Bill Chaves Pod_EP 138

Bob Behler, Radio Voice of Boise State Football Description: On this episode of the Bill Chaves Podcast, Bill and Alex are joined by longtime Boise State play-by-play announcer Bob Behler to preview UND’s upcoming game against the reigning Mountain West champion Broncos (0:41). The guys also check in on what’s happening around the Summit League ahead of the conference’s AD meetings this week as well the latest on UND Athletics (27:15). On the B-Side (41:44), topics include soccer’s ongoing international break and the unique nature of the transfer window.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to the Bill Shaves Podcast, presented by Midco Sports. Now's the
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(00:20):
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today at midco sportsplus dot com.This is how we do sports, and
this is the Bill Shaves Podcast.Welcome to another edition of the Bill Shaves
Podcast. We're taping this on thetwelfth of September. Alongside Bill Shaves.

(00:40):
I'm Alex Hynrich. We are joinedtoday, Bill by a special guest from
out West Demand that you know welland und fans will get to know over
the course of the week as webuild up to a pretty big football game
coming up on Saturday. It's BobBieler, the play by play voice for
Boise State football and men's basketball.Bob, thanks so much for being with
us today. Great to be hereand great to see you and to be
with Bill as well. Awesome Bob. Well, hey, we've known each

(01:03):
other probably what over twenty years nowand followed each other's careers. And how
long have you been at Boise nowsince you came from UMSS. This is
my sixteenth season calling Boise State football, so I'll get to my two hundredth
game in the middle of the year. It's been great for football, and
basketball has done extremely well too,a couple of you know, three or

(01:25):
four tournaments in the last I thinkfive years, so Boise State sports really
has done quite well. It's beena lot of fun. Well, we're
excited about coming out to talk aboutyou know, prior to the pod,
we talked just briefly about this window, this television window you've been you've had
it a couple of times. Huh. We have the ten am window,

(01:47):
and a lot of times, youknow, the fans kind of grumble because
it's going to be a breakfast tailgate, if you will, as opposed to,
uh, you know, an allday affair out at the stadium,
and tailgating is big and boys,we've got a lot of parking right around
the stadium to make it a funscene. But on the road, and
that's something you guys are going toenjoy for a team, it's unbelievable because

(02:08):
you have to get up a littlebit earlier, but the game will be
over by one thirty. Probably you'llprobably be to your plane, you know,
at two thirty three o'clock, andyou know, you might have a
chance to be home for a fora later dinner. So we have so
many games that play at different times. I don't know about you guys,

(02:28):
but we'll have some that will startat like, you know, eight o'clock
or eight thirty, and then you'reyou know, if it's a road game,
you don't get back to four orfive in the morning, so anything
we can do in the sunshine isa plus. We had the ten am
game at home last year on BlackFriday, and then we've had a couple
of away games. It's once youget up, it's fine. One quick

(02:50):
follow up to that, you know. Interestingly, I think the weather is
going to be warm, but probablyin the morning kickoff probably would be good
for both teams. It was alittle hot to start our game last week
at five o'clocks, so you know, when they were out there warming up
in the five or six o'clock hour. The only thing that's difficult about at
ten am. Home is the pressbox faces east, so you get the

(03:13):
sun in your face for the firstyou know, quarter or so that that
that's just us in the press box. The team's probably gonna like it because
the weather here in the morning upuntil about noon, it doesn't get hot.
It is just fantastically gorgeous. SoI think that the players are gonna
love playing out there. That ourteam practices in the morning. I don't
know what time, at what timeyou guys practice, but mornings here are

(03:36):
just ideal. Yeah, we dothe same thing, Bob. We practice
in the morning. So you know, for us, we're excited about it.
And the blue field is certainly somethingto see. It's it's iconic.
I mean, we had a greatturnout from UCF that came last week from
Orlando, and they they said thatthey had probably doubled the number to travel

(03:58):
because you know, it was anoncoms game, probably never going to come
back, so was your one shotto see a football on our blue field.
And the town is a lot offun and people are welcoming, so
I think the people who come aregoing to have a good time. Yeah,
it is a beautiful place. It'snot too distant a trip for folks
in North Dakota, even though we'recoming from the eastern part of the state
kind of across the Rockies to getto Boise, but a beautiful place to

(04:21):
go. You mentioned the blue surf. Let's just start there because you brought
it up. And this has beenaround since nineteen eighty six. Correct,
This is such a unique thing that'sso iconic. As you mentioned, it
was originally designed to sort of youknow, give the school some some notoriety.
And Jean Blamire was the athletic directorat the time. The story that
was told to me, you know, talk to one of the manufacturers and

(04:43):
the guy said, no, wecan't make blue, and he's like,
well, you have to put greenguy in to get green turfs, so
why can't you make it with blueor red as the case would be at
Eastern Washington where Bill Bill was beforeand was responsible with that. So I
think it's just been a genius marketingbecause if you see the highlights on TV,
or if you're flipping across the dialand you see the blue field,

(05:05):
you know exactly who is playing inthat game. Boise State is going to
be in that game. So Idon't know. I just think someone makes
this program special. And uh,you know, there's been I think either
four or five you know incarnations ofthe turf that they've had to you know,
change out over the years, andit's gone from the old indoor outdoor
carpet that was really low and youget a lot of you know, rug

(05:28):
burns to the you know, themodern stuff now that if you walk on
the field at a practice, youget those you got short pants and you
get those little black pellets stuck toyour legs. So you know, I'm
sure that you know, as wemove forward in the next ten or fifteen
years, will probably be some otherthing that they make that makes it even
softer, and sponge ear that thatwill be blue as well. You know.
It's funny Bob obviously growing up inNew England and that's where we met.

(05:51):
Uh you know, I just rememberthe Humanitarian Bowl, you know,
I mean flipping around and that wasmy introduction to boy. He stayed at
that point and it was so unique, Like you said that, you kind
of stayed there for a little bit. And I will say that it looks
different on TV than it does inperson. You really get used to it.

(06:12):
Everybody thinks that all the uniforms blendin, but I think it's probably
because of the camera angle. Ourpress box is tall and it's pretty close
to the field, so almost you'reshooting straight down. You know, if
you're standing on the field and you'rethe quarterback and you're looking for people.
The defenders don't blend into the turfbecause they're up against the you know,
the stands and other people. Soa lot of the wives tales that you

(06:36):
hear are not true. Just likethe birds dive into it thinking it's a
lake. No, birds are notthat stupid. They know exactly. They
might go on the turf, butthey're gonna sit there and just kind of
sun themselves. They're not gonna they'renot gonna dive in thinking they're getting a
water. So that's what our fanswill see on the field give us a
sense of what the atmosphere is goingto be like at Albertson Stadium. This

(06:58):
is a great facility, one ofthe jewels in College foot. Yeah.
It seats about thirty five thousand,not a bad seat in the house,
which I think is great. Iactually think and maybe many stadiums you wouldn't
say this about, but I actuallythink the seats in the upper level are
better than the lower level because theupper level is not that high and in
a way it sits out over thetop of the lower level. You really

(07:18):
feel like you're on top of thefield. So again, not a bad
seat in the house. You know, we played at Washington where there were
seventy thousand seats and you feel likeyou're so far away from the field.
I think, I think it's agood experience. The basketball arena sits across
the parking lot from it, sothere's plenty of parking for tailgating. The

(07:39):
campus everything is right there. It'son campus. A river goes behind the
north end of the stadium. Ifthere is a breeze, it usually comes
from the north end from the riverside. We've got this new big scoreboard in
the south end that we used tohave this little tiny one that was quite
frankly the size of a postage stamp, and we had a better one at

(07:59):
at the north end of the stadium. Well, this is the be the
second game since we've had the bigone, and it just looks really really
big, and I think that peoplewill be impressed with that, especially for
the for the size of the stadium. People tailgate throughout campus. So if
you park like I park in oneof the garages and have you know,
probably a five to tendant to walkover to the stadium, you'll pass people's

(08:22):
you know, tailgates. The footballpractice field they've kind of turned into a
tailgate scene where you can go outthere, play games. They have music,
things for the kids and that sortof kiddy corner. You know.
It's it's kind of between the basketballarena, the parking lot and the football
stadium, so there are things todo there. I just think it's a

(08:43):
nice set up. You know,I'm there early, I'm there late,
so I kind of see it allas I come through. And you know,
obviously we've been good, so peopleare excited the rarity for us SO
and two for the first time sincetwo thousand and five, but it was
the first time we've opened up withtwo Power five teams since that year,
and ranted and two teams that arepretty good this year, Washington and UCF.

(09:05):
Well, obviously we play this Saturday, correct and then and then you've
got San Diego State the next weekas well, and I think Memphis after
that. So I'll tell you what. It's been a difficult schedule for the
Procos and the thing that I thinkhas made these opponents tough yourself included Memphis.
San Diego probably has the least experiencedquarterback, but when you look at

(09:26):
the quarterbacks we faced, Panics,I think should have gone to the NFL.
For Washington, Plumbly is a dualthreat that for a returning starter,
actually a three year starter, startedone at Old Miss and this is his
third excuming second year at UCF.Schuster for you guys as your all time
leading passer, and then Memphis asI think a three year starter at quarterbacks.

(09:48):
So we're seeing some of the betterquarterbacks in the league. And as
you guys know, that's such animportant position. So our defense has been
tested the first two weeks, andI expect they'll be test again. We've
had a little trouble defending the longpass, so hopefully from our stake,
we can get better at it thisweek. The story of the Broncos season
so far has been one difficult tofeed on the road against a very good

(10:11):
Washington team and then a heartbreaker lastweek against UCF. Just give us kind
of the mood of this group asthey enter week number three against North Dakota.
I think they're looking to get better. I think they're obviously disappointed,
you know, with with with notbeing at least one and one the you
know, there have been good thingsthat they've done, and I think that's
what they need to do. AndI also think they need to just build

(10:33):
a little more consistency. And Ithink I think that's kind of the sentiment
through the program when you hear theplayers and the coaches talk just you know,
being more consistent. Don't have thatone breakdown that allows somebody maybe to
get forty yards. I mean thegame with UCF was a coin toss.
They got they got a forty yardfield goal to win the game on the
final play. You know, ifit's missed or blocked, you know,

(10:54):
Boise State wins and nothing would change. I mean, you know, if
the field goal is missed and endup going to one to one, we
aren't any better team than we areif we are owing two and vice versa.
I think that when you look atsome of our strengths, one of
our running backs has really really emergedthis year in that sophomore Ashton Genty.
He's uh. I think it's goingto have a shot to get one hundred

(11:16):
yards both receiving and rushing in agame. He was very close last week.
Nobody's done that for quite some timeat Boise State. You know,
they've been a hundred yard rushers andthey've been a hundred yard receivers, but
not not the same person. Ourquarterback, Taylor Green, who is you
know, a dual threat quarterback,went out with cramps late in the third
quarter and never came back. Ourbackup got us into the lead on a

(11:37):
last second drive one forty nine left. The only problem was we we had
this great catch and run and gotinto the end zone, but probably scored
a little soon with one forty nineto go, just left. You see
up just a little bit too muchtime. But again, it's it's probably
been something where the offense just hasn'tquite been consistent enough. The defense has
really let people move the ball fromthe twenty to the twenty. Last week,

(12:01):
only one touchdown in five trips intothe red zone for UCF. And
I'll give you this stat we've givenup over five hundred yards and back to
back games, which that's a that'sa ton of yards, way too many
yards. We gave up one touchdown. We were so good in the red
zone, you know. We letpeople come close and then turn them over
twice, stopped him on downs wants, held them to a field goal another

(12:22):
time, and they got the onetouchdown. There were eight teams in the
top twenty five this past week,guys that got five hundred yards. The
lowest number of points that those teamsgot was forty. Wow. And we
held UCF to eight teams. Sothere there are some positives. And I
think that, you know, againthey feel they're really really close. Yeah,

(12:43):
no doubt. Hey Bob, you'reyou're right in the throes of what's
transpiring really with the pack. Whatare we calling it too? I guess
right now, I guess I don'tknow. I mean, but certainly the
realignment piece and what are you hearingfrom your chair And it's probably no different
than what I'm hearing to some degree, but but your perspective, I you

(13:07):
know, I think the Mountain Westwith their exit fees, I think it's
pretty difficult for you know, ahandful of teams to you know, say
move over to the pack whatever theywant to call it. With the with
the two teams Oregon State and WashingtonState teams that are left. I think
right now the biggest thing is thatthere's a kiddie of money that's going to
be left when all of the teamsleave, and I think Washington State and

(13:30):
Oregon State realize they're not going toget as much money in the next league
they're going to be in, soI think they're trying to angle to get
as much of that money, youknow, to sort of put in a
war chest for them is wherever theygo. I don't think anything's going to
get decided on what those two aregoing to do until it gets sorted out
of you know, who gets whatmoney. Yeah, I would agree,
and I think they did what theyhad to do this week in court,

(13:52):
and that's probably where some of thisis going to play out. It seems
like sports and the courts or thatthere's more than just say a basketball court.
Now when you when you're talking aboutathletics, it seems like both in
the professional and college ranks sometimes weget into that realm of theater as well.
No, No Sinse the Boise Statehappy where they are, though it
feels like at least Mountain West,even though there are rumors of movement and

(14:15):
things like that. You would besurprised if a move gets made sooner than
later. I guess for the Brocos, well, I just don't know how
it's gonna benefit. I mean Icould see some sort of a I don't
know if mergers the right word,or you know, maybe where they take
the PAC twelve name and move theMount West teams over to join them.
I could maybe see something like thathappening. I think in the past,

(14:39):
when the PAC twelve was the PACtwelve, I think Boise State would have
loved to have been in that conference, you know, and played the Washington's
and the Oregons and the USC's andthe Cows and the Stanford US Skill Eggs
and those people. But unfortunately,you know that they didn't. I mean,
San Diego State was what hours awayfrom being invited this summer, and

(15:01):
the invitation never came, and thenthe league kind of disintegrated. So you
have to be you have to beflexible in this in college athletics now,
especially with conference membership. So Icompletely lied. I can lie on the
pod. I have well, Ihave a follow up to the question.
I have a follow So, Bob, you're originally or have roots in the

(15:22):
Bay Area. I mean, it'sgot to be tough to see what's happened
to the PAC twelve, right,I mean for someone that's I'm fifty seven,
right, I'm trying to be romanticabout what has the PAC twelve meant
To some degree, it's really kindof sad. It is. It is.
My dad went to Cal. Wehad Cal season tickets growing up.
You know, some saw some goodfootball, some mediocre football, and some

(15:45):
not so good football, depending onyou know, the era at Cal during
those years. But USC Ucla,I think that you know, you talk
about things that have come into collegesports, the NIL, the ability to
transfer without having to sit out,all of these things, in my opinion,
I couldn't have imagined, you know, five to ten years ago.
But the one that took the cakewas USC in Ucla leaving the PAC twelve

(16:08):
to go to the Big ten.When that happened, you know, I
think that's what killed the PAC twelvebecause you lose two of the marquee names,
and then all of a sudden,every league now seems like of the
power fives. I guess, withthe exception of the SEC, the ACC,
I guess Big twelve. They allhave somebody now in the Western time
zone, So I don't know,I don't I don't think it's for the

(16:30):
better. We'll see how how everythingplays out, you know, whether everybody
likes what they're doing, or whetherwe'll see another ship because people don't want
to travel, you know, threethousand miles for a conference game, no
doubt about it. Well, we'rereally excited about coming this week. It's
obviously knock on wood hopefully, youknow, plane gets up, plane gets
down, but pretty pretty easy flightand uh, you know love playing early

(16:52):
in the early in the day.So we're all excited. I think you'll
see a monicum of green floating aroundthere. I think there'll be some excitement.
Well, Bill, I've heard there'sa group in town that gets together
to watch und games. Is thattrue? Oh, it's a good question.
I think certainly on the hockey sidefor sure, you know, because
remind me you had Adam Shiel Ithink in town, right, and so

(17:17):
was Yep, he was our goalie. The team won the regular season and
then lost in the in the whatever, the Kelly Cup finals, and he
was he was outstanding. So wehad a chance to have him on our
show. A couple of times,sharp guy, and I don't know if
he's coming back to the team ornot, but he was a mainstay for
them this year. Yeah, goodquestion. Alex calls hockey for us,

(17:37):
so he's gotten a lot of visitswith Adam Shield for sure. He's a
good kid. And I think he'sgoing to the AHL this season. So
I'm not sure if he's getting backwith the Steelheads coming up, probably not.
He might be able the Texas Stars, but we enjoyed him this year
and he certainly stopped a lot ofshots and won a lot of games.
Yeah. Well, I know thereis a good undie fan base, alumni

(17:57):
base that is out there in boySee, including one of my former co
workers. Actually, he and hiswife live out there now and have loved
it for the last however many years. So I think, like Bill said,
it should be not necessarily a mixedatmosphere, but some pockets of some
green over the course of Albertson Stadium. So we're excited for a great contest.
It's going to be fun. Butit's funny whenever I go places and

(18:18):
you go to games, you knowthere's always some blue when we're on the
road and I'm talking about like basketball. You play some random game and the
place you're like, where the heckis somebody from Boise Steak going to be
from. And there's you know,ten people that are sitting there in blue
and you wonder where they come from. And I'm sure the same thing North
Dakota. I know what happened whenwe were at you mass. You just
you never know where somebody's a fanor somebody somebody's in the lawn. That's

(18:41):
right, that's right. Well,we look for I look forward to seeing
you on Saturday, for sure,Bob. Great, looking forward to catching
up with you. Bill and welcome, Welcome to Boisse. Welcome for the
fans that are coming. And Ithink you're picking a good month to come.
September is a great month here,that's right. We're excited. Bob,
Thanks against some for the time.Have a great call this weekends.

(19:02):
Thank you guys. Bob Beeler playedby play voice for Boise State football and
men's basketball now for sixteen seasons.Thanks again to Bob for joining us.
It sets a great picture of what'sto be expected coming up this weekend.
Again, North Dakota going Sue Idahoto take on the team in Blue on

(19:22):
the turf eleven am Central time,kick ten am Local time. The game
can be seen on FS one.This is that big new and kickoff window
bill we were talking about. Yeah, yeah, I love it when Fox
decides to put teams on the WestCoast in that particular time slot. So
a little bit earlier than usual,but it's gonna be a great atmosphere in
a great game and a great testfor a North Dakota team that is flying

(19:42):
high after a phenomenal start of thisseason. Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, And I do appreciate Bobstopping by. I worked with him at
UMass literally twenty one years ago,so somewhere in that range. So I've
known him a long long time andspend a lot of time with him.
He's just a great time flies.I can't believe you spend their sixteen years

(20:02):
already, Holy cow. But he'sHe's done a great job there, for
sure, very thorough does does hishomework, for sure. Yeah, you
know, I think that window isinteresting that I didn't realize that they practiced
in the morning too. We doas well, which is fine, but
I do like the temperature will bebetter for the for the both teams.

(20:26):
Early on in the day. Imean, because it's gonna be it's gonna
get warm there at some stage ofthe game, but we'll probably miss the
high point of it, you knowwhatever, three four, five o'clock,
right, Yeah, you would thinkso. Yeah, so I should be
pleasant, a pleasant day for travelingfans and certainly fun to watch on television
again on national TV on FS one, another national TV game for you in
the end of non conference window,like you've had the last couple of seasons.

(20:48):
Nice nice boost after Nebraska and youtalk all the all these games that
you've set up there. Yeah,it's been great to have that type of
exposure. Really lucky. You know, you set these games up, Alex
and you just don't know what's goingto happen on the television side. And
you know, for us, ifwe can play pretty well, we become
an attractive non conference game for certainlyFBS schools, and uh, you know,

(21:15):
I think you know, we travelwell and obviously when you're a flagship
university, I think that sells alittle bit as well. So yeah,
we're excited about it. And yeah, and you're right, I thought we
did a good job over the weekendtaking care of Northern Arizona. I was,
you know, it's always been interesting. I know, it's always been
a tight, one score game.It seems like every time those two teams

(21:38):
have laced it up. So forus to kind of take control of it,
I thought was impressive. And yeah, I thought efficient. Maybe it
was the award. Maybe that's theword I would use. I mean,
I know, Bubba was, youknow, not, you know, tremendously
excited about how we maybe ended thegame. But at the end of the
day, you know, it's asixty minute game and they're going to make

(22:00):
some plays as well. Yeah,thirty seven nine was the score basically at
one point midway through the fourth andit was signed, sealed, and delivered
by then. And it, likeyou said, Lumberjack's got a couple late
to make the score a little closerthan what the game actually was. But
again, for und you've got tofeel great coming into this matchup, and
obviously you're playing a team with fantasticcredentials preseason, favored in the Mountain West,

(22:22):
a team that ran the table lastyear in that conference. This season,
Ago won a bowl game outside thePower five. I mean, Boise
State is one of the schools thatfans are familiar with from Statue of Liberty,
plays in the Fiesta Bowl years agoand great runs as this outsider that
was trying to break into the topranks. I think a lot of people
like Boise State because of their underdogmentality and how they've been able to rise

(22:47):
with the little guy rising above andtaking on the Alabamas and the UCLAs of
the world and things. But nowwhen he gets to take on that role
against them on the road, andwhich should be again a great atmosphere,
thirty six thousand people on the BlueSurf coming up on Saturday. Yeah,
he mentioned Jean Blameier, the athleticdirector back in the eighties when they put
the Blue Turf in, and you'reright, they were your classic disruptor.

(23:11):
And at the end of the day, they just keep climbing the ladder.
And they've had just an amazing run, one of the most successful programs certainly
in the last quarter century. Andso we'll have our work cutout for him.
I mean, they played a really, really, really good Washington team
and you seef, as we allknow, has been very good the last

(23:32):
several years, and that was literallya flip of the coin game I mean,
so you know, it could havegone either way at the end.
So you know, but I thinkour guys are are excited, right like,
I mean, why wouldn't they be? And this is just a tremendous
opportunity. If you play this sportand you get to challenge yourself maybe step
up another level, and you're onnational television, this is awesome. What

(23:56):
more could you want? So Iknow our guys will be focused and ready,
but I know we're playing a really, really good team this weekend.
It was unique how this game cameabout because if I remember, was not
the original Loon schedule for this window. Give us the recap of how we
ended up with the Broncos here intwenty twenty three. Yeah, So,
as simple as I can say is, we got a phone call from Washington

(24:18):
and they were looking to play atthe back end of a home and home
with Michigan State. They had playedthe Spartans last year in East Lansing and
wanted to play them in a twoyear window and saw that if they kind
of maybe maneuvered it a little bit, they could get Michigan State on this
date and then provide us the opportunityto go to Boise if that worked out

(24:44):
for Boise as well, and solong and short of it, it's just
there's an irony that Boise happened tobe playing Washington this year too, So
that really had nothing to do withit, per se, but it just
adds another little wrinkle to it.But long story short, yeah, we
we potentially we're going to be inSeattle this weekend, but we're in Boise

(25:04):
and you know, and part ofit was I think, of course,
you're going to do what you thinkis right for your program, right,
like a simple as that. Butat the end of the day, all
things being equal, if you thinkyou know you can support and help uh,
you know, maneuver scheduling to somedegree, it is difficult. You

(25:26):
know, you sometimes will get thatback down the road too. You know,
folks will remember you know that,well you did us a solid so
to speak. Now having said that, the financials are the same. So
at the end of the day,and you know, our our our team
has never been to Boisey. Wewere in Seattle, you know, one
of my first trips here at Undieright, yeah, yeah, one of

(25:49):
the first ones. Yeah, Soyou know, at the end of the
day, I thought that, youknow, even though it's five years ago,
and so really no one on theteam really knows the different going to
Seattle in going to a beautiful stadium. Obviously, it's one of the you
know, classic scenes in college football. You know, maybe down the road

(26:11):
we go back, who knows.But at the end of the day,
this one seemed to work out.And I think I think we're gonna see
I think we're gonna see a sneakyamount of green on Saturday every game a
home game. Well, well,my guest Friday night too, we'll see
you a lot of great There yougo. That's it, that's it for
sure. So again ten am Localtime in Boise, eleven am Central time

(26:34):
on FS one Boise State Owen soubut obviously playing some of the best teams
in the country, and then NorthDakota on the flip side two and oh
and remember fighting Hawks going to abuy after this, this ends the non
conference portion of the season at leastfor this point. Then an off week
and then a big road test againstSouth Dakota State. So a great chance
here to try and build a littlemore momentum, have a great experience out

(26:55):
west, and then get healthy goinginto a big game against the top rank
jack Rabbits. We just want tohear huge game at home against number three
months Hannah State. So exciting stuffhere for Bubbi Schweigert in this Unity football
team. Safe travels to everybody who'smaking the trip out west. It's going
to be a great scene. ThanksAlex. It should be should be a
lot of fun and like I said, I think the weather is going to
be dynamite, so we're excited aboutit. Speaking of travels, you are

(27:18):
getting set to embold on a quicktrip south for some Summit League meetings coming
up this week. What do youexpect to be some of the big talking
points with Josh Fenton and the crew. Yeah, really good question. Uh,
you know, we are still goingto be, you know, discussing
the fallout of losing a member.There's still some of those, uh conversations
that still need to take place,i think for longer term scheduling. So

(27:42):
there's some pieces to that we're probablygoing to need to discuss. And then
I think, Josh, you know, we'll have you know, the latest
greatest on maybe what's going on justyou know at the national level and uh,
and what he's hearing you know,from let's call it realignment to anything
that might be happening with President Bakerand Congress at this stage. And I

(28:03):
know there's been multiple bills bandied aboutin Congress, so I know, I
know he will have the latest updatein that regard, and uh, you
know, honestly, Alex, thenfrom there, I think you just kind
of get into some minutia business thatyou need to take care of league wide,
and it's better to do it faceto face. I mean, you

(28:26):
know, we you know, thezoom piece works for sure on a monthly
basis, but even in our ownstaff, our our own department, we
do an all staff zoom once amonth, but we do quarterly face to
faces as well, and so Ido think, you know, we do
two face to faces in the Summitleague, and I think it's incredibly important

(28:48):
because then you're able to just discusssome things and go offline on some things
as well. And you know,if I have a question on something,
you know, all my counterparts,the swas that you know, are all
there, so that you can actuallyjust say, hey, how are you
handling x Y or zz Jarnigan,We'll be down there, so the two
of us will be representing uh,you know, und and who knows if

(29:11):
there's you know, I'm not quitesure the way Josh runs it a little
bit. He'll bring in a guestor two as well, probably zoom those
folks in, and so yeah,I mean it just gives us, you
know, So Liz and I willdivide and conquer, right like, we'll
go out and make sure that we'renot at the same table, right like,
we're at different tables, just tryingto get get the input from everybody

(29:33):
you know in the league and whatthey're hearing about various things. Yeah,
certainly a lot in that space tobe discussed. So excited to hear you
report back in two weeks time onthe next episode of the Bills podcast.
Yes, well, we'll have MikeSchmidt as a guest. Yes, so
we'll talk a little hockey efficient.We should probably put Eric Martinson like on
the back like we're somewhere. Maybewe'll mute them, but we'll just at

(29:56):
least put him on the pod aswell. He'll be like Art Terry Mcca,
like our rules official that we cancall upon. He's the doctor Joe
mcknick of this podcast and never wecan buzz him in he can give us
two cents. What do you see, Eric, what do you see in
there? What do you see himthere? Oh? I love it.
We're looking forward to that when youget to buy the way hang out with
Mike Schmidt R. I shouldn't sayweek. I get to hang out with

(30:18):
Mike Schmidt tomorrow because tomorrow is NCHCMedia Day in Sight Paul Mike's going to
be there as doing kind of asession to talk about video review and some
of the new standards they're going tobe applying this season. So it's just
another reminder hockey season just around thecorner. The preseason All Conference team just
came out yesterday in the NCHC.A couple of North Dakota lads represented there,

(30:38):
with Reese Gabor and Jackson Blake amongstthe forward groups. It's exciting to
think that mid September is here.We're really just three weeks away for before
Manitoba and before we get started onOctober of the seventh, drop the puck
and lots of home games, Alex, lots of home games right right right
in a row. So exciting,really really exciting about it. And I

(31:00):
know our guys, we met withthem last week. So we end up
at the beginning of each year orientationwise, there's a number of things from
an orientation wise that go on.There's a I'll call it the the xs
and os that they have to signoff on a lot of different a lot
of various NCAA forms. That's offto the side. But then we talked

(31:22):
to each team on a very macrolevel. So we were with hockey last
week and uh, yeah, they'rethey're they're excited about it. I mean,
you know, I've got some obviouslynew faces on the back end and
uh like all new faces and soso, but they'll like nobody like like
so, but you know, they'reexcited about it. They think practices,

(31:47):
you know, I've gone well thusfar, and I think they're getting along
pretty darn well. I mean ina sense of you know, a lot
to ask, right, I meanto to to quickly get rolling. Uh
and uh but they'll be fine.I'm they'll they'll they'll get after it and
you know, almost like no differentthan probably in some ways a lot of
these guys have played in you know, you know, great All Star teams

(32:07):
and all those types of things.You know, you go figure it out
pretty pretty darn quick. Yeah,well, it's a team that is reloading
this season, and the preseason pollwill come out today. I get to
vote for that every year, andit was a difficult vote because there really
are seven teams who you could sortof interchange in in between really from one

(32:30):
through seven, because a lot ofteams have question marks and a lot of
teams have new faces coming in,and I just I don't know where North
Dakota is. Not that it mattersbecause it's just a preseason media powl,
but I'm really curious to see whatpeople on the outside think the expectations are
for this team, because that's certainlythe forward group has established stars coming back
and a ton of depth and they'llhave a top nine this year really and

(32:53):
a lot of firepower. But they'rejust are some unknowns on the back and
I could see und being picked tofinishes maybe as high as seconds and maybe
as low as in that fifth issuerange where they finished last year. I'm
just really interested to see what peoplethink, and yeah, to see how
it actually all plays out with itwins the puck drops. You know.
The one thing though, that it'llbe interesting that certainly our media knows that

(33:15):
Ludwig's been in the league before too, so he's been in arenas certainly,
you know, and that's a bigdeal. I mean we've talked about that
previous times. Just to be ableto know where you're going right as a
visitor player and know just the thoughtprocess on how that all rolls. I
mean, he that is no issuefor him by any stretch of the imagination.

(33:39):
And and so you're right, Imean, but with so many new
faces right on the defensive corps,all new faces, yeah, it'll be
interesting what people think at this pointin time. So yeah, I mean
again, I you know, pollsare awesome to discuss, but like we
say every year, right, Imean, it's the poll at the end,
Yeah, exactly, exactly, That'swhat these things are here for conversation,

(34:04):
not to put a definitive stamp onyour season before it actually begins,
that's for sure. And maybe alittle bulletin boy material depending on where you
get put up, I guess.So it should be fun. But again,
hockey media, they coming up tomorrow, look for some good content there,
certainly from UND's brand accounts, fromthe mid Co Sports crew as well.
Myself and Taylor Budge will be inattendance over in Saint Paul at the
X Hockey season's about a month away. A lot of summat league conference events

(34:25):
now getting set. That's just maybea week or two away before conference play
begins for volleyball and for women's soccer. Still a couple of non conference matches
to go, though both of thoseclubs had successful weeks over the last couple
of weeks. Women's volleyball with acouple of wins and their und Classic,
they're now three and six, gettingset to go on the road to Cedar
Falls to take on a couple ofteams at the UNI Classic coming up this

(34:46):
week before eventually beginning sat Ly playon the twenty first of September. Women's
soccer kind of a similar story.They had a five match on beaten run
going that was snapped ultimately on Sundayagainst Grand Canyon. They have a couple
more home matches this week against Owningin Arkansas Pine Bluff before they start their
conference season at home as well onthe twenty first. It's all happening right

(35:06):
now. Conference played just around thecorner for these teams as they finish up
their non con this week. Yeah, no doubt about it, and I
think you recapt it well, Idon't need to really underscore anything you've You've
said it correctly. But the otherno, you're good, You're good.
Hey, listen less is more rightat the end of the day. The
other thing that's kind of happening too, interestingly, you know, we've got

(35:30):
kind of the non championship format ofthe softball world, so they we've got
a couple of games coming up forthem. Uh, golfs are in play
as well, and tennises are doingtheir thing and so and of course cross
country. But at the end ofthe day, Yeah, lots of stuff
going on, Alex. I mean, this is you know, and that's

(35:52):
you know, the sneaky part ofall of our programs. In some way,
shape or form, have something goingon at this stage of the game.
It just may out be, likeyou know, again, the championship
portion of your season, so thereforeyou may not know what's going on.
But we do have softball going on. We're recording this on a Tuesday,
on a Wednesday here at home,so kind of interesting. Cool, Yeah,

(36:13):
very cool. I do want toshout out cross country. By the
way, the men finished seconds atthe STSU Classic and we just will point
off defeating the jack Rapids who havewon the state champions or the state have
won the conference championship a handful ofthe years in a row, beating North
Dakota State at that event, andBrookings the women finished fourth, by the
way, like really good early seasonresults after they both won their respective classes
at the run Pin Classic to openup things at the start of September.

(36:36):
Good things happening there for the harriersto start. So you as as a
as a track and field expert,cross country is interesting. There's a lot
of chess moves that go on duringthe prior to the championship. It feels
that way. Is that fair?Now? I do think it was a

(36:57):
really good result for it, soreally good result, but but it does
there's a little chess going on,isn't there. Yeah, it doesn't always
mean that everybody was running their toppeople or that their top people were competing
at their top level, like yousee that where you taper up towards championship
season and you don't know what otherteams are dealing with. But I looked
at their results and you could seea lot of top teams from these different

(37:17):
schools. But sometimes it could bemaybe our top three we're competing, and
then our fourth and our fifth maybewe're just a little bit injured this week
so they didn't run. So thenour sixth and seventh runners slide up a
couple of spots, and now they'rethe ones scoring for us, and they're
scoring in the mid twenties versus theteams where our fourth and fifth runner would
finish. There's a lot of movingparts, but at the same time,

(37:39):
you can't argue with the times,and you can't argue with the fact that
you've got multiple individuals putting up prsand that's what you went to your that's
what they're doing right now on themen's and women's side, so it's those
are those are good things to seeright now at this point. And I
would say this on the volleyball andsoccer side, kind of similar type of
stuff too. I mean, you'regetting prepped literally for the Summit League season,

(38:00):
and so if you're playing a matchor a game, of course,
you want to win, of course, of course, but at the end
of the day, there is thisthing where you do have to figure some
things out with your squad as well, and you're going to give some players
opportunities and who knows, I meanwe I'm sure that like we see in

(38:22):
the NBA playoffs, right, it'sthe bench shrinks at some point in time,
probably the benches will shrink to somedegree. But you have to make
sure that you provide reps for anyonein everyone if you can. And I
think that was so if we loopall the way back to football, if
we look back all the way backto football, I thought that was the

(38:43):
most important part honestly of Saturday too, and even the Drake game. We
were able to get some guys onthe field during that parts of that second
half. Huge. That's going topay dividends for us at some point in
time. Yeah, getting those repsas big Jesse Tupac men in this past
week that they really had six differentlineups for their first six matches of the

(39:04):
season, and now he's been ableto slowly figure out, okay, who
fits best in this role. Itjust takes a little bit of time.
I think soccer with Chris Logan thesame thing. You see a couple different
mostly the same starting elevens from weekto week, but a couple of tweeks
here and there, and that's theway you do it. You don't introduce
an entirely new lineup from one weekto the next, but you can incorporate
maybe two or three new faces indifferent positions just to make sure that there's

(39:29):
stability there. And now you canadd versus. Okay, now we got
to spend the first twenty minutes ofthe match just figuring this out. Yeah,
and you know, if you reallythink about this too, and you
think about a pitcher, right,I mean baseball pitcher, not a softball
pitcher, but you know, volleyball, you've got to be careful of their
swing count two, right, Like, You've got to manage that a little

(39:50):
bit to some degree. Now yougo into a weekend where you've got three
matches and you don't know if they'regoing to go three, four or five,
and you could be playing fIF deansets. You've got to be able
to manage that a little bit.So at the end, you know,
I think it's a little different whenyou get into a summit league played just
a little because I think that yourrest period increases a bit. But these

(40:14):
first four weeks of the volleyball season, you've got to be really thoughtful about
what you're doing in that regard andI know, I know Jesse is certainly
doing that. Yeah, well they'reoff to a good start soccer against same
thing five hundred. Right now,we will have, by the way,
you into women's soccer live on ourairwaves. Everything's been streaming so far,
all those home matches have been onlinethrough the Summit League Network on Mid Coast

(40:34):
Sports Plus. But this Thursday,Mountain West champion Wyoming are coming to town,
preseason favorites in that conference. Thatmatch will be live at three o'clock
on the fourteenth on Mid Coast Sports, so be sure to tune in,
as well as a lot of SummitLeague action coming up for both of those
schools when the calendar flips next week. So obviously, if we're playing a
Mountain West school, we're playing thepreseason favorite. Obviously, that's just what

(40:55):
it is, right, we onlyplay the best from the Mountain West's It's
the Bill Shaves motto. We're nottaking number three, you're number six.
No, we want we want thefavorite, we want the defending champions.
Right I go, I make surethat I know what's gonna be happening,
and we change. We'll change thegame if we have to. Bill has

(41:16):
a bill has an incredible, incredibleway of seeing the future. It's still
Yeah, the crystal ball, it'sbeen unbelievable. Some would say I've got
it all backwards, that you mightwant to invert that crystal ball. Just

(41:36):
pull like a Stanza. Whatever itsays, just do the opposite. That's
right, that's right, do theopposite. Build anything. We've got about
ten minutes left. Anything else onyour agenda before we flip clicked over to
the B side. Yeah, let'sgo to the B side. It's it's
international break. It feels like they'vebeen on international break forever. Alex No,
I know that's this. This isthe first international window of the season.

(41:57):
It happens all the time. Youget like four matches in the EPL
has built this great momentum and thenwe just pull the rug out and sorry,
everybody, go off, go offand play for your country for a
little bit. This will happen again, just so you're aware. In October
and in November they have won everymonth for the next three as we've built
why well, you know, Imean FIFA, FIFA is gonna FIFA bill

(42:19):
they got you know, it's themoney and there's there's a chance here.
I think every continent is sort ofdoing their own thing. You've got European
qualifiers going on with UEFA, You'vegot Nations League matches in concacalf. You've
got some clubs or some nations thathave already qualified for some of those competitions,
which are just doing friendlies like theUSA is doing this week. You've

(42:39):
got Afkhan going on in Africa.There's just sort of a lot of different
stuff happening. But some of it, yeah, it's it's hard to keep
up with. Some of it arejust routine friendlies just for the heck of
it, because you're getting ready formatches that matter in October. The US
doesn't play a meaningful match until November. By the way, they're they're already
set to the quarterfinals of the NationsLeague because they won that competition last year.

(43:01):
But it's it's just interesting. It'sunfortunate maybe for the club football enthusiasts,
but it is kind of fun tohave those international breaks because every I
mean every once in a while youget a first class team playing another first
class team. Germany's gonna play Francecoming up onto Yeah, I think today
in a friendly and it'd be kindof fun. See what happens rolling out

(43:23):
club game though, is a lotmore fun. I think to me,
it's hard to break up that thatrhythm a lot. Did I read that?
Germany, I think is looking fora new manager. They have sacked
hansi Flick. It is the firsttime in German Federation history that they have
fired their manager. Things got thatbad. For one, they lost to

(43:43):
Japan. Not great. Yeah,you know, maybe it's time we just
move fine, that's funny. TheYeah, they've had a little bit of
a I don't know, are theyMaybe they're a little bit between eras right
now. Maybe in Germany it's hardto say, you know, sometimes that
can happen, right, Yeah,it feels that way. It feels like
they've just not produced as many worldclass players. I agree they had in

(44:07):
previous generations. There just aren't asmany. They just don't have and obviously
they've had a tough time producing numbernine's for a long time. They don't
have a lot of goal scorers.But now it seems to have trickled through
the side where they've got a couplelike Joshua Kimich is a world class player
in midfield for Bayern. Land garRatzka like, they've got some guys who
are at the top of their game, but around the rest of the side,
it's just not the quality and thetactics haven't been great. And we

(44:30):
saw that they didn't make it outof the group stage in the last World
Cup. The women's same thing didn'tmake it out of the group stage.
And it's I read an article fromRaphahnigstein and The Athletic this morning just talking
about the identity crisis within German footballright now across the spectrum and within Germany
as a whole. It really what'shappening over there is not also different over

(44:51):
here. There are culture wars andpeople don't know what the best way forward
is from politically on down, andit just it's made. It's when the
results don't come then people quickly pointfingers that well we're not doing this and
we're not doing this once because ofthis and they've just got they've got some
issues they're trying to work through,not unlike a lot of other nations around
our fair world. So we startI think back up this weekend, right,

(45:14):
Premier League, so feel united comingthrough the new white hard lane.
Well you met, you made thatyou made the point. I mean,
it hasn't been the most difficult schedulefor Spurs, but you have to take
care of business. I mean,at the end of the day, it
really doesn't matter. I mean literally, we've seen any team probably can beat

(45:36):
any team, unless you're talking aboutCity. But at the end of the
day, you still got to figureit out. I mean, so excited
for Saturday. I see what happens. We'll be playing a little simultaneous.
We'll be playing football and Boise andthey'll be playing football in North London.
Bill will be double screening from thefriendly confines at the Albertson Stadium press bacts.

(45:59):
But it's first Birds. You're ina good spot, second place in
the table, unbeaten through four matches, trailing only City. Not too dissimilar
is where Liverpool is at right now, same point total, same spot.
They're also playing a bad team quoteunquote this weekend, although Liverpool's on the
road at Molon News take on Wolves. But it's just it's so early in
the season and when you come backfrom these breaks sometimes you don't really know

(46:22):
what you're gonna get and these canbe bad times to play lesser teams.
Yea. So I'm curious to seehow it'll It'll be interesting what little little,
I mean so much can change.It's a long season and who knows
what's happening in January February. Itseems like there's a little separation at the
bottom of the table. Though.Boy, there's some teams really struggling.
Huh. I mean this might bethe year. Everton. I'm just not

(46:44):
sure. They can't really score Alex. I mean, that's a problem.
And at the end of the day, that bottom of that table right now,
you got to take care of businesswhen you have those when you're playing
those teams, whether it be onthe road or at home. Yeah.
Through four matches, Burnley and LutonTowns, who are the new Boys,
have not secured any points, andthen Everton and Sheffield just have the one

(47:07):
and those four have just not lookedgreat. Sheffield was a team everybody picked
to go down by the way youropponent this weekend because they most teams strengthened
when you move up from the championshipand they weekends they sort of sold off
a lot of their guys sort ofknowing we don't have the financial backing right
now to really make a run atthis, so let's maybe try and just

(47:30):
blood some young guys in and justknow we're probably gonna go down, so
then we can take the parachute paymentsand then bounce right back up and be
stronger for it. So it's sucha long game view, which is so
different than most of these clubs whenthey possibly so the pod that I think
we both listened to the Price ofFootball Pod, they kind of went into

(47:51):
that a little bit, you know, and they talked about no, no,
it might have been the two Robbiestalked about it after the after the
Sunday matches about Burnley truly probably wasbetter last year than they are this year
because they had all those players onloan, because there's connectivity with city and
that's the other piece, Like youcan get to the Premier League, but

(48:13):
once you get there, what doesyour roster look like relative to what it
was when you possibly just won thechampionship. It's so unique because in recent
seasons, early up until last year, it felt like most times the newly
promoted clubs would either go right backdown. You pull a norch, we're
a pretty good balanced or you canor you can have some success and you

(48:36):
would kind of be like, maybetwo of the three would either drop right
away, but one would be okayand finish almost mad stable, maybe finish
twelfth or thirteenth, and it seemedlike there would be one who would kind
of then stick around, whether itwas like Wolves like it, Wolves a
handful of years came up and havebeen a steady team. Brighton has been
that way now for almost a decade. Came up and just has not dropped.

(48:57):
But then now this last season,all three of the promoted teams stayed
up, and that was a bitof a removal from what we had seen
in the past. Usually at leasttwo would go, sometimes all three,
and now this year it feels like, well maybe all three year actually just
going right back down. But whoknows. Everton is certainly going to be
in that mix. There'll be otherteams like Wolves who are not very good
this season that will be in themix as well. We have thirty four
matches left, We have a lotof time left to figure all this out.

(49:20):
But it's just fascinating how ye're inyear out, depending on what team
it is who's making them move up, what the ownership group looks like,
what the squad looks like how muchdid you rely on your loanees to get
you through and get you across theline to get up You might find yourself
in a situation like Burnley and Lutondo right now, where Sheffield for that
matter too, where Hope is notgreat at this point in the season.

(49:44):
Yeah, you know, for thoseof you that really don't follow soccer at
all, well, in this caseEngland, it's interesting the whole concept of
loans, right, Like, soat the end of the day, whereas
if you are a Major League baseballplayer, you might you know, get
your at bats and Triple A oryou're you're in TRIPLEA getting your at bats,
Well, they allow you to beloaned out to a potentially it could

(50:08):
be another Premier League team, couldbe or it could be the next lower
tier down And it's an awesome wayto get your player reps. Right,
we talked about reps, and atthe end of the day, if the
reps go very well, they mightgo right back to the team that loaned
them. And so therefore there's abig gaping hole for that team now to

(50:32):
try to figure it out. Yeah, it's sort of a bandid situation.
I mean it's a short term solutionwhich can work really well and benefit both
parties. But at the end ofthe day, you know, unless it's
a loan with an option to buy, which most of these big clubs do
not put into the loan, it'slike, no, you're going to be
there for a year, or you'regonna be there for a couple months and
then we're recalling you. It's usuallypretty short term, a short term solution.

(50:54):
How nervous have you been, I'mgoing to flip the script on you,
the most solid piece potentially getting bought. I mean, what what's happening
there? I'm not concerned. Idon't think he's going I think I think
the more realistic thing is he mightmove next year. But at this point

(51:14):
Liverpool have said the windows closed likeyours. The Saudi Arabia window is open.
So whenever they wanted to be,I think the twentieth of September is
when they've sort of muted as liketheir atentially potentially their final date. But
again they can decide whatever they wantto. I guess I don't think they
would sell him right now, eventhough the number is astronomical, just because
they wouldn't have anybody to come intoa place, and I don't think they

(51:37):
would do so in January either unlessit got ridiculous, and unless he really
wanted to go. There are someinteresting geopolitical things between Egypt and Saudi Arabia,
and it would be I don't knowwhere mo would stands I'm going there,
and so far he's been very like, no, I'm a Liverpool player.

(51:57):
Jurgen Klopp has said he is notfor say n FSG has said the
same thing. So it's it's alot of smoke. And I know there's
a We saw this with Jordan Hendersonand with some other players where it's like,
oh, well, that's not goingto happen, and then it does.
But this one, it seems likethe club has been very adamant that
this is not going to happen andthe player has not. It flips when
the player says, no, Ido want the money, I do want

(52:20):
to go, and I don't thinkMoe wants that right now. So last
question and then we'll we'll sign offfor the week because we can't talk Red
Sox. That's they're just fighting theYankees for last place, so and you
don't want to talk about the Steelers, So we're not gonna go there either.
Oh my goodness, gracious did theNFL start next week? This was
the last week of preseason for bothour teams. Bill, so well,

(52:42):
that was not a fun We'll checkin next spot. Oh, if you're
gonna lose, lose. Wow.The last question that I have though,
if so on a more kind ofprotocol technical question. If the if the
window closes in England, but Spurswere still able to loan or sell players

(53:07):
to Turkey because their window was stillopen, you can still make that transaction
going out. Obviously, you justcan't get anybody coming in. Correct,
You can ship out, you cannotbuy yep. Once your window shuts.
That's that. So this was abig thing a couple of years ago when
England decided, okay, we needto just we need to have our transfer

(53:30):
window end before the season begins,and they changed it so transfers are done
and then the season starts a coupleof days later, and they realize this
is an awful policy because Germany,Spain, Italy, France, all these
other countries were now like, oh, we have three more weeks left,
let's buy these English players, andthey were losing players without being able to

(53:52):
Yeah, no recourse restock the supply. Now they've now shifted back. So
basically all of Europe more or lesshas their windows shut on September the first,
but it's it's some of the youknow, it's Saudi Arabia, Yeah,
there are you know, there area couple other leagues around the world
that have slightly later windows and thathas kind of thrown just their wrenchings little
bit. That's some of these clubshave now kind of come out and said,

(54:15):
FIFA, you've got to get thisunder control. Like I know,
this is sort of every different confederationhas their own ruling body, but this
is just a weird thing that onenation, one league can do this.
Yeah, and so if I slid, if Solid hypothetically got purchased right now
because that windows still open, there'snothing Liverpool can do until the January window

(54:37):
at this point. And the otherpiece that you know, certainly Spurs found
with Kane is there's such an inflationright now for certain players in England,
agents are jack and the prices up. So at the end of the day,
yes, it's good to have themoney, but you also have to

(54:59):
figure out how you get the nextplayer too, exactly. It's one of
those situations where you do need tohave an agreement across all parties. Like
it does sound so callous when we'retalking about these players in terms of buying
and selling, but the players dohave to agree. Like I think we've
seen over the years where a clubwill agree to sell a player to another

(55:19):
club and the player will say,I don't want to go there. I'm
not going to agree to personal terms. It's you know, it's basically like
a no trade clause. All theseplayers more or less have a no trade
clause and they can say now,I'm good, I'm not going to do
I'm with you, Alex. Thevernacular is probably not great, but the
actual opportunity for the player to haveway in is probably better than what we

(55:43):
have in the States. If youdon't have a no trade clause, I
would say one hundred percent, theplayer does have a lot of power.
And we see this more now inthe NBA in some other places where the
player does say like no, Ireally do want to go here, and
some of the time, I mean, you know, for Dan Lillard it
hasn't worked out great. To say, yeah, they could happen, but
again he did sign a contract,but again that's a tangent. But in

(56:06):
Europe you do have in soccer,you do have that option to say I
won't agree to personal terms with thatclub. Don't bother. And I think
there's a better relationship more often thannot with the club and the player and
the opposition club that is trying toentice them to come. And you do
get sometimes like tampering happens where aclub will get into the agency or and
say we are going to pay yourguy this much. You are going to

(56:30):
get this much of a percentage ofthat salary. Let's make this happen,
and then they go to the club. Hey, my guy wants to go
through PSG. My guy wants togo to Real Madrid. His head's been
turned, he's not going to playfor you anymore. Let's make it happen,
figure out the terms with their guy, and let's go. Yeah.
Yeah, and so that makes itinteresting. But you're right, it would
be nice if windows were aligned.It'd be nice if when those were aligns.

(56:52):
You'd like it if when those werealigns, Yeah, that would make
that would make that would make somesense. But who knows. Hey,
if i'm a if I'm a league, if I have, you know,
a little bit more extra time,it's perfect if you've closed your window.
Yeah, exactly, Well, thereyou go. All right, we've bored
everyone to death about the transfer window, but it is fascinating if you're if

(57:12):
you're not necessarily in tune with whattranspires on how the players go from one
one team to another. I findit very interesting. No, I think
so too. It's it's a littlebit of capitalism, it's a little bit
of yeah, something else that Idon't know, but it's it's unique.
It is a very unique thing tosoccer that is very different than what we
see in North America. And therumor mill never ends, it keeps churning.

(57:36):
Yeah, I mean I think Tottenhamsaid every player under the sun and
you only get like one. Youknow. It's why they call it the
silly season. Bill, it isthe silly season. Yes, well,
hey, we're not going to tryto be silly and boise, that's for
sure. No, let's be seriousout there on the blue surf. Let's
go get something done. I mean, hey, came awfully close last year
down in Lincoln, came awfully closeat Utah State. There have been a

(57:58):
couple of close calls in these fb S games. Why not this week?
How many? How many schools inthe country can say that they have
played on the blue turfy on thered turf. It's a pretty cool NDI
is one of the few that's right. Amen. After Well, let's just
say at three o'clock on Saturday,awesome excited for kickoff coming up this weekend.

(58:22):
Enjoyed that game on FS one orin person if you're making the trip
to Boise, Bill always a pleasure. Appreciate you, Alex, safe travels
to you. Thanks against to BobBieler for jumping on, Thanks to Alec
and Paul and our entire behind thescenes screw for all everybody here at the
Bill Chaps Podcast. I'm Alex Synder. Thanks again for listening. We'll talk
to you in two weeks. Mmmm.