Bernie Fratto Declares March Madness Is Life & Notable Gains for the MLBPA

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio. Do not, do not,
do not touch that dial. You heard the man. It's
time for Fox Sports Sunday and we've got a lot
on the docket tonight, so let's get busy. On that note,
please put your seatbacks forward, your trade tables up right.
We are ready for takeoff. My name is Bernie Frowno.

(00:22):
I'm comedy live from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios.
I'll take you up to three and Pacific. Just a
little teaser. That last hour might be a bit of
a blur. I think you can figure out why. Of course.
Joined with my savvy and capable crew Ricky Herrera and
tonight for Boll Benson, Chris Perfett and Brian Finley on

(00:44):
the updates, and they will man the ship from our
Los Angeles compound, turning all the dials, keeping us glued together. Man,
we've got Selection Sunday just hours away, uh fourteen hours
away by my calculator, and most of us can't wait.
It is that time of year things feel normal again.
We've got to talk about the NFL quarterback carousel tonight,

(01:06):
how that affected the odds. Hey, major League Baseball, they
now have a c b A. Today, March thirte, the
mandatory report day for spring training. They're back in spring training.
You'll have regular season game starting April seven. That you'll
have eight games April seventh. The rest will start April eight.
We are off and running. In about fifteen minutes, we'll

(01:26):
be joined by the Great Steve Physick, a March Madness
version of the Physic five. Get your pens and pencils
ready to get ready to drink through a fire hose.
He'll have some great tips for you as it comes
to betting. March Madness um plenty of names in the news,
believe it or not, a w NBA team violated their
cb A, much much more plus what kind of brand

(01:47):
new fool are you? In about an hour and what
my name? And all kinds of fun hijinks including maybe
later on the show. Some tips for filling out your bracket.
Last second tips for filling out or bracket. But first
we take a look inward. Why is it we love
March Madness so much? What is it? This is not

(02:08):
just a passing fancy. Thirty seven million people will fill
out brackets. Forty seven million people will have at least
one bet on one of the games here in Las Vegas,
three sixty travelers will descend on our fair city, and
every single game that's played will have an audience that

(02:30):
will bought eleven million people minimum. Those are some big numbers.
Why because it's that time of year, March madness and
frankly madness. It seems it seems like the right name,
because you're gonna have masses of ecstatic fans all across
America and beyond the United States. As a matter of fact,

(02:51):
I am told that Italian folks in Italy near and
dear to my heart, I'm a Italian. They spend their
nights glued to the TV screen to watch the American
college team's battle, despite the fact there's a sixth and
on our time difference between the United States and Italy. Again,
that's cool for me, I'm Italian. Hey, do you ever
wonder why we're so passionate about this? Why does watching

(03:14):
someone else compete at a high level give us such
strong feelings? Even when our team or our favorite athletes
on the losing side, we still crave it. We can
never get enough of it, despite any negative emotion. We
really can't wait for the next game or the next
match or the next n c A a tournament, especially

(03:34):
if we've taken the time to wager a shekel or
two on the affair. Now we live and die on
the ups and downs, and there's no two ways about it.
It creates nervous tension, which creates an addiction. And I've
talked about this before, using baseball as an example. Every
fifteen seconds there's failure in baseball. The picture fails to

(03:55):
throw a strike, the hitter fails to make contact, the
fielder fails to make a play, the hitter fails to
reach base. The vicious cycle repeats itself for three hours
until someone wins the game. So it teaches is two things.
One failure is never final, and two, you can never
reach the promised land without setback. Now nothing exemplifies that

(04:18):
more than March Madness. Six teams enter, one remains twenty
gut wrenching days later. This whole thing, this whole process,
it starts in our brain. See our brains, they contain
these things called mirror neurons, and these brain cells fire
when we watch the players battling on the court. You

(04:39):
watch a guy cutting across the defense with a no
look pass or taking a shot from the three point
line or blocking the shot of another player. What these
things do, These these neurons mirror what the literal few
would be like to a milder degree, of course, is
if we were actually playing in the game. Because it's
re enacting internally what we watch a game, it's almost

(05:02):
like we're living vicariously through the players ourselves and playing
in the game. In other words, it become as no
surprise fans do live vicarrency through players and teams. But
even that's not enough. We want more. For a lot
of us, a lot of folks listening. Athletics have been
an integral part of our lives since we were an
elementary school, and no matter how far you advanced in

(05:25):
your athletic career, it's usually never enough. So we examine
how our treatment of athletes borders on hero worship and
how people go from being competitors themselves to become expectators
who project their hopes and fears and passions on the
players they watch, whether it's in person or on TV.

(05:46):
You eventually start to feel a kinship, an unspoken fellowship
with these competitors who are on stage. Now, if you
really want to heighten the experience put a bet on
the game, So those filling out of bracket that clearly
enhances the viewing participation in the event and very much,

(06:06):
very much feeds our competitive spirit. All kinds of buzzer
beating one and done formats that can turn unknown college
kids into larger than life heroes, celebrated programs into jealous bridesmaids.
March madness has abroad something for everybody. Appeal is anyone
who's ever filled out a bracket or an office pool
can attest to Fans feel as though they're sharing in

(06:29):
something barged in the games. It's infectious the underdog. You
root for the underdog, and then there's the agony defeat,
their soul searching, and then finally one shining moment. And
no matter how faithful the loyalty to fans of their
alma maters are closest into the court, fanatics always want
to be a step remove from those who are actually competing,

(06:51):
and this will always be the primary foil of the
average fan. Only the athlete in the arena can truly
ex experience that kind of magic, but balancing the two
can be difficult for even the most well adjusted person.
Seat For some the thrill is grounded and seeing human
outliers that simply perform athletic feats that most people just

(07:12):
can't replicate for others. Nothing can top really the collective
high of rejoining and gathering with your like minded kinfolk.
I talked about this earlier with what Todd Dewey back
in seven Here at Caesar's Palace watching Austin p fift
point underdog upside Illinois, and the fans were screaming, let's
go pee, and it was hilarious. Let's not poo poo

(07:33):
the David and Goliath aspect of the games, because with
every underdog victory, you can bet people they're going to
use that as fuel in their own lives, their own
personal endeavors, athletically speaking or otherwise. Every buzzer beater, we
are reminded that anything is possible. With every vignette about
the hardship of a player, and you'll see those two
who never gave up in spite a long shot outs

(07:55):
to get on the floor. We are retold that we
still all of us, our authors of our own legacy.
In the end, Really, a few things in life can man,
you know, match the uniqueness of March madness, this month
long phenomenon known as much madness. I understand it. I
think it was a Chicago school teacher that came up

(08:16):
with the game. It came up with a nickname forty
or fifty years ago based on a local tournament in March.
But now it's caught on. Everybody knows what March madness is. See.
The key is is that you can script everything but
the outcome and then what lies ahead, the bragging rights
for all the winners, and the constant reminders that they're
witnessing something that's anything but ordinary. This is why we watch,

(08:40):
this is why we care, and this is why we
always will. That's why year in, year out, March madness
continues to justify and even elevate its own frenzy. Now,
now more than ever, we're going to enjoy it with
a heightened degree. Last year wasn't quite the same. The

(09:01):
year before there was no tournament, and then of course
back in was the last time it was normal. Is
that's such a word. And now given the advent of
legalized betting, which is over thirty states, that's going to
amplifying things even further, because that's the essence of the
rapid fanaticism. People love the bet. We've known that in years. Okay,

(09:21):
in the end, million brackets coast to coast, four people
will come to Las Vegas and we'll have a betting
handle that will be twice what the super Bowl is.
The super Bowl, we did about a hundred and seventy
nine million the last full year that was normal in
Las Vegas where there were no masks in a full
tournament with fans. The betting handle for for uh uh,

(09:44):
March Madness it was about million. We're gonna break that
this year. So there you have it. You've got an
appeal that goes from seed its shining sea, fierce ravelries,
bitter defeat, sensational victories when it looked like all was law,
which all leads to our belief that there's always hope
for a better day. So there you have it. In

(10:05):
the end, March Madness is life coming up. If you
intend to bet March Madness, then you don't want to
miss this next segment. Bring it back out to Vegas.
You know him as Steve Physic, the Physic five. He
was with us every Saturday night during the NFL season. Tonight,

(10:26):
we've got a special March Madness edition of the Physic five.
And by the way, I want to remind everybody that
this April through Vegas will be hosting the Draft, an
event that will be unlike any other, with unparalleled energy
and excitement that only the greatest arena on Earth can deliver.

(10:47):
I would know I live here in Vegas. The best
part is now, through March thirteenth, we're giving away trip
for two to be a part of the energy and excitement.
That's right, you and the lucky person of your using.
Can you win a trip to Las Vegas during Draft
weekend a sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

(11:09):
The price package includes round trip Bear Fair to Vegas,
hotel stand the Strip, access to Fox Sports Radios, draft broadcast,
and much much more. To enter and get rules Physics spot,
visit Fox Sports Radio dot com. That's Fox Sports Radio
dot com to win a trip to Vegas during Draft
week and again, the deadline is March thirteenth, that's today.

(11:31):
Come it up, bring it back out to Vegas and
we'll talk to Steve Physic for a March Madness version
of the Physic five. I'm Bernie Fredder, come to your
life from Las Vegas. Fox Sports Radio Studios. Keep it locked.
You're listening to Fox Sports Sunday on Fox Sports Radio.
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(11:53):
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What's good? This is national champion and former pro bowler
Chris Johnson. Let me tell you a little bit about
my new series kJ Live. J Live is the only
show featuring me going one on one with the brightest

(12:16):
basketball minds on the planet to get the real And
when I say real, I mean that real. I got
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your next move your best move. And tap in with

(12:37):
me on kJ Live wherever you get your podcast from.
We're back on Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio on
Bernie Fraddo come to your life for Las Vegas Fox
Sports Radio Studios at this time special treat tonight. You
hear him every Saturday night during football season. We now
have a March Madness version of what we affectly call

(13:01):
the physic five. The time is now, it's the physic five.
These are the five things you need to hear about
now when the only back to back Hilton Super Contest
winner Steve Physick, here's Bernie Fratto. Alright, faz, here we go.

(13:21):
We're just hours away from selection Sunday. People who look
at their brackets shortly thereafter, they'll be the matchups on
the board with the various lines, the odds, the futures totals.
So let's get your common sense perspective on how folks
can bet and enjoy March Madness. And of course I
know one of your basic tennis is stay away from
the needle in a haystack stuff. And your thoughts on

(13:43):
long shots, Yeah, hey, long shots. The media will lie
to you all week long saying, oh, there's great value
betting teams like Connecticut or Arkansas, and all you need
to do is win two or three games and then
they can start earning off of it. That Bernie, you
get short paid by on most of these bets versus
just doing a mechanical parlay. What do I mean by that? Instead?

(14:05):
Of buying a hundred dollars on these teams to win
it all, take that hundred, set them on the money
line on each and every game, and just keep rolling
it over. You wind up winning way more money in
almost every case. No, it's it's a very smart thought
on your part, Fez, And of course I agree with you.
The long shots needle in a haystack. Use the word value.

(14:26):
There's never any value in a torn up ticket, all right.
You also have a philosophy about just playing straight bets. Yeah,
so avoid the needle in a haystacks. Play stuff where
there's just two options. So typically the most common bet
is just play the point spread, So take five and
a half or lay the five and a half. Don't
get too crazy looking for who's going to win the

(14:49):
East Region or um something that is even more exotic,
like what will be the exact number points a team
will score? Those are like the super Bowl prop bets
at the house absolutely cleans up, Bernie. There's a reason
Vegas always wins against the sucker super Bowl betters because
they make these long shot bets that simply don't want
when keep it simple play, that's that there's two outcomes,

(15:12):
one side or the other. Right, Now, that's a good
philosophy fans. I agree with you said, don't play long shots,
stick to straight bets primarily. Now the other thing too,
I think money management is very incredible. Yeah, exactly so.
The pros when they're betting sides, they make some of
their biggest bets during the conference that tournaments. Example, there

(15:34):
was a game today akron Kent where one of the
teams had players suspended for the first half. There's opportunities
like that in numerous games throughout the season, and certainly
in the conference tournaments with questionable motivations as well. That's
not the case in the Big Dance. Everyone is ultra motivated.
These lines are super tight. Don't suddenly go and bet
if you're normally a hundred dollar better. Don't bet a

(15:55):
thousand dollars because it's the Big Dance and think you
have any kind of great edge. You don't have it
making those sort of bets. The house is going to
beat you. It's mostly entertainment. Pros don't really step it
up in bet big in the tournament more than they
do other times of the year. Talking with Steve Physic,
the March Madness edition of the physics five again, don't

(16:17):
play long shots, focus your money on straight bets, don't
bet them too large, manage your bank roll, enjoy what
you're doing, be smart with your money. And now this
one is near and near to your heart because you're
a legend when it comes to identifying props. I I
believe you had what over seventy five profits on the
Super Bowl loan. But the good news is you can

(16:39):
play profits in March Madness as well. Talk about your
philosophy and profits in March Madness fest. Now do play
prop bets. That's where you can get obscene advantages. These bookmakers,
they are overrated. I hear all the time. Oh, you
know the bookies are so sharp and whenever game lands
on the number, Oh the bookies, you know they know
what they're doing. No, they don't know what are doing.

(17:00):
The betters know what they're doing. So when you have
a game that like lands right on the number, like
Long Beach State did um to see, oftentimes it's because
the betters have massaged the number and bed into a
soft number by the bookies, and the bookies make egregious
mistakes oftentimes when it comes to setting proposition bets. What
do you mean by that things like exactly how many

(17:22):
games will the Big ten win? Not that you're gonna
forecast they'll win twelve games, but they'll put it over
under you can go over or under stay twelve and
a half. Those are the sort of bets where there's
only two bets that you can make over under the book,
He's oftentimes make large mistakes and you can take advantage
of them. That's very true. Now the fifth one, before

(17:42):
I get to some open into subject matter, you talked
about the brackets depending on the number of entries. Explain
what that means. Yeah, so if you tell me someone
told me, oh, I filled up the best bracket ever,
and I was like, well, what do you for what contest?
And he goes, well, I'm gonna use it for all
my contests, And that's completely wrong. So it depends how
many people are in a contest. Let's say you have

(18:05):
ten people for instance, they are in a contest. It
would be foolish to pick a team like Connecticut to
win it all because they're not going to win at
all one out of ten times, and to win your bracket,
you're gonna have to get the tournament winner. So if
you think Connecticut has has value in terms of a
long shot. That's fine to use them if there's a
thousand people or even you know, three people in your

(18:26):
bracket in your contest. But if there's if it's a
very small like a small little office pool, you have
to go more chalk. Uh the most extreme, Bernie, if
you and I had a contest, who could pick the
better bracket. I will take the team that will be
favored in each and every game, and there's nothing you
can do to get an edge against me. I will
have the edge against you if you pick any upsets.

(18:46):
That's the extreme example of just a two person bracket contest.
All right, says all good stuff. Now, I want to
drill down on a couple of these things because I'm
infirm agreement about the needle in the haystack, bets and
long shots. But there are occasional exception that you might
want to do that. Talk about those exceptions and when
they would be the advantageous against the openers because the bookmakers,

(19:11):
oftentimes when they're first putting out something, they can make
a mistake. I know that the year loyal and made
the final four. If I had a friend of mine,
did catch loyal at seventy to one to make it
to the final four, and they were in eleventh seeds,
so they had a favorable draw where they didn't have
any really tough games the first couple rounds and they
were going to be you know, lying close to pick
them in those Having said that, Bernie, leave that one

(19:33):
up to the experts. The experts, um can find those
needle in the Aztecs that have value. Uh, you won't
find it if you're a casual. Better don't be looking
for that. It's too difficult to find value. And the
like I said, when there where there is value, it's
going to be gone almost immediately. But it's the openers
that you want to look at all, right, So it's

(19:54):
one of the things we haven't talked about our totals bets.
And there are some venues obviously, most of these kids
are gonna be playing in strange cities and strange venues
and sometimes very large arenas. And tell the folks how
that can affect total spents. Yeah, large football venues are
not good for basketball, and you oftentimes see the three

(20:16):
point shooting suffer with a bad backdrop. An example, for years,
the pros during the conference attorneys love to play the
arch madness um to go under in St. Louis, and
they love to play in Frisco, Texas at the Dallas
Cowboys practice facility is a big, big facility that has
bad backdrop, so they always the pros like to play

(20:38):
games in Frisco to go under. Inevitably, you'll see some
venues that are going to be played in football stadiums
looked in general to play those games under. All right, now,
do you have any team Circle says that you have
your eye on in terms of where you believe you'll
get some some favorable opportunities to fire on just because

(20:59):
of these fenigree You know what, you call me a
pessimistic glasses half empty Bernie. I'm looking for teams that
I can bet against. So any team that has a
solid tournament um run during this week and becomes a
public team is a team I oftentimes am looking to

(21:20):
bet against because the public jumps in them. An example
would be Iowa. I think Iowa. I've seen this movie before.
Iowa runs up and down the court, so they have
a very pleasing um way to watch them, and they
talk about how deep they are and how they can
all can shoot it's just not that good. So um,
now they've had to play all these games in the
row in the Big ten tournaments, they're a team I

(21:42):
would be looking to fade um, you know, because of
this run, and certainly Tennessee could qualify as well if
they have a real solid performance on Sunday. So anyone
who had a really good tournament run and winds up
winning their conference Attorney, they're in a celebratory mood off
into times. And they often stubbed their tell against the
spread with a higher point spread tax in the first round.

(22:05):
So this kind of leads to a larger subject matter.
Uh final thought, fast before let your run. If you
don't really believe in the momentum theory, when someone comes
out of a big conference Attorney win, they don't necessarily
carry that momentum into the tournament. They don't against the spread.
And I'm not really sure, Bernie, if it's so much
that they do worse than if they would have lost

(22:26):
in the first round. I think they do about the same.
But what happens is that they have to pay a
bigger tax. So in the first round game, if they
had the same opponent, instead of laying seventheen. They have
to lay eighteen and it doesn't sound like a lot. Hey,
it's one point. What does it matter? Well, do this
the rest of your life. I want this with a
homework assignment. I want you to look at all your
bets and record them, and then I want I want

(22:48):
you to add one point to each bet and subtract
one point. You know what you're gonna find after ten
years of betting. You are the greatest better in the
world if you get an extra one point only on
all your bets, and you are absolutely the worst better
in the world if you lose a point on each
and every um bet that you make the rest of
your life fast great stuff is always That's a mouthful,

(23:09):
Folks can hear it on the podcast. Fez joined the
next three weeks. It should be madness spring forward to
the Madness, Bernie, Thank you all right? That's Steve Physic
Physic five, the only back to back winner of the
Super Contest one or twice, the only two time winner,
the only back to back winner coming up, I'm gonna
piggyback round. Physic give you some Cinderello teams to keep

(23:32):
an eye out as this tournament gets underway in just
ours at least the bracket portion. But first let's go
to the man, the silver tongue devil with the golden pipes,
Brian Finley with the last thank you so much, Bernie.
A ton of automatic bids being handed out on Saturday
in regards to college basketball and the men's nt Double
A Tournament thanks to some finals and conference tournaments happening

(23:54):
on Saturday, including what happened in Bernie's area in Las Vegas.
That was where the Pack twelve held there, turning in
Arizona up stages u C l A eighty four to
seventies six. Benedict Matherin had twenty seven points, leading the
way for the Wildcats. He also was the Pack twelve
Player of the Year. Then in the a c C,
Virginia Tech did the unthinkable. We'd even come here to

(24:18):
win free. They've come here to win the first a
CC Tournament championship in program history two sixty seven, the
party of odd for Hokey Nation, Virginia Tech Radio Network. Yes,
they get the convincing win over Duke in the a
c C. Also with the Big twelve, Kansas is victorious

(24:40):
Silver Texas Tech seventy four to sixty five. Oh Chaia
Boggy sixteen points to lead the way for the Jayhawks.
The Big East winner is Villanova after they hold off
Crighton fifty four to forty eight. Boise State narrowly beat
San Diego State to fifty two in the Mountain West
the Big West, and Bernie Fratto has a big smile

(25:02):
planted on his face because his alma mater, Cal State
Fullerton is in after they hold off Long Beach State
seventy two to seventy one. The Beach had a chance
with that last possession to make a shot and they
couldn't get a shot off. They had about twenty seconds
to do so, and the defense from the Titans was
just too good. Some other notable teams getting in all

(25:23):
Corn State from the swack Akron from the mac Vermont
America East. The St. Peter's St. Peter's that is by
way of the M A A C. Texas Santum Corpus
Christie Montana State is your Big Sky champ. Also New
Mexico State U A B are in. And then we
have a couple more automatic bursts that will be handled

(25:45):
later today. Perdue and I will move meet in the
Big ten title Texas A M and Tennessee SEC, Houston
and Memphis. The A A C S Penny Hardaway has
really turned around the Tigers season since some anti bates
left the program and then quickly in the BA Jordan
Clarkson ponies up forty five points to guide the Jazz
over the Kings, and Clay Thompson binging in the score

(26:09):
sheet with thirty eight as C steers the Warriors over
the Bucks one twenty two till one oh nine. Clay
Thompson from Orange County. Bernie Frido has spent a lot
of time in Orange County and with that we get
it back to our man in Las Vegas now, Bernie Frido.
All right, Brian, thanks for the update, and as you mentioned,
the will there are still several automatic bids to be

(26:29):
decided later today. There are five conference championships that remain
to be played. In each of those winners, we'll get
their ticket punched to the dance. Already, there have been
twenty seven automatic bands, but there have been some big
names and these these teams are getting in, but Kentucky, Auburn, Duke,
San Diego State teams that have parentally been in the

(26:50):
have lived in the Big Dance. Uh will not win
their conference championship, yet, They'll all get bids, and I
think Kentucky is still very alive to potentially win it all.
Uh Duke, I would say doubt has been inserted, but
I will still not write them off just yet. They
could do it. But I don't know how many more
apologies to coach k have in his Bailey wick here

(27:12):
as his swan song might not be inning the way
he wanted to. As you look at your bracket later
today when you download it, you know that if you
are one of the people that predicts the national champion,
or maybe you get two or three or four of
the final four qualifiers, that's bragging rights man. But if
you if you identify a Cinderella team that gets to

(27:33):
the final four, now you've got a real badge of honor.
And there are three or four Cinderella teams that I think,
uh most likely, depending on the matchup, where the game
is played, and what the point spread is, I will
be firing on these teams is they will be underdogs
in their games. These are damn good teams. The first
team I'm gonna talk about is Vermont, all right, coach

(27:56):
boy guy named John Becker. In the last ten years,
they wanted to eleven games in their conference every year.
In the A e C. The problem is it's a
one big tournament, so if you don't win the tournament,
you're out. And they only prior to yesterday, it had
only been to the March Madness uh Dance twice in
that span. But they were a number thirteen seed in

(28:18):
SEEN and they were a number thirteen, teen and twenty nineteen,
and in those respective years they took per due to
the wire, and they took Florida State to the wire
covering the spread. If they make it, they will be
a thorny who took us. Vermont is a very good team.
They ranked fifth nationally fifty eight percent effective field goal
percentage and from behind the yark plus the rebound rate

(28:42):
of fifty four point four they ranked twenty eight in
the country. These are very good numbers. They'll probably end
up playing someone between somewhere between the three, four or
five seed in their first round. For a mile, being
underdog blindly, I would just about say they'll get at
LEAs calf ae unitontomy because if you get on the

(29:02):
floor with Vermont expect a serious fight. The I s
from the America East Conference, you probably don't get the
same play a lot. Trust me, they're very good. So
with South Dakota State. Now, for months, stock and trade
they're calling card is defense. South Dakota State their stock
and trade is offense. And I don't know, on paper

(29:23):
literally if you can find a more efficient offense in
the country than that of the South Dakota State jack Rabbits.
There twenty seven and four. This year they were a
perfect sixteen and on something lead play they won their
conference tournament. They lead the nation in three point percentage.
They shoot forty from area code three. Their effective field

(29:44):
goal percentage, that's unheard of. The only trail Gonzaga. South
Dakota State average about eighty seven points a game. Gonzaga
averages a little over eighty nine per game. They're only
behind Gonzaga South Dakota State is in terms of points
per game. Now, on fairness, the jack Rabbits mad, they're
a little allergic to defense. Opponents end up shooting about

(30:07):
from the perimeter. Uh in the country that did that
defensively puts them near the bottom. They rank about two
and they're just two turnover rates forced, so they don't
turn you over a lot. They're not great defensively, but
they can score all right. So South Dakota is the
one team in this tournament along with Gonzaga. They might

(30:28):
give up eighty nine points, but they might score nineties.
So you take a hard look when the Lions come
out at Vermont and South Dakota State. Another team that
I'm very impressed by coal Gate. The last season. Colgate
gotta you know, invite to the dance. They put a
hell of a scar into Arkansas on the first half.

(30:48):
They jumped out to a fourteen point lead. Finally, Arkansas's depth,
uh and experience really recovered and they beat coal Gate.
And col Gate did lose their top score, and they
did start the year four and ten. But they're on
an absolute tear as they head into March Madness. They've
won sixteen of the last seventeen games. Every victory has

(31:08):
included a marginal victory of at least eight points. Again, Colgate,
this is another team that can shoot. The coal Gate Raiders,
you're going another name by Thursday. They have the nation's
sixth best three point percentage. They got five players that
average three triples a game. Four of them. You heard
these names, Nick Cummings, Jack Ferguson and Ryan Moffatt Oliver Lynch.

(31:32):
They've connected at a rate of thirty cumulatively or better
from behind the ark. That's scary. Again. Coal Gate won
their Patriot League tournament, and uh, they're on their way.
I think there'll be a very good value in the
first round no matter who they play. Now Davidson has
to win their eighteen tournament tomorrow. Uh. And but in

(31:55):
terms of offense, there's just two spots behind coal Gate
when it comes to the three point leaderboard, now Davidson.
They've knocked down over of their three point shots this year.
And if you give Davidson any space on the perimeter,
if you don't close out on the shooter, if you
give them free catches in space, free shots uncontested, they're
gonna knock them down. They look for their shot, they

(32:19):
find their shot, and I would tell you they rank
three one and adjusted tempo, which means they hold the
ball a long time. They drive your nuts. They don't
turn the ball over their patient, They weary it down.
All of a sudden late in the game, they're in it,
and they scare you to death and again Davidson has
to win the tournament later today, but it's and it's

(32:41):
never a guarantee, and it's probably a one bid league.
But let's assume they do. They're gonna be heavily matchup
dependent against who they play because their defense isn't great,
but their offense is superb. So they beginning points and
depending on the draw they get, you give uh Davidson,
with their perimeter depth and a slow paced game, they

(33:02):
can be a higher seeds worst nightmare because they hang around,
they worry it down, they start banging threes. All of
a sudden, you look at the higher seeded team, doubt
is inserted in the next thing, you know, Davidson is
on the virgin and outset. So watch those four teams Vermont, South,
Dakota State, Colgate, and Davidson. Those are potential Cinderella's that

(33:24):
can turn someone's bracket upside down. Coming uh, coming up,
We're gonna bring you back out to Las Vegas. You
know what, you love mcadlie without him making on sports
from Mackenzie Rivers. Yeah, there was some football movement this
week and that affected the odds as well. I'm Bernie
Fratto where come to you live from the Las Vegas
Fox Sports Radio Studio. Stick and stay. You're listening to

(33:45):
Fox Sports Sunday on Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com
and within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s
R to listen live that We're back at Fox Sports Sunday,
Fox Sports Radio. I'm Bernie Fraddle. Come to your life
in Las Vegas. Fox Sports Radio Students. We bring you

(34:06):
back on to Las Vegas. You know him, you love me?
Can't live without m macing On Sports McKenzie rivers, Well, McKenzie.
There was the NFL on the news again this week,
as per usual, but in this particular case there was
some movement and lack thereof were two very prominent quarterbacks
that didn't go unnoticed. Yes, I was disappointed in the

(34:28):
world because I said, Russell Wilson's is gonna be the
biggest story one day of this offseason. Aaron Rodgers gonna
be the biggest story. You can imagine once he resigns
one day of this offseason. As a radio producer, I
would have two great a blocks lined up. Well, sports
gods didn't say that was going to be possible. Because
Tuesday afternoon, one hour after Aaron Rodgers has announced he's

(34:51):
coming back to Green Bay and even bigger quarterback news
hits the airwaves, Denver Broncos acquire Russell Wilson. Their odds
had actually ballooned up because hey, Aaron Rodgers was off
the market for about an hour, or one elite quarterback
taken off the off the market. The Broncos went from
twenty to one to five to one, while an hour

(35:12):
later they were twelve to one after getting arguably a
top five quarterback in the saddle. So it made me think.
It made me think. You know, a lot of people
will have a lot of opinions about Aaron Rodgers and
his greatness, Russell Wilson's and his greatness. I'm a stats guy.
I wanted to look at it analytically. Two of the
paramount characters and the NFL quarterbacking ranks in the last decade.

(35:35):
What did the numbers say, Well, win percentage wise, I
was shocked how close it was. Sixty for Russell Wilson,
sixty six for four for Aaron Rodgers, both of them
during their Eras you know, Rogers starting two thousand eight,
Wilson in two thousand twelve were second in that category.
They were both second behind the same man, Tom Brady.

(35:56):
That's gonna come up again. I looked at their playoff
perform mints. R. J. Bell has a great stat It's
called pregame playoff points because playoff wins doesn't really count
as much. If you get a win in the wild
card round versus the division round, you want to know
how far you made it in the playoffs. So one
point for wild card, two point for division on and
onto the super Bowl. How did these guys stack up?

(36:20):
Russell Wilson nine playoff wins in ten years, Aaron Rodgers
eleven playoff wins in fourteen years. By the playoff points system,
exactly equivalent. Each year they average two points. That means,
on average they make it to the divisional round. So again,
another exact tie. Both behind. You know him, you'll love him,
Tom Brady number one in that category for both their

(36:43):
second in that category. This is the distinction, This is
the distinction I found. Versus expectation. Aaron Rodgers is number twelve.
If you look at his Packers teams over expectation season
win wise, the last fourteen years, Russell Wilson's number one,
and it seems to me their whole career the station.

(37:04):
I'll tell you why, because ever since the infamous pick
rub play, we're Wilson through the interception in the Super
Bowl in January or February to lose to the Patriots.
There're three and five in the playoffs since then. The
Seattle Seahawks, yes, and they've been uh, not really expected
to do all that much. You look at seventeen. They

(37:25):
were only expected to win nine games by the biggest
market in twenty eighteen, seven and a half. So that's
my point. Russell Wilson, because of that, you know, infamous moment,
because of the fact that he was kind of carried
there by defenses year after year, is underappreciated by the
market his teams. That's why, on average they go a
game and a half above their season win total. Aaron

(37:46):
Rodgers is great, He's probably better. He's probably much better,
or at least, you know, ten percent better than Russell
Wilson will never be. But the market is very keen
to just how good he is. That's why if you
bet their season win total. The Packers the last fourteen
in years, you're almost exactly five hundred. Well you are
exactly five hundred. Your seven up, seven down, only a

(38:06):
fifth of a game better than expectation. Vegas knows almost
exactly how good Aaron Rodgers teams have been in his career.
I think this is gonna be very interesting in terms
of the dynamic that Russell Wilson will bring to Denver
and how it manifests itself on the field. They've got
weapons around him and I I I'm very curious, and

(38:30):
they're also in a brutal division with no doubt you know. So, anyway,
do you think that the Denver money, I mean, Mackenzie,
they were twenty two one and then Aaron Rodgers announced
he wasn't leaving Green Band. They went to forty one.
Then what a couple hours later, Russell Wilson, they dropped
at twelve to one. Do you think that's justified? Well,

(38:50):
if you look at the other teams around them, I
have a little bar bet with our guys, Steve Fezick.
The Denver Broncos also twelve to one, I'm sorry. The
San Francisco for Uniers also twelve to one. The Dallas
Cowboys thirteen to one, they've done a lot. Those teams
have done a lot more recently. But you talk about
the weapons around it. If the if the Broncos were
one piece away, if teddy Bridge are was just that

(39:12):
one Achilles heel last year, then there might be some
value there. You talk about the division. Six times defending
champions are the a f C West champion Chiefs. That
number shocked me because it was Patrick Mahomes hasn't been
there six years. It's been that dominant from Smith to Mahomes,
seamless transition. Here the updated odds, the Chiefs are down

(39:33):
to plus one twenty. The Broncos went from plus four
fifty after Wilson to plus two thirty, so their odds
have been cut out in half. Khalil Mack was the
big news on Friday upgrading the charges odds. They went
from four to one to plus three fifty. The Raiders,
I mean they're just still the Raiders, still with car,
same oldeal. Not a love, not a lot of love,
not a lot of excitement there tend to one. I'll

(39:55):
throw it over to you. A lot of different, you know,
opinions in the a f C West, A lot of sitement.
Do you think the Chiefs repeat or do you think
there's an upset? No, I think the Chiefs are gonna
be right back. Uh. It's always difficult when a player
goes to a new team. They caught lightning in a
bottle with Tom Brady, same with Matt Stafford. The Rams
top credit for their accomplishments. The odds that are happening

(40:17):
three times in a row, I'm just not so sure.
And I think to your point about Khalil Mack being
paired up with Joey Bosa. Uh, the Chargers are gonna
be for real. The Chiefs are for real. They're the
team I trust most in that division. But you can't
count out in Russell, Wilson and Denver. Alright, good stuff
and can't well have you back in an hour we'll
talk about your three best NBA bets coming up your

(40:38):
favorite hour of the show. We have a little fun.
What kind of brand new fool you followed by? What
my name? Keep it locked right here? This is Bernie Fratto.
You're listening to Fox Sports Sunday and Fox Sports Radio.
The Fox Sports Sunday train keeps right on rolling. I'm
Bernie Fratto, come to you live the Las Vegas Fox
sports radio studios A little different situation tonight. This will

(41:02):
be our final hour of the show because I'm on
Pacific coast Pacific Standard time, so that means in an hour,
it's currently one am one on one am out west,
and in one hour the clock magically flips from two
to three, and we'll hand it off to Brian No
and Andy Ferman. But we've got a rockets last hour

(41:25):
for you, beginning with the dance sensation that is sweeping
the nation. It's something we do every week we affectionately
call what kind of brand new fool are you? Well, yeah,
what kind of brand new fool are you? See? Because
every day across this great land of ours and around
the world, people do things that just simply bogg of

(41:47):
the mind. And there could be no other conclusion to
draw except you're just a damn fool. So we begin
we go to Florida where we track a couple of
dumb criminals. One's name was Joey and the other's name
was Matthew, and they had been casing this apartment complex
for a while and they decided they were going to

(42:07):
engage in some robberies. But see, these are really smart
guys and so what they decided to do. They knew
they were cameras, that didn't bother them. They decided they
would simply mark up their faces with markers, so therefore
they would not be recognizable even with a camera. There's

(42:28):
only one problem. Joey and Matthew used permanent markers on
their face, and within hours after their little escapade, the
cameras caught them. They were identified and arrested arrested by
the police, which leads us to the only logical conclusion,
Joey and Matthew, what kind of brand new fools? Parallel

(42:52):
are you? Chris Pofett? All right, Bernie, So I'm taking
simultaneously to the world's two worlds. I keep going to
the world of international soccer and the world of cryptocurrency
and n f T s because somehow they collided. Because
as always, there's a lot of problems with a lot
of n f T projects out there in the web

(43:12):
three space, namely that a lot of people start out
on projects and realize very quickly that they are not
grounded well in terms of copyright, which I mean makes sense.
A lot of these guys are libertarians. They don't understand
legal terms to begin with. So um John Terry, a
former English football coach and a former player, launch an

(43:33):
n f T project back in February called Ape Kids
Football Club sells three D images of apes in just
cartoon monkeys wearing you know, Premier League and English you
know soccer jerseys everything else. So it's all very cute. See.
It had a lot of backing from several current players
and former players, including Uh currently playing for Roma, English

(43:55):
striker Tammy Abraham, Ashley Cole Jack will share they all
end is the project. It traded around I think most
most of them originally traded around six D dollars, plummeted
to about March where they were trading for under seventy. However,
shortly after Terry announced the projects in January, it came

(44:15):
out that um it it's coming out in March. Is
now there might be legal troubles because they were forced
to shut down some of the some of the depictions
on these n f T s because they don't have
the copy of the the use of Premier League and
Premier League club copyright on them, so they had removed
depictions of the Premier League, UEFA FA trophies, the Chelsea logo,

(44:40):
all those from illustrations. So yep, if you're sitting out
to do one of these things, understand your country's copyright rules.
So they are important. And trademarks tist. What kind of
brand new fool are they? Yeah, that's a good one,
all right, Brian family. Yes, Bernie, as you know as
we get ready for the selection Sunday, there are a
lot of conferences out there that only get one bit.

(45:02):
You gotta win the conference tournament and that's all you
can do. That would be the case in the Mid
American Conference. See last night you had Kent State and
Acron playing. We know the results Akron one. Why did
they win? Well, there's a story behind the scenes here
involving Kent State that hurt their costs towards trying to win,

(45:23):
and it was because there were four players on the
team after they won the semifinal matchup the conference tournament
who went on Snapchat. I guess some people still have that.
I haven't used that in years, but they went I seriously,
I guess exactly exactly. So by the way, Bernie, if
I had my Space, you would be in my top eight. O.

(45:44):
Man's I know, I'd a right, That's that's your life.
Journey and goal. So there were four players on the
Kent State basketball team who got in trouble because they
produced this social media video on Snapchat or basically trash
their upcoming opponent in Akron, and some used foul language

(46:06):
and they're foreword. DJ Johnson was suspended indefinitely than one
of their starters was suspended for the first half, along
with a couple other guys who are suspended for the
first half. So technically, you had four really solid players
on Kent State who did not play in the first
half of this game. Acron ends up winning. You and

(46:30):
anybody who who's from that area understands that this is
a tense rivalry between the two. There's only ten miles
separating both of these schools. But the way in which
those four guys blew it for their team with their
chances makes Kent State, those four players that is fools.
Here on Fox Sports Radio, fair enough, the Golden flashes
a stain on their legacy, alright. Brian Ricky Herrera joins

(46:54):
the fritty, always thoughtful introspective Ricky Herrera with his version
of what kind of brand new fool you? Okay? Bernie
uh I had a hard one narrowing this down. It
seemed like there was almost never mind. Sorry, I'm sorry,
not sorry. Go ahead, Ricky, you got the floor. Oh.

(47:14):
There was a lot of fools in the news this week.
But speaking of social media, we all know people like
to go viral, and this week we're going to Pennsylvania
because Saucy and Honey, who are YouTubers, are facing criminal
charges that could result in up to seven years in prison.

(47:36):
Uh White Whiteland Township police say five year old Saucy
and four year old Honey, we're arrested after hiding inside
a Chester County Targets store and filming the encounter for
their social media. They spent the night in the target
and were caught because of their video, and they got arrested.

(48:00):
I believe, didn't they I heard about that they got
arrested and they are facing up to dress passing right,
And I have to ask Saucy and Honey, what kind
of brand new fools are you? Yeah, that's not not
a good way to spend your time there. This they're
this YouTube couple and they filmed themselves hiding inside a target.

(48:21):
I don't I don't get it, man, It's like they're
coming you know they're running. They've run out of ideas,
right alright, good stuff, guys. Another rousing addition of what
kind of brand new fool are you? And that, of
course brings us to our segue of America's favorite game show,
but we also affectually referred to as what my name?

(48:42):
All right, you guys have just been killing it, so
I had to really up it a little bit this year.
It's a little bit of a March Madness theme. You
may have all heard about the great five Slam of
Jama teams Houston Cougars with you know, Clyde Drexler and company.
And they came this close up whole of my fingers
just a centimeter apart and waiting at all in n

(49:04):
three but they didn't. But they went to three straight
final four is that five slang Jamma team? And they
were coached by a gentleman. I was the coach of
the Houston five Slammer Jamma Cougars, Chris Perfett, what my name?
Oh man? Just because I noticed my NCC state dot
guy lewis nicely done right out of the gates. I

(49:26):
know this because Survive in Advanced for thirty about Jim Valvano. Yes,
fantastic documentary. Very good, all right. I talked about this
earlier in the show, and I even dropped this name.
But seven it happened to be the first time I
visited Vegas for the March Badness. Had been to Vegas

(49:47):
a million times, but this is the first time I
hug out here Caesar's Palace, March Madness and the first
round game between Austin P is the number fourteen seed
in Illinois. Austin P a fifteen point underdog. Crowd chanted
the whole time time let's go pee and they upset
Illinois is a fifteen point underdog. I was the star
of the game and the leading score for Austin P.

(50:08):
Chris Perfette, what my name? Oh nope, nope, nope, nope,
the problem all right? I was the leading scorer in
the star of the game of that Austin P team
that upside Illinois in the first round in nineven is
a fifteen point underdog. Bryan Finley, what my name? Dave
de Buscher? Very good? I love it. I love it, man,

(50:31):
I love I love the chickenery. All right, Let's see
if Freaky here I can bring us home. Ricky I
was a leading score on that faithful day when my
Austin p team beat Illinois as a fifteen point underdog.
What my name? John Stockton? I love these guys. It
would be Darryl Bedford and Daryl Bedford is the name

(50:54):
we were looking for. All right, This one should be
a layup? See what I did there? A layup? Okay,
never mind, all right, I was the coach of the team.
I deserve that one. I was the coach of the
team that actually beat five Slammy Jamma on that faithful
night in three. Ricky Harre What my name? Tubby Smith? Oh?

(51:17):
I thought you did this for sure? No, all right,
I was a coach of that team in three that
beat five Slammer Jamma to win the national championship. Brian Finley,
what my name? Jimmy Galvano Bingo? Running around looking for

(51:40):
someone to hug? Don't you remember that? Wasn't that amazing?
That scene? And I gotta tell you go ahead, Chris
no again, Like that documentary is probably the best work
from I saw that game live was it happened. I
was at a bar in Long Beach and it looked
like it was going over time and Lorenzo Charles and

(52:00):
I mean the long lob and all of a sudden, Lad,
that's the lab. But they didn't realize there's a law
but him inside it was an airball right about a
twenty eight foot shot, and we all know what happened next,
you know, Thorow Bailey, Lorenzo Charles, We just started around
to drinks and we was going over to the original
Cinderella team. They really were. That was incredible because I

(52:23):
believe NC State was a seventh seed and boy and
Jimmy Jlvano, you know, of course the whole code they
had to get in through the the a CEC tournament,
to which they did. They almost didn't. They almost didn't.
And that's that's a really good thirty thirty. It's funny.
I was Court said that I have covered the Monton
West Conference tournament, uh since two thousand twelve. It's really

(52:44):
a good tournament. You know. Kevin Harlan was on the
call today. Nice crowds, the San Diego State bands and
the Boise State bans. Awesome. They're going back and forth
for about a half an hour before the show, playing
some really good tunes and just banging them out. The
electric guitars, horns, in the whole nine yards. Here's why
I bring this up on your courtside. You get a

(53:04):
chance to see how coaches really worked the referees. Everybody's
kind of got through in style. Leon Rice the head
coach at Boise State. Of course he was. He had
a lot of success there and he's he was on
Gonzaga staff for many years before he took the job
at Boise State. He's kind of like this didactic he
look at the ref and point things out like an
instructor what he did wrong. Brian Dutcher a great guy.

(53:27):
He was the coach of waiting for Steve Fisher at
UH at San Diego State all those years. He's done
a phenomenal job at San Diego State as well. Both
his teams are getting in and of course dutch was
on the bench for the Fab five. He was an
assistant Steve Fisher back in Michigan. Story for a different day.
But dut she's kind of like and he's a really
nice guy, but he'll throw his arms in the air like, oh,
I can't believe this, this is just unbelievable. Well, you

(53:50):
see the way coaches work at Narte. I was there
the other day to Steve Alford uh Nevada Wolfpack. Of
course he's been around New Mexico u c l A. Brian,
I'm sure you remember. I'll the u c l A
probably want to try to forget those years. He's just
brutal with referees. I mean, uh, one minute, not even
thirty seconds into the game the other day and their opener. Uh,

(54:12):
he's all over a ref. Can't you gotta call out, dude?
The game's thirty seconds old. Here's why I bring all
up that, mischie guys, because Jimmy Valvano once went up
to a referee whispered in his series, says, rough, Can
I ask you a question? Can I get a technical
just for thinking something? Referee says no, of course, not Jimmy.

(54:32):
Why he goes good, because I think you suck doom
teed up right on the spot. Never be another Jimmy Valvano,
that's for sure. Alright. Coming up, major League Baseball is back.
Spring training. Mandatory report is today. We'll have spring training games.
In a few days, we'll have Major League Baseball for real.
And April seven, the four hundred and sixty two games season.

(54:53):
How did it happen when everybody went to bed Wednesday night.
There was predictions of doom, but cooler had prevailed. I'll
tell you what happened. Coming up next, Bernie Frado or
Comedy Alive from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios
to keep it locked right here. You're listening to Fox
Sports Sunday and Fox Sports Radio. All right back on
Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio and Bernie Fradock. Come
you live in Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio Studios. Among

(55:18):
the many doings this past week were the fact that
the Major League Baseball Players Association and the owners finally
were able to consummate an agreement, and the owners ratified
it by thirty zero vote. The team's four the executive

(55:39):
committee voted against it. But here's what's interesting. And I
consider that it's probably a win for both sides, But
I really consider the the players who have made up
all kinds of ground that they had been looking to
make up for a long time. And I know that
they were very rankled by the fact that in the

(56:02):
last four years salaries have sunk four point seven on
the aggregate, the cumulative salaries for we're less than they
were for the game continues to grow. The revenues are
at an all time high, yet there was an increased
gap between the percentage of the revenues the players saw

(56:22):
on their paycheck and the top line revenues for the game.
Case in point, there's a thing called the luxury tax,
which they have now changed the name to the competitive
balanced tax. The owners it can be argued they've been
using it as a de facto salary cap, which is
what they want. But just to give you some perspective
before I set up what happened Wednesday night and how
this thing got settled. Two thousand and eight, baseball was

(56:44):
a five billion dollar industry and the luxury tax threshold
per each team was a hundred and fifty five million dollars.
In baseball had grown to an eleven billion dollar industry.
That's double from it was, Yet the luxury tax the

(57:04):
competitive balanced tax threshold per team it only increased to
two million per team. So the game doubles and revenues,
but the luxury tax threshold only increases by And there
are some other issues. I won boy with a bunch
of numbers along, and the short of it is heading
into this negotiating. Uh you know, well, actually it was

(57:28):
more of a game of chicken and a test of wheels.
But they finally started to negotiate on the twenty February
for sixteen hours and they made progress. They didn't get
a deal done, but lo and behold, within another ten
days they got this thing done. And the ideological purpose
behind what the union wanted to accomplish this year was
to take care of the zero to three guys and

(57:48):
what that basically means is the guys who aren't eligible
for arbitration after year three or certainly free agency after
year six. They wanted to create uh opportunities above and
beyond the minimum salary. You know, they wanted the minimum
salary raised as well. They wanted to create opportunities so

(58:13):
that breakout players and star players could get paid quicker
and have an opportunity to benefit from their sensational performances. Okay,
so first, let me begin by giving some final details.
Where I believe the players made some very notable games.
They created a thing called the pre arbitration bonus pool. Now,

(58:35):
originally the players wanted a hundred and ten million to
be spread over a hundred and fifty players. The owner said, okay,
well we'll agree to this concept, We'll put ten million
dollars in a pool and spread it among thirty players. Well,
that was negotiated out, and they went from being a
hundred million apart to about thirty million apart. They settled
on fifty million dollars. So now there's this pool of money,

(58:57):
fifty million dollars found money by the union over the
next five years of the deal. It's a total twitter
and fifty million dollars. So if a young Brian Finley
or Chris per Feder Ricky Herrera goes off, it's forty
home runs this year. As a rookie for the Dodgers
or the Potteries or name your team, and they get
they make the playoffs, they have an opportunity to earn
a bonus, or they perhaps win Rookie of the Year

(59:20):
finished second or third Rookie of the Year voting, or
Cy Young or m v P. I have an opportunity
to earn a bonus on top of their minimum salary,
which has not been raised substantially because the minimum sorry
at the beginning of the last CB it was five
thirty five thousand per player. That's your minimum salary when
you get a Major League contract and it topped out

(59:42):
about a five seventy uh last year. Well now that's
been increased to seven grando, growing all the way to
seven d eighty thousand in the fifth year of the deal,
which is a dramatic increase. So now you've got this
found money with the PRER bonus pool and the minimum salary, uh,

(01:00:04):
you know, increased quite a bit. So those are major games.
Now the CBT, which I've talked about, the Competitive Balanced Tax,
also known as the luxury tax, it was to ten
uh last year per teen year one, it'll be two
hundred and thirty million per teen, growing to to forty
four at the end of the deal. Now, this is

(01:00:25):
a twenty million dollar increase in the Competitive Balance Tax
from two now starting at two hundred and thirty million
this season. That's a win for the players. It's the
largest increase ever since the inception of the luxury tax,
which came out of strike the canceled the World Series.

(01:00:45):
The hundred and thirty thousand dollar increase in the minimum
salary up to seven hundred thousand for this year is
also the largest year over year jump, and the pre
R bonus pool, when you added up over five years
two hundred and fifty million and new money found money
over the course of the deal. Those are games. So
what happened Wednesday night they went to bed. Things were
looking bleak because the owners want a international draft. The

(01:01:10):
players are against it. Uh in future shows, I'll talk
more linked about why. But the role for draft here
in the United States, you can draft high school players.
You can draft college players as long as they're twenty
one or they've completed their junior year college. Not so much. Internationally,
it's what you would call sort of the wild West,
run by rogue operators. And the country that produces the

(01:01:33):
most talented Dominican Republic is very corrupt. There are players
that they you know, people might identify that our fourteen
fifteen years old that can command huge money. But you've
got to go through certain you know, de facto player
agents just to get to them. We don't even know
if the player gets all the money. So you draft
any player anywhere, any age, all kinds of money flying around.

(01:01:53):
They want uniformity. Major League Baseball wants uniformity. They want
to clean it up, clean up the corruption. And obviously
there are some teams like the Mets that scout that area.
And do much better than that area. There's a lot
of talent down There's seven of the ten players that
led the league in war last year came from that area.
In future shows, I'll talk a little bit about the
International Draft. The bottom line is they went to bed

(01:02:15):
that night. The player reps went back to the rank
and file and said, here's where we're at in the
rank and file and said, oh wait, wait, wait, we're
willing to miss paychecks. And by the way, for every
game that would have been canceled, the union would have
lost twenty one million dollars cumulatively and in their paychecks,
and the owners by the second week in April would
have had to start submitting rebates to the regional TV

(01:02:36):
partners for canceled games. So the rank and file went
back to their play refs Wednesday night via fone and said, no, no, no,
wait a minute, now, we we were willing to go
to the poll if we don't make the games we
want on the prer bonus of the minimum salary and
the CBT, but not a secondary issue like the international Draft.
We've got to work that out. We're not canceling games

(01:02:57):
over that. So they went back. Cooler has prevailed, they
reached the detent. They agreed both sides that they'll set
this aside to July and they'll come to some sort
of agreement on how to structure in international draft to
commence in and if they can't, then the players will
be stuck and saddled with the qualifying offer, which your

(01:03:17):
things not gonna explain in future shows. The long and
short of it is, we've got baseball. Cooler has prevailed
Wednesday night, and trust me, when the brother breaks in
the cold weather cities, you'll be glad. Nothing like going
to the ballpark, having a hot dog and join the game.
It is our pastime. It is a way to pass
the time night after night. There's a reason this is

(01:03:38):
growing from a billion dollar industry after the ninety four
strike the canceled the World Series to an eleven billion
dollar industry. Now people can bash on it. It may
not be as exciting as football week to week or
some of the other sports, but trust me, baseball is
very much part of Americana and in the mainstream. And
later today when teams hit the field for spring training,
there'll be a jump in your step because yes, based

(01:04:00):
all season is right around the corner. Coming up one
last look tips for filling out your bracket as we're
about twelve hours away from the selection show. But first
let's go to the man. Well, he can ball like
Jordan Clarkson, he can sing like Kelly Clarkson. He's our
own American idol brand filly with the ladies. Well, thank you, Bernie,

(01:04:21):
And as you said Selection Sundays later on today, potential
one seed in the bracket would be Arizona. And they
took care of business last night as we look at
conference college basketball conference finals and contests, and they in
the Wildcats beat U C l A eighty four to
seventies six, Virginia Tech spooking to kight two to sixty seven,

(01:04:43):
and the A C C crown in the title for
that one also out of the Big twelve kids, as
victorious over Texas Tech seventy four to sixty five. Villanova
adds on to getting another trophy. Let's he runs it out.
Cats win, Cats win, Cats win. Final score Villanova fifty four,
Freighton forty eight as the Cats win their six Biggies

(01:05:05):
Tournament title in school history tonight at Madison Square, parted
ville Ola Radio Network. Did you guys hear the Cats win,
Yeah they did. They beat Creighton fifty four to forty eight,
and that's for the Big East Championship, Boys State finishing
on top in the Mountain to West after they take
down San Diego stree to fifty two. We also saw

(01:05:25):
Bernie's alma mater, Cal State Fullerton hang on against Long
Beach State seventy two to seventy one to book reservations
into the Big Dance out of the Big West. Of course,
the SWACK title goes to Alcorn State. Akron wins the
m A C the MAC Championship of course, Vermont St. Peter's,
Texas A and M Corpus Christie they are all in.

(01:05:46):
So is Montana State the Big Sky champion, and they
are in the Bobcats for the first time since nineteen
nineties six, and this time they beat Northern Colorado eight
seven to sixty six. U A B taking Conference USA
A by stiffing Louisiana Check eight two to seventy three,
and New Mexico State all Whack power. Yeah, they beat

(01:06:07):
Avleene Christian who made a little bit of a run
of it in the NT Double A tournament last year,
sixty six to fifty two. At least they played tough
against U C l A and that March madness from one.
Just a couple scheduling reminders for later on today before that,
Brackett is unveiled pretty and I will will meet for
the Big Ten title. Texas m and Tennessee will cross

(01:06:29):
blades for the SEC championship, and Houston and Memphis will
meet for the A A C Championship. And then in
the NBA. Yeah, there is NBA action happening during all
this college basketball mayhem. Jordan Clarkson's Yeah, that's Jordan Clarkson,
Kelly Clarkson, Jordan Clarksons. Bernie stated forty five points to

(01:06:50):
guide the Jazz over the Kings to one twenty five
and Clay Thompson looking really good out there on the
court thirty eight points for the Warriors as they get
a job done against the Bucks one two to one
oh nine. Back to a man who has a jump
shot as smooth and as silky as Clay Thompson. It's
our guy, Bernie Freddo in Las Vegas. And let's just

(01:07:11):
say about your updates, Brian. People wait at a lifetime
for a moment like this. Oh no, that I just
do that did that just channel American Idol from two
thousand to Bernie? Are you an avid watcher of American Idol?
That I think is what America just found out about you.
First five years? Yeah, first five years. Yeah, I really
miss Reuben Stuttered. Not anymore. I don't watch it anymore

(01:07:33):
ever since Simon Kyle left the show, not the same.
That's a story for a different day. First five years, Yeah,
all over, like a hole on I am sandwich. All right.
Speaking of brackets, which Brian just mentioned, in a few hours,
you'll be able to download yours and you'll see who
the number one seeds are and see where some of
your favorite teams would region they're going to, what city
they're going to, who they might match up against. And

(01:07:56):
you know what, darn well that this is all about
excitement and fun and bragging rights. And the truth of
the matter is every year they say it's a wide
open tournament, it's it's really not. There will be some
teams that crash your party to get to the Sweet sixteen,
maybe the Elite eight, but when it comes right down
to it, really there's only a handful of teams you
can trust that could really win six in a row.

(01:08:17):
Or even five in a row to get to the
final game, or even four in a row just get
the final four. So not easy to survive and advanced tournament.
It's a different dynamic when it's win or go home.
But under no circumstances should you pick all four number
one seeds to reach the final four. It's only happened once.
It's always tempting. You're gonna look at Auburn and Kansas

(01:08:39):
if they're they're number one, Gonzaga, Arizona, Stye Man, who's
gonna beat these guys? Well, if history shows us, and
it's only happened once. So you've got to figure out
who's going to crash the party. And in the nine
years um, in the last nine years, out of a
potential number one seeds, only six times has a number

(01:09:03):
one seed reads the final four. With this, With this,
you know the situation where you pick all four number
one seeds. The truth of the matter is two or three.
I don't know if all four get knocked out. I
don't think that's right because a number one seed to
win it all has happened nine of the last twelve

(01:09:24):
in c A tournaments, including last year champion Baylor. So
the more old stories says history says the number one
seed will probably win the national championship, but not all
four number one seeds are going to get to the
final fours. When keep that in mind when you fell
out your bracket, focus on matchups more than metrics. No,
metrics are a good way of comparing the three fifty

(01:09:47):
seven teams against each other, and it's a little bit
more complicated when you try to compare head to head matchups.
There are just too many nuances that going to the
general metrics a lot of times. Again, you've heard me
say about analyt I get them. They are important, but
they are not a be all in all. They are
not an inflexible anchor. There are a guideline, and many

(01:10:08):
of these things are based on simulated matchups played a
hundred times. But you only get one game, one matchup,
all right. So if if Boise Steak goes up against
Iowa State, I'm just throwing that out there, I think
Boise State could be a six seed. Uh So you
take it. You take two teams. You look at the matchups.
If they play similar styles, the better team typically is

(01:10:29):
at a huge advantage. However, look at the matchups styles
make fights. If one team plays a defense that basically
packs it in, and there's the other team to shoot threes,
and that team shoots them well, all of a sudden
that advantage, that advantage suddenly disappears. And if the better
team by the metrics, let's say they have kind of

(01:10:50):
a small front court, but the underdog has a big
backcourt or big front court that could dominate on the
boards and box out and get second chances, they're gonna
be a more appetizing p so win in doubt. Read up,
I talked about teams like Vermont and Davidson and Colgate
in South Dakota State earlier. These are really good teams,

(01:11:10):
really stud pesky mid majors. You get a better understanding
of their style and who they match up against, you're
gonna have a better opportunity to pick winners or certainly
pick games against the spread. One other thing, you know,
there's an old saying in sports. A star might win
you one game, but a team might win them all.
But when the tournament rolls around, the survive and advanced

(01:11:32):
mentality really favors teams that have stars who can win
their individual matchups. Remember John Iran, A couple of years
ago with Murray State. By the way, Murray State has
got another very good team. Right, So, if you're stuck
on a game and you're really having a hard time
picking who went win that game in advance, and you
think it could come down to the wire, go with

(01:11:54):
the team that has one or two players you trust
to make the plays. Stars to make the plays down
the stretch when the heat gets hot and it's hard
to breathe. Okay, teams win games, but stars are the
ones who step up big. Finally, Gonzaga, you can pretty
much plug him into your Elite eight. They've got the
longest active Sweet sixteen streak. They've appeared in four of

(01:12:16):
the last six Elite eights. They've got I believe, the
best team on paper in college basketball this year. And
after they win their first game, which they should, buying
another sixteen one upset, they'll have a favorable eight nine
matchup and then two vulnerable teams at the four and
five scenes in the region. So can they win three

(01:12:36):
in a row to get to the Elite Eight. Well,
they've been doing it with regularity. Now they're not a
lock to make the Final four, but frankly, I think
Gonzaga has the best odds to at least make the
West Regional finals. So if you're dead set on having
Gonzaka get upset just because you think so before the
final four, make it in the only round that makes

(01:12:56):
sense to have that happen, and that's in the Elite eight.
So there you have it. And of course, uh by
next week at this time, a lot of us will
be keith gnashing about how our brackets are already busted
and can you believe you know, but Midge State beat
Duke and coach Ka has to apologize again. But that's
a story for a different day. Coming up. We'll bring

(01:13:18):
you back out to Vegas. You know him, you love
me Candley without him, He'll give you three best bets
in the NBA for games being played later. Today's Sunday
Making on Sports with Mackenzie Rivers Up, next down, Bernie
Freddo Company Live in the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Keep it locked right here. You're listening to Fox Sports
Sunday on Fox Sports Radio. All right back on Fox
Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. Bernie Fraddock come to your

(01:13:40):
life from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. Before
I go any further. I want to thank my broadcast
team back in Los Angeles, Chris Perfette, Ricky Herrara, and
tonight for Bo Benson and Brian Finley on the updates.
Great job guys, turning all the dials, keeping us glued together.
Could not do this fine show without you. And about
all minutes here on the left coast, we have a

(01:14:01):
little thing called daylight savings time, So poof, it'll be
three am before you know it, and we'll turn it
over to Brian know and Andy from it. First, let's
bring it back out to Vegas. You know what? You
love me Candy without him macing on sports Mankandie Rivers.
The NBA is especially Mackenzie. It cames down the doctor tomorrow.
What do you got? Yes, it starts early and often

(01:14:24):
with the New York teams meeting up together. But that's
not my first best set. You're gonna to wait till
the second game where the Detroit Pistons are foam underdogs
of five points. That's my side, that's who I'm taking.
I'm riding with Kate Cunningham, number one overall pick who
since the All Star break has kind of put a
exclamation point on the number one most improved team from

(01:14:47):
the NBA first half to the NBA second half Kate
Cunningham twenty nine points per game on shooting. In nine
games since the break, the Pistons have gone from the
league's worst net rating how you do pretty much per
game losing by eleven points per game average losing by
one point per game. That is a tremendous achievement, a

(01:15:10):
tremendous improvement. Twain Casey should be proud of the way
they're going. And the Clippers is kind of the opposite.
They kind of know where they're gonna be. They're gonna
be in a seven eight game with the timber Wolves,
and they're kind of middling. And this is an interesting
stat I'm not sure it's kind of the topper that
makes me, you know, fire on this particular bet. What
do you think of it? Go ahead, go ahead, I'm

(01:15:33):
starting go ahead, go tylu in early games. So this
game starts at twelve pm Pacific. In any game that
starts at that early or earlier, his team has not
woken up eight and sixteen against the spread in those
games thirty. Does that seem like kind of a coincidence
or what do you think is going on there. Well,
it's not a coincidence. And I want to talk about

(01:15:54):
the Pistons because you brought up a lot of good
points about damn. This is the beauty of the point spread,
the great equalizer. Look the Pistons, who only won eighteen
games all year, and they're not a threat to scare anybody.
But against the number, they're not only five games above
five hundred against the number at home and overall they're
tenano against the spread their last ten games. Meanwhile, the Clippers,

(01:16:15):
they're under five hundred on the road, they're still laying
five points. I'm assuming that's the line you're working off.
Pistons plus five. Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if we
see some dog money. The Pistons have been a wise
guy's favorite since the NBA second half. A lot of
their lines have gotten shorter, but plus five right now
widely available. I'm with you on that bed. What do
you got next? I want to go to Indiana Atlanta.

(01:16:37):
No team has been more of a revolution as far
as they're playing. Styled in the Indiana Pacers. They've been
a very methodical team with Sabonus and Turner well that's
why they brought in rick Yle Lisle from Dallas, who
once had the number one offensive rating team ever with
the Mavericks and Luka don Ketch only two years ago.
This is how they've done it. They got rid of

(01:16:57):
Turner by getting them hurt. Good job, and then they
traded Sabonus. They got him out. Since they've traded Sabonus,
their games have been twenty points higher than previously. Previously
two twenty points per game, since they traded Sibonus two
hundred forty points per game on average. We're gonna go
over to thirties seven versus Atlanta. Very simple reason why
Atlanta is the team to bet over on. Number three

(01:17:20):
offense in the league, number third worst defense in the league,
the Atlanta Hawks. We're gonna go over in their game
versus the Pacers. Sounds good. I probably not involved in
that game. Indiana has burned me a few times or
catching eleven points. They're just too weird for me. All right,
what do you got for number number three? Yeah, and
it's not too often. I want to go over to
thirties seven. It's such a high number. But that is

(01:17:42):
the state of the NBA. This is my best bet,
and it's a prop bet. New Orleans Pelicans are hosting
the Houston Rockets. DeVante Graham is the last man standing
for the Pelicans that has any kind of offensive game,
and they're gonna rely on him as a five point
favorite to get the job done. Brandon ingra Him, Kevin
Durant's disciple, has looked like Kevin Durant. Since the All

(01:18:04):
Star Break. He's been a top ten usage guy, and
if you look at any of the top twenty usage guys,
so Durant, Janice all the most used players in the league,
no one's been more efficient than brandon Ingram since the
All Star Break, and his absence the last two games
since he's been missed has been missed dearly. A lot
of other players are throwing up shots. C J. McCollum,

(01:18:26):
who they just brought in from Portland. He was picking
up the slack and then he went down. DeVante Graham
had thrown up fourteen shots in a game and over
a month and a half. He did that in the
first three quarters against the Hornets, and then they took
him out because they were losing so badly. Well, now
they're five point favorites against the Rockets. I don't expect
them to take their foot off the gas at all.

(01:18:46):
Graham's getting all the attention on that offense now that
Ingram and McCullum are out. Love this play. Best bet
DeVante Graham over fifteen and a half points four run
out of time, the plucky, pesky Oklahoma City Thunder catching
thirteen at home. I get it. Memphis is forty four
and twenty four against the number. That's a lot of points. Mackenzie. Yes,
and remember my best bet last week was the Jazz

(01:19:09):
laying thirteen against the Thunder number yeah yeah, and they
were up by twenty five most of the game. The
Thunder haven't been the team in the second half. But
I think the Jazz are three points better than the Grizzlies.
And now this number is the same thirteen points, so
I think it's about three points off. I don't think
the Thunder should be laying thirteen at home versus the
Memphis Grizzlies got about ten seconds. Lakers catching eight and

(01:19:31):
a half against the depleted Phoenix team. I don't think.
I don't know, man, that's just stay away. What do
you think? No, No, they got their win. They got
their win. On Friday, they were relaxing. On Sunday. They're
taking it easy, alright, good stuff, McKenzie selections Sunday just
a few hours away. There you have it, McKenzie's best
NBA bets for Sunday. And this is gonna be a
fun weekend as spring training begins, March Madness begins, and

(01:19:54):
the NBA rages on among everything else. It just never
ends here, all right, Thanks so much for listening tonight.
That's gonna do it. I'm Bernie Fratto. This is Fox
Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. Keep it locked up next
Brian no and Andy Furman.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Bernie Fratto Declares March Madness Is Life & Notable Gains for the MLBPA