Texas Baseball, Lee Corso Retiring, College Football Rule Change, Aaron Rodgers, Texas Softball, NBA Play In

Welcome to "The Morning Kickoff Show" with Mike "Hardball" Hardge & "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry. Today the guys talk about the #1 Texas Longhorns 3-2 victory over #8 Auburn Tigers, College Football new rule as it pertains to injuries, Lee Corso announces his retirement, Aaron Rodgers shenanigans with the Jets, Texas Softball walk off victory against LSU, NBA Play In games tonight, a "Hardge Knocks Life" along with "The World's Strongest Take!" Plus a conversation with Zach Symm of Orangebloods.com. You can hear it all here on “The Morning Kickoff Show!”

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for tuning in to the podcast of The
Morning Kickoff with myself, Mike Carboll Harts and the world's
Strongest man in WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Guys, we really would like it if you would advertise
with us, because we only go as far as you
let us.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
That's right, Folks, tune in and make sure you tell
five friends to tell five friends. The Morning Kickoff seven
to nine am Monday through Friday right here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Good Morning, Austin, k Town, Flugerville, Htown, Pairland,
Las Vegas.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Wels, Vegan, Leander, and still Be Texas.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
And wherever you may be listening. This is a feel
good Friday edition of The Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Texas Softball and Baseball kick
the weekend off right NBA playing games continue, Game Day
Legend hangs it up. We'll continue our conversation about why

(01:10):
in the world do I just have a problem with
one NFL quarterback.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
We've got Zach sim.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Of Orangebloods dot Com joining us at eight, and of
course we have to understand what my man is doing
this weekend in Las Vegas.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
I am your host Mike Harballhars.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
My co host is a WWE Hall of Famer uh
huh and the world's strongest man. He is Deep Mark Henry.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Good morning Austin.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
And of course we've got our guy Marcus behind the boards.
And if you want to be a part of the show,
all you got to do is text the word Texas
followed by your message to eight one five three zero.
Standard data and message rates may apply. That's the word
Texas followed by your message to eight one five three zero.
Standard data and message rates may apply. And if you
want to voice your opinion and get a chance to

(02:01):
win a pair of tickets to go see Jason Aldean,
here's your opportunity to leave us a message by using
that talkback feature on that new and improved iHeartRadio app.
Will receive your message instantly, you might hear it on air,
but most importantly for you, you get a chance to win
a pair of tickets to go see Jason Aldean.

Speaker 4 (02:19):
Mark.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yesterday, I was at Dish falk Field and let's just
say it was one heck of a ball game. The
number one ranked Texas Longhorns. They make it do what
they do, and that's all they can do. They win
the game three to two, but it had some very
crucial moments throughout and one of those moments was when

(02:42):
starting pitcher Jarret Spencer ends up pulling himself after giving
up a home run. He gets pulled out of the game,
and immediately thoughts. Everybody was in panic mode mentally because
here's your Friday's pitcher who now had to move the
game up because it was a Thursday, Friday Saturday and
not a Friday Saturday Sunday type of deal. So now

(03:04):
you start to look at it and you see what's
going on, and you say, man, what is truly happening. Well,
he comes out of the bullpench Max Grubbs, who I've
been a big fan of and he's been almost like
the MVP of this team, and some people see him
as the MVP. He comes in and does a masterful
job throughout the game, but he needed some help and

(03:26):
there was some great plays that were being made.

Speaker 5 (03:29):
Stretch, here's the pitch and that's hit on the ground
sharply knocked down by Borba. His only play will be
the first if he can get it there in time.
Hen he does a one hopper from cac Borba in
to Kimball Schuschler at first to record the outs.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Not only did he record the out, he saved a
big inning from the the Auburn Tigers. Because the Auburn
Tigers have won six straight games in this past week,
and they were coming in hot that came from sweeping
LSU and a.

Speaker 4 (04:05):
Game continued to roll on.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
But after they pulled out Jared Spencer, as I said,
they brought in Max Grubs. And Max Grubb is the
unsung hero of this team. He does whatever he's been
asked to do. And one of the things that he
did yesterday pretty much saved his life. That bub so
he and Ace Whitehead, who's still dealing with an injury
were both guys that stepped up and took them.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
K Oh goodness. And Grubs makes the grab. How do
you do? I don't think he can believe it. I
know I can't believe it. Wow.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
What a play by Max Gruggs.

Speaker 4 (04:45):
You talk about coming in hot. Wow, ninety six miles
per hour off the bat. Wow, Oh my goodness.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
That ball was hit right at his head, Mark Henry,
right at his head.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Have you ever took a comeback like that and got hit?

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yes, off the leg, off the hip. I've gotten it
all when I was a pitcher. That means that's why
I didn't play pitcher that much longer. I went to short.
But you got you got a chance to hear my call.
But I want you to hear the great Craig Way
on his call because he was a little.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
Bit more excited.

Speaker 5 (05:29):
The balls too, strikes to count and go to pitch
to Cooper McMurray and he sweezed ithn's it. Oh my goodness,
was that caught? Oh my goodness, what a catch by
Max Grubbs. I caught it, hit him in the head,
he caught it in the cloth for our number one.

Speaker 4 (05:44):
Amazing.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
It was absolutely amazing. I'm telling you. When it came
off of his bat, he said ninety six miles per hour.
I thought it was one hundred and six miles per hour.
But Max grubb he caught the ball, looked at it,
looked at the batter, looked at everybody else, and took
a deep breath and was like, who thank the Lord.

Speaker 4 (06:06):
I got good quick reflexes, because if.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
You had been tired, if you'd have been out in
Vegas with you Mark, I don't know if he'd have
been able to make that play.

Speaker 5 (06:14):
Man.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
I was very excited here in your call, and you know,
I would love to see you do more of that
because it just gives everybody a more insight for who.

Speaker 4 (06:29):
Hard is right right. And it was fun.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
It was very very good man. I enjoyed hearing you
make the calls.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Well, you're gonna get a chance to hear it right
here because there was a big clutch play that was happening.
And Jalen Flores, who is an All American for a reason,
he has come up to either tie the game or
take the lead with himself at the place he has
drove in twenty RBIs up until this point last night.

Speaker 4 (07:01):
He runs that he's driven in.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
To right Senna, mister clutch comes through again.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
Bens. That was a scores. Baul gets away from the
center fielder cutter. Flora's on his way to third, sliding
in safely.

Speaker 6 (07:17):
We're tighty two o O.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
There goes that man again, being able to get a
pitch that was up in the count, got excited about it,
drove it to the right side, and here he is.
The numbers don't lie clutch situations. He normally answers the
bill breaking is he got a breaking ball up in

(07:41):
the count and Jalen Flores did his job and was
able to get Texas to tie the ball game. But
that wasn't it. Our man Kimball Schusler, lanos On Cooper's
Barbaraque comes up and I had just talked about keep
throwing Shustler inside because he tries to work the right side,

(08:01):
works the right side.

Speaker 4 (08:02):
They threw a.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
Pitch on the inside, he fouled it off, and well
they tried to do it again, and my man Craig
Waite lets you know all about it.

Speaker 5 (08:11):
So the count full of Kimball Schuschler. Here's the pitch
swung over. The ball hit well out toward left.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
You can say good night to this.

Speaker 5 (08:18):
One off the back wall of the bullpen, driving it
out of the ballpark. Kimball's Shusler puts the log horns
in front for the first time that I Texas leads
it free.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
To two big time matchup, big time players.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
We talk about it all the time, mark big time
players come up clutch and what Texas is to have
to go through. Right now, we'd mentioned that Jared Spencer
is dealing with that injury. We don't know what's going on.
The initial report said that he was sore a short week,
so they ended up taking him out. He couldn't finish
it off. But we'll see what ends up happening. Max

(08:53):
Grubbs comes in with his longest outing of the season,
going four and a third, three hits, no runs in
three strikeouts, and then of course the young freshman Dylan
Valantis comes in for save number nine, two innings save,
and they've been able to make things happen. They were
dealing with Ethan Mendoza, who ended up playing in the

(09:15):
ball game, but he can't play second base right now
because he's dealing with the shoulder injury.

Speaker 4 (09:21):
Had you had.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
Adrian Rodriguez playing left field for only the second time
in his career as a young Texas longhorn, you had
Jayden Duplantier playing second base, who was playing left field
at the beginning of the year.

Speaker 4 (09:38):
And I need to tip my cap to.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
The starting pitcher sam Samuel Dutton for Auburn who kept
this team off balance. He struck out six yesterday, kept
him off balance.

Speaker 4 (09:50):
But Texas finds.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
A way to win.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Mark, You is scary what Texas is right now, and
they're not healthy, yes, very much like them being healthy.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Is the sky's the limit. We know what the sky is, right,
the sky is almaha. And it's too early right now
to start crowning them, right, because you crown a team,
that's when the fall happens. I think, Coach Twassin that
gonna be the one that keeps everybody grounded well.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
I think, no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
And some of the things that have been going on
with this squad is showing the leadership. I just mentioned
Jalen Flores and him coming up clutch, will Gasparino, a
sophomore who has made some adjustments in his game, and
look at Casey Borba and Kimball Schusler, who at one

(10:48):
point was the starting catcher for Texas Longhorns, but now
he's learning how to play first base. But more importantly,
it's the ability to throw strikes. Texas leads the the
SEC in Eer by a whole run and that's the
difference in last night's game. So tonight Texas in Auburn

(11:09):
do another game and we'll talk a little bit about that.

Speaker 4 (11:13):
We'll also talk about.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
The Texas softball team who won in grand fashion. But
coming up next, Mark, I want to talk to you
about a legend, another legend that has decided to walk away,
and I want to get your thoughts on it. Coming
up next right here on the Morning Kickoff on sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Welcome back to the

(11:35):
Morning Kickoff right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred
The Zone, Mark Henry and Mike Carball Hargen. Of course,
we've got our guy Marcus holding it down and Mark
coming up in the next segment, I'm gonna give you
my take on somebody that just really really irritates me.
You're not gonna want to miss this, and I think

(11:57):
everybody knows who that is, so we'll have that conversation
as well. But Mark, there's some rule changes that are
happening that I continue to look at, and college football
is in a space.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
Where my thoughts have.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
Changed a little bit. But some of the rules that
are being put in place I think are great. And
one of those rules, and the team that gives you
the most of those rules is the Oh Miss Rebels. Now,
Texas didn't get a chance to play Old Miss last
year with their first year into the SEC, But I

(12:39):
always look at this and I wanted to know your thoughts.
You know those guys that always are faking those injuries, right,
Like the team is going fast and you're on the move,
and then all of a sudden you look over there
and there's alignment that out of nowhere, just drops to
the ground, just out of nowhere. They're just okay, I'm down.

(13:04):
I'm down all the time, Give me a minute. And
then all of a sudden, Yeah, they got the substitutions
and everything else that goes with that. Well, the NCAA
has decided that now you will get a penalty, and
most of them seem to be five yard penalties.

Speaker 4 (13:22):
Now, to me, I think that is ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
I think it should be a fifteen yard penalty and ejection.

Speaker 4 (13:32):
Now that's a little harsh, right, that's a little tough.

Speaker 3 (13:35):
That's a little harsh.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
But here's the deal, and this is why I think
that they just said five yards. I think the reason being,
and what is it a delay of game? Is the
five yards. But here's the thing that really drives me
nuts about it. They will take the five yards. Think
about that. Five yards is not enough. There's got to

(13:58):
be steeper than that. Give me fifteen yard penalty. If
you're gonna do that due to.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
Fifteen yard penalty objection. I think that's successive. Butte coach,
that can put you out right, that's a learned behavior.

Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah, well, I mean how many times do you try
to work the system?

Speaker 4 (14:19):
March? I mean, this ain't about me, This ain't about me,
all of.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
Us, and you know they always I don't subscribe to it.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Always thought that it was funny when people said, if
you ain't cheating, you ain't trying to win.

Speaker 4 (14:38):
Right, right, that's really not not true.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
But if you can find a loophole in the system,
but then is it wrong.

Speaker 4 (14:50):
Well, here's the way that the rule is read.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
Under the new rule, if a medical personnel is forced
to enter the field of play to evaluate an injured
play after the ball is spotted by the officiating crew,
the players team will be charged a timeout, and if
a team doesn't have a timeout remaining, they get a

(15:12):
five yard penalty for delay of the game. Now, to me,
why not give them the time out, take the timeout
away from them, give them a fifteen yard penalty. Second
time that it happens, you eject the coach.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
Oh, oh, I'm.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
Not because it because the gamesmanship this morning.

Speaker 4 (15:42):
It's the principalities. Man, it's the principalities of the sity.
I mean, start thinking about this. These rules. Yes, we're
supposed to drive fifty five.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
They say they give you a six a five mile
an hour grace of being at sixty. I know we
stretch to seventy. I know we stretch it and try to.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Just about to say I followed at least I've tried
to follow you.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Well, that's because you got a car that has your
face on it, so you're not trying.

Speaker 4 (16:19):
You're not trying to move around like me.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
But the thing about it is, I just look at
these rules and I try to understand. Like I understand,
as you said, you try to have some gamesmanship, you
try to stretch the system. But let's be honest about it.
You are not doing what's right by the game and
the discipline because the coach can't come over from the

(16:42):
other team and really throw a fit because his players
might be doing it too. But you have to put
some parameters on this deal. There were more rules changes
that came about, and a lot of them have to
do with the kickoff return. Some of them have to
do with the numbers on the line of scrimmage, not
being able to be over the center. They change the

(17:05):
rule about being the instant replay.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
Now it will be.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
The words the terms will be upheld and overturned rather
than using the words confirm or the play stands confirmed
in stands no longer will be used. It's upheld in overturned.
So they're changing the wording of it all. But I
just wanted to get your quick take on that. We'll
continue those conversations because there's so much more that is

(17:33):
going to be broken down, and we'll talk about them
next week. But Mark a legend is walking away from
college football. It was announced yesterday that Lee Corso's last
game will be the first game of the regular season
zero week as people like to call it. And I

(17:53):
believe that Lee Corso's last game will be at the
Shoe in Ohio as the Texas Longhorns make that trip
to Columbus, Ohio. And Kirk Krbstreek, who has been taking
care of Lee Corso for the last few years. If
you've seen it, you noticed it. Kirk is like a

(18:17):
little as a son to Lee Corso. Lee Corso is
a father to Kirk Herbstreek. And here's Kirk Herbstreek saying
his goodbye to Lee Corso.

Speaker 6 (18:29):
Coach. This is Kirk.

Speaker 7 (18:31):
Just wanted to say I love you. I thank you
for so many lessons you taught me. Almost thirty years together.
I have enjoyed sitting next to you, watching you do
your thing, so much fun. We've had so many great
moments on the show, off the show. This is a

(18:53):
celebration for everything that you did for the sport, for
college game Day. You're an icon, once in a lifetime person,
once in a lifetime broadcaster. It's been a special special
time for all of us as college football fans to
watch you do your thing and celebrate the sport every

(19:14):
Saturday in the fall, and have a chance to be
sitting where I sat since nineteen ninety six and to
look over and watch you, whether it was the head
gear or saying something that nobody else would say. You're
brilliant and you and I have a special bond and
always will. And I just really wanted to say how
much I appreciate you. I love you and enjoyed being

(19:38):
your teammate throughout all these years.

Speaker 4 (19:41):
And you've earned this retirement.

Speaker 7 (19:43):
Man, Congratulations, Hope you'll still be with us and come
around in the fall on Saturdays and take care of yourself.

Speaker 6 (19:51):
Look forward to seeing you soon.

Speaker 4 (19:53):
I love you, buddy. What do you think, man? Of course,
I was walking away the head gear.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
I remember when and DJ was a young kid and
we're at the cotton ball and Corso saw DJ when
he was young young and like waved to him and
pretty much was inviting him over to him and my
family still remembers that. But then over the years, you
start to be in this business and you're around these

(20:21):
types of guys and you just understand, dude loves football
and he's a genuine football person.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
We all we all are going to have our day.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
And Lee Corso added so much to college football.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
He mentored so many people. A lot of.

Speaker 2 (20:43):
The guys that are up there on that panel with him,
they're up there because of him. Him and dig Vy,
Tael and and people of the like. Like they're getting
up in years and comes a time when you know,
you really just can't manage it all.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
I hate that that has come to us now.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
But I'm looking forward to the first game of the season,
Texas and Ohio State in issue and being.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
Able to hear his pig and you know, just.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
I commend him and all the people that work with
him and Kirkman. Kirk got a lot of heat lately,
but there's nothing like showing your love for somebody that's helped.

Speaker 4 (21:40):
You, no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
We will be able to salute him at some point
and recognize the great talent that lead Corse out.

Speaker 4 (21:49):
Truly, truly was coming up next.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, and
I'm gonna tell you why I'm sick and tired. Coming
up next here on the morning kickoff on Sports Radio
and thirteen hundred The Zone. Mark Henry my Man, you
know me, you know me for a long time. It's

(22:14):
hard for me to hold grudges on people that I
truly do not know personally. But as an athlete and
a competitor, you get a little frustrated with certain people.
You get a little frustrated with some of the things
you see, some of the things you hear, and just some.

Speaker 4 (22:38):
Some time.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
That just keeps passing by and certain people don't change
their way. For a long time, we understood that what
Denny Green was one hundred percent true. You exactly who
you say you are, and that's what we thought he was.

(23:01):
And this person that irritates me to no end is
Aaron Rogers ay his middle name for a second. There,
I will go do that because he's not getting that
type of respect from me right now. Aaron Rodgers has

(23:24):
put me in a place that I don't like going.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
Because he's super talented.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
And you know that the story of Aaron Rodgers is
well documented. Had to go to a junior college because
he wasn't recruited the way that he wanted to, got
to the junior college, went and ended up putting up
great numbers.

Speaker 4 (23:47):
Then goes to cal took a shot.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
At Mac Brown, calling him a whiner because Mac Brown
was politicking for his team to get into a different
bowl and Aaron Rodgers thought his team was the one.

Speaker 4 (23:58):
That should have gotten the ball, So be it. That's patty.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
Then he gets into the NFL and he has to
sit in the green room for an extended period of time,
and then he goes to Green Bay and he becomes
the backup to one Brett Favre. But you can see
the little smug, the little arrogant, the I'm holier than
thou and I'm all for the people beating to their

(24:24):
own drum mark.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
You can do your thing. I do it, you do it,
we all do it.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
We're not to everybody's liking, and that's okay. But what
I'm looking at with this situation with Aaron Rodgers is
this is a guy that seems to not care about

(24:50):
other organizations. He's been on record talking about he's mad
and sad. The way that the situation happened in Green Bay,
it could have been handled a lot different. And so
you think, get over but you think you grow up
a little bit, right because he said he'd handled it
wrong there, Okay, cool, I'm like, all right, So last season,

(25:12):
two seasons ago, I was at another station and we
were talking about Aaron Rodgers and I said, the reason
why I don't like Aaron Rodgers is because he holds
his team hostage, and he also talks down to the
younger players for not being up to speed to where

(25:32):
he is.

Speaker 4 (25:34):
Now.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
Mind you, Aaron Rodgers doesn't go to OTAs. He wasn't
going to the practices, he wasn't doing any of that stuff.
So how are these young receivers supposed to have some
sort of camaraderie with their starting quarterback?

Speaker 4 (25:48):
Okay, get over that?

Speaker 1 (25:51):
Then, he goes to New York and he shows up Mark,
he shows up to everything in me, in my moment
of weakness, said I'm gonna give Aaron Rodgers a chance.
Well ends up getting hurt. The rest is history. Then
he comes back and he's still holding these guys hostage.
End of the season, he played well. He brought his

(26:11):
friends along with them, Lazard, Davonte Adams and other players.
He wanted them on his team because he felt comfortable
with those guys. Well, now he's getting released. And the
cold part about his release was everybody who was thinking, Okay,
he's gonna go to Minnesota, He's gonna go to Pittsburgh.
Now he's holding Pittsburgh and Minnesota hostage. But I want

(26:34):
you to hear how Aaron Glenn did him. And I
want you to truly sit back for a second and
visualize this conversation, because what I think happened was he
got a dose of his own medicine.

Speaker 8 (26:52):
I meet with the coach, we start talking, he runs
out of the room. I'm like, that's kind of strange.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
I was like. Then he comes back with.

Speaker 8 (27:00):
The GM and I'm like, all right. So we sit
down in the office and I think we're going to
have this long conversation. I've flown across the country, and
twenty seconds in he goes, I mean literally, I'm talking
to the GM about something. And he leans to the

(27:21):
edge of the sheet and goes, should you want to
play football? And I was like, yeah, I'm interested. And
he said, we're going to a different direction in quarterback. And
I said and I was kind of shocked. Now, not
shocked because I didn't think that was a possibility. Listen,
of course they want to move on. That's totally fine,
but shocked because I just flew across the country. He
could have told me this on the phone if weren't

(27:43):
even gonna have a conversation. And this is verbade him
exactly how it happened. So I said, huh, and he goes,
we just want to know how you want it released.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
And what he meant by that he went on, he goes,
I don't give a bleep about how you want it released.
I'm still trying to fire figure out why you brought
me all the way across country to tell.

Speaker 4 (28:03):
Me that y'all were going in another direction.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
I believe he got a dose of his own medicine,
because he too has been dealing with people like this.
As I said, I don't know him personally, but everything
in every report that we have ever seen or heard
is that he is smug. He is arrogant, and he
talks down to people and if you're not part of

(28:28):
his circle, he has no use for you. So Aaron
Rodgers holding people hostage has now got a dose of
his own medicine and was brought across country to say,
I don't want you here.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Argue Unfortunately, I've been in a situation where I had
to fire somebody. You have been in a spot where
you had to let somebody go. Yes, the last thing
that I want to do is to be impersonal and
do it over the time. If I'm gonna let you go,

(29:02):
I'm gonna talk to you face to face, nose to nose,
Man the Man. And that's what happened to him. Yeah,
he's complaining about somebody being real. He's complaining about somebody
calling him man the Man and being an equal. See

(29:24):
that's the problem, right, He's not used to people being
straight and kurt and upfront with him.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
He said, they asked me if I wanted to play football,
and they said I'm interested. What how about yes, and
I want to be a New York Jet. How about that.
Do you think the conversation might have gone a little bit.

Speaker 3 (29:48):
Different, Yeah, a little different.

Speaker 4 (29:50):
Yeah, I'm interested.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
Now, what you're interested in is making sure you get
on that flight to get back to California and going
your Ashwacanda will Condo Forever trip.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
We'll see what happens there.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
Coming up next, we're going to we've got here from
Texas Softball and finish out our number one right here
on the morning kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred
The Zone.

Speaker 4 (30:21):
Welcome back to.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
The morning kickoff right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred The Zone.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
Coming up in the next segment, We've got our guys Zack.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Sim Ofrangebloods dot Com to talk a little bit about
what happened last night at the dish. He was in
attendance in the Texas Longhorns. The number one ranked Texas
Longhorns defeated the number eight ranked Auburn Tigers, and we
found a story about war Eagle that I'll tell y'all

(30:49):
a little bit later too, But right now, I want
to give you an opportunity to win a pair of
tickets to go see Jason Aldan August the sixteenth at
the Moody center' All you got to do was get
over to that iHeartRadio app, you know, the number one
that you have us on the preset, Tap that red
microphone and leave the word party. Party is the word

(31:10):
of the day. And Mark you are out in Las Vegas,
so I'm sure there has been pretty plenty of parties
out there. But make sure you get over there to
get a chance to go win up here of tickets.
August the sixteenth, over at the Moody Center. Mark before
we get into Texas Softball, because you've got to hear this.
What was that Soul Food Plus y'all were at yesterday?

Speaker 3 (31:32):
Man, we went the Lolos Chicken and Walfort.

Speaker 4 (31:35):
You said you were gonna go out there too, You
did know you did?

Speaker 2 (31:38):
So? Like it's an interesting story. I've known the White
family wait wait, what their last name is White?

Speaker 3 (31:47):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (31:48):
Okay, okay, sir, And I've known them for like twenty
five years. And when the mother and father passed away,
they handed their business down to the sun and the door,
and Lolo just happened to be the daughter and and
Larry Jr.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
Is the brother. They they've done really good business wise.
They have they have Lolos and Phoenix in Vegas and
Los Angeles. They're in the Dallas Airport now, uh and
they're growing. And I've been friends with them a long time.
And they just said, hey, man, we know y'all out here.

(32:29):
If you get a chance, come by and and and
that was our trip to get out there.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
We had the whole team.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
The most of the people that's on the left side
of that photo are a comedy crew that travels with
Bruce Bruce and Steve is the head writer for Bruce Bruce,
and that was the guy that's sitting directly across from me,
and then all Caribbean are the people sitting next to.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
Me on on on my side of the table.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
So it was a chance that both my teams got
together and got to go have a meal right before
I had to leave and go to another live show.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
So yesterday I did three live shows.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
I did our show at four at five in the morning,
and then I had another show right behind him for
three hours, and then I had to show at Circa
for an hour and a half with Rick Flair as
I guests at Circa, and then I had to go
sign autographs for two hours.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
So yesterday was.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
A really really busy day and it's more the same today.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
But in the middle of the day, I'm gonna have
a lot of time off. Yeah, you're gonna need to
take a nap, because that's for sure. But one thing
you will not be napping on is the number three
ranked Texas Longhorns women as they played against the number
nine ranked team LSU. Texas was behind in the first
couple of innings. Top of the fourth, LSU had taken

(33:58):
a two nothing lead, then it got to three nothing,
but in the bottom of the six Mia Scott homer
to center field. She drove in two and then they
went back to back as Miss.

Speaker 4 (34:10):
Mitchell hit a home run.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
But then in the bottom of the seventh, the bases
were loaded and one of the best career players for
the University of Texas, Reese Atwood, came to the play.

Speaker 5 (34:24):
Texas all time leader in RBI adds to that total
four more and the long hoard when it'll walk off.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
She came up to the play and she said, I
was going up there and looking for a ball over
the plate, and I thought it was going to be there.
I've been waiting for that one. It was one swing
I'm not afraid to take on the first pitch, and
it feel it. I feel it always just comes down
to that. Coach Mike White has just won his three

(35:13):
hundredth game and it just goes to show you that
this team very, very resilient and now they get ready
to play again tonight at four thirty against LSU.

Speaker 4 (35:26):
LSU is the number nine team in the country.

Speaker 1 (35:30):
Texas, it was a big, big game over there at
the at both fields yesterday, both teams winning with the
home run, but nothing better than that grand Slam mark.
When that ball hit that bat, I saw you kind
of snap out of it. You were like, wait a minute, but.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
It sounded like somebody threw a state on the ground.
My god.

Speaker 4 (35:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
Texas now is forty and five on the year. They
go to twelve and four in SEC and again, think
about this mark the athletic department at the University of Texas.
When this move was being made, there was only a
few sports that everybody thought that this Texas team would
be ready for, and softball was definitely one of them.

(36:17):
And now you have softball ranked in the top three,
Texas baseball ranked number one, Texas softball had been number
one this season. The football team at one point made
it to number one. And then you start to look
at what swimming and diving and all the other sports rowing,

(36:37):
You start to look around at volleyball. You look at
all of these sports and you start to truly, truly
understand that this program as a whole, as a whole
is trending in the right direction.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
You and I were around when things.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
Were really really good, but we was also around when
things were really really bad. And so for people to
underestimate what they've been able to see thus far, this
Texas baseball team, we got Zach sim coming up next.
We're gonna talk about this because this baseball team has
been dealt with the injury bug all season long. But

(37:17):
coach Schwasnegel just finds a way to get it done
and his staff continue to figure it out. And I
told you before they are a whole run, a whole run,
different ahead of everybody else in the er department, a
whole run.

Speaker 4 (37:37):
And last night they won by a whole run.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
So you and they lost their starting pitcher after he
gave up a big home run, so it is a
little bit different. The energy is definitely different. I know
that people are trying to look at the crowds and
they get a little bit nervous because at the very
beginning of the first pitch that a lot of people there. Listen, man,
traffic sucks. There's a lot going on.

Speaker 4 (38:04):
Be patient.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
The people are going to show up to watch this
baseball team. They are the number one team in a land. Relax,
Let people work. Everybody can't get off work like you
because you love baseball that much.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
They'll be there, they'll be there. Be patient.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Our number two, excuse me net on the Morning Kickoff.
Welcome back to our number two of the Morning Kickoff
right here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.
We talked about Lee Corso walking array away, and we
talked about faking injuries and what that leads to.

Speaker 4 (38:42):
We also spoke about the person.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
In the NFL quarter back that is that I am
not a fan of. And of course Texas softball wins
in grand fashion with the walk off home run by
Reese Atwood.

Speaker 4 (38:56):
But joining us now as a young man that.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
Was at the ballpark at the Dish as the number
one Texas Longhorns win Game one, three to two over
the number eight ranked Auburn Tigers who also.

Speaker 4 (39:11):
Did it in big.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Time fashion is our guy, Zach sim of Orangebloods dot com.
You can follow him at Zach at the Dish. Zach,
What a game last night? Texas ends up losing their
starting pitcher. Seems like he's gonna be okay, you can
give us an update on that. But just like everything else,

(39:32):
they find a way to piece smell it together to
get another win.

Speaker 9 (39:38):
Yeah, hars this is just I mean, you can't talk
enough about the grit and just the desire for this team.

Speaker 6 (39:44):
You know, they play for each other.

Speaker 9 (39:45):
They talk about it all the time, and you know
they it sounds like coach speak, but they always say
like they're playing for a standard and they just continue
to show that's true, like it's not just talk, it's
something they've bought into. And Yeah, I mean, the resiliency
of this team has just been amazing. They've had and
you know, four injuries now at this point and maybe
to bounce back every single time and hasn't stopped him

(40:06):
and they just keep stacking wins.

Speaker 6 (40:07):
Two games ahead in the SEC after last night.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
Yeah, because Arkansas ended up getting beat by Texas A
and M, which is a team that is playing well
and they will make the trip to Austin next weekend.
But the Auburn Tigers last night, Sam Dutton kept his
Texas baseball team off balance. That curveball that he was throwing,
it was a twenty mile an hour different. At one point,

(40:31):
I kept saying it was like bugs bunny throwing a
pitch up there, because you just couldn't find a way
to sit back and see it. But he ends up
getting a no decision for himself, and you know, you
have to tip your cap because Texas continued to battle
to keep themselves in it. You look at what Jared
Spencer was able to do with his time in there,

(40:54):
and then he ends up getting injured.

Speaker 4 (40:56):
What's the latest on Jared Spencer.

Speaker 9 (41:01):
Yeah, so we talked to coach Sasnegal after the game
and he said that, you know, Jared, they were they
were watching the metrics as they always do, and Max
was worried because he threw a fastball at ninety one
miles an hour and that's that's not Jared Spencer. He
typically lives in then ninety four to ninety seven. And
then he threw a slider that just you know, it
was real flat it didn't have the normal spin rate,
and so they went out and talked to him and

(41:21):
he was just like, yeah, I'm sore, like my arms,
it's tired today. And so you know, they don't believe
that there's anything wrong. Of course, they're going to go
through a full evaluation and work up today, but you know,
that looks like the good news is that it could
just be Hey man, it's a short week. He's had
the heaviest workload up into his entire career at this point.

(41:42):
You know, he just needs a couple of days off.
So you know, we'll hear the final decision here later
today or tomorrow, but from what it sounds like, you know,
he could be as back as early as next week
and against the A and M team that's coming to town.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
That was the question that I wanted to ask you,
that is that common that a picture just takes itself
out of a game like that? Maybe it was do
you think sometimes it's not physical, like some days you
wake up and mentally you just don't have it.

Speaker 6 (42:14):
Yeah, there's absolutely, Daisy, you just mentally and physically just don't.

Speaker 9 (42:18):
You don't feel right. And so even early in the game,
like in the first inning. You know, his stuff wasn't
moving the same way that you typically see. You know,
his horizontal break and the slider wasn't nearly as it
wasn't big as of a break as you normally see, and.

Speaker 6 (42:34):
So it was just he didn't quite look right to
begin with.

Speaker 9 (42:37):
And I think, you know, the season kind of just
caught up to him in this game, and that happens.
I mean, you've got guys all the time that they
just need a day off. So you know, it'll be
interesting to see what they come back with, you know,
if there is anything, but from when I've heard that,
there's nothing mechanical.

Speaker 6 (42:52):
It's just a sore on.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
So can he come back into rotation now? Is that
he's got to say?

Speaker 4 (43:00):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (43:02):
No, I mean he'll sit out for sure for the
rest of this weekend. You know, it's possible that they
can even keep him out. I mean, the good news
is this, It's Texas has built up a two game
lead in first place in the SEC.

Speaker 6 (43:14):
And you know, as bad as.

Speaker 9 (43:16):
It sounds, you don't want to coast, but you want
your guys healthy at the right time, and so there's
a you know, there's a relast chance that they could
even hold him out next week just to give them
an extra amount of time off to get really right
for that Arkansas series, which is another short week. And
so you know, him only throwing the number of pitches
he did last night, you know, it's really good for

(43:37):
him just to be able to sit back, relax, rest.
But all indications are, you know, there's nothing major there
going on, so we'll see him back on the mound
before too long.

Speaker 4 (43:46):
Yeah, that's great news.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
We're talking to Zach sim of Orangebloods dot com. You
can follow him at Zach at the Dish and Zach,
you know, we talk a lot about having momentum, but
you all, I also have to have some glue guys.
The glue guy that I continue to look at as
Max Grubs. I was talking about this on the telecast.

(44:09):
He and Ace Whitehead stepped up so big last year
in moments that they weren't expected to and then they excelled.
And then Max comes back and it seems like every
single outing he competes at the highest level.

Speaker 4 (44:26):
What do you attest that to.

Speaker 9 (44:30):
It's his mentality, even going back to if you watch
his high school film, you can talk to his high
school coaches. The guys that played against him. Coming into
the program. Everyone knew that he had that kind of
just that bulldog mentality and everyone's like, oh, that's nice,
and it's real though. I mean, if you if you're
a guy that has that kind of mentality, you want
the ball, meaning you want to compete regardless of who

(44:50):
there's opposing player is. You know, you don't care if
it's a Golden Spikes winner or you know, a guy
hitting one hundred. You're gonna go out and you're gonna
throw your stuff. And the thing about him is he's
so confident his ability, but he's also very confident in
the guy's behind him. He understands that he's a sinker
ball guy, so he's going to get a lot of
groundball outs, and so he says, look, hit it on
the ground.

Speaker 3 (45:09):
My dude's behind me.

Speaker 6 (45:10):
You're going to take care of me.

Speaker 9 (45:11):
And so, you know, he just he's got that confidence.
And half the time, you know, it's not just a
physical game. You've got to have the mental aspect so
dialed in and Max exemplifies that. I mean, he's he's
just a really confident guy that he can get the
job done. And I mean, yeah, he's I'm not sure
that there's a bigger player on the team this season. Honestly,

(45:32):
the Max scripts what he's been able to do. Out
of the ten, he's got six wins on the season. Now,
he's just been the guy out of the bullpen. And yeah,
he's a really special young man.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
Well, speaking of a special young man, Kimball Schusler last
night came up in a big time matchup. I was
watching his a bat and you've seen all of is
as bad as bats as well as I have.

Speaker 4 (45:56):
And he likes to stay to the right side.

Speaker 1 (45:59):
He's got this inside out swing, which I think is great,
and he stays behind the baseball. But they kept trying
to pitch him inside, pitch him inside, which I would
have as well. But he jumped out in front on
a fastball and hit it off that back wall. How
impressive was him being able to turn on that pitch
after working so hard the other way?

Speaker 9 (46:22):
Yeah, I mean Tulo especially, she teaches that in out
hitting and Kimball, the tendency for pitchers is to try
to pitch him inside. And so when he's able to
time that fastball up and Dunton doesn't throw hard, you
know he's only throwing ninety two, but it was a
reliever that threw him the fastball.

Speaker 6 (46:39):
But you know, yeah, it was really.

Speaker 9 (46:41):
Impressive because Kimball doesn't have a ton of natural power,
but what he's able to do is he's able to
extend and he's able to get that body to twisted
around so quickly that he's able to launch it over.
So yeah, you know, you can't say enough about Kimball
and the kind of leadership he's provided.

Speaker 6 (46:56):
Just that kind of that steady hand is what you
call him.

Speaker 9 (47:00):
You know, he's not the vocal guy, he's not the
raw raw, but you know, he produces and he's shown
a little more power recently since May I think Earthens
March twenty eighth, he's got four home runs, so you're
starting to see a little bit more of that pop
as he gets a little more comfortable and just eases
his way into the season.

Speaker 6 (47:15):
So it's really good to see.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Tonight is a big time matchup. Obviously, it's a short
week because Texas normally plays Friday, Saturday Sunday. This week
is Thursday, Friday Saturday, and the game just happens to
be at six o'clock. First pitch, Luke Harrison is on
the mound. What is your expectations for Luke today? After

(47:37):
seeing how Auburn, who is one of the better hitting
clubs in this conference, who's won six in a row
leading into last night's first loss, they can swing it,
and they got some great freshmen that are integral in
their success.

Speaker 9 (47:53):
Yeah, that Alburd lineup is actually pretty sneaky good. They've
got three or four freshmen that they mix in there.
They've got the two power hit is obviously in McMurray
and uh in Irish and.

Speaker 6 (48:04):
So yeah, yeah, I mean that thing was touched. The
good the good news for Harrison.

Speaker 9 (48:12):
He's a left hander, right, and so a lot of
the big bats for Auburn or left of these as well,
and so you know, for him, it's going to be
making sure he doesn't get too far over the plate.
He's got to keep it away from him or come
inside and kind of jam him. But Luke is, you know,
he's a guy that's really steady. He doesn't get real high,
he doesn't get real low. And and the thing that

(48:33):
I like about Luke is even when he goes out
and he says, okay, I gave up three runs or
I gave four runs. It doesn't phase him. He just
continues to go out and battle. And so he's got
that mentality of look, I'm gonna keep my game or
my team in the game, and as long as I
need to keep him and I trust the offense is
going to do their part. So I mean, honestly, for him,
I don't think it's anything special. I think it's just

(48:54):
making sure you avoid the free passes because that has
plagued him here and there. Because last night of free
pass and then Irish hit the two run bombs, and that.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
Was and that was a worked at bat by the
hitter of the previous hitter to get him back into
that camp where he can get a walk. And then
you get Irish up and he jumps all over that
slider that stayed up and hits it out of the park.
You know, I was watching, and obviously I was on
the call last night. The Texas fans have been showing

(49:23):
up and showing out all season long, and I know
a lot of people get frustrated because they're not there
at the beginning of the game. But like I always say,
it's not how you start, it's how you finish. And
by the way, there was a game that was going
on across the street and traffic sucks.

Speaker 4 (49:39):
You saw it.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
You showed up a little bit late yourself because of it,
and it's a little frustrating. But this team is so
much fun to watch. We'll both be out there again
tonight and I'll come by and.

Speaker 4 (49:52):
Say hello to you before the broadcast. Thanks Zach, appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
Thanks Bark there he is.

Speaker 4 (49:59):
Coming up next.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
The NBA playoffs continue, Mark Ken, John Moran and his
crew do the unthinkable. But first, is he even gonna play?
We'll talk about it right here on the morning kickoff
radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone.

Speaker 4 (50:16):
Mark, you're in Vegas.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
There's a lot of people stitting at those casinos trying
to figure out who is going to win the NBA Championship.
We had Kendrick Perkins on yesterday at this time, so
make sure if you missed any part of that show,
get over to our podcast page and look up Kendrick
Perkins because he was spot on and excited to talk

(50:42):
to you and I. But Mark, tonight is another play
in game the Miami Heat. The number ten seeded Miami
Heat will take on the Atlanta Hawks.

Speaker 4 (50:53):
With this team to get ready. The winner will.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
Go and take on the Cleveland Cavali and the loser
will be eliminated on the season. These teams are two
and two against each other. Obviously, Trey Young is somebody
that has to be spectacular spectacular for the Atlanta Hawks

(51:17):
to advance on Tyler Hero.

Speaker 4 (51:20):
Definitely.

Speaker 1 (51:22):
I don't think he'll score another thirty eight point game,
but he has to be important, as does bem Outa Bayo.

Speaker 4 (51:30):
Who do you.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
Believe will win this game in advance to take on
Cleveland so they can go to Galveston right after they
play Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
Well, I mean, I think that Tray Young is going
to come back and really show out because he has
such a poor showing in the last game. But to Noville,
Miami is still a better team and a more veteran team.
And Kendrick brought that up yesterday when he was on

(51:59):
He's like, man, just vetering team, just have an advantage
on guys.

Speaker 3 (52:04):
So I'm gonna go with Miami.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
They will chip off that game at six o'clock on
T and T. The nightcap will be the number ten
Dallas Mavericks taking on John.

Speaker 4 (52:16):
Morant and the Grizzlies.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
The winner will take on Okay, see, this is going
to be one of those games that will come down
to the inside matchup Jaron Jackson and Anthony Davis. Jaron
Jackson is definitely up for Defensive Player of the Year.
He two stretches the floor because he can step out

(52:42):
and knock down threes. Anthony Davis has been He's the
big part of that trade for Luka. Doncic and folks
are trying to get the ROI on their investment.

Speaker 4 (52:53):
They're trying to get that return.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
But can he and his crew of Derek Daniel Gafford,
all the big men up front, can they control this
matchup and get to win. By the way, Memphis won
three of the four games against Dallas this season, You.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
Know what, I don't I don't know if that's gonna
be the case in the playoff though, like when when
life is on the line, which their playoff life is
on the line, I think Dallas just has you know more,
and you know, last the last game, the way Klay
Thompson played and the way Anthony Davis played, Uh, it's

(53:38):
about consistency. But if they're able to play remotely close
to what they the way they played in the last game,
I don't think that it'll be close.

Speaker 4 (53:51):
This is where I am with this Dallas Maverick game. Listen.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
I hope that they win. I need them to win
because I want Nico to be right.

Speaker 4 (54:00):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
There's no way people are gonna look at him and
believe he's right. Ever, they could win the championship and
they're still wrong for getting rid of Luca. But my
point being this, I don't believe that Clay Thompson, who
has been the model of inconsistency over the past couple seasons,

(54:24):
I don't know if he can go back to back
and have that type of shooting performance. I know we
all believe that we see the glimpses and we see
the return of certain things and we think that this
is it.

Speaker 4 (54:38):
I'm not sure that he.

Speaker 1 (54:39):
Can be that consistent again and come out and shoot
the ball that well.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
Lord, you're saying that, like, it's not the playoffs. You
know how veteran players are. That's why they call Jimmy
Butler playoff Jimmy. Like, there's guys that they don't want
to get hurt during the season. They want to just
make it to the finals, just make it to the playoffs.
If I can get in the playoffs, oh man, I

(55:05):
can let lose. And that's where Klay Thompson is and
he showed that by in the last game. I think
that there's gonna be more that, especially with Anthony Davis
and the rest of those front court players having his back.

Speaker 4 (55:23):
This team was on life support.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
They were on a respirator for such a long time,
which is why.

Speaker 4 (55:29):
They are the number ten seed.

Speaker 1 (55:31):
So if just getting in the playoffs was their mantra,
they are just getting.

Speaker 4 (55:38):
In the playoffs because they are playing in the play
in game.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
Did you see Shaq the other night try to give
that hawk mouth to mouth to try to bring life
back to him. That is what this Dallas Mavericks team is.
They are dead men walking all the way down that line.
But I look across the way and John Moran. The

(56:04):
reports are John Morant may or may not play in
this ball game because he's dealing with some other stuff,
and I'm not sure that we're gonna get the best
of job Moran. John Moran seems like he is ready
for a vacation. But for him to come out and
have Jaron Jackson and Desmond Baine, they are the two,

(56:29):
the two players Jaron Jackson and Desmond Bane that have
to pick up this slack. If John Moran is not
gonna be able to play at an elite level.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Oh, if I was Bain, I would be doing everything
I can to get out of Memphis and forward all
the shoot of the shoe falls. Jaron Jackson thinks he's
a guard. He's a center forward that shoots more threes
than Brook shots and John Morant I have zero faith then,

(57:01):
as much as I respect his abilities, because I don't
think there's five players in the NBA that are a
better applete than him. But he said he wasn't gonna dump.
He gets, he falls to the floor and gets hurt again,

(57:22):
right like he could have very easy. I bet you
if you can go to TJ Ford all over again
and say, hey man, you know, maybe you shouldn't elevate
this so much and just get the ball to the basket.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
TJ would be like, yeah, you're right. John's in the.

Speaker 6 (57:41):
Middle of it.

Speaker 3 (57:42):
He can still make that decision, and he said he was,
and he's not.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
Every chance he gives, he tries to throw a grenade
in the craft. So with the inconsistency with the confusion
with the fact that he can't stay out of trouble
with the league. I'm done, Yeah, I'm done with Memphis.
I have zero faith they're gonna get their kids. They

(58:11):
week splif and then we won't be talking about them
no morning. It'll be a good day.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
So they are a six and a half point favorite
over the Dallas Mavericks the Miami Heat in Atlanta. Hawks
Atlanta is a one and a half point favored over
the Miami Heat. And as we said, the winner of
both of these matchups, one will get the number one

(58:36):
team in the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the other
will get the number one team in the West, the
OKC Thunder. The actual NBA playoffs will start tomorrow night,
Saturday or tomorrow afternoon as the Milwaukee Bucks travel to Indiana.
The second game will be the Clippers and the Denver Nuggets.

(58:57):
That is the game that I want to deathly try
to check out the night, Captain.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
That's gonna be a good game.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Detroit at New York and Minnesota at the Lakers to
end the night Tomorrow night. Uh, big time playoffs is
that time of year. This is where it's winner take
off for this series or these two games. Tonight it's
winner go home, and somebody will be in the Gulf Coast,

(59:26):
Gulf of America fishing in Galveston, So thats gonna hit that.

Speaker 3 (59:30):
They're gonna hit that seawall.

Speaker 1 (59:32):
That seawall is waiting for you. Don't try to go
down there and get in that brown water because that's
what they are going to be dealing with.

Speaker 4 (59:42):
You said you're rolling with who tonight.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
I'm rolling with Dallas and the other game Miami in Atlanta.

Speaker 3 (59:51):
I'm going with with the with the heat.

Speaker 4 (59:55):
Okay, I like I like both of those picks.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
John Morint day to day because he's dealing with an
ankle injury. Somebody who's check engine like is staying on
the World's Strongest Man coming up next with his World's
Strongest tank.

Speaker 4 (01:00:11):
You don't want to miss it. My man is in.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Vegas, even chicken and waffles or doing something else. Right
here on the morning kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred does something.

Speaker 4 (01:00:24):
He gets fired up like nobody else.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
The World's Strongest Man in WWE Hall of Famer.

Speaker 4 (01:00:31):
It's a big night in Vegas.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
But right now he's bringing you his world's strongest tank,
right here in Austin, Texas taking away, big fellow barge.

Speaker 4 (01:00:42):
What's up, man?

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
You know what timing is?

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
What time is it?

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
It's time for the world's strongest tape by the world's
strongest man midcasts.

Speaker 3 (01:00:55):
Back then they didn't know me. Now I'm hot, they
all own man. Guys.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
There's gonna be some big, big things happening right after
this play in. And that big thing is the fact
that the Los Angeles Lakers is gonna have a head
to head with the Minnesota Timberwolves. And a lot of
people are thinking that these teams it's gonna be a

(01:01:23):
good matchup.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
I don't. I don't. The stars couldn't be more different.

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
And when I say that, Anthony Edwards a guy that
can slash, probably one of the top five best athletes
in the league. He can take off from the free
throw line baseline, and this year he shot more threes
and hit more threes than he did his previous year

(01:01:56):
by over fifty shots. I think that on the flip
side of that coin, you have Luca who is a facilitator,
a guy that can consistently hit the jump shot that's.

Speaker 3 (01:02:12):
Too big for most guards and.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
Not so much an unstoppable weapon because he has weaknesses
and that and that major weakness is defense. Will he
be able to defend Anthony Edwards? And I feel like

(01:02:38):
I would have to give the plus to the Lakers.
And a lot of that is not just because of
the scoring, but the facilitator who Anthy Edwards is getting
the ball to is not equal to who Luca's getting

(01:03:00):
the ball to. Luca is gonna post people up and
kick the ball back out. And the guy that he
has to kick the ball out to his name Lebron
James and Lebron James. And even though he's forty years old,
he's playing close to the best basketball he's ever played.

Speaker 3 (01:03:25):
And Lebron knows this is it just.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
Like Lee Corso, father Time is undefeated in the window
of opportunity for Lebron is closing. I don't think that
going forward from this year on that you're looking at
championships for Lebron.

Speaker 3 (01:03:48):
I think Lebron's goals are.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
To have success and to help his sons get acclimated
to the NBA so they could have in an NBA career. Luca,
on the other hand, Uh, it's got a lot to prove.
His name is at the forefront of every basketball player
in the world, and Anthony Edwards is gonna have the

(01:04:16):
bear that that pressure and dealing with Luca.

Speaker 3 (01:04:22):
They're gonna they're gonna be They're gonna be man and
man a lot, and.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
It's gonna come down to pride and what your teammates
are able to do. My take is, guys, that with
all that being said, I'm gonna have to give the
edge to Luca, and not because I'm a Laker fan.

Speaker 3 (01:04:46):
But because of.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
Who Luca is getting the ball to as opposed to
Rudy Gobert being the next best player on their team,
and the Lakers have three guys think that can be
better than Rudy Gobert.

Speaker 3 (01:05:04):
We'll say you, well, I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:05:06):
Sitting here thinking about the possibilities.

Speaker 4 (01:05:11):
I do not like the fact that you think that.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
Just because Lebron James, not just because, but because Lebron
James is a better option. He's a better option for
whatever team he's on. He did that with with Booby
Gibson and now in Cleveland.

Speaker 3 (01:05:29):
In Cleveland, but I look at Wes.

Speaker 4 (01:05:32):
I look at this matchup.

Speaker 1 (01:05:34):
It's a little bit more interesting because I look at
some of these guys like Rudy Achimora. I'm looking at
Austin Reeves as being a guy that definitely needs to
step up and be one of those closers, because that
is the difference for me with this team. You look
at the three different shot makers that are on there.

(01:05:57):
Rudy Otimore somebody that can really shoot it from three.
You got Austin Reeves who is their suito point guard.
He's getting better and better every single time each game.
Man out there with a headband, rocking it, trying to
get it done.

Speaker 4 (01:06:15):
Then you look at what you've seen.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
From those role players that are off the bench playing defense.
Anthony Edwards is going to be a problem. But the
only problem that I see about Anthony Edwards is Anthony
Edwards sometimes doesn't know when he's not the choice right.
I think sometimes he gets to the point where he
wants to be the shooter the entire time, instead of

(01:06:42):
trying to let other guys create to find him. He's
the one that thinks he has to create sometimes, and
I think that is where his energy goes a little
bit different.

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
And if he's not on early and the referees make
a call, he's so easily thrown astray. And gets involved
with the referees and not focusing on what he needs
to do as a good teammate. So I can see
him Melton down if he don't get calls early.

Speaker 1 (01:07:15):
Yeah, you look at their roster and who is the
guy that needs to step up?

Speaker 4 (01:07:21):
You got Rudy.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
We talked about Gobert, Julius Randall, who we brought up
yesterday talking about the moves that are being made. What
is he going to bring to the table? Is he
out for the rest of the year. Nas Reed is
a guy that has done some special things as well.
So this is going to be a tough, tough matchup,

(01:07:45):
not just because of the names that you brought up
for the Lakers, but just because these guys have to
be able to make moves.

Speaker 4 (01:07:52):
And I don't know if they can.

Speaker 2 (01:07:54):
Austin Reed is an awesome player, But the key is
going to be with you just said Julius Random. He's
gonna get nuther five because of Dori and Phinnich, Smith, Hati,
Moron and Vanderbilt. All three of those guys can play
defense on the perimeter, play defense on the bows, and

(01:08:15):
they rebound and they do all.

Speaker 3 (01:08:16):
The dirty work and they can shoot the three.

Speaker 2 (01:08:19):
They're all three in D guys, so there's not enough.

Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
Tools in the SHD for Minnesota.

Speaker 4 (01:08:28):
Yeah, it's gonna be interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
I do like the match up though, three versus six
Lakers versus Minnesota, and it starts tomorrow night. Tickets as
low as two hundred dollars. Tickets in Memphis, you can
get them as low as sixteen dollars. You can see
the halves and the have nots coming up next. We'll
close out the show and send you to Dan Patrick.

(01:08:49):
The transfer portal is open in one, Texas. Longhorn decide
it was time for him to kick rocks right here
on the Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred.
This is a what a great, great week of shows,
Mark Henry. We've had a blast all week long and

(01:09:10):
we will continue to do so moving forward. Make sure
you get over to our podcast page in case you
missed any of our shows, and continue to support. Tell
you friends all about the Morning Kickoff as we continue
to grow, and next week we will be at Twin
Peaks next Thursday for the draft. We expect to hear

(01:09:32):
a lot of Longhorns being called myself, Craig Way, Mark Henry,
Cam Parker and we will have some special guests on
to talk all things about the NFL Draft because Texas
Longhorns are expected to have a record performance during this time.
And speaking of the Texas Longhorns and when we were

(01:09:53):
going to break, we talked a little bit about the
transfer portal. The transport portal giveth and it taketh away.
Texas has Cole Bravard, Travis Shaw, Hero Kanoe, Jack Bowmeister,
Brad Spence, and Emmett Moseley the fourth all have arrived

(01:10:14):
on the forty acres, but they've also had twelve guys
that have decided to get into the transfer portal since
the season ended. Amari nine Black tight end, wide receiver,
Freddie Debos, defensive lineman Sadura Mitchell, edge rusher Justice Finkley,
Javon Cole, defensive back, Tia Savea, defensive lineman, Aaron Bryant,

(01:10:39):
defensive lineman, linebacker Darren Gallett to Sue Konnull, defensive end
Jerre Bledsoe, John Ta Cook, who I saw some videos
of him working out, and just yesterday Bert Auburn kicker
decided that it was time for him to move on.

(01:11:01):
And earlier in the week when we met with Coach Sark.
Coach Sark had mentioned some things about the transfer portal
and some guys being able to get in and get
ready to get out of the transfer portal, and Bert
Auburn was one of those names that we weren't sure
we were going to see, but we ended up seeing

(01:11:22):
his name in there as well. Texas is already in
the market for another kicker. One of those kickers seems
to be a young man, Mason Shipley.

Speaker 4 (01:11:34):
From Texas State. He was a guy that's from Liberty Hill.

Speaker 1 (01:11:38):
He was fifty three of fifty five on his point
after attempts, fifteen of nineteen on field goals, and he
had a long of sixty against Sam Houston State.

Speaker 4 (01:11:49):
So that is a name to pay attention to.

Speaker 1 (01:11:51):
But my question to you, because I've seen a lot
of people on social media that are kind of heartless
when it comes to this type of situation, but Bert
Auburn did a lot for Texas very early in his
time here. So let's not just bury the guy just
yet because of the simple fact that he missed some kicks.

(01:12:12):
Burt Auburn, he had his ups and downs, and now
he's decided to move on but Texas is definitely in
the running for a new kicker. What are your thoughts
on that, Mark.

Speaker 2 (01:12:23):
Well, I think Brett Auburn is also is one of
those guys that got under the pressure at the end
of the season last year and took a lot of heat,
took a lot of flag Maybe this is the best
thing for him.

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
Yeah, And I mean it's a new home might be
best for him being having an opportunity to go elsewhere,
to reseve fresh, get yourself back into the flow of everything.
So that'll be something to pay attention to. As we
talked about earlier, next weekend we have the Spring Fling

(01:12:56):
Fan Day. Texas announced that they will have fan Day
April the twenty six.

Speaker 4 (01:13:02):
We're just a week away from that.

Speaker 1 (01:13:04):
We will be out there for that as well, be
listening all week long next week, so you know exactly
where we're going to be outside of dk R. There's
a lot of questions on this football team, Mark that
everyone is trying to figure out.

Speaker 4 (01:13:20):
A lot of it has to do.

Speaker 1 (01:13:21):
With the offensive line, replacing those guys that running back room,
new coaching staff, twenty three young players, high school players
that all have all signed.

Speaker 4 (01:13:32):
Then you add in the transfer portal.

Speaker 1 (01:13:34):
Guys, all these people are getting accustomed to the new
way of the Texas Longhorns.

Speaker 2 (01:13:41):
Well, Carje, I think you cannot wear as much about
the offense line as you think, because Texas has some
guys that played not only last season, but the season
before that didn't get rips because they had great players
in front of them.

Speaker 4 (01:13:58):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:13:59):
Now we get to see them in a situation where
their life depends on their they're football like their career
going forward. Do you go, do you have eligibility after
this year? And you got to stand up and be
a man, and maybe you're into the portal next year,

(01:14:21):
all you stayed with Texas and win a national championship.

Speaker 1 (01:14:25):
It's up to you, right right, And this is gonna
be an important week for Texas football. Also because we
talked about it last time. The transfer portal opened on Tuesday.
It closes next Friday, so there's wont The spring game
is the day after that, so we're gonna end up

(01:14:46):
seeing who's gonna be into portal by that time and
who's gonna be out of the portal by that time.
So it's gonna be interesting to see. We'll also find
out which Texas. Longhorn will be drafted the first one
off the Matthew Golden is somebody that a lot of
folks have high regard for. Kelvin Banks is another young man,

(01:15:08):
and of course John A barn But the question is
going to be where do you end up if you're
a quinn yours?

Speaker 4 (01:15:15):
Where do you end up if you were DJ Campbell?

Speaker 1 (01:15:19):
Not DJ Campbell, yeah, DJ camb No Williams, Sorry, one
of those guys are going to be leaving getting.

Speaker 4 (01:15:26):
Their name call.

Speaker 1 (01:15:27):
You got fourteen players from the University of Texas that
will have an opportunity to play at the next level.
Plus there may be some other names that will get called.
I'm telling you right now. A guy that stood out
at the Pro day was Moe Blackwell. Moe Blackwell opened

(01:15:48):
a lot of eyes with the way that he was
able to move around the freeness with it, but more
importantly how physical of a player he looked like. Bill
Norton is another guy on that defensive line.

Speaker 4 (01:16:02):
He's a road grader.

Speaker 1 (01:16:03):
As you were talking about before, Mark being able to
plug up that line. The defensive line for Texas has
done a great job out for Collins is another name
to pay attention to and Vernon been Broughton is one
of those guys as well.

Speaker 4 (01:16:22):
Andrew mccoom and Bear Soerrel is my sleeper.

Speaker 1 (01:16:26):
Somebody asked me about Baron Serrell on another radio station
and I told them. They said, who do you think
we should be looking out for? I said, Baron Sorell
has improved mightily every single year and the dude is massive,
So I'm hopeful that he gets his name called next

(01:16:47):
weekend as well, and of course lbj's own Andrew mccouba.

Speaker 4 (01:16:52):
I want to thank Mark Henry.

Speaker 1 (01:16:53):
Be safe out there, brother, enjoy yourself, enjoy your time
with Jacob. I want to thank Marcus ass and I
want to thank you the people.

Speaker 4 (01:17:02):
Have a great, great weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:17:03):
Texas Baseball will be on one O three one FM tonight.
Tomorrow they will be on AM thirteen hundred the Zone.

Speaker 4 (01:17:12):
I will be on SEC Network Plus, So check your
boy out.

Speaker 1 (01:17:16):
If you're not listening to Cragway for Marcus, I'm harball
hard and just remember this.

Speaker 4 (01:17:22):
Don't believe everything you see. The salt looks like sugar.

Speaker 1 (01:17:25):
Peace.

Speaker 4 (01:17:26):
Have a great weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:17:27):
Focus