Bernie Fratto talks Deshaun Watson and Colin Kaepernick

Bernie Fratto talks about Deshaun Watson’s awkward introductory press conference, a possible return to the NFL for Colin Kaepernick, Super Bowl hero Malcom Butler returns to the New England Patriots, and more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't listen to Fox Sports Radio. Do not, do not,
do not touch that dial. You heard the man. It's
time for Fox Sports Sunday. 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 Fritto

(00:21):
and company live in the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio
students will take you up to three am Pacific six am.
Me stoot along with my savvy and capable crew Boll Benson,
Chris Profett and Bryan Family and the updates as a well,
man the ship from our Los Angeles compound. Man, We've
got all kinds of March madness stuff, plenty of names
of the news. NFL headlines are absolutely raging that plus

(00:47):
what kind of brand new fool are you? And what
my name in the final hour, as well as Chris
Profet's report on the world of soccer. Now that the
dust has settled so many of the NFL signings this
past week, so there's been time for folks to reflect
and react on the backstories and residual effects and for hap,
for for me, the biggest story of the week has

(01:10):
to do with the signing of the Shawn Watson heading
to the Cleveland Browns, and uh not everybody is is
excited about this. You'd be surprised. Um, I'm I'm I'm
amazed at the at the contract fully guaranteed five years,

(01:32):
uh two and thirty million dollars. That's ninety more totally
guaranteed that Patrick Mahomes has gotten in eighty million more
than Aaron Rodgers. But hold that thought. Uh, that press
conference the other day was at best awkward. I there
was all sorts of statements made and things that did

(01:52):
it just make you scratch your head. Uh, And I
was a little I almost laughed out loud with Deshaun
Watson said he made up his mind to go to
Cleveland before they talked about the contract. Sure you did.
I thought you had no interest, But all of a sudden,
Cleveland desperate people do desperate things. And the Browns are
desperate to win, and they've got a good defense, and
they've got weapons and offense, and Searn Watson just might

(02:13):
be that missing link and they've got two ter and
thirty billion reasons to hope that he is the missing link.
It just buils me away. It's incredible. And then there
were times during the press conference where there were questions
asked and Watson made the statements that sort of implied
that the accusations against him were inaccurate. It just doesn't

(02:36):
it doesn't seem appropriate to me that that it was
almost cavalier. He's trying to be respectful and he, you know,
said he was raised by a single mother, a single
parent mom, and he was raised to respect women. Isn't
that a novelty? Who among you author listening to this
show or in my crew, were you raised to not
respect women? Did your parents at any time tell you,

(02:58):
you know, get good grades, brush your teeth, take your vitamins,
but don't worry about respecting women. What do you want
to meddle for that? Who wasn't taught to respect women
by their parents? Tell me if you're out there all right? Then,
and then it came up about you know, Cleveland had
done this thorough investigation of their own, really deep dive,

(03:21):
but they never bothered to talk to the attorney for
the plaintiffs, Tony Busby, And then of course the the
the the pad answer, Well, we couldn't do that because
it would be interfering with a criminal investigation, all right.
I took in a flaw to know that all of
the twenty two accusations. First of all, only thirteen I
believe involved potential criminal complaints. The other nine are merely civil.

(03:46):
So their attorney, Tony Buzzby, I believe it's been contacted,
would have granted away over to talk to the dine
that weren't finding criminal complaints. So that right there. So
rather than pick this whole thing apart, I sort of
want to talk about the fit in the room because
immediately after the details of Deshaun Watson's trade came together,
which was you know, Friday, the ramifications that really started

(04:09):
to bust through front offices and agents was unlike anything
ever in the history of the NFL. Because this is
a reworked contract. It is far richer, at far more
alarming and structure than anybody has ever dealt with in
the history of the NFL. And by the way, the
trade package that Houston netted for Watson, I thought it

(04:31):
was pretty good, but maybe smaller than some anticipated. Here's
the legacy. Here's the legacy of at all there was
really any little doubt in anyone's mind that this was
going to be a moment of disruption for mega contracts
that's really reserved for the most elite quarterbacks, and you
would there's now a belief that it will ripple through

(04:53):
other top players as well, which is not necessarily being
received with glee along the NFL because fully guaranteed contracts
and this much amount of money, executives were testing each
other dropping f bomb saying this is ridiculous. Okay, but look,

(05:15):
this is what the market. I don't be grudge man
making the money. And Deshaun Watson is an elite athlete.
He's in Michael Jordan's mass type quarterback and then they
better hope so. But it's really not unusual to get
a salty reaction when you have these breakthrough contracts. When
they knocked down the four wall, the four walls of
what I would consider previous president in any sport. Remember

(05:36):
when a Rod got that Twitter and fifty two million
dollar contract years ago with I think it was with
the Texas Rangers, like you know, Scott Boris, I mean,
it was it's hard to even get your mind around.
So the truth of the matter is, and by the way, again,
it's even more jarring when you consider that he's still

(05:58):
facing twenty two so the lawsuits and that theoretically, you
know that theoretically creates more risk and more exposure. Okay,
I would I would suspicion that he could be suspending
for four to six games this year, and they as
much admitted that because of the way they structured the
contract for for year one and where I think he'd

(06:20):
be paid a million dollars, So you lose about sixty
per game if he's suspended four to six games, But
those four to six games could cost in the playoffs
this year, you don't know. So the bottom line is
this whole, this whole contract is going to reshape the
NFL in terms of guaranteed money and things of this
nature for years to come. And for a multitude of reasons.

(06:45):
It's a contract that really hasn't been very popular from
a lot of for a lot of other teams, not
to mention the league office, and you know they're that
there's maneuvers, so they protect Watson from the financial penalties
under the personal policy, which I just said, the million
dollars that will be paid this year, and there's there's
some other granular details that you may not have heard about,

(07:07):
right Watson got more total guaranteed money, and you already
know this in any player in NFL history, despite having
a resume that really doesn't stack up with many of
his contemporaries. That's just a fact. Some teams will take
the position at the negotiating table that Watson's views it's
an outlier because it's born from desperation, and there was

(07:28):
kind of a timing aspect to this. An NFL teams
simply don't trade quarterbacks of Watson's caliber and his age.
Remember the dudes only like twenty six. He's got a
whole future ahead of them, let alone that when a
quarterback has a no trade clause. This, this just shifts
the leverage and player of Parliament is at an all
time high, and all agents are rarely gonna have a

(07:50):
player of Watson's stature and his leverage and circumstances to
create this kind of scenario. Yeah, it's gonna It's gonna
change the scale. So Cleveland better really hope, hope this works.
In essence, every top ten quarterback and likely some that
are on the fridge, will not be looking at four
years of ironclad guarantees. The question now is whether elite

(08:14):
deals for upcoming you know quarterbacks, the young bucks out
there that they're out there, man, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert
Joe Burrow. How will this affect their organizations when they're
done with their rookie deals? You see, because the big
thing that was the eye bow raiser, in addition to

(08:35):
the two and thirty million guaranteed, was that this year
they're only gonna pay Watson a million dollars a million,
one point oh three five million. The concern is that,
you know, Watson could be suspended under the Personal Conduct
policy because of what's happening with the civil lawsuits, and
uh unless the NFL, you know, on their own levy's

(08:59):
a massive fine and maybe even a massive suspension where
Watson potentially misses more than four to six games. But
I don't I don't see that happening. I think it's
gonna be similar to you know it as a matter
of fact, if he gets six games, he can even
appeal it and he haven reduced to four. I I
just feel that's where it lands, right. But the bottom

(09:21):
line is taking in its context, this is an incredible
like leverage play for Watson and the Browns and and
league executives have been commenting on it to each other, saying,
this is a prime example of a guy being able
to use his no trade clause as leverage against the
team he wants to leave. Who basically, ultimately the Texans

(09:43):
were hamstrong. They had to trade him to his preferred destination, right.
But also this is a you know, example of a
team who's going to court him. They're gonna have to
meet his financial demands to stay on the list. This
is really an outlier deal. And so once Watson chose
his team Cleveland because of the money, he made no mistake.

(10:04):
It was because of the money, not a dot in
my mind. Once they waved two hundred and thirty million
in front of him, he says, oh, I can't wait
to get there. So the Browns have a general manager
Andrew Berry, and look, he he got he got it.
He was willing to deal with the leverage Watson had,
and he figures, well, they gave the Texans a bunch

(10:26):
of draft picks back. And so but this is what
the contract did for the Browns. They were they were
really strong to negotiate with Watson because it gave the
Browns a chance to to save them and and the
talent they put on the field from having it wasted
the next two or three years. And so because these

(10:46):
windows for Super Bowls close clothes pretty quickly. Actually, And
I gotta say when I heard the picks three first rounders,
the third and fourth um but none of them are players.
Know you can see what that didn't happen. But this
made like Cleveland's leverage. Uh, I don't know, they took

(11:08):
advantage of it because you give Cleveland's not gonna have
a first round draft pick, now what until let's see,
so they really they really mortgage their future. And now
now how the rest of this plays out remains to
be seen, all right, because the terms of Watson Zeal
he's going to, as they said mentioned a minute ago,

(11:30):
factor into some some some some significant quarterback contracts in
the next few years. And this is a salary load
that's very much going to impact the Browns and their
roster building efforts. Now they've got a pretty good roster. Now,
they got playmakers on defense, they got playmakers on offense,
and they got a quarterback who is terrific. And if

(11:52):
he can get some of these legal issues behind him
and they can move forward and get four good full
years out of him, then you gotta like their chances.
But the tricks of that matter is Cleveland's fairly well
hamstrung now, because when this much of your of your
team's salary cap has taken up by one player like
this again, it's it can't not not hamper your roster

(12:16):
building efforts. Plus there's no there's still really no real
clarity on what's gonna happen in Watson's legal future. And
you know these these are not class action suits. These
are all individual suits. And the depositions are still going on,
and it's my understanding each one of the the plaintiffs

(12:37):
can deposed DeShawn Watson by themselves for two hours each.
So he's gonna have a lot of time taken up
that seems gonna be spent in the film room. So
you know that that I would say that there's gonna
be a lot of speed bumps. You've got the civil
cases of possible suspension um and and I would say,

(13:00):
at what happens this year could still affect this deal
for years to come. So the bottom line is the trade,
the contract, the deal that Watson signed, it's just the beginning.
The real work lies ahead for the Browns coming up.
I want to bring in the crew and get their

(13:20):
take on this because this has a lot of layers
and I'm always curious how people react to these things.
I know that I remember I was on the radio
with Michael Vick was getting out of jail, and I
was very much in his corner. I believe he paid
his death to society. I very much believed he needed
a second chance. He got it. Vick was very talented,

(13:41):
wouldn't played several more years, was a pro bowler multiple times,
and there was some backlash at first, but it's subsided
because when you get to know Michael Vick is really
a terrific guy. We don't really know Deshaun Watson. I'm
not sure if he's a Madison Avenue facade. Everybody in
Houston had one on one conver you know, situations with him.
Says good things, but then the way he conducted himself

(14:01):
in Houston, demanded the trade after getting a big contract,
refusing to play, and then these civil lawsuits crop up.
It just starts to become death by a thousand cuts.
It's not good. So what I'm looking for the crew
is your reaction, meaning, hey, let's go win the Super Bowl.
This is the guy to do it, he's getting paid.
Or do you not like the deal? Is it too

(14:21):
much since there's no guarantees? Or do you think in
Cleveland's a good working class town. How are the fans
going to react? Because he's the quarterback who's ultimately going
to be the face of the franchise and it just
went through some drama with Baker Mayfield. How do you
react from the sense of is the distraction perhaps going
to be more detrimental to the team trying to achieve

(14:45):
its overall goals? So this has got harroll over it
and people are reacting in multiple different ways. And this
is a story that is gonna have legs. It's just
getting started. Coming up, We'll bring in the crew. I'm
Bernie Fratt. Where coming to your life from Las Vegas.
Fox Sports Radio Studios. Keep it locked right here. You're
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(15:53):
We're back on Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio and
Bernie Frattle come to you Live the Las Vegas Fox
Sports Radio Studios would take up to three and Pacific
six am Eastern talking about the DeShawn Watson contract arrangement
with Cleveland and the entire backstory surrounding this ordeal. And

(16:13):
so there are lots of ways to react. So when
I bring this to the crew, what's first and foremost
in your mind? What set you without without overthinking it?
Because there are a lot of layers in this story.
Chris pop Fette, Uh, this one's a tough one for me. Bernie.
I'm really close to some of these topics, and to
be honest, I've not been a fan of how the

(16:36):
Shaun Watson handle has handled it. I haven't been a
fan of how the Haslems have handled it. I have
been a fan of how the Cleveland Browns have handled it,
And um, I don't know if there's any way for
them to ever make themselves look good in my eyes.
I it's really soured me on the organization. It's really
soured me on de Shawn Watson. It soured me on
all these people. And that's that's where I stand, just

(16:58):
a bitter taste in my mouth watching all of it.
Fair enough, and that's a that's a human reaction, that's
an honest reaction. It's an authentic reaction. And uh, the
way Deshaun Watson has handle it, to me is a
little bit cavalier. It's contradictory because these acting as if

(17:19):
nothing happened. Now. I'm not implying that what he did
rose to criminal activity. I have no idea what happened,
but somewhere along the line, it just appears on the
face of it that he crossed the line, not with
one or two, but with twenty two. And these women
don't all know each other. So this is a pattern

(17:39):
of behavior that were you perhaps believed you have some
certain entitlements and went to a level that others found
highly offended by. And he doesn't want to settle, he
wants to clear his name. Uh so this is going
to take on a whole new dimension. Brian Firley, what
are your thoughts on this? My thoughts on this, Bernie,

(18:01):
are that no matter the backlash, no matter what people
are gonna say on social media, no matter your sentiments
about the Browns and doing this, it's not like anything
is going to change. It's not like the NFL cares
in the sense that they are quote unquote uncancellable. Uncancellable
if that's a word, I'm gonna make that up. Because

(18:23):
there are some entities in this world that no matter
how wrong it looks from an esthetics perspective or the
optics of something, they can take the heat. And so,
even though you're probably gonna hear a lot of booze
and the descent is going to continue to stream on,
the NFL has shown over the years, as you've seen Bernie,

(18:45):
the ability to just stand up to all of this
and just keep chugging. And it's amazing because there really
isn't that many corporations that can have so much negative
publicity surrounding the whole Deshaun Watson situation and still continue
on and say to any of his any of the
league's dissenters because of this move and bring him back

(19:06):
on for them to say, hey, we don't care what
you think. We're bigger, we're better than you, and already
to keep moving forward. Well, I agree, life is gonna
move on. There will be new stories in the new cycle,
too many to comp between now and next football season.
But if I did with it here and now. One
of the things that I find concerning is the statement

(19:26):
that Watson made at the press conference. He said, I
don't have any regrets. I don't have any regrets. Really,
like I said, the things off the field right now
that came up caught me by surprise because I never
did anything that these people are alleging. I mean, does
that really pass the smell test with you guys? I mean,

(19:48):
come on, twenty two different women alleging sexual assault and
you haven't one. Is DeShawn Watson's defense other than I
don't have any regrets. Before I get back to that bull, Benson,
your thoughts and what was your first reaction. I didn't
have very high expectations for the press conference and it
didn't even meet those. Um. They were also squarely Uh.

(20:12):
Deshaun Deshawn's answers were very strange. I'm surprised to even
let him talk. UM. Andrew Berry was very squirrely about everything.
Kevin Stashantski kind of just sat there and then to
have the owners, you know, zoom in from Florida. While
I I know that d Haslm is involved in the

(20:33):
day to day I think it was cheap pr attempt
to uh have her sit there and answer these questions
with with Jimmy Haslum as well. And I thought his
answer where he brought up the I believe they asked
him about season ticket renewals, and if he was smart,
he would have just avoided that. But to kind of
rub it in everybody's face that like, hey, you know,

(20:53):
we traded for this guy, and uh season ticket renewals
are actually up, not down or anything like that, Like
it's just grow us. And you know, I wish I
could say I was surprised, but you know, in five
years from now, Ben Roethlisberger is gonna get a red
carpet red carpet rollout as he goes into Hall of Fame.
So it's just another disappointing chapter in the NFL. Bringing

(21:15):
up a good point when you reference Andrew Barry the
Cleveland Browns GM, because Deshaun Watson, at least to this
point that I've seen, he refuses to show any contrition.
But it's pretty clear that the Browns are making it
clearer they're not gonna force him to show any contrition.
And uh, I would say that Andrew Berries. You know,

(21:35):
he tried to be genial and respectful and answered the
media's questions, but when he was asked, Andrew Berry was asked,
do you or do this organization believe there was no
wrong during I mean, he gives these these vacuous comments like,
we are very confident that the shown the person and
we have a lot of faith in him, and we

(21:56):
believe as he gets into the community and an organization,
he's going to make a positive impact. And you looked
at his face and I'm you're not even sure if
he believes it wasn't exactly a lot of a lot
of timber in his voice, right, And this is the
tack the Browns are taking that you know, we back
our guy. We're not so sure he's culpable here he
can do whatever he wants without penalty. We're gonna get

(22:18):
him two hundred and thirty million dollars hopefully we win
a Super Bowl. We're staging our careers on it. It
felt very uncomfortable. I saw nonsensical answers. You tell me
why a professional athlete which you reach out to forty
massage therapists? I mean, do you have forty dances? Do
you have forty lawyers? Why do you have forty massage therapists?

(22:38):
All right, we've beat that to death. And by the way,
this is a story that's got legs, so we'll be
talking about it now. Shaun Watson isn't the only guy
that I'll be heading to a new team. There are
other big names, and we got to get to those.
But first let's go to the man, a big name
of himself. Of course, he's demand with the Golden Pipes,
the silver Tongue devil, Bryan Familey with the latest Well,

(23:00):
thank you, Bernie. The only person that thinks I'm a
I'm a good guy or a big man, I guess
would be my mom. I'm all right, I'll just leave
that there. That that so A J. Griffin eighteen points
for Duke and they are winners against number four Arkansas
seventy eight to sixty nine. As we look at the
lad eight play from Saturday, Number two Villanova his victorious

(23:23):
against Houston fifty to forty four. Wildcats Justin Moore a
lower right leg injury, and head coach Jay Wright afterwards
didn't have a whole lot of an update on more
status moving forward, but said it's probably not good and
that More would get an m r I as soon
as they got back to Philadelphia. Also, More was in

(23:44):
crutches and Nova will play either Kansas or tenth seated
Miami and those two will be playing on Sunday. So
will North Carolina and St. Peter's a matchup that we
all saw happening in the Elite eight, unless none of
us saw it happening. In the Elite eight Women's t
double A Tournament Action Suite sixteen, there were four games
and four teams moving forward. Number three Michigan, two seed Yukon,

(24:09):
and then to one seeds in Louisville and NC State.
They are all into the Elite eight. And then in
the NBA, we did have games they were played and
some of the keynote games. The Nuggets were victorious against
the Thunder one thirteen to one oh seven. Nicole Yoke
thirty five points, twelve rebounds and eight assist. The Grizzlies

(24:30):
playing with that John Morant right now, but it doesn't
seem to be an issue because they dominate the Bucks
seven to one oh two, and the Anthony Melton drilling
six threes off the bench. He finished with a cool
twenty four points. The Heats the heat, that is, they
fall to the nets one ten to ninety five. Kevin
Durant scooping up twenty three points, and the Bulls are

(24:54):
winners against the Calves ninety four. Alex Caruso ten points,
eight rebounds along with seven assist. Some multitasking, which is
something that Bernie Fratto is known to do. He got
the show. We're keeping track of all the news. There's
a lot that goes on in real time here. And
the king of multitasking himself as I handed back off

(25:14):
to him, are men in Las Vegas. Bernie Fratto, all right,
thanks so much, Brian. And of course DeShawn is one
of many players that will be settling in the new
Homes in the season. Russell Wilson's on his way to Denver,
Matt Ryan Indianapolis, Carson Wentz will be a Washington commander.
Baker Mayfield yet to be determined, Tom Brady Well, he's back.

(25:38):
Davante Adams coming here to Las Vegas. Samari Cooper he
will join DeShawn Watson Cleveland, and h Let's not forget
Julio Jones is looking for new home. Khalil Mack he
comes back out west of the Chargers. Von Miller goes
to the already number one Buffalo defense, and Yannick and
Gockwig also heads to Indianapolis. And let's not forget Tyreek Hill.

(26:02):
Tyreek Hill, what a story. A former fifth round draft
choice in Now he's a Dolphin, But at what cost.
Here's a guy six years with the Chiefs. And by
the way, the Chiefs finished first in their division all
six years that Hill was a member of their team,
and I'm not so sure that. Look, they're gonna miss

(26:25):
him because he was an incredible difference maker and because
he's scared guys on the back end and opened up
running lanes for Patrick Mahomes. But they couldn't afford him
at what he wanted. I mean, it looks like the
cost to start him in the NFL. It's just going
through the roof. The cost to acquire Tyreek Hill five
draft picks for a freaking wide receiver, A twenty two

(26:51):
first round pick, which would be the twenty ninth pick.
I believe the Chiefs probably take a wide receiver a
second round pick, pick of fourth round pick, plus fourth
and sixth round picks in three draft. In addition, the
Dolphins are giving Hill a four year, one twenty million
dollar extension, including seventy two million guaranteed, also including fifty anxiety.

(27:16):
This is for a wide receiver. This deal makes Tyreek
Killed the highest paid wide receiver in NFL history. At
the top of all off the overall total value of
the deal. Value of the deal is actually a hundred
forty one million. So the answer to you the question
is yes, Miami overpaid in an effort to surround to

(27:36):
a talk of a low with some offensive firepower, and
unlike most people, I believe he can throw the deep ball.
He just hasn't been allowed to. He threw it. Just
find an Alabama turned the kid loose. I love to uh,
I'm not saying he's the next you know, Warren Moon
but that or or Aaron Rodgers or anybody. But the
point of the matter is that this is a guy

(27:58):
who clearly I think has a higher ceiling that he's
been given credit for, and I do believe that to
tyreek Kill could help him get there. The Chiefs did
offer a lucrative contract extension that would have made tyreek
Kill one of the highest paid receivers. However, he wanted
a deal that was worth more than what Davante Adams got,

(28:19):
and he got it. Adams got a five year, hundred
forty million dollars and got sixty six million guaranteed. Tyreek
got City two million guaranteed and the fun continue. So
how does Kansas City replace him? It's gonna be difficult.
Hill was the league's fastest player. He was the most
lethal weapon in the Chief's offense from Mahomes, and likely
they're going to attempt to shift their offense with the

(28:39):
collection of receivers. Okay, they did bring in Juju Smith,
Schuster and Marcus foulda scantling. They're gonna probably get a
workie receiver, and I would say they'll draft one in
the first round. You still got McCole Hardman. He's you know,
four year event, he's very fast and when he's probably
the they're they're their best deep threat. Right. So Mahomes,

(29:01):
as long as you've got Patrick Mahomes, he's still the
most talented quarterback in the league. Now, to be fair,
without Hill, the Chiefs are likely gonna have to be
a little bit more methodical and offense, and that's a
unit that's gonna lean more on Travis Kelsey in the
middle of the field. And I would say another adjustment
you'll see the Chiefs make would be more use of
the running backs like Clyde Edwards Hilaire, getting them the

(29:23):
ball out of the backfield as receivers. In short, the
Chiefs will be I think, a more balanced passing attack
With Mahomes, He'll still be able to scramble out of
the pocket, extend plays with his legs, help receivers cite
adjust their routes by keeping plays open, but unreal when
you've got a wide receiver guaranteed seventy two million dollars.

(29:47):
That was my uh Austin Powers, Austin Powers impression there
coming up. Probably want to switch gears real quick. They
want to give a real quick homage to Dr Jerry Buss.
I was an intern at the form. I talked to
Dr Buss. And while I'm only enjoying Winning Time because
it's it's it's theatrical. Okay, it's mostly accurate, but there's
a lot of poetic license going on there. And although

(30:09):
John c Riley looks like Dr Buss, John c O'Reilly. Uh,
they got that down pretty good. He's a little thicker.
But Dr Bus did not talk like that. Okay. He
was very your vain think like Walter Payton's voice, a nice, measured,
very pleasant speaking voice, very unpretentious. I want to give
my old mode to Dr Jerry Buss. If you were

(30:31):
ever around him, you missed this guy. And I'm gonna
tell you why. I'm Burnie Fratto Company Alive from Las
Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studio. Stick and stay. You're listening
to Fox Sports Sunday on Fox Sports Radio. We're back
on Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio and Bernie Frittock
Company Alive from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios Again.
We'll take you up to three am Pacific and six

(30:52):
m Eastern. Just getting started. Lots to get to uh,
if you've been watching the HBO series UH Winning Time,
based on Jeff Perlman's book, UH Showtime. Uh this is
near and dear in my heart. I was an intern
at the Forum. I was there for Magic's rookie year.
Had full access. I thought. I heard a little bit
of Hartman Show today talking about how back in the

(31:16):
day he would try to finagle his way into the
Forum club by finding a good looking girl. And Uh,
that's how you did it, right, because that was it
was a club. Well, I was an employee there. I
was I had to dress like a dork. I had
a black pants and a white dress shirt and so
I wasn't fooling anybody. And I worked there, but I
had full access. Well Dr Jerry Buss uh in the

(31:38):
office where in turn was directly below where he sat
at the end of the court by the gold section
where the golden orange sections meet. Uh. And he had
a little box but it was out in the open right.
And he was dressed just the way you see John
c Oriley. He wasn't quite that thick, a little thinner
than that, but the hair of the glasses, the clothes

(31:59):
always the un button shirt with the blazer and jeans.
That was Dr Buss. But I want to pay on
MYNBS to Dr Buss. I think he was far more
ravein than John John c O'Reilly his his character. But again,
this is a dramatization they say before every episode, right,
I mean, this is Hollywood, this is poetic license, this

(32:19):
is entertainment. They're stretching things, right. One of the things
that that bugs me is every time I hear John
c Riley speak Jerry Buss just he didn't talk like
that man. He didn't sound like a country bumpkin when
he spoke. His busses intonation and his radar speech were
far more raveined, far more a polished if the olyst
best way I can describe it is if you can

(32:41):
and you could probably YouTube. There's probably interviews that Jerry
Buss on YouTube. YouTube. I recommend, uh you you do
that because he was one of the most charismatic, articulate
people I've ever observed. And met um there are two
stories that really come to mind. Well, the first time
I met Dr Buss was I want to talk to
a couple of times, but I was at the Forum

(33:02):
Club and uh, I was about two feet from him
and he had a drink in each hand. And it
wasn't that noisy in there yet. It was just he
was just kind of settling in and I overheard him
talking about property in North San Diego andcinitis or something,
and so I said, hell, that there's my opening. And
I wasn't gonna do the fanboy thing. Dr Bosa, I

(33:22):
work here. I'm a big fitter. I just went up
to him and says, Rncinitas, that's big Bucks and uh
he looked at me and says, well, that's where I
want to be. Son. I said, let me buy you
a drink. He goes where am I gonna put it?
He had a drink in each and he was He
was a great guy with no matter who he was
dealing with, you had his attention. He was charismatic. Uh

(33:44):
A very again, he had a her band quality. To
keep using that word because that's what that's what fits
him best. And I'll never forget that this is a
guy who had incredible instincts in sports business life. I'll
never forget when Great Western save eames alone in southern California,
which is a very prominent savings Alan banking institution. I

(34:06):
don't live in California. Anymore falling out. May still will be,
may still be. Um They they approached Dr Buss and
they said, do we like to change the name of
the Forum to the Great Western Forum, And for that
will pay you this. And it was a lot of money.
None that didn't happen back in the yeats. Right in

(34:28):
San Francisco was Candlestick Park. It wasn't pack Bell Park.
And you think about you know, announced the Crypto Center,
the Staples commonplace now except for maybe Fenway Park and
Wrigley Field, just about everybody in Detroit America Park, Christmas
America is a big banking chain there. But I digress.
So Dr Bums came under a lot of heat. How

(34:50):
could you do this? How could you sell out? And
so in true to form, he faced the music and
that night Student a Hand, a famous uh NBC anchor
there for years it proceeded Fred Rogan. It was it
was just getting started then. I think about eight and
Student a Hand looks at And by the way, the
Forum was always called the Fabulous Forum. It was iconact

(35:11):
the eight winner of the World. And it's aged pretty nicely.
The gosh starting thing is what fifty seven years old now,
but it's aged pretty nicely, but back in the day
it was just it was a todd m hall. It
was almost like herresy. How could Dr Buss sell out
and and take Great Western's money to just be called
a Great Western Forum? And he looked at student hand

(35:31):
after Stu said how could you do this? He said,
very calm and measured Stu, let me ask you a question.
Your name is Stu. But if you're approached by a
conglomerate and said, if we can call you Bob, if
you will allow us to call you Bob, will give
you six million dollars, how would you respond to that?
It's tuned A hand just about dropped as Mike before

(35:53):
the mic drop was invented. It says, yep, I see
what you mean? And see that was Dr Buss. Incredible instincts,
incredible judgment. What can be learned from Jerry Busses if
you want to know about him? He was a high
risk gambler, but it always managed to pay off for him.
He bought the Lakers in June seventy nine. This was

(36:15):
an era in which they could not defeat the Celtics
in the finals, but he got them to defeat the
Boston Celtics three times in the eats. A matter of fact,
under Jerry bus ownership, they made the NBA Finals sixteen times,
one ten of them, which is the most of any
sports team in that period. And Bus he brought in
some of the greatest all time players to Los Angeles,

(36:38):
Magic Johnson know. They didn't know Magic would be an
all time grade. I've told you the story about our
chicker and lost his mind. Everybody knows now. They wanted
Sydney Moncree a story years ago. He thought Magic lumbered gracefully.
Chick did, but he resented that pretty quickly. They have,
you know, early on into his rookie year. But bust.
Bus also brought in James Worthy and Chef ac and

(37:00):
Kareem and Steve Nash and actually Cream was already there,
but Kobe Bryant, and the story behind Kobe Bryant's very
interesting because after Magic was reforced forced to retire because
he had contracted the HIV virus, the team suffered a
couple of very down seasons, but Bus found a way

(37:21):
to bring the team right back to glory by learning
Shaquille Niel away from the Orlandic Atlanto Magic and then
buzs followed that move by taking a real gamble because
we didn't know this at the time, and give total
credit to Jerry Buss. And I don't know why they
make Jerry Buss everybody in this winning time as a caricature,

(37:41):
But they've made Jerry Jerry West to look like a
raving lunatic. And I don't think it's fair. I don't
think I was run him a couple of times. I
never saw him act that way. And they've overdone it
with Bus, I think. But give Jerry West or overdone
it with the West. But give Jerry West huge credit
for one thing, well, actually for a lot of things.

(38:03):
But he approached West, West approached Bus and and said,
I want to trade for this kid. By the way
I've I've identified this seventeen year old high school player.
He is going to be the next star in the league.
And Jerry Buss was like, great, great, I three two
or three years, we'll have a player in our hands.

(38:23):
Will get him in Bus in West as I want
him now. Buss looked at him like he was crazy
seventeen in high school. But he did it. He listened
to his general manager, and Bus was not done there
A couple of years after that, he signed Phil Jackson,
and in his first season coaching, the team won its
first of three straight consecutive championships. And remember when he

(38:44):
drafted Irvan Magic Johnson, who I think is praised is
maybe the best point guard to ever played. The game
began the twelve years stretch known as the Showtime Era.
The Lakers made the NBA Finals nine times and won five.
That was not a popular decision at the time, but
Buzz was so innovative in so many other areas. He
took the franchise to a level of success that under

(39:06):
other franchise just have never known, and he created Showtime
right As a sports owner, he also basically changed the
landscape of the NBA. He mixed the sports world with
the entertainment world and with Hollywood. Bust created the Laker Girls.
He brought the Laker Girls in the NBA. Now look
at every team in the NBA, They've got their own

(39:27):
version of the Laker Girls and the Showtime Lakers brought
celebrities to the game and made the Lakers l a's team.
Look at the premium seats with Jack Nicholson and Diane
Cannon courtside now all the franchises copy that. That's what
Jerry Bust did. He changed the culture and the landscape
of the entire NBA. That's why he's the greatest owner

(39:48):
in all of sports history. An innovative man, he said,
standards for what ownership is. He was the gold standard,
the greatest owner of all time, and I'm very pleased
to have met him. Coming up, we're gonna talk about
a polarizing quarterback, should he get a job up next
to keep it locked, the Fox Sports Sunday train keeps
rolling right along. I'm Bernie Fraddle Company live from the

(40:11):
Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. Take you up to
three and Pacific six am Eastern. Man, we're just getting started.
We got so much to get to and it's a
alluded to earlier. The NFL movement so far has been
you've kind of you've almost got like you need a
program to keep up with with who's what and where

(40:32):
and why and how? Uh? Five quarterbacks. I'll have new
homes uh next year. So bottom line is it underscores
something that I've always believed that quarterback is the thinnest
position in all of sports, and there's very few that
can play the position capably. And so it brings me
to my subject, which has become a polarizing one. And

(40:55):
just last week, Warren Moon commented on this, gentleman, we're
talking about Colin Kaepernick. Colin Kaepernick is still pinting. It
appears for an opportunity in the NFL. Now, should Kaepernick
be given a chance to make an NFL team? Absolutely,
I think someone needs to invite him to camp. Redemption

(41:17):
is good for the soul. The NFL really has nothing
to lose. But we have to really tell the whole story.
You just can't tell half the story. From what I understand,
Kaepernicks in shape. Ah, he can still throw the ball.
Was He's not a guy who's who's a raw rookie.
He's been around the block. And when Warren Moon speaks,

(41:39):
I listen. I have an indelible impression on war And
Moon actually did a couple of radio shows with him
here in Las Vegas over the Venetian few years back.
But I'll never forget my my first um observation Warren Moon.
He was quarterback at the University of Washington and a

(42:01):
damn good one, and they played his Washington Huskies played
the Michigan Wolverines in Rose Rose Bowl on January second.
The game was played on the second that year because
January first fell on Sunday and moons. Washington Huskies were

(42:22):
a fourteen point underdog against a very good Michigan team
ranked second in the country quarterback by Rickey Leach. They
ran that famous option warrant. Moon passed him. Still, you
and I saw every Rules Bowl between seventy and eighty
four with the nine in a row, and I saw
I was there and Moon it was amazing through a

(42:45):
beautiful deep ball. Reminded me of Terry Bradshaw a little bit.
And he had a great arm, but he had touchy,
great command, field, general, huddle, presidence, you name and everything.
And stupidly, the NFL allowed him to become undrafted for
all the wrong reasons, you know, and you know why.
The stupidest thing in history. At that time, it was

(43:08):
believed that a black quarterback could not play in the NFL.
And even though there had been some Jefferson Street, Joe
Gilliam and James Harris with the Rams, but Warren Moon
was the goods. I mean, what what a joke. He
goes to the CFL wins four CFL championships, comes back
to the NFL and has a stellar NFL career. Now,
he didn't want a Super Bowl, but he did everything,

(43:29):
um everything you could ever imagine. So there's a there's
a linkage between Warre and Moon and Kaepernick because the
conventional wisdom is that Kaepernick is being left out, uh
for not for reasons having to do with this potential
football abilities all right again, because it's the thinnest position

(43:54):
in all of football, and you've got nothing to lose
by bringing him in unless he has some outrageous contract demands,
or unless he wants to be a starter, or unless
there's some show stopper, which I don't I don't know
what if there is. And Pete Carroll continues to run
his mouth and says, yeah, he deserves the chance somewhere.
Why don't you bring him in. You don't have Russell
Wilson anymore. What do you got to lose? Here's the problem,

(44:19):
Because I've talked to NFL stouts. Did he a little?
Kaepernick had success, He became uh, he ultimately became a
glorified read option quarterback and once teams figured out, don't
crash your defensive ends against him, because when you pressured
Colin Kaepernick. He was able to make the first guy

(44:40):
missed about seventy of the time, and when the play
broke down, that's when Kaepernick went his most was his
most dangerous. They came with a whisker of winning the
Super Bowl in that was what super Bowl fifty six,
forty six whatever, whatever the hell it was, I think,
and uh, you know, the lead kind of gonna go
out after that. Uh. And so his detractors say, no, right,

(45:05):
not only his Again, this is where you have to
tell the whole story. And again, if you're selectively listening
or just tuning in, my vote is I would if
I were the Seattle Seahawks. That's just one example. I'd
bring Kaepernick into camp. You might have a pleasant surprise,
or he might not make the team. I don't know,
but redemption is good for the soul. This thing needs

(45:26):
to be brought to closure. But here's what the detractors
will say. Not only is Kaepernick not played since the season,
he's also done some incredibly questionable things. You tell me
if he helped his cause again, you just tell me,
I'm not that smart. Did he help us cause by

(45:47):
wearing pig socks or comparing cops to slave catchers and
claiming they can murder people with impunity and get paid leave.
And then people took umbrage when he didn't stand for
the anthem and he wore Fidel Castro shirts. Did that
help us cause? Also, did he in fact have another chance?
You remember that informal workout he staged the while back.

(46:09):
Did he have a second chance? And on some coaches
from NFL teams showed up to see whether he was
ready to play again, but he kind of jerked him around.
He changed the venue at the last minute, and he
made his potential employers go to another place just to
see him. But I say, let's have some real closure
because frankly, it's a win win for the NFL and

(46:29):
a potential suitor like like the Seattle Seahawks, where you
might get a guy who can really contribute to the
thinnest position in the NFL, and you just lost the
potential Hall of Famer in Russell Wilson. Why would you
not The only question I would ask Pete Carroll if
I was standing in front of me right now, because
he seems to comment about him a lot, is what

(46:52):
would be the reason you would not bring him in
since Russell Wilson is no longer there, and it's pretty
evident I think Rust didn't want on there before. I
can't prove that it's an all again, I don't know,
but I'm guessing. And as a result of that, don't
you know, it would have been a distraction whatever. Maybe
Kaepernick didn't want to be a backup. Uh. But I
would ask Pete Carroll what would be the factors you'd

(47:15):
consider and not giving Kaepernick a chenance, And I'd like
to know. Remember, it's not like Kaepernick was never been
the guy played sixty games in the NFL and started
fifty eight. And it's hard for me to paint Kaepernick
as a victim too, because he earned forty four million
dollars in his career. So there you have it. There's
really sort of a lot to digest there. There are

(47:37):
pros and cons. He seems to me in shape. You've
already seen Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan, Deshaun Watson, Carson Wentz
pretty soon, Baker Mayfield. These are all guys that are
ending up with new teams. The Raiders are still hoping
Derek Carr will lead him to the Promised Land. Can
can Jared Goff workout in Detroit? Hopefully, But you don't know.

(47:59):
This is a dicey position and it's unanniable. The Kaepernick
has in fact been to a Super Bowl. Yes it
was ten years ago. But see, rather than speculate and
wonder what might have happened, why not bring him in
and give him a chance to prove himself. It's like
flipping a coin. Hees you win, tells your break even.
And the truth of the matter is there are probably

(48:21):
some teams that might be able to use them. So
for for my own personal, selfish reasons, I'd like to
see Kaepernick get a chance because if for no other reason,
let's bring this to some closure. Uh, he's older than
he was, but he's not that much older than he was,
and he might You know, you got a guy on
Tampa Bay he's forty five. I'm not saying Kaepernick can

(48:41):
play at his forty five. Look at some pretty good shape.
So again, this is a subject that is not only polarizing,
it's one much like the Deshaun Watson subject, where you
can react and form impressions from multiple different angles. And
so when you hear that name and invokes a lot

(49:02):
of very specific. I think sometimes emotional responses or maybe
irrational responses coming up. I'm gonna bring in the crew
and get their thoughts, all right, Uh, they've all got
their favorite teams. Would you want Kaepernick on your team?
Should he be given a chance. Why don't you think
he's given a chance? Whatever, you react anyway you want,

(49:25):
because again, this is a subject matter that has lots
of different layers. I'm Bernie Freddock Company Alive from Las Vegas,
Fox Sports Radio Studios. Don't go away. You're listening to
Fox Sports Sunday and Fox Sports Radio. We're back on
Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. Bernie Freddo Company Live
the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios talking about Colin Kaepernick.

(49:47):
My belief is that he deserves an opportunity to win
a job on an NFL roster. Uh. He was quoted Friday.
I believe is saying more than anything in terms of
where his skills are, are the best way to tells
to bring him in for a workout? Fair? I can't
disagree with that in any way. I know NFL executives

(50:08):
will debate whether they're Kaepernick and still play in the league,
But how do you know what he really has to
offer an NFL team until he's back on a training
camp field. And you know, Kaepernick, I think had a
second workout in Seattle the other day or was Wisconsin.
He basically said that he has no expectations of what
a team will do, but he just wants the opportunity

(50:31):
to walk in the door and show them what he
can do. And by the way, in case you've forgotten,
Kaepernick last played and then an NFL game New Year's Day.
Seen when he was with the five years, it looks
like he's still in shape. And uh, I believe he
turns thirty five in November, so he's thirty four. So

(50:52):
let's bring in the crew and get their thoughts on this,
because much like other situations we've talked about, folks are
going to react in multiple ways. What are your thoughts
on this? Yeah, Bernie, I think. I mean, the thing
that's floating around in my mind is I don't know
if I'm going to really buy into anyone talking about

(51:12):
him be still being a distraction or whatever. When people
have more than willing to roll out the carpet for
a guy who has twenty two pending civility uh, suits
coming down like and and we're more than willing to
bend over backwards because the talent involved there, Like there's
more than enough teams that are desperate for quarterback talent
even in a one year filling situation that it feels like,

(51:34):
I don't know, it feels like the priorities are very wrong.
I I am concerned that he's been away from football
as long as he had has, but other guys have
kind of I mean, Deshaun Watson himself just took a
year off where he wasn't, you know, playing football appreciably.
So I mean, I don't know, I just I I've
kind of running out out of like waiting for it. Though.
I kind of feel like watching the wind watch guys

(51:56):
like Pete Carroll was very was talking about kind of
play it kind of tipped his hand when he was like, oh, yeah,
you know, I think he deserves a chance and in
their football you know, roster, just not this one. And
I feel like everyone is going to try to basically
take that line explicit or not. They're all going to
like praise Kaepernick, but at the same time they don't
want to be the one to pen him for one

(52:18):
reason or another. So I just well, it's listen. It's
a multi layered dynamic here. And you know, interestingly enough.
Uh so, Michael Vick did time in prison. I was
an advocate that he came back and he could still play.
He paid his death to society. Kaepernick, to the best
of my knowledge, is not broken any laws. But this

(52:40):
is a polarize We've got some really good tweets from people.
Sherburnette Ka. Kaepernick recently released a dramatic video comparing the
NFL draft a slave auction. No, I should never see
the NFL again. The field in the NFL at sad
Giants fan of fifty six. The Ravens were going to
sign Cap years ago until CAP's girlfriend tweeted and he
put the tweet about Steve Bashotti and ray Lewis. Ray

(53:03):
was campaigning hard for Cap and the radios work. The
Ravens worked him out and they were a little bit interested.
Uh but apparently that was a guilt by association thing.
Angel Alonso Valley King two and nine and I agree
with you. I want Cap, I want call him to
get a chance. It's a chance. If he's not good enough,
let's find out and give him a practice squad. Job.

(53:24):
If he's not good enough, but give him a chance
instead of just saying he's not a starter, Just give
him a fair chance. Yeah. See, I like to see
people get chances, and the window is gonna close eventually.
But I really respect the opinions of everybody because where
you sit is where you stand. And uh as, Folks
often identify with their hometown sports teams like Chris for instance,

(53:48):
being from Detroit, the Steve Isserman's, the Isaiah Thomas's, uh right,
the Alan Trammell's Detroit looks at their sports heroes and
they identify as someone who represents represents this any fair, Yeah,
that's absolutely fair. So in to some of the folks
that are responding on Twitter, you have to respect their opinions,

(54:08):
whether you agree with them or not. You have to
respect their opinions because they have a voice in this.
Because at some point someone's gonna have to sell this
conference because and I mentioned the pig socks and the
castor shirt. You don't want to hear that too bad?
You have to tell the whole story. And again, some
knuckle heads, they selectively listen. You think this show sucks,

(54:30):
sure you do, why you listen to it? Every week,
so you can try to steal my power because you
don't have any. The bottom line is this, I want
to see him get a chance. That's just an opinion, right,
I'm not going to the poll on this one. This
is a talking point, and uh, I just I'm on
the belief that, uh that there needs to be some
sort of legitimate closure here and that they would serve

(54:53):
nor fruitful purpose in the long haul to deny the man.
But again, I don't you know, I just have a
opinion and not maybe not a great one on this
particular subject. Brian Familey, what are your thoughts? It should
be a merit based workforce in the NFL. And with
that said, if Colin is in a level of play

(55:14):
and we're not really sure what that is, that he
can help a team win by all means, give him
a chance. But my question then is Burnie, and this
is something as we kind of think about this and
what the NFL looks like with Colin Kaepernick in, it
is if teams are not ready to buy in or
they don't see enough from him, although he's promoting himself

(55:37):
and he's been working out and you've seen the social media,
If teams don't feel like he meets their qualifications from
a talent perspective to help them win. I don't think
this thing is gonna end. And then what is it
going to be? Maybe next year or in six months,
he says, I'm now I'm ready, And you talk about closure,

(55:57):
I'm not sure if there's ever going to be close.
You're in this circumstance. Well, there can be if someone
brings him into camp. All right. He seems more determined
than ever to make him back to the NFL, And
based on the assessment of one of the trainers he's
working with, they believe he's got a chance. Okay, he's
got a trainer by the name of David Robinson. And
after there was a throwing session in Dallas about a

(56:18):
month ago. Uh, this gentleman, he's convinced that Kaepernick, Kaepernick
has what it takes to make it back to the NFL.
But you don't know that until you suit up and
put on pads and the real bullet start to fly.
But apparently there were a couple of guys working out
in that same session, and CAP's arm is just as
strong as guys that were on the roster. I thought
he looked good. And I don't know if I believe

(56:41):
the rumor that five NFL teams have actually called uh
this this gentleman, this Robinson to get a firsthand of
account of how you know, I feel better if they
named the teams right or he's something along those line.
But so would you give him a chance, Brian? If
I made you GM, would you bring him back and
give him a shot? I would if I think he's
gonna help me win. But here's the thing, Bernie, It's

(57:02):
like college football pro days. Guys look great. Zach Wilson
had an incredible pro day, but you know you look
good when there's no pass rush coming at you and
you're seeing calling in him working out and everything. But
what is he going to be like? He might have
a great arm, he might have the precision, but when
he's got guys breathing down his throat here running after

(57:25):
him in a real live situation, then or what are
we going to see? And and that's where I'm up
for skepticism. That's a fair question. But you have to
give him credit and that under Jim Harbaugh, Kaepernick was
and fourteen is the starter, right and helped lead them
to a super Bowl that was ten years ago. However,
under Jim Tom Seulan Chim Kelly, he was only three

(57:48):
and sixteen. So you don't know what you're getting, but
you do know that here's a guy who started fifty
eight games in the NFL. And so while you're your
comparison to Zach Wilson is fair, it's not only analogous
because Kaepernick has has played in the NFL. He has
he has a history in the NFL. He knows what
it's like and has been on that level and had

(58:10):
some success on the level, even though it's been a
long time. So you know, it's a situation where Zack
Wilson in his pro day and all, he looked great,
but he hadn't played a single game in the NFL yet,
whereas Kaepernick had had a history. Uh, Bo Benson or
were you done? Brian did everything? That's yeah, that's good
on my end. Okay, Bo Benson, what are your thoughts

(58:31):
on the matter. I would just like it to end, please,
I'm tired of hearing about calling Kaepernick every offseason, every season. Um,
but hold on, thought, hold on thought, I'll let you finish.
How does it in unless they bring him into a campaign?
How are you as a lifeguard if you come strutting
in and you're built like you know Todonna's you're built

(58:52):
like Bo Jackson, and all of a sudden, you you know,
if you're built like and you look the part, you're
a lifeguard. Right. Well, one of these day it's just
someone's in the pool struggling, You're gonna jump in. We're
gonna figure out if you can really swimmer line. Okay,
So unless you put Colin Kaepernick in a camp and
put him in with drills and in a scrimmage and
perhaps even in a preseason game, how do we know,

(59:15):
how's it going to be? Closure? But go ahead, it's
a it's a staring contest. The NFL is hoping that,
you know, Colin Kaepernick goes away and Colin Kaepernick wants
another shot. Uh, And really, I mean, if Kaepernick goes
to a camp and he's a standout player and he
takes a starting job, then the NFL has a whole

(59:35):
bunch of questions to answer for as to why it
took that long for him to do it. But also,
if Kaepernick goes to a camp and flames out, it's
gonna make his whole you know, whatever you want to
call it. I I'm hesitant to use the word crusade,
but I can't think of a better one. It's gonna
make these whole past few years seemed like a bit
of a farce. So you know, I I not even

(59:57):
it's not even guaranteed to be the end there too,
because I'm sure at some someone will claim some sort
of sabotage exactly. Someone someone will just say that he
didn't get a real chance, even though he was in
a training camp. So, I mean, I'm just personally tired
of it. I wanted to end. I don't care how
it ends, but I just I needed to be done,
all right, And so stay right there, because if they

(01:00:19):
don't bring him into camp, how does it end. I
thought i'd ended in two or three years ago, but
I'm wrong. No, I mean that's the thing, right, Like,
you kind of what does he he just wait till
he's forty or something, and then you kind of just
assume that he's done. Well I think, I mean, I've
heard other people, i mean guys talking about other shows
in this network saying it's he's done, he's been done.

(01:00:40):
But the reality of it is, in these workouts with
this trainer and etcetera. The implication is, no, he's still
got the physical tools. So if he does not get it,
and you guys are right if he if he gets it,
if he gets a shot in camp with somebody, you're
always running the risk that it wasn't fair, or that

(01:01:01):
it was tainted or there you know, the fix was
in or something. I don't know anything. You can't make
yourself bulletproof on this, but I do know that if
he doesn't get a chance somewhere, I think it's gonna
be worse. So anybody else want to chime in that
last word on this. It's Schrodinger's quarterback at this point,
I said, at Schrodinger's quarterback. At this point, he's good.

(01:01:23):
He like, until until we opened the box. He's both
simultaneously done and not done. And it's going to continue
this way until someone finally pops the box. Cue the
Brad Pitt what's in the box? All right? Good stuff, guys. Look,
and I appreciate the diversity of opinions, and I appreciate
the folks who took time to tweet, because it's a

(01:01:44):
wide variety of thoughts and at least people are giving
some thought to this all right, and again, where you
sit is where you stand, if you know. I remember
talking to the late great Jim fossil Uh in person
about this years ago, and he said he liked Colin Kaepernick.
He a lot. He says, the problem is the one
position on the field that you have to really be

(01:02:07):
as you know, straight up a narrow as possible, is
your quarterback. And so you know, I think they're in fairness,
you cannot have this conversation without without acknowledging that Colin
Kaepernick has has has engaged in some questionable I would think,
uh self deprecating self, you know, uh, there's some contributory

(01:02:31):
numagons on his part. Having said that, I still bring
him in for a workouts. The thinnest position in all
the sports coming up. Even a guy that's another fairly
polarizing guy found a new home. And we'll tell you
about that just a second. To first, let's go to
the man again, the silver Tongue Devil, the dulci tones
of Brian Filly with the latest Bernie. I appreciate that A. J.

(01:02:52):
Griffin seemed to be working out a well for number
to do. As we look at Elite eight games from
yesterday Men's basketball NC double A tournament, Griffin eighteen points
to steer the Dukies past Eric Musselman and his four
seat in Arkansas razorback to sixty nine. The Dukies had
a late ten o run in the second half to

(01:03:13):
pull away, and coach k he is still got it
in a chance for him to win that national championship,
but they himself, the team and all those Blue Devil
fans will be watching what happens later on today because
it is North Carolina against St. Peter's and the winner
of that one is going to take on the Blue
Devils on Saturday of this upcoming week. Also, number two

(01:03:37):
Villanova makes it to the Final four for the third
time in the last six years after they stiff number
five Houston fifty to forty four, a low scoring affair,
and while catch Justin Moore, who averages about fifteen points
per game for this Villanova team, left the game late
with a lower right leg injury doesn't seem good according

(01:03:58):
to head coach Ja Wright, although he says that Moore
is going to get an m r I here before
their upcoming matchup, and that will be against either Kansas
or the ten seedd Miami Hurricanes, and those two are
also going to be crossing blades later on today, Women's
n C Double A Tournament action in the sweet sixteen

(01:04:20):
number ten South Dakota they are out winners are Number
three Michigan fifty two to forty nine. Has home and
had seventeen points along with ten rebounds. Number two Yukon,
they're so good at this time of the year, used
a sixteen oh second half run to paste number three
Indiana seventy five to fifty eight. A one seed in

(01:04:42):
Louisville finds away against number four Tennessee seventy six to
sixty four. Keyana Smith four steals just great defense down
the stretch to put her team in front for good
and number one NC State holding off number five Notre
Dame sixty six to sixty three. In the NB A,
Nicole O Kitch doing a little bit of everything with

(01:05:03):
his thirty five points, twelve rebounds and eight assists. He
also took a cut two right above his eye as
he was driving in the lane and trying to put
up a basket. Anyway, the toughness the grid from him
leads to a Nuggets one thirteen one oh seven victory
against the thunder. The Grizzlies are victorious against the Bucks
one seven to one oh two. Keep in mind that

(01:05:26):
Memphis is doing this without John Morant and some great
scoring off the bench, including twenty four points from the
Anthony Melton who went six of nine from downtown. Kevin
Durant filling it up with twenty three points as the
Nets stick it to the heat one ten to ninety
five and the Bulls are able to flog the Calves

(01:05:47):
ninety four. Alex Cruso ten points, eight rebounds, seven assists.
And I think that, Bernie, if you think about the
ten points, eight rebounds, seven is do you add those numbers?
What is that? Twenty five? That is more than the
number of hair follicles that are on Crusoe's head. With that,
let's get it back to our guy in Las Vegas,

(01:06:08):
Bernie Frodo. All right, thanks, Brian. Alright, another quarterback found
a new home. Yet this isn't just any quarterback. He
had a hun record, got to a Super Bowls team,
lost the three lead by now you know what I'm
talking about, Matt Ryan, believe it or not. Uh, it
was certainly kept quiet, really fairly quiet during the Deshaun
Watson romance effort. He's the second highest paid quarterback in

(01:06:32):
the league. Now Tom Brady, Who's earned Twitter or checked
that this? In terms of earnings career earnings, Tom Brady,
He's earned two ninety three million. He's got the highest
career on field earnings among active NFL players. So who's Twitter?
Whose second and two and sixties seven million? Spoiler alert,
it's not Aaron Rodgers. He's third at two sixty four.

(01:06:53):
It's Matt Ryan. Matt and Ryan, entering its fifteenth year
in the NFL. Will he be the savior in Indianapolis
where Carson Wentz was not? Now? According to next Gent stats,
Matt and Ryan's been one of the most productive quarterbacks
in the last seven years, ranking fifth in both past
success rate and total passing yards and Ryan. He's one

(01:07:16):
of two quarterbacks the others Russell Wilson to complete more
passes than expected in every season. Ryan also scores very
high in yards per tempt, completion percentage UH completion percentage
over what was expected, past success rate, and passing e
p A. Can he lead the Indianapolis Colts to the

(01:07:39):
promised Land? We'll find out coming up. Two players that
are inevitably joined at the hip because of one playing
in the Super Bowl five years ago, check that seven
years ago. I'm gonna give you both their names. They've
both got new homes, once coming back to a team

(01:07:59):
that never thought he'd come back to. And the final
play of Super Bowl forty nine, which you're living in
for me, right, you know what I'm talking about. Should
they have given the baal to washall lynches? Anybody ever
explained to you what really happened? And now the genius
Professor Bill Belichick actually prepared for it. I'm gonna give

(01:08:19):
you the backstory coming up and the names of all
the chief actors involved. Bernie Freddo, come me alive from
the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. Keep it locked.
You're listening to Fox Sports Sunday and Fox Sports Radio.
We're back on Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio on
Bernie Freddo come to your live from the Las Vegas
Fox Sports Radio Studios. By the way, coming up the

(01:08:42):
top of the hour, America's Favorite what kind of brand
new fool You? Followed by what My Name? And another
arousing audition? Are both both product offerings? All right, Russell
Wilson is long that he was going to be in Seattle.

(01:09:02):
Probably you know, there wasn't a week that had gone by,
because a week that had gone by where he wasn't
somewhat reminded either directly or indirectly of the final play
of of Super Bowl in which they threw the the
pass and in Malcolm Butler and all that. That brings

(01:09:22):
me to Malcolm Butler. See see Russell Wilson's gone from
Seattle now, so you think he'd be spared this being
brought up anymore, and it's just eventually would just fade
into the woodwork, he said. Russell Wilson's now in Denver.
But the other part of that play, Malcolm Butler. He's
back and you can't help but think the one significant

(01:09:44):
player that decided a Super Bowl. And this conversation will
never die. Why because Malcolm Butler is returning to the
New England Patriots. He signed a two year deal for
nine million. Malcolm Butler's now thirty two years old. He
was the sort of the quasi hero of the over
the Seahawks in Super Bowl. I guess I guess it waste.

(01:10:10):
His interception at the goal line of the finalment is
one of the most iconic plays in NFL history. And
that is why the final play of Super Bowl forty
nine will living in for me, because, as most offensive
coordinators will tell you, it's simply too risky to throw
a pass on the goal line between the hash marks

(01:10:32):
and see defensive coordinators know this, and Bill Belichick was
actually ready for it. Facts. Now, let's go back and
set this up. Because Seattle was moving the ball down
the field prepared to take the lead, Marshawn would have
been the much safer play, right he was. He was

(01:10:53):
getting yards and chunks. But interestingly enough, and this came
out after the Super Bowl, amazingly that Marshawn Lynch had
actually carried the ball five times that season when the
one yard line was the line of scrimmage, but he
only scored once out of the five times. So here's

(01:11:14):
what I'd rather focus on, because without these situations, the
last play doesn't even exist. And then I'm gonna get
to the mad scientist genius Bill Belichick. So before any
of this happened, Tom Brady had to orchestrate a ten play,
sixty four yard final drive that was, you know, typical

(01:11:36):
Brady fashion, was beautifully engineered and so at that point,
it put the Patriots up with about two minutes to
go in the game. So the first question that was
on people's minds because remember Seattle had been on the
Super Bowl the year before and completely pull at Denver.

(01:11:57):
They just destroyed Denver, And so the first question was,
with the previous year's Seattle defense have even allowed that? No,
most people don't think so. And with the previous year's
defense have allowed fourteen fourth quarter points, with the previous
year's defense relinquished a ten point lead down the stretch.

(01:12:19):
You know, Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll had been bashed,
and you know immersivelly for the last seven years about
that final call. You know, it's one of those deals.
If it works, you're a hero. If it doesn't work,
you're the village idiot man. They've just never, honest to god,
I don't think that organization never got over that. But again,
it wouldn't have mattered without Brady's drive and fourteen fourth

(01:12:42):
quarter points in Seattle relinquishing a a ten point lead,
So you know you have again you get to tell
the whole story. Not even before Malcolm Butler's interception ended
the game, Malcolm Butler actually it made another game saving
play earlier in the play because Givon Curse had made
a big time catch. It was like one of those

(01:13:05):
David tyree S catches where he, you know, cradled the ball.
Malcolm Butler had the presence of mine after breaking up
the pass in mid air to get to his feet
and make sure that Curse was down. Because Curse caught
the ball, got up, it was on his way to
the end zone, but he hadn't been touched yet, and

(01:13:26):
give Butler the presence of mine to make that play
as well. Again, the final play never even comes to
fruition unless these other three events take place as well.
But here's the untold story on the final play of
that game. On the final play, there's no two ways

(01:13:46):
about it. Bill Belichick was ready for it. He'd actually
practiced it. See because on offense, that's known as a
pick up play, and on that pick up play was
designed there were the other receiver, Ricardo Lockett. He was
designed to free him up on the slant, but Brandon
Browner or the Patriots jammed Curse at the line of

(01:14:10):
scrimmage and without a free release, he was unable to
get off the blind to block Malcolm Butler. That freed
him up to close on the play and get the ball. Now,
defensive backs work on those ball skills all the time
in practice every day. The reality is Bill Belichick was
ready for any and all possibilities that he was gonna

(01:14:33):
be faced with. And the bottom line is it's just
it paid off. Now here's another thing that I think
is is is a factor in this story. That last play,
the prior play to to the infamous play, was snapped

(01:14:53):
with a minute six left on the clock. Now, see
I left the time. I'm pretty sure our offensive coordinator,
guy by the name of Darryl Bevil, he had played
with quarterback in Wisconsin back in the day. You put
Darryl Bevil and Pete Carroll together, this is a I mean,
this is a Super Bowl defending champion team. The final play,

(01:15:15):
uh check that the the the play before that final
play that you know, Malcolm Butler picked off all snap
in the minute six left on the clock. So it
leaves you asking yourself why did the tandem of Darryl
Bevil and Pete Carroll employ such poor clock management? In

(01:15:36):
the end, they wasted incredible valuable time between and Lynch's
last carry. And the final play of the game, and
people were screaming, why isn't Belichick calling time out? He
he didn't. He just let it play out. He didn't
over react. Now, during that game, New England had a
mass three seventy seven yards. They were thirty two on

(01:15:58):
short passes. He had the five first rounds, and they
won the time of possession battle. But the two picks
the red zone and then giving Seattle short field they
were extremely costly. But New England overcame them again with
the defense the prior year that Seattle put on the
field have allowed this offensive production in the first place,

(01:16:21):
probably not. Would they have held the lead in the
fourth quarter most likely. So just when you think Russell
Wilson will probably never have to hear the story again
because he's leaving Seattle and heading to Denver, guess who's
back in New England. Malcolm Butler. And it's so interesting

(01:16:43):
to me how this played out, And I don't know
how it did, but I'm I'm I'm mildly fascinated by
it for the simple reason that, if you recall, William
was in the Super Bowl again the next year. A
couple of years later, I think it was two years later. Yeah,
and uh against Philadelphia, and Malcolm Butler didn't play in

(01:17:07):
the game, Bill Bill Belichick, I don't think even dressed
him or he he dressed, but didn't play. So this
is a significant play in Super Bowl forty nine. The
conversation will never die. He just isn't gonna die. Gais
you missed it? Malcolm Butler's returning to New England. Russell
Wilson leaves Seattle for Denver, so he doesn't have to

(01:17:27):
hear about in Seattle anymore. But now Malcolm Butler is
returning to New England. He just signed a two year
deal for nine million dollars. He was the hero they
went over the Seahawks and Super Bowl forty nine, and
that interception at the goal line in the final minute
again one of the most iconic plays, certainly in the
history of the Patriots franchise that same lot, but certainly

(01:17:48):
in NFL history as well, because Seattle was this close.
I'm holding my fingers an inch apart from when he
back to back Super bowls and the way they lost
it again and the second guessing and and the armchair quarterback,
and it has taken place for seven years afterward. That
came down so hard on Pete Carroll and came down

(01:18:08):
so hard on Russell Wilson because it's too risky to
throw a pass on the goal line, and you should
have given it to Marshall Lynch. He was on the
goal line. He'd been getting yardage and chunks. But the
truth of the matter is and came out later Lynch
and carry the ball five times that season when the
one yard line was the line of scrimmage, and he
only scored once. And again, none of these things ever

(01:18:29):
would have happened if Brady had an engineer to ten
place sixty four yard drive to take the lead with
two minutes to go. New England scored four teen points
in the fourth quarter, Seattle relinquished the ten point lead.
And by the way, even before that, Curse Jvon Curse
caught a pass, thought he was tackled, got up and
ran Malcolm Butler. It was like a Tyree David Tyree

(01:18:52):
catch that that that cost the Patriots uh Super Bowl
forty one. I think it was not almost happened again
if Butler hadn't had the presence of mind to get
up and tackle Curse. So there's about nine things that
led to that play that if they don't happen to
play it never happens. Not Russell Wilson leaves it in
Seattle for Denver, but he's gonna have to hear it
because Malcolm Butler is now back in New England. Coming up.

(01:19:15):
What kind of brand new fool are you? We bring
in the crew. We have all kinds of fun and hijacks.
Keep it locked right here. Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio.
The Fox Sports Sunday train keeps rolling right along. I'm
Bernie Fradoll, coming you a live from the Las Vegas
Fox Sports Radio studios. We will take you up to
three and Pacific, six and Eastern. We're about ten hours away,

(01:19:39):
uh thereabouts from the resumption of the Elite eight games,
and about thirteen hours away from the one. I think
that people have the most interesting my humble opinion. St.
Peter's in North Carolina. We're gonna get to that a
little bit later, But first, this is the time every
week in Ama the dance sensation sweep in the nation.

(01:20:03):
Because everywhere around the world and sometimes right here on
our soil, every day, a day, a week, a month
is not go by without somebody doing something that we
call into question with a segment we affectionately refer to
what kind of brand new fool are you? So? What

(01:20:28):
kind of brand new? Alright? So this one keeps us
right here and the good old U s f A
and takes us to what was I think at one
time one of America's finest cities and perhaps and get
back there, and I'm talking about New York City and
they're newly elected mayor decided this past week, Eric Adams
that he would lift the VACS restrictions and so Kyrie

(01:20:50):
Irving and Aaron Judge could play so the home teams
will not bay it a disadvantage. Okay, okay, maybe a
little late in coming, but okay, but hop off the
fine New York City workers that lost their jobs because
they weren't vaccinated. How is it that you could make

(01:21:13):
this decision so that multi millionaires who play a sport
for living are given preferential treatment over the salt of
the earth city workers who need this income to raise
their families and put food on the table. All right?
If that sounded sappy, I don't care. I don't get it.

(01:21:33):
Maybe these people should be giving their jobs back. And
if you're going to set aside one class of people
for another class of people just because you can. Then
that leaves me asking what kind of brand new fool
are you? Christopher Fete, You're up next. Well, I'm trying
to tip my hand too much towards the world of soccer, Bernie.

(01:21:54):
But the brand new fool I have this week is me.
The brand new fool I have this week is me.
The whole kind tree of Italy, the Italian men's national
team in soccer, every Robert Mancini, everyone all of Italy
is on. Is the fool today? After watching Italy see
the champions of Europe winning Euro One, the champions of

(01:22:18):
one of the toughest regions in all of FIFA, then
falling down having to go through qualifiers to make the
World Cup at the end of this year, I mean,
and failing to do so. They lost one nil to
North Macedonia this week, who wasn't even called North Macedonia.
I believe by the time of the last World Cup,
Italy is not going to the World Cup for the

(01:22:40):
second World Cup in a row, Bernie. These were these
were the champions of the World in two thousand and six.
It's embarrassing. It's a ghast. It's it has no analog
to American sports. I can talk about I'm apoplectic. Italians
of the world. We are fools right now. I I

(01:23:00):
don't know how to process the rest of the week. Well,
you know, I was always worried about North Macedonia, Chris
and unless I wasn't, but uh boy, that was crazy.
And it was really funny because I heard Jason, Jason
Smith and Mike Carmen talking about that and here in
week nine, eight to eleven, and we were I was
joking around, I said in Michael Texas said, well, it's
like the movie uh, Kicking and Screaming, which I'm sure

(01:23:21):
the Italians will remember that movie Meet First, Meet First?
Did you see Kicking and Screaming? I I don't even
have the energy for for humor on this one time,
But you saw that movie, right, I vaguely remember it.
I'm just this is I again. I struggled to think
of what this would be. This would be like Duke
winning two games or something. This did not And this

(01:23:48):
is I believe the second uh section in a row
or whatever. Second. Yeah, so Italy didn't go ahead. It's
even further back that so I so the next chance
Italy will have to play for World Cup has two
thousand and twenty six. This would really be safe for
roll soccer. We've got plenty of World soccer this week,
but so the next chance to have is two thousand

(01:24:09):
and twenty six. If they reached the knockout round of
the two thousand and twenty six World Cup, Bernie, it
will be the first time they've played in a knockout
game since two thousand and six where they won the
World Cup. Because all those other World Cups in four
and ten and fourteens, they've got eliminated the group stage,
they even make it to the knockout rounds, and now
they've missed two World Cups too. This has been a

(01:24:30):
generation of just nothing from one of the greatest, most
storied countries in world soccer. I I don't know what
to say. Well, do you remember in nine when missed
shot around the world on the penalty kick and the
Rose Bowl. I've seen the videos. See I was in

(01:24:54):
Michigan and I covered the World Cup there. They actually
played some World Cup games. It just over him, all right, Christian,
be all right, I don't all you know the the
judges will allow and if you think you're a fool,
but you know what, the hell, man, give yourself a
little bit of a break, all right, Brian Finley, Yes,
so I'm going with the Gonzaga men's basketball team now, Bernie,
I'm gonna be the first to tell you, when I

(01:25:14):
grew up, I was a big Zags fan. I had
a mural of Adam Morrison on my bedroom door. And
that's the first time I've admitted that publicly. I love
working well. I did at one point four TV station
and Spokane cover the team. All that's good stuff. So
I had Gonzaga winning it all and it's about time

(01:25:35):
this team gets their act together. How many years they've
had the talent and they have fallen short. And I
was most perturbed in the way we saw the Zags
get ousted in the n C Double A Tournament this
year in the Sweet sixteen Arkansas, because it looked like
the Zags were sleep walking, it looked like they were passive,

(01:25:55):
it looked like they were not nowhere near the aggressor.
And the fact that Mark few I said afterwards, quote
it's it's always so tough when it finally ends, especially
short of the goal. All the credit goes dark. Ands
other defense was tough to get any rhythm against close.
Quote Mark, when are you going to get this team
to win a title? You've been a multiple final fours.

(01:26:17):
It's a disaster that you haven't won one yet. This
might have been your best chance and a long time,
and you could argue maybe the best chance of his
tenure at Gonzaga. To me, it's just very much a
sad story to see that this team continues to underperform
when they should have at least one title at this point.

(01:26:39):
You're not the first first to say it, and I
think Zaga has a little bit been a victim of
their own success. But when you've been to this mini
final fours and not just close one of them out,
it's gonna warrant uh that kind of reaction. All right,
Thanks Brian boll Benson, you're up. What kind of brand
new fool are you? So? U? Earlier this week, uh
all Miss hosted to see in a college baseball game,

(01:27:03):
and yes, indeed, uh old Miss head coach Lane Kiffin
got the honor of throwing out the first pitch um
except he throw it throughout a yellow golf ball, which
is a nod to Tennessee fans pelting the the field
with golf balls and mustard bottles when All Miss played
Tennessee this last year. Um, so I'm gonna say that

(01:27:25):
the I'm gonna say that the fool is the fan
base of Tennessee once again for making themselves look stupid
on the national stage, and the the Lane Kiffin getting
back the only way that Lane Kiffin can I thought
you were going to call out Lane Kiffin for taking
a bait. No, he is Lane Kiffins hilarious. Anyone that

(01:27:46):
doesn't like Lane is uh, they gotta stick somewhere. Well,
he up there took us. Uh. Look, the bottom line
is you're right, he's a little polarizing. But when you
talk about a creative offensive, mind that that's undeniable. Nick.
You know Nick Saban wouldn't how many years he was
he with Nick Saban? I mean, come on, man, Nick
Saban isn't ire idiot. So alright, good stuff, guys, which

(01:28:08):
leads us to America's second favorite game show we affectionately
call what My Name? Alright, guys, we were talking about
Winning Time a couple hours ago, the HBO special, and
whether you're watching it or not, I know you've heard
of the Fabulous Forum built. I was very fortunate to

(01:28:31):
work intern there for about three years during the very
formative times. But the Forum, in addition to Home, you know,
the home of the Lakers and Kings, also hosted great
acts over the years. But here's the what my name question.
I was the very first musical act to grace the
stage at the Forum after it opened in nineteen sixty five.

(01:28:55):
Chris Perfett, What my name, Frank Sinatra? We need to
take my friend, we need to tick her, all right,
let me try to seget Frank Sinatra. Oh, good guess,
but I'm sorry, all right. I graced the stage at
the Fabulous Forum in the first musical act to perform

(01:29:15):
at Well, this is the Department of Redundancy department at
the Fabulous Forum, Brian Family. What my name was it? Beethoven?
Very close, very you're doing it again. But I'm good
with it. I'm good with the smart asstery. I like
it adds a lot to the show. Big ratings spike
last week, thanks to you. All right, Bull Benson, we'll

(01:29:37):
see if he can save this. I was the first
musical act to open the Forum in Bull Benson, What
my name? Little Richard so close. All right, Chris, you'll
be kicking yourself on this one. It was a wreatha
Franklin and a wreatha Franklin. All right, we're all over

(01:29:59):
the map tonight since it's baseball season, and boy, I'm
rooting for Cody Balinger. I like that dude, man. But
something something's not right. Back in nineteen fifty one when
Bobby Thompson hit his famous shot Hurt around the World,
and the following you heard next was the Giants win
the pen and the Giants win the pennant. I was

(01:30:21):
on deck, Chris Perfett, what my name? Uh, Nope, nope,
I got nothing A close close, but the judges will
not allow it. Uh. This is like one of those
classic baseball trivia questions. All right, Bobby Thompson. Here they
shot Hurt around the World against the Dodgers to clinch

(01:30:41):
the pennet for the Giants in fifty one, I was
on deck, Brian Finley, What my name? Gary Sheffield? You
guys know, I'm sicking and I've been coughing up along.
I'm not doing well. I'm not doing well, but I'm
gonna power through this. You're not knocking my us out tonight,

(01:31:01):
no way, good one, but not you know, I know
you're being silly. That's okay again, rating Spike good stuff.
All right, we'll see if Paul. You guys have been
pretty good in this game. But we'll see if both
can bail us out. Shot hurt around the world. I
hit the horme run to beat the Dodgers, Giants win
the pennant, Bob Batson, What my name, Williams Boom? We

(01:31:24):
look at that, William May. All right, let's have one more.
Let's have a little fun here now. Earlier tonight, there
was a college basketball game played and when the in
which the total points scored between both teams was that was,

(01:31:47):
of course, Villanova beating Houston four. All right. I don't
know what's happened to scoring in college basketball, but it's
way down. And to give us some perspective, Okay, back
in nineteen seventy seven, I was the coach of a
team that made the Final Four. And this was before

(01:32:08):
the shot clock, This was before the three point shot,
and my team's averaged over a hundred points for the
entire season. Chris Perfette, what my name? Uh? Jim Bobano, Nope,
I forgot I like, I love Jimmy Bean, I got
some great stories. Nineteen seventy seven, I coached the team

(01:32:30):
that averaged over a hundred points the game, made the
Final four, and again this was before the three point
shot and the shot clock. Brian Finley, What my name?
M Barry Switzer? Barry Switzer, Yeah, he cooks basketball. Just
playing Brian rating side, Baby, rating side, keep it coming,

(01:32:50):
all right, we'll see if bull can bail us out again.
He's in the anchor spot here. Nine seventy seven, My
team made the Final four. Even though we didn't have
the shot clock or the three point shot. We averaged
over a hundred points a game. Well, Benson, what my name?
How about Jerry Tarcadian? Look at you? Two for two,
Jerry Tarcadian. I'm gonna tell you it's gonna be a

(01:33:16):
real bomb. Are going out down there? All right? Coming up? St.
Peter's has a chance to really make history in about
thirteen hours and it's a game. Will all be watching.
Why has St. Peter's done so well? It's not a fluke.
Why do they continue to win and defy the odds?
I will explain. I'm Bernie Fritto or Company Alive from

(01:33:38):
Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio Studio. Stick and stay. You're
listening to Fox Sports Sunday and Fox Sports Radio. We're
back on Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. Bernie Friddo
coman you live from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios.
And about thirteen hours, very much anticipated game between St.
Peter's and North Carolina will determine one of these two

(01:34:00):
schools it will head to the Final four to face Duke.
And I gotta tell you St. Peter's has been the story,
uh that has emerged as the story of this tournament.
And I mean what they've done is nothing short of
sensational as a fifteen seed knocking off Kentucky, Murray State,

(01:34:21):
and Perdue in that order. And the way they beat Perdue,
uh was really artful. Their coach, she Heen Holloway, who's
becoming sort of a household name. And for those of
any man out of known in the mid nineties, he
was a very good point guard late nineties, very good

(01:34:41):
point guard at Seton Hall. He was good enough to
have played in the McDonald's All Star Game in and
that graduating year there was another gentleman by the name
of Kobe Bryant who also played in that game, but
Shehen Holloway, I believe it was in the m v P.
But I digress. He's made a lot of adjustments and

(01:35:03):
he's Shaheen Holloway has put together a team that's winning
games in the tournament because offensively they're smart and defensively
they're smart. Again, let's go back to the game against Purdue.
It was a pretty close game. Perdue could never stretch
their lead. St. Peter's just hung around. That's what they do.

(01:35:25):
And with about four minutes to go, St. Peter switched
to his own defense, which completely confused Perdue and it
negated produce size advantage. And when they went to that
that zone, Perduke could no longer longer exploit their size advantage,
and they were completely out of rhythm. And by the way,

(01:35:47):
not for nothing. Uh and and and if you don't
think this matters, just asked John Calipari. They were eleven
for eleven from the free throw line in the second half. St.
Peter was in seventeen of eighteen from the charity strap
for the game. And when you look at St. Peter's
I you know, there's a phrase I heard years ago

(01:36:08):
that I really believe in and that as a star
might when you get one game and a team might
win them all. St. Peter's is very assignment sound on
on on offense and defense on defense. And by the way,
they go about ten deep a right, they haven't got
the one big superstar, the lottery pig, but they go
about ten deep and man, when they guard you, they

(01:36:30):
guard you with intensity, that with great ferocity. And because
they go ten deep, and because they share the ball,
they're scoring burden is not you know, falling down the
shoulders of one or two people. It's balanced among all
ten players. Now some are better than others, but for
the most part, this is a team that play is

(01:36:51):
very complimentary. Now, when you look at their offense, one
of the things that makes St. Peter's so tough to guard,
it's because they run a read and react offense. They're
very sharp, they share the ball, there's lots of motion,
they're very balanced. Uh. And again the scoring burden is

(01:37:11):
is shared among really the entire team. Now what's interesting
is what what we're really determined I believe, and this
is you know, this is an issue. North Carolina can't
get lazy. They're gonna have to really they're gonna have
to take. They're gonna have to guard them with the
same intensity they're being guarded. But what I think will
determine the outcome of this game to a great degree

(01:37:34):
are a couple of matchups. Armando Baycott obviously for North Carolina,
he's gonna get his points the big man down low.
But the big man ev for Perdue, I would say St.
Peter's did an amazing job making him uncomfortable throughout the game,
even though he got his points all right. But North
Carolina has another option, and this this is I think

(01:37:55):
going to be the toughest matchup for St. Peter's. And
they have a player. North Carolina has got a player,
Brady Mannock. He's the dude with the long hair, the
ginger with the red beard, good player, right six ft nine,
He's a very skilled sharpshooter. He's he excels at scoring
on off ball motion plays. He creates space and if

(01:38:16):
you get him the ball on the perimeter and someone
misses an assignment, likely he's gonna knock down the three.
That could be the difference in the game. Saying it
could be, and someone's gonna have to guard him. And
I'm saying it's probably gonna be casey and defa Uh. There,
He's just six seven forward who plays for who plays
for St. Peter's, and he's got quite a resume of

(01:38:38):
his own, and he has uh has very much uh
you know. A matter of fact, I believe he's two
or three time defensive player of the year uh in
their in their conference. So it's going to be an
interesting matchup. One of the things I was able to uncover,
I I look for these angles and sort of look
for these sidebar uh, you know, subjects involving the game St. Peter's. Uh.

(01:39:06):
There are two common opponents. And I'm not I'm not
really big in college of sports on what I would
call transitive property. And what I mean by that is that,
you know, if if USC beats Stanford and football, and
Stanford beats Oregon, then that means, uh, Oregon, Uh, we
should lose to USC. Right. No, not necessarily so when
it comes to transitive property, sometimes though, you can look

(01:39:30):
at common opponents and at least creates a talking point.
And there's a real interesting talking point here because the
two common opponents at St. Peter's and North Carolina had
this year. We're Kentucky Perdue. Interestingly enough, North Carolina played
Kentucky here in Las Vegas back in November, got smoked.
I think they lost by about twenty. North Carolina also

(01:39:52):
played Perdue in a tournament in Connecticut I think before
Christmas and lost. Guess what. St. Peter beat Kentucky and
Perdue and against Kentucky. St. Peter's was particularly effective on
on defense, holding Kentucky to shooting from behind the ark

(01:40:12):
and they they rebounded with Kentucky head to head Kentucky
had thirty five rebounds and uh and and in St.
Peter's had thirty five rebounds. And by the way, Murray State,
which I think was a terrific team in the tournament,
a lot of folks had that maybe getting to the
sweet sixteen or beyond. They outrebounded St. Peter's outrebounded murray
State thirty one. Hell, you know, won the turnover battle

(01:40:36):
twelve to ten and hild Murray State shooting from the field.
So we've got ourselves a hell of a game here.
In about thirteen hours and a little bit later in
the show, I'm going to talk about why why St.
Peter's I believe is the all time ultimate Cinderella, but
for now it's a fifteen seed. No one's ever gotten

(01:40:58):
this far and they may not be done yet. Coming
up Chris Prefet's World of Soccer. If you have if
you have designs on seeing the US and the World Cup,
crys will tell you what needs to happen. But first
let's go to the man. He's kind of like our
own World Cup here, Brian feeling with the latest. Well,
I'm wearing a cup, So I guess that's something I
think that's smart. It is, it's it's doesn't matter where

(01:41:20):
you are, socks and sandals. Always wear a cup when
I'm driving, and that's just the way I'm trying to
be safe. Yes, yes, I also wear a helmet and
shoulder pads too while I'm driving, and I expect nobody
does that. But you know what, I just like to
take a little far further. You know, Bernie, that that's
how I do it. But I will say, and you've

(01:41:40):
been discussing St. Peter's. They've got the big game against
North Carolina later today and the winner that one is
going to go up against a winner from yesterday, and
that was number two do as they put number for
Arkansas in their fine place seventy eight to sixty nine. A. J.
Griffin had eighteen points for the Blue Devils, who are
back into the final four. Number two Villanova fly swatting

(01:42:03):
Number five Houston fifty to forty four in a slobber knocker,
a meat grinder, a low scoring of fair where the
Wildcats shot just twenty nine percent from the field and
Houston was two of twenty from three point range, and
Nova will play either Kansas or tenth seeded Miami, the
one seed in the tent seed. They will go up

(01:42:24):
against each other later on today as well. Women's NT
double a tournament action Suite sixteen. As things are tightening
up their number three Michigan, second seed Yukon, and to
one seeds Louisville and NC State. All four of those
squads they advanced to the Elite eight. The Nuggets in
the NBA, they prevail past the Thunder one thirteen to

(01:42:47):
one or seven. Nicolai kich too is a shy of
a triple double. The Grizzlies, playing without John Morant, managed
to bombard the Bucks to one oh two. The Nets
stuff the Heat one ten to ninety five, Kevin Durant
putting up twenty three points, and the Bulls are winners
against the Calves ninety eight to ninety four. Alex Caruso

(01:43:10):
doing a little bit of everything ten points, eight rebounds,
and seven assists as he propelled Chicago to the win
against Cleveland. With that, let's get it back to a
man who was living in a city that one day
might have an NBA team. It is Bernie Fratto in
Las Vegas. All right, thanks Brian. All Right, at this
time every week, Chris poer Fett in the world of soccer.

(01:43:32):
But this has got some real meat on it now,
because if you've got designs for the US to uh,
you know, be a participant in the World Cup this year,
then Sunday is a big day. It could be the
last chance for this team to control our destiny. By
the way, with Italy losing, how does that affect the
United States? Chris take it away. I don't think it affects.

(01:43:52):
It affects the United States, but I would say pressures
on there, because the one thing Italy and the US
have in common was that they both missed the one
eighteen World Cup. Ernie, I mostly just threw it in
there because again I spent all my bullets talk about
Italy and what kind of brand new fool is a
huge loss for Italy to not be in the World Cup,
especially for the United States. Uh, I don't have the

(01:44:13):
rankings in front of me, but it's definitely one of
the bigger fan bases here in the US. For Italy
to be bounced out, it's um and it's skull crushing
for me, it really is. I I grew up with
Italian soccer all around. I have images and just memoirs
of Francesco Toddy, who there are many gods in Rome,

(01:44:33):
but Toddy might be the most important one. And uh,
it's gonna be at least twenty years until maybe they
play in meaningful World Cup play at some point. I'm
just anyway, Let's talk about the U S who failed
on Thursday to score anything in Mexico. Is zero zero
draw full time in in the in s teca um

(01:44:56):
a whole lot of nothing from the U S. And
that one which is kind of becoming a little bit
of a of a problem at this point. The US
is kind of in the last few fixtures just not
really put the power a lot of their star power
out there and really done well. And yes they they
have had some injuries right now, and I think Turner,

(01:45:16):
the goal the goalkeeper is injured. I don't know if
he's going to make it here. But we're looking at
after the zero zero draw with Mexico, we're looking at
one more qualifier, Bernie, and that is the US taking
on Panama. Now. I believe earlier in conkycalf play, uh,
they had played Panama and it was not a great

(01:45:37):
result for them. And this is this is this is it.
The interesting thing is what's going to happen here. So
let let's paint the picture. You. Canada is in the
Conka Caffe reach in Canada, United States of Mexico are
your one two and three. Canada has twenty five points.
They're in the United States and Mexico are both at
twenty two and Costa Rica is at four with nine points,

(01:46:00):
so coaster so three again for those who don't know,
three points for a win, one for a draw, none
for a loss. Costa Rica can potentially get up close.
If the US somehow lose, Costa Rica wins and there's
some business with with goal differential, I believe they can
pass the United States and at that point the United

(01:46:21):
States would fall into basically international qualifiers. There'll be like
one more round of qualifiers from everyone from all the regions.
We'd have to see the U, S S US though,
if they draw, it gets a little more murky. I think, uh,
Costa Rica needs to like overcome a huge goal differential.
If the US wins against Panama there in it's very easy,

(01:46:43):
It's very easy. The good news for the United States
is that Costa Rica's match will have against I believe
you expect him to be Panama. They really should. They
have the star power they have, the they have, the
players they really should. Like this has always been the
tale of Conca right now, is that the United States
is a medium sized fish in a very small pond.

(01:47:06):
They should absolutely kick around in Panama. The problem is
that when US has rolled the ball out there, just
for whatever reason, a lot of their players and like, look, Brinny,
We've talked about this team quite a bit. They have
players who are playing in the best leagues in the world. Now,
this isn't this isn't just a provincial team of college
kids who are sometimes playing in n A s L
or or MLS. We you've got you've got guys in

(01:47:27):
the roster who were on Bundesliga rosters, who are in
France in the premier league, and they just haven't gotten
it done against inferior competition. They should be different. Something
about the World Cup quantum physics, I don't know what. Yeah, no,
I mean it is. It is definitely. I mean that's
always the love of soccer, as you roll the ball
out there and you never know what the result is.

(01:47:48):
I think it's gotten a little more predictable over the years,
but also the stakes are much higher when it comes
to the World Cup, especially when it's a team and
in a country like the United States does put its
cards on the table that it's not it wants to
recapture the magic they had in Brazil, they missed in Russia,
and Cutter is sitting right there. They're sitting in a

(01:48:09):
prime place. It's again the situation I'm laying out here
there for Costa Rica to win and then you somehow
lose to Panama would be an epic collapse. You should
at least get one point out of this if you
if you're the United States, it's it should not be
that hard. And again the good news though is Bernie
that they should know whether or not they're in because

(01:48:30):
Costa Rica's game against El Salvador will have finished by
the time tip off for US and Panama. But I
mean they're they're gonna roll out the best roster they have.
They've got some injuries right now. Right now, bur Alter
is saying his squad is kind of like they're they're
they're looking. They don't care what the result is gonna

(01:48:50):
be with coaster with Costa Rica. They want to win here,
so we'll we'll see. This is probably the last big chance. Again,
it's not over for the U S if they don't
win or draw, but the road ahead, yeah, I need help.
They're gonna scoreboard to watch. They got a bit of
a scoreboard to watch. They'll have to go to international qualifiers,
and we've seen with Italy, any any it's anyone's game

(01:49:12):
for some of these countries right now when you're desperate
to get in, like Switzerland got in and Italy is out,
and the United States is really hanging on. Let's get
an update next week because this is the World Cup
year and it will be upon us quickly. It would
just be a shame once again for the United States
to not even qualify. So it's it's there in front
of him. We we will have probably more news next

(01:49:34):
week too, because one more note I had here before.
We gotta here berniele and l Messi. Uh, you know,
one of the greatest players in the world right now
saying he will consider his future in football. But he
said that quote many things will change after the World
Cup in November and December. So I mean he's the
big superstar of Argentina. This might be the last ride

(01:49:56):
for him. Fair enough, all right, Christopher in the world
of soccer will get an update next week. Fingers crossed
at the United States men's team can get a slot
in the World Cup and maybe maybe for once, uh,
make some noise coming up. The Ultimate Cinderella. Why is St. Peter's.

(01:50:16):
This is not even debatable, and I will lay it
out for you in Perry Mason fashion. There's a freaking reference. St.
Peter's is the ultimate Cinderella in the history of the
March Madness n c A men's basketball tournament. I will explain.
I'm Bernie Frattill, coming to you live from Las Vegas.
Fox Sports Radio Studios. Keep it locked right here. You're

(01:50:38):
listening to Fox Sports Sunday and Fox Sports Radio. We're
back on Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio on Bernie
Fraddle come to you live from the Las Vegas Fox
Sports Radio studios. And before I go any further, I
want to thank my broadcast team back in Los Angeles,
both Benson, Christoph Fette, Brian Finley on the updates. Uh,

(01:50:59):
They've been with me since eleven pm Pacific on Saturday Night.
Appreciated guys, could not do the show. Were not you
turning all the dials and keeping us glued together. I
say we come back and do it again next week.
All right? Speaking of someone who would like to come
back and do it again next week, I gotta believe
the St. Peter's Peacocks would love nothing better than to

(01:51:22):
turn continue to turn the college basketball world on its
ear by defeating North Carolina in the game they will
tip off a little over twelve hours from now. Twelve
and a half hours from now. Carolina is an eight
and a half point favorite. Now. I mentioned a minute
ago that that, uh, I believe strongly because we always

(01:51:45):
look for the Cinderel every year. We've talked about them
in the past, right, I mean Florida Gulf Coast Oral
Roberts Cleveland State, of course, who can forget George Mason
back in two thousand and six, coach by Jim Laranago,
who's back with Miami now got a shot to go
to the Final four as well. But again I digress.

(01:52:07):
I believe that St. Peter's is by far the ultimate
cinder Ellen. Here's why. First of all, it's take a
look at what they've done so far. They've defeated Kentucky.
Kentucky was twenty six and eight. They defeated Murray State.
Murray State was thirty one and three, and now they
defeat Perdue. Perdue was eight. They're coached by him Holloway,

(01:52:28):
a hell of a coach who's doing an incredible job.
And he's a very interesting person as well, with a
very interesting personal story. And uh, you've become a huge fan. Schheim.
Holloway has paid about three hundred grand a year, which
has to be one of the lowest salaries in Division
one college basketball, and the St. Peter's program just a

(01:52:51):
small Jesuit school, rolls undergraduates in Jersey City. Their entire
basketball budget is one point nine million. Let's let's contextualize
that for a second. John Calipari, who was the coach
of the first opponent they beat. Kentucky. His salary, his salary,

(01:53:11):
he's eight point six million a year, Cheheim Holloway three thousand.
Kentucky's basketball budget as a program million. St. Peter's one
nine million. You get the picture. So I've told you
already out of the gate. They beat Kentucky, Murray State,
and Perdue. These are teams with a combined record seven eight, eight,

(01:53:36):
six and nineteen all right, all from I mean old
terrific teams too, from Part five conferences. Here's what's interesting
about that. You see, during the regular season the St.
Peter's Peacocks outside their conference, well, they played just six
nonconference Division One games, and they lost five of them.

(01:54:01):
They played at St. John's lost by one, They lost
by fourteen to Providence, they lost, they lost at home
by eleven points to St. Francis. They even lost its
Stony Brook. And when you consider, I mean, if you're
into any kind of stats, basketball metrics at all, even

(01:54:22):
the basic ones, or you're just rankings. I mentioned they
were the biggest Cinderella entering the n c A Tournament
as a seed. This is where St. Peter's ranked nationally
in the four major offensive categories. In two point field
goal efficiency, they ranked three seventeen, down three two teams

(01:54:46):
in turnover eight. They also ranked three seventeen in free
throw percentage, they ranked two hundred and seventy. Well, by
the way, you don't tell that to produce, because in
the second half of their victory over Purdue Friday night. St.

(01:55:07):
Peter's made all eleven other free thrills eleven for eleven
and for the game they were seventeen of eighteen from
the charity strike. But during the season they ranked just
two seventy third and field in a free throw percentage
and an adjusted offensive efficiency they ranked two hundred and sixty.
If St. Peter's finds themselves one win away on Sunday

(01:55:31):
from the final four, how can they not be the
greatest Cinderella in the history of the tournament. And they
are going to compete. There's not a dot in my
mind that they're going to compete heavily against North Carolina.
I do not see this game as a blowout at all.

(01:55:53):
And could St. Peter's went out right, Well, you tell
me they just beat Kentucky, Murray State, and Purdue. And
is it possible that North Carolina could ever so slightly
be looking ahead to Duke. They'd love to knock not
Duke off again. If you have any idea how much
that rivalry is in in Tobacco Road. And by the way,

(01:56:15):
to underscore my point as to you might not be
able to look at the stats at the end of
the game fifteen hours from now and predict who might
have won. It could come down to some intangibles. If
you don't believe me, consider what happened tonight or earlier
last night when Houston played Villanova. What if twenty four

(01:56:37):
hours ago now, I looked into a crystal ball and
I told you you were getting ready to bet the game,
and I said, Houston will make more field goals than
Villanova will. Houston will have a better field goal percentage
from the field in Villanova. Houston will have more blocked
shops in Villanova. Houston will have more assists in Villanova.
Houston will have more rebounds in Villanova. And by the way,

(01:56:59):
filling Elva's top scorer for this season will only have
six points. He will only be one of six from
the field. And by the way, Houston will hold Villanova
the fifty points. Who would have won the game, I
bet you would have answered Houston. They didn't. Villanova won.

(01:57:20):
Why well, I kind of buried the lead. Houston only
shot one of twenty from behind the yark. But credit
Villanova's tenacious defense for having something to do with that,
which leads me back to the all time Cinderella. See,
they played pretty good defense. St. Peter's plays very good defense.
They go ten deep, they guard you with great intensity.

(01:57:42):
And when it comes to offense, I mean, remember what
they did against Purdue. St. Peter's when they went to
that zone defense with four minutes ago. They completely confounded
and confused Perdue. Perdue could no longer exploit their size inside.
They got them out of rhythm and on offense. St.
Peter's is gonna really make you guard them as well.
They read and react, they share the ball, they have

(01:58:03):
lots of motion, They're very balanced, and they share the
scoring burden. I cannot wait for St. Peter's in Purdue
to tip it off. I really don't know what's gonna happen,
but I do know this. I think it's gonna be
a game for the Ages, and it's gonna be close.
That's gonna do it for Fox Sports Sunday. Keep it
locked right here. I'm Bernie Fratto. Up next, Brian No

(01:58:26):
and Andy Furman. By the way, there is one other
game tomorrow Miami and uh well my aim. You got it.
Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Sunday. Thanks for listening.