Mark Willard and Ephraim Salaam talk college ball and Panthers trading up!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're Oh, it's all the fields, all the fields on
a Sunday like this, Because for me, I from Salam,
I don't know about you, this is one of those
days that sort of feels like back to life, back
to reality. There's that little low where football is done.
Baseball hasn't started yet, March Madness has not tipped off,

(00:25):
and the NBA, I think, has done a better job
than usual with the intensity of the Western Conference of
kind of getting us from point A to point B.
But this is when everything ramps back up again. We've
got March Madness, We've got NFL free agency starting tomorrow,
all kinds of trades and rumors bouncing around that we're
gonna get to there. We ramp up to opening day

(00:46):
the Masters. I don't know, man, I feel like we
uh I think I feel like we made it through
the woods a little bit. That's how I feel today.
We are here, this is here. Selection Sunday is always great, man,
always especially and on your team, team right right by
the way. I'm still I'm still bouncing around on this.

(01:08):
I mean, let's let's go right to it. What do
you think of San Diego States draw here? I think
being in the South. I mean that's awful. I think
I think both. Just think about it. Being one of
the top teams on the West Coast, they put you
in the South bracket. M Like, how does that? How

(01:31):
does that benefit us? Like it if they would have
lost the Mountain West Tournament, they would have, you know,
probably been playing up in Sacramento. But now they got
to go to Orlando. Floor Like, to me, that part
of it doesn't make sense. You win the regular season conference,
you win the tournament conference, you're a fifth seed. But

(01:52):
you're a fifth seed in the South. Wait what how
I mean I can't go to Land on Thursday? No? Well,
you know what's funny, you actually probably could. UM. I
feel like you have more mobility and resource than most right, Well,
the problem is because nobody else can. I can't, none

(02:16):
of their spectacular fan base, but they could easily drive
up to Sacramento. That's the part that I'm I'm having
a problem with. UM. I don't think it's favorable. I think, UM,
I just I don't get it. I don't I really
don't understand. I don't really know how it works, to

(02:37):
be honest with, You've been watching this thing for forty
years and I don't. I don't know how it works.
I don't know how the decisions are made. I don't
know what goes into that. I don't even know the logistics.
I mean, there's no chance I'm sure to be fair
to everyone and make everyone happy with regard to that.
But um, it is odd. It's it's an odd thing

(02:59):
because it's a little bit of a dirty secret of
the NCAA. Early round March Madness games are kind of empty.
It's just like bowl games in December. You'll notice that
the camera doesn't pay on across all of the screaming
fans very often. Why because there aren't any And I

(03:19):
wonder if there is a different way to do this
where it does get a little geographical, Like we're talking
about doing that in many ways, whether we mean to
or not. One of the by products of what's going
to happen with college football is that all corners of
the geography of the United States of America are going
to be represented when we get to some sort of

(03:42):
a college football playoff, which is needed. It's needed. I mean,
you and I can speak to this sitting here in California.
If I've got to watch another Southeast Championship. The second
Monday in January bores me to tiers. So you got
to get everybody involveolved, and I don't know if there's
a better way to do that. I mean, you mentioned

(04:03):
San Diego States, one of the best teams in the West. However,
if I actually go down the rankings in college basketball,
I mean there are a bunch of teams West Coast teams,
if you will, Western United States teams that are ahead
of them. So I don't know. You know, there's UCLA,
there's Arizona, there's Saint Mary's, there's Gonzaga, There's all of

(04:24):
these teams. It's a really good year for West Coast basketball.
But I don't know if there's a way to sort
of collect everybody in an area where we could go
see the teams we want to see on short notice. Well,
I know this UCLA is playing up in Sacramento. Yep.
Right when you look at the top of the South Brack,

(04:46):
you got Alabama, Maryland, West Virginia, San Diego State, Charleston,
Virginia Furman. Which one of those things sticks out? Oh?
You mean the only West Coast team, right, Maryland, Charleston, Virginia,

(05:07):
Furman Alabama. That's not that far from Orlando, Florida, but
we got to travel across the country from one end
to the other end to play on Thursday. Yeah, I

(05:27):
mean you've been you've you've been awarded the fifth seed,
and this is where this is what you get for
being the fifth seed. Well, I mean, I know that
these are just names in many respects um I don't
even uh, you know, like it's still confusing to many

(05:47):
to piece together the pods and where everybody's going. But
that actual quote unquote West bracket, the one where Kansas
is the one seed. I mean, there are a lot
of those West teams that I just mentioned. Ucla is
the two, Gonzaga is the three, Saint Mary's is the five.
I don't know where Saint Mary's factors into this, but

(06:09):
I think what you're speaking to is almost a West
coast version of East Coast bias. In other words, who
are the West teams who have some cache Ucla and Gonzaga, Right,
So they're gonna they're gonna put them there. San Diego
State hasn't done this long enough? Do I think that's fair?

(06:33):
Long enough? I'm telling you the way they look, Okay,
I'm telling you the way they look at it and
not the way I look. I could give a rip,
you know, I mean, hell, I think it's hysterical that
college sports wants to use tradition for anything. UCLA and
USC are about to play in the Big Ten. You're
gonna come at me with tradition. I have me get

(06:54):
out of here. Like you blew tradition up with I mean,
you napalm that thing years ago on the college football front.
So I don't care if you're Duke or North Carolina
or Kansas or whatever anymore. I don't care. I think
there's got to be all eyes on better ways to

(07:17):
consume your product. And it's been a good year for
college basketball. Ratings have been up back to pre pandemic levels.
We've got a lot of parody. This is an opportunity year,
and I'm with you. I think we got to make
it easier for people to access this stuff whenever possible. Yeah,
it's I mean, it's crazy. I mean I had planned

(07:39):
on if it was up in Sacramento, I could have
probably made that game. I can't go with Florida. I'm
coaching a basketball game on Thursday night, So dinner, I
guess I had to catch him. Catch him. When I
catch him, you're gonna have to catch him on one
of the twelve networks that will be running these games.

(08:01):
Um and uh and yeah, that's that's that's gonna have
to be good enough. UM. I just think that that
there needs to be And this is college sports across
the board. It's a little bit different in the tournament
because I like I do also think what I said earlier,
which is that there are very few people who are
sitting there waiting with the resources on a Sunday night

(08:21):
to go, Okay, I know where we're going, let's get
on a plane. I think more people are going to
look to do that if their team gets past the
opening weekend and we're talking Sweet sixteen and Elite eight
in Final four, um and and those things are going
to be a little bit easier to track down. But
anything that college sports right now can do to make

(08:43):
it more accessible to the entire map, I do it,
and and college basketball this particular tournament is uniquely qualified
to do it because it finally does have the whole
map covered in I think an exciting way. It always
does to degree. But how many teams do you think

(09:03):
could win this thing. It feels like if the number
might be in the high teams. Yeah, teams that you
could sell me on winning this whole thing. I think
the parody in college basketball. The one thing COVID did
was it allowed guys to stay longer, which up the

(09:26):
age of your average college student. Now, so now you
have guys on their COVID year and they've been there
six years, which I think it's rightfully so because those
two years, I mean, they would just snatch from these guys.
You know, I'm speaking personally with San Diego State. You know,

(09:47):
at what were they thirty and two into going into
determine that possibly you know, two or three seed and
they canceled a tournament. A lot of guys on that team,
Adam Sako, he's still there. Uh. And but what it
does is it gives your team veteran leadership. This craze

(10:08):
of one and done. And yeah, they're they're splattered around.
But the teams that that focused in the one and done,
like the Kentucky's, the Dukes, the North Carolina's. North Carolina
didn't even make it. Duke had to go on a
heck of a run and to close out the season
and win the ACC tournament. Uh, you look at all

(10:30):
of these these other teams that you know, look at
Kentucky right well, I don't know yah out. So it's
a it's a situation where you know, these mid majors
are these schools, the transfer portal, graduate transfers, all of
that has made college basketball better, more entertaining. And what

(10:53):
it did is it leveled the playing field. Yep. It
leveled the playfield. So now you could take a four
year starter one school, he graduates, he can go somewhere
else with all that experience. It doesn't matter mid major,
Division two, whatever, and you go to a big time
program and you you enhance that program because you could

(11:13):
come in and you could play right away. And I
love that aspect of college basketball. And I think, just
like you said, that's the reason we feel like any
we're in the double digits in terms of which team
can win this whole thing yep. And I actually, if
you look around sports as a whole right now, this
is something that every single sport should be having meetings

(11:35):
to to think about being able to fit into this phrase,
and that phrase is anyone can win. Like That's that's
what's going on in the NFL, anyone can win, doesn't
matter if you're big market or small market. Jacksonville is
allowed to win the Super Bowl and they actually have
the resources to do it. That kind of parody works.
It's then flip it over to baseball, for instance. I

(11:56):
don't know how you fix fix that kind of an
idea with the NBA because it's just although this year
maybe is the best example, but you know that's always like, hey,
we got five elite players, one of them is gonna
win the whole thing. But in baseball, it feels like
two thirds of the league's not even attempting to win.
But that like college basketball this year, this is a

(12:16):
great year for a potential showcase. Post pandemic year. College basketball,
for the first time in a long time, is heading
back in the other direction because of what we're talking
about right now, Like, yes, San Diego State could win
the whole thing and that wouldn't surprise me, wouldn't surprise me,

(12:38):
And they're raked twentieth in the nation. Normally it's like
six or seven teams. You're like, one of them is
gonna win the six in a row. Yeah, it's it's parody,
and it's it's at the greatest time. The NCUBAA Tournament is.
You know, when college basketball takes off. Unless you're a

(12:59):
fan of the team, nobody's really watching these college basketball games.
But in March madness, the world is watching. Betting is
at an all time high. People are filling out brackets.
They don't have any idea that if you have to
put five starters on a team to you know, on
i mean on the floor to play against five. But
like they don't know. But it's the pageantry of it all.

(13:22):
It's the excitement of it all. It's why the NFL
went to a super wild Card weekend. They added more
teams because they know, right, whether you're a fan of
the sport or not, it captivates you because the whole
country's talking about to see what are you talking about?
Bracket You want to feel a bracket out? Yeah, it
cost you two dollars, you can win a thousand. Yeah,
I mean, it's doing right. They're just picking off colors,

(13:44):
off mascots, you know what I mean. So fantasy football
did that with the NFL. You had not my you know,
my wife was in the Fantasy Football league, you know,
her friend and and my mother in law, like all
of these things that are outside the actual game help
bring the game up in the forefront. And that's what

(14:09):
you know the Brackett and madness does for college basketball
because you see these these teams and these MIT majors
and they're thirty three and one, and you know they're
sixteen seed. It leads to some of my favorite opinions
in sports every year, which I'll explain. Next, we'll get
to the Jalen Ramsey trade, the quarterback rumors that are

(14:32):
out there as we get ready for free agency as well.
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(14:55):
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(15:37):
We're live on the tirerack dot com studios. But I
don't love it just for the obvious reasons. Yeah, it's urgent,
it's one and done. It's perfect for gambling from low key.
One of my favorite things about this tournament are simply
the things that people say, You're absolutely right. You are

(16:01):
about to hear, no doubt. I guarantee you your office tomorrow,
your family members, whoever it may be, your buddies, your girlfriends,
whoever it is. You are about to hear somebody who
literally has not watched a college basketball game all year
long tell you that they are an expert, because damn it,

(16:21):
there's going there's going to be a twelve that beats
a five e from we just know it. That's the rule.
So everybody's sitting in a circle. Is it gonna be
Oral Roberts or is it gonna be Vcu Or is
it gonna be Sorry Charleston or is it gonna be Drake?
And people will sit around and have opinions. They couldn't

(16:45):
even tell you the mascot or the name of the coach,
and they will have opinions from about how this is
all gonna go even though we know half these games
are coming down to three point buzzer beaters um in
in the final seconds. It's hysterical. I love listening to
people after the brackets come out. Well, that's the greatest

(17:06):
thing because everybody becomes an expert, and uh, there's there.
There's nothing like spirited debate, right when someone is telling you,
informing you of what to look for, what you're not fitting,

(17:27):
what you're not realizing right and and based on based
on the past, and I'm like, wait, what what do
you right? It's my favorite though, because Mike actually here,
I'll give you something that's gonna feel like sort of
serious as a comp um. There's this mystery going on

(17:48):
here in the Bay Area. I don't know how much
you're following it. No one knows what's going on with
Andrew Wiggins been gone for a month and everybody has
reached the right he's just gone, and no one knows.
The team has been so tight lipped. It is quote
unquote a family situation. And as you try to reach
for a playoff spot, fans are now getting to the

(18:09):
point where you can tell, like people starting to shake.
They kind of like, I gotta know, I gotta know
what's going on with this guy, Like why is he out?
And we've talked a little bit about how if this
were an East Coast city, if this were Philly, I
feel like Wiggins would be getting ripped by now because
people would be like, I'm sorry, I can't think of
what it would be that would have you out a month,

(18:31):
Like whatever it is, right, it's taking care of mine now, right.
But in California, we're just like him in you just
you know, it's family situation. It's um. But what happens
and the reason I bring that up right now he
from is when it goes to a certain amount of time,
it's impossible to not have this happen. Little rumors start

(18:55):
coming out, and you'll be sitting at the bar with
the buddy and you know what I heard. I heard
that his girl this, and his son that, and his
mom this and his uncle that. And you're like, you
have no clue what you're talking. You realize that by

(19:15):
definition you're clueless right now. But we can't do it.
People will sit down to the other. So here's what happened.
There's what's going on with Andrew. It's the same thing
when when when Kenny Saw plays Xavier later this week,
you have no clue what the hell is going to go?
You know, we know nothing. I'll will raise my hand,

(19:36):
Kenny Saw, no clue nothing, But I need to have
an opinion. Got to figure it out here by Thursday. Yeah,
what you do is you got to go into it's
a little cheat that I have. You just go into
team stats, right and then you can find you there
won't be clips. You're not you know, you're not gonna
dig deep enough and go watch the clips of Kennesaw.

(19:58):
You know I we happen to play Kennesaw this year,
So a little bit more insight, uh that go, I'll
come on, man, you already know Yeah, Okay, right tournament, man,
I mean you know, I think we had I think
we had a net rating of like twin or something

(20:19):
like that. Yeah, I'm looking at it now. You won
eight fifty four. I got you, okay, right, got so?
Yeah it was actually a couple of days after you
lost to h Saint Mary's. Yeah we shouldn't have lost
that one, man, Yeah, get have lost it. Can't win
them all. I can't win them all. Anyway. You go

(20:39):
into the team stats and then you look at you know,
three point percentage, will do they shoot more threes than twos?
Free throws, rebounds? And then you build your analysts and
your your analytic your analytical view, and your your prognostication
based on how the two teams match up, uh, team wise,

(21:01):
team stat wise, just put you up on game right there.
That's it. That's it. You have a formula. That's it.
Wait say it. I might need that again because I
didn't have a pen out. You go and say it again.
The team stats for the whole seas right right, team
stats for the whole year. God, it is what the

(21:22):
team is there. Won't be surprised if they shoot as
a team twenty four percent from the three They're not
going to all of a sudden shoot eighty percent from
the three the whole tournament. It's not gonna happen. But
is there there's a specific staff that you're looking for
that that indicates school victorious in these games? Well, no,
but it'll give you, um it'll get it will give

(21:44):
you good analysis of what type of team it is
and if they match us with with the other team. Right,
if you work for you in the past, of you
do you beantology every year? Basketball is basketball. It's not
rocket science. I coach kid right now, and I have
to break it down for them to understand it. Right,

(22:04):
Our moniker for our team is if they don't score,
they don't win. At the at the core of at
the core of what you're trying to teach, that is
that is it. If they don't score, they don't win.
Has nothing to do with what you do offensively or anything.
Kids can latch onto that. I you know, I'm coaching
the All Stars nine to ten year olds who we

(22:30):
won our first game against the two time defending champions
yesterday just a double overtime. We won by one point.
Just f y. I want to throw that out there. Well,
for so congratulations. By the way, what was that you
said by one? What was the final score? It was
twenty twenty eight twenty seven twenty okay, so your team

(22:53):
did not live by your mantra though they did let
the other they let them score it that other team huge.
I was like, I need certificates because there's no way
that those two boys are ten years old. Was Daniel
Mante on your team? On them? One of them was
shaved at halftime? Oh gosh, that's amazing. Okay, so good

(23:13):
for you. Yeah, man, we're working on we got we
were undersized, but our kids have heart. Um. I probably
the only girl on my team in the tournament, and uh,
she's the leader of our team. She works harder than anybody,
plays more defense than anybody. You know who she reminds
me of. She reminds me of a guy on our team.

(23:34):
Do anything guy, A lead from the front guy. Right,
It's it's hard to lead from the back. I tell
my kids that, but our guy on our team, he
leads from the front. And that Stephen f the Seger. Wow, yeah,
all becoming half that was it was l last week.

(23:56):
I've updated your brother certificate, I hope. Yeah, it changes
every week, I stopped. I stopped standing in line and
going down to the city every time because it does
change every week. We'll get to the NBA, which is
pretty much just an injury report weekly, but we'll start
with the college hoops because Alabama is the number one
overall seed for the upcoming in SUAA tournament. Abama won
the SEC title today and Alabama will open in Birmingham

(24:19):
on Thursday against a play and winner. The other number
one seeds defending champions Kansas, who got good news at
their coach, Bill Self, who was out this weekend, got
out of the hospital today and is expected back this week.
Houston lost its conference final today but is still a
one seed for the tournament. Houston star Marcus Sassor did
not play today due to a groin injury, produce a

(24:41):
one seed. It won the Big Ten tournament today. Pitt
is in It made it into the first four. It
will play this week against Mississippi State. The final four
will be in Houston. This year. Former LSU coach Will
Wade is the new head coach at McNee State in Louisiana.
He had been suspended and fired at LSU. Now to
the NBA. Damian Lillard out for Portland tonight due to

(25:01):
calf tightness. In the game at New Orleans, Brandon Ingram
of the Pelicans out again with a sprained ankle. It
is Pelicans leading in the third quarter eighty seven to
fifty nine over the Blazers. Trey Murphy twenty seven points
for the Pills. Shay giljis Alexander out for Oklahoma City
with an abdominal strain. OKC though, is getting to play
at San Antonio and leading seventy four sixty five in

(25:24):
the third quarter. A Spurs lost tonight would put their
record at seventeen and fifty on the season. Coming up
in a half an hour the late game, the Lakers
are hosting the New York Knicks. Jalen Brunson, who averages
twenty four points a game for the Knicks, is out
again with a sore foot. Julius Randall went five for
twenty four shooting from the floor without him yesterday in
the game in the same building against the Clippers. Philadelphia

(25:46):
has won its fifth straight game. Down in Washington one
twelve ninety three Joel and b thirty four points. Cleveland
got to win at Charlotte one fourteen one oh eight
and Brooklyn won at Denver today one twenty two, one
twenty despite a triple double another from Nicola Yokich. He
finished with thirty five points, twenty rebounds, and eleven assists.
Luca Donzitch of the MAVs will miss another game tomorrow

(26:08):
with a strain thigh. Kyrie Irving listed as questionable with
a sore foot. Among the eight NHL games, Detroit upset
Boston five three, so the Bruins record now fifty and
ten with five overtime losses. The Rams agreed to trade
Pro Bowl defensive back Jalen Ramsey to the Dolphins. William
Byron won the NASCAR Race in Phoenix. Scottie Scheffler took
the Players Championship by five strokes. And at the World

(26:31):
Baseball Classic, Venezuela is winning again. There's a double header
of it on FS one tonight and in Miami. Venezuela
is up seven one on Puerto Rico. It's only top
of the fourth inning. After this game, at about ten
pm Eastern, it'll be the USA against Mexico. The Americans
won their opener last night. Japan, by the way, is
four and oh now Shohei Otani. This morning, our time

(26:52):
hit a three run homer in the first inning of
a seven one win against Australia. So far, Otani is
six for twelve at the plate with seven walks eight
RBIs this week. That home run today estimated at about
four hundred and fifty feet in the Tokyo. Don't im
back to you. Five hundred million dollars just gonna be
the start. Huh. That's gonna be like, you know how

(27:14):
I like to get into a golf tournament. Your handicap
has to be a certain number. Like you don't even
get to talk to show hey til you've submitted a
five hundred million dollars off, to which the New York
Mets owner says, yeah and yeah exactly, you'd be like, yeah,
here's no salary camp in this league. Your point is gosh, seriously, man,

(27:34):
that guy by the way, as Steve was just talking
about this, Thank you, Steve. I don't know what in
the hot hell is going on in the NBA right
now with the top players. Did you hear what Steve
just said? Yes, So Trailblazers, no Dame, Pelicans, no Ingram,
we know, Lakers, no Lebron, Memphis, no job Dallas, no

(27:56):
Luca Milwaukee last night. No Jannis Phoenix, no kd U
Warriors just got stepped back. Jalen Brunson, no Dice. Do
you know how many teams in the NBA playing with
their best player right now? It feels like maybe three
and at the most important time. Yeah, it's a war

(28:17):
of attrition and and and and these sports are once
you can get down past the all Star break for
for football, excuse me for basketball. Uh and once you
get past the halfway point in football, it becomes a
war of attrition. It's a situation where you know you

(28:40):
you feel like you know who's going to be the
healthiest running into the playoffs. Teams are conscious of that.
So if there's anything wrong with a with A with
your top tier guy, you're you're your one A guy,
then they're going to rest them. They're gonna make sure

(29:02):
they make sure they're they're available. And with the log
jam and the standings for the NBA, you know you
can take a game or two because everybody so close
right the teams that are up top, they have a
far enough advantage to where you know, Milwaukee can go

(29:24):
without Janis for however long. Denver can sit like the
teams that are thirty two wins to thirty six wins
on the Western Conference. Those are the ones jockey in position.
And if you're healthy and you're one of those teams,
then you can fly up the leaderboard. And that's what
we're gonna see happen, no doubt. Although that's I mean,

(29:46):
I could look at that both ways, which is like,
if you are one of these log jam teams, how
on earth if anybody's questionable, I would think you'd be very,
very tempted to put that guy in there because you
lose one game right now, you could get to the
end of the month and realize that is the one
game that left you on the outside looking in. It's

(30:07):
so packed in right now to where you know, Steve
was just mentioning the Pelicans they're going to win tonight,
which is going to push them right back into a
tie for the ten seed. But right now they sit
at the eleven seed. There are three games out of
the five seed. I mean, every game matters so much

(30:28):
in this Western Conference, and that war of attrition. Here's
what I think is the bigger issue. What seems to
be intelligent in the NBA is also working against its
entertainment value. It is a war of attrition, and the
Warriors last year were a great example of woof Just

(30:48):
get everybody healthy right at the right time and start
the playoffs and bang, go win a championship. Well that
works to me directly against the idea of entertainment and
urgency in the regular season, because if everybody now is
going to say, look, when in doubt, set it out

(31:09):
and we'll just wait for the playoffs, well, then what
the hell am I doing here watching League Pass in February?
You know what I mean? Yeah? Yeah, And you bring
up a good point, but the bottom line is the
last thing you want is someone out of the playoffs,
as Golden State with KD, right as Brooklyn when they
lost KD they had Kyrie was like asked the teams

(31:34):
that are you know, favorites are going into something. This
thing that just happened to Kevin Durant with Phoenix that
was crazy. But but I know Phoenix is saying to themselves,
thank goodness had happened now, Thank goodness had happened now,
because in a month and a half, if it happens,

(31:58):
oh we got problems. You can get KD back. If
it happens in the playoffs first round, second round, we
saw what that happens to a team that Katie depended
on KD It's gonna go all bad and any other
of these teams. The thing I'm I'm excited about and

(32:21):
a bit of a homer here, The thing I'm excited
about about the Lakers is they're playing young, fast basketball.
Lebron James is not on the court slowing the tempo down.
When Lebron James comes back, he can now not have
to play forty minutes a game, thirty eight minutes a game,

(32:43):
because you know you can survive with long stretches of
him not being available or him not being in the game.
But will he and Darvin Ham make that decision which
you have to You have to trust me, Lebron at
your twenty Lebron James absolutely knows. He absolutely knows that
his worth is in the playoff series. Sure, when teams

(33:04):
are going against coming down to stretch. If the Lakers
continue on the trajectory that they're on right now, there
is no rush for Lebron to come back. Prior to
the last seven games of the year, I feel you.
I feel you. However, entering a big presence into a
lineup is more challenging than one might think. And they're
all examples. No, I get it, but there are examples

(33:27):
all over the league which we can get to. Coming
up next Livetirack dot Com Studios. We continue plus NFL
Free Agency, Jalen Ramsey Trade, Bears, Panthers, trade, all of
that coming up right around the bend with you from Salam.
Mark Wellard on Fox Sports Radio. Okay, y'all on Selection Sunday,

(33:48):
NFL Free Agency upon us. The Lamar Jackson situation still
not figured out, and it doesn't seem like it will
be anytime soon. Or maybe it will be sometime soon,
but no rumors know nothing right now, Mark Willard a
from Salam brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes
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(34:12):
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I just want to take the opportunity, which what you
were saying about Lebron and like when he comes back,
figure out the minutes, but you know you don't want
kind of his style to take over they're playing a young,

(34:32):
free defense first style right now with the Lakers, it's working.
All of that said, you know how we were joking
earlier about the whole like March madness brings out all
of the opinions from people who know nothing about any
of these teams. Here's another one that I would love
to throw out there. Like the Grizzlies, now two years

(34:53):
in a row, have done some interesting things without John Morant.
The Lakers on an nice little run without Lebron. The
Warriors recently went on a five game win streak without Steph.
He came back, they lost three in a row. But
people keep falling into the same trend. There's always that

(35:14):
person who's like, you know what I think, I think,
I think, I think I believe that. I mean, look
at it. The Lakers. They were the thirteen seed when
Lebron got hurt, and now they're the nine. I've got
a hot take. I think the Lakers are better without Lebron.

(35:37):
If if these I just want to help people, call
this a PSA. If you want to from if these
thoughts go through your head, I know a good therapist. Well,
if they go through your head, walk over to a
piano put your hand down. I slammed it. Slammed the
key cover on your hand to snap you out of it.
It's easy. That's that's that's that's a clickbait type of

(36:00):
situation right in your own mind. Your own mind is
tricking you into clicking on something and going down the
rabbit hole. I mean, Lebron James is arguably one of
the top two players to ever play the basketball. He
was averaging thirty five points a game and you're twenty

(36:22):
like just the ration. Now in that does Lebron play
the same type of defense he used to know? That's
why they got younger and longer, because now Lebron can rest,
they can switch things. So now when it comes down
to it in the fourth quarter when you need the

(36:42):
game to be taking the Lakers didn't bring a bunch
of superstars in. They bought role players. And you know
what role players. You know what role players can do.
They can play with the superstar. That's why they're role players.
They can play the role so you're not bringing in
a star and trying to cram them in. Look what

(37:04):
the Clippers are doing with Westbrook, that's a different situation.
They're going to have more headache because eventually Westbrook is
going to be Westbrook. We all saw what that played
out to be. And so when you have like Vanderbilt
doesn't need, Vanderbilt doesn't need eight touches a game, nine

(37:27):
touches a game right between Shrewder and D'Angelo russ Like,
they're tremendous it running the point. They'll set you up
and they can hit, they can knock down the open threes.
What we saw D'Angelo Russell with nuts. He was in
his bag the last game from three and that's what
they needed. Yeah, they look intuitive now. And what I

(37:49):
mean by that is you can tell like teams get,
especially in this player empowerment age, teams get puzzle pieced
together all the time, and we tend to get excited
when the names are big. And I'm not going to
say that that doesn't work, obviously, there are a bunch
of examples where it does. However, when it really works

(38:12):
is when all the stuff you're not excited about is
blending together as well. Because I also have a ton
of examples Brooklyn Nets, the Dwight Howard Lakers. You can
bring your names together and it doesn't necessarily work. It's
got to be intuitive. The pieces need to fit. You

(38:32):
keep using the word roles. That's good that They've got
to know your roles. You got to be able to
execute it. You got to be a good team. When
the stars go sit down and the second unit comes in,
I'll give it to the Lakers. Man. Right now, they
look like, I know everyone's gonna focus on KD. Kyrie.
I like what the Lakers did at the deadline, all right,
it was unbelievable. They addressed the real needs did they had.

(38:58):
They didn't do the splashy thing right, Let's not forget
they Rory right bringing him in right another stretch three four?
Who can play defense? Who can knock down the open shot? Like?
They made moves that gave themselves a chance this year.

(39:21):
And they didn't go for flash. They didn't go for
the buyout market like a lot of teams get trapped
into that buyout market and bring somebody in who's who
can give you twenty five. They don't need that, they
don't need that. They needed to play defense, and they
needed to be able to hit the open jumper, the
open three, and that's what they did. Love it. It's

(39:44):
so crazy, man too, because any of these teams that's
kind of scratch and claw their way in, whether it's
the Lakers or Warriors, whatever, you still got to get
buy the teams at the top. But the top is
just like, I mean, it's Denver really gonna win the West?
Are there the Baby Kings ready to do? This? Is
John Moramp going to be back and playing for the
Memphis Grizzlies? Is KD back? Like the whole dang thing

(40:07):
is now just so incredibly wide open. All Right, we
get to NFL free agency, Jalen, Ramsey, Lamar, Aaron Rodgers
and Moore coming up next. Yeah, and I'd say it's
all about brackets, and for many of us it is. Today. However,
it's it's not all about brackets, because what an interesting
time of year with NFL free agency upon us, trades,

(40:30):
rumors and more. World Baseball Classic Spring training continues, all
of it. We'll tell you about the Fox Sports Radio
Bracket Challenge in just a second. It's Mark Witherney from
Salon broadcasting live from the tirerack dot Com studios tirack
dot Com. We'll help you get there an unmatched selection, fast,
free shipping, free road hazard protection, and over ten thousand

(40:50):
recommended installers tirerack dot com. The way tire biding should
be I from. I never believed it. I never believed
for one second that the Bears were going to do
something different quarterback than Justin Fields. I think that that
was a smoke screen from the beginning. And I absolutely
love what the Bears did with this trade. To hip

(41:14):
hop it over to the Carolina Panthers, grab a bunch
of picks. You're still high in the first round. You're
finally gonna get a credible number one wide receiver over there.
With the Bears, I thought they checked all the boxes
and they may not be done yet. They got better

(41:34):
and they're going to especially depending on how they draft.
Let me let me rephrase that they potentially got better.
Sure we know how much they need. The cupboard's pretty
bare over there, and to dump everything on the shoulders

(41:55):
of Justin Fields just wasn't fair. And so they addressing
a lot of needs with this trade. Right, didn't need
a quarterback, didn't want to draft someone that they can
get at nine. You know, well with the first pick.
This is how you get better. This is how in

(42:16):
two years, we're having a different conversation about your your
football team. Well, and remember they've got a ton of
cap space. So that's what I mean by not done yet. Like,
if you want a prediction, what what time does free agency?
When does the window open? It's middow off the top
of your head, and it's midnight. Okay, so you're gonna
wake up to Mike McGlinchey being the right tackle of

(42:37):
the Chicago Bears. Prediction And is that a game changer?
I don't know. He's good, he's very good, but he's
not coming back to forty nine ers. I think he's
gonna end up with the Bears. I think he's gonna
get a big contract, and so I think what the
Bears are gonna do next is go to work on
the position that's near and dear to your heart, which

(42:57):
is now you've got Justin Fields a receiver, and now
we got to protect him, and we know what he
can do running the football. I don't think they realize
that until about week five this year, where they're like, oh,
he's not just good, he's like special, And so you
start to put those pieces together and yeah, for sure,
this is still all kinds of maybes, but this is

(43:21):
one of the I mean, it feels like the Bears
are are on the right track, maybe for the first
time in a long time. Yeah, and it's exciting. Bears
fans should be very exciting. And yeah, getting better starts
with the offensive line. I mean, look at the history
of the league, look at the history of great quarterbacks.
If you can't protect him, I don't care who you have,

(43:43):
there's a problem. Ask Patrick Mahomes, ask but anybody, right,
if you can't protect your quarterback, he can't get better.
Bad habits are developed. It's just it's too much and

(44:05):
them addressing that need at midnight and then going and
filling out that roster, using that cap space that they
have to get better and give Justin Fields an opportunity
to become the quarterback you thought he could become when
you picked him in the first round. Yeah. I also
think the Bears now, and this is for better for worse.
They become one of the teams in the NFL that's

(44:27):
all in on their quarterback. I don't think you can
win unless you're one of those teams, and they weren't.
And sometimes being all in on your quarterback is a stake.
I'm not saying just go all in on anybody, but
you have to at least fake it till you make it.
I don't know if the New York Giants are all
in on Daniel Jones, but they act and like it,

(44:48):
so go win. You can't like, give me the last
team to win a super Bowl. And it was like,
do we like him? We think we like him. He's
kind of good and like And that's where the Bears were,
especially with all those rumors out there. Look what the
Raiders just did with Derek Carry. This is somebody somebody

(45:09):
your trash, someone else's treasure. But they weren't all in
and it just doesn't work. So I don't know, it
doesn't make it the right move, but I do think
you have to join that party before you can win
in the NFL. You've got to at least act like
your quarterback has to think that you love him. What

(45:29):
it does is it allows you to be able to
create a team that can compete. Now, if you don't
have the quarterback right, then your you can put a
team together to when you get that final piece right.
Look what Tampa Bay did. Jameis Winston wasn't the right

(45:51):
fit there. They couldn't get over the hump there, so
they put a team together that was ready to compete,
and then Tom Brady comes in, they win the Super Bowl.
The Rams did the same thing. This is the formula.
Now two teams have done it in a row, right
outside of having Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow. Right like you,

(46:15):
this is what you have to do. You have to
build the team and then now when you're there and
you can compete, if the quarterback isn't where you want
them to be, now you can address that. But you
can't do it the other way. All right, Tom Brady
goes to Tampa Bay and they can't block and they

(46:35):
don't have any weapons, right saying for Matthew Stafford, gonna work, Yeah,
not gonna work. Not gonna work. However I do in
Matthew Stafford, we got to talk about this in just
a second, because you're not wrong. I'm in full agreement
with what you're saying. I just think there's also an
emotional aspect of it. You're talking X and os, you're
talking smart football. I think that there is a big

(47:00):
there's a big factor with every NFL team, which is
that the quarterback has to feel loved supported. You can
call them mental midgets if you want, because of this,
but it's got to be that way. And take a
look around the league. I mean, look how sensitive Derek
Carr looked when it was like, you know, we're looking
at go in a different direction, and now we're going

(47:22):
to ask you to leave the building because we don't
feel good about you even being here now that we've
showed you the lack of love. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers,
same thing to a degree. How about Lamar Jackson and
the Ravens. I bet Lamar has had one hell of

(47:42):
a contract to put in front of him, But at
a certain point, it's not about that number which will
make you a rich man for the rest of your
life and then your kids and your kids kids and
your kids kids. It's it's about you've got to show
me that I am your guy, and I'm the guy

(48:04):
that I've shown this league I am, and you've got
to You've got to be right there with me, or
else the relationship is gonna have a hard time. Everybody
wants to feel wanted in life at home, in relationships
at work. Everybody wants to feel needed. Right. Why do

(48:30):
you think depression is so rampant? Why do you think
anxiety and all of these thinks. Everybody wants to feel safe,
and if you don't feel like that it's your place
of work, then how can you be the best you
you can be? Just because they're athletes, that doesn't make

(48:53):
them void of human emotion, human want, human desire. And
sometimes on the outside looking in we think that we
feel like, oh, you're getting paid, you're not supposed to
be affected by these things. Well, they wouldn't. We wouldn't
be human, right, So this notion of they're paying you

(49:18):
fifteen million dollars twenty thirty million dollars a year, get
over it. That's not a human notion. That's a robot.
And so, yeah, if you're in the building and you
don't feel wanted as a quarterback, no matter how hard
you try to do what you do and perform and

(49:41):
be the professional, it's very difficult to do it. It's
like being in an abusive relationship, right, verbally, physically, any
of those things. You can't be the best you you
can be because you're always looking over your shoulder. Anything

(50:02):
you do, you think is it good enough? And speaking
as speaking of quarterbacks who maybe are that recipe and
maybe have now repeatedly gone through the process of not
being wanted, we got to get to a rumor about
one of them coming up next. And we will also

(50:25):
want to remind you be sure to join Fox Sports
Radio's Million Dollar Bracket Challenge. That's right, it's the million
Dollar Bracket Challenge. If you fill out a perfect bracket
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, that's it. You will
win one million dollars and you can compete against Fox

(50:45):
Sports Radio hosts and fellow listeners. At the same time.
The listener who finishes in first place will win a
prize pack. This is if obviously nobody gets that one million, well,
it's not all for not listen to this. If you
finish in first le can see box forty item trunk
valued at nearly twelve hundred dollars to turn old family

(51:06):
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(51:28):
All in all, it's a prize package that is valued
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now now that they're ready to go at Fox sports
radio dot Com. You've got until noon Eastern on Thursday,
but you've been staring at the bracket all afternoon anyway,
So don't wait Fox Sports Radio dot Com to fill
out your bracket and to get official rules. It seems

(51:52):
the rumors about one quarterback are starting to point to
one particular team. Would tell you who we're talking about.
Coming up next, we'll also see if we can get
from his attention for the rest of the show. Is
the Nixon Lakers? Get ready to tip off? This is
Fox Sports Radio all right, continuing on a big night.
As we mentioned, it's March madness. It's NFL free agency

(52:16):
about to begin down the stretch. They come here in
the NBA and I'm not kid man, or are you
gonna be able to uh? Are you gonna be able
to focus? Uh? Yeah, exactly what you said? Are you
talking to me? It's the Julius Randall bull man. Are
you okay? He turned into a pretty good player? Man?

(52:41):
He did? He did? It? Is wild? I mean god, Lee,
you know you look at you look at all the
characters who sort of were a part of that whole show.
D'Angelo Russell has been a part of both sides of it,
like drafted by the Lakers. But then comes back around
for this version and you know they've won, they won

(53:03):
the championship during the pandemic. They they're they're on an
uptick right now. I mean it hasn't really resonated fully yet,
but they're they're intriguing again. Yet those players that they
had that they moved on from because they were like,
may you know, who knows if they're going to turn
into something the Julius Randalls and the Brandon Ingram's of

(53:25):
the world they have Now that you know that usually
bites you, And I guess you could make the case
that it has. I don't know, what do you think,
go back and do it all over again? Would you
still move on from those guys? Well, what happened is
you got a championship, right, So anytime you win a
championship off a move you've made, then the move is

(53:46):
worth it. You know how hard it is to win
a championship in any sport, So if you can get
one of those, then it was worth it. Now, normally,
when you mortgage the future for the present. Then when
you're rewarded, it takes time after that. We see it

(54:06):
with the Rams, right, we see it's Tampa Bay. We
see it with the Laker like this is what happens.
But the Lakers aren't an organization that wants to go
to the playoffs. They're an organization with the expectation of
winning championships. So, yeah, you do it again, Brandon Ingram,

(54:27):
good player, Lonzo Ball turned into a good player, may
not ever play again, Yeah, you know. But the bottom
line is, if you don't get Lebron and Anthony Davis,
do you have a championship with Brandon Ingram. When they

(54:48):
won the championship, they were the top five players in
the league. Both of them were All NBA. How many
times Brandon Ingram been All NBA? Right, so you gotta
look at it. How many times says Lunzel Ball been
in all NBA? You gotta you gotta look at it
like that. Has Julius Randall been All NBA? Now quite,

(55:12):
they've been All Stars. But we're talking about the best
of the best, the best five players, And in that
championship year we had the Lakers had two of the
best five players in the NBA. Of course you make
that you do it again. Of course we're live from
the Tirak dot com studios. And oh, by the way,

(55:32):
at the end of your first year, Discover credit cards
automatically double all the cash back you've earned. That's right,
everything you've earned doubled. Seriously see terms and check it
out for yourself at Discover dot com. Slash Match. Yeah, man,
it's like you bring up the Rams as a comp
and this one's fascinating to me in all kinds of directions.
And I know what you just said, sounds like inc

(55:55):
on the paper. You win a championship, then yes, it
was the right move. And so I can't argue the
way the Rams went about their business when it came
to the Matt Staffords and the Jalen Ramsey's of the world,
even Odell Beckham. It was playing a game of we've
heard of you. If we've heard of you, we want you.
And this seemed like the Rams had a fountain under

(56:15):
the cap. I don't know how they did it, but
they gave away all of their draft picks every year
to get people you've heard of and they won that ring.
I do wonder with them, though, because there is one,
I guess minor exception to what you're saying. I've always
said this as a fan. If you asked me, would
you make this trade? Will give you one ring, but

(56:36):
then the next decade is going to be filled with irrelevance, boredom,
lack of competition. I don't actually know if i'd make
that trade. I do not want it to go that long,
and I'm not saying it will with the Rams, but
holy hell, I'm so shocked that Sean McVeigh decided to stay.

(57:01):
I really thought they were going into a rebuild and
that's why he'd leave, and then he stayed. But it
looks like a rebuild. There goes Jalen Ramsey. Matt Stafford
might be next. I mean, well, let me let me
just in my opinion, let me just shed some light
on what I blow they're doing fire away. So, who

(57:22):
would be the number one pick in the draft next
next year, whether they played this year or not in college?
Who would be the number one uber one? Are you
talking about like if if anybody could be in there,
or you're talking about players who are actually players. You're

(57:43):
talking about Caleb Williams. He plays in Los Angeles Kelly.
He plays in the Big Ten. He's not kidding. He
plays in plays in Los Angeles, California. Okay, So if
you had it, uh an opportunity to get Caleb Williams,

(58:04):
would you do it? Yeah? Okay? Would you do it
in the market he's playing in currently and has the
highest value in that market? Yes? So if that were
the plan, and I'm just saying if I don't know this,

(58:25):
you know really, but if that were the plan, then
you would have to start working on that now. Correct.
You can't wait to the middle of the season or
the next offseason to start working on that. So you
have to start were If that were your plan, you
would have to to map that out step by step,

(58:47):
and it may look a little something like we're seeing
from the rams right now. That feels like a tough
game to play. It is to play, But get what
you're saying. But listen, and I was let me tell
you that it's a tough game to play. But look
at the other side of that coin. If you do

(59:08):
if you don't play that game, then you're rivaling in mediocrity,
which gets you nothing. Sure, So would you take your
chances with a plan? Are you going to just you know, well,
you know, let's just figure it out. Hey, I feel you,
But again, dangerous game to play because way less than

(59:31):
a fifty fifty proposition and if it doesn't work, I
know this will sound weird you from but I'll take
mediocrity over junk. Yeah. But what happens is you clear
you clear up cap space. This is Los Angeles, Okay, Yeah,
this is a la Okay. You know, people always a
white Lakers always get the yes. It's a reason this

(59:53):
is Los Angeles. Most of the guys have houses here
in the off season. Everything you want to do as
an athlete, you get to do it in Los Angeles.
So you put yourself in a position that the market
is here, it's built in, the weather's great, the city's great,

(01:00:19):
this is this is what you want. So that's always
been a plus in terms of of of of marketing
to free agents. Yeah, no, I get that feels like
it's gonna take a minute. Man, It's gonna take a minute.

(01:00:39):
It's gonna take a minute. But if you can get
that guy, good lord. Are you surprised though that McVeigh
stayed for this? Um? That's what That's what gets me.
You know what I mean, like, for instance, I give
you a company. I mentioned this on on my show
last week. I like Bob Myer, the GM of the

(01:01:00):
Golden State Warriors, is mysteriously without a contract right now
after this year, and the discussion is really about what
does he want to do. He's still a young guy.
He's been fantastic, feel like he could write his own
ticket in the NBA, all the same things you would
say about McVeigh, but he hasn't signed on for future years.

(01:01:23):
And my thought is, I don't know if he wants
to be around, because there's a very good chance that
sometime here, pretty soon, maybe really soon, some sort of
rebuild action is going to happen. Does he want to
be around for that? I don't know that. The same
question about Sean McVeigh, and I know what I thought

(01:01:43):
he would do, and he did the opposite. Yeah, I think,
you know, opportunities are so bound that the TV money
is so crazy in terms of you know, for gms
and for coaches and the players, the money is so
great without distress. It's a stressful situation coaching running a team,

(01:02:08):
but like it'll take years off you. But if I
could make comparable money and I don't have to do
just talk about it, right. I mean, that's a valuable option,
and they're bidding wars because there's so many channels. Yep.
I mean, so it's changing the landscape of front office personnel,
the stuff that Amazon was handing out. You watched Gruden

(01:02:31):
do it for years, finally worked him back to coaching,
and within ten seconds people are going through emails and
see you later. You know, career possibly over. I mean,
that's his own fault, but you get what I'm saying.
I not get what you're saying. The stress and pressure
is at a very very different level. So why not

(01:02:53):
take the bag, work a couple of days a week
and and move on. If you get the itch in
five years, go back, take the bag and work a
few days a week. You just described the decision that
Steve de Seger has made with his life and career repeatedly.

(01:03:14):
Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome in the third member of
our team and find out what's trending. We'll just go
to the programming note Shelby. First off, because FSA has
a double header of World Baseball Classic tonight, and right now,
Venezuela is up nine two on Puerto Rico, bottom of
the sixth All Star catcher Salvador Perez went four for
four with five RBIs. After this, it'll be the USA

(01:03:35):
in its second game of this first round of the tournament,
playing in Arizona. The Americans against Mexico tonight, and yet again,
it's batting one two in the lineup for the USA,
Mookie Bets and Mike Trout, and then the two Cardinals
Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Erronado, and then Pete Alonzo who didn't
play at all last night DH from the Mets. It's
a pretty good starting lineup. They don't have the pitching

(01:03:56):
Japan does, but my goodness, it's a great light up.
US plays Monday nights, also at ten pm Eastern on
FS one, against Canada from Arizona. Well, North Carolina Basketball
has announced it will not go to the NT tournaments.
They're not even selecting that field for another half hour
or so, but Carolina was not selected for the NCAA's Today.
UNC went fifteen and thirteen after its five and oh

(01:04:19):
non conference start. The final four will be in Houston
this year. It'll be in Phoenix next year. By the way,
thirty one teams got automatic bids through this weekend. Thirty
seven got in it at large team and well. The
field has been announced and in college hoops, Alabama is
the number one overall seed for the NCAA Attorney Bama
won the SEC title today. Alabama will open in Birmingham

(01:04:41):
on Thursday against a play in winner. The other one
seeds include defending champion Kansas. Also, Houston's a number one seed,
it lost its conference final today. Houston star Marcus Sasser
did not play today due to a groin injury, produce
a one seed after winning the Big Ten today, it
held on against Penn State sixty seven sixty five, whose
first round game is Friday night against the play in winner.

(01:05:03):
Penn State opens late Thursday against Texas A and M,
which was easily drubbed by Obama today. Pitt is in
the first four late Tuesday night against Mississippi State. That
play and winner will then face Siowa State on Friday afternoon,
and Arizona State is in it will be in a
Wednesday night playing against Nevada. That game's winner will then
get the last game on Friday night after ten pm

(01:05:24):
Eastern against TCU to the NBA. The late game is
underway in LA. It's the Lakers leading late first quarter
against the Next twenty four to twenty one. De'angelo Russell
already thirteen points for LA. Brooklyn won at Denver today
one twenty two, one twenty despite a triple double from
Nicola Yokich. Philadelphia won its fifth straight game, beating up

(01:05:44):
Washington one twelve ninety three. Joel and beat thirty four
points wins for New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and Cleveland. Scottie
Scheffler took the Players Championship by five strokes, and he
moves back to number one in the world. Scheffler earns
four point five million dollars. His season total already is
over ten million dollars, and the first Major is still

(01:06:06):
a month away. Scottie Scheffler in the last two seasons
has won about twenty five million dollars. That's just in winnings.
William Byron took the NASCAR race in Phoenix, and the
Rams agreed to trade Pro Bowl defensive back Jalen Ramsey
to the Dolphins. It'll happen on Wednesday when the league
year officially begins. Back to you, Steve, great staff, Thank

(01:06:27):
you so much. We're live in the tire rack dot
Com studios, also brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive
makes buddling easy and affordable. Get a multi policy discount
by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat, a TV and more
all your protection in one place. Bundle and save at
Progressive dot Com. I had mentioned that quarterback that is

(01:06:48):
now rumored to be headed in a certain place. You know,
it's so interesting we talk about quarterback needs to feel wanted,
needs to feel that backing. And at the same time,
the team does not want to sign up for mediocrity,
but there are not enough quarterbacks to go around, so
some of them. You have to make that choice, do

(01:07:10):
we want to sign up for mediocrity or do we
want to go full rebuild. The Tampa Bay Bucks and
Baker Mayfield sound like they've got a lot of smoke.
There's a lot going on between those two, and I wonder.
I mean, obviously, the Panthers are now going to go young.
The Saints are gonna throw Baker Mayfield at you. I can't,

(01:07:32):
for the life of me figure out why the Falcons
don't want Lamar Jackson, and so maybe Baker Mayfield is
enough for the Tampa Bay Bucks to compete. But I
think you've got to be the right locker room to
welcome him into it, because what do we got now
he's worn three jerseys in the last year. I don't

(01:07:54):
know where are you at on that idea. Well, I mean,
it's the easiest route for him because there's no true
quarterback in that division outside of you know, Derek Carr
coming over to the Saints, but other than that Atlanta Carolina.
We'll see how the Derek Carr thing works. And like well,

(01:08:16):
so if he was looking to try and continue to start,
I don't believe he's a starter in this league anymore.
I think Baker Mayfield is what what we've seen. Um. So,
he's a stop gap player, right, He's a stop gap
player for for Tampa Bay. They may be able to

(01:08:39):
string enough along with a decent team around him to
sneak out and win in this division. Um because there
is no true leader in that division in terms of
talented signal callers. Yep, it's it makes sense to you

(01:09:02):
figure out what you can and can't do for the
quarterback for the next ten years or so. I try
to figure out what these quarterbacks are gonna get. Man
if Daniel Jones is rocking forty million a year and
Gino Smith is getting thirty five? What is Baker getting?
What's Jimmy Garoppolo getting? Oh, I mean it's not gonna be.

(01:09:26):
You know, Jimmy probably makes the most out of any
of them just because he's going north of forty. I mean,
I mean, Derek Carr got thirty seven and a half,
and that's always that's always a fun cop. Derek Carr,
Jimmy Garoppolo. Who would you take? Who would you say? Who?

(01:09:47):
I would take? Jimmy Garoppolo? I would too. But I
also feel like, you know, is that shaded a little
bit because what we've mainly seen from him is hanging
out into Kyle Shannahan offense while Derek carrs got all
kinds of revolving tours going through his career. Well, I
get it, but it wasn't always he wasn't always into

(01:10:07):
Colle Jenahan offense and had success. Wow. So that's I mean, well,
you put games, yeah, but it was more than that.
What it was what three games New England? Yeah? But yeah, whatever,
But what but listen to what I'm saying is what
you saw traveled. There's the difference what you saw traveled.
So if he would have showed up to San Francisco

(01:10:27):
and it was like, oh, that's not what we wanted,
then you get. But what you saw, what he put
on tape, what he's what you saw and in New
England is what showed up in San Francisco. What he
won the first nine games he started in or something
like that. Uh, three in in in New England and

(01:10:47):
then right six in San Francisco. Yeah, yeah, okay, I'll
sign me up, sign me up for that. So I
believe that's a situation where you know, a team believes
that they can get into the postseason and go deep

(01:11:08):
with a Jimmy Garoppolo. I don't know what other quarterback
out of the ones you mentioned has that same type
of belief in them. Definitely not Baker Mayfield, Right. Do
you feel that way about Derek Carr with all the
weapons he had in Oakland? Running game, dynamic receiver, tighty Like?

(01:11:33):
I don't. But the NFC is so seemingly like devoid
of high level quarterbacking right now that you know, I mean,
they're right now, they're definitely the favorite to win a
division and get a home game. Yeah, the New Orleans Saints,
right are, Yes, it's gonna be interesting. I think Jimmy's
gonna end up on the Raiders. I think Aaron's gonna

(01:11:57):
end up on the Jets. And I guess I'll predict
that Lamar and the Ravens are going to figure it out.
But that one is just screaming collusion. Don't you agree
with that? Yeah? Okay, let you know what we should
get into that a little bit coming up next and
we will that see from Salama Mark Weather in his

(01:12:18):
Fox Sports Radio help me figure this out. Brother, like
truly helped me figure this out. We call it the
most important position in all of sports. Correct. Yes, you
and I have talked about there are organizations that have

(01:12:41):
been looking since I was born. We were talking about
the Bears earlier, kind of looking for a QB one
that the you know, guy they really love from my
whole life and and I'm less than two years away

(01:13:01):
from my fiftieth birthday. Okay, So when you've got a
guy that no one with a brain between his or
her ears, nobody would tell you anything other than Lamar
Jackson is at minimum a top six or seven player
in this league at the quarterback position. How are you

(01:13:26):
going to have a line of teams who all reportedly
are quote not interested. How's this possible? I mean, this
is this is the opportunity that everyone has been waiting for,
in some cases for a generation. And I'm supposed to
believe that that because you're gonna have to forfeit two

(01:13:53):
first round draft picks. I mean, everybody else has been
forfeiting two first round draft picks for an idea like, ah, well,
you know we'll move up and take someone we've never
seen before. You're gonna make someone available who is guaranteed
to be a top six seven player at the quarterback position,

(01:14:14):
and you won't give up two ones for him? Or
could it be possible that all of those billionaires can't
stand the Deshaun Watson contract to such a level that
they have all called one another and said, you know what,
it is, time for a line in the sand. You
tell me which sounds more likely the latter? Uh huh. Look, man,

(01:14:39):
if I would have Jet, if I were Washington, if
I were Pittsburgh, if I were Houston, Indianapolis, Tennessee, lost

(01:15:02):
the Vegas, Seattle, Carolina, Atlanta, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, I
would Chicago in Minnesota, even Minnesota right right? Hell, Green Bay? Why,

(01:15:25):
thank you? I would be lining up to give away
two first round draft picks for Lamar Jackson and garm
TM two hundred million dollars because you immediately raise the
value of your franchise, the Jets. On a plane out
here talking to Aaron Rodgers, I'm like, I don't need

(01:15:47):
that headache. I don't want that headache. Wherever Lamar is,
that's where we're gonna be. Hell, Lamar, you want the
jet right right? So to me, it's just someone that
young with with that amount of talent. Thank you? What
is he still twenty six? Goodness? I don't I don't understand.

(01:16:12):
I don't understand. We're like, this is the stuff everyone
waits for, and here it is. Yeah, from what I don't,
I don't, especially if I'm an NFC team. Oh my god.
The second I make the deal, one of the three

(01:16:34):
favorites to go to the Super Bowl, you're telling me
the Atlanta Falcons, the Carolina Panthers decided they'd like to
go get a concept. Okay, Like I think it's odd,
but you're clearly in a rebuild. We saw that Christian
McCaffrey dj Moore dot dot dot. I get it, But

(01:16:54):
Atlanta Falcons, I don't what what you're too. I I
don't understand you. You you sit right next to the
Eagles and forty nine ers his favorites. The second you
make the deal, the second you make the deal, Washington Commanders,
what are you waiting for? You? Here's Dak Prescott and

(01:17:21):
the Cowboys. Jones is getting broke off forty million dollars.
The Eagles went to the Super Bowl and almost won
the thing. And you're like, yeah, we got this guy
named Sam check them out. No, I don't get it.
I don't know. And it's weird to me how many

(01:17:41):
people are like, yeah, you know, that's a pretty steep price.
What if I put Patrick Mahomes on the market, what
would you pay? And this is this is four fifths
of that? Is it not? At least? It just doesn't
make sense to me. I don't get it. So you
could say what you want. Obviously, owners aren't happy with

(01:18:06):
that guaranteed money, that price tag, and they're fighting back.
They're fighting back. We did, we see it, We see
what's happening. So you can't tell me, oh no, no, no, no,
that's not what this is well, what is it? Then?
What is it? Mark Jackson doesn't have that type of value?

(01:18:32):
What my my favorite answer people, well, this running thing,
he could get hurt, so we don't want to get Okay,
So what you're telling me your point is you sat down,
you thought about it, you got a pen and paper out,
and you've decided that NFL teams don't want to play

(01:18:54):
one of the elite players in the league because he
could quote, now, this is football, could get hurt. That's
crazy to got it, got it, got it is here.
I was running around thinking that that was just part
of the deal because it's football. I mean, Jalen Hurts

(01:19:17):
is running eleven times a game, is going to the
super Bowl. I don't know about this running thing because
super dangerous. We don't want danger in football. I don't know, man.
The only question I got, I guess is that I
don't know what Lamar's asking for. Maybe you said two
hundred million guaranteed. Maybe that's not enough. May right, all right,

(01:19:45):
more to say on that. The job Morant situation has
sort of taken a turn as well. More on that
next all right, it is selection Sunday. We'll circle back
to the brackets as well. We should talk about it
some because what do we know about all you out there,
all you bracket fans. You don't know nothing. Neither do we.

(01:20:06):
Let's be honest. You have watched zero San Diego State
games this year unless you're eat from. Unless you're eat from.
Uh And I've caught that program now for a handful
of years for sure. But we'll get into the bracketology
if you will. We've not gotten too deep into Aaron
Rodgers yet either. That is around the corner as we

(01:20:27):
broadcast live from the tirac dot com studios. Tirac dot
com will help you get there on that selection fast,
free shipping, free road hazard protection and over ten thousand
recommended installers. Tirac dot com the way tire buying should be.
But I wanted to throw this at you, man. Did
you notice the change in the tone around the jaw

(01:20:49):
Morant situation terms of where it was a week ago
and now suddenly where it is now? Because earlier and
the first time we talked about this, it was like, oh,
jobs got a good PR person and I'm glad he's
signed off on this. It was just straight I'm going
to apologize. I need to step away from the team

(01:21:12):
and get right and find some new ways to deal
with stress, and we'll see you later. And that was
a rap. And then the ad minimum two games turned
into a minimum six games. And then all of a sudden,
yesterday the head coach, Taylor Jenkins, started talking openly about
the John Moran situation, and I went, oh, what sounded

(01:21:33):
like a leave of absence suddenly to me turned into
a suspension. Now I know he's still gonna get paid,
but quote, we've had conversations in the past trying to
guide him and help him continue to evolve as a
person and a player. Obviously this came to a head

(01:21:54):
the other day, so we put this process into action.
He continues, there are definitely steps that are going to
have to be met personally and professionally as he deals
with some stuff personally to get better. This is not man,
Joe got a little hot. Let's take a breather and

(01:22:17):
and and go over here and get yourself all collected
and mentally right and come back to the team. This
is dude, We've been talking to you about this and
you didn't fix it, So get the hell out of
there and start working your way back. Yeah, I think, Um,
what's happening with this young man and decisions he's he's made?

(01:22:39):
Um uh are you know they're you know they're serious.
He's the face of a franchise. Not only that, you know,
power ad just pulled there at he was the new
face of of power A yep, So they just pull

(01:23:00):
pull their ads featuring him and his dad, I believe.
So what you can't do is think you got it
all figured out, and like, I don't have a problem
with the strip club. I love strip clubs to go
all the time, right, I don't have a problem with that.

(01:23:23):
Live your life, right, you're not hurting anybody. Do your thing.
You know that. You know pictures have come out of
him sitting in the strip club and it's just money
all over the place. Hey, man, live your life if
that's what you need to blow off steam cool. It's
the crimes that I have a problem with. It's the

(01:23:47):
having the gun and showing the gun to the world
in the strip club. It's the fighting teenagers, it's the
mall security, right, it's all of these things that are happening.
And you're the face of a franchise. Now, if you

(01:24:08):
you can look man, you can be who you want
to be. You want to be about that life, you
can go be about that life. But you can't be
a play basketball then the NBA and be about that life.
You can't be the national spokesperson for worldwide brands and
be about that life. It just it's not gonna happen.
So if he chooses to continue to live that way

(01:24:35):
and portray himself that way, by all means, go right ahead.
Only a few places you can go if that's what
you're about. None of them could get you half a
billion dollars, right, that's just the bottom line. So you know,

(01:24:56):
making a decision to grow up really fast is something
that this young man needs to do. He needs to
realize what's about to happen, what's about to no longer
be available to him if he continues having all the
skill in the wealth. Look, prison is full of guys

(01:25:17):
with phenomenal skill. Yeah, it just is full of guys
with phenomenal skill that no one ever heard of, no
one knows about because that's the story, that's the life
they chose to live. And so when you're in a
situation where everything that you worked hard for, everything that

(01:25:41):
you dreamt about as a young child playing basketball at
four or five years old. When it starts to come
to fruition, you have to be conscious of giving it
all back. We're talking about generational wealth for the Mara
family forever, and if you can't handle that responsibility, the

(01:26:09):
world will find out, and we know it'll be taken
away from me. It's it's just this thing that I
always find where you're riding the line a little bit
with the way we talk about this, because I think
you're you're so spot on the other side to it.
And I say this a lot, and I know sometimes

(01:26:31):
people don't want to hear it because when they see
somebody who's going to make that kind of money, the
jealousy sets in, and I all want to hear it.
I'm sympathy for anybody when they got that kind of money.
You can make any problem go away. And I don't
know how many times we need to relearn the lesson
than that. If the amen and I look at a
kid like this, and I say the same thing every

(01:26:52):
time I go, do not dismiss the difficulty of this,
Do not dismiss the pressure of everything you just talked about.
Somebody who does have the weight of an entire family,
an entire organization. Hell, at some point, maybe the whole league,
the weight of the league on his shoulders. Can you

(01:27:13):
handle what Lebron has handled the last twenty years of
his life? Can you handle that? Don't act like that's easy.
That fishbowl all coming right around the same time that
the world tells you you're allowed to buy beer. I mean,
you are a pop and your parents suddenly are looking
to you for leadership and the organization, and I mean

(01:27:37):
you're being pulled in a lot of directions. Now, the
flip side of this is what is what you also said,
which is, while I have that opinion, don't dismiss how
hard this is. At the same time I shared the opinion, Man,
we gotta stop calling twenty three year old six year
olds because they're not. No, you're an adult, and then

(01:28:02):
time to act like we're grown up with grown up responsibilities,
So be a grown up. Look, man, I you make
a mistake. Okay, I get it. People are allowed to
make mistakes, especially young people. But you can't continue to

(01:28:24):
make mistakes. That is the problem. Now you're just stupid,
you know what I mean? Like, you're not learning from
your mistakes. Now, I don't know what to tell you, brother,
Like I really don't, like, I don't know you're out.

(01:28:46):
That's what I felt. Yeah, that's what I felt, because
you know, you said this last week. If we're hearing
about the laser pointer, if we're hearing about beating up
a seventeen year old, if we're hearing about assaulting them
all cop and we're watching and the I live with
a gum a gun at you know, Pistol Charlie's or
whatever the hell that place was called. If we're hearing

(01:29:07):
about all that, then how much are we not hearing about?
And so that's why when I read this, when I
saw Taylor Jakins comments, immediately I'm like, oh, the organization
has been dealing with this for a while and and
and they've done things we've never even knew going on. Yeah,

(01:29:29):
so he's not listening. So as you know as a parent,
what happens when you don't listen and he gets up, Sorry,
no more phone bye, Now you're listening, you know what
I mean? I mean? Yeah, So, uh, this whole the

(01:29:52):
whole story took a little bit of a different tone
for me. And uh, and and while the sympathy for,
or at least the lack of understanding of what this
kind of a fishbowl is like and the pressure is
like I have a healthy respect for that, but I
also look at this and go, yeah, exactly exactly. Let's

(01:30:17):
go all right, focus up, man, focus up, as fast
as you got it, as fast as you can be
taken away from you basketball. Playing basketball at a high
level doesn't make you imperfectus to rules, regulations, laws, doesn't,
doesn't at all. The responsibility of being great is a

(01:30:40):
great responsibility, and everybody can't do it. Everybody can't do it.
We give oh man, he goes, maybe he just can't
do it. Hey, okay, okay, right, like I'm not gonna

(01:31:01):
fight you to get your your your your life together.
I'm not gonna fight you. I'm good, man, I'm gonna
I'm gonna be fine. Now, well everybody, everything's gonna be good.
You can't do it, then you can't do it. Period. Fascinating, man, Yeah,
it's fascinating because I mean, at his age right now,

(01:31:23):
like there there is there's no talent like that in
in the NBA. There's no talent like that. But it
feels like it's hanging in the balance a little bit
at the moment with a from Salam mark whether it's
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(01:31:46):
and save at Progressive dot Com. That Aaron Rodgers situation
is still ahead. We circle back to the brackets though
coming up next, and tell you exactly what you need
to do to win one million dollars courtesy of Fox
Sports Radio. My partner's name is Ze from Salam. He
likes the Lakers, but he also likes San Diego State

(01:32:11):
Sandiago and with the Lakers at halftime, maybe we can
get back to the Aztecs and all the other teams
in the bracket. Speaking of the bracket, be sure to
join Fox Sports Radio's million dollar Bracket Challenge. That's right,
the million dollars Bracket Challenge. If you fill out a
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(01:32:32):
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(01:32:53):
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(01:33:37):
two thousand dollars. So all you gotta do is fill
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crazy not to do this. Go to Fox Sports radio
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Eastern on Thursday. Fox sports radio dot Com to fill
out your bracket and to get official rules. All right,
so what stands out at you from the bracket? Do

(01:34:00):
you got one of the four that you've decided is
the uh you know, I know your soccer guy too.
Is there a group of death hanging out somewhere in
this deal? Um? Well, when you look at the Midwest,
when you got Houston, you have Iowa, Miami in Indiana,

(01:34:22):
that's pretty intense. That's uh, that's complete a lot of
tears ship, Yeah, that's that's that's pretty intense. Yep. Um
to me that that's what really stands out. Um, you know,
conventional powers Kentucky. I don't even think Duke right, I

(01:34:45):
wouldn't necessarily be like, oh you know Duke. Um, so yeah,
this is pretty wide open this year. Well, yeah, it
has to be like I don't think they're right. There's
there's not a way that um it was it was
gonna shake out any other way than that due to

(01:35:07):
the fact that like normally you get to today and
the experts will tell you like, sure they're gonna be upsets,
Sure there's controversy. Sure you know everyone's gonna scream about
you know who got snubbed. But you usually have six
to eight teams that are truly capable of six in

(01:35:30):
a row. Cinderella does the slipper fit always shows up.
But even if they get all the way to the
final four, you see what usually happens. Like I'll never
forget it. I was at the game when George Mason
made it. I was there in Indianapolis. My god, they
just get blown off the day in floor. But I
do think we're getting closer and closer to the day

(01:35:52):
in ag from where one of these teams is going
to get to the final four and they're gonna mess
around and win the darn thing because parody is here.
The nil and everything that has taken place in college
sports has made it, has made it so it's easier
to compete at a high level. So this idea of
six to eighteens, they can usually win it. Man, I

(01:36:14):
feel like it's I don't know if it's twenty that
might be overdoing it, but it's fifteen in my opinion
at least. Yeah, it's um. You know, I think the
good programs, I think the the Gonzagas of the world
has made us really revisit you know what. You know

(01:36:36):
traditional blue bloods and powerhouses are talent is talent. Everybody
can't go to Duke, everybody can't go to Kentucky, North Carolina.
You know, North Carolinas not even claim they're not even
in the tournament. So I it bodes well for me.

(01:36:57):
Texas was a two seed, right, the resurgence of Arizona's back.
Ucla is a two seed again, right, so you know
it's Saint Mary's is a five seed. So you look
around this bracket, these brackets, and and and you just

(01:37:18):
shake your head like, Okay, Marquette is a two seed. Right,
It's like, wow, this is different. This isn't like it
we're usually seen. So if the top four seeds, right,
if it would be Marquette, Ucla, um Perdue, Kansas, Houston, Alabama,

(01:37:49):
Arizona in Texas, yep, that's your elite eight. And I
think that the champ could totally come outside to that
group that you just named. It would not surprise me,
not even a little bit. So it's you know, that's
a great thing for college basketball. That's a great thing

(01:38:14):
for these different conferences. You got a shot, man, you
get into dance, you got a shot They're playing high
level basketball, and what's gonna happen. One of these lower
seeds gonna run into a bus. All some kids who've
been together all four years, got some fifth year seniors,
you got COVID seniors, and you got graduate transfers. Now

(01:38:36):
you're like, oh my god, what happened? Hopefully that doesn't
happen to San Diegos say that. I don't want hear
any of that. So no, I mean some of these.
I'm especially looking at teams that have only lost like
six or seven games. To me, if you've lost seven
games or less, you have you have played high level,
elite basketball this year. So you you look at I

(01:38:59):
mean a lot of the team as you just mentioned,
the top eight in the nation if you will, but
go past that. Gonzaga's only lost five times, Virginia's only
lost six times, Miami six times, Saint Mary's six times,
You're Aztecs six times. When when when you're as you're saying,
when you're that consistent and you're not in the one

(01:39:19):
and done sort of a space, you're you're with teams
that have been playing together for two to three years. Man,
why not? Why not? I would totally believe it if
if I just named the national champion. Yeah, it's um,
it's it's good to see. I think it's great for
college basketball. I think it's great for recruiting. I think

(01:39:43):
guys now felt like I have to go to this
or this or there to even be recognized to have
a shot. That's not the case anymore. It's not. If
you can play, they're gonna find you. Period. Hey, can
I ask you this. You one of these people who
runs around fills out about seven different brackets. Enough time

(01:40:03):
for all that? Man, you fill out any of them? No? No, see, Okay,
that's fascinating to me. And I bet I bet you still.
I tried this one time. I can't remember how many
years ago it was. Um. I think it was in
response to the year before I had picked Louisville to
win it all. And uh, and I was out of

(01:40:25):
the bracket before I had had lunch on Thursday. I
hadn't had lunch, queen, all right, And now so I
haven't had lunch on Thursday, and my bracket is torn
in half. And I'm like, well, and this whole experience
just got ruined. I'm like, right, I'm mad, I'm I'm

(01:40:48):
hate watching anymore. Right, So, the next year, somebody had
dropped that little thought in the back of my mind,
like dude, just don't fill one out, and I was like, well,
that's an American, Like I have to. I had to
fill one out because like, this thing won't be fun

(01:41:12):
if I don't feel one out. Oh yeah it is, Yeah,
it is you. You you shock yourself because you watch
the games in a completely different way, different headspace, totally totally.
So I'm not saying don't fill out a bracket, fill
out of bracket. I'm gonna gonna fill out a bracket,
but I am saying that the tournament it's not as

(01:41:36):
irrelevant as you think it is. If you didn't do it, yeah,
it's uh, you'll get the chance to just enjoy the
upsets basketball. But I'm not checking, you know, because it's
four or five games on at a time, right feverishly

(01:41:58):
going through the channel on to check, looking at the
little boxes up top who's winning what it becomes life
or death overnight. You're like, it is the first round.
Get when we get one point per game and you're like,
you're freaking out because Valpo missed a three at the

(01:42:19):
buzzer on a Thursday in March. It's just it's hysterical
to me. At the end of your first year, Discover
credit cards automatically double all the cash back you've earned.
That's right, everything you've earned it doubled. Seriously see terms
and check it out for yourself at discover dot com.
Slash match and we're going to discover what Steve Disager

(01:42:43):
has to say right now as well. Hello Steve Disager
with what's trending the area. Ste Stephen F not Steven
F Austin Stephen F to stay it. Yeah, I was
not selected for the bracket. Those who have seven brackets,
by the way, remind me of the people who have
seven fantasy teams, Like, what are you doing to your
with every football play? Oh? That's great for me, That's

(01:43:03):
terrible for me. Oh I got that. Oh wait, my
opponent in this league has that? Gay, what are you
doing to yourself? Yeah? I hate those people. Yeah, I'm
just saying out loud, that is a bad life decision,
ladies and gentlemen. Well, we got World Baseball Classic on
FS one right now. I didn't name names, but the
Mexico has taken a two nothing lead on the US

(01:43:24):
after one inning on a home run off Nick Martinez
and the Padres. The US starter long ball from Joey Maneses,
who's coming off a good rookie season with the Nationals.
Patrick Sandoval from the Angels is the Mexico starting pitcher
in Arizona tonight two nothing Mexico after one sold out
Rocus crowd and in me Arizona will be US against
Canada tomorrow night on FS one ten pm Eastern Time.

(01:43:47):
Canada one today eighteen eight over Great Britain. They shortened
it by the mercy rule to a seven inning game.
Venezuela is up in the top of the ninth leading
nine sixth over Puerto Rico. Now in Japan's now four
now in the tournament, Shoheo Tani hit a three run
homer in the first inning this morning, seven to one
win over Australia. Japan will host its quarterfinal early Thursday
against Italy, which won against the Netherlands. Matt Harvey the

(01:44:10):
winning pitcher. As for the late game in the NBA
in La, Knicks now lead the Lakers early third quarter
sixty eight sixty one Julius Randall with twenty eight points.
Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell in the first half, had twenty
three points, five assists, no turnovers and nine of ten
shooting from the floor, and the Lakers are not winning

(01:44:31):
and for the Knicks not playing same as yesterday in
La Jalen Brunson, who averages twenty four points a game.
Brooklyn won at Denver one twenty two to one twenty
despite a triple double from Nicola Yokitch. Jamal Murray left
with a sornee. Philadelphia got thirty four points from Joel
and Bead in a win over Washington. Five straight victories
for Philly, wins for Oklahoma City and New Orleans. Cleveland

(01:44:53):
got a win at Charlotte, and yes In college hoops,
Alabama is the number one overall seed for the A Tournament.
The other one seeds include Kansas, Houston, and Purdue, which
won the Big Ten today holding out against Penn State
sixty seven sixty five produced. First round game is Friday
night against a play in Winter. Penn State opens late
Thursday against Texas, A and M. Marquette is a two seed.

(01:45:15):
It will play Friday against Vermont. Texas is a two seed.
It'll open Thursday night against Colgate. UCLA is a two seed.
It will open in Sacramento after ten pm Eastern on
Thursday against unc Asheville. Now two seed Arizona different region
is also playing against Sacramento this week. Arizona Wildcats Thursday
go up against Princeton, which won the IVY League Final.

(01:45:39):
North Carolina announced it will not go to the ni
T Tournament. It was not selected for the NCAA's They've
just named the ni T field the top seeds Oregon, Rutgerses,
and Clemson. Oklahoma State is a top seed in the
ni T, but it will have to play on the road.
Some sort of arena issue. Florida against Central Florida. Washington
State against Eastern Washington in the NAS. Rams are trading

(01:46:01):
Pro Bowl defensive back Jalen Ramsey to the Dolphins Washington
It's giving defensive tackle Toron Payne a four year deal.
William Byron the NASCAR winner, and Scottie Scheffler took the
Players Championship by five strokes back to you. Thank you, Steve.
I've got two. I've got two hot takes from two
of them right now. Both of them just took place

(01:46:23):
um based on thoughts I had while Steve was talking. Steve,
hang on with us here for this first one. Did
you just tell me that the World Baseball Classic has
a mercy rule that is correct up by ten after
seven innings because they expanded the fields so people like
Great Britain and China get in. So you got games

(01:46:45):
like this today. Yeah. Can you imagine it the World
Cup when Germany's taking on Ghana and it's eight nothing
and they're like, yeah, all right, Well the difference, I agree.
I mean the difference is Germany doesn't have to play
another game the next day. Okay, the USA three nights
in a row, Yes, they do. That's what baseball players do.

(01:47:07):
Nobody there's the it's I hear you. Except there's a
good reason for it because of the pitching, and they're
especially the first week of the tournament. There are pitch
count limits so that clubs don't get mad of arms
getting overused. It's well sure that I yes, I don't
want anybody getting hurt at the World Baseball Classic. That
would be incredibly A lot of starters are only going
four innings so far. Yeah, yeah, because they hit sixty

(01:47:31):
sixty five pitches and that's that there. I don't I
don't know the World Baseball Classic mercy rule best players
in the entire nation, and we got to give him
a mercy rule. Yeah, Trace Thompson is the best player
on the Great Britain team. I'm not sure if he's
been to Great Britain, but he is the best player
in their nation. Well right, there's that too. I don't

(01:47:51):
even can anyone. If there's anyone I know who could
explain this, it would be you, Steve. How do players
who've never been to countries and up playing for those countries.
Trace Thompson's case, the Dodger ou fielder, brother of Clay
Thompson of Golden State, he's playing for Great Britain because
their dad famed NBA player Michael Thompson, a Laker analyst tonight.
For example, He's from the Bahamas. Of course, the connection

(01:48:14):
owned by Great Britain, so he qualifies. Meanwhile, all the
curus Ou and Aruba players in the Majors, they get
to play for the Netherlands because that's part of the
Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes, his
dad or uncle is from Mexico, so he's playing for Mexico.
The other Dodger catchers playing for the US right, you ask,

(01:48:39):
it's like, I'm sure this is this? Is this the
birth certificate situation in the World series, you know, like
Little League World Series? Yeah, I mean you do have
choices though. It's like Randy and Rosarina defected from Cuba.
He is not playing for Cuba in this tournament. He
defected two Mexico and he's playing for them. You know

(01:49:02):
that they're always in these international competitions, you hear players. Boy,
I mean, I'll tell you what it means to put
the name of that nation across my chest. When Trayce
Thompson hit the home run, did he? Boy, it means
a lot to put a nation that I've never been
to across my chest because I can start on this
team and I'm not going to crack the lineup with

(01:49:23):
Mookie Bets and the rest in the US. There is
one exception, though, is that Freddie Freeman, Dodger first Baseman's
playing for Canada again to honor his Canadian parents, including
his late mother. So that was apparently not a hard
choice for him. Okay, perfect, All right, Well, thank you
for the odd information, Steve. We are live in the
Tirack dot Com studios. Here's my other one, and he

(01:49:45):
from something tells me you'll like this one. I've decided
there's something in the NBA, and it happens, it happens
to be on this Laker team that we're watching play
the Knicks right now. I can't stand this. I cannot
stand And he literally just hucked up another clank moments ago.
I'm so done with Anthony Davis turning and facing from

(01:50:08):
twenty feet. Well, he had to shoot that last one
because of that one. He had to I know, three
trips ago, turn face fire, clank. Dude, he's so good
around the rim. Go in there, get in there, go yeah,

(01:50:28):
go in there, Get inside of there. That's where you're
That's where, that's where your advantage is. You go in there.
Don't shoot from out there. He's shooting. I'm looking at
his three point percentage right now. This year, he's shooting
twenty six percent from three, and I know that a

(01:50:49):
lot of these shots are right inside the arc, but
it's not much better. He gotta stopped that, man, he
gotta stopped that. Yeah he does, he does. Oh. I
don't even the end right, I'm a Warrior fan. This
is just a PSA brother. I don't want I like
it when you shoot because it doesn't go in. You
gotta stop that stuff, cut it out extended. You can

(01:51:13):
make just just make a living down there, a living
a good one. I don't understand that at all. Good man.
Yeah they are. They're interesting, aren't they. They're physic they're
a physical team. They got some interesting young players, good
good collection there. Um and they yeah, they're they're very interesting.

(01:51:37):
And we're watching them right now with Jalen Brunson not
even on the floor. So um, that's a that's a
good team. Okay, are the Jets about to be a
good team. Let's let's get into that. Mark Witherty from
salam Fox Sports Radio six point two to go inbound
to a locko and the final seconds took away and
for the first time since two thousand and seventeen, the

(01:52:00):
Princeton's Tigers, the IVY League champions headheaded to the NCAA Tournament,
and that's the Princeton Sports Network Ivy League champs. And
I got a soft spot for Princeton because when they
beat UCLA forty three, forty one, I believe, gosh, twenties

(01:52:25):
six years ago, I think, so I had that in
my bracket really and I got I got like five
years out of that pick. I'm like, yeah, I don't.
I haven't won a bracket to the pool since, uh,
you know, since high school. But but I got Princeton
over UCLA. So I got that going for me, which

(01:52:47):
is nice. And that, by the way, is also the
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Progressive dot com. If Aaron Rodgers is on the Jets,

(01:53:08):
where do they sit in the AFC packing order? Oh?
I think you put them fifth, probably sixth. Okay, I
mean everyone uses the same three at the top right,
and it's some sort of order of Bills and Bengals. Yeah,
that's okay, that's just where it is. I think, Um,

(01:53:32):
I think you could, you know, slide Jacksonville in there
as your number four. I think you can slide jackson
I really like Jacksonville. I do too, so it would
be too for me. I think it goes the Chargers

(01:53:53):
Jacksonville than the Jets. Okay, so right around six, Um,
the Dolphins are don't do anything for you? And are
you assuming Lamar? Are you? Are you assuming Lamar is
not playing for Baltimore? Yes, I'm assuming that you are. Yeah,

(01:54:16):
do you think this shakes out? Not good? Well? I mean,
like where I mean, it's gonna be good for somebody.
Lamar Jackson's gonna play football. I think I think it
would have to depend on if someone offers Lamar something.

(01:54:40):
I see the problem is Baltimore can match, right, So
I think they want to see what I hope, I mean,
my wish would be someone gives him what he wants.
Then we know Baltimore it's not gonna match it. Now
they're gonna put themselves in a situation that they didn't
really think was gonna happen based on the phone calls

(01:55:03):
that the authors have been happening with each other. Well,
you know what, I it's funny that you say that.
Nicely done, but I'm actually not even convinced of that.
So if somebody gives Lamar what he wants, does Baltimore
then go, okay, we we were wrong about what the

(01:55:23):
market would bear, and go ahead and give it to him.
I just why would you want to just fracture a
relationship like that, right, Like that's like that's like right,
that's like playing a trick on your girlfriend, right, Like, honey,

(01:55:45):
I got somebody else pregnant and you let the trick
go on for a month, and then you'd be like, Hey,
I just want to see if we could get Like,
I just want to see if we can you know,
look past that. No, bro, it'll never be the same. Well,
but but what if the conversation has been cordial and

(01:56:07):
the Ravens have effectively gotten across the lamar, my man,
we love to live in hell out of you, and
we want to pay you market value. We think we
have a disagreement over what that market value is based
on the fact that you you are basing your number
on Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson. We are basing our

(01:56:28):
offer on the fact that those two contracts are horrible
preventative mistakes. We don't want to make the same mistake.
We want you, but we don't want to make the
same mistake. However, what if it what if the market
shows that the Ravens are wrong, then couldn't they go Okay,

(01:56:52):
we were wrong. Yeah, but there's there's a problem with
this whole situation on what planet Earth, on this planet
or any other planet Earth. On what planet do you
allow Lamar Jackson, who was the MVP of the league

(01:57:13):
in his second year, to get through his fifth year
in the league. What planet does that happen on? So
let's start there. All of that, what you said is great,
but let's start there. That's where the problem and the
disconnect is. Sure there's some love loss because you're sitting

(01:57:37):
here like, how is he even available? How is he
even open for teams to bid on him? You mean
to tell me in a world where they're signing quarterbacks
after two great years, three years to crazy money, Jared Goff,

(01:57:58):
Carson wentz uh, Kyler Murray, did you let Lamar Jackson
get to year five? And then the reports of well,
if he would have had an agent, this would have
been taken care of already. You're slapping this man in
the face because his mother is representing him. You see

(01:58:21):
what I'm saying, Like, the underlying, the underlying notion of well,
if you would have if you would have got an agent,
just would have been done already. Wait, hold on a
time out, And here's the wild thing. Though I agree
with you, how do we get to the point where
people are out there bidding on him? Let mean, the
next question is, how do we get to the point

(01:58:41):
where he's available for bidding and no one's bidding. I
think I think that maybe people are, Yeah, maybe teams are.
We just don't know. But right now, if we believe
all the reports, the Ravens are right, yeah, which I

(01:59:02):
don't understand. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm perplexed on this one.
If IBM no more, I'm not trying to play there
no more, That's just what I'm I'm just gonna throw
that out. Yeah, yeah, it might, it might go that way. Hey, brother,
A ton of fun tonight. Enjoying that filling out your
your your bracket. Let's go at it and enjoy the

(01:59:24):
fourth quarter of this Laker game as well. My friend,

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