Bernie Fratto talks about the ongoing NBA Finals

Bernie Fratto talks about the ongoing NBA Finals, some quick history of the Stanley Cup, the Aaron Donald situation and whether or not the star DT may actually retire, and more!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio. Do not do not,
I repeat, do not touch that dial. You heard the man.
It's time for Fox Sports Sunday and we have got
a lot on the docking tonight. So let's get busy.
And on that note, please put your seatbacks forward, your
trade tables up right. We're ready for takeoff. My name

(00:21):
is Bernie Fratto. Or come to your live from Las Vegas.
Fox Sports Radio Studios will take hip to three M Pacific,
six am Eastern along with my savvy and capable crew
Boll Benson, Chris Perfett and Brian Finley on the updates
is They will man the ship from our Los Angeles compound.
As usual, We've got a ton on the agenda. We've

(00:41):
got an epic NBA's Final forming, I believe, and by
the way, NFL Mini camps they are in full swing,
so we're gonna check in on those. I've got some
content on Darvin Ham, Aaron Donald. Yes, the College World Series.
There's a reason and we do listen to requests. People
want to hear some updates on the NHL, and I'm

(01:03):
gonna have some a little later in this hour. Why
is the Stanley Cup the most prestigious trophy of them all.
And I mean that I'll tell you why we've even
got some maybe some early or maybe if we have time,
we'll get to some early college Top ten football rankings.
Were right out on the corner where we're basically sixty
days away from week zero, and you'll be hearing a

(01:25):
lot of more about that, even though Nick Saban and
Jim Will Fisherman quiet lately that and of course what
kind of brand new fool are you? And what my name?
And the final Hour, as well as Christopher fits report
in the world of soccer, go Ukraine. Wow, they win Sunday,
They're in the Cup. But first we are gonna take
a deeper dive into the NBA finals and what you
need to know, including the strengths, weaknesses, and some particular

(01:47):
X factor. Let's reset it. Obviously you've heard a thousand
times Warriors hundred and twenty three games of experience, Celtics zero.
But the Celtics come in win game one. Are you surprise? No?
Coming into the playoffs, they had won seven road games already,
six and one in their last seven. Now, now how

(02:09):
it happened? Yes, because the series pits the league's two
best regular season defenses against each other. Right, this is
when this series settles in, and he kind of gotta
throwout that fourth quarter run. Sixth straight three pointers, you'll see.
I think Golden State defend the perimeter much more aggressively Sunday.
This is going to be a challenge for both offenses.

(02:31):
But again that's a bit of a simplistic telling, because
I have been saying this for weeks. Boston's defense has
been leaps in bonds ahead of any other unit since
the New Year flipped the calendar, too, and it's rating.
Boston's rating in the final four months of the regular
season was one of five point too. You know, that's

(02:51):
three efficiency points stronger than the next closest team. That's
what carried Boston into the playoffs. That's why they went
on the road, That's why they douce a cumulative one
oh five one rating. They've taken down the Nets and KD,
They've taken down the Bucks and the Honest, and they
took down a very gritty, gutty Heat team. Now, the
Warriors defense faded after Draymond Greene got hurt in January,

(03:14):
but they've recovered since his return, and they've mixed up
some schemes, and you can say they have held up
melt well when it mattered most during the past six weeks.
They didn't the other night in the fourth quarter. Now
they're the Warriors don't have a lockdown, shutdown defense, but
they faced excellent offenses and they know when they put
their mind to it, they know how to slow them

(03:35):
down enough to allow their offense to take over one
on the other end. The conversely, the Warriors have a
league best one sixteen point one offensive rating in the playoffs.
That's the best, right, That's four efficiency points better than
their regular season ranking. Now, Steve Curry seth Curry has

(03:55):
frankly been the groove. You know he was in the
first quarter, in the first half, he didn't find strong
but and I know Jordan Pool had a rough game one,
but he's basically arrived. Clay Thompson, he takes two and
a half years off. The Warriors don't do so well.
They're back in the finals. If you're scoring at home,
and I hope you are. This is Clay Thompson's sixth
straight NBA finals. He keeps big nights in his back pocket.

(04:18):
The Warriors are gonna need one Sunday. Andrew Wiggins, he's
found his role. I think you see how much more
aggressive Draymond Green lately. Hope he doesn't kick people in
another region. I've had about enough of that. So here's
where the chess matching this series really begins. The Warrior's
offense Sunday against Boston's defense. Neither has faced this type

(04:40):
of challenge in these playoffs that the opposing team presents.
So the idea here Boston drew first blood, but which
of these teams can sustain success from here on out
in the rest of the series. Boston is a resilient group,
right They're six and OL coming off a loss. Six
and old straight up, but they're coming off a win.

(05:00):
The other The other question you have about Boston are
they healthy healthy enough for this gauntlet? Because Smart and
Horford both both missed time during the Heat series and
Curry has had some physical issues as well. On the
other end, how will Golden State handled the best defense
they've seen so far in these playoffs. There you have

(05:21):
it now. One of the things I've i and by
the way, I've even mentioned Jayson Tatum. Give him top credit.
He was a key catalyst in knocking off H, you know,
future Hall of Famers in all three rounds of the playoffs.
And let's not also forget one of the storylines. Well,

(05:42):
Steph Curry finally grabbed that elusive NBA Series Final award.
And I want to re emphasize I want to I
want to emphasize one thing. Despite that the fact that
both of these teams have offensive strengths, I really believe
from here on out it's going to be defensive clinic.
This is the first finals to feature the two teams

(06:02):
that are number one are their two top teams in
defensive efficiency since when Jordan's Bulls defeated the then Seattle SuperSonics.
And here's some questions surrounding the series. Okay, can the
Warriors score enough? How they score enough? They had total
freedom against the Dallas Mavericks because of the mavericks lack

(06:23):
of rim protection. Maxie Cleiber block six shots in five games.
But nobody fears Maxi Cleber wh the end of the lane.
He wasn't really a deterrent. Memphiss defense gave the Warriors
the most trouble in the playoffs, and that's partially because
Jaren Jackson Jr. He blocked fifteen shots in six games,
and he's a shot alterer. Jordan Pool had a lot

(06:45):
of trouble getting into the room against the Grizzlies, especially
once Steven Adams, you know, asserted himself. Draymond Green couldn't
score more than five points in the first five games
of the series. That's what makes the health of Robert Williams,
because of his knee, such a massive factor in this series.

(07:06):
Jackson was second in the league in blocks this season,
Williams was fourth. Boston's season really took off into the
stratosphere and ignited when they switched up their defensive scheme
and had Williams. Robert Williams guard nonshooters and roam around
hunting shots on the perimeter. This guy is the best
vertical player I've seen in a long long time. You

(07:28):
rarely block three pointers when you're squaring up and you're
behind the ark and you've got Robert Williams closing out
and he keeps his distance. He it feels like he
gets up twelve thirteen feet in the air. That's a problem.
In the domination of a game over the Warriors in March,
Robert Williams head four blocks in twenty three minutes. Two
of them came on Jordan Pool, and Jordan's Pool is

(07:49):
a very sneaky, creative shooter. And he's very sneaky and
creative and finishing in the rim. And he's become a
vital part of the Warriors attack. Even though he had
a rough night the other night. Just envisioned these two
the next couple of weeks. Now, the bottom line is
Pool didn't have those kinds of issues against them, Mavericks,
this is gonna be an issue against Boston. But see
that game I just referred to. That was before Robert

(08:12):
Williams tore the meniscus in his left knee back in
late March. He missed the end of the regular season
and they kind of rushed him back to the playoffs. Now,
I all Forford. He's capable of putting together sensational games.
He was really solid for a six week stretch. He's
a type of guy you're going to have to count on.
He had a huge game one, as I mentioned, he
was two one when the m v P. Now he's

(08:33):
down to sixty one. The Celtics can switch up schemes
against the Warriors because of their versatility. Horford, he does
like to sit and drop coverage, and that had plenty
of success against Miami's shooters and caused Miami to have,
you know, periods where they were real shooting slumps. But
sometimes that doesn't always work against that's not very good vernacular.

(08:56):
Sometimes it doesn't always look. The bottom line is that
can be a problem against Steph Curry, and against Clay Thompson,
and frankly against Jordan Poole. So if if, if, if
it checked that, if, if Williams and Horford are part
of the screen action, they're gonna have to hedge out
farther and switch because the Warriors are very good at

(09:18):
creating their own shots. All right, what's the biggest Celtics question?
Can they limit the turnovers? Jayson Tatum committed seventy seven
turnovers in eighteen playoff games heading into this series. That's
eighteen more than the next closest player, and on a
per game basis, that's an average of four and a
half per game. Jalen Brown has been fumbling away three
or four turnovers the game. These are two very talented wings,

(09:41):
but their mistake prone. They can't have that happen Sunday night. Yes,
I know, Boston's drawn first blood. But I'm telling you
that's one game, and history shows us that just because
you win one game in the playoffs, there's no guarantee
you win. Check that win Game one in the NBA
Finals on the road, it's a five opposition. That's what

(10:01):
history tells us that you go on to win the series. Now,
as Mark Padina mentioned, Gary Payton is likely to return
Sunday night. That could prove massive for the Warriors because
he can sort of toggle back and forth between Jayson
Tatum and Jalen Brown and give uh Andrew Wiggins, who

(10:21):
was expected to guard Jason Tatum, give him a break.
Maybe not of the time, but enough of the time.
Here's one key that's a catalyst in the game. There
are two players tired for the most offensive rebounds in
the playoffs. Andrew Wiggins and Cavan Looney both had forty
two and sixteen games. That combo has the Warriors averaging

(10:42):
fifteen second chance points per game. This is something that's
not talked about a lot, and it's a very underrated
aspect which creates incredible strong offensive performances for the Golden
State Warriors. Now, the Celtics are a long team, They're
very active defense lead, but they're average. They're kind of

(11:02):
an average rebounding team. Their defensive rebounding rate they grabbed
about sevent their opponents mrs. That only ranked sixteenth in
the regular season, and it's been slightly worse than the
playoffs down to That means you give the Warriors second
chance shots that may not be well. Again, the Warriors
can't rely just on generating great looks consistently against Boston

(11:24):
and the half court, so they've got to find ways
to pile up points. That means Looney and Wiggins they've
got to clean the glass. They gotta hit the glass aggressively.
They have been. That has to continue in the road
to win at Boston. During the regular season, Cavan Looney
had five offensive rebounds, Wiggins had three. They're gonna need that.
So because Wiggins often gets a defender who's told to

(11:45):
worry more about the other threats on the court, He's
found success and kind of sneaking around when they neglect
him as a threat. So they need a big game
offensively and defensively for Andrew Wiggins. Again, one game is
in the books and for forty two of the forty
eight minutes school and State looked pretty good. I give
Boston a ton of credit. You can't just sit there,

(12:06):
Damon and say, oh, they mane a bunch of shots.
We're not gonna do that again. That's the subtext of
what he said. What about Boston's incredible ball pressure in
physical defense and the fact they truly bothered Golden State
and took him out of their comfort level in the
first half. Golden State played with space, they played with pace,
They did what they wanted even though they trailed by two.
Golden State arguably the third the best third quarter team

(12:29):
in basketball. But in the fourth quarter it wasn't enough.
They're outscored by twenty four. And there are reasons for that.
It wasn't just because Boston got hot. Yeah they had
a seventeen o run, but they didn't probably didn't need
to have a seventeen o run to win by ten.
And yes, they made a bunch of threes. But give
Boston's defense credit as well, because Golden State they were

(12:51):
held to fourteen points in the second Our check that
in the fourth quarter. All right, coming up, I'm gonna
break this down a little bit more. A couple more
X factors are there any week this is both teams
have that either team can exploit one series. Key hot
is Golden State. How are they going to handle a
switch heavy defense? Sunday Night and beyond, we continue with

(13:15):
the breakdown of the NBA Finals. I am really looking
forward to Game seven Sunday. I'm Bernie Fratiwer come to
you line from Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio Studios. Keep
it locked right here. You're listening to Fox Sports Sunday
on Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox Sports Radio dot Com and within the

(13:38):
I Heart Radio app. Search f s R to listen live. Hey,
what's up everybody? It's me three time Pro Bowl Little
Warrington and I couldn't be more excited to announce a
new podcast called Up on Game? What is Up on Game?
You as along with my fellow Pro bowler t J.
Hudgman Zada and Super Bowl champion That's right, Plexico bur

(14:00):
It's you can only name a show with that type
of talent on it. Up on Game. We're going to
be sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments.
Listen to Up on Game with Me LaVar Arrington, T j.
Hutchman's Out of and Plexico Birds on the I Heart
Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast from.

(14:24):
All right back on Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio
on Bernie Freddo coming you live in the Las Vegas
Fox Sports Radio students will take you up to three
m Pacific six am Eastern has promised bottom of the YR.
After Brian Finley's update, We're gonna dive into the NHL.
You're gonna want to hear it, but I want to
continue on with my analysis and keys to the series.
Is the Golden State Boston debacle. Well, it's not a debacle.

(14:46):
What are you? What are you talking about? Bernie? And
I think it's gonna be an epic battle. I really do.
Uh it tips off here? Oh goodness, since about seventeen hours.
I guess you really looking forward to it. To me,
this is one of the keys that I'm gonna look
for beginning immediately Sunday night. How will Golden State handle
a switch heavy defense? Boston's defense is not good, It's great,

(15:10):
it's superb. Golden State reached the NBA Finals this year
without having to face a team that likes to switch
on defense. None of the Warriors first three you know,
in the Western Conference Gauntlet as it were. Their first
three opponents were Denver, Memphis, and Dallas. None of them
were in the top half of the league and frequency

(15:30):
of switching on ball screens during the regular season, and
now the Mavericks in particular, they started switching more over
the course of their series against the Warriors. The Golden
State still ranks ninth among the sixteen playoff teams. And
how often opponents haven't switched against him, so they haven't
had to face it only of the time. That is

(15:51):
gonna change in a big way, and you started to
see it in the fourth quarter Thursday. No other team
switched more frequently than the Celtics during the regular season,
and the Celtics rank second in frequency so far. I'm
talking about switching defenses during the playoffs. In theory, switching

(16:11):
most screens can take the Warriors out of what you
have observed is one of the prettier, sexier, free flowing
offenses that the Warriors prefer to play. Let me repeat that,
if the Celtics start to switch most screens, that can
take the Warriors out of their free flowing offense. And
that's where Golden State lives. That's where they prefer to play.

(16:32):
Think out how the Houston Rockets grounded Golden State's offense
at times in the eight Conference Finals. I remember that
very well. They held them below points in back to
back games and games four in game five. The Warriors
had a combined thirty two assists in those games, which
is anough take over what they normally get. But Houston's

(16:52):
switches confused Golden State. Now, un like back in Bowling State,
no longer has a single the isolation player like Kevin
Durant to hunt down those mismatches against the switch heavy defense. Now, however,
to be fair, the Larriors have also faced switches enough
in the postseason to have developed what I consider to

(17:13):
be a pretty robust series of options that they can
call upon, starting with Steph Curry and his ability to
move out the ball, And I give Draymond Create a
lot of credit because he's an excellent passer, he has
great vision, and his skill in picking apart defensive mistakes
is as good as anybody who's in the league right now.

(17:33):
He's gonna have to do that now. Those traits were
in full display in Golden States. Close out went over Dallas,
Dallas with the Warriors on ball screens. However, Dallas is
not Boston. But that's the most the Warriors had seen
any playoff game. That didn't prevent the Warriors from handing
out again thirty six assists, the second most in the game.

(17:55):
During the playoffs, Curry and Green each had nine at
the same time. Gool to see accomplish it against the
team that rarely switched over the course of the regular season.
Now again, it's going to be a clinic from here
on out, mark my words. The Warriors are going to
continue to face a very well oiled machine and a
switching attack that does so from a position of strength

(18:16):
rather than weakness. How will Golden State handle the switches?
That's going to go a long way in determining how
Golden State does and the remainder of this series. I'm
not saying they can't do it, but they got to
prove they can do it. All right. Let's take a
look at a couple of other factors here. Gary Payton,

(18:37):
the health of Gary Payton. He didn't They said he
was available Thursday, but he didn't play. Now the Warriors, Uh,
you have to give him a lot of credit because
They've barely played with a fully healthier roster this entire season. Andreagodala,
prior to Thursday, had missed the entire postseason so far,
Otto Porter had missed three games. Both of them came
back contributed in Thursday. Gary Payton has been out since

(19:01):
the early in the second round. But if you get
Peyton back and then you reintegrate uh Peyton into the rotations,
this could be a huge addition for Golden State, especially Peyton. Why,
just like his dad right, he emerged this season as
a true lockdown defender. Early on I I you saw

(19:22):
Gary Payton, he found himself getting a lot of rotational
minutes by defending the opponent's best players, and he's versatile.
He can defend a wing player, he can defend a
big He even had several block shots on Nicolea Yokic,
not only during the regular season but also in the plaoffs.
The way that Gary Payton has improved his offense also

(19:42):
has garnered him more minutes, and they may need his
offense in addition to his defense. But Peyton's performance it
earned him a starting spot in the Western Conference semifinals
before he fractured his elbow on a fairly controversial play
involving Memphis and Dylan Brooks. I hope Gary Payton is
healthy Sunday. I'd like to see everybody healthy, everybody on

(20:04):
both sides. I've been looking forward to the series for
a few weeks, believing this would be the final two.
Now Peyton's defense is really gonna be the thing that's
gonna be crucial for the Warriors in the finals. Golden
State is known for its offense, I get it, but
the Warriors continuously preach how their defense kick starts their scoring,
and that's been true. Go back to Golden State's defensive

(20:25):
chemistry has always been superb, and they've still got basically
the core that they had during those years. Peyton's presence
inside the paint gives the Warriors more options when they
look to go small. Now, before Peyton's injury, he was
averaging now about six points, shooting about seventy from the field,
three rebounds, one, you know, one or two assists only

(20:46):
fifteen minutes. But the Warriors are going to be better
with a healthy Gary Payton on the floor. Now, what's
a big weakness you have to look out for. I'll
talked about Boston, but the truth of the matter is
for Golden State heading into the conference finals. Not only
has Golden State proven to be careless and they turned
the ball over a lot, but Curt Curry even talked
about it in a press conference. He's not even gonna

(21:08):
talk about turnovers to his team because it's been the
same issue for the last eight years. He doesn't have
to tell him anymore to keep those down once again,
I will tell you the games that Golden State has lost.
Now they've lost five games in these playoffs. That's been
the Achilles heal for the Warriors. Just postseason. They're averaging
fifteen turnovers the game in the playoffs. That's the fifth
worst of all sixteen postseason teams. That turns into sixteen

(21:30):
points for their opposition. And they may not sound too
bad at face value, but when you break down the
Warriors wins and losses and give this a context, this
is what this means. And the Warriors five losses in
the playoffs, they're averaging sixteen turnovers and allowing them allowing
their opponent to turn those into twenty one points. That's
the third most turnovers for the fifth most points allowed

(21:52):
the postseason. In wins. You cut that down to fourteen
turnovers for fourteen points, top ten both categories. So the
Warriors and oh with their style of play, fast paced,
with lots of ball movement turnovers, you're bound to happen
the ones they are focused on cutting down. Those are
the ones that are sloppy lazy tasses. If the Warriors
can cut down on those, they're going to be very formidable.

(22:15):
And it's so different from Boston. There was a stat
Hagan hitting into Game seven anytime Boston had turned the
ball over fifteen or more times, and the I think
in the last month or two they were two and ten.
But when they turn it over less, they had a
very you know, there were a way about five and
by the way, not for nothing. In Game seven against Miami,
Boston only turned the ball over I think eleven or

(22:37):
twelve times, so they were under that threshold. Yes, coming up,
we're gonna talk some hockey. Why is the Stanley Cup
the coolest trophy and all the sports? And I would
know because man I was there in Detroit two thousand two,
two thousand seven, I was in media covering some great

(22:58):
Red Wings teams who won Stanley Cups. Why is the
Stanley Cup? Lord Stanley's Cup the coolest trophy. I'm going
to tell you why, but first let's go to the
man who always reminds us that you only live once,
but if you do it well enough, once is all
you need. Is Brian Finley with the latest. Thank you, Bernie.
Let's do that hockey. As you mentioned in, the Avalanche

(23:20):
are one win away from getting to the Stanley Cup
Final and then maybe they're the one to host that
that trophy you were talking about. But the Abs are
winners of Game three of the Western Conference Finals against
the Oilers four to two from Saturday, and how Colorado
has had three games to none in that best of
seven game series. Major League Baseball, the Mets blow towards

(23:42):
the Dodgers nine to four. Walker Bueller on the bump
for Los Angeles two and one third innings. The man
gave of five urn runs. The Cardinals and Cubs split
a doubleheader. Game two went to the Cards seven to four.
The final in ten innings. The Marlins upstage the Giant
five to four. Hey Su Sanchez with a sack fly
on the bottom of the ninth. He was hailed as

(24:04):
the hero as Miami got it done in walk off fashion.
The Padre silenced the Brewers four to nothing, and then offensively,
Jake cronin Worth had a home run. He drove in
free runs for San Diego. The Royals batter the Astro
six and nothing, and that Houston top notch offense was
humbled to just five hits. The White Socks scale over

(24:27):
the Rays three to two. Jake Berger had the two
run blast in the eighth thinning as Chicago had three
audienceered runs after they went down to nothing to Tampa.
The Yankees not only were able to quiet the Tigers offensively,
but their defense was so strong as well. Three to
nothing the Yanks over Detroit, and Aaron Judge, by the way,

(24:50):
got a home run that is twenty one on the season.
No one as as many as him in the league
this year. Meantime, when we look at PG two or
play through three rounds at the Memorial, it is a
lead held by Billy Horschel, five strokes advantage for him
after a third round of a sixty five, and so

(25:12):
behind him trying to track him down. That's Cameron Smith
an Aaron Wise, both at minus eight going into today's
final around Rofendal one. Excuse me, well, he might I
I speak before I should hear? Rofendal is going to
take on previewing this Casper Road in the French Open Final,

(25:32):
which is gonna be at nine am Eastern today. That
would be of course for the trophy. Earlier on Saturday,
Ega Sciotech beat Coco got the eighteen year old American
for the Women's French Open crown and Bernie, I know
you're excited about this. It's game two of the NBA
Finals Boston and Golden States. That is gonna be tonight

(25:53):
at eight pm Eastern. To your point, Boston looking good
and I know they're turning a lot of heads by
the way they're playing so far. Are absolutely Brian, I
do think it's going seven though, we'll see. Um we've
been We've seen a lot of these series and they
have a way of taking on a life of their
own in different forms and fashion. So I don't want

(26:13):
to be a prisoner at the moment. Thanks Brian. All right,
let's talk Stanley Cup. It's the coolest trophy in all
of sports. Why. I'm gonna give you five reasons. One
and if you've never seen it in person, there's a difference.
You see it in person, and every time their wings
uh the Red Wings won the cup. Uh. You know,

(26:34):
people had the wait in line for hours to stand
next to we get their picture taken. First of all,
you win the Stanley Cup and you're on the team,
you get your name on it. You get your name
on the cup. Sounds simple enough, but seriously, you get
your name on. Every player to have one a cup
in the history of the NHL, from going back to
when Moby Dick was a minnow, they have their name
engraved right there, right there on that hallowed piece of hardware.

(26:58):
Now plenty of victorious players have gone through. They look
through the list of names who've held the cup before
them and they feel a big part of this rich history.
They see the names of players from the past. They
maybe the idol lines growing up. They see themselves hoisting
the same trophy above their heads. Fans, you can search
the rings for their team and remember the year they
brought the championship home. It creates a connection and remembrance

(27:21):
and the link engine the sport of the past you
really don't get in any other sport. Secondly, Lord Stanley's
Cup is the oldest cup. It's the oldest trophy in
all the sports. The original Stanley Cup was donated back
in by Lord Stanley, the Governor General of Canada, to
be presented to the winner of the Dominion Cup. The

(27:41):
NHL did even play its first season until nineteen seventy,
but by then the Stanley Cup had been associated with
Championship Hockey for over twenty years. Lord Stanley's Cup was
seventy five years old by the time. The Commissioners Trophy
that's Major League Baseball and the Lombardi Trophy that's the NFL.
We're first awarded. By the way Lord Stanley, he purchased

(28:01):
the cup. Get this for about a thousand bucks in
today's dollars. Number three, you actually get to take the
cup home with you. One of the great traditions in
the NHL is that everyone who has his name on
the cup gets to take the cup home for a day.
What happens from there is where the stories come from.

(28:22):
The cup has found many uses while in the care
of various HL players, coaches, managers. The Stanley Cup has
been used everything from a flower pot to a baptismal.
It's been a cooler, a champagne bowl, yes, even a urnal,
a lawn ornament. People drink out of it. The Cup

(28:42):
has also been all around the world, including including it
went to visit the troops in a live combat zone
in Afghanistan in two thousand seven. True story, and apparently
it was part of an assault where there was actual
rocket propelled grenade fire. Put the Stanley Cup escape with
no injuries. Pretty cool. Number four. The Cup has been

(29:07):
used and abused like nothing else. Like like a lot
of us human beings, Stanley Cup hasn't always been treated well,
this is just a sampling. I'll give you a sampling
on some of the adventures that the NHL Stanley Cup
has been on the nineteen o five it was dropkicked
into the Redu Canal in Ottawa. In nineteen four members

(29:27):
of the champion Montreal ex Expos Montreal Canadians. They left
the cup in a snowback on the side of the
road after taking it out of the trunk to change
a flat tire. Yeah, how that work out. It's been
to the bottom of multiple swimming pools, including Patrick was
after the Canadians won the Cup of ninety three. Now,
this incident prompted a genius level observation from Captain Key Garbonel.

(29:51):
The Stanley Cup does not float. He observed. It has
been stolen on multiple occasions, miss seriously managing to find
its way home every time. You don't get those kind
of stories with trophies that are remade every year by
Tiffany and Company and put on glass display for no
one to share or take to Russia or Afghanistan. Finally,

(30:15):
the players get it first. One of the things that's
sort of annoying as you watch the Commissioner's Trophy award
awarded to the Major League Baseball World Series champion is
the amount of time it takes for the trophy to
get from the commissioner to the actual players who earned
it first. It's got to pass through all the owners
and managers and a number of other you know, all

(30:36):
the suits in the front office before the players even
get a chance to put a figure on it. And
they're the ones that want it now. The NHL does
things just a little differently. The Stanley Cup passes straight
from the NHL's Commissioner's office to the captain of the
victorious team immediately. Remember when Stevie Eiserman first got the Cup,
sweeping Philadelphia and the and the Flyers four straight nineteen

(31:00):
nine seven. He held it up, the sweat, the relief.
It's amazing. He was crying, he says, for the rest
of my life, wherever I go, they can no longer
say he did a lot, but he didn't win the
Stanley Cup. It was amazing to watch him hold on
to it. Then the cup passes from the commissioner to
the captain, as I just said, and this move classes.
I believe all of the major sports leagues that do

(31:21):
not follow this practice. It also makes it possible to
have those epic moments where the cup gets to hand
it off to another deserving player. There was a moment
between Joe Sackick and Ray Bourke after the Colorado Avalanche
Ryan the Cup and won the Cup. Burke had requested
a trade from the Boston Bruins. He loved Boston, who
love him, but he was in his late thirties. This

(31:42):
is his one last shot too, you know, put the
capper on his career and win a Stanley Cup. And
he did it. And when sacking passed on his right,
Zackett was the captain. He passed on it. He said, no,
rather than me hoist the cup, I'm gonna have Ray
Boork hoist the Cup. It's a photo you can find
you google it. It will go down in sports histories.

(32:04):
In sports history, how many photos of NFL Open owners
accepting trophies share the same emotion and time and fame.
They kind of hagga for themselves. I'm looking at you,
Jerry Jones. Coming up, these playoffs continue. Colorado looks unbeatable,
but other teams have looked unbeatable in the past. And

(32:25):
why are they standing? Why are the Tampa Bay Lightning
still so good in the playoffs and now they just
destined to win again. Yes, they are down too old,
but I wouldn't count them out. And I love what
turk Turk is Gerard Dealant. If you want to know
how good Girard Dealant was, go back to He could
fight like Ryan Reeves and he can score thirty goals
in a season. He left. He left Vegas here under

(32:46):
unceremonious circumstances. And I'm secretly rooting for or Girard Dealant
to win a Cup with the Rangers. So can Igor
Shusterkin be the guy who carries the Rangers back to
the Cup. We'll talk about that coming up. I'm Bernie Fratto.
We're coming to your live from the Las Vegas Fox
Sports Radio Studio. Stick and stay right here. You're listening
to Fox Sports Sunday and Fox Sports Radio. We're back

(33:07):
on Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio and Bernie Fratill
come to you live for the Las Vegas Fox Sports
Radio Studios. You have to take up to three and
Pacific six am Eastern a ton to get to I'm
all over these NHL Playoffs love him Watch them tomorrow
noon Pacific. You've got the Tampa Bay Lightning. See if
they can get off the schneid. There's still a story here,
right The Tampa Bay could still win three straight. Hadn't

(33:30):
been done in a while. Can recall Montreal one four straight,
seventy six to seventy nine, and then of course the
Islanders with Bobby and ices German Crew three. But I
gotta tell you, man, in this series, the Rangers look
like to be the hunger your team, the more energetic team,
the more opportunistic team. Tampa Bays looked a little tired
and sluggish. Maybe Vassilevski's nine days off heard him. The

(33:52):
Rangers are getting pucks to the net. They look confident,
they look badass. Case in point. Tampa Bay had won
eighteen in a row coming off a loss until Friday,
and the Rangers blew that. By the way, you can
never count out the Rangers. They're five and oh and
elimination games this spring. Nearly of their games so far,
twenty out of seventy three have featured a team coming

(34:13):
back from a deficit to win. That's why you can't
count out Tampa Bay. But this Ranger team, to me,
looks scary. But let's again, let's see what happens Sunday noon,
Pacific three Eastern. If you sweep the President's Trophy winner,
which is what Tampa Bay did, and you do without
one of your best players, Brandon Point, and yeah, you're
Tampa Bay still might be a team of destiny. Like

(34:35):
a huge part of the Lightning success has stunned from
their past failures. I think they still talk in that
locker room about two thousand nineteen when they were the
top regular season team and they got swept out of
the playoffs by a team they least expected, the number
eight see Columbus Blue Jackets. They got swept and they
have decided that will never happen again. They've come back
in one two in a row. They're going for three.

(34:57):
Tampa Bay is as well constructed as they are well coached,
because they get production from everywhere. The roster has. They're loaded.
They've got a bunch of big time players. They know
how to make big time players and big time games,
the biggest being their goalie Andre Vassilevski. But he had
nine days off and the Rangers seem to have solved
him right. But if he gets into that stingy groove again,

(35:20):
Tampa Bay wins Sunday. I'm not predicting. I'm not gonna
bet the game, but I'm just saying, if they hold
Serve at home, all of a sudden, this series looks different.
And if they hold Serve at home, well, now you
really got a serious two two becomes best to three.
And Tampa Bay is the team that's been through the battles.
They've been tested, some of them internal. It has been

(35:41):
uncommon in Tampa for players to call out each other
or even their coaching staff. But they have the heart
of a champion and they got the hardware to proven right.
It's the truth of the matter is there's an uncommon
level of trust and confidence that Tampa Bay has man
to man, they didn't get through any opponent. They're down
two games to Zip. But their will to win is

(36:01):
is very tangible. You see it when their best players
sacrificed their bodies blocking shots, and then they head back
to the bench, find a way to come back out
in battle for each other. They limp back to the bench.
These guys are tough, tougher than a three dollar steak,
and they're skillful, and they got a great goalie. They're
down to Zip. Sunday will be the series. If Tampa

(36:22):
Bay wins in New York lets him up on the mat,
I don't know what's gonna happen again. If it gets
to a game seven, it will be in New York.
New York's five and o in elimination games. And you've
gotta give a ton of credit to UH Gerard a lot.
One of the reasons New York has done so well
is Igor Sisterkin appears to be back to being the

(36:42):
guy who can actually carry the Rangers and steal games
in the playoffs. Can he get them to the Stanley
Cup and win a Stanley Cup? The short answers yes.
Towards the end of this regular season, UH there was
a Rangers lightning game in Tampa Bay. John Cooper agreed
that Sisterkin was the best goalie during the regular season,
but then he looked at Vassilevski and said, but until

(37:05):
he does that, meaning the Stanley Cup, my guy is
still the best. He's talking out both sides of his mouth.
But just Sterkin has been scary in short spurts this series.
And and here's why you have to give him so
much respect. Because it was a very rough start for
Sisterkin in the postseason. He was most likely gonna win
the Vesna, right, He's rebounded in a huge way. He's

(37:27):
posted a nine percentage in Carolina in the first round
and in just just this last round. Excuse me, but
the Rangers often gave up really too many high quality
chances in front of him. But Susterkin stood on his
head time after time. You hear a lot about shots
on goal. It's more than just getting shots on goal.
Don't confuse shots on goal with high quality chances. She

(37:49):
Shirkin stood up big against Carolina and turned back those
high quality chances. One important thing to remember about Igor
shas Durkin is, despite the fact he's only twenty six
years old. He does have a decent amount of pro
and high level experience. He was never really the predominant
starter on any of his KHL teams or even with

(38:10):
the Russian national team. He's often had to share the net.
So maybe once he got into the playoffs are under
the end of the season, when the heat gets hot
and it's hard to breathe maybe he just needed a
little mental adjustment. He hadn't been there before, but he
seems he has. He seems to have done that. One
thing that I really respect about Rangers coach Yard Gerard

(38:31):
Allan as he's he's honest, he's candid. After winning the
Carolina series, Gland admitted that while he brushed aside of
the question of experience for his team in the first
round against Pittsburgh, he admitted privately he very much worried
about it. That is no longer an issue. Again, one
of the trends we've seen this postseason. This is something

(38:51):
to watch. Yes, we've seen a handful of great, standout
goaltending performances, but this postseason feels like it's all about offense.
My god, whether fourteen goals in that first Carolina Edmonton game,
my goodness, you're about to see. I think a lot
more offense in the Western Conference Finals. And that's exactly

(39:13):
what's happened. Even though Colorado is up three two and
or checked at they won four to tonight the game
when I'm not sure if that went over the total
or not might have been seven. The game. The game is.
The trend now is offense, and you saw that in
the Battle of Alberta. It's been thirty four years since
there was a series with forty goals scored that lasted

(39:36):
only five games. They have nine goals a game, all right,
And I want to reemphasize one thing. There's another trend.
No team is out of it until it's really out
of it. That's why you can't count Tampa Bay out
at all. But also, I know I'm repeating myself, this
seems to be the Rangers mantra. They're five and oh
elimination games this spring, and by the way, I don't know.

(40:00):
You get this team down and if it goes game seven,
it's gonna be in New York, and they just seem
like it could be in their DNA. It's pretty hard
for a team to three peat in Tampa Bay. And
I think They're mentally a little tired, if nothing else.
So I gotta feeling New York is gonna finish that
series off. But what do what happens Sunday coming up?
NFL teams are in camp O t a s. Let's

(40:21):
talk about the most intriguing matchups coming up. Keep it locked.
This is Fox Sports Sunday. The Fox Sports Sunday train
keeps rolling right along. I'm Bernie Fratto Company live from
the Fox Sports Radio studios here in Las Vegas. Will
take you up to three and Pacific, six and Eastern.
A lot of stuff to get to and in a minute,
I'm gonna dive into some of these most intriguing NFL

(40:42):
matchups real quickly. I got a tweet from a gentleman,
Patrick Albert has a question my thoughts on the Live
Golf situation and the p G A I would just
say this okay, because I have to look into it
a lot more. We all know that Kevina resigned from
the PGA Tour and he is actually playing in the
Live Invitational Series tournament in London next week, along with

(41:05):
Dustin Johnson, Sergey Garcia, Lee Westwoodie and Poulter Taylor Gooch
this is a thing, and I'm gonna tell you why
I think it could. There could be more critical mass.
As you know, I believe that's what I heard. Dustin
Johnson was offered a hundred million to be lured away,
a hundred million just to show up. Let me give
you that some perspective. Back in in the early nineties,

(41:28):
it's covering event at the TPC Deerborn and Lee uh uh.
Lee Trevino was there. I love Lee, but Lee could
really get the red assens and fans were talking when
he was putting, and he turnout to him was shut up,
and and somebody said, hey, Lee, why do we have
to be quiet? You know when when cecil fielders and
bad people are yelling and then he doesn't turn around
until the crowd to show up and leave. Lee Trevino

(41:49):
looked to the fantasis. Yeah, we'll Lee Will will uh uh.
Cecil fielder can strike out four times in the game,
he's still getting paid. I gotta win. I gotta perform
to get paid. I don't just show up and get
paid by striking out like cecil Fielder. There in lines
the qualitative difference and why this is gonna take on
a life of its own and become one hell of

(42:09):
a journalistic story. So Kevin nah has resigned from the
p g A. He's been around nineteen years, He's murdned
over thirty million. He's on his way to live. They're
trying to lure Dustin Johnson hundred million? Are you kidding me?
All right, let's leave it right there, because I need
to see where this ends up going. Um and when

(42:30):
you start to dangle that kind of money, uh, you know,
I don't know where people's loyalties are, but a million
seems like a good place to start, all right. O.
T s are heavily in uh in play right now,
the Raiders are starting. There's next week. Most teams are
in camp for one form or another. I cannot help
but start to look ahead. By the way, thirteen weeks

(42:52):
from Thursday, right out of the gate, one of the
most intriguing matchups in the NFLO. Yup, Buffalo Bills at
the l A Rams. Now the NFL schedule makers, just
like they did last year with Tampa Bay Week one
in Dallas, they chose a pair of heavyweights to kick
it off the Rams. They they will begin their title

(43:12):
defense from they get a home game against one of
the early favorites to get to the super Bowl and
the Buffalo Bills. These are big time teams, big name showdowns.
You'll have Matt Stafford and a duel Josh Allen. You
have Cooper Cup going back and forth with Stefon Diggs.
Two pretty vaunted defenses you know that know how to
bring the pain. We'll learn whether the Rams are able
to pick up where they left off, and frankly, this

(43:34):
is gonna serve as a bit of a measuring stick
early on for Buffalo, who hopefully they believe finally this
is the year they get over the hump. Remember the
overtime rules have changed, and you all remember what happened
in Kansas City. Speaking in Kansas City week to the
Chargers travel to Kansas City and this is an off
season where the Chargers upgraded their defense and now they

(43:55):
get to go to k C and take on the
Chiefs who were vamped both defense and a wide receiver.
They're gonna try to maintain their command of the f
C West cases. Remember Kansas City has won the f
C West for six consecutive seasons. Can the Chargers unseat him?
This should be a hell of a shoot. Out between
Mahomes and Justin Herbert. Last year, Mahomes completely carved up

(44:16):
the Chargers defense six hundred and seventy yards, six touchdowns,
ether even three picks for just for fun. Those were
two over two meetings. Of course, that's a lot of
offense now each team split with each road team winning it.
Herbert meanwhile pass for five seventeen yards six touchdowns as well.
You're gonna see a hell of a duel at quarterback.
Week to week four again Kansas City, they go to

(44:39):
Tampa Bay. It's a rebatch of Super Bowl fifty Ma Holmes,
they in company. They returned to the scene member that
game was played in Tampa Bay. Chiefs lost thirty one
to nine. The Goat, Tom Brady, that's what they call him.
He occasionally stribed describes Patrick Mahomes is the baby goat.
They're gonna face off one more time. You never know,

(44:59):
it could be the final time, could even be a
preview for Super Bowl fifty seven. The bottom line, it's
an intriguing matchup, as is that same weekend where Buffalo
travels to Baltimore again a duel between two quarterbacks Josh
Allen Lamar Jackson. They've ranked among the most impactful quarterbacks
in the league since they arrived on the scene. Back

(45:22):
Alan was the seventh overall pick. Jackson was the thirty
second pick, both in the first round. But the Bills
and Ravens, they've been knocking on the door close since
these young Buck quarterbacks have taken over, but they're still
They're always the brides maid, not the bride. This could
be a budding rivalry in Baltimore. I believe will bounce
back this year after a series of band injuries and

(45:43):
things last year. Jackson, Uh, they actually well I'm talking
about Lamar Jackson and the Ravens head up against Buffalo.
They owned a tune no regular season record against Buffalo. However, Uh,
remember that's in the regular season. Remember Josh Allen turned
the tables on the Ravens and knocked them out of

(46:03):
the playoffs. Again, a very intriguing matchup, and it's fairly
early in the season. Also earlier the season Indianapolis and Denver.
Now you may say, well, hi, wait, wait, here's the deal.
Management of both of these teams view themselves as legitimate
championship contenders, but both, as Yogi Bear would say, had
a different similarity they missed one key piece, a quarterback

(46:27):
who's a difference maker. So this offseason, the Colts they
scrap Carson Wentz, that experiments done. They trade for Matt Ryan.
Matt Ryan's been in the league since, been to one
Super Bowl, the three. You know what happened. The Broncos
swung a deal for Roussill Wilson. He's won a Super Bowl,
been too a second one. You know what happened. Now,
all of a sudden, you have two teams with veteran
signal callers. And yes, both teams have talented weapons on offense,

(46:51):
and both teams have way above average defenses. So now
the Broncos and Colts will find out if they're as
good as they hope they can be by ad a
difference maker at quarterback. That's an intriguing matchup. Andy Denver.
How about the Battle of Ohio? Since he Cleveland could
disrepresent the season debut for Deshaun Watson. Okay, that's speculative

(47:12):
that that presumes he'd be suspended the first seven weeks.
I don't know. I don't know. The thing is is
that when those two teams get together, you kind of
throw everything out right in and the but let's hope
that it's Joe Burrow and Deshaun Watson because that would
actually be mus CTV and I think, and then that's
a divisional game. A lot of these other games I

(47:33):
mentioned weren't other than Chargers Raiders weekedn Dallas at Green Bay. Okay,
people have pooh pooed Mike McCarthy's returned to the place
he called home for thirteen seasons, but I think it's
significant right the post McCarthy and Green Bay is off
to a very strong start since Matt Lafleur replaced Kevin McCarthy.
Aaron Rodgers seems like he's a bird out of a cage.

(47:56):
He went back to back m vps the Packers with
thirty nine and ten. They read the NFC Championship both times,
but then they get knocked out. Okay, well actually they
I'm sorry they the first two years and then they
get knocked out of the divisional round. Do you know
how I feel about Mike McCarthy. I think he's Barney Rubel.
I think if they didn't win in Dallasy series fired,
But make no mistake, he had some success in Green

(48:16):
Bay and there is that's gonna be a highly charged
event as he returns. Here's another one. This has a
chance to be a dub. But right now, I'm intrigued
by what could be that San Francisco going to Arizona
Week eleven, because now you're getting to the dog days
of the season. Team's jockeying for position. In theory, it's
a potential NFC West fight for the top pair of rivals.

(48:37):
Maybe they're fighting for a wild card. The other thing
will be interesting to see whether Trey Lance is able
to actually do what they hoped he could do trading
all those draft picks. They want him to take the
league by storm. I'm not betting on it, but if so,
in theory, possibly there could be a shoot out between
Trey Lance and Kyler Murray. We'll see. I'm intrigued by

(48:59):
what happens in that game in terms of who's gonna play. Finally,
Week thirteen, uh Cleveland at Houston is mentioned previously. Why
am I talking about this? If DeShawn Watson is the
starting quarterback, guess what he returns to Houston at this
point of the season. One would think there's at least
a fifty chance Watson's on the field. Back on the

(49:21):
field He spent his first five years in Houston before
becoming frustrated with ownership even though they gave him more
money than God and management, and he forced his way
out of town. I'll tell you what one more for
good measure. This should be a good one. Uh And
this isn't until week sixteen, Week sixteen Denver and l A. Rams.

(49:42):
Now you know, if you want to be a slappy
and call us a potential Super Bowl preview, go ahead.
Why not though, because Russell Wilson leads the Broncos. Now
this is against opponent he knows very well, the L. A. Rams.
Remember he was in that division for almost a decade.
He faced the Fan Rams twice a year for some
entire career. Now you got the Sean McVeigh let Rams.

(50:03):
They've been a thorn in Russell Wilson's side. In fact,
in the last five years, the Seahawks for only three
and eight against the Rams, and Russell Wilson had bad games,
including a playoff loss in give Jared Golf credit for
that one. Stopped picking on Jared Golf. But now we'll
see if a change of scenery and new supporting cast
can position Russell Wilson to beat l A maybe a

(50:26):
little bit better defense, now, a little bit of supporting cast.
As they said, all right, there's one other aspect of
that game that could have real implications. This keeps coming
up and until it's settled, you can't rule it out.
And that's that's the eternal question. We'll bring in the
crew and I'll set this up. Aaron Donald, could the

(50:48):
unthinkable happen? Contract negotiations have been ongoing, but they've been
kind of quiet recently. Could Aaron Donald really walk? He's
the best defensive player in this super in the NFL,
he just finished his eighth year. But it's cryptic. It's
really cryptic about how maybe he indicates he could be

(51:11):
at peace if he's done in football. It seems unthinkable
for me to stand cronky would allow that to happen.
But the unthinkable seems to happen a lot in the
world of sports. So we're bringing the crew coming up,
get their thoughts. I'll set it up and then we'll
throw it to the crew and get there. They're all
there in Los Angeles. They're all big Rand fans, I think,
and uh, I want to see what they think as

(51:31):
to whether or not Aaron Donald, not Aaron Rodgers. It's
going around. I guess you know. If your name is Aaron,
you gotta leave everybody in suspense. Will he stay or
will he go? Keep it locked? I Bernie Fratto, We're
comedy line from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Don't go away. You're listening to Fox Sports Sunday and
Fox Sports Radio. Now we're back on Fox Sports Sunday,

(51:52):
Fox Sports Radio and Bernie Fraddock com to you alive
from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios with NFL
teams engaged in their O t s and mini camps. Yes,
there's lots of talk. There's lots of chatter. As a
matter of fact, we're gonna have a first NFL game
just thirteen weeks from Thursday, be the Rams hosting the

(52:13):
Buffalo Bills. Will Aaron Donald play? Now, let's set this up. Okay,
Aaron Donald is in one of the more distinct spots
in recent NFL history. Okay, he's a generational defensive player.
Yes by NFL standards again a little older, is thirty one,
but he doesn't show any signs of it. But he
needs a new contract. He just I believe, just about

(52:35):
single handedly willed the Rams to the Super Bowl in
the fourth quarter. He's made a lot of overt suggestions
before and after the Super Bowl that he'd be fine
walking away from the game. Now, I think it's spot
in the Hall of Fame and Canton is secure. And
the last time we heard from Donald, he was at
the Super Bowl parade, who said he was planning to
run it back with the Rams. Yes, and there's contract negotiations,

(52:57):
but it's been quiet this past money. Aaron Donald spoke
up again, telling the Quote I Am Athlete podcast that
he would actually be at peace walking away from football
right now. He's made the Pro Bowl seven times, he's
when I want a Super Bowl. He said he's confident
that deal could get done, but if he and the
Rams don't meet out of eye, he said he'd be

(53:18):
fine doing something else. He also said he came into
the NFL planning to play eight seasons. He just finished
his eighth year and he won the Super Bowl. All right.
Two things, it's not hyped to say Donald's the best
player in the NFL right now, but he's not even
in the top five for total cash learnings at his position.

(53:39):
One thing that needs to be fixed, but what does it? Donald?
Do you even look like because NFL teams are not
committing serious money in serious length of time and years
two players of Aaron Donald's age, this is a real dilemma. However, again,
Donald is that rare bird who put the team on
his back in the fourth quarter. How do you how

(54:01):
the hell do you let him walk? It just seems
I'm thinkable that Donald would walk at this point. Maybe
they can come to terms, the Rams and Donald, and
give a short deal, but a higher dollar deal that
pays him what he's worth, without trying to guarantee him
six years when he's already talked about, you know, not
wanting to play anymore. All right, So let's throw it

(54:22):
to the crew there there in the belly of the
beast in Los Angeles? What's going on here? And do
you think Aaron Donald is in uniform thirteen weeks from Thursday?
Brian family, you go first, Bernie. Of course Aaron Donald
is going to be here. I have heard you talk
a lot about Aaron Rodgers, and you remember he used
the retirement word. Did we really think that Aaron Rodgers
was going to retire when he had his own contract situation?

(54:45):
I look at this Bernie Aaron Rodgers two point oh.
Because guys who are playing the best, as you pointed,
out of their careers, what is the chance of them
ending things. It's very rare when you see a player
at the top of his or her game. And this
I had to retire. This is all about a power play.
Understanding the money component. He's kind of throwing throwing out

(55:07):
his his bluff here. But the question is Bernie with
the Rams and in some of their struggles with these
long term, highly you know, lucrative deals, they have had
to sort of eat some of those. And I can
get some of the hesitancy, like the Jared Goffin stuff.
I ultimately think it's gonna get done. But if you're
thinking about the Rams, man, you've thrown so much money

(55:28):
at so many players, and and that's a lot weighing
on you too. Okay, you bring up a lot of
really good points. The only qualitative difference between two errands.
Donald still has three years on his deal, but he's
only gonna make fourteen million this year, and that's not
even at the top five in his position. So did
the Rams step up? You don't think they'll blink to you? Oh,
I mean I think that this is gonna happen. There's

(55:49):
no question about especially when you win the Super Bowl.
How infectious is that to want you to come back.
If there's anything it's that and doing it again when
he said it early on you pointed it out, Bertie,
He'll run it back. The money is gonna come if
there's anybody that has it, and it's going to find
a way to get it to him. It's the rams. No,
I think you know. I appreciate you being so definitive

(56:12):
because I agree with you here, and I think stan
Cronki is a man of action. I do believe, though
this is just my opinion, than anything less than thirty
million a year, and Aaron Donald's gonna call her bluff.
That doesn't mean he's not gonna play this year, but
he may not be their week one. And again I'm
just talking about my whoa. I don't know what I'm
talking about, but I do believe Aaron Donald we'll command

(56:33):
thirty million and will not play for less than that.
In two good stuff, brand uh Bo Benson back in
the full. What are your thoughts on Aaron Donald? Do
you know who has the worst poker face in the world?
Aaron Donald. No, it's Sean McVeigh. I don't know if
you saw his press conference earlier this week, but he
could not he could not stop smiling and laughing when

(56:53):
they asked him about Aaron Aaron Donald's contract, which is
the same thing he did when they asked him about
Odell Beckham Jr. And I eve Bobby Wagner LA in
the offseason, So I have no doubts that they'll get
it figured out. Aaron Donald is not going to retire.
He It's especially funny because he talks about how he
thought about retiring, but then in the same sentence he's
also talking about how once he won, he he wanted

(57:15):
to do that again and feel that again. So it's
I it's a very good negotiation tactic from him. But
they'll figure it out. The Rams have done a very
good job of taking care of their guys, and I
think he'll be there. Okay, good stuff, both of you guys.
And just so everybody knows for this year right now, currently,
Donald has a nine point to five million bass salary

(57:37):
plus five more millions guaranteed, so he's making fourteen mil
this year in sixteen mill next year. The Rams are
gonna have to pointy up, Chris Perfett your thoughts. I
I I am leaning towards he's gonna come back. I'm
not as h bullish as the other guys here. I'm
probably like sixty forty maybe sixty five on coming back.

(57:57):
I do lean that way, but I'm not going to
rule it out completely Bernie this. I know that we
talked about guys at the top of their game, but
in the NFL, we've seen plenty of guys walk away
from this sport at the top of their game lately,
Like Calvin Johnson walked away at thirty one, same age
Aaron Donald is right now, and Calvin Johnson did that
under a lot of pain. We've seen other guys even

(58:17):
and I know that whole story it was all about
injury and pain. You're right, right, But we know a
lot of other guys, and I think until they retire
to we don't know what some of these guys are
suffering too. And and I know once it gets in
your head, when you're thinking about retirement from football, it's
hard to get it away. And I know we in
the media like to say stuff like you know, we
we like to think these guys are never gonna walk
away until they're carried out in their shield. And when

(58:38):
Calvin Johnson walked away, it was a lot of oh,
you know, he'll be back in a year, he'll be
playing for the Patriots. And it never happened. It never happened.
But the people that punch you know, they don't know
Calvin relations Calvin Johnson's relationship with his mom and and
how they had a caucus, just like they Javon Best.

(58:59):
You shouldn't hear Calvin Johnson talk about his injuries getting
the tour at all shots looking at me. Tell you, Chris,
the last three years of Calvin Johnson's tenure with the Lions,
he didn't even practice. He'd stand on the sidelines and
they prop him up and he'd play on Sunday. Yeah,
like mom never wanted him even to play football. So
this crap with good good continued. So so when a
guy talks about retirement, even at an age like thirty one, I,

(59:22):
especially in the NFL, I don't dismiss it out of
hand because I think I think one quick thing, one
quick thing, because in a minute, I'm going to talk
about the edge rushers and what they make versus Aaron
Donald the real So what you're essentially saying is, hey,
if he's pushed, he won't you know, he won't play. However,
then it becomes the question will the Rams give him

(59:44):
the thirty million? Do you think the Rams will give
him the thirty million. I think they'll give him the
thirty million. I think if he doesn't get it, he
is probably going to walk away. He's he's already said
to himself he's got more than enough money. I don't
think he wants to pay play for another team. He
wants that money, Like I know you're gonna talk about
it like this has been a problem with certain position
across the NFL because of the scale that we based
it on a specific specific position. And he's getting paid

(01:00:05):
as a defensive tackle, Like I I think he wants
that money. He wants to be proven that he is
worth that much. It it verifies your worth and it
verifies your worth. Is probably one of the best defensive
football players in the country, which he is, and he
should be paid like that. And I think that is
what he is ultimately gunning for. And I think that, uh,
you know, if the Rams try to call him on

(01:00:26):
his bluff, they'll find that he's not bluffing. But I
don't think that's gonna happen. I think the Rams will
will pay him. I am leaning that he's coming back.
But I would say to anyone listening out there, when
you hear a football player, even in their low thirties
or even late, when he's talking about retirement, don't dismiss
it out of hand. This is a brutal sport, that
is a rough sport on the body, and it pays
very well. And guys are retiring earlier and earlier from

(01:00:47):
the game. All that's true and particularly and it's yeah,
I can start naming guys, but here's the dynamic here.
I'm an agreement, uh that I we all believe he'll
be back because the ram will pay him the thirty million,
And like Brian said, come on, man, he he ain't
gonna go anywhere. But here's the deal. Poor men want
to be rich. Richmond want to be king. There are

(01:01:10):
five edge rushers who make more per year right now
than Aaron Donald, including t J. Watt he makes twenty
million here, Joey Bolsa twenty seven millionaire, Miles Garrett twenty
five mill Khalil Mack twenty four Meal and Max Crosby
the Raiders twenty four meal mill. So when you get
down to Mac and Crosby, now it becomes a parent
why Donald is confused about his average of twenty two million,

(01:01:34):
even if those terms he agreed to when he signed
the deal six years ago, knowing within a couple of
years his contract figures would be outpaced by those who
agreed to deals after him. So, if Aaron Donald wants
to be the NFL's highest paid defensive player, he's got
to be targeting a contract that pays him about thirty
million a year. And that's where this argument begins and ends.

(01:01:55):
That's a round number. He would make sense. I get it.
He wants to be the first thirty million dollar are
your defensive player in the league? Right? Is he the
best defensive player in the league in his generation? He
believes so. Most people believe so, so why not break
the thirty million dollar uh barrier? First? The Rams have
to write that check though, and he has a little
bit he doesn't. Donald does not have a lot of leverage. Okay,

(01:02:18):
he sells three years remaining, but Stan Cronk has proven
that he does not play to lose, So I'm in agreement.
Aaron Donald will be back, the Rams will cough up
the money, not poo pool, and that his mindsets there.
I just think he's going to be back coming up.
If you're not watching any of these College World Series regionals,

(01:02:39):
you're missing out. And the truth of the matter is
the real College World Series after the Super Regionals is
right around the corner. Could we be looking at the
greatest ever college baseball team? I will explain, but first
let's go to the man. As they say, real Gee's
moving silence like Lasagna unless he's given an update. That's

(01:02:59):
Brian Finning with the latest. Thank you, Bernie. We'll talk
baseball in a moment. But of course there's the big
NHL postseason game on Saturday, Western Conference Finals Game three
and it went to the Avalanche four to two against
the Oilers, so Colorado is up three games to none
in that series. One went away from a trip to
the Stanley Cup Final. As far as the Diamond, the

(01:03:19):
Mets went into Dodger Stadium and showed up l A
nine to four the Cardinals and Cubs. They split a doubleheader.
Game two went to St. Louis seven to four in
ten innings. The Marlins devour the Giants five to four
thanks to walk off on the bottom of the ninth,
Hey Sue Sanchez with the rb I thanks to the
sack fly Jake cronin Worth at a home run. He

(01:03:42):
ended up driving in three runs. As the Padres quiet
the Brewers forward to nothing. The Royals silence the Astros
six to nothing. Houston was held to five fits. The
White Sox batter the Rays three to two, Jake Burger
slugging a two run home run in the eighth inning.
Speaking of home runs, Aaron Judge add another one to

(01:04:05):
his total on the season. That is twenty one on
the year. That's a Major League best. As the Yankees
pilot on against the Tigers three to nothing. With golf
in the PGA Tour, going into the final round of
the Memorial in Dubblin, Ohio, it is Billy Horschel who
is your leader by five strokes after a third round

(01:04:25):
sixty five that he was able to card. Cameron Smith
and Aaron Wise are time for second at minus eight.
Don't forget that. Later on today from Paris is Rafa
Nadal and gaspar Rude battling it out for the French Open.
Final nine a m. Eastern is when that gets started.
On Saturday. From yesterday we saw the women's French Open

(01:04:46):
final go to Ega Fiantech who beat the eighteen year
old American in straight sets. Cocoa golf, and then of
course also more sports later on this evening. It is
game two in Golden State of the NBA Finals. Boston
took game one. We'll see, Bernie, what kind of response
the Warriors have as they are down a one game

(01:05:07):
to none and tip off is at eight pm Eastern tonight.
All right, thanks so much, Brian. Good stuff, and Uh,
one of the sporting events I I watched today were
some of the regional College World Series action. It's exciting.
You know, Michigan out of the gate. They won their

(01:05:30):
first two games. They could be advancing to their super regional.
There's teams from across the country. Uh, Aaron Torres, Yukon group,
They're looking good. They won their first two games. It's
a fun, excellent, great tournament to watch. We're always talking
about the great college football teams and great college basketball teams.
Is Tennessee or the Tennessee Balls the greatest team ever

(01:05:52):
in college and they don't want anything yet but they're
fifty five and seven, and they're gonna make a legitimate
claim is the best college team in history. Bay down
their numbers figure again, fifty five and seven. They wrapped
up their regular season by sweeping the defending national champ
national champ Mississippi State on the road for the first
time ever. In one of the games, Tennessee put up

(01:06:14):
twenty seven runs two. So if you look at the
numbers and these crazy numbers that Tennessee is putting up, okay, there,
there there's a there's a a publication called Massey Ratings.
It's sort of a be all end all that ranks
teams performances. Okay, Tennessee scored five hundred twenty six runs
in the regular season. That's the second most ever in

(01:06:34):
D one. And they're only allowing one fifty per game.
That's two per game. And they've had eight shutouts. Third
balls don't one shuts anybody out in college baseball anymore.
Pitching there, two thirty seven e r a is almost
a full run better than second place, while they're old
nine five whip and five to one struck strike out
to walk radio range number one. These are crazy, stupid numbers.

(01:06:54):
Tennessee leads the nation and hitting This is in the
regular season and a hundred and thirty seven home runs.
It's a college team. They did it in sixty games.
They're sluggy percentages a team is six third team and
their batting averages the team is three. Ten Tennessee finished
the season ranked number one in the nation. They went
twenty five and five against the SEC, which is one
of the country's best conferences. They have five top twenty

(01:07:18):
schools in the SEC. Now Major League Baseball scouts are
drooling in what they call, quote a beautiful roster. This
is a college roster. They're talking about up to twenty
players on the roster being drafted. Only nine can start,
and most college rotations only have four starting pitchers. Twenty
guys be drafted. The Valls have three potential first rounders

(01:07:43):
here in the draft is coming up in about two weeks.
You have an outfielder by the name of Jordan Beck,
another one by the name of Drew Gilbert, and a
right handed pitcher by the name of Blake Tidwell. You're
you're gonna hear you'll be hearing about these names in
the future. And so those guys are potential first rounders,
three of them. By the way, there's only been one
team in college baseball history they had three players drafted

(01:08:07):
in the first round. There was this nineteen seventy nine
Michigan Wolverines. It's Steve Hall, Ricky Leach, both got to
the big leagues, and a guy named Steve Perry who
got to the high minor leagues but never made it.
Then they've also got an guy named Ben Joyce who
throws a hundred and five and he had at one
point nine area for the entire season. Member the use

(01:08:28):
aluminum bats in college. So they won the SEC East
last year and they got a College World Series birth.
They didn't do as well last year. And this is
not a program used to dominating, but this is a
team that he's doing historic things that are crazy stupid.
Watched this team. You got to now before Tennessee's last

(01:08:51):
College World Series berth in and SEC title, which is
back in the nineties some point, they basically went to
decades and didn't do a lot. A matter of fact,
Tennessee is only me in the College World Series just
five times in seventy five years, and they've never won it.
But in two they have a new coach, Tony Vattello.

(01:09:11):
This team feels and looks different. You watch them. They
celebrate a little too much. They're a little out there,
but they are so good. How can one college team
have twenty draft choices. So they're currently mowing through their regional.
They won their first two games, and I will tell
you that one of the simple pleasures is enjoying the

(01:09:32):
college regional super Regionals. Because teams are represented across the country.
You typically don't see northern teams win it. But in
Michigan got to the College World Series, lost a Vanderbilt's
best of three. Now, but they won the first game.
So I think you're seeing more parody. Excuse me that
little frog in my throat there. Bottom line is this,

(01:09:55):
you may be seeing history and it involves the Tennessee
Evolves and possibly the greatest college baseball team of all
time coming up. The Lakers got their man, Darvin Ham.
Not Jhon Ham, not Mia Ham, Darvin Ham. And yes
there's a rumor that he was their second choice behind
John Howard. But let's talk about Darvin Ham. I'm gonna

(01:10:18):
tell you some things about him and why he was deserving.
Why I think Ham is actually a good fit for
the Lakers. How it appacks Lebron and what the Lakers
need to do in the offseason. You know, Lakers always
managed to be in the news even though they're not
in the playoffs. But the Darvin Ham hire is a
big one, and I'll explain why. Coming up. I'm Bernie
Fratto or come to you live from the Las Vegas

(01:10:40):
Fox Sports Radio Studios. Keep it locked. You're listening to
Fox Sports Sunday and Fox Sports Radio. We're back at
Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. I'm Bernie Fratto or
come to you Alive for the Las Vegas Fox Sports
Radio Studios. Coming up, top of the hour, The sensation
that's sweeping the nation, of course, on talking about everybody's

(01:11:01):
favorite game. What kind of brand new fool are you?
Followed by what my name? Some great names in the
mix tonight, very eclectic mix. All right, the Lakers have
their new coach meet Darvin Ham and of course, wouldn't
you know it, somebody has to report that technically their
top choice was Geron Howard, but he was not going

(01:11:23):
to leave Michigan to come to l a And he's
coaching his two sons at Michigan and yadda yadda ya.
Darvin Ham is He's no, he's no small potatus I
was after mixing metaphors. Forty eight years old. He's been
on the staff with the Bucks as an assistant to
Mike Budenholzer for the last four years, and he was

(01:11:43):
part of the staff winning a championship as an assistant
during the twenty one season, and he returns to l
a after actually is serving as an assistant with the
Lakers from Ham also served as an assistant with the
Atlanta Hawks from thirteen to eighteen. Out I remember Darvin Ham.
He was part of the Pistons two thousand four championship team,

(01:12:07):
which I talked about earlier in the show, and also
two thousand five where the Pistons got to the finals,
lost to the lost to the uh San Antonio Spurs.
And seven he was He was a guy. He was
a he was a role player, came off the bench,
tough player, gritty grinder, and he played the league almost
ten years from still five. His last two years were

(01:12:27):
with the Pistons in O four and oh five, but
got to the NBA finals both times, won the championship
and No. Four now he knows what that looks like.
By the way, just to keep the slate clean. The
other finalists for the job where Warriors assistant by the
name of Kenny Atkinson. And then, of course we talked
about this a couple of weeks ago former Blazers head
coach Terry Stotts and the Lakers. Obviously the job came

(01:12:50):
open because they went thirty three and forty nine. They
finished the eleventh in the Western Conference, don't even make
the playoffs now, Magic Johnson set on Monday, He aid,
in and I don't really want to hear Draymond talk,
but I do like hearing Magic talk. He said he
wanted a former player to be hired as the Lakers
next coach because other than their Expoelstra, the truth of

(01:13:11):
the matter is the other three they're in the final
floor of the that we're in the final four. Check
that of the of the NBA playoffs, the two conference
finals games. Magic, we had an interview with the athletic
this last week. He said he thinks that you know,
there's a lot about X players who can command respect
in the locker room right away because they've done it before,

(01:13:32):
they've been there before, and it doesn't. It doesn't mean
there has to be an ex player, uh as a
rule of thumb, But if you really look at the
situation that you're in and where you sit is where
you stand, I think it makes sense that the Lakers
hired an ex player. Nothing against Frank Woold. I think
Frank Wild was a damn good coach and found himself

(01:13:54):
in a bad situation. Remember they wanted in the bubble. Now.
As Magic went on a tall about, he said he
thinks the most important thing is accountability. Whoever is going
to sit on that chair and not starving Ham. He's
got to hold everybody, everybody on the roster from Lebron
through the player accountable. And Magic was very vocal about

(01:14:18):
this the last couple of years, saying he felt that
they got away from being from accountability and people didn't
really talk about it openly, but there were also whispers
among the ranks that whenever something happened was always someone
else's fault, and no one likes that. Right, it's the hey,

(01:14:38):
I played well, but they played bad. No, it's hey,
I played bad. It's on me, whether it's the next
player or not. The trend is ex players in the
NBA for teams that are having success. It's you know,
Steve Kerr played in the NBA. He's been around the block,
and uh Golden State has done pretty well with the
next player there, uh Emio Doka, he's had it. You know,

(01:15:02):
he's been in the league. The long on the short
of it is that what the Lakers need right now
is probably what Darvin ham can offer. Number One, he
was overdue for a head coaching position, and I think
anybody with an IQ buff sixty can look at the
Lakers and say this is not a run of the
middle coaching job. Now it begs the question he's the

(01:15:26):
first time head coach who may be learning on the job,
up to the task of babysitting Lebron James and Anthony
Davis and finding a fit for Russell Westbrook because it's
my understanding in the interview process that that was a mandate.
We are keeping those three Lebron A d Russell. You
figured out we want to win a championship. I think

(01:15:47):
Genie Buss has admitted we've spent so much money that
we want to win because when you spend that kind
of money, you don't make the playoffs. That's not gonna fly.
So the truth of the matter is the Lakers are
confident that Darvin Ham can be that guy to coach
those three and win, and that's why they hanged him. Now,

(01:16:08):
Darvin Ham does have a long history of relating to stars,
and this I mean he worked with Kobe Bryant as
a Lakers development coach well over a decade ago. In
his interview with the Lakers, I think one of the
things that Darvin Ham impressed the Lakers brass was that
he has a has the ability to manage a potentially

(01:16:28):
broken locker room, which I think the Lakers have. Darvin
Ham came across as a guy who could solve the
schematic issues that played the Lakers and manage the people
as well. That's a hell of a parlay. So how
does this impact Lebron? The word is Lebron will respect
Darvin Ham as a former player and a guy who's
not only been a championships assistant, but been a guy

(01:16:51):
who has been on a championship team as he was
with the Pistons in two thousand four. Whether or not
you think Frank Vogel deserve to be fired or not,
it was fairly cleared a Frank Vogel fan. I know
his story how he came up breaking down film and
it was clear it was clear by January that Lebron
James had turned him off. He was not responding to

(01:17:12):
Frank Vogel in the same way as he did in
the bubble. They teamed up for a little looked like
they had something going. So Ham will have the benefit
of being the fresh, new voice, the new powerful voice,
and again X player fixed the locker room, fix the schemes.
He's already admitted he's willing to take on the Big Three,

(01:17:34):
as you were funny to call him the Big three.
But you gain Anthony Davis who's not been available, and
that needs to be addressed. Perhaps I'm not implying that
his training regiment isn't what it should be, or dieing
is and what it should be, but it's got to
be addressed. You gotta have Anthony Davis on the floor
for more than twenty seven games. And by the way,
I want to hear that the Lakers were hurt. That

(01:17:56):
was the reason because when Anthony Davis and Lebron around
the floor or they were eleven and eleven, they didn't
light up the world when they were playing together, and
Russell Westbrook didn't work, and neither did Carmelo and the
rest of it didn't or the record speaks for itself
their thirty three and forty nine. So Darvin Ham is

(01:18:18):
gonna take the helm, and I think one of the
things he's gonna have to do is give input on
what the Lakers need to do and what their priorities
are and in meaning height, not that it has to
be fixed, but how do you fix it? So Ham,
one of the things he's gonna be. One of the
things Darvin Ham is gonna be tasked with is making
Russell wet Restbrook fit and get him in a role

(01:18:38):
where it can actually lead the winning games. And they're
gonna have to recompose the rosters somewhat. The biggest single
question for the Lakers to answer before the next season
is what does this roster look like? How can they
compose a roster where somehow the hole is better than
some of his parts. Right, They're still gonna have next
to no depth and very few abilities, whether it's in draft,

(01:18:59):
free age and see and you know, whether they can
you know, get a bunch of minimum contracts. It's gonna
be a really lean, free agency market, and the Lakers
have already spent a ton of money. So Darvin Ham
is really going to be tested in his first year,
and it's gonna be one hell of a gauntlet. But
he deserved the chance. It'll be a great story if
Darvin Ham can turn this franchise around and get the

(01:19:20):
Lakers back at least in the playoffs. I'm not so
sure he can do it. I think it's gonna be
a tough go. Coming up America's favorite What kind of
brand new fool you? Keep it locked? This is Bernie
Fratto is Fox Sports Radio. The Fox Sports Sunday train
keeps right on rolling. I'm Bernie Fritto. Where a company

(01:19:40):
Alive from the Fox Sports Radio studios, and we'll take
you up to three am Pacific, six am Eastern and
a lot more show to get to. Now. This is
the time every week where we bring what we call
all the dance Sensation sweep in the nation. A segment

(01:20:05):
we affectionately referred to is what kind of brand new
fool are you? What kind of brand new fool are you?
You see every week in the in the United States,
are across the world, we have this craziness and this

(01:20:28):
week it takes us to Berlin, Germany, meet Klaus Schmidt,
who walked into a bank with a handgun decided to
rob the bank. Now, I guess you know you could
call this your standard run of the mill bank robbery
until the teller started to ask him questions. One of
the questions that they asked Klaus was do you need

(01:20:51):
a bag, in which Schmidt replied, you're damn right, this
is a real gun. And as the teller continue to
ask him questions, she realized it became obvious this robber
was deaf. So with this new realization, the sound of
the alarm kept asking questions and charming him. The alarm

(01:21:13):
notified the police, and Schmidt was none the wiser. What's interesting?
After being arrested and a funny twist, Schmidt later sued
the bank for apparently abusing his disability. Klaus Schmidt, what
kind of brand new fool are you? Chris Perfett, Well,

(01:21:35):
we'll keep this one in your a Bernie. We're going
over to France, to the happiest place on earth unless
some idiot who was an employee decides to ruin your
big day. We're going to Disneyland, Paris, where a couple
went viral. Uh Man proposing to his girlfriend to our
yeah to his girlfriend on pretty much the perfect spot

(01:21:57):
is right in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle in Disneyland, Paris.
Uh right up on a platform, gets down on a knee.
It looks, it looks beautiful. People there start to cheer,
and then the Disneyland employee comes in. He grabs the
ring from the guy and ushers them down off the platform.
And I think you can hear in the video him
say yes, yes, she did say yes, that's great, but

(01:22:19):
down here is even better. So this, this employee like
is basically I guess you can't be up on that platform.
And this employee was very, very insistent that this this
couldn't be up there, to the point where he ruined
a proposal. Um. One thing I want to mention this,

(01:22:39):
Bernie is I'm not I'm not anywhere close to being married.
But if someone ran up and grabbed my ring, no
matter what they were wearing, uh, they would probably not
be alive. Like that's that's absolutely do not I I
a practice point for any employee for any business out there.

(01:22:59):
It no matter what you're doing, if you see a
man and what proposing to a woman and you run
up and grab the ring, be prepared to call your
next of kin like you're you were at that point
going to be considered a thief. Yeah, you gotta be
pretty desperate on that. In that situation, It's like why
why even ruin their day like that? Like why do this? Why?
Why be the busybody in this? This guy is across

(01:23:20):
social media being rakes over the calls. Fair enough, all right,
Brian family, you're up, Yeah, Bernie. There was a school
in Canada and they had a bear come visit the
school and people were wondering, well, what are we gonna do?
How do we get the bear to to get away?
And so one teacher decided to to like bang the

(01:23:42):
side of a door, makes some weird noise that didn't
do anything. Now, Bernie, what I'm about to tell you
is foolish, funny, but also really smart and creative. And
there was a teacher who stepped in Christian classon the
music teacher saw the air wrecking havoc and decided to

(01:24:02):
bust out in his classroom the trombone. He started to
play the trombone and the bear freaked out and ran
the other way Clawson, the guy who played the trombone, said, quote,
the bear wasn't a fan of my playing. I was
making a lot of noise on that thing. Close quote

(01:24:22):
so Bernie, if are ever in a situation where you
have a bear, just bust out the trombone. Man. That's
underrated as far as bear repellent. So did the bear
take off and bring Yes, the bear was gone. It
went into the woods and it saw the Mala militia
in the woods. Religious al right, good one, Brian, I

(01:24:43):
like that one bear trombone. He could hardly bear it.
Oh no, all right, both Benson, welcome back. What kind
of brand new fool have you got for us this week?
I got two quick ones. One is me for thinking
I remember I'd ever get any sleep again? Uh to
is um. Well, that's the Los Angeles Lakers brain trust

(01:25:04):
for trading for Russell Westbrook in the first place and
now telling everybody that they plan on trying to keep him.
I'm fairly certain they're just trying to do a halfass
negotiation tactic. But if they do, indeed think they can
make Russell Westbrook work, then they are the biggest fools.
And in the world. I would say well, that's fair.

(01:25:27):
I think the big issue they have there is what
are they paying the forty seven million? Yeah? How could
they possibly unload that? Come? That's a well no, because
you're just unloading Russell Westbrook's expiring deal. That that's very
tradeable if you're competent in your job, and I'm not
sure they are. But someone's gotta pay it, though, you
see what I'm saying, Well, yeah, you just take you
can there's creative math. Yeah, yeah, you just take maybe

(01:25:50):
two or three other bad contracts that another team doesn't want.
But oh no, I get that part of it. But
someone's got to take Russell Westbrook off your hands. The
fact that they put themselves in this position in the
first place and are going to convince themselves to uh
to make it work is foolish enough. Oh yes, that

(01:26:10):
we could do a whole show on that. All right,
I don't know, maybe you know what, Let's ask Bill Belichick? Bill,
would you you want to take Russell Westbrook on the Patriots?
You may be, you know, play defensive back. No, not
right now, next week maybe next week? Well, yeah, we're
in minicamp. Uh, would you would you pay Russ's full

(01:26:31):
forty seven million, Bill, No, not right now, next week? Yeah,
see Bill. See Belichick knows what he's doing. Alright. Another
rousing edition of what kind of brand New Fooler You,
including Bears Trombones, Russell Westbrook's weddings, and Claus Schmidt who
sued a bank after he robbed the bank. Yeah. This
segment is is often running, folks, which leads to America's

(01:26:55):
second favorite dance sensation Swinging sweeping the nation. Easier for
me to say that we very lovingly referred to as
what my name? All right, there's a little movie out.
I've seen it pretty good, Top Gun Maverick, and it
stars a guy by the name of Tom Cruise. But
interestingly enough, yes, I star in Top Gun, as I

(01:27:19):
have in mini movies since nine Ricky Business, under the
name Tom Cruise. But Tom Cruise is not my real name.
Brian Finley, What my name, Danny de Vito, Chris Perfett,
Tom Cruise, This is not my real name. What my name,
Chris Perfett, Thomas Man friend, almost thought you had it

(01:27:45):
there for a minute, all right, Tom Cruise is not
my real name. Chris bow Benson, what my real name? Thomas? Mother?
You got a Tom may Father, nicely done, and he's
actually got a by the way, I don't give a
rant s David, did you google it? No, that's actually
my friend and I have made jokes about that name

(01:28:06):
for a long time. You know, he's I found out
the the the hard way because, uh many years ago.
He has a brother who was also an actor. He's
been in a lot of B movies and he plays
a weirdo and his last name was May Potter, and
he looks a lot like Tom Cruise. And I forget
his first name, but found out, you know, years ago. Yeah,

(01:28:27):
Tom Tom May Potter. So the judges will allow. We
don't care about pronunciations here, all right, all right, let's uh,
let's move to a sport that you guys all like.
These next four are gonna be all baseball baseball ones. Okay,
I think trade is the true trade. Turners six game
hit streak got broken the night. Okay, in this millennium,

(01:28:51):
I still have the record for the longest hitting streak
in this millennium, Brian Finley, what my name, Wade Boggs
the operator? Never mind, all right, I still have the
longest city streak in this millennium. Chris Perfett. What my name? Um, yeah, yeah,

(01:29:18):
I got talk to us. I thought you had it
there for a minute, but you were speaking Swahili because
you might have had it anyway. Okay, A close, all right?
I still lead or check that. I can't even know,
I can't talk. I still have the record for the
longest sitting streak in this millennium. Bull Benson. What my
name is it? To Maggio? Very close? Joe hit for

(01:29:40):
fifty six dated Marilyn Monroe. Jimmy Rollins in the Phillies
thirty eight games. Jimmy Rollins. Everybody get that. Jimmy Rollins
one athlete my sister has met. Not to be confused
with Ryan Hollins. Okay, on this day I had my
first ever major league home run. Ever. It was against

(01:30:03):
the Atlanta Braves Brian family. What my name was, Fred McGriff.
That's a pretty good guess, crime dog on this day.
Don't think about it, guys. There must be some notoriety here.
I wouldn't bring it up first day in on this day. No,
let me try that again. I'm botching the hell out
of this. On this day in six I hate my

(01:30:26):
first ever home run is a major League, Chris po Fett,
what my name, I'll go, I'll go with the name.
I was trying to belt out Roger Clemens. No, by
the way, his son Cody made his debut with the
Tigers the other night, flew out to left and his
first at bat, I'm going to Detroit, August. Got my credential,
still got him. I want I hope he's up there.
I want to talk to him. All right. On this day,

(01:30:48):
six hit my first major league baseball home run ever.
Bo Benson, what my name? Oh? Don Mattingly? Not bad?
And I madd only actually broken in eighty three. You
know what, I'm gonna give you guys a major clue. Okay,
and try it one more time, just for fun. Let's
have some fun with this. Okay. My head grew to

(01:31:11):
the size of a small continent over the course of
my career, but I hit my first home run on
this day. Brian Familey, what my name? Barry Bonds? Look
at that. That's what I'm talking about. That's how you
played this game, Will Ferrell, That's how you debate an
old school all right, a couple more. I'm the first

(01:31:34):
player in history to hit forty home runs in both leagues.
Chris Perfett, What my name? Air Sammy Sosa? I thought
he was the first one. All right, I'm the first
player to hit forty home runs in both leagues? Uh,
Bow Benson? What my name? Frank Frank Thomas. Sorry, we're

(01:31:59):
having a good We're have a good rousing version of
this game tonight. Okay, I'm the first player in Major
League baseball history to hit forty home runs in both leagues?
Brian Fenley, What my name is? Albert Bell? Remember Joey Belly?
He was a good player. That it's actually Darryl Evans.
Former Detroit Tiger Daryl Levins and former Atlanta Brave Darryl Levins.

(01:32:21):
Darryl Levins from Pathy to California, went to Doherty High School.
For you path needed fans out there. Okay, now this
is a little easier. I think you guys are gonna
get this one. I'm the only player, only Major League
baseball player to hit fifty home runs in both leagues.

(01:32:42):
Chris poer Fett, what my name? Oh nope, don't all right,
I'm the only Major League baseball player in history to
hit fifty home runs in both leagues? Bull Bend and
what my name. I'm gonna go with Mookie Bets by

(01:33:03):
the end of this year. That's what's he gotten now.
By the way, I think he's a twelve or thirteen.
You can happen, you can happen, all right. I'm the
only major league baseball player he hit fifty home runs
in both leagues. Brian Familey, what my name? Willie Mays?

(01:33:25):
I'm sorry? All right, you know what. Let's let's try
this twist again. Let's have a clue, and you guys
are gonna get this. Okay. I'm the only major league
baseball player to hit fifty home runs in both leagues.
But I'm not here to talk about the past. Chris Perfette,
what my name I Bernie. I know very little about baseball.

(01:33:46):
I have no clue. I'm sorry. I'm the only baseball player,
major league player, he had fifty home runs in both leagues.
But I am not here to talk about the past.
Brian Finley, what my name? Man? Do we don't get
another hit? Bernie Dewey, h what was that question? I
was gonna say, do we get more hit? What? Well,

(01:34:07):
let's see if bull gets it. I'm the only major
league baseball player to hit fifty hor runs of both leaves.
But I'm not here to talk about the past. Bill Benson,
what my name? How about Mark McGuire, bam, I will
never forget that debacle. In March two thousand and five,
when Raphael pal Merroll pointed his finger, it says, I

(01:34:30):
did not forget it. You remember that circus. And then
Mark Wire had his glasses on and said, I'm not
here to talk about the past, right all right, So
we had Mark McGuire, Darrel Levins, Jimmy Rollins, Barry Bonds
and yes, Tom may Pother. Nicely done, guys. Another rousing
edition of what my name? Do defense really win championships?

(01:34:53):
Does defense win championships? Let's talk about the Boston Celtics
World Warriors, because they're historically good defensively, and I compared
him to the O four Pistons who swarm the Lakers defensively.
Everybody thought the Pistons will get swept, and they almost
swept the Lakers. Bag actually called it the five Games week.
Kobe hit a bomb with two seconds to go in

(01:35:15):
Game two to tag a series one to one that
was back during the two three two format, and when
the series went back to Detroit for three games. Chauncey
Billips told everybody on the bus we ain't going back
to l A and they didn't. So does defense still
win championships in the NBA? Tell you what I think.
Coming up, I'm Bernie frederwock Com. Do you live in
the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios? Keep me locked?

(01:35:37):
You're listening to Fox Sports Sunday and Fox Sports Radio.
Well right back on Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Sunday,
Bernie Fradill come to you live from the Las Vegas
Fox Sports Radio Studios. Coming up bottom of the yar.
After Brian Finley's update, We've got Christoph Frets World of
Soccer Go Ukraine. Got a backstory there you want to hear.

(01:35:58):
Does defense really win champions ifs? Well, you tell me
because right now Boston thirteen and six in the playoffs,
and they ranked number one in advanced defensive metrics and
the Golden State Warriors ranked eighth in the same categories.
By the way, gold State twelve and five in the playoffs.
Boston thirteen and six. But whether it's offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds,

(01:36:19):
and that rebounds, assist percentage points per possession, I can't
give you a bunch of numbers on the radio, or
your head will explode. This is advanced up, but suffice
it to say, if you're looking at the chart that
I've observed in the recently, Boston is off the charts
when it comes to defense. Now, let's go back before
the series started, because before the final started, because Boston

(01:36:43):
had just lost Game six at home, that meant they
needed to go back on the road Game seven to
beat Miami. And prior to that athlet that game last Sunday,
road teams in the NBA in Game seven's were just
thirty two and one oh eight. That's a two winning percentage.
But Boston went in and won that game in Miami.
So heading into the Finals, the Celtics seven and two

(01:37:06):
on the road in the playoffs. And interestingly enough, I've
actually been a little better offensively on the road than
they have at home. But only seven teams have actually
won eight or more road games in posteason history, and
all those seven teams five won the championship. Well, guess
what Boston won that eighth game when they won Game

(01:37:27):
one on Thursday. Given the Warriors have home court advantage, right,
the theory is, well, the Celtics are gonna have the
least have one more road win to earn their eighteenth
championship and be one of the eight teams having won
eight road teams in the playoffs. Again, five of the
last seven who did it won a championship. Now that

(01:37:49):
bolts pretty well for the Celtics. Now, what makes your
defense so good? They ranked second and both appointed to
in both opponent two point percentage and three point percentage
thirty one. Wow, So that's you know. They say matchups
make fights, Well, we got ourselves the matchup here because

(01:38:09):
gold State is gonna have to make the threes opponents. Actually,
they have only taken just thirty six percent of their shots,
the third lowest opponent rate in the playoffs from three
point range against Boston. To give that some perspective, the
average per team is so quite a bit less over
ten percent less of the time four percent less of

(01:38:30):
the time visiting teams. Opposing teams are shooting threes versus
Boston versus every other team. By the way, we talked
about could Golden State handleists a switching defense? Will Boston
switches of their ball screens? That's the second highest rate
in the playoffs. They switched on in the conference finals

(01:38:51):
after switching in the first two rounds, but when they
switch more, they are the best among the sixteen teams
who switched at least a hundred of the playoffs. Boston
defensively gets it done. They only allow point oh seven
three points per possession from pick and roll ball handlers.
Again the second best market the entire playoffs. Everywhere you

(01:39:13):
go their number one or number two. This is a
team unfascinated by Boston started out they were twenty five
and right they were like Zager and Evans in the
year through fifty games. They did conclude though the Eastern
Conference champion ship game, winning that game by winning twenty

(01:39:33):
six of their thirty two final regular season games. And
during that thirty two games span, Boston gave up less
than a hundred points thirteen times. And this man's NBA.
That's saying a lot. In the playoffs so far, Boston
his yeld less than a hundred points in six of
their eighteen games, and they gave up a hundred and

(01:39:54):
eight in the victory uh Thursday night against Golden State.
You'll sell it happened there, but only allowed. Boston only
allowed fourteen points in the fourth quarter. Boston also has
did you forget Defensive Player of the Year and Marcus
spart Smart in Each member of the Celtics starting five

(01:40:14):
received at least one vote for Defensive Player of the Year,
so Marcus Smart wends the award. But Jason Tatum, Robert Williams,
al Horford and again of course Smart all received votes
for Defensive Player in the Year, and Jalen Brown uh

(01:40:35):
had what you called the defensive win chairs with three
point four better. And to put that in perspective, only
two members of the Warriors, Wiggins and Curry, received that plateau,
even Drmond Green didn't. So does defense win championships? So
far it's one and all in the playoffs. And I
gotta tell you, I don't know that I've ever anticipated

(01:40:55):
a game too as much as I have anticipated the
game too. Later on one day, which you'll which you'll
tip off, what PM Pacific eight thirty eastern. Yes, you'll
all be watching, and I'm guessing some to you will
be watching Ukraine they play Whales and if they win
there in the World Cup. Yes it's a World Cup.

(01:41:16):
So in a minute we'll get to Chris Parfet's World
of Soccer But first let's go to the band who
will answer the eternal question. Donora, Pennsylvania, A boy is
born with a bat in his hands. At precisely that moment,
three thousand miles west, a boy is born with two balls. Coincidence,

(01:41:38):
I don't know. We've got to go to Brian Finley
for the update. Well to what you just said, Bernie,
I'm gonna be in Pennsylvania later this month, so I
knew that. Yeah, that's what you were getting at something
something like that. Or by the way, by the way, Brian,
you're on fire tonight, so why not while you're on fire,
let me ask you a question. Bonus questions, which state
and union has the most pencils? I'm Pennsylvania, Bernie, you

(01:42:05):
got me this time? Wow? Okay, Brian taking fifteen love,
I still try to come back and save my serve,
no doubt. So speaking of getting crushed, that would be
the Oilers. As we look at the NHL postseason, a
four to two laws to the Avalanche and this is
the Western Conference Finals. That means, Bernie the Colorado all

(01:42:28):
they need is one more win. They're onto the Stanley
Cup Final. They are up three games to none in
this series. As far as Major League Baseball, we had
Pete Alonso hit two home runs for the Mets. As
they go on the road and they show up the
Dodgers nine to four, the Cardinals pastor the Cubs seven
to four, and ten and things. That was game two
of a doubleheader. Game one went to Chicago. The Marlins

(01:42:51):
hang on against the Giants five to four. They wanted
in the bottom of the ninth with a sack fly
leading to of course, a run scored. The Padres with
a win against the Brewers ford to nothing. Jake cronin
Worth a home run, three runs batted in the Royals
silence the Astro six to nothing. Houston scattered five fish.

(01:43:12):
They could not get anything going offensively. The White Sox
did late and that contributed to their win against the
Raise three to two. Jake Burger had a two run
blast in the eight. The Yankees blast the Tigers three
to nothing. Aaron Judge home run and that is his
twenty one on this season, major league best. He'll be

(01:43:33):
getting paid after this season, that's for sure. Billy Horssel
leads the Memorial the PGA Tour event this week. Through
three rounds, he is up by five strokes minus thirteen
after a sixty five. On Saturday, those chasing him would
be Cameron Smith and Aaron Wise, both with a share
of second at minus eight in a couple of hours

(01:43:57):
three and a half to be exact, Rofanadal and castper
Row it will be dueling for the French Open final.
And earlier on Saturday we had Eat and Coco Golf
getting after it for the French Open, a women's title
and it went to IgA world number one, being the
eighteen year old American in straight sets in Finally, Bernie
looking forward to this as I am to all the

(01:44:19):
other sporting events that are taking place later on Today,
it's Game two NBA Finals, the Warriors trying to even
the series at one. They'll be hosting the Celtics at
eight pm Eastern. I know we will all be watching
that good stuff. Brian. I'm glad you brought up the
Houston offense by the way. I mean, somehow they're in
first place in the thirty four and nineteen Dude, that

(01:44:41):
offense couldn't score in a women's prison with a fistful
the fifties they're hitting two thirty two. It's a team,
But I digress. All right at this time every week
thanks Brian Christopher Fetton's World of Soccer, and this is
this is very newsworthy because you know, we might not
have seen world evance taking place. It will truly affect
the storyline behind this game. But Ukraine they've managed to

(01:45:04):
keep their World Cup dreams alive in spite of what's
happening in their home country. And if they defeat Whales
on Sunday, well there will not be a dry eye
in the house. Christoper fet take it away. That's right, Bernie.
We got to see Ukraine continue their storybook run for
the World Cup. They had to play, they had to
play two qualifiers here and they've got to go through
two British teams to do it. They took on Scotland

(01:45:26):
on Wednesday and thanks to andre Yarmlenko and Roman Yerram Chuck,
they got through a couple of goals there to get it.
Their final score was one three Scotland and Wales. They do,
you know, scores a little different there. It's not a
winner over over the top um as you say, man
like it was it was. It was a hell of
a scene. I watched that game like so many supporters

(01:45:48):
out there and today here on Sunday morning, we will
have Ukraine taking on Whales. Whales spearheaded Pacific, right. I
believe nine am Pacific yes um should be an interesting match.
I have seen that apparently they're setting aside over a
hundred tickets for refugees to go there, and from what

(01:46:08):
we saw from the scenes in Scotland, I'm sure the
Scottish fans are very passionate, but there was still a
lot of people cheering and supporting Ukrainians as they take
this on. Like the the the events in Ukraine are
heartbreaking across the board and this team is just playing
with fire and passion. All they gotta do is beat
Wales today and they're in the World Cup. It's not

(01:46:29):
comming easy task. Bernie Wales is probably an even better
team than scott Wales is. Wales is well. Gareth Gareth
Bale one of the best players in the world right
now leaving Real Madrid. We'll see where he goes next,
but just newly newly uh mettled. I think you know
we've got the Platinum Jubilee for the Queen of England

(01:46:51):
and I think Gareth Bale actually one was awarded the
Medal of the British Empire. If I'm he's an mp E.
So I love how you come up with these names,
because to give it some perspective, he scored like forty
goals in the last tied matches and he scored both
goals to beat Australia the other day. So this is
a big time player. Yeah, yeah, he's a big time player.

(01:47:11):
There's no bones about it. The Ukrainians are gonna have
to come for a real scrap, in a real fight.
They may have passion on their side, but they're gonna
have to prove it out there. Nothing is going to
be given because we're talking about the World Cup here.
Wales wants it just as bad. But man, I don't
know the storyline and the passion up behind the Ukrainians
is out of this world. They're they've got everyone's everyone's got,

(01:47:32):
you know. I feel like the entire world's reading for
the Ukraine at this point, like there's no other ways.
It's it is just it's it's unbelievable the coverage here,
and if they make it to Cutter, it will be
the story of the tournament above anything else I would believe.
So I gotta I gotta put my two cents in
I'm gonna predict Ukraine wins and I'm not being funny.

(01:47:53):
They've got a goalie. He's almost forty years old. These
names Notre Potif okay, and in eight international matches he
has like forty shutouts or they call it a clean
sheet soccer, right, you know, not not the bed they
sleep in. But you know you so a goalie, just
like hockey, a goalie hot coal, they can steal the game. Um,

(01:48:13):
I I believe the Ukran's gonna win. Go ahead, and
Chris right, and I think I mean to your point, Bernie,
Like you saw we talked about the Champions League. Real
Madrid's goalkeeper about Courtois like he stood on his head
for that, and that's how Italy one euro. Same way.
A goalkeeper when he is hot like that, if he's
standing on his head like that, he is a wall.
You will you shall not pass. I'm getting a little nerdy.

(01:48:35):
I love Lord of the Rains. Um let's talk about
another friendly that happened, because we're getting our first look
at the US men's team as well, and um, US
captain America himself kind of had some comments that made waves.
Christian pulisitch. So the US handled Morocco and a friendly
very easily. But Christian Pulis has kind of made some
waves where he basically said that he was not happy

(01:48:58):
with quote the amount of American So we are in
attendance at Cincinnati for this friendly and it's kind of
sent waves down there. Um, it's a very interesting comment
to make. I'm not going to try to overread it
too much, but in in general, like, it's no surprise
that fan enthusiasm for the US men's team has taken
a massive hit since the last World Cup they were in.

(01:49:21):
They didn't qualify in ten. This team has a ton
of talent, but I hate to say it, like I
almost feel like I keep seeing some commentators believe that
the US men's teams on the men, but I hate
to say the women's team is just far more popular
than them, and they keep playing in these places like Cincinnati.
Like I know there's a lot of like push to
support new MLS stadiums like in Cincinnati, but Bernie, where

(01:49:46):
was it? I just had it up. Okay, So, since
the start of US men's team has only played a
single game in a top five US media market between
new York City, l A, Chicago, Philadelphia or Dallas. Now,
they've probably played a lot more of those matches in Denver,
which is kind of considered. They're like home stadium for
a lot of their big matches. The high altitude plays

(01:50:08):
in the Americans favor and everything. But the fact that
they're kind of seeking out Cincinnati and like, I'm sorry,
it's a friendly against Morocco and the prices for these
games is really jacked up, Like, don't they have a
friendly later today? Again, yes, they do have a second friendly. Um,
I have to go see where that takes two o'clock
our time, two o'clock our time, so they'll be after that,

(01:50:30):
and I believe that is being played in UM where
it doesn't have a location here. Let me, I'm not sure.
I'm not sure. They play like three games in the
next ten days. They're all friendly. Yeah, so I think
this is this is going to be taking place in
Kansas City. Now, that's usually but that's a more established
sport in Kansas City, a much older MLS team. So
maybe the U S outlaw has turned up a little
bit bit better for puels such as liking but he

(01:50:52):
can't really, I'm sorry, man, like this is this is
not the right time for him to be complaining about
fans support. I don't think they understand it. They don't
understand that, like there was a huge damage done to
the brand of the US men's team in ten. You
have to win it back, you have to kind of
win it back. It's not it's not like as bad
as Italy, who's now missed two World Cups. But like
I find the comments just be very assinine from Pula

(01:51:15):
sitch over here, like this is not this is not
given to you, this has earned um. One last note
since I mentioned thirty seconds, real quick, Georgio Ciolini one
of my favorite players from Italy, longtime Juventus defender. He
is coming state sites to l a f C and uh,
we won't talk much MLS here, but I just want
to give the heads up for that because he's a

(01:51:36):
fantastic player, fantastic career at Juventus coming to an end,
and much love to him as he moves over to
the official retirement league Major League socks. Alright, good stuff, Chris,
and obviously my next week and just time, i'll know
if you Crane pulled it off or not. But this
is a World Cup amazing, and Uh, the long and
the short of it is, the World Cup is something

(01:51:59):
where there's not like the anticipation for the World Series
or the NBA Finals or anything like that. But once
it's upon us, the world sort of galvanizes. And believe me,
here in Las Vegas, there's lots of uh watch parties
in various bars, various countries, and it's it's pretty amazing,
uh to see are coming up. We're gonna wrap up
the show and I've got some final numbers and thoughts

(01:52:20):
and trends about the NBA Finals heading into Game two.
And just because you won game went on the road,
past success does not guarantee future results. How's that sound
like a disclaimer, But I've got the receipts to prove
why I just said that. I'm Bernie Fratto. We're coming
to your live from Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Keep it locked right here. You're listening to Fox Sports
Sunny and Fox Sports Radio right back on Fox Sports Sunday,

(01:52:45):
Fox Sports Radio. Bernie Fratto coming to your live from
the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. Before I wrap
up the show, I want to thank my broadcast team
back in Los Angeles. They've been with me since eleven
V and Pacific Saturday Night. That would be Bull Benson,
Chris for Fete and of course Brian family on updates.
Could not do the show without the teamwork. Great job, guys,

(01:53:07):
keep it a school together, turning all the dials. Some thoughts,
some final thoughts before Boston and Golden State tip it
off game two in Golden State, it will tip off
of what about fifteen hours from now? They're abouts number one.
Much has been made about Boston's three point garage in

(01:53:28):
the fourth quarter on Thursday night, but I think it
was Boston's ball pressure and physical defense that's at the
stage for that that was a major factor. I will
say this. Raymond can talk all he wants about they're
gonna make those shots again. Well, he scored fourteen points
in the fourth quarter. Alright, Golden State, put that in
your pipe and smoke it. Number two Draymond, I thought

(01:53:51):
was very dismissive in the post game. Right, Boston is
not in the NBA Finals because of some god given right.
They won three series against three Well, let's put this.
Put it this way, at least marquee type teams they swept.

(01:54:11):
They Tommy Fams slapped Katie and Brooklyn and swept him. Alright,
not so much, but still Brooklyn. And there's still a
lot of slappies out there that thought Brooklyn was gonna
go somewhere. Then they beat the defending champs, Jannese and
the Bucks. Then they had to take down a gritty
Heat team, a gritty, gutty Heat team on the road
in Game seven. By the way, Boston won three road

(01:54:33):
games in the Miami series. Boston's eight and two on
the road during the NBA Finals this year. Checked at
the NBA Playoffs this year, six and one in their
last seven. So Draymond's dismissiveness that leads me to believe
he took the Celtics too lightly, and still does. We
shall see what happens the remainder of the series. Remember

(01:54:53):
in Game one, in the first half, the Warriors played
with pace, in space. They did what they wanted. Yes,
they they were done by two and a half. But
in the second half, well maybe not the second half.
At the fourth quarter the Gold State where is still
the best third quarter team in basketball? I think, But
I covered the two thousand four Pistons in Detroit. They
beat the Lakers in five rip. Hamilton's used to say,

(01:55:16):
if it ain't rough, it ain't right. Boston gets physical
Olivia Newton John and when they decided to turn the
tables when they were down twelve, with their ball pressure
and the fact that they close out on shooters, they
don't give any free catches in space, and they very
much bothered. The scores give Boston's defense credit. They made adjustments,

(01:55:38):
non school and states turned to make adjustments, right. I mean,
everybody's weighing in with their wisdom. If you don't believe me,
just ask Sagacious Sage. That's the Department of Redundancy department.
The renownce Sagacious Sage, Rusty Harden, who recently said, quote
a happy ending is not against the law in this country.

(01:55:59):
Thanks for that, Rusty, All right there, at least let
let me back up so far the only bet I've made,
that's what you call an exact series prop bet. I
believe this series is going seven games while Boston continues
to do marvelous things, and clearly on the road, they
they don't seem to handle prosperity. Well. They let Miami

(01:56:19):
back up, they let Milwaukee back up. I do expect
with the classic zigzag, Golden State to win Sunday Night. Now,
there's a historical perspective here as it pertains to the
public betting history. If you fade the public in the
NBA Finals since two thousand five, the public is only

(01:56:40):
eight and twelve in the last twenty years in NBA
Final game once everybody bet Golden State game when the
books made out, the public is only thirty nine and
fifty five on all finals games since and finals teams
are seven and fifteen. When the public, all right, let's
define what that means. What does that mean? Whenever one
side is getting north the six percent of the action

(01:57:04):
that's considered a public bet, you go the other way.
Seventy of the bets are on Golden State minus four
and a half. Now, I just contradicted myself, possibly because
I believe with the zigzag, the Warriors are probably gonna
win Sunday Night, But that doesn't mean they'll cover the
four and a half. But they also could because the
public is also right about of the time. There you

(01:57:26):
have it. Now, I would say this also that if
you're trying to gauge how this series is gonna go
based on what happened game one. Careful pump the brakes.
You want to know how NBA Finals teams have done
after the road team has one game one going back
to happened six times that team who went on the
road to win game one only one, three to six,

(01:57:48):
three and three San Antonio, they went on the road
beat Miami lost in seven games and all four the
Pistons went on the road beat the Lakers beat the
Lakers in five iverson six years did it? No One,
But then they lost to the Lakers in five. Houston.
They went into Orlando and uh, and they won in

(01:58:09):
five over the Magic. The Bulls did it. The Lakers
did it, but lost to the Jordan's Bulls in so
three and three. That's it. However, I think the way
this Boston team plays defense weren't for a whale of
a serious We'll just started, but I still think it's
going seven. By the way, the only team to go
on the road and when the first two games on

(01:58:29):
the road in the NBA playoffs, those were the Chicago Bulls.
They did it against the Orlando Magic. They had a
guy by the name of Michael Jordan's. Uh, he ain't
walking through that door, right so there you have it.
Game Too Pacific coming up in a few hours, should
be a great rematch of Game two. It's gonna do

(01:58:51):
it for Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio keep it
locked up next Briano and Andy Furman