Bernie Fratto Discusses Top Weekend Headlines!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't listening to Fox Sports.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Well, that's right, you heard the man. It's that time
a week. My name is Bernie Frattower. Come to a
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The way tire buying should be absolutely jam packed. Show

(00:27):
tonight Ethan's Trivia Game, Round two begins at midnight. A
little bit of everything tonight, but the biggest story of
the week and probably the summer and maybe even the
college football season. It's a fluid story that continues. But
let me start by sharing an anecdote. There's an old

(00:50):
tale about a head coach that's hired to coach a
college football team, and he's told that there are three
envelopes in the top right door a drawer in the
desk in his office, but don't open any of them
unless you have a bad season. So the first season,
there are two and nine, and he opens envelope number
one and it says, blame the players. Okay, gets the

(01:14):
season number two. They are one in ten. Opens up
the second envelope and it says, blame the assistance has
a third consecutive bad season, wins only two games. Opens
up the third envelope, and it simply says, prepare three envelopes.
You know, Pat Fitzgerald has been synonymous with Northwestern football.

(01:38):
It's been a fixture. He's inextricably linked in a way
that Nick Saban couldn't be at Alabama because Nick Saban
never played at Alabama. Dabbosweeney, sure, he's a fixture at Clemson,
but even not the way Fitzgerald was, because Sweeney didn't
play football at Clemson. He was a star. Fitzgerald was
a star for the Wildcats at a ninety. He's joined

(02:00):
the coaching staff in oh one as an assistant, been
the head coach until six and the team it's enjoyed
a fairly consistent run of success. Not every year is great,
but Northwestern football has been very respectable. Now, on Tuesday,
July fourth, all of a sudden, it was made clear
there was a very real chance that Fitzgerald could be

(02:22):
preparing three envelopes. There were reports by the student newspaper,
The Daily Northwestern, that sited a source and unnamed former
Wildcats player that there were egregious, vile, inhumane behaviors going on.
That's a quote. Player also said they believe Fitzgerald was
aware of the hazing. Now this I don't know. I'm

(02:44):
not Creskin. The school announced Friday last Friday that this
investigation was complete. Fitzgerald had been suspected us to spend
two weeks without pay, then two days later he's fired.
Gerald is out at Northwestern three days after being suspended
for two weeks, and two days after university president Michael

(03:07):
Schill publicly regretted the mere suspension seventeen years. This is
intense and I don't think it's over in terms of
what we are going to learn. It's a very complex situation.
Fitzgerald is the best program in Northwestern's modern history, and

(03:29):
he's beloved by many fans players, even in light of
this craziness. How the hell did this happen? I've done
my best to research a linear timeline what got to
this point, series of complaints, investigations, findings all within the

(03:49):
four walls of the Northwestern football program, and apparently this
states all the way back to Thanksgiving of last year.
In terms of these allegations bubbling to the surface and
becoming public. At that point, Northwestern received an anonymous complaint
via email that alleged there was hazing allegations within the

(04:13):
football program, and the complainant alleged that football players sometimes
pressured other team members during hazing activities, which often occurred
in the locker room and started at Camp Kenosha, where
the Wildcats used to hold part of their training camp
get a little cooler weather. So, following the plant the complaint,

(04:38):
the university hired an independent attorney, I don't know, somebody
called Maggie Hickey to conduct an investigation. A month later,
Christmas Hickey met with this complainant who was anonymous, and
the investigation team formed and they began. They began their sleuth.

(05:02):
As it were the new year rose around, Northwestern publicly
disclosed there was an investigation. This was in January. Fast
forward all the way to July. July seventh. Northwestern then
released an executive summary of the investigation, but they didn't
detail the investigation's findings or specify the types of hazing

(05:28):
acts that were alleged. It's private university, they're not required
to publish their independent investigation. But the summary said the
investigation team interviewed more than fifty people that were affiliated
or formerly affiliated with the program, and they reviewed quote
hundreds of thousands of emails and players survey data going

(05:53):
back ten years now. There were current players, there were
former players, and they all sort of varied on their
version of the conduct on their perspective. However, one of
the things the investigation team determined is that the claims
by this anonymous complainant were supported by evidence. Apparently, there

(06:16):
was a lot of evidence gathered during the investigation, including
a lot of first person testimonials, first person accounts from
former players and again and current players. And while the
investigation did not uncover evidence pointing to specific misconduct by
an individual player or any individual coach, there was knowledge alleged,

(06:38):
I mean, there was knowledge that was brought forth in
testimony of hazing activities and that they were widespread. Now
in the report, Northwestern announced at that time again that
Fitzgeraltt was placed on a two week unpaid suspension, effective immediately.
The university also permanently discontinued practices at Camp Kenosha, and

(07:03):
they established a locker room monitor who does not report
to the football staff and then it created an online
portal for student athletes to anonymously report any hazing incidents
or related concerns. And now it's my understanding, as a
condition of employment, coaches and staff members and even student

(07:25):
athletes are going to have to attend annual and annual
and mandatory any hazing trading. The next day, July eighth,
the Daily Northwestern again, this is the school's student run
news site. They published details on the hazing allegations after

(07:47):
two players, again their identities were not disclosed, they came
forward and details were confirmed by other sources. He gets
a little hairy here now. One former Northwestern player said
they methods centered around a practice called running in quotes
running This is a situation apparently where underclassmen they were

(08:08):
restrained in a dark locker room and dry humped by
upper classmen wearing Purge like masks. Remember the movie The
Purge and Purge one and Purge two and Perch seven.
That little franchise had a good little run there. Now,
this player said their tradition was common during training camp
and even around Thanksgiving and Christmas, which they called runs

(08:32):
Giving and runs miss. This player went into more detail.
They told the Daily that this once a year tradition
called quote the car wash, in which the players would
stand naked at the entrance of the showers and spin around,
forcing those entering the showers to basically rub up against
a bare naked man. No word if bare naked ladies

(08:56):
were in concert that day, little levity on a fresh
The same player also alleged that he both witnessed and
was forced to partake in what he called a naked
center quarterback exchange, where a naked freshman quarterback was forced

(09:16):
to take an under center snap from a naked freshman center.
Later that same day, the university president Michael Schill and
the Northwestern football team, they both released statements show kind
of backpedaled on his initial sanctioned for Fitzgerald, saying he
focused too much on what the report concluded that Fitzgerald

(09:40):
didn't know, and not enough on which Pat Fitzgerald should
have known. And I quote President Shill as a head
coach of one of our athletics programs, Coach Fitzgerald is
not only responsible for what happens within the program, but
he also must take great care to upoll our institutional

(10:00):
commitment to the student experience and priority to ensure all
students undergraduate and graduate they can thrive during their time
at Northwestern. Clearly he failed to uphold that commitment, and
I failed to sufficiently consider that failure in levying a sanction. Now.
Shield did not respond to Fitzgerald's two week suspension and
the statement, nor did he amend the two week suspension,

(10:24):
but said he would update any public of the changes
moving forward. That same day, the Northwestern football team released
a statement, quote, throughout his tenure, Couch Fitzgerald has consistently
prioritized the well being and development of players. We stand
behind him in his unwavering commitment to our team. The
letter also called the accusations exaggerated and twisted, and was

(10:46):
signed quote the entire in caps, the entire Northwestern football team,
July tenth. This is just last Monday. Life comes at
you fast. Northwestern fired Pat Fitzgerald. In another statement, President
Hill said eleven current or former football players admitted hazing

(11:10):
was ongoing with the team. The hazing included force participation,
nudity and sexualized parts of a degrading nature, and clear
violation of Northwestern policies and values. Schill said, I'm grateful
to my knowledge, to my knowledge, no students suffered physical
injury as well as all these behaviors. The culture of

(11:31):
Northwestern football, while incredible in some ways, was broken in others. Now,
the president reconfirmed that the that that that that id
that independent investigation I was talking about. It's going to
remain confidential. They're not going to release details. And apparently
there have been a lot of public calls for transparency
and uh, the statement did not say whether well, the

(11:56):
statement was really kind of vague to say the truth. Uh.
As far as their coach for the upcoming season, David Brown,
they haven't really indicated whether he's going to be an
interim coach or full time status. Northwestern is a proud institution.
It's a tremendously respected academic institution. I've been to Evanston, Illinois,

(12:20):
stuck away there in north saut of Chicago's beautiful, it's
near the water, small enrollment, and it seems incredulous. I'm
incredulous to hear these things, especially incredulous to hear that
apparently there are allegations that people knew this was going
on for a long time. Yet two years ago coach

(12:41):
Fitzgerald signed a pretty lengthy extension to his contract. So
there seem to be multiple contradictions. Here seems this book
is missing a chapter. It's missing a chatter to me,
and I believe as the story remains fluid that there
will be more details come out. This is an incredibly

(13:01):
unfortunate situation. This is the kind of thing that can
mar University forever. What eleven years ago Penn State, Jerry Sandusky.
The Penn State has risen from the ashes to become
a national power again and they're ranked in the top
five in the country. But there's still a cloud from
those situations that took place years ago, and it cost

(13:24):
Joe Paterno's legacy in life, and they took down statues
and you get the picture. Where do we go from here?
I think you're going to hear from Coach Fitzgerald. I
think you're gonna hear there will be some There will
be plenty of litigation, and I'm not going to speculate
it on what, when, where, how and why. But you're
going to see it. I believe you're going to see it.
But before we get there, there were some player details

(13:48):
and frankly, there I think is one factor that ultimately
caused this downfall. And I'll share it with you. Coming
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(14:10):
Progressive dot Com. I'm Bernie Fraddlewick Company, Live from Las Vegas,
Fox Sports Radio, Tiraq dot com Studios. Keep it locked
you listening to the Bernie Frattle Show on Fox Sports Radio.
All right back on the Bernie Frattle Show, Fox Sports
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We'll take you up to two am Pacific five in
Eastern Eaton's Trivia Game Round two week one midnight Pacific

(14:35):
Phone lines will open at eleven forty five. There is
one aspect to the Northwestern saga that I keep replaying
in my mind, and it had to do with when
Northwestern President Michael Schill was explaining his decision to reconsider
his meaningless two week suspension that was initially imposed on

(14:56):
coach Fitzgerald, he said he focused too much on what
Fitzgerald actually knew, unless on what he should have known
about hazy within the program. The problem, as I think
the school concluded, went well beyond things that Fitzgerald ostensibly
should have known. The real issue here is things that

(15:19):
coach could have done or should have done, to create
an environment in which any player who ever believed they
were being mistreated, where they could go directly to coach Fitzgerald,
raise the issue, have it solved, and there would be
no concern of any reprisal. That in a perfect world,
would be the right culture for any sports team on

(15:41):
any level. The coach sets a tone, makes it clear,
no one is going to be abused, no one is
going to be harmed, no one's going to be harassed.
Everyone knows how to report any instance of abuse, of harm,
of harassment without fear of return. And everyone knows that

(16:02):
if there is any retaliation, whatever the punishment would regard
whatsoever the punishment was, it'll be swift and it'll be
handled quickly. It'll be decisive and non reversible. You know
what the penalties are if you abuse a teammate. So
it raises the question, did coach Fitzgerald simply failed to

(16:24):
know what was happening within his own program? Did he
fail to create a place where things of that nature
would never occur. The fact that more than one player
simply bottled up and said and did nothing proves to
me that if these things happened, they did not feel

(16:48):
sufficiently comfortable about coming to coach Fitzgerald with their concerns.
That means you can draw a conclusion deductively reason that,
but Fitzgerald may not have created a very clear and
real sense that he would deal with any seniors or
captains or team leaders who would defy a mandate. There
would be no revenge exacted against anyone if Coach Fitzgerald

(17:14):
had an open door policy. This has to be a
premier for any coach at any level in any sport.
You have to be responsible for everything that happens, even
when you're not present. You need to communicate to everyone
on the team to know what is and what isn't accepted.

(17:35):
Not that it would be accepted in any school at
any level, but this is Northwestern University, the highly prestigious university.
What's going to be tolerated, what won't be tolerated, and
what the you know what the resultant penalties will be
If there are situations and there's a there's physical harm

(17:56):
there's psychological harm, there's emotional harm. So the question then begs,
was Northwestern apparently where they ostensibly hoping, Hey, we'll just
brush everything under the rug. There's going to be a
short term storm here, and we'll keep coach around, regardless
of whether the school should have realized from the outset

(18:18):
that coaches responsibility for the overall culture of the program
went much deeper than the facts he actually knew or
should have known, or maybe he didn't want to know.
Things eventually got to the place where this could no
longer be contained. Now the question is this is an
outcome that may cause other football programs, other major colleges

(18:42):
to stand up and take notice. Do we potentially have
these situations in our in our four walls? Are we
where we need to be? Is there a clear and
obvious agenda and attitude that no one's going to be
mistreated and anyone who is needs to say so immediately
and we need to deal with it immediately. Because the

(19:03):
hazing allegations that were recently investigated with Northwestern football program
involved sexual acts that were coerced. This is a report
that's all public the university's newspaper, The Daily Northwestern for
student student journalists. Did you know, I would say an

(19:27):
expose a lot of intrepid reporting the hazy within the program.
There were allegations by whistleblowers and supported by evidence. They
included a lot of details, graphic details. It's corroborated by
former players. Apparently there's even photographic evidence of a whiteboard
and lists that appeared to reference to hazing acts. One

(19:49):
of the anonymous players interviewed went on to say that
members of the team they would engage in this locker
room practice col running, which entailed masking upper class dry
humping players punishing them from mistakes. Then the characterization was
made that Northwestern had very abrasive and barbaric culture that
has permeated through the program for years, years on end.

(20:13):
Now that's a quote, and suggested that coach even made
a hand singling practice similar to that used by players
who single out quote for running in game, which was
an indicator that coach was aware of this hazing and
that act within the program. This synonymous player was quoted
as saying everyone would just be looking at each other

(20:35):
and saying like hey, bro Fitz knows about this. Everyone
joins in because he's the head coach. Other practices, freshmen
being forced to strip naked perform various acts bear crawling,
slingshoting themselves across the floor with exercise bands. The car wash,
which I talked to about a little a minute ago. Now,

(20:59):
I haven't I've seen any official comments to any great
degree from Northwestern, although they did post a response saying
our first priorities to support and protect our students, including
the young men who brought these matters to our attention
and all student athletes who had the courage to come
forward in this independent investigation. That's why the university immediately

(21:20):
opened the investigation upon learning of the allegations. Why we
took the sense of action once we ascertained the facts
out of respect for the privacy of our student athletes,
we would not comment about the findings beyond what we
stated in the release an executive summary of the investigation.
We shall see what happens from here. I get the
sense this is not over coming up. Victor Webbin Yama

(21:44):
has now played two games in the Summer League and
he shut down until the regular season starts. Why do
I bring this up. I want to go back and
clarify my comments, my assessments about women Yama as they
were ridiculously misunderstood and that was misquoted. That's okay, It's
all part of the game. But I'm gonna set the

(22:06):
record straight and put into context what my beliefs are
about Victor Webbiyama juxtaposed against what we were told we
could expect. Has nothing to do with his performance and
more to do with just an overall observation. I bring receipts,
but first let's go to our guy, Kevin Wyatt with
the latest.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
Yeah, lots of baseball action. As we begin the second
half of the season, the Angels open up against the
astro Shoo Tani on the Mountain.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
He is human.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
He gave up four runs, four earned runs, as he
was pulled in the sixth inning and had to take
the loss. The Angels lose at seven to five. The
other LA team, the Dodgers, started off strong. They beat
the Mets six nothing, Julio Rias allowing just one hit
and a walk in six innings of work. And in
Baseball News, older star Clayton Kershaw underwitting Miri on his

(22:54):
left shoulder prior to the All Star break, and he
announced he will miss a few weeks before returning to
the rotation in early August. Other scores from around Major
League Baseball. We had a showdown in the NL Central.
One nothing was the Brewers win over the Reds as
Corbyn Burns fainted or almost fainted, i should say, in
the fifth inning, but would continue and pitch into the

(23:15):
sixth inning. It would have thirteen strikeouts overall as he
gets the win. The Brewers are now tied with the
Reds a top of the NL Central. The Braves with
a blowout win over the White Sox nine to nothing.
Red Sox over the Cubs eight three. Rangers start the
second half strong, twelve to four win over the Guardians
Cardinals in Nationals games suspended as the Cardinals carry a

(23:39):
one nothing lead is suspended in the third inning due
to rain. Rockies over the Yankees seven to two. Couple
of scores from the West Coast, both of them ending
in a five before Twins beat the Athletics Tigers over
the Mariners. Cleveland Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber had an MRI
on his right elbow and four arm. He will not
make his next start. The team is still awaiting the

(24:01):
final result, saying in the NFL, the Bengals and running
back Joe Mixon finalizing a restructure contract that will keep
him in Cincinnati for the twenty twenty three season. He
was scheduled to make more than ten million this season
and had a twelve point eight million dollar cap hit,
and the Washington Post reporting that approval Commissioner Roger Goodell's
contract extension, as well as Tom Brady's deal to become

(24:21):
a limited partner in the Raiders, not likely to be
resolved at next Thursday's owners meetings in Minneapolis.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Back to you, Bernie, all right, Kevin, Thanks, Victor, Wim Banyama.
So he made his debut in the Summer League last Friday.
I didn't overreact to the fact he was two for
nine or one for thirteen or whatever he was. I
had observations about other things. And then he turned around

(24:49):
and had twenty seven points in Sunday's game, which to
me means nothing in an NBA League Summer League game.
An NBA Summer League game is about twenty percent of
an NBA game, all right, and people selectively listen. I
have made sure to point out that it was clear
that Wenby has superior handles. He's got an amazing wingspan,

(25:13):
he's got excellent vision, He's a way above average passer.
I thought he had good instincts. Clearly for nineteen years old,
he displayed a great degree of maturity. But I have
real concerns about his body type and relative explosiveness, and
I do acknowledge he can improve with training over the
next three years. Three years, that's now they're telling me.

(25:34):
Three years that was Is he a project? Now you're
telling me, how do you go from? He's generational? One
particular host that I know a bunch of scouts. You
don't you think you're smart. I'm smart, You're not. You
think you're smart on Twitter. Don't lump me in with
the Twitter Twitter's fear not that they don't have their opinions.
But I'm not part of the group Thicke echo chamber.

(25:55):
But I've been covering the NBA a long time. I'm
been covering the NBA a long time, and all I
wanted to see was stage of development. Okay, And by
the way, if people heard my comments and automatically interpreted
them to be, oh, it's going to be a bust
or I've given up on him, that's just ridiculous. I
never said that here's what I did say that one.

(26:19):
I've had the opportunity to observe a lot of other
nineteen year olds. Nineteen year olds, Okay, now I'm going
to invoke some historic names here because you told me
he was generational. You don't know what generational means, look
it up. You told me he was every superlative you
could ever imagine. Just put him on the floor and

(26:39):
get out of the way. Incredible. Every GM would take
this guy, no matter what fair. So these are some
of the other nineteen year olds that I saw when
they were nineteen, Magic Johnson, Daryl Dawkins, Bill Walton, Kobe Bryant,
Leuel Sinder when he was Leuel Sinder, big names which

(27:01):
told me Wemby was generational. I mentioned Lebron James in
one particular individual quoted me, well was Lebron? Well, we
all saw Lebron come on here being No, you didn't.
You didn't all drive to Saint Vincent, Saint Mary's. I
didn't see you in the gym that day. Otherwise you
just said it. You told you told me on the air.
I guarantee you anybody on the air who had actually

(27:23):
seen Lebron James play a game in high school, while
he was at Saint Vincent Saint Mary's in Cleveland. They
would have told us, well, I have many times, and
the first thing I noticed was his body type, his handles,
his court sense, all those things. And I said, you could,
you could put Lebron in an NBA game right now.
He'd be fine, and he was. My concerns about Wemby

(27:46):
are his physical stature. His explosiveness is but he got
knocked off balanced a lot easily. And I know, well,
he's got a game thirty pounds or whatever, pick your
arbitrary number. That doesn't ness necessarily mean that's going to
change his center of gravity, which is high, and his
first step explosion. These are things I have to see now.

(28:11):
He may well be that generational guy. But there's something
else I want to share with you. And this is
important because I've seen a lot of players. I've covered
the Summer League ten of the last twelve years, and
I've seen a lot of players make their debut. You
never have a second chance to make a first impression.

(28:32):
I saw christaphs Persingis, I saw Andrew Wiggins, I saw
Dian Waiters, I saw Devin Booker, Damian Lillard Zion men
against boys, Now, I get it. Zion can't stay on
the floor because he's hurt all the time. Men against boys.
Wemby take away the height, and everybody's enamored with his

(28:55):
guard skills because he saw Dan Paul who's seven foot four,
and he's freakishly coordinated and skilled for a guy that tall.
But the NBA is a man's game. And some of
those other nineteen year olds I just mentioned Magic Dawkins, Walton,
lebron Kobe Valsinder Wemby in terms of his stage of development,

(29:17):
only stage of development in nineteen You told me he
was generational. Nowhere near the stage of development. Those other
nineteen year olds had his debut nowhere near. And I
get he's just got off a plane. I don't know.
Maybe he had too many breakfast tacos, he's nervous. I get.
I'll take all those things of consideration. I'm not talking

(29:38):
about missing shots. I'm talking about the physical nature with
which he approaches basketball. I'm not going to be a
guy that loves contact. I get it. The French League
is fairly physical, relatively speaking. You put any one of
those French teams in the NBA, they'd be lucky to
win twenty percent of their games. They might win any games,

(30:00):
compete different style of basketball.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
You know.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
My good buddy, Dave Myers came out of UCLA third
player picked over all the nineteen seventy five draft, God
rest his soul traded for Jabbar, was drafted by the Lakers,
ended up Milwaukee, one of several players He says, we
were told the NBA was physical. I had no idea
until I got there. Now the league is not a
physical now as it was in nineteen seventy six. He said.
The first game he went on a pick, took a

(30:26):
ball and a picket roll, drove the lane, and Lonnie
Shelton smacked him in the chest. He said he thought
he'd been hit by a sledgehammer. Welcome to the NBA.
I want to see physically, physically how Wemby holds up
next season in the If you're going to be Rookie
of the year, he's got to play sixty five games.
Maybe he will. I need to see it, because I'm

(30:48):
not concerned. Now. I get it. Last week, if you
heard me on the air, my tone was somewhat bombastic
in vehemit, when I was merely drawing a parallel as
to the stage development progress Wemby showed versus other ultimate
NBA greats, the ones I just named. Since we're all told, quote,
he can't miss, he's can't miss, he's generational. For what
it's worth, again, I saw Lebron in high school. Vincent

(31:10):
Saint Mary's is living in Michigan. Drove down from Detroit
two hours. I'm glad I did. I do have concerns
about his body type, his relative explosiveness, and we'll see
what training can do over the next two or three years.
But if you're telling me he's gonna take three years
to be fully formed, then he's I'm gonna put the
project label on him. I'm gonna put meaning that here's
a guy se can hold two thoughts. Concurrently, here's a

(31:34):
guy who is exceedingly skilled, a very unique animal in
the sense that he's seven foot four, mature, had success
in a European league that's very competitive. Comes over here,
steps on the floor, and we are told that he's generational.
And when he gets on the floor, he struggles. However,

(31:58):
it's not that he missshots or not. He was nervous.
I watched him in his lane running. I watched him
in the low key, I watched him in the high post.
I watched him move without the ball, And I'm not
so sure how NBA ready he is now. He could
be NBA ready in three years ago from now. He
can make a layer out of me. Maybe this year
he makes a layer out of me. But he's still

(32:19):
got to do it. Don't tell me, show me. I
just think he's nowhere near from his physical standpoint, from
the motor, his motor, and he's revving up. He seemed gassed.
Now these are all things that are correctable, but he's
still got to do it. And again you will notice
he does have terrific handles, an incredible wingspan, great vision.

(32:41):
It's going to be an excellent passer. Maybe he becomes
a great complimentary player and Rudy Gobert like on defense,
Would that be so bad? That would make him generational,
that would make him a serviceable player in the National
Basketball Association. There's no crime in that. But I can't
see what I saw, and I'm not diving into the
group think echo chamber. Oh, it's gotta be fine. You
don't know what you're talking about. You're stupid. I know, scouts,

(33:02):
you don't. How do you know? How do you know
who I know? How do you know? So I'm not
people will listen selectively. The last thing I want to
do is have this come off as pouring cold water
on Victor wimb and Yama, or drawing conclusion like he
may be a bust or you know, fast forwarding his

(33:25):
ultimate ceiling and saying he's not going to be that good.
None of those things. I'm merely saying, is our good
friend army expanion and say the shows today, I'm going
to go based on what I saw now. What I
saw now is physically his stage of development is far beyond,
far behind other generational talents. And his first impression was
to me, not great. Not that he was missing shots.

(33:47):
I don't care where they went from nine points to
twenty seven points. The lane running, the physical nature, getting
knocked off balance, his motor, his conditioning, all those things.
I want to see what that looks like real NBA
season starts. I remember when I was an internal deforum,
Magic walked by me one day a week before the

(34:08):
season started. There was no such thing as six foot
nine point guards in October nineteen seventy nine, and I
said to myself. This guy was reel in college. How's
this going to work? Well? It worked great. Magic was
a man against boys. He adapted instantly, instantly, and he
came back every year and improved his game, learned the
baby hook, became a better free throw shooter, became a

(34:29):
better three point shooter, all those things, but his passing,
his instincts, his dribbling, everything he brought to the NBA
was instant results. And the thing he did most was
make everybody around him better, and he was highly effective
and produced success. I want to see if Winby can
do that no pressure. I just want to see him

(34:50):
get in there and grind. The one thing you'll say
about Zion when he's on the floor, he's a physical
beast in the sense that you can feel he's really competing.
You can feel his presence, and to a degree, you
have that on Wenby because of his wingspan. He can
even block three point shots. But at this stage of development,
I feel he's got a long way to go, and
I'm rooting for him. I root for the story. So

(35:12):
the chef taught me root for the story, and the
best story would be for Wenby to follow in that
great spurs tradition and become that Tim Duncan David Robinson
transcendent type player that becomes the faith of a franchise
and maybe even the NBA for the next decade. We
shall see coming up. There is one other stat about
Wemby in the Summer League that's undeniable, and this is

(35:35):
a real positive. I'm Bernie Fradderer coming to your life
for the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Tirek dot Com Studios.
Keep it locked. You'll litening to the Bernie Fradle Show
on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (35:43):
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller.
Would mean a lot to have you join us on
our weekly auditory journey. You're asking, what in God's name
is the Fifth Hour. I'll tell you it's a spin
off of that Ben Mahler show, a cult hit overnights
on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture if you will World,
where we chat with captains of industry in media, sports,
and more every week explore some amazing facts about human

(36:06):
nature and more. Listen to the Fifth Hour with Ben
Mather on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you
get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Eight seven, seven six six three six nine eight seven,
seven ninety nine on Fox. The phone lines are open,
the game Ethan works so hard on We enter round
two Week one Tonight, we'll see if Poppy can defend
his title. Eight seven seven nine ninety six six three
six ' nine Ethan's Trivia Game, Bernie's Backyard bunkin Bets.

(36:37):
We roll again at midnight, start lining them up, don't
miss out. So the NBA Summer League only has a
couple of days left. But Wemby was part of something
that well didn't set a record, but what to do
it became. His debut was the second most watched broadcast

(37:03):
in the history of the NBA Summer League. It drew
one point four million viewers, only behind Zion's debut in
twenty nineteen, which drew one point six million viewers. So
a lot of folks from San Antonio. This is a
gentleman who's galvanized their fan base, and that very much
showed in Friday's viewership numbers. We can go tonight. Sports

(37:26):
Media Watch reported at the broadcast also averaged more viewers
than San Antonio's Only San Antonio Spurs only had one
nationally televised game last season, and that Summer League outdrew.
There were more fans watching Wemby's summer league debut than

(37:47):
the spurs only nationally televised game last season and their
game against the Hornets again. It also drew Charlotte's most
watched national TV game last season, so he is going
to be a big time draw, no doubt about it.
One point four million viewers, only second behind Zion and
his debut back in twenty nineteen, which got one point

(38:10):
six million viewers. Ethan's trivia game Bernie's Backyard bunkin Bets.
We start up again in seven minutes. Line them up
eight seven seven nine nine six six three six '
nine eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox. Don't get
shut out. Phone lines are open right now. Ethan is

(38:32):
taking calls right now as we speak. Will take six calls.
And if you notice, Poppy won it. He called in
nine of the twelve weeks, So be persistent. Eight seven,
seven nine ninety six six three sixty nine. The trivia
game starts again at midnight. Be ready to answer a
trivia question and make your pick on a bet that

(38:53):
Ethan will give out. Keep it locked right here. You're
listening to the Bernie Frattle Show on Fox Sport Radio. Well,
that's right, you heard the man. Bernie Fraddle Show keeps
rolling right along. My name is Bernie fraddlew coming you
live from the Tirak dot com studios Fox Sports Radio
here in Las Vegas. Tyraq dot com will help you

(39:14):
get there. Unmatched selection fans, free shipping for your road
hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers tyrack dot com.
The way tire buying should be eight seven seven nine
nine six six three six nine. Last chance Line them
up h eight seven seven nine to nine on Fox.
Last Chance line them up without further ado. Round two,

(39:37):
Week one of Ethan's Trivia Game. It continues Ethan take
it away.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
We got questions, we got Christis who will come out
on top? We're calling on you. Let's see what you got.
It's gain time, it's showtime. It's Bernie's Backyard Bucks and Bats.

Speaker 4 (40:01):
All right, guys, good to run it back for our
second round of Bernie's Backyard Bunking Bets. On our first week,
our last winner was Poppy from San Diego. He did
confirm he got his goods, which was his speaker charger
and headphone. So really exciting and uh, we're gonna start
off with him tonight, Poppy from San Diego.

Speaker 6 (40:23):
You're gonna kick us off. How you doing so, Poppy?

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Congratulations? And what's this? I hear the Mallard militia was
giving you a hard time about your victory.

Speaker 7 (40:33):
Thank you.

Speaker 8 (40:37):
Right always in the art up. But you know love
my victory form to go to Vegas, And I.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
Thought, there you go, get a little closer to your
phone there, big fellows week and understand you. Yeah, all right,
take it away, Ethan.

Speaker 6 (40:55):
All right, here we go, frow, here we go.

Speaker 4 (40:57):
Uh, what team did Lano messily signed a deal with?
And if you could tell me for how much money,
I'll give you an extra hundred points.

Speaker 9 (41:05):
Yeah, that's for Miami e FC. And he signed, Uh
it was a deal two hundred and ninety six million,
and he also got an initiative for the club and
sucks price.

Speaker 6 (41:21):
You got the you got the first part, right, second
part not so much.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
I thought it was like one hundred and fifty mines.

Speaker 4 (41:26):
I got one hundred and fifty million. But you sounded
pretty confident saying that.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
All right, well, at least do you get partial credit?

Speaker 6 (41:33):
Go ahead, Okay, we're gonna go to the MLB. It's
gonna go.

Speaker 4 (41:38):
We got the Padres, your Padres at the Phillies tomorrow,
my Phillies for a ten am Pacific start uh in
the doubleheader. We got Walker for the Phillies, snell for
the Padres. We're gonna go, money line. You got Phillies
or Padres.

Speaker 8 (41:54):
You know what I've been feeling good?

Speaker 9 (41:57):
I like, I like smell, and I gotta stick with
the home team right here at the Poppies. We're gonna
go with Smell the Padres.

Speaker 7 (42:03):
And that's what I like.

Speaker 8 (42:05):
And I was gonna ask you, Bernie.

Speaker 9 (42:06):
I was in your hometown, Henderson, and I thought one
B the first game of the first on the second.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
Game sounds good, Poppy, all right, my man, good luck.
I'm gonna have to go against you here. I'm gonna
stick with Taiwan Walker. Phillies got the better record, and
snell Is pitches one good game and one not so
good game. His strike out to walk ratio is higher
than in previous years. And interestingly enough, if the Potters

(42:33):
are road favorite, I'm gonna go with the dog Phillies.
But good luck, Poppy, all.

Speaker 9 (42:37):
Right, Bbby, thanks thank you?

Speaker 4 (42:40):
Alrighty, I like that Bernie, thanks for the Phillies' your ninety.

Speaker 6 (42:45):
I think you're seventy nine percent or something like that,
so I'll take your chances. Here we go. Next, we
got Brandon Brandon from Hawaii. Welcome back, Hey Brandon.

Speaker 7 (42:53):
Hey, Hey Bernie.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
How's it going good? Buddy?

Speaker 4 (42:57):
All right, we appreciate you for calling back, and your
trivia question is going to be And I did make
this a trivia question in week seven, last last last game.

Speaker 6 (43:08):
So what was the horse's name that won the Triple
Crown in twenty eighteen?

Speaker 7 (43:14):
I believe it was Justify.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
All right, nicely done. That's outstanding.

Speaker 6 (43:21):
That's great stuff.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
All right, let's go on to your best bet to
the MLB will continue. Orioles play the Marlins tomorrow during
the day for a one ten to four Eastern start.
We'll be taking the over under eight and a half
runs to be scored in the entire game. It is
Garrett for the Miami Marlins and Kyle Gibson for the Orioles.

Speaker 7 (43:46):
Oh, let's go with the over eight and a half.

Speaker 2 (43:49):
Interestingly enough, I'm gonna stick with the under. Braxton Garrett
is a big time strikeout pitcher, doesn't walk anybody. It's
a day game. The ball eat the ball better at night. Well,
it's a day game at four o'clock. But that's a
day game. It's gonna be played during the day. I'm
gonna take a flyer on the under.

Speaker 6 (44:09):
All right, but good luck, good luck, Brandon, good luck.
We'll see you next week.

Speaker 7 (44:14):
Okay, thanks guys.

Speaker 6 (44:15):
Ye all right, Dave from Phoenix, Dave, you.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
Made a hell of a run there at the end,
and uh, Poppy called in nine times and that may
have been the difference. Everybody did great, but you you know,
so here we are. Welcome back, Thank you very much.

Speaker 6 (44:34):
All Right, here we go. We'll see how much you
know about tennis.

Speaker 4 (44:38):
What tennis player has won the most Wimbledon titles of
all time? If you tell me the amount, I'll give
you an extra two hundred points.

Speaker 7 (44:47):
Oh, I'm gonna say, veak Djokovic.

Speaker 6 (44:58):
Close.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
You didn't say men or women. I'm assuming you met man.
I met men. It's Roger Federer. I believe it's Miami
Roger Federer with eight and Martine and Avertilova won the
most for the women.

Speaker 4 (45:11):
Correct. Wow, that's uh, that was close. That was really close.
That's yeah, that was a really good guest. All right,
on to your best bet and the MLB to them ar.
The Brewers will play the Reds in Cincy. The game
starts at one time Pacific four ten Eastern. It's Peralta
for the Brewers and Abbott for the Reds. Who will
you be taking money? Line?

Speaker 7 (45:32):
Oh, I'm gonna have to go with Abbitt and the
Reds to bounce back after being shut out and go
back in the first place.

Speaker 6 (45:39):
Awesome, Bernie.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
Yeah, Andrew Abbots got a microscopic, he Ira. Uh and
again he doesn't walk anybody, so I'll stick with the
home team as well. Awesome.

Speaker 4 (45:51):
All right.

Speaker 6 (45:52):
We appreciate you for calling him. See you next time.

Speaker 7 (45:55):
All right, thank you?

Speaker 6 (45:57):
All right.

Speaker 4 (45:58):
One of our favorite callers, Uh fuck sports radio favorite,
Sir scratch off.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
What's what's happening on Earth? Sir scratch Off?

Speaker 9 (46:07):
How are you?

Speaker 7 (46:08):
Man?

Speaker 8 (46:09):
I'm going through storm works over twenty five years, I'm
used to cramp Man forty your list of Fox Sports Radio.
I get slammed every time I listened to you and
the Feathers.

Speaker 7 (46:19):
That's my show was in the weekend.

Speaker 8 (46:21):
Man Poppy got worst tarred of the year the last time.
All Right, your story all over the place.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Man.

Speaker 8 (46:32):
My brothers are preachers, and they loved your bridge story
and I loved it. Man.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Oh yeah, thank you. You don't have to tell that
one again. About the two brothers that had the quarrel.

Speaker 8 (46:42):
Yeah, yeah, I hear. We talked about that. We were close.
They shared their pulprid the they we just went overwhelmed. Man.

Speaker 2 (46:49):
Oh, I'm so glad to hear that, sir. Scratch off, yes, dirt, yes, shirt.

Speaker 6 (46:52):
All right, here we go. We love the uh the banter.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
What was the country that hosted the twenty eighteen Winter Olympics.

Speaker 8 (47:04):
Oh my god, dude, man, I don't know.

Speaker 7 (47:10):
I don't do trivies. I just gonna say, but I
don't know.

Speaker 4 (47:14):
You know what.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
You may not give me credit for this because, oh,
the country I thought you'd be in city? I think
it was Korea.

Speaker 6 (47:20):
It was in Korea, right, yep, South Korea.

Speaker 2 (47:22):
I can't pronounce. I don't know. I don't know the
city Chang boom Tang or something like that.

Speaker 6 (47:27):
I think it's pH Chang. I can't pronounce.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
It's a restaurant, yeah, camangs.

Speaker 6 (47:31):
Yeah, no, no, I think you get the f is silently.
I think it's Chang. I don't know whatever, Well, I'll
have to get there.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
If you pronounce it, we just you win the whole
twelve weeks forgetting it over.

Speaker 8 (47:40):
Yeah, seven years old, I don't have a memory no more.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
Dud Well, listen, I'll give you. I'll give you a
different one next week. H your best bet is going
to be in the MLB. Oh, you'll like this one.
The MLB on Sunday, will get the Dodgers at the
Mets the third game of the season at ten thirty Pacific,
one third the Eastern.

Speaker 6 (48:01):
We'll be taking the Dodgers of the Met's money line.

Speaker 8 (48:03):
Oh yeah, I mean because you know you got to
mention to the Carter both at the very bottom. They
suck that now. But the Carter's gonna come back. But
the Dodgers, man, they're gonna take here. I put them
a five.

Speaker 6 (48:12):
Point all right, Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
Isn't Max Sure's are going on Sunday.

Speaker 6 (48:16):
It is Max Schuer's good good stuff. I didn't mention.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
That's Miller for yeah, Bobby Miller.

Speaker 8 (48:21):
Yeah, boy, I hate falls every time we beam enough
in Saint Louis, I mean he'll fall.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
I believe you're fall fair enough. I I can't go
against Max Suzer, my former Detroit compatriot. Uh, so we'll see.
It's a guess. I don't have any really, I don't
have any real handicapping analysis on this. It's just that
I will take You know, Bobby Miller's got a good record,
but but I'm gonna go with the veteran Max sus

(48:49):
All right, you stay safe out there, sir. Scratch off.

Speaker 7 (48:54):
Real quick.

Speaker 8 (48:55):
No, I thought you'd just content. I did a half sport.
I've been cutting had for a long time. Foreheard of
my collection four hundred hats.

Speaker 6 (49:04):
We'll talk.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
I'm guessing that his name his favorite band is not
Men Without Hats Safety Dance. All right, Church, scratch off.
You keep drinking that coffee there, big fella. All right.
Shot of Grandpa's cough syrup. All right.

Speaker 6 (49:19):
Next we have who do we got on the line here?
I think you fell off, Kurt?

Speaker 4 (49:24):
Kurt?

Speaker 2 (49:25):
All right, welcome in, Kurt. Where are you from, buddy?

Speaker 8 (49:28):
Southern California?

Speaker 7 (49:30):
All right?

Speaker 2 (49:30):
Kela, Orange County, San Diego, Oh, very very nice. San Clementy.
Triton's High School's produced many NFL players. Yeah, all right.
Encyclopedia of Useless Knowledge I'm telling you.

Speaker 3 (49:46):
Here we go.

Speaker 4 (49:47):
I'm gonna I'm gonna give you a trivia question. You're
gonna give it your best shot. Who hit the most
home runs in MLB? Who hit the most home runs
in an MLB single season? And if you tell me
how many he hit, I'll give you an extra one
hundred points.

Speaker 7 (50:06):
That would be Aaron Judge he hit sixty three.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
Well, well, it's actually Barry Bonds he had seventy three,
and that was, of course twenty two years ago. It's
been quashed.

Speaker 4 (50:20):
Okay, So well, is Aaron Judge the leader? If it's
not Barry Bernie, well.

Speaker 2 (50:26):
I'm gonna let you be the Look, this was kind
of a trick trivia question because what you asked was
who hit the most home runs in a single season?
There were no caveats American national whether or not there
were question marks right as to steroids, which of course
we know Bonds never tested positive. But I don't want
to go down the road in that debate.

Speaker 4 (50:44):
But we'll give car a hundred points for the confusing
question and good get okay, fair enough, fair enough.

Speaker 6 (50:51):
All right, We'll give you your best bet.

Speaker 4 (50:52):
Here we have the Gold Cup in soccer Panama versus
Mexico on Sunday for a four to thirty Pacific seven
thirty Eastern. Panama did beat USA and penalty kicks. We'll
be taking Mexico or Panama money line.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
Mexico. I'm going to Mexico as well.

Speaker 4 (51:12):
All right, Curry and Bernie both going Mexico. Good choices there,
we appreciate.

Speaker 6 (51:17):
We can look forward to you next week.

Speaker 7 (51:19):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 6 (51:20):
All right, Kurt, all right, Bernie, that's it for this week.

Speaker 2 (51:24):
All right, there you have it, so Ethan, you will
post the standings after week one win.

Speaker 6 (51:31):
It'll be Tuesday mornings. That's what we're gonna do.

Speaker 4 (51:34):
If it's not Tuesday mornings, you can bank on it
Tuesday nights at five pm Pacific.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
Okay, that sounds good. So Tuesday nights, five pm.

Speaker 4 (51:45):
Five pm. You may see it on Mondays, just if
whenever I can get to it at work.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
Sounds good. All right, Thanks to everybody, Ethan, good stuff.
We're off and running again, and we'll see where it
takes us. Come it up. The NBA's Board of Governors
approved a new rule that I think most fans will
be happy with. I teased this last week believing it
was coming down the pike, and now it's official. I'll

(52:11):
tell you all about it. And yes it's only for
one year, but it's gonna be implementing. It's gonna be
implemented at the beginning of the season. And I think
it's something that's an idea whose time has come. Tonight
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(52:33):
you to one place. Bundle and save at Progressive dot Com.
I'm Bernie frowdle Wer, come to you live to the
Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio tire Act dot Com studios
keep you locked right here. You're listening to the Bernie
Frattle Show on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (52:54):
Hey, it's Ben, host of a Fifth Hour with Ben
Malor with mean a lot to have you joined us
on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking, what in God's
name is the Fifth Hour. I'll tell you it's a
spin off of that Ben Mather show, a cult hit
overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture if you will?
A world where we chat with captains of industry in media,
sports and more. Every week explore some amazing facts about

(53:17):
human nature and more.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
Listen to the Fifth Hour with.

Speaker 5 (53:20):
Ben Maller on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever
you get your podcast.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
Herry Back on the Bernie Frattle Show, Fox Sports Radio,
coming to you live from the tyrect dot com studios
here in Las Vegas, taking up to two am Pacific,
five am Eastern. Plenty to get to, not the least
of which the NBA news cycle is raging in just
this past week. As we talked about on this show
two weeks ago, the NBA Board of Governors would approve

(53:47):
an in game flopping penalty, and they did expand the
use of the Coach's challenge. So let's break these down. First,
the in game flopping penalty we're all sick of, you know,
when you see it, I think it detracts from the
quality of the game. So under the new rule, when

(54:08):
a game official calls a flop or as they deem,
a physical act that reasonably appears to be intended to
cause officials to call a follow another player, well the
player who's the offending player who attempts the Academy Award
act to flop, they're going to be charged with a

(54:29):
non unsportsmanlike technical foul, and the opposing team is going
to be awarded one free throw attempt, and that free
throw attempt can be attempted by any player who's in
the game when the technical file is assessed. Now, a
player will not be ejected from a game based on
flopping violation. So that's fair. But here's what's interesting we
talked about this last week. Referee is they will not

(54:52):
be required to stop live play to call a flopping violation.
So you're in the flow, there's a play down low,
perhaps Lebron flops, and the play continues until there's a whistle.
The referee will not call the flop until after play

(55:12):
a stop. For example, you don't want to stop live
play while an offensive team has an immediate scoring opportunity.
So the officials have decided according to the rule, they'll
wait till the next neutral opportunity to stop live play
and they'll administer the flopping penalty so they can artificially
stop it, or maybe the ball goes out of bounds
or whatever. But after the penalty free throw, then the

(55:35):
resumption of play principles apply, meaning the team with the
imminent possession when play was stopped, they will be awarded
possession when the play resumes. Now, is it possible the
officials could call both a foul and a flopping violation
on the same play. Well, here's where it gets interesting.
A flopping violation will not be A coach cannot challenge

(56:01):
the flopping violation and it's not directly reviewable by a
coach's challenge. However, the referee could call a flop and
there could be a replay review of the file triggered
by the coach's challenge, and then the referee then he
initiates his own replay view of the fil such as
a flagrant file or a block charge call, or an
end of the period file or a clear path file,

(56:23):
and then that can be reviewed. So the league, their
office and their ability to assess flops after a game
is also going to remain in place. Now new for
this upcoming season a postgame monetary penalty system for flops. Well,
it's been modified and it's going to actually copy that

(56:43):
of technical files. Fines will start at two thousand bucks
whoop to do while two grand and increasing incrementally for
repeat offenders. Now, when a flopping violation is called by
the officials in real time, and it might result in
a fine or count toward the postgame financial penalty system.
But when a flop is called by referees, the loan

(57:07):
penalty will be in game competitive penalty. Okay, now the
opposing team again, they're going to get one free through attempt.
Hopefully you followed all that really not that difficult. You flop,
you get a nonsports unsportsmanlike technical. The other team gets
to free throw. Anybody in the game can shoot it.
So this new in game flopping penalty, which I think

(57:29):
is an idea whose time has come, It should have
come long ago, will will will be implemented. They're experimenting
with it right now in the Summer League, and I
frankly haven't really followed the progress of it. But it's
going to be implemented beginning with the upcoming twenty three

(57:49):
to twenty four NBA season, but it's only going to
be a one year test trial. They're going to see
how it goes. Flopping is is something that, again it's
maddening to observe and fairly well obvious in most cases.
The other implementation of a new rule that the Board

(58:10):
of Governors ratified this past week was the expanded use
of a coach's challenge. Now the coach's challenge basically, what
they're doing now is they're giving teams a second challenge.
Your awarded the second challenge if your first challenge is successful,
so they're not used indiscriminately. You have to have a

(58:33):
track record of being successful. A team can continue to
use a timeout to trigger a challenge, which means they'll
not be able to use the first or second challenge
unless they have a timeout available, which most cases you
do right. But in addition, a team they're going to
continue to retain their timeout that would be used to
initiate their first challenge if the challenge is successful see

(58:57):
keep your time out, and you get an opportunity for
a check in a second challenge and it didn't trigger
the mandatory timeout. So if you're good at challenges, then
you are still inclined and you're a head coach and
you're feeling saucy and you challenge a call and you
happen to be correct, well, you get it's like a
game show. You get a second challenge. You now are

(59:20):
awarded a second challenge, and you don't lose your time out. Now. Look,
the length of NBA games is fairly the pace is
fairly good, but they can really become elongated the last
couple of minutes. But we know that what they're trying
to make sure is they manage game flow. And one

(59:41):
of the reasons they don't want the team to retain
the timeout to initiate the second challenge is because they
want the game flow to continue and they don't want
to just be a series of timeouts and challenges. But
the flop is something we're all tired of. Fair enough, Okay.
So the NBA's Competition Committee committee by way, and they

(01:00:01):
consist of players, reps from the Players Association, coaches, governors,
team executives, and even referees, so's it's a cross section
of about everybody. They unanimously no one voted against either
of these rules, either the in game flopping penalty or

(01:00:22):
the expanded use of the coaches challenge of the Board
of Governors. When they put this forth, it was unanimous,
and I'm glad it is, because the flop is something
that's frankly to me in basketball, unseemly. I can't stand it.
There many times they'll slow the game down and you'll

(01:00:45):
see it. And it's funny. Though, after Lebron gave his
speech of one of ten million speeches that you know
during the postgame press conference, don't, I don't. I'm not
part of flopping. And we've never been had a team
that followed flops. And I saw a video montage about
ten years ago. He flopped all the time, including in
the twenty eleven NBA Finals when he was with Miami

(01:01:07):
where he appeared to take an elbow in the mouth
at high speed and then it showed the elbow missed
like a phantom punch and The Godfather with James conn
and Lebron jerks his head backwards and falls down. But no,
he doesn't flop. Well, maybe he's acting. He's an actor.
You know, he's even been a movie. So no more acting,
no more flopping. Good on the NBA Board of Governors

(01:01:27):
coming up? Are NFL running backs really devalued? Is that
the right word? Let me give you some perspective as
to what's going on with NBA running backs, why it's
going on, And I'm going to bring a lot of
receipts so you can get a little bit more of
a clear understanding on the thought process of NFL personnel,

(01:01:49):
directors and coaches as it pertains to running backs. But
first let's go to our guy, Kevin Wyatt with the latest.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
Major League Baseball beginning the second half of the season.
After the Star brick in the ed ou Central battle
of the top two teams Brewers and Reds, and the
Brewers winning that low scoring affair won nothing. Corbyn, Byrds
almost fainted in the fifth inning. However, he would stay
in the game after consulting with his trainer, taking a
few big gulps of water, and would pitch into the
sixth inning. Eventually would strike out thirteen batters in total,

(01:02:20):
as the Brewers now tied with Cincinnati at top of
the National League Central Brays with a blot win over
the White Sox nine nothing as they get their second
half started on a strong note. Red Sox beat the
Cubs eight three, Rangers continuing their strong season of twelve
to four win over the Guardians Rockies with a seven
to two win over the Yankees. The Angels starting their

(01:02:40):
second half with shoey Otani on the mound, and he
proved that he is.

Speaker 6 (01:02:43):
Mortal after all.

Speaker 3 (01:02:44):
He allowed four earned runs as he was pulled in
the sixth inning and he takes the loss. Houston wins
at seven to five. As for the other LA team,
the Dodgers win it six to nothing against the Mets,
Julio Urias allowing just to hit in a walk in
six innings of work. But the Dodgers gonna be without
Clayton Kershoff for a little while. He underwent an MRA
on his left shoulder prior to the All Star break,

(01:03:05):
and he announced he will miss a few weeks before
we're returning to the rotation sometime in early I guess.
In the NFL, the Bengals and running back Joe Mixon
finalizing a restructured contract that will keep him in Cincinnati
for the twenty twenty three season. He was scheduled to
make more than ten million dollars this season and had
a twelve point eight million dollar cap hit, and the

(01:03:27):
Washington Post saying that approval of Commissioner Roger Goodell's contract extension,
as well as Tom Brady's deal to become a limited
partner in the Raiders ownership, are not likely to be
resolved at next Thursday's owners meetings in Minneapolis.

Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
Back to you, Bernie, all right, thanks, Kevin. Running backs
are very much in the news, Sakwon Barkley, Dalvin Cook.
If you're heard of the name, uh Isaiah Pacheco. Of
course you have seventh round draft pick out of Rutgers
by the Chiefs. What if I told you that that
Isaiah Pachecko was drafted in the seventh round. There were

(01:04:05):
two hundred and fifty players picked before Isaiah Pachecko was
selected by the Kansas City Chiefs last year, but as
a rookie, as the Chiefs won Super Bowl being Philadelphia
thirty eight to thirty five, Isaiah Pichecko, Yes, that same
Isaiah Pachecko. Two hundred and fifty players picked ahead of him.

(01:04:26):
He was a leading rusher in the Super Bowl. Hold
that thought, first of all, before we get too deep
into the weeds about this terrible, abhorrent treatment that running
backs are getting. And I do understand that on a
relative basis their pay scale is slid. But when they

(01:04:50):
report that, let me give you this some perspective. Because
if you are all of the notion that you want
to take up a collection plate for running backs, go ahead.
But if Saquon Barkley just plays some of the franchise tag.
This year, he will have made forty one million, one
hundred and ninety four thousand, and in his NFL career
so far forty one million dollars. He may have heard

(01:05:14):
of Dalvin Cook. Thus far in the league, he's made
thirty nine million, one hundred and twenty five thousand. Ezekiel
Elliott currently and man without a team, although the rumor
is we think he'll win it back with Dallas. That
have reduced rate seventy one million in his career. So
between Sequon Barkley, Dalvin Cook and Ezekiel they're still playing.
They made about one hundred and sixty million dollars. So

(01:05:36):
if you feel you need to take up a collection plate,
I have. I don't you know. I feel terrible for them, Yes,
I really do. With all due respect, I understand that
within the pace get within the framework of the National
Football League, they feel they're being slighted. But it's all relative.
See here's the thing about the National Football League. Almost
to a degree, football in general, but certainly in the

(01:05:58):
National Football League. It's been my observation the game has
become basketball on turf. You put your athletes in space
to make a play. You spread the field, you win
your one on one battles. And as a result of this, well,
the quarterback has become ultra important. The quarterback has become
ultra important. The game has become very quarterback centric. It

(01:06:20):
always was, but now more so than ever. You run
your offense through the quarterback. NFL coaches offensive coordinators just
look at the game plans. They feel the best way
to win a ball game is to be able to
operate from the pocket and throw the ball proficiently. Here's
an example. Buffalo they run their entire offense through Josh Allen. Now,

(01:06:44):
they did grab Devin Singletary, he had a one year deal.
He was an accessory. They drafted James Cook in the
second round last year, not expected to be a heavy
volume back. You got a little flash. You got guys
that can catch it out of the backfield. That's where
we're at Green Bay that divide up their carries between
Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. You get the picture. It's

(01:07:09):
a quarterback centric league. The second thing is this has frankly,
really become a supplying demand issue. I absolutely agree a
running back is an important cog in an NFL offense. Right,
they block, they got to catch the ball out of
the backfield. They got to move the chains on third down,

(01:07:32):
run between the tackles, get the hard yard, keep defenses
on their feet. You have to have a running game.
You can't be one dimensional. NFL defensive coordinators are too smart.
But I don't like this word replaceable. They're interchangeable is
the word I would use. But if I'm quoting Joe Banner,

(01:07:54):
a respected NFL GM, he said, there's an abundance of
available talent at running back. There's more runner our jobs
there just simply are. And so just by that virtue
of supply and demand, you're not going to overpay. And
you can't say that about other positions. If you have
a top flight receiver and he goes, the chances are
replacing a top flight receiver with some bative comparable quality,

(01:08:17):
your chances aren't good. They're small. Let's say you've got
a great pass rusher defensive end and he goes, the
chances of replacing again with someone just as well just
as good are small. You get the picture. And so
what you have is a supply and demand issue, and
you have to factor in the rotations, your budget, your cost,

(01:08:41):
How do you cost justify and stand to the cap.
And again, Joe Banner went on to say he doesn't
think that running backs have necessarily been devalued. He just
thinks there's an imbalance to supply and demand at the position.
There's no real need to overpay running backs. And the
gms talk to each other, and you know, you can

(01:09:04):
get a running back in the second or third round,
or even the seventh round like the Chiefs scot you know,
Isaiah Pacheco. A couple of things to consider. Just four
running backs have been selected in the first round of
the past four drafts. There hasn't been a running back
taken higher than twenty four since twenty eighteen, when the
Giants took Saquon Barkley with the second pick. Now, there

(01:09:29):
have been eighty five running backs drafted in the last
four years in the NFL Draft in total, but sixty
those eighty five have been after have been in round
four or after just one team, the Cowboys, they only
used They're the only team that used more than eight
percent of their salary cap on running backs. The Eagles

(01:09:49):
used two percent and they won a Super Bowl or
they got to the Super Bowl. Excuse me, now, there
have been twenty five veteran running backs sciened since the
start of free agency last month. Half of them signed
one year deals. Miles Sanders David Montgomery. Deal's average about
four million a year. Sanders got a four year, twenty
five million dollar a year with the Carolina Panthers. David Montgomery,

(01:10:12):
you can, signed with the Lions three years, eighteen million.
Jamal Williams. Interestingly enough, he rested for seventeen touchdowns last year.
The Lions didn't keep them. He signed a three year,
twelve million dollar a day with the New Orleans Saints.
So what we have here is a situation where the
nature of the NFL is changing. How you prosecute an

(01:10:36):
offense is changing. It's become basketball and turf. You put
athletes in space. The top flight offense is Buffalo, etc.
They are very quarterback centric. They run their offense through
their quarterback. There's a tremendous supply and demand issue. There
are a lot of running backs out there. There are

(01:10:56):
more running backs than jobs. And you know, the way
it works is that if a running back has a
heavy load, clearly it takes its toll. And you know,
I think the world of Josh Jacobs. I mean he
he's the guy that can block, he can pass protect,
he can run the ball between the tackles, he can

(01:11:19):
knock guys on their butts, and he can catch the
ball out of the backfield. And you know, in his
first three seasons they used him a lot. He averaged
two hundred and forty four rushing attempts and aw the
Raiders maybe not a great example. They have him been
good and they're not expected to be good this year.
And Jacobs led the league with sixteen hundred and fifty

(01:11:41):
three yards. And he's a free agent. Why because the
amount of money he wants is scaring teams. And it's
proven in the NFL now that if you lose a
running back they can be interchangeable. I don't like the
word replaceable because that sort of values the athlete. I don't.
I just don't like the word interchangeing. You take out

(01:12:02):
a star, you put in a back or running back.
You put in a seventh rounder from Rutgers, he leads
to the Super Bowl in rushing and you win the
Super Bowl. Isaiah Pacheco. So we just simply have a
situation where the game has evolved. But look, I don't
know that you need to take up a collection plate
for Saquon Barkley or Dalvin Cooker Ezekiel Elliott. It's very simple. Barkley,

(01:12:26):
if he's he was offered a three year deal thirty
nine million dollars and he said no, so far they
got no money to get this figured out, that might
not be a bad deal for Barkley. If he takes it.
At the end of that contract, he will have earned
seventy million dollars in his career.

Speaker 8 (01:12:40):
Not bad.

Speaker 2 (01:12:42):
Ezekiel Elliott's earned seventy one million, Dalvin Cook's earned thirty
four million, thirty nine million. Excuse me, so, rather than
say they're devalued, rather than say they're not, is you
know they're expendable, which I don't agree. You just have
a shifting nature. The way the NBA malvalues wing players
three point players. Major League Baseball seems the value strackout pitchers.

(01:13:06):
Sports evolve and teams gravitate toward the composition of those
athletes that put them in the best position to win.
And if a Super Bowl team won with a running
back in the seventh round that found himself waiting for
two hundred and fifty picks before he got picked two
hundred and fifty first. That should tell you what you

(01:13:27):
need to know. The situation isn't that dire, even though
the group thinking echo chamber narrative wants you to believe
it is. To that show brought to you by Discover
at the end of her 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. Check it out

(01:13:47):
for yourself a Discover dot Com forward slash match, much
to the surprise of nobody. Now I'm not talking about Lebron.
Turns out he's not going to retire Wolf who knew. Wow? Nope,
Hard Knocks has their team. We'll give you that breaking news.
Coming up, I'm Bernie Frattle, coming to you live from

(01:14:09):
the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Tirat dot Com studios.
Keep it locked right here. You're listening to the Bernie
Frattle Show on Fox Sports Radio. All right back on
the Bernie Fraddle Show, Fox Sports Radio. Come to you
live from the tyrat dot Com studios here in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Hard Knocks. We have a winner. By the way, Jets
had to somewhat somewhat know this was coming down the

(01:14:34):
pike that when they traded for Aaron Rodgers a couple
of months back, they basically bought themselves on unwanted appearances
on Hard Knocks as part of the deal. Right, So
it's official now the Jets have been selected to be
featured on a Hard Knocks. It's obviously the popular HBO

(01:14:55):
documentary that's been around twenty plus years. It's official, ESPN
or P or the News, and I look forward to it. Frankly,
I know Robert Salah publicly urged Hard Knocks to look elsewhere, said,
I'm sure there are plenty of teams that would like
to be on Hard Knocks or not want to. And

(01:15:17):
you know, the prevailing concern is that and that I
guess most NFL teams feel this way. That you give
a camera crew all access filming, it could be to revealing,
It could cause too many distractions. And the truth of
the matter is many people, many knowledgeable NFL people, including

(01:15:38):
Mike Tannenbaum, who was the Jets general manager when they
were spotlighted on Hard Knocks back in twenty ten with
Rex Ryan. He basically said, you don't look. Within a
couple of days, you almost forget they're there, which is
something we didn't think we'd say, but it's true. And

(01:15:58):
you know, Tanneball said that it's actually turned down a
request to be featured in twenty nine, but then they
reconsidered in twenty ten. And when he talked to Rozzie Newsom,
who at the time was the general manager of the Ravens,
and he said, what's interesting is it seemed to increase.
It seemed to create a bit of a spike in competitiveness,

(01:16:20):
competitiveness when his team was on. Right, players know they're
being filmed. It's a popular show. One you know, unnamed
execs said, you actually get better practices out of it. Now,
no teams volunteered for Hard Knocks. The Lions did last year.
The Jets are one of the four teams that could
the NFL could actually force into participating. And guess what

(01:16:41):
camp opens July nineteenth, Right, so we are talking what Wednesday?
Talking Wednesday? Camps will be rolling Wednesday. And Damian Woody,
who knows the thing or two about the NFL, and
he's in ESPN for list for ESPN, he played for

(01:17:02):
the Jets. He was an alignment back in twenty ten.
He says, whatever said it's a distraction. That's nonsense, man. Yeah,
we're being broadcast to national public. I want to project
myself in the best light. We thought about it, and
it's an opportunity to create good impressions. So we'll get
to see Hard Knocks coming up in early August on

(01:17:23):
Tuesday's ten pm Eastern. And even though Robert Salas said,
you know, we're not one of the teams. We don't
want to be part of a subplot. We don't want
to be on Hard Knocks. Well, too bad, I guess.
And Aaron Rodgers, he's always said he's an open book,
he's got an extra grind. We'll see if any of

(01:17:44):
that comes out, if he says anything, if he's guarded.

Speaker 4 (01:17:48):
What right.

Speaker 2 (01:17:48):
You've got offensive rookie of the year, Defensive rookie of
the year, Garrett Wilson, Sauce Gardner. You've got a lot
of star power. Quinn Williams has his contract. Now, you've
got a Hall of Fame quarterback and the biggest market.
You can't tell me you're not looking forward to Hard
Knocks this year. There are things that Jets have a
lot of cool personalities and they may benefit from this.

(01:18:09):
So let's keep an open mind. Coming up. What's the
latest down the Oakland A's and their mayor. I'll tell
you kep it Locke listening to the Bernie Frattle Show
and Fox Sports Radio. Well, that's right, you heard the man.
Bernie Frattle Show rolls right along. My name is Bernie
Frattlewer coming to you live from the tirect dot com
studios Fox Sports Radio here in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tiraq

(01:18:30):
dot com. We'll help you get there. An unmatched selection,
fast free shipping, free road answer protection in over ten
thousand recommended installers. Tyrat dot com. The way tire buying
should be. Well, there was an interesting meeting in the
mind this past week between Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and

(01:18:52):
the Oakland mayor. So after weeks of in a sense,
speaking dismissively and even occasionally a little sarcasm about the
perceived lack of a viable stadium proposal or fans support
in Oakland, Oh commission Rob Manfred he's still referring to

(01:19:12):
the A's current home in the past ten saying this
last week quote, we didn't find a solution to keep
the A's in Oakland. That's number one on the disappointment list,
I don't believe that at all that Rob Manfred's disappointed,
and it's my understanding. The mayor of Oakland met Rob

(01:19:35):
at the All Star Game, brought copies of the proposal
that Oakland had to get a new stadium, thirty copies,
gave one to each owner. So Manfred, did you know
he still continues to in air quotes meet with Oakland
city officials and now although the All Star Game is
not concluded, during the full you know of events in Seattle,

(01:20:01):
Rob Manfred, as i said, met with Oakland Mayor Sang Tao,
and he heard her goal was to was to protest
and Countermanfred's assertion that there was never a solid stadium
proposal from Bairey officials, and the Tao asked for the meeting,

(01:20:22):
got the meeting, and the meeting took place as the
East still planned to move to Vegas and search for
an inter home for three full seasons. It's going to
be twenty five, six seven, and Toal presented Manfred and
every team owner with an extensive document that outlined Oakland's
two side stadium and their two development proposals for the

(01:20:43):
Howard Terminal and the Oakland Alameda County Council and property.
Quote until there's an actual shovel in the ground in
Las Vegas, we will not stop trying to keep the
team or they belong in Oakland. Unquote, Tao said in
a letter that she wrote to Commissioner Manfred that was
part of the document. At least they had a meeting.

(01:21:08):
It was dignified they had a meeting. Okay, And despite
Manfred's prior comments, is moved to continue some level of
talks with Oakland. It's not surprising, it's it's a Major
League Baseball's best interest to maintain open dialogue. Okay. Do
I think this will happen whereby somehow the seal falls

(01:21:30):
apart and in the A stay and Oakland, No, I don't.
I give you less than a one percent chance. I
realized there are numerous hurdles they still need to be
cleared before the A's moved to Nevada, and things got
to be finalized. But you know, major League Baseball, they
need cooperation from their civic leaders on a wide range
of issues. And there are facilities issues, regulation issues, special events.

(01:21:52):
There's a lot of things to go into it. The
only thing that I see that could kaibosch this and
this is whimsical and fanciful, and I do not believe
it will happened, but I don't know. And by the way,
to draw a little history, back in nineteen ninety two,
I was in business in Tampa. Come walking out of
my hotel room in in August nineteen ninety two morning

(01:22:14):
and grab a newspaper and on the front page, not
the sports page, the front page, I believe it was
a Tampa tribute San Francisco Giants moving to Tampa front
page of the paper. Well, obviously they never did move
to Tampa. The Giants sold the team. They stayed in
San Francisco, ended up moving from Candlestick and to their
beautiful new stadium there on the China Basin. I've been

(01:22:34):
there many times. So unless John Fisher sells the team
and the new owner decides to keep it in Oakland, again,
this is a very whimsical, fanciful theoretical conversation. Because the
wheels are in motion. Okay, there are still a lot

(01:22:54):
of loose ends, but the wheels are in motion. You know,
the legislature or the state assembly here in the of
the governor signed off. The a's are getting their three
hundred and eighty million of public money to build the
stadiumhere you think it's going to be in the Tropicanas site,
and again, there are a hell of a lot of
hurdles to overcome in the meantime. But here's what's interesting.
Major League Baseball wants to again resume expansion after they

(01:23:20):
finalize everything for the Oakland A's and potentially even the
Tampa Bay Rays. Okay, so you've got the A's who
play in an unfortunate, dilapidated stadium but with a lot
of rich history, but it's better days are behind. And
the Tampa Bay Rays play in this oddball dome that

(01:23:40):
they've that's been their home since ninety seven. And uh,
I think it's an issue for a lot of folks.
Those two stadiums are just not up to par in
terms of what, you know, what major league facilities look
like Circle twenty twenty three. Now, I believe that it's
a lot that Major League Baseball has plans to add

(01:24:03):
two more teams and go grow the league to thirty
two teams, But that's contingent on the A's and Ray's
getting new ballparks right, And I realize the As are
still in the early stages of a move to Las Vegas,
and I am not versed on what's happening in Tampa
Bay at all, but there's some sort of ownership drama

(01:24:25):
told and that is that has really kind of put
the kibosh on their efforts to get a new facility.
So or Roger, excuse me, rob Manfred It doesn't want
to wait long though, to select some new markets. And
I think they're in the process very soon putting together

(01:24:45):
an expansion committee and talking about all the issues involving expansion.
And there are some notable cities that are on line
that are leading candidates to get a baseball team. Nashville
not about mind mind, they'd do a fine job of
supporting a team. So with Charlotte, Salt Lake City, I
believe there's a coalition in Salt Lake City's bringing baseball

(01:25:06):
to Salt Lake City. Montreal, Montreal is a great baseball city.
And obviously the Expos vacated Montreal and the Washington Nationals
were born, but I could see Montreal having a baseball
team again. Portland, Oregon, they're also in the mix. You

(01:25:28):
got national Charlotte, Salt Lake City, Montreal, Portland, they're candidates now,
not all of them are going to get one. At
best two of them will get one, which is sort
of ironic. Had we've been a little patient in Vegas,
but we got an expansion team versus the A's. But
that's the story for a different day. So, of course

(01:25:49):
Rob Manfred assembled a forum during the All Star Game,
and he addressed these matters concerning the league, including the
update they're having an issue with Regional Sports Networks major
League Baseball. They've collected about ninety four percent of the
rights fees owned by Valley Sports, but their parent company,

(01:26:12):
I believe, Diamond Sports Group, I believe they foult bankruptcy,
So there's issues there right. Meanwhile, Rob Manfred also went
on to say that at Atlanta, the city of Atlanta,
which lost the twenty twenty one All Star Game, is
now candidate again to host the twenty twenty five event.
Baltimore's got a chance to do it, Toronto's got a chance,

(01:26:35):
Boston and even regular Field now in twenty twenty, no
twenty next year. Texas. You talk about a modern stadium,
you know what's interesting. So the ballpark at Arlington opened,
I want to say ninety three to ninety four, beautiful stadium.

(01:26:56):
That darn thing was only around twenty five years and
now low Blife Field, it's incredibly modern. So you look
at these some of these cities, They're on their third
stadium since nineteen ninety two, and Oakland on their same
stadium since nineteen sixty eight. So you see why there's
an issue. So Texas will host next year's All Star Game.

(01:27:17):
Philadelphia will host the All Star Game in twenty twenty six.
And I think the state of baseball is incredibly healthy.
Attendance is up, averaging twenty eight thousand fans per game,
Revenues are up, TV ratings are up, and people say

(01:27:37):
they're concerned about this generation or baseball too slow whatever.
Rob Manfred made an announcement the other day that there's
a three year drop of the median age of Major
League Baseball ticket buyers dropped to dropped six years to
a median age forty three. Okay, the new I mean
this is a six year drop, actually forty three to

(01:28:01):
thirty seven, excuse me. So this is a tremendous This
is very bullish for baseball in terms of attendance, in
terms of fandom, in terms of TV ratings. Baseball is
very popular. It is our national pastime, and attendance projections
are tremendous. And I would say this it's directly there's

(01:28:24):
a direct correlation to more people attending games and how
the fans have embraced the new rules. Games are now
being played at a rate of twenty six minutes faster
than they were in the last three years. Aggregate average
game time now is two hours and thirty eight minutes

(01:28:45):
instead of three hours and four minutes. Obviously, the pitch clock,
the various you know, the pickoff rules, maybe not so
much to shift, but the pace of the game has changed.
I think that's important. That's help attracting Denver fans Manfred's
that's a key priority that is working in the meantime.
Looming still hanging over this whole ordeal are the Oakland A's.

(01:29:09):
The Oakland A's there, their lease with Oakland and the
Coliseum expires it at the end of twenty twenty four,
and I don't know where they're going to play in
twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven. You can't just arbitrarily
say well, they'll play at the Las Vegas Ballpark here
where the current Las Vegas Aviators play. What are the
Aviators going to do? And there's a couple other things too. One,

(01:29:34):
it's a beautiful ballpark here in Vegas, sold out all
the time, holds ten thousand people. You're telling me that
the Players Union is going to ratify and approve playing
in a minor league facility for three years where the
average of tennis is now twenty eight thousand a game.
So they're losing eighteen thousand seats in revenue times eighty
one times three. Players Union's going to go for that.

(01:29:56):
I don't think so. By the way, today in Las Vegas,
the Highway one hundred and eleven Saturday, it's going to
be one hundred and fifteen. Sunday is going to be
one sixteen, and the Aviators are home. You tell me
Major and by the way, they don't have a dome.
Tell me Major League Baseball players are going to play
in that. So there are a lot of stumbling blocks

(01:30:18):
to overcome, not the least of which are the Oakland
A's going to play for three years in the interim.
My belief is somehow they make peace with the city
of Oakland and stay there, because I don't know what
their other options are, but be that as it may.
Aside from all that, we are now to the second
half of the season, and this is where you make
your bones. And there are tremendous storylines in the second

(01:30:40):
half of the season. But the A's are going to
continue to be one, not just for this season, but
for the next three seasons. Another story here locally, and
I never talk about this sport, but it's time to
give the WNB either due not that there's our local
team historically great and looking to defend their championship, the
Las Vegas ass but the WNBA All Star Game is

(01:31:02):
here in Vegas Saturday night, and attendance in that league
is high and TV ratings are high, and it all
bodes well for sports fans. I'll take you behind the
curtain just a little bit on that, on the subject
we really talk about. But it deserves it deserves their flowers.
I'm Bernie Fraddlewick Comedy Live from Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio,

(01:31:23):
tirak dot com studios. Don't go away. You're listening to
the Bernie Fraddle Show on Fox Sports Radio. All right,
back on the Bernie Fraddle Show, Fox Sports Radio Come
to life. The tirac dot Com Studios here in Las Vegas.
Later on the night, the w NBA All Star Game
is here in Las Vegas at the michelob Ultra Arena
at Mandalay Bay, where they've been selling out all year.

(01:31:44):
And I don't talk much on the WNBA. I respect
the league and it's grown on It's grown tremendously since
the mid nineties when it was born. But we have
a team here that was born here, the Las Vegas
a They won the championship last year. They're on their
way to repeating. They're nineteen and two. I don't know

(01:32:08):
who gets them. Maybe the New York Liberty doesn't matter.
There were a couple months away from that, and I
might well, I don't ever talk to WNBA, but when
I see this kind of excellence and it's in our
hometown here in Las Vegas, and it's somewhat of a
national story. The Aces are owned by Mark Davis, who

(01:32:28):
also owns the Raiders, and we are at the halfway
point of the WNBA season. You have one team that's
head and shoulders above the rest by a mile. Well,
that kind of excellence I think has to be recognized
and congratulated because this is a team that is not
just great, they're historically great. They beat the LA Sparks.

(01:32:49):
I think it was Wednesday night and the final day
of action before the All Star break. So the Aces
are not nineteen and two. That's a nine oh five
winning percentage. That would be the best highest percentage in
WNBA history. If they can keep it up. By season's in,
there's forty games, they're already halfway home. They've been as
oury Buddy Kevin Figures would say, completely mallow opping malliwopping

(01:33:12):
their opponents. Only six of Vegas's nineteen wins were fewer
than thirteen points. The average point differential is fifteen point four.
That's by far the best in the league. The second
in the league is the New York Liberty. Their average
margin of victory is six point six points. The Aces
not only have the league's most prolific offense, they're averaging

(01:33:34):
ninety four points a game. They got the stingiest defense.
They're only allowing seventy eight points per game. Not only
is the Aces offense the best, it's among the best
in the history of the WNBA, and there's been about
a thirty year history now. The team record of points
per game in the season is held by the Mercury Phoenix.

(01:33:55):
Mercury back in twenty ten, they average about ninety three
points a game. But that same Mercury team also had
the worst defense in the league. They allowed ninety three
points per game, and they weren't even five hundred. They
were fifteen to nineteen. That was twenty ten. See, the
Aces are elite on both ends of the floor. Number
one offense, number one defense, and we're talking by a

(01:34:18):
freaking mile. Vegas does it with some players you've probably
heard of. They start with they're all world forward Asia Wilson.
She's the reigning MVP. She's averaging about twenty points a game,
nine rebounds a game, fifth best in the league in
both categories, seventh best field goal percentage. She's shooting fifty

(01:34:40):
four percent from the field. Asia Wilson also leads the
league with one hundred and forty four two point shots
made and which. When the Aces beat the Sparks the
other night, Wilson had twenty five points, twelve rebounds, and
twenty three and seven in the first half. They were
blowing them outs. Probab We didn't play a lot in
the second half. But she's not alone. Remember of basketball

(01:35:04):
is a team game. The Aces have a tremendous balanced offense.
They have two other players you've probably heard of, Kelsey Plumb,
who also happens to be married to New York Giants
tight end Darren Waller and Jackie Young. They both averaged
more than nineteen points a game. And then Chelsea Gray,
who's a phenomenal passer, really a lot of flair, a

(01:35:27):
lot of panache on her passes. She averages fifteen points
a game and almost seven assists per game and kind
of a highlight film pass. You get Age Wilson, Kelsey Plumb,
Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray. Again, the Aces, they're already defending champions.
They were defending champions and they pick up Cannas Parker.

(01:35:49):
But they're even better this year. And who is the
head coach? I can't believe I buried the lead. It's
a great Becky Hammond. Becky Hammond, who, frankly who I
thought would be head coaching NBA by now why he is.
Back in the twenty sixteenth Summer League, she coached the
San Antonio Spurs to the NBA Summer League Championship. And
Bernie would people say, well, you already poop poo the

(01:36:11):
w the NBA Summer League. He can't have both ways.
Well in this case, I can because I watched it.
Courtside interviewed her once their first game against the New
York Knicks Summer team. Nicks got out to like a
fourteen to two lead, she called time out very calmly,
gave everybody an assignment. I watched her, I'm like, Wow,
she has. Becky Hammon has total command of the mechanics

(01:36:34):
of basketball. She can communicate it, She's relatable, and she
has enough fire in her to translate that to her
team to get maximum effort. So it's Becky Hammond's second
season and if the if the Aces Las Vegas Aces
defend their championship, and yes, they're even better in Becky

(01:36:55):
hammon second season, they'll be the first repeat WNBA champion
since the La Sparks back in twenty oh two to
twenty one years ago. And again, Becky Hammond's been the
coach both years. So will they be champions again? Well,
their main challenger is the New York Liberty, which is
considered another super team. They're fourteen and fourth to break,

(01:37:18):
their second in the league behind Las Vegas. New York
actually hasn't had a winning season in five or six years,
but they went through a massive overhaul this season and
they brought in Brianna Stewart and Courtney Vanderslut, John Quell Jones.
They got a roster that already had Sabrina Ayanesku, who's
a phenomenal player. You probably saw the if you did
see in the skills competition Friday night, she made like

(01:37:40):
twenty three pointers in a row. These are very good
basketball players. Meanwhile, Vanderslut Courney Vanderslut, she's leading this league
with almost nine ases per game, and Brianna Stewart is
second in scoring twenty three points per game. Right, it's
likely those two lockhorns. But when I saw the Aces
play the Liberty, they dominated them. So again, you still

(01:38:06):
got to play the games. There are still nineteen regular
season games left, but if passed this prologue, the Las
Vegas Aces are so far head and shoulders above everybody
else that it's hard to envision who's going to get
this team. And they look incredibly hungry. They just did
a back to back where they they had to travel
and didn't take a night off and they won. You know,

(01:38:28):
I think Phoenix Tuesday Night and LA Monday Night or
Wednesday Night won both games by like twenty six points.
That's another thing. I think six or last ten wins
have been like by twenty five or more. So they're
just dominating. So if you happen to partake and you
watch Saturday's WNBA All Star Game, the Aces will be
the focus for hosting the festivities here in Las Vegas.

(01:38:49):
Four players Wilson, Gray, Plumb, and Young will all be
participating in the game. Should be a good watch, and
then it'll be time to keep rolling over the final
two months of this season and we'll see what happens.
But the Las Vegas Aces and defending their championship on
their second year coach Becky Hammond, who won the championship
in their first year, they're not only great, they are

(01:39:10):
historically great, and they got the numbers to back it up.
Coming up with some numbers, facts, figures, headlines. Never ends
in this great sport we call soccer, some called football,
The new cycle never ends. Coming up Chris Profets's World
of Soccer. But first we go back to Kevin Wyant.

Speaker 3 (01:39:31):
With the latest Major League Baseball coming back from the
All Star break on Friday, and it started with a
battle of division leaders in the NL Central, the Brewers
and Reds. It was Cincinnati ahead by a game at
the All Star Break, but the Brewers beat them on Friday,
won nothing. Corbyn Burns thirteen strikeouts got the win. However,

(01:39:52):
he almost fainted in the fifth inning. He actually was
able to stay in the game. He consulted with a trainer,
drank some water, pitched into the sixth inning as he
gets credited for the win. In Milwaukee, now finds themselves
tied with Cincinnati at top of the inn now Central.
The Braves with a strong start to the second half.
They beat the White Sox nine nothing. Same for the Dodgers,
a six to nothing win against the Mets. Julio Riaz

(01:40:13):
just a hit and a walk aloud in six innings,
and the Dodgers are gonna need more of that because
Clayton Kershaw saying that he's gonna miss a few more
weeks before returning to the rotation in early August. He
had an MRI on his left shoulder prior to the
All Star Break. Diamondbacks fall to the Blue Jays seven
to two, as La now a full game ahead of Arizona.

(01:40:35):
In the National League West Rockies a seven to two
win over the Yankees, Rangers twelve four over the Guardians.
The Twins beat the Athletics five to four, Tigers out
last the Mariners five to four. The Angels with Showingotani
on the mound, loose to the Astros seven to five,
showing Otani allowing four earned runs as he gets pulled
in the sixth inning. He takes the loss for the Halos.

(01:40:59):
In in the NFL, the Bengals and running back Joe
Mixon finalizing a restructured contract that will keep him in
Cincinnati for the twenty twenty three season. He was scheduled
to make more than ten million dollars this season and
a twelve point eight million dollar cap hit, and the
Washington Post saying that approval of Commissioner Roger Goodell's contract extension,
as well as Tom Brady's deal to become a limited

(01:41:19):
partner in the Raiders ownership group, are not likely to
be resolved at next Thursday's ownerships meeting ownership meetings in Minneapolis.

Speaker 2 (01:41:27):
Back to you, Bernie, all right, thanks Kevin Well. The
new cycle is twenty four to seven. Always plenty of headlines.
That's why this time. Every week we bring in Chris
Perfet's World of Soccer.

Speaker 10 (01:41:40):
The greatest goals, the thrilling finishes, the international drum and
TOOI it's all here in this report from the World
of Soccer.

Speaker 2 (01:42:00):
Well, Chris, the US team ruined my Sunday. I was
looking forward to see did them get to the Gold
Cup final against Mexico? But they spit the bit against Panama.
Why am I not surprised?

Speaker 7 (01:42:12):
I mean, it's hard to really fall to this point
when we've talked about this before. They basically sent they
didn't send their biggest stars here to the Gold Cup.
I was kind of more just shaking my head than
it was Panama. But Panama always seems to just play
very physical, play very very above their weight when they
play the United States. Credit to Haess Ferra getting the

(01:42:34):
goal in stoppage time to try I mean in more
than stoppage time, cheeze. I think it was like I
believe it was extra time. It was like one hundred
and fifth minutes to keep the US level that level.
But you know, I don't think we really learned anything
about this US team for this Gold Cup, just because again,
as I said, like Fuositch was not sent just because
of how the international break lined up with everything here,

(01:42:57):
the US just wasn't sending their best stars. You would
have thought maybe ten D would have done just as well.
But they're due for these kind of hiccups now and then.
I mean, at worst, I can say maybe Matthew Turner
is in the stone wall that US fans are making
him out to be. But I still believe he's a
very good keeper all the same.

Speaker 2 (01:43:16):
Yeah, fair enough. After they pull Act Trinidad, I said, well,
maybe I'll change my opinion. But every time there's expectations,
they do this to me, regardless of the roster. Speaking
to Christian Poula, Sinchi is now in his new home.

Speaker 7 (01:43:29):
Yes, he just met with the fans in a in
Milan for he has joined AC Milan officially. I believe
Lionel Messi had his kind of intro to Miami so
this week too, so everyone's kind of getting to the
new play. He's this huge crowd out there to greet him.
Pulisitch talking about how he's embracing his Italian heritage there

(01:43:51):
as well, And honestly, I believe with Milan he's in
a really good spot. Milan needs someone like him on
the attack. This is a club who just won the
Italian domestic league two seasons ago, and they were in
the semi finals here or the Champions League and you
know with against their old time rival Inter But you know,

(01:44:14):
Sanzero is going to be a fantastic place to watch
him play. I think the Italian league really fits his
style and most importantly, compared to Chelsea, he's going to
get a lot more time to be on the pitch,
getting a lot more playing time. So if you're a
fan of Captain America as they call him, this is
this is a this is a huge plus and we'll
just hope to make sure he takes the most of

(01:44:36):
his opportunity here in Italy.

Speaker 2 (01:44:39):
So, Chris, I want to flip the European super League.
It's an interesting concept. You got to be invited, but
you don't have to worry about relegation. But yet I'm
not so sure it's going as well as people thought.
Why is u ventis why have they begun the procedure
to vacate the super League project in Europe?

Speaker 7 (01:44:58):
Well, to be clear, there's only there's only three clubs
left in this current super League project, especially after there
was the forty eight hours of massive backlash in every
English club ran fleeing from the hills away from this
thing when they saw that the government and government might
even like impose upon them. So there was only Barcelona,
Real Madrid and Juventus left, and Juventus told the two

(01:45:20):
Spanish clubs that they by their request. I think part
of the pact is they have to like all agree
to it, but they wish to leave the pack. And
that's not surprising. At this point. Juventus has been in
a lot of trouble for various things. They went through
a massive point subduction and several of their top leadership
with the club has been in just horrendous little scandals
here about, you know how they and this is a

(01:45:42):
club that has always had a history of sordid financial
dealings and it's fighting them in the URS again and
here we are, like, I think they just want to
get this out. They understand at this point, with only
three clubs left and no support from the Premier League,
this thing's dead. I know, I know, you know, there's
kind of this dream from Barcelona's people that they're going

(01:46:04):
to turn this around and figure out a way so
that'll get the English clubs back on board. But this
isn't happening. This just isn't happening. Whatever dream they had
to challenge Champions League and New Way Up is really dead.
And I think you'ven just wants to wash their hands.
They can deal with the eight other fires they have
to put out.

Speaker 2 (01:46:22):
Yeah, fair enough. So finally, we're literally days away now
from Women's World Cup as the US looks to three pete.
I believe it opens up Thursday, New Zealand, Norway and
the United States. By the time you foul report with
US next Friday night, the US will have had their
first game against Vietnam. I'm primarily watching the United States

(01:46:46):
and England. But before we get to handicaping who wins
this thing, I understand ticket sales have not been brisk
and revenue they've not met their revenue projections in New Zealand.

Speaker 7 (01:46:56):
Especially in New Zealand. Yes, that's the key. Australia it's
doing very well because they have Sam Kerr and the
Matilda's are one of the more stronger clubs and I
think for the Sunday Sunday Morning Report, we're going to
be taught taking a look at the biggest players in
this World Cup. But New Zealand has never really been
a country that has really embraced soccer. It's far more

(01:47:18):
of a famously a rugby country. And I believe in
many of their large cities Hamilton, Auckland, that ticket sales
have just been very poor. So FIFA is reportedly going
to be giving away about twenty thousand free tickets in Auckland, Hamilton,
and if I see here Wellington and Dindon, they're just

(01:47:39):
you know, not really selling tickets there. Hopefully this gets
people to come out to it, but this is always
kind of the risk of having it being co hosted
between two countries.

Speaker 2 (01:47:47):
So the United States is in groopy with Portugal, Netherlands
and Vietnam. Look, you're still going to play the games,
but is there any concern whatsoever They don't in.

Speaker 7 (01:47:57):
Advance, So I think in the friendlies that have been
had happening here before we go, Before the World Women's
World Cup itself, the USA's opponents have been outscored a
total of nine goals to zero. All said and done,
I think this is a group that the US will
will clean up easily. The threat to the US I
don't think is going to come in their group stage

(01:48:18):
at all. It is going to be come from seeing
if they'll have to play another power like England or
even Sam Kerr and the Australian team. But this group, no,
this this should be a sleep This is I hate
to use the term sleepwalk. I believe everyone brings their
best coming to this, but I think they have a
very easy group and they will advance very easily out
of it.

Speaker 2 (01:48:37):
Well, and England has to get past China, Denmark or Haiti.
I feel the same for them, Am I wrong?

Speaker 7 (01:48:43):
I think Denmark might pose them a few like Denmark
has probably tripped them up, but like yeah, China and Haiti, No,
I think England will breeze on through. This is always
the problem with the with the Women's World Cup is
that group stage. You've got these giants launched in with
a lot of just less teams. Like maybe the most
competitive maybe we'll see is a Group B with Australia, Ireland,

(01:49:05):
Nigeria and Canada, But even then I have questions about
Canada's Canada coming into this, and then maybe Group C,
you know, Spain and Japan was going to make for
some very interesting viewing there, but no, we're all just
kind of We're just kind of waiting to see the
Titans duke it out in the knockout rows.

Speaker 2 (01:49:25):
No fair enough, fair enough, all right, Chris, real good.
We'll see in about twenty four hours.

Speaker 7 (01:49:30):
Have a good one, Bernie.

Speaker 2 (01:49:31):
Thanks Christopher Fettz. World of Soccer, And next week at
this time, Women's World Cup will be underway. As you recall,
we covered Men's World Cup last fall November. Heading into
Christmas quite fervently. Women's World Cup, same situation as the
US team led by Alex Morgan and company. Look to

(01:49:53):
three pet We'll see if someone like an England, not
New England, England Old England and can take the crown.
We'll see coming up. False narrative involving running backs. I'm
gonna set the record straight. I'm Bernie Fraddiworck Comedy Live
from Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio, Tirack dot Com Studios.

(01:50:13):
Keep it locked this team with the Bernie Frattles Show
on Fox Sports Radio. Wrapping it up on The Bernie
Frattles Show Comedy Live from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio,
Tirack dot Com Studios. Far go any further. Want to
think my broadcast team back in Los Angeles, they've been

(01:50:35):
with me since eleven pm Pacific, Mark Ramseyard technical producer,
Ethan Miller, creator of the Trivia game, and of course
Kevin Wirrett on the updates. Guys, a teamwork, turning all
the dials, keeping us glued together. Of course, we'll be
back on these air waves again Saturday night at eleven
pm Pacific to a Eastern for four hours. If you've

(01:51:02):
heard the name Isaiah Pachecko, then you probably know that
two hundred and fifty players were picked ahead of Isaiah
Pachecko in the twenty twenty two draft, which put him
in the seventh round. Tough little running back out of Rutgers,
and that didn't stop Isaiah Pachecko from being the leading
rusher in the Super Bowl, in which the Kansas City

(01:51:23):
Chiefs defeated Philadelphia thirty eight to thirty five. My man,
Anthony Gargano, I'm sorry to dredge up that memory thinks.
Sorry about that, Ethan, but Philly, you'll be back next year.
But I digress. This narrative about running backs being devalued
and such, I don't buy it. I think they are
more interchangeable now, and what has happened is due to

(01:51:45):
the structure of the NFL game due to the EBB
and flow and the style of NFL play, things have
changed dramatically. And I'm going to explain. But before you
take up a collection plate and you start to shed
tears or have rope from your rosary praying for guys
like Saquon Barkley, who deserves all the money he can get.

(01:52:06):
I get that. But what if I told you, even
if Barkley plays under the franchise tag this year, he
still will have made forty million, one hundred and ninety
four thousand in his career. Forty one million. Dalvin Cook,
he hasn't signed yet. To date, he's made thirty nine million,
one hundred and twenty five thousand. Ezekiel Elliott looking for

(01:52:27):
a team, He's made seventy one million. So between Barkley, Elliott,
and Dalvin Cook? Oh nothing? What one hundred and sixty million?
All right? Where am I going with this? It may
not be what they want. And yes, I think the
facts show that the pay scale of running backs has
diminished in the last six years, but it's all relative

(01:52:49):
because these guys aren't in breadlines. So I think that
needs to be I think that needs to be sprinkled
into the larger narrative. Why why is this happening? Well,
first of all, there are two reasons, okay, and for me,
the most prevalent reason is that the NBA has kick

(01:53:09):
Tad my Fredi and slip. The NFL has become basketball
on turf. You put your best athletes in space to
make a play, spread the field, you win your one
on one battles. As such, the quarterback, now more than ever,
has been altra important. The game is absolutely quarterback centric.
Now you play the game through your quarterback. The best

(01:53:30):
way to win in the National Football League is to
be able to throw the ball proficiently. End of story. Example,
the Buffalo Bills, they run their whole offense through Josh Allen. Yes,
they pick up Devin Singletary. He signed a one year
free agent deal, but he was an accessory. He was

(01:53:52):
an accessory. It became expendable. They drafted James Cook. He's
not expected to be a heavy volume back either, catches
the ball at the backfield and that's where you're at
Green Bay. Divide up. They divide up their carries between
Aaron Jones and aj Dillon. The days of the workhorse guys.
I know Josh Jacobs was that last year in phenomenal.

(01:54:14):
He'll block you, he'll block, he'll protect the quarterback. I'll
knocking on your butt. Catch the ball in the backfield,
run between the tackles. Does it all. By the way,
the Raiders, they're terrible. So you've got a situation where
because the game has changed to put athletes in space
in win one on one battles, the quarterback centric offense
is not prevalent in the NFL. Those are the teams
that win. I just mentioned what the Chiefs do. They

(01:54:37):
won with a seventh round running back out of Rutgers,
and he led the league. He led the game in rushing.
NFL running backs are still an important cog in most
NFL offenses. Their view, this is not my word, this
is someone else's word. The reviewed is replaceable parts with
a short shelf life that it's hard to overpay for.

(01:54:57):
I don't like the term replaceable. I like the term interchangeable.
It's just it's semantical to me. All Right, you got
to recalibrate the importance of the position because NFL offenses
are changing. Part of the issue here is, and this
is a big part, is This has clearly become a
supplying demand issue. There are simply more running backs than jobs.

(01:55:24):
So with that, you factor in your rotations, you factor
in your salary cap. You have to cost justify your budget.
And Joe Banner, a former NFL executive who knows a
thing or two, he doesn't think running backs have necessarily
been devalued. He just thinks there's an imbalance a supply
and demand at the position. There's no real need to

(01:55:44):
overpay running backs. And look, he's an analyst now for
an organization called the thirty third Team. He says, you
can get a running back now in the second or
third round, and you no longer have the heavy workload
situation that takes their toll. I mean, just four running
backs have been selected in the first round the past

(01:56:05):
four drafts. There's been a running back taken higher than
twenty fourth since twenty eighteen, when the New York Giants
took Saquon Barkley with a second pick. Under the eighty
five running backs drafted in the last four years, sixty
been after round four. There is a plethora of talents
at the running back position, and Joe Binder went on

(01:56:27):
to say, when you talk about supply and demand. The
position of running back has that luxury more than any
other position. If you take a elite wide receiver, if
you have a top tier wide receiver and he goes
bye bye, the chances of replacing him with someone of
comparable quality are very slim. If you have a top

(01:56:48):
flight defensive end who's a great pass rusher, he goes
bye bye, the chances of replacing him with somebody just
as good very small. But running backs their innerchanged. And
in this man's NFL and this man's offense, everything goes
through the quarterback because it's become basketball on turf. And again,
these guys aren't starving in breadlines. It's gonna do it

(01:57:11):
for the Bernie Frattle Show, but keep it locked up
next to the great Anthony Gargano right here, Fox Sports
Radio

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