Fox Sports Radio's Countdown Presented by BetMGM

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
College hoops fans, Welcome to the best basketball coverage.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
On the radio. Way dude.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Tipoff is on what quarter
three s pop it down and it's presented by bet MGM,
the king of sportsbooks.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Stooping layup, and the buzzer is pure.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
This is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to tip Off. Here's
Brian No, former Penn State All American, Rich Ornberger and
FSR betting analyst Jared Smith.

Speaker 4 (00:32):
Oh, good morning. Just like everybody predicted Pacers Nick's Eastern
Conference finals, right boom, can cash that EXPACTA right away,
no doubt. We'll have some details on that moment dearly. Hey,
Use code countdown at bet MGM and receive up to
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(00:54):
you'll get instant access to a variety of parlay selection features,
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to fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus bets if you
don't win your first bet. Good morning, Rich, Good morning Jared, morning.
All is well, Nicks fan, going back to your youth

(01:15):
over there, Jared, Right, I assume you were just partying
and losing control like every Knicks fan last night, right,
Like that's I was a chill book, isn't it.

Speaker 5 (01:24):
I was pretty chill last night. You know, we do
this morning radio show. That kind of prevented me from
painting the town orange and blue. But yeah, I mean
thirteen year old Jared so ninety nine, I was thirteen
years old like that. That version of Jared is like
rolling over right now. I mean, he just he doesn't
know what to do with himself. But the thirty nine
year old gambler is like, all right, well, we got

(01:47):
a few games to bet on before we get the
next pager, so let's let's relax.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Bud. There you go.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
Yeah, I like that. Well you're the one. You're the
one Knicks fan that's like pacing himself. Soppreciate that there's
one out there that's good. But how about this. We
get number three the Knicks against the four seeded Pacers
a three versus four in the Eastern Conference finals. And
think about this too, We've got the six seeded timber Wolves.

(02:14):
They await either the one seeded Thunder or the four
seeded Nuggets. That's what we have left. That's pretty crazy.
That's where we're at at this stage.

Speaker 6 (02:24):
Yeah, it's it's a pretty interesting playoff because I think
expect the unexpected might be the tone that's been set.
You know, I don't think that we'd expect to see
what we've seen so far, especially out of the East,
but that has made these playoffs more interesting than many

(02:45):
have been in the in recent memory. I like the
fact that there's some new blood. I like the fact that,
you know, some old faces with new teams are having success.
I think that makes for a more compelling product. And
certainly I love the fact that it feels like I
don't know if you guys feel this way too. I
guess we could go around the horn on this one,

(03:06):
but it feels like there's been an edict sent down
by Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA. Let the
players determine outcomes, Swallow the whistle, save it for when
there's a hard foul.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Let these guys play.

Speaker 6 (03:22):
The more physical the basketball, I'm sorry, the better the product.
Basketball is a contact sport. There should be certain contact
that should be allowed. All season long. But okay, we
have some prima donnas in this league that don't like
to be touched until playoffs anyways, but certainly during the
postseason you have to allow there to be contact. And

(03:45):
there's been a lot more contact than it's made for
a much better product.

Speaker 5 (03:49):
I like the fresh blood angle. I was thinking about
this last night. Let's just assume, right Thunder are a
pretty big favorite in Game seven tomorrow, So let's just
assume for a se the Thunder win. And I don't
want to take anything away from the Nuggets because it
is game set. Anything gonna happen, But let's just say
the Thunder win your final four. In the NBA, there

(04:11):
hasn't been a championship won by any of these four
teams Thunder, Pacers, t Wolves, Knicks since seventy two to
seventy three, since the Knicks last won it.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
And that's it.

Speaker 5 (04:22):
T Wolves never, Okay, see never, Pacers never. I mean,
you're gonna have an again unless the Nuggets win. Now,
that would be one narrative. I think that would be
very intriguing for the NBA. Right Nuggets fire their coach
Jokich Murray, I don't want to say dynasty, but they

(04:43):
win twice in the last three years, and you're at
least moving in that direction of a Serbian dynasty with Jokic.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
If that doesn't happen and the.

Speaker 5 (04:52):
Thunder Holds serve at home, you're going to have a
new champion, most likely, because the Knicks are gonna probably
be the dog of of all of them. And if not,
you'll have the New York team win that hasn't won
in forty years. So I mean, the NBA's got to
be looking at this like, hey, we're gonna get some
new blood in here, and I think it's a good
thing for the league.

Speaker 4 (05:14):
Well, it's interesting. I didn't think about it until now.
With David Adelman the interim head coach. You must have
a bunch of coaches in the NBA rooting against the Nuggets.
Why would they want the Nuggets?

Speaker 2 (05:26):
Right?

Speaker 4 (05:26):
They just acts their head coach, Michael Malone with three
games left in the regular season, and I don't think
they're gonna win a championship, but let's just say they did.
You know, like, there goes your job security even more
if you're a current NBA head coach because these these franchises,
it would plant the seed of Hey, it's not going well,
screw it, just fire the guy. You know, you got

(05:48):
a guy waiting in the wings. But maybe they're better off.
So probably a lot of coaches around the league that
don't want to see the Nuggets succeed. How about this
with the fresh blood? So with the Celtics losing, we
will not have a repeat champion in the NBA for
a seventh straight season. No repeat champions. And think about this.
You're talking about your youth.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Over there, Jared.

Speaker 4 (06:08):
We're growing up on the Bowls winning, you know, Yeah,
a couple of three peats in the nineties. You know,
we've seen a lot of repeat champions, but not as
of late, not for a seventh straight year. So it's
abnormal in the NBA to go that long. How about
the Knicks, So going back to the Eastern Conference Finals
for the first time since two thousand, it's like the

(06:29):
Conan O'Brien in the year, like that's a show. That's
the last time we've seen the Knicks there. And I
love the quote of the night was Jalen Brown and
the Celtics saying, losing to the Knicks feels like death
is how he described it.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Lin.

Speaker 6 (06:47):
Yeah, it's it's pretty incredible when you think about where
the Knicks were and where they're where they've arrived at,
Jalen Brunton taking over again, playing like you know, well,
actually I was gonna say playing like a madman, but
that's not really him. He's controlling the tempo. He does

(07:08):
a nice job exploiting mismatches, especially off of pick and rolls,
and then defense.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Look.

Speaker 6 (07:15):
I know that we've had the conversation about how there
were some wide open shooters earlier in this series. As
a matter of fact, I think I was the only
one who was buying Knick stock last Saturday, but I
thought there was a chance that the Knicks could do
this to the Celtics. And the reason why was because
outside of some open looks, I think in general, the

(07:39):
Knicks broke down the Celtics. They hounded them defensively. They
forced the Celtics to do a lot of things that
they don't normally do. They settled for a lot of
jumpers and bad looks along with some open looks. There's
no question about it, and then they had the rebounding
edge through the series. I think the Knicks were the
hungrier team. I think that's what I was maybe seeing

(08:02):
earlier in this series. They just looked like the team
who wanted it more. And look, there there is a
certain level of satiation that comes with a champion. It's
the old adage don't rest on your laurels, and there
may have been a little bit of that from the
Boston Celtics. They definitely appeared to be a feist year

(08:23):
team last year's postseason.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, there's definitely some laurel resting that went on.

Speaker 5 (08:29):
I think it is in this postseason definitely a different vibe.
I mean, just just think how it have played out,
like the multi back to back like we almost forget
like I mean, it feels like it was a year
ago when they came back from multiple twenty point deficits
on the road in back to back game with Jason Tatum.
So this whole nonsense of well, if Jason Tatum was there,

(08:51):
the Knicks wouldn't have won the series. I don't know
if that's true or not. I honestly don't. I think obviously,
once he got hurt, the series was all there was
no chance that Boston was going to win without him.
But I still think the Knicks they were very live
with him and I think that is the part of
the series that was intriguing. Now once we got to

(09:12):
this point. I mean that Boston did not even show
up last night, Like, let's be honest, that game was
over at halftime, and it was the second half was
just like a coronation. I could have done without the
broadcast cutting to Russell Wilson and Ben Stiller after every basket,
Like I know, we're excited, but can maybe show like

(09:33):
the actual players on the court. Maybe would have been
a better cutaway, Like it was like every basket, there's
Russell Wilson, there's Ben Stiller, there's Timothy Shallome. Okay, we
know there's a lot of people that are high status
that are at that are at an important Nicks game
like that tends to happen, But it was like every
basket that was the one.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
But I know, I feel like old man yelling at things.
I feel like Brian right now.

Speaker 5 (09:53):
I'm yelling at the clouds about the celebrities that were
being shown last night.

Speaker 3 (09:57):
But it was it was a coronation.

Speaker 5 (10:00):
I can't imagine what the outside of the garden was
like last night after the game. That must have been
that must have been like Gotham City.

Speaker 4 (10:09):
It was either you know, it depends on your perspective.
It was either the best party ever or the worst
scene of all time. Like, here's the thing, man, like,
I get it. Let me, let me, let me talk
to you about my thoughts on Nick fans for a second. Okay,
it's the overreaction of Nick fans. And listen, I halfway
get it. I really do. They're fans, they're excited, they care,

(10:32):
they've had their hearts broken many times before, and they
have real passion. They should be fired up for this moment.
But on the other hand, it's how far they take it, right,
Like there is no rational thinking. It's just all pure emotion,
and it's we're going on the finals, baby, we might
just mess around and win this whole thing, you know.

(10:54):
And it's like, okay, guys, like it's like rein it
in just a little bit. There's no rain of anything
in you know. It's almost like Nick fans are just
starving for a meal, right, They're starving for success. So
it's like a meal. They're starving, they're so hungry, and
they finally eat some ramen noodles and they just lose
their mind where it's like go ram and go, rum

(11:17):
and go, and they're just like this right here might
be the best meal I've ever had and the best
meal on the planet. And you're like, you guys are
crazy people. That's the thing. Like you're fired up. I
get it, no doubt, but when you boil it down.
They won a second round series without Jason Tatum for
the most important games. That's where we're at. They beat

(11:37):
a depleted team in the second round. They still might
have beaten a full strength Celtics team in the second round.
We'll never know, but that's where we're at right now.
So it's like, can we take it down at least
five to seven notches? Maybe no, we can't, Okay not.
I think it's where we're at with Nick fans one, yeah,

(11:58):
fans ton for even one.

Speaker 6 (12:00):
Fans are fans, you know, it's it's never bothered me
when a fan becomes over emotional about a victory or
frankly a loss outside of you know, violence or threats
of violence or you know, stuff like that, there's no
room for you know, obviously there's some choice words that'll
get you tossed from a stadium or an arena that

(12:23):
you're you need to avoid, but like outside of the ridiculous,
like truly the ridiculous, if you're just emotional over a
positive moment, especially especially with a team like the Knicks.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
Like you know, when the.

Speaker 6 (12:39):
Cleveland Browns eventually win a super Bowl, maybe I should
use the word if.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
But when they win a super Bowl eventually this year.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
Who oh no, not this year.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Trust me, I will not be taking that futures bet
to the winner.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
I would book it for you.

Speaker 6 (12:58):
I'm all good, but but I mean expect the city
of Cleveland to go absolutely bonkers.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
You remember what it looked like when the Cavs won.

Speaker 4 (13:08):
That's fine, if they win it all, that's fine, go crazy, right,
I get it.

Speaker 6 (13:18):
But an unlikely trip to an Eastern Conference final, I'm
not saying.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
I'm not saying it tastes anything like.

Speaker 6 (13:24):
The the the the victory ice cream Sunday. They would
enjoy if they're if the Knicks are hoisting Alari O'Brien trophy.
But yeah, I mean, I have no problem with with
fans losing their minds over success, because that's what you
hope for.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
I mean, if if the if the.

Speaker 6 (13:41):
The Knicks were met with apathy from their fan base,
then I would be like, hey, maybe it's time that
maybe New York's too crowded of a market for a
basketball team, maybe the Knicks should look to move.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
But there there isn't. It's the opposite.

Speaker 6 (13:54):
It almost feels like there's so much adulation for this
team it's annoying people you know who live elsewhere in
the country us how they are the.

Speaker 4 (14:04):
Most annoying people on the planet. It's just that's what
it is like. You ever deal with emotional thinkers in
your life, you know what I mean? It's just a
roller coaster ride because their thoughts are based on their emotions, right,
So we have emotions that swing all the time. We're happy,
we're angry, we're elated, you know, we're sad, and you're

(14:25):
making decisions in thinking based off those emotions. That's what
a Knicks fan is. They're emotional thinkers like everything. I
hate to put every Knicks fan in a box, but
they are. They are exactly the same. It's like they're
from Central Casting and I get it, you're fired up.
You should be fired up. But it's like, maybe it
goes back to my youth. Maybe I need to be

(14:46):
on a couch somewhere, But This is classic cub fan
all over again, where it's like and it's like, you
guys have won the first game you want opening Day,
you guys are gonna be lucky to get the same
seventy wins. Do you realize this? Oh no, no, it's
gonna be the year. Man, it's finally happening. Okay, dude,
wake me up. When it's August and you're nowhere near

(15:09):
the postseason.

Speaker 3 (15:10):
You know we're a little bit past.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
That's what it is.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
Absolutely are like, we're eight wins away.

Speaker 4 (15:15):
That's not the equivalent cele I know that's not the
equivalent right there. I'm just saying just to be overly
fired up about something where it's like you beat a
depleted Celtics team, you still have to get through the
pacers and you might have the thunder to deal with
potentially in the finals. So this idea of like, oh,
we're hanging banners, baby, like in their mind they're seeing
the banners being hung in the rafters right now. It's like, okay, like,

(15:38):
let's let's rein it in just a little bit. That's
all I'm saying. Be excited, go shirtless. I don't care.
But when you start talking about winning titles and all that.
It's like, bro, do you realize how much more work
there is to do? There's a ton to do.

Speaker 5 (15:52):
Yeah, they're halfway home. I so this is this is
kind of I was thinking about it, and they're and
then they're living on a prayer. You know, we're halfway there.
We're halfway there, baby, I mean, listen, it's better than
being a quarter of the way there. I think gambling
is ruined fandom knicks fandom for me. I think gambling
has ruined a lot of fandoms for me. I'll be honest.

(16:12):
I didn't feel that.

Speaker 3 (16:14):
I know.

Speaker 5 (16:15):
I was watching last night, and I was obviously excited
and happy, but I wasn't like screaming and yelling and
going crazy. I think I think that's the one downside
to betting. You asked Crack about this tomorrow, He probably
said the same thing.

Speaker 4 (16:29):
He doesn't roo he would, he would, he would say
the same why Why why does it have to go?

Speaker 5 (16:35):
I think it's because I get so excited for winning money,
and that's really what drives my excitement these days. And
I didn't win any money on the game last night.
You know, I was kind of up and down with
some props. I didn't like have a bad night, but
it wasn't like a good night of gambling. It was
a very average, maybe slightly below average. And so I'm
just like, all right, Nicks are going to the finals,
but I.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
Might have went off of it.

Speaker 4 (16:58):
Oh thank the heavens for TIBs. I'll tell you anybody
who's like, what's Tip's doing playing this guy's major minutes,
I get it. Until you're on a Nick's overprop. You know,
Oh gosh, we're gonna get over, We're gonna get garbage time.
They're gonna take Cat out. I need one more rebound
and you guys there what.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
From night man?

Speaker 4 (17:20):
It was a wild ride. It was I'll tell you
real fast, super fast, huh. I needed one more board
from Cat. And it's in the fourth quarter, and it's
around that time you can just feel it. It's like
they're winning by a ton. What's the point in playing
your guys major minutes? They could risk injury. You're not
losing this game, Like, get your main guys out of there.

(17:40):
Richard Jefferson's talking about that on the broadcast. You could
feel it's about the time to get him off the floor.
So Cat needs one more rebound. He boxes his guy out.
The ball is coming right to him and parachuting in
is ogna noble just grabbed the rebound.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
I need.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
I'm like, no, o, gen not right now. They take
Cat out of the game. I'm like, I'm cooked, And
my man TIBs is like, let's not take a chance.
He brought him back in there they did, and he
got that last rebound and he got the rebound right
I'm telling you, within thirty seconds that he was out
of the game for good. It was beautiful. It's a

(18:17):
beautiful thing.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
All right.

Speaker 4 (18:18):
We're off and running over here. We've got rich Ronberger,
Penn State All American, Jared Smith FSR. Betting analyst, I'm
Brian no BETMGM account holders will receive a PGA Championship
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(18:42):
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It's a little deal now, but it has the potential
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Speaker 4 (19:09):
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(19:32):
we've got quarterbacks in the news. Stop me. If you've
heard this one before. You won't stop me with quarterbacks,
but you might stop me with this story. How about
Caleb Williams, Bears quarterback didn't want to be Bears quarterback
Caleb Williams initially at least. So there's a new book
coming out from Seth Wickersham, and it's got all kinds

(19:53):
of juicy tidbits over here. It's a book about quarterbacks,
and he hones in on Caleb Willie and the story
with him is his dad didn't want him to go
to the Bears. Caleb initially didn't want to go to
the Bears. Caleb's dad, Carl Williams said, it's where quarterbacks
go to die, is his thought on the on the Bears.

(20:13):
And it's pretty true. Been a long dry spot of
legitimate QB play in Shytown. There's no doubt. And the
lengths that Carl Williams was willing to go this wasn't
just a hey, our preference would be maybe Minnesota. If
something like that worked out, that'd be great. It was
well beyond that where Carl Williams spoke with Archie Manning,

(20:35):
who helped orchestrate Eli's move away from the then San
Diego Chargers. Right, he also had Carl Williams he met
with labor lawyers and agents, and he even thought about, hey,
what what if my son goes to the United Football League.
That's right, the UFL. What if he goes there bypasses

(20:56):
the NFL for a year, then he's an unrestricted NFL
free eight the next year and he could pick his team.
Can we do that? So the UFL was brought up
so that's not just yeah, my preference is, you know,
smooth peanut butter, you got any, you only have chunky.
It's well beyond that with trying to barry Sanders around

(21:18):
the Chicago Bears. So that's where it started. So I'll
ask you, guys, the question, is this a big deal
or a little deal here and now with all this
going on, Well.

Speaker 6 (21:29):
I think it proves what we all suspected but didn't
know for sure. So I don't think it's that big
of a deal. I think everybody suspected that somewhere where
there was smoke, there was fire, that we were hearing
that Caleb Williams father was getting involved, that there was
anti Bears sentiment because they held the top pick. That

(21:49):
Caleb or his family, or his agents or both or
all three, I should say, wanted to play elsewhere. So
I I know this story, like you said, you've heard
this one before because we had this story sourced going
into Caleb's draft. So the fact that Caleb Williams ended

(22:11):
up with the Bears, I guess for Chicago fans, all's well,
that ends. Well, if that's the guy that you wanted
to be your quarterback for the next half decade, you
got your guy. But in all reality, this story was
already out, Like we knew that there was something going
on there, we didn't know if it was going to

(22:32):
be one hundred percent confirmed. And I don't even necessarily
know if this book will show us one hundred percent confirmation,
because you're going to have to take the leap of
faith and Seth wickershim.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
I've talked to him a bunch of times.

Speaker 6 (22:44):
If there's somebody you can trust in this business in
terms of his tireless reporting and his sources, I think
he's one of those guys. So for the most part,
I'm going to believe that this story is true. It's
the second time around, though, so I don't think it's
that big of a deal. And also some of the
characters who were being pointed to as reasons why he

(23:06):
didn't want to go to the Bears aren't in the
picture anymore.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
Anyways.

Speaker 5 (23:10):
Yeah, I think to your point on Seth, these fantastic journalists,
and there's a lot of really interesting things in this
book outside of just the Kayleb Williams thing, Like I
think the recruiting of arch Manning is something I'm interested
in reading and just how the youth quarterback. You know,
circuit has evolved over time. But to the Kleb Williams point,

(23:33):
I mean it, it's next level entitlement. Like it there's
really that's really the only way I can describe it.
Like you're in the NFL, you're the number one pick.
You don't get to choose.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
Where you go.

Speaker 5 (23:46):
And there we forget because it happened twenty years ago
and people recently buyas.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
The hell of a drug.

Speaker 5 (23:52):
But the media was not kind to Archie Manning during
this time when they were dictating where Eli was going
to go. It was not like it was probably the
one time where the Mannings were kind of reviled in
our media culture. It hasn't happened since then. Now they're
like the everyone loves them. But at this time the
media came down pretty hard on it. It was a

(24:12):
different media culture in two thousand and three.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
There was no social media. It was a very different vibe.

Speaker 5 (24:19):
I don't think Eli was as reviled as maybe Archie
was at the time. Again, it was a long time ago,
so I forget the exact vibe. But I do recall
watching a lot of the media reports during that time,
and they were pretty critical of what was happening. It's
obviously a very different culture now, but I respect Caleb. Like, again,

(24:40):
based off of the story, it seemed like Caleb was
the one to put the fire out, and it seemed
like his dad was the one who was pushing hit
this to really get out of hand. And the quote
that really stuck out to me was I don't want
to nuke the city, is what Caleb said. Now, I
think now that we've settled on Ben Johnson as the
offensive coordinator and they've built around Caleb, like, I would
be willing to bet that the opinion is different than

(25:03):
it was two years ago. But I give I give
credit to Kayla, but man, parents get involved with their kids.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
Just let just let them have it. It's about to
be the number one pick.

Speaker 5 (25:13):
Like, just let him live his life and let him
do his thing and history will fall where it falls.

Speaker 4 (25:21):
Our trusted producer Bob Benson has something here.

Speaker 7 (25:23):
I mean, honestly, if you when you read the whole article,
like he was one hundred percent right and not to
want to go there because there's that bit where they
he says that they've left him alone to do film study.
He's a rookie in the NFL doing film study by himself.
His coach is not involved at all, So he was
one hundred percent right. He should not have wanted to
go to Chicago. Like if you if you met Kevin

(25:44):
O'Connell and then Matt Eberflus and you're a quarterback, which
one would you want to play for?

Speaker 3 (25:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (25:48):
Wellflus is gone. I think Ben Johnson's a different that's
the point. I think Ben Johnson is.

Speaker 4 (25:53):
A little bit of a different vibe. That's the thing. Listen,
I get it. I get why you wouldn't want to
go to Chicago, and you get you see a headline,
you're like, you don't you want to go there? Like
it seems way more I don't know, salacious than it
really is. To Bo's point right where it'd be like,
you know, I don't know, you know, I don't really
want to go to that movie, but you're taking it

(26:16):
to the extremes where it's like, you know what, I'm
gonna move to the mountains where I'm not even close
to a movie theater. That's how much I don't want
to see this particular movie. And you're like that's a
little drastic, right, Like that's where I think it is
with Caleb Williams. And as far as the question is
this a little deal or a big deal? I think
right now it's a little deal. I think it has
the potential to become a bigger deal. But to me,

(26:39):
it all traces back to how productive is he this season?
And I believe in his talent. I think he's going
to be a good NFL quarterback. And if he starts
producing with a really good supporting cast, they upgraded the
offensive line, got a lot of weapons to throw to,
offensive minded head coach and Ben Johnson. If he's productive,
this is a non story. It's like you don't even
remem that he initially didn't want to be there. If

(27:02):
he struggles, if he's getting sacked left and right, and
the Bears are losing games, like yeah, story like this
could grow and could linger around for a while. So
I don't think it's a big deal now, but has
the potential to grow. If he's unproductive, We'll see what
happens there. We got man, oh crew want to chime
in on. This is a party now. Chris Purfett is
here with us. What are you ask you?

Speaker 1 (27:23):
Ris?

Speaker 8 (27:23):
Just two questions for you guys, And I think part
of this just speaks to what we give to the
Bears in deference. That if this story had been about
Caleb Williams didn't want to play for the Cleveland Browns,
I don't think anyone would have battered an eye like
that that would have that would have just been like, oh, yeah, no, absolutely,
you're absolutely right. Nobody wants to play for the Cleveland Browns,

(27:44):
but because it's Chicago, for whatever reason, we give them
deference even though they've been a trash fire of an
organization for so damn long. The second, the second question,
and this is the question I really want to ask,
would KYLEB. Williams playing in the UFL had been enough
for you to get you, guys, is to watch the
UFL for that year.

Speaker 4 (28:03):
That's a great question. I would have watched. Yeah, I
would have watched them games, for sure.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
I would.

Speaker 4 (28:09):
I wouldn't just sit there and be like, no, I'm
not watching. I watched the definitely would have watched.

Speaker 6 (28:13):
I would have treated it the same way I treated
the w n B A when when I.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
Was excited to see what Caitlin Clark was going to
look like as a professional basketball.

Speaker 6 (28:24):
Highlights and and occasionally if I happened to remember that
a game was on at the time, like I would
run into it. And by the way, I ended up
catching parts of two games that Caitlin Clark played in
last season. And and I know a lot of people
said two games, well, well yeah, I know a lot
of people were talking about possess. Yeah, they turned they

(28:46):
turned into massive w NBA fans because of Kaitlin Clark.
And I'm like, we'll see how you feel next season. Crickets, crickets. Look,
but but here's the deal. Here's the deal. I I
look at this very similarly to how I look at
all of these examples with players striking out on their

(29:06):
own or trying to strike out on their own. Oftentimes
fans want to sign with the franchise because they're buying
the jerseys. They're not necessarily buying the jerseys with players'
names on the back. You know, they live in the city,
that's their team. You know, come good or come bad.
So when a player bucks the system, which is an

(29:27):
unfair system, because if you think about it, the reality
of employment in this country, if there were law students
every year graduating top of their class, and there was
one company that you could choose thirty two markets to
work in, and they just got to pick which.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
Market you were going to work as a lawyer in.
Like what other occupation works this way?

Speaker 6 (29:51):
It almost I mean, look, there's certainly been legal discussions
about whether or not it's actually legal for the NFL
to do this, but I digress on that to say,
no matter where Chris, to answer your question, Caleb Williams
was going to be drafted to, whether it's Cleveland, Chicago, Jacksonville,
or any other team that has been lousy recently. Yeah,

(30:14):
there would be pushback on Kayleb Williams wanting to play elsewhere,
because there always is, because the for a player to
buck the trend, it means that he's trying to ruin
a system that works so well for bad teams to
get better.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Quickly, or supposedly bad teams to get better quickly.

Speaker 6 (30:34):
Even though Cleveland, you know, they've picked at the top
of the draft many times and still haven't figured out
the quarterback position. Ida Cleveland, Yeah, I mean not to
pick on them, but it's that's been that organization, along
with the Chicago Bears. A quarterback has warn't clown shoes
for decades, you know, so it just is what it is.
I mean, certain quarterbacks are gonna be okay, and they're

(30:56):
gonna bite the bullet and they're gonna play for the stinky,
stinky team and try to turn the situation around. And
some of them, like the Mannings, like the Lways of
the past, are gonna say no, I'm gonna bring I'm
gonna bring my my caliber of play elsewhere. And by
the way, the two examples I used their Lway M
Manning both ended up winning Super Bowls with the franchise

(31:17):
they landed at.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
It's a great, great point about Lway.

Speaker 5 (31:21):
He did this to an extent with Baltimore, all right,
didn't want to go to the cult really.

Speaker 3 (31:28):
Trashed, uh, really trashy that franchise in that city. On
the way out, we.

Speaker 8 (31:33):
Just talked about playing baseball instead of football.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 4 (31:37):
Yeah, that was another one, was his leverage.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
And the eighties, obviously it's a different time.

Speaker 5 (31:42):
Like it's like it's almost like you can't even compare
the situations because of the culture, like there was no
social media, was barely you know, you know, the television
like you know, reporters. It was very you know unique,
the coverage. I'm sure it was very different than it
was today.

Speaker 3 (31:54):
But like I, I actually relate to this a little bit.

Speaker 5 (31:58):
In the television radio industry, like I didn't get to choose.

Speaker 3 (32:01):
Where my first job was.

Speaker 5 (32:02):
I was begging for any job, and I got an offer,
and I went to Flint, Michigan to.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
Be a news reporter.

Speaker 5 (32:09):
You know, I was my first choice. That was the
only television station in the first five years of my
career after Penn State that offered me a job. Everything
else was radio behind the scenes college sports. And then
finally I got an offer to be on TV in Flint,
Michigan as a morning news reporter.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
You think that was my first choice.

Speaker 5 (32:29):
And I packed my stuff so quick and sprinted to Flint,
Michigan to go be a news reporter. And now I
can talk to you find folks across the country every Saturday.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
It's a long Look how it paid off.

Speaker 5 (32:42):
Look how it paid off. Thank God for Flint, Michigan.
But again, it's just this entitlement, Like I understand that
his dad wants to decide where he goes, but that's
just not how it works. It's just not how the
system works. And maybe maybe one day there will be
a different system. But the entitlement of Carl Williams to

(33:05):
think that he can ruin the entire system because he
doesn't want his son to go to Chicago and he
wants he really likes Kevin O'Connell and they've got this
great relationship and he wants to play for Minnesota. Like,
I'm sorry, Carl, but that's just not how the system works.
Like that's the vibe I get of this story. It's
just it's the dad trying to control the sun. And

(33:25):
I again, I give Caleb a lot of credit for saying,
you know what, Dad, I'm just gonna go play for Chicago.

Speaker 4 (33:30):
Well, I think a couple of things real fast.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
Is.

Speaker 4 (33:34):
The first thing is he's not shoulder to shoulder with
Eli Manning and John Elway and anybody else who kind
of orchestrated the path that they wanted. They just talked
about that, they didn't do it, Like, he still ended
up in Chicago. So it's unfair for anyone to say
that he's like the equivalent of those guys. He's not.
It just talked about it. But to your point, Jared,

(33:56):
when you're talking about Carl Williams, he had a problem
with the whole rookie wage scale. He had a whole
problem with the entire CBA. He wanted his son to
make top dollar right out of college, like it was
twenty ten. And that's the other part too, where it's like, dude,
there are some things in life then are just not
gonna be to your liking. They just have to live with.

(34:17):
You can't change change everything to your liking. And Carl
Williams just doesn't seem to have that awareness of like,
why can't we just change the CBA on the fly.
What do you mean we can't just have my son
make a Sam Bradford type payday instead of a Cam
Newton type payday. That was a difference between twenty ten
and twenty eleven. Oh it's a different time now. It's

(34:40):
it's great for the NFL. But he's just looking out
for his son. I get that, But look, man, it's uh,
Carl Williams lives in a world where it's like, well,
why can't we just change it so it's the best
thing for either me or my son? Why why not?
It's like, cause it doesn't work that way.

Speaker 5 (34:56):
Entitlement, that's why he's incredibly entitled.

Speaker 4 (35:01):
Yeah, it's true, but I think it all traces back
to production this year. If he's productive, all of this
is as L Michael says, moot. Right, It is completely
moot if he goes out there and produces all right.
We've got Rich Orenberger, Penn State, All American, Jared Smith
FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian No. Be sure to check

(35:21):
out the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. Just search Fox
Sports Radio on YouTube and you'll see a whole bunch
of video highlights from our shows, maybe even Jared from Flint, Michigan,
I don't know. And be sure to subscribe so you
always have instant access to our Fox Sports Radio videos
on YouTube. Coming up next, the parlay platter. We each
have one selection for you. We pull it together for

(35:43):
a greater payout. It might have a theme that are
the two second best words in sports? Might be the theme.

Speaker 3 (35:50):
Coming up.

Speaker 4 (35:51):
It's Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. It is
Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. Use code Countdown
at BEDM and receive up to fifteen hundred dollars back
in bonus bets if you don't win your first bet.
When you're registered with bet MGM. You'll get instant access
to a variety of parlay selection features, live betting options,

(36:11):
signature bets, and the best daily promotions in the business. Again,
use code countdown and you'll get up to fifteen hundred
dollars back in bonus bets if you don't win your
first bet. All right, let's do this.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Check this out.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Parlay flatterer.

Speaker 4 (36:29):
Alright, parlay platter. We each have one selection, we pull
it together for a greater payout. The bizarre of the theme,
mister Jared Smith, we have cooking here today.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
Well, it's getting down to slimp pickens.

Speaker 5 (36:41):
In the NBA, we will have a Game seven tomorrow
and the Eastern Conference Finals will not begin until next Wednesday.
I'm assuming the Western Conference Finals also.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
Will be delayed by at least a few days.

Speaker 5 (36:53):
I don't know if it'll start before or after the
East game does.

Speaker 3 (36:56):
Yes, because Tuesday, that's will be weird.

Speaker 5 (36:59):
Right before Game seven of the West Final is Sunday
and they have to start Tuesday while the Knicks and
the Pacers have been.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
Done for several days and they get to start the
next day. I think that's obviously a little bit reversed,
but Hey, listen, the schedule is the schedule.

Speaker 5 (37:15):
I'm not going to go all Carl Williams on the
NBA playoff schedule here and try to change. Let's go
with Jalen Williams over four and a half assists.

Speaker 3 (37:26):
These are Game seven props for OKC.

Speaker 5 (37:28):
D N and j Dub has been a dime machine.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
He's coming off a ten assist game in game six.

Speaker 5 (37:36):
He's averaging over five and a half in the series,
and this is a prop I was very hot and
heavy on last.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
Postseason when jale Williams is really.

Speaker 5 (37:43):
Coming onto the scene, and it doesn't seem like the
numbers have really adjusted again four and a half.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
Now.

Speaker 5 (37:48):
I know we're going to get a decreased total in
Game seven, because that's just what the sportsbooks do.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
In game seven of an NBA game, you'll see a
significantly lower total than usual.

Speaker 5 (37:56):
But I feel like Jalen Williams is still going to
get the ball in his hand plenty, So I'll go
over four and a half.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
A says for Jada coming off a ten don game.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
Okay, I'm gonna go with chet Holmgren.

Speaker 6 (38:08):
He's been rebounding extremely well and consistency is key. Especially
against the Nuggets, averaging eleven point eight bounds per game
in this series. He's been consistent. Like I said, so
nine and a half is the line. Give me the over.
We know that there are elevated playoff performances, and then
there's what he's been doing on both the defensive and offensive.

(38:30):
Glass got a high stakes Game seven scenario coming up.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
Favorable matchup.

Speaker 6 (38:36):
As mentioned, you've already seen this matchup, this series matchup.
Booie the stats for him anyways, So give me chet
Holmgren over the nine and a half rebounds.

Speaker 4 (38:49):
All right, I'm thinking boards as well. I'm surprised like
you can actively bet under on Aaron Gordon props. Yeah,
which blows my mind. He's doubtful with the han amstring injury.
I don't know how effect if he does go, how
effective is Aaron Gordon gonna be? He's got his point
toldal is at eleven and a half rebounds at five.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
And a half.

Speaker 4 (39:11):
He's got a messed up hamstring. Like we saw this
with Steph Curry didn't play throughout the almost the entire
series against the timber Wolves. The messed up handy. I
can't imagine Aaron Gordon who scored five points last game
with two good ham strings throughout most of the game,
and now with a bad one. He's gonna go over
eleven and a half. I don't see that at all.

(39:32):
But we can't go with Aaron Gordon for the parlay, right,
They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa? Are you trying to
parlay this?

Speaker 3 (39:38):
No?

Speaker 4 (39:38):
No, no, it's go in a different direction. Yeah, I'll
go with Christian Brown. Don't call him Braun even though
you want to, and even though it's the way it's spelled,
it's Brown somehow, I don't know how it's brown. I'm
gonna go with Christian Brown over six and a half rebounds.
He's had a lot of healthy rebounding games in this series,
and with Aaron Jorden compromised, I think Christian Brown's gonna

(40:03):
have a lot of chances to get over six and
a half rebounds. I think that's a solid blay. I'll
go with Brown over six and a half. We're looking
at for the payout over over over here? Jered, Yeah,
light bars in the break anymore.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
Plus four not bad. I actually like this a lot.

Speaker 5 (40:23):
I think j Dubb and Chad are really gonna be
stars and yeah, Brown's been solid.

Speaker 4 (40:27):
Yeah all right. NFL schedule release. Oh, welcome in Happy
Saturday to you. Hope your day is off to a
great start. We will get sticking a great start, so
we will talk about an awesome start in just a
couple of seconds. Hey, score bigger at bet MGM when
you win with boost tokens, odds, boost tokens and more.
Even if your bet doesn't hit, we've got you covered

(40:49):
with no sweat tokens. And that's not all. Sign up
with bet MGM today and you'll have access to countless
basketball betting options, including new look same game parlays, teasers,
live bets, and so much more. The NFL schedule has
been released. I was trying to get like, you know,
like the thch where it's like really old school and

(41:10):
very releasedeth you know, could we do something like that.
I feel like that if I don't know, we're just
making stuff up on the fly. It was releasedeth I
don't know, we just invent stuff. But what an awesome
start to the season. I give the NFL credit every year. Man,
they start off with headlining acts. You know, they're not like, hey,

(41:32):
let's get a bunch of b bands together and call
it a fest of some sort. Here we go, Week one,
We've got Cowboys at the defending champion Eagles. How about
that for a Thursday night opener. Let's kick off the
season in style. And then, oh wait, how about we
get Chiefs Chargers in Brazil the next night on Friday.

(41:53):
Oh you're not just satisfied yet, Great, We've got more.
How about Aaron Rodgers if he signs with the Steelers,
he'll take on the Jets on Sunday afternoon. In week one,
you'll have Sunday Night football, Ravens Bills, a little Josh Allen,
Lamar Jackson AFC title game rematch, and then Monday night

(42:13):
you get the Vikings at the Bears with the little
backdrop of Caleb Williams wanting to play for Kevin O'Connell
and the Vikings but he's now stuck with the Bears.
And get JJ McCarthy And that's the way to start
a season. Man, That is outstanding stuff. I love college football,
we all do on this show. We love it. But

(42:33):
college football makes this mistake year in and year out
where they're like, hey, football's finally back. We've got Rice
and Temple for you. Check it out week zero, baby,
and you're like, what are you guys doing? Why every
year is it like this? But the NFL, man they
start off. It's kind of like the Daytona five hundred
in NASCAR, you know, they they come at you quick.

(42:56):
And I love this slate for the first week of
the season. It's outstanding well.

Speaker 6 (43:01):
And everybody loves the NFL for the same reason you're
talking about, Brian, because not only are these matchups great,
they're meaningful because there's only seventeen of them throughout the
regular season, and we know how impactful it is if
you lose to a division rival out the gates, it
sets you behind the eight ball. So getting to see
the defending Super Bowl champions playing consecutive nights to open

(43:23):
the season against fierce division rivals, that's fun.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 6 (43:28):
The popcorn, it already feels like it's popped. It's just
waiting for us. And that's the beauty of the urgency
of the NFL. Now, I know we're going to tear
this schedule apart in a million different ways, but if
you want to talk about popcorn, if you want to
talk about a team that I think is going to
deliver week in week out in terms of how the

(43:49):
schedule makers put this together. Look no further than the
Buffalo Bills. All right, So here are the quarterbacks that
Josh Allen is going.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
To face this season. Just a couple of names.

Speaker 6 (44:00):
Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers potentially, Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts,
Baker Mayfield, CJ.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Stroud. Two.

Speaker 6 (44:11):
I mean, the Bills have one of those action pack schedules.
And also they're favored in every single game if I
have it right, Yes, and they're the only.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
Team out of thirty two who are favored.

Speaker 6 (44:25):
So you know, not only did the did the NFL
schedule the Bills against some of the top talent in
the NFL at quarterback, but also somehow Buffalo, at least
in the preseason looking forward, is favored in all these matchups.
So I can't wait to see what that one team
schedule starts panning out and looking like by I don't know,
week two, Week four, week six, early in the season.

(44:48):
But it's just an explosive schedule by the NFL.

Speaker 5 (44:53):
Brian, can I sell you on Sam Houston State at
Western Kentucky Week zero college football.

Speaker 4 (44:59):
Oh wow, I take it back.

Speaker 5 (45:01):
That's Marquee right appointment television. How about the late game
Stanford and Hawaii. I mean, listen, we're all gonna stay
up great.

Speaker 6 (45:08):
Oh wow, everybody knows when Cardinal faces the Warriors.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
I'm all in. I'm staying up late.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
To be fair, we do get a house every year.

Speaker 4 (45:20):
Week one that's good, great, last Week one that's an out.

Speaker 5 (45:23):
But it's not Week zero to your point, I don't.
I never understood Week zero. I think that's just for
the true degenerate. It's like US Kansas State Iowa State's
really the only important game in Week zero. All right,
I digress because it's not like we care about college
football yet we'll get there. I love this, like the
schedule release. I think is like my favorite offseason event.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
I know.

Speaker 5 (45:44):
The draft is fun. We love betting on the draft,
we love talking about the draft. But the draft to
me is pie in the sky. We don't know what
these players are gonna be. We don't even know if
half of them are even gonna play. Like the guys
that are drafted after like the fourth or fifth round,
you might never hear their name again called for the
whole season and ever again.

Speaker 3 (46:01):
But the schedule gives us the roadmap.

Speaker 5 (46:05):
The schedule gives us the solid ground for us to
walk on and try to you know, like the Yello
bit road we're trying to get through the season. Like
you know, it might go to the tin Man, you
might get to the charecterw You never know what you're gonna.

Speaker 3 (46:19):
Get with these schedules.

Speaker 5 (46:20):
You always have these quirks, and certain teams have it
worse than others.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
For example, the Detroit Lions.

Speaker 5 (46:31):
I don't know if they got like some kind of lottery,
but they have an unbelievable rest advantage in their schedule
this year.

Speaker 3 (46:41):
That's built in.

Speaker 5 (46:42):
They play eight games out of seventeen at a rest
advantage this year. And Rich you can allude to this
after like week seven. How important is having an extra
day or an extra three days before you play a team.
I mean, it's everything. And on the flip side of that, yep, Vegas,

(47:04):
New Orleans, Washington minus thirteen, minus fifteen, minus nineteen with
the rest edges like it just I think those are
the most intriguing things to me, Like who has to
play on weary legs late in the season, and who
gets to play with fresh legs.

Speaker 4 (47:20):
Man, well, Detroit's gonna need it because they play the
NFC North. I'm sorry, the NFC East top to bottom,
think about that division, very tough. AFC North top to bottom.
Those are probably the two best divisions in the NFL
right now, outside of their own division. Detroit's the NFC North, which,
by the way, they play all of those teams twice.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Right.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
So, ye, the Roads just their road schedule at the Packers,
at the Ravens on a Monday night, at the Bengals,
at the Chiefs on a Sunday night, at the Commanders,
at the Eagles on Sunday night, at the Rams, at
the Vikings, at the Bears, and at the Vikings is
on Christmas Day. There isn't a layup with their road

(48:02):
schedule in any game. No layups.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
You know.

Speaker 4 (48:07):
This is like the Kenba Mtumbo is in the lane
protecting the rim. That is a rough road schedule, so
that rest can help them out. But man, it's mitigated
by how tough the path is. That is brutal. Yeah,
so how about this? The primetime games stood out to
me it was kind of interesting where the NFL it's

(48:28):
kind of like, wow, man, you're really buying stock with
that franchise and you have no interest in buying stock
with this other franchise. A couple of things that stood
out where you look at the Falcons. The Falcons have
five primetime games. Do you think the Falcons are that interesting?
I know they have Michael Pennix Junior, and I don't know, man,
I don't think they're to that level interesting. And on

(48:50):
the flip side, how about the Arizona Cardinals with only
two primetime games? Is it me or are they not
that boring? You've got Kyler Murray over there right like
Trey McBride. You've got a decent defense. Gannon's got him
playing hard. I think the Cardinals are more interesting than
two primetime games. They're neck and neck with the Jets.
Are they that boring? Are you bored by the Arizona

(49:12):
Cardinals like the NFL schedule makers are.

Speaker 6 (49:15):
No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't say I'm bored by them.
I let's put it this way. When when you look
at the NFL schedule, you have to take a couple
of things into count national appeal and local appeal, and
also ownership, like Arthur Blank has a lot more sway
in the NFL these days than the Bidwells do.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
It's just the reality of like the I'm.

Speaker 6 (49:39):
Talking about the power in the room amongst the thirty
two other owners, Arthur Blank just has more sway. And
then also, you know, if you think about the NFC South,
you know, there's only a couple more seats left that
quarterback that Aaron Rodgers could choose. I mean, he could
potentially end up beat playing in that division, which elevates.

(50:00):
And so maybe the schedule makers are proven right if
he ends up joining the Saints, because at least one
of those matchups will be primetime. Here's the interesting note,
because we were just talking about bye weeks with the
Falcons and early by So even though you know you
may have a veteran at the Helm, it's a marathon
for Kirk Cousins the latter half of the season because

(50:22):
they have a Week five bye, or Pennix Junior for
that matter, you know, breaking him in a quarterback for
his first season, potentially starting the entire season. I mean
that's a long haul, especially with some of those tough
matchups right up front in their schedule.

Speaker 5 (50:37):
Would you prefer, like I always say, I always heard
that the later buys more preferred rich Is that fair?

Speaker 2 (50:44):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (50:44):
I mean, I look, I mean you'd love it to
seat somewhere right in the middle, but you would prefer
later than earlier because coming out of training camp you
usually get like a few days to part of a
week to get your legs back underneath you. You feel
ready for the season by week seven, week eight, you
could use it by. So if it stretches to week ten,

(51:05):
you can make it there. You're fine with that week
week eleven. But like when it's early, when it's like
week six, when it's like week five in the case
of the Atlanta Falcons, man, it's a slog after that.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
Yeah, I think that's the best. To me, that's the.

Speaker 5 (51:21):
Most important part of the schedule is the cadence of
the schedule.

Speaker 3 (51:26):
And I'm always intrigued to.

Speaker 5 (51:27):
See when you play teams and what the rest factor is. Again,
I think this is to me the most important thing
right now. Like obviously when we get later on in
the process, we'll have a lot more tangible data.

Speaker 3 (51:41):
Who's banged up? Does the rest matter?

Speaker 5 (51:44):
Some teams come in and they're really healthy. Other teams
come in and they're banged up and the rest factor
is more important, emphasize more. But I look at Washington
and I looked at New Orleans schedule. I was like, yeah,
they have a tough but it's New Orleans like they're
supposed to be back anyway, so no one really cares.
Vegas also had a little tough with the rest, but
it's again Vegas, like.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
No one's expecting anything.

Speaker 5 (52:06):
Washington NFC Championship game last year, high expectations. Washington is
of the I think they're fair. Yeah, they're favored in
twelve games this year, which is a lot. Again coming
in from last year, that's a lot. But of those
twelve games that they're favored in, three of them are
facing teams coming off of a bye. They face Chicago

(52:27):
on a Monday night, Seattle and the Giants all three
of those games off of a bye. So the Giants
coming off of bye meant play Washington, Seattle coming off
of bye, they play Washington. Chicago coming off of bye,
they play Washington. Like that's a huge advantage for the
teams coming off of bye, especially considering all of those
games are Week six or later. So my initial instinct

(52:49):
when I looked at the schedule from a rest advantage standpoint.
I know New Orleans and Vegas are kind of on
the short end, no one cares. Washington kind of got
it tough here, and they start the season relatively easy,
Like they play the Giants to play Vegas two out
of the first three weeks, they play at Land, and
they're favorite in those games. They should start out maybe
two and two, three and one's probably fair. But from there,

(53:11):
I would not be surprised if Washington under nine and
a half wins is kind of kind of catching my
eyeball here early on in the process.

Speaker 4 (53:20):
By the way, I love when the NFL tries to
sell us something that no one is buying, and they'll
do it with a straight face, like no, really, that's
what they what the Steelers. Okay, so we think, hey,
Aaron Rodgers might land with the Steelers. So the schedule
makers they put Steelers Jets in week one for obvious reasons, Right,

(53:41):
Aaron Rodgers was with the Jets and be facing his
former team. And then in week eight on Sunday Night Football,
it's Steelers Packers and the NFL Like this is Mike North,
He's the NFL Vice President of Broadcasting and Scheduling. He
said quote. The schedule was built for coach Mike Tomlin

(54:01):
and the Steelers, and if Aaron decides to play, it
probably just makes many, if not all, the Steelers games
a lot more A little more interesting. Is what he
said end quote right there, So he's basically saying, oh, no, no,
we didn't have Rogers in mind. This is the Steelers,
this is Mike Tomlin. That's why we went Steelers Jets
week one and Steelers Packers. What who's buying that? Who

(54:26):
would nobody?

Speaker 5 (54:27):
Like?

Speaker 2 (54:27):
Why would you?

Speaker 4 (54:28):
It's so ridiculous. One other thing, though, is I think
about season win totals. We love betting on overs under
season win total wise. One thing is you don't have
to do this before week one. You can wait into
the season, sure, and I would encourage that. Sometimes if
you look at the beginning to the schedule for some
of these teams. For instance, if you like the Ravens over,

(54:53):
there's season win total over, maybe wait a couple of
weeks because look at what they have to begin the season.
They're at Buffalo to begin the season on Sunday Night.
That's a tough game. They get a layup against the Browns.
Then they're hosting the Lions on Monday Night. They're at
the Chiefs. Three of their first game for three of
their first four games are really really tough. So it's like,

(55:15):
why bet over for the Ravens before week one? Why
don't you wait until, like at least after week three
or week four when you might get a much better price.
You don't have to take it before week one. I
would keep that in mind for sure.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (55:28):
Yeah, from a betting angle, that's a good idea. You know,
the early portion of the season, you know, and we've
heard this from many book makers, they're feeling it out too.

Speaker 2 (55:39):
You know. This is a little bit of a you know, hey, we're.

Speaker 6 (55:42):
Gonna it's a paint splatter against a canvas. And then
as the weeks roll by, the book makers also get
a feel for how these teams are playing and also
early injuries like you mentioned, So marrying yourself to outcomes
at this point may not be the best usage of
your unless you do the sort of nerdy deep dive

(56:05):
that is only available if you go to Jared Lee
Smith on Twitter. So our friend here, our betting analyst,
Jared Smith has taken apart the NFL schedule in a way,
and he does this every year, so this comes as
no shocker surprise to us, Brian, but.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
For everybody else.

Speaker 6 (56:26):
I mean, if you want a taste of every single
game that's going to be played this regular season, you
could check out the grid that you posted, Jared. Now,
I guess I'll defer to you because what Brian just
said made sense. But is there any early edges or
angles that you have fallen in love with here leading
into the NFL season just based on the schedule being announced?

Speaker 3 (56:48):
Thank you for that tip of the cap. I have
no life, buddy. I'm a single.

Speaker 5 (56:53):
Man with a lot of time in my hands, and
so I have plenty of time to create these nerd projects.
So this is why I do this, though, because now
I can look at the schedule from a you know,
ten thousand foot view and say, man, this spot's weird.
For example, speaking of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I think the

(57:13):
Pittsburgh Steelers have the most difficult stretch of any team
in the regular season, and it comes between week eleven
and week fourteen. Listen to this, actually, frankly, it starts
in week ten. Let's go week ten through week fourteen
for Pittsburgh at the Chargers on a Sunday Night. Week eleven,

(57:33):
they play the Bengals coming off of a bye, no
easy game. Then they go to Chicago in week twelve.
Then in week thirteen they play the Bills on a
three day net rest disadvantage after Buffalo played Thursday night prior.
Then week fourteen they go to Baltimore on a three
day net rest disadvantage after the Ravens played on the
Thursday week prior. So they play three games in a

(57:55):
five week stretch at a thirteen day net rest disadvantage
again since Innaddie, Buffalo and Baltimore.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
I mean, that is just absolutely brutal.

Speaker 5 (58:07):
I think that's the most difficult stretch of the schedule
that I've seen in this initial wave of analysis. And
I don't care if Aaron Rodgers plays in his prime.
I think this is the year that the Steelers finally
break that Mike Tomlin winning streak. I do not think
they are going to be a nine to ten win
team this year. I just I'm looking at this schedule now.

(58:28):
They start against the Jets, should win that game. Then
they play Seattle at home, then they go to New England,
then they play the Vikings in Ireland, and then they
go on their bye weekend. After the bye week, things
get really tough, and that stretch in the middle of
the season, really towards the end of the season.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
I haven't seen a tougher stretch in this schedule.

Speaker 5 (58:47):
I mean prior years, I'm sure they were tougher, but
that is brutal for any anyone who's playing quarterback.

Speaker 4 (58:53):
I'll give you one that I think is as tough,
if not tougher. It's the Cowboys. So the Cowboys from
weeks twelve through fourteen. So they play a Monday night
game in week eleven, so it really starts in week
twelve because they've got the Rados on Monday Night. It
starts in week twelve where it's a short week and
they played the Eagles. That's not great to play the

(59:16):
Eagles on a short week. Then on Thursday night they're
against the Chiefs. That's rough, and then they travel the
next Thursday to Detroit to play a road game. That's
a brutal stretch. Eagles, Chiefs Lions on the road.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
Yea.

Speaker 4 (59:31):
And we're talking like short weeks, rest disadvantage at at
some points, right, that's pretty tough.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
Yeah, the Eagles games.

Speaker 4 (59:39):
I like the one you pointed up. Yeah, yep, there
you go. All right, So we've got Rich Orenberger, Penn
State All American, Jared Smith FSR, betting analyst. I'm Brian No.
Be sure to check out Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.
Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube. You'll see a
whole bunch of video highlights from our shows. Be sure
to subscribe to you always have instant access to our

(01:00:00):
Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. All right, coming up next,
our main man, Seamus McGee, team lead of sports Trading
at BETMGM, gets you all set for playoff action and beyond.
We'll talk to him next. Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented
by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM.

(01:00:21):
Be sure to check out the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.
Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube. You'll see a
whole bunch of video highlights from our shows. Be sure
to subscribe so you always have instant access to our
Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. Okay, let's do.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
This follow the money, real good money.

Speaker 4 (01:00:40):
Hi, Yes, we welcome in our good friend, Seamus McGee,
team lead of sports Trading at BEG BETMGM. Man, I'm
not eating granola bars ever again, Seamus, My gosh, I
need to drink a gallon of water and maybe start
at ground zero again. But hey, we start with the
the Eastern Conference Finals and just looking at the NBA

(01:01:04):
playoff picture as a whole right now, if you think
about futures, Bets, I just watched like nineteen videos of
Nick fans going insane after beating the Celtics last night
getting to the Eastern Conference finals. If you could eliminate
one team from the picture of winning everything, would you
eliminate the Knicks or another team?

Speaker 9 (01:01:23):
Shamus, Hey, guys, thanks for having me back, and I
just want to get ahead of this really quickly. Any
video you see of someone walking along a street light
on the corner of thirty third and seventh Avenue, City,
that is not me. That is not me. But if
I had to pick anyone to not win either t

(01:01:44):
Wolves is not a great result from the book at all,
So Pacer, really it's just the two Wolves at this point, Pacers,
you know, not a terrible result. Nicks and Thunder actually
really solid finals winners for us. So if we get it,
we're at the point where if we get a Knicks
Thunder finals right now, the way the money stands, I mean,

(01:02:06):
it's looking pretty good. We did open this series price
last night in the Knicks. I mean, the early money
just piled in on the Knicks on the series price.
But as far as the Eastern Conference champion future that
we had open all year, the Knicks were a great
result for that. So we'll see how the money shakes out.
But the series price right now, it's one way traffic
on the Knicks at minus one fifty.

Speaker 5 (01:02:28):
Yeah, that that serious price is intriguing. I mean, obviously
the Knicks get get home court, which is important, but man,
the Pacers have kind of had their number, especially last year,
but different series, a little less injuries to do with
for the Knicks. This year, they have towns they didn't
have towns last year. I think I think, I do
think the Knicks probably win that series. I think it's
the it's the NBA Finals is where the Knicks will

(01:02:49):
meet their eventual demise. But we'll get there when we
get there. Game seven tomorrow night Thunder and Nuggets. I mean,
this has been an awesome series. I think we all
expect the Thunder to but Seamus, really the totals caught
my eye because we just get out of hand with
these game sevens, and how you know the books really
over adjust on these totals right, Like Game one total.

Speaker 3 (01:03:10):
Two twenty nine and a half.

Speaker 5 (01:03:12):
We peaked at two thirty two in Game three after
the Thunder had that big blowout in Game two.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
Now we're down to two thirteen in game seven.

Speaker 5 (01:03:20):
Like, have we gone too far with adjusting these totals
down for these late series games?

Speaker 9 (01:03:26):
Maybe? I mean it's hard to say right now. A
lot of money has come in on over to twelve
and a half. We now sit at two thirteen and
a half now, so there is some buy back going
pushing this number up right now.

Speaker 6 (01:03:40):
Hey, NFL schedules released, We were talking about it earlier.
Bills favored in every single game. Uh, should we just
go all in and say they're gonna win all seventeen
of them?

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Like, what would you say? Does the math math? I
guess is the question here, Seamus?

Speaker 9 (01:03:57):
I mean, they got a great draw the schedule this year.
It seems like every tough game they have is they
get in that home. So it's definitely a great schedule
for the Bills. Are they're gonna win every game? I
don't know, we say it every year. You know, if
Mahomes couldn't do it last year, like, it's like Mill's
gonna do it this year. I just don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:04:20):
The schedule being released in the NFL shamous where it
caused you to look at a team differently, maybe a
season win total over under, anything like that based on
their path.

Speaker 9 (01:04:31):
Two teams. Hatriots schedule I think really lines up well
for him. I was a little low on this team.
I said, Drake may looked pretty good last year, but
I'm still much sold on the pass catchers on this team.
But I think the defense is going to take it
a pretty decently four with Brable there and the schedule
I have it is the second easiest schedule in football
this year. Another team you guys touched on earlier, like

(01:04:53):
this is a tough schedule for the lines you brought up,
like what they get for the rest and they are
going to need it. Like I think the lines maybe
to even miss the playoffs might be worth a shot.
I mean, it's a really it's a lot of changes
in the staff. It's you know, they got to really
hit the ground running here.

Speaker 5 (01:05:11):
Yeah, I do think Detroit because of the staff changes.
I think that's one of the most. Like that's the
next step of the equation for me. Like, now that
we have the schedule, Seamus, I'll get into some team
by team capsules and I'll really dig into the cadence
of the schedule and you know what teams are missing
compared to last year. Is it fair to say that
the coordinators both Having both coordinators gone, is that more

(01:05:34):
impactful than having a difficult schedule, because it seems like
Detroit's kind of up against both.

Speaker 9 (01:05:41):
I think it's a little callum I will call them
be because I mean, obviously, to have a deep run
in the NFL, you've got to have things break away.
You need some luck to go right, and that happens
with the schedule, like you need that to kind of
fall in line for you. At the same time, I mean,
you're losing two great coordinators in my opinion, and one
of them the best play caller in football probably, So

(01:06:01):
how do you respond? I mean, is it going to
be a big step back? Is it just you know,
famous schedule? But yeah, we'll see. I think it's a
huge deal that like a ton of other guys underneath
Glenn and Johnson left too. It's not like just the
coordinators left and they just promoted a house. But yeah,
it's going to be interesting to watch the Lions this year.

Speaker 6 (01:06:20):
Given the schedule. All right, oh sorry, real quick, real quick, Brian,
given the schedule quick once over. Baltimore starts off their
season with a real tough run. They go to Buffalo,
they face the Browns, they have the Lions on Monday
Night Football at the Chiefs and Texans before they host
the Rams, and then they get rest but with the

(01:06:41):
bye week. But but that's another team. I'm not sure
what their win total is slated at, but I look
at Baltimore as a team that could be could be
on the brink of having at least a down start
to their year.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
What is their win total in Baltimore.

Speaker 3 (01:06:58):
It's nine and a half. No, it's eleven and a half.
Sorry's eleven and a half. It's eleven and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:07:03):
Sorry.

Speaker 9 (01:07:03):
Yeah, we have a bunch of alls up on site
for the Ravens this year. But you are right, I
mean it is tough. Out of the case, I think
they're really good. I think they might actually start better
and then it may look but as you said before,
they're a team where you know you wait until week
five when they play Houston. Maybe you can get a
good number on the win total there real quick. I
think another team the opposite direction is the Commander's there.

(01:07:25):
I know we brought up there. You know, first three
games they could be two and one. I think take
I think there's a very real world. The Commanders don't
win a road game this season, Like if they lose
to the Giants, that is not an easy road schedule
they have here. But they had a horseshow up the
proverbial rear end last year? Like, I think this is

(01:07:47):
a team that's do for some regression.

Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
I agree, all.

Speaker 4 (01:07:52):
Right, same as special time. What do you have cooked
out for us? I don't want to lead you in
a direction, but you know, big NBA debut weekend. We
got a little bit of a taste last night. Where
we going today, Seamus.

Speaker 9 (01:08:04):
I do love my New York Liberty, but this Yankees
price stinks to me today. I like, I think the
Yankees are going to get on Griffin Canning uh so well,
a pretty vanilla pick this week. I'm thinking the Yankees
money line.

Speaker 3 (01:08:18):
I like it.

Speaker 4 (01:08:20):
Little New York teams, little Bronx bomber action, Okay, no problem,
almost like in New York Parlay, so almost mainstream Shamous
from you. This is weird. You're almost like the heavy
metal of you know, Seamous specials. It's always undergrounded. Now
this is as mainstream as it gets.

Speaker 9 (01:08:41):
It's just slim pickings this time of year, guys. You know,
soccer seasons winding down, the availability of betting, the All
Ireland Football Championships. It's not great, so I can't honestly
give that pick out. So this is we're stuck with
baseball for for a little bit. Unfortunately, it's great during
football season when.

Speaker 4 (01:09:03):
No worries at all. Shamous, you have to apologize. It's
totally We'll cash anything as.

Speaker 3 (01:09:07):
Long as it winske If it doesn't win, then you're
gonna have it.

Speaker 4 (01:09:10):
Yes, whether it's lower tier rugby or it's the New
York Yankees, they cash the same, you know. So appreciate
your time, Seamus. I hope you have a good day.
We'll catch you soon, Bud.

Speaker 9 (01:09:23):
Thanks, guys, have a good one.

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
Good stuff Seamous.

Speaker 4 (01:09:27):
There he is Seamus McGee, team lead of Sports Trading
at bet MGM. Great stuff as always. Okay, so speaking
about getting paid, right, we're hoping it's us with these bets.
But brock Perty Niners quarterback five year deal two hundred
and sixty five million dollars. Now that's one hundred and
eighty one million dollars guaranteed. That's what really matters. So

(01:09:49):
you're looking at roughly fifty three million dollars per year.
You could do like you could crunch numbers and I
know Pro Football Talk put it out there where it's
more like forty five million dollars per year, but it's
technically fifty three. I mean, what do you think about this?
That's a lot of money. That's a lot of money
to pay party. And you got a little bit of

(01:10:10):
a glimpse last year with all the injuries and his
numbers came down noticeably where you think it's a good
deal for the Niners to back up the Brinks truck
to this degree for.

Speaker 2 (01:10:19):
Purdy, Yeah, I do.

Speaker 6 (01:10:22):
And and the reason is because we also saw a
regression with Patrick Mahomes. You know, you see regression with
all quarterbacks at certain points, and and sometimes it's coincidental,
you know, like it's it's a tough year for the
whole for for the quarterback, and and it maybe it

(01:10:43):
maybe it doesn't have as much to do with the
variables that were pointing out, but in this case, it
does feel like they were correlated. The injuries at skill
seem to affect Purdy's play. But but my question is, like,
what what do you do if you're general manager and
you're saddled with this situation like you're in John Lynch's seat,

(01:11:05):
where not only do you love the quarterback because John
Lynch had he had he said it early, and he
said it off and he loves Brock Purty.

Speaker 2 (01:11:15):
Your head coach.

Speaker 6 (01:11:16):
Kyle Shanahan loves working with him, thinks he's one of
the smartest guys he's worked with.

Speaker 2 (01:11:21):
His father, Mike.

Speaker 6 (01:11:22):
Shanahan, was banging on the table to Purty some some
starting reps when he was buried on the depth shot
depth chart. Mike Shanahan, who isn't a coach any longer,
but he's a consultant for the organization because obviously his
son is the head coach. I mean, when there's so

(01:11:42):
much organizational pressure to have this guy continue to be
your quarterback, then pressure from the outside that we often
don't talk about when it comes to football decisions. But
every football decision is also a business decision. And the
business is getting as many butts in the seats as
possible and have as many people banging the drum for
your banner as possible.

Speaker 2 (01:12:03):
So what are you gonna do?

Speaker 6 (01:12:05):
Not pay the guy, trade him away, have him go
have success with another team who actually is interested in
paying for a quarterback, and then you go into the
doll drums for a while.

Speaker 2 (01:12:13):
It's bad business.

Speaker 6 (01:12:15):
There's there's no there's nothing that the forty nine ers
could have done other than pay Brock Party that would
have given you more consistent or predictable results. I think
Brock Purdy is who he is. I don't think he's
gonna get much better or much worse than what we've
seen so far. And unfortunately for the forty nine ers,

(01:12:38):
this this or fortunately, depending on how everything works.

Speaker 2 (01:12:42):
Out, this is the only decision they could have made.

Speaker 3 (01:12:46):
Agreed, and I.

Speaker 4 (01:12:47):
Don't totally disagree.

Speaker 5 (01:12:50):
Wow, I'll be interested to hear to hear that side
of it. I think again, you're at this point. This
is what the quarterback situation is in the NFL. Like
who else someone has to play quarter Like who else
is San Francisco is gonna get? And if it's gonna
be someone good they're gonna have to pay him. And
maybe Brock's not that guy, but at least he's in
the system and he knows the situation.

Speaker 3 (01:13:10):
I think.

Speaker 5 (01:13:10):
I think the bigger as from Sancisco this year is
the offense in general, and not Brock Party. Like, you
lose Debo, you lose a little bit of firepower, you're
a year older on the offensive line. But the schedule
makers did them some favors. Right here are their first
four games, Seattle on the road.

Speaker 3 (01:13:29):
That's a tough one.

Speaker 5 (01:13:30):
But then New Orleans, Arizona, Jacksonville, Like, I think they're
gonna be three and one, maybe four and zero, and
then they play a really tough Thursday night game against
the Rams. That's when we'll get our first look of
how good this Niners team really is this year. They
were saddled with terrible luck last year, not only injury wise,
but also rest They were the worst team in rest

(01:13:52):
disadvantage last year. They were a minus twenty two, which
is brutal. Not even this year's worst teams are in
the minus twenty categories. So not only were they banged
up last year, but they also got saddled with a
really difficult schedule from a rest perspective, which made the
injuries even more important. I think San Francisco bounces back
this year. They're favorite in fifteen games at of seventeen.

(01:14:14):
I think this is going to be a year where
we talk negatively about the contract and brock Purty, but
I think they're gonna play better than what they showed
last year. And I think it's going to be a
season for the Niners that maybe we're talking about, maybe
not super Bowl run, but definitely postseason run.

Speaker 4 (01:14:31):
Well, the first part of this is I'm happy for Purdy,
believe it or not, because listen, he's the last pick
of the draft. He's played good football for multiple years,
and he's made no money compared to other starting quarterbacks
in the league, and now he gets his huge payday.
So that's great for him. As far as the Niners,
I hate this deal. It's terrible. Like you're paying a

(01:14:51):
good quarterback elite money and you're screwed as a franchise
when you do that. That's just the way it works
when you have to skimp at many other positions. They
lost eight starters. When you have to skimp elsewhere on
the roster and your quarterback isn't good enough to be
a difference maker. To compensate for those deficiencies, You're gonna
have a stunted growth. You're gonna have a limited ceiling.

(01:15:16):
It's gonna be a lower ceiling. And that's the thing
I disagree with rich where Like, why are we saying
they're destined? If they said, we can't pay brock Purty
this money. He's good, but he's not a difference maker.
We can't pay him as if he is. There's no chance.
There's no chance with the Kyle Shanahan system they find
another brock party like player. There's there's zero chance. Why

(01:15:37):
would I believe that at all? Like, you're not destined
to be in the doul drums if you go Plan
B and don't pay the guy and go with somebody new,
Like that's that's not like these teams get freaked out
and that's the nightmare scenario and that's all that they
they shun. They just try to elude that, like, oh no,
what if our worst nightmare comes true? It's like what

(01:15:58):
if you I don't know, do like the Chiefs and
you upgrade massively. You had Alex Smith, who is a
brock Purty type where he was productive, not a difference maker,
and the chief said, let's try to do better than that,
and they did. So why would we believe that you
can only go downward? I don't know why anybody believes that,
but it's common belief. Oh, they're destined to suck. They

(01:16:21):
Why would you believe that? Okay, so that's the They're
only going to get Trey Lances from this point forward,
that's it. Why would we believe that's the only way.
I'm not saying it's easy. I'm saying it. You're not
destined to go backwards like you're saying, you're not destined
to do that. Sometimes you can't upgrade. And it comes

(01:16:42):
back to like Bucky Brooks always says this, are you
a truck or are you a trailer? Brock Purty is
a trailer. Brock Purty is not the truck pulling everybody
with him. And you know he's a good quarterback, but
he needs a great supporting cast around him to be
real productive. And when you saw he didn't have that
last season, they took a step back. And I think

(01:17:05):
that's your future and we'll see it's a favorable schedule,
they might have a good year but that's where I
don't back up the Brinks truck. If that's your future,
that's just not worth it to do that. We've got
rich oron Berger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith, FSR
betting analyst. I'm Brian know we gotta go, so Chris
stops yelling at us, or we would keep going for
the next hour. But prop it up. We've got a

(01:17:29):
prop Betskalore. We'll compare copious notes. That's next. It's Fox
Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports
Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. BETMGM account holders will receive
a PGA Championship Odds Boost token. To use the odds
Boost token, add a wager made up entirely of golf

(01:17:49):
wagers to your bet slip and activate the token. Score
extra winnings if you're wager that was made up with
the odds Boost token, wins. All right, let's do.

Speaker 1 (01:18:01):
Prop it up.

Speaker 10 (01:18:02):
Player plays, Okay, The prop betting market a lot of angles,
a lot of the directions you could go in, Jared,
where you going today, buddy?

Speaker 5 (01:18:13):
I think I'm gonna go with vaiting the teams that
got screwed by the NFL rest schedule because it seemed
to work last year. Again, if you faded the Niners,
which is the worst team in the rest disadvantage last
year in terms of the win totals, he came out
smelling great. So I'll go Commanders under nine and a
half wins. Again, they're favorite in twelve games, but they're
facing a team off a by in three of the

(01:18:34):
twelve games that they're favored in, and maybe a little
sophomore sault for Jay and Daniels. We'll go over five
and a half wins on the Saints. I mean, that
just seems like easy pickings.

Speaker 3 (01:18:41):
I think even without the rest disadvantage.

Speaker 5 (01:18:43):
The Saints looked like number one pick potential this year.
They might have the worst roster in the league, especially
at quarterback and Raiders under six and a half wins.
I hate to do it because I like the vibes
here in Vegas, but terrible home field advantage, are only
favorite in four games this year, and again a really.

Speaker 3 (01:18:57):
Bad rest disadvantage for veaguae this season.

Speaker 6 (01:19:02):
I'm gonna go with ok Ces guard Jaalen Williams under
nineteen and a half points for my prop. You know, look,
he's had an okay series, it hasn't been terrific, and
he's hit under that line several times throughout the postseason.
So I'll take the under there nineteen and a half points.

(01:19:23):
Give me less on the jailing Williams prop.

Speaker 4 (01:19:29):
All right, I'm looking at you can still bet it
these Aaron Gordon unders.

Speaker 11 (01:19:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:19:34):
With the Denver Nuggets got that hamstring issue?

Speaker 1 (01:19:37):
Why not?

Speaker 2 (01:19:37):
Right?

Speaker 4 (01:19:37):
Like, I think the worst case scenario is you're wrong,
but I'll take that chance. The most likely worst case
scenario is that he doesn't play at all and it's
no action. But I'll take under eleven and a half points.

Speaker 2 (01:19:50):
Again.

Speaker 4 (01:19:50):
He scored five last time with two good hamstrings throughout
most of that game. I'll give you another one if
it's a no action bet. Let's go to the WNBA
as he bagore, You're like, what under eight and a
half rebounds? She plays for the Storm and she plays
out or along the perimeter most of the time, so
her rebounding props oftentimes go under. It's been a great

(01:20:13):
parlay leg for me a lot of times. I'll take
under eight and a half for her. Coming up next,
What will Batman and Robin have to do? Oh, what
is going on? Happy Saturday to you. Hope your day
is off to a great start. Man, we got lots
to do, including what will Batman and Robin have to do?
Details in just a couple of seconds. Hey, Use code

(01:20:34):
countdown at betmgm and receive up to fifteen hundred dollars
back in bonus bets if you don't win your first bet.
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back in bonus bets if you don't win your first bet. Okay,

(01:20:56):
So the Nuggets at OKC Game seven tomorrow. They have
the extra off day today. No NBA at all today?
What are we gonna do with ourselves? I don't even know. Oh,
I'll watch the WNBA, you know, I'm sure I'll pass
the time somehow, But you know, I'll start scratching my neck,
just like where's my NBA fix?

Speaker 2 (01:21:17):
You know?

Speaker 4 (01:21:17):
And it's not gonna be today, Gotta wait till tomorrow.
But with Aaron Gordon, who's doubtful for the Nuggets. He's
got a hamstring brain. If he tries to go, I
don't know how much he's gonna be able to produce
at all. Right now, it's still a lot of MGM.
You can take the under on other and a half points,

(01:21:40):
under five and a half rebounds. I mean, I think
it's worth a shot in the dark to do.

Speaker 3 (01:21:46):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:21:46):
So the question becomes if Aaron Gordon, who's fresh off
a five point outing, right, if he has another type
of game and is hampered by this hamstring injury, what
do Jokic and Jamal Aul Murray have to do to
put the Nuggets in a position to win. If you
go back to Game one of this series, there's a
big upset win for the for the Nuggets on the road.

(01:22:10):
They won by two points. And in that game, Jokic
scored forty two points with twenty two rebounds and six assists.
They won by two points. They won by two and
by the way, Aaron Gordon had twenty two points and
fourteen rebounds that game. That's a lot of production that
they might not have at all. So are Jokicic and

(01:22:31):
Murray do you think they're capable of against the team
that has that much depth and plays real defense. Without
Aaron Gordon, they're playing like six dudes as it is.
If they don't have Aaron Gordon at full strength, you
think Jokicic and Murray have enough to beat Okac on
the road in the Game seven.

Speaker 6 (01:22:50):
You know, expanding the aperture to look at what's on
the line here for Game seven, you look at Oka
see obviously a dominant top seed out of the West,
finished eight games above everyone else.

Speaker 2 (01:23:05):
Sixty eight wins this season.

Speaker 6 (01:23:07):
If they get knocked out in the second round of
the NBA postseason, it's pretty soul crushing.

Speaker 2 (01:23:12):
It's pretty soul crushing.

Speaker 6 (01:23:14):
You know, this is a legacy making series for the Nuggets,
and I understand that, but that's a tough pill to
swallow when you've been as dominant of a team as
the Thunder have been this season now also the youngest team,
you know, And this is how things get built up
in the NBA especially, you know, you sort of tear

(01:23:35):
things down to the studs. You get a whole bunch
of draft picks, you make some trades, you make some moves,
you pick well in the draft, and then all of
a sudden you have a young, deep team, and that's
exactly what okay se has done now for the Nuggets
after firing their head coach and general manager just a
week before the playoffs began. This would be proof positive

(01:23:57):
that that decision was the right one, you know. So
there's some of that going on in the background of this.
But also, you know, you mentioned the injury factor. When
I say legacy making. You know, there are so many
excuses for good teams who couldn't because of injury, right,
you know, we will make that excuse for teams. It's like, hey,

(01:24:17):
you know, good effort by t Mex. But if it
weren't for that injury, they could have taken it further.
If the Nuggets win in advance to the Western Conference Final,
and this isn't their first rodeo, so they know what
this looks like. We're gonna be talking about Yo Kitchen
a very different light. You know, this is good. We're
gonna be talking about the Nuggets Denver, the franchise is

(01:24:39):
history in a very different light. So this is a
huge Game seven we're looking forward to here. Can the
Nuggets do it? The answer is yes, you know, and
I mean it's because of those two names you mentioned,
Murray and jokicch I mean, they have enough firepower, they've
been here before. They can get it done. But don't
sleep on it. Okay, See, I.

Speaker 2 (01:24:56):
Don't think anybody has and anybody.

Speaker 6 (01:24:57):
Would because of the regular season they have, how they've
looked throughout the postseason. But but yeah, the Nuggets absolutely
have a shot in this.

Speaker 3 (01:25:07):
Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 5 (01:25:09):
I think it's Jokic. I mean he's just such an
exceptional talent. I mean he can carry anyone and in
the NBA right like or in basketball general as a
sport because of there's not as many players on the
court as a football game or even baseball, one player
can really lift you. Like we've seen this before with
Lebron and Steph Curry and those guys. I know they

(01:25:30):
had great players around them. But if Jokic does do
one of those forty twenty ten games, yeah, absolutely, Denver
can win. When I looked at the Gordon numbers, like
they're kind of baking in the injury right, Like his
point total in the series was sixteen and a half,
fifteen and a half, sixteen and a half, even seventeen
and a half earlier in the series, So they are

(01:25:51):
baking in some protection. It's not just here's the Gordon
number over under this is what it's been the whole series. Obviously,
that would be a flood of money to the under.
They're making you decide how injured is he and how
many minutes will he play? So it's I would say
it's kind of a half bake number. Maybe I would
say even three quarters baked, like the full injury, Like
how much lower can you really go? Eleven and a

(01:26:13):
half points at six buckets? It's really not a lot.

Speaker 4 (01:26:17):
Same thing with the reounds like Samson right, I love
that movie.

Speaker 2 (01:26:22):
That's one of my favorite movies.

Speaker 5 (01:26:25):
Like the rebounding number right, Like it was seven and
a half for a decent part of the series, six
and a half, and he's had some big rebounding games
in this series. He had a fourteen bagger, he had
a sixteen bagger, so he can certainly get you some boards.
My guess is pure speculation. He'll play. I just don't
know how effective he'll be, how many minutes he'll play.

(01:26:46):
I think that's what makes Christian Braun kind of the
wild card.

Speaker 3 (01:26:49):
In this game.

Speaker 5 (01:26:50):
I really like his game period, and if he does
get the extended minutes. Like, who's to say Christian Braun
can't play the game of his life and give you
fifteen points, eight rebounds, a couple of assists, hits a
couple of threes. He's a big defensive spark as well,
really good dunker, plays above the rim. I'm excited to

(01:27:10):
see him play. But in general, I do think Oklahoma
City's gonna win this game. I think they've been the
best team in the NBA frankly all year. I think
they deserve a chance at the Western Conference finals. I
think they deserve to be in the NBA Finals. I
think they've got the best defensive unit of all the
teams left remaining. And that's gonna be the vibe for me,
is can Oklahoma City's defense shut down Jokic and make

(01:27:32):
Murray into a one dimensional scorer, take away the three
point shot, and figure out a way to slow this
game down. I'm curious what pace we play at right,
Like faster pace I think favors Denver.

Speaker 3 (01:27:42):
Slower pace favors Oka. See would you agree, Brian.

Speaker 4 (01:27:46):
I don't know, man, because it's just Denver's lack of depth.
You know, like, you run the risk if you're playing
higher tempo of Jokic's tongue just dragging on the floor.
You know, that's the only thing that because the the thunder,
they've got depth, they can you will go up temple. Okay, cool,
they can do that. I just with Christian Brown. It's

(01:28:09):
the rebounding numbers are really interesting in this series from him,
because if you just said, hey, how's he been doing
rebounding wise, you might say he's been good. I think
it's not anything that really stands out. But Game one
he had thirteen rebounds. He had another eleven rebound game
in this series. Those are good numbers. Like when you're

(01:28:31):
on the same court as Jokic and chet Holmgrin and
Hertenstein are doing their thing on the glass. To have
thirteen and eleven rebounds in two different games, that's really
good for Christian Brown. So yeah, if Gordon is not
getting even close to his normal minutes, I think Brown's
rebounding number makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 2 (01:28:54):
Yeah, yeah, I'm so excited for this.

Speaker 6 (01:28:57):
You know, when you say this second best two words
in all sports behind Super Bowl Game seven, I won
one hundred percent agree. And especially when it's a game
like this, like you know, you have a former NBA
champion going up.

Speaker 2 (01:29:13):
Against the the the.

Speaker 6 (01:29:15):
Youngest upstart franchise in the sport with the highest upside,
Like this is this is what it's supposed to be about.
You know, I understand that Lebron is box office. Steph
Curry obviously moves butts into seats two, and I know
there are so many names attached to this league that
are not being represented in this year's NBA postseason, But

(01:29:39):
I love this storyline.

Speaker 2 (01:29:40):
I just love this storyline. The the you know, the.

Speaker 6 (01:29:43):
The savage, old wiley Vets who have been there and
done it before, but they're doing it kind of leaderless
because they they made a change at the top of
the organization, getting rid of their head coach and their GM,
like we were talking about just moments ago. And then
you look at the other side, this being sort of
the this motley crew of inexperienced players, not all inexperience,

(01:30:04):
but some young team.

Speaker 2 (01:30:07):
I love this.

Speaker 6 (01:30:08):
I love this storyline, and I'm I'm almost grateful in
some ways that we get a weekend day to digest
before we go into this. You know, I I a
missing my MBA. I am itching at it like you
are too. beIN no, But I like the fact that
there's a little I don't know. It feels like there's
more pomp and circumstance about this round of the postseason

(01:30:30):
season than we've seen in years past.

Speaker 2 (01:30:32):
And I like it.

Speaker 6 (01:30:32):
I dig it because it's going to attach you to
the storyline moving forward. Yeah, I mean, will the Knicks
beat the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Final? I'm not sure,
but I can tell you I'm a lot more interested
in the Eastern Conference Final than I would have been
if it were the Celtics advancing. And that's not because
I was I grew up in New York. Because I
grew up in New York a Bulls fan. I was

(01:30:53):
a trader to my family. I was a Jordan fan
growing up.

Speaker 2 (01:30:56):
There.

Speaker 4 (01:30:56):
You go, that's even like a whole.

Speaker 2 (01:31:00):
This isn't even like a Homer selection here. But I
think it's neat. I think it's a good storyline.

Speaker 6 (01:31:05):
And I feel similarly about either of the two who
emerge from the West here and represent at least one
portion of the Western Conference Final, because if it's okay,
see well, then man, there they're gonna make believers out
of a lot of people if they can push this
thing into a final of sorts, whether it's a conference

(01:31:25):
final or the NBA Final, And then if it's the Nuggets,
there's a lot of there's gonna be a lot of
people going to the window saying, man, I'll be damned,
I hate to do it, but I'm gonna have to.
I'm gonna have to take Denver to win it all
because it just seems like the unstoppable force right now
is coming back for more.

Speaker 3 (01:31:42):
M Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:31:43):
I was thinking about this last night because again with
the with the four teams, right, like we assume, okay,
see being the fourth team if they win, their big
favorite to win tomorrow, Like, we haven't seen a championship
one by any of these four franchises, three of them
never and then the Knicks. Obviously it's been forty years,
but actually fifty couldn't this grace has been fifty years.

Speaker 3 (01:32:04):
Good lord.

Speaker 5 (01:32:06):
I was thinking about this though last night. Of like,
the Eastern Conference is easy. The NBA, the executives, they
want the Knicks and over the Pacers. I mean, that's
an easy decision, ratings, biggest media market, the Knicks or
the Knicks.

Speaker 3 (01:32:19):
But on the.

Speaker 5 (01:32:19):
Western Conference, Halliburton, Yeah, I know, except for the Haliburton situation.
That would be the only kind of flying the ointment
to that. But I think it's John Halliburton.

Speaker 4 (01:32:29):
Do we get John Halliburton back court side? Now there's
a story, huh.

Speaker 3 (01:32:33):
We might get the Haliburton dad court side.

Speaker 5 (01:32:36):
But in the Western Conference, Like, if you were the
top media executive at the NBA and you could pick
of the three teams left, Okay, see Denver, Minnesota, which
team is the best for narrative ratings, all that you know,
behind the scenes entertainment value for the finals?

Speaker 3 (01:32:58):
I honestly don't know who you would pick.

Speaker 5 (01:33:00):
Like, I think all three media markets are relatively small, right,
OKAC small, Denver small, Minneapolis is small, so there's no
real media bias in terms of the population. You have
Denver that's a prior champion, but a lot of people
get fatigued off of the prior champions. And then you
have Minnesota, who's now you got a face of the
league and Anthony Edwards people love him, right, And then
obviously in Oka see very small media market but beloved

(01:33:24):
fan base, and I would say the best team that
we've seen this season top to bottom. But like SGA,
I know he's gonna win MVP, but he's not here,
not that star value. I think that Edwards and Jokic have. Like,
if you're an NBA executive of the three Western Conference teams,
who would you pick.

Speaker 4 (01:33:43):
It's a great question. I would say Oka. See, and
my argument would be, you look at SGA. He's gonna
be named MVP. I don't know why they haven't done
it yet. Spruce up these matchups. Why don't you have
him with his hardware? We know he's gonna win it.
I think Joki should win it. His best season ever
and he's a three time MVP. I think he should
be a four time MVP. But we know he's not

(01:34:05):
going to win it. It's gonna be SGA name him. So
like Game seven is even more intriguing, right, I don't
know why they're waiting, but I would say OKAC because
they had the best record in the league. They're a
one seed. If they win a championship, all of a sudden,
we're thinking, all right, this could be Goliath for a
long time. That's intriguing going forward. Where if Minnesota wins it, Yeah,

(01:34:28):
Anthony Edwards, he's a superstar. He's a sellable guy. Right,
you can promote him like crazy, but at the end
of the day, they kind of feel like a sixth
seed who got hot at the right time. Even if
Minnesota wins it all, I don't think you're thinking, hey,
this could be Goliath for the next three four years.
And you would think that with Okac if they put
it together. So I would say Oka. See the reason

(01:34:50):
I don't say Jokic and Denver as great as Jokich is,
he's not. He doesn't have a flashy style and that
sells right. You're not gonna see YouTube highlights of him
dunking over three people. You might see an outstanding pass
or two, but he just he doesn't have a flashy
style of game, and that's what really sells in the NBA.

(01:35:14):
And so him winning another title, it's it's nice, it's
a good story. I don't think it gives you a
whole lot of juice going forward to the next season
as the league.

Speaker 6 (01:35:23):
Yeah, yeah, listen, I I don't this. How can I
say this without sounding like a hater.

Speaker 2 (01:35:30):
Because I don't want to come off as a Joki hater,
But I am. I am so not a fan of
his game.

Speaker 6 (01:35:38):
I to me in in any in any iteration of
the NBA.

Speaker 2 (01:35:44):
It doesn't excite me.

Speaker 6 (01:35:46):
You know, a lot of people refer to it as
throwback I players who played the way Jokic did, or
or should say does even back then, you know, whether
it's nineties basketball even earlyer than that. I mean, they
were never stunning, they were never show stopping. It never
it never it never slack jawed you because you're watching

(01:36:09):
somebody do something otherworldly. It's just like a workman's approach
to the game, which is fine, and it's effective. And
he is a talented player and he does all of
the things well. I mean, he's a good ball handler
for a guy his size. He's an he has incredible
court vision, so if you collapse on him, he'll find
an open shooter. He's got a touch from range. I mean,

(01:36:31):
Jo Kich can literally do it all. So I'm very
impressed by Jo Kich. But part of my bias against
the Nuggets going further in this NBA postseason is the
fact that I just.

Speaker 2 (01:36:42):
Don't love the style.

Speaker 6 (01:36:44):
I love the style that Okay Okase he plays with,
you know, in comparison, I can't stand the way the
Nuggets look just he's just visually it's just it's not
an appealing style basketball to me.

Speaker 4 (01:36:57):
It's you're not wrong, it's just personal preference going.

Speaker 5 (01:37:00):
Jared, No, I was gonna say, there's a TikTok account
where they do a parody of Yokic and every game,
every game they do a video and like it's like
this guy dressing up. He puts like a little stocking
over his head to make it look like he's Yokic,
and he always like acts like he's going to his job.
He's like, I work for the Denver branch of the NBA.
I go to job today, and I'm not I do

(01:37:23):
jobs so well that I have to do more job now.
Like it's like a like it's like a running joke
that he just like hates his job. And it's like
he's like the office kind of vibe, doing like an
interview at his like normal work. It's it's so funny
because it's such a great parody because he's just like
I could care less, Like I just want to go
home to horses. Like it's very it's it's kind of
very apropos to what Rich is alluding to, because you

(01:37:47):
would never hear shi Gilzers Alexander, Like remember last year
Brian when the Thunder did those interviews after the games
and they were all be together and they all be like,
they're very likable, they're very marketable, whereas Jokich is. It's
just maybe it's the attitude, but it's just it's a
different vibe.

Speaker 4 (01:38:06):
Hey, you're right. He just he doesn't care about the limelight.
And it's halfway refreshing, but it doesn't sell the same way, correct,
you know. I love his approach where he's like, he's
not campaigning to win another MVP. He can easily be like,
I averaged a triple double? Are you kidding me?

Speaker 2 (01:38:23):
Right now?

Speaker 4 (01:38:23):
He could campaign for him, So he just doesn't care.
He doesn't care, And I think it's cool that he's
just all about winning. He's not about getting his individual shine.
But it isn't marketable, Like, hey, this guy doesn't care.

Speaker 5 (01:38:37):
Watches like anti NBA Like it's the opposite of every
NBA star we've ever seen.

Speaker 2 (01:38:44):
Here.

Speaker 4 (01:38:45):
Let me say real fast to what Rich was talking about,
and you're not wrong. Hey, listen, if you don't like tomatoes,
my sister doesn't like tomatoes. I don't know how we're related.
Tomatoes are delicious, but it's her personal preference. You know,
I'm not gonna say she's wrong. She just doesn't like him,
you know. So you don't have to like Yokic's style
or the Nuggets style. I would just say this, and

(01:39:05):
this might help, all right. I think of this like
college basketball. If you're wanting March madness to be the
quality of the NBA, whether it's like shot making or
just overall athleticism, or you're gonna be disappointed because that's
not what it is, you know. So the same thing

(01:39:26):
holds true for Jokic and the Nuggets. I think if
you're wanting the normal razzle, dazzle athleticism, you're always going
to be let down if you look at it more like,
how is this freaking guy this productive with what he
has to work with? How he looks like the last
pick at the why? And he's a three time MVP

(01:39:49):
Like you mentioned it, Rich and you see some of
it is court vision is second to none. His passing
ability is unbelievable. And if you just look at his
like slow, I say he's like a puncher in boxing.
Is really what he is. His mind works so fast.
He's so slow as a player, but his mind is
at warp speed because just like Mayweather would make his money, like,

(01:40:12):
you throw a punch, that was a mistake, but boom,
you know it's one two and you didn't see that coming.
That's what Jokic does. Just watch him tomorrow when he
does his weird moves in the lane and he's waiting
for the defender to make a move and do something.
He lunges to his right and Yokic is like, oh,
that was a mistake. I'm gonna hit you with this.

(01:40:32):
He always has a counter punch to whatever you throw
at him, and it's so interesting to watch his style
of play when you think of it like that. But yeah,
if you're winning Anthony Edwards dunking on three people, that's
not what Jokicic is ever gonna be and you're always
gonna be disappointed. But I hear what you're saying, Matt.
I just hope tomorrow isn't like last night. Yeah right,

(01:40:54):
where the Knicks just put it on the Celtics. I
hope we get a dramatic game seven. It's close because
it has the potential to be beat down city. It
really does, because Okasee has not hit their stride and
with that depth and with Denver shorthanded. It's gonna be tough.
It's gonna be tough for Denver tomorrow night. But we'll see.

(01:41:16):
All right, Uh, real fast, We've got the tire rack
play of the day. Let's do this the next thing to.

Speaker 2 (01:41:21):
Continue to remain steady and execute smartly.

Speaker 11 (01:41:23):
Step back left wing three for Brunston nails it over
Brown thirty one point, Nick Lee time out, Joe Mizzoula
and just what you wanted to see, Payne gets the
rebound with the shot clock turned off. If you want
to knock off the champions, you have to play like champions.
And the Knicks did that tonight a one nineteen eighty

(01:41:44):
one way and the outcome that no one in the
NBA saw coming aside from the New York Knicks themselves.

Speaker 4 (01:41:53):
Yes there's the the Knicks Radio network. No one saw it, Nobody,
just the Knicks. Only the Knicks believe and could see this.
Oh my gosh. They could not be more not nauseating.
I swear I want to be happy for them, and
I can't. They prevent me from being happy for them
by their ways. For over forty years, this diatribe wal
I'm supposed to read something For over forty years, ty

(01:42:15):
Iraq has been helping customers find the right tires for how,
what and where they drive, Shipped fast and free, backed
by free road hazard protection with convenient installation options like
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buying should be all right, We've got Rich Orenberger, Penn
State All American, Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian
No coming up next. Is the fix in? Or is

(01:42:38):
it just the bad logic? Is in? It's Fox Sports
Radio's Countdown presented by BEDMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios
Countdown presented by BEDMGM. Shortly after the show, our podcast
would be going up. If you missed anything on today's show,
be sure to check it out. Just search Fox Sports
Radio wherever you get your podcasts. Be sure to also
follow rate and review it again. Just search Fox Sports

(01:43:00):
Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and you'll see the
show posted right after we get off the year. Okay,
so this week it was very popular to say fix
it's fixed. The fixes in the NBA draft lottery went
down this week and somehow, some way, the Dallas Mavericks

(01:43:22):
after trading Luka Doncic. They have the number one overall
pick and they're gonna take Cooper Flag And they only
had a one point eight percent chance to get the
number one pick. They got it. They vaulted ten spots.
That's the biggest move ever in the history of the
NBA Draft lottery. So a lot of people think the
fix is in. This is my thing. How would the

(01:43:45):
conspiracy work?

Speaker 2 (01:43:47):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:43:47):
Like?

Speaker 4 (01:43:47):
Is Adam Silver the architect of the NBA matrix? Is
this like the Hunger Games where they could all of
a sudden just like superimposal Werewolf or whatever they want?

Speaker 2 (01:43:57):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (01:43:57):
Like, who does Adam Silver work for? He works for
all the owners. Do you think all the owners would
be in favor of Dallas winning the lottery? You think
they're all just like, yeah, Cooper Flagg the Dallas, that's
cool with me. No, there's no way, like how for
anybody that's like, you can't convince me there's no con

(01:44:18):
that around for anyone screaming conspiracy, Please explain how that
would work? How would it work? And any explanation you
come up with is gonna sound like the dumbest thing ever.
That's why I don't think there's any conspiracy at all
at all is random. Yeah, it seems so random that
it borders on a conspiracy. That doesn't mean there is one,

(01:44:39):
because it wouldn't work. And you realize if that's ever
found out. Let's just say you're doing some NBA matrix
type stuff with Adam Silver. If that's ever ever found
do you think they would take a chance. They're talking
hard jail time, you know, like federal crimes. It's like
people think this happens way more often than it does.

(01:45:03):
I don't know that it ever does. This is not
an example of a conspiracy. It's just a theory.

Speaker 6 (01:45:09):
I'm I'm gonna say, I'm ninety percent of the way.
They're with you because unfortunately, in our lifetimes, there have
been certain conspiracy theories that have been proven as factual.
You know, things that over the course of time, whether
it be historic or political events, or you know, theories
even outside of anything that impacts us from a social standpoint.

(01:45:34):
You know, sometimes it's even scientific theories are proven factual.
I mean, and by the way, oftentimes the opposite occurs. Oftentimes,
you know, something that is theorized is debunked and and
you know, can be ruled out of the conversation altogether.
Do I want to rule this out of the conversation altogether?

Speaker 2 (01:45:55):
I do.

Speaker 6 (01:45:55):
I'm more with you than I'm against you, Brian, because
I really don't want to live in a world where
these sports entertainment properties, you know, including one that I
played for the NFL, could be involved in anything like this,
because it really does it really, it really chips away at,

(01:46:17):
you know, the trust in something that's foundational for a
lot of us, Like what was I tak growing up
that sports is an ultimate meritocracy that if you want
a fair and balanced playing field to really see if
the cream does rise to the top, we'll go and
play a sport and and compare your wits to the

(01:46:38):
rest of the teams out there. And you know, some
teams are gonna have better leaderships, some teams are gonna
have better players.

Speaker 2 (01:46:43):
And those are the breaks.

Speaker 6 (01:46:45):
You know, Sometimes you're gonna be the top dog on
the yard, and then you know your one injury away
from being you know, taken down a pegger two And
those are the breaks you know, to have it, to
have it all of a sudden be revealed if ever,
at some point that a league was conspiring to make
sure that certain markets, certain teams had an unfair advantage.

Speaker 2 (01:47:07):
It would make me sick, it would, it would It
would ruin sports for me for a long time. So
I hope you're wrong.

Speaker 6 (01:47:14):
However, however, man, oh man, when you start, when you
start seeing how things have lined up for certain teams
in certain markets over the years, I mean, for this
to happen, I mean, it's almost like out in front
of your face. It's like, you know, all of your

(01:47:35):
buddies are telling you, nah, I saw Janey.

Speaker 2 (01:47:37):
She was running around with another guy, and you're like, no,
not my Jenny.

Speaker 3 (01:47:41):
Nah, I'm pretty sure with your Jen.

Speaker 6 (01:47:43):
Well no, no, no, that couldn't have been her, because
she told me she was with her friends.

Speaker 2 (01:47:47):
Yeah, did she mention which ones?

Speaker 6 (01:47:49):
Because it looked like it was some of her guy
friends and one of them she was getting awfully close with. No,
not my Jenny. All of a sudden, you start getting
picture text proving it. Just it feels it's like, man,
sometimes sometimes you are the patsy. Sometimes you are the
one being, you know, having the wol pulled over your eyes.
I hope, Brian, that you're right. I hope that we're not.

(01:48:12):
But boy, oh boy, this one is man. The Dallas
Mavericks had a one percent chance of getting that lottery ball, and.

Speaker 2 (01:48:20):
They got it. Come on, what are we doing here?

Speaker 5 (01:48:26):
Okay, let me first preface this take by saying, I
do not believe sports are rigged. The NFL is not rigged.
The outcomes of the games are not rigged. I feel
the same about ninety nine percent of sports. Some of
the European South American soccer matches, maybe some funny business
going on at the lesser levels, but obviously North American

(01:48:48):
major sports.

Speaker 3 (01:48:48):
I do not feel that there is.

Speaker 5 (01:48:49):
A predetermined outcome for any of the games that are
taking place. However, there are some things that are curious. Right,
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame
on me. How about fool me three times? Here we go,
as Kevin Bacon said, and a few good men. These
are the facts of the case, and they are undisputed.
In twenty eleven, Chris Paul was traded from the New

(01:49:10):
Orleans Pelicans to the Los Angeles Clippers. Pelicans got the
number one pick the following year. In twenty nineteen, Anthony
Davis traded from the New Orleans Pelicans to the LA Lakers.
Following year, Pelicans got the number one pick. Twenty twenty five,
Luka Doncik traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the LA Lakers,
and then Dallas.

Speaker 3 (01:49:30):
Gets the number one pick the following year. I mean,
that's three times.

Speaker 4 (01:49:34):
Why don't we have the Blazers after Damian Lillard was gone?
Why don't they have the number one pick?

Speaker 3 (01:49:39):
That's fair.

Speaker 5 (01:49:41):
I'm not saying it's happened every time, but in the
last fourteen years, it's happened three times. Also, Lebron James
gets traded all of a sudden, Kyrie Irving's number one
pick in Cleveland the next year. It seems like it
has happened enough for me to at least question the

(01:50:02):
lottery process. I'm not gonna say that it's rigged, but
this three times in the last fourteen years, if it's
not rigged, it's getting really hard to defend what's happened.

Speaker 3 (01:50:15):
Like, I can't explain that.

Speaker 5 (01:50:17):
I can't explain that three times in the last fourteen years,
long shots have won the NBA lottery the year after
they traded away their best player. How do you explain
that all three are just coincidence?

Speaker 4 (01:50:32):
It's a lottery. That's how you explained it. Yes, it's
a freaking lottery. How do you make sense out of
a lottery? Random stuff? That's the basis of a lottery,
is it's random. It's totally random, but.

Speaker 3 (01:50:45):
It's very like specifically random.

Speaker 5 (01:50:48):
Like it Well, it'd be one thing for that to
happen once in twenty years.

Speaker 3 (01:50:53):
It's happened three times in the last fourteen years.

Speaker 5 (01:50:55):
And ironically enough, all three times it's happened, it's been
LA teams that had been involved.

Speaker 3 (01:51:00):
In the trade.

Speaker 2 (01:51:02):
Yeah, yeah, it I look, you.

Speaker 4 (01:51:04):
Know, I just like there's there's a far cry between weird.
It's certainly weird.

Speaker 3 (01:51:09):
You're right, and I'm not going there again.

Speaker 5 (01:51:11):
I'm not saying it's rigged, but I'm saying it's hard
to defend.

Speaker 6 (01:51:14):
It's like we're on the same side of this, I
and Brian. We are because Jared, you let it off
where where you said I don't believe the NBA is rigged.
I let it off Brian by saying, man, oh man,
I hope we never find out because I don't want
to live in a world where the NBA is rigged.

Speaker 2 (01:51:34):
But there is an ellipses at I know you guys didn't.

Speaker 6 (01:51:38):
Yeah, it's here, that's all we're saying.

Speaker 4 (01:51:43):
Yeah, I just go back to how.

Speaker 2 (01:51:46):
Would it work.

Speaker 4 (01:51:48):
Do you think that all the owners who like again,
if it's rigged, they know about it, and they know
about the latest rigging they know about Hey, Cooper, Flag's
going to Dallas. Do you think they all would have
poker faces the whole time? There's no right it would
be out. I agree with it's so competitive.

Speaker 3 (01:52:06):
That's why the Aliens thing bothered.

Speaker 5 (01:52:08):
By now, we would have seen some guy with a
smartphone record Aliens because everyone you know, like someone would
have leaked it.

Speaker 4 (01:52:14):
By now, we need MythBusters for sports conspiracy. They could
just do this on a weekly basis. Hey, super Bowl
forty seven, the lights went out? Is it a conspiracy?
And then they just break it down. You know, we
need it for the NBA Draft lottery.

Speaker 5 (01:52:33):
Brian in fourteen years, short period of time.

Speaker 3 (01:52:37):
For that and three times.

Speaker 4 (01:52:40):
I know it's weird. It's certainly weird, But for anyone
saying it's weird to the point where it's absolutely rigged,
explain how it's rigged. I agree, And that's why I'm
not what's explanation.

Speaker 3 (01:52:52):
It's just it's hard to defend.

Speaker 4 (01:52:56):
It's just so random, man, it is. You could you
could play how many things in sports have been so random?
Like was Tom Brady rigged? Tom Brady is rigged? You
know the NFL was rigged, so Tom Brady could be
the goat. No, but that's it's random and it happened Tom.
I know, but you talk about that's one of the

(01:53:17):
most random things that ever happened in sports history. Just
because it's random doesn't mean it's rigged.

Speaker 3 (01:53:23):
I agree.

Speaker 5 (01:53:23):
But that the random occurrence is happening multiple times in
a short time window is the is the weird part.
Not that it happened once that's not random, or that
excers me, that's not weird. The fact that it's happened
multiple times in a very short time window is the
part that I can't wrap my head around.

Speaker 4 (01:53:44):
Have you ever seen the movie Two Guns. It's really good.
It's with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. I encourage you,
it's pretty good movie.

Speaker 2 (01:53:52):
I will, but I like both.

Speaker 4 (01:53:53):
I think it's that movie where where Denzel will say,
you're saying that to say what? Right, You're saying that
to say what? And that's where I'm at with this
whole lottery conversation. We're sure it's weird. It's like, man,
it's odd that it's happened. Okay, you're saying that to
say what and it's like, if the what is I'm
just saying it's really weird. It's just that.

Speaker 5 (01:54:16):
It's e It would be easier to rig the lottery
than a game. Rigging games, I'm way, because you need
too many people to be on board with it, But
rigging the lottery is like kind of.

Speaker 4 (01:54:30):
A different I don't know, man, you know, I don't know,
because again, the owners would know about it. And though
some of these outspoken owners, yeah, if it's a conspiracy
and it's rigged, and they would know they've benefited at times,
so they know, okay, this is the latest installment of
something being rigged. They would have some type of insight

(01:54:53):
in what if it.

Speaker 5 (01:54:54):
Was just an under the table deal between the Mavericks,
the Lakers, and Adam Silver, And what if the trade
was going on and Adam Silver stepped in and say,
if you guys make this trade and send the best
player right now, Luca to the number one franchise, the Lakers,
We'll give you the number one pick next year you
get Cooper Flag and then they're.

Speaker 4 (01:55:11):
Like, there is no world where Adam Silver would make
a gamble that big with the the the consequences being
that severe.

Speaker 5 (01:55:21):
Not my can no way, not not not not my
janis That's what Rich said.

Speaker 2 (01:55:28):
No, we couldn't.

Speaker 5 (01:55:30):
She never never never never. I'm just playing Devil's advocate.
Adams's so random.

Speaker 4 (01:55:38):
Hey, hey, Adams, Adam Silver, You're gonna go to jail
for the rest of your freaking life if you want
to orchestraight Cooper Flag going to Dallas. Yeah, that's the
bet he's gonna make.

Speaker 3 (01:55:51):
Really a mile but stream jail.

Speaker 4 (01:55:56):
Oh he would be done to row crimes. Oh, no chance,
zero chance, zero chits.

Speaker 5 (01:56:07):
I'll be honest, I'm zero zero after the last three
these three, I'm above zero.

Speaker 3 (01:56:13):
I might get like one percent, it's right, maybe one
and a half. Rich pretty hot.

Speaker 4 (01:56:28):
We got we got Rich Orenberger, Penn State All American,
Jared Smith FSR betting analyst, I'm Brian No score bigger
at bet MGM. When you win with boost tokens, odds,
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(01:56:49):
live bets, and so much more. All right, coming up next,
rapid Fire. Each have three selections for you. We will
throw all of them at you. It might include Aaron
Gordon for all nine of those I don't know, fading him.
We'll see what happens. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown
presented by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented
by bet MGM. BETMGM account holders will receive a PGA

(01:57:13):
Championship Odds Boost Token. To use the Odds Boost token,
add a wager made up entirely of golf wagers to
your bet slip and activate the token. The token is activated.
Baby score extra winnings if you're wager that was made
with the Odds Boost token wins. Props to the crew
are Trusted Producer Bo Benson, The Dodger Zone Pod Our

(01:57:36):
Technical Producer Extraordinary, Chris Purfett, Pride of Detroit Pod and
shout out to our main man Saga on Digital posting
our clips. Appreciate his hard work. Top of the Hour
up on game LeVar Arrington TJ. Hushman's out of Plexico Burus.
They have got you covered in less than eight eight
minutes from now, Holy cow, we got a hurry, we
got some picks to make.

Speaker 2 (01:57:54):
Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:57:58):
Rapid fire, all.

Speaker 4 (01:58:02):
Right, Jared, we start with you with something.

Speaker 3 (01:58:05):
Yeah, I'll be quick. Jayalen Williams over four and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:58:08):
Assis.

Speaker 5 (01:58:08):
I gave this out during the parlay platter. He's coming
off a TENNISS game. I love the dimes for J.

Speaker 2 (01:58:13):
Dubbs.

Speaker 3 (01:58:13):
He's been fantastic, averaging over five and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:58:15):
In the series.

Speaker 5 (01:58:16):
We'll go over in the Nuggets Thunder game. I know
Game seven vibes say under, but we've seen this total
b from two twenty nine, two thirty two. Dip the
two eighteen and a half in Game six that game
went over. I think two thirteen and a half is
too low, so I'll go over two thirteen and a
half Nuggets Thunder, but we're gonna go.

Speaker 3 (01:58:32):
Under on Sunday for Game seven.

Speaker 5 (01:58:34):
Panthers leaves NHL Game seven unders have been fantastic. They
went four and oh last year, zero to two this
year on two really tough feats. But I think this
one between the Panthers and the Leafs will stay under
the total of five and a half.

Speaker 6 (01:58:46):
All right, I'm gonna go to the NBA first and
finish in Major League Baseball Denver plus seven and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:58:52):
Against OKC tomorrow. I think this is gonna.

Speaker 6 (01:58:55):
Be a close game, and if it's close, I think
we're gonna be under the total. So give me Nuggets
thunder under two twelve and a half. Then to the
MLB we go, Padres Mariners. The Better Cup happening in
San Diego. The run totals eight and a half for today,
give me over eight.

Speaker 2 (01:59:15):
And a half runs.

Speaker 6 (01:59:16):
Been some pretty outstanding offensive performances lately from the Friars,
and Mariners can put up some runs. We saw that yesterday,
So give me over the eight and a half run total.

Speaker 4 (01:59:29):
Alrighty, I'm gonna go with Christian Brown over six and
a half rebounds. Give me Aaron Gordon under eleven and
a half points. I'm just worried that he doesn't play
and it's no action, and then well I'll just have
four picks next week if that happens. You know, let's
just go with that.

Speaker 2 (01:59:47):
And then.

Speaker 4 (01:59:49):
I'll go with Alysa Thomas. I think with the with Phoenix,
I'm gonna take over eight and a half rebounds for
her Seattle, you know, not an hour standing rebounding team.
Mag Pigore I talked about her earlier plays along the perimeter,
So I'll take a list of Thomas over eight and
a half rebounds. Wnba is back.

Speaker 2 (02:00:08):
Let's go.

Speaker 4 (02:00:09):
We just need the NFL back, and we're fully set.

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