Bernie Fratto Talks NFL Off-Season & Much More!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't listen to Fox Sports, you know, and the words
of Friedrich Nietzsche, out of chaos comes order, and tonight
that's what we attempt to do, bring some order into
a world of sports chaos. And on that note, yes,
I'm Bernie Fadder or County Alive from the Las Vegas
tiract dot com studios. Tiract dot com will help you

(00:24):
get there, an unmatched selection, fast free shipping for your
road hazard protection and over ten thousand recommended installers tiract
dot com The way tire buying should be absolute. Jam
Pack show tonight, a couple of great guests, and there
are a lot of topics I want to dive in
on that are making the rounds in the sports world,

(00:45):
next sports or entertainment. But they're more than that, They're
a shared experience. People want to talk about them. Yes,
you have come to the right place. We've got a
lot to talk about tonight. Welcome to the Bernie Fradder Show.
Take you all the way to three am Pacific, six
m Eastern and as they say in Eric the Enemy
in Minnesota, it's gonna be lit. And that's where we
begin my turn. You know, there was a great hall

(01:09):
of fame announcer. Uh, do you ever listened to the
Doug Gottlive Show? I sampled now and then Great Crew,
Dan Buyer and everybody, Jason, John Ramos. They had a
topic the other day about you know, favorite announcers in
Jason brought up Joel Garrett Joelo when one of my
all time favorites. And there's a story about Garrett Joelo

(01:30):
because he played in the major leagues and he was
hired by CBS raw as a broadcaster with very little experience,
and right after he was hired, a speech coach got
ahold of them and said, Joel, we need to we
need to work on you. You're not finishing your verbs.
You're saying things like pitching and hitting and Garrett Youela

(01:51):
looked at him and said, well, if I change who
I am, I might not be working. Let's talk about
Eric b Enemy and I have some very significant thoughts
on what I think is happening and why is not
being hired? And if I owned a team, the three
questions I would ask him and that's all we need

(02:11):
dance here and I'd hire him. Now, why do I
have the right to talk about this? While I covered
the Detroit Lions for ten years. Up close personal flagship PrePost.
I'll give you insights on how and why NFL coaches
are hired at the bottom of the hour. How does
his knuckle head like Mapperatricia get hired. I'll talk about
that later. And I want to tell you what's required

(02:32):
during the interview process, things that are unavoidable. Maker break.
And I want to also tell you a conversation and
with Tony Dungey once while he was almost never hired.
You won't believe what he told me, but I saw
in Detroit. I was there for multiple hirings. Wayne Files,
Bobby Ross, Gary Mueller, Marty morning Wicks, d Maruti, Rod Marinelli.
Let's talk about Eric b Enemy. At this point in

(02:53):
his career, he's been interviewed for head coaching job sixteen
times by fifteen NFL franchises. The Jets have actually interviewed
him twice. Whatever process these teams are using to select
their head coaches, ultimately where they have landed besides the enemy,
Clearly it's not working. Only three of the sixteen that
were hired over the enemy Bruce Arians, Brandon Stally and

(03:17):
Zach Taylor. This is all in the last five years,
only three of the sixteen you have ever made the playoffs.
Seven of them Adam Gaze, Urban Meyer, Nathaniel Hackett, David Culley,
Brian Flores, Joe Judge that rule, they were all fired.
You might notice some of the coaches hired instead of
the enemy might make the list of some of the
worst tires in the history of the NFL. Now, being

(03:40):
the offensive coordinator of a team in the Super Bowl
is generally a pretty good way to get in NFL
head coaching job. Of the last nine oh cs in
Super Bowl, besides the last nine offensive coordinators you know
that that have made it to the superol besides the enemy,
whether they want or lost, five or head coaches. Okay,
Brian Callahan, he's still, uh the Bank, He's still He's

(04:03):
still you know, uh the Bengals though, see I'll tell
you what by getting Byron Leftwich is fired by the Buccaneers.
But he was offering the job in Jacksonville after year
turned it down. Rather than start naming names and get
everybody lost, Let's get to the Let's get to the
core of the matter. Okay for me, for me, if
you have been in eric the enemy's perch, and not

(04:25):
just there. He was an All American running back in Colorado,
played in a national championship team. A local guy here,
Mike Pritchard, was the MVP the game. I know Mike well.
He knows the enemy well. The enemy knows what championship
football looks like. He knows what that culture looks like.
That matters to me. That matters a lot as to

(04:46):
how and what a culture looks like from the inside.
So at the very least, an owner would want to know,
tell me what that culture looks like. We've never won here,
you've won twice, You've been to the Super Bowl three time.
You did it in college. And here's where the rub is. Obviously,
being a head coach in the National Football League is

(05:07):
a different skill set than being a being an offensive
or defensive coordinator. If you're an offensive coordinator, you're essentially
the CEO of the offense, same with the defense. But
if you're a defensive coordinator, or better check that, if
you're a head coach or a CEO of the entire team.
I contend that when it comes time for the enemy

(05:32):
to answer some pretty direct questions having to how he's
going to constitute you know how he's going to build
his staff, whose staff is gonna be, How he's going
to talk about salary cap issues, How he's going to
talk about some of the granular things where some of
these coaches walk in there and they're there for ten
hours with all kinds of power point presentations and and

(05:55):
Excel spreadsheets and an Excel spreadshe you never want a
damn football game. I contend that's what's holding enemy back.
He's not granular enough, he's not specific enough. And I've
been told this. However, if I'm thinking outside the box,
I want to believe his experience, in his hands on
experience and understanding a culture and what it takes to

(06:18):
not only have success but repeat success. And Viennemy took
over as the offensive coordinator as Patrick Mahomes was just
beginning his career. So there was never any guarantee. There
was never any guarantee that Mahomes that have this kind
of success. You tell me Enemy has nothing to do
with that. To me, that would far supersede the ability

(06:41):
to stand there and pontificate while using things like power
points and Excel spreadsheets and talking theory at and theoretically
in hypothetically as opposed to having the hands on experience.
I want to know. Tell me what it's like inside
that culture. Eric the enemy and we already know. Listen,

(07:01):
talk to people around the league. People have said the
Washington commanders are going to be getting a very detail
oriented coordinator. He's gonna coach his players hard players, tell
stories about the enemy, always harps on them on the
smallest in details. Make sure he covers as many game

(07:22):
situations as possible, over and over and over. I understand
he dots his eyes, he crosses his te s. Everything
is absolute and the results are there, all right. Is
he perhaps as buttoned up as some of these knuckleheads
want him to be? Maybe not. I don't care. I

(07:43):
want results. He's already showing him get results. You tell
me he doesn't deserve a chance to step up to
the next level and prove that he can make command
decisions in the heat of battle and preside over men
and coach other coaches and delegate. I think he can,
and I think he deserves the chance. Patrick Mahomes was

(08:04):
very quick to give Barrick be Enemy a lot of credit.
Remember when Jerick McKinnon slid at the one yard line
to set up the game winning field goal. Apparently they
put that play in a lot of teams have, but
they practice it over and over and over and over again,
and guess what, they needed it and it worked and
it turns out that I mean McKinnon, McKinnon almost forgot,

(08:26):
but you could tell at the last second he he
remembered and he slid and that was that. Let me
tell the Tony Dungee story, because you never know what
really goes on behind the scenes. When I grew up,
I want to be Tony Dungee. He's got some Michigan roots.
One an amazing guy. We've had a couple of conversations
with him. We'll remember back in the yearly nineties, late eighties,

(08:47):
Tony Dungey was sort of the Eric b enemy. Then
he was getting opportunities. The interview couldn't quite close the deal.
We're having the same kind of group think echo chamber
conversations that we're having now. What's interesting is Tony Dungee
told me he was very close to getting two jobs.
He was basically going to get the job was brought
in by the owner and the owner asked him, Tony,

(09:12):
I just need to know something. You're a really dignified man.
You're very spiritual man, You're very measured, you're very even keeled.
There are going to be times when you get into
a room with growing men and they're gonna need their
heads taken off. Are you willing to scream? Are you
willing to yell? You're willing to swear? Are you're willing
to raise the temperature of the room to get their attention?
And Tony Dungee, in a very dignified managers, no, sir,

(09:34):
I can't do that. That's not me And I don't
even know if that's effective, and I know it wouldn't
be effective for me, And frankly, I think the players
would see right through it. He I think he believed
that cost him two jobs. Then all of a sudden
he had the same conversation within with an enlightened Knockholm Glazer,
who's no longer with us, to validate this story. But

(09:56):
if you and if you don't believe me, this happened
half Tony Dungee on your show, you'll see what happened.
He sat down with Malcolm Glazer. Glacier said the same thing.
I need a coach to be fiery. I need a
coach now and then to ruthless of feathers and shake
the room up. Might have to drop a few f bombs.
Can you do that? Tony Dungey said, no, sir, I can't.

(10:17):
That's not who I am. And Malcolm Blazer pause and says,
you know what, You've turned me around? You may well
be right. I like that. You're honest, you're forthright, you're genuine.
You're gonna be who you are, and you have your
own methods in your own way of being effective, and frankly,
that might be even more effective. Tony Dungee had five

(10:37):
good years for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and I know
the year after he left, Krud won the Super Bowl
with his team. He got that job. Sometimes these things
are a little more or nuanced, and I'm gonna reference
this topic throughout the show. I just don't have enough
time to get to all of what I want to
say in this opening segment, but I want to leave
you with this thought for the people who pass up
on the enemy because he's not interviewing in the butt

(11:00):
end up fashion that they wanted to. And I'm sorry
you have to interview. It's a process. All businesses show business,
and no matter what kind of you know, no, no,
no matter what kind of success you've had, you've got
to be able to show your future owners how you
can evaluate the current roster, talk about draft philosophy, how
you're gonna assemble your staff, your offensive philosophy, all those things.

(11:24):
But if the enemy is not answering those questions and
just the precise, buttoned up way that owners wanted to,
I believe what they're essentially doing is something wrong, and
that is they're assuming that the enemy might not be
able to adapt or evolve or grow into that position
because he didn't answer the questions right in the interview.

(11:45):
You don't want to believe would have hired out Eric
the enemy Al Davis would have. Al Davis thought outside
the box, and good thinkers and business in the world
of sports always think outside the box. I think you're
missing the boat on this guy. He deserves a chance
and along. And the short of it is, if I
own the team, I call him in and I say,

(12:05):
I'm gonna ask you three questions. I need answers to
these questions. One, how are you going to change the
culture of this team? If I'm hiring a brand new
head coach in the National Football League We're probably a
losing franchise and somewhere there's probably a fractured culture. How
are you going to change that culture? Here? Just tell
me that. Secondly, tell me about your staff. We'll have

(12:26):
to vet him, but just tell me about your staff.
And three tell me, you know, a little just a
little bit about the salary cap. Those three things, we
don't need to talk a ton of xs and ohs.
That's you. You can't get to three super Bowls and
have the kind of success that they've had and not
have a causal effect between what the offensive coordinator is
doing and what the final result has been on the scoreboard.

(12:48):
So there you have it. This is a subject that's
gonna be with us. I would just say this. I
believe the man deserves a chance, and I believe it
just takes a little bit more enlightened thinking and conversation
as opposed to wrote structured interview process. Every now and then,
you gotta think a little differently. And if someone's willing
to do that and take a chance on this guy,

(13:08):
just like they took a chance on Joe Garagiola, even
though he didn't have perfect English, it seemed to work out. Okay,
I want to remind you tonight Hill brought to you
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(13:32):
Sherrif p and we bring you behind the book. Talk
a little quarterback, Carrol Still, how are the odds gonna change? Final?
Super Bowl? Look ahead to March Madness. I'm Bernie Fratderer
Comedy Live from the Las Vegas tire Act dot Com Studios.
They'll stick and stay. You're listening to the Bernie Frawder
Show on Fox Sports Radio. We're back on the Bernie
Frawder Show, coming to you live from the tire Act
dot Com studios here in Las Vegas at this time.

(13:55):
Welcome in a gentleman, longtime friend of mine. Key fix
your canner game aiming behind the counter, Been there, done that?
A man. Time to say hello to our good friend
find him on Twitter at sports book Consig. That would
be Dave Sherriff Pan. Dave, how you doing, Buddy, Hey Burn,
Good good evening, sir, Always good to join you here

(14:16):
on your show. A lot to talk about, you know,
post super Bowl, what what happens in the week after
the Super Bowl. Sometimes it happens good, sometimes it happens bad.
I'm sure we can we can hit that well. A
couple of things. Yeah, we're you know, we're in the
wake of the Super Bowl, still in the reverview mirror slightly,

(14:36):
and we're three weeks from selection Sunday. So let's wrap
things up on the Super Bowl. I understand it was
a relatively modest win for the books, but it was
mart a little bit by William Hill situation. You want
to share what the folks would happen there and has
it been resolved? Man oh man? Uh? Yeah, so, but
again finishes thirty thirty five. There's a lot of overs
the game over the first half, over pretty much all

(14:59):
the quarters. Oh were all the props over except mahomes um.
So a lot of people did pretty well. Books still survived.
Their lights always come on the next day, except that, uh,
except that William Hill Caesar's um. They had a crash, um,
you know, right before the game, and it was over

(15:21):
the counter and app so people that made their bets.
We're leaving town, say Sunday night after the game or Monday,
come into cash the tickets. Can't do it. Nobody could
get money. They couldn't even tell you what your balance was.
You know, I have an account there. I went into
the book and said, guys, what's going on? And there

(15:43):
was no real explanation. And I felt so bad for them,
because the last thing that anybody wants to do that
works in a book on Super Bowl Sunday is not
take your bets so and not pay you the money
and not give you your account balance. Whatever it is,
that's not That's the worst day possible to have that happen,

(16:04):
and then extended for three days. Burn they couldn't. They
got the counter work, and I had a couple of tickets,
paper tickets that I was able to cash on Wednesday,
and then by Thursday, late Wednesday night, early Thursday morning,
app is back up. Everything looks to be okay. UM,

(16:28):
And you know, my guys that worked there are real,
you know, close to the vest. They're like, hey, it
was just an internal system error. It's hopefully fixed. It
should be fixed. It's been working pretty good since um.
And then we'll go forward from there. I mean, there's
a lot of there's a lot of transition into space.
There's a lot of people looking to either upgrade systems.

(16:51):
This is when all those meetings happen. It's it's it's
you know, vacation time for most of the directors um
this week and then everybody comes back next week and
looks to go, all right, what can we do better?
Can we improve the system, Let's tighten things up, Let's
get through March madness, and then once April hits, it's baseball,

(17:13):
it's playoffs for hockey and NBA, and we can make
changes to get ready for football season, you know, late August,
early September. Dave along those lines, the New York Jets
could potentially land Aaron Rodgers. They could potentially land Derek Carr.
I don't think it's gonna be Lamar Jackson. But as
you observe this quarterback carousel, who moves the new of

(17:35):
the most if they go to a new team in
terms of their futures, odds it's gotta be Aaron Rodgers.
I mean, he did it last year, but there were
just rumors that he was going to go to Denver.
Then they hired to coach and books went from forty
to one or fifty one to twenty to one on them.
Maybe it wasn't even it was, you know, and then

(17:57):
they got Russell Wilson and was like, oh, okay, well
we're already there that it's fine. If he comes to
Las Vegas, that number drops. If he goes to the Jets,
that number drops, and the speculation of him going will
jump the packers number up to who knows what? And

(18:17):
you know, you know who else is gonna drop if
if he leaves Green Bay, the first team to drop
where he not going? You know it, Baby Detroit Lions,
We're back in a favorite look out, Bring back the etel. Hey, Dave, uh,
I should have budgeted better for time, but we still
got a couple of minutes here. Let's look ahead to

(18:39):
March Manness Selection Sundays, three weeks away. What's your what
you know from a degree panoramic view? What are your thoughts?
Its appears to be a very wide open tournament. Wide
openness could be I'm looking at a a book right
now and looking at the futures, and and um, there's
three teams less than ten to one. One of them

(18:59):
is Houston, who nobody really knows who they are or
what they are other than a team that beats up
bad teams and covers big spreads. In that regard, um Alabama,
who just had the Jaco and Hide week of all
Jacko and Hide weeks, lose a game, you know, against
Tennessee as a short dog number one in the country,

(19:22):
and then go and beat Georgia today by forty nine points. Uh,
and then Perdue, who's nine and a half to one,
ten to one. I think Big ten people, if you're
listening to you and you're a Big ten basketball fan,
across all the teams off the list, they're not winning,
they're not making I don't know how many teams, right, Like,
how many of those teams are gonna go to even

(19:42):
the sweet six teams? It's gonna be SEC or Big
twelve again, d a little over again? Yugi. Oh boy.
I think you're right. I think you're right. That's it.
I mean, isn't it Teams Bama good enough in football?
Like do we have to have Bama be be really
good at basketball? So I'm not ready for this. I
don't know. You know what you know what happened when

(20:04):
it started a few years ago, when the SEC start
SEC started bringing over big time coaches. Nato, it's coming
from Buffalo. He's a big time coach. All of a sudden,
Now they get the athlete, the SEC athlete playing basketball.
You know, the six seven defensive ban is gonna play
power forward. Got great coaches in the SEC, they really do.
You're right. And it's weird because when you look at

(20:25):
the list, you got a team like Gonzaga, who was really,
you know, always one of the favorites. They're they're really
you know, a very favorable price. At this point. St.
Mary's is making noise in the future market a lot
of guys, I know, we're talking about them actually getting
to the Elite eight being ready to do it. It's
Kansas at Baylor too. You're right, Big twelve. Big twelve

(20:46):
is the best conference at college basketball. The SEC is
right there now, Dave, You're spot on. And Uh, by
the way, their odds anywhere for Kansas to repeat, because
no one's repeated since two thousand and seven. Floor the
final question, Uh, they put up a number anywhere for
Cancers to repeat. I think they're live to have that chance. No,
but that's actually a really good one. If we can

(21:07):
figure out a way to get somebody to give. I
don't know what we would call it the Fratto boost
or what we would just call it bot I like this.
I like it. It would draw some action, Dave. I
did allows you job budgeting on time tonight. Let's get
you on when Marchman it starts. Okay, Buddy, I'm ready
anytime you need me. Burne, I appreciate the call. I'll

(21:28):
talk to you soon. Have a good rest of the show.
Thanks so much. Bunny's my guy sports book Constigue Dave
Shripan behind the counter here for two decades in Vegas.
Great guy, he's a Pittsburgh guy. Coming up. I'm gonna
take you back behind the curtain. You want to interview
to become an NFL coach, I'll tell you what what
what you're gonna have to go through. But first, what
do we owe this pleasure? Let's go to our guy,

(21:49):
Dan Buyer. Dan. How you doing, Buddy, Bernie? I am
doing well. I don't know if I'm doing as well
as some of those SEC and Big twelve teams are doing.
On Saturday, I should say Alabama had quite the day
against Georgia, the top ranked team of the country, wins
one oh eight to fifty nine. Maybe not the headline
stealing game though in the SEC, because maybe Kentucky's getting

(22:10):
on track. They knocked off number ten Tennessee sixty six
fifty four. I was about to say Oklahoma, they took
Texas to overtime, but the sixth rank Longhorn survive eight
five eighty three, fifth rank Kansas. So you guys were
just talking about big home win against number nine Baylor
on Saturday eight seven seventy one, while twelfth rank Kansas
Kansas State beating number nineteen Iowa State sixty one to

(22:33):
fifty five. How about some late scores from college hoops.
Number four U c l a winner against Cal with
e sty three. Eight rank Arizona got past Colorado sixty eight,
number seventeen St. Mary's so win against b y U.
It was tough, but they win seventy one sixty five.
The other hoops that was happening Saturday night. Yeah, the
All Star Festivities three point shootout winner Damian Lillard mc

(22:55):
McClung stole the show in the Dunk contest, winning that
while the Skills competition winning team the trio of Utah
Jazz players Jordan Clarkson Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler and
pressed in front of the home fans All Star Game
seven thirty Eastern time on Sunday Night on the Ice,
Golden Nights edge the Lightning five four crack and double
up the Wings four two Stadium series and Raleigh Hurricanes

(23:17):
with a four one win over the Capitol's first time
ever in my career, Bernie, I'm about to say this
Saturday night in the XFL. Yes, I've never said that before.
It is a first. It is a first. Euston Roughnecks
top the Orlando Guardians thirty three to twelve, and those
Arlington Renegades with the twenty win over the Vegas Vipers.

(23:39):
You know my eyes are on Riviera. John rom the
three shot lead at fifteen under par after three rounds
over Max Homa Tiger Woods will enter the final round
twelve shots back at three under par. He's in a
tie for twenty six and a big day on Fox
on Sunday DAYTONA five hundred coverage begins on Fox Sports
one actually with NASCAR Race Day at eleven o'clock Eastern time.

(24:01):
One o'clock Eastern switch it over to Fox Green Flight
drops to thirty Eastern time Bertie back to you now that,
my friend, is what you would call an eclectic update.
That was an eclectic a little bit of everything. You know,
it's your pot pourri of updates, Bertie to cornucopia. You
know when you get the rough Riders and the Guardians, Dan,
I just got I don't not just put down the

(24:22):
headset and go home. What do we do here? Yeah?
I know, I'll tell you. I looked at the logos
and I wasn't even sure who was who. I wasn't
sure if the Runnegades were the Roughnecks or who was what.
But uh well we'll figure it out just in front,
just in time for the USFL to mess it all
up for us standing stuff. Dan, good to be with you, folks.

(24:43):
We can talk about how complicated other banks make it
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about how we discover you can redeem your rewards for
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about amazing turn learn about discover dot com slash redeem
rewards terms apply. Before I get into my dissertation, I

(25:03):
got a a text from a gentleman on Twitter T
eighteen Iron Ranglisman. I appreciate I appreciate you checking in
because what we want to do is be as comprehensive
on the show as we can. He said, Bernie loves
your opinion always, but I know from someone who's worked
with him personally. He's talking about Eric b Enemy. He's
a pain in the ask to deal with. Thought against

(25:25):
it right away. But the guy has no major support
in the league, is literally a pain in the ascid
and no head coach coming. You know, you may be right.
I listen. I will just say this that I've been
around the NFL for tim very close. There are lots
of pain in the asses. And you know, uh, I
don't know if you remember years ago in the Atlanta
Falcons were on hard knocks, one of the coaches was

(25:47):
yelling at one of the defensive players, it's son, you're
not good enough to be an able. They're out there.
The question is at what press are you willing to
pay for results? At what price are we willing to
And so that's where we have to have the lighting conversation.
Do you want to button up guy like one of
the sixteen people who beat out the enemy and thirteen
failed or do you take that chance? And you know,

(26:09):
I think the commanders are a little desperate. I don't
know what's going to happen there. I respect this gentleman's
opinion who tweeted in I've heard some of the same,
but I'm I'm the type of guy. Let's get in
the room, let's have a back and forth exchange, and
let's see if we can find out and find out
that if we can land on the better angels of
our nature, as Abraham Lincoln would say, then for the

(26:31):
greater good we can move forward. And you know, there
have been lots of players, coaches, people in history, apostles
who were imperfect, who are put in situations and all
of a sudden did well. I'm just curious when someone's
had this much success and I know why they're not.
He's not interviewing, well, it doesn't How can you not

(26:54):
figure that out? What he's stupid? He's had sixteen interviews. However,
can that be superseded by the fact that he knows
what success looks like, he knows what that culture looks like,
and he works hard and he's produced results. That matters
to me. So you want to be an NFL head
coach and you're saying, well, how do you know anything
about this burning And I said, well, I spent ten
years covering the Lions. I was there. Man, I'm a

(27:16):
I've got a lot of intellectual curiosity. And when you
become an NFL head coach, you become a CEO of
an NFL team, simple, and you're gonna have to show
you can evaluate the current roster. You're gonna have to
talk about your draft philosophy. You're gonna have to assemble
your staff. You're gonna have to talk about your offensive philosophy,
you know. And like I said, all businesses show business.

(27:37):
So when you interview, you're on stage, and it's a
fairly grueling process. It goes on behind closed doors. Sometimes
you're if you're you're you're in front of five or
six executives. They introduce themselves, they bring in, and then
they'll every team is a little different, but usually they'll
fire up a question that you're right out of the gate,
and a lot of times it will be how will

(27:57):
you change the culture of our team? That's how the
job interview can begin for some teams. But there's more
than one meeting. There's phone calls, there's checking references. The
room could be at the team's headquarters. It could be
at a business office, it could be at a at
a hotel, it could be just about anywhere. But you know, look,
but the bottom line is what what team owners are

(28:18):
trying to figure out is can you help us achieve
our goals? But it's not just that you gotta sell
the hire to the locker room. You're gonna sell the
higher to the fan base. And you've also got to
sell the press conference bank, no mistake, you have to
sell the press conference. When when I was in Detroit, Uh,

(28:41):
Steve Mariucci was unceremoniously fired by Matt Millen after the
Thanksgiving game in two thousand five. I remember we did
our postgame show down at Fishbones downtown and some guy
here's her name, dropped, Stephen A. Smith joined us for dinner,
interesting talk, and we knew which was gonna be far.
The next day, indict Eron, one of the assistant coaches,

(29:02):
took over, and I remember doing a radio show saying,
you know what, I really liked this guy. Uh, there's
no reason Millan shouldn't just keep him. Heading into two
thousand six, and I was told repeatedly, you can't, we
can't sell the press conference with him. So who does
Matt Millan bring in Rod Marinelli and you know what
happened there? He ended up Owen sixteen. But part of
this is show business. The other part of this is

(29:25):
when I first got to Detroit in terms of having
an official capacity with the team, or at least in
the network, Wayne Fonce was the coach. He was known
as a country club type of guy. Probably not a
totally fair assessment, but very much gave that impression. So
when Fonce was bounced, the Lions brought in Bobby Ross,
a guy loved had successive Army Georgia tech got the

(29:47):
Chargers to the Super Bowl just three years before. Bobby
Ross was a military type guy, you see the opposite
of Fonts. Ross quit with five games to go, nine
Gary Mueller steps in as the interim. Mueller was somewhere
between Pons and Ross. You know, Mueller was a disciplinarian,

(30:08):
but you could have a beer with him. Then what happened?
They blew up, the team fired, everybody hired Matt Millen
and the fund began fifty games under five hundred, complete debacle.
His first hire was Marty morning Wigg. He liked morning
Wegg because morning Wig was an offensive guy. He wanted
offensive teams. He was a Bill Walsh's disciple. Marty morning
Wegg was recommended by Bill Walsh. Marty morning Wegg took

(30:30):
you over disaster. If you don't know the story, I'm
sure I know. Dan Bayer does. The famous game. It
wasn't even played at Soldier Field. It was played in Chicago,
and it was the first time the Lions that they
went over time and morning Wegg decided to defer and
the Bears took the ball right down the field. There
were many low lights with morning Wig. Morning Wegg was
fired after a couple of years, and then Steve Marucci

(30:53):
became available. Well, what was the difference. It both came
from San Francisco, but morning Wegg had never been a
head coach. Mary, you two had not only been a
head coach, you've been twelve and four. So see, you're
shifting again. You're you're shifting from a guy who had
not been a head coach but had a lot of promise.
He took over for a guy who was a hard ass,
and took over for a guy with a country club guy.
Now I got mooch who kind of checks every box. Well,

(31:15):
he wanted Jeff Garcia to be his quarterback and Matt
Millan wanted Joey Harrington. They clashed. Mooch lost that battle
and Dick your arm takes so but you couldn't sell
the press conference and they bringing Rod Marinelli again. Rod,
let's give another guy. Well, the experience coach didn't work.
We've had three experience coaches that didn't work, Bobby Ross
control the Super Bowl, Wayne Fonts, and Steve Mariucci. So
let's bring in a new young guy. Let's bringing another guy,

(31:38):
Rod Marinelli. Marinelli was an abject disaster. I want to
give a damn what anybody says. The press conferences used
to be like a Saturday Night live rendition. So the
bottom line is, when you interview for an NFL job,
you really have to articulate your vision. You have to
tell him how you're gonna do it. You gotta be
very granular, very specific. You gotta show your vision for

(31:59):
the offense. You got to show your vision for how
you're gonna assemble your staff, all those you know. It's
my understanding. The longest amount of time in most interviews
has spent going over the candidates perspective staff because coaching
positions are and flux. Typically you're not always able to
get the assistant you want just because that you you

(32:20):
have an idea that that's the guy you want to hire.
You know, higher so candidates, you you really have to
present a depth chart. You might have to go in
there and say this is my staff, but you might
have to have a depth chart three or four deep
in every position because their top choices at every position
might not simply be available. And by the way, if
one of those you know, potential candidates to be part

(32:43):
of your staff has had an issue with your with
your team brass, you're gonna be put in a position
you have to defend that. Those might be the areas
where the enemy is falling short. Perhaps he's not laying
out in the most granular fashion, how he would have
send the staff who would assemble his staff all of
those things right, and and and you're gonna be asked

(33:05):
a lot of specific questions on other philosophies as well.
And again many times it comes down to specificity. Remember
what I said about Joe Garrett Juliet. There was something
about him. People responded to him. He was hilarious. He
once told me he was on a plane that almost crashed,
and it had a really hard landing. It really didn't
almost crash. But I said, what was going through your mind?

(33:28):
He goes, I don't know. I was too busy worried
about the rope burns from my rosary. That was Joe
Garrett Joel. He rose to the moment. I get a
feeling the enemy has it, and I know he's not perfect.
So look, you want to be an NFL head coach,
I'm telling you it's not so easy. You're gonna be
put through one hell of a gauntlet. And the real
question is do you want to bring in the guy?
Do you want to bring in the guy who has

(33:50):
produced results and multiple occasions, or do you want to
bring in somebody who just kind of knows how to
answer the right questions and go through the interviews and
say the right things. But when you when you you
know what push comes to shove, do you just become
another statistic because although you interviewed well, frankly, you couldn't

(34:11):
really do the job and you had no track record
of the real results. Not many of USC's have been
to three Super Bowls and one two of them. I'm
Bernie Frata where Company Alive from Las Vegas, Fox Sports
Radio Studios, the tire Act dot Com Studios here in
Las Vegas. Don't go away. You listen to the Bernie
Frauder Show on Fox Sports Radio. We're back out the

(34:33):
Bernie Frawder Show. Come to you Alive from the Fox
Sports Radio Tire Act on tire Act dot Com Studios
here in Las Vegas to Cap to three and Pacific
six a m Eastern right about this time. I believe,
of course, I'm not in the inner circle. I'm not
in the outer circle. I'm not in any circle. Um.
I can't even sing the song Red rubber Ball by

(34:53):
the Circle. Google it, you knuckleheads. Uh. So that makes
me qualified to talk about Aaron Rodgers. It's understanding even
though I'm not in a circle, that he is, uh
in the midst of his darkness, uh, discovery or maybe
he's just watching the movie Army of Darkness and a
Loop a classic. I don't know how they got the
Oldsmobile back in medieval times. But again I digress. What's

(35:16):
going on with Aaron Rodgers here? Now? I know it's
against a lot of practice psychology without a license. Uh,
and we really don't know what Aaron Rodgers is gonna do.
I think Green Bay is kind of fed up with him,
and I do know that the Jets are very interested
in him. That doesn't mean the trade is gonna happen.
And you got to be careful because if you're the
GM the trades Rodgers, that might not be good in
the future. Uh, but you know this has to play out,

(35:39):
and it's it's people's nerves are afraid. And Rogers has
said he'll green be able to always be home, whatever
that means. So why why is he doing this? And
this is the part where I'm practicing psychology without a license,
And I think there's still a chance he stays in
Green Bay because I'm not sure who's gonna want to
pay in fifty one million next year, give up draft asset,
all kinds of stuff. Right, we'll see what the let's

(36:00):
just see. But for now, I believe Aaron Rodgers is
loving this. I think he loves being in control, or
at least fostering this illusion that he's in control. Remember,
this is a guy who's got a hell of a
chip on the shoulder. He was passed over in high school.
No scholarship offers has to go to Bute Community College
in Northern California, always seen as someone underrated, very underappreciated

(36:22):
at University of California. Then gets to the National Football League.
He's stuck behind bread fire for years. He's got the chip,
he's got the bowler, He's never gonna lose it. I'm
actually okay with that. But Rogers has chosen to drag
everyone else through the mud with his own personal demons.
See this stigma that you have of having to do
twice as much as the next guy just to get

(36:42):
half as much respect. He's something that doesn't really go
away with people so easily. Remember this is Aaron Rodgers.
He did win a Super Bowl, a Super Bowl winning quarterback.
Four m vps. To have a single scholarship offer coming
out of high school, he was told nobody had any
interest in him and if he really wanted to play football,

(37:02):
he should walk on at a Division three school. So
what's gonna happen again? Four time MVP Watch an army
of darkness in the loop. Listening to the darkness of
the edge of night really blows down to this. He
can retire. He could say he wants to come back
for one more season, or he could ask for a trade.
Two of those things are in his control. If Rogers
does hang him up or he asked for a trade,

(37:23):
there's reporting out a green Basuggin. The packers will very
much support his decision. We don't know what he's gonna do.
There's one other circumstance so that Rogers might not want
to see, though this could get ugly. Think about this.
This is a scenario that if Rogers decides he wants
to come back for one more season in Green Bay,
but Green Bays says no, no, no, no no, we're

(37:45):
gonna trade you anyway, We're gonna move on and we're
gonna go to Jordan's love who You don't think that
scenario would leave Rogers feelings scorned and burned and pissed. Now,
he's admitted in the past that the packers quote have
to do what they feel is in the best interests

(38:05):
of the organization. The problem is when Roberts Roger starts
to talk philosophically and speak in platitudes and generalized wisdom.
For me, that's when he has the all the credibility
of a dermatologist with acne. If Rogers, sometimes I look
at the guy and by the way, I think he's
a brilliant man. He's very successful, made three million dollars
in his career. He's smart. You don't get into cal

(38:27):
if you're not smart. I'm not saying he's not a
smart guy. But he bugs me sometimes when he starts
to wax philosophical, and that look in his face to
me just feels very disingenuous. He'll speak in platitudes, he'll
speak in generalizations. I just think he's saying what he
thinks you want to hear, so he could stay in control.
But this is a guy who I don't think ever
got over slide into the pick back in two thousand five,

(38:50):
the legendary green Room slide. It's been with him ever since.
But look, he did win a Super Bowl, he did
win multiple m VP Awards all the way. He said,
green By will always be home. Sure, if you're trading, Jim,
we're gonna move back during the off season. There's a
chance to prove you're being honest. All right, Coming up,
our guy, Mark Madina, A little time for Medina Midnight Magic.
Keep it locked. This is Bernie Frottle, Fox Sports Radio. Well,

(39:15):
I'll try to hear the man that Bernie Fratto show
keeps rolling right along. We are broadcasting live from the
tire act dot Com studios here in Las Vegas. Tire
act dot Com will help you get there and on
match selection fast for your shipping, for your road answer
protection and over ten thousand recorded installers. Tirac dot Com
the way tire buying should be. It's that time every week,
It's midnight. So without any further ado, yes, it is

(39:37):
that time. Go to mar Man Mark Medina for a
little midnight magic as the NBA rolls on the still
about twenty three games left in the season. Would now
pass the All Star break. A little excitement tonight, Mark,
This is America, Baby. A kid named Mac six ft
two can't play at Georgetown, has an oak career in Texas.

(40:01):
Tech Undrafted comes in, shows up, wins the slam Dunk Contest.
You've got the floor. Yeah, I think mc McClung single
handedly saved the NBA Dunk Contest. Look, I am having
to express my apologies because even as of yesterday, I
was criticized in the NBA about the candidates that they
had for the NBA Dunk Contest that included mc McClung

(40:22):
and I was saying, Hey, they need to really entice
and use their Writing Stars game as a pipeline for
the NBA Dunk Contest. So there's recognizable stars, but you
know what, mc McClung is now recognizable for just throwing
down the most impressive dunks I've seen in recent memory.
I think this is the best LAMB dunk contest basically

(40:44):
since Blake Griffin one by jumping over a carn. So, yeah,
Matt mac has taken the belt from Blake. Remember when
Cedric Ceballos wanted blindfolded? Yeah, Brown, Also he covered his
arm the question, and there are people that said he
really wasn't blindful. I don't. I don't know if that's true.

(41:05):
I don't want to go down that road. Hey, we've
really got a lot to unpack, and as usual, we're
gonna get to the Lakers. But I want to start
with uh, David check that I almost can't believe I
said that Adam Silver's annual All Star media session, and
he touched on multiple subjects. Okay, and let's start with
load management because clearly that's an issue. You're in stories

(41:27):
of people who spend bucks to go to the Bucks
Lakers game. Thinking Lebron would break the record, and you've
already broken the record that he didn't even play. Your
thoughts on the load management, how the NBA handle this, Yeah, Well,
what's interesting is Adam Silver said similar comments that he's
said in recent years, saying that, you know, it doesn't
sit well with them when healthy players are sitting out

(41:50):
because of what you mentioned, how there's so many anecdotal
stories of families, you know, spending a lot of money
to watch a game and the star players out. But
when you read between the lines with you know, Adam
Silver's on the one hand, on the other hand, analysis
I didn't read that there's gonna be any you know, uh,

(42:11):
dramatic proposals that's going to be negotiated with the NBA
collective in the NBA Collective bary agreement with the players union,
because the reality is it's not as simple as oh,
a player is sitting just for the sake of it.
Sometimes there might be new generations of players that are
thinking like this, But I know that from talking to
teams around the league and their front offices and coaches,

(42:34):
a lot of it has to do with the medical
staffs having more and more power and more and more resources.
And while you do trust their medical expertise on it,
they're also coming out from a different lens that coaches
and players, and so a lot of times it is
the you know, the old adage of the training staff

(42:54):
protecting the player from themselves. I think that even in
this new general ration of players, uh, it's a very
few minority of players that are trying to like quote
unquote skip out on games. And then the other wrinkle
is that, you know, while you do laud the older
generation of players for you know, having that old school

(43:17):
approach of being available every single game and practice, you know,
I think that you should laud the new generation of
players for their longevity. And that has to do with
not only you know, being proactive with you know, when
to exert workload or sit or play, but also their training.
There are a lot more disciplined with their training in

(43:39):
terms of their diet, their offseason workouts, and just how
they how they manage their body then the older generation.
So it's a very interesting example of you know a
lot of contrasts because of all the different circumstances. Well,
you just downed it managing your body with this new technology. Mark,

(44:00):
I'm hearing that players are monitored daily. So Steph Curry
walks in and they notice a little tightness in his calf.
Let's say, why don't you take tonight off? Because if
you don't, something happens, you're gonna be out ten days.
But this way, we keep you ready and you're back
for the next game. And we just missed one game.
So there's like there's almost like a lot of proactive
treatment even though you're not officially hurt yet. Are you

(44:21):
hearing that same thing? Yeah, I'm hearing that same thing now.
I think on the flip side, there is a danger
and just preemptively sitting out games because you know, Karl
Malone told my colleague Sean pal Um, you know, during
All Star weekend when he was reflecting on his career,
that you know, when you would miss games, you'd lose

(44:43):
your rhythm, right, And so I think there is a
danger of missing those quality game reps. It's not so
much about player development, it's about getting into that routine.
And once you're accustomed to that grind, I think that
you know, to some degree, that makes managing the season
easier with not just playing eighty two games, but also

(45:06):
also dealing with the aches and pains and bruises that
come along with competition. Talk with Mark Medina or NBA
Guru NBA dot Com, Uh, you hear them all over
the Fox Sports radio airwaves. One of the things Adam
Silver Silver also talked about where he's really alluding to

(45:26):
player empowerment and the public trade demands. UH speak on
that in terms of Silver's perspective, Yeah, he doesn't like
public trade demands. He said this ironically again multiple times
today as well as in past years, where he's pro
player empowerment when it comes to hey, when you're a
free agent and you have every right to choose what

(45:49):
you think is your best option. But he doesn't like players,
you know, trying to get out of their contracts early.
And if there is, you know, some sort of point
of contention, he always uh encourages all parties to handle
these things privately as opposed to at getting out in
the media and all that. Maybe that's unrealistic given you know,

(46:10):
the quality of work our field does and the nature
of social media. But I think the main thing that
he's throwing the line in the sand is that, you know,
getting out of contracts early is not good for the league.
And ironically enough, you know, Kevin Durant or in his
All Star availability was was saying the opposite that it's
actually good for the league because hey, it creates a

(46:31):
lot of interest controversy. You know, Kevin Durant, uh was
almost a guy that instead of seeing being seen as
a guy who's being a ring chaser, he's a click chaser, right, Um,
And so I, well, I do understand Kevin Durant's point
of view. I don't think it's good for the league. Um,
while you know, teams have historically not allowed contracts to

(46:55):
prohibit them from training teams as the cost of doing business,
I think there is a value in honoring contracts. That's
not to say they have to be company men and
just say yes, but you can air your you know,
concerns privately. I mean, what's so really interesting about Kevin
Durant's specific trade to request last summer. He made that

(47:17):
request known to the nets before his extension for four
years was even going to kick in. So that goes
beyond the pale of oh, I'm going to be a
free agent or maybe in the last year of your deal,
you know, giving the team of heads up, Hey, I
have no plans to resign, so you know, just in
case you want to deal me so you get something

(47:40):
instead of nothing. Doing this at the beginning of your
contract is a far extreme than kind of the player
empowerment in normal circumstances. Um. I don't know how they'll
collectively bargain that, um, but it is something that they
have to address, so there's not just this frenetic drama
all the time with games and you know, in fairness

(48:01):
that's really just applied to Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
But I think that they want to remove those kind
of precedents so that other stars don't emulate that kind
of behavior. Mark, I'm glad you referenced the upcoming c
b A and the future always has a way of
arriving ahead of schedules. My understanding, these next CBA negotiations
are going to be a little bumpy. Your thoughts, Yeah,

(48:23):
I mean I don't I don't think it's gonna be
bumpy enough that there's gonna be a lockout. Yeah, there's
definitely things that they have to iron out, and maybe
they delay on the deadline of when they opt out.
But I think the good problem that the NBA and
the players. You need to have is that they know

(48:43):
that they have so much money with that and this
TV rights deal that's gonna expire, even in the age
of chord cutting, it's gonna be astronomically more than even
the last TV deal, which was a record high, because
just the reality the league's more popular is some degree,

(49:03):
you know, because of the other options with streaming services.
And also I think the traditional broadcast channels just don't
want to accelerate their demise with not showing live events.
Right um, I think because of all that, neither the
players union nor the league want to squander that. But

(49:24):
to your point, there's gonna be smiring out on how
they distribute the pie. But unlike the last lockout in
twenty eleven, when like the owners were crime poverty and
saying some of the franchise weren't profitable. While you know,
I think that that requires some healthy dose of skepticism
that their claim that they're losing money, you know, they

(49:47):
had certain data to back that up. Where here the revenues,
the revenue, it speaks for itself at its record Hize
talk with Mark Mdina. Mark, for a while, there was
great momentum pertaining to expansion. Now it appears to be
on hold. Why is it? Um, Yeah, it's interesting. I
think that it's inevitable that there's going to be expansion,

(50:07):
but I think that, you know, Adam Silver in the league,
they want to be very calculated with not moving to forward. Um.
They already took care of step one because their profits
profits aret record highs in terms of ticket sales and
viewership and all that, and that was coming on the
heels of the pandemic where they did lose up to

(50:28):
a billion dollars just because of everything going on with
the suspended season and then having you know, the season
resumed without fans um. So that step one. But step two,
you know, Adam Silver has said that they want to
make sure the timing is right, um, so that they
don't dilute the revenue pool because basically, the NBA operates

(50:50):
on revenue sharing with dirty teams, and when you add
more teams, that means less money for each team. Right.
So my hunch is this expand pension is not going
to take place until after the new CBA has agreed
upon and then they can start looking at more initiatives.
But you know, while I don't know the exact order.

(51:11):
I think that the candidate of cities was pretty straightforward.
At Seattle, at Vegas, Mexico City, and you know, maybe
Vancouver in Canada. Those are the really the four prime
markets that the NBA is looking at. ID final thought,
let's wrap it with the Lakers like we always do.
They need to go fourteen and nine to finish five.

(51:34):
Why is it every time I look at Anthony David's face,
he looks like he just passed through some bad flagelence.
What What's what's going on with him? Really? Yeah? Well
he he had a lot of frustration, I think with
Russell Westbrook as well as the Lakers lose it um
as well as Hey, he was playing through pain and
now you knock on wood on the Lakers behalf, things

(51:54):
are at least tray in the right direction because they
made some deals to the trade deadline, get in or
to Russ addressing some shooting needs with D'Angel Russell Andik Beasley.
So I thought it was really telling that their last
game against New Orleans, Anthony Davis as well as Lebron James.
I was like the happiest I've seen them in a while.
But to your point, they still have a long ways

(52:16):
to go. They're scratching and clawing every game just to
make the play tournament. While I trust that their odds
are substantially better because of some of the moves they
made at the trade deadline. A the moves are somewhat marginal,
and B there's a lot of competition in the West
and see, you just never know how healthy Anthony Davis
can stay on the floor. Mark Great Stuff has always

(52:38):
look forward to having you back next Saturday night. I
love it book, You got it, but thanks so much
as Mark Medina, every account you got your pal you
hear them all over the Fox Sports Radio airwaves is
our NBA guru. Tonight you well. Brought to you by
Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes buddling easy and affordable. And get
a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, are V, boat,

(52:59):
eight TV and more all your protection in one place.
Bundle and save at Progressive dot Com. Coming up. Will
the Bears stick with Justin Fields one more year? Yes,
they will, and I think they should. Does that mean
it's gonna work? No, I don't think it's not. Bottom
of the hour. I'm gonna talk about Justin Fields specifically,
but coming up. Justin Fields is a great dual thread quarterback.

(53:21):
The problem is he's the college version of a dual
thread quarterback. I'm gonna tell you the difference between the
NFL and college and offensively and why this needs to
get fixed. I'm Bernie fraderwere Comedy Live from Las Vegas,
Fox Sports Radio Tirat dot com studios. Keep it locked.
You're listening to the Bernie Frauder Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in

(53:43):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. They're back on
the Bernie Friday Shower. Come to your Life from Tiret
dot com studios here in Las Vegas. Take cap to

(54:07):
three am Pacific, six am Eastern. We're gonna dive into
a lot more quarterback talk tonight. I'm gonna get to
Lamar Jackson later, and I'm gonna get to a lot
more on Justin Fields later. He's been a real topic
of conversation. I like Justin Fields a lot as a man,
as a leader, as a character guy. His default mechanism
is to run. Uh. He's not an accurate passer. He's

(54:30):
got a cannon arm, he could run like the wind.
He's a he's an a sensational athlete, which which which
is really great. If you're ending up, if you're entering
a punt, pass and kick contest, you want Justin Fields, unless,
of course, you're going up against thirteen year old Andrew
Reid on Monday Night football. But that's the conversation for
a different day. The question is and Justin Fields operate
from the pocket. And the other question is with a bear,

(54:51):
stick with him one more year. They're crazy if they
get rid of him. Now you've invested two years. Give
that third year a shot. I'm tired of here. No
no weapons, bad line. No, don't don't give me that anymore.
And I'm not gonna get granular and try to name
all the receivers and why they're better than you think
and all those things. The draft. They drafted Justin Fields

(55:11):
to overcome those things, not to have perfect conditions, and
and there in lies the issue here. Okay, the Bearers
I think are crazy if they trade fields to draft
another quarterback and start over. Stick with them, give them
a chance. But that doesn't mean I think it's gonna work. See,
because there's a big difference between the NFL and college offensively.
The biggest difference result from a couple of factors. First

(55:33):
of all, the depth, the multiplicity of college football programs.
They come in all shape sizes, reads into the country.
You see a greater variety and strategy and tactics in
college because of the inequality to find so much of
the game. For a simple reason, on one side of
the ball. In a college football game, there are always
better athletes, so you're able to play strength versus weakness.

(55:55):
That's why old house states so much better than most teams.
You can't do that in the NFL to nearly the
same degree. Pro style offenses are far more complex than
typical college offenses. They're balanced. They require offensive lines that can,
you know, handled the pass and the run run blocking.
You've got to have quarterbacks with great decision making ability

(56:16):
who can process information both pre and post snap, then
make a decision and get the damn ball out of
your hand. And under two and a half seconds Fields
doesn't get the ball out of his hand, he takes
off and runs. You see, this is the reason that
option offenses don't work in the pros, professional players, professional
NFL players, they're faster, they can cover a lot more territory.

(56:38):
College spread offenses moved the linement further apart, so there's
more room for receivers to roam around behind the line
of scrimmage, etcetera. But the NFL, when you've got the
speed and pursuit of the linebackers, and it's much different.
You do not want your quarterback getting killed. And I'm
telling you justin Fields took some hits man. An NFL
quarterback has to process a hell of a lot more

(56:58):
than a college quarterback. Most college quarterbacks they play at
the shotgun from three four wide bread you know wide
receiver spread offenses a lot of times that you just
get rid of the ball, get it to a guy. Uh,
a few ball fakes here and there. Keep it simple.
Let your athletes make plays in space. Okay, the throws
they're typically asked to make in college there tend to

(57:19):
be like bubble screen. Short throws go two routes. And
the coverage is that college quarterbacks face are simple zones.
Most of the time. Cover to the reds are easy.
Maybe one or two throws in college. You know, it's
it's not like the NFL. There's a lot more by
the way coaches call the players in college. Quarterbacks never
really have to call audibles in college. But the single

(57:40):
biggest difference faced by quarterbacks is this the speed and
athleticism the NFL defenders. You know, you look at people
going fifty five miles an hour. They put them on
an indie track at two hundred miles an hour, and
most people can't handle that. That's the same as the
It's the same as going from college to the NFL.
That's why the success rate is so low at college.

(58:01):
An open receiver I say open an air quotes is
often two, three, four or five yards from the nearest defender.
In the pros, no separation twenty five yards downfield. If
you're in the wind at Foxboro Stadium it's fifteen degrees
and Justin Fields has already complained, he's already complained about
being cold there. You've got a situation where you've got

(58:23):
to be a magician. You've got to be able to
place the ball in a in a certain window that's
far different than what you ever experienced in college. You've
got to get the ball out fast. It's it's a
situation in the NFL, corners are gonna jam your white outs,
the safeties and linebackers, You're going to force them to reroute,
which then this causes justin fields to have to take

(58:46):
off a run, which I think if frankly is another
issue with him. He runs willy nilly and he puts
himself in danger. What do I mean by that? When
you make your PrePost nap reads, your defense is either
gonna be in his owner, they're gonna be in may in.
So when the play starts to break down, if you're
keeping your eyes down field and you realize that they're
in his own defense, the defense, you've got to run

(59:09):
horizontally so your wide receivers can set ad just their routes.
If they're in a man defense, typically the cornerbacks and
the dbs, their back is going to be to the quarterback.
Except for this, you know all of them will be
except for the safety. So you can run vertically, but
you've also got to avoid contact and college. In a
typical game, a quarterback might see three or four coverages,

(59:30):
are three or four bit blitz packages. In the pros,
you might see fifteen different coverage packages and twenty blitz
packages in the same games, and they're gonna hide them,
they're gonna disguise them. The college quarterback, you've gotta have
thick skin. I get it. It's even worse than the NFL,
all right, I guarantee you no college quarterback has faced
a scheme like Bill Belichick's hybrid defenses, or the Steelers

(59:53):
and their zone blitz defenses, or Rex Ryans forty six teams.
He used to run a week safety in a corner
blitz and he would disgui it. It's like going from
middle school to graduate school. It's a big, huge difference.
All right. If you ask me if Justin Fields can
make it in NANNA National Football, you get to be
in so great in college, Remember he basically beat out

(01:00:13):
Joe burrowed Ohio State, but adapting to the NFL is
a different level. Here's the irony. Joe Burrow couldn't play
the house state, but he's highly successful in the NFL.
You see the difference. Quarterbackup position. You play with your eyes,
you receive the ball, you make mental snapshots, you deliver.
You don't have time to mess around and take off
and run. I'm not a namber. And when he goes

(01:00:35):
on seventy five yard runs. The Bears didn't win games.
That's not how you run your offense. Can fields fix it? Sure,
but he's gonna have to do it. I think he's
a character guy's a solid world class athlete. I just
don't like his chances. At the same time, I will
tell you this that I think they're crazy. If the
Bears give up on fields after two years, give it

(01:00:55):
one more try. In a minute, I will tell you why.
We can talk about how complicated other banks make it
to redeem credit card rewards, or we could talk about
how we discover you can redeem your rewards for cash
in any amount of anytime. I mean talk about amazing
or more discovered dot com slash redeem rewards terms apply
coming up more justin field stuff, but first let's go

(01:01:17):
back to our guy, the inimitable Dan Buyer with the
latest Bernie. There will be some football, but we're gonna
push it back a little bit. It was the mc
McClung show in Salt Lake City on Saturday night, winning
the Dunk contest three times head scores of fifty. So
mc McClung the story of All Star Weekends so far.
Damian Lillard put on quite a show. In fact, even

(01:01:37):
the Wars we were state jersey or a replica of
what he wore it we were stayed in winning the
three point shootout. In the trio of Colin Sexton, Jordan
Clarkson and Walker Kessler of the Utah Jazz won the
skills competition NBA All Star Game Sunday night, seven thirty
Eastern time in Salt Lake City. Of course, Sunday at Daytona.

(01:01:58):
You'll see it on Fox Daytona five Green Flight's gonna
drop at two thirty Eastern time, but pre race coverage
on Fox starts at one o'clock Eastern and if you
want more before that, go to Fox Sports One. NASCAR
Race Day begins eleven o'clock Eastern time to uh hex
Sunday morning. Yeah this morning. Yeah, We're getting closer and
closer to the seventy fifth season of NASCAR just hours

(01:02:21):
away now. Golden Nights beat the Lightning five to four
on the ice, cracking over the Red Wings four two.
Hurricanes beat the Capitols for one. In college hoops, who
was number five Kansas taking care of number nine Baylor
eighty seven to seventy one, while top ranked Alabama rolled
past Georgia one oh eight to fifty nine. Number eight
Arizona win against Colorado seventy six eight, fourth ranked U

(01:02:42):
c l A beat a bad Cal team seventy forty three,
while seventy rank St. Mary's was a winner over b
y U seventy one sixty five. Couple of other scores
of note. Texas needed over time but did survive against
Oklahoma eighty three, a win for the sixth rank Longhorns,
number two wolf Kansas State beating number nineteen Iowa State

(01:03:02):
sixty five Kentucky a sixty six fifty four winner over
tenth ranked Tennessee in the XFL. Yeah, that's right. The
XFL two openers on Saturday. I don't even know if
that's possible. Maybe one's an opener, one is a dessert,
however you want to look at it. But we had
football on Saturday. Houston Rednecks beat the Orlando Guardians thirty

(01:03:24):
three to twelve, while the Arlington Runnegades got past the
Vegas Vipers twenty two to twenty. Tiger Woods in a
tie for twenty six after three rounds of play at
the Genesis Invitational at Riviera. That is currently twelve shots
back of John Rama leads at fifteen under par Rom's
got a three shot lead over Max Oma entering play
on Sunday, Bernie, back to you, Dan, hang out for

(01:03:47):
I'm thinking about drafting. Uh he hate me in my
XFL fantasy is he's still playing. I know you do
that great podcast true story, Bernie. So I'm prepping for
all this and getting all this scores, and I wanted
to get stats for the games. Nobody had box scores
for the XFL, and now listen, I did not go deep.

(01:04:08):
I did check one site, they didn't have them. I
did check the official site and was not really having
much luck. So at that point I just decided to
punt on the whole exercise. But once I can actually
get a box score, maybe I could give some fantasy
football advice. Alright, my man, stay there. You're a pragmatic type. Uh.

(01:04:28):
I want to run this by you. I'd like to
really get your take, especially since you're there in Los Angeles.
I was talking here to be talking with Mark Mdina
about load management. You know, I'm remember Tommy less sorta
used to complain about that. God bless Tommy Disorta. He
used to say, you know, back in the day. Uh,
you know, you look at you you look at the

(01:04:49):
accoucher Monts. All the teams have now they got two trainers,
three doctors, four team physicians, all this medical staff. They
can go together. He was back in the day, we
had one bottle of rubbing alcohol and the trainer usually
drank it by the seventh inning. Bottom line is this,
How do you feel Dan about this load management situation?
Because it's very bothersome to me. Yeah, I'm I'm sure
it is. Bernie. I'm gonna probably have a take that

(01:05:11):
I don't know if it's going to come out of
left field, but it's not going to be one that
that I hear a lot um. I'm not saying that
it's completely original, but I feel like we put so
much pressure on those two months of April to June. Heck,
it's three months, but you know what I mean, Mid
April to mid June when you have the NBA Playoffs

(01:05:32):
and that's where legacies are formed. That's how we judge
a guy like Lebron James, and it's how we judge
teams enfranchises, and there has been such the focus of
I feel my profession, your profession, it's what we do
in sports talk radio. It's how we judge everything. I
I don't know what it was like. Um, I only

(01:05:54):
know as a kid growing up and seeing the Celtics
and Lakers teams in the in the eighties and and
then the Pistons and then the Bulls and the nineties
and moving on. I just don't think we were having
those same conversations back then. Um. I know we were
wondering if the Pistons were gonna, you know, knock off
the Lakers, and they eventually wouldn't if the Bulls would

(01:06:14):
be able to do that. But I don't remember legacy
talk back then. And maybe it's because you can see
everything and read everything and talk about anything anywhere now
with with your phone, with social media, whatever the case is.
But I think now we've we are so focused on
what happens from mid April to mid June that nothing

(01:06:36):
else matters and it's not worth taking a risk because
you're just trying to set yourself up for what you've
got in those final that's well said. No, Actually, that's
a very interesting dynamic that you lay out, and in
light of that, as you try to thread the needle
and strike a balance, so you're at your best when
it matters most. The question is has it worked? Because Dan,

(01:06:58):
I remember when I was getting just getting started. That
was a stringer for the old Harold Examiner back in
eighty eight. Remember Isaiah Thomas scored forty two points on
one leg against the Lakers on a Sunday afternoon. Went
to the Raiders camp, glue them up and they played
Game seven. These guys didn't want to come off the floor.
They lose their damn job. Yeah. Now, I also I

(01:07:20):
also think that there's there's the fear of bad investments, right,
I mean, you're you're so worried, um and in this meeting,
you meeting management maybe on you know, you're saying, hey,
we've invested this much to win of those two months.
We don't want to take that risk. It's there there
there are a lot of reasons to it. Um. The

(01:07:41):
training and stuff that you you know, you guys talk
about is all legit and maybe why things should be different.
But you know a lot of people have said if
you trimmed down the regular season, it doesn't matter, they'll
just they'll you know, they're gonna still miss the same
percentage of games. If you trim it down to seventy. Okay,
instead of maybe, you know, missing twenty games, are still
gonna miss you know, fifteen or sixteen or whatever the

(01:08:02):
breakdown would be, You're still going to have those issues.
I just don't I don't think that solves it. I
just think it's a beast that we've kind of created.
And I don't know if a mid season tournament's gonna
change it. Bernie Um, maybe it will. Maybe that's the effort,
but yeah, it's it's not great, and it's why now
people are like, Okay, I can maybe start to focus
on basketball and now the football is over. I think

(01:08:24):
it's it's yeah, that's a problem. And of course fans
do pay the salaries. I mean I I truly believe that.
And if you show up looking to see your favorite
player without notice he's not playing that night, and maybe
your family afford that can only go to one or
two games a year. I know it's cliche and it's
been ad nauseum, but uh, I just think that that's
something they have to find a happy medium for. So

(01:08:45):
you are respecting the individuality of the players and trying
to protect the integrity of a long, grueling season. Well
at the same time, making sure that the product, I mean,
the commissioners speaking out on this, the tacit admission here
is the product is not what he wishes it was.
You know, you know, gosh, you struck. He struck something
with me that I remember in the back of my

(01:09:06):
mind and maybe brought it up maybe once on the
network if I if I even have done that. I
remember Bernie back in the day, Brewers were still in
the American League, and I lived speed limits and highways
and whatnot, about four hours from Milwaukee. Now you can
do it in about three or a little north of three,
but back then it was a good four hour trip

(01:09:28):
to Milwaukee. So it was it was basically a weekend
Sunday afternoon. I wanted to go see Ken Griff Jr.
Mariners Brewers playing County Stadium. What usually happens on a
getaway day on a Sunday star player arrests. You know,
I wasn't thinking about that. My mom wasn't thinking about
that when she got the tickets. It worked with our schedule.
It's it's what we did. But you don't want to

(01:09:49):
happen that game Ken Griff Jr. Didn't start. It was
very disappointing. To see it on the scoreboard, but he
did pinch hit. And I don't know if it was
a scenario where they mariners, you know, recognized who Ken
Griffi Jr. Is and what he would mean, and if
it's their only stop in Milwaukee that year and people
are coming to the ballpark, whatever the case is. But

(01:10:10):
I at least got the cn a bat, didn't get
to see a full nine innings, but I at least
got to see Ken Griffey Jr. And that always stuck
with me because when you're twelve, you don't realize that
there's a reason why you're crying in the stands if
you're going to an NBA game and wanting to see
Steph Curry. But this has been a thing in baseball
for a long time. Nothing like that, you know, is new.
And so if baseball can kind of figure you know,

(01:10:30):
a way around it, you know, maybe make guys make
world trips, maybe just you know, ten minutes. I don't know, Bernie,
I don't know if that's a solution. But baseball isn't,
as you say, basketball isn't the only one that has
had these issues. Oh completely agree. Good stuff is always
day appreciated buddy. Thanks Bernie, Mike coming up. I'll get
back to Justin Fields because I believe the barriers will

(01:10:54):
stick with him one more year, and I believe they
should stick with him one more year. But that this
and believe that doesn't make me believe I think it's
gonna work. But that was a pretty clunky English there.
That doesn't mean I think it's going to work. I'm
Bernie Frattle or come to you Alive from the Las
Vegas Fox Sports Radio Tiract dot Com studios. Keep it
locked right here. You listen to the Bernie Fratto Show

(01:11:15):
on Fox Sports Radio. All right back on the Bernie
Fatto Show or company Alive from Las Vegas tiract dot
Com Studios. Here in Las Vegas, take after three M Pacific,
SIXTM Eastern, remember too a M Pacific, fav M Eastern.
The dance and station sweep in the nation. What kind

(01:11:35):
of brand new fool are you? Followed by what my name?
Let's talk about Justin Fields. He's a hot topic. There's
an old story of a head coach who's hired by
a football team and uh, he's told to look at
his right hand drawer. He there are three envelopes in
the right hand drawer. But as he advised, do not

(01:11:55):
open any of these envelopes unless you've had a really
bad year. So first year rolls around there. One in ten,
he opens the first envelope and simply says, blame the players.
Second year rolls around there, two and nine, another bad year.
He opens up the second envelope and it says, blame

(01:12:18):
the assistant coaches. Third year rolls around. He has a
third bad year in a row. One in ten. Again
he opens up the third envelope and it simply says,
prepare three envelopes. This is what you face in the
National Football League if you make the wrong decision and
if you back the wrong horse. Now I struggle with

(01:12:41):
Justin Fields because I like him. I think he's a
high character individual. I think he's a world class athlete.
He needs to learn and understand how to play the
position of quarterback and what it requires in the National
Football League and operate from the pocket. He doesn't slide
maneuver from the pocket. He doesn't keep his eyes down

(01:13:02):
field of the way he should. He's not accurate all
the time. Does he have a cannon arm? Yes? Will
we make the occasional greade throw. Yes, can he run. Yes,
he's a dual threat quarterback, but he's a college version
of a dual thread quarterback because he's a he's a
run first guy and a passer later. And if you watched,
he had a great game against Detroit until the final
series and he couldn't pull it out because they put

(01:13:23):
him in a vice and they made him. They took
away his strength. His default mechanimism, mechanism is to run. Now, obviously,
the Bears found themselves and backed into the number one
pick overall a few Sundays ago, and their general manager
Ryan Poles said that the team isn't not planning to
use it to select the quarterback. However, he's open to everything. Well,

(01:13:48):
I don't think he should select the quarterback. Uh, if
you take a shot at Bryce Young, you're talking about
a hundred, you know, eighty pound guy who's terrific, but
he can't get hit. You don't know what you got there.
He may be fantastic. Your role in the Diners, you're
gonna set you. You're gonna set your franchise back three years.
I think it's already presumed. No one should expect the
Bears to be a playoff team. You know that going in,

(01:14:13):
So don't start a rebuild process now and delay at
three more years. What if Justin Fields proves me wrong?
He might. He threw d seventeen touchdowns eleven interceptions, he
rushed for eleven forty three yards. That doesn't impress me.
You don't want your quarterback getting hit. You want to
run your offense. Look, I understand their offensive line ranked

(01:14:36):
poorly and people pick on their wide receivers. They're better
than you think. Darnielle Mooney is pretty good. You don't
go to a situation when you're drafted as highest. Fields
didn't expect to walk into something that's ideal. How come
Justin Herbert he had the second worst offensive line when
he got to the Chargers through for thirty five touchdowns,
same situation. But Fields did show an ability to be

(01:14:58):
a playmaker, but his how to get a lot better
as a passer. And you know, look, one of the
things I think the Bears could do is trade that
number one pick and get a bunch of assets, which
is what I think they should do, because everybody's saying
all you gotta do is surround Justin Fields with all
this talent. Name a team in the National Football you
would have put Justin Fields on this year, and he

(01:15:20):
would have put them in the playoffs. Do you think
he'd run Belichick's offense in New England when they got
the playoffs. I can name a bunch of teams that
wouldn't have worked. You put him on the Kansas City Chiefs,
he wouldn't run that offense. Again. His default mechanism is
to run. That's just how he was trained, That's how
he's always been. He's got to lose that. He's not
talking about not liking the weather in Chicago and hoping

(01:15:42):
to build a dome. IM not gonna have a dome
for five years, and you're gonna feel I don't think
they're ever gonna build a dome in Chicago. And there's
been plenty of cold weather quarterbacks that have been able
to navigate this gauntlet called National Football League in cold weather,
So I can't buy that one. Now, I'm gonna say this,
I do believe the Bears will stick with Fields as

(01:16:04):
their starter for at least one more year. Maybe they
get some pass rushers and they get some more pass protectors,
and if if, if Polls doesn't like the trade offers
from for the first selection. Then I think you're gonna
be staring at either Will Anderson or Jalen Carter. You
gotta take one of those guys. Why the Bears length
ranked last in sacks and quarterback hits this last season,

(01:16:28):
even though Braxton Jones did a pretty good job. The
bottom line is the Bears have to be much more
highly effective in that area. Football is played in three phases.
Defense is important. Now, could the Bears trade down? Ryan
Poles knows that he's just a matter of time the
drafts around the corner. He's gonna be getting teams calling
about the first overall pick because there's teams that desperately

(01:16:51):
need quarterbacks. The Pack the Texans to pick number two
and twelve, The Colts picked four, the Raiders pick number seven,
The Panthers picked number nine, the Titans picked number evan.
They're the likelihood is most of those teams are all
of those teams will be involved in this year's quarterback class.
But you want to start over with Anthony Richardson, C J. Stroud,

(01:17:11):
Caleb Williams, uh, Bryce Young. You're flipping the coin again
every year In March and April, I gave you the
fifty year history on the on the success rate of
drafting quarterbacks in the first round. But if you just
keep Fields a quarterback, you can focus on the other
roster holes to fill. This is a great opportunity for

(01:17:32):
the Bears. You've got that flexibility you can be in
this situation without where you can truly help your team
and move forward without taking a step back and trying
to replace your quarterback. I think Justin Fields is an
impactful person. I think he's got the ability to be
a playmaker, but he is way behind as a pastor.

(01:17:52):
And there's just no two ways about it. The Bears
were thirty second in the league in passing and I'm
not blaming that solely on the offensive line and why receivers. Okay,
the Bears have cap space, they've got draft capital builder
on Fields and let's see what happens. But he's got
a show improvement as well. When Ryan Poles was asked
about possibly taking a quarterback, he said, I would code

(01:18:14):
have to be absolutely blown away to make that type
of decision. Now, Fields was not drafted by this regime,
but the people who drafted him were blown away. They
said he should have been drafted instead of met Jones,
should have been drafted instead of trade Lante, all those guys.
But it really hasn't panned out and the way you
would expect it to in the National Football League went again.

(01:18:35):
You have to play the position the way the position demands.
In the National Football League. You can't be a freelance
improvisational runner or you're gonna have a very short career.
It's all up to justin fields coming up Baseball in
the major leagues, a bunch of new rules will go
over and keep it locked. This is Bernie Fratto Bernie
Frado Show on Fox Sports Radio. Well you heard the

(01:18:57):
man that Bernie Fradder show keeps her rolling along. We're
broadcasting live from the tire act dot Com studios here
in Las Vegas. Tire act dot Com will help you
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com the way tire buying should be. The four sweetest

(01:19:20):
words and sports have been uttered the last week Pictures
and Catchers report, But there are going to be changes
this year, plenty of them, and we're going to talk
about that. Change is coming to the major leagues. Now
we call last September major League Baseball's Competition Committee. They
they voted to implement some rule changes that will begin

(01:19:42):
as soon as spring training games begin, which is just
in a few days. A lot of these rules were
gonna go over. They've been in place in the minor
leagues over the last few seasons, and they have had
an effect, and there are there is data to share
the effect on each of these situations. One has to
do for the first time ever the Major League Baseball

(01:20:03):
We're gonna have a real pitch clock. You're gonna eliminate
the shift. They're they're gonna go to bigger bases. And
then the one that I think is gonna could be
a real cluster is limit how many times a picture
can disengage from the rubber when the players on base. Now,
let's go over this and I'll bring in Ethan. We'll
have a little round table. Let's start with the shift. Okay,

(01:20:26):
So the shift has been going on since the days
of Ted Williams. You compromise your defense, but you make
it harder on a stubborn hitter, and it looks odd
and players appear to be at opposition. They are, and
they are attentionally. So what is major League Baseball doing now? Well,
at the time, this is the rule, at the time

(01:20:47):
of pitch is thrown, all four endfielders that are going
to be required to have their feet on the infield
dirt or on the infield grass, with two on each
side of either bay of second base. Excuse me, So
the shortstop and the third basement will have to be
on the left side of second base, and the second
basement in the first basement on the right side. Originally,

(01:21:10):
you know, in fielders who began the game at one
set of the field would not be allowed to switch
to the other side for the entirety the game, but
that was revised just winning. Here's the deal. Unless there's
a minating substitution. There are a few loopholes here, but
for the most part, for the most part, this goofy
shift you're gonna see that you've seen over the past
few years is going away. Now, how's it going to

(01:21:32):
be enforced? Okay, if if a team, if a hitter
reaches base and the runners advanced to the next base
when a ball is hit under the violation, the game
proceeds without penalties. But if the play has any other consequence,
like your gut, your and out. There's a sacrifice double play.

(01:21:53):
The hitting team can actually decide to accept the penalty,
which would add one ball to the hitters count, or
decline it and the play would stay. And this is
where it gets goofy. But what are they really trying
to change here? When a hitter comes up and there's
no more shift, people like offense membery, every everybody forgets
the old at chicks digged long ball. The league wide
batting average in both the National League and the American

(01:22:16):
League cumulatively ino was down to two forty three. Now
that's the lowest since of the year of the pitch.
That's when you had guys like Bob Gibson and you
lowered the bed to finally lower the mom for fifteen
to ten inches. What's happening is it's home runs or
nothing there the lack of singles in particular, this is
the heart of the decline of the communative batting average.

(01:22:37):
So the rate of singles in two which is just
over five per team, that's the third lowest in Major
League Baseball history. And and and it's been declining rapidly
so the last two years. Now what has this meant
when they have done this in the minors and and
and gotten rid of the shift. Well, during the first
two months of the twenty minor league baseball season, and

(01:23:00):
primarily in the lower levels where shifts were regulated, the
batting average on balls and play rose by about eight points.
That's something. Now in Triple A, where shifts were not banned,
it's basically about the same. All right, players, they've got
to weigh in on this. Most left handed players they're

(01:23:22):
on board with eliminating the shift. They're okay with it.
You know. Joey Gallows talked about it. He says it's
tough to adjust because it wasn't a thing in the minors.
But look, it got extreme, it gets effective. He gets
into the hitter's head, and uh. And so you've got
the players involved, you got pictures involved, you get defenses involved,
hitters involved. But the shift is going away. Ethan, what

(01:23:46):
are your thoughts on that rule? Do you like it
or not? Yeah, honestly, I like that the shift's going away.
I think it's important for baseball. I've been waiting for
this for a long time, even playing growing up. It's
just takes advantage away from the hitters. Um, I get
what you're saying from your your perspective, from a uh
playing devil's advocate on both sides, But yeah, I think

(01:24:06):
it's gonna be good for the hitter, especially with the
average at two forty three right now from last year.
And I think you said that's the lowest in what
fifty five years? Fifty years? It's it's declining every year.
People aren't hitting singles like they used to. You more
home runs and north strikeouts. Yeah, so you know, given
given the hitters more more of a chance, more opportunity
to to get those hits. What's interesting is, and we'll

(01:24:30):
never know why exactly, but you you you do technically
compromise your defense. And I would laugh what would a
guy like Tony Gwinn might do if he came up
and saw a shift like that? But they never player
shift against someone like him. But listen to you, going
back to the deadpool days of of Ted Williams guys.
Some of these guys are stubborn and they're not going
to change. But when you have a second baseman fifteen

(01:24:54):
yards on the outfield grass clear over between first and
second of the short stop on the right side of
second ace. I mean, it looks like a completely different
formation and it doesn't really even look like baseball. I
don't have a problem with it. I want to see
how the new game is affected on the major league
level with no shift, and we'll talk about let's give it,

(01:25:16):
let's give it a full year and see what happens.
If the pitch clock is another weird one. Pictures are
gonna have fifteen seconds to throw a pitch if no
one's on base, and I have twenty seconds with the
runner on base. Now, hitters, they can't play, you know,
no more my cargo of human rain delay stuff. Here.
Hitters are gonna have to be in the batter's box
with eight seconds on the pitch clock. And how they're

(01:25:37):
gonna enforce this? And this one is weird. If the
picture has not started the motion to deliver a ball
before the expiration of the clock, he's gonna be charged
with a ball. If a batter delays entering the box,
he'll be charged with a strike. How are you gonna
enforce it? Well, each stadium is gonna have two clocks
located behind home plate on either side of the umpire
so the pitcher can see him, and two more we're

(01:25:59):
gonna be required or the outfield and either sat of
the batter's eye, so you'll have a situation where the
hitter has total visibility the clocks and the picture has
total visibility of the clocks. What are they trying to change? Well, apparently,
at the average time of a nine any Major League
Baseball game, it was about three hours and four minutes,
which ironically was six minutes shorter from all time high

(01:26:24):
three hours and ten minutes. And they didn't have the
rule last year. But for the last eight years, the
length of the game has been rising consistently and across
the three hour mark five years ago, and it hasn't
looked back. I contend they're not trying to change the
length of the game. They're trying to change the pace
of the game. Now, I've been to a lot of
minor league games in the last couple of years, primarily

(01:26:45):
single A games and Triple A games, and you know what,
the pace of the game is different. It actually works,
and the pictures seemed to hang in there and there
weren't really any issues. And in the minor leagues, it
was a fourteen second clock with the basis empty in
an eighteen second clock with runners, but the results were legit.
The average game in the minor leagues last year was

(01:27:08):
two hours from thirty nine minutes. That's twenty minutes shorter
than before the implement of the rule. Now there are
some mixed reactions. But but if as a fan the
pace does feel quicker, it does you? You you it's discernible.
At least it was the minor leagues or the players
saying no. There's some mixed reactions to the pitch clock

(01:27:29):
depending on where you stand. If you're a veteran reliever
and you're coming in in a high levelge situation and
you've got men on base and you've got to get
somebody out, and maybe your jobs on the line or
a playoff spots on the line, you don't want to
be rushed through those high levelge situations. On the other hand,
a lot of the young bucks coming up through the
minor leagues the past few seasons, they're already used to it.

(01:27:50):
So this is going to lead to a pickoff conversation
in just a second. But Ethan, your thoughts on the
pitch clock, Yeah, I think the pitch clock is one
that you know. I'm I'm split in between on it.
I think that it's a it's a disadvantage for the pictures, um,
but it's also going to speed the game up a

(01:28:10):
little bit. So I'm kind of in between. I don't
really care about it. I I think, like I said
last night, I think the MLB it's kind of just
pulling the trigger too early on this one. I think
it's kind of unnecessary. But that's just me. Uh. The
pitch clock is of the rule of all the rules,
I'm most down with. Only I'd like to see pictures

(01:28:31):
work quicker. Uh, from from the casual stand fan point
of the le joy the game more. But here's the
other issue. The two are kind of joined it to
hip the new pickoff rule. Okay, people know what a
pickoff means, alright, a picture what they want to do
is one of runners on base, make sure that runners

(01:28:53):
monitored so that they don't have too big of an
advantage when it comes to stealing of ace or going
first to third or anything of that nature. So the
picture has an opportunity for what's called disengagement, which basically
means you can fake a pickoff attempt, you can make
a pickoff at temp, or you just step off the
rubber to gather yourself. You might need to, you know,
reset with your catcher. Your defense needs more time. Here's

(01:29:16):
the here's the kicker. Pictures are only allowed two disengagements
per played appearance without penalty. All right, how are you
gonna enforce it. Let's say Ricky Henderson's on first base,
he's about to drive your nuts. You step off a
couple of times, you try one pick off. After the
third step off, the pictures charged with the bulk. Come on, man,

(01:29:39):
what are they trying to change? Well, this is interesting.
It goes back to offense. There's been a lack of
action in terms of stolen basis, and that's been a
real concern of Major League Baseball in the last few years.
The number of stolen basis per team is down per game.
The number of stolen basis per game is down per game.
It was dramatically higher the eighties and nineties, and Major

(01:30:01):
League Baseball wants to return to that. So again, they
did this in the minor leagues, and one when the
pickoff rules went into effect in single a, uh stolen
base attempts went way up. And so we'll see how
that affects it in Major League Baseball. But for the
most part, the pictures are going to be limited now
and what they can do in terms of pickoffs. Ethan

(01:30:23):
your thoughts on the pickoff rule pickoff wise, Uh, it's
another one. I don't think it plays advantage to either
side too, you know, I don't know. I'm not a
big fan of it. I don't. I don't. I don't
see the purpose of it. They're trying to They're they're
trying to create a situation where it's more favorable to

(01:30:46):
the base runner, so will be more willing to steal
more basis or at least attempt to steal more basis,
which will create more offense. That's the ideological purpose, I mean,
I guess. But it worked in the leagues. Yeah, yeah,
I mean, just give it a shot. I feel like
it's just trial an hour here. I mean, I mean,
do you think they're gonna stick with it? That's you know,
well for what for this year? They are? Well? Yeah,

(01:31:09):
I mean, yes, Look, we know that baseball is evolving.
You don't have to go back that far. There were
no such thing as night games. There were no such
thing as after turf dome stadiums a d H in
the league play alright, Baseball is always evolving. As long
as they don't take change sixty six inches and nine
between the basis, there's always gonna be evolution, which leads

(01:31:29):
to again the fourth rule change bigger basis. The size
of the bases are going to be increased from fifteen
inches to eighteen inches, and if you've seen pictures of
the two on the internet side by side, it's quite
a bit bigger. And again, what they're trying to do here,
you increase the size of the base. That's going to
potentially reduce injuries around the bag and hopefully increase stolen

(01:31:50):
base attempts as well. Because in the minor leagues did
this in Triple A the first season, larger basis didn't
create much of a change in Triple A. In the
lower levels, when you combine bigger bases, it's three inches
on each side, combine with more rules about pickoffs, there
were dramatic increases in steals per nine innings. Now, Major

(01:32:12):
League Baseball doesn't believe any of these changes are gonna
be dramatic differences, but they did show that the injuries
were reduced around the bag. Because you've ball seen a
situation where pictures covering first groundball runner. Picture someone trying
to cover first, they collide. There's not enough ruined maneuver.
Someone gets stepped on a lot of that started to

(01:32:33):
go away. But also there's an aspect to it. Major
League Baseball truly believes that this will also help to
create additional offense and encourage more stolen bases. Each of
your thoughts on the bigger base rule bigger basis. I
like it. I'll say I like it just because it
will It will give it better advantage for players to

(01:32:53):
get around that foot, you know, and stealing the base.
Maybe um players won't get picked off as much. I
won't get picked off stealing as much. We'll say a
couple other goofy rules. Position players pitching. No one likes
to see that. Actually you do kind of like to
see it. You get a kick out of it, But
it means the game's out of control. You know. I

(01:33:14):
always get a kick out of Sports Center when some
guy comes in he's throwing dual balls. But the new rules,
with this new rule having to do with position players
allowed to pitch, teams are gonna be much more limited
when they can pitch a position player there the previous
rule allowed teams to use a position player when you're
either up or down by six or more runs. But

(01:33:34):
now this is an official Besides, you're discussing a tweak
in which the team who's leading you have to be
up by as many as ten or more. The trailing
team would have to be down by eight or more
to pitch a position player. What are they trying to change?
But players are great. Too. Many position players are taking
them on over the course of the season, and it's
having an impact on production. Believe it or not, they

(01:33:56):
don't like it. It's not crazy. Uh and and and
and again baseball continues to evolve when they're always looking
for other questions and catch your pick off rules? And
when can a batter step out to reset the pitch clock?
And what happens to the pitch clock after a foul ball?
I mean all kinds of crazy, crazy stuff, right. I

(01:34:17):
think we have to watch it. We have to watch it.
But one thing we have watched since the pandemic gear
is one rule that I hate. Coming up, Ethan and
I are going to talk about that. It's here to
stay permanently. And I hate this rule more than any
of the rest of them put together. Tonight shows brought
to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable.

(01:34:40):
Get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, r V, boat,
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You're listening to the Bernie Fratto Show on Fox Sports Radio.

(01:35:00):
All right, this is Jay Glazer. And you may know
me for the world of football or fighting or even
shows like HBO's Ballers. Oh you don't know is for
my entire life. I have lived in something I referred
to as the Gray depression anxiety. So now I'm coming
out with a new podcast, Unbreakable, a mental health podcast
with Jay Glazer, where each week when we talk about

(01:35:21):
mental health, I hope to describe it, give it words.
Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer on the I Heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart radio app

(01:35:42):
search f s R to listen live. You're back on
the Bernie Fratto Show. Come do you Live from the
tire Act dot Com studios here in Las Vegas, Nevado
Fox Sports Radio. You know, branch Rickey wrote a book
about baseball any years ago and he said that if
you get a man on second base with nobody out,

(01:36:05):
you're going to score about sixty pc of the time.
So what does Major League Baseball do? They make an
extra ending ghost runner rule that's not permanent. Now, this
started back in the pandemic season when you they tried
to play sixty games in sixty two days, and so
they wanted a situation where they wanted to limit super long,

(01:36:26):
extra inning games. And last season, believe it or not,
there were just eleven games that went more than thirteen
innings and none of those went more than fifteen. Four
years ago before they implemented this, there were almost forty
games and went more than thirteen innings, and many of
those went over fifteen innings. I don't like this rule though. Uh,
it's one thing to be on second base, but it's

(01:36:49):
one thing to earn your way to get the second base.
And is it that really important? I mean, there isn't
that many seventeen inning games. There aren't that many marathons.
You have, you know, shortstop throwing seventy eight mile per
hour meatballs. We've already got pitch clocks, bigger bases, no shifts.
If you get too extra innings, you have to ask yourself,

(01:37:10):
might there have been decisions you made during the course
of the game that would have prevented you from getting
to do extra innings in the first place, or did
you play too cautiously or did you take too many risks?
If going extra innings is such a bad thing, then
try to find a way to avoid it. But simply
putting a man on second base. I watched a lot
of games, and there's kind of an artificial excitement to it,

(01:37:34):
but it's it's just that it's artificial. You got a
man on base, You start with a man on base,
but he didn't earn his way there. That just bothers me. Ethan,
what are your thoughts on the ghost run a rule,
because apparently it's permanent. Honestly, I don't mind the ghost
runner um. I think that it could be something that
could be a good I think it'd be be good

(01:37:57):
for the MLB. Um, I know this is something that
they have done, um previously, and I know they're saying
it's working in the minors, so yeah, well it worked
in the miners, but that's a different ball game. And um,
how would you you know, how would you like to

(01:38:18):
be in a situation though, where you're coming down and
it's it's a game that could decide whether or not
you go to the playoffs or now. And so they
put a man on second base and all of a
sudden there's a pass ball and the groundball to the
right side the score around without even getting to hit
the score. Now, that can happen if you earn your
way to second base. Uh, what do you see as

(01:38:39):
the chief benefit as a fan? You're you're a big
Phillies fan, right, yes, I am, Okay, So what do
you see the big chief benefit as a fan? As
a fan of the game, enjoyed the game while at
the same time rooting for your team and rooting for
your team success. What do you see is the big
benefit of doing this? You know, I just think it's

(01:39:02):
just you know, I guess more excitement and opportunity for
scoring and the game. I guess MLB is kind of
at the point where they're trying to compete with the
MLB or MLB, NFL and m b A and maybe
they think they're falling behind and they need to do
stuff like this. So I guess it's kind of appealing

(01:39:25):
for the fan. I mean, we're gonna see this is
gonna be a true test this season. Well again, it's
been here for four years. This is the fourth year. Now. Well,
I'm just talking about it all, all of the what
we're talking you know, and then and again, yeah, you're right,
you when you add it all up, eating it's a lot,
a lot. We talked about the pitch clocks and how
it's going to be in force. We talked about the
bigger basis. We talked about the fact you're not gonna

(01:39:47):
see the goofy shift with the oblong second basement halfway
in right field to shortstop in right center field. Uh,
and all that kind of stuff. But you know, I
could kind of sort of understand that back in the
pandemic season when they try to wham jam this season
together over sixty days, you put a man on second
base at the beginning of each half inning and the extras,

(01:40:10):
and that sort of helps you protect the integrity of
a game, of of a season where there's really no
days off and and and you know, a lot of travel.
So I understood it a little back then, believing it
would be temporary. I don't. To me, this is gimmicky.
I understand the other rules because pitchers used to not

(01:40:30):
take as long to get rid of the ball. This
is something that's become more deliberate over time as the
game has become more specialized. The shift is one thing.
It's selective. You can do it or not do it.
You can't do it anymore. But remember, if you did it,
you're compromising your defense in the first place. The basis
that's kind of a nonstarter to me. There'll be a
little bigger okay, great less injuries, etcetera, etcetera. But here

(01:40:51):
here's a free runner on second base. There's something about
that that fundamentally bothers me. But we shall see. It's
not like this is brand new. I mean, doing it
for a while, But you add that to all the
other rules in baseball will look a little different this year.
Maybe not substantially different, but it will look a little different.
You know. We could talk about how complicated other banks

(01:41:13):
make it to redeem credit card rewards, or we could
talk about how we discover you can redeem your rewards
for cash in any amount at any time. I mean
talk about amazing learn more at discover dot com slash
redeem rewards terms apply back to football. We've talked about
Aaron Rodgers, We've talked about justin fields. What about Derek Carr.

(01:41:37):
He's a free man. For potential spots where Derek Carr
could land in coming up a first, let's good to
our guy, Steve de Seger with the last in college
basketball Saturday, number one ranked Alabama led Georgia. All right,
thanks so much, Steve. So uh. One of the fun

(01:41:58):
things about the National Football League because we now get
to observe and watch as many prominent players find a
new home. And now that February it's come and gone,
it's official. Now Derek Carr has been released by the
Las Vegas Raiders. He's a free agent. For the record,
the Raiders did try to work out a trade for Car,
who is turning thirty two next month. They allowed him

(01:42:20):
to visit the Saints prior to his you know what,
his when his increased salary would have kicked in three
days after the Super Bowl, but the trade did materialize.
It's my understanding the framework of a deal, but Carr
refused to accept the move. He does have it. He
did have a no trade clause in his contract. But
what I find interesting is that the Saints wanted to
try to get him to take less in some senses,

(01:42:43):
that doesn't really surprise me. Cars now able to if shoot.
He's so desire to literally canvas the rest of the
league thirty one teams and negotiate his next deal. But
what is realistic? There's really only about four teams that
I think are realistic. I'm not even sure of all
four these are realistic. The first one the New York Jets.

(01:43:04):
I guess the Jets would be consider if you had
to handicap this, the Jets would be considered to be
the favorites to land Card and Woody Johnson, the owner
of the Jets, said he's absolutely willing to pay for
a veteran pass for this offseason. They could go after
Jimmy Garoppolo. Robert Sale has familiarity with him. Uh you will?

(01:43:27):
You know. Aaron Rodgers clearly is going to be in
the Knicks because of his his relationship with the new
offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who was aligned with Rogers for
two years back in Green Bay, three years as the OC,
and and of course the jets new passing game coordinator
Todd Downing. He's got experience with Derek car as well,

(01:43:50):
back in when he was with the Raiders as the
QB coach and then the offensive coordinator. By the way,
they are concerns about Garoppolo's injury history, and he might
have some contract demands. If the Jets don't want to
pay what it's gonna take to get Rogers, and you
know what that contract entails, and they're gonna have to
part with some draft capital. Car could be a legitimate

(01:44:11):
sort of okay, burn the hand option for the Jets.
The good news is the Jets have a very good roster.
I believe their roster is in very good shape. They've
got a ton of offensive talent except a quarterback. And
I would I think it's reasonable to assume that Zack Wilson,
his career with the Jets, is on life support. It's

(01:44:32):
not dead, but he's got the ten cent head and
not the million dollar arm. He's got a good arm.
He's a good athlete, but he did not adapt to
being a professional the way you know I talked about
justin fields earlier. He might have fallen short, but he's
a professional. Zach Wilson is not. Now. The Jets are
restricted in terms of their cow salary cap space currently,

(01:44:53):
so there's some potential hold ups. But this could be
a good restart for Derek Carr if he ends up
a New York if you can handle New York to
Jets again, great defense, decent offensive line pieces better than average,
good running backs, great young receivers. The FC East is
a bit of a gauntlet, though you gotta navigate through
Josh Allen and Belichick. Is not gonna be easy, and

(01:45:13):
I think Miami is better then people realize. The New
York City glare. I don't think it's for everyone. Um
I'll be curious to see if Car ends up there.
It's possibility. Now back to the New Orleans Saints. The
Saints actually had the clearest indication that they were the
most interested of all the teams. They met with them
on February eight. That was when Carr was still under

(01:45:36):
contract with the Raiders. They were gauging Car's interest and
possibly playing in New Orleans. Now when Car refused the trade,
the Saints understood that they didn't necessarily uh view it
or or you know, or perceive it as an indication
that Carr had ruled out ruled out the Saints, not
at all. Now you have to also see whether the

(01:45:57):
Saints have the financial means to get or a Car.
The Saints are almost sixty billion dollars over the salary cap,
and they've got a bunch of other players set the
count more than ten million against it. They're gonna cut
guys like Michael Thomas and I think Jameis Winston, etcetera.
And New Orleans has some serious draft cap work to

(01:46:18):
do here. But the Saints also picked twenty ninth overall
in the drafts, so I don't think they're gonna draft
a quarterback. So whether it's Car or not, it appears
as Saints will find some kind of veteran that would
be their solution. Now, one other thing to add to
the mix. The Saints are coached by Dennis Allen. Dennis

(01:46:40):
Allen and Derek Carr were together one year during Dennis
Allen's first head coaching job when the rate back in
that was cars rookie Heere and even though only lasted
four games. Dennis Allen got fired. There's talk that their
relationship was pretty good, and Derek Carr said it was positive.
And you know, Derek car usually doesn't say any negative things,
so but you take him at his word. Now, the

(01:47:03):
Carolina Panthers are a real wild card because they've been
trying like hell to thread the needle and find themselves
a quarterback. Look what they did last year. First they
draft Matt Corral in round three. They tried to force
feed his sam it was pretty clear that he's nowhere
near ready. Then they end up trading for Baker Mayfield
in July. Neither worked out. Corral has a season in

(01:47:25):
the injury. Mayfield ends up going to the Rams, and
he struggled pretty well in in in Carolina. So what
do you do. You gotta hit the restart position restart
button on this position because you got a guy. I remember.
Carolina has got a new coach, Frank Reich. He's gonna
have a sandwich direction. The team heads there and they
have a new QB coach and Josh McCown, great guy.

(01:47:48):
Knew him a little in Detroit. So Carolina might be
part of Derek Carr's potential dance card. Now, Carolina also
owns the number nine overall pick in the NFL draft,
and they could use that to select when the quarterback right,
or they could resign Sam Donald. He's a free agent,

(01:48:13):
but he would be very inexpensive. He actually played a
little better for Caroline and line it down the stretch
and people realized that he played better than Corral and
he still got Corral there, uh, you know, on the roster.
But much unlike the a f C East, the NFC South,
there's not a lot of great quarterbacks in that division,
are there? Who you know? You got Atlanta, Carolina, got

(01:48:38):
New Orleans, Tampa. So you know the thing about Carolina,
it's a young team. They've got some foundational talent to
build around. I thought Steve Wilkes did a good job.
That was a physical team that beat some teams up
at the line of scrimmage. And even after they traded
Christian McCaffrey, they went six and six down the stretch.
They beat up Seattle in Seattle, they feels clear manhandled Detroit,

(01:49:01):
a good Detroit team. And so you would wonder if
you add a veteran quarterback like a Derek Carr might
that helped bridge the gap to get the Carolina Panthers,
who ended up seven and ten to above five and
possibly toward the playoffs. I'm of the school the car
is a good guy and serviceable. There's a reason he

(01:49:21):
was sixty three and seventy nine. Is a starter high
levelage situations. I'm not I'm not drinking the koliad on him.
Not that I dislike him, I just I don't think
he's He's gonna move the needle anywhere he goes. Not not,
not in the way those teams are gonna want him to. Finally,
the Tennessee Titans all Right. Ian Rappaport last Tuesday said

(01:49:42):
the Titans could be in the mix if big, if
if the Titans move on from Ryan Tannehill, who tunes?
Who Tune? Who turns thirty five years old this July.
He has a thirty seven man dollar cap hit in
three Now. I think the Titans liked any Hill. He's tough,
he does his best. He's bad injuries a few times,

(01:50:05):
but his play is really leveled off. And the question
is how how far will the Titans reach to get
a Derek Carr deal done? One way or another. They're
still gonna end up paying a decent chunk of Ryan
Tannehill's contract, whether or not they trade him or release
him after June one, and they might not have a

(01:50:27):
whole hell of a lot of flexibility to handle that
and pay Car, who's probably gonna want to salary of
at least thirty million a year, And that's another question,
will you get that. I'm on the opinion he's gonna
have to settle for between fifty and But the upside
of car smart. Look, I don't count anybody's money, But
if car really wants to go somewhere and win and
create a legacy to focus on, like what Mahomes did,

(01:50:48):
get yourself a team friendly contract. If Carr went to Tennessee,
if they wanted him, he'd be joining an offense with
Derrick Henry plus some pretty intriguing athletes like Treylon Brooks
and and who else would he be joining Mike Vrabel?
Car would I think would get along great with Rabel.
Vrabel is one of the NFL's more respected head coaches,

(01:51:09):
and the Titans have really it seems like they're in
the driver's seat to win then FC South every year.
They certainly were this year before they had a major
late season meltdown. Titans were also the top seed and
this is a wide open division. So there you have it.
I believe Car will land on one of those four teams, Carolina, Tennessee,

(01:51:31):
New Orleans or the Jets, which one God only knows,
but at least Car appears to have some options. What
will be interesting is what teams are going to have
to pay to get him, what Car will accept and
William move the needle. You already know my opinion on that.
Coming up. We just finished massive ratings for both the

(01:51:51):
Super Bowl and the World Cuff Final within forty five
days of each other. In terms of American viewing and
international viewing. How do they compare? I'll tell you. I'm
Bernie Frader. Will come to you live for the Las
Vegas tire Rock dot Com Fox Sports Radio Studios here
in Las Vegas. Don't go away. You're listening to the
Bernie Frauder Show on Fox Sports Radio. We are back

(01:52:16):
on the Bernie Frauder Show, Come to you live from
the entire act dot Com studios here in Las Vegas.
Top of the hour. What kind of brand new fool you?
Followed by what my name? The dance and station sweeping
the nation. After that, Ethan Miller will have a nice
little announcement for us, a little event that will commence

(01:52:38):
on the Friday night version of The Bernie Frauder Show
beginning March three. You're gonna want to hear about that. Then,
of course, the bottom of the next hour Chris Profet's
World of Soccer, which brings me to my point, and
that is super Bowl versus the World Cup. The ratings
were very interesting. What does this say about up not

(01:53:01):
only US TV watching habits, but global TV watching habits Now?
The super Bowl is the king of all kings, all right,
no question about it. In terms of the most watched
the TV shows in the last thirty years, I think
out of the ten, super Bowl or nine of the ten,
and of course the famous mash episode, final episode and

(01:53:22):
super Bowl fifty seven did not let anybody down in
my opinion, because it was down to the wire, there
were plenty of storylines, and you had the commercials Rihanna's
halftime show. Uh hundred thirteen million people watched the super
Bowl last week. That's a pretty fantastic number. It's one
of the best in the history of American television. But

(01:53:45):
It can also cause soccer fans to basically beat their
chest because if you look at the the worldwide viewing
for the World Cup Final verstus say the super Bowl.
Now again, there were a hundred and thirteen million people
that watched the super Bowl in the United States. The

(01:54:10):
World Cup Final, which is right around Christmas in the
United States, there were about twenty six million viewers, which
is nothing to sneeze at. That is about the same
as a typical average Sunday NFL game. Here's where it
gets crazy. We know that everybody around the world watches
the super Bowl. It's not a small number. Uh. You

(01:54:33):
see the you know, the camera will pan to various
Air Force bases, military bases, sports bars, you name it.
Whether it's Germany, France, England. People around the world are
watching the Super Bowl. So a hundred thirteen million people
watched it in the US, forty million people watched it
around the world. That's the global reach. A hundred got

(01:54:55):
it up, about a hundred and fifty four million people.
That's a hell of a number. The World Cup Final,
six million people watched it locally. Meeting in the United States,
I guess how many people watched it globally, this includes
the United States one point five billion. That's incredible. France
alone had twenty four million viewers in French television. Now

(01:55:21):
it doesn't help American World Cup in terms of our
viewership that the US men's national team just is in
the soccer powerhouse like the women's side is. But even
the success they've had, which is modest, it's up in
the US audience members. All Right, you got a country
like Brazil, it's got a population of of two seventeen million.

(01:55:44):
They averaged almost forty million viewers. That's just incredible. Uh.
But when you look up, say the World Cup final
versus a NFL wild card games, it's pretty comparable. The
World Cup final twenty six million. The Giants Vikings wild
card game was about thirty million. The Seahawks is about million.
And remember, to be fair, the NFL has two seventy

(01:56:07):
two regular season games. The average about sixteen million viewers
per game, and that that's been actually a little a
little bit of a slight decline. But you look at British's, uh,
great Britain's Premier League. They joined tremendous, uh, they enjoyed
tremendous US view a soccer viewership uh in all of

(01:56:29):
their games. So look, we get at that the NFL,
in the National Football League has the best football players
in the world. But soccer the best players are in
foreign leagues, particularly particularly the europe top professional sides, and
so that there, that that alone is going to be
a difference. But when you consider the France and Argentina match,

(01:56:51):
that great final match which between Inbop and Messy, what
just incredible. It began at ten am in the morning
in eastern seven am, and you still do those kind
of viewerships. So I guess both sports are in good stead.
What what it ultimately means is that the Super Bowl

(01:57:11):
and the World Cup, they're just incredibly enormously lucrative events.
Sports and television continue to boom. The Super Bowl isn't
going anywhere, and either is the fiefa World Cup coming up?
What kind of brand new fool are you? Followed by?
What my name? Keep it locked? This is the Bernie
Fratto Show on Fox Sports Radio. Well you heard the man.

(01:57:36):
The Bernie Fratto Show keeps rolling right along. We are
broadcasting live from the tire Act dot Com studios here
in Las Vegas. Fox Sports Radio tiract dot com. We'll
help you get there and unmatched selection, fast free shipping
for your road hazard protection and over ten thousand recommended
installers tiract dot com. The way tire buying should be

(01:57:59):
it is that I'm a week You know what you
love you, you can't live without it. It's craziness, but
it's more than that, because it's something we call what
kind of brand new fool are you? So? What kind
of brand new fool are you? You know? It's never

(01:58:23):
it never ceases to amaze this that every day, every week,
every month, rules by and somebody across this great land
of ours and even around the world, does something so salacious,
so stupid, so ridiculous. Sometimes it's harmless, sometimes it's criminal,
but it always leaves you scratching your head and asking
the question, what kind of brand new fool are you? So?

(01:58:44):
Let's go to Palm Coast, Florida. Ladies and gentlemen, meet
Lance Kirts of Palm Coast, Florida. He's a just a typical,
regular old Florida man who recently broke into a Palm
Coast gas station, stole a bunch of items, and he
was identified and later arrested after he forgot that he
had left his debit card behind on the desk. Deputies

(01:59:05):
responded to the business after the alarm went off last
Sunday morning and found the front door of the business unlocked.
Inside the gas station, which is empty at the time,
they found a debit card with the name Lance Kurtz
on the counter near their register. Then, the owner reviewed
surveillance video which showed the man entering the store from
the back, taking multiple items, and then unlocking the front

(01:59:28):
door and leaving. The law enforcement said they recognized Kurts
from a previous vehicle near the gas station that happened
earlier in the night same gas station. They spoke with Kurtz,
who was found in the same location where his vehicle
had actually broken down, and he admitted to breaking into
the business and taking the items. Here's what's interesting, According

(01:59:50):
to the Sheriff's office, Kurts told deputies he left behind
his debit card so he could go back to the
business and pay for the items later. Sure we sure,
we believe you. According to Sheriff ricks Daley, he said
cold he must have really wanted those items to break
into a closed convenience store to get them, Plus, leaving
a debit card behind does not absolve you from theft

(02:00:14):
for committing burglary. Now Kurtz has his old life ahead him.
He's only twenty years old. But he was arrested, booked
into Flagler County Jail charges of armed burglary and and
UH and theft. He was released after ten tho dollars bombed.
All right, this is stupid all the way around. If

(02:00:34):
you're gonna break in, that's stupid enough. You leave your
debit card, you go back for it. All we can
say is Mr Kurtz, what kind of brand new fool
are you? Ethan you're a buddy. Yeah, So this this
caught my eye. This is pretty interesting. Um. It says
it's a plane spends sixteen hours in the air then
ends back in the same airport at New Zealand. So I, yeah,

(02:01:01):
I had to do some research into this. So let
me read this to you. Says passengers on a New
Zealand flight to New New York spent sixteen hours in
the air just to end up at the same airport
They began the journey at the Air New Zealand NonStop
flight from Auckland to New York JFK was in the

(02:01:22):
air for about eight hours, two thousand miles from California.
Then there was a word of an electrical fire and
the JFK International Airport in Terminal one, which led to
the airport getting diverted going back to New Zealand for
another eight hours, which is a total of sixteen hours.

(02:01:46):
So let me so they Now, I'm sure you're very
confused here. You're like, why wouldn't they just go land
somewhere else in the United States? Why would they go
all the way back? Well, the US Port of Suit Security,
whatever you want to call it. Uh, they said, the
US ports would have meant the US aircraft would have

(02:02:06):
had remained on ground for several days and people wouldn't
have able to leave to United States. I don't really
understand this. Um. I just am looking at the people
on the airplane, and I'm looking at the the the
what's it called the airplane um itself, and I'm just wondering,

(02:02:29):
what kind of brand new fool is everyone here sixteen
hours for nothing? That's my head's about to explode just
thinking about that me too. I'm I'm having trouble even
getting it out here. I mean, it's sixteen hours. You
fly to America from Australia from New Zealand and then
you turn around and what if you had an important

(02:02:51):
thing going on? I'm just it's very puzzled here, very puzzled.
I'm a million mile flyer and I've been stuck four hours.
I can't imagine seeing Stein. All right, we'll leave it
right there. Another rousing edition of what kind of brand
new fool are You, which, of course, we follow up
with the segment we lovingly refer to as what my name?

(02:03:15):
Great job? Mark? Right on, q al Right, here we go, Ethan.
I'm a famous boxer. This week I got divorced from
actress Robin Gibbons. What my name? Uh? Man, Mike Tyson,
you got it, nicely done, Mark, doing a great job,

(02:03:40):
but maybe just a little liberal with the ticker there.
We allow five seconds, but it's all good, all right.
As we celebrate Black History months, we remember U. C.
L As baseball Field was named after me back in
the yearly nine eighties, Ethan Miller, What my name? Uh?
Jackie Robinson? Look at you? You're on? I knew that,

(02:04:06):
all right. Jackie Robinson was the first black player to
break the color barrier. In Major League Baseball, but I
was the second Ethan Miller. What my name, I'm gonna
have the pass. I don't want to get it wrong.
Larry Doby, Larry Doby, the Cleveland Indians. All right, this
is kind of cool. I came out of retirement for

(02:04:28):
two days in to play for the Chicago White Sox,
which allowed me to appear in games in five decades.
He's fifty three years old. What my name, Ethan Miller?
What my name? Minos So you got it? Many mins
to look at you? Man, Now I'll tell it. I'll
thank Mark for that one. Mark said, Chicago from Chicago's

(02:04:48):
all good, It's all the good. All right, this one's interesting.
As a basketball player, I was cut from my junior
varsity high school basketball team in the eleventh grade. But
the varsity coach says, what I'll take you. What my name?

(02:05:10):
I only know one story, Like I mean, I know
a couple of stories, but I'm just gonna go Michael
Jordan's I I know it. It's not Jordan, but here.
So here's the deal. Jordan was cut from the varsity
as a sophomore at Laney in high school, and the
guy that beat him out he checked in the hotel
with that name for like forty years. Here's what's interesting,
So that again, Jordan was a sophomore. Everybody's teared of
that story, said, come from he was cut from the varsity. Okay,

(02:05:31):
still played JV. Here's what's interesting. This guy was cut
from the JV team, and the eleventh grader and the
varsity basketball coaches. Well, I'll take you turned out to
be Bill Russell on the greatest of all time nine championships.
All right, final one. We're gonna have a little fun
with this one. I was in the movie Wedding Crashers.
I had a character, and uh, you know, I was

(02:05:54):
in the basement at the end. They're yelling at my mom, Mom,
meet loaf. Where's my meat loaf? What my name? Ethan Millner?
What by name? Oh man, I'm pretty sure it is
one of my favorite movies. Will Farrell says that it
was Will Farrell. What was the name of the character,
And that's what I'm looking for. Oh my god, Oh man,
I can't chazz. Is that? No? Wow, that's pretty good effort. Tonight. Man.

(02:06:22):
You nailed, you nailed, You nailed. Mike Tyson. Uh no,
you actually well did you get Tyson, you got Jackie Robinson,
You've got many minos, and you got chas. Hmm, pick
four five, Let's try one more for the hell of it,
all right, Random, I gained a lot of fame in
the UFC as I knocked out previously undefeated Rohnda Rousey

(02:06:46):
at a UFC Bannaway Championship back in two thousand and
sixteen to give her her first loss. What my name?
Uh you got me here, Bernie? It was Holly Holme.
Holly Holme. I remember that too. All right, good job, buddy,
thank you, Thank you. All right, folks. Tonight Shows brought

(02:07:07):
to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable.
Get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, r V, boat,
a TV and more all your protection in one place.
Bondlin Save and Progressive dot Com coming out. Ethan's got
a big announcement. Pay close attention. It's gonna involve you
starting Friday, the Friday edition of The Bernie Fradder Show

(02:07:28):
on Friday, March three, and it's gonna last for twelve weeks.
I'm Bernie Fridderware Comedy Live from the entire act dot
Com studios here in Las Vegas. Keep it locked you
listen to the Bernie Fradder Show on Fox Sports Radio.
We're back on the Bernie Frawder Show or Company Alive
from the tire Act dot Com Studios here the Las Vegas,

(02:07:50):
Nevada Fox Sports Radio. Coming up. Bottom of the hour,
Chris perfects World of Soccer. By the way, we could
talk about how complicated other banks make it to redeem
credit card rewards, or we could talk about how it
discover you can redeem your rewards for cash and any
amount at any time. I mean talk about amazing learn

(02:08:11):
more discovered dot com slash redeem rewards terms apply all right.
Thanks to the creative mind of Ethan Miller, he has
formulated something here which will take place, and I do
a show. There's a Bernie Frattle show that signs on
every Friday night eleven pm Pacific that goes to two

(02:08:31):
a m. Eastern. It's two to five Eastern time. I
checked eleven pm Pacific to two two am Pacific, which
is two to five Eastern. That's Friday night. And of
course our Saturday night show we sign on eleven pm
Pacific and go to three am Pacific Ethan has created
something that will get the folks involved and it's going

(02:08:53):
to commence in a couple of weeks on Friday, March three,
at the stroke of midnight Pacific Times. Ethan, without further ado,
tell the folks what you put together? All right, Well,
it is a pleasure to put this segment together, and um,
we want to thank all the listeners for tuning in
every weekend with us on Friday nights. That's usually the

(02:09:16):
show that I'm working. So this is the segment that
I was able to put together for everybody, and I
wanted to make sure that we have a segment that
has callers and our listeners and fans get the opportunity
to you know, engage and have some fun with us
on the weekend as as we get into it. And

(02:09:37):
you know, we have a lot of sports. So what
this segment is called, It's called Bernie's Backyard Bunking Bets.
Bunk is obviously short for it to bunk bets is gambling. Um,
so what it is is, don't miss the chance to
participate in a three month competition involving Bernie Fratto and
his listeners and fans. Call in each week Friday night,

(02:10:00):
and I'm gonna take start taking calls at eleven five.
And this is important. We're only gonna take five callers
a week, so it's important that you do call at
eleven forty five Pacific time, and that's gonna be uh
to forty five Eastern. So you make sure you get
on the line and make sure you get get ahold
of us here at uh eight, seven, seven, nine nine

(02:10:21):
on Fox. So once you call in, I'll put you
on hold. At eleven, we'll have five callers one through
five will face off against Bernie with a sports trivia
question and a sports betting question. So for example, we'll
have uh, let's just say Dave. We'll say Dave is

(02:10:42):
on the line with Bernie. Dave, I'm gonna give you
a trivia question. It's gonna be uh, let's say how
many games did it take Lebron James too um be
the all time scorer in the NBA. And you know,
DA would give his answer, and then Bernie you'd give
your answer, and then I would give the correct answer,

(02:11:05):
and then whoever is correct, we'll get the points. Now, Bernie,
obviously UM you go against the field. So whatever your
points are, you know you'll obviously end up with more
points at the end, but this is more for the listeners,
so it's more of a standing thing. Right the accumulate
points right and tell me tell him how many points
accumulate you'll you'll get a hundred points if you get

(02:11:28):
the trivia question right. And then following the trivia question,
we're gonna do a sports a gambling question. So um,
for example, the over under of Joe l Embiid in
the All Star Game, uh, thirty thirty two points? Do
you think he'll get it over under? You'll give your
over under, and then that Sunday night or you know,

(02:11:48):
after the game, will know the final you know, final
stand on that bet, and if you hit it, you'll
get a hundred points. So how the points work is
that you can get two hundred points for the week.
You get a hundred points if you get half of
your right, and you get zero points if you go
oh for two on your on your trivia and your bet.

(02:12:10):
On Mondays, We're gonna put out a standings on Bernie's
Twitter so you can see who is in the lead
of the twelve week competition. Now, I know it may
be hard for people if they can't get you know,
through or you know they're they're not quick enough to

(02:12:31):
you know, get on get online with us. So if
you if you're happy to be six or seventh in line, UM,
I know that maybe a disadvantage to you, but um,
we're gonna do it for twelve weeks and the winner
who has the most points, uh, listener, caller, fan, whatever
you'd like to call yourself will end up getting Fox

(02:12:51):
Sports Radio merchandise, which would be a blanket, coffee mug,
and a football. And now I am trying to add
in one more thing, but I'm not gonna put that
out there quite yet until it's official and um, and
they'll get and they'll get that signed by Bernie whatever
I think we'll do, the blanket signed or what did

(02:13:12):
the coffee mug? Whatever? Signed? Um, the Fox Sports merchandise
will get it out to you and it will be
a nice little three month competition. Would be fun between
Bernie and the listeners, and uh, I think it'll be
easier for all the listeners and everybody to get used
to it after a couple of weeks. So to recap,

(02:13:34):
beginning at midnight on Friday, March third, Pacific time, midnight
Pacific time. Five callers who have gotten into the queue
will have an opportunity to jump online. You'll have a
trivia question. If they get the trivia question correct. Essentially
you get a hundred points. If they get the trivia
question correct, they advanced to question number two, which will

(02:13:57):
have a gambling element to it. For instance, let's say, uh,
you know, Eddie Kazinski calls in, and your trivia question
is who Lebron just got the scoring record? Whose record
of your break? Eddie answers it correctly, cream abdul Jabbar.
You might say, okay, the overunder for Lebron on Sunday's
game is twenty seven points? Is he going over or under?

(02:14:18):
If you get them both right too? Under points? Or
if he gets the betting question wrong, hundred points. However,
if I understand you correctly, Ethan, in order to advance
to round two for the betting question, you have to
get the trivia question correct. Is that correct? Now we'll
let them. If you get the tributa question wrong, you
could still go on and get the and and take
the betting question. Because you know you may get the

(02:14:42):
betting question right, we can give him a hundred points
so we don't want to take that away from them. Okay,
So okay, so all five callers will have the opportunity
to answer both questions. And then Ethan, you'll keep the data.
And having worked with you last few months, I know
you're very you diet your eyes and cross you g's
very well. You'll keep the data. You'll get the data

(02:15:04):
to me and on Monday on my Twitter account at
Bernie Fratto, will keep a running total of the top
five in terms of points correct and you keep deal
keep it as well, and we'll add to it every
week and and you know it'll there there will be
a little bit of a musical chairs aspect to it,
because not everybody will be able to get in every week,
or maybe they won't even try to get in every week.

(02:15:25):
But that's where the twelve week uh, the tenure of
this comes into play. So there should be plenty of
opportunity for everybody in March April and May as just
probably will commence around me Morial Day or check that
terminator around Memorial Day. There'll have been enough ample opportunity
right twelve weeks, sixty potential callers. Maybe you don't get

(02:15:47):
in every week, maybe you don't even try to get
in every week, but at least you have an opportunity
to uh participate, have a little fun. This is all
in fun. We want to try to be a little
bit more interactive. Any other thoughts on this, Ethan, any
questions I forgot to ask, any any other sort of
details you want to give on this. Yeah, just make
sure to keep an eye out on the standings at

(02:16:09):
Bernie Frido on Twitter, just so we just so you
know you're up to date, you know, if you want
to be really involved. And I'll as we get later
towards the end of it, towards week nine, week ten,
I'm sure more people will have um more points and
we'll be fighting for that first place spot. So I'll

(02:16:29):
be making sure if they do call them, we'll get
him on. So I will be walking, I'll be looking
out for that kind of stuff. It's got a tweet
from a gentleman named Brandon. He says, I'm digging that
new segment. I believe it can catch you on. What
we have to do is continue to promoted the next
couple of weeks so people have the opportunity to understand
and know. And I know Ethan you did one tweet already, uh,

(02:16:51):
putting it out on the Fox Sports Radio maybe you
know next week and before the Friday show, we'll certainly
revisit this next Friday again. You can, you can, you
can remind the folks of that and again maybe give
a couple of more details, etcetera, etcetera. But the bottom
line is going and give the name of the contest
again and give it one more rundown yep. So it's

(02:17:12):
uh Bernie's backyard Bunks, Bunks and bets, and it's gonna
be a bet betting trivia competition between callers and Bernie
where we'll take five collars a week. I'll ask one
trivia question, one betting question at eight, seven, seven, nine
nine on Fox at twelve o'clock Pacific time. Make sure

(02:17:33):
you're calling it an eleven forty five. Next week, I'll
make sure that we have a promo tease, um, so
you guys have a better understanding of this. I'll make
sure we get it out on Twitter, so UM, it's
a little more organized and it's easier for you guys
to understand than me just spitting out words, uh, you know,
trying to jumble it around. And it should be noted

(02:17:55):
you're not gonna open the phone lines before it's eleven
forty five. People can die and dial in. You'll get
them in the queue. They'll be on hold a little bit,
but not that long because we'll jump. We'll jump right
on the game. Yeah, So, but don't call it into
eleven thirty five because the phone lines won't be open
at that point. Right, that's correct. It's just just so
people know, and that tries to make you know. That

(02:18:17):
makes it fair and equitable for everybody who hopefully has
the same chance. And again, it's a week to week things,
so if you miss out on one week, you get
in another week. And I think over the twelve weeks
there should be an evening out, an evening a process.
There should be a lot of fun. And I'm guessing
you'll be pretty fair and equitable on the trivia questions. Right,

(02:18:40):
not too difficult, No, not to get the goal. Uh,
the trivia question. You're gonna hear of the trivia and
it's just if you can remember remember the answer or not. Alright,
good stuff ethan great great work. Uh coming up in
just a minute, we'll bring you back to the world
of soccer with Cristoper Fit. But first let's go back
to our guys, Steve Disigre with the latest. All right,

(02:19:08):
thanks so much, Steve. We you heard me mentioned earlier
the incredible ratings that the World Cup got nationwide when
you juxtaposed against the Super Bowl, which also got sensational ratings.
And we're in a world now where it's much more
accessible than ever. The news has become much more of
a twenty four hour world news cycle, and of course

(02:19:29):
much easier to find games and watch him on mainstream
network TV. That's why each and every week at this
time we bring you Chris Perfett's World of Soccer. The
greatest goals, the thrilling finishes, the international drum. It's all

(02:19:55):
here in this report from the World of Soccer. The
second half the Champions League, first leg of the Round
of six team comes up on Tuesday and two clubs
are playing that I feel embody the good and the
bad of the Champions League right now, and they have
very intricate stories to talk about. So Bernie, we're going

(02:20:15):
to talk about it, as Ben Maller would say, the
better stories in the losing locker room. And let's talk
about Liverpool. They're not quite losers yet, but nobody would
say that their hopes for the Champions League are great.
They have to square off with European royalty Real Madrid here. Meanwhile,
their hopes for the Premier League is done in dust.

(02:20:37):
As of Friday, they sit ninth. Now, granted, they are
not the only of the Big six with deep woes.
That would also be Chelsea. We've spoke about Chelsea in
the past, and while Chelsea went through their fair share
of woes last year, Liverpool was this time last year
in the hunt for so many things they were chasing.

(02:20:58):
What was we have dubbed the quadruple, not the triple quadruple,
as they had won the Carabout Cup, the f A Cup,
they finished second barely just behind Manchester City for the
Premier League title, and they were in the final against
Real Madrid last year in Paris for the Champions League.
This was supposed to be a club that was incredibly strong.

(02:21:19):
So what what really happened? And that's the baffling part.
Nothing has truly changed with Liverpool. They didn't lose a
ton of players. Their core is still there be a
Mohammed Sala, once one of the greatest players in the World. Nunez,
Luis Diaz still their Virgil Vanji like they Youregn Klop
their manager. Nothing really changed with Liverpool and yet something

(02:21:43):
has changed in the Premier League. Last year where they
finished second, they conceded twenty six goals all last year.
This season, in twenty one matches they could have conceded
twenty eight goals. Their defensive prowess is down, They're offense
performance is erratic and it's caused their manager, Jurgen Klop

(02:22:05):
to get very combative with the press as people white
ask him what is going wrong. One popular theory might
be on Jurgen Klop himself because there is a pattern
to him. So Jurgen Klop German originally had a career
with two different clubs, managing first Mainz and Borders the
adortmunt At both those clubs, his career never reached an

(02:22:27):
eighth season because in the seventh season in both clubs
a precipitous fall and performance happened in year seven that
at one point I believe Mainz when he was with
Mains it almost dropped them into the relegation zone. Around
Christmas time, they end up finishing in the middle of
the table. I believe. Uh, this is year seven at Liverpool.

(02:22:49):
To be fair, I'm not doing numerology here. It could
be something as a matter of complacency of a system
being figured out. I'm not sure. I just see the
pattern there that I'm letting you know that in year
seven yarn Clops teams have usually fallen off precipitously. There
is two other explanations. I think the first is just
a simple matter of fatigue. As I said, they were

(02:23:10):
in every competition last year that they could be in.
They won both the f A and the Carabout Cups,
they were in the Premier League Hunts, they were playing
Champions League all year. This could just be a matter
of fatigue. However, I think it could most likely be
also a case of injuries. Key outfield players have had
to kind of pick up the slack across the board

(02:23:31):
here and a good key and you know, guys come
out all the time for injury for the long, long,
long seasons in soccer. But Liverpool doesn't really have the
chance to rotate. Nine outfield players have clocked over dred minutes.
Now that's a lot, and by comparison, most other Premier

(02:23:52):
League clubs out there only have five players who clocked
those kind of minutes. It shows that because of injuries
they're having to play some of their play there is
a lot more and those guys then are getting exhausted.
Either way, this is all created a frustration in Liverpool,
and it's a frustration that I think has been wrongly
taken out. As supporters of Liverpool would say that they're
just not able to keep up with the rich clubs

(02:24:14):
of the Premier League anymore, and in Champions League probably
starting to see their star faith. But I can't buy
that Liverpool has always been able to keep up in
that regard. I think there's just a lot of other
reasons for their poor performance right now, and they certainly
don't lack in resources. Meanwhile, the good Let's talk about Napoli.
I've been hinting about talking about Napoli for I think

(02:24:37):
the better part of a year now, and I feel
like every time I get close to wanting to talk
about Napoli, something else comes up and inhibits me or
knocks it off the table. No, we're not gonna do that.
We're gonna talk about Napoly right now, the toast of Italy,
one of the club that is I have found beyond
electric and needs a lot more recognition for what they do,

(02:24:57):
because the last time people in soccer really talked about
Napoli this way was back in the nineties when Diego
Maradona played for the club, when the club won its
last Siria Scudetto. While Napoli prepares to take on Eintrich
Frankfurt on Tuesday in the Champions League, they are as
of Friday fifteen points clear of Inter Milan, the second

(02:25:21):
place club in Italy. They look all but prepared to
win that title right now in Italy once more, and
with them here in the Champions League, it's hard not
to see them going on another deep run unless Frankfurt
can really trip them up. What's made Napoli so appealing
is the high powered offense. It is from a peninsula

(02:25:41):
to in Italy that has historically been known for far
more low scoring affairs, where clubs like to race out
to an early lead and then spend a lot of
the time defending that lead. I've got to give a
lot of credit here to their manager Luciano Spalletti and
his decision to bring back keep performers from the year
before his return, plus giving a lot of time to

(02:26:03):
younger players in the club has really led him to this.
It is a quote young and fun style of play
and it is elevated them into a quick, fast scoring
offense that has just given them the firepower they need
to really dominate in Italy and in the Champions League
as well. Meanwhile, while there's been plenty of great names

(02:26:26):
on the club, talk about De Lorenzo, a lot of
their great midfielders, there is one man that you can
reckon for a lot of the scoring success Innopoly, and
that is the Georgian athlete Via Cavar Helia and I
practice that about fifty times in front of a mirror
this morning. You can just call him Cavara. Most people

(02:26:48):
in Italy just know him as Cavara, or more honorably
as a nickname Cavara Dona. Yes, the comparisons are being
made between Cavara to Diego Mara Donna. In twenty four appearances,
he has scored twenty four goals. It is a tall
order to invoke Maradonna's name when describing anyone else playing

(02:27:10):
for Napoli. The man stands a god in the eyes
of the Neapolitans, and it's an even higher ask to
be to try to live up to the legacy of Maradona,
and Cavara is garnering just that. And with all great
players in the clubs, even in the club like Napoli,
wealthier clubs have started to eye him for the transfer window.

(02:27:31):
That would be Real Madrid, Paris and Germain and mid
City also known as the usual suspect who seemed to
be eyeing every player that plays phenomenal for any of
these clubs. Doesn't mean they're going to be going after him.
It's hard to say. Cavara has four years on his
contract in the city and the club is already trying
to work out a new deal with him to make

(02:27:52):
him much more wealthier. Does he go to Man City,
does he go to PSG? Those are questions for way
down the line right now, as Napoli is focused on
this season and wants these two things. They want the
Champions League and they want the Scudetto and they are
in a great place to get it. The only reason
to really doubt them is that they're not a name
that's usually been here at the Champions League, and quite honestly,

(02:28:15):
other clubs from Italy just haven't performed fantastic. While they
have made it deep like Roma in past years and Juventus,
there hasn't really been a Italian club to lift the
Champions League title since two thousand and ten. Would Inter
Milan be Bayron Munich? We've got plenty of Champions League
This week, Bernie Arsenal and Man City have gotten into

(02:28:35):
a stuffle for the Premier League title. All that and
more coming your way on the next World of Soccer.
There we have a Christopher FETs World of Soccer Champions League,
Premier League. We began this about sixteen months ago in
anticipation heading into World Cup, and Guitar caught on. There's
always an insatiable amount of information regarding the World of

(02:28:59):
Soccer and we get to some interesting comments. So the
bottom line is this, this is a sport that's global,
here to stay and the future always has a way
of arriving ahead of schedule. What does that mean that
when World Cup arrives in North America in uh In,
it'll be here sooner than you think. All right, coming up,
we wrap up the show and we've talked about Derek Carr,

(02:29:21):
We've talked about Aaron Rodgers, We've talked about Justin Fields.
Time to give you some thoughts on Lamar Jackson. Baltimore
has three options on what they can do with Lamar Jackson.
What do I think they'll do? What I think they
should do? I'll tell you coming up next. I'm Bernie Fratder.
Where coming you live from the tiract dot Com studios
here in Las Vegas, Nevada, Fox Sports Radio. Keep it locked.

(02:29:44):
You're listening to the Bernie Fratder Show on Fox Sports Radio.
We're back on the Bernie Fradder Show, wrapping up The
Bernie Fradder Show. Where coming you a Live from the
Las Vegas tiract dot Com Studios Fox Sports Radio here
in a Loss of Vegas, Nevada. Before I go any
further tonight, I want to thank my broadcast team back
in Los Angeles. They've been with me since the leven

(02:30:05):
pm Pacific to a m Eastern. That would be of course,
Mark Ramsey, Ethan Miller, and we had Dan Buyer on updates.
We also had Steve de Saeger. Thanks so much, guys
for your teamwork and help powering through this sinus infection
that's trying to kick my butt. I'm not gonna let it,
but onward and upward. Great job that night, guys, appreciate

(02:30:29):
all the teamwork. Now we've talked about Derek Carr, We've
talked about Justin Fields, we talked about Aaron Rodgers going
to weigh in on Lamar Jackson. And just to set
the record straight, Baltimore has three options with Lamar Jackson,
and the key date to keep your eyes on is
Mark seven. And I get to that in a second.

(02:30:52):
And I don't think if you're a Ravens backer you
can be happy with the way the season ended, because
there was a lingering sense in the locker room that
if Lamar Jackson were healthy, the team could have won
the Super Bowl. I don't know, it's speculative, but you
do rather have him than not. And we all know
that Mark Lamar Jackson wants the same deal that Deshaun

(02:31:14):
Watson got in Cleveland, two hundred fifty million dollars, two
hundred fifty million dollars guaranteed. Willst tell me Steve Bushotti
will never do that. Baltimore did offer Lamar Jackson two
d and fifty million dollar deal, a hundred and thirty
three million dollars guaranteed. I don't want to say, only
hutter than thirty three million, because you can't tell me

(02:31:34):
someone's handing you a hundred and thirty three million dollars guaranteed.
It'sn't only But I get everything as a context. But
if you look at the approach that Patrick brock Holmes took,
which I think is going to serve him well in
the long term, well his legacy might turn out a
bit different than Lamar Jackson's. Plus, this is just me.
Can you really offer a guy guaranteed two hundred and

(02:31:56):
fifty million dollars if he's missed ten games in the
last seasons, ten of the last twenty two games. That's
a tough one. Now, again, the future without Lamar Jackson
a quarterback in Baltimore offensively doesn't look particularly promising. You
watch that offense. They couldn't score with a fifth full
of fifties in a women's prison. They were clunky. So

(02:32:19):
what does Baltimore do? They have three choices. They could
give him a mega deal, right, This is what the
ravens uh and and I think Lamar Jackson somewhat tried
to do. Baltimore offered a lot of money, around two million,
but they weren't guaranteeing the amount that Lamar Jackson wanted

(02:32:40):
a portion of it, not the full thing hundred and
thirty three million, as opposed to the full two fifty
that Deshaun Watson got. Now what what what does Steve A.
Shott He's supposed to do turn into Mickey the Duns
and be stupid just because Cleveland was again, you missed
ten games in the last twenty two. So Baltimore I
think is being fairly generous and guaranteeing as much of

(02:33:03):
it as they are, and Lamar Jackson's negotiating without an agent.
That doesn't help matters. The second thing, and here's where
the March seventh number comes in. The Ravens have until
March seventh to franchise Tag Jackson, which would ensure him
a massive salary for this season, possibly around forty five million,
but could render him unhappy again. She imagine that you

(02:33:24):
could also issue Jackson what's called the non exclusive tag
that would give him about thirty two million dollars. That
would allow him to negotiate with other teams and potentially
set an offer sheet, and then the Ravens would have
a decision to make. They could match that offer sheet
or let Jackson walk and get draft picks in return.
So you follow that they have until March seventh. The

(02:33:46):
franchise tag him an exclusive tag. He'd get about forty
five man, he's there's a non exclusive tag. They guarantee
him thirty two min. That allows Jackson to negotiate with
other teams, get an offer sheet, then they can take
it back to the Ravens and Ravens could match it.
That presumes that Jackson would get a much larger deal
or a much more favorable deal that with Baltimore originally

(02:34:07):
offered him. Again, all this is a little speculative, the
third option trade him. Now, can you really let a
twenty six year old franchise icon leave and get nothing back?
I think there's gonna be some deal to be had here,
but clock is really ticking. Were what about seventeen days
away from Mark Standard whatever the case may be, it
feels like they're gonna tag him. And I'll tell you

(02:34:28):
one other thing too that you can't rule out the trade.
I'm not predicting it, but I'm not ruling it out.
They parted with Baltimore party with Greg Roman in the offseason,
the offensive coordinator, and they settled on Georgia's Todd Bonkin,
but I don't think that's a noteworthy replacement, and I
don't think they consulted Lamar Jackson on that. So his
input or lack thereof on the new offensive coordinator, to me,

(02:34:49):
is a little ominous when it comes to how the
tenor of these talks are going to continue over the
next seventeen days. So there you have it. That's what
you can do with Lamar Jackson. That's gonna do it
for the Bernie Frado Show. We'll see you next Friday.
The meantime, keep it locked up next to the great
Andy Ferman on Fox Sports Radio. H

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