughthe could out Silverado me. I was

(17:07):
like, maybe you don't know whoScargo is. He was joking, he's
gonna steal my past so I couldn'tget in the billy anymore. But he
grabbed my keys. I's trying tosteal my truck. He goes, I
have a Silverado. I have andI got it. I got a big
budget. I'm like, yeah,but mine's a black widow. Mine's decked
out Scargo's famous how dare you?Mohawks Chevrolet, so I won I want

(17:29):
the truck off. He doesn't believeit. I know that, And I
was like, you know what elseyou should do, mister Christmas. You
should get in your Silverado, driveit up to Mohawks Chevrolet and ask if
you can upgrade to a Chevy Silveradoas cool as mine? And he said,
I love mowk I go. Youknow what, we're friends again.
It's all good Mohawks Chevrolet bringing peopletogether through Silverado's malibus tracks, the Equinox.

(17:55):
How about the tahoss a beautiful,beautiful Tahos. You know instead of
a mini, people should buy Tahoes. I'm just telling you. It was
like, look way tougher and cooler. But whatever you're looking for, Mohawks
Chevrolet's you get the best service,best sales, best financing department from general
manager Travis Orn all the way tothe delivery experts. You're gonna love it.

(18:15):
Nate crew over and social media.Mohawks Chevrolet, you gotta let's drive
at malk Chevy. Well, theyalways go out of their way, do
please you guys? I gotta go. You get out of here. You
pet my beard five time, fivetimes. I wanna do the whole thing
five times, Sarahtoga Champion Andrews Champagnepick Champion's gonna break down the derby with
two time champ Yeah. I guessWellvak race is gonna happen for the second

(18:36):
time this year. Yeah, that'snot the same. Get out, go,
get up. We're talking derby next. Get some wagers, wayte to
win in more bear Fox Sports ninetyfive, nine and nine eighty. It's
Lovak and Guz on the voice ofthe Capitol Regions sports fan Fox Sports ninety
five to nine and nine eighty.It is a beautiful time and sports one
of the best weekends you could argueon the sports calendar that first Saturday in

(18:59):
May. You know we're gonna reachout to one of our guys, the
senior editor at Winners and Whiners.That's right, Dranken Champagne. I think
I got that right. That's right, the Champagne Poppy Drake. Stay away
from our guy. He is AndrewChampagne. Andrew, thank you for joining
us. We know you all theway out in the West Coast too,
so you're making toime for us.We appreciate you. On a super busy

(19:21):
weekend come up with the horse racingworld. I gotta tell you, I
don't want any of the smoke fromDrake here. Leave me out at any
of that thing. I think KendrickLamar has that covered by now. But
no, it's a big week andI'm really happy to be able to talk
some shop with you guys leading upto the Kentucky Derby. It's always a
lot of fun. We're gonna getwinners, we're gonna get skyder reports,
we're gonna talk about the card andmore. But we got to talk about

(19:42):
the big headline. I don't wantto call it the the eight hundred pound
Gorilla or the dark Cloud, butit feels like a guy who's become one
of the most well known people inhorse racing is the most talked about guy
and he's not there. Let's talkabout the Bob Baffort situation. Is this
the biggest storyline nationally when we lookat the two thousand, twenty four Kentucky
Derby. Yes and no. Imean anytime you get somebody with that's as

(20:07):
well known as Bob Baffort, isanything he does is going to be news
and I'll try to sum this upas quickly as I can so that where
we move on to the race asquickly as we can, but we need
to at least talk about this.So Bob Baffert conditioned Medina Spirit who crossed
the wire first in the twenty twentyone Kentucky Derby side note best Kentucky Derby

(20:27):
of my life, So grateful forthat. But there was an overage revealed
in a post race drug test.There has been a long drawn out legal
saga. He was initially suspended fortwo years through the twenty twenty two and
twenty twenty three Kentucky Derby's. InJuly of last year, amidst all of

(20:48):
the legal stuff, Churchill Downs extendedthe suspension to twenty twenty four. Personally,
I was not a huge fan ofsuspending somebody in the midst of that
sort of suspension, but that's neitherhere nor there. There was a very
talented three year old and Bob Baffert'sBarne named mouth Mouth won the Arkansas Derby.
Would have been one of the topthree or four betting choices in this

(21:11):
year's Kentucky Derby. Had he beenable to earn points and run. Moot's
owner, Amir Zadan, decided totake Churchill downs to court, seeking injunctions
that would allow judges to consider hismotion to potentially get Mouth into the field.
A series of different judges rejected hisappeals. Mouth will now head to
the Preakness, where I think he'sgoing to be very, very tough since

(21:33):
anyone coming from the Kentucky Derby.We'll be willing back on two weeks rest.
But that's where we're at, andit's a bizarre situation that doesn't have
a lot in the way of precedent, and making matters even weirder is the
fact that Justify, the twenty eighteenTriple Crown winner, was elected to Racing's
Hall of Fame amidst all of thisstuff. So there's a lot going on,

(21:56):
for sure. Yeah, it's veryodd, weird. It's strange where
the most talked about person isn't somebodythere and touched on Justified. There a
horse. I absolutely love little quickstory. The bachelor party was at that
Belmont. We booked it before Justifywas going for the Triple Crown, so
I was there at Belmont hoping itwas gonna happen. Love that still get
chills thinking about that finished there forjustified, So very happy that horse in

(22:18):
the Hall of Fame. I lovethe video. By the way, you
posted a drink and Champagne. Ifyou don't follow Andrew Champagne on Twitter,
start doing it today to find outsome of the great picks that are coming
up this weekend and throughout the summer. But you noted this, and this
is very important. So many differentpeople, whether you love horse racing,
whether you occasionally wager, you wagerall the time, handicap the Kentucky Derby
and start throwing things at the wall, if you know what I mean,

(22:41):
or forget what they used to offerup that best piece of advice to anybody,
whether it's the casual player or theall the time player, of how
you handicap the Kentucky Derby. Sureso with the Kentucky Derby, there's a
lot to dissect, and that's bothgood and bad. You have a twenty
horse feel that's set to go postwordgoing a mile and a quarter. These

(23:03):
are young three year old horses thathave never gone a mile and a quarter.
A majority of them, an overwhelmingmajority, will never go a mile
and a quarter. Again, there'sa lot to dissect and there's a lot
to go through. There's also alot of noise out there, and if
you pride yourself on being a successfulhandicapper, don't deviate from a lot of

(23:25):
the things that you feel make youa successful handicapper. Stick to those handicapping
principles, whatever they are. Don'toverthink certain things and do things wildly differently
because it's the Kentucky Derby. Thereare workout videos and gallop videos out there,
and the people that produce them,by the way, do an excellent

(23:45):
job. Please don't get that twisted. But if you're not the biggest workout
person and you pride yourself on beinga successful handicapper, why do you all
of a sudden care about how ahorse is galloping out after a five for
long workout when you don't necessarily knowif that horse is even a good workout
horse. So, yes, enjoyall the content that's out there, make

(24:07):
the most informed decisions that you can, but also don't abandon the core handicapping
principles that you use every race,every day. Drink and Champagne podcast host
senior editor Winners and Whiners Andrew champion. I feel like I'm leaving out a
credential. Aren't you a multiple timepick winner at Saratoga as well? Am
I forgetting that credential? You're notforgetting that. That's the five time ping

(24:33):
sheet champion and two time handicapping championof all Media at Saratoga. And yeah,
last summer, for lack of abetter term, did not go the
way I wanted it to go personallyor professionally. But there's a lot of
really cool stuff in the works,so stay tuned. That's called foreshadowing,
kids, that's long term storytelling.See, you and I are both pro
wrestling fans. I did the Romanreigns. I had the finger going up

(24:56):
to acknowledge you and you know howwrestling anyone? That's what last seasons for
you. That was the Cody finishthe story. But eventually, like the
Bloodline, Andrew Champagne will be backand it starts this weekend is where it
starts. Let's talk about post positionfirst, though, any horse that all
of a sudden I got a postposition, like, oh boy, do
I have to take them off?My thoughts now? Did it really hurt
them? What's your takeaway from thepost position draw. The post position draw

(25:19):
this year mattered more, I thinkthan in most years we've seen previously.
And here's why. There were acouple of horses in her whose running styles
dictated that they would be best servedby certain posts. One of them got
it, and that's Fierceness, horsenumber seventeen in the Kentucky Derby program.

(25:40):
First of all, if you weretuning into post position stuff and you hear
no horse from post seventeen has everwon the Kentucky Derby, you're not getting
the full story. They just startedusing a new Kentucky Derby gate several years
ago. For one. For another, joking, Hime from FanDuel Racing Real
could follow on Twitter if you don'tfollow him and you're interested in horse racing.

(26:03):
He put out a chart of allof the horses that have broken from
post seventeen since about nineteen ninety,and most of them were no hopers.
There were horses that were going offat forty to fifty sixty to one.
Don't read anything into that. Fiercenesswanted an outside post because there were a
couple of races earlier in his careerwhere he faced adversity and folded as a

(26:26):
result of that. Yes, ifyou draw an outside post, you're probably
going wide into at least the firstturn, but you're also not going to
get bumped. You're also not goingto have horses throwing dirt in your face.
I love the post for fierceness,not so much the post for Sierra
Leone, the three to one secondchoice, Sierra Leone drew post position number

(26:47):
two. It's not a terrible post, I will say that much. But
Sierra Leone is a deep closer thatneeds a lot to go right. Most
deep closers genuinely do think about it. If you're a front running horse,
you're already getting a tactical advantage formost of the race. If you're backing
a closer, you're hoping those horsescome back and that your closer gets the

(27:10):
right trip. That last part iskey because from the two post, Sierra
Leone may well get crowded and shuffledback. And this is a quirky horse
that delayed the start of the Bluegrassby several minutes due to issues getting into
the gate. So for me,Sierra Leone is a play against. And
if you're playing the Kentucky Derby,exacta you're either hammering the Fierceness Sierra Leone

(27:37):
combination or you're tossing at least oneof those horses. Because if you're playing
a lot of exacts for a smallamount of money and Fierceness Sierra Leone or
Sierra Leone Fierceness are one or bothof those combinations, you're throwing money at
a combination that's not going to paymuch. My stance is, I think
you need to toss at least oneof them, and if one of them,

(28:00):
you tip your cap and move on. But if you beat one of
those favorites, you're exacta and trifectapayoffs tend to go up quite a bit.
So that's my strategy. Sierra Leone, I'm not saying would be a
stunner, but at his likely price, I can't play him. Now.
I'm thinking about how is he goingto do these combinations? He knows what
we shouldn't do or should stay awayfrom our five big Now I gotta know

(28:22):
reveal it. Andrew Champagne, howdo you feel like you're going to be
playing this again? Weather Pending?I'm sure Agan follow him on. Andrew
Champagne, Weather, you know let'sask that question, how if all your
plays be effected if weather plays intothis not a whole heck of a lot.
But one thing I will say,though, is if the skies open
up on Louisville, Kentucky on KentuckyDerby Day, the one horse that does

(28:45):
stand to move up quite a bitis horse number three, Mystic Dan.
Mystic Dan two starts ago won theSouthwest Stakes by eight lenths over a very
muddy track at Oakland Park. Hedid have a perfect trip on that particular
occasion. I think that effort's inflatedjust to touch. But you do see
a horse whose chances figure to improveconsiderably with a wet track. I'm not

(29:10):
saying he wins, but I amsaying that if if it rains and you're
looking for a horse that wants awet track, you could do a lot
worse than horse number three in theprogram. All right, let's hear the
picks. How are you playing thetwenty twenty four Kentucky Derby? So I
keep coming back to this one questionas I look at the Kentucky Derby,
and that is, if Fierceness runshis a race, who beats him?

(29:32):
And every serious handicapper, I've askedthat question too very quickly, says no
one. That's enough for me.Fierceness last time out ran a hole in
the wind and the Grade one FloridaDerby went a mile and an eighth in
one forty eight and one at GulfstreamPark. That's flying for a young three
year old horse. He's been workingfairly well by all accounts. You know

(29:56):
the connections Micropoli, the owner,Todd Pletcher, the trainer. John the
last is the jockey. Fierceness hasenough tactical speed to be able to work
out his own trip. As I'vementioned, I think he won the post
position draw hands down. I'm notsaying he can't be beaten. I'm not
going that far, but I willsay that he's going to be probably to

(30:18):
use a handicapping term alone a ona lot of my tickets. If Fierceness
winds up winning this race, I'mprobably in line to collect a decent chunk
of change. To me, heis far and away the most likely winner.
And the one thing that I'll warnpeople about is this online you're seeing
a lot of discourse about Fierceness can'tpass horses, Fierceness can't pass horses whatever.

(30:41):
Yes, he's a front running type. But when you have enough speed
and you have enough talent, andyou have a jockey that is capable of
putting a horse in position to showthat speed and talent, not having to
pass horses isn't a bug, it'sa feature. And I think Fierceness gets
the kind of trip that Big Browngot in two thousand and eight from post

(31:03):
number twenty, that American Pharaoh gotfrom post number eighteen back in twenty fifteen.
And I think he's your Kentucky Derbywinner. At one point when you
were pacing that pick there, itsounded a little paul Heman like, that's
not a prediction, that's a spoilergiving your Kentucky Derby pick. That's how
confident Andrew Champagne might be about hispicks. If you want more picks about
that in Morgan, he's the senioreditor Winners and Winers and Andrew Champagne on

(31:27):
social media and don't forget about allthe great things that you can continue to
follow and listen to a drink andChampagne's podcast. We appreciate your time.
This will not be the final timewe call you this spring in summer,
so make sure you keep your phoneon when a five win eight number and
the Fox Studios Lavack and guys arecalling you. Thank you for the time,
man, enjoy the racism. We'llbe talking again real soon. Always

(31:48):
a lot of fun. Best ofluck everybody there, he goes our guy,
Andrew Champagne, man one of thebest. When we're talking about horse
racing. I love that one twopunch again, Ryan Murray, I know
the closer. Andrew Champagne bringing youhorse race in on the third Tesday Friday.
If you missed it any part ofthat interview, it's always available on
Apple, Spotify, the iHeart app. When you're mowing your lawn this weekend,
when you're checking that out, whenyou're trying to figure out your pick

(32:08):
just podcast audience, run that backa little bit and talk about that scott
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dot com. So we're about tomake some history here on the first Friday
in twenty twenty four, in Mayof twenty four, we rarely, I
don't think ever, have ever donethis before in one segment to close out
a show, not one, buttwo interviews to close this baby out.

(33:36):
We've got Brian Myers from TNA Wrestling. You might know him as Kurt Hawkins
from his WWE and f days.And we've got Nathan Grennan from the already
FireWolves to talk about the big matchup. He is out in San Diego.
Today's game day, so he's gonnado the interview with us on game day.
So we're gonna do both. We'lldo Brian Myers first, we'll do
Nathan second, we'll connect, we'lltalk a little bit in between and more

(33:58):
and all that. That a Fridayshow. Let's close it out strong right
here on the Voice of the CapitalRegion Sportsman, Fox Sports ninety five,
nine and nine to eighty. Allright, you're about to hear not one
but two interviews to close out thisFriday show. I may have screwed up
the order. Who knows, maybeI screwed up the clock. That doesn't
matter. Here on a Friday,We're gonna have some fun with these two
guys coming up at first, letme tell you about our friends over at
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free inspection. Check him out online. It's USX Passenger. Okay, so
here's what we're gonna do. We'regonna do Nathan Grennan first and then Brian

(35:07):
Meyer. So here's Nathan Grennan firsttalking Albany FireWolves and will hit the music.
It's welove acking guys on the Voiceof the Capitol Regions Sports Fan Fox
Sports ninety five to nine and nineeighty. Look, we're not gonna pick
favorites of who our favorite guest isall season for the Albany FireWolves coaching staff
players Nathan Grennan on game day.They got face off at ten thirty tonight.

(35:30):
They're taking on the San Diego Seals. This guy takes time out on
a Friday to join us on gameday. Few if anybody will do it,
we appreciate him doing that. Naitherwe're gonna talk about the Seals,
We're gonna talk about your teammates andall those things. But we got opportunity
earlier this week to talk to yourteammate Anthony talking about the locker room in
the quarter final celebration. I wantyour version take us into the locker room.

(35:52):
What was it like celebrating that victoryin the quarterfinal matchup last weekend?
Well, first of all, Iwant to see you guys are making me
blush with that intro. It wasvery nice to you guys. I'll always
take time out of my day totalk to you guys. But as it
comes to the celebration, I thinkyou got a lot of level heads in
there. Obviously we were happy,and there was some videos on Instagram and

(36:14):
stuff like that, and obviously youcould see the smiles and excitement, but
I think that's just because you knowexactly what Dougie said, if you get
another week of spending it with eachother. But I think everybody has the
same mindset. The jobs not done. So yeah, we were happy with
ourselves, but we're more excited withthe opportunity we have to keep moving forward.
There's been something special about this team, like that mix of veterans,

(36:36):
that mix of young guys. Itfeels like all season long, you guys
from game one and practice onet havebuilt a true I know it's almost one
of the most overused things in sports, but it really feels true that family
feel with these guys and your teammatesall season long. Yeah, it's having
the age diversity is great, andlike it requires these younger guys and especially

(36:59):
me to like step into these greaterroles because it's a lot of first guys
playoff games or just like they're kindof starting out. And then the support
system we're getting from the veterans is, you know, this is probably their
first time being that role as theveteran and the older guy, and really
they haven't dealt with you know,you got two high draft picks, arguably

(37:21):
two of the best rookies. That'ssomething ran new to deal with. And
just the support system we get fromthose guys all year, it's just it's
such another just extended relief system,you know what I mean, no doubt.
Nathan Greta joined us here on thephone lines Fox Sports twinty five,
nine to ninety. Don't forget youcan watch the coverage tonight ESPN, U,

(37:43):
ESPN plus, TSN Plus as theAlbany FireWolves take on the San Diego
Seals and then Game two in theseries coming up on May fifth, three
o'clock back at Mvperio, and formore information on Sunday's home game, check
out Almanyfirewolves dot com. All right, so, if you prep for the
big game tonight, a few hoursaway from faceoff, is there somebody in

(38:05):
the locker room, whether it bea player, whether it be a coach,
that gives that pregame speech that doyou feel like, Okay, this
is the biggest game of the season. I think someone so might get us
a little fired up. Who ifanybody's going to give that pregame speech that's
gonna get you guys going for Gameone tonight. I think it goes to
our captain, you know, WattieColton all year has been that kind of

(38:27):
voice for us, like among otherguys have officially, but he's just been
such a great leader to everybody,and I think when he talks, everybody
listens, and I think he packsjust the biggest punch going into a game
like this. One of the toughparts about this whole matchup for the postseason
is that it's San Diego, well, Albany, San Diego, then back

(38:50):
to Albany. When you saw thatget released of wait, we're going to
San Diego and then we're going backfor a Sunday game in Albany. What
was your first reaction of realizing thisis gonna be a wild seventy two hours
for the coaching staff, me andmy teammates. I think all lacrosse players
no travels kind of hectic in thisleague. Some guys may be maybe just
excited for the sunlight we get inSan Diego for the first game. Love

(39:13):
it, man, We're not worriedabout it. Good. Nathan Grahaman joined
us here on the phone lines.When we look at this San Diego Seal
squad, what stands out to you? You scout them out for the big
matchup? They gotta you know,they got a good team, They got
a lot of power, kind ofa great goalie in that. We gotta
they're always gonna come with a goodgame and we can never kind of let

(39:36):
up. We always gotta come withspeed, come with kind of that pop
and never slowed down. What doyou think back in your twenty twenty four
season and think back to twenty twentythree, people still might memory from your
time for Panther City and how itall went down there and then flipping over
to Allboy as you've continued, becauseyou're not even twenty five, I think,
like havning this happened so early inyour career, there's gonna be times

(39:59):
you got to step I can belike, this is wild, what's happening
so fresh in my professional across career. I kind of yeah, I kind
of love it, you know,being bouncing everywhere. But I really think
I found a family with Albany andI just love being able to compete with
them and have the opportunity. Butas for kind of having the route in

(40:20):
my career, I feel guys,you know, we always get through it
in one way or the other,and it's just all about season your opportunity
and making mountains at mohas. Youknow you no doubt, nay the gretit.
Jona us here on the phone linesFox Sports ninety five, nine and
nine eighty Levan Gas getting you readyfor face off on Friday night and then
Sunday back inside MVP. Are gonaget ticket information? Albanyfirewolves dot com,

(40:42):
go out and support the squad.Throw the black out. We had the
blackout a few weeks ago, butwe still want to see five win eight
fans rocking that black and getting behindthe Albany FireWolves. I know you felt
that this season. As you guyscontinue to win, you see more and
more not just die NLL fans,but Capitol Regions sports fans joining up.
What's it like and what do youthink it's going to be like seeing that

(41:04):
support on Sunday when they pack MVPArena and cheer on you and your teammates.
You know we've been hearing it andseeing it all year, and just
if we get it on that biggerstage, it's gonna be absolutely electric.
You're gonna see a team absolutely captivatewhat the city holds. And I use
that word captivate because Albany is thecapital. You got to come for the

(41:24):
major excitement, the speed, thehard hits and the captivation that we're going
to bring for all the city ofAlbany. Love it, man, Nathan
Grennit. Best of luck to youand your teammates. He did this on
a game day for us. Weappreciate that. Best of luck and hopefully
we'll be talking again soon and continuethis championship march for you and the already
FireWolves in twenty twenty four. Thanksguys, appreciate it. There, yells

(41:47):
our guy Nathan Grennan again one moretime and VP arena three o'clock for Game
two of that series. Follow thatsquad ten thirty tonight, San Diego,
Go FireWolves, get that first dub, and then bring back to the five
win ain't for the Sunday matchup.All right, The shift gears here from
the NL and the Albany FireWolves too. What's happening tonight and tomorrow at the

(42:10):
Washington Avenue Armory. It's under siege. It's TNA Impact Wrestling. Join us
on the phone lines. He's wonhalf of the TNA Tag Team Champions of
the World. That is Brian Myershis tag team partner Eddie Edwards. Looking
to put some great action in frontof you here in the five. We
ain't coming up this weekend, LookAlbany. Brian has a huge history of
traditions here in the Capitol Region,some moments and more, some great Hall

(42:32):
of Fame wrestlers yourself as well,who have had a great career twenty plus
years. No doub we're gonna getto all that, But first it might
not even be the memories you've hadin the ring. Do you have some
story here The last time you werein the Capitol Region it had nothing to
do with wrestling. In fact,you were just hanging out for Luke Comb's
concert. And that was probably mybest experience. So I wasn't war wife,

(42:54):
and that was probably my best experience. So I wasn't war wife and
that was probably my best experience.That I wasn't working and I was able
to enjoy myself, had a nicelittle one of the marriotut points that I've
acquired over the years, and hada nice little Albany getaway with my wife.
It was actually fantastic. It wasthe only time schedule permitting that we

(43:14):
could go see him, you know, to do so, so it wounded
to be in a nice little impromptuall the new vacation we had. Love
it Man. TNA Wrestling back inCapital Region, back at Albany, May
third May for or Under Siege,airing live followed by an action packed Impact
the next night. You're going tosee Brian and his tag team champion Eddie

(43:34):
Edwards on the show previewing all goodthings take us through for those who maybe
have not been following TNA, howdid you and Eddie become tag team champions
and how does relationship start? Well, we were in a faction called the
System. We've basically taken over TNAWrestling, and you know what, it's
got a very organic start. Youknow, myself, Eddie Edwards, Moose,
the world champion, his wife Alicia, you know, we've all become

(43:58):
very good friends and outside the business, you know, over the past couple
of years, so we decided totake what's working, you know, outside
and put it on screen. Andnow it's really working. You know,
things are really clicking in all filinders. Like I said, the system's running
rough shot over tena Rafting Weather TagTeam Champions, Moose is the world champion,
Alicia has a TEENA women's tag teamtitle knockouts taking title shot coming up

(44:22):
and underse So we're hoping to havea gold across the board in Albany.
There's something different. It feels likewhen a New Yorker performs in front of
a New York crowd. Hopefully youknow what I mean by that. Like,
look, we get the upstate talkof Sarahcuse and Buffalo and Rochester and
downstate to the city in Long Island, and we know what part of New
York you're from, but we're gonnacombine all of New York, Upstate,

(44:43):
Downstate, the city, Long Islandand more. Do you feel that vibe
when as a New Yorker that youare performing in New York crowd that it
feels different. Yeah, I alwaysfeel embraced by the New York you know,
state fans. You know, Ilove it. It's a win win
for me. It's like I getto work in these historic buildings and places
that I you know, went asa kid to shows and stuff, and
then you know, I get todrive home, not know, I get

(45:05):
to not be on the road asmuch or you know, feel the rigors
of the travel of the road.And it's kind of like a win win
for me. I do appreciate it. The only time I don't feel like
I'm at home the Donsons running Buffalo. That's a little too far. And
then you get the Bills fans andthat feels weird. So that that's where
things get a little strange for me. As far as my New York Pride,
the Mafia is something different. Itdoesn't feel like New New York.

(45:27):
With no disrespect to our listeners,out in Western New York, it feels
like you're on Mars. Sometimes itfeels like you are on True like you're
saying a different planet out there.Yeah, totally, And like you know,
I'm a big Jets fan, soit's tough for me and when it
gets to be like that. DNAWrestling presents back to back nights of pro
wrestling Friday and Saturday, May thirdand May fourth, Right there at the
Washington Avenue, Armory teenage championships allon the line here across the Capitol region

(45:52):
is going to be a fantastic show. So many people followed your career.
It's Brian Myers joining us here onthe phone lines Fox Sports ninety five to
nine in ninety For those again wholistened to sports talk radio, there's a
good crossover between sports fans and prowrestling fans. But for those in May
of twenty twenty four, let's remindyou that it feels like there's this I
don't want to say renaissance, butI've heard that you term used before of

(46:15):
professional wrestling's popularity with different organizations andmore talent and the social media aspect of
showing some of the matches. Bran, You've had a twenty year career twenty
twenty four. Do you know whatwe're talking about here where it's like this
is it feels like a whole differentera of pro wrestling now? Oh yeah,
I mean pro wrestling's in a verygood, healthy place right now,

(46:35):
and it feels great, you know, like you said, the twenty years
of doing this, this is thebest shape I think the business has ever
been in. So I'm reaping allthose you know, benefits, enjoying it,
loving it. You know, I'ma lifelong wrestling fan too, so
you know, you've seen the peaksand valleys of wrestling and its popularity.
But right now things are really clickingand all pillinis and it's fun. You
know, it's fun with all thesecompanies thriving, all these wrestlers thriving,

(46:58):
all these fans are the ones thatreally thriving because they get all the options.
But it's really a privilege to bea part of them. I'm excited
about it every day. And foryou listening on our podcast side, if
you're listening on Apple, Spotify,whatever it might be, now do yourself
a favor type in Major Wrestling Figurepodcast. Brian Meyers host that along with

(47:19):
his Pallem at Cardona. You mighthave known of them as Kurt Hawkins and
Zach Ryder back in the day.You're in the podcast game, what do
you enjoy most about talking on thepodcast side and expanding that brand? Uh,
you know, it started as justand still is just an escape,
you know, Like you know,I love wrestling and it's my childhood dream
come true. But it's still ajob, you know, and you get
the stresses and you know, likeI said, the travel earlier I discussed,

(47:42):
you know, there's things like thatthat aren't that easy, even though
you are living your dream. SoMatt and I started this podcast, and
it's just kind of like a constantreminder of why we got involved in this
whole crazy world in the first place, you know, because it's fun and
there's something you loved as a child. So while we're you know, constantly
reminding us of that by talking aboutthe toys and things we adored as kids.

(48:04):
And for a long time, thatwas something that we always kind of
kept a big secret either want anyoneto know, you know what, you
know, blithering wrestling fans we were, and back when we started, it
was a pretty terrifying thing. Andwe like to think that we've really flipped
that narrative on its head and that'scool to be a wrestling fan and a
nerd and collect stuff and uh,it's just been one of the greatest things
I've ever decided to do in mylife. You know. It's really opened

(48:27):
up me to my fan base,you know, to come to become more
than just a wrestling character, youknow, humanize myself and that people really
truly appreciate, you know, thethings I do in the ring, and
it's been unbelievable man, And it'ssuper fun. Uh, it's more than
just you know, wrestling toys andcollectibles. You don't think test for you,
But I encourage anyone to check usout, you know, drop every
Friday for free wherever you find yourpodcast. Past this message along to mad

(48:52):
Cardon and say it's from you.Talked to the Fox Sports radio guys in
Albany and they had a message foryou that said, can you stop sharing
those nasty photos of the shoulder onsocial media? Man? Like it's blowing
up on my timeline. He's zoomingin, he's got scars, he's got
tissue. What's he doing? Didyou see the picture? The thing looks
nasty. Well, I see thepicture. I zoom with the guy records

(49:13):
the show every week. I gotto stare right at that thing. But
he's, uh, he's just bornat home looking for sympathy. So I
get it. With any idea howlong he's gonna be out? Like when
you post a picture like that ofany injury, you'd assume the nastie it
looks the longer here is going tobe out. Is that not the case
for him? Yeah, I thinkhe's looking at both eight months or so
so full tech there. Yeah yeah. Brian Myers twenty years in the industry.

(49:39):
You know him from across different companiesand more. But he is one
half of the TNA World Tag TeamChampions along with Eddie Edwards to show May
third, May fourth right here inall but he in the Capitol region putting
on a show for everybody. Uhwhat can we expect out of this tag
team this weekend? The opponent youguys are taking on? What type of

(49:59):
act and we're going to see inthe ring? For those who haven't gotten
their tickets yet, what can theyexpect this weekend? In the five one
eight, Well, I'm looking forwardto, uh, you know, upsetting
Matt Hardy in his teenage re debutthis Friday night and Alby. You know,
he was a big surprise in LasVegas at our pay per view.
Good for him, but uh notat the expense of me, Eddie and

(50:20):
Moose, you know, so we'relooking forward to putting him down and pretty
crazy. I actually, last timeI wrestled in that building, I wrestled
Matt and Jeff Hardy for Big TimeWrestling, and even years ago at the
MDB, A mean I wrestled Jeffand Triple as the tag match. So
I've got a lot of history withthe Hardy Boys in Albany, but I
looked to be on the winning sideof history come Friday Night under Siege.

(50:42):
You've got some history of them,but I think we need to clarify something.
How often has it been broken MattHardy? This version of Matt Hardy,
that's a little bit twisted that you'reabout to step in the ring with
ooh, I was told. Sowe talked to Brian a little bit earlier
this week. I'm told we're notgoing to let that out. It's a
little seekers for Capitol region sports fan. So there he goes. Brian Myers
join us promoting this May third andMay fourth, Washington Avenue, Armory TENA

(51:07):
Wrestlings back. So you're gonna haveto find out. I don't want that
hit in the airwaves of what MattHardy. You can expect. That's our
show Fridday addition, first Friday andMay's officially done. It's overdo yourself a
favor. Head over to mohaw Kanathis weekend get yourself a new rot I
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lovaking us uh Levac Bye, seeyou later. I'll catch you on Monday,
when you're hopefully back in studio withus. Until then, enjoy some
exciting Fox Sports Radio to close outthe weekend. Support all the local things
going on this weekend as well.If you know when riches on the way
next, wash your hands, don'ttouch your face. It's Fox Sports Radio

(52:13):
ninety five, nine to nine eighty. I'll hit the button