Christmas Break is Here, HSFB Championships in Review

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Christmas time.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, we're getting close to it anyway.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
As my wife likes, you say, this is the day
before the day before Christmas.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Actually she said it last night. I said no, no, no, no, no,
tonight is the day before the day before the day
before Christmas.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
But now we're up to the day before the day
before Christmas. Now for that nonsense. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome
to the program here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred.
The zone by name is Craig Way. Thanks so much
for joining us today. It's our final program before the
Christmas break, and it will be out tomorrow, Christmas Eve,

(00:49):
and then of course Christmas Day, on Thursday and on Friday,
the twenty sixth. The producer Jay Herman will be in
on Monday the twenty ninth, as I make my way
down to Orlando, flor To for the cheese at Citrus Bowl,
and Jake will be there on the twenty ninth and
the thirtieth. Then I'll be checking in from down there

(01:09):
in Orlando. And then of course the game itself is
on New Year's Eve afternoon, and our coverage will begin
at ten o'clock in the morning. There with the third
and long Worn podcast guys on New Year's Eve and
then at eleven o'clock in the morning it'll be the
Longhorne Game Day program from if I heard correctly, Twin

(01:31):
Peaks in Round Rock, so they'll be there. So anyway,
Jay Carman is here and he's he's he's attired in
a Washington Capitol's jersey. Now that is your team, so
that's nothing wrong with that. And it's a nice look
in jersey there. But is that your version of a
Christmas sweater?

Speaker 4 (01:47):
Yep, that's how we're leaning into the Christmas sphere?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Okay, all right, I like it. I like it, good deal.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
And you and the girlfriend have to catch flight this afternoon.

Speaker 5 (01:56):
Right, yep, we're going to see my family spend Thanksgiving
with her folks. So the the home and home series continue.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Now, while you were up there, and this is something
I always do, so you know, for good or bad,
I always check to see if the local pro sports
teams are in action or something while I'm home on
a holiday.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Is that the the k are the Are the Caps
at home?

Speaker 5 (02:15):
I will check. I don't know if they are. It
would be really fun to get to see them right now.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
I know you don't give the south end of a
rat whether the Wizards are playing right or even the Commanders.

Speaker 5 (02:27):
Right, Wait, the south end of a rat. You talk
about our sixth man and one of our bench guys.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
The south end and then the south end. Yeah, you
get to get the implication.

Speaker 4 (02:38):
Yeah, they're not home.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Okay, all right, Yeah, I was looking the same the Mavericks.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
The Mavericks play on Christmas Day in San Francisco against
the Warriors, and then they continue on the coach up there.
They have a game a couple of nights later in Sacramento.
So anyway, nothing wrong with just holiday with with with
family and all that sort of stuff. Here's where we
have come up on the program. Here we're going to
hear from Texas basketball coach Sean Miller. We'll hear from

(03:05):
him a couple of times during the course of the
program this afternoon, and we will also have one final
seasonal visit with the editor in chief of Dave Campbell's
Texas Football magazine, Greg Chepper, with whom we visit throughout
the course of the football season. We'll recap the college

(03:27):
football playoff stuff that brought about the expulsion of Texas
A and m from that and the wrap up the
Texas high school football season with the champions being crowned
as well. So we'll do all of that today on
the program. We'll have some more pro football review now
that Week fifteen is in the books, they've got a

(03:47):
couple more games to get to and.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
We'll have that well. Also hear from Jerry Jones.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
Jerry, because this would this would have been after to
the game on Sunday, but it's drawn quite a bit
of conversation.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Because Jerry.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
Pretty much in no uncertain terms gave a ringing endorsement
to Brian Schottenheimer, and a lot of people think that
should be in order that Schottenheimer kind of playing with
a stacked deck or whatever you want to call it,
one hand tied behind his back although all those other
cliched phrases, still has done it a relatively solid job.
Even though the team is six eight and one, they've

(04:34):
got two games remaining. Now they have a game this Saturday,
or excuse me, Thursday, Christmas Day against Jay Herman's Washington Commanders.

Speaker 5 (04:47):
I've booked a ticket to see Marty Supreme. Oh yeah, well,
though it's after the movie, but I wish.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
It was during the movie.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
Okay, okay, all right, the movies after the game, Yeah, okay, okay.

Speaker 4 (04:59):
I told the the rest of the family.

Speaker 5 (05:01):
I am unshackled by football commitments this Christmas, my fantasy
teams are done, and this Commander season. I wish I
could just simulate the end like in a madded video game.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah, okay, all right, soon point taking the producer curse continues.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah it does. So the point is taken on that,
all right.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
So we'll hear from Jerry and his his thoughts about that,
and we'll look at the NFL playoff picture. Also, I
know to look at the college football playoff scene as
well as the coaching carousel. Yesterday, bit Pogi, who is
the interim head coach at Michigan, issued some pretty strong

(05:42):
statements and we aired him yesterday about how this program
needs cleaning up and everything needs reevaluation and everything needs
self examination and all this other kind of stuff. And
then he was asked, also, you know about the transfer
portal and the and you know how they have to
get busy on this because even though the portal doesn't

(06:03):
officially open uh until the second of January, even though
that is not the case. He uh, he said you know,
the deals are already being done. So his thoughts on
that and then why he thought he should be uh,
why he was the right man for the job. So anyway,
he was given some strong comments about that yesterday, and

(06:25):
all of this of course leaning toward the cheese At
Fiesta Bowl, not Fiesta, the cheese At Citrus Bowl. At
one time it was a cheese At Fiesta Fiesta Bowl.
They were one of the many sponsors the Fiesta.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Bowl had that.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Uh, there was one I want to say, this was
back in the nineties when it was called the ib
M OS two Fiesta Bowl. Catchy, Yeah, after the IBM's
whatever their their their online stuff or whatever.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
Uh for years of course tosh Tito's Fiesta Bowl.

Speaker 6 (06:56):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
But but I think it was also cheez It briefly
and of course had its own bawl for a while
which is now the Pop Tarts Bowl, and it was
just simply called the cheese At Bowl. Now it's the
cheese At Citrus Bowl where the Longhorns and Michigan Wolverines
will do battle on New Year's Eve afternoon. So how

(07:19):
much to get to on the print? Did you get
a chance to see much of the Monday night football
game last night.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
I saw it was high scoring.

Speaker 5 (07:25):
I saw I saw parts of the second half, and
I just wish the Colts had gotten some stops for
Philip Rivers.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
I feel like he deserved maybe a little bit better
last night.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, yeah, you're right.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
I think that's kind of been the overall view of
Philip Rivers's return is like old man pudgy quarterback, and
yet he still got it. He still has the mental
acumen and how to run a team and how to
get him down the field. But the Colts just don't
have enough to help him, and their season is slipping away,

(07:57):
whereas they were a roll for a while and now
they're falling apart, which has opened the door obviously for
the Texans and for the Jaguars. So it's headed down
the home stretch for those two with the Jacks still
up a game on Houston, and the Texans have a
huge game this week with the Chargers and you'll be
able to hear it here on Sports Radio AM thirteen

(08:19):
under the Zone. Huge game for both teams because both
teams are in the thick of the fight to get
into the playoffs, are in good shape. Both teams also
are one game back of their respective division leaders, the
Texas Texans trailing the Jaguars by game in the AFC South,

(08:40):
the Chargers back one game back of Denver in the
AFC West. So that's a massively big game between those
two teams this week. And there's other important games as well,
so we'll get to all of that. And yes, this
being the holiday, yeah, that's why all of our Chris
music and bumps and things like that are of the holiday.

(09:02):
Thing inconceivable has a holiday theme this year. Yesterday it
was actually what the twelve days of Christmas would cost
you if you were to buy the partridge in a
pear tree, the two turtle doves, the three French hens,
the four calling birds, the five gold.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Rings, the six the six.

Speaker 3 (09:30):
Giesa laying, the seven Swans of swimming, the eight Maids
of milking, the nine Ladies dancing, the ten Lords of leaping,
the eleven pipers piping, and the twelve drummers drumming.

Speaker 5 (09:41):
You know, there was a display at the Trail of Lights. Yeah,
it's you know, the number six and then the Gisa laying.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Oh that's cool.

Speaker 5 (09:49):
I decided not to break it down for everybody though, Okay,
I just thought, everyone enjoy it.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
Did they have like six seven? Did they do it
like a seven thing right after that or something?

Speaker 4 (09:58):
You see?

Speaker 2 (09:59):
Six seven? Did that?

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Even Craig Way, first time in my life, Wow, I've
ever done that and probably the last Harry Christmas.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah right.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
Anyway, it's because I accidentally took too much allergy medicine
this morning. That's what it is. I'm a little funky
as coming into the office this afternoon to do this.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
Okay, So that's what we did with Inconceivable yesterday.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
And the price tag on that for jitting and this
just threw a one shot deal was fifty one thousand,
four hundred and seventy six dollars I think, and forty
three fourteen cents something like them. And I said, one
shot deal. But the way it's laid out is if
you were to repeat the twelve days of Christmas every

(10:50):
day through the twelve days, in other words, return it
all the next day and the next day, which I
thought was kind of weird, but the metre of fact,
if you were to do it, it would be over two
hundred and eighteen thousand dollars to do that. You said,
my true love gave to me.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Your true love must really love you to.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
Throw out that kind of coin in twenty twenty five,
I tell you that, But that was inconceivable yesterday today
our companion songs and I found another one last night
and it really fits inconceivable. Here's the hint because the
song is from the artist that has normally involved in

(11:27):
Inconceivable wo with us. So we'll have that coming up
as well. But up next we're gonna hear from Sean Miller.
Longgorn basketball team won last night ninety four to seventy one.
They won by twenty three over Maryland Eastern Shore, but
the coaching staff not real pleased about. Assistant coach David
Miller was on with us after the game. He wasn't

(11:49):
real happy, and the whole coaching staff wasn't real happy
with the effort thing going on.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
Even though they were able to.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
Get their shots and knock down shots, they weren't real
happy with a lot of what the team did defensively
as well. We'll hear from Sean Miller about that. So
we're glad to have you with us. This is the
last day for well in truth. I will check in.
As I mentioned on the twenty ninth, and the thirtieth

(12:17):
with Jake, and then also I'll have my segment with
Roger Wallace there on our Longrrnon's game day. But other
than that, this is the last name on the air
in calendar year twenty twenty five, because you know, well,
women's basketball too on Sunday, but I mean in terms
of the regular talking part of things. So there's that
there's a women's basketball game on the twenty eighth as well,

(12:39):
But the last day for me on this show, just
settling in all the way through the show is today.
The rest of it will be just popping in with
Jake from down in Orlando. Op next we hear from
the head coach of the Longhorn men's basketball team, Shawn Miller.
When we continue here on Sports Radio AM thirteen under
the Zone and where you can always catch us for
free on our radio app.

Speaker 7 (13:02):
What we can.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Please Chriscus.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
If you've never heard Nora Jones before, or if you
haven't heard her version of Christmas, don't be late. It
will forever alter. You're an impression of the Chipmunk.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
Singing this tune right at this point that.

Speaker 3 (13:35):
Soon when Dave's going how bad you know you don't
you don't have to worry about much. Rather, hear Nora
Jones do it. The sultry sounds of the siren that
is Nora Jones, all right here on a Tuesday here
on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred zone. The Walgorn basketball

(13:56):
team got a ninety four to seventy one win last
night over mayorl in Eastern Shore.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
But the players, if you talk to.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
Them, are kind of like, eh, you know, they weren't
crazy about it either. We visited with Jordan Pope afterwards
and he said, you just got to push through and
all this kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
There's always that.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
And I asked David Miller about this, ashean Miller before
the game about this. There's that kind of danger zone
when you have the last game before Christmas break, because
human nature being what it is, players are kind of
interested in, to be quite honest, getting the hell out
of town and going back home. Jordan Pope was flying
to California this morning. He was out this morning to
fly to California, and coaches worry about that. Mick Schaeffer

(14:40):
was concerned about that with his team. He thought his
team was rather flat in the nineteen point win. That
says something about a good basketball team to beat a
good team on the road. By nineteen, when you thought
your team was flat, Texas was at home against quite frankly,
not a real good basketball team.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
Maryland Eastern Shore was four and twelve coming in.

Speaker 3 (14:59):
So even though they won by twenty three, it was
a six point game at the half, and they kind
of hung around for a little while and then Texas
finally pushed them away. So you can imagine that head
Coachean Miller wasn't exactly thrilled with how it all transpired.

Speaker 6 (15:17):
You know.

Speaker 8 (15:17):
First thing, I just want to say I really appreciate
the fans that came out tonight. I know, over to
Christmas Break on a weekday it's not easy, and on
a Monday night, really really respect and appreciate them and
wish we would have played better. We were obviously better
in the second half. It was our worst performance of
the season. And when I say that, I'm leaning heavily

(15:39):
towards the defensive end. You know, we just we have
to be able to be better. We have to be
able to guard the ball. We have to be able
to guard the low post at both the four and
the five position. I thought in the first half, there
was some just real hustle plays, just plays where the
balls on the floor or in the air, and you
know it's something and that actually he done pretty well

(16:01):
at this season in terms of defensive rebounding.

Speaker 9 (16:04):
But we just kind of got out of the way.

Speaker 8 (16:06):
I thought they were the bigger, stronger team, the more
physical team at times throughout the game. Obviously modest. You know,
it's a tough game. You got fouled thirteen times, which
is his gift. You know, I just I think number
one in the nation, maybe if he's not number one,
top five player in the country. Third of getting fouled,

(16:27):
that's a heck of the thing. And yet we have
to be able to be smarter and even better at
getting him the ball in scoring position. But I just
thought we didn't have as a group the will, the toughness,
the intensity, the togetherness to fight and desire that it's
going to take to be at the very best that

(16:47):
we can be. In the SEC at the University of Texas.
You know, everybody uses the words the standard. You know,
we have one, and when it's not met, you know,
it's not just okay, like Yah didn't meet it tonight. Guys,
you know at some point from an accountability me as
a coach, our staff, individual players. This deals about getting better, learning, growing, improving.

(17:15):
But as you learn, grow and improve and get better
as a team, the foundation of it.

Speaker 9 (17:21):
Is high effort.

Speaker 8 (17:24):
And I've just never seen a team that you say, man,
they play with amazing effort and they're selfish.

Speaker 9 (17:31):
It doesn't it sounds funny.

Speaker 8 (17:33):
So I think when you're an unselfish group, you're able
to give more of yourself, You're able to be a
better overall defensive team, You're able to play more intensity,
and you're able to take some of these things that
I'm talking about out of the game. And for us
to have a chance to be successful moving forward, this
is an area we have to always be able to
put a check in the box. The other coach and

(17:54):
the other team, they're trying to do the same thing.
If nothing else, it's a stalemate. Both teams fought, both
teams played hard, but I thought tonight our effort was
kind of up and down, and it really reflected on
the defensive end.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
So if there was, indeed, as the coaches saw it,
a lack of defensive intensity, where exactly did it originate
and did it start on the permit or was it
inside and he was asked for his thoughts on that.

Speaker 8 (18:25):
Well, it certainly came from the guys that were playing tonight.
In terms of number fourteen coming into the game, for example,
he made more than thirty percent of their three point
shots coming into the game. He's a pick and pop five,
so it was a unique challenge for us to guard
a five man that can do both inside and out.
We really didn't have the opportunity to see him truly

(18:48):
for who he was because he only played fifteen minutes.
He fouled out right, but in fifteen minutes he got
made three threes and had twelve points. So the point
is like, this is what he does, this is how
he does it. This is our plan in taking it away.
We're gonna work on it, we're gonna talk about it,
we're gonna work on it, we're gonna execute it. And
when the game comes, you can't swing and miss on

(19:12):
that one. It's not like he hit some tough, contested
threes at the end of the clock. For the most part,
his threes were pretty much uncontested. So again that opens
the floodgates up for other things. You get second shots
some of their guards I thought really drove us in
the second half. You know, back to the point on
free throws. You know, they shot twenty one free throws,

(19:34):
but again a lot of their free throws came in
the second half. So think about it. They shot fifteen
free throws in the second half. That's not okay, Like
you don't have to give them six free throws in
the first half and then cooperate and you're just you're
fouling more in the second half. That's plugged us over
the season. That's something we have to improve on. At
some point. We got to quit talking about it and

(19:55):
we have to be able to do it and do
it better.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
So this was the last game of non conference play
for Texas. They don't play again until January third, in
the SEC opener against Mississippi State, So it's twelve days
in between games. And it wasn't the performance that the
coaching staff wanted to see, and Sean made a point

(20:23):
to me in the pregame saying, we want a good
performance as a lead into the start of conference play. Therefore,
he was asked in the press conference, does this performance
have him reconsidering whether his team is ready for the
advent of sec play.

Speaker 9 (20:40):
Whether we're ready or not, here it comes.

Speaker 8 (20:42):
I mean, that's it. I mean we've gotten through thirteen games.
We've been on the road, played Yukon and Duke, played
a number of games at home.

Speaker 9 (20:49):
We've learned about ourselves.

Speaker 8 (20:51):
I think we have a good sense of what we're
good at, what we need to be better at. And
I know there's no easy out from this point on,
which is precisely my point. You know, you have to
judge yourself in a game like this on our side,
what did we do well? What can we do better?
And the accountability across the board has to be higher.
And you know, the analogy I would give you is

(21:12):
like a leaking roof. You know, it's like you just
got to be able to patch a hole up and
not have to worry about it and then move to
the other parts. But if you're constantly going from one
hole to the next, you know, one problem to the next,
it has a way of stymying you and not allowing.

Speaker 9 (21:27):
You to become better.

Speaker 8 (21:29):
And you know, I think coming into the game, where
what right around eightieth in the country on defense? It's
not good enough. And we're working very hard on an
everyday basis to improve that. I didn't think we really
carried that into tonight's game.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
So he was also asked if the game.

Speaker 3 (21:49):
Against Maryland Eastern Shore changes the way that he has
his team approaching the Mississippi State game. It's interesting that
that question came out because in our posting conversation with
assistant coach David Miller, I kind of phrased it in
a similar fashion about you know what's ahead, and he said, work,
lots of work and given the fact that there are

(22:14):
no hours restrictions right now in between semesters, there's no
class anything like that, it's eating sleeping in basketball. So
and I also had Sean this and asked David this
about that fine line between driving them and getting them
to do all the work that they need to do
versus pushing them a little too hard, and Miller said, yeah,

(22:36):
you do. David Miller said, you do have to approach
it in a similar way. So the question for Shawn Miller,
and by the way, those two were not related, but anyway,
the question for the head coach, does this game change
the way that he goes about approaching the Mississippi State contest?

Speaker 8 (22:55):
No question, I mean I think that our guys, you know,
have a much deserved break to be home a fanly
and friends and detach themselves from the academic pressure that
they're under here at Texas and obviously the everyday practice
environment and the stress of games.

Speaker 9 (23:10):
You know, we've been at it for a while.

Speaker 8 (23:12):
Each of those guys have a much needed break, and
I think that's really healthy for their mind. I think
it's great for them to kind of just enjoy the
holidays for what they are.

Speaker 9 (23:21):
But when we come back, yeah, it's go.

Speaker 8 (23:25):
Time, and we have to improve certain aspects that quite frankly,
we've been after I thought tonight we would play much
better on.

Speaker 9 (23:33):
Defense than we did.

Speaker 8 (23:35):
I was probably the most disappointed that I've been this season.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
So like or not, it was a Texas victory.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
And you hear Sean Miller talk about the fact you
don't take away and underestimate wins. They are what they are,
especially because but this has been often said, is that.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
A game like last night's.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
Really is kind of what I've referred to as an
empty calorie win, because you get to win, you don't
accrue much out of it other than the fact that it
was a win, as opposed to if you lost the game,
it would be a disaster. And some teams have had
some disastrous ls. You almost had one last night. They

(24:24):
ended up you look at the final score out of
they beat Prairie View by fourteen. They were down nine
in the second half the Prairie View LSU was and
had to come back and win, and they did and
they won by fourteen, so they averted disaster. And with
these quote unquote by games, b uy by games where
teams come in and they get a check for coming

(24:45):
in to play you in your building, and Maryland Eastern
Shore got a check whatever the amount was for.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
It's you know, you're not.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
Going to accrue a lot of net ranking points and
things like that. Ken Pom is not going to cast
a longing eye at you for doing that, even though
the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee says it doesn't. It does
not incorporate ken Palm anymore, doesn't do that. It's all
about net ranking. But whatever in terms of the rating

(25:15):
on that, you're not going to attract a great deal
of respect for beating a team like Maryland Eastern Shore
on your home floor. But as we know, the college
basketball schedule requires pretty much of teams that they play
some of these games in order to fill out enough
home card schedule games to have teams on your dance

(25:38):
card at home, and you really need to go ahead
and schedule some of those games. Does help with some
team development things like that too, and you can get
some success on that. The double ed sword about it
is that if you should happen to lose, then it's
a bad scene. It happened a few years ago in
Texas played ut Arlington at at at the Irwin Cet.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
I remember that game.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
There were you at that game.

Speaker 4 (26:03):
I wasn't there. I was watching.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yeah, it was bad, lost by like fifteen or something.
It was. It was not good.

Speaker 5 (26:09):
Uh yeah, there were three hundred and sixty five Division
one teams. Yeah, and Maryland Eastern Shore on the camera,
aren't they three hundred and forty three?

Speaker 3 (26:18):
They're in the bottom twenty two. Yeah, So that's not
even Quad four. It's like Quad six. It's what it
would be anyway. It's you don't really pick up much
for doing that. And remember they also had the game
Agains Shamana and now they had no control over this.
The way the bracket fell that they.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
Had to play Shamanad.

Speaker 4 (26:38):
That's Quad zero.

Speaker 3 (26:40):
It's quad zero. You don't get anything for playing a
Division two school. It's not even It doesn't even show up,
uh in your resume, at least in terms of the
net rankings and what the in what the NCAA evaluates.
So it doesn't really help you on that. But they
didn't have any they didn't have any choice on that.
They did play Arizona State, and and and they of

(27:01):
course they're Their best win of the season is the
one over North Carolina State, who'd come in ranked, and
so they had that. But let's be honest about this
with what they're about to encounter. They've done enough in
non conference in terms of their scheduling, playing Dude, playing
on the road at Yukon, even though they didn't win
any either of those games, beating NC State in Hawaii,

(27:25):
playing Virginia even though they took a thumping at home.
They scheduled enough to where if they're a five hundred
team in the Southeastern Conference, they'll be in the NCAA Tournament.
Now that's easier said than done. They've got to get
to at least nine wins in the SEC, but they
but they've done enough. At my point is outside of
conference to where if they're if they're playing well enough

(27:50):
at five hundred or better in the SEC, they'll be
in the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 5 (27:54):
You want some bad news for Texas, what's some bad news?
Arizona State loss is not aging?

Speaker 3 (27:59):
Well, yeah, I know, yeah, they got beat by Oregon
State the other day, didn't they.

Speaker 4 (28:02):
That's a quad four loss for Arizona stage.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
Yeah, yeah, so that didn't help.

Speaker 3 (28:07):
So anyway, it's now on the SEC play for Texas.
We'll here's some more from Sean Miller coming up later
in the program. Up next again another holiday edition of Inconceivable,
where we compare the secular with the Christmas songs from
the same artist. When we continue on Sports Radio AM
thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio app and continueing

(28:36):
the three o'clock hour here on the program with the
holiday music accompanying us. I did not know until I
was looking at a grid when I was watching on
my television and you you know, get music channels and
things like that, and.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
This song came up.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
It was recorded in nineteen sixty three by the late
great Andy Williams. There it's the most wonderful time of
the year. Some would say that certainly it wasn't. Wasn't
ESPN using that for its bowls and its College Football
Playoff theme type of music as the most wonderful time

(29:19):
of the year. It is if you're involved in it,
for sure. It means an awful lot too. You could
be the most wonderful time of year. If you're not
in it, or if you got knocked out in the
first round, that's probably disappointing as well as it was
for Oklahomen, for Texas A and M and for James
Madison and for Tulane. And the lower seeded teams won

(29:42):
two of those games, Alabama beating OU and Miami defeating
Texas A and M, so they were able to win
their games. Now it moves on to the quarterfinals, which
invoked the bowl games, with the Rose Bowl being in
the the number one seed against Alabama, the nine seat

(30:03):
first meeting ever between those two. The winner that gets
the winner of the four to five matchup, which is
Texas Tech and Oregon in the Orange Bowl. Then you
have the two versus ten matchup Ohio State and Miami
and the Cotton Bowl and the three versus the six matchup,

(30:28):
and that's Georgia against Ole Miss in a rematch of
their regular season.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
So anyway, that's the college football scene.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
College basketball last night, Texas log Worns defeated Maryland Eastern
Shore ninety four to seventy one, and they had some
really solid efforts. Manus Fokentitis twenty two points set a
school record for most free throws attempted and a half
seventeen in the second half. He wound up making thirteen

(30:56):
out of seventeen. Here's the interesting thing about Monus. He
missed his first four early in the game, then he
hit five in a row. Then I think he missed
two in a row and or missed one, and then
he didn't miss after that wound.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
I'm making thirteen of seventeen. So and in the second
half he did that.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
That marked the most and a half in program history,
at least in sixty five sixty six when they started
keeping records and such.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
I'm excited to see him in the SEC Craig, I
mean there's going to be nights where he is the
sole focus. I think of some of these defenses and
watching him respond and learn and grow, I think he'll
be a lot better in a couple months.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
Yeah, the more he plays, the better he'll get absolutely
he'll be better at defending without fouling and that sort
of thing. Jordan Pope twenty one points, seven and twelve
from the floor. Hit five threes out in nine attempts,
made both of his free throws, played thirty three minutes.
Pope a senior, a veteran, He's been around, and he
visited with us after the game to discuss, uh, the

(32:01):
way it went down for the Loghorns this game the
time that was a stubborn basketball team, wasn't it, Jordana.
They got physical with you guys a little bit and
kind of stayed with you before you pulled away.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
What was the difference from the ball game for you?

Speaker 8 (32:13):
Ye, Lay in that second half it got a little chippy.

Speaker 10 (32:15):
You know, I've seen a lot of foul calls, a
lot of free throws.

Speaker 11 (32:18):
Another that was a physical team. To to be able
to play through that physicality, and you know, make sure
we're saying just a landing, you know, just focusing.

Speaker 3 (32:23):
On what we could be calling our in I'm glad
you brought that up about playing through it.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
I was going to ask you what are the keys
to be.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
Able to make sure that you get through this and
and and not let things get out of hand.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
Well, we know going into conference. You know SEC is
an extremely physical.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
You know league, it's tough to playing.

Speaker 11 (32:38):
So just being able to play through and find ways to.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
Be successful ones in those moments, I think, you know,
it is key for us. You know, it's a good
challenge players team like that.

Speaker 3 (32:45):
I've asked you many times about your shot and getting
your shot, getting in a rhythm and all that kind
of stuff.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
Is that still the same routine for you that you
go through, Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 10 (32:54):
And I'll just stick into the same one for careers,
my whole college career, just you know, sticking to the basics.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
Touching my work and.

Speaker 11 (33:00):
Results you know, end up you know, usually following with that.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
All right, So you get the Christmas break headed home
to California.

Speaker 11 (33:05):
I am this sorry, can't wait.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
Actually all right, hey, I appreciate the time. Congrats on
the wind, Thank you guys.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
Happy holidays to longour nation out there.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
So the log worns with the wind.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
Now run the record of nine and four and they
get ready for the start of Southeastern Conference play and
that will be on Saturday, January third Againssissippi State.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
By the way, that's five o'clock tip.

Speaker 3 (33:27):
And and I should point out that because the semester
break is still in force during that time, it's still
going on, that those holiday hoops tickets are available for
Texas people, for Texas fans to purchase those. Those are

(33:47):
the ones where you sit down close to the floor
in the area where the students sit and the crowd.
But because school is still out, those tickets are made
available for public sale. So if you went to Texas
long Orange dot com, you can see how you can
purchase tickets for that. Those seats were filled last night.
There was a good crowd last night, and I got
to tell you, I was a little bit surprised that

(34:08):
the crowd was as good as it was, if only
because the holiday break.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
It was teny eight eighty eight last night.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
It was legit what they had and there were a
lot of people sitting where the students normally sit. They
took advantage of those holiday hoops tickets. So anyway, it's
there if you want to check that out. But Texas
with the win, runs its record now to nine and
four and they get ready for the start of SEC play.
On January third, the Longhorns will host Mississippi State to

(34:39):
open conference play, and then after that, boy is it
a grind. So this first game is going to be
important because they go to Knoxville to play Tennessee. They
go to Tuscaloosa to play Alabama, so that would be
twice in that next week. Then they played a good
Vanderbilt team at home, then they play Texas A and M,

(35:01):
then it's at Kentucky. It's just that string alone is
kind of difficult. Yeah, Vanderbilt's really good.

Speaker 5 (35:11):
They haven't lost yet this season, number five in terms
of the Torvik efficiency ratings. So you've got three what
it calls quad one A games in a row after
that Mississippi State game with Tennessee, Obama, and Vandy.

Speaker 3 (35:24):
Yeah, that's why I said last hour that it would
be easier, you know for Texas. If the Longhorns hold
their water in SEC play, finished five hundred or above
in conference plane, they'll be in the NCAA Tournament with
what they played all right. Coming up next is our
final seasonal conversation with Greg Tepper, the editor in chief

(35:46):
of Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine. We'll look back at
the college football and the lone Star state and the
state high school Championships as well when we continue on
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone in the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 10 (35:58):
Corn cop Time, Button Nose and two Eyes Made Our
Cold from Steve.

Speaker 4 (36:06):
The Snowman is a fairy tale.

Speaker 11 (36:09):
The see he was made.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
Of snow, but the children know how he came to
life one day.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
Okay, I had this crossed my mind.

Speaker 3 (36:19):
Since we were doing all holiday music yesterday and today,
the final two days that we're on the air before
the Christmas break, that when we get to Tuesday and
we have Greg Tepper on. Remember, throughout the course of
the season, Tuesday has been the Texan Tuesday children, and
we always hear from the iconic Willie Nelson in three

(36:41):
o'clock hour. So why not just put the two together
and have Willie Nelson doing Christmas. After all, we have
the iconic editor in chief of Dave Campbell's Texas Football
magazine with us for one final time this season, Greg Tepper,
So it only seems fitting, right Tip, I have a
little Willie doing Frosty the Snowman to lead us.

Speaker 9 (37:02):
Into the holiday listen.

Speaker 12 (37:04):
I am honored, honored to be introduced by by Willie Nelson.
Christmas that is that's the soundtrack of my childhood. That
was Willie Nelson Christmas. You know, you get that kind
of like old school country Christmas. That's that's that's what
was running through the Tupper household when I was growing up.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
It's good stuff. It's good stuff. We have plenty to discuss.

Speaker 3 (37:26):
With regard to the end of the high school football season,
and we'll get to that in a few minutes, but
first let's kind of put the bow on the college
football season and and for Texas A and m unfortunately,
the boat came a little quicker than they were they.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Were planning on.

Speaker 3 (37:40):
And I know you were working and then I was
working while that was going on, that that game on
Saturday against Miami, and and you were working the five
A Division two state championship game with South of Cliff
winning uh there with Ted Emrick, and then I was
working the six A D one with Isaiah Stanback on
the Duncanville North Shore game. And we'll get to the

(38:00):
in a moment, but I know you've had a chance
to review this thing and how it all kind of
ended up unrattling unfortunately for the Aggy.

Speaker 1 (38:08):
Yeah, I'll tell you that.

Speaker 12 (38:10):
You know, you know, I think all all of us
have aggie friends, and you'll, hell you'll hear the phrase
batter to aggie syndrome. I don't know if this year
is going to end up helping that because this end
to the.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
Season, right the final flurry here.

Speaker 12 (38:23):
Which included that really bizarre game against South Carolina where
they nearly where they dug themselves a huge hole, but
they ended up roaring back, and then the lost to
Texas and then the loss UH to UH to Miami
and the playoffs. I mean that is for a team
that had been flying high and people have been talking
about in those on the very short list of like hey,

(38:44):
you know, and talk about teams that can win the
national Championship. For it to come apart as quickly and
as suddenly as it did was really surprising to me.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
I think the biggest thing was, you know, I think.

Speaker 11 (38:54):
People are going to look at the Strain schedule and
they're gonna say.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
Okay, well who they play? You know what what ended
up happening.

Speaker 12 (38:59):
I think there's a warguments to be made that they
beat up on a lot of the smaller, smaller fish
of the SEC in route there. But I think what
is more surprising to me is that Marcel Reid, their quarterback,
who had been so good all year long, just seemingly
lost him playing and simple and looks like a shell
of himself. And I'm not really sure what happened. I

(39:20):
don't know if he's battling through injury. I don't know
if maybe just the book got out on him. I
know that obviously he was under a lot more pressure
in a lot of those games. South Carolina, Texas, and
Miami all have very very good fronts, and so maybe
it's just as simple as that, But I think that's
probably the most disappointing thing for aguthants. I will also
say this, if you guys ever have the means to

(39:41):
get updates on a Texas A and M playoff game
from the voice of the Texas Longhorns while you're calling
a high school football game, it was a truly bizarre situation,
like a bizarre feeling there. It was like, Craig Way
is giving me updates on Miami missed another field goal,
and I'm like, what if?

Speaker 1 (40:00):
What is going on?

Speaker 12 (40:01):
What is my life right now? It was a singular
strange experience for me.

Speaker 3 (40:06):
I'm just getting used to it byself. Temper so for
people that don't understand the dynamic. Uh, we were even
though we were not on the same telecast of that
specific game or the one after. We we did work
together on the two A Division two game on Thursday morning,
which we'll get to in a moment.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
But the but so so.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
Temper is working there with the outstanding Ted Emerk and
they're calling the five A Division two game. And and
for want of a better place to hang out, because
this was a Dallas Cowboys home weekend or home loss weekend.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Uh that that at at and.

Speaker 3 (40:44):
T so we at Victory Plus for the telecast, did
not have access to the network television booth, which is
I've said on many occasions is palatial.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
You could bury bodies in it.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
It has its own bathroom, it's and it's But what
Victory Plus did and before them, we've done it a
couple of times with Fox Sports Southwest, is to get
the adjacent area beside it and kind of pipe and
drape it off. And even though we're kind of outside
among the masses, were separated enough to where we still

(41:18):
have the great sight lines and all of that. Now,
the difference between that and the booth. Another difference is
because it's not as big as the booth. If you
go into that area, there's not an awful lot of
space to just go and sit down and wander around
and all that kind of stuff. Where we were, so basically,
I'm almost kind of right behind the guys, just sitting

(41:39):
back in a chair. But I had Texas A and
m and Miami on the iPad and I and so
I felt compelled when those guys took a break because
I knew a new temper was interested in it. And
I would say, Miami missed another field goal, it's still
three to nothing, then it's three three, and then yeah,
and then oh they got to touch Marshall read just

(42:00):
through another interception. There was that kind of conversation going on.
So you found that kind of bizarre huh oh.

Speaker 12 (42:06):
My gosh, a singular experience in my life that was.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
That was very odd.

Speaker 12 (42:10):
And you're you've painted the picture well that we're all
kind of all kind of not crammed to know there's
enough space, but like Craig is more or less sitting
about three feet behind.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
Me, and so then they'll go to it, they'll.

Speaker 11 (42:19):
Go to the you know, the two minute time out
or something.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
Like that, and I'll take off my headset and Craig
will lean over to me and be like, Miami's driving.

Speaker 12 (42:25):
So I'm like, I'm it was a very very odd
for me as a guy who's grown up listening to
him called Longhorn Games, and he suddenly invested in getting
updates from A and M and Miami. But hey, I'll
say this, you painted the picture well as you always do,
so I knew exactly what's going on.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
Okay, all right, so now, uh, with the Aggie's out,
uh and and and I know long worn fans were
kind of having a chuckle about this about Texas. A
and M and Oklahoma were out and Texas has one
game to go, and like, okay, it's the Citrus Bowl.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
You know, understand the situation.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
But uh, but that really and truly the one carrying
the banner for the state of Texas down the postseasons
Texas Tech is they get ready to face Oregon in
the Orange Bowl.

Speaker 12 (43:09):
Yeah, and I think a fascinating strength on strength matchup
here of that high powered Oregon offense, you know, and
what looked really really good against an overmatched but feisty,
you know, JMU team against what has been a Texas
Tech defense that has been relentless. And we also know
because somebody asked him. Somebody asked Jo mcguar, I think

(43:30):
the really good question and a fair one, which was
after it all came out and it was decided that
they were going to play the winner of j and
You at Oregon, they asked him, They're like, how much
attention are you going to pay to game planning for
Oregon versus game planning for James Madison?

Speaker 1 (43:46):
And he was honest about it.

Speaker 12 (43:47):
He goes, We're focused on Oregon. We we're focused on Oregon.
We may have a couple of grad assistants or something
like that kind of doing a little bit of background
work on JMU, but we feel pretty good. Me see
the Ducks, and sure enough he's right. So I'm absolutely
fascinated by this matchup. That good on good Can Oregon

(44:07):
run the ball is going to be the real question
for me because essentially nobody's been able to run the
ball on Texas Tech, Canda Ducks, Crack dot Code. There'll
be a lot of fun down there in Miami. I
think I think we're in for, you know, a real,
real whale of a ball game. We had two really
good ones in the first round with Alabama or Alabama
Oklahoma and in Miami a m But I think we're.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
In for a great second round here.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
Coaching change things.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Let me get your thoughts first, North Texas when Neil
Brown coming in to replace Eric Morris.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
That's happening there.

Speaker 3 (44:37):
And then I know down here it raised a few
eyebrows when Sark made the decision not to retain Pete Quick,
Kowski's defensive coordinator and Dwayne Keenan the second are bringing
Will much Champ back to Austin and Jabbar Jaloup to
be the new running backs coach, and they'll still have
another position to fill. Johnny Nance and the linebackers coach

(44:58):
will call the defensive signals in the Chris Bowl for Texas.
So about those two coaching moves that had happened in
this state, Yeah.

Speaker 12 (45:07):
You know, for Neil Brown taking over at North Texas,
I think that that's a really nice landing.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Spot for him.

Speaker 12 (45:12):
He was very strong, I think at times in his
time at West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
It just didn't work out all that well.

Speaker 12 (45:18):
What's going to be interesting is how he builds his staff,
and you're starting to see that with what he did
bring in Ray Gates, the North Prowley head coach, to
be on his staff there in a key role as
the guy who won a state championship in twenty twenty
four at the highest level, who has deep, deep, deep
ties in North Texas and across the state of Texas.

Speaker 1 (45:35):
I think that's really really remarkable.

Speaker 12 (45:37):
And then on the four y Akers, those two changes
are a little bit strange to me. They did catch
a lot of people by surprise.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
And I think that you know, if you were what.

Speaker 12 (45:49):
That signals to me, Sarksian understood that like something had
to change and there was going to have to be
some sort of sacrificial lamb for a team that's frankly
fell short of, you know, admittedly very lofty expectations. And
in the end it is I Kwotowski who is the
sacrificial lamb.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
Bringing Will muschampion.

Speaker 12 (46:10):
Is going to be really interesting because I know that
that this is a guy who you know, last time
we saw him as a head coach, it didn't go
particularly well, But as a defensive coordinator he is known
far and wide as one of the very best. And
certainly there are guys like that that you see that
are more suited being a d C than they are
a head coach. I think Wade Phillips springs to mind
wayde Philps was in the NFL, was a guy who

(46:32):
was okay, well, you know he's not a very good
head coach, but boy, how do he can he coordinate
a defense? I think that that's got to be the
hope for the Texas faithful that will Mutsham can can
continue that kind of magic.

Speaker 3 (46:43):
Is it safe to say that the Citrus Bowl has
the weirdest You've got two flagship programs of college football,
two of the top five winning his programs of all
time in college football. And this is the easily, I
think the most bizarre bowl matchup because of everything that's happened,

(47:05):
mainly up in Ann Arbor, but also down in Austin
going into this game.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Yeah, it is.

Speaker 12 (47:10):
It's it's strange because you've got obviously, you know, for Texas,
you know, maybe I changed the events coordinator or rather
surprising one I think is one thing, you know, but
but what compared to what's going on an Arbor it
is is I mean, with this po you're going to
take over and and kind of limp this team into
the Citrus Bowl. It is It is a bizarre, chaotic

(47:34):
game that I think in a vacuum you would look
at this and say, this is a really interesting matchup,
especially because I think that Michigan actually matches up pretty
well with Texas in what Texas does well, they are
pretty good at mitigating specifically, you know, they they are
able to run the ball well in Texas, you know,
pretty good that's slowed down, you know, at least recently,

(47:56):
and have been pretty.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
Good at slown down the run. Now the question is
going to be how.

Speaker 12 (48:00):
Much of all of these things off the field take
a toll on how do they shape the game? That
I think is is one of the more fascinating subplots
of this game.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
And and you know, it's.

Speaker 12 (48:09):
One of those things the balls are largely who wants
to be there? And now you kind of wonder from
Michigan after being in the crosshairs for the past two weeks, uh,
you know, considering all what's going on, Sharon Moore, you
wonder how much they just want to be there or
how much they just want to say, you know, well,
let's just let's get to the offseason.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
And reset here.

Speaker 3 (48:27):
To say nothing of the fact that Texas is down
with sixty five scholarship players because of the opt outs,
those going to the NFL Draft and those who are
entering the portal.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
That's why it's such a bizarre deal.

Speaker 12 (48:38):
Yeah, it is, and and and and for for Texas,
you know, an opportunity for heroes to be made, Like
if you're on if you're on the if you're on
the roster and you're sticking around and you want to
you want to impress h the staff, you'll have an
opportunity because they're gonna be uh, they're.

Speaker 1 (48:53):
Gonna be light on the side line a little bit.

Speaker 12 (48:55):
And and certainly that's going to be the new thing
I think across college football is that especially these high profile,
big brand name programs that have ultimately eyes of college
football playoff. For bus, you're gonna end up.

Speaker 11 (49:07):
Having these types of situations.

Speaker 12 (49:09):
But for Texas, they have taken it to a relatively
logical extreme.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
Here, Greg Temper, editor in chief, take Campbell's Texas Football
Magazine on with us for our seasonal wrap up. Okay,
let's move to high school football and we're moving to
the state championship recap. If I just said state championship recap,
first player that comes to.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
Mind it would be who.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
Oh wow.

Speaker 12 (49:38):
It's strange because I think that there are two one
of them, and I.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
Don't think they're gonna be who people expect.

Speaker 12 (49:45):
One of them is Xader Barnett, the outstanding athlete for Yoakum,
who was the SMU signan who was unconscious in their
game against against Grand Do you bring home the state
championship tying a record with five touchdowns on the ground,
untouchable in that game? He was sentational the other one.
And this is gonna be real deep cut, but you

(50:06):
will appreciate it. Let's give some love to body Ham.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
Absolutely, Jay Jabers.

Speaker 12 (50:13):
If you didn't if you didn't catch the second game
of the week at two o'clock on Wednesday and the
one InnoVision two title game, the Small Quassification right uh,
body Ham, they're running backs for Jaydon got a total
of thirteen touchdowns in this game.

Speaker 11 (50:30):
Thirteen, he ran for ten and he threw for free
in a romp over Richland Springs.

Speaker 12 (50:37):
That was one of the more fun games of the weekend.
But body Ham is every year. I think one of
the things that I've kind of gotten into is figuring
out who the full hero is of the of the
state shape just because it's always won. Last year was
Kate Bradley from Smithton Valley, their quarterback, who was just
like they put a linebacker at quarterback, and it was
just like, let's see if this works.

Speaker 11 (50:57):
And it did this this year.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
I think the folk here as body Ham. He's gonna
live forever.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
Yeah. Yeah, that was the first name that came to
mind for me.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
Okay, Carter Yates had the piece on Texas Football dot
Com for folks who want to subscribe to Dave Campbell's
Texas Football magazine and the great online content. He has
the piece on the All state championship team, and I
just love this.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
Davi.

Speaker 3 (51:19):
First, let me ask you this. Did Carter do this
by himself or did everybody pitch in on this? On
the staff?

Speaker 12 (51:24):
He had the first draft and then he kind of
ran it by the staff and we we we tweaked
it a little bit. But ultimately I'll blame Carter for this.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
All right, all right, very good quarterback. Cason CARNEI a monster.
I didn't really have an argument with that, and you
and I got to work that telecast. Was anybody else
from the quarterback perspective that you said might have put
him a head a case in on this deal.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
Now, I don't think so.

Speaker 12 (51:48):
I mean, that's what's so strange is that I think
this was the year there were there were a couple
other position groups that are way tougher here, but quarterback
I think it was. It was not the year the
quarterback at the c Championship Games. But caseon Karney. You
and I saw him on Thursday morning, simply diet, simply
spectacular in leading them against a ferocious Shiner.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
Front and leading in the back back title.

Speaker 12 (52:10):
So yeah, I think I think Cason Kearney was the
right call, considering kind of the way the rest of
the games played out.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
By the way side note, since you brought up Shiner.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
Roger Wallison I were talking about, you know, getting ready
putting our bowl prep together to this deal, and and
we said, you know, there's gonna be a lot of
guys out and and and Roger said, yeah, it'll be
pretty thin. I said, it might be like a one
and a half deep, like what we got for Shiner,
you know, for the deal something like that.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
Yeah, we did, we Yeah, you and I.

Speaker 12 (52:36):
You and I had like there was like a backup
Mike linebacker, but like not a backup wheel linebacker stuff like.

Speaker 3 (52:41):
That, and Clayton Fritz wasn't coming out of the game anyway,
so it didn't it didn't really back. Okay, running backs
kJ Edwards and Carthage uh and uh and and then uh.
You mentioned Xavier Barnett from Yoakum as the two guys there.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
How about those two man?

Speaker 12 (52:57):
You could go any any other direction. This is where
it was really stacked. I mean, you could go with
Jason Moralis, the running back for for for Yoakum, who
was also exceptional in that ball Again, you go with
Mikhail Trotter at South Oakliff, who was really really strong.
You go with Sarad Baker at DeSoto, right, I mean
there were this was in my estimation, this was the
year of the running back at the state championship games.

(53:19):
I can't necessarily fault them too much because kJ Edwards
was sensational, as was Xavier Barnett. But but that was
a that's a real that's a real tough choice there
to figure out how you're going to settle.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
Lot of times there are a lot of big time playmakers.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
Yeah, wide receivers, Booby Feastern Desota. I think that's probably
by Acclamation and Rady Slinkard of Grandview.

Speaker 12 (53:40):
Yeah, he was great and in a losing effort, three
touchdown catches for him, you know, for for for Gramma,
that was that was the other things that like when you're.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
Not throwing the ball around all the time.

Speaker 12 (53:48):
You know, Aidan Jurgen's had a really nice touchdown catch
for Stevenville.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
But that was the game that ended ten nothing right, Uh,
you know you had the Jalen Bocard.

Speaker 12 (53:56):
Who was the state champions be game MVP of six
Day Division one for north Shore that big catch, but
that was basically the only big play of the game.
So with defenses dominating and passing games really being tamped
down receivers, you know, these were the two guys who
really did stand out.

Speaker 3 (54:10):
Yeah, uh and so and folks can see the entire
team when they looked through there, and by and large,
I think he did a really really good tide. You know,
guys like rhtt Waller Shide and Saquan Nune you got
from good from Galena Park, North Shore and Munster standing
as the Canadians would say, side by each along the
defensive front. Really good and and I would I would

(54:31):
definitely put on the edge Hudson Woods a Smithson Valley
because of what he did.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
He was tremendous in him winning that because to.

Speaker 12 (54:41):
Me, the story, the big storyline of the state championship
games this year with defense. I only think about how
many sensational defensive performances we saw. Okay, so with Gordon,
Gordon's defense against Ranket was fantastic. You know, I thought
that Hamilton's defense against Jauquin was excellent. Monster shutout Shiner. Right,
we had a game, you know, I thought both Wall and.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Newton's defense has played really well.

Speaker 12 (55:03):
Till Gorse Stephenville was scoreless and a half time.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
So with North Shorge Duncanville, you.

Speaker 12 (55:09):
Know, you had really really and then obviously with smith
and Valley was able to do and then South Oakliffe
that depth ro defense against the number one scoring offense
in five day Division two.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
This was the year of defense for me at the
state championships.

Speaker 3 (55:21):
The final thought here of the coaches, you know, Scott Seratus,
Scott Serata, it's eleven rings, it's eleven state championships. That's
more than anybody has ever done. He doesn't have the
total number of wins yet up there with the Randy
Allens and obviously you know Phil Danaher and Gordon Wood
and all all that kind of stuff. Is he in

(55:43):
the conversation for the greatest of all time.

Speaker 2 (55:48):
Or certainly in the top three or four or something.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
He has to be.

Speaker 12 (55:53):
I mean, I think what he's done is simply the
machine is so amazing. They are in the last decade,
eight decade, they are one hundred and forty four and
six and they have beaten their opponents by an average
of twenty nine points a game.

Speaker 1 (56:08):
Okay, this is the most dominant run.

Speaker 12 (56:10):
We have seen over a decade in Texas high school
football history. And he's at the controls that seventh state
championships in those ten years.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
And the other thing is that.

Speaker 12 (56:21):
They are so ruthlessly effective. It doesn't matter who what
playmakers they've got. The the scheme is so good, they're
so sound defensively, they block really well, they and then
they just steam you up that I think he's got
to be on that short list of the greatest coaches
of all time. I mean, consider this, Craig. He is
eleven and erion state championship games. No other UIL eleven

(56:44):
n coach has even been to eleven title games.

Speaker 1 (56:46):
And he's eleven enough.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
Yeah, and say worthy of mentioned.

Speaker 3 (56:51):
Certainly in the top ten, if not top five, would
be Claude Mathis at the Soota, Jason Todd at South Oakcliff.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (56:57):
Those two guys, they've become the one in number two
first and second Black coaches. And to win three three titles,
you know, Claude Mathis DeSoto, it's weird to think about it.
They've won three titles in four years. That's the dynasty,
like playing and simple of what he's built there and
and so him and then Jason Todd. Obviously the story
has been told over and over. Five consecutive state championship

(57:19):
games and three titles in that spam is absolutely remarkable.

Speaker 1 (57:23):
All pot one more out there that I think is
flying under the radar.

Speaker 12 (57:25):
But Larry Hill, Ye now in the three hundred win
club and he's got now two back to back state
championships with very different ball clubs too, Like there was
some significant turnover for Smithson Valley to go back to back.
I mean, Larry Hill is in that on that short
list as well as far as the most the best
coaches we've seen in quite some time.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
And by the way, Granger Hunter says, we got to
start talking about Mike Reid in that category at Gordon.

Speaker 12 (57:51):
Yeah, Mike Reid, who has been spectacular and one of
the the you know, obviously back to back to back.
That's I think that is the best six man football
team of all time.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
That's my opinion.

Speaker 12 (57:59):
Twenty twenty five Gordon is going to go down as
the greatest six man football.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
Team of all time. The playmakers they've got.

Speaker 12 (58:05):
And let's also not forget, in a very strange bit
of kinsman, that Mike Reid did coach in the eleven
nan ranks at one point when he coached at Hamilton, who.

Speaker 11 (58:14):
Brought home their first ever state.

Speaker 12 (58:16):
Championship this year like a couple of hours after he
coached Gordon to another one.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
Yeah, it's all poetry.

Speaker 3 (58:23):
I love the comment from Claude Mathis, who can get
as animated, amped up, fired up as you may. And
CT Steckel says, coach, he won three state titles in
four years?

Speaker 2 (58:36):
Is this a dynasty?

Speaker 3 (58:37):
And he paused and he just calmly said, Yep, it's
a dynasty.

Speaker 12 (58:42):
I don't think there's I think look if the Golden
State Warriors win three titles in four years, There's no
question there a dynasty. So why can't we say the
same thing about the Sota. What Claude mathis is built
there off of I twenty is certainly on that shortlist
of Texas high school football dynasty.

Speaker 3 (58:57):
Absolutely, Hey, have a great Christmas. And how much time
do you get away before you have to start pouring
into thinking about the magazine for twenty twenty six.

Speaker 12 (59:06):
I give myself a two week reprieve. I'm not thinking
about this is the last I'm thinking about.

Speaker 1 (59:11):
Football for two weeks.

Speaker 12 (59:12):
January fifth, I'll be back in the office and I
will I will get back to the grind.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
But for now, I'm gonna.

Speaker 12 (59:18):
I'm gonna disconnect and I'm gonna I'm gonna watch a
Monday Christmas Carol.

Speaker 3 (59:21):
There you go, There you go, popular in your own house. Hey,
I appreciate the time. It was fun all season long,
and I can't wait till we run it back next year.

Speaker 12 (59:31):
I'm looking forward to my friend Mary Christmas.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
You guys, and to you all right.

Speaker 3 (59:34):
That's Greg Tapper, editor in chief Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine.
We have more coming up when we can continue here
on this Tuesday afternoon on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred,
the Zone and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (59:45):
Woodside Come Joint Boatside Come.

Speaker 3 (59:54):
So if you're listening to you said, oh, the voice
sounds familiar. It's Bear Naked Ladies. It was a big
fan of in the early twenty first century, saw him
three or four times.

Speaker 5 (01:00:06):
Yeah, it was on my childhood a lot Gordon the album.

Speaker 3 (01:00:09):
Yeah absolutely. Now, so you're hearing bar Naked Ladies do this.
But then right in the middle of this tune, God
rest you merry gentlemen, you hear the outstanding tone. So
the great Sarah maclachlin.

Speaker 13 (01:00:25):
On the Home Speak go bring to crown him again king.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
See you know those Canadians they hang out together, right,
you know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
So it's great, great harmonies here too, between Ed Robertson
of Barenaked Ladies and Sarah MacLachlan.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
And so anyway, all right, we continue.

Speaker 3 (01:00:58):
Here on our final program before we get ready for
the Christmas break here.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
I couldn't let this go though. I had to get this.

Speaker 3 (01:01:08):
You know, the NBA is really big on the Christmas
Day lineup. It used to be like one game, you know,
you'd always look forward to seeing the Knicks play on
Christmas Day, and then and then others got involved, and
I think the Bulls. And then now it's like it's
some like what seven games or something. It's it's it's

(01:01:29):
more than just two. It's some like it's at least five,
and then maybe like six or seven games on Christmas Day?

Speaker 4 (01:01:37):
What do I feel like? The Warriors played on Christmas
a lot in my childhood?

Speaker 2 (01:01:40):
Yeah, you're right, you're right. They have.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
They begun to play on Christmas every year. And then
and then once Luca's with the Mavericks, then the Mavericks
started appearing. Of course, now he's with the Lakers. Lakers
appear on Christmas a lot. So how many games is
on that national TV slate for the yes in Family Networks?

Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
Is it five?

Speaker 4 (01:02:01):
It looks like five games? Okay, I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
That's really about all you can fit in a twelve
hour time frame. I guess Calves, Nicks, yeah, Spurs, Thunder okay, MAVs, Warriors, yeah, Rockets, Lakers, yeah, Timberwolves,
Nuggets yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:02:16):
Okay, starting at eleven am, going last one's hips at
nine thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:02:20):
Oh so there you go. All right, So we're full
on obviously into the NBA season that's going on and
they had the Emirates Cup and all that other stuff.
But I loved this story I saw this morning. It
was a story written by Sham Charnery of ESPN. The

(01:02:43):
NBA has begun to gather input from its owners and
general managers on new ways to combat tanking in the
aftermath of the gambling scandal, of course, that rocked the
league at the start of the season. At a Board
of Governors meeting last Friday, the league presented several ideas
around potential modifications to rules regarding draft pick project protections,

(01:03:06):
the draft lottery, and other possible approaches. According to multiple sources,
the league, of course rolled out new policies Friday to
combat insider information and performance manipulation. That's really good, obviously
in the way of the federal indictments of Terry Rozier,
the Heat and Chauncey Billups, the coach of the Trailblazers,
and former player Daman Jones. But the league is also
increasing its focus on tanking due to its tie to

(01:03:30):
the injury reporting rules and how those were exploited by
gambler sinking inside information. So among the things they're talking
about how to combat limit pick protections to either the
top four or fourteen in higher, which would eliminate the
problematic mid lottery protections no longer allowing a team to
draft in the top four two years in a row.

Speaker 5 (01:03:52):
MLB does that, I don't. They do it based on
market side, that's not based on performance.

Speaker 3 (01:03:56):
Yeah, and lottery locking positions after March first, anyway, that
was something that popped into my mind.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
What to keep an eye on that.

Speaker 5 (01:04:05):
A lot of locking positions after March first is a disaster.
That doesn't solve the problem at all.

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
Yeah, I think they're going to roll out a lot
of different things, probably throw a lot of things up
against the wall and see what sticks. All right, we'll
be back to wrap up our number two. I'm thirteen
under the zone.

Speaker 10 (01:04:19):
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell round there, jingle bells
time and jingle bell time. Dancer and prancer and jingle
bells were in the frosty.

Speaker 4 (01:04:34):
What a broad time.

Speaker 7 (01:04:36):
It's the ride.

Speaker 11 (01:04:38):
Time to rock and not wait.

Speaker 10 (01:04:42):
Jingle bell time is a swell time to go glidden
in the one horse.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
When's the last time any of us has been a sleigh?

Speaker 5 (01:04:52):
Right? It's been a few, Well, not the traditional sleigh
with the two track on it like a Bob's lead.

Speaker 4 (01:05:01):
But you know, growing up in.

Speaker 5 (01:05:02):
DC, we got some big blizzards. Yeah, you know twice
at elementary school. Yeah, we had two three feet of
snow school out for a week.

Speaker 4 (01:05:11):
One was amazing because the power stayed on.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
Oh that's good.

Speaker 4 (01:05:13):
The other was not fun.

Speaker 5 (01:05:14):
We stayed with the neighbors, right, yeah, okay, we we
went sledding.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:05:18):
I did some sledding growing up North Carolina too. We
did some of that as well. Final hour of the
program here on thirteen under the Zone before we break
for Christmas, and then after that Jake will be here
next Monday and Tuesday with the program. I will check
in from Orlando, Florida, going down there obviously for the

(01:05:39):
cheese at Citrus Bowl, Texas Longhorns against the Michigan Wolverine.

Speaker 2 (01:05:43):
So we'll have that and you'll be here that game.

Speaker 3 (01:05:47):
Our coverage will begin at ten o'clock in the morning
with the third of Long Worn Podcast Guys. Their pregame
look at Things at ten am. At eleven o'clock is
log Worns Game Day, Cameron Parker, Mike Hardball, Harg and
Mark Henry live from Twin Peaks in Round Rock and

(01:06:07):
that'll go until one o'clock, and then our network pregame
will start at one in the kickoff, happily, I was
told will be two six pm. So in other words,
not an extra fifteen to twenty minutes, so that works
out well. Coming up in a few minutes, we'll hear

(01:06:28):
from Jerry Jones, the Cowboys owner, but of course his
team is not in the playoff picture, but there are
others who are. In fact, I'll even start in the
NFC with the playoff clinching scenarios, in case you didn't
know it. In the NFC South, the Carolina Panthers are
eight and seven if the Panthers win their last two games,

(01:06:54):
or if they win at Seattle on Sunday, And this
says the game at Seattle, it says Sunday one. That's
got to know. It says one pm Eastern time. That
can't be right, can't it. That would be ten o'clock
in the morning, West Coast town. That can't be right.
That's got to be three o'clock. It's gonna be one
o'clock Pacific time. I would say that that's gonna be a.

Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
Typo.

Speaker 5 (01:07:18):
That's yeah, that's a that's a noon start for us
here in Austin, Seattle in Carolina.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
But it says it's at Seattle.

Speaker 4 (01:07:27):
It's in Carolina.

Speaker 2 (01:07:28):
Oh okay, it says at Seattle.

Speaker 4 (01:07:30):
Yeah, there's the type.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
Okay, all right, all right, So Carolina is hosting Seattle.
If they win and then Tampa Bay loses at Miami,
which I don't know that that'll happen, but if it happens,
they would clinch. Or if they just went out their
last two games, they're going to do it. In the
NFC South, Tampa Bay of course has to win out
and look for some help now. Other playoff clinching scenarios

(01:07:55):
in the NFC, the Bears can win the NFC Nor
by beating the forty nine ers Sunday night game in
Santa Clara, or if the Packers should lose to the
Ravens Saturday night game, it could happen that way. The
Packers can clinch a playoff birth with a win or
a Detroit loss at Minnesota. Seattle can clinch the NFC

(01:08:20):
West with a Rams loss at Atlanta, San Francisco loss
against the Chicago and then the Seahawks win as well.
So things are not quite settled there in the AFC.
Some of the scenarios. Denver up one game on the
Chargers in the West. A Broncos win and a Chargers
loss to the Texans would give Denver the AFC West.

(01:08:41):
The Texans, by the way, can clinch a playoff spot
with a win or a Colts loss against Jacksonville, which
is probably gonna happen there, or a Kansas City win
against Denver, a Baltimore win at Green Bay, a Tampa
Bay win at Miami, a Buffalo win against Philadelphia, a
Ram win and Atlanta this is all for real, a

(01:09:02):
Rams winning Atlanta and the San Francisco win against Chicago.

Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
All of that, if all that happened, they would get in.

Speaker 3 (01:09:09):
Jags can clinch the AFC South with a win and
a Texans loss at the Chargers. Patriots can clinch the
AFC East with a Buffalo loss against Philadelphia and a
New England win against the Jets, and the Steelers, who
are up now, can simply win or have Baltimore lose,

(01:09:30):
and Pittsburgh would wind up winning the AFC North.

Speaker 5 (01:09:34):
You know, for all the parody we've had at the
top of the NFL this year, Craig and the way
the playoff picture has felt like a game of musical
chairs at times, and the number one spot has been
like a little bit like a disease. You haven't really
wanted to be the number one Power rank team for
fear of stumbling. The bottom of the NFL is really
bad right now. Yeah, it feel like the bottom is

(01:09:56):
worse than usual. It's a third world country. I mean,
if you are the Saints or the Giants, you know,
or you know, the Raiders, you know, one of those teams,
you're not just download you're bad. Yeah, hey, get the
Saints some credit. I think Tyler Shuck has played pretty well.

Speaker 3 (01:10:14):
It's true he has. He has played, he has played well,
and they've had some winnable games off of that.

Speaker 5 (01:10:20):
Yeah, but Atlanta's pretty rough. The Titans are terrible, and
the Browns are bad.

Speaker 3 (01:10:25):
Yeah, exactly. To college football. Some notes. I don't know
if anybody saw it. Notre Dame in BYU are going
to start a football series next year, twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (01:10:37):
He's okay, Well, that's nice. They're gonna put a pause.

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
Notre Dame is on their annual series with USC for
the foreseeable future.

Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
Now, ogs, you know, like myself and especially.

Speaker 3 (01:10:49):
Others would go what Notre Dame, No Notre Dame Southern
Cow was every year. I mean it goes back to
like the thirties, you know, or that they used to
do that. It began in nineteen twenty six. USC had
express concerns about the timing of the game. They wanted
to be early in the season when most of the
power forward teams play Marquee non conference game.

Speaker 2 (01:11:11):
Scene. That's a big that's a big ten school talking there.
That's how that's coming.

Speaker 3 (01:11:17):
And the USC Notreame Notre Dame game in South Bend
typically takes place in October. The matchup in La ends
the regular season, but they're not really that fired up
about the battle for the Jewel Chilely.

Speaker 5 (01:11:30):
So, if you're USC right, is this a part of
positioning yourself, like Sark mentioned, to finish with a better
record rather than a harder schedule, or is it part
of what we mentioned on the show. I think you
were actually out during this episode but mentioned the freeze

(01:11:50):
out right, that the threats of a the threats being
made by major conference commissioners that hey, careful, Notre Dame.
We don't like the preferential treatment you're getting from the committee.
We're going to freeze you out of our schedules until
you join a conference.

Speaker 3 (01:12:06):
Okay, so what does that mean they just go and
pick up a big twelve team instead they're playing BYU, right,
And I don't know that it well.

Speaker 4 (01:12:12):
A freeze out.

Speaker 3 (01:12:13):
It's only as good as you know, how right, how
good the opponent is rows and you really are right
and BYU, let's be honest, they're better than USC this year.
I've just been better. So I don't know that that
really addresses that that much.

Speaker 4 (01:12:26):
Well, it could fall in the empty threat category, right.

Speaker 5 (01:12:29):
It's mostly coming from I think SEC and ACC athletic
directors that that have talked about, hey, we we should
we shouldn't schedule Notre Dame if they're going to get
this kind of preferential treatment, this is the only way
to get them into a conference.

Speaker 2 (01:12:44):
Well, it's it's the ACC schools.

Speaker 3 (01:12:47):
Are feeling a little bit butt hurt right now about
you know, with regard to Notre Dame, and especially since
Notre Dame was feeling a little bit but hurt about
the a SEC not having their back and trying to
get them into the playoff and instead pushing for Miami,
which by the way that push is aging pretty well
now that the Hurricanes went into College Station and beat

(01:13:07):
Texas a and we'll see how they do against Ohio
State in Arlington. But Notre Dame in usc say they
want to continue this rivalry.

Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
They just don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:13:18):
When they had a joint statement, which is kind of
weird to see that, but they said the rivalry between
our two schools is one of the best in all
of sport, and we look forward to meeting again in
the future.

Speaker 2 (01:13:29):
They just don't know when it'll be.

Speaker 5 (01:13:30):
For what it's worth, While Notre Dame's schedule next year
looks pretty abysmal, they have some big names on their
schedules ahead, the likes of Alabama, Indiana, a home and
home with Auburn, Clemson, and obviously Texas if that ends
up happening, right right, If.

Speaker 3 (01:13:46):
It ends up happening, we'll see how it is going forward.
Before we get to the break. Like I said, this
is the holiday time of year, and so going into
the holiday know a lot of times, you know, I
like reading about and listening to a lot of the

(01:14:06):
historical perspectives of the folks who know me also and
have listened to this program know that I'm an old
soul when it comes to music. I mentioned herb Alpert
and married to Lottie Hall, who was in Brazil sixty
six and it was really at the outset of the
BOSTONOVA movement in the sixties. And I love good jazz,
but I love classic rock obviously. I love yacht rock

(01:14:28):
as well, and I also love elocutionary performances. If you've
heard me on this program for any length of time,
you've heard me say that A couple of things I
have skills that I still in my life would like
to master is to be able to call an auction.

Speaker 2 (01:14:50):
And call a square dance.

Speaker 3 (01:14:52):
Now I've had some people offered to teach me how
to do that, and I don't think that would be
Calling an auction might be require quite a bit more,
but people say I talk fast enough, so it would
probably work out anyway. So I do admire elocutionary skill
as it relates to recitation or in singing. So what
we have for you here is some elocutionary skill recitation.

(01:15:17):
This happened in the sixties and this was off of
an album about grooving to Christmas, and it's from none
other than the late actor the great actor Art Carney,
remember him from the Honeymooners and so many other things
he did, Art Carney reciting twas the Night before Christmas.

(01:15:38):
But it's not in the manner that you normally think of.
Were the guys sitting there in the armchair with his pipe,
and he's got the big book open, and the kids
gathered at his feet, and he says twas the night
before Christmas, And all through the house not a creature
was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung
by the chimney with care and the hopes that Saint
Nicholas soon would be there. It's not like, no, no,

(01:16:01):
give this a listen. This is our Carnee with his
unique rendition of twice the night before Christmas.

Speaker 14 (01:16:12):
Pause the night before Christmas went all through the house,
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The
stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes
that's Saint Nicholas, sooner be there. The children were nestled,
all snuggled in beds, while visions of sugar plums danced,
and the head then Mama and the kerchief, and I
in my cap had just settled down for a long
winter's nap went out on the lawn.

Speaker 2 (01:16:33):
There arose such a clatter. I sprang from my bed
to see what was the matter, or wait to the window.

Speaker 14 (01:16:38):
I flew like a flash tar opened the shutters and
threw up the sand.

Speaker 4 (01:16:41):
But what do my wondering eye shouldn't appear for.

Speaker 10 (01:16:44):
The miniature slaying eight tiny reindeer with the little old
driver so lively and quick, honey in a moment, it
must be the Saint Nick, more rapper than eagles his horses.

Speaker 2 (01:16:52):
They came ten.

Speaker 1 (01:16:53):
He whistle landish out it, and he called him by name.

Speaker 4 (01:16:55):
Now dash and now dancing, Now frants, right, big.

Speaker 10 (01:16:58):
Darby, listen the top of the foe, to the top
of the wall. Now dash way, dash way, dashed way
off So up to the hot top the courses he
flew with the sleeve full of doys, and Saint Nicholas too.
And then on a twink clink I heard on the
roof up the plants again, falling off each.

Speaker 11 (01:17:13):
The little hook at the new ends.

Speaker 10 (01:17:15):
My head was turning another around. Down the chimney, Saint
Dicky came with a bound. He dressed all the fur
from his head to his foot. Clothes were all covered
with ashes and sout a butt a lot of doisy
it flung on the back end he little pedal, just
opening his pack. His eyes saw the twinkle and this
town marry because she fella roses his nose like a
cherry is rolling on knot, the draw up like a boat,

(01:17:35):
and the beard on his chin was as white as
the snow, stumped up the pipe, yellow tight in his
teeth and smoke in his circle his head like great.
He had a broad teeth and a letter round belly.
The chuck fun and laughed like the mold full of jelly.
He's jumping and plumped right jolly old up, And I
laughed on us him in spite of myself. He spoke
not a word that went straight to his work, and
filled all the stockings, and turned for the jerksy and

(01:17:59):
laying his finger a sign off of those and giving
on out up the chimney.

Speaker 2 (01:18:03):
He rolls and sprang to.

Speaker 10 (01:18:04):
A slade to a team, gave a whistle away. They
all flew like the down im up this song. But
I heard him exclaim, arey go out of sight, that'd
be Christmas to all.

Speaker 1 (01:18:14):
And to all a good night. So here it is.

Speaker 4 (01:18:23):
You hear a little fresh prints in there.

Speaker 2 (01:18:25):
It kind of sounded like that.

Speaker 3 (01:18:26):
You know, this is from an album I believe in
nineteen sixty eight called Jingle Bell Swing. Tony Bennett's on it,
Miles Davis is on it, Duke Ellington is on it.

Speaker 2 (01:18:35):
Many Goodman.

Speaker 3 (01:18:36):
You know, it's a lot of the classic jazz artists
as well. Herbie Hancock's on it, Chick Corea's on it.
So there's Louis Prima, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, all this
sort of stuff. But anyway, that's that. That was the
art CARDI with the most unusual rendition. Maybe I'll just
play that instead of signing it to my grandkids when
I get up there tomorrow night up in the Metroplex.

Speaker 4 (01:19:00):
No, they want you to, They want you to read it.
But maybe when he gets funny they would like that.
Maybe they would enjoy you trying to recreate that.

Speaker 3 (01:19:07):
Yeah, I don't think I could do that. That's some
elocutionary skill I do not possess. All right, Coming up,
speaking of elocutionaries, we're gonna hear from Jerry Jerry Jones
up next when we continue your on Sports Radio AM
thirteen under the Zone in the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 9 (01:19:27):
Shuns over it.

Speaker 7 (01:19:33):
Christmaster, whoa would be?

Speaker 3 (01:19:46):
Well, it wouldn't be a show with Christmas music if
you didn't have the King involved. And I don't mean
Jordan straight. I'm talking about the King of rock and roll,
Elvis and Blue Christmas. I think this is the best.
You know, there's lots of Christmas songs say Hey, I
like this guy's version or this lady's version better than
this person's version, and so on and so forth. In

(01:20:08):
my mind, there's really only two songs that only one
person's version will do. This is one of them. The
other you'll hear later. But that's yeah, Elvis there with
Blue Christmas. Well, to be a blue Christmas for the
Cowboy's gonna be blue regardless. That's their color scheme, right.

(01:20:31):
How about them wearing the dark blues at home the
other day? You know, that's another thing that a lot
of Cowboy fans have really got mad at Jerry Jones about.
He said he's even screwed up the throwbacks. That's all
in an effort to sell more product, make money. But
they say, if you're gonna, if you're gonna do the
white helmet like they do, don't put it navy blue

(01:20:52):
stars on the side, do the royal blue stars.

Speaker 2 (01:20:54):
That's what it was like in the early sixties. And
when they wore the blue jerseys, it was.

Speaker 3 (01:21:01):
Kind of a royal blue, but it was almost kind
of a metallic look and it wasn't the dark dark blue.
Go back and look at the NFL film's treatment of
Super Bowl five, you know see what I'm talking about.
The Cowboys had to wear those those blue jerseys, but
supposedly there was a blue jersey jinx with that starting
when they played the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game
the nineteen eighty season and they had to do that,

(01:21:22):
and then they switched the color off of that to
when they went to d C and played Washington two
years later and had to and more the dark blue
that they have now. So you know, you'd like to
see it. If you're going to go true throwback, you
should go through it.

Speaker 2 (01:21:41):
Listen. I feel the same way about my team.

Speaker 3 (01:21:45):
I'd like to see the Rams go true throwback and
we're blue and white and not just the Eric Dickerson
yellow and blue, although that's nice, you know, And of
course what they have now kind of resembles it. It's
more of an electric blue, however, queued up with the
kind of an optic yellow when they do that. There
you see the Cowboy jersey I'm talking about there from
Super Bowl five.

Speaker 5 (01:22:06):
Yeah, that's a that's a very different blue it is.
That's what used to be their road jersey.

Speaker 2 (01:22:11):
It's blue. They don't they don't never even trot that
out ever ever.

Speaker 3 (01:22:15):
So anyway, speaking of levels of disappointment, Jerry was asked
after the game, when the media scrum got hold of him,
what was his level of disappointment to end the home
schedule the way in which it ended.

Speaker 6 (01:22:30):
Well, I'm disappointed for the obvious. I'm disappointed for all
these things to count on us to have a better
ending at the not only for the home season, for
the season. So that's just a reminder of the candidly

(01:22:51):
how it feels when you don't get it done. I
thought we had a tale of two halves. Our offense
worked out standing today in the first half. Defense played
well in the second half. We just couldn't get them
together out there.

Speaker 3 (01:23:04):
The other thing is, speaking of the defense, Matt Eberflus
of course went up to the box to coach, and
Jerry was asked, did that make any kind of difference?

Speaker 7 (01:23:11):
Thought?

Speaker 6 (01:23:12):
Again, I thought in first half we could have played
much better defense, not to be trying. In the second half,
I thought we played pretty good defense and we just
completely not got away. But we just weren't able to
continue what we were doing on offense first half. But

(01:23:33):
I thought it was good in the second half.

Speaker 7 (01:23:35):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:23:35):
So the e or question coming, did he take anything
positive out of this season?

Speaker 7 (01:23:40):
You have to dissect it and.

Speaker 6 (01:23:42):
You have to go hunting for the good things, and
it should really when you have great years, you should hunt.

Speaker 7 (01:23:49):
Up the bad things.

Speaker 6 (01:23:51):
The thing about the game, about most of what we
all do is that they're good things and they're negative things.
On times like this, you have to dwell on the
good things, and you can look for them. They're out there,
but you can't dwell on them because obviously we didn't
get him done to not be sitting here getting in

(01:24:13):
the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:24:14):
All right? So does he think the team then underachieve
this season?

Speaker 6 (01:24:19):
Yes, from what we expected what we thought absolutely we did.
We all underachieved, really, and the fact we're not in
the playoffs this says that for you. But I thought
we've done some things out there that frankly we can
carry forward.

Speaker 7 (01:24:38):
To us with us now.

Speaker 6 (01:24:41):
It's always the case that there are some positive things.
The question is can we make some changes where we
need to. That's pretty be pretty thorough and multiple. A
lot of multiplication there with the way we played this year.
But still U they're positive things, always are, and that's

(01:25:03):
one of the things about going in on coaches meeting
and looking at film. If you don't look out, you'll
see positive things when you really should be more.

Speaker 7 (01:25:13):
Critical to the negative. And I think you have to
do that play the game being bothered again.

Speaker 3 (01:25:20):
Next, Jerry was asked if it's true that if you
look for some of the things you can find that
you like.

Speaker 2 (01:25:26):
What areas did he like out of the game?

Speaker 7 (01:25:29):
I like certainly, I like the way Dak played today.

Speaker 6 (01:25:35):
I'm disappointed that we made some of the mistakes in
the second half, but I particularly was pleased with what
we have in that I'm pleased going forward we.

Speaker 7 (01:25:48):
Nothing A part of what we've done.

Speaker 6 (01:25:50):
So far this season gives me anything but optimism about
going forward at one of the key if not the
key position, quarterback.

Speaker 3 (01:25:58):
All right, So then the other way of looking at
it is I think it's only three times in his
ten years of his career when he's been healthy that
the Cowboys will not have made the playoffs. So he
was asked, how disappointing is it that you've had a
healthy Dak Prescott the entire year and you're not going
to be in the playoffs.

Speaker 9 (01:26:15):
Well, that's a good.

Speaker 6 (01:26:16):
Good way to look at things, is when you've got
good play and we had some for us, I'll bet
it when we graded, I'll bet Tyler Smith really played
well at left tackle out there, which is pretty impressive
when we have your.

Speaker 7 (01:26:30):
First game out there.

Speaker 6 (01:26:31):
So again, you can always find things that you're proud of.
I know that for our fans and for all of us,
we need more success and winning these ball game.

Speaker 2 (01:26:42):
All right.

Speaker 3 (01:26:43):
So then it gets to more of the disappointing and
the disheartening things, like, you know, what is the benefit?
Is there a benefit to playing your starters while being
eliminated from the playoffs.

Speaker 6 (01:26:58):
I think that we've got to remember that we've got
a lot of people that want to watch us play
good football and a lot of fans, and consequently, I
feel strongly about I feel strongly about tonight playing all
of our key players and feel strongly about it as
we go forward. The only time I've ever questioned I

(01:27:20):
playing a good player was the immediacy of if you've
got you're in the playoffs automatically, and you don't want
to have a player nicked up as you get the
playoffs and in a two or three week period of time.
I'm not I don't would hope to be aware enough

(01:27:41):
to know if you're playing somebody this year, you won't
have him for next year. That's pretty far.

Speaker 3 (01:27:47):
Outm next he was asked about, and he's been asked
often about this, the decision to bring back Matt Eberflus
next year. How difficult is this decision going to be?

Speaker 7 (01:28:01):
Well, I don't.

Speaker 6 (01:28:04):
Know that. Relatively speaking, I might not catch it as difficult.
It's certainly something that we have to do, and that
is look at the entire year and look at what
our options are and how to correct not being here
the same time next year. So now that's not uncommon

(01:28:25):
to evaluate at this time of the year, your entire
coaching staff, and obviously the targets on him because of
our statistical as well as actual play on the defensive
side of the ball.

Speaker 9 (01:28:40):
But that goes with it.

Speaker 6 (01:28:45):
That's the lap that you guys have chosen, and they
know that you're under the gun almost every game, much less.

Speaker 7 (01:28:53):
For a full season as a coach. That goes with
the profession.

Speaker 3 (01:29:00):
So when doing all of this evaluation, where in the
evaluation is the job that he and the front office
did on giving Eberflus the right personnel needed.

Speaker 7 (01:29:12):
Well, I think that's that's to be good.

Speaker 6 (01:29:14):
And the very fact that you know, ultimately you point
your finger right back at you and who hired Matt
abraflow so ef. So my point is the whole thing
is real easy to sit here and say that you
could have done things differently, but that goes with the territory.

Speaker 7 (01:29:35):
And anytime you.

Speaker 6 (01:29:39):
Ultimately make the ultimate decision, then you got to look
at that and weigh it.

Speaker 3 (01:29:46):
And when it comes back full circle, when it rolls
back around on the defense, all roads lead back to
the Michael Parsons trade And did the Parsons trade have
a more negative impact on the defense than he thought
he would?

Speaker 6 (01:30:01):
I'd like to think that, uh uh, with where we are,
I'd I'm not so sure that one one position of
one player would have had us in necessarily a different

(01:30:25):
situation and.

Speaker 7 (01:30:26):
So, uh, but that's a fair that's a fair.

Speaker 6 (01:30:29):
Look as to uh, would we have been uh maybe
at a higher level what we finished the year before
with Parsons. Seventy things I know I'm talking about. I've
forgotten what we were ranked on defense the year before
with Parson with Parsons, and we had a lot of
games we didn't have Parsons, So he shouldn't be held

(01:30:51):
responsible for those games that he didn't play in my view.

Speaker 7 (01:30:55):
But we'll take all that in consideration.

Speaker 3 (01:30:58):
So the follow up was, how about comparing this defense
to previous seasons with a healthy Michael Parsons.

Speaker 9 (01:31:07):
Well, yes, the year Yes.

Speaker 7 (01:31:11):
Well, let me be real clear. We'll go through all years.
I go through all years.

Speaker 6 (01:31:15):
Any player, we'll go through his entire production, his entire career,
and so we can go through all years and we'll
make comparison. We get to make comparison with the coordinators
during those last years and how we played.

Speaker 7 (01:31:29):
That's what you should be doing.

Speaker 3 (01:31:31):
Yeah, okay, And finally, is it concerning that his defense
has been uncompetitive in three of the last six years?

Speaker 2 (01:31:39):
Yes?

Speaker 7 (01:31:39):
Absolutely, I think it is a very talent.

Speaker 6 (01:31:43):
I would say right here on my feet as quick
after a game that you should first look at the
continuity you haven't had over the last several years on
your defensive side of ault. You've been moving it around
pretty good now that I haven't been the same players
out there over the last four years and all, but

(01:32:03):
I'm a big believer that continuity gives you an edge. Now,
the continuity has got to be with people, players, coaches
of management that you can do some good.

Speaker 2 (01:32:16):
Things there we do, all right?

Speaker 3 (01:32:17):
There it is from Jerry Cowboys play Christmas Day against
the Commanders?

Speaker 2 (01:32:22):
Is that a noon kick? Is that an early one?
I was thinking that's an early kick?

Speaker 3 (01:32:26):
I think so there, And like you said, it's part
of that Christmas Day offering that the NFL wishes it
could flex out.

Speaker 2 (01:32:35):
Because these are games.

Speaker 3 (01:32:36):
So you're just going to have on in the background
while you're you know, having some more you know whatever
Christmas turkey or prime River or whatever it is you're
eating or something like that, dinner with the family.

Speaker 4 (01:32:45):
It's a neon.

Speaker 3 (01:32:46):
It's in Nune. Okay, all right, all right, we've got
more coming. We're gonna hear more from Sean Miller, the
Texas basketball coach, when we continue on thirteen.

Speaker 2 (01:32:55):
Under the zone.

Speaker 10 (01:33:00):
Succeed.

Speaker 2 (01:33:06):
Okay, there's another one from my college years.

Speaker 3 (01:33:09):
It was big Christmas wrapping by the waitresses. And I
love the period references. Like she said, most of eighty
one passed along those lines. This came out Christmas in
eighty two. And you might know this having grown up
on the East Coast when you were when you were

(01:33:30):
a kid growing up, there was the supermarket chain a
MP still around.

Speaker 2 (01:33:36):
No, had you already gone by then?

Speaker 6 (01:33:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:33:39):
Let me see if I said the logo looked familiar.

Speaker 3 (01:33:41):
It was a great Atlantic and Pacific tea company was
what it came from. But it was a grocery, a
supermarket chain up and down the Eastern seaboard.

Speaker 2 (01:33:50):
And we used to go to the a MP mirror
of the house, and.

Speaker 3 (01:33:57):
She makes reference to down to the a AMP has
provided me with the world's smallest turkey, she says when
she's the whole point of the song is she's wanting
to spend the holiday by herself because she kept missing
out on opportunities to hook up with some dude that
she met at different than a ski shop and other places,

(01:34:19):
and it never worked out for whatever reason, either she
had sunburn or his car wouldn't go at Halloween, and
he go all the way through the end of the
calendar year, and then she winds up and just say,
you know what, I'm just you know, I'm dashing through
the snow. She's just gonna go and get herself a turkey,
and she forgets cranberry sauce. So she goes back, runs

(01:34:41):
into the dude in the supermarket. He had forgotten Cranberry's too,
and then they hook up. Ah, so there was right
out of a movie.

Speaker 5 (01:34:48):
By the way, AMP closed its Maryland stores in the eighties, Okay,
but it was opened in other places till the mid
twenty tenth Yeah, under different names.

Speaker 2 (01:34:57):
Yeah. Yeah, so AMP was a big supermarket.

Speaker 3 (01:35:00):
Say that's why she says in the next verse, A
and p has provided me with the world's smallest turkey
when she talks about that or sings about it there,
so it's Christmas wrapping by the waitresses. Let's hear from
Long Warren's head coach Sean Miller we heard from in
two o'clock hour and the displeasure at some of the
effort things and defensive issues that they had. But he

(01:35:23):
was asked about Manus Fokatitus and also Jordan Pope, their
performances and the overall physicality of the game.

Speaker 9 (01:35:31):
So it's tough to really look.

Speaker 8 (01:35:33):
At Modest, right because if you get fouled, you know,
thirteen times and shoot twenty one free throws, you know,
most of those are either a shot at tenth or
he's getting ready to shoot it. So I do think
we got him the ball. And you know, it's tough
to criticize a guy who has twenty two points and
eight rebounds, but I am going to because I just

(01:35:53):
think that there's a completely different level that he can
get to, a standard that he can get to defensively
that he's not at, being able to play without fouling,
being able to guard on the perimeter. And one of
the things that's amazing about Modest is how fast and
agile he is, and you know, he's a hard working guy.
Usually those characteristics allow you to be adept at guarding

(01:36:16):
a shooter, guarding a low post player, being able to
do the different things that he's going to be required
to do. And you know, right now we need him
to improve in that area. He's improving by leaps and
bounds in other areas. And you know, he said of
all the players that play college basketball, there's only two
that get foiled more than him, and that's a heck

(01:36:36):
of a heck of a thing, and I'm glad he's
on our side. From that, the defensive part is what
we're hard after. We have to make him better. You know,
Jordan is the constant in a lot of ways. You know,
his ability to shoot seamlessly, and I think he's more
and more comfortable. The thing that I always look at
with Jordan is just you know, his assist to turnover
and I know he only had one assistment. Again, he

(01:36:57):
plays thirty three minutes with zero turnover. I got to
think that he's one of the best in the SEC
in terms of assist to turnovers right now, really taking
care of the ball, which is a great characteristic. You know,
again offense defense. If I talk defense, I do think
Jordan's improved. I think he gives more of himself, pressures

(01:37:17):
the ball better. But I also think there's another level
for him too.

Speaker 3 (01:37:23):
John was also asked about traumat and Mark, how he
has started to progress a little more and his leadership
with the team. What the conversations have been like between
him and Mark once he arrived on campus.

Speaker 9 (01:37:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:37:35):
I mean those guys were thrilled to have them. You know,
they loved the University of Texas. They had opportunities and choices,
and I'm thrilled and glad that they made the choice
to be with us. You know, I think Tremon is
quietly really putting it together. You know, again, he had
seventeen points to assist no turnovers. You know, I know

(01:37:56):
how to coach him better now than I did at
the beginning. I think that helps him. At the beginning,
we were trying to get him to do certain things
that we didn't need to get him to do. I
think now that he's settled in, you know, he's elite
from two getting fouled scoring inside the arc, and as
he's been put in that position more more often, he's responded.

Speaker 9 (01:38:18):
And I'll also tell you that he's one of our
hardest workers.

Speaker 3 (01:38:23):
So in addition to his height, being a seventh foot
or what is it about monusfoka titis that allows him
to draw so many thousand and have so many free
throw opportunities.

Speaker 8 (01:38:33):
I mean he's just really physical and strong, you know,
I'd say modestly's seven foot, a little bit heavier than
two fifty, but you know, just elite shape.

Speaker 9 (01:38:43):
You know, you run into him, it's like hitting a wall.

Speaker 8 (01:38:46):
You know, big guys I was told a long time
ago when I was younger, like when you look at
a big guy, you know, you always want to say,
like do they love the game or do they just
play it because they're tall?

Speaker 9 (01:38:57):
Are they physical?

Speaker 6 (01:38:58):
Like?

Speaker 8 (01:38:58):
Do they love contact? And three is do they have
good hands? Because if you can catch and you're that
big and you have great hands and you're physical, there's
nothing soft about you and you love the game, You're
going to keep working to get better.

Speaker 9 (01:39:12):
You know, the sky's the limit. And I would say
that Modest in all three of those.

Speaker 8 (01:39:16):
Areas is really good, loves the game, great hands, really
really physical, and.

Speaker 9 (01:39:22):
We just have to continue to teach him. You know.
Sometimes it's not always about physicality.

Speaker 8 (01:39:28):
Sometimes he has to back off and be a little
bit smarter, which I think he will. I'm more concerned
with his defense because I think he can he has
a completely next level that he can get to that he's.

Speaker 7 (01:39:39):
Not at right now.

Speaker 3 (01:39:40):
Yeah, especially if he's able to do that defensively without fouling.
And that's what they continue to work on with him
all right, we'll be back to wrap up the pre
Christmas portion of our show here on thirteen under the
Zone

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