Bernie Fratto previews Conference Championship week!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't listen to Fox Sports. That's right, you heard the man.
It's that time a week. My name is Bernie Fratto.
We are coming to you live from the tire act
dot Com studios here in Las Vegas. Tiract dot com.
We'll help you get there that match selection, fast, free shipping,
free road hazard protection and over ten thousand recommended installers

(00:21):
tirac dot com. The way tire buying should be Special
show tonight, first hour is gonna rock. Um. You know,
you can't have a sports conversation these days without invoking
the odds, with the betting lines, and you can't swing
a dead cat without finding out there's new you know,
there's new five. There's five new shows out there in

(00:42):
the ether. But not very few folks can talk this
business like this gentleman can. And I'm gonna draw a
quick comparison. You know. Back in nine, the Hawaii Islanders,
they were tripically affiliated to San Diego Padres. They featured
this young, up and coming play by play announcer by
the name of al michaels Well that season during a

(01:03):
nondescript five game series uh the visiting Albuquerque Duke's coached
by or managed by Tommy lasorda uh invaded town. And
what's interesting is after that five game series, Tommy sort
of got a call from his boss, Buzzy BEAVESI the
general manager of the Dodgers, and VIVESI just he merely
wanted a quick update on the progress of a few prospects.

(01:25):
But before the call terminated, Tommy Las sort of said, hey, Buzzy,
I just want to let you know, for what it's worth,
I the Islanders have this terrific announcer. He's really good.
His name is Al Michaels. Uh, if you ever need
an announcer, you really want to talk to this guy.
And Al said, well, our Buzzy said, well, we just
hired Vince Gully. But but thanks so much for the
heads up and and then Buzzies and win him at
the time, and you were, you were managing all five games.

(01:47):
How did you How did you hear him? He goes, Oh,
that SLB Bruce Freming, he was the crew chief that week.
We don't get along at all. He tossed me four
the five games, so I had to hear him back
in my hotel room. Bottom line is Vassi recommended Al
Michaels and the Cincinnati Reds in nineteen seventy, he became
the youngest announcer for a major league sports franchise of
all time. I draw that story in that parallel because

(02:09):
I want to introduce you to Bill Crackenburger or the Crackman.
He's a legend. The bottom line is you've heard him
probably since September in the beginning of the football season
and the Sunday morning football kickoff show. And of course
I'm privileged he's been a friend of mine for thirteen years.
But I look at Crackman the same way him breaking
into the scene as Al Michaels did back in nineteen seventy.

(02:30):
You're gonna be hearing about this guy because when he talks,
he brings a whole new dimension to this world we
call sports petting. Crack First things, First, good evening, buddy,
how are you, hey, good burn, Thanks for having me on.
I appreciate a little late night talk show here. We're
gonna give the give the you know, your listeners, try
to give him a little a little lesson than on

(02:51):
my thirty years of sports petting and crossing over to
some media stuff and talk about some good stuff and
just trying to let them listen. Not one of the
guys that talk about just getting winners. Let let's see
if we could try to make people lose it less.
How about that? Well, and enjoy the process. And let's
start from the start, because I've known you a long
time and you made a statement years ago. They stuck

(03:13):
with me, and so let's open up with this. Growing
up in New York, you mentioned that quote. Thank god
my parents did have the money to send me to college.
Take it from there, because people the barrier you get,
the more people become curious about you. So tell about you,
tell folks about your background. Well, you know, it's it's
not often I have an hour of unscripted radio. I

(03:36):
could just talk about what I want off the cuff.
I enjoyed that. It's the most spontaneous thing. I'm the
one that likes to have questions prepared or not. Just
ask me anything and then I'll just do it spontaneously.
So yeah, so that's a good, good start though. So
you know, growing up literally where I did, it was
the write of passage to Gamble. Everyone gambles back East

(03:56):
New York, New Jersey. Every single weekend on the Jersey Shore,
I worked since I'm nine years old, and my aunt
and uncles Pizza Stan. They had a restaurant down at
New Jersey Shore in a little blue collar poor town
called Kingsburg, New Jersey. And that's literally where I literally
broke my bones in and started meeting people on the
boardwalk and some phone conversated, I'm sorry, head to head conversations,

(04:20):
uh literally uh. Learning everything that I really apply now
in my life. It started at that young age talking
to people, learning streets, marts, learning things that that you
really can't learn any college degree or even high school degree,
diploma or nothing. And that's really where I started out

(04:41):
that that boardwalk. Every night I was working in the restaurant,
and at nighttime, everyone gambled. I mean, like I said,
if you're from the Bronx, from New Jersey or any
of those towns, you just gambled. Everyone gambled, whether it
was a racetrack, lottery, head to head, blackjack in the garage.
And and that's exactly what I did. I grew up

(05:03):
in a gambling family. My mother's family got Bleussers who
was Italian, and her family and her brothers said they
all were gamblers. And let me tell you when you
say everyone's gamblers, you're all losers. I was a loser.
I was a losing gambler. I was a sucker for years.
It took me all those years just to learn some
winning ways. So going back to that boardwalk at nighttime, literally,

(05:24):
when the lights went down and the people started going
home at nighttime, everyone gambled. The games of chance became
games of real gambling at nighttime, and they had a
thing called skill oh, which was kind of like a bingo,
and the bingos at nighttime turned into real cash bengos.
I learned odds at a very young age because thank god,

(05:46):
I had a really smart, smart cousin. My cousin Anthony
went to Fordham, very very smart. He took card counting
classes back literally this this is the nine seventy eight
seventy nine card counting classes. And literally that helped me
and and help me with a lot of the things
and odds and um, different kind of things that you

(06:08):
don't learn when you're nine and ten and eleven years old.
So from from an early young little age, I learned
a lot of things, especially just just playing blackjack. Like
I said before, we used to play blackjack head to head.
Now what that means is one person has a deck
and he deals to the other people and literally you
play until the bottom of the deck, real simple, the
four aces in the deck, just keeping track of four

(06:30):
aces because you get three to two on blackjack. No
one went to bet more. It was just fun stuff
from a young age, and those little parlay cards and uh,
everything that that we that we gambled on back then,
I would use later in life and turn it around
and actually, you know, make a profit where lots of

(06:52):
the sports books and even the casinos would would not
like someone like me, because you know, I'm not there
to have fun enjoy myself. I look at gambling so
different now than I did even forty years ago. I
just look about it. I just look at it. How
do I make money rather than just doing as a
hobby or just fun. Talking with the crack man, Bill Crackenburger,

(07:12):
you here on Sunday mornings on Contown to kickoff crack
a lot to unpack there, and of course I'm glad
you invoked bland Jack. The great books written by Euston
and Thorpe, which I've read. I'm a coward. Counter to
the bottom line is this, I'm guessing in an early age,
you learned discipline. We all take our loves talk about
some of the early lessons you learned gambling that have
stuck with you for thirty years. You know, Bernie, I

(07:36):
I say all that stuff, and Thorpe was the first book.
The first real eye opening thing for the casinos was
was that worked up? And I say all these things,
and yet I still had to lose on my own,
even knowing the knowledge that I had from the sharp
people around me from a very young age, I still
had to learn on my own. And I was still

(07:59):
a sucker. I still used to take the bus from
Kingsburg to to Long Branch to Eaton Town to Mamma's Park.
And I never even realized that when you go to
the racetrack you're given away on horses compared to a
football scrape beet, which is four and a half percent,
give or take. And literally it took me losing, uh

(08:21):
walking out of a racetrack multiple times with rabbit ears
and and and and you know when I say rabbit ears,
that means when you pull your pockets out looks like
rabbit ears walking out, that's all you have left is
a limit. So um, It took me many times of
doing that, and even with the smarts that I had,
it takes so many skill sets to be a gambler

(08:45):
that you're gonna turn it around and literally turned the
tables around on the books because you still have to
have that bank roll management, the internal skill sets you need.
Going back to that word, I say it a lot,
because it does take a lot more than just the knowledge.
You have to have the internal skill to turn off
the gambler inside of you and and literally not have
the chase go home a loser with warm worth, with

(09:08):
still money in your pocket. There's so many things you
need to be that professional gambler, and it took me
a lot, a lot of bumps just to get there.
And even now still in my life here now it's
so different for me than most people. But yet I
still understand those shortfalls of playing video poker and going

(09:28):
around because there's still positive games I can play. I
get some deals and stuff. It's very hard to turn
off that particular type of in your brain to say
all right, now it's time to stop, because everyone all
they wanna do is just get Even if you're in
a cassino, you say, let me just get even. Oh God,
let me just get even and I'll go home. Well,
that's the reason why the casinos are built. Because we

(09:50):
don't get even, we don't go home. So it takes
a lot of things. It took a lot of people
telling me and beating it into me, but no matter why.
It took my own, my own doing my own feeling
at night, going home with no money in my pockets,
and literally a lot of times it took that for
the pressure to be off me even. You know, like
like I said, when I was a kid, why he said,

(10:12):
even when I turned seventeen, eighteen twenty, I was driving
down to Atlantic City from Mommouth County, New Jersey, and
and that long hour and a half drive, you think
so many different things that that goes through your heads,
goes through your mind, and sooner or later it just
kicks in and hey, this this is there's there's no
fun in this. This is not fun. It's fun to
beat the bookmaker. It's fun to beat the casinos. And

(10:33):
I've been doing that now, you know, going on over
thirty years. And you know a lot of the places
don't they don't welcome my business. Now, I mean, I
get frown out of places just for using my brain
all the time, and of course invoking the great Milton
Borrow who once said, I'm going to the track Saturday.
I hope I break even. I could use the money.
We're talking with the great Bill Crackenburger. Follow him on

(10:56):
Twitter at Bill Krackman. He's with us the full hour.
Of course, later we're gonna get into Sunday's matchups and
some philosophies and props and parlays and what not to do.
But coming up, you may not be a professional gambler,
but you can think like one if you listen to
the lessons that Bill Krackman has. By the way, do
you get him making the bet or do you get

(11:18):
high winning the bet again? You're gonna be all ears.
Coming up, Bill Krackman with us the full hour. Football fans,
be sure to tune into Fox Sports Radio's Countown to Kickoff,
presented by Bet MGM, every Saturday and Sunday morning three
hours before kickoff. Tune in Saturday morning nine a m.
Eastern Sunday morning tenny and Eastern. We take you live
all the way to kick Off on Fox Sports Radio.
The I Heart Radio app presented by Bet MGM. I'm

(11:40):
Bernie Fradero come to you live from the tire Act
dot Com studios here in Las Vegas with the great
Bill Krackman for the full first hour. Keep it locked.
You're listening to the Bernie Frauder Show on Fox Sports Radio.
This is Steve Covin and Rich Davis, and together we
are Covino Enriched, cavin No and Mitch. Thanks buddy, that's right,
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(12:03):
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(12:23):
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Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Search f s R to listen. Live back on the

(12:43):
Bernie Fratto Show, or come to you live from the
entire act dot Com studios here in Las Veleas, Nevada.
This is Fox Sports Radio. We are joined the first
full hour tonight by the great Bill Crackman, Cracking Burner.
You hear him every Sunday morning on Countdown the Kickoff
and as we can you crack Man. Before we took
a quick break there, I I mentioned that I believe

(13:07):
most bettors get high making the bet, not winning the bet,
but no one wants to lose. You were determined to
turn this into a profitable living for you. And you
have what was the turning point in your career and
in your life? What was the trigger event that turned
you on this northern path that you stayed on for decades.
Well again, like growing up in my family, I was

(13:28):
in there. We always, uh my whole family bet sports.
From a young age. We used to get these parlay
cards thing used to have like a little you know,
preferating that you used to pull the card off the
bottom of the card, and tournaments of the bookmaker and
you know, four out of four gets you ten bucks
for a dollar. And I played them and that was
nine ten eleven years old and listen every single weekend.

(13:50):
You know, my my dad, my uncle. Of all betting bookmakers,
every one of them lost, including myself. But it really
took me a phone call about thirty years ago. Uh
literally literally, I was working by the way, Berne, you
probably don't know anyone that worked more blue collar jobs

(14:10):
than me. I mean I did everything from uh sale,
radio sales. How about the cemetery sale. I used to
sell cemetery plot. I I literally detailed cars. I worked
so many blue college jobs my whole entire life, and
thank God for them. And like you said earlier in
the show, thank god my parents didn't have the money

(14:31):
to go to college because I could never ever be
where I am today with a college education unless I
was like maybe CEO of a company or something. But um,
and you know, and not that I don't recommend college
for kids, because let me tell you, I absolutely do
you want to go to college. Absolutely go to college,
send your kids to school. But you have to have

(14:51):
some other things. You have to have streets marts, you
have to have common sense, you have to have decision
making skills. You have to talk with confidence, gossa that
you have those skill sets with a college degree stronger
than Morphee. Brother. Let let me tell you how it
all turned around for me. Really thirty years ago, I
get a phone call from someone and said, tells me

(15:14):
something is going on down in the Atlantic City. I'm
living two hours north of Atlantic City at the time.
Like I said, I was working two jobs at the
time day I was dating my wife. We were dating
at the time. And I go down there after work,
like you know, one in the morning, and this guy
tells me the casino the old Golden Nugget by the
way in Atlantic City, which is the old Las Vegas.

(15:34):
I'm sorry, at the old Atlantic City, Hilton Valley's Grand
There was so many names to this place. So I
go there and just like I'm told by the guy
on the phone, he said, there's something going out machines
down there that they're over paying. They're paying too much.
So of course I'm in for a good little grind
of some kind of urn. You know. Always losing my
money in the casino is like a sucker. I go

(15:55):
down one o'clock in the morning. There's one bank of machines,
twelve machine is packed. And this is like a Tuesday
night when the whole place is pretty dead. I know
something's going on. That's the banking machines. Now the trouble
is getting on one of the machines. Though all the
bank was full. Well, it just so happens like the
heavens opened up above and like Moses parting the red sea.

(16:16):
Here the one machine opens on the end, and I
jump on that last seat, and next to me is
uh tall six ft seven guy, kind of lanky and
uh glasses. You could deceive methodical ways, by the way
it was, you know, putting the coins in the machines.
By the way, there was no tickets in and out.

(16:37):
Back then, it was the big, big silver dollars which
came in and out of the machines. There was no
there was no there was no paper. They're called t
I t o stick it and stick it out. Back
then it was just coins. So that noise through the
casino resonating all night. That's right, ting ting ting, ting,
ting ting ting. They trying to make that noise now
recreated with a sound when you cash out of the machine.

(16:59):
But the real sound was the coins clunking and clinking
down through through the guts of the machine and hitting
the metal tray at the bottom to make it seem
like everyone's a big winner when they're cashing out. But um,
so now I still don't know what I'm doing. I'm
just getting ready to put a twenty dollar bill on
the machine. I put it in, and the guy next

(17:19):
to me says to me, sir, could you buy some
rolls of coins from me? I'm trying to recreate his voice,
and I said, yeah, yeah, sure, buddy. Here you know,
I gave him forty twenty dollars or the roll of
dollars at the time. And I still don't know what
I'm doing. I'm putting them in and I'm saying, why
why am I buying the coins? What's the reason why?

(17:40):
You said, Well, we want to We don't want the
hopper being empty, so please put the coins in. And uh,
you know what we want to do is we want
to keep all the coins in the machine because if
it goes empty, they have to come over and empty
the hop fill the hopper up. And we don't want
people knowing the edge we have. That would mean, well,

(18:02):
I still don't know the edge I have. So um,
they want to keep coins in the machine and cash
out at the end of the night. I'm still finding
this out. By the way, it's only a dollar per spin,
a dollar one little grocery dollar per span. Well, now
I realized that something's up now. It was a black
check machine. And what that meant is you're you're playing
head to head black check on a computer is just

(18:24):
like they have now. But there was a surrender feature
back then. And the surrender feature you used to get
fifty years supposed to get fifty of your hand back,
and you could just start over and literally put a
dollar and you get fifty cents back. Put two dollars
and you get a dollar back. Um, But think that
that's that's the max. So you used to get a
dollar back. So the idea was to play two dollars

(18:44):
per hand, and if you get a dollar back, if
you want to have surrender. However, this particular machine a
little bit better. You get your whole buck back if
you want to start. So you want to play a
dollar a hand, you don't like your hand, you get
the whole dollar back. Well, Niles to say, the giant
edge that is, even if you're dealt an eighteen versus ten,
you actually want to surrender that because eight teams are

(19:06):
losing hand long term. So if you get anything except
for nineteen or twenty or it's obviously if you get
even a neutral hand like a fifteen, but the dealer
as a six up, you wouldn't want to surrender that.
So sure enough, that night I made six thousand dollars.

(19:26):
I had a thousand in the bank. By the way,
I didn't met there with a couple hundred bucks. I
literally had a thousand dollars in the bank, working two jobs.
Next morning I called out of work, we called out
of work, and sure enough, thank god, I got the
phone call when I did. And and you know, I'll
tell you I wasn't gonna say it before. The phone
call I got was for freehold, New Jersey, was from

(19:47):
a buddy of mine who was actually in jail in
the in the county jail there. He said, he said,
I heard from some guys in here. It's this is
literally right like right out of like Oceans eleven. Uh,
you know, inside of jail. The guy's talking about something
going on down in Atlantic City. And and literally that day,
like I said, I made six thousand dollars before they

(20:07):
came over and turned off the machines. But more Importantly,
before any of that happened, that the guy next to
me started talking to me and said, hey, uh, I
work over at Resorts International, Like I could talk about
it because he's not retired. He was the head of
the card count team that worked for the casinos against
the players. So meanwhile, this guy was moonlighting, you know,

(20:28):
playing all positive play machines and and using his skills
that he learned, you know, from the casino and from
the just from the skills he's learned from life being
a card counter and went out at nighttime and like
I said, moonlighting taking advantage of those kind of things
and doing his own card counting and positive ev expected
value of casino gambling. So sure enough, his name's Frank.

(20:50):
Still one of my friends in life, believe it or not.
Here thirty years later, Frank taught me so many things
about sports betting. He said, well, if you have bookmakers
from Philadelphi, the bookmakers from New York, which normally if
you're down in the Lantic city you probably have both.
Or you know, if you wherever you're from the state,
you could middle and scalp games. And that's exactly what
Frank and I wind up being best friends and partners

(21:13):
for the next decade, literally middling scalping. I'll call it
bonus whoring because a lot of the sports books were
giving away sick bonuses at the time, just like now,
it's a big part of your Now all these jurisdictions
with bonuses. I mean, I can't tell you how many
sports books have a thousand dollar free bets or even
depositive bonuses. Now there's so many of them. So back then,

(21:36):
with the same thing, you have worked a great inside
term that obviously professional gamblers know a lot about. Probably
some of that is happening this week with Kansas City
and Cincinnati scalping arbitrage. Take a minute to explain people
what that means and how you found that advantage which
gave you that positive ev Yeah, you know, like Frank said,

(21:58):
there was a bookmaker in Philly, a bookmaker in New York.
Let's say the Giants played Philly. Well, the bookmakers in
Philadelphia they need bets on literally they need bets on
the Giants, and vice versa up in New York. So
you'd find some differences in lines. Now, this is before
the internet, so there was you know, it's really it was.
It was so much easier back then to do. And
that's literally, um, you know when when you're laying you know,

(22:21):
you know one and a half points and maybe another
sports book has three and a half because they were
located geographer Lee Wise in New York that was laying
the one and a half and taken three and a half.
Oh my god, that's so strong. And literally that's how
I started by by by doing that middling of games.
Now you can't do it now, it's almost impossible. I

(22:42):
give credit to anyone that does it. I just like
being on the positive side of a game and the
side that I know that's the mathematical advantage of the game.
But back then, that's how I built it up. Even
baseball season, you know, laying a dollar thirty on the
Yankees and taking a dollar thirty five. Uh, you know,
was it was another bookmaker? You know, Um, there were
so many casinos and online that they're back then they

(23:04):
used to I say online that it was on the phone.
Actually they used to have phone. You know, bookmakers used
to call on the phone and some far off places
which you just hope you got paid by the way
they have giant bonuses and stuff. That was the way
to make money back then, and I literally built up
a bank roll up until I met some of the
sharpest people in the world, some of the sharpest syndicate

(23:24):
groups in the world. And when I say the word syndicate, Bernie,
a lot of people think automatically it's associated with the
mafia or a mob syndicate. No, no, not at all. Actually,
far from that. The syndicate I'm talking about is sports
spending syndicates. Some of the most smartest, literally people I've
ever met in my life were like the owners of

(23:45):
like Pinnacle sports dot com that back then Pinnacle was
it real now? By the way I say that name
now it's not the same like it used to be.
That place was owned by I call it the free
wise Men. Some of the They were the sharpest guys
in the world. Jewish UM, really brain Harvard graduate UM,
Giant giant UH giants in the industry. They were part

(24:08):
of the original Computer Group, which was a big, big
money moving group in the eighties. Um. These weren't your
typical bookmakers. These guys lead the way with reduced juice
and and and different kind of bonuses. And there's so
much stuff I don't need to be jumping around. But
I kind of get excited telling this story because I
really don't have any chances to usually talk like this

(24:28):
and talk this long. But like I said, I am
skipping around, but knowing, knowing what I know now compared
to them, I like sharing those things off my thirty
year playbook and and um, literally that's how I started
building up a bank roll. Franks caught me a lot
of the ways he let me use some of hip.
By the way, I only had a thousand bucks while
I won that six thousand that night, Frank let me

(24:49):
use some of his bank roll literally to build up
our bank roll as a team together. I literally, in
a matter of three years, I quit my job and
started betting sports full time, paying taxes. Here almost thirty
years paying taxes on full time sports. Budding talk with
a great Bill Krackman, cracking Burger with this the full
first hour catch him Sunday Mornings on Content the kickoff.

(25:11):
When we continue, let's dive into Sunday Slate Eagles, Chiefs, Bengals,
but first go to our Kevin figures with the latest.
All right, Bernie, just five games on the NBA slate
Friday Night, The nightcap saw the Warriors beat the Raptors
one nine to one, seventeen thirty five points there for
Steph Curry, twenty nine for Clay Thompson. Jimmy Butler scorts

(25:33):
twenty nine to leave Miami over Orlando one ten to
one oh five for their fourth win in their last
five games. A triple double from John Morant not enough
for Memphis. They fall to Minnesota one eleven to one hundred.
Jona said to the Kompo forty one points twelve rebounds
for the Bucks, they notch a ten point victory over
the Pacers. In NFL news, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelsey
listed as questionable for the a f C Championship game

(25:54):
with a back injury, but is expected to play. Quarterback
Patrick Mahomes was removed from the injury report. He will start.
Bengals will be without starting offensive lineman Alex Kappa and
Jonah Williams. College basketball in New Mexico improved to nineteen
and three, their twenty fifth ranked in the country. They
beat Air Force one to seventy three. Back to Bernie
Freddo Alright, thanks, Kevin, we continue on with Bill Crackman

(26:16):
and Cracking Burger. We've got a couple of football games
Sunday crack and uh this is the time of the
year where Lions get get very sharp, and uh, I
will why don't we do this. Let's start with the
with the early games San Francisco in Philadelphia, and I'd
like to get your break down, your thoughts. If you're
on a side, if you're on a total, perhaps some

(26:36):
props you're looking at. I'll just jump the gun reel
here right now. The only the only thing I fired
on is the under and passing yards for brock Proty
to twenty one. The reason I say that is because
whenever the Eagles have faced a quarterback this year, were
the passing prop totals for that game We're to twenty
one or north fifteen and one to the under. Your

(27:00):
thoughts on the Niners Philly game, Well, I'll tell you
I'm trying to find someone that likes San France. I mean,
every single person I know is on Philly um or
they like Philly. Now, Uh, you know one thing about me,
especially this time of the year, I don't have to
have a side, especially on a conference championship game. Football

(27:22):
is very NFL football. The toughest thing to beat is
NFL sides, I look at more of the secondary markets,
like you said, the proposition market, the total market, some
kind of correlations. I'll look at stuff like that rather
than looking at to try to beat one of these sides,
especially these games. These games are such tough games. I mean,
anything can happen. Nothing would surprise me in both of

(27:43):
these games. Literally, any of these teams can beat any
of the other teams by double digits, and I would say, Okay, yeah,
that's that's that's definitely gonna happen. Um. Going back to
what you said to San fran game, I might even
waited more towards game time to bet under. But I
say that, and yet I actually did bet McCaffrey under

(28:05):
so um because I didn't want to lose the number.
But the public loves to bet over on proposition bets
because it's fun. It's not, let me tell you, it's
not fun to you know, the root for unders, the
root for no scoring or no yards. But I'm not
in this the fund for fun. I'm in this to
put money on the table to support my family, friends,
enjoy my life. Um. So again, going back to what

(28:29):
I said, I'm going to have under on a lot
of props that I did not even bet yet, especially
in the second game. I'm gonna have a ton. I
think that game is even more towards the under. But
in this situation too, I told you I gave you
one that I bet the under on. Um. Again, I
don't really have anything that stands out anything really in

(28:51):
this game right now, at this time, this game opened
up one and a half, it's up two and a
half minus twenty. There was actually a three at two
different sports books here in law Vegas today, um and
and that's a free flat too, so that that's really
hard to believe that it would go towards that keen
number of three. Books will don't really like to come
offer on that that number of three. UM. So this

(29:12):
particular game, uh twelve o'clock wire time here West Coast time,
Sunday morning. I will definitely have some more plays on
the unders two on player props. I don't like to
do overs. You're a winner until you're a loser first
of all. Unders is the way to go in general
and life. On almost everything I play. Yet I have

(29:33):
evolved and things. I do play some overs, especially on
some totals now whereas years ago I never would have before.
But as far as player props for everyone over, I'll have.
I'll bet five unders. Yeah, I'm a million percent with you.
For a slightly different reason. Uh, my great lament is
if you were ever on and over for an individual

(29:54):
player prop and they rule their ankle the start of
the game, you've got a problem, right, so you never know.
But beyond that, before I jumped to the k C
game crack what I try to look for in handicapping
as well? After you after you've already crunched all the numbers,
our strength versus weaknesses, And interestingly enough, the fourty manner
secondary has allowed more fifty yard pass plays in anybody

(30:19):
in the league, and Philly has a very talented array
of receivers. Do you take fundamental factors like that into
your handicap when you look at the game? You know,
I would guess I do, And even even the one
I should say, I guess I do. But even what
you said on the San fran quarterback on the under

(30:39):
that that you said, I do. Try to think about
what's going to happen down the line. Listen, according to
the bookmaker here, what's supposed to happen is Philadelphia is
supposed to come out for a lead. Listen, Philadelphia the
first half team this year. They've covered so many games
first half. So the way the game is supposed to
be played out here is Philadelphia is supposed to come

(31:02):
out with the lead. And um, you know, especially a
rookie situation, this quarterback is in you don't know if
you're gonna if you what's going to happen with this
kid sooner or later. I'm not gonna say fall apart,
it's too strong of a word because in this this
kid's already been under pressure here the last couple of games.
I'm granted, if he didn't look great for Dallas and
Dallas Dallas, you know, probably they could have won that

(31:25):
game too, So he didn't look great against them, but
they did get the job done. So what I think
may be happening in that game, what's supposed to happen
according to the linemakers here, he may be thrown at
the end of the game. He maybe, you know, the
fourth quarter, if they're down, there's gonna be throwing there.
So I kind of kind of scared of that particular
prop um at this point, and it really wasn't your

(31:46):
question but just thinking about now, listen, I'll be rooting
for you there because I'm not gonna I'm definitely not
gonna have over on on Purdy yet for sure. Um,
But I just think that, uh, you know, what's supposed
to happen in the game is you know, he's supposed
to be you know, trying to come back and and
and that's the reason why you can't bet overs on
a lot of these these problems. Look at last week, Um,

(32:06):
Cincinnati Bengals played Buffalo, and like the only over I
remember betting that the whole day was over uh over
on yards by Burrow and on the over on receptions
by Burrow, attempts and completions, um, and and it just
bothered me that the game did not play out like
the linemaker said. The linemaker said, there's a six point

(32:28):
Buffalo lead line and which which meant he should be
throwing the ball a lot, and he wasn't because they
had the lead. So you have to try to put
that into it also. But more than anything, you have
to put those streets marks, the common sense into what
is Joe Public doing. Joe Public is betting fifty and
a hundred dollars on all of these quarterbacks and all

(32:50):
of these wide receivers, all these marquee positions. They're they're
betting over on all these things. So the bookmakers forced
to overmove that line because they have to get the
two way actions just in case they do go over.
So therefore it leaves a nice, juicy, juicy situation for
a guy like me. I'm expecting a defensive battle in

(33:11):
this game. San Francisco, amazingly is one the turnover battle
ten straight games. Meanwhile, Philadelphia seventy sacks on the season,
they lead the National Football League. I haven't fired on
the end or I'm gonna wait till Sunday real quickly
crack uh. I'm on the belief. More over, money is
gonna come in which you'll move the lineup and I'll

(33:32):
get a better number Sunday. Is that the right move? Well,
not only better number, the key number you know it's
it's it's a solid and a half at twelve books
on my on my odds screen right now, I have
a live odd screen than I pay a month of
the springs. I have to know where the lines are
moving at, what key books, and what indicators in the
market are going to be, What ut six and a

(33:53):
half very vanilla plane number across the screen. Boy, that's
one of the keen numbers on the totals. There's a
only a couple of teen numbers, thirty seven, which we
just don't get any workers. Games aren't lyne thirty seven
that often? Then you'll have three and forty seven is
one of those numbers. So Bernie, I'm with you there.
If you're gonna bet under, I would wait until Sunday

(34:14):
and help one of these square books, uh pop up
a forty seven to go on to that number, because
games land on forty seven, Like I said, so I
hear you, buddy, coming up. The Bengals have beaten the
Chiefs three times in thirteen months. Interestingly enough, Kansas City
led every one of those games heading into the fourth quarter,
but since he outscored Casey by eighteen cumulative points in

(34:37):
the fourth quarter to prevail in all three games. How
confident in Cincinnati will break it down with the Great
Bill Crackman, Cracking Burger, and Bernie Fratto or com to
you Alive from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio tire
Act dot Com studios. Keep it locked. You're listening to
the Bernie Fratto Show on Fox Sports Radio. Back on
the Bernie Fratto Show. Company Alive from the Las Vegas
Tire Act dot Com studios Here in Las Vegas, wrap

(34:59):
it up the Great Bill krack Man, Cracking Burger. We
talked Eagles Crackman. Let's flip to the a f C game,
the one that's the most talked about. We've got new
nicknames for stadiums, all kinds of backstories, mayors running their mouth.
What is the knee jerk reaction you have when you
look at this game from a professional handicapper standpoint, Well,

(35:20):
I tell you that this game opened up. I followed
the sports books real closely, especially when the minute left
to go in the game. Say, a couple of couple
of books will put the game up for the next week,
and this game. Actually people don't know this, but this
game actually opened Kansas City as a three point favorite.
About two minutes some some some money was hit real

(35:43):
fast at the sports book on Cincinnati plus three. They
went to plus three minus a dollar twenty and then, unbelievably,
over the next I don't know thirty six hours, the
game totally flipped around. Cincinnati became a two and a
half point favorite, well really moving five and a half points.
And now we've flipped again after seeing Mahomes is okay

(36:06):
to play. It looks like, um, probably about okay to
play where people it looks like some of the sharp
guys that I know are actually putting them on even
higher than that. But I just think that, uh and
the will the finished what I was saying first, So
not the line is a solid Kansas City minus one
and a half, and I think it will be around
there around game time. It will probably one and a half.

(36:28):
It lists in Kansas City is gonna be favorite in
the game. Homes is showing since Wednesday, he's, you know,
working out on the field, looking pretty good, feeling pretty good.
And like I said, even the sharp guys I know
they're they're actually betting the over on the game. The
game opened up forty eight and a half, went down
to forty seven, even forty six and a half at
a couple of the key sports books, and and then

(36:49):
after Mahomes came out looked pretty good. I went up
to forty seven, forty seven and a half and now
it's a solid forty eight again. Um, I'll just tell you, uh, yeah, Okay,
maybe he is healthy. Like I said, even se Holmes
is better than of some of the quarterbacks in the league.
So um, all it takes, though, is one little anything,

(37:11):
someone rolling into him, someone hitting them, falling after you know,
maybe scrambling back there, or he was actually trying to
get a couple of yards on because he is a trooper,
so he would try to run for some yards and
uh literally that would knock him down, knock him out
a couple of series or a couple of plays, and
you know they have a good backup. I'm not saying that,
but I'm talking about, like the proposition bets on him

(37:33):
over two hundred and eighty one and a half passing yards.
And that's the way to listen. I know two different
sharp groups that are out there betting, and they're both
bending over on his attempts, his his his amount of
completions and his yards. I'm not going to be one
of them. Now. I'm not betting neunder I'm not against them,
but I'm not bending over um. Really, even though it's

(37:56):
it's lined a lot lower than it would normally be
with a with a healthy on the homes out there,
I still am not sold on the on the over
in this game and on the over on him, and
I don't really have a side on this game. Um,
if the Homes is totally healthy and you're getting um,
you're getting Kansas City at home under a field goal. Uh.

(38:21):
This particular type of team and with so much experience
the Homes has been there, He's going the big game already.
And I'm not saying Burrow it doesn't because I love
that kid. That kid, by the way, that kid went
to the same high school my dad went to in
southeastern Ohio. That's when my dad was born and raised there.
So it's this should be a great game to watch.
I know everyone has to have a bet on the door, Bernie,

(38:41):
I understand. I know what the human condition is. In
human nature, everyone has to have a bet on the
side of a game. Listen, even you do this for fun,
or you do do this for a living. I I
do this for a living, so I don't do this
for fun. I'm looking at secondary markets, especially in this game.
I'll have a lot of under on player props. And

(39:02):
when I say player props, you are props of the
marquee players have a lot of unders on them. When
it comes to kickoff time, Crackman got about thirty seconds
since five against the number in their last twenty six.
Why haven't the markets caught up with him? You know,
you're right there there, They really haven't. They haven't caught
up with them. And and uh, you know, especially there's

(39:22):
there's still a lot of naysayers on this team and
on this kid that talk about this game. But I'll
tell you, um this particular game again, either one of
these teams can win by double digits and it wouldn't
surprise me. And that's that goes for both games. The
great Bill Crackingburger follow at Bill Krackman. Crack will catch
you Sunday morning. We'll see you soon again for lunch.

(39:43):
Thanks so much, my man. Thanks Bernie. That's a great
Bill Krackman Crackenburger. And we'll have him on again down
the road. He comes on about every two or three months,
coming up. I told you you want to make Mike
McCarthy the next Tom Landry. I've been holding it back, Dallas.
I'm coming where you keep it locked. This is Bernie
Fratto Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the best

(40:05):
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox Sports Radio. Dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. Well,
that's right, you heard the man. The Bernie Fratto Show
rolls right along. My name is Bernie Fratto. Where come
to you live from the tire act dot com studios
here in Las Vegas tire rac dot com. We'll help

(40:27):
you get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free
ruin hazard protection and over ten thou recommended installers ti
rac dot com the way tire buying should be. It
is sad there are only three games remaining in the
National Football League Before of course, you know we look
ahead of the quarterback Carrol Sale. Jason Smith's right about that,

(40:50):
and then the draft and bots. But only three games left,
so I can't resist. And by the way, that you know,
my show tonight and for most of tomorrow is gonna
be heavy, heavy, NFL centric. There's only three games left.
And by the way, not for nothing if you are
inquisitive about how competitive we are expecting the conference championship

(41:15):
games to be. The last time both conference championship favorites
were favored by less than three points, you gotta go
back to Green Bay was catching two and a half
in San Francisco. Denver was plus two and a half
at Pittsburgh. Both road teams won. Green Bay advanced to
the Super Bowl against Denver. As you know, Denver prevails.

(41:37):
So we're expecting a very competitive weekend. Now, the first
thing I'll do is take my medicine. I said the
Cowboys under of ten and a half wins would cash
this year. It didn't credit to the Cowboys. They went
over eleven wins. But I knew it. I've been holding
my tongue. I knew it. You saw how the season
ended last year. I cannot resist. Sorry you want Okay?

(42:01):
Is Mike mccarthur gonna be the next Tom Landry? Is?
Jerry Jones said, Well, Landry coached twenty nine years in Dallas,
so that would put McCarthy. I thinking about years old
when he retires. Hey could happen? Sure? Why not? And
people asked me, if McCarthy loses in the playoffs, you're
gonna get fired. Hell no, Why would Jerry do that.

(42:21):
Jerry likes subservient coaches and Mike McCarthy, No, he's not
a yes man because when Jerry says no, McCarthy says
no to And by the way, they just blew out
six other assistance this past week. So all I can
say is thank you, Dallas, Thank you, Dak, thank you,
Mike McCarthy. I told you I let them off the
hook last month doing full well. This would surely be

(42:43):
another sequel. And don't call me Shirley. So before we
get to this week's games, which will pick up again
later in the show, I want to pause just for
a second and and reflect and consider the absurdity of
the Cowboys final drive and they're lost to San Francisco Sunday.
They got the ball back down with forty five seconds

(43:04):
to play, no time outs left, and here's what we saw.
Dak Prescott almost takes the safety, then Dalton Schultz catches
the paths and fails to get out of bounds properly twice.
And whatever the hell that last play was, Ezekiel Elliott
lined up a center with nine other players split wide.

(43:26):
It ended with a harmless eight yard reception. Stupid yet
so beautiful, so on brand. It makes me grateful and
blessed that I get to do sports talk creative for
cannon fodder moments like this. As I said, Dja vull
over again, I'm gonna torch. The Cowboys. Okay, fourteen seconds
left to go in their wild card matchup last Sunday,

(43:49):
the Cowboys call a quarterback draw that Prescott took too far,
and then the quarterback and the entire offensive line collectively forgot, Hey,
you can't spot the ball themselves. Let me set that
out better. This is last year's playoffs. Remember last year,
there are fourteen seconds left in the game. This is January.

(44:10):
Cowboys call a quarterback draw. Prescott Blewett, quarterback, the entire
offensive line collectively forget. You can't spot the ball themselves.
You have to hand it to the referee. The clock expires.
The umpire tried to fight his way through the line
to spot the ball and self. Everybody was stunned the
complete lack of preparedness. It looked like a Chinese fire

(44:31):
drill out there for crying out loud. Then this last Sunday,
proving the Cowboys are consistent right in their NFC Divisional
round matchup. Now, mind you, last year where they there
was the wild card least the Cowboys got past the
wild card by beating Tampa Bay and Tampa Bay. So
this last Sunday they're playing in their divisional round matchup
against San Francisco Facts, already throwing the proverbial two picks,

(44:55):
the gratuitous two picks. What do you expect seventy six
yards to go? And perhaps there's really only a chance
for one final snap in the game. What does Mike
McCarthy do. He calls the gadget play with running back
Ezekiel Elliott alone at center, no supporting lineman near him,
and Prescott and shotgun and they took forever to get

(45:17):
the snap off. As soon as Elliott got off the snap,
which seemed like it took a day and a half,
he completely got pancaked. Jimmy wore the quarterback for the
forty niners. He blows up the pole. He forget the details.
You saw it happen game over again. Last season. At
least the plays leading up to the game ending disaster

(45:39):
were reasonably smart calls that took the Cowboys out of
bounds to stop the clock and got them also almost
close enough to get into field goal range. They weren't
even close enough to. I mean this this year was
an absolute disaster. Not only was the final play in
the final draft a mess, Dallas completely wasted twenty three
seconds from their final punt and their final drive because

(46:01):
they didn't use time outs, And that would have been
if if you would have managed it properly. And know,
it's really easy to me to sit here on a
Sunday on a Saturday morning and bark and play armchair quarterback.
But that's why these knuckleheads are played. The paid the
big bucks. Mark Mike McCarthy is not paid to look
like the guy wandering around them all parking lot wondering

(46:23):
where the helly park this car? Twenty three seconds, that's
an eternity in the National Football League. If you know
what you're doing. They could have run four more plays
then after after the game, Mike McCarthy says, I really
don't want to get into detail on it. Quote, but
that obviously wasn't the plan. Well, what the hell was
the plan? You're the coach, he declined. He did not
want to elaborate on what was supposed to happen on

(46:46):
the last play. So since McCarthy want to elaborate, I
will elaborate. And by the way, I've got a few
questions for Mike McCarthy and Jerry Jones and Tom Landry
and company. And so since I don't live in Dallas,
and I don't cover the team in a fisher capacity.
I'm just gonna throw them out there. One Why was

(47:07):
the punt team not ready or why not go for it?
Remember on third and ten Dak Prescott whether there was
two forty five left in the game, Dak Prescott was sacked.
At that point, the Coaways were down seven points. But yet,
for some reason, Mike McCarthy said, oh, hell, let's just
burn tech seconds to motion the offense off the field. Uh,

(47:31):
with all the urgency of sitting in line at the
d m V while you're waiting to get your new license,
that hesitation on either punning not punning going forward when really, frankly,
the truth is, you got yourself a forty five million
dollar quarterback and an expensive running back and expensive wide receiver.
And you know, again easy for me to say, I

(47:54):
think Dallas probably should have gone for it. Then they
probably should have. So now all of a sudden, there's
two minutes and twenty seconds left. Another eight seconds, get
the snap off. Now you're down to two twelve. The
Niners they fair catched upon at two oh five. That's
forty total seconds they burned simply to complete a punt
in a situation where Dallas really needed to preserve as

(48:17):
much time as possible. Okay, NFL teams practices it's called
a quick punt scenario. You're right, you have an offense,
you have a special team. They regularly practice these quick
punt situations because that time is valuable. What if when
Dallas ran that goofy final play with Ezekiel Elliott under center,

(48:41):
they would have had forty seconds, even with Doc who's
turnover prone, even with McCarthy who show nobility in high
leverage moments to to make the right decision and be
in command of the situation, forty seconds might have given
him a fighting chance. Anything could have happened, well be
not with the Cowboys, anything, but you get my pick,

(49:02):
you get the picture. Perhaps you know, there could have
at least been a I don't know, the pass interference
call whatever, right, So these you know, these teams do this.
These a few seconds, not forty secs, not best. You know,
the Cowboys, I would just say this, they they wasted
at least ten seconds on ind decision and another ten
or fifteen seconds on organization and execution. And again there's

(49:27):
two there's there's two more plays that's that's my first question.
The second question, is it really that hard to properly
get out of bounds when you do this for a
living all day every day. Forget discussing Dallas's final play,
because there's another wasted time event on the Cowboys final
drive that really hurt them. Third and one at their

(49:47):
own fifteen yard line, Prescott throws a pass to tight
end Dalton Schultz, who was then hit while still in
bounds by the Niners or quarterbacks Chavarius Ward, and then
he went out of bound. So what does the rules say?
The rule says that because that contact made Schultz take
a step backward along the sideline, the clock doesn't stop

(50:07):
even though you went out of bounds. The officials had
determined that Schultz wasn't moving forward when he was going
out of bounds. That's required to stop the clock. And
then give it up to Greg Olsen, who basically said,
you have He was he was one of the commentators.
He was Fox's color analysts on the game that day.
He says, you have to be going forwards. If you

(50:28):
are contacted going out of bounds, you have to fight
through that contact. You know what, it was your only
one with this, So Dalton Schultz, you would think, would
know this, that would stop the clock. Greta warness by
the forty niners. However, to make the play they met,
they had the sense of urgency, they executed well, and

(50:48):
now again another time killer. Now, to be fair to Schultz,
if he had played the entire game up to this point,
which he did, he might have been mentally exhausted, might
have been physically exhausted, whatever the case may be. But regardless,
once again, we're talking about the Cowboys and and what's
what have I always said you define the moment or

(51:10):
the moment defines you. Third question, where the hell was
the sense of urgency? And any kind of football like you?
As Dallas attempted to prosecute that last draft with quarterback,
because on the next play, Dalton Schultz caught another pass,
this one for fifteen yards, but didn't get his right
foot in bounds after making the catch. Now it was

(51:32):
close enough to where the officials reviewed the play. They
ruled it incomplete basic football one on one without a
defender anywhere near him. The player looked like a total
brain cramp. Come on, man, really, this is on brand
with Dallas and it's I'm gonna blame mostly leadership. And
then on the Niners punt that gave Dallas the ball

(51:53):
back to start their final position, Dallas is punt returner.
I think it was turping. He singles fair catch at
the six Okay, now, maybe he wanted to do this
to stop the clock, but he actually had some space
in front of him to advance the ball that probably
should have taken the extra yards. And if he hadn't
caught the bunt at all, most likely, I'm guessing it

(52:16):
would have bossed in the end zone. And I thought
in high school we were taught don't field the punt
inside the tent. So instead of taking over on they
take over on the sixth. And he saw what happen,
all right? Then the next question, why didn't Dallas change
that final goofy play after the Niners took a time
out when they saw the formation right, even Greg Olson

(52:39):
up in the booth picked up on it. He goes, wow,
appears at Zeke is gonna be under center. Dallas put
its offensive lineman out wide. This looks like a flag
football play. But Mike McCarthy, obviously he'd been working on
this and practicing all this and and clearly they had,
because you didn't. They didn't just draw it up in
the dirt that day, even though the execution they might

(53:01):
as well have. What's interesting is greg Olsen was fair
about He says, well, let's see what they got here,
and he was being very fair and being very polite
with a lot of people. Wouldn't. There's only so many
third and ten plays for a team to score from
its own twenty four yard line with six seconds left
in the game, So what the hell what are you
gonna do? But again, the Niners took a time out,

(53:24):
so Dallas comes back out with the same FOURG formation
that the Ninners had already taken the opportunity to talk about, right,
Like Jason Smith always says, of arn't Marv Albert they
took a talk about they want to talk about it, right? Well,
they didn't. It worked the final thing, Look, why why
was Ezekiel Lily at the center? Really? Really? Why didn't

(53:45):
the offensive lineman in the white out show? And he
sends a hustle when the ball was thrown, Prescott just
stares him down, stares down his hot read why you
know there? It seems like there are a million players
you could have run and they picked the first one. Now,
I'll give Dallas some credit, not much, because the formation
was actually legal because the NFL rule books says there
have to be at least seven players in the line

(54:06):
of scrimmage, so you could move your offensive lineman out
wide as long as you've got eligible receivers at the
end of both lines. So from left to white right,
Dallas did have t Y Hilton, and they did have
you know, um well, anyway, I forget the formation. It
escapes me. I just remember t Why Hilton was out
right now. I thought, for a minute, I thought maybe

(54:26):
the ball would go to him. But you know, I
guess what. In a perfect world, the reason Dallas was
in its center instead of their starting center was because
you would think maybe they could get him the ball
and they'd be kind of a one of those speedy
option laterals after Prescott through the class. But it would
only work if he could stay on his feet and

(54:46):
there was someone in range. Again, Dallas didn't change his
final player. That entners had a chance to take out
of time out and see the entire look, and the
whole thing went over like a lead balloon. I can't
remember anything, honestly, God, this this is a situation now,
Uh in the McCarthy era, this is just simply more
gris for the mill And since obviously the lateral play

(55:09):
didn't work, I don't know what to say other than
that final two minutes and forty five seconds was so
long brand for Mike McCarthy and the Dallas Cowboys. But
why should you be surprised? So sorry Dallas say I know,
I'm not sorry. This brings me a final question. Apparently
it was talked about in NFL circles and people asked
asked each other. Offensive coordinators coaches around the league just

(55:32):
kind of said if you ever seen anything like this before?
And to a man, they all said, nol. We haven't
looking forward to the version of Mike McCarthy and a
whole new staff and the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones. Really,
I can't wait. It's too bad we have to wait
about seven months for that, but probably will be worth

(55:55):
the wait. Hey, football fans, be sure to tune into
Fox Sports radios. Countdown to Kick are presented by bet
MGM every Saturday and Sunday morning, three hours before kickoff.
Tune in Saturday morning night in Eastern Sunday morning, TENNY
and Eastern. We'll take your live all the way to
kick off on Fox Sports Radio The I Heart Radio
at presented by bet MGM. Coming up, we take a
look at the nuances of this weekend's games and some

(56:18):
of the odds and ends and betting historical facts. I
bet you didn't stop to think about. I'm Burnie Fratto.
We're comedy Alive from the tire Act dot Com studios
here in Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio. Keep it locked
right here. You're listening to the Bernie Fratto Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Yeah back on the Bernie Fratder Show.
Come to you live from the tire Act dot Com
studios here in Las Vegas, Nevada. Will take up to

(56:40):
two am Pacific, five am Eastern as we wind down
the h Conference Championship countdown weekend. Only three games remaining
in the National Football League this year after Sunday countdown
to the Super Bowl and lists. Of course you count
the flag football game with Pro Bowl game, which I

(57:01):
am not counting. This card Sunday is is really tough.
I really believe that the Lions are sharp. These teams
are evenly matched. The last time both conference championship favorites
were less than three point favorites. Was back in Green
Bay was catching two and a half San Francisco. Denver
was plus two and a half at Pittsburgh, both road teams,

(57:23):
both dogs, one out right? Could that happen this weekend? Well? Look,
the Bengals have beaten the Chiefs three times in the
last thirteen months. Interestingly enough, Kansas City led each game
in the third quarter. But Cincinnati I've scored Kansas City
by eighteen cumulative points in the fourth quarter to prevail
in all three games. Cincinnati's physical. Now, look, I am

(57:46):
a huge I think the world of Patrick Mahomes. He's
got a high ankle spring. We're hearing a lot of hyperbole.
If you think for a minute he's gonna have anywhere
near the same mobility that he has when he is normal. No,
not not, not true. And since a lot of Patrick
mahomes game really revolves around the improvisational play, the ability

(58:11):
to make plays off script, off schedule, the play is
broken down all of a sudden, He's manipulating and sliding
through the pocket, keeping his eyes down field, sidestepping, throwing
the ball off his wrong foot, throwing a dart to
somebody wide open because Kansas City receivers are set aggesting
their routes. This Bengals defense is pretty damn good and

(58:32):
they're confident. And I will tell you I have not
fired on that game, but I'm not gonna lie if
I do. If I do, it will not be on
Kansas City. I I believe in this Bengals team. We
we shall see there. Twenty one and five against the
number in the last twenty six games. The markets really
just haven't caught up with him. I don't know why.

(58:53):
I mean, December four, Kansas City was what two and
a half point favorite at Cincinnati. Cincinnati went by a
field goal. So look, and by the way, Philadelphia and
San Francisco, that game is no picnic in terms of
trying to pick a winner. I really believe that now
because Philadelphia is home and one edge. I think I

(59:13):
found the forty Niners secondary. In spite of their great
defensive statistics this year, they actually gave up more fifty
yard pass plays than any other team in the league.
Imagine that. And you know, when you look at the
incredible array of talented receivers that Jay Lennards has to
throw to I'm wondering if that's going to be an issue.

(59:34):
Of course, ironically, in all three of Philadelphia and all
three of the Eagles losses this year, they've actually been
out gained on the ground. So paging Christian McCaffrey. This
is a team between two heavyweights. It's gonna be a
fist fight in the phone booth. Make no mistake about it.
San Francisco has actually won the turnover battle in ten

(59:58):
straight games this year. Yes. Meanwhile, Philadelphia seventies sacks on
the season. That's incredible. They're gonna come after brock Purty
pretty hard. I get it. I think he's good. He's
very good, and I know people are making excuses basically
because he's, you know, got a great surrounding cast and

(01:00:21):
he does well. You have to have a great surrounding
cast in the National Football League to win games. But
he hasn't fumbled it either, has he He keeps his
eyes down field, he's mobile enough, not the greatest staring strink,
but makes good decisions so far to and in his
playoff career. Right he's got a passer rating of one
or nine point nine three touchdowns and the interceptions. Look,

(01:00:42):
give the man, give the man. Look, they're calling Joe
Burrow Joe cool and for very good reason, but the
real Joe Cools Joe Montana. Come on, man, Joe Montana
played in four Super Bowls, eighty of passing yards, eleven
touchdowns and no interceptions passer rating of In case you're

(01:01:02):
wondering how that stacks up, we've got four damn good
quarterbacks in this playoff. Burrow in his short career already
five and one, eight touchdowns, two interceptions, point four passer rating.
Jalen Hurts, He's one and one in the playoffs, but
you have seen what he has done this year. He
hasn't it his coming out party yet. Patrick Mahomes Meanwhile,

(01:01:24):
he's already, believe it or not, he's already had twelve
playoff games, nine and three, thirty touchdowns, seven interceptions, one
or six point two. You're gonna get some very good
quarterback play, but you're also gonna see some pretty damn
good defenses. Interestingly enough, believe it or not, I actually
think this game is a real contrast in styles. Although
we're always talking about quarterbacks, these games are gonna get

(01:01:48):
a healthy dose of one particular thing that I bet
you haven't thought about. I want to share that with
you coming up, but first let's go back to our guy,
Kevin Figures with the latest all right, Bernie Friday Night.
In the NBA, the Warriors improved to twenty five and
twenty four with a one nine to one seventeen victory
over the Rappers. Steph Curry thirty five points and eleven
assays there forty one points and twelve boards for Yon

(01:02:10):
the Kompo and a one forty one until one thirty
one bucks victory in Indiana, Yo. Just Alexander scored thirty
five for Oklahoma City as they defeated Cleveland one twelve
to one tin for their six victory in their last
eight games. Miami has won four of their last five.
They outlasted Orlando one ten to one oh five behind
twenty nine points from Jimmy Butler. Anthon Yetward scored twenty five,

(01:02:30):
leading Minnesota over Memphis one eleven to one hundred despite
a triple double from John Morant. In College Trooper's twenty
fifth rank, New Mexico beat Air Force one to seventy three,
and Major League Baseball the Mets in second baseman Jeff
McNeil agreed to a four year, fifty million dollar contract extension.
Back to Bernie Frido. All right, thanks Kevin, by the way,
top of the hour, I'm gonna show you how you

(01:02:54):
can make a case for all four teams to actually
win the Super Bowl. And after that I'll bring in
Kevin and and Brandon and see who their pick is
to win the Super Bowl. We'll have a little fun
with this and why you can make You can really
make a case for all four teams. You really can,
and I will explain why in detail. But as we

(01:03:15):
look ahead to Championship Sunday, with respect to conference Championship Sunday,
what's interesting is we're talking about the quarterbacks lot right
with Burrowhead Stadium. Come on, man, why don't we do
this Burrowhead Stadium. Then, of course Patrick mahomes the next goat.
Perhaps love what Jalen Hurts has done. Certainly tip of

(01:03:38):
the Captain Brock Purty. What a story. But what's interesting
is when you look at these Championships Sunday games, and
particularly the opening game against San Francisco in Philadelphia, you're
gonna see a healthy dose of ground based offense. These
are two NFC teams. They both really boast tremendous rushing

(01:04:00):
attacks that both rank in the top ten during the
regular season. So don't be surprised if you go to
bed Sunday night the headlines revolve around Christian McCaffrey and
or Miles Sanders, because, as I mentioned earlier, you know,
in all three of the Philadelphia Eagles losses this season,

(01:04:21):
they have been out gained on the ground. But the
NC Championship games a little different. You've got a real
highly anticipated showdown between Cincinnati's Joe Burrow obviously and the
Chiefs Patrick Maholmes. You're both m VB candidates, you're both
clear headliners second consecutive championships. Sunday meeting, let's do it again?

(01:04:42):
Why not? Understandably, mahomes arguably the best quarterback in the
league right now, but Burrow, he's the one that owns
the three and oh record and had head matchups all
in the last thirteen months. So I'm gonna give some
takes here that might ruffles some feathers. These are celebrity quarterbacks,
but they might not determined who represents the FC South
next month in Super Bowl six, because based on what

(01:05:06):
I've seen down the stretching throughout the playoffs as far.
I actually think running backs will also decide the outcome
of the Bengals Chiefs clash. So let's talk about those
key figures. Kansas City has Isaiah Pachecko and Jerick McKinnon.
Meanwhile Cincinnati's got Joe Mixon and Samanti Poreen. Pretty damn good. Now,

(01:05:28):
the Chiefs have gotten major contributions this season from both
their seventh round rookie and a nine year veteran. How
about that for a contrast, Pacheco, he can really run
between the tackles. McKinnon makes his money in the past game.
Look since Week nine, Jerick McKinnon he ranked second in

(01:05:48):
the NFL in yards per scrimmage play almost seven yards
per play, and Pacheco ranks eleven. These are running backs
for Kansas City. Remember how everybody said, when maybe not
everybody Chiefs don't have Tyree Caille, they're in trouble. I
never once believe that Kansas City, he's actually become even
more balanced, more prolific. Top credit to Andy Reid, top

(01:06:10):
credit to Patrick Wellams, and top credit to Isaiah Pachecko
and Jered McKinnon. McKinnon had actually led all running backs
with nine receiving touchdowns during the regular season, and not
only that, that's tied for six among all players. And
again these are running backs. But I really have enjoyed
watching the Isaiah Pachecko story developed. He's made the most

(01:06:31):
of his opportunity. He was he was, you know, behind
Clyde Edwards Hilaria from two years you know, three years ago,
and Clyde Edwards Hilaria entered the league with great notoriety.
But hey, he wasn't consistent, he wasn't effective a hundred
percent of the time, and he was injured. But interestingly enough,

(01:06:52):
if you really watched Isaiah Pachecko, he might even be
a tougher runner. And what this offense gives the Chiefs
and the Bats. They piled up the most yards, the
fifth most watching yards just in the last six weeks
of the season, six and thirty three yards. So imagine
how that works. You have that kind of production from

(01:07:13):
your running backs. What does that do? That opens up
passing lanes? That is why I think the headliners this
weekend could be running backs more so than uh than quarterbacks.
Now Mahomes gets the high ankle spring kept the bottle
of majority of the second quarter last week. Who was
instrumental in that yard scoring drive that was engineered by

(01:07:35):
former Michigan Wolverine Chad Henny. It was Ia Pacheco. On
that drive alone, Isaiah Pachecko had fifty seven yards, including
a thirty nine yards pass and and and that really
set the tone for the game. Pacheco finishes up with
a hundred one yards from scrimmage, his most since back
in November. He averaged Isaiah Pacheco against Buffalo last week

(01:07:59):
almost eight yard to carry. Actually, Kansa City didn't play Buffalo, losh,
excuse me because against Jacksonville. Now, McKinnon was a little
bit quiet. Against Jacksonville only ran the ball eleven times
for five yards. But you can't just look at that
one game because Casey had a five game winning streak
to close the regular season and Jerick McKinnon was very

(01:08:19):
instrumental and not only contributing offensively, but his contribution helped
Kansas City claim the number one seed in the playoffs.
And consequently, you know, as you look to this game,
McKinnon he can get the end zone. He scored a
touchdown seven coming through the year. And oh, by the way,
and it's about against Cincinnati. Last year, McKinny ran for

(01:08:41):
sixty or three weeks ago actually December fourth, McKinny had
sixty five yards on twelve carries and caught three passes.
So Kansas City is looking to get tremendous production out
of their backfield, which they're gonna need more than ever,
especially since I don't want to hear it Mahomes. I
don't know how Mahomes is gonna look like Superman Sunday

(01:09:02):
if you have any clue with a high ankle sprains
all about. And I know they keeps showing us videos
walking downstairs, jogging on the field of going through the
press conference. Look, mom, no hands, Okay, I get it.
The dude's a game, right. There's never a doubt in
my mind that Mahomes is gonna play. And you know,
there's a little thing called toward all that might help
a little bit. But the bottom line is this, if

(01:09:23):
you really think Mahomes is gonna be the pack Mahomes,
you've come to know and love the path for years
when he's healthy, and I realized in he had a
situation where here at a high ankle spraining was still
highly affected the following week. His Cincinnati defense is is
built a little different. They're very physical. You know, Trey
Hendrickson and company. This could be and this is gonna

(01:09:44):
be in fabulous game to watch, but that's Kansas City.
I said both teams would feature running backs that were
I believe make headline Sunday. So let's took at the Bengals.
Take a look at the Bengals duo a mix in
and freem and they've got kind of skill sense that
compliment each other really well. Preens. He can catch the

(01:10:07):
ball in the backfield, by the way, great blocker. He's
a tremendous asset and in past protection and a tremendous
third down player. Situational football Mixing made a statement last week.
You heard him talking a week he was piste off
about the ticket sales in Atlanta, and boy he stepped
up big. He backed it up. He was a big
time playmaker, had a big day. He led all players

(01:10:29):
Joe Mixon did in rushing first downs. He averaged what
I think to three or four yards before contact after rush.
Huge improvement. This is incredible. This is a guy he's
not afraid of contact. He's looking up guys in the backfield.
And so if you looked at Cincinnati's offense last week,
the heartbeat truly was Joe Mixon. Now give it up

(01:10:52):
to Joe Burrow too. He gets the damn ball out
of his hands. He he maneuvers and slides through the
pocket like Novode have seen. I think his pockets, heels
are elite. Keeps his eyes down. Few and Kansas City
schemes for this. Burrow gets the damn ball on out
of his hands. Justin fields take notes. I love you.
You're a phenomenal person and an athlete. Which better get

(01:11:12):
the ball out of your hands if you're gonna make
it this league. Look at the way Burrow does it.
And they scheme four too. They were in a lot
of fade, stop routes, quick hitters, screen passes, but the
opening drive they served notice. And oh, by the way,
it didn't help mix and carry the ball twenty times
hundred and five yards in a touchdown. It was only
his second hundred game year of the season. Right, But again,

(01:11:34):
don't go to sleep on Samangi Parene. He's a solid
RB two. He does all the dirty work and he
can make his mark as well. The Chief's defense cannot
ignore either one of these guys. And by the way,
Cincinnati again back in week thirteen, lost his check that
they beat Kansas City, and Parene played a great day,

(01:11:55):
that he played a great game that day, he had
a real starring role and in part of it, which
remember Joe Mixon didn't even play that day, he was
an active due to a concussion. So what does prem do.
He steps right up, carries the ball one times, a
hundred and six yards, catches six paths, and for fifty yards.
We're talking about a hundred and fifty six yards from scrimmage.
So as we look ahead to these showdowns on Sunday,

(01:12:19):
we're gonna be talking about Mahomes, We're gonna talking about Burrow,
Joe Burrow. Obviously they're the marquis names. Obviously they're the
ones people gravitate too. But do not, I mean, do
not go to sleep on these running back cannons, and
especially on both sides of the ball, whether it be

(01:12:39):
Kansas City's duo or the Bengals duel. Ironically, like I said,
in a game dominated by marquee quarterbacks that our celebrity quarterbacks,
I believe it will be the running backs that might
garner the headlines. Top of the hour. Again, we'll make
our case for all four teams to all to potentially

(01:13:01):
win the Super Bowl. But you know there are other
things in the news too. Lakers made a little splash
this week, and Aaron Rodgers to the Jets. Come on,
DAJA will over again, paging Bread five. I'm Bernie Fratto,
will come to you live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios,
tire Act dot Com studios here in Las Vegas. Keep
it locked right here. You're listening to the Bernie Fratto
Show on Fox Sports Radio. All right back on the

(01:13:23):
Bernie Fratto Show, coming to you live from the entire
act dot Com studios here in Las Vegas. Take up
to two m Pacific, five am Eastern. A ton of
stuff to get to. So I uh I A referenced
a second ago that I am slightly cringing that Aaron
Rodgers might be coming to the Jets, And it's funny
how things can be misinterpreted. My good buddy jay Ship says,

(01:13:46):
do not be mad nothining my Jets. Well, what's interesting
is I was actually gonna compliment the Jets. This is
a team defensively ready to win. Now, Their defense ranked
third last year after being thirty one year before. Statistically,
the Jets were incredibly solid stopping the run. They ranked

(01:14:06):
tenth best in the National Football League with fused yards
per Russia Temph. This is real. Okay, too bad the
Jets lost Breese Hall. That was a bummer. You get
Breese Hall back, you get a very good playmaking defense
back and a coaching Robert Sala, who I know a

(01:14:26):
lot about the Hills from Dearborn, Michigan. That team is
ready to win. Here's what concerns me about Aaron Rodgers.
I don't want him to go there and screw it
up because he's sitting around going on radio show saying,
you know, I don't really enough I want to play
this year again, and I gotta think about it. Shut up.

(01:14:47):
You do to make fifty five million bucks, and you
really gotta think about it. Really, At least when five
went to the Jets, they were a playoff contending team.
But I don't like that Aaron Rodgers were almost into februaries,
made no official decision about the future. But if he
decides to play, it's still uncertain where he'll suit up.

(01:15:09):
I actually see if a scenario where Rodgers is not
in Green Bay. I I think like a little bit
of a long shot, because there are Look, here's the deal.
If Rogers says, all right, I'm ready to go elsewhere,
I think the Jets would be first in line, because
there are They would be the best suitor there a

(01:15:29):
playoff Fredday team. And where's their question mark? It's quarterback.
It's quarterback. I don't I don't feel that Mike White
is their answer. He's a good player, he has a
role in this league. He's not gonna lead you to
a super Bowl. Zach Wilson has to grow up. I
think he has the armed talent and the physical ability
to play in this league. Here at the old saying

(01:15:50):
million dollar arm, tent set head. He doesn't have a
million dollar arm, and he might not have a tent
set head, but we're not that far off. He screwed
this up pretty good. And and by the way, the
Jets have a lot to love. You got Garrett Wilson.
He was a breakout receiver this last year. Now their
offensive line needs a little work, but their defense is
ready to contend now. And I mean that. So if

(01:16:11):
Rogers ends up there and he doesn't screw this up,
and he keeps his head screwed on straight. Perhaps some
additional talent might also want to come to New York,
by the way, not for nothing. Apparently it turns out
that Rogers has a pretty good relationship with Zack Wilson.
Zack was, of course, the former prize possession, who's a
possible bust. I'm not gonna call him that yet, but

(01:16:31):
I'll tell you what. The fat Lady isn't sung, but
she's warming up. So the idea of Rogers coming in
and helping this team in a very winnable division, the
idea of Rogers mentoring Wilson for a year two makes
a lot of sense. And you know the problem is
is that Jets because they're ready to win. I do
think people expect them to make the postseason this next year.

(01:16:55):
When they started off seven and three, you know, it's
about making the playoffs. When he starts seven and three,
will they they struggle on the stretch. Part of it
was injured. Part of what was injuries right, right, But
Robert Solom might really be on the hot seater fire
next year. So there's a lot of pressure. But I
think the Jets are ready to win Now, keep in mind,

(01:17:16):
any team wanting to sign Aaron Rodgers next year, they're
gonna need to trade for him. I remember, he's a
four time m v P and he just signed a
three year, hundred and fifty million dollar deal with the
Packers before last season. And if Rodgers is available, then
Jets might have some competition. I know they've talked about
the Raiders being in the mix, possibly Miami, possibly Tennessee,

(01:17:39):
and who knows what's gonna happen with Lamar Jackson in Baltimore.
Depending on the quarterback situations, Rodgers, in theory, could end
up with maybe any one of those teams. I suppose,
but I think it would be pretty cool as long
as Rogers has his head screwed on straight. Cannot screw

(01:18:01):
this up. Rogers in New York. If he's he can
still play, okay. I think this last year was a
mentally physically draining season. It was very taxing. The Jets
have better receivers in Green Bay, they got a better
defense in Green Bay. And if Aaron Rodgers really wants
to put a capper on his career and put an

(01:18:21):
exclamation point on his career and go down as that
guy who you just know that when he does retire,
he's going to be one of those guys that realizes
he misses the spotlight more than the spotlight misses him.
But if you want to be a legend, go to
the New York Jets and win. Tell me how cool

(01:18:42):
that would be to close out your career. And by
the way, I'm gonna repeat it, the Jets defense is
ready to win. Now, Aaron, if you go there, just
don't screw it up. Come it up. I'll make a
case for all four teams could be in the Super Bowl.
I'm Bernie Frat will keep it locked in Fox Sports Radio.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports

(01:19:05):
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. Well that track
you heard the man that Bernie Fradder show keeps rolling
right along. My name is Bernie FRADDERWA County Alone from
the tire rac dot Com studios here in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Tire rack dot Com will help you get there and
unmatched selection fast for your shipping, for your road hazard

(01:19:27):
protection and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tire act dot
Com the way tire buying should be. We've got four
outstanding teams left in the NFC and a f C
championship games, and each one of those fans in their cities,
I believe, expect their team to not only advance to

(01:19:49):
the Super Bowl, but to win the Super Bowl. Both teams,
both home teams are very slight favorites under a field
goal that doesn't happen very often, hasn't happen. We're all
four or both games we're you know, had such a
thin line. Now here's something to pass along because I

(01:20:11):
we talk about when you get into December, what a
fallacy it is to back a team or bet on
a team because quote it's a must win, right, That
is not a motivation to bet a team, because at
the end of the day, there are thirty two teams
in the National Football League, and thirty one will lose
the game they must win. Will all four of these

(01:20:33):
teams are in that proverbial must win situation, but only
three check that three will lose the game they must win.
So let's start from the top down in terms of
the most the favorite, the team most favored to win it,
and the other three We'll start with the Philadelphia Eagles.

(01:20:54):
Why would the Eagles win the Super Bowl? Now, this
is a narrative. This is my narrative. This has to
do with making a case for all four teams to
win the Super Bowl. All right, give it up to
the Eagles. Find a lie. They're the best team in
the NFL all season started eight No, they were the
league's last unbeaten team. Yes, they lost the November Monday

(01:21:15):
night game to Washington. They're only blemish all season with
Jalen Hurts in the lineup. So with Hurts in the
line up, there fifteen and one. And by the way,
the Eagles not one of their best efforts. They turned
the ball over four times at night. Why is that
such an outlier? Because the Eagles don't really turn the
ball over. There only four games all season with more
than one turnover, and just six totally the other fourteen games.

(01:21:39):
By the way, the Eagles are pretty good at forcing turnovers.
They've forced to turn over at least one game in
every game this season, all except for two games. She's
sounded like Yogi Bearer there. Basically, of all the games
Eagles have played this year, they played eighteen games so far,
they forced to turn over in sixteen those eighteen games,
they only had a negative turnover differential five times all season.

(01:22:01):
The bottom line is, you know this, you take care
of the ball, you win games in the National Football League.
By the way, the Eagles and listen, I don't care
how long they've been playing football and how much it
has evolved. It still comes down to blocking and tackling,
stopping the run and being able to run the ball.
The Eagles, they are the most lethal rushing tack attack

(01:22:21):
in the NFLA is here as long as Jalen Hurts
is under center, there ain't number one in rushing d
v o A. They lead the league in overall rushing
and look, they can run the ball. But it's not
just the running tack. Philly can really beat you through
the air. Look at the receivers. They have A J. Brown,
DeVante Smith, Dallas Goddard. These guys eat up space to

(01:22:43):
catch the ball, they run after the catch, and um,
you know so when you when you put the two together,
when you put the two together, Philly is a nightmare
matchup because they can punish their opponents. They have a
rushing attack that's not only physical, not only bruising. They
beat defenses down, then they beat you over the top
of their passing game. By the way, Phillies defense is

(01:23:04):
specifically built to take the pass away and they've done
it better than anybody in the league. Pretty pretty damn
good formula for winning the Super Bowl. So why can
Philly win the Super Bowl? I just told you, and
they are the favorite their plus two thirty, which means
he had to put up a hundred to win two thirty.
Why can the Bengals win the Super Bowl? Well, we
were only one or two players away from one of

(01:23:25):
the whole damn thing last year. And I think this
Bengals team is better than last year. And it's not
just an opinion, it's not just an eye test. The
numbers say this team is better than the Bengals were
last year. And it all starts with Joe Cool. Burrow
picked up where he left off last season's success. He
got even better. He reduced his sack rate significantly, especially

(01:23:47):
as the season has gone on and the dude had,
you know, members coming off knee surgery from the year
before he had the appendicitis. What makes him tick is
he's got an incredible quick release. This guy gets rid
of the ball. He is incredible decision making ability. And
you know this because since he is down three offensive lineman,
which they were last year gone in the Super Bowl. Anyway,

(01:24:09):
by the way, I just mentioned Phillies receiving corps. You
can argue that the Bengals have the deepest and the
most dangerous receiving corps because you've got Jamaar Chase, who
I make a case maybe the best receiver in the league.
He's chemistry with Joe Burrow is incredible. He's cuddle. It's
one touchdown and not in the last four teen games.
Tee Higgins, you put him in a lot of other systems,

(01:24:30):
he'd be or he'd be a number one your you know,
wide receiver one as well. But when you've got Chase, well,
Higgins is one, A, one B. And oh, by the way,
how about Tyler Boyd. All three of those guys could
be someone's top target in some other offense. Now, Louiana Rumo,
he's becoming more of a household name because the defensive
coordinator in Cincinnati. And even though Cincinnati's defense doesn't have

(01:24:53):
the like star power and marquee names, and the guys
you can name, you know that our household names. What
they do have is a nasty run stuffing defense led
by Trey Henrickson. And you saw Sam Hubbard run yards
against Baltimore. This is an incredible pass rushing duo. I
think they will wear down Kansas City and get them

(01:25:13):
homes more than once. We shall see Cincinnati won a
playoff game this year. They allowed to nine sacks the
Bengals one, who are missing three offensive starters. If you're
that good and you can be in this position and
you can come down from twenty one to three in
a playoff game, this is what Bengals have done in
the last two years and winning five playoff games. They
find ways to win games. Remember they've beaten Kansas Kansas

(01:25:38):
City three times in the last thirteen months, but in
each of those three games, the Chiefs led the game
late in the third quarter, but Cincinnati outscored Kansas City
by eighteen Cumulton points in the fourth quarter to prevail
in all three of those games. Perhaps Joe Cool had
a thing or two to do with that, but the

(01:25:58):
bottom line is somebody better really start to take Cincinnati
series because what they did last year was not a fluke.
They find a way to win games. They got a
quarterback play as well as anyone, and they got an
incredibly well rounded roster. They are they are plus two sixty,
just behind Philadelphia to win the Super Bowl. All right,
the Chiefs. Why will the Chiefs win the Super Bowl?

(01:26:20):
Welcome on. When you've got Patrick Mahomes, you've got a
hell of a chance to win the Super Bowl. That's
why the Chiefs were a favorite to win the Super
Bowl when the odds opened up last Sunday night, even
with Mahomes and his ankle blowing up the size of
a watermelon. But hey, what Mahomes do? We played through
the pain Sunday. This is a guy who's not from
his planet. He made multiple off balance throws off one

(01:26:43):
foot and a gutsy win. He is the I think
Patrick Mahomes is the most talented football player in the
entire National Football League. That's why the Chiefs go win
the Super Bowl. And now a lot of folks, I
was not one of them, expected the Chiefs to take
a big step back word after trading away Tyreek killed
because he's quote not the go to wide receiver. But

(01:27:05):
the offense got even better because why they're more versatile,
they're less predictable without Hill. Travis Kelsey has picked up
or Hill's left off as part of actually number one target,
even though he's a tight end and he's one catch
short of the all time playoff game record. The Chiefs
S don't half stars across the rest of the offense
because that's because that's because they spread the wealth. You

(01:27:27):
heard me talking a few minutes ago about Isaiah Pacheco.
He's a vicious power runner, a dynamic runner. And didn't
you compare him. You you you pair him up with
Jeric McKinnon, and between the two, they can block, they
can catch you ball the backfield, they can make plays,
and they opened up passing lanes for Patrick Mahomes. Finally,

(01:27:48):
the one thing about the Chiefs and Andy, Andy Reid
and and Patrick Mahomes, I don't think there's a team
left in the tournament, certainly. I don't know if there's
a team in the league that is more creative calling plays,
especially on third down and especially in the red zone.
Third down is the money down. They don't pay it
a punt. You get to the red zone, that's some

(01:28:10):
money zone. They don't pay to kick field goals. You
don't bring field goals to a touchdown fight. No play
is ever totally taken away until the whistle blows. And
this is what's weird. When you prepare for Patrick Mahomes
and you're a defensive coordinator, you have to prepare to
game plans, one for the scheme the Kansas City runs
and the second one for when the play breaks down.

(01:28:30):
Mahomes is nine and three lifetime. In the playoffs, he
scored thirty five touchdowns in those games. He's on a pace.
I mean, look, what more can I say? With Patrick
Mahomes under center, they average thirty two points a game,
and in playoff games that's tough to overcome. So Patrick Mahomes,
the Chiefs are plus two eight. I told you this
was a tight, tight tournament. But imagine you play Kansas

(01:28:54):
City and if you can hold them to just thirty
points hopefully, and if you have a defense capable of
doing that, now, you still gotta outs score Kansas City.
And although he isn't it a great year this year,
Harrison Bucker's a terrific kicker. And let's not forget why
can the Chiefs win it? Experience, They've been here before,
fifth straight a f C championship, game for Mahomes, tenth
conference championship game for Andy Reid. Ain't the first barbecue, folks,

(01:29:17):
Chiefs can win it all. Why would the forty Niners
win the Super Bowl? Well, they're the long shot. I
see that. Never Cohich is pretty wild considering they might
have the best roster in the league. San Franz won
twelve straight games. Average margin victory in those games is
thirteen points. Only two games even under seven points. During
that stretch. The offense ranks second and rushing first, and

(01:29:39):
passing defense ranks second and rushing third and passing. When
you're top three on both sides of the ball, I'd
say you're a pretty good football team. I say you're
a team that could win the Super Bowl. Now, everybody
keeps waiting for brock Proty to fail, But why don't
you give the guy a break? He's hating. No, Yes,
he inherited a good roster, but he hasn't fumbled either.

(01:29:59):
By the way, san Franz and their passing numbers, they
look pretty similar to when it's either whether it's either
pretty or Garoppolo and pretty one late against the Raiders
now has to one to playoff games in his young career.
This guy is a very good player who plays a
position with his eyes, is mobile enough to keep plays alive,
keep his eyes downfield. Oh, by the way, is this

(01:30:21):
perhaps the greatest since season trade in the history of
the National Football League. The Niners have not lost since
they got Christian McCaffrey. And, by the way, nothing to
note the only three games Eagles have lost this year,
they've been outyarded. They're gonna need a big day of
Christian McCaffrey Sunday, and they might get it. Before they
got McCaffrey, the Niners ranked twenty second and rushing d
v l A. They were not a good running team.

(01:30:43):
We have not seen a defense capable of really containing
all of San franz weapons. They're versatile McCaffrey, George Kittle, Brandon,
I you now, Deebo Samuel is finally healthy. By the way,
San Francisco has got the best offensive lineman in the league,
elite pass per deection. And then that defense. It's nasty,
it's tenacious. They have bad intentions. Nick Bolso looks like

(01:31:07):
he's possessed Fred Warner toll and know who Funga. They
hurt you, they beat you up. This is a football
team on both sides of the ball. Have you seen
any opponent solve this offense or defense, let alone both
over the last twelve games. The Niners. They have stars
up and down their roster and elite coaching staff that's

(01:31:28):
been there before. You might have noticed in three years
the conference championships when there's a line of three or
fewer points in the eventual Super Bowl, the winner was
at least a two and a half point underdog, and
all three does this bold wall for the Niners? Well,
that's the position they find themselves in this weekend, and
their plus twent twenty to win the Super Bowl. So
there's a case for all four teams. That's why it's

(01:31:52):
bitter sweet. Three games left from the season, and these
two on Sunday, frankly promised to be sensational when you
consider all the factor as I just gave. So who's
gonna win it all? Well, let's bring in the crew
and see what they think. Who do they like, who
are they rooting for, and who do they think will
prevail in these two heavyweight matches on Sunday. Folks football fans,

(01:32:15):
be sure to tune into Fox Sports radios contown to
kick Op presented by bet MGM every Saturday and Sunday morning,
three hours before kickoff. Tune in Saturday morning at ninety
m Eastern and Sunday morning at TENNI and Eastern as
we take your live all the way to kick Off
on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio presented
I bet MGM. I'm Bernie Fritdo Where comedy live from
the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios the tire Act

(01:32:37):
dot Com Studios. Keep it locked right here. You're listening
to the Bernie Frauder Show on Fox Sports Radio. We
right back on The Bernie Fadder Show comedy live from
the tire Act dot Com Studios here in Las Vegas, Nevada,
Fox Sports Radio. I just made a case for all
four teams to potentially win the Super Bowl. Do you
have my data, gave my stats, brought receipts. This is

(01:33:00):
the NFL's final four, and I don't think it's hyperbolic
to suggest this might be the most unpredictable final four
in fifty years. It's not often that in both games
the favorite is favored by lesson a field goals. So
we've got rooting interests and we've got prognostication possibilities. Let's

(01:33:21):
bringing the crew and the first thing I'm gonna ask
him we'll do We'll do two rounds of this. The
first round will be as a fan, who would you
like to see win either game? Kevin, let's start with you, buddy. Well,
as a lifelong Raider fan, I never want to see
the Chiefs win at anything, So from that standpoint, it's
an area that's a very easy, easy decision for me. Uh.

(01:33:45):
And then when it comes to the to the NFC side, UH,
I have a solid spot for the Philadelphia Eagles, always
have so, and UH also being a Raider fan, no
love loss for the forty Niners. So pretty easy decision
on this one for me. Bernie. That would be a
hell of a match up Kansas eating in Philadelphi. Any
matchup we get, I get you, and I think it's
one of the one of those situations where the storylines

(01:34:08):
revolving the quarterbacks I think are gonna be what happens
on game day. So I I think that would be
a great matchup to see from a fan standpoint. UH.
As far as as far as you, Brandon, let's start
with who you're rooting for in each of these games. Um,
I'm rooting for. I'm kind of pulling for the Bengals
at this point. Um, you know, being a Bills fan,

(01:34:30):
the way they handled the whole Tomorrow Amblin situation was
they were all class and you know, it's kind of
funny like the two teams, the Bengals and the Bills
have kind of been tied together for the for the
past few years. Bengals beat the Ravens a few years
ago to break the Bills you know, playoff drought. So yeah,
I'm pulling. I I like Joe Burrow. He's He's such

(01:34:53):
a great and likable guy. Um. Plays with a lot
of swag, plays with a lot of fire. Um. So yeah,
I'm I'm rooting for rooting for the Bengals in the
a f C. And then as far as the NFC,
I have some I have some friends that are Niner fans,
so I would like to see them, uh finally get
over the hump and win one. So I guess the

(01:35:14):
Bengals in the fort and my two rooting interests. A
few weeks on the show, I think we're all on
the lockstep on the Bengals. It's not I'm not trying
to piss on the Chief's parade. But a few weeks
ago on the show, I said, you know, this is
one year I'd really like to see a first time
winner in the Super Bowl, meaning and Vikings, which obviously
that crash and burn the Bills, the Great City of Buffalo,

(01:35:36):
and my all time ESPN thirty for thirties is the
Four Falls of Buffalo. It's just sensational storytelling. And I
saw all four Buffalo super Bowl runs, you know, up
live interview, had a nice conversation with Marvel Leavy once
with the press box in Detroit. So all of that group,
the only team that has a chance to bring home

(01:35:57):
the Super Bowl for the first time are the Bengals.
They lost in eighty two to forty Niners, they lost
in Ada end of the forty niners, and of course
they lost last year to the Ramps, so that would
be kind of cool. But now there's reality, and reality
was setting. So let's go back to reality, Kevin. Let's
revisit this. Let's set aside who we hope wins the
game and talk about who you think will win each game.

(01:36:19):
So on the a f C side, I've I've tried
my best Bernie to convince myself that Kansas City can
defeat Cincinnati just based on the fact that it's really
difficult to beat somebody four straight times. So when I
when I look at it from a macro view, just
looking at that, it's like, that's very difficult. But then
on a micro level, from just a pure football standpoint,

(01:36:40):
I'm hard pressed to find ways that Kansas City ends
up beating Cincinnati, even with Cincinnati's offensive line issues, which
certainly were not an issue last week against Buffalo. Joe
Burrow is Joe cool as I'll play Patrick Mahomes specifically
in the second half of these matchups, or whatever Imrulla
is doing in the second half against Kansas City has
been working in those first three match shops. UH. Defensively,

(01:37:01):
especially not having Tyreek Killers an explosive option, is a problem.
They can take Kelsey out of the game because Kelsey
is pretty much the only target, something Jacksonville didn't do
last week. So I'm hard pressed to find football reasons
as to why Kansas City can beat Cincinnati. UH. So
I'll take Cincinnati there and then Philadelphia and UH in
San Francisco is a bit of a coin flip, but
I will say brock Purty just has not hasn't been challenged,

(01:37:24):
hasn't been tested, He hasn't been down to a point
where he has to put the team on his back
and has to carry them. And I wonder if Philadelphia
gets out to a fast start like they did against
New York, if San Francisco has the ability to play
from behind. Uh So, if it gets to that sort
of game, I like Philadelphia and I think it will.
I don't think I like San Francisco's defense, but I
don't think that they're the two thousand Baltimore Ravens or

(01:37:45):
anything like that. So Philadelphia can score on them, and
I think Philadelphia's defense can give San Francisco's offense a
little bit of trouble. So I like Philadelphia and I
like Cincinnati. Yeah. Good breakdown, and I'm glad you mentioned
the fact that Cincinnati will be going for their fourth
win in thirteen months. Interestingly enough, their coach, Zach Taylor,
since Nanni's head coach, is commented on that. He's basically said, no,

(01:38:08):
we only have to beat them one time in a row.
So obviously that's a situation where that's being talked about,
and there's other three games, they were only by three points.
What I think would concern me very much, Kevin, if
you're a Kansas City backer and and again lou Anna
Rumo's got their number, their physical I'm not buying the
fact you can have a high ankle spring seven days

(01:38:30):
ago and be the Patrick Mahomes that we know he's
so special when he's healthy. He's not going to be
that way. I'm not buying it. I might I be
proven wrong. We'll see when we go to bed Sunday night.
But don't you, Kevin, in a sense, realize that how
could Patrick Mahomes be the same when he just had
a high ankle spring six days ago. Yeah, there's no

(01:38:52):
way that he can be. And you know, jogging around
with no pads on and practice all week long is
one thing. And I'm sure those shooting those shoot him
up with every drug you know that's legal under the
NFL umbrella. I'm sure going into the game to try
to numb it up as much as possible. But you
know this, Bernie, I mean him being able to scramble,
not necessarily run for yards like Josh Allen, but scramble
within the pocket and keep plays alive is very key

(01:39:14):
to what they do. Uh so it's gonna be very difficult.
Then you mentioned the Cincinnati defensive front, which already has
a history of getting after him. And now Patrick Mahomes is,
for all intensive purposes, a statue to a degree, it's
just not conducive to success for the way that he plays.
So so for those reasons, again, football reasons, I just
can't see. Look, it's Kansas City, He's he's one of

(01:39:34):
the best quarterbacks, if not the best quarterback in the league.
I guess there's a way that he certainly can win.
I'm just hard pressed to find find a way to
see that happening. And if anybody can find a way
to do it, it's sim He's won seventy two games
in the last five seasons at second only did Tom
Brady for the most in NFL history over any five
years span. And the thing is, in addition to sliding,
maneuvering in the pocket, making plays off schedule, off balance

(01:39:57):
when he has to step into his throws, that's where
I think it's all we gonna afect him. He's got
a great arm and he can thread the needle. But
that's something I'm gonna be watching for stepping into throws.
I can't imagine you'll have the same velocity. We shall
see he is Patrick Mahomes All right, Uh, Brandon, you've
got the final vote Forget who are you're rooting for?
Who do you predict is gonna win both games Sunday? Well,

(01:40:20):
I think in the a f C, I agree with
what Kevin said about, you know, the Bengals ability to
kind of limit the Chiefs. They did that to Josh Allen.
They kept him off the field. And really, the way
you beat a quarterback like my like Alan or mahomes
Um or even Burrow in this case, really is he
keeping them off the field. And I think I think

(01:40:41):
the Bengals defense can do that a lot better than
Kansas City's defense can do um in terms of keeping
Burrow off the field. But at the same time, I think,
I think the Chiefs really do have a chef have
a shot at winning this. And I will say I
think the Chiefs are playing with a little bit of
a chip on their shoulder. If I recall, at the
beginning of the year, a lot of people predicted Kansas

(01:41:04):
City to finish fourth in the division, and like you know,
they they everyone was picking Denver, everyone was picking the Chargers.
Everybody had a strong case for the Raiders, and a
lot of people kind of tossed Kansas City aside, and
they effectively kind of approved, kind of proved to everybody
wrong this year, and they kind of told everybody like

(01:41:25):
we're still here, like we're still like the reigning They what,
this is their fifth a f C Championship game that
they've been to. So I think people kind of estimate
their ability to really win big games and high profile games.
But I really do think that in the a FC,
you gotta give the edge to uh to the Bengals,
and then on the other side, you know, I'm a

(01:41:47):
firm believer that defense wins championships, and I think the
forty Niners are really gonna limit Philadelphia this year. Philadelphia
had a lot of close victories and in the one
loss that Jalen Hurts had this year when he played
against Washington, like Washington's defense completely shut him down. To
talked about that immediately shut him down in San Francisco

(01:42:08):
is one of those teams where their defense relies on
forcing turnovers so that they can force Jalen Hursts to
turn the ball over. A few times during this game.
I think San Francisco, if brock Purty can at least
find the end zone a few times, if the running
game can live up to its standard, I'm kind of
giving the edge of the forty niners on this one.

(01:42:30):
This is interesting, and that's why this is such a
and the odds bear this out, why these teams are
so evenly matched by the math, by the power raidings.
I really can't wait for these games to begin noon
UH Pacific time on Sunday, three pm Eastern time. Coming up,
Chris Perfette, we'll talk about the other football, but first

(01:42:53):
let's go back to our guy, Kevin Figures with the latest.
All right, Well, since we're talking NFL in the championship games,
we'll talk about some injury dates from the a f
C Championship, particularly Patrick Mahomes taken off of the injury report,
did practice all week long. He'll make the start against Cincinnati.
Tight In Travis Kelsey listed as questionable with the back injury.
He did practice in full on Friday and is expected

(01:43:14):
to play. Bengals took tighten hayting Hurst off of the
injury report. He was nursing a calf injury. He practiced
on Friday. He will play Cincinnati starting offensive lineman Alex
Kappa and Jonahs. Jonah Williams did not play against Buffalo
last week. They didn't have practice all week and they
have been ruled out as well. And other news out
of the NFL forty nine is defensive coordinator Damiko Ryan's,
the front runner for the Houston Texans, had coaching job,

(01:43:35):
according to NFL media, and the Rams hired former Jets
offensive coordinator Michael la Floor to the same position. At
the NBA on Friday, Steph Curry thirty five points leading
Golden State over Toronto to one seventeen forty one points
for Yonson to Dakumpo as Milwaukee beat Indiana. The Heat
beat Orlando one ten to one oh five s Yo
just Alexander thirty five points for Oklahoma City and they

(01:43:57):
went over Cleveland. At the women's final the Australian Open,
a Lena Rabbi Kina took the first set over Arena
Sablanca six four so Blanca currently up one nothing in
the second set back to Bernie Freddo. Speaking of football,
the other football pronounced football which we call soccer never
as shortage of headlines, whether it's man City, whether it's
Nick Pole, whether it's Liverpool, we bring it to you

(01:44:18):
and chris Parfetz World of Soccer, the greatest goals, the
thrilling finishes, the international drum. It's all here in this

(01:44:39):
report from the World of Soccer. So over the past weekend,
Bernie Bundesliga in Germany returned to action. They have returned
to action quite later than their other European counterparts due
to their schedule, but all eyes for me were on
Brussia Dortmund. Since the restart. Here Dortmund has taken on
Augsburg and they've taken on Mainz and in both cases

(01:45:03):
in a four or three victory over Augsburg and a
to one victory over Mains. Those game winning goals were
netted by Giovanni Raina, the American player, the very young
man who has been celebrating over there by sticking his
fingers in his ears. And this is important, and this
is interesting, and this is very fascinating because if you

(01:45:24):
will remember from the World Cup, Giovanni Reina did not
get a lot of playing time of in fact, some
matches he didn't even get to see the pitch at all.
And there were rumors out that Greg bar Haltered, the
US men's manager at the coach, had been at longer
heads with Giovanni Raina, and as we've since learned, apparently
Greg bar Halter at one point was even thinking of

(01:45:45):
sending Giovanni home from the World Cup because of a
lack of effort during training. The two were at longer
heads throughout the entire World Cup. Giovanni Raina was visibly
upset several times and he just saw very little to
no playing action and it led us to a whole
cascade from there. Shortly after the World Cup, we found

(01:46:10):
a what appeared to be a blackmail scheme being run
by Reina's parents, Claudio and his wife, and it involved
resurfacing an accusation that that Greg barr Halter had been
in a domestic violence incident back when he was a
student at the University of North Carolina. Greg bar Halter

(01:46:32):
is being investigated and it's cast a dark shadow over
US Men's soccer well. While Ga Reina continues to win
in Germany and prove why he is one of the
most electric American players out there, it seems to be
that the adults in the conversation around this entire incident,

(01:46:53):
this entire scandal continue to reap the whirlwind of their actions.
In this particular case, egber Halter. His contract with US
men ended at the end of two He has not
been renewed by the club he as they continue to
investigate him, and really the US Men's is looking at
a completely different look. However, the US Federation President Cindy

(01:47:16):
Parlo Cone said that Greg quote Greg remains a candidate
for the coach position. Across the rest of the US
men's team, Sporting director Ernie Stewart is leaving the organization
next month to pursue an opportunity with the Dutch club,
and as we mentioned before, our general manager Brian McBride
will also be leaving. It seems like a whole new

(01:47:37):
turning of the leaf for the US men's national team,
so I don't really expect ber Halter to really be
a candidate in despite their words. Meanwhile, though, it's not
all roses for the Reins, because Claudia Rena has maybe
suffered a consequence of his own for his this insane
incident that has taken place. Claudia Raina was the sporting

(01:47:58):
director of Austin FC in the MLS and we have
been told that he is going to be transitioning into
a technical advisor role, as announced by Major League Soccer
on Thursday, which seems like a quite unique I wouldn't
even call it a lateral step, Bernie, it seems like
a downwards step. It's a very curious move, and if

(01:48:19):
I am to put on my tinfoil hat here, it
feels like one of those moves that might be a
little bit of retaliation. Austin FC owner Anthony pre Court
and the Austin FC coach Josh Wolf happened to both
be very close friends of the Halters, so it nothing
here is really writ but it is seems like a

(01:48:41):
continued fallout from Again, I have to reset the story
that this was a parent of a soccer player threatening
the coach of a team of a national team, not
at some dysfunctional youth level of a national team, because
his son wasn't getting playing time, and that that might
have stemmed from the sun not showing effort during practice

(01:49:05):
according to the code. Honestly, Bernie, I've never seen anything
like this in US soccer before, and it's clear we
are headed for very troubled waters, which basically amounts to
a full reset after Thursday's news that the sporting director
has gone, which now leaves the US team without a
sporting director, without a coach, and without a general manager. Meanwhile,

(01:49:26):
the player at the center of it all is there
over in Germany, winning games and putting his fingers in
his ears, ignoring all the noise coming from around it. Well, Bernie,
we're also past the halfway point for many European leagues here.
The transfer window will close on Tuesday for groups like
the Premier League and Syria, and there's a lot of

(01:49:46):
moves that teams want to make in teams are trying
to make, and it's coming at a time though We're
two teams and two leagues have both hit fifty points
here at the halfway mark. I'm talking about Arsenal in
the Premier League monopoly in a Tallian Syria. But Arsenal
is the more fascinating story. They just got knocked out
of the f A Cup by Manchester City on a

(01:50:08):
one nil in the round of sixteen. However, for them,
the prize is winning the Premier League trophy, a title
they have not held since two thousand and four. A
club with such league troubles that they were losing Adidas
sponsorship money because they had failed to meet performances in
their past standings in past seasons that had earned ire

(01:50:32):
from foreign presidents of other countries that were sponsoring their patches.
And now suddenly here they are top the table with
five points separating them and juggernaut Manchester City. Now Manchester
City might have beat them in the f A Cup,
but they all have whatever goal scoring they were doing
at the start of the year, thanks to the unbelievable

(01:50:52):
talents of Earling Holland, they have begun to cool off
a little bit. While they have won their last two
Premier League matches at home. The Manchester Derby against their
rivals United was a to one loss, and they lost
the Carabol Cup to nil to bottom of the table
club south Hampton. And their load isn't about to get
any easier. They're going to continue in the f A

(01:51:13):
Cup and soon enough we'll be back to Champions League
as well, and they'll have that on their plate, chasing
a Champions League title while also trying to chase down
that five point uh deficit that they need to make
up against Arsenal. And what of the rest of the contenders.
Manchester United happens to be sitting about eleven points back.

(01:51:34):
They would be happy just to make the Champions League
for the first time in a very long time. However,
they are looking to be buyers here. Ahead of the
transfer windows closing. They picked up Dutch player wegg Horsed
from Turkish club beshik Tish on a loan that is,
from what I've read, looks to be going to be permanent.

(01:51:57):
At some point, however, they might be adding another player
on top of that here, something to keep an eye
out as the Red Devil's struggle to claw back and
maybe they could go for the title. They're on the
outside though, And I did mention Napoli in Italy, and
I wanted to mention them because they're at fifty points
to They happen to be twelve points clear of the
net of the second team in Milan. In fact, everyone

(01:52:19):
else from two to about six are within three points
of each other there in Italy, and they're all basically
clawing I believe, for second, third, fourth place for Champions League.
Why because Napoli has sixteen wins. Most other clubs in
Syria who are top contenders have only eleven or twelve
Napoli has just been utterly decimating their opponents. However, their

(01:52:43):
fans will will not be able to go and watch
Napoli outside their home stadium because Napoli fans, along with
Roma fans, earlier this month, were handed a two month
ban by the Italian Federation from attending away games due
to a brawl between supporters of the two clubs that
ended up shutting down one of the main motorways in Italy.
Tough times for the Ultrus And that's the world of soccer.

(01:53:07):
Solid reportage by Chris Perfette. We've been doing this feature
since nine months before World Cup began, and we're going
to continue because soccer is an international sport and there's
never a shortage of news coming up. We wrap up
the show and Sean Payton is in the news and
there seems to be all sorts of opinions on where

(01:53:30):
he'll end up this year or next year. And the
bottom line is some people go for us to say
he's not gonna get a job because there's no market.
Come on, man, you're talking silly. I'll tell you what's
really going on there. I'm Bernie Fratto, will come to
you live from the Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Keep it locked. You're listening to the Bernie Fratto Show
on Fox Sports Radio. We're back on the Bernie Fratto Show.

(01:53:50):
We're coming to you live from the entire act dot
Com studios here in Las Vegas, Nevada. Before we go
any further, I want to think my broadcast team. They've
been with me since the eleven pm Pacific on Friday night.
That would be Kevin Figgers on the updates, Mark Ramsey
turning all the dials, keeping us glued together, and of
course Brandon Trufa. Brandon be back with me Saturday night

(01:54:11):
as well as Mark Keevin. Good stuff. Guys, appreciate all
the efforts and all the teamwork. So we are in
that season no hour if your team has been eliminated
or you need a coach, and five teams do well?
Now four do the Panthers got their man? I suppose
that you cannot engage in conversation about speculating who's gonna

(01:54:32):
end up where without you know, invoking the name Sean Payton.
And it's funny. I'm watching the group think GEcho Chamber
go nuts on Twitter. Oh, there's not much of a
market for him, there. Okay, let's get this straight. Peyton's
like one two and eighty nine one six division championships.
I don't I'm not his agent. I don't give a damn.
We're ends up, but I'd like to keep things real.

(01:54:52):
Peyton is basically interviewing teams, not interviewing him. Now, that's
not to say everybody wants him, but to imply there's
no market, that's kind of silly. Okay, Now, does he
have a high price tag? Yeah? And there are other issues.
And by the way, the two jobs, I think, I
think that Peyton covered mosth most covets, most the Chargers
and perhaps the Cowboys. Well, those two teams already have

(01:55:15):
their coaches, and according to Jerry Jones, he wants Mike
McCarthy to be the next Tom Landry, which means to
be there another twenty nine years. So maybe we'll discuss
Peyton in the year, you know, or something going to Dallas.
Although Brandon Stay the smartest guy in the room, just
ask him if he screws this up again next year.
I'm not so sure he survives. But let's not create

(01:55:37):
problems don't exist yet and try to solve them. Sean
Payton is going through the interview process because he can,
and he's interviewed four with four teams, And there are
a couple of moving parts here, because there's one benchmark
that you have to orchestrate a deal with Sean, and
then you have to orchestrate a deal with his old team,
the New York New Orleans Saints. And Peyton has that rare,

(01:56:01):
you know, opportunity, that that rare perch in life because
of his past and his performance. He can decide if
he likes the opportunity. He has to like the opportunity,
the organization's leadership, structure, the ownership, the front office. He
wants to be around like minded thinkers and they want
to build a winner. And let's not also forget that,

(01:56:25):
you know, Peyton's got a pretty pretty cushy gig as
a game day analyst with Fox, and he's consistently said
he'd be open to return him for a second season
with Fox if things don't work out. So, if a
team with a coaching vacancy doesn't offer Sean Payton a
suitable situation by his standards, Peyton is more than content

(01:56:46):
to basically continue his hiatus to remain in the media
and teed up again next year. Secondly, if Peyton again
he does find the right landing spot, the Saints have
to negotiate a trade because Peyton is still under contract
with the New Orleans States until now. The Saints they
don't want to hold Peyton hostage, but they're well within

(01:57:06):
their rights to demand fair compensation for his services, because
remember what the Glaziers got for John Gruden twenty years ago,
two first round draft picks eight million dollars in cash.
So the bottom line is you really can't handicap the
Sean Payton ordeal without acknowledging the role of the Saints
and attention and and certainly assessing potential trade packages from

(01:57:29):
teams that might be interested. And you know, they'll submit
proposal and the Saints will determine which you're acceptable, And
we'll see if Peyton takes a new job now Denver's
still in play. Could it be demik O Ryan's be
a good choice. He's also looking at Houston. Dimik O Ryan's.
By the way, damiko O Ryan's was a finalist last
year in Minnesota until he pulled out the last second.

(01:57:50):
I wonder how Viking fans feel about that they had
the thirty first rank defense, even though they didn't have
a good job a good season under Kevin McConnell. So
we'll continue to watch Sean Payton. I wouldn't draw a
lot of conclusions, folks. It's not that there's no market,
It's that this just has a lot of moving parts,
and Peyton will be picky, he'll be expensive the hell
a lot of say, and they'll have to work it
out with the Saints. That's gonna do it. For the

(01:58:11):
Bernie Fratto Show, Keep it locked, don't go away. You're
listening to the great Andy Gargano.

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