Aaron Torres and Jason Martin talk Super Bowl!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome in everybody, Fox
Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday, Eric Torres, Jason Martin Here.
You just heard VJ and Martin Weiss for the last
three hours. We are taking you till to a m.
Eastern time, and we are brought to you live from

(00:22):
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I don't know what are we, Jason? About twenty or
so hours from kickoff of Super Bowl, the Super Bowl

(00:42):
this year. What's going on, Jason? How you doing? We're
getting close here, We're getting close. Yeah. It's kind of
funny because a lot of times we talk about Aaron,
how the NFL tries to take over no matter what
else is going on, like NBA Finals, Here comes NFL
News and all this. Man, I'll tell you what, this
is such a great Super Bowl and we're gonna have
so much fun over the next four hours talking about this.

(01:04):
But I was thinking, NBA, man, good try, good effort
like this this week, the NBA tried didn't they like,
they tried to one up the headline game, and that
just makes this next four hours very very easy for us.
There's so many different angles to get into about the
Super Bowl and then oh yeah, Kyrie and Kevin Durant

(01:26):
and all of these other things. The sports broke the
NBA scoring the most unbreakable record maybe in NBA history.
It was funny. I I was. I was. You know,
we had all of our shows live in uh in
Arizona this week except for Jason and Mike who were
out in Vegas, so everybody was remote during the week.
And I saw a funny clip from Jonas and the

(01:46):
two Cups Two Pros and a Cup of Joe Guy
where Jonas literally listed everything that the NFL has just
hijacked from the NBA Christmas Day, um, you know, the
free agency period, oh t a like everything that they
have done, um has seemingly made and basically everything less irrelevant.
So this isn't pick on the NBA time here, because

(02:09):
the NFL is just obviously the monster that over that
that overshadows everything in sports. But it is amazing how
busy the NBA was and even you know, listening to
all the guys and girls from our network that we're
out in Phoenix this week, and of course you know
the FS one shows as well. How many people, um,
you know how much the NBA was the conversation, and

(02:30):
trust me, we will get to plenty of NBA throughout
the show today, Jason. But we probably should start with
the Super Bowl. Like I said, we're just about, you know,
probably twenty or so hours away. Right around this time
tomorrow will probably have a Super Bowl champ as the
Eagles and Chiefs gets set to play in Phoenix. Two
weeks of hype going in, we are now really really,

(02:52):
really close. Everyone on this network has had covered every
single angle. But when you think about this Super Bowl
that's gonna kick off of out, as I said, twenty
or so hours from now, Jason, what do you got?
I just it's two really good football teams and I'm
excited to watch the football game. Like sometimes you look
at the matchup and there's just one part of it
that just doesn't click for you. I haven't felt that

(03:14):
way this week. It's just been kind of exciting to
get to the game. So much of the Super Bowl
is about the run up to the game and the
halftime show and who's gonna do the national anthem and
how well are they going to do it? And the
commercials and all of this. But this time, you just
have such an appetizing matchup. You have so many different storylines,

(03:34):
you have so many likable superstars. I think that's kind
of the way I'm walking into this is this is
gonna be a heck of a It's gonna be a
heck of a sixty minutes of football, at least, I hope. So.
I know that sometimes the Super Bowls don't live up
to the hype and you get those blowout games and
things like that. Man, I'm praying we don't because we
have the opportunity here for something truly special and to

(03:55):
watch guys do this on the highest level. It's definitely
an interesting matchup. And you know, I will say kind
of in like the quote unquote breakdown of this game, Um,
it does feel like everyone's kind of got the same
like baseline opinion, and then where you go from there, Uh,
it just depends, you know. I think the baseline opinion
is Philly has the more talented roster, Casey has the

(04:18):
best player on the field, obviously, the best player in
the NFL, Patrick Mahomes who just won another m v
p uh and the best said coach of the two
and so uh, you know what, we have plenty of
time to talk predictions and all that. But I think, Jason,
as I look at this game, that's probably my big
takeaway as well, is is just that, you know, like
it's it's interesting in how uninteresting it is. And I

(04:41):
don't mean uninteresting in the typical sense. I don't mean, um,
you know Wisconsin football uninteresting like I like, I think
it's uninteresting from the perspective of There are usually like
very polarizing narratives going into a Super Bowl, right, Um
you know Bill Belichick and Tom Brady and the Page Tree.
It's um, you know Peyton Mann and can he get

(05:02):
his second doesn't matter? Does he need one? What about this?
What happens with that? Blah blah blah blah. This is
you look at this Super Bowl. I don't know that
they're like like and I remember talking to you about
this before the a f C Championship game. It was
basically a pick um by the time we got to
kick off between Cincinnati and Casey, and I remember us
talking about that game and saying like, I don't think

(05:23):
there's going to be any like insane hot take coming
out of this game. And frankly the same with the
NFC Championship game. Was the two best teams in the
NFC all year. Uh, you know, Brock Purty obviously was
entering healthy, but he was a seventh round quarter rookie quarterback.
Jalen Hurts was a little bit banged up, and I
remember us saying like specifically, like there there's nothing that
can happen in this game that's gonna make us like

(05:44):
come on the radio the next day and just yell
and scream about one thing or one this or one that.
And I kind of feel the same about this game,
is like I don't see the scenario where something happens
and you know we have to question this or question
Jalen HER's or question Andy Reid, or question Nick Sirianni.
It just feels like, you know, one two really good teams.

(06:05):
Obviously there were the two number one seeds in their
respective conferences, but well liked, I think everybody loves the
Andy Reid story, everything that he's gone through throughout his career.
Everybody loves the Jalen hurt story. We've talked about it
many times on this show, how much he's overcome all
that good stuff. I don't get the sense that, like
there's some super controversial thing that can happen or some
controversial result that will make everybody on these air waves

(06:28):
come on Monday yelling and screaming about one specific thing.
If that makes sense. Jayson, Uh, well, it does, except
it's wrong only because of this officiating exists and we
have seen. Look, we saw an NFC Championship game marred
by the worst call that we've ever seen. That's number one.
You can't you don't want. That's the one thing that

(06:49):
we can't have is a terrible call that turns this
game at the very end. Like, yeah, you can still
point back and say they had opportunities whatever, but that
saint situation with the rams, that would be something everyone
would then first be talking about the next day. So
that's the only the only real bone of contention I

(07:09):
would have with what you're saying. And the other one
is this a crucial injury? Because I feel like we
went into the NFC title game feeling one way and
then Brock Party went down and that game was over.
So like if Mahomes gets knocked out of the game.
With all due respect to Chad Henny, the ball games
over the same thing happens if you know, a crucial

(07:30):
member of the Eagles goes down. So those two things
are things you can't quantify, and those are the things
that would make what you're saying invalid. But in terms
of this being a polarizing game itself with a bunch
of polarizing stars, definitely not. Like there's no Kyrie Irving here,
There's no there there. You know, there's there's nobody there

(07:51):
that like, whoever wins, you're gonna feel good for the
vast majority of the people on that team because there's
just a lot of likable, horror working blue collar dudes,
born leaders, guys that have overcome stuff and that that
are just stellar players and stellar human beings for the
most part. I think that I think that part of

(08:12):
it is absolutely accurate. So if you throw the officiating
and we get a clean game as far as the
injuries are concerned, I one thousand percent agree with you.
I don't disagree on that. Super Bowl Again, about eighteen hours,
you know, nineteen hours from now, uh kickoff about six
thirty Eastern time Chris Plank and Arnie Spaniel will be
here on Fox Sports Radio. Uh, Jason, let me ask

(08:34):
you this, and it is cliche. Do you agree with
the sentiment though that, um, you know, Philly this not significantly,
but the more talented team Casey, the better coach and
quarterback like like, because that's what it seems to come
down to, right, is like And it almost reminds me
of the year two years ago when Georgia played Alabama
in the National Championship Game. Alabama had just be in

(08:56):
Georgia and he sat there and said, well, well, George
has probably got the better ross or top to bottom,
and Alabama is dealing with all sorts of injuries. But
Alabama has Bryce young and Nick say, but it's hard
to bet against them. And that is kind of the interesting,
you know paradox to me is Casey is super young
in some places. Uh, Casey is super banged up in
some places. Uh. And and Philly is obviously the across

(09:17):
the board better team. Right, And it makes sense. Jalen
Hurts is on a rookie contract. Jalen Hurts was not
a first round pick. He's not making very much money.
Patrick Mahomes is obviously the highest paid player in the
NFL in terms of totality of his contracts, So uh,
it's not surprising. And it feels like it's been a
talking point. And I think sometimes you can have a
talking point where it becomes like so cliche that you

(09:39):
almost start to wonder is it actually true. I do
think that's the case coming into this one though, And
I'm curious to see, like, you know, I'm kind of
curious to see, like who wins out in the end.
Is it the depth and and and you know, everything
that Philly can do, is it Mahomes being superhuman? Like
all this What a great comparison that is when you
look at these two teams Tames, then you look at

(10:00):
Georgia and Alabama from a couple of years ago. I mean,
I think you can even look at Jalen Hurts like
Stetson Bennett as a as a guy that had to
earn his way that it wasn't supposed to be this way,
and of course they had paid back and he ended
up still being the guy. And then on the flip side,
you have the best player, You've got the eight guy,
You've got the Bryce Young in this case, you've got

(10:21):
Patrick Mahomes. He's the best player in the world. But
who's the best team? Who's the better team in the trenches? Well,
it was Georgia. And guess who it is tomorrow. It's
the Philadelphia Eagles. We know this. I think that's a
I have not heard that out of all the pregame
stuff that I listened to this week, I have not
heard that comparison. But that is flawless. Torres like that.

(10:43):
Do you get paid to do this? Because if you don't,
you need to talk to somebody because you deserve a
little bit of money. That that is a tremendous comparison.
It makes all the sense in the world. It makes
all the sense. Thank you. I do get paid for this.
I'm not doing it voluntarily. This is not a charity
campaign for me. Um So, yes, I do get paid,
and it was something I did think about throughout the week.

(11:03):
But I'll tell you, I'm curious. I'm just curious see
how it all plays out. I mean, listen, uh, you
know the cliche, and it's true. You know, Vegas doesn't
um you know, build all those skyscrapers for no reason,
all those big casinos for no reason. Why I bring
it up is because you know, the money in Vegas
seems to be coming in pretty evenly. I know that
there's been some money in on the Chiefs lately. But

(11:24):
why I bring it up is because again, it brings
me back a little bit to that a f C
championship game where I can see both sides, I can
see both arguments. No result would surprise me, and I
think we're setting up for a really good game. Fox
Sports Radio Errant Tors Jason Martin broadcasting live from the
entirerac dot com studios. We are brought to you by
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(11:45):
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and more all your protection in one place. Bundle and
save at Progressive dot Com. Coming up, continue the conversation
on the Super Bowl. Simple question, who has the most
to lose tomorrow if they do in fact lose. I
actually think there's a very simple answer to this. We'll

(12:05):
answer that next. Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
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within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R
to listen live, Welcome back everybody, Fox Sports Radio Aaron
towards Jason Martin here on a Saturday night, Lakers and

(12:26):
Warriors tied at seventies seven a piece. Lebron and Steph
are both out of that one. Early on in college basketball,
U c l a ten ten against Oregon to say,
you get you caught up on just about everything else
going on in the world of sports in about ten
minutes from now, By the way, Jason speaking a sports
we got some breaking news that that I'm gonna need

(12:48):
some clarification from you on Jason Martin just sent his
first tweet in a year. What got you so fired
up about hanging out with Torres for four hours talking
Super Bowl that you said? You know what? I haven't
said a tweet and over a year thirteen months. What

(13:09):
made you decide? Tell me, there's not that much to
say other than it's been an eventful last six months.
It's been an eventful last twelve thirteen months. And I
stepped away from Twitter, um and all of social media
over a year ago because I felt compelled to. When

(13:30):
I was spending time with the Lord. It just felt
like not a place for me anymore, not a place
where I I needed to voice anything, and so I
stepped away, and uh, you know, over the past couple
of months, through prayer and a lot of other things,
it just dawned on me that this thing doesn't have
to rule me. I can rule it, and that's it.
Like it can be. It can be a tool, but

(13:53):
it can't be a ruler. So at the moment that
I stopped caring about, you know, what I was saying
and what reach it might have and all of those
kinds of things, the pride died. And once the pride died,
it was okay for me to come back and just talk.
And so tonight just felt it would make sense, right
you you would do it tomorrow during the super Bowl,

(14:15):
But I didn't want it to be a big deal.
It was just, yeah, I stepped away. Now I've decided
to step back whenever I feel like it. But it's just,
you know, not that this is riveting radio or anything,
but it's cool. It's it's just cool to it's cool
to come back and feel like it's all right to
come back. Because the reason I stepped away, I feel like,

(14:36):
was a reason that I had no choice but to
follow the prompting that I received, and now it just
kind of feels like, yeah, you're green light if you
want to go back and just hang out. And so
I just feel like I have a different attitude towards
it now, and it's it's something that the toxicity of it,
or the ego that was attached to it, all that
kind of stuff. I just feel like it's has gone

(14:57):
by the wayside and I no longer care. So now
I can just interact and if people want to see
what I have to say, that's cool. Well, first of all,
that was a much more detailed and thoughtful answer than
I was expecting. Um two, I can definitively tell you
nothing has changed on social media. It's just people arguing
about everything all day, every day. Um, and uh, that
is something you did not miss And I am with you.

(15:18):
Is I learned a long time ago. I use it
and I've I've talked to producer Boat, I've talked a
lot of people about this. But I use it to
share my thoughts in the moment on whatever is going on. Obviously,
everybody knows I love college hoops, college football. It's a
lot of that. Um, I don't really care what people think,
so you know, I mean, obviously there's a line where
you know you can't you know, you got to refrain
from saying some stuff or you probably should refrain from

(15:41):
saying some stuff that I do. But uh, it's I
I guess good to have you back. It's a little
you know, I don't want to be self serving, and
you know, it's it's not that big of a deal,
and I'm sure most of the audience doesn't care. But
I will say I do think that your answer was awesome,
and I think it's a good learning lesson for anybody
listening that is on social media is use it as
a platform to get your thoughts out on Twitter, to

(16:02):
share your personal life on on Instagram or Facebook. But
don't be consumed by what other people think. I think
that's an important lesson to learn. You know, I'll just
wrap this really quick because I again, I don't want
to bore people the night before the super Bowl. But
that's how I use Instagram. I almost use Instagram as uh,
you know, I have a professional page, but then my
personal page. It's it's basically a photo album for me

(16:24):
to make to to to keep good memories that I
want to keep. Uh not because I'm trying to impress anybody,
or I have to show anybody where I've been and
how I've what I've done, And so I only bring
it up to say, you know, for those of you who, um,
you know, do find negativity coming out of social media,
whether it's because you see other people doing certain things
or somebody has said something new inappropriate, just remember, um,

(16:47):
you know, nobody's opinion matters except for your own and
the people that know you and love you. So I
don't mean to get all serious here on a Saturday night, Jason,
but you gave a great answer, and I just kind
of wanted to add on to it. Is that, you know,
don't don't let people come to control who you are
and how you think and what you do. You know
what I mean. Yeah, I would just say this and
in closing, since you since you brought it up, I

(17:07):
didn't even know if you would even notice, And that
was sort of the point. It's just like, I'm just
gonna toss it out here, and it is cool, Like
I like the fact that I get to do this
show on Saturday nights and just have a little bit
of fun and and and talk about sports and talk
about the culture and talk about the things that people
out there I want to hear about, or excited about,
or passionate about, or driven about all of those kinds

(17:27):
of things. I just feel like, you know, I I
didn't miss it. You know, that's the thing. That's that's
how I know I can just come back and have
fun with it here and there is It's not like
I was timeline searching or anything. Literally, this is the
second time I've logged into this website in thirteen months,
and I come back and I know it's probably the same,
that nothing's really changed all of those kinds of things.

(17:51):
I just I decided I wanted to live my life
in front of the people that knew me. And and
you know, I mean, I have a platform on radio
here to where you and I can chat, we can talk,
and people around the country can hear that, and and
things of that nature. I just think that I don't know,
it's very easy to become a slave to this stuff.
And I felt like there were a few times, and

(18:13):
it was right there in the national semifinal where I
quit over a year ago, and the biggest reason was
I felt this urge to be heard. I was just like,
let me see how smart I can be and see
how many likes and how many retweets and all this
other like all of this egos welling up in me,
like the world's gonna hinge on how clever I can be,

(18:36):
how smart I can be, how smarty I can be,
all of those kinds of things. And I think the
learning experience in the process of the last thirteen months
is just that's not the way to live. That's not
the way to be. That's not the way to find happiness.
That's not the way to in my case, it's not
the way to to seek the Lord properly. It's finally

(18:59):
I was just kind of take a spotlight off myself
and so now now it's just now it's just another website.
Now it's just another place that I can come and
since you and I are doing this show, it was
just like, you know what, I'm just gonna go ahead
and pop out here that I'm excited to do this
for the next four hours because I like you, and
I like Chris, and I like our team, and I
like what we do and I have a blast doing it.

(19:21):
This is real Well, I just see Twitter account right now,
so real quick, last last question because this is serious,
because I will say, like when I go on vacation,
I do well. First of all, I delete all apps
off my phone during the day so I can focus
on what I need to do, and then I'll put
him back on before bed or if there's a big
game or whatever. How did you feel as though you

(19:42):
were disconnected from the news cycle, forget opinion, forget smart
smermy smart. Did you feel like you were behind on
actual stuff happening in the real world. No, because I
was still reading the Wall Street Journal. Um, I was
still listening to the podcast that I only consume. I
was going to the athletic, I was going to ESPN,

(20:03):
I was going to the same places. I just wasn't
going through social media in any way. And I realized
it was inessential. It can be a tool, and it
can be used positively, and there's a lot of wonderful
things to get done on it, but it's by no
means necessary, and it's certainly not something that I felt
like I was going to enhance my life. I had
said a while backs, like if I wasn't doing this

(20:24):
for a living, if this wasn't part of what I
was doing, I'd probably delete every account I had because
I just feel like my eyes have been open a
little bit more, especially over the last six months, to
just the world around me, my wife, my daughter, those
that are close to me, what's going on in their lives,
my parents, all of that kind of thing. It's really
amazing when you disconnect just a little bit, how your

(20:49):
view can shift. And so I feel like it was
a blessing to be prompted to do it, and I
feel like I'm in I'm in a headspace that I
like at this point in time when it comes to
just understanding understanding the value of actual communication, you know,
actually seeing people face to face, having conversations and stuff
like that. This the kind of stuff that we grew

(21:11):
up expecting we're gonna do forever, not realizing that we
were gonna have, you know, chat chat, GPT and all
of these other kinds of things that we're gonna seemingly
make our lives easier, but at the same time, I
think just make us more and more numb to the
emotions that make a life worth living. I will tell you, um,
very rarely do you actually miss anything like when you're

(21:33):
just not on for a little bit. Uh. Twice in
the last two weeks, though there have been circumstances where
people if you logged off too early or too late. Uh,
you know, I I try not to make it a
habit of jumping on first thing. And I was about
an hour late to find out that Tom Brady had
re retired, this about two weeks ago. And then of
course the big one this week, which we'll get too

(21:53):
later in the show, Kevin Dury getting traded at one
thirty am Eastern Times, so a lot of people woke
up to that news as well. I'll tell you what,
we'll come back. We'll get back to the super Bowl.
I really like that, Jason. I'm glad I asked you,
because again I think there's some important life lessons for everybody,
including myself, that's on social media. Uh. Let's but let's
get back to sports. Let's get over to the news desk.
Steve to Seger, tell us what's trending, my friend, good

(22:15):
segment there. And by the way, I was five hours
late to hear the Bradys news because I was off
that day and didn't miss it at all. You know,
some some people still think that that there's another retirement
in him, and another re retire re unretirement, but yeah,
I'm probably we do have too late games in the NBA.
Of note, Dallas is playing at Sacramento, and Luca don

(22:36):
Citch and Kyrie Irving, for the first time, started together
in Maverick Suda forms. Luca had missed the last four
games with a bruised heel. The game is twenty eight
all late first quarter at Sacramento, Luka don Citch with
three baskets. He has three assists and two turnovers so far,
and the Lakers without Lebron James or Ankle are playing
at Golden State. End of three, the Lakers have taken

(22:58):
the lead eight five seventy nine on the Warriors. Lakers
record twenty five and thirty one this year. Portland's Jeremy
Grant is in concussion protocol. The averages twenty one points
per game. Cleveland won at sixth straight, Charlotte lost its
seventh in a row. Spurs lost their twelve in a row.
New York BA utah one t Jalen Brunson thirty eight points.

(23:19):
Julius Randall scored thirty one in the win. It was
Washington over Indiana one one thirteen, Bradley Beal thirty two
points Kyle Kuzma. The Wizards was out for a third
straight game with a sprained ankle, and two other finals
Miami in overtime, one at Orlando one oh seven, one
oh three. Philadelphia got a narrow victory at Brooklyn. Nets

(23:40):
apparent tying three pointer came just after the buzzer. Joel
emb thirty seven points in victory. To college hoops, What
an upset tonight at Stanford, the home team beat number
four Arizona seventy nine. Stanford chooses tonight to have a
good game, not good great, they shot sixty one percent
from the floor. Or Thursday it will be Stanford at

(24:02):
u C l A. The Bruins were down eight zip
early but now leads sixteen twelve at Oregon mid first half.
Also the other late game of note in college hoops
at number sixteen Gonzaga Zag's lead b y U mid
first half twenty two to eighteen. Number eight Virginia in
overtime beat Duke losses for number eleven Iowa States and
number twelve Kansas State. Baylor gotta win at TCU crighton

(24:24):
beat yukon St. John's upset Number twenty Providence. And then
there's the game at number six Tennessee Tonight, Vols have
lost three of their last four games. Missouri wins on
a three pointer at the buzzer eighty six eighty five.
Maybe you haven't heard of what's been going on with
the New Mexico State basketball program. They had two players
on the roster quit the team today. Just last night,

(24:47):
the entire men's basketball program at New Mexico State was
placed on indefinite suspension while the university looks into possible
violations of school policy, reportedly possible hazing. One of the
players is quitting today said he was leaving because, quote,
I don't think this program that I originally committed to
aligns with my beliefs and core values end quote. The

(25:09):
coach and his staff at New Mexico State. We're placed
on administrative lead last night, pending this investigation into possible violations.
On the good side of things, what happened at Villanova
today in women's hoops, fifty point game for Maddie Seagris,
she becomes the Big East career regular season scoring leader.
Villanova beat seat and all all right, who's opening the zona?

(25:32):
That be? Me? I apologize I was trying to do
it away we're supposed to share. This is the team.
Sure you're in a separate studio. Are you just lording
it over us? Are you? Yeah? I enjoy it. I
don't know if you guys have a working vending machine
out there in Sherman Oaks, but here in Nashville wet
how to drop a zero sugar from time to time?

(25:53):
What's the definition of working? We do have a vending machine.
I think everybody can can sent to that fact. I'm
not sure. Oh, all right, thank you to Sager. Appreciate
your help. Man. I was hoping that was going to
be silent. I did. It was like you hear a
dog barking in the background. You just kind of look around.

(26:14):
I didn't know if it was coming from our end.
It was more like the dog barking into the microphone. Yes,
I I just didn't know. I I looked to see
if it was Chris or Bow. I knew it wasn't me,
so yeah, I looked at up. I thought it was
next door. I thought I'd passed us in an elevator.
I thought the building was empty, And all of a
sudden it opened up and there's the blonde waiting to
come on. That's what just happened? Basically, Disager, you were

(26:34):
the blonde in that analogy. And he's all right, how
want we get back to the Super Bowl here and
Fox Sports Radio air towards Jason Martin Company live from
the tire rack dot Com studios. Thank you again to
the Sager for all of the updates. Busy, busy, busy
night in in all of sports, and of course the
big story is that tomorrow the big game, the Super Bowl. UM.

(26:57):
By the way, we could talk about how complicated other
banks make it to redeem to card rewards. We could
talk about how with Discover you can redeem your rewards
for cash in any amount of any time. I mean,
talk about amazing learn more discovered dot com slash redeemed
rewards terms apply, all right, Jason, So a little while ago,
going on into the first break, we um, we said, uh,

(27:17):
we said that that you know, we want to talk
about who has the most to lose tomorrow in the
Super Bowl. UM. I actually think there's an obvious answer,
and it's it's not as it's not. I don't think
anybody has like this isn't like um, you know, Lebron
in the finals or whatever, like I don't think anybody. Again,

(27:40):
I don't think there's gonna be anything that comes out
of Sunday's game that leads everybody to go crazy on
Monday here on these air waves. But I think there's
one obvious person. I'll go ahead and give you the
floor before I share mine. What do you think about
that question? I mean, I think I think I know
who you're going with, and I think I'm going with
the same person. And it's really because and I won't

(28:00):
tell you. I'll let you name the person because I
think it's gonna be the same person. But I'll set
the stage by saying this. It feels like the reason
it has to be this person is because we're talking
about legacy at some point, we're talking about what a
career is going to end up being in terms of numbers.
Jalen hurts Man, nobody expected him be here this soon, right,

(28:22):
But there's another guy where we come to expect this
year after year. And not only do we expect a
year after year, but you have to start totaling w's
in Super Bowls to determine where you're going to rank.
And maybe you don't care, and he may not, but
most athletes at that level, care about where they're going

(28:42):
to be seen in the pantheon of all time grades.
Where are they gonna be. Are they gonna be near
the top of the list? Are they're gonna be in
the middle of the list with some other guys that
got there a lot didn't win as many times all that.
Are you gonna be Tom Brady or are you gonna
be John Elway? Elway was great. Elway lost three super
Bowls in a row before they got him a running
back and and all the things that happened to get

(29:04):
him those two super Bowls where he was just an
incredible player throughout all of that time and willed them
to those spots. But you've got a guy that keeps
on getting so close and needs this one so that
that legacy can continue to grow. And that's why I
think it's who you're about to say. It's not I

(29:27):
was like, you're he you? I think, well you. I
haven't officially said who I who else? Say um? But
it's for all the reasons that you mentioned, is just
not the person that you're thinking of. I think the
answer is Andy Reid now again, And I think you
probably thought I was gonna say Mahomes and I actually
that's something I want to talk about at some point,

(29:48):
is is what would happen and what would the conversation
be if Patrick Mahomes loses. We got, uh, you know,
three and a half more hours to do that. But
why I think it's Andy Reid is because and this
is not and again this is not if if the
Chiefs lose this game. Andy Reid's overrated and everybody's got
him figured out and they couldn't know. But I what
I will say is this guy has put this guy's

(30:11):
had an insane career. I mean, you go back to
the Eagles, those multiple conference championship game appearances, the appearance
in the Super Bowl against the Patriots with with the Eagles,
but you know, you go now and win a second
Super Bowl because the thing is, and you know, you're
talking about the totality of Patrick mahomes career unless you're
talking about I don't know Travis Kelsey or Chris Jones,
but I don't think you. I think you were talking about, uh,

(30:34):
Patrick Mahomes. But Patrick Mahomes in theory, probably has another
minimum ten to twelve to thirteen years to do this. Um,
Andy Reid, you know, I don't think he's retiring anytime soon.
I can't imagine why he would. He's he's winning it
in insane level. He's got a great young quarterback. But
he is sixty four years old. And you know, I

(30:55):
I do think that winning a second one and whatever
it is, fourth overall super Bowl appearance and all those
conference championship games that you've been a part of in
both Case and Philadelphia, eventually he is going to retire.
And eventually, you know, if he retires with one super
Bowl win, I think it will we still remember him

(31:15):
as this icon in this offensive savant and all that.
But we also, I think, probably end up talking about
more about the missed opportunities, both in Philly but more
importantly in k C. You were with Patrick Mahomes for
all these years and you only got the one, so
you get the second one. There's only thirteen coaches all
time that have won two. Uh, there's only four coaches

(31:37):
that have won more than two. I just think it
puts you into a different stratosphere where now you will
forever for until the end of time. I guess in theory,
unless you make five more and you lose all of them.
But you win the second one, it's now about the
winning that you did. I think if you lose this game,
and in theory, if you were to never get back,
then you're a great, You're an icon, you're a whatever.

(31:59):
But I you think we would probably talk more about
what you didn't do on the big stage rather than
what you did do. I mean, that's a really interesting
way to look at it. And I certainly think that
if you were going to make a case for somebody else,
I think you just made the right case for the
right guy. I think it's the homes just because I'm
gonna look at the guy that's on the field that
can control what's actually happening. I agree with what it

(32:21):
can mean for Reid to win another one, especially you know,
he he did miss the opportunity against Tampa Bay, and
he miss the opportunity against New England when he was
with the Eagles. You know, there there have been some
near misses. And for a while there when he was
the Eagles coach, despite how good he was, everybody railed
about his clock management and those kinds of things because
he didn't win the big one. Now he wins the

(32:43):
big one. Um, so I think those are the two guys.
I think if you want to talk about legacy, you're
talking about legacy for a coach, putting him in the
upper echelon, upper upper upper echelon, even though I would
say he's the top ten coach of all time right now,
maybe he's top five. If he wins another Super Bowl,
maybe you can start to make that argument. I look
at Mahomes and just say, yeah, he's got X amount

(33:04):
of years, But look at all the quarterbacks he's gonna
be dealing, And I think that's where it's just you
can't afford to get this close again and come up
empty because how many cracks are you gonna have when
you look at the rest of that conference. Now we
say that, and they got there this year. All those
guys were playing this year, but those guys ain't going anywhere.
Burrow could have gotten him, had him on the ropes

(33:27):
late in the second half of that football game, let
him off the hook. Josh Allen still gonna be coming,
Justin Herbert still gonna be there. We're seeing Trevor Lawrence
start to emerge. Lamar and whatever's gonna happen with wherever
he's gonna be likely if it's still in Baltimore. They're
going to continue to be a force. There's just a
lot to look at and just say, you get this close,

(33:50):
you better cashing in if you are trying to total championships.
Because the one thing that you can say about the
Michael Jordan's versus Lebron James to eight that we do
not actually want to have ever on this program is
that it is all centered around what happened in the finals.
It is all centered around how many championships, how many finals,

(34:12):
m vps, all of that. That becomes the trump card
for Jordan's every single time, and that has become the
metric to define that. That's the reason why some people
said Eli was better than Peyton until Peyton won that
second Super Bowl, because of how overvalued the championship itself
is as compared to the totality of somebody else's career.

(34:33):
So that to me is why it's Mahomes. Because Mahomes
is chasing Brady right now. I don't know that, and
Andy Reid is necessarily chasing Belichick. I don't think he
can reach that height. I'll tell you what, let's come
back and we'll continue this conversation. What would it mean
if Patrick Mahomes took a loss tomorrow night in the
Super Bowl. Erranturds Jason Martin, We're taking you till two
a m. Eastern time, Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back, everybody,

(34:56):
Fox Sports Radio. Erran Towards Jason Martin, broadcasting live from
the tirect dot Com studios. Jason, we were talking about
it before the break, so we both kind of agree
there's clearly I mean, I think it goes out saying
there's more pressure on the Chiefs coming into this one
than the Eagles. And before the break we kind of
started the conversation of what is the conversation on Monday

(35:20):
if Patrick Mahomes loses this game. Now, again, there's always
context that needs to be kind of um, you know,
kind of putting put out there right like he we
last time we saw him, he was playing on one ankle. Um,
you can have an incredible game and still lose. So
there's a lot of variables here. But what is also
like kind of undeniable. He wasn't very good too Super Bowl,

(35:43):
last super Bowl that he played in against Tampa Bay.
It was two Super Bowls ago, but the last one
that Casey played and that wasn't his fault that the
offensive line couldn't block, but he wasn't very good. And
I think it's also kind of worth noting that Casey
did trail going into the fourth quarter by double figures
against San Francisco. Now he I'll lead them to win.
So I mean, you know, it's forever on his tombstone

(36:04):
that he's a super Bowl winning quarterback, but it's not
as though he has been great on this stage. So
the point I'm trying to get to is, let's have
the conversation. We're doing the show on Monday, they call
us to fill in, and Patrick Mahomes just isn't very good.
And yes, the Philly defense is awesome, and yes, maybe
Jalen Hurts has a superhuman game, But if Patrick Mahomes
loses this game, what is the conversation going to be

(36:26):
like on Monday, assuming again no injuries and no superhuman
performance that just doesn't result in a win. It's tough
to say, just because we it's hard to try and
figure out what that game would look like. If he
has a subpar performance, then what's gonna happen is we're
gonna do a history lesson across this industry. We're gonna

(36:49):
go back to the San Francisco game and talk about
the first half where he was really not very good
and where Jimmy g hits Emmanuel Sanders, and we're talking
about a Chiefs team that hasn't won a Super Bowl
with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback. And then we're gonna talk
about what happened against Tampa Bay and how he ran
for two seventy eight yards or whatever that preposterous stat was.
But it was at all east and west, like none

(37:11):
of it was north and south because of what that
defense did the offensive line. We remember that game only
because of how just hard to watch it became at
some point, how dominant it was. And then you come
into this game and if he goes out there and
he plays poorly and it's not something that the ankle
has anything to do with, if he goes out there
and throws interceptions, if he goes out there he fumbles

(37:33):
the ball, those kinds of things, which, by the way,
I just don't think that's Patrick Mahomes. And I think
that's why it would become such a storyline on Monday
if it If it were to be the case, he's
gonna if he has a poor showing. That's what it's
gonna be. It's gonna be going back and doing revisionist
history and saying, well, was he all that good? Like

(37:55):
maybe he's just another stat pag guy. Maybe he's closer
to being a Damian Lillard type guy. No offensive dame,
but just a guy to have won a championship. Now
Mahomes has won a title, it's like we gave the
m v P, but boy, you sure MVP supposed to
be able to win you a championship And all this
because again the expectations are so sky high for a
guy like Mahomes or a guy like Lebron or a

(38:16):
guy like Durant or whoever it is and whatever sport
Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, all of this. When they fail
to win a championship, then it's time to knock them
down to peck. America can be real good at doing that,
especially with what we do and the fact that you
have to feel x amount of time, x amount of
days a week and all of this everything, the floodgates

(38:38):
will open to start criticizing every little thing about Patrick Mahomes.
I don't disagree, um and and one it's just the
nature of our business, um to you know, like I
I you know, I don't know right like you can't.
I wanted to say, like like it's like it's weird,
like you it's not like you're tearing him down own.

(39:00):
But I do think there are some people that think
he's a little bit of a media creation. I think
that's insane. But I'm just saying, um and so I
I could see that scenario, and I think it would
be really I think the actually the most interesting thing
that could happen is if he does not play well.
Now I don't expect that to happen, but I do
think that's probably the most interesting thing because it does
lead to all of these conversations. Now he'll be one

(39:22):
and two, Now he'll be you know, kind of you know,
I don't know on the more of the Peyton Manning
trajectory go on and on and on. But it is
something interesting to think about it, and I think it's
something that will probably continue to discuss throughout the show
because there is an awful lot to get too still
with the super Bowl. With that said, it was also
a very busy week in the NBA. Kevin Durant is

(39:43):
now a son. Kyrie Irving is now with the Dallas Mavericks,
and we are going to discuss a wild week in
the NBA. That is next. Er Torres, Jason Martin, Busy
Saturday night, Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back everybody hour to
Fox Sports Radio. Errant towards Jason Martin. We are broadcasting
lift from the tirect dot Com studios. Direct dot Com

(40:05):
will help you get there and on Matt Selection fast
free shipping, Free road has a protection and over ten
thousand recommended installers. Tirect dot com the way tire buying
should be. Jason, when you and I came on air
last week, it was about twenty four hours removed from
the Kyrie Irving trade demand, and uh, you know, we

(40:26):
had a spirited back and forth over whether he was
gonna get traded or not. I kind of initially when
the trade rumors first happened, was at a minute wasn't
going to happen. And then within about twenty four hours
I realized though there might be something here. Um, well,
we all know that Kyrie Irving is now Maverick. Kevin
Durant is now a Phoenix son. Uh, and I want
to get to all that in a minute, but just

(40:49):
within the last ten minutes or so, we have a
new twist in the Brooklyn Nets saga. Uh that was
and is no more so. Tonight after their game, James
Harden took the podium for the Philadelphia seventy six ers.
I believe it's their first game since all this trade

(41:11):
stuff happened. But James Harden, I guess was asked. And
this is all from Nick Fridel from ESPN. We don't
have the audio yet, but Nick Fredel quoting James Harden
about the situation in Brooklyn, James Harden said, I don't
look like the crazy one. I don't look like the
guy or the quitter or whatever the media wants to
call me. I knew what was going on, and I

(41:32):
just decided to hey, I'm not built for this. I
don't want to deal with that. I just want to
play basketball and have fun. So James Harden coming out
guns blaze and talking about his time with the phil
with the Brooklyn Nets, obviously, it feels very much to
me as though it's a shot at Kyrie Irving. We

(41:53):
heard rumors that Kyrie Irving that that James Harden wasn't
happy with Kyrie refusing to get the vaccine. I actually
have a very interesting thought on this, or I think
it's interesting. Who knows if anybody else will. But when
you first hear James Harden for the first time speaking out,
what do you make a James Harden on this one?
I mean, this is gonna sound kind of strange, but

(42:14):
it's kind of like China and Russia talking about each other.
As an American like watching you know what I'm saying, like, yeah, y'all,
go ahead, whatever, whatever the heck it is, you feel
like you need to do, well, let me let me
just let me jump in on that, because I think
it's very easy for James Harden to say something like
that on a day like today. Um, and maybe he

(42:37):
left because he was unhappy with Kyrie Irving and and
and that could be a thousand percent true. But for
James Harden to to treat himself and speak of himself
as some guy that's just about well, I'm just about
ball and they weren't that. That's not what they were
about over there. Kyrie had it, you know, he didn't
say this, but he was inferring it. Oh, Kyrie had

(43:00):
for an interest off the court. I just was there
to play ball. His exact quote, as a matter of fact,
in this context, the exact quote he said, I don't
he said, I want to play ball and have fun.
If he's just about playing ball and just about having fun,
he just shows up and does his job because basketball
is the number one priority. Let ask you one question,

(43:21):
Jason Martin. How did he end up getting traded to Brooklyn? Oh?
I know it's because he showed up out of shape
in Brooklyn after he demanded a trade and then purposely
broke COVID protocols to piss off the organization. So to
your point, whether it's you know, China and Russia trying

(43:41):
to claim that one's better than the other, whether it's
the pot call and the kettle black, I just look
at it as like, yeah, if you had beef with Kyrie,
that's one thing, But to make yourself out is just
some bastion of basketball that's just here in to play
and anything that gets in the way you're not about. Well.
I got pictures of you, uh with a thirty eight

(44:02):
inch waist there, James Hardy. I have pictures of your
stomach hanging out over your basketball short. So please do
not tell me that you're some victim and all this.
Sorry for being mean, but it's the truth. I mean,
remember how he got out of Houston. That's what I
just said into I mean, the whole deal. He gets
to Houston and he finds this way to Philadelphia. I
said when he left Houston, I will never believe a

(44:24):
team with James Harden on it is gonna win a
championship because I just don't see leader in him. I
see a guy that feels a certain type of way
about himself and what he's saying here about having fun.
This is the first thing I thought of when you
read that quote, because I hadn't seen it yet, because
it's just now happening. I see a headline popping up
in front of me. Now there's another guy used talking

(44:47):
about having fun all the time, and he was a
superstar level. He was on his way to Nay Smith
Hall of Fame. He was going he was gonna be
everything right. He was one of the top picks, just
like Hard was, and he was the guy. He was Superman.
That man was Dwight Howard. Dwight Howard used to talk

(45:09):
about how much he wanted to have fun and play
basketball all the top man. I'm just here to have
fun man all the time while coughin drama behind the scenes,
while doing all the kinds of things that he's not
saying in front of the microphone. That's what he's doing
back in the locker room, that's what he's doing in
the front office, that's what he's doing behind closed doors.
Harden reminds me of Dwight Howard in many ways in

(45:31):
terms of a dude that when he's at his best,
can be just unbelievable. One of the most dominant scores
you will ever see in history of the NBA is
James Harden. One of the most unguardable players during his
time in Houston that we've ever seen. But a guy
that is an anti leader, just like Kyrie Irving is
an anti leader, and Kevin Durant is at best a

(45:53):
reluctant leader that really doesn't want to do that. He
just wants to be an absolute assassin on a basketball court.
All these guys with the talent to be what I
just described, none of them wanting to or capable of
stepping up and leading men to a championship. James Harden
saying about Kyrie Irving right there, Kyrie could turn right

(46:15):
back around to say about James Harden. Well, and that's
what I was gonna say. You said that James Harden
reminds me, reminds you of Dwight Howard, who ironically was
his former teammate and the first, the first of what
four superstars, and he couldn't get along with, couldn't get
along with Chris Paul, couldn't get along with Russell Westbrook
and Houston could have get along with Dwight Howard, couldn't
get along with all these guys in in in Brooklyn.
You know who James Harden reminds me of. He reminds

(46:37):
me of Kyrie Irving, of course, Like now, I will
give James Harden credit for this, except for what he's
trying to demand a trade. He generally does show up
to play ball. Um, But I think you would describe
both of those players as guys who are insanely talented,
who are not going to reach their full potential because

(47:01):
they have interests outside of basketball that keep them from
being a hundred percent of themselves. Like you can criticize
Kevin Durant for a lot of things, nobody doubts that
a hundred percent of his energy goes into being a
basketball player. Same with Steph Curry, same with Janas, same
with Jayson Tat. I'm saying with Lebron, you can christ
Hasbron James for anything, got eat Sampson breeze basketball. Now,

(47:22):
Kyrie Irving's interests are different than James Harden's interests. Kyrie
Irvings are political and spiritual, and we don't have to
go down all those rabbit holes. But James Harden, clearly,
um you know, has interest outside of basketball in terms
of entertainment and nightlife. And we've all heard the stories
and we don't have to rehatch those as well. So
like again, you know that the best analogy, there's an

(47:44):
old saying the pop calling the kettle black. It's like,
you know whatever, Like it's your life, you make millions,
live how you want. But to somehow say that you're
on a different plane than and he didn't use the
word Kyrie Irving, but I think we all get the
innuendo to claim that you're on some kind of different
plane than Kyrie Irving. Like, give me a freaking break, dude,

(48:06):
Like you have been a problem everywhere you've gone. You're
out of shape, You demand a trade, you're breaking COVID protocols. Oh,
by the way, you get to Philly and you're kind
of the reason that they lost in the second round
of that NBA Playoffs last year. It's just like, dude,
come on now, man, give me a break. Like, like again,
nobody has I I just tweeted this, nobody has less

(48:28):
self awareness than the NBA Superstar Man. Well, I mean
these two guys in particular, like we were talking earlier
in the program, are and about how this Super Bowl
was just full of likable guys. It's full of likable
dudes on sidelines. Andy Reid, super likable guy. Jalen hurts Man,
it's hard not to want to root for him. Patrick
mahomes Kelsey, you wanted dislike, but the more you see

(48:50):
of him, it's just it's just kind of amazing to
watch how he's grown and how he's matured a little bit,
but how he's still a dog out there. And you
see that across the board on those two teams, there
are two guys that we just spent the brunt of
this segment discussing that. When I see their last names
pop up in a headline, my initial reaction as a

(49:12):
sci followed by an eye roll before I even see
the story. And maybe it's gonna be something about how
they had a fifty point night. I'm just what now
that's that? This is the opposite of the likable super
Bowl the you talk about the NBA Superstar there's some
incredibly likable dudes any association. These two guys are about

(49:32):
as unsympathetic of figures at this stage in their potential
Hall of Fame careers as two guys could possibly be.
I don't disagree, and you know again, first of all,
I'll say this too. You mentioned guys that just make
your eyes roll when you see their names in the headline.

(49:53):
Tell you what, we'll come back. I do want to
talk Kyrie, but we we we should start with the
Kevin Durant stuff because out side of James Harden's comments
on the nets, the nets are officially a thing of
the past. Uh. Maybe someday there will be some documentary
done that will be the most watch documentary ever, because
that thing will be unbelievable. But I do want to
talk about some of the fallout from this week. Kevin

(50:14):
Durant is now a son, and of course Kyrie Irving
actually playing right now for the Mavericks in Sacramento. I
should mention, by the way, football fans be sure to
tune into Fox Sports Radio's Countdown the Kickoff, presented by
Bet MGM on Sunday morning, three hours before kickoff. That's right.
Tune in on Sunday morning to na a M Eastern
as we take you live all the way to Kickoff
on Fox Sports Radio in the Heart Radio app presented

(50:37):
by Bed MGM. The guys will obviously be on air
crushing it, talking about the super Bowl tomorrow coming up.
More on the week that was in the NBA. Kevin
Durant is now a son. What does that mean? We'll
discuss the next Fox Sports Radio Welcome back everybody, Fox
Sports Radio EDA towards Jason Martin. We are broadcasting live
from the entirect dot Com studios, and we can talk

(50:58):
about how complicated other banks make it to redeem to
card rewards. We can talk about how we discover you
can redeem your rewards for cash in any amount of
any time. I mean talk about amazing learn more discovered
dot Com slash redeemed awards terms apply. So Jason. Earlier
in the show, we talked a little bit about social media.
You just sent out your first tweet in over a year,

(51:19):
and uh, we talked about social media and how we
consume our news. And so I think a lot of
people woke up to a piece of news that they
could have possibly imagined on Wednesday night as they went
to bed, when Kevin Durant at about one thirty Eastern
time was traded to the Phoenix Sun. So first question
I have very simply for you. You were probably asleep,

(51:41):
and you weren't on social media until about ten minutes ago.
How and where were you when you found out that
Kevin Durant was a Phoenix Sun. I was awake, as
I'm stand up late for whatever reason, um a lot
of week days, even though I'm still getting up relatively early.
But I saw it happen. UM. I don't know if
it was a breaking news email from us from Fox

(52:04):
that we get whenever thing's break um, or it was
ESPN dot com was one of those two sources I
got the breaking news. It was either an email or
just going to see what had happened in sports that evening,
and I saw Durant in a son's jersey like a
media we mocked up and I was just like, huh interesting,

(52:25):
And then of course I started deep diving into it.
And over the last three days that that has been something.
I don't know how many articles I've read on it,
but I've read an awful lot. I'll tell you my
story is very similar. I'm not actually up at that time.
I think it was about ten twenty Pacific one twenty
Eastern time. I might be up, but I'm usually not,
you know, I'm watching a movie or something. But I

(52:46):
was on my phone but not on social media as
we discussed. And I got a text from a buddy
that lives on the East Coast and he said, man,
am I glad I didn't grow up a Nets fan?
And it struck me. It was like forty eight hours
after the Kyrie deal, and it hit me like, he
can't be texting about Kyrie at two in the morning

(53:09):
his time, and he works night, so he was up,
but two am in the morning his time, he can't.
And so I went on and there was Kevin Durant
like you in a son's uniform. I was like, wow,
so now that it's the dust to settle, Kevin Durant
is a son, Like, what is your take on it?
Because you know we I mean not not the you know,
we can talk Kyrie, we can talk to Nets all

(53:29):
that stuff. But but in terms of Kevin Durant as
a son. With this group, we now know Chris Paul, Kevin,
Chris Paul DeAndre and all these guys are there. Devin
Booker obviously, what do you make of this team that
has been put together in Phoenix right now? If they're healthy,
they can win at all. I mean that's my initial thought.
I mean, we know what a baller Kevin Durant is,

(53:51):
regardless of what trouble or drama you might believe surrounds
him at least especially since he left Golden State but
could date it back to when he left Oklahoma City
in some contexts. We know how good he is. We
know what a scorer Devin Booker is and how much
he loves the sport of basketball. That's one of the things.

(54:12):
There was a story I don't know if you read
it um Aaron at ESPN that was put together by
It was Ramona Shelburn and somebody else. It was two
authors and they put this whole thing together about how
the Durant trade happened and how behind closed doors he
he said, look, I don't want this to be public.
I don't want to be the subject of speculation. I
would like to go to Phoenix. That's the only place

(54:33):
I want to go. Because he and Devin Booker during
international basketball just became really really tight over their love
of the sport, and so they said, you know, someday
playing together would be pretty cool, which is similar actually
to the way that Kyrie and Kevin Durant got together.
And it's the way a lot of these super teams
seem to have been built through these international games and

(54:53):
through Olympic play. But like reading through it and seeing
it all, but then you look at it, you're just
like Devin book loves ball, Kevin Durant love's ball, Chris
Paul still trying to win that championship, and you were able,
at least for the time being to still hold on
to DeAndre eight. Now whether or not he and Money
Williams are gonna be able to coexist, that's a that's

(55:14):
a story for a different day. But if you look
at the squad and the talent, nobody wants to play
them like I look at that to say that's a
team that can win a championship because they've got so
much potential scoring. The only thing that would worry me
is they lost a lot of defense in this trade
and who's gonna step up and guard who needs to

(55:34):
be guarded in crucial situations in the playoffs. But on paper, man,
as long as they're healthy, and that is a big
if in this case, because these guys have not been
healthy throughout their careers. Uh, the sky could potentially be
the limit. Now. It's a very I don't want to
stay championship window. Already, we talked about this. I don't

(55:55):
believe in a championship window. I believe in now. But
they've only got a couple of years probably of Durant
playing at this level and and Chris Paul's obviously nearing
the end of his career and all those things. So
they've got to win right now, and that's what this
move is designed to do. This is the Rams, That's
basically what this is. This is the Rams in the

(56:17):
NBA there over the luxury tax. They don't care. They're
giving up the future if they have to because they
want to win a title right now. Well, you gave
me credit for making the Alabama Georgia analogy in comparing
the Chiefs and Eagles and the Super Bowl. So let
me give you props because I think that is a
great way to put it. It is very much like
the Rams, and I think that's actually probably my only

(56:40):
concern about Phoenix is. You know, I say this all
the time, and I think it's applicable here. Is that
in life two things can be true. And what I
think is true is if you want to argue that
the Sons are now the super Bowl or Super Bowl,
the NBA the at least the Western Conference favorites, I
would probably agree with that. But what I also know

(57:00):
is that you know, NBA championships are one not just
by superstars. You gotta have one or two of them
to win at the highest level, but you gotta have
those role players too. You gotta have the andre Iguadalas,
you gotta have the Matthew Delavadova's, the J R. Smith's,
you know whoever. We know who those guys are. And
I'm not saying that you don't make the trade. I
actually saw Michael Bridges say say that if I was

(57:21):
the Sons, I would have made the trade too, insinuating like, yeah,
that's Kevin Durant, and I loved being part of that team,
but you can't not get Kevin Durant. But I do wonder,
you know. It's what I would just say is I
think they probably should be the favorites in the West,
but the margin is so thin because they basically have
no bench, like Michael Bridges and Cam Johnson were really

(57:42):
important to what they did. And maybe it becomes one
of those things a little bit like this like the
Golden State Warriors, where they can score so much and
so easily that the Warriors when Kevin Durant was there,
that it doesn't matter if they're great defensively or not.
But that would be My only concern is that Kevin
Durant is awesome, but you also gave up a ton

(58:02):
to get him, not only in future draft capital, but
with two really important players that were part of two
really good teams each of the last two years, one
of them to make the finals. So I think it
sets up for a very interesting three or four months
and at least to start with this core um, because
again I think they should be favored in the West,
but I also think that that that there are their

(58:23):
margin for error. If there's a tweaked ankle or foul
trouble or whatever is very very very thin. And look,
that's another comparison to the Ramps, if you want to
go back to it, because what was the Rams biggest issue?
They had no depths. They had. Boy, it looked awesome
on paper when you looked at that first team, that
looked like something you would try to set up in
Madden and try to make happen and maybe even get

(58:44):
denied by the AI. But past that, that second group,
that third group, you lost an awful lot. And the
same is true of the Suns. But at the same time,
if your Phoenix and you've come close and you've had
some embarrassing playoff exits, that no show against the MAVs
and the way you blew the two oh lead a
few years ago in the finals to Milwaukee, like all

(59:05):
of this, you're just like, we have to find a
way to get over the top. We're so close right now.
They truly were, and I think in their mind they're like,
we're one player away. If you say, I get to
keep Devin Booker, I get to keep Chris Paul because
of what he means as a leader. I get to
add Kevin Durant to this roster. I love my coach
and Monty Williams. We even get to keep eating in

(59:27):
this deal. Maybe we can find a way to make
him happy. You know, I think you have to do this,
Like I don't. I don't think that you have a choice,
especially if you're a new owner and you're somebody that
actually played basketball. I do believe. I think he played
the Big Ten, but not Michigan State. Yeah, he played
for Tom Izzo. This is guy who understands the game
a little bit. He's new to what he's doing. And again,

(59:50):
if you go back and you read the kind of
the expos at ESPN, the Law in form piece, you
find out real quickly how tight he was with Joe
Sigh and how he was kind of his mentor during
this process of trying to learn how to be an
NBA owner. So there was already some kind of friendly
ties here that made this a much different scenario than

(01:00:12):
the Kyrie Irving deal, where they were going to send
him where they wanted to send him. Kevin Durant, they
sent where Kevin Durant wanted to go and where they
are already. Uh, it just seemed like everything was built
for this to work. So I think you have to
take this risk. But there is no question it is
a risk, And the biggest reason why is because not

(01:00:33):
only are there is there a lot of talents spread
across some teams in the league where it's not a
foregone conclusion that you're just good enough to whitewash everybody
at this stage. But you've got to be healthy. Booker's
missed time. Paul has been relentlessly unhealthy at critical times
throughout his career, and Kevin Durant, ever since what happened
to him in Golden State, he's been unable to stay

(01:00:54):
on the floor in some critical spots. The question is
how driven is Kevin Durant now to win a title?
Because I told you last year on this very show,
Aaron that watching him in the playoffs, he looked like
he didn't want to be there. And it's not because
he hated basketball. We know how much he loves basketball.
So I look at it and flip side and say,
he just got a new lease on life, maybe one

(01:01:14):
that he didn't see possible but was hoping could make
it happen. I kind of think we're about to see
the best version of Kevin Durant that you possibly could
see because he's gonna be energized because he and I
saw a couple of people phrases this way. He got
kind of lucky, he really did. He's very fortunate to
find himself in this spot. Well, there is one more

(01:01:34):
aspect of this Kevin Durant stuff that I want to
talk about. We're gonna get to that next. I want
to bring in Steve to Segar with what's trending. But
to Seger, I don't mean to steal your thunder here.
We just got a piece of very interesting, not very
interesting information. But I know that throughout the five six
hours you've been on air, you've referenced the Duke Virginia
finish and the A C C. Literally right now, I'm

(01:01:57):
just seeing it. I don't want to steal your thunder.
But the Duke, let's talk about it. Dukes thought they
had the game winning dunk essentially at the end of
regulation and it was blocked and what no goaltending And
we went onto oh no, no, no, no, no, no. Duke.
Duke gets the ball with one point two left, they inbounded,
they the guy drives, he gets fouled in the game

(01:02:19):
it's called a foul on the court and he's gonna
shoot fall shots. They then go to the video monitor
and determine that the foul was after the clock had expired.
So the dunk would have put him up or the
free throws would have put him Yes, he would have
gone to the free throw line. Um, he would have

(01:02:39):
gone to the free throw line to win the game.
If he missed both, it would have gone overtime. But
why bring it up to stagger. The a SEC just
released a statement that said, upon further review of the play, Uh,
it is it was an incorrect add education. I don't
know how to say that word, right, I can't how
do they adjucate? It was incorrect of the playing rules. Um,

(01:03:00):
so you know, you take that where you want. But
that was the gist of it. It looked in real
time they slow if you watch it in super slowma,
which what what the reps were doing at the scorers table.
It looked very much like the foul happened before the
clock expired. It was a very surprising call for them
to overturn it in replay. So I had seen the

(01:03:21):
post game of John Shire, the Duke coach, and he
says I want an explanation of what happened because I
could see the ball in my player's hands before the
clock went to zero. And then they they tell me
that the calls made after the buzzer. I don't know
what the rule is. Yes, I guess the conference has
the last I guess the conference doesn't know what the
rule is either, because no, I mean, you know, and

(01:03:42):
and this is something we talked about with replay all
the time, is is you know, if we're gonna do it,
get it right. And you know, they actually made the
right call on the court and then overturned it and
replay it was. It was jarring. And you know, we
know the history of of Duke maybe getting favorable refereeing,
not so much on this one. It was just a
flat out blow call and appears the league. I think

(01:04:05):
coach k was at the St. John's game today, he
was not even at. By the way, we mentioned an
hour ago the problems that New Mexico States program is
currently having, how they've suspended the men's basketball program. The
team had to come back from Southern California. They were
due to play at Cal Baptist in Riverside tonight. Cal
Baptist found another opponent from southern California, West Coast Baptist.

(01:04:30):
Cal Baptist is winning one, seven to forty against the
substitute team and still two minutes to go, just for
the record. As for the games in progress among ranked teams,
Number seven U c l A has taken the lead
fifty to thirty nine at Oregon with eleven minutes to go.
B y U still leads at sixteenth, ranking zagat nine

(01:04:52):
with twelve minutes to play. Earlier, Stanford with a huge
upset of number four Arizona eight to seventy nine. Arizona
had been twenty who in three this year. Missouri on
a three pointer at the buzzer one at six sixth
ranked Tennessee five. Weren't they righting November two in the
country like a week ago and one win in their
last four Now Number eight Virginia with the overtime win,

(01:05:15):
that's what goes in the books over Duke Virginia on
free throws. By the way, it was just nine for
twenty two today, but Duke committed twenty two turnovers. Number
eleven Iowa State lost at home to Oklahoma State tonight.
Number twelve Kansas State lost at Texas Tech. Baylor gotta
win at TCU crating over Yukon today. St. John's upset
number twenty Providence And I don't know if you saw

(01:05:37):
the game at Michigan. Michigan was winning at home against
eighteenth ranked Indiana, and then the Wolverines went scoreless for
the last five minutes of the game and lost. Sixty
two sixty one, went over six from the floor down
the stretch. Illinois bat Rutgers. Now to the NBA late game.
Let's check on Kyrie and Luca because they're in the

(01:05:57):
starting lineup together for the Dallas Mavericks tonight. Sacramento is
winning eight two eighty. Late in the third quarter against Dallas.
Luka Don Sitch, returning from a bruised heel he'd missed
the previous four games. Donsitch with twenty three points, four assists,
Kyrie Irving twelve points, five assists. They're each been shooting
around fifty or better for much of the game. Everything

(01:06:19):
else is final. Lakers one at Golden State one oh three,
one oh nine to one oh three. Lebron James was
out again with a sore ankle. Anthony Davis sixteen rebounds.
Cleveland won its sixth straight game, Charlotte lost its seventh
in a row, San Antonio lost its twelveth straight game,
Miami got an overtime win, and Philadelphia came back to

(01:06:40):
win at Brooklyn Nets. Apparent tying three pointer came just
after the buzzer, So Philly wins a game that came
down to literally almost the last shot. Philly on free
throws twenty nine for thirty in this contest. And one
note on the NFL, as we do have the Super
Bowl on Fox TV tomorrow, Kansas City against Philadelphia. You

(01:07:02):
brought up the name Andy Reid earlier in the show.
I do remember earlier in this season. He went a
hundred games over five hundred in his career and then
just kept piling on after that as the season went along.
But that puts him in very rare company because it's
like Don Shula, George Hallis, Bill Belichick, and now Andy

(01:07:23):
Reid on that list. Even guys like Tom Landry at
one point where a hundred games over, but by the
end of Landry's career he was not. So it's a
very exclusive lift, even before we get to tomorrow's big game.
Very good, Thank you, Steve. The saga We appreciate that
Fox Sports Radio aeron towards Jason Martin here on a

(01:07:44):
Saturday night, A lot of layers to the Kevin Durant
Kyrie Irving stuff. As the sayer just told you. Kyrie
actually on the floor for the first time with Luca
Done tonight in Sacramento. Will keep you updated on that one. Jason,
I do want to go back to, um Kevin Durant
element of this in Phoenix first second, UM, because I thought,
you know, in our group text with with producer Bo

(01:08:04):
you brought up a really good point. Is that you
said before we got to the sager that UM, you
know that that this is a great basketball situation for
Kevin Durant, which it is. Um. But also you brought
up earlier this week when the trade happened, and I
agree with you. I also think this again puts the
bulls I square on Kevin Durant's back. Um. You know,
you go to Golden State, uh TO to compete for championships,

(01:08:27):
You build your own super team in Brooklyn, it doesn't
work out, and now you once against stack the deck
in your favor. In Phoenix, you go to a team
that two years ago was in the finals last year,
had the best record in the regular season in the
Western Conference. You're kind of the missing piece. You kind
of gotta win and win big. You're kind of out

(01:08:48):
of excuses if you're Kevin Durant. Yeah, it's weird because
Kevin Durant is such a transcendent level superstar that it's
odd that he's this kind of mercenary. It just feels
like he should have been somewhere where. He shouldn't be
the missing piece for anybody. He should be the fundamental

(01:09:10):
foundational piece for one organization that he spent you know,
virtually his entire career with. Because you can compare him
to anybody, You can compare him to him the Homes,
you can compare him to these guys, except for the
fact that the only time that he won a championship
was when he joined the team that had done it
before he got there. When he went to Brooklyn, the

(01:09:33):
season exactly right, exactly right, they had already they He
was not the missing piece for them. He just made
them insane, basically, But when he went to Brooklyn, that
was gonna be the moment. Like, if he goes and
he wins in Brooklyn, now we can have a different
kind of conversation. We know what happened in Oklahoma City,
got close, couldn't finish, went to Golden State, joined him

(01:09:56):
one a couple of championships, and then leaves and goes
to Glennon, wins one playoff series. Leesa now goes to Phoenix,
where he's joining a team that was number one in
the Western Conference last year and was in the NBA
Finals two years ago. All of these things, it's all
on Durant now, Like Kevin Durant now has to back

(01:10:18):
up in terms of again, if we're talking legacy, if
we're talking all time greatness and stature and all this.
We know what an assassin he is. We know what
a scorer is. We know how great a basketball player
he is. Gonna go down to one of you know
it's in. It's in the handful list of greatest players
to ever play. But the one thing that we have
also proven is as great a baller as he is,

(01:10:41):
he is zero when it comes to being a leader,
at least to this point in his career, because he's
never been asked to do it since Oklahoma City. And
it's arguable that that was Russell Westbrook's team at that point,
because Russell Westbrook was the one whose attitude seemed to
permeate that squad, even though we all knew Durant was
the best player on the floor. This is an opportunity

(01:11:01):
for Kevin Durant to kind of reverse the way his
legacy has started to trend down ever since he decided
I'm gonna try to find happiness by playing with the
most unhappy player in the history of the n b
A in Kyrie Irving. Yeah, and and I'll wrap by
saying this because I do want to get to the
Kyrie stuff. On the other end, is that, um, you know,

(01:11:22):
it was never gonna happen, probably, But the way that
Kevin Durant actually could have you know, made himself whatever.
I don't know what's the right word. I likable, it's
not the right works. I think people like him, I
I think at this point, let me ask you this
really quick, just just a twenty second answer. Do you
think people feel bad for like I feel weirdly bad
for Kevin Durant because I just think he's so like,

(01:11:44):
insanely unself aware of like he's just made. It's not
the wrong it was his decision, but it was like
I'll tell you what. Let's let's talk about that after
the break, Like it just feels like every decision that
he has aid, it's just like it just hasn't been
the right one. We'll discuss that next. I'll tell you what.
We'll discuss that next. Errant towards Jason Martin here on

(01:12:06):
a Saturday night Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back, everybody, Fox
Sports Radio. Aeron towards Jason Martin were brought to you
by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable. Get
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Bundle and Safe and Progressive dot Com. For the break,

(01:12:26):
we're talking about the big trade of the week. Kevin
Durant now with the Phoenix Sons and Jason. I don't
think I was really articulating myself very well. But it's
a weird durance, you know, legacy or whatever, if you will.
It's just so fascinating to me because great player loves basketball.

(01:12:47):
I just feel like he makes every wrong decision every
step of the way, and it's not and and I
feel bad because it's like he doesn't understand the repercussions,
both publicly, basketball perspective, all that good stuff. Right. So, um,
you know I never thought he should leave Golden's. Okay, See,

(01:13:10):
you're a legend there, You're a game away for you know,
we just thought about the Warriors winning seventy three games
the year before he got there, their game away from
beating that team with Russell Westbrook. Now you can argue,
in hindsight with the way that Westbrook square turned out. Okay,
maybe maybe he was never gonna win there. Maybe it
was west you know, Westbrook was out of control whatever,
blah blah blah blah. But that said, then you go
to Golden State. You take all the heat for going

(01:13:30):
to Golden State. Um, and then you're set up perfectly there.
You went to championships and in three years, if you
don't get hurt, you probably won a third one. You
have an injury, but perfect situation, great teammates, great coaching staff,
great front office, whatever. And then you decide to follow
Kyrie Irving to the East Coast to play in Brooklyn.

(01:13:51):
And why I used East Coast specifically was, as I've
said many times in these air waves, I always thought, Okay,
if you're gonna leave Golden State and you're going to
the Knicks. Okay, I get it, And remember that was
the talk earlier. The're gonna go to the next blah
blah blah blah. They're gonna create this. You know, they're
gonna do something that hasn't been done with the Knicks
in fifty years. So why bring it up? Decides not

(01:14:11):
to so leaves. Okay, See, maybe shouldn't have leaves Golden State.
Definitely shouldn't have decides to go with Kyrie. It'd be
one thing if you're going to the next instead you
go to the Nets. Now all this ends up in Phoenix, Um,
and I don't know how it's gonna go. I just,
I weirdly feel somewhat bad for the guy because I
just think he's so unaware of the repercussions of his decisions.

(01:14:33):
And it is a career, a legacy, and you know,
he just wasted three and a half years of his
the tail end of his prime, tied to Kyrie Irving.
I'm rambling. You take it away, but it's just it's
sad and disappointing in some waste. I know what you're saying.
As great a basketball player as he is, his instincts
are just that. On the opposite, his instincts are some

(01:14:56):
of the worst I've ever seen. And this is where
you get into the decision making what he's doing. If
you're going through a stop process in his head, I'm
sure he can find a way to make it all
makes sense. Now. I have long kind of told the
story of how I believe he's been trying to chase
happiness in a place he was never gonna find it.
He went to Golden State because he wanted to win titles,
but then he wasn't beloved there because they had already

(01:15:19):
formed a team before him, most of it through drafting guys.
Everybody wanted to play there. He went and joined in,
and he wasn't gonna get all the credit, despite the
fact that he was the best player on those teams.
And then he goes to Brooklyn because he wants to
play with his best friend at the time, at least
I don't know where they are now, but um with Kyrie,
and he goes they're not thinking, I don't think of

(01:15:40):
anything past I'm gonna play with my friend, not thinking
about the fact that he wasn't happy, and Kyrie Irving
is never happy. If you put two unhappy people together,
that's more likely to be toxic than it is successful.
And then you throw James Harden into the mix, and
then here comes Ben Simmons. We hadn't even mentioned that.
Like everything about you talk abou bad instincts. The Nets

(01:16:01):
had bad instincts as well. But Kevin Durrant somehow has
managed to make like it to choose your own adventure
book if you read those when you were a kid.
And he has died in that book like seventeen times,
and he only owns one of them. Like it's not
like it's a fifteen volume Lone Wolf trilogy. He has

(01:16:21):
one book, he's got three, The Caverns of Cult And
that man is dying every single time, and he's doing
it on different pages. He's finding his way to death
in different ways. It's hard to watch. He's not sympathetic
to me, just because of how in his feelings he
has been at times and his careers, and how briskly
he's been at the least bit of critique, criticism, the

(01:16:44):
way he reacted to the Oklaholman when like readers challenge
him just a little bit about his leadership capabilities, down
with the thunder, and just all of the things that
it didn't feel like anything bothered him early in Oklahoma City.
Every story was good, his mom, everything out of d C.
Just man, Kevin Durants who you wanted. And then the

(01:17:04):
more you had learned about it, the more he was
getting more complicated as a person, not as a basketball player.
We know what he is as a basketball player. That's
always been the most simple thing about Kevin Durant is
how otherworldly he is on a basketball floor. But I
think you're right. I would love to try, and we
don't have the time now, but I would love to

(01:17:25):
someday try to put a list together of guys that
have made as many decisions that have backfired in a
obvious Hall of Fame, obvious top ten maybe in the
history of the sport kind of career like Kevin Durant
has had, because it has been the Benny Hill music
underneath the choices that Kevin Durant has made ever since

(01:17:48):
he left Oklahoma City. To me, but certainly, if you're
gonna go to Golden State, at least you're gonna keep
winning there. So what was the goal you were gonna
go to the Knicks, that's where you wanted to go,
and Kyrie Irving convinced, you know, we need to go
to Brooklyn. Wow, amazing, well and really quick. What I

(01:18:09):
would just say is, you know, you said, put together
a list of guys that have made worst more worst decisions.
The thing is most of the guys who have don't
have nearly the talent that he has, right, Like, like,
Kyrie made awful decisions every step of the way. But
we were always talking about Kyrie is one of the
most unique players of this generation, really talented, but he

(01:18:30):
isn't an all time and when I say all time
great and I hate doing lists, but like, you know,
Kevin Durant is one of the top probably fifteen players
to ever play basketball. Kyrie Irving was never gonna be that,
and so there's not as much at stake in his
career when he makes decisions like that. Um, you know,
maybe Kevin Durant and Lebron and and you know, maybe
Janice gets there soon and maybe Jayson Tatum or Luca

(01:18:52):
gets there at some point. But there's a difference between
guys who make bad decisions that are like all star
caliber players versus a guy like Kevin Durant that that
is an all time great and could have even added
more to that resume and legacy. But unfortunately, like I said,
I think he butchered a good chunk of the tail
end of his prime. We'll see what happens in Phoenix.

(01:19:14):
Fox Sports Radio Erontards Jason Martin. Here on a Saturday night,
coming up back to the Super Bowl Eagles Chiefs. We
are less than twenty four hours away. Got plenty more. Next,
Fox Sports Ado, Welcome back everybody our three Fox Sports
Radio aeron Torres, Jason Martin. We are broadcasting live from
the tirect dot Com studios. Direct dot Com will help

(01:19:38):
you get there and unmatched selection, fast free shipping. Free
road has a protection over ten thousand recommended installers. Direct
dot Com the way tire buying should be. As the
Saker told you, a couple of college hoops games coming
down to the wire, as well as Kyrie Irving's debut
with Luca don Che Kyrie did play with the MAVs

(01:19:58):
the other night, but Luca was not in the line up.
We'll get back to some of the NBA stuff in
a minute, Jason, but I want to get back, obviously
to the game that is going to kick off here
and probably about what eighteen hours from now, as the
Chiefs and Eagles are set to play in the Super Bowl. Um,
we talked about earlier. Um, you know, it's a lot

(01:20:19):
of different things. I think this is a Super Bowl
where there's a lot of you know, likable characters. You know,
I think that I don't think there's there's one uh,
you know, good guy versus bad guy that everybody's rooting against.
What else, like when when you think about this Super Bowl?
I mean I have a couple of other thoughts, but
but what else stands out to you as we're now
eighteen hours away from this game? Because I think it's

(01:20:41):
gonna be fun. I think it's gonna be competitive, and again,
I don't think there's that animosity for that one team
or one side regardless of who wins. Yeah, it's interesting
because in some ways it's boring Super Bowl just because
of that. There's not the tabloid, there's no headline like that.
There's no there's not a whole lot of negative storylines

(01:21:03):
here like yeah, you might be rubbed the wrong way
by this guy or that guy's antics. Maybe you think
A J. Brown is a bit of a diva. Maybe
you think Travis Kelsey is a bit of a diva.
Maybe maybe something like that. Maybe you're tired of all
the adulation that Patrick Mahomes deservedly gets or whatever. You
may have some feeling, but I think the general consensus

(01:21:23):
is these are two really good football teams, and we
want to see them hook it up, and we want
to see who comes out on top of the end
of it. The one story that just blows me away
of all of these stories, and there's a lot with
Andy Reid's history with both organizations, and the Kelsey brothers
playing in the Super Bowl and what it means to
Mahomes and so many there's a lot. Jalen Hurts being

(01:21:48):
the starting quarterback on one of these two teams is
the storyline to me that is the most interesting. Let
me jump in on that really quick. I had a
buddy bring this up this week. I thought it was
a really interesting. Same point. All these professional athletes, I
mean literally every single one. It's a big thing. Oh,
nobody believed in us. Everybody doubt I mean even Kirby

(01:22:09):
Smart after the freaky National championship game that they won
sixty five to seven or whatever was Oh, nobody believed
in us. Yeah, Kirby, okay, whatever. Why bringing up isn't
Jalen Hurts like the one guy that can legitimately claim
I mean, you think about the all the narratives about
Jalen Hurts. You know when when he was at Alabama
when they were winning, Oh, it's Lane Kiffin's offense. Then
he gets benched, then he comes in and helps them win,

(01:22:32):
but two, it comes back the next game. Then he
transfers to Oklahoma when he has successes Lincoln Riley's you know,
Lincoln Riley gets credit. Oh, by the way, he gets
drafted by the Eagles, and Eagles fans are mad because
we already have a starting quarterback in Carson Wentz. I
just feel like we have so many athletes that try
to shove it down. Oh, nobody believed in me. No,

(01:22:53):
Jalen Hurts is the one guy that genuinely, I don't
wanna say nobody believed in him, but he had. Maybe
the better way is not nobody believed in him, but
that he has been doubted every step of the way.
So if you've heard me through the years, if you've
listened to me fifteen times, you've probably heard this story
because I've told it many times. I'm gonna play the

(01:23:14):
hits here because tonight is the best night that you
could possibly hear this story if you happen to be
one of the few that haven't heard me tell it.
Years ago, when I was still working for for Clay
Travis and we were doing the morning show on FSR,
I was a stringer that night for and ended up
sending I think it was Calvin Ridley ended up talking

(01:23:35):
to Jason Smith and Mike Carmen, and I set that
up for them. After the National Championship game that night
in Georgia, the night that Jalen Hurts lost his starting
job to to a Tongo Boloa, I'm in the locker
room with the Alabama players, and of course everybody wants
to two as a freshman. So there there, he's not
doing interviews. Ridley has a lot of people around him, obviously,

(01:23:58):
you know the guys to have a lot of people
on them. There are there had to be twenty five
people around Jalen Hurts. I happened to be about three
or four ft away from him because I was trying
to hand my cell phone to Calvin Ridley and I'm
watching Jalen Hurts be asked the same question over and
over and over again, and it had to be one

(01:24:21):
of the most difficult moments that you could go through
if you're somebody that had won as much as he had,
had worked as hard as he had worked, and then
on that night they win the championship, but they do
it after you get benched because you're just on that night,
you're not the guy that they need to win that game.

(01:24:42):
And you can see what the future is gonna hold.
This is to his team. Jalen Hurts had only lost
two games in his Alabama career at this point, one
of them to Deshaun Watson at the end of a
football game that was a classic in the second half
of Clempson in Alabama the year before. Joe Hurts being
asked these questions, and he's got a smile on his face.
I have photos I can even tweeted out smile. That's

(01:25:06):
exactly right. He's he's taking those questions in stride and
he's being asked the most difficult stuff at a really
vulnerable spot. It's just a young young guy really basically
just a kid in terms of his maturity level, and
he's standing there and he's saying, I'm just so happy
to be part of a championship team. I'm so happy

(01:25:27):
for TWA, I'm so happy for my teammates. I'm so
happy that we just want a title as a team.
It's and it's not coming across like, here's the dude
saying the right thing. This is a dude that's just genuine.
This is a dude that and if you read his
players Tribute an article where it did describe him leaving

(01:25:49):
Alabama and going to Oklahoma, thanking the Crimson Tide, thanking
the fans, all of that, everything is gracious and saying
that he has driven to succeed and all of these things.
His head's in the right place. Jalen Hurts, to your point,
is the guy that can say what you described. He's

(01:26:12):
the one that can say everybody doubted me. And here's
what's amazing. He'll be the last guy that will. He's
just not built that way. He's gonna show up and
play football, and if they win, it's gonna be genuine.
It's gonna be really really hard to not be happy
for that young man, because that dude had every right

(01:26:32):
to be jaded and bitter and all of that kind
of thing, and I always compared Jalen Hurts to Tony
Bennett at Virginia first number one seed to get knocked
out by a sixteen in the n C Double A Tournament.
What does he do? He tells his team to start
the next season. Yep, we're not gonna rip that page
out of our book. That is part of our book,

(01:26:54):
but it's not the last page. There's more to be written.
His reaction to the failure to that setback set them
in motion to do what win the National Championship the
very next year. Jalen Hurts doubted, benched, replaced, not even
wanted when he was drafted by that franchise. And he's

(01:27:15):
the only guy other than Patrick Mahomes that had any
shot to potentially win the m v P this year.
In a league where we're told Josh Allen and Joe
Burrow and Justin Herbert and Lamar Jackson and all deservedly
so are superstars. Jalen Hurts could have the biggest chip
on his shoulder imaginable, but you can barely see it

(01:27:37):
because of just what a special, special human being he is.
Let me take it in a different direction right now,
because I agree with everything that you said. Let's give
let's give a little credit to the other quarterback in
this game too, because Patrick Mahomes. You know, doubt is
not the right word. But you come off of last
year where you lose in the a f C Championship

(01:27:58):
game at home, you blow a huge lead, you weren't
very good in the second half, to be honest, and
you lose Tyreek Hill probably the most dynamic skill position
player in the league. And so I don't think that
people like Dowdy and Patrick Mahomes, but I think there
were some questions about if this organization could remain at

(01:28:19):
the level that they had been and I include myself
and it listened. I still get Chiefs fans tweeting at me.
You know why you stay off Twitter, Jason, because people
never forget. I still got tweet Uh, Chiefs fans tweeting
at me about stuff that I said about case back
in July and August about no Tyreek Hill. Oh the
division is so tough. Yeah, maybe not with Nathaniel Hackett

(01:28:40):
and Russell Wilson, uh not living up to expectations. Josh
McDaniels and Derek Carr the same. So it's weird because
again it's it's a different kind of doubt. It's a
relative doubt. Jalen Hurts would love to be doubted the
way that Patrick Mahomes was, coming off four straight a
f C Championship games and two Super Bowl appearances UH
in the last three years. But let's give a little

(01:29:01):
credit to Patrick Mahomes too, because they lost the most
dynamic player on the edge on the outside really not
the edge, it's defense, but on the on the outside
in the NFL, and only have they missed a beat
in some ways, I think that offense is better. So
so again, weird to credit too much to Patrick Mahomes.
I'm not gonna play that nobody believed in him card,
but I think for the first time in his career,

(01:29:22):
there were some doubts coming into this season, and he
has answered all those critics. Yeah. I mean, there were
two guys that we were looking at through a very
similar microscope based on what happened in the off season,
Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes. One of those dudes did
a whole lot better than the other one. In fact,
one of them still has an opportunity to win a
Super Bowl in less than twenty four hours from right now.

(01:29:44):
That's amazing. You don't just lose a Tyreek Hill like
that that we talked about it one of one in
the league. Now there's some other dynamic players in the
league and and you're starting to see a few more
pop in here and there. But we saw how good
Tyreek Hill can be even when he's in Miami. It's
what Kansas City was able to do in his absence
that proves the brilliance not just of Mahomes but also

(01:30:07):
of Read and be Enemy and that entire brain trust.
And this is this is something I don't think it's
talked about enough either. The thing that I felt like
was gonna be different without Tyreek Hill is that all
of a sudden, Travis Kelsey was not going to have
the same degree of freedom. He was not going to
have single coverage. He was not gonna have space to

(01:30:30):
operate because they were just gonna blanket him and make
sure that it was somebody else, whether it was Kole
Hardman or Juju or whoever it was, they were gonna
make somebody else beat them. And you know who beat him,
Travis Kelsey beat him. We can talk about Mahomes. I
think we can talk about Travis Kelsey as well, because

(01:30:51):
I think, let me ask you this question real quickly,
if you had the opportunity to have Mahomes and Hill
or Mahome, Holmes and Kelsey for the rest of their careers,
which one would you take? Knowing what we know now,
so not coming into the season. Yeah, I mean we
can't now go back and say what would you have

(01:31:12):
done a year ago, because I think I think we
all probably would have said Tyreek. But I think we
have learned a lot and as we know, hindsight is
well that's exactly it. And and I know you know
where you were going with that question, but I I agree,
I think I agree with what you're saying, is that
I would take Travis Kelsey and Patrick Holmes like I

(01:31:33):
I think you know they you know, they as a
a pair have proven a lot of people wrong again
myself included. So so yeah, it's it's definitely I'll say this,
like we said to lead the show. I don't think,
you know, it's not the traditional Super Bowl where it's
good versus evil or this versus that, But there are
a lot of a lot of narratives and a lot
of storylines going into this one. Should mention, by the way,

(01:31:56):
the first Kyrie irving Luca don Chet's game featuring the
pair of them is actually headed to overtime one in Sacramento.
That game headed to overtime. Tell you what, Jason, we
come back. Let's talk a little Kyrie, our old buddy.
Everybody loves Kyrie. We'll get back to the NBA, talk
a little bit about the trade this week. Uh does

(01:32:18):
it change the MAVs outlook? And this Kyrie is gonna
stick around long term. Fox Sports Radio, Welcome back, everybody.
Fox Sports Radio, Aaron Torres, Jason Martin. We're taking up
until two a m. Eastern time. Bernie Fredda will follow us.
Bernie fred will of course join us an hour four
as well to previous the Big Game and we are
brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy

(01:32:38):
and affordable. Get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle,
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in one place. Bundle and save at Progressive dot com.
We do have a game coming down to the wire
in Sacramento. It is in overtime Sacramento up on one
with left to sego. Get you updated on that one

(01:33:00):
in just a few minutes. But Jason feels like a
nice little segue to talk about America's sweetheart, America's favorite
basketball player, Kyrie Irving. What a guy demands a trade,
and I listen, I'll readily admit I'll take d L.
I came on these air waves at this time last
week and I said, this feels like a ploy to
get a contract extension. Well, I gets traded into the MAVs.

(01:33:23):
Let me just say this, I you could take Kyrie
wherever you want. But but what I want to say
about Kyrie really quick is this, I don't think America
fully appreciates what he did and how like like Kyrie
we know is next level, lacking self awareness, egotistical, whatever.

(01:33:43):
But what I've been saying all week is that guys
have demanded trades in the past, and sometimes are legitimate,
sometimes they're not. But in general, for the most part,
it's in the off season, it's before the games, before
the season starts, or they're part of a team that
isn't very good. Anthony Davis with the Pelicans most notably,
Jimmy Butler with the sinking ship, Minnesota Timberwolves, whatever, um,

(01:34:07):
Kyrie Irving demanded a trade when his team was in
fourth place without one of the best players in the
NBA who is currently out with an injury. That's Kevin Duran,
who's obviously no longer part of the Suns as well.
Like like, he demanded a trade explicitly because the Brooklyn

(01:34:27):
Nets would not give him a contract extension. He wanted
a contract extension. If he wasn't gonna get it, he
was willing to blow up a season where the Brooklyn
Nets were in a position to host playoff games, to
be a top four seed, and he just didn't care. Unbelievable.
And I don't think people were talking about that enough.
Maybe it's just because it's Kyrie and he's so egotistical

(01:34:49):
with not surprising, but like, it's amazing me. We've had
guys demand trades before. We've never had guy's demand trades
that are in fourth place and winning and potentially in
position to win the East with the right breaks. It's unbelievable.
Kyrie is Uh. There's this people where when you think
about some of the things that they've done, or do

(01:35:10):
you hear some of the things that they've done, you
think to yourself, man, you've got a lot of nerve.
Kyrie Irving has all the nerve that he has, all
the nerves that his last name they should just put
you have some nerve on the back of yet that literally,
that's it, um man. They were gonna They offered him
an extension at one point also, but he wanted more

(01:35:33):
years and no conditions on a certain amount of games
played and things like that. He wanted them to give
him all the benefits, all the faith in the world
when he had given them no reason to believe in
him whatsoever. That's why it drives me crazy, because he
is so unaware of any responsibility that he has in

(01:35:57):
any of the messes that he has found himself. And
that's what drives me the most crazy about him. Back
to you, Jayson, Yeah, I mean it's it's it's astonishing
to me like either he is that sort of naive
to it all or he just doesn't care. And then
you really are in that spot where you're like, man,
you do really have some nerve. We know what a

(01:36:20):
basketball player is. And this is why people continue to
take on this poison because when he wants to and
he's really engaged, he can absolutely murder you on a
basketball floor, and if he's engaged in Dallas, I want
to see what that looks like. I have my doubts
and we'll talk about here about that here in a second.

(01:36:40):
But if I'm Kevin Durant, I'm just like Bro, you
derailed my entire career. You managed to and look it's
self inflicted wounds. We talked about his instincts and Duran's
instincts and things like that earlier. But the decision to
go to Brooklyn and not at least go to the Knicks,
like Durant, the decision he wanted to make, what was

(01:37:01):
in his heart, he didn't do because Kyrie convinced him
to go up. I don't know how Kyrie could convince
you to do anything other than this, because he's so
good at basketball, and his skill is so easy to
see because of what he can do with the basketball
in his hands, off the dribble, the way he can
get to the rack, what he can do for you
as a score, and how he can take over games.

(01:37:22):
You just want to believe you're the one that can
fix him. You're the one, like it's just me, I
can do it, And I told you last week. The
only team that made sense was the Lakers, because I
do believe Lebron James is the only guy that can
really real amend because that's the only time I've ever

(01:37:43):
seen Kyrie win and make a team truly better because
of his presence, not because of his basketball, but because
of his presence. He was terrible in Boston. He was
horrible in Cleveland before Lebron got there, he was bad
the entire time. Basically he was in Brooklyn submarine. The
franchise said them back. They ended up making bad decision
after bad decision and compounding it. And now he goes

(01:38:04):
to Dallas, and now let's talk about that. Let's talk
about it because I think, first of all, this game,
Sacramento is up three minute, Um, Dallas inbounding the ball again.
We'll keep you updated to Segra, We'll get you updated
as well. Um, but well I could just update you now.
Luca miss is a fade away, Sacramento has the rebound,

(01:38:26):
and they're probably gonna go ahead and win this game.
But but Dallas. I So, this is what I would
say I find personally interesting in this Dallas conversation. I
get that because that is where Kyrie Irving is at
this exact moment, we have to have the conversations about
how does he fit with Luca, will it work, is
it long term? All of that where I guess I

(01:38:50):
have trouble in getting inspired having those conversations. Kyrie is
always gonna miss time, whether it's injuries, random reason, personal reasons, whatever.
And then on top of that, he wears out his
welcome everywhere. And not only does he wear out his
welcome every year, he doesn't have a contract after this year,

(01:39:10):
and we're already hearing rumors about him potentially going to
Phoenix to re team up with Kevin Durant. The Lakers.
Stuff just won't die, although now with D'Angelo and Russell
maybe it's a little bit less likely. I just it's
hard for me to get excited about this duo because
I don't believe there are anything other than uh, you know,
Kyrie is anything other than a mercenary that's there till

(01:39:31):
the end of the season. What about you? What do
you think? Uh? Yeah, I mean I think there's definitely
something to that. I just look at this Dallas thing
and I said this to you and Bo when I
saw this go through. Man, it's good for content, it's
good for people to do what we do. But there
is no universe in which I think that long term
is something that can work. Because Luca is a ball

(01:39:53):
dominant dude. Kevin Durant doesn't need the ball in his
hands all the time. He's super efficient. Look at his
numbers because he's fishing, see numbers historically. Let me jump
in on that really quick, because that last play where
Luca had the ball. I know you're not in the
Fox Sports. We have the game on in the studio
and it was the weird thing where Luca had the
ball um and Kyrie is in the corner and lucas

(01:40:15):
kind of at the top left of the key and
you see two defenders collapse on him. And my first
thought as the play is going on, is is he
going to get it over to Kyrie just to kind
of show, Hey, you know you're here now I believe
in you. Nope, Luca took a fall away three over
two guys, missed the shot, and Sacramento is probably gonna

(01:40:38):
win this game. But I thought that was very interesting.
Is we spent all week talking about there's only one ball,
how do they play together? The first real chance that
Luca has to show that it's not just my show.
You're I'm here with you, Kyrie. He takes a fade
away over two guys and misses it. It feels to me,
if you are another superstar, it's very It's very hard
to play alongside a guy like Luca because is the

(01:41:00):
way he plays, because the way he has to have
the ball in his hands, because the amount of dribbles
uh that he will put forth on a nightly basis.
He's just a guy that I think he wants to
be the show. That's just kind of it. There are
some guys that are like that, and then there are
guys that want a team around them. There's different kinds
of superstars. Kyrie was playing with a very unselfish, almost

(01:41:24):
deedy like figure as a basketball player and Kevin Durant,
and now he's playing with a guy that I think
might be the opposite, somebody that's just incredible but really
really likes to be the guy and that can do
some things. But a lot of Mavericks games involved Luca
doing crazy things and dribbling all over the place while
the rest of his team stands around and watches how

(01:41:46):
long before that explodes? Because Kyrie irving if he was
happy about the move originally, and I'm not even sure
he was happy about it when it happened, because that's
probably not where he wanted to go. I know, we
wanted to go to to l A. If you read
all the reports, how fast does it sour? Because these
are two very their aggressive personalities. Some people say Luca

(01:42:09):
could be a little bit difficult, right, it's a little
cocky all these things. You've got this aloof Kyrie Irving
that I do think has something to prove and wants
to prove what a baller he is. Again, that's why
he was doing what he was doing in Brooklyn before
the trade. I mean when he was on the floor,
he was killing it, especially over the last like four
to six weeks when he was on the floor. But
I just think this is going to be a spectacular

(01:42:31):
disaster in Dallas. Not rooting for it from a content standpoint.
If they're good, that's gonna be good. If they're bad,
that's gonna be good. But it just seems like two
personalities that I just there's no no part of me
believes that that those two guys are gonna be able
to mesh particularly well. I'll tell you what, We'll come back.
There was another pretty big story in the NBA this week. Oh,

(01:42:53):
by the way, Lebron broke the all time scoring record,
And they told you that wasn't gonna matter. I wasn't,
especially with the way Anthony Davis acted towards. We'll discuss
that next, but before we do, let's toss it over
the news death Dave the Sager, what's trending? Updating the
late overtime game at Sacramento. Kings are at the foul line,
up three on Dallas. These two teams just played each
other last night, also in Sacramento. In that game, Dallas

(01:43:15):
was up eighteen at the half and beat him. Tonight,
Luka dons Witch returns from the bruised heel. He had
missed four straight games and it might be an l
for the Mavericks. In the first game as starting teammates
Kyrie Irving and Luka don Sich in MAVs uniforms Irving
is up to twenty eight points, seven rebounds. Kyrie Irving
was seven assists, one turnover. Luka dons Witch twenty seven points,

(01:43:39):
nine rebounds, but he has five assists six turnovers. It
is now a final. Sacramento wins in overtime one thirty
three to one eight and l for the MAVs and
an l at home for the Golden State Warriors. The Lakers.
Lebron James was out again with a sore ankle. L
A still beat him one oh nine one o three.

(01:44:00):
Charlotte lost its seventh straight games, San Antonio lost its
twelve in a row Miami one in overtime, Cleveland wanted
sixth straight, and Philadelphia edge Brooklyn one is the nets
apparent game. Tying three came just after the Buzzer College Hoops.
Stanford upset number four Arizona seventy nine Missouri on a

(01:44:23):
three pointer at the Buzzer one at sixth rank Tennessee
eight six eight five seventh rank u C l A
pulled away for a win tonight at Oregon seventy to
sixty three. Eighth rank Virginia in overtime defeated Duke sixty
nine to sixty two. Number eleven Iowa State lost at
home to Oklahoma State, and number twelve Kansas State lost
at Texas Tech Baylor one at TCU crighton beat Yukon.

(01:44:47):
Indiana won by a point with a late comeback at
Michigan and in the West Coast Conference number fifteen St. Mary's.
They pulled away for a victory at Portland sixty St.
Mary's eleven and one in that conference and sixteenth ranken
Zaga has defeated b y U eight one. It was
a one point lead with two and a half minutes
to go. New Mexico States chancellor now says tonight to

(01:45:10):
ap that players on their basketball team were interviewed today
by school personnel about an alleged hazing incident. That is
what's led to the suspension of the basketball program at
New Mexico State. In fact, the head coach Andy's staff
had been placed on administrative leave pending this investigation. Tuesday
night there will be a school closed meeting to quote

(01:45:32):
discuss limited personnel matters without naming the employees who were
to be discussed, but the chancellor did say tonight he
was heartbroken and sickened to hear about the hazing allegations.
Hazing is a despicable act, he said. It humiliates and degrades. Sadly,
hazing can become part of an organization's culture if left unchecked.

(01:45:54):
So New Mexico State, the last place team in the
Whack Conference, had to come home from Southern California without
actually playing in their lead game there. Tonight in Riverside,
cal Baptist found a replacement opponent somewhat local, and cal
Baptists beat the substitute team West Coast Baptist one thirty
two to forty six. The substitute opponent finished with sixteen

(01:46:14):
baskets and nineteen turnovers. And we'll finish with this if
you didn't hear how another college basketball game ended today.
This was on the ESPN Plus with Northern Arizona with
a chance to win in the final seconds down to
at home court, Lloyd three shot. It's big, the Lupper
Chucks want it. I can't believe it. Oh my goodness,

(01:46:39):
And you wins the game at a three point shot.
Right at least we thought that was the end. They
put four tenths of a second back on the clock,
length of a court passed by the opponent, Portland's State.
It's cat Oh my goodness, I can't believe what I
just saw, and then silence to explain. With four tenths

(01:47:02):
of a second a length of the court pass and
the Portland State player caught it in mid air and
threw it up toward the hoop, and what do you know,
it went in for a Steven Tentry on the road.
Two game winning calls. We just heard there. Back to you,
by the way, to Sagar the kid leave the kid
Lloyd that hit the go ahead shot was actually Tommy
Lloyd's son, Tommy Lloyd, the Arizona head coach. Yeah. So

(01:47:26):
even when Arnie Spanier is not on the air, somehow
the Wildcats end up getting screwed. Tommy Lloyd and his
son taking bad else. Actually tonight it was Arizona was this, yes,
and so unfortunately was Tommy Lloyd's son, even though he
did nothing wrong other than hit a near game winner.
So to say, you'll be back in a couple of minutes.
All Super Bowl, we got a left very good well,

(01:47:47):
thank you to Seger. We will be back with you
in just a couple of minutes. And with the Super Bowl,
by the way, we are Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday,
Aaron Torres, Jason Martin. We are coming live from the
tirect dot Com Stood videos and we could talk about
how complicated other banks make it to redeem credit card rewards,
and we could talk about how we discover you can
redeem the rewards and for cash in any amount at

(01:48:09):
any time. I mean talk about amazing to learn more
Discover dot com, slash redeem awards terms apply, uh and
Jason because of the Super Bowls this week and because
Kevin Durant got traded, because Kyrie Irving got traded. Um,
the fact that Lebron James broke Oh, I don't know
the all time scoring record. It feels like it kind
of got glossed over. What I want to ask you

(01:48:29):
really quick. I don't know that there's any is there
is there in it? First of all, is there an
interesting take on Lebron breaking the scoring record? Um? He's
incredible and you cannot like Lebron. You can like Lebron,
you can as you can that for him to be
as consistently great as he has been since eighteen years old. UM,
that's my only real takeaway. But then I don't want

(01:48:50):
to ask you the follow up question. Did you see
Anthony Davis? Afterward? He claims that he was just all
about winning. He did not look very happy to me, Jayson,
I did not see Anthony Davis. I was caught by
the time that thing happened. We're all I'm already caught
in trade deadline. I'm watching Super Bowl hype and all

(01:49:12):
this kind of stuff, so I missed it. So you're
gonna actually have to explain this one to me. I mean,
if you just google, like Anthony Davis, I do it
in real time. We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna do
this on radio. Anthony Davis Lebron. Now, it is worth
noting Lebron was out tonight for the Lakers. Anthony Davis
was phenomenal. Um. But why I bring it up? It
was that basically everybody else on the Lakers was on

(01:49:34):
the court celebrating and enjoying themselves, and Anthony Davis was
just kind of over in the corner, sitting around, didn't
seem very happy. Um. You could see all of it,
like I said, um, in the uh you know, on
social media and stuff. Again, it is worth noting that
with Lebron out tonight, Anthony Davis was uh instrumental in
the win thirteen points, sixteen rebounds, three blocks for the Lakers.

(01:49:58):
But I don't know, it turned into its own little
news cycle because it looked as though Anthony Davis was
unhappy and people were already speculating is he unhappy about
the attention? Is he unhappy about Lebron this and that? Um, basically, uh,
as everybody else is celebrating, he's sitting on the bench,
Jason so well. I mean, I don't know how many

(01:50:19):
how many excitement clips have we seen of Anthony Davis
throughout the years. I'm not trying to defend him. I'm
just curious, like he's not been the most the monstrative
guy that I've ever seen. I'm now looking at like
kind of supprofter film footage right here of a d
just kind of on the bench, sitting there while everybody
else is standing and cheering and doing all that. Okay,

(01:50:40):
I mean the problem with the record, of course, is
that the Lakers stain right and the game, yeah, and
and they lost that game on top of it. And
what was he asked afterwards? I think he was asked,
So I just said, win games, like he does seemingly
want to win this record. What did we say about
this record when we talked about how it didn't seem
to be meaning all that much? And I do think

(01:51:02):
it got a decent amount of press after we said that.
It was talked about a good bit on the show's
You know for for the next couple of days, and
the ticket prices were up and all of this, but
it felt like an inevitability. It just seems to me
that this was such an individual thing because he's been
in so many places. Lebron's played in three different places,
one championships there, we know what kind of career he's had.

(01:51:23):
All of this, I don't know. There was just a
lack of pageantry to it compared to a lot of
records that you would have seen had he been in
l A, his whole career would have been the most
talked about thing we've ever seen. It's a bad look
for Anthony Davis. Maybe they's caught him at a bad moment.
I I don't know, but I will say that going
back and looking at it, yikes, um, not not the

(01:51:45):
best look. Like you even fake it a d like
hop up and just get hype about it, even if
you don't care, just so that you don't end up
having to be the subject of radio and television segments
for days following this record, because you can easily you're
just gonna recede into the background anyway, because it's Lebron's record.

(01:52:07):
If you just stand up and throw your arm up
in the air. Nobody says a word, and then you
move on and you can talk about winning games and
you don't have to address these questions. Even former Laker
Russell Westbrooks seemed more excited than Anthony Davis, but again,
could just be nothing. It was like I said it was.
It was a new story for a couple of days.
But Anthony Davis was back on the court tonight played

(01:52:28):
well thirteen points sixteen rebounds for the Lakers in a
win over the Warriors. Fox Sports Radio eron towards Jason Martin,
we are wrapping up our three. When we come back,
Steven Sager gets this caught up on just about everything
that we missed to say your next Fox Sports Radio
Welcome back, everybody. Fox Sports Radio eron towards Jason Martin.
We are brought to you got by Progressive Insurance. Progressive

(01:52:50):
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doctor calm. As we do every Saturday around this time
Sunday in some parts of the country, we throw it
over the news desk Steve to Sega with the extended
update to Sega what he got for us? Well, let's
repeat that the late NBA game is done as Sacramento

(01:53:13):
in overtime beat Dallas, even though Kyrie Irving and Luca
don Sich played for the MAVs. All Star dearon Fox
of the Kings had ten points to start the fourth
quarter and finished with thirty six in this game. By
the way, now we've got the Super Bowl tomorrow on
Fox TV from Arizona. It's Kansas City against Philadelphia. If
quarterback Jalen Hurts wins tomorrow, he will finish seventeen and

(01:53:36):
one as a starting QB this season. Remember he did
not play two games late in the season with the
bad shoulder and they lost both. But as a team,
the Eagles are sixteen and three and the Chiefs are
sixteen and three, and those two teams have scored exactly
the same amount of points for the season, including the
playoff games five. The Philadelphia Eagles defense has been so

(01:53:58):
good all year, but especially so recently. Of course, it
really has gotten the eyeballs with the playoff attention recently.
But I can't say enough out loud, how It wasn't
bad luck that the Niners got killed in Philadelphia last game.
It was because the Eagles were better. Quarterback Brock Purty
left because the elbow injury because the Eagles beat the

(01:54:19):
block and injured him with the hit. The backup quarterback
left with a concussion because again the Eagles were better.
Hassan Reddick had two secs one fumble recovery in that
game a forced fumbles as well. So that was a
contest that was tied seven seven late first half and
wound up thirty one seven against the Niners team that
had a twelve game winning streak going into that game.

(01:54:41):
But Eagles late first half got two touchdown runs in
the last two minutes before the break. A fumble in
between helped him out Miles Sanders two touchdown runs. Of course,
there have been a lot of touchdown runs for this
Philly offense. We'd even mentioned it on this show. During
this long Niners winning streak, they had allowed zero points
in nearly half their quarters played. San Francisco's defense was

(01:55:02):
great this year. Philadelphia scored in every quarter against San
Francisco in that blowout. So Philadelphia at the top all
season has a chance to finish on top tomorrow. Philly
started the year thirteen and one, and that include wins
over Minnesota and Jacksonville and Dallas and the Giants, all
of them playoff teams. Philly want its division by two

(01:55:23):
games over Dallas and then beat Dallas head to head
in the division playoffs. So what a comeback year for
the Eagles franchise. They won their Super Bowl five years ago,
hadn't won a playoff games since they had dropped their
previous three postseason games and the win loss records in
those seasons. Since we're not great. Nine and seven, then
nine and seven, then only four wins, and the Eagles

(01:55:44):
were nine and eight a year ago, and here they
are a chance to finish up at a seventeen and
three overall as a team. Next season, By the way,
Philadelphia will host San Francisco in the regular season and
Philly will host Buffalo in Miami as well. This Philly
team eight Pro Bowl players. Kansas City and Dallas had
seven each. And an interesting bit of trivia for tomorrow,

(01:56:06):
a former Michigan Wolverines player will be on the winning
side in the Super Bowl for the eight eighteenth time
in the last twenty seasons. Because there's Brandon Graham from
Michigan on the Philly side and three from Michigan on
Kansas City side Chad Hanny, Frank Clark, Mike Dana as well.
So somebody from Michigan's gonna get another ring. But two
dominant wins for the Eagles in this postseason, and in fact,

(01:56:28):
they are the first team in NFL history two in
back to back postseason games not only score thirty plus
points but allow our fewer than ten back to back.
And in the last twenty five years of football, the
only team that's allowed seven points are fewer back to
back playoff games as they have same postseason the fame
two thousand Baltimore Ravens. I looked it up. Those Ravens

(01:56:52):
in four playoff games, they allowed ten points or less
in all of them. But they didn't have the offense
that we've seen from Philadelphia. So there is that different,
uh at that difference. Keep in mind how close Super
Bowls tend to be. I know we remember the winners.
We remember the Kansas City won three years ago. For example,
do we remember that the Chiefs got three touchdowns in

(01:57:12):
the last six and a half minutes of that I
do because I've defended Jimmy Garoppolo for years. Oh Jimmy,
he didn't make the big throw in the fourth quarter. Uh,
he got them. They were winning late. Yes, final score
was thirty one to twenty. Last year, Joe Burrow and company.
They're winning with two minutes left against the Rams and
the Rams stadium, and the Rams had botched an extra

(01:57:32):
point earlier in the day. The Rams could not kick
a field goal lead, had to have the touchdown and
got it to Cooper Cup in the last two minutes
to win. Philadelphia and It's Super Bowl five years ago
got a touchdown in a field goal in the last
two and a half minutes to beat New England for three.
Next year Super Bowl will be in Las Vegas. Then
the year after that it will be back in New

(01:57:54):
Orleans Super Dome for a record eight time in that stadium.
That will be But the Philadelphia d does it hold up?
Does it hand them the title tomorrow? The D has
been great this year. And here's how historically great it
has been. When you talk, aside from the two thousand Ravens,
what defense do you think of? Most of us at
this age would say, oh, they been nineteen eighties Chicago Bears.

(01:58:16):
They were dominant well as far as sacks. Including playoff games,
Bears had eighty two sacks total, and then the next
year the Bears had eighty sacks total. These Eagles have
seventy eight sacks and counting for this season, so nearing
a record. Thank you very much, Steve the Segar. A
lot of good stuff there on the Super Bowl. This
is Fox Sports Radio Aerators, Jason Martin company live from

(01:58:38):
the tirect dot com studios. And when we come back,
we'll continue the conversation about the Big Game. Obviously, Bernie
Fratto will also join us an hour four. He will
give his perspective uh the gambling perspective from Vegas on
the Big Game. A lot of Bernie Fratto, a lot
of Super Bowl talk, a lot of Jason Martin, Erra Torres.
One hour left, we'll be back Fox Sports Radio. Welcome

(01:59:02):
in everybody, our four Fox Sports Radio Erin Torst Jason Martin.
We are broadcasting live from the tirect dot Com studios.
Tirect dot com will help you get there and unmatched selection,
fast free shipping. Free Road has a protection over ten
thousand recommended installers. Direct dot Com The Way Tire buying

(01:59:23):
should be. Bernie Fratto will join us about twenty minutes
from now, maybe even a little bit less. He is,
of course live in Vegas. Got a lot of good
stuff to talk with Bernie about. Uh, he is in Vegas.
We'll talk about the Super Bowl props, why he has
a very definitive stance on this game in terms of
who he's picking and why so. Bernie fred will join

(01:59:44):
us about twenty minutes from now. Jason, let's get back
to the game really quick. Uh, you know, listen, I
think it's gonna be a great one, right. Uh, you
know obviously top you know, top two seeds, number one
seed in each conference. Uh, the betting has gone basically
to where it's a pick him. I think everybody thinks
it's gonna be close. I think everyone thinks it's gonna
be competitive. Let's just play a simple game, the most

(02:00:06):
simple sports talk radio game you could play in the
hours leading up to the Super Bowl. I'll ask you
one simple question. Philadelphia wins the Super Bowl if the
floor is now yours, jameson if they have a decent
lead in the fourth quarter would probably be my initial thought,
and I thought this all week long. If this game

(02:00:28):
is close, I think you have to favor Kansas City
because you've seen Mahomes do this late in game. So
we even talked about it, right, We talked about the
Super Bowl that they won over San Francisco and what
happened late in the game making the past to Tyreek
Kill after Jimmy g uh wasn't able to convert on
his third down attempt to Emmanuel Sanders. We've seen this

(02:00:49):
team pull victories out late in ball games, win overtime games.
All of this when the saga was running through that
litany of stats to end last out are one of
the things that was very clear was that the Eagles
have dominated teams. They dominated the Giants, who we all
thought were a little overvalued, little over heighted, especially coming

(02:01:12):
off that Minnesota win. And then they knocked out the
quarterbacks for San Francisco, which was credit to their dominance
and being able to blow past that offensive line and
get to Brock Purty first and then to to get
to Johnson. But their dominant They've been doing this, They're
used to doing this, They're used to front running. If

(02:01:34):
this game is tight late, who do I trust more?
I trust guys that have been in those situations that
also have dealt with this level of pressure. To these
are guys that have played in Super Bowls. A lot
of these Eagles players are playing in their first Super Bowl.
Not all of them, but a lot of key contributors
to this team have never been in this game before.
That sometimes matters the Eagles win. I think the first

(02:01:58):
prerequisite for Philadelphia is that they have a lead of
something more than a touchdown that they can kind of
carry into the last seven minutes of the game. I
think they went it there because I like them better
in both the offensive and defensive lines. Well, I think that,
to me is is the key what you just said

(02:02:20):
at the end there is that they have dominanton dominate
the line of scrimmage the way that they have each
of the last uh well, you know, really all season,
but um specifically in these playoffs. I mean, obviously I
understand that there was the brock Purty situation, and how
is that game potentially different, But as the sager said,
you know why brock Purty got hurt, and nobody wishes

(02:02:43):
for him to get hurt. But as the sager said
said an hour ago, and he's right, part of the
reason he got hurt was because the Eagles passed rush
got in his face and it was really really tough
to stop them. And so that to me, I think
is the key from the Philadelphia perspective, like you gotta
get pressure on Patrick Mahomes. Um, you go back to
two Super bowls ago. We we just talked about how

(02:03:03):
he didn't play well for most of the San Francisco
Super Bowl, but really didn't play well in the Tampa
Bay Super Bowl when they played the Bucks. But that
was because the Bucks were just able to get after him, um,
you know, along the defensive front. And so to me,
that feels like the key for Philadelphia. Can you get

(02:03:23):
after Patrick Mahomes. Can you make him uncomfortable? Then? I
think the other thing to Jason, you gotta have a
good game from from Jalen Hurts. Um. You know, we
we we both like in respect and appreciate the Jalen
Hurts story. But you know, he hasn't been asked to
do very much over the last couple of games. And
even when he's been asked to do much, he I mean,
he hasn't I mean a hundred yards passing in the

(02:03:45):
NFC Championship Game. Now, if you only need him to
pass for a hundred twenty one yards, and that's fine,
But four and a half the hearts per completion in
that game six and a half yards per completion in
the Divisional round game against the Giants. I also think that,
you know, if you're gonna count solely on the defense
and solely on Jalen Hurts, are solely on the defense
and and not expect Jalen Hurts to have to do

(02:04:07):
too much, I think you're fooling yourself. I think you're
gonna need the best effort of that Jalen Hurts has
had in quite a few weeks. Yeah, I absolutely agree
with that. I think that if you want to look
at it from a totality standpoint, which one of these
two guys, Chris Jones or Hassan Reddick reminds you more
of Aaron Donald At the end of this game, likely

(02:04:29):
his team is going to be the team that wins
the Super Bowl. If they can handle Chris Jones, Philadelphia
is gonna win the Super Bowl. I have no doubt
in my mind. If Hassan Reddick can't be stopped by
maybe a little bit of an overrated Kansas City line,
but certainly a better one than the piecemeal garbage that
he had that he wasn't expecting to have to go
into that Super Bowl against Tampa Bay with a couple

(02:04:50):
of years ago. If they can't account for Reddick, there's
no chance. I don't think so, I really don't. I
think it comes down to outside of quarterback play. But
quarterback is also dependent upon lines keeping you upright, giving
you time to throw. There's a lot of factors that
go into quarterback play beyond just the wizardry and the
sorcery that you see from the guys holding the football

(02:05:11):
and throwing it. But I think that whichever one of
those two gentlemen plays better, Chris Jones or a son Reddick,
that will be the team that wins the Super Bowl.
From the case perspective, what do you believe is the
single most important thing for them to have success? One
of them is stop Reddick. Reddick, just you cannot allow
that pass rush to get to Mahomes. I don't know
how well. I don't think any of us know for

(02:05:32):
sure exactly how he's gonna be moving. I know what
we've heard, but I want to see it in action,
and I want to see it in action when he's
being chased in real time. I want to make sure
that it holds up for him. Uh you know, I
know Kelsey's gonna be there for him. I know that
they're gonna have a solid game plan, and they've spent
weeks now planning for this Eagles team and what they're

(02:05:54):
gonna challenge them doing. Mahomes obviously can't turn the ball over,
but the same thing is gonna be true for jam
and Hurts. The key to me is you've got to
account for Reddick and that pass rush, all those dudes,
because there are some dudes right there. You have got
to make sure that Mahomes has the time to be
Patrick Mahomes, unlike what we saw in San Francisco in

(02:06:18):
the NFC title game and what we've seen oftentimes throughout
this year. Because of this dominant pass rush and guys
like Fletcher Cox and these dudes that are just out
there malling guys, the offensive line has got to hold up,
and Hassan Reddick in particular, has to be neutralized. I
think you just took mine that. That's what stands out
to me is that I just talked obviously about you know,

(02:06:40):
I deem Philadelphia's pass rush and key for Philadelphia winning.
Casey having to hold up against that pass rush is
key because Patrick Mahomes and Patrick Mahomes even said it
this week, is like, I feel great, but you don't
really know until you're out there, and you don't really
know until you you take a bad hit or or
you get crumpled up at the bottom of a pile
or whatever. You gotta keep him up right because I mean,

(02:07:04):
you gotta keep up right because I mean, he's everything, obviously,
but he's also even if he's at eighty year ninety
percent coming in, it only takes one play to be
at less than really quick. One thing you know that
that's popped up over the last couple of days. I
find the story sort of interesting, um, but I think
it is worth noting. Do you think and and we

(02:07:24):
talked a lot about how good the a f C
is and and Mahomes had to go through Trevor Lawrence
had to go through Joe Burrow to get here. Do
you worry at all about the Eagles schedule because you
really go through and look, um, you know, they beat
the Vikings early, but after that, I guess the Cowboys
were pretty good. But you look They've beaten the Giants

(02:07:46):
three times in the last couple of probably six to
eight weeks. Late in the season, they played the Bears
without without justin fields. They played the Saints lane in
the season. They played the Packers when the Packers were
going in the wrong direction. They played the Colts right
around the time that the Colts fired uh Frank Reich.
They played the Commanders, they played the Texans, they played
the bad Steelers, they played the bad Cardinals. They played

(02:08:06):
the Bad Commanders twice. Do you worry at all about
the level of competition, because you know Casey is always
in those Marquee prime time games. They play everybody. And
again you look at the Eagles, their best one was
probably back in Week two against the Vikings. Wasn't the
toughest schedule, No, I mean that entire schedule was not
exactly Murderers wrote, Now, it's hard to win period in

(02:08:29):
the National Football League. That much. We know you combine
and you have a four teen and three record, you're
a dagon good football team. But there's no question the
Chiefs are more battle tested. They're also more pressure tested
because again they have guys that have been in moments
just this big in the past that have faced down challenges,
and we all knew going into the year a f

(02:08:52):
C was where it was at. Man, if you wanted
to get to the super Bowl, you hoped you were
in the NFC because it was gonna be an easier pathway.
That's why. And we talked about this before Brady retired.
Him going to Vegas never made any sense because why
would you want to become a quarterback in that conference?
If you're Tom Brady going into forty six years old,
Even if you think you are the greatest of all time,
which you are, are you the greatest of right now?

(02:09:13):
And do you want to actually have to go through
that challenge or would you rather just see one of
those teams in a potential Super Bowl against a weaker NFC.
They're not as battle tested, There's no question about it.
And you look at those two games that they've played
the playoffs, that Giant's team is not that good. We
already knew it, and they had seen him twice during
the year. And then they even though it was because

(02:09:36):
of their dominance that they ended up with the quarterbacks
that they ended up playing against San Francisco, and then
San Francisco shot himselves in a foot fifteen times during
the course of that game as well. Those two games
were laughers. They were absolutely this is not going to
be a laugher. The question is is it a wake
up and smell the coffee kind of situation where they
have to adjust for a quarter and a half before

(02:09:59):
they settle in and realize, Okay, now we understand what
it's like to be in a playoff game. Now we
understand what it's like to be in a Super Bowl.
And are they still in the game by that point
or they just kind of been blown out a little
bit early in the game and now they're playing from
behind the rest of it. I am worried, Like, if
there is a concern, that is the concern, no question

(02:10:22):
about it. I also just think they're really good, so
I don't want to overblow it. Even though we haven't
given our prediction yet. Well, we will give our predictions
in the final segment of the show. But coming up.
No better person to bring on the show to discuss
this game, Bernie Fratto. You're here him at the top
of the hour of The Bernie Fratto Show. But Bernie
lives in Vegas. Bernie's got some betting angles. Bernie's got

(02:10:45):
some prop angles. A lot of good stuff coming up
with Bernie Fratto. He is next er towards Jason Martin,
Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio er
tourist Jason Martin. We could talk about how complicated other
banks make it to redeem credit card rewards. We could
tell about how with Discover you can redeem your rewards
for cash in any amount at any time. I mean,
talk about amazing. Learn more at discovered dot com. Slash

(02:11:07):
redeemed rewards terms apply. Speaking of talk about amazing, Our
next guest can hear at the top of the hour
the Bernie Fritto Show, but of course every Saturday, except
for last Saturday when he was traveling. He joins us
now burn Bernie Fritto, what's going on, my friend? How
you doing? Good? Guys? I was rummaging through some old
paraphernalia from Super Bowl forty in Detroit two thousand six,

(02:11:31):
the game I covered between Seattle and Pittsburgh, and I
remember thinking, man, after two weeks of the echo Chamber group,
think knuckle heads putting their heads together making a rock pile,
and everybody repeating the same thing over and over I'm
glad we're finally going to play the game because a
lot of my research flies in the face of what
what has sort of been the group think narrative. Well Burn,

(02:11:53):
there's a million angles on the Super Bowl. I want
to get to in a minute, but before we do,
I actually thought of you this week. The big story
outside of the NFL, the Kevin Durant trade to the Sons,
was spearheaded in large part by the new Son's owner,
Matt Ishbia, who, of course is a Michigan state man.
Nobody knows the state of Michigan better than you. You

(02:12:13):
told us about Matt Ishbia a year and a half
ago when melt Tucker's contract was up and he got
that big extension. What does America need to know about
this guy, because it seems like he has come in
to make an impact as an NBA owner. Well, he's
kind of like a poor man's version of Mark Cuban,
except he actually did play college basketball. He was not
only a member of time as those two thousand national

(02:12:34):
championship team, he saw time in the championship game against Florida.
If anybody gets a chance, HBO Real Sports did a
special on him about ninety days ago. It's terrific. So
he got out of college, he got in with you know,
into the into the loan industry, and and became a billionaire.
And yeah, you heard his name first last year because

(02:12:54):
he was part of the you know, the tried triumphant
that paid for melt Tucker's contract, and he had designs
in buying the Phoenix Suns even ninety days ago. So
now he's the one of the owners of that team
and he's gonna play to win again. Michigan State graduate,
one of these five nine guys who was determined to
be a walk on in college and you made it
and even has a national championship brand. Some of my

(02:13:16):
favorite part of the week is asking what the moles
are telling you or finding out what your moles are
telling you, Like, no one uses mole better than you,
maybe in the history of media. But tonight is it
really a mold day? Right? Today is not a mold
day because it's the Super Bowl. I know you have
definitive takes on this game. What peaks your interest most
about about a matchup that I think on paper is

(02:13:37):
super exciting? Million percent agree? Uh, It's not often you
see two teams as evenly matched as these two teams are.
They were both sixteen and three, they both scored five
and forty six points, or both number one seeds, They
both got six All pros. They even both got a
Kelsey brother. But when you when you look guys at
at handicapping and prognosticating and predicting, you look for strength

(02:14:01):
versus weakness as you live for the edge, and I
think I found a fairly significant one, because first of all,
we know that Philly can run the ball like nobody's business,
and on defense all year. If you study Kansas City
on film, they feature a fore man front with two
linebackers and heavy nickel. How does that not play into
the hands of Philly's rushing attack, who just rushed for

(02:14:21):
four touchdowns against the number one rush defense in the
National Football League. Plus Kansas City ranks thirty one and
red zone defense. That's just a couple of the many
reasons I think the Eagles prevail. Finally, also, the Eagles
defensively are a lot better than people realize. Number one
on sacks this year, number four in turnovers. They allowed
fifty one less points on the year than Kansas City did.

(02:14:43):
Kansas City's defense ranks sixteen. One of the other narratives
has been that Philly schedule they haven't played anybody. That
always makes my teeth hitch. By the way, Kansas City,
they had the fourth easiest schedule in the National Football League.
In the final five games this year, they got to
play the Texans, the Uncles twice, and the Raiders and
then the Seahawks. Four of those five games were one

(02:15:05):
score games. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure the Eagles were in
the same division that had three playoff teams and the
only trail a hundred and forty minutes the entire season.
Last thing I want to get off my chest. Far
too much is being made of the quarterbacks. Football is
played in three phases. I don't want to hear any
more about uh, you know, home shoulder. We trust that

(02:15:25):
more than we trust check that more so. I've heard
it so many times. I got a backwards mahomes ankle
versus hurts shoulder. Philly's got, you know. The teams in
the National Football League are typically defined one of two ways.
They're either fast and athletic, or they're tough and physical.
Philly has all four, Kansas City has two of the four,

(02:15:47):
one of the reasons I don't make too big of
a deal of the quarterbacks is because there are gonna
be other factors we can talk about that are County
gonna come into playing this game. And when I look,
you know, the most glaring example for me is the
seventy two Dolphins, which I we think are the greatest
team of all time. Twelve other seventeen games we're won
by a quarterback who was sold as blood type was discontinued.

(02:16:07):
Earl Morrall looked twenty years older than Tom Brady looked,
but he got the job done because they played offense, defense,
and special teams. So when you add it all up
and I look at how physical Philly will be on
both sides of the trenches, I absolutely think. And by
the way, the Chiefs liked to pass the ball sixty
three percent of the time, and they get to pass
it against Philly's number one past defense. So as this

(02:16:29):
game goes on, I believe it's a game of attrition.
I like Philadelphia A lot of good stuff there. Bernie,
what about a couple of props, I mean they're big.
You know everybody loves betting props. Or there a couple
that stand out to you. There are two really that
stand out to me. The first one Travis Kelsey over
nine and a half targets. Remember these are targets. He

(02:16:50):
averaged nine point eight targets per game in the regular season,
and the first playoff game against Jacksonville he had seventeen
and he had over ten targets nine different games this season.
Let's not forget Travis Kelsey is an elite tight end
in the National Football League. There aren't many of those.
You can count on a wood shop teacher's hand how

(02:17:10):
many great tight ends there are in the NFL. They're
going to have. He's so important to this offense Sunday,
they're gonna have to target him on first down, third
down in the red zone. I think Kansas City gets
to the red zone three or four times, and I
think they'll target kelsey Is three or four or two
or three times or once or twice every time they
get to the red zone. So I think they fly
over nine and a half targets and on the eagle side,

(02:17:32):
Kenneth gainwell over eleven receiving yards. Now Kansas City ranks
thirty feet when facing running backs catching the ball out
of the backfield on the aggregate. Teams they faced caught
six balls in the backfield for forty six yards every game.
Boston Scott hasn't caught a pass since what Thanksgiving? And

(02:17:52):
Miles Sanders doesn't catch passes. That leaves Kenneth gainwell. And
interestingly enough, the books didn't adjust this. His prop against
San Francisco was over ten and a half yards. He
went over that by early in the second quarter. So
I like Travis Kelsey over the nine and a half
targets Kenneth Ganewell over eleven receiving yards. Bernie, do you
think there's an overreaction on Monday to the Chiefs, particularly

(02:18:17):
Mahomes that you could maybe throw a read, But I
think Mahomes is probably the biggest target here if indeed
they lose the football game, Oh, you know, there's gonna
be Uh that's what we do in America. We raised
people to their highest heights only to tear him down.
So it would be one and two. So this his
legacy will take a temporary setback. But look, he's been
to five straight championship games, ANFC championship games, and uh,

(02:18:40):
if I'm being honest, and I'm always trying to be honest,
and we know I love Patrick Mahomes. I said, I
think he's the best playing in the National Football League.
He's not been great in the Super Bowls. Seven of
the eight quarters, he's only passed for percentage or better.
And so listen, pat for the Chiefs to win the
after women on the back of Patrick Mahomes. For the

(02:19:02):
Eagles to win, they don't have to do that with
hurts and Hurts I think will be fine better than
people realize. Here's the real X factor you gotta watch for,
because we've seen it more than once. If Mahomes does
what I call is Jurassic Park routeam, this could go
down to the wire and it could be a coin
flip game. What do I mean by that? If you
guys saw the movie Jurassic Park, that older gentleman and

(02:19:22):
the young girl were running away from the vellish raptor.
They run into a kitchen and slammed the door, and
they look at each other and say, well, these dinosaurs
are smart, but I don't think they know how to
open a door handle. One second later they look him
down and the door handles being turned on the outside
by the raptor. That reminds me and Mahomes when you
least expected. Having said that, I still contend I've covered

(02:19:43):
too much. Football games are one on the line of scrimmage,
and I think Philadelphia has a big advantage there burn
uh any interesting line movement, not line movement, but futures movement.
With all of the NBA trade action this week, well,
Phoenix came down quite a bit. They came from twenty
to one the eight to one, but the Lakers didn't
move at all, nor should they, and as of yet,

(02:20:05):
UH neither has the Dallas Mavericks. So a lot of
to unpack here. Have no faith that Kyrie Jurby no
finish the deal. I didn't just feel awful that he
was so disrespected in Brooklyn. I just I'm beside myself.
I don't even know what. I don't even know what
to add to that. I mean, that's that's it's it's
so accurate. The Son's number. Do you like the Son's number?

(02:20:26):
You look at that? I mean, like, I certainly think
they could win it all if they're able to stay healthy.
But that's why I wouldn't wouldn't want to potentially risk
any money there. It's just because Durant hadn't been healthy
as of late, not since what happened in Golden State.
Devin Booker's dealt with injuries, and Chris Paul has been
a walking ambulance throughout much of his career. A lot
of that worries me. No, you articulate that very well.

(02:20:47):
First of all, Durant's not even on the floor yet,
he's still nursing injuries. We know he has an injury history.
We don't know what that's gonna look like when you
put him in Booker and Chris Paul on the floor.
I still think Denver is the most complete team. So no,
I think that's a it's a real, you know, optimistic
view of the Sun's because Dallas, I don't think. I
think we'll be a phaghazy. It'll be between the Suns

(02:21:09):
and Denver, and I think Denver is the better team
and they they certainly defend better. He's Bernie Fratto. You
can hear him at the top of the hour the
Bernie Fratto Show also on Friday nights into Saturday as well.
Bernie we will be listening at the top of the hour.
By way, make sure to follow him on Twitter at
Bernie Fratto as well. But Bernie will be listening at
the top of the hour. Thank you for the time,
and we look forward to throwing it over to you

(02:21:31):
in about a half an hour from now. Well, thanks
a lot, guys, always appreciate coming on. Enjoy the super Bowl.
That is Bernie Fratto again. You can hear Bernie at
the top of the hour the Bernie Fratto Show coming up. Jason,
I want to actually ask you about this little Oklahoma,
Texas sec move. We'll discuss that next. Before we do, though,
let's toss it over the news desk final time this evening.

(02:21:51):
Steve to Seger, what's TRENDI if you guys are talking
about Philly's defense of course, Philly against Casey on Fox
TV for the Super Bowl tomorrow from Arizona. And we
mentioned how historically good they've been in sacks. Over the
last forty years of the NFL, Eagles had recorded sacks
on about twelve percent of the dropbacks by opposing quarterbacks,

(02:22:12):
which is the highest rate in any season since the Vikings.
So the pressure could certainly be there even as improved
noticeably improved the Chief's offensive line is compared to to
three seasons ago. The referee for tomorrow in Glendale, Arizona
will be Carl Sheffers for Super Bowl fifty seven. He
was the ref for Super Bowl fifty five and for

(02:22:33):
Super Bowl fifty one, and he's worked three conference championship
games and he recently was the ref for Bengals at
Bill's Divisional playoff. Carl Scheffer's former Pac ten official. This
is his eighteen NFL postseason assignment. And a bit of trivia,
the team that won the coin Toss lost the Super
Bowl the last eight straight years to the NBA late game.

(02:22:56):
Sacramento went overtime beat Dallas onetree to byke Kyrie Irvings
twenty eight points and Luca dons who scoring seven. Don
Sitch returned from the Bruce heel. He had missed four
straight games. Lakers one at Golden State, even though Lebron
James was out again with a sore ankle one oh nine,
one oh three the final Clay Thompson in defeat five

(02:23:16):
of twenty one shooting from the floor. Cleveland won at
six in a row New York and Washington with home wins.
Atlanta beat San Antonio Spurs have lost twelve in a row.
Trey Young of the Hawks twenty four points seventeen assists,
and the Spurs just lost last night in double overtime
at Detroit, so the l's pile up. Denver got a
triple double again from Nicola Yokich and one at Charlotte.

(02:23:37):
Hornets have dropped seventh straight. Miami got an overtime win
at Orlando, and Philadelphia was down nine at Brooklyn with
about six and a half minutes left and still beat
him one is The nets apparent tying three pointer came
just after the buzzer Joel and be thirty seven points
in the NHL's late game just final in l A,
the King's beat Pittsburgh six to nothing. For Rangers got

(02:23:59):
a six to win at Carolina, and Washington one at
Boston two to one. Scottie Scheffler leads the Phoenix opened
by two strokes. John Rams tied for second. Jordan's Speed
three back. The Dodgers agreed to a one year deal
with former Cardinals closer Alex Reyes, plus an option year.
Former defensive coordinator Larry Koyer died at the age of
seventy nine. He worked for not only the Broncos, but

(02:24:19):
the Colts and Steelers, in addition to Iowa and Iowa
States over the years in college hoops. Number eleven, Iowa
State lost at home to Oklahoma State. Number twelve, Kansas
State lost at Texas deck Baylor gotta win at tcu
crighton beat Yukon. St. John's upset number twenty Providence eighteen
ranked Indiana one at Michigan sixty two sixty one because

(02:24:40):
the Wolverines went scoreless for the last five minutes. Illinois
beat Rutgers Virginia in overtime over duke. Number fifteen. St.
Mary's is eleven and one in the West Coast Conference
after a win at Portlands and six sixteenth Consaga beat
by It was at one point lead with two and
a half minutes ago. Zags take a eighty one number
seven u c l A winner to Oregon tonight seventy

(02:25:03):
to sixty three, butts. Stanford upset number four Arizona seventy
nine Thursday, Stanford at u c l A. This is
Stanford team that was four and nine in conference until tonight,
but shot six from the floor and got the victory
Missouri on a three pointer at the buzzer one at
six rank Tennessee eighty five balls have lost three of

(02:25:24):
four back to you. Thank you very much, Steve disagree.
Are you on with Planking Army tomorrow? Yes? And uh
Mark Willard with the post game co hosting as well.
Fantastic will We will be listening uh to Sager with
Arnie Spanier and Chris Plank during the Super Bowl and
then as the secretives told you, Mark Willard following that
Fox Sports Radio aeron towards Jason Martin taking it up

(02:25:46):
to the top of the hour. We will give our
super Bowl picks in the next segment. But Jason, I
you know I mentioned it. We we got kind of
interesting news and frankly interesting news that we talked about
last week on the show. When Bernie was out, Chris
Plank filled in for him, and we had Chris Plank
on and and you asked him specifically, Hey, Plank, you
think this Texas Oklahoma thing is gonna get expedited? They

(02:26:07):
were supposed to go to the sec in and Plank said,
I give a ton of credit. He said, Look, by
all accounts, all parties wanted to happen sooner. It's about
making the money right for the TV partners. When we
find out on Thursday afternoon. Ross Dellinger from Sports illustrated,
I believe was the first one with the report. It's
a done deal. One more year of Texas Oklahoma in

(02:26:30):
the Big Twelve, then they are headed to the SEC.
What do you make of this? I think it's, you know,
it's fun. I don't know if I'd feel great about
it if I was Brent Venables or Steve Sarkiesian, but
you know, for college football fans, it's it's yet another
thing to look forward to. And I'll just say this
really quick before I throw to you. If you're a
casual college football fan that tunes in in Week one,

(02:26:53):
I'll tell you you might want to do a little
homework during June, July, and August, because four now is
the year that you sc and U c l A
will go to the Big Ten, Texas Oklahoma go to
the SEC, and we will expand the playoff from four
to twelve, all in the same year. Again, Jason, the
floor is yours about this topic. How many horns down?

(02:27:15):
Oh my god, hand gestures are we gonna see throughout
Big twelve home games in this upcoming year? To your
point about Venables and Sarcasian, Yeah, it's gonna be rough.
Those road games are gonna be rough. I mean, these
are It's like you're basically separated, but everybody knows that
the divorces, like the papers are just waiting to be

(02:27:37):
signed at this point, so it's you're the walking dead
almost you. This whole thing is gonna feel as lame
duck is lame duck can possibly feel. They paid what
hundred million total to go ahead and get out, and
I think we all saw this coming over a year
ago when it first happens, just like they'll be there sooner,
questions how much are they gonna have to pay to

(02:27:58):
get there. It's gonna be awesome. It is gonna be nuts,
it really is. It's gonna be like we're watching a
completely different sport. Um, it's gonna be great. As a
matter of fact, it's gonna be so fun to watch
how it all plays out, and it's gonna be chaotic
because I'll get out also. But I just think at

(02:28:18):
some point Big twelve new in their heart of hearts
and we gotta find a way to move on and
we can't continue to hold onto this string. So you see,
right July one, b y U Central Florida, Cincinnati, Houston,
there will be a fourteen team league. They got their
future mapped out, They got some solid schools coming in there.
They're gonna be a really nice basketball conference. Uh, they've

(02:28:39):
got some teams that have won a lot in football
in recent years. Those have all been kind of darling teams.
Yet Zach Wilson's b y U. We know Central Florida's
undefeated season and what Luke Fickle did at Cincinnati Houston
with Tom Herman, Like, there's a little bit there, a
little bit of mox that you bring it there. That'll
be a fun conference to watch. Oklahoma Texas going to
the SEC IS can be fast nating because we're gonna

(02:29:02):
find out how good Oklahoma really is at that point,
and we're gonna find out Texas is still that team
that everybody talks about that's not that good. Texas is
the Dallas Cowboys of college football. They really are, and
they're in the same state. They get talked about so much,
and they are so hated by everybody outside of their
their fan base, which is large. Their fan base is large,

(02:29:25):
but a lot of people like watching them fall on
their face and then they are they back. Discussion that
never ends, and it's a Dallas discussion fairly often as well.
And let's not forget you're probably gonna have arch Manning
is your quarterback at that point, Like there's there's this
is there's so many storylines here. Uh, it's gonna take
a year to lay it all out before they actually

(02:29:46):
start playing football. Yeah, for you know, you mentioned the
arch Manny thing and then like it's obvious, but you
kind of forget it. It's like, you know, where could
you know, assuming that he's the quarterback Night one that
would be his either red shirt freshman or true sophomore year,
Like what is the most intriguing game you know that

(02:30:06):
he could potentially open with. But that's that's really my
only like big takeaway. I even though we heard that
talks had kind of died down last week, I always
thought this was gonna get done for the reason that
you said the Big twelve wanted it, the teams wanted it,
the SEC wanted it, and it was just about making
the money, right. I'll just tell you, like, like I

(02:30:26):
I think that we kind of understand like what this
is going to look like. I still think it's gonna
be crazy in Week one when Oklahoma is at Georgia
or Georgia is at Texas, or Texas is playing Texas
A and M again, or it's you know, Texas Florida

(02:30:46):
or Texas All Burn or Oklahoma LSU. And one last thought,
I know you know this, Jason, but for but for
people who aren't college football nerds like us, the other
trickle down effect that it appears is going to happen
is that they're gonna redo the SEC scheduling model, where
there it sounds like they're gonna get rid of divisions
and they're gonna go to nine league games, which is

(02:31:08):
just extra inventory. But they're also gonna do what they're
calling the three six model, which basically means that teams
will have three permanent rivals. So take a Tennessee it's
probably gonna be you know, Georgia, Alabama and Vanderbilt or whatever. Yeah,
and they'll have three permanent rivals. But then what that
does is if you do the math, that means there's

(02:31:28):
twelve teams outside of those three permanent rivals. Do the
quick math. You play nine league games, that means six
games a year, which means that you'll play every team
in the league once every two years. So, uh, Georgia
in a Texas just because geographically they're not near each other,
We're not gonna go six or seven years between when
they play. They're gonna play every other year and once

(02:31:50):
every four years, that team is going to visit your
home stadium. And it's the same for everybody. So Texas,
A and M going to Texas, Texas going to Alabama,
Texas going to Georgia, Oklahoma going to l s U.
L s U going to Oklahoma. That's the other trickle
down effect. And I think it's gonna be awesome. You
know that. That's really my only takeaway. It's like, I
think we know it's gonna be awesome. Wait till we

(02:32:12):
see that first schedule for when we see those matchups
on paper Jays. Yeah, I mean I think that that's
the model. That that model creates a lot of interest,
and it's gonna create a lot of discussion in debate
because nobody like college football fans when it comes to arguing,
and there's gonna be the look at your kickwalk schedule
and who you didn't have to face it. That's gonna
be fun, especially in sec territory. Uh, it's gonna be

(02:32:36):
glorious for college football nuts like us Uh, it's gonna
be a blast to cover. I wish we were already
closer to it, um, but we can get excited about it.
It'll live up to the hype. It will live up
to the hype. Texas, Oklahoma going to the sec In
Fox Sports Radio eron towards Jason Martin, one segment left,

(02:32:57):
we will officially make our Super Bowl picks. That's next
Fox Sports Radio down a looka middle of the floor
on the drive, all over the top, Oh Green was open.
Passed it up to Irving for three. That one goes
down for Kyrie. That was the Progressive play of the day.
That was k E G L Mavericks Radio Network, and

(02:33:22):
that Progressive play the day was obviously brought to you
by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable. Get
a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat,
a TV, and more all your protection in one place.
Bundle and save at Progressive dot Com. All right, Jason,
it's the moment. You know. There's been hundreds, if not
thousands of hours of sports talk radio across airwaves all

(02:33:47):
over America this week. There has yet to be a
moment in time where Jason Martin and Arriatories gave their
official Super Bowl picks. So, Jason, the floor is yours.
Who do you like tomorrow? And why so? My mind
has wavered all week, but I've decided and decided, even
as it did waiver here and there, I was gonna
stick with where my gut was at the beginning of

(02:34:08):
the week. Patrick Mahomes is the best player in the world.
He just is. He was nearly a unanimous m v P.
The guy on the other side deserves all the respect
that he's getting, that being Jalen Hurts. We know what
Travis Kelsey is. Andy Reids the top five coach that
can't be overruled here, and I mean top five all time,

(02:34:29):
top five to ten at the very least. This is
the model organization in the NFL over the last half
decade or so, since Mahomes became the starting quarterback. He's
the best player in the world. The Eagles are the
best team. We heard Bernie Frado say that, I think
it just by the way he was laying out the stats.
Steve di Seger basically told us that over the course

(02:34:52):
of the last four hours, as well as we've been
able to make this case, if the game is played
in three phases and we're looking at the trenches. Here's
all I feel And this has been my gun all week. Arin,
I just feel like this is Tampa Bay all over again.
I think you've got a defense that is gonna chase
Patrick Mahomes all over the place, and an offensive line

(02:35:14):
that's not as good as maybe the stats indicate. Guys
that I like, definitely dudes that I like in a better,
better group than he had against Tampa Bay to say,
let's to say the least, but they have not faced
this kind of challenge as of late. And I think
that the Eagles defense in particular is gonna do just
enough to make Patrick mahomes life miserable. And then you

(02:35:36):
look at the Chiefs on defense, they got two guys
that I like. This is the game where they're gonna
wish they still had Tyrone Matthew, but they don't. And
the Eagles have weapons everywhere God Or it's a very
serviceable tight end. A J. Brown Devontae Smith are absolute beasts,
and the way Jalen hurts is a dual threat and

(02:35:57):
what he can do on the ground if you enable it.
That's the fact that they can run the ball with
the guys that actually carry the rock for them as well.
I just think Philadelphia is the better football team. That's
been my gut all week is that Philadelphia wins. I
do believe that the Eagles will win this game, probably
by somewhere around a touchdown, maybe a little more. So.

(02:36:20):
What I will say is that, um, well you just
said Tampa all over again. I agree, it's Tampa all
over again. But I believe that the Kansas City Chiefs
have learned from what happened in that Tampa game. That's
what I keep going back to. It reminds me a
lot of that game. The difference is that Tom Brady

(02:36:40):
isn't quarterback of the team that's Casey is playing tomorrow.
But why it's important, in my opinion, is if you
remember that game. I remember I was hosting this show
with Arnie Spanier. We had beat writers for the Chiefs
come on and say, it's a formality. We're winning this,
We're going back to back, We're gonna dominate. They weren't
ready for the speed, the past rush, the aggressiveness of

(02:37:01):
that Tampa Bay Bucks front seven. So why bring it up?
I just can't see this team not being ready and
not understanding, Hey, this is an elite front seven that
we're going up against. If we're not ready to go,
they're gonna embarrass us like we got embarrassed two years ago.
I think the game plans different. I think Andy Reid
gets the ball out of Patrick Mahomess, hands quick to
protect him. And I think the Kansas City Chiefs are

(02:37:24):
your super Bowl champs. I just you know, listen, I
love the Eagles thing. I don't. I agree with Bernie Fratto.
I don't think the schedule thing really matters. But listen,
you give me the better quarterback, the better coach, um,
the best probably skilled position player, the most important one anyway.
In Travis Kelsey elite edge edge guy, and Chris Jones.

(02:37:46):
I like Casey, Um, I just I like Casey. I
just don't see them losing two super Bowls in a row. Jason,
I think that experience from the Tampa game two years
ago is gonna weigh heavy tomorrow night in uh in Phoenix. Well,
I mean, you definitely could be right. I mean, like
I said, I've wavered, but I've just stuck with my
gut all week that I wasn't gonna let the way

(02:38:07):
I started to feel here, and they're kind of affected.
Most of the guys that are on the offensive line
here weren't in that game against Tampa Bay, so I'm
not sure what they could have learned from it. The
only thing I would say is San Francisco their offensive
line is pretty solid, and they were ready and they
got dominated. I just feel like that might be what
we're about to see. I hope it's a classic. It
should be on paper. It's a heck of a game

(02:38:29):
and his heck of game, and this was a heck
of a show. We gotta get out of here. I
want to thank the crew, Chris per fed on the board,
producer Bo Steve de Seger, from my partner Jason Martin.
I am Aaron Torres. If you missed any of the show,
download the podcast available where every download podcast. Bernie Fratto
of The Bernie Freddo Show is next for Aaron. For
Jason Martin, I'm aeratoris Fox Sports Radio

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Aaron Torres and Jason Martin talk Super Bowl!