Bill Chaves Pod_EP 179

This week, Bill and Alex are joined by UND Letterwinners Association President Brian Westlund to discuss this weekend’s Athletics Hall of Fame Banquet and Homecoming celebrations (1:42). Then, the guys recap the week that was in UND Athletics, including football’s close call at Montana, soccer’s strong finish to the non-conference season, and cross country’s big opportunity at the Roy Griak Invite. (17:36). On the B-side (33:45), all the hits get a spin, including Spurs, Steelers, international soccer, Red Sox, and more.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Bill Shaves Podcast presented by Mid
Coast Sports. Another fall sports season is upon us, and
Mid Coast Sports has it covered like no one else
this fall. Keep tuning in for live coverage of college
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and soccer and cross country and so much more. Watch

(00:21):
on Mid Coast Sports and streaming on Mid Coast Sports. Plus.
This is how we do sports, and this is the
Bill Shaves Podcast. Welcome to another edition of the Bill
Shaves Podcast. It is the fifteenth of September, a Monday morning.
Alex Hendern and Bill shaves with you along with the
special guests that we're going to get to you in
a moment. Bill Happy IDEs of September squarely in the

(00:44):
middle of the first month of the school year.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
We are time.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Time doesn't stop for anybody. Hi, Alex here we are
mid September.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Already know it's crazy. I know football very much in
full swing, along with volleyball and soccer and cross country,
et cetera. All our fall sports really kicked off incredibly.
Conference play is now right around the corner. And we're
almost done with the non conference season. For the majority
of those you talk about time flying by, it's crazy,
I know.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
You know, you cut the seasons up into what about
three or four segments if you will, And you know
we've got don conference, you've got the conference and hopefully
some sort of postseason and then further right, so at
the end of the day, it's exciting times for sure.
And right around the corner winter sports, right, so it's coming.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah, some of league play starts for soccer and volleyball
on the twenty fifth, Football starts Valley Conference play at
the start of October, and also that same date, October
the fourth, when football travels to Northern Iowa, hockey begins.
Another great thing that's happening this weekend. One of the
great things about kind of mid to late September. Usually
it means homecoming, it means Hall of Fame weekend at
Grant Fork's and that is the case this coming weekend.

(01:52):
A really awesome event that's on the way homecoming weekend
for UND along with the Hall of Fame banquet. Who
better to talk about those things than the press of
the UND Letter Winners Association. Now when he's third term
of sorts and he joins us. Now he's mister Brian Westland. Brian,
thanks for taking some time.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
Thanks for having me Alex and Bill. It's a pleasure
to be with you.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
Appreciate you, Brian. You know we were chuckling prior to
the pod. We're not sure, but I think we.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Can say it right. You might be sitting in that
presidential chair.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Maybe you might have. You might be number one on
the pecking order right now. I think you've done this
is a third third year as being president in a
because you've been on the letter Winner Association a couple
couple stints, that is correct.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
I'm the only I must be the only one dumb
enough to accept the position.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
No, we're lucky to have you, you know, Brian's what's
really fascinating. And you can just give us a little
thumbnail sketch of your association with athletics in really the
Grand Forks community as well in Undy. And I think
it's just good for people to have that perspective because
you've seen a lot over the course of time.

Speaker 4 (03:03):
I have, so, I was born and raised in Ground Forks,
lived there for the first fifty years of my life.
The last few years of eighty miles south. So it
is what it is. But I get back for most games,
both football and hockey, some basketball, but played college golf
at UND nineteen eighty six through nineteen ninety and have

(03:26):
been part of you indie athletics my whole life.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
So you've been a part of that Literaries Association for
six years total. You get a chance to help make
all this happen. Hall of Fame banquet coming up on Friday,
a great presentation that evening at the Alera Center, followed
by these athletes being recognized on Saturday during the football
game against Alpereso. Can you give us just an idea
of what goes into this? What does it take to
try and put this together? How do you establish who's

(03:51):
going to go into the Hall of Fame? Brian, give
us a little baground in all those things.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
I'll do that. Yeah, it's it's a process. You know,
there's being on the committee. Names are brought by former athletes, coaches, administrators,
anyone that wants can nominate someone, and then we try
to do the research. Between the ALEC alec UH in

(04:19):
the sports information department and.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Staff.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
They you know, they give us a history of these people,
we talk to coaches, you know, all the current coaches,
past coaches. We try to reach out to and say
is this individual deserving? So it's a it's a process,
and then we try to narrow it down to you know, six,
seven people, eight people, whatever it needs to be, and
a votes made and then as the chair, I get

(04:48):
the privilege of calling most of these people and tell
them they're going into the Hall of Fame. And that
is just one of the greatest things. I look forward
to that every year, being the chair of being able
to call these people.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Well, yeah, I love that, Brian. If you would, could
you share a story over maybe someone that you reached
out to or there was a great reaction, something that
really stood out, either from this particular Hall of Fame
class or from Hall of Fames in years past.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
I got numerous ones, but you know, probably and you
guys will get a kick out of this loyal Jankie
the flag Barrier when he got the Honorary letter winner
one year, I called him and I hadn't met him
before and introduced myself and told him that he was
receiving the Honorary Letter Winner, and it just got quiet,

(05:33):
and if you know, loyal. He doesn't. He's not quiet
very often. So he said, this is the first time
ever been speechless. So that was one example. And then
Katie Richards we had after her passing. She went into
the Hall of Fame the next year and Bal Sussex
and myself called her dad and that was a very

(05:54):
emotional call. So those two are probably the top two
that come to mind right now.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
You know, Brian, I'm fortunate enough I'm not a voting member,
but I sit in on the meetings. And for those
of you wondering how many times the group meets, I
would say it's probably throughout a calendar year, maybe eight times.
I think maybe somewhere in that range. Give a little insight.
I've been always impressed inside the room how passionate and

(06:25):
the group is in regarding of taking this responsibility incredibly seriously.

Speaker 4 (06:32):
I agree. You know, we've had great members during my tenure,
and you know we spread out. We try to get
different sports representative, you know, across country, football, hockey, volleyball,
men's golf, which I'm part of, women's golf. You know,

(06:54):
those are the ones that come to mind that have
been on the committee, and everybody's got insights. So it's
it's really I think it's a great process, and I
think it's a very detailed process with all the research
is done, and I think we have great classes every year.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah, I think the other thing that always strikes me,
I want you to speak to something first out or second,
but let me say this is the ever evolving nature
of information. We learn things all the time about potential candidates,
about you know. So if you're listening to this and
you reach out, I mean, go on Fighting Hawks dot com,

(07:34):
reach out to me, reach out to Brian, reach out
to Alec, but reach out to us. We want to
know if there's someone that we might be missing at
some stage of the game. It's a big, big deal.
The other thing that I think the committee does a
great job on and maybe you can speak to this
is obviously we've had sports that are no longer with
us at this point in time, but this committee is
passionate about making sure that we carry on the tradition

(07:58):
of those sports as well slowly.

Speaker 4 (08:01):
You know, just in the last few years, we've had
baseball players, we've had women's hockey players, Lamora Twins went in.
So yeah, we want we want to make sure we
represent the whole athletic department, not just the current sports.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
We kind of have a cool thing happening on Friday
afternoon and uh and so we've had our plaques, you
know that that individuals do receive. They get a plaque
and then we keep one and that they've been housed
over the course of time in the third floor of
their ELF And so on Friday we will have a

(08:36):
little dedication and we have moved that now to the
Hawkway here in uh hyslop At Memorial Village one between
that and uh as As it walks to the Nodak
Insurance Company Sports Performance Center. And so, uh, it'll be
kind of cool to do that on Friday, Yes, looking.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
Forward to that.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
What any think, what a great way to utilize that
new space. And you think about those young men and
women that now walk that Hawkway daily, you see those
names of people that have come before them that really
made an impact on the University of North Dakota and
the Grand Forks community. That's an awesome, awesome thing. As
we look ahead to this weekends, Friday evening, starting at
four thirty, there's a social event followed by the banquet

(09:17):
at five thirty at the Eleira Centria get chance again
for these eight individuals, plus the two thousand, two thousand
and one women's basketball team to be recognized. For those of
our listeners that have never been to this banquet before,
just give us an idea of what that night is
all about and what people should expect if they're coming
for the first time.

Speaker 4 (09:33):
It's it's a great night. I think anyone that ever
goes to these really appreciate them because you not only
get to hear from the inductees, you get to hear
from an introduction video from you know, former coaches, former players,
former whatever. And it's very moving, you know. And I've

(09:54):
brought friends to this banquet with me and they go, Wow,
this is this is abulous. I'm gonna come to these
every year and you see the same faces because once
you go, it's it's a special time, special night and
a special occasion for these inductees.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
So last one, Brian, because I can't help myself, and
then I'm telling you I'm done. Yes or no answer,
it's kind of a past fail zero or one. Val
Sussex will need tissues that night.

Speaker 4 (10:23):
Absolutely yes, yes, So you know what I might too,
because it's it's it's moving, It's it really is, and
it's it's just a special night.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
It is just a reminder for all these men and
women just of the not just the successes that they had,
but the memories that they had of their time at
North Dakota, the experiences they had with their teammates, with
the programs they were a part of.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
And then one thing, I also, I was gonna say,
you know, this is the fiftieth and and you know
we could have some special people back. Bill. I'm not
sure if you can comment on that, but we wanted
to try make it a big deal. I think everyone
that's in the Hall of Fame was invited back, which
they are every year, but we tried to make it
a little special this year.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
We did we started thinking about what should we do
or could we do? And really what we did was
it was awesome. Are this is so? This is in
cooperations with our Alumni foundation and athletics. Really it is
an amazing team effort. And of course our Letter Winners
Committee does a phenomenal job, you know, to pick the

(11:28):
class and then help out the evening.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Of But we refreshed the logo.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
We got kind of a cool fifty year logo, and
so there's just some things that we've done that I think,
and especially with the advent of moving the plaques over
from the third floor, our third level of the Ralph
over to the Hawkway, so kind of some cool stuff,
no doubt about it. But it's exciting. I say this
all the time, Alex, and I don't want to be

(11:57):
morbid here, but it's an obituary moment. I mean, it's
someone's like a third fourth sentence of someone's obituary, we'll
say they were a member of the un D Hall
of Fame, and that's a big deal.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
Good point, I would agree with that. Yeah, and it's
going to be a big deal on Friday night, so
you know, we hope people can get out and enjoy this.
I'm sure. Again it's going to be a Pacdallera Center
like always. Again, the social hour starts at four thirty,
the banquet at five point thirty, and again the eight
individuals and the two thousand and two thousand one women
Soups team will be recognized them the following day during
the un D football game against al Pereso. Brian, we

(12:31):
appreciate all you do to help make this happen to
help lead the committee. Best of luck and enjoy this weekend,
and yes, maybe bring a tissue where two Thank you,
it's an honor. Thanks again to Brian Westland, the president
of the un D Letter Winners Association. A busy week
for him and that entire committee, obviously, a really busy weekend.
An exciting week bill for you and your staff. This

(12:52):
is one of the high points of the year, homecoming
and Hall of Fame weekend. People coming back to Grant
Fork's excited about these nine inductees to the Hall of Fame,
excited about all the great things happening on campus. Again,
one of the reasons why you do what you do
happens this week.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
Yeah, you know I've said this previously, and you know
I do believe it. You know, one of the jobs
or one of the things that we need to do
if you sit in certain chairs, whether it's my chair
or even a head coaching chair or other chairs that
we have here, we need to connect eras. And this

(13:31):
is an era connecting weekend. And you probably shouldn't say
it too loud that it's my favorite event because it
reminds us all of how we got here. And then
you get to recognize folks and really put them in
a position that could be one of the greatest moments

(13:56):
of their life.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
I mean, if you really think about that.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
I don't want to be really dramatic on the pod
like two minutes in, but it's like it really is.
I mean, as Brian said, and he articulated it, well,
it's pretty emotional, and you start thinking about how you
got there and your life today and who's around you
at that point, who supported you to get there, who's

(14:23):
there at that moment, and then beyond that, then there's
a legacy. And as we talked about the wall, you know,
you think about it, every plaque has a tremendous story
and so to be able to bring that to our
student athletes on a literally a daily basis, daily basis

(14:48):
is huge.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, it's very cool. You mentioned linking eras from the
nineteen sixties all the way to the twenty tens, all
six of those decades will be represented this weekend. Rob Styles,
who's going in kind of spans almost all of those
decades just himself, but you see athletes from the nineteen sixties,
the seventies, the eighties, the nineties, the two thousands, all

(15:09):
being represented in this class and again all different sports
present past, you know, from ment hockey to track and
field of swimming and diving to football to basketball and
even too. Like we always talk about how it's it's
the Hall of Fame, but it's also the honorary letter winners.
He told that story about loyal to Dan Nicholson family,
who's been a great benefactor to this university for a
long time, is going in. And I got to give

(15:30):
a special shot to our Tom Clifford Award winner, Fory Floggin,
who is a South Dakota Sports Hall of Famer. He's
a wester River, South Dakota guy like me. He's the
loveliest man, but has this incredible dynasty coaching high school
cross country out in West River for Rapid City. Stevens like,
it's it's cool to see something like the Tom Clifford
Award goes to someone who was a und graduate or
a und person that has gone on to have success

(15:52):
in coaching, and it's awesome to someone like Flora whose
whole family went to the University of North Dakota and
he was in Arizona last year going to the Arizona
State U. The Hockey Series like just loves North Dakota.
It's awesome to see him get recognized. So it's such
an awesome night and awesome weekends. Again, as you said,
a very cool thing for these inductees and then but
for the current crop of people as well, to think about,

(16:15):
these were the folks who came before me to help
lay the foundation of what I'm doing now. It's just
so cool.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
That's right, all of it is correct, Alex. And so
that's this weekend and we're we're lucky enough to be
able to do that. Obviously homecoming weekend. You know, the
Alumni Foundation has their Alumni Awards as well on Thursday
evening and that's a special event in itself, and we've
got some connectivity to that particular event itself.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Coach Axtall will be.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
Going in as a SEW Award winner and Hunter Pinky
will be recognized as a young alum. So so just
some really you know, neat things going on, and you know,
you're just lucky to be at a flagship institution that
cares so much about all all of you know, everyone
cares about Undy and everyone watch the best thing for und.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
Yeah, I love that again, exciting week. Normally, homecoming week,
I feel, has a lot of home events to go
along with the banquet and some of the induction ceremonies.
It's just a bit unique this time that everybody's sort
of on the road, with the exception of football. Women
soccer has the weekend off before they'll host Denver next
week to start some league play. Volleyball is going to
be in Georgia this weekend, cross countries going to the

(17:24):
Twin Cities. Football really is the show, so it does
kind of heighten what's going to happen at the Alera
Center at three o'clock, where if you're looking for something
to do around und Athletics during homecoming, that'll be the
place to be as UNDI takes on Valpereso. We should
probably start there as we look through what's going on
around un D athletics. After a very impressive fifty to

(17:45):
twenty win over Portland State that was not as close
as the final score line indicated, U Indy went out
to number five Montana and led for the entirety of
that contest until the final ninety five seconds, and it
was a similar story as Week one on the road
against the ranked FBS team in Kansas State. Just a tough,
tough finish again for the guys who led by nine

(18:05):
down the stretch. Give the Gris credit. Obviously a very
good Montana team. They're number five in the country for
a reason, but it does feel like another one that
was this close from being a signature win for Eric
Schmidt here in your number one.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, you know, it's a tough one for sure, and
you know it's one you can't get back. You know, we,
much like Manhattan Kansas were one play away, and uh
but one play away, you know, doesn't doesn't get it done.
And uh, you know, you can use all the cliches
you want in the in the world, you know, uh,

(18:38):
kill the game or you know, get over the line,
I mean, whatever, whatever you want to say, but the
reality of it is, you know, our guys are incredibly
disappointed that they didn't make that one more play and uh,
you know, we we just got to dust ourselves off
and go forward. And uh, you know, we know how
good Montana is at home. I think, you know whatever.

(18:58):
I think they've got the best FCS record in the
last twenty five years at home. But it doesn't matter.
When you're in the game. You want to finish it off.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
And you know.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
The good news is, you know these guys, I think
my eyes tell me from what I can tell around
the country, I think I think we have a pretty
good team. But you know, it usually comes down right
to the two columns left or right, and we got
to get back on it and get after it against
Valpo and then gives us a chance to, you know,

(19:30):
kind of take a deep breath the following week and
then get into valley play, and we know how tough
it's going to be in the valley. You know, if
looked at some scores outs around the country, seen some games,
you know it's going to be tough as always.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
Top two teams in the nation, number six in the nation,
what seven teams in the top twenty five, et cetera. Again,
that'll start in a couple of weeks on the road
for this North Dakota team, like you said, they have
passed the iNeST through three weeks in the season, and
it does feel like this is a team that can
pede against anybody. And you would think if they continue
like this, they're going to fall on the right side
of some of these close games eventually. I honestly I

(20:08):
was really impressed with the postgame press conference as well,
from coach Smidt, from Jerry Kaminski, from Antonio Blewett, who
had to step in because of an injury and then
ended up having two interceptions and playing tremendous football on
the secondary. But you could tell it would have been
easy to maybe I don't know, point the finger at
one particular play or one moment, and everybody really took

(20:28):
responsibility upon themselves, Like Jerry Kaminski was saying, hey, I
got to make a play. When we've got the ball
up by two, that's on me to make one more play.
And Antonio say, hey, we had a breakdown on defense,
Like that's I got to be better about helping get
guys organized. You can tell like there's that culture that
has been established that continues to build even in a
very difficult defeat like that that felt like they were

(20:49):
going to win that football game. Nobody's pointing fingers. It's
all about, Hey, we just got to be better in
these areas and we're going to do that next week.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah. I think so, and you know, and I think
hopefully you know, you learn some lessons. I mean, it
was a it was a it was a great environment.
I mean great FCS environment. I mean not even FCS,
just a great football environment.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
Football environment. Twenty five thousand people in that place. It's awesome.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
Easily the thinnest sidelines in probably America, and so so
for those of you who have not been there, I
mean it's tight, and you know, so there's a you know,
they have a real intimidating home field, you know, potential advantage.
And I think, you know, our team didn't blink at all.

(21:34):
I mean I think we went in and played and
it was just a really good college football game that
you know, unfortunately at the end didn't go our way.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
So you know, so we've got to figure out moving forward.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
You know, we've got a Valpo team that that is
coming in and each week's its own Alex. So you
know what, we can think a lot that were maybe favored,
and you know, however that goes, we got to go
and just really have a good, good Saturday.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
That's them every time out, like you said, a matter
who's on the other side. Even though val Parezo was
coming from the non scholarship Pioneer League and they've had
they've had kind of a tough start to the season
doesn't mean that they're not going to be a tough out,
you know. I think we saw that even this last
week with Drake who obviously is a very good Pioneer
League team, but they stuck with South Dakota State like
that was a good game for about two and a
half quarters or so until cis who started to pull away.

(22:25):
And we've seen that when other Pioneer teams have come
to Grand Forks before. It's not a gimme so big
game coming up of course this weekend it's the biggest
game because at the next game it's going up at
three o'clock at the Laras. That are a chance for
you we need to try and get back to five
hundred going into that open week prior to the started
Valley play on the fourth.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
That's right, That's right.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
So you know, with that, you know, obviously a couple
of tough flights back on the road for the for
this team.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
But you know, I think.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
They are encouraged though on you know, as a team
where they are. I think they're you said it very well.
They are unified. They have an incredible support for one another,
and you can tell, you know, in that sport where
you have one hundred plus individuals on a team, and

(23:14):
it would be so easy to say it's not me,
you know, I think there's a number of folks stepping up,
going all right, how do I get better?

Speaker 1 (23:22):
Yeah, And we'll see how they can do this coming
weekend against Balpa. Will get another home date before and
off week and then a road trip to you and
I get out and support again pack the Olera Center.
It's going to be a great occasion. We saw this
team put up fifty points in their home opener. We'll
see what they can do here in game number two
at home this weekend, starting at three o'clock. Football has
one more game left in their non conference. Women's soccer

(23:44):
has now wrapped up the non conference portion of their
season and on a high note. Six wins now six
to three and one for Hedrick z Own and company.
A really impressive pair of results in Idaho. They drew
nil nil at Boise States and then beat Idaho State
one nil. Core Ellerman with her fourth goal of the season.
She got the game winner in Pocazello. Another shutout for

(24:05):
this Fighting Hawks back line. They have had a wide
variety of non conference opponents and other schools in the
Summit have had perhaps quote unquote difficult schedules, maybe a
little more difficult than U and D's, but nobody's got
six wins in the conference. That's the most wins of
anybody through non conference play in the summer league. And
I would imagine they're going to answer some league play
feeling pretty good about how the first two months of

(24:26):
the season have gone.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
Yeah, you know, and I think Alex, you know, you
and I have you know, spoken a lot on the
B side about soccer and styles and and sometimes you
absorb pressure, sometimes you exert pressure, and it doesn't necessarily
mean it leads to a win or a loss on
either side. And I thought this past week, you know,

(24:50):
we went on the road very similar to how it
will be in conference play, and we were able to.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Get out of a out.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
Of Boise, who's been you know, pretty good team over
the course of the last several years, with a zero
zero tie. And you would say, well, you know, for
many would say, you know, you know, maybe not much
going on. Actually a lot going on during that game,
And I thought we defended very very well. Grace was
really good for these two games in net so, Yeah,

(25:21):
and then we found a way scored a really nice
goal yesterday and had a stand up which was fantastic.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
The fact that they've been able to get these goals
to go along with Grace Miller in this defense, and
that's a pretty good combination and if you can if
you can do that on the road. That was one
area where North Dakota really struggled last year was being
able to find three points versus just getting one in
conference play, you know, turning nil nil draws into one
nil wins. And so far this year they've had some

(25:49):
success at that in non conference. So we'll see how
it goes when the calendar flips to the Summer league.
But I think so far really positive returns for this
group against six wins already this season through ten matches.
Viero pointing up for you Indie women's soccer, Yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
Think so in the leagu's pretty good. No different than
it will be for volleyball when we you know, get
to the Summit League. I think both those sports are
are very very good in conference play. So you know,
hopefully our non conference has prepped us a little bit
for for what's in store.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
You mentioned volleyball. Jesse Tupac's crew got their first win
of the year at home on Saturday, a sweep against Idaho.
They had taken a couple of three nil losses to
Utsa and Kent stayed over the course of the weekend
in Grand Forks. They've got one more invitation all on
the road down in Macon, Georgia, the Mercer invite coming
up this week before they will start summing league play
at home against South Dakota on the twenty fifth. What

(26:44):
have you made a volleyball start through the non conference
so far?

Speaker 2 (26:46):
Now?

Speaker 1 (26:46):
Wins have kind of been tough to come by. They've
had some really narrow losses, some matches where maybe it's
been three nil, but they've been in those games. What
have you seen from that group so far? Bill?

Speaker 3 (26:56):
Yeah, you know, I think in talking with coach, you know,
we've incorporated a lot of new faces into the lineup
and I I believe he's still searching a bit for
the right combination and uh and I think there's been
some growth with the team and happy to see us,
you know, get a w obviously on Saturday that was needed.

(27:18):
You know, there's it would be for those of you
that have ever played baseball starting the year and you're
always looking for your first hit, and you know sometimes
when it goes when you're over four and oh for five,
you know you're then you start pressing a little bit.
And so for us to you know, get in the
wind column was huge. You're right, it feels like we've

(27:41):
had some weird either it seems like we've been just
swept or we we lose in five and and so
and we don't get over the line, and you know
that can kind of perpetuate itself a little bit and
it can become a mental thing. So so obviously, uh,
beating Idaho was was huge. And I think this weekend,
you know, I think we're going to go down there
and uh, I think we're playing teams. We'll call it

(28:04):
in our area code or weight class, and so you know,
let's go down there and and have a good weekend.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah, you t Martin, Mercer and West Georgia the three
teams on the slate, and you mentioned you can lose
it in five. They lost them five to West Virginia
on the road last night. I mean, so it's just
it's a funny sport volleyball sometimes. But you hope they
can use this win on Saturday to give them a
little momentum going into this final non conference weekends and
then keep that rolling into some league player. So we'll see.

(28:32):
Speaking of momentum, Past Country just continues to just dust
everybody in their path. They're now four for four in
terms of men and women sweeping invitationals. They this was
this was two weeks ago now, but they had a
really impressive showing and more head at the Dragon Invitational.
Jaden Keeler broke the meat record on that course by
ninety seconds. Competition will get much differ this coming weekend

(28:53):
is they'll go to the Roy Griac Invitational in the
Twin Cities.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
That's that's always a that's always a good one, right,
Like that's a that's that's a signature that's a signature.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
Event, right.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah. That is not just college but high school as well,
but all the top teams from the Big Ten to
the mid major divisions from across the Upper Midwest will
be there. So a really great test just to see
how our men and women stand up. And obviously the
men have had a great start to the season as well.
That'll be one to keep an eye on. And then
week off and then in Brookings at South Dakota State

(29:24):
on the third, and then again some of these championships
not that far away. That's the first of November and Omaha.
But yeah, all eyes on the Greact this weekend. They're
really fun meat and I think North Dakota will feel
good about what they've accomplished so far as they answer
that competition.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
Yeah, I would agree with that, and I know they
always look forward to this particular meet. It comes at
a great time of the year. I mean, the weather
should be great and so. But you're right, there are
certain signature events throughout the whether it be i'll call
it track and field, right like in cross country being
a part of that. There are certain events throughout the

(29:57):
year you do get a measuring stick.

Speaker 1 (30:00):
Yeah, and this is one of them, that is for sure.
So yeah, best of luck to Tom Scott's crew coming
up this weekend. That's the nineteenth the Roy Griyak in Minneapolis.
Some other little news and notes around you and d
Athletics men's hockey named their captains this past week. Be
Atz Molek will wear the sea this year. That's a
great story for a senior from Rochester, Minnesota that had
to miss virtually all of last season with the lower

(30:20):
body injury. Great that he is back and feeling good
and ready to hit the ice and he will do
so as a captain. Ben Stranden, Dylan James, Jake Levanovic,
and Abram Weeb will wear a's this year. It's such
a new look team. I was scrolling through the roster
the other day as I was kind of starting to
type up some notes as we get ready for Manitoba
in the not so distant future, and it is striking

(30:40):
how many new faces there are on the squad fifteen players.
But there are when you see these names though, like
these have been the guys that have been around, these
are these are the guys that have been a huge
part of the culture for the last three or four years.
And it's fun that. Oh that, No, it isn't just
all new guys. There are a lot of cornerstone pieces
with this program that are coming back who will be
a part of the leadership group this year. For Dane Jackson.

(31:02):
It gets you excited, it does.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
And I would say it's a It's a really good
leadership group, no doubt about it. And I was fortunate
as we were going through the coaching search they were
they were really helpful. They were informative, helpful, and I
can see why folks would want to follow them. I mean,
they're just they're those they they understand hey personally individually.

(31:29):
You know, there's a lot of things on the horizon
I think for all of them in the sport of hockey.
But but they were really you know, really really mature
on you know, what it meant for the program. And
I do believe they do play for They definitely play
you know, for the program itself, and so really excited
to see what this group does. But you're right, I mean,

(31:50):
we do have a ton of new faces that uh,
that are our fan base is going to have to
get acclimated to. But uh, that'll happen pretty quick, if
it hasn't happened already.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
Yeah, that will happen in a hockey FanFest is coming
up in about a week and a half or so.
They'll be Hockey Media Day for both the league and
for U and D not that far in the future.
And then yes, the first time to lit the ice
is just around the corner October the fourth against Manitoba
at home. Before there'll be a kind of a home
and home against Saint Thomas to open up the season
the following week in Grand Forks on a Friday at
the X on a Sunday that second week in October.

(32:22):
So hockey season, Like you said, winter sports are going
to get started very very soon. Hockey certainly the first
amongst those. We'll be excited to see them at the
ice here before too long, No doubt, Bill anything else
going on from a un D athletics and c DOAA
perspective before we flip.

Speaker 3 (32:36):
Yeah, the only thing I would say so right after
we're recording this pod. I think we started eleven fifteen
recording and Eric I and Liz Jarnigan will be heading
down to Suit Falls for a Summit League Fall meetings,
so they start. We've got something tonight and then all
day Tomorrow and half a day Wednesday, and then back

(32:57):
Wednesday night, and then straight into homecoming festivities obviously Thursday
and Friday and Saturday. So it's busy, busy time. But yeah,
not much more. I mean, I think many people are
reading that, you know, we're still going through, for lack
of a better term, transition of figuring out really what's next.
I feel bullish on you know, what we're doing at

(33:20):
und and let's just say college athletics in general. But
it's always good to get with your peers figure out
some things from a conference standpoint, and then I'm sure
we'll zoom out a little bit and talk about, you know,
what is happening around the country as well.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
Very good busy week. Busy week. It's even busier for
you and the crew as you had down I twenty
nine for SEMAT League meetings. So best of luck with
those conversations with the rest of the ads and presidents
around the conference. Let's have over to the B side.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
You got through an international break bill unscathed more or less,
and you hit the ground running with Spurs back in
action at the weekends, and you didn't have too much
trouble with a poor west Ham team that went down
to Man and you punished them justly for it. Though,
how are you feeling about Spurs coming out of the well.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
From what I understand, because I was there was a
lot of simultaneous things going on on Saturday. On Saturday
as I was doing some things in Missoula, so I
did I didn't. I wasn't as intent, but I was
getting some updates. Let's just say from someone that's related
to me, and uh, and and he said that he
seemed like it was a pretty straight red It was.

(34:30):
It was not not a question. And and then some
of the things I heard afterward were, I think there
was no complaint anywhere, and uh.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
That just happened.

Speaker 3 (34:40):
And I think it was only one nothing at that
point in time, So you know, there's there's no you
know that that's a big deal. And so I don't
know how the challenge was. But I heard it wasn't great.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
It was not I was able to watch the burke
ball goal was great, like that was a great goal looping.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
Had I heard it was a pretty good pass.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
It was a beautiful ball. It was a beautiful ball
from the back of the ear. Was able to knock
it up and ship the goalkeeper from his head. And
then the red card happened. And then yes, you scored
two more in quick succession and put the game to bed.
But it looked they looked pretty good to me. If
you west Ham has been really poor this year, you really,
but but you made them look bad.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
They could get relegated.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
They were on my list to go down this year. Yeah,
west Ham, I think they're looking at again. You never
know if there's any truth to this, but they've had
an awful start and grand Potter was under pressure last year,
so you'd think maybe they're going to make a change
at the managerial position. And your old friend Nuno Espirito
Sansu was now available after being sacked by Nottingham Forest
and it was replaced by Ange. What do you think

(35:40):
about that? Ange Pastacagolo was back in a job in
the Premier League. Didn't take long.

Speaker 3 (35:44):
Well, and I have to boy, I have to think
through this. I got to make sure I'm right. It
feels like we've done this. I've seen this movie before.
Nudo likes to play one way, Ange likes to play another.
Seems like you want to be kind of it feels
like those are two different extreme ways to play the

(36:04):
game of soccer. And so I'll be interested to see
what ends up happening at Forest because I'm not sure
their ownership group is very patient.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
No, no, they are not. The scheduling computer didn't do
him any favors. They got Arsenal right out of the
break and Ancha had about forty eight hours to work
with these guys and they got They got waxed pretty
good at the weekends.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
We will see.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
It's fun seeing Ane back. Hopefully it does not go
the way that it went.

Speaker 3 (36:34):
Yeah, I think I think, you know, being back and
who knows, we might see another Joe say sighting at
some point in time.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
That could happen as well.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
It could happen. He's just he's the cockroach of the
premier league. You never know.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
He'll come back. He'll come back.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah, we're two weeks into the NFL season. Bill, Yes,
Steelers are one in one. What have you made of
the Aaron Rodgers experiment so far?

Speaker 3 (36:56):
You know it didn't watch I didn't watch it yesterday.
I listened to it.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
Act.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
I did feel bad for Caleb Johnson. I don't think
he knew the kickoff rule. I think that's I think
that's what the deal was. I mean that was not awesome.
I mean they went down by three, they were going
to get the ball back and you know, maybe they
win the game, maybe they don't.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
I have no idea. It was a fifty to fifty game.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
But I think he just let the ball fly bast
them into the end zone and it was live because
between the zero the goal line and the twenty. It's live,
so it hit when in the end zone they recovered
it touchdown, You're down ten, game over.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
On the one hands, they have changed the kickoff rules
a lot lately, and I wasn't. I mean, as a
casual fan of the NFL at this point in my life,
I wasn't really aware exactly what the specifics are other
than things are just different. Caleb should probably know as
someone who's on kickoff team, he should probably know what
the rules are.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah, And I'm with you.

Speaker 3 (37:55):
I feel like I'm a little bit casual on the
NFL rules because that kickoff rule is not the same rule.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
Was in college.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
So if I'm going to know something, I'm going to
know the college stuff. But it was just it was Nah,
it wasn't great. Well, here here's the deal. They're not
protecting Rogers. Well, I'm worried about their offensive line. They've
invested a lot of draft capital in that in the
last couple of years.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
I don't think they're that good. That's it. That's it.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
So you know what, if you're going to invest it
over the course of time, it should be better than
it is right now. And they're not running it well
enough and they're not protecting them well enough, and they've
had some and again everyone has injuries, so I I whatever,
but they've got six defensive starters out.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
Yeah that's rough. That's hard to overcome. Yeah, that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
But their defense wasn't the issue yesterday. They played fine.
I mean they had a special team's miss queue and
I think it's a protection deal. And you know, football,
when you really break it down, like most sports, are
pretty simple. I mean really, you've got to be able
to protect and you got to be able to get
to the.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
Quarterback, simple as that. Well, we'll see if you can
do those things at Foxborough this coming week or at
Ullette Stadium. I guess you get to play the New
England Patriots coming up, and then you get to go
to Europe. I believe you play the Vikings next week.
I'm assuming overseas because we.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
Are playing in Ireland, Ireland because.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
The beautiful beautiful. So it's an interesting run in Patriots, Vikings,
Browns Bengals, who probably won't have Joe Burrow for that game.
So you've got a chance maybe to gain a little
bit of traction over the next four I.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
Feel today we're very average.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
How's that.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
I feel like the most teams in the NFL, it
feels like are kind of average. I don't know if
we really have there early are in a lot of
great teams right now. I think you could probably put
the Bills in rate like Bill's Ravens are up in
that category. In that category obviously the Eagles. Yes, But yeah,
it feels like there's a there's a really big middle

(39:56):
class this year in the NFL, and I think we'll see.
I think maybe if our teams are maybe kind of
on the lower kind of the lower middle class potentially,
or maybe like the upper bottom class, we'll find out.
We're two weeks in tough to tell.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
How about this, Let's let's do this for September fifteenth.
We're just gonna have a really big middle class. It'll
sort itself out. I do believe we're both in the
middle class, though, yeah, I don't think we're in the
lower echelon. I don't think we're in the higher echelon.
But it'll the season will have a way of sorting
itself out. But but yeah, yeah, go in a five.

(40:31):
I have no idea what's going to happen there, zero,
zero idea. I don't know, could win forty seven and nothing,
could lose, could lose thirty six three.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
That feels like a wide variance.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
And that's why we watch bill because you just never know.
You never know what you're gonna have. So you could
you could be drawing nil and nail at Burnley for
ninety four minutes, you know, like you just you never
know what's going to happen. You never know what's going
to happen.

Speaker 2 (40:58):
Did you feel good about that? You guys are dominating.
You just couldn't get it in.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Right, You just just couldn't get the ball in the
back of the net. They that's Burnley, I mean they
set up that's right. There was a great line. Scott
Parker is their manager, yeah, and they were like, well
this is Scott Parker and the bus basically, and that's
pretty much what they did for the course of the match.
I don't know what the final posision stats were, but
it was like eighty five to fifteen at one point
in favor of Liverpool. But they they've just found a

(41:23):
way all four of their so they're four and oh right,
they've got they're the only team in the league that
have a perfect record and every one of their wins,
they have had to score in the last either five
minutes of regular time or in stoppage time to win
the match. They've really left it late, but they've gotten
the job done every time, which is a good sign.

Speaker 3 (41:41):
But Alex, they really do have, you know, new players
and new roles, and they haven't even incorporated Eazac Indy
right now. And he'll be good, I mean, but it's
you know, again, you're still playing eleven on eleven.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
The guys you have are really good.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
So so when you get Eazac, it's not like you've
got one hundred percent better. You may be, you can
might get five percent better, I don't know, or eight
percent better. But he's just dangerous. Now now that the
other games are starting, it's going to come fast and
furious right now. And so now this is where your
your depth of your of your roster will be challenged.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
Yeah, Champions League starts this week, so midweek games coming up.
So the nice easy slog of one game a week,
that's done basically for the rest of the season, there'll
be something until the teams start getting knocked out of
these cup competitions. There'll be something midweek just about throughout.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
Well, accept accept this, Alex, accept this, and and I
will say this, congratulations on doing the Bulgaria Georgia game
for the for the World Cup qualifying.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
I think that's awesome.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
But but you're right, the once a week slog is
once a week, which is really good unless there's an
international break, which what you know, what's your opinion on
you Mal? And he's one of the most gifted young players,
and it felt like he was maybe played by Spain
when let's just say he wasn't one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
Yeah, and that's tough.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
Yeah, So that so ironically Spain is in the same
group as Georgia Bulgaria, who is the group that I
had this past weekend on FS one And I was
paying attention obviously to what they were doing because they
ripped apart Bulgaria on the Thursday before my match and
then even further ripped apart turkeya six to zero, and
Lamal was a big part of all of that success.

(43:33):
And yeah, like this is a this is a seventeen
year old kid that had to fly to Sophia and
then go back across Europe after he had just gotten
done playing in La Liga at the weekend and then
you get thrown right back in. It is. It is
a lot and now instead of playing I mean, it's
kind of that Europa League schedule then, because they played
a Thursday and then played Sunday with the massive amount

(43:53):
of travel in between. And you're coming off a summer
too where you're playing you're playing all these weird friendlies.
I'm not sure what barcelon his preseason schedule was, but
these guys are flying all over the place and you're
doing Club World Cup, where you're doing internationals, or you're
doing and it just feels like, yes, it'll take its toll.
You guys are going to break down, and especially someone
that young. Again, it's just a lot of football on

(44:14):
your legs and he's the almost the face of the
game right now, and it's too bad that you're gonna
you don't say burnout, but like you could do some
damage to somebody like that.

Speaker 3 (44:23):
It's a balance of obviously the tradition of playing for
your country. It is awesome in any sport, in any sport,
but certainly in that sport it seems I don't know it,
and maybe I shouldn't say this, but it feels a
little greater.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
I don't know why.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
It just feels that way. Maybe it's kind of the
world's game in a way.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
But long in story, short of it, it really is
a rough connection with your club team. Who's really the
one that's paying your way in some ways, but it's
really that's hard and here you go. He's really the
face of I mean, we're going to have the World
Cup here next year in twenty six in this country,

(45:08):
obviously in Canada and Mexico. He's one of the young
bright stars that he's just he's a fena.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
He's on all the promos. I mean, it's him, it's Embape,
it's Messi, it's Rinaldo, like he's in that group of
the short list, and if you watch him, you know why.
This is a very special talent, a prodigy essentially at
seventeen years old, already doing this, doing things that Messi
wasn't even doing at that age for Barcelona and for Spain.
It's crazy. But yeah, it'll all those things, all that

(45:39):
spotlight's going to continue to shine brighter. You got two
more innovational breaks to get through here this fall as
we figure out World Cup qualifying, and it'll only ramp
up with the World Cup coming up next year.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
So all right, so let me pick your brain last
one for you. We won't talk Red Sox right now.
Next time we are potting, we'll kind of know whether
we're in the playoffs or not, so we'll leave them
off to the side right now. But so nationality wise,
and I can tell you this, there's some folks, let's
just say, in Connecticut that do listen to this pod.

(46:09):
They go through the B side and they just happened
to be on the parents. But at the end of
the day, one is one hundred percent German and the
others one hundred percent Portuguese. So so what are the
prospects for those two countries in the World Cup.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
Well, I would say both are going to be there. Probably.
Germany kind of had a little trouble this this past circle.
They lost Sunil at Slovakia. It was their first defeat
away from homing World Cup qualifying. Ever, can you believe
that they never lost an away World Cup qualifier in
their history? I know, like it seems that seemed like

(46:52):
a ridiculous, made up stat but but they didn't look
great against Slovakia. They also didn't look great against Northern Ireland,
but they found a way. My god, Florian Vertz with
a beautiful free kick to kind of save the ended
up winning three to one. It was a fantastic kick.
But they'll be fine. The way that it works out
and qualifying you win your group you were in for sure.
If you get second in your group, you kind of

(47:13):
go into this sixteen team playoff of sorts, so you
can still kind of make it in Germany is a
team right now that is just trying to figure themselves out.
They've kind of gotten this new generation of players in
with Jamal Musiala and Ritz and some of the younger
stars in the Bundesliga, replacing all of these legends that
have now retired, the Thomas Muellers et cetera. And their

(47:34):
coach Julian Naglesman, who's a you know, Bayern Munich and
RB Leipsig and a very famous Bundesliga coach who's young,
who's kind of progressive. He's just not been able to
get a song out of them just yet. They've they've
kind of struggled a bit. They had lost three matches
in a row before that went over Northern Ireland, so
I think the ceiling is really high for that scene.
But they've also crashed out in the group stage the

(47:54):
last two World Cups, so there's pressure. There's certainly pressure there. Portugal, meanwhile,
is still one of the most talented in the world.
They have so many good young players coming through, like
their midfield is fantastic, like all these you know, all
these young, bright attacking talent. But Ronaldo was still there.
Forty year old Christiano Ronaldo is still the centerpiece of

(48:16):
the team, and they are trying to figure out I think,
how do we get the best out of these young
players who are coming into their pribe well, also kind
of catering to this legend who is still on the
field now. He did score twice the other day against Armenia,
for what it's worth, and is still obviously dangerous, and
he's scoring buckets of goals in the Saudi League. But

(48:38):
that's gonna be a tough one for Roberto Martinez to
try and figure out. The former Everton manager, how do
we make this work. He didn't quite strike the right
balance at the Euros. We'll see what happens this next
World Yeah, they're gonna win their group. They'll be in
no doubt they'll be one of the favorites. I just
wonder how it's all gonna come together in twenty twenty.

Speaker 3 (48:56):
So maybe one comment about each team, or maybe one
question is on the Portugal side. With Rinaldo, it's almost
like having to force feed a wide receiver.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
Mm hmm is that fair?

Speaker 1 (49:11):
Yes? If yes, he just demands so much attention. He
is the sun, right, like everything revolves around him. He
just the sun or the or a black hole, depending
on what's happening over the course of the match. And
that's difficult. I think you have all these guys on
that squad who really idolize. I mean again, most of

(49:34):
their squad is made up of guys who are twenty
four and under, so they would have grown up with
Ronaldo in his prime being the guy they wanted to emulate,
and now they're trying to play alongside him and figuring out, Okay,
when is it right to maybe take a shot on
myself or maybe to play in this other outstanding attacker
versus trying to get Ronaldo in the other touch inside
the box. It's tough, man, I don't know how you

(49:56):
balance those things. But he's gonna he's gonna be there.
Next summer. There's it just feels like he's a part
of the setup as long as he wants to be.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
So last one and he last one on him. He
isn't phenomenal shape. I mean, there's no doubt about it.
Oh yeah, I mean, I mean, how old is he
right now?

Speaker 2 (50:11):
Like forty or forty?

Speaker 1 (50:12):
He's forty? Is exactly forty years old?

Speaker 4 (50:14):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (50:14):
Well that's pretty impressive. All right.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
Last question and I probably know the answer, but I
know you know the answer is is Timo Werner going
to be part of the German World Cup team?

Speaker 2 (50:27):
Is there any Is there any Werner conversation?

Speaker 1 (50:30):
Ah, I'm gonna say Timo is on the fringes. I
would say right now, teams coming to MLS. That's been
that's been the a while. He's gonna be yep, I
believe so. I think Red Bull had reached out in
New York Red Bulls that were in the in the
market for a temo. So didn't happen this summer, but
that was that was the scuttle butt. But yeah, he
was a part of the German setup for a long time.

(50:51):
He just doesn't he just doesn't score bill.

Speaker 3 (50:53):
He doesn't finish there. He doesn't finish. I know, I
know he can, he can get to a certain space.
He just it just doesn't ever seem to work out
for him.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
Yeah, he could for Leipzig, like this was a great
example of someone that was so prolific in the Brundesliga,
like this really bright up and coming talent who had
everything great pace, great effort, good finish, and then he
made that move to the Premier League and it just
hasn't worked out, and I think he lost confidence and
now he's not been able to recapture that form. Even

(51:25):
when he went back to Leipzig. It just it just
hasn't worked out.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
I would agree.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
And you know, it's interesting when you know, if you
if you think through where we are in intercollegiate athletics,
you know certain spots are better for you to develop
and and you know you can argue if he stayed
there and just was destroying it, who knows what his
career would have been.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
Now, optimistically you're.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
Going to go to a you know, for yourself, you're
going to always bet on yourself and go somewhere else
and do something.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
But it's his careers take in a weird turn.

Speaker 1 (52:03):
That's that's the way I would describe it. Yeah, I
mean he made the big money move from Leipzig to Chelsea,
and it just feels like anybody that goes to that club,
I don't know, it's like a two maybe two out
of every ten worker one out of five. I mean,
they just they buy so many players, and he just
didn't hit the ground running and kind of got lost

(52:23):
in the shuffle. And then he went and went to
Tottenham and that didn't really work out, and now he
was back with Leipzig.

Speaker 4 (52:27):
On a loan.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
It's just it's just you feel bad. You feel bad
that that's how it's panned out. He's still young, like
he's not. He's not exactly over the hill. He's twenty
he's twenty nine years old. But I mean, so getting
towards the end of your prime. But yeah, sliding doors, Bill,
sliding doors.

Speaker 3 (52:41):
They're all sliding door of moments, no doubt. Well, hopefully
our Red Sox slide into the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
And I'll tell you what.

Speaker 3 (52:48):
It got a little dicey last night against the Yankees,
but they needed that.

Speaker 1 (52:51):
W got the win. That's got the win, stopped the
little game skid.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
Yeah, so they're still still in the spot right now
at the season. End of the day, they that second
World card spot. But like you said, we'll discuss in
two weeks, we'll see how it will pens.

Speaker 3 (53:04):
I will, but I will leave this and I think
I said this to you maybe privately, but I'll say
it here. In my lifetime. That's beyond fifty nine candles is.
I think Roman Anthony's the best player I've seen on
the Red Sox. I mean, I you know, and again,
Pedro Martinez was ridiculous. Roger Clemens was really really good.

(53:26):
I get it, like where they were in life, just
for him to one of their own that came up.
Pedro Martinez was not part of their farm system. Obviously
Clemens was. But at the end of the day, the
aura that he has as a twenty one year old
is pretty impressive. And I think that team is struggling

(53:47):
right now without his presence.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
Yeah, in the lineup, but I think just there he
is special.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
Like they didn't need to see too much, yoh, yeah,
they didn't need to see too much to sign him
to an eight year contract like it was it was.
I think they knew what they had and there's a
reason why they've Yeah, they have not been as good.
Not surprisingly, you take a bat like that out of
that lineup, you take that presence out of the lineup,
it's gonna have effects. And that's part of the reason

(54:18):
why they've just kind of been a five hundred team
the last handful of weeks since he's gone down. It
sounds like maybe postseason though it wasn't a season ending issue,
so we might get to see Roman back, but it's
gonna be close. It sounds like maybe, Well, I think
I think not as optimistic, I definite make a deep
run maybe in the PLA.

Speaker 3 (54:33):
Yeah, I mean I think that was the most optimistic view.
And because I don't think they'll they're not gonna you
know what I mean, They're gonna do the right things
by him for sure, but they need to get a
Brevew back.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
So I'll just stop there. So we'll talk. We'll talk
in two weeks.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
This could be a two hour pod, so we're gonna
We're gonna end it there. But yes, big week ahead,
safe travels, the two falls, enjoy all the some of
league stuff this week Bill, and have a great sign
with homecoming and Hall of Fame. It's gonna be a
phenomenal phenomenal, a couple of days in Grand Forks on
the way.

Speaker 3 (55:02):
Yeah, we'll have a we'll have a recap of all
of that and another special guest that we'll have on
that Monday, So a little bit of a teaser.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
Yeah, look forward to that coming up in two weeks time.
So thanks again to Bill, Thanks to Brian Weslin for
stopping by and talking to all things Hall of Fame again.
Really exciting stuff around you and East Campus. Bill enjoyed
the week ahead, and yes we will pod soon in
two weeks time. Thanks Alex, thanks again for listening. Everybody,
enjoy the week, have fun with homecoming this week, and
yes we'll talk to you soon.