November 28, 2024 • 40 mins
This holiday, Dan Beyer and Aaron Torres are tagging in for the guys and are serving up another unforgettable Fox Sports Radio Friendsgiving!
Tune in for a festive feast of sports talk, laughter, and lively debates as Dan and Aaron welcome friends and family to the show. It’s the perfect side dish of sports and holiday cheer! 🍂🏈
Plus, Fox Sports Radio’s very own Bernie Fratto joins the fun to break down the wild ending of Bears @ Lions. Don’t miss this special Friendsgiving edition—it’s going to be a blast! 📻🎉
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, thanks for listening to the Covino and Rich Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from five
to seven Eastern to the four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for Covino Rich at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
It's not a touchdown for Drew Locke, but he's darn
close down to the one yard line Giants'll have at
first and goal, as Locke was able to scramble for
twenty eight yards on this friends Giving here on Fox
Sports Radio. As we're broadcasting live from the tierrat dot
com studios. Tierraq dot com will help you get there,
an unmett selection, fast free shipping, free road as a protection,
(00:41):
and over ten thousand recommended installers tierraq dot com. The
way tire buying should be. It is Covino and Rich,
but it's much more than that. Aaron Torres on this Thanksgiving,
as we've found out, it is also a friends Giving.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
It's the Buyer and Torres Friendsgiving. On five Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Bernie Frado's gonna stop by. He told me so, it's
gonna do so in twenty minutes, we'll find out where
this Lions Bears ending ranks in the history of Thanksgiving
stories that have happened featuring the Lions in Motown, and
Bernie's taken in a fair share. We'll get his thoughts,
plus a good travel down memory lane that in so
much more on this Thanksgiving Day, friends, stopping by if
(01:24):
you missed it earlier, Aaron and I were in for
the Doug Gottlieb Show, So this is for us. We've
been here two plus hours and in that time, Chris Gordy,
our buddy from Houston Sports Talk seven to ninety and
Lockdown sec joined us. Then Tim Patrick, Yes, that Tim Patrick,
the wide receiver of the Detroit Lions. Wait, do you
hear what he had to say about how the Bears
handled these late second scenarios. We'll get that coming up
(01:47):
in the show. And then Torres's Saturday Night cohort, Jason Martin,
who's got to be back here probably in about twelve
hours from now or something like that. I'm not exactly
but ballparking it twelve to fifteen hours from now. I's
got to be back here on Fox Sports Radio as
he and Brian no are teaming up. But you and
j Mart every Saturday night, eleven Eastern, eight Pacific get
together and talk college football. And we did that with
(02:08):
Jamart earlier. So it's been fun.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
It was fun.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
We appreciate you, well, we appreciate everybody joining us here
on our friends Giving celebration. But yeah, J Mart and
I will have plenty to talk about it. It's a
really fun shift. I know you and Carrie Rhodes crush
it on the Sunday Red Zone Radio. I don't know
that we have quite the same vibe, quite the fast
paced action on the eleven PM Eastern show, but we
are always coming off something really good. Last week it
(02:34):
was Alabama off the upset. A day filled with upsets,
but Alabama was the one that happened right in our window.
And obviously this week we're coming in off the big one. Texas,
Texas A and M. I saw stat, Dan, I know
we got to get back to the NFL, but I
saw a stat from Tick Pic that Texas, Texas A
and M on their website is the most expensive regular
(02:56):
season ticket they have ever sold NFL or college I think,
as Chris Gordy said, it's approaching like eight hundred dollars
get in price razy. So we're gonna, we're gonna, you know,
because it's not only a rivalry where they truly hate
each other. They haven't played in thirteen years, but there's
now a playoff. There's a trip to the SEC Championship
(03:16):
on the line, and there's a playoff Berth on the line.
And so we're excited about that, but obviously excited to
spend the next two hours Cavino and Rich with you
with the gang, obviously talking about a lot of football.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I think the idea of Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving is to
not complain. Yet we all have families and know that
in fact, it's the time where people mostly complain on holidays.
That's what you get, so what you get when you
get family together. We try to keep it positive here. However,
I am going to bring up a complaint that I
heard that I just never never really jumped on board with,
(03:46):
and it was the flat that Big Newon Kickoff had
been getting over the last couple of weeks because of
the games that they've been putting in the new Eastern
nine Pacific window, specifically involving Ohio State in a lot
of those games.
Speaker 6 (04:00):
I love, I.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Love having the if if you're not Aaron Torres or
Jason Martin, and you're watching six games at one time.
It's great to go from one to the other to
the other. I would hate to have Michigan Ohio State
be up against Texas and Texas A and M. I
am a fan of the spreadouts. I am good with it.
I know people have a problem. You want night games
and atmosphere. Yeah, yeah, yeah, not everybody gets to go
(04:23):
to night games. It's much bigger picture here. I am
all for it, and I think that that is tomorrow
Saturday is a perfect example of it. If you're a
college football fan, you can just go from this great
game to that great game to that great game, and
I have an enjoyable Saturday.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (04:37):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
It's a discourse that, obviously, because of my Fox affiliation,
I've kind of just sat out of because if I one,
if I don't defend Fox, it doesn't look very good.
But if I do defend Fox, oh, you're just defending
your company.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
One.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
I agree with you on just the layout of the game.
And I remember, I think it was year one or
year two when they first implemented it. I was still
on Saturday Nights with Arnie Span and I brought up
this point is like twelve Eastern used to.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
Be kind of this graveyard. You know, it used to
be the joke, right.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
It would be the Wisconsin Iowa game, the Iowa Minnesota game,
and every game would be you know, six three or
ten seven, and it was just it was unwatchable. And
so to get those big games, it spreads it out.
You can focus on those big games. But the thing
that has ended up happening, which is unfortunate and it's
not Fox's fault, is that I think where the discourse
(05:27):
really took off was just that it was like seven
or eight weeks in a row, Ohio State ended up
in a New Eastern game, and those weren't all Fox games,
and so that was the part that you know, I
wanted to speak up, but I felt like I'd just
be defending my company. But it's like, listen, what Big
ten network chooses to do or what you know other
(05:50):
networks choose to do, is out of Fox's control.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Their job is to.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Just basically, look, we're gonna put our best game of
the week in that New Eastern window, and surprise, surprise,
a lot of times the number two team of the
country is gonna end up playing in that window. By
the way, previous years, it's been a lot of Michigan games,
it's been a lot of other teams. You know, we
had Colorado playing ten ten am local time, twelve eastern
(06:15):
start times. So I just bring it up because I
think it became a thing because Ohio State ended up
playing seven eight noon games in a row, but those
weren't all big noon games.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
And to your point, Dan.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
For those of us who do love college football, for
those of us who are able to sacrifice the entire
day or enjoy the entire day, it gives us another
big game and another big window where we don't have
to jump between two or three screens trying to watch
all the big games.
Speaker 6 (06:40):
Isn't it funny?
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Because it felt that at one point that three thirty
eastern was the big time, Like there was a day
in age in college football where you're playing the three
thirty eastern time game, Like wow, that was huge, Like
that was the twenties some years ago. Because of the
TV contracts and then the Big ten, Like while Keith
Jackson is going to be doing the game, you know
that you have at three point thirty eastern time, like
(07:02):
that was the standard. Then it moved to the primetime games,
and then now you've got it all over the map.
But I actually love it, and I hope that it
doesn't change. In fact, I think that the NFL is
too much when you look at a chief schedule, night
game after night game after night game. Like last week
there in Carolina, I was like the first time in
forever they had played like a one o'clock Eastern time start.
(07:23):
Because all of the games growing up in Wisconsin, the
Packers always just played at noon Central time zone. They
weren't that good. I wouldn't doubt if the Packers had
less than five noon games on their schedule this year.
You just went up and down because of all the
different windows. They're a marquee team, They're a draw. I'm
all for it. I'm all for the afternoon football.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
No, I love it.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
And like I said, is you know, listen, I understand.
First of all, I do understand. Hey, one, there's just
a lot of people that go to games. But two,
there's a lot of people that because of family commitments,
because maybe you're more of a Sunday guy or girl,
you just can't sit there for twelve hours a day.
But I'd count by saying, you know, listen, the one
thing I've learned about college football fans, and it is
(08:05):
very obvious in this twelve team playoff here they're going
to complain about everything. But what I would also say is,
if let's just use this weekend as the hypothetical. If
that big noon game was instead Michigan Ohio State on
at seven thirty, that'd be great for Michigan Ohio State fans,
But then college football fans would be complaining, well, what
about Texas, Texas A and m How come all the
(08:25):
good games are at the same time, and so you
can't keep everybody happy. And I just think it's it's
as a fan of the sport that is able to
spend most of Saturday on the couch.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
I like the spread out of the games.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
They may be old fashioned, maybe setting their ways, but
I remember in two thousand and six when it was
undefeated at Ohio State against undefeated Michigan, and the game
was moved off of the traditional noon Eastern time kick
and they had it as the three thirty Eastern time
And that's kind of the time that I was talking
about as well. Of like, when you look at at
that time of era in college football, th Eastern was
(09:00):
a big deal and the game started in the daytime
ended at night because it's one versus two game of
the century. But even the traditional lists were like, why
are you moving off of neon Eastern? And they've had
it at noon Eastern, I believe ever.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Since so well, And I was gonna say too, that's
the other thing, especially Michigan Ohio State. Again, I understand
the discourse, but with Michigan Ohio State again, that's a
great tradition. We were talking to open the Gottlieb Show
that for a long time there was a conversation, Hey,
you can't but get the lines off Thanksgiving Day. It's
the worst thing. And I'm so tired of watching this
lousy team. And it's like, it's okay to just keep
(09:35):
some traditions, like we don't have to ruin every tradition
for TV and for money and for this and that.
And so I know we're talking about the bigger picture
of big Noon, but that Michigan Ohio State, you know,
high noon obviously on on on the Saturday after Thanksgiving
is one of the great traditions in sports. And I'll
say this is that would be one that did feel
weird if it was a seven thirty eastern or.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Three even a three thirty eastern kickoff.
Speaker 6 (09:59):
He is herein tour. I'm Dan Byer. I do want
to say something.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
In regard to the Lions Bears game. I actually and
Caleb Williams was at faults for this. I missed something
in thinking about the big picture with the Chicago Bears.
The Chicago Bears question in the off season because we
knew Mattieberfluss was going to return, and they brought in
Shane Waldron's what do you do with the first overall pick?
(10:26):
Do you take Caleb Williams? Do you trade the pick?
What do you do with justin fields? How do you
handle this sort of sort of scenario? And in my reasoning, Aaron,
as I looked at everything, I said, okay, you make
this decision. You make that decision. And my decision was
you take Caleb Williams at number one. I wasn't sure
if the Bears were going to do it. Thought maybe
(10:47):
they'd try to trade with Washington was one of my theories.
But ultimately they're going to take Caleb Williams. And when
we were talking about that scenario, I said, makes perfect sense.
I'm on board with it. And one of the reasons
why it is because when you draft Caleb Williams, if
Matt Eberflus doesn't work out, you have got the marquee
job in the NFL open for practically anybody that you'd
(11:09):
want to hire. Sure, and I think some of that
is true, but I'm not sure if all of it
is true. I think that this year and how things
have played out, maybe some of it is to Caleb Williams,
you know, fault. But I don't think that it is
as rosy of a job as I thought it was,
say nine months ago, with Caleb Williams as your quarterback,
(11:30):
because there have been struggles this year.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
We saw in this late game situation.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
You can maybe just pin it on coach and quarterback
just aren't on the same page. But I don't know
if it's as rosy as I thought it was going
to be. I still think it's an amazingly good job.
And if you were an offensive coordinator and you're looking
at the vacancies, it's going to be difficult to pass
one up where Kleb Williams is your quarterback. But there
(11:55):
has been some collateral damage by letting Matt Eberflus coach
this season, and I think it's going to trickle on
into the offseason.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Well, it's a great conversation and it goes back to listen,
I totally see your point. So this is not me
like criticizing the point of it. It's his desirable job.
And you get to see ebra Flus one more time,
and they actually played pretty well down the stretch, all
that good stuff. My whole thing was multiple things, all
the stuff that we're talking about now, defensive head coach.
But then it's not only that you waste a year
(12:24):
of Caleb, it's that it's this is.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
Actually the worst case scenario.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
It's that you've not only wasted a year of Caleb
on the rookie contract whatever.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
But two, there is a regression.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
And what did we talk about Dan and how Matt
Eberflus handled the final two minutes is that he looked timid,
that he lacked confidence, and that he's starting to second
guess and question everything he's doing. My worry is does
that become Caleb Williams. I mean, this kid, we all
watched him at US. He played so much on instinct,
so much on confidence, a guy that just listen. If anything,
(13:00):
the concern with Caleb Williams was that he believed in
his confidence. He believed in himself too much, that he
was too confident, and so you look at him losing
that confidence, and I do worry that not only has
the growth been stunted, but is there some type of
long term effect of that, not just the hits that
he's taken, the proverbial and figurative hits, but also just
(13:24):
the mental wear and tear of What made this guy
so special was that he ultimately believed in himself. He
ultimately believed that he could, you know, lead any comeback,
he could make any throw, he could do whatever. And
now he's playing like a timid quarterback and that is
obviously a big concern for whatever the future of this
franchise is.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
That's the toughest balance that I think the Bears are
going to have to figure out is how much power
do you give Caleb Williams? But and how much do
you empower Caleb Williams with not having him take over
everything because you can't. You can't have a yes man
to your quarterback that you bring in. It's the relationship
is gonna have to be forged, but you're gonna need
(14:02):
better play from him, So he's gonna have to want
to be coached. And so that's the balance of how
do you find the right mix. And I'll tell you what,
Tua and and Mike McDaniel, it's probably the best relationship
that we've seen of something like that.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
Holmes in reed right would have to be the best, sure.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
But I would say that I would in the case
of looking at someone bringing in somebody Newcasse Andy Reid
was already there, but bringing in somebody new and making
it work for both parties. It's very You may have
your gripes about Tua, but he is a better quarterback
with Mike McDaniel as his head coach. Like there's there's
no doubt about that. And I and I think that's
(14:42):
what you're gonna kind of have to need in Chicago.
You're gonna have to figure out a way how do
we maximize Kayleb Williams but also not let him run
the entire shop, you know what I mean. Like, there's
there's gonna have to be a balance because he can't
be completely unhappy.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
He's the star quarterback.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
He's gotta he's got to have some saying all of
this and whoever you bring in, it's gonna have to
play it with strength. It's gonna have to do everything
that you need to do. But you can't let him
take over the franchise zeroed out.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
And it's a fine line, by the way, I think.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
So you and I were on air either the day
Shane Waldron got fired or the day after Shane Waldron
got fired.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
We were filling in for Doug Gottlieb.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
And I only bring it up because I remember talking
to you about the inevitable move that's going to be made.
Do we have any confidence that the Bears are actually
gonna get it right? And part of it, and I
think John Middlecoff brought this up. I remember him talking
about it is the weird power struggle in the Bears
organization where Kevin Warren's the team president, but Ryan Poles
is the GM, and what does the team president even do?
(15:40):
But Kevin Warren seems to be the one that has
the ear of the owner and who's really making the decisions.
But that's the part that's that's sad to me, And
that's the part that even it goes back to the
pre draft process when Caleb Williams, you know, there were
rumors and reports that he didn't want to go to
Chicago if they ended up with the number one pick,
which they obviously did. That's to me the disappointing part
(16:03):
is there are situations where you know something doesn't work
and it becomes obvious a change needs to be made,
and you know that the right people are making the decision,
and whether it works or not, they're going to do
the best to put the team and the players in
the best position. I'm just not sure that that's actually
going to happen when it comes to the Chicago Bears.
(16:24):
I mean, do you feel the same way that there
seems to be a reasonable chance that they're going to
screw up this higher even if they move, even when
they move off Eberflus this year.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
It's much more of a possibility than it was a
year ago. And a long time ago someone told me
that when they're smoked, there's usually a forest fire. So
these concerns about Kevin Warren, these concerns about Ryan Poles,
I think that there's more to it. I don't know
if hard knocks always tells the story. I don't think
it's shed them in a great light and Kevin Warren
in a great light. But I think that there's something
(16:54):
to that, and I think now you have more of
a reason to question it than you did a year ago.
I know it's not the full answer in the full backup,
but I do think that there's a reason to question
that it's not the necessary automatic home run, and that
may lead into the hire may not be the exact
higher and the Bears in the way that they pay,
and or maybe lack thereof of coaches could be another
(17:16):
reason why this could be destined to fail well.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
And that's again, is we hope that they get it.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Listen, I just and I said this last year when
Brandon Staley got fired with the Chargers, I said, look,
we all see the talent from Justin Herbert. I just
hope because the Chargers again were historically an organization that
did not make the right decision, that did not take
the big swing, that did not spend on coaches. And
I remember saying, like we all think, Justin Herbert is
(17:45):
this guy. I just want to see him put in
position where if he is on par with Mahomes and
Josh Allen, that he is put in position to show
whether he's actually capable of that or not. And I
just hope the same thing is true for Caleb Williams.
I don't know who the name is. Is it Ben Johnson,
is it somebody else? Whatever, that doesn't matter. I just
hope they don't screw it up and we never get
(18:07):
to see the best version of Caleb Williams.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
By the way, maybe the best version of Caleb Williams.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Isn't better than jayde and Daniels or bow Nicks and
he ends up being the fourth best quarterback in this
draft class anyway, But you just want to see what
it looks like when he is put in a position
to succeed. I think Ryan Poles obviously did a good
job of surrounding him with plenty of actual on the
field talent, but it also goes without saying the coaching
needs to be a lot better going forward.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
He's erin Torres.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I'm Dan Byer a special Friends giving episode of Cavino
win Rich Here on Fox Sports Radio. Tyron Tracy scored
from one yard out extra point was good. Giants have
taken a seven to three lead on the Cowboys the
now early in the second quarter. Cowboys, though driving at
the Giants nineteen again early in the second Giants up
on Dallas as seven to three, hit Aaron up at
Aaron Underscore Tours. You can find me at Dan Byer
(18:54):
on Fox or at Dan Byer on Blue Sky. Coming
up next, we go to the Man that knows you'll
hear him here on Fox Sports Radio. But he's coming
over from Thanksgiving, so now I only tell us what's
up now, but also a little trip down memory lane
when it comes to Thanksgiving in Motown. That's next here
on Fox.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
It's Cavino and Rich here on Fox Sports Radio. But
it's not just a regular Cavino on Rich episode.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
It is a It's the Buyer and Torres Friendsgiving on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
He's heards are as.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I'm Dan Bayer having some fun Cavino on Rich ren
for Dan Patrick earlier today. You can always check out
the podcast at Fox Sports Radio dot com wherever you
get your podcasts and hear what the guys were doing
earlier today. We've been having a lot of fun and
the only people not having fun today. I think of
the Chicago Bears for how they lost to the Detroit
Lions today at twenty three to twenty final score as
(19:56):
the Lions get their tenth straight win. Bears fall the
four and eight. But it's how they lost that is
so disappointing. We're going to hear from Matt Eberflus later
on in this hour as the Bears head coach tried
to explain how things went down today and how the
clock expired on them. Tough, tough go for the Bears,
who again fall to the Lions twenty three to twenty.
(20:18):
I also want to let you know Giants lead the
Cowboys seven to six.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
Saw early in the second quarter. The doorbell is rung,
and what do you know?
Speaker 3 (20:26):
We welcome in our good buddy, Bertie Fratto to the program.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Happy Thanksgiving, Dores Friendsgiving on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Bernie, I'm so excited to see you.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
I completely ran over the imaging, like I just completely
bulldozed it.
Speaker 6 (20:41):
Happy Thanksgiving, my friend, How are you well?
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Happy Thanksgiving to you guys.
Speaker 7 (20:44):
And on the ninetieth anniversary of the first ever Thanksgiving
in Detroit, on the fiftieth anniversary At the last time
the game was played outdoors Bears Lions Thanksgiving. They managed
to avoid an eight game losing streak Lion's Thanksgiving. Are
you not entertained?
Speaker 3 (21:03):
My goodness, Oh, the entertainment was overflowing, just like the
drinks will be tonight at our friends giving here on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
Is this all on Iberflus? That last play? Is that?
Speaker 3 (21:16):
How much do you put on Caleb Williams? Or is
this just Bears coaching?
Speaker 7 (21:20):
We're really not gonna know, but I think Abraflus was
a dead man walking before today. But that last eighteen
seconds he said they had a game plan. I don't
know what happened to Caleb Williams. He looked like he
was in the mall parking lot and couldn't find his car.
I couldn't understand what was happening there, guys, because the
Bears had genuine momentum and they had a timeout and
two shots at the end zone for what would have
(21:42):
been probably a high percentage field goal.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
So the short answer.
Speaker 7 (21:46):
To your question is yet it has to be on Eberflus.
It always starts at the top.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Well, Bernie, I was just gonna ask you. You know
for years, Dan and I were talking about this earlier,
but the discourse around Thanksgiving was how dare they put
the Lions on they.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
We got to get them off air? They stink?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
One, how happy are you to just see a competitive product,
especially for those people in that fan base that you
know well?
Speaker 5 (22:10):
But two, is it time?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Is it time to start that we got to get
the Cowboys off Thanksgiving Day discourse as well, because I
think it might be burned.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 7 (22:19):
What's interesting, guys? You bring him a good point. I
know that you know the old Chief Center. I think
it was Lamar Hunt bitched about not having a game
on Thanksgiving, But really he was the only one. Not
a lot of players, not a lot of teams, not
a lot of owners even want to play on Thanksgiving.
And this whole thing started back in nineteen thirty four
(22:39):
when a guy by the name of George Richards bought
the Lions they were then called the Portsmouth Spartans. Bought
it for eight grand, moved in from Ohio to Detroit,
and they weren't drawing any fans. So he called George
Hallis of the Bears and said, why don't we play
a game on Thanksgiving and see if we can rally
some pub for the NFL, which was actually kind of
fledged back in nineteen thirty four, way behind the college game. Well,
(23:03):
George Richards was also an NBA radio executive and he
uses connections to negotiate a day with NBC to carry
the game on ninety four affiliates.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
It was a huge success.
Speaker 7 (23:14):
The old Tiger Stadium brick stadium at the time sold out.
They could have sold double the amount of tickets and
a tradition was born. And interestingly enough, the Lions have
no advantage on Thanksgiving. Going into today's game, they were
thirty seven and forty five all time. But over the
years people have complained about why do we always have
to watch the stupid old Lions and now maybe to
(23:35):
your point, the Cowboys. But I don't see it changing
anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Guys.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
These are fixtures, These are become traditions, and I think
it's something that everybody looks forward to, regardless of who's
on the field.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
And we've got a Cowboys touchdown on the board. Dallas
has taken a twelve to seven lead as Drew Locke
and the Giants have just turned it over the Marvin
Overshown tipped passed to himself on a little dump off
to Devin Singletary in the flat and Overshell and ended
up taking it to the house of Dallas's up twelve
(24:07):
to seven. Pat coming up here in just a little bit.
You've been to many a Thanksgiving Day games in Detroit.
Bertie Fratter are joining us here on Commuto and Rich
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
He's erin Torres. I'm Dan Byer.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
It's part of our Fox Sports Radio friends giving Explain
what Thanksgiving Day is like at Alliance game? Do they
pull out the red carpet? Is it Turkey galore? What
would it be like for someone to attend a Turkey
Day game in Detroit?
Speaker 7 (24:34):
It's basically a national holiday in Detroit. I was tilling
Iowa Sam off air Man, I loved it. I covered
thirteen of them from ninety five to two thousand and
eight in an official capacity to final ten for the Flagship.
You park in the garage off Brush Avenue, you walk
up the street. Rob Parker knows this. You walk in,
you go to the fifth floor. They fed us extremely well,
(24:56):
the festivities, the people on the streets, the buzz.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
In the air, the holidays, the decor.
Speaker 7 (25:00):
Detroit's a wonderful city, especially around the holidays and especially
around Lions game.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
So it was special.
Speaker 7 (25:07):
It was special watching it as a fan, and then
when I got to cover it in a physial capacity,
it was even more special because it never seems to fail.
There's always something, a distinctive thing, even the first one
I ever covered, ninety five, the Lions beat the Vikings
forty four to thirty eight in a shootout. That was
actually a pretty good Lions team, that Scott Mitchell team.
He threw for four thousand yards. But the final play
of the game, the Vikings lined up for Taylor Mary
(25:29):
and they put Herman Moore in a free safety at
six ' five to bat a ball down, And for
some reason, you remember that. Then in ninety eight, the
first game I covered in the Flagship, the first year
I started doing pre and post. Dan, you talked about
it on the air just the other day. The Steelers
and Jerome Bettis he thought he called tales in the
coin toss. The referee thought he heard heads, And obviously
(25:51):
the Lions go on to win nineteen sixteen in overtime,
and everybody went ballistic. Steelers fans calling our post game
show dropping f bombs. What was also distinctive about that game, Dan,
is that Barry Sanders. That was his final ever Thanksgiving game.
We didn't know it at the time. Fast forward to
two thousand.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
And five, Barry Bernie, can I quick interject? You mentioned
Barry Sanders there. It was also the last time the
Steelers didn't get a call, so it was especially in
that city as a Seahawks fan. I know it well,
I know well, I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Ill like okay.
Speaker 7 (26:28):
I covered the two thousand and six Super Bowl too,
super Bowl forty, also in Detroit.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
That was basically a Steeler home game.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
Yes, it was unreal. I was there too. I'm not good.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yes.
Speaker 7 (26:39):
Fast forward to two thousand and five and the reason
I bring this up. You know, the Lions lost twenty
seven to seven to Atlanta. We were doing our postgame
show at a place called Fishbones. We did a remote
Rob Parker Mark Wilson to myself and Rob came in.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
He was a few minute Clay.
Speaker 7 (26:55):
He says, I got breaking new Steve Mariucci will be
fired in the morning. And Matt Miller was going to
Mooch the next day because Mooch wanted to start Jeff
Garcia and Millen wanted Joey Harrington, the afore mentioned Joey Harrington.
Sure enough, he was fired, who walked in twenty minutes later.
No one likes the name dropper, but I'm guilty.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Steven A. Smith.
Speaker 7 (27:14):
Wi All had dinner with Steven A. Smith that night.
Fast forward to two thousand and six.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
This was a beauty.
Speaker 7 (27:19):
The before mentioned Joey Herrington again traded to Miami. Miami
comes to town, beat the Lions twenty seven and nothing,
and I gotta tell you, they could have burned the
house down. The Lions fans were so upset they were
ready to get rid of Rod Marinelli. And the thing
I remember most about that day another name drop. I
get on an elevator to go to the fifth floor.
I'm with a guy by the name of Michael Vick
(27:39):
in a realized conversation. Finally, two thousand and eight, that
was the year the Lions went Owen sixteen. We had
a real tight game against Tennessee that day, lost forty
seven to ten. And that was the final year I
was doing it in an official capacity. But I'm glad
you bring it up, Dan, because, as you know, being
a great sports fan in his store, and you are.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Sometimes it's the game on the field.
Speaker 7 (27:59):
Sometimes it's the ancillary events surrounding the game and around
the game that make you remember. But Thankskeeping Day in
Detroit and football is just it's indescribable.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
Burn.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Another thing that I know that you've covered quite a bit,
and you've been to some of these games. Ohio State Michigan.
M Can you give me any sell on Michigan. You know,
good defensive front, Ohio State old line banged up. Can
you give any of us a sell on this one?
At least being competitive? Even if we know Michigan is
probably not going to pull off the upset for a
(28:30):
four straight year.
Speaker 7 (28:32):
Being the great journalist you are, you're looking for that
angle the.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
I'm looking for a hope. I'm looking for a.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
Reason, Not Bernie, let me reason.
Speaker 7 (28:42):
Let's be honest. The Buckeyes are laying twenty one points
for a reason. And not only is Ryan Day expected
to win, h he's expected to you know, show out
and show up and run up a score. Right, I
see no chance and you can save this Miching. I
think led Zeppel and re record the Gilligans Allen theme song.
(29:04):
And sell a million copies before Michigan beats Ohio State Saturday.
They're gonna get They're gonna get smoked, but that doesn't
mean they're gonna get blown out. I could see this
being a thirty one to fourteen type game.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Michigan will compete, they'll play hard.
Speaker 7 (29:15):
They don't have the depth, they don't have any differentclivities
they had last year. But what makes this game so
special it's the greatest rivalry in all of sports. I
don't care what anybody says. It started out as a
land war. They fought over Toledo in the eighteen hundreds,
which led to Michigan.
Speaker 5 (29:30):
On Wait, the two schools fought the two states, not.
Speaker 7 (29:32):
The two states. Yeah, not the schools, the states. Too
long of a story to tell, but I will tell
you this story. This is just one of a thousand
because I covered ten Michigan Ohio State games as well
and just truly loved it. And word otherwise, if you're
going to the game in Columbus and drive a car
down there, don't drive with a Michigan plate because you
might end up with a dent in the door or
something far worse.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
And I'm not joking.
Speaker 6 (29:55):
No, it's happened to me. Yeah, I'll tell you. You're done,
I'll tell you the story.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Oh I love it. I don't. I don't love it,
but you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
We I'll just click two thousand and six. I just
mentioned the game in the century.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Well yeah, yeah, nine.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
We were in town and our boss at Fox Sports
Radio got us a vehicle and they were with Michigan plates.
Speaker 6 (30:16):
Everybody was giving us the finger like we.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Weren't wearing blue, we weren't where there was no there
was no Michigan fans. You know me, I'm the Ohio
State fan. I think I even had a red hat
on at the time. And we were going to our
broadcast location. I am not kidding you. It was middle
Finger after middle Finger as we were trying to navigate
our way. And again this was six hours before kickoff,
(30:39):
because you're trying to be there earlier.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
Bernie is not lying. That is the absolute truth.
Speaker 7 (30:43):
You're walking into death hell at the at the Horseshoe,
they're a little bit nicer up in ann Arbor, they're
more verbal, but in the Horseshoe they come to play.
They're most have been hooked up to a blender since
about six am. The game's always at noon. But I'll
tell you just one of a thousand stories to give
you the flavor for how much these two schools heed
each other.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
So in nineteen sixty.
Speaker 7 (31:03):
Eight, bow Sham Beckler made his debut and he wasn't
supposed to beat Ohouse State, and they shocked the world
by knocking off number one Ohio State. So the next year,
Woody Hayes wanted to kill Michigan. They were leading forty
four to fourteen with a minute to go. They score
a touchdown to make it fifty to fourteen. Ohio State
lines up for a two point conversion. Now they didn't
(31:24):
convert it, but they end up winning the game fifty
to fourteen. After the game, in the postgame press conference,
a reporter says, Woody Woody Hayes, you're up fifty to fourteen.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Why the hell would you go for two?
Speaker 7 (31:35):
He said, because they wouldn't let me go for three.
Speaker 6 (31:39):
It's on T shirts in Columbus that exact question.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
I know you're nice there, Dan, you let me finish
my punchline. I know you knew this.
Speaker 7 (31:46):
Oh no, I'll give you an idea how much these
two schools hate each other.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Oh, it is so great, Bertie. We love you as
much as those schools hate each other. So we appreciate
the time you're on tonight for malor.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Is that I'm in a night for Ben Malloy?
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Yes, sir, all right, well we will tune in and
we always appreciate your contributions and have a happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 6 (32:04):
Thanks so much for.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Joining us, enjoy your Thanksgiving and want and only Bernie Fratto.
Only Bernie Fratto can do what Bernie Fratto does. Great
to hear, I've got one other not as good as
Bernie's notes and tidbits, but the Lions. When the NFL
went to thirty two teams in two thousand and two,
(32:25):
when the Texans joined, they went into a new scheduling
pattern where you were you're rotating every every year with
another division from the other conference. Well before this latest
TV deal, where like today we had Bears, Lions, and
we have Giants Cowboys, you have four NFC teams. There
was always the obligation that CBS would get the AFC
(32:49):
and the Fox would get the NFC matchups, but it
would alternate, so one year the Lions would be on
CBS playing an AFC team and then the next year
the Cowboys would be CBS playing an AFC team, and
there was a stretch there that you would get AFC
East or AFC South with the Lions playing on Thanksgiving.
(33:10):
So you had the Patriots in O, two Colts in four,
Dolphins at six, Titans in eight.
Speaker 6 (33:15):
That was the game.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Bernie talked about Patriots again in twenty ten, Texans in
twenty twelve, and then at that point they ended up switching.
Speaker 6 (33:23):
But you had this there was like there.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Were only four teams basically on certain years that you
could choose from because of how the TV networks were
set up, and thank goodness for Peyton Manning or a
good Titans team that you could put them on there
because you weren't getting a lot of You weren't getting
a lot of the Jacksonville Jaguars or Houston Texans at
that time because they were newer. But yeah, that's the
way that the scheduling set up that they would just
(33:46):
end up playing the AFC East and the AFC South. Interesting, Yeah,
I know that, yes, and the Cowboys same thing. But
now as you've seen, heck, we have five NFC teams
playing today, Dolphins, Packers obviously playing tonight as the Dolphins
of the lone AFC representative. We told you the Cowboys
scored defensively, they got the football back. They're up six
as they kicked the extra point, thirteen to seven in
(34:08):
their own territory, eight fourteen to go until halftime. And
as you heard, the Bears fell to the Lions today
in embarrassing fashion twenty three to twenty. We're gonna hear
from Bears head coach Matt Eberflus and how he described
the waning seconds of that tobacco that's next year on Fox.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. It's the Buyer and Torres Friendsgiving on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Ah yes, it is sitting in for Cavino and Rich.
So glad to have you with us. Big thanks to
Bernie Fratto who stopped by. Tim Patrick of the Lions
came by as well. Chris Gordy locked out se see
in Sports Talk seven ninety or FSR affiliates and Houston
(35:04):
came by to talk some SEC and so much more.
Jason Martin, Aaron Torres's tag team partner, Saturday nights, eleven
o'clock Eastern time, and there's more to come on this
Friends Giving. Iowa Sam's been here the whole time. Producer
Shay's hanging out as well. Iowa Sam was only on
a line when Aaron took that shot at Iowa when
(35:25):
he mentioned normally we would get Iowa Wisconsin and that
noon Eastern time wind I was like, why am.
Speaker 6 (35:30):
I catching straight?
Speaker 5 (35:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (35:31):
And then you use another Hiow example or Iowa Minnesota,
like these games that don't matter, these graveyard games.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Well, and it's funny because I actually thought earlier in
the show we were doing favorite Thanksgiving traditions, I assumed
Iowa Sam was going with the Iowa Black Friday game,
which has become a little bit of a tradition last
couple year.
Speaker 8 (35:51):
It is, it is, definitely, but I think I mean,
I think of the day of Thanksgiving and then I
think of like Black Friday as two different things, so
you could say the whole Thanksgiving weekend. But you know,
they've only been playing this Heroes game, I think since
twenty eleven, so it's not that old. But we are
a decade and a half into it now, so you
also have an expanded schedule.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Where Ohio State Michigan used to be the week before
Thanksgiving the season was over. It was always leading into
the Thanksgiving week, and now it comes the week after,
so it's a little different.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
As well.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
As an Ohio State fan, I do want to dive
into that Ohio State Michigan stuff in a sec. But
since we brought it up, I've always felt and it's
no longer apropos because they don't have a TV deal
with ESPN anymore. But the most ESPN two game you
could get at noon Eastern to me was Minnesota Michigan State.
(36:39):
Like I think each conference has just an ESPN two
game at that time in that window, And to me,
the big Tens is Michigan State and Minnesota, and they're.
Speaker 6 (36:51):
Both four and four.
Speaker 8 (36:52):
They're like they're fighting for something, but yes, they're kind
of out of it already.
Speaker 6 (36:56):
Yes, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
That's like a good spot for a Louisville Wake Forest game.
Speaker 5 (37:01):
You're like, oh, yeah, I forgot these gona.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
I was gonna say something like pitt In Wake Forest yep,
or Virginia Wake Forest. Right now, that's on ESPN two.
That would feel like in noon Eastern time. I think
you could do these with all of your conferences if
you wanted to.
Speaker 6 (37:18):
Yeah, yeah, Big twelve would be a bracket segment.
Speaker 8 (37:23):
You know, you could have like You're Yes, You're You're
Wake Forests and your yeah, You're Louisville.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
You can't be good, but you can't be bad, Like
you can't be good enough for that game. I would
say this, Uh, Cincinnati West Virginia. That seemed like a
good ESPN two game at noon Eastern time in Morgantown.
Speaker 6 (37:45):
Maybe with Beth Mowens on the call. Maybe, yeah, that
could be the case. Sure, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
I was gonna say the SEC version is pretty much
anyone that's not Alabama playing Mississippi State, it's like, just.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Rotate in Arkansas. I was thinking Arkansas in that spot.
That works, But I'm good with Mississippi State. Or let's
check out the Kentucky game. Whereas ESPN two, that's where
you can find it.
Speaker 5 (38:10):
I think with Kentucky Vandy, they're playing again.
Speaker 6 (38:12):
It felt like they just played last week.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
It's true, you can do it with all conferences except
the PAC twelve because number one, they weren't up early
enough in me at.
Speaker 6 (38:21):
Well, they basically no game last week exists. Yes, well
we're in state taken on to win.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Remember, by the way, I was thinking about this not
that long ago, the COVID year when the pack, well,
first of all, they came back super late, but their
answer to get more viewers was playing a nine am
local start time game. And it's like, hey, how about
you just have good teams and then you don't have
to worry about getting viewers. So what are we doing
playing a nine am local game in LA?
Speaker 5 (38:48):
That really happened Arizona State USC.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
I do remember that, and I think, gosh, Boise is
up early. They've got their game. Is it is it
tomorrow or Saturday? They've got an early start as well,
because Colorado had the Utah game was at a ten
o'clock local time start. Boise Oregon State tomorrow on Fox
nine o'clock local time for us on the West coast,
(39:13):
So noon eastern nine kick.
Speaker 6 (39:15):
So yeah, Poise getting these.
Speaker 5 (39:17):
Colorado a noon eastern ten am central kick.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Yeah, Oklahoma State, Yeah, you're right, another another ten am kick.
There's nothing I used I used to have to do.
The Wisconsin pregame shows like a tailgate prior to Badger
Games when I when I worked in Madison and we'd
be setting up, but there'd be some eleven o'clock local
time kicks, but you're there at like six thirty am
setting up for your two hour broadcast. There was nothing
like a hamburger and pepsi at seven to fifteen in
(39:44):
the morning. That was it was, there was. There was
this unique taste Aaron torre Is that I could. I
could still taste it to this day and it's been
about twenty years since I had it. But at seven
fifteen there was, yeah, quite the taste in your mouth
from from that tale gate. I did want to talk
Ohio State Michigan and what could happen if Ohio State
loses and Ryan Day's not going to be fired unless
(40:08):
they then would lose the next game. That would be
the only that would be the only way that Ryan
Day would be gone. So we can end that conversation there.
Speaker 5 (40:14):
Yes, I agree with that one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
He is erin Torres, I'm dan Byer. It is our
friends giving cowboys leave the Giants thirteen to seven with
six minutes left, and you won't believe what Matt Eberflus
had to say about his bears loss to the Lions.
Speaker 6 (40:26):
That's next.
Hey, thanks for listening to the Covino and Rich Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from five
to seven Eastern to the four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for Covino Rich at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
It's not a touchdown for Drew Locke, but he's darn
close down to the one yard line Giants'll have at
first and goal, as Locke was able to scramble for
twenty eight yards on this friends Giving here on Fox
Sports Radio. As we're broadcasting live from the tierrat dot
com studios. Tierraq dot com will help you get there,
an unmett selection, fast free shipping, free road as a protection,
(00:41):
and over ten thousand recommended installers tierraq dot com. The
way tire buying should be. It is Covino and Rich,
but it's much more than that. Aaron Torres on this Thanksgiving,
as we've found out, it is also a friends Giving.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
It's the Buyer and Torres Friendsgiving. On five Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Bernie Frado's gonna stop by. He told me so, it's
gonna do so in twenty minutes, we'll find out where
this Lions Bears ending ranks in the history of Thanksgiving
stories that have happened featuring the Lions in Motown, and
Bernie's taken in a fair share. We'll get his thoughts,
plus a good travel down memory lane that in so
much more on this Thanksgiving Day, friends, stopping by if
(01:24):
you missed it earlier, Aaron and I were in for
the Doug Gottlieb Show, So this is for us. We've
been here two plus hours and in that time, Chris Gordy,
our buddy from Houston Sports Talk seven to ninety and
Lockdown sec joined us. Then Tim Patrick, Yes, that Tim Patrick,
the wide receiver of the Detroit Lions. Wait, do you
hear what he had to say about how the Bears
handled these late second scenarios. We'll get that coming up
(01:47):
in the show. And then Torres's Saturday Night cohort, Jason Martin,
who's got to be back here probably in about twelve
hours from now or something like that. I'm not exactly
but ballparking it twelve to fifteen hours from now. I's
got to be back here on Fox Sports Radio as
he and Brian no are teaming up. But you and
j Mart every Saturday night, eleven Eastern, eight Pacific get
together and talk college football. And we did that with
(02:08):
Jamart earlier. So it's been fun.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
It was fun.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
We appreciate you, well, we appreciate everybody joining us here
on our friends Giving celebration. But yeah, J Mart and
I will have plenty to talk about it. It's a
really fun shift. I know you and Carrie Rhodes crush
it on the Sunday Red Zone Radio. I don't know
that we have quite the same vibe, quite the fast
paced action on the eleven PM Eastern show, but we
are always coming off something really good. Last week it
(02:34):
was Alabama off the upset. A day filled with upsets,
but Alabama was the one that happened right in our window.
And obviously this week we're coming in off the big one. Texas,
Texas A and M. I saw stat, Dan, I know
we got to get back to the NFL, but I
saw a stat from Tick Pic that Texas, Texas A
and M on their website is the most expensive regular
(02:56):
season ticket they have ever sold NFL or college I think,
as Chris Gordy said, it's approaching like eight hundred dollars
get in price razy. So we're gonna, we're gonna, you know,
because it's not only a rivalry where they truly hate
each other. They haven't played in thirteen years, but there's
now a playoff. There's a trip to the SEC Championship
(03:16):
on the line, and there's a playoff Berth on the line.
And so we're excited about that, but obviously excited to
spend the next two hours Cavino and Rich with you
with the gang, obviously talking about a lot of football.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I think the idea of Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving is to
not complain. Yet we all have families and know that
in fact, it's the time where people mostly complain on holidays.
That's what you get, so what you get when you
get family together. We try to keep it positive here. However,
I am going to bring up a complaint that I
heard that I just never never really jumped on board with,
(03:46):
and it was the flat that Big Newon Kickoff had
been getting over the last couple of weeks because of
the games that they've been putting in the new Eastern
nine Pacific window, specifically involving Ohio State in a lot
of those games.
Speaker 6 (04:00):
I love, I.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Love having the if if you're not Aaron Torres or
Jason Martin, and you're watching six games at one time.
It's great to go from one to the other to
the other. I would hate to have Michigan Ohio State
be up against Texas and Texas A and M. I
am a fan of the spreadouts. I am good with it.
I know people have a problem. You want night games
and atmosphere. Yeah, yeah, yeah, not everybody gets to go
(04:23):
to night games. It's much bigger picture here. I am
all for it, and I think that that is tomorrow
Saturday is a perfect example of it. If you're a
college football fan, you can just go from this great
game to that great game to that great game, and
I have an enjoyable Saturday.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (04:37):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
It's a discourse that, obviously, because of my Fox affiliation,
I've kind of just sat out of because if I one,
if I don't defend Fox, it doesn't look very good.
But if I do defend Fox, oh, you're just defending
your company.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
One.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
I agree with you on just the layout of the game.
And I remember, I think it was year one or
year two when they first implemented it. I was still
on Saturday Nights with Arnie Span and I brought up
this point is like twelve Eastern used to.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
Be kind of this graveyard. You know, it used to
be the joke, right.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
It would be the Wisconsin Iowa game, the Iowa Minnesota game,
and every game would be you know, six three or
ten seven, and it was just it was unwatchable. And
so to get those big games, it spreads it out.
You can focus on those big games. But the thing
that has ended up happening, which is unfortunate and it's
not Fox's fault, is that I think where the discourse
(05:27):
really took off was just that it was like seven
or eight weeks in a row, Ohio State ended up
in a New Eastern game, and those weren't all Fox games,
and so that was the part that you know, I
wanted to speak up, but I felt like I'd just
be defending my company. But it's like, listen, what Big
ten network chooses to do or what you know other
(05:50):
networks choose to do, is out of Fox's control.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Their job is to.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Just basically, look, we're gonna put our best game of
the week in that New Eastern window, and surprise, surprise,
a lot of times the number two team of the
country is gonna end up playing in that window. By
the way, previous years, it's been a lot of Michigan games,
it's been a lot of other teams. You know, we
had Colorado playing ten ten am local time, twelve eastern
(06:15):
start times. So I just bring it up because I
think it became a thing because Ohio State ended up
playing seven eight noon games in a row, but those
weren't all big noon games.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
And to your point, Dan.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
For those of us who do love college football, for
those of us who are able to sacrifice the entire
day or enjoy the entire day, it gives us another
big game and another big window where we don't have
to jump between two or three screens trying to watch
all the big games.
Speaker 6 (06:40):
Isn't it funny?
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Because it felt that at one point that three thirty
eastern was the big time, Like there was a day
in age in college football where you're playing the three
thirty eastern time game, Like wow, that was huge, Like
that was the twenties some years ago. Because of the
TV contracts and then the Big ten, Like while Keith
Jackson is going to be doing the game, you know
that you have at three point thirty eastern time, like
(07:02):
that was the standard. Then it moved to the primetime games,
and then now you've got it all over the map.
But I actually love it, and I hope that it
doesn't change. In fact, I think that the NFL is
too much when you look at a chief schedule, night
game after night game after night game. Like last week
there in Carolina, I was like the first time in
forever they had played like a one o'clock Eastern time start.
(07:23):
Because all of the games growing up in Wisconsin, the
Packers always just played at noon Central time zone. They
weren't that good. I wouldn't doubt if the Packers had
less than five noon games on their schedule this year.
You just went up and down because of all the
different windows. They're a marquee team, They're a draw. I'm
all for it. I'm all for the afternoon football.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
No, I love it.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
And like I said, is you know, listen, I understand.
First of all, I do understand. Hey, one, there's just
a lot of people that go to games. But two,
there's a lot of people that because of family commitments,
because maybe you're more of a Sunday guy or girl,
you just can't sit there for twelve hours a day.
But I'd count by saying, you know, listen, the one
thing I've learned about college football fans, and it is
(08:05):
very obvious in this twelve team playoff here they're going
to complain about everything. But what I would also say is,
if let's just use this weekend as the hypothetical. If
that big noon game was instead Michigan Ohio State on
at seven thirty, that'd be great for Michigan Ohio State fans,
But then college football fans would be complaining, well, what
about Texas, Texas A and m How come all the
(08:25):
good games are at the same time, and so you
can't keep everybody happy. And I just think it's it's
as a fan of the sport that is able to
spend most of Saturday on the couch.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
I like the spread out of the games.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
They may be old fashioned, maybe setting their ways, but
I remember in two thousand and six when it was
undefeated at Ohio State against undefeated Michigan, and the game
was moved off of the traditional noon Eastern time kick
and they had it as the three thirty Eastern time
And that's kind of the time that I was talking
about as well. Of like, when you look at at
that time of era in college football, th Eastern was
(09:00):
a big deal and the game started in the daytime
ended at night because it's one versus two game of
the century. But even the traditional lists were like, why
are you moving off of neon Eastern? And they've had
it at noon Eastern, I believe ever.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Since so well, And I was gonna say too, that's
the other thing, especially Michigan Ohio State. Again, I understand
the discourse, but with Michigan Ohio State again, that's a
great tradition. We were talking to open the Gottlieb Show
that for a long time there was a conversation, Hey,
you can't but get the lines off Thanksgiving Day. It's
the worst thing. And I'm so tired of watching this
lousy team. And it's like, it's okay to just keep
(09:35):
some traditions, like we don't have to ruin every tradition
for TV and for money and for this and that.
And so I know we're talking about the bigger picture
of big Noon, but that Michigan Ohio State, you know,
high noon obviously on on on the Saturday after Thanksgiving
is one of the great traditions in sports. And I'll
say this is that would be one that did feel
weird if it was a seven thirty eastern or.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Three even a three thirty eastern kickoff.
Speaker 6 (09:59):
He is herein tour. I'm Dan Byer. I do want
to say something.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
In regard to the Lions Bears game. I actually and
Caleb Williams was at faults for this. I missed something
in thinking about the big picture with the Chicago Bears.
The Chicago Bears question in the off season because we
knew Mattieberfluss was going to return, and they brought in
Shane Waldron's what do you do with the first overall pick?
(10:26):
Do you take Caleb Williams? Do you trade the pick?
What do you do with justin fields? How do you
handle this sort of sort of scenario? And in my reasoning, Aaron,
as I looked at everything, I said, okay, you make
this decision. You make that decision. And my decision was
you take Caleb Williams at number one. I wasn't sure
if the Bears were going to do it. Thought maybe
(10:47):
they'd try to trade with Washington was one of my theories.
But ultimately they're going to take Caleb Williams. And when
we were talking about that scenario, I said, makes perfect sense.
I'm on board with it. And one of the reasons
why it is because when you draft Caleb Williams, if
Matt Eberflus doesn't work out, you have got the marquee
job in the NFL open for practically anybody that you'd
(11:09):
want to hire. Sure, and I think some of that
is true, but I'm not sure if all of it
is true. I think that this year and how things
have played out, maybe some of it is to Caleb Williams,
you know, fault. But I don't think that it is
as rosy of a job as I thought it was,
say nine months ago, with Caleb Williams as your quarterback,
(11:30):
because there have been struggles this year.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
We saw in this late game situation.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
You can maybe just pin it on coach and quarterback
just aren't on the same page. But I don't know
if it's as rosy as I thought it was going
to be. I still think it's an amazingly good job.
And if you were an offensive coordinator and you're looking
at the vacancies, it's going to be difficult to pass
one up where Kleb Williams is your quarterback. But there
(11:55):
has been some collateral damage by letting Matt Eberflus coach
this season, and I think it's going to trickle on
into the offseason.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Well, it's a great conversation and it goes back to listen,
I totally see your point. So this is not me
like criticizing the point of it. It's his desirable job.
And you get to see ebra Flus one more time,
and they actually played pretty well down the stretch, all
that good stuff. My whole thing was multiple things, all
the stuff that we're talking about now, defensive head coach.
But then it's not only that you waste a year
(12:24):
of Caleb, it's that it's this is.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
Actually the worst case scenario.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
It's that you've not only wasted a year of Caleb
on the rookie contract whatever.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
But two, there is a regression.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
And what did we talk about Dan and how Matt
Eberflus handled the final two minutes is that he looked timid,
that he lacked confidence, and that he's starting to second
guess and question everything he's doing. My worry is does
that become Caleb Williams. I mean, this kid, we all
watched him at US. He played so much on instinct,
so much on confidence, a guy that just listen. If anything,
(13:00):
the concern with Caleb Williams was that he believed in
his confidence. He believed in himself too much, that he
was too confident, and so you look at him losing
that confidence, and I do worry that not only has
the growth been stunted, but is there some type of
long term effect of that, not just the hits that
he's taken, the proverbial and figurative hits, but also just
(13:24):
the mental wear and tear of What made this guy
so special was that he ultimately believed in himself. He
ultimately believed that he could, you know, lead any comeback,
he could make any throw, he could do whatever. And
now he's playing like a timid quarterback and that is
obviously a big concern for whatever the future of this
franchise is.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
That's the toughest balance that I think the Bears are
going to have to figure out is how much power
do you give Caleb Williams? But and how much do
you empower Caleb Williams with not having him take over
everything because you can't. You can't have a yes man
to your quarterback that you bring in. It's the relationship
is gonna have to be forged, but you're gonna need
(14:02):
better play from him, So he's gonna have to want
to be coached. And so that's the balance of how
do you find the right mix. And I'll tell you what,
Tua and and Mike McDaniel, it's probably the best relationship
that we've seen of something like that.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
Holmes in reed right would have to be the best, sure.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
But I would say that I would in the case
of looking at someone bringing in somebody Newcasse Andy Reid
was already there, but bringing in somebody new and making
it work for both parties. It's very You may have
your gripes about Tua, but he is a better quarterback
with Mike McDaniel as his head coach. Like there's there's
no doubt about that. And I and I think that's
(14:42):
what you're gonna kind of have to need in Chicago.
You're gonna have to figure out a way how do
we maximize Kayleb Williams but also not let him run
the entire shop, you know what I mean. Like, there's
there's gonna have to be a balance because he can't
be completely unhappy.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
He's the star quarterback.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
He's gotta he's got to have some saying all of
this and whoever you bring in, it's gonna have to
play it with strength. It's gonna have to do everything
that you need to do. But you can't let him
take over the franchise zeroed out.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
And it's a fine line, by the way, I think.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
So you and I were on air either the day
Shane Waldron got fired or the day after Shane Waldron
got fired.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
We were filling in for Doug Gottlieb.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
And I only bring it up because I remember talking
to you about the inevitable move that's going to be made.
Do we have any confidence that the Bears are actually
gonna get it right? And part of it, and I
think John Middlecoff brought this up. I remember him talking
about it is the weird power struggle in the Bears
organization where Kevin Warren's the team president, but Ryan Poles
is the GM, and what does the team president even do?
(15:40):
But Kevin Warren seems to be the one that has
the ear of the owner and who's really making the decisions.
But that's the part that's that's sad to me, And
that's the part that even it goes back to the
pre draft process when Caleb Williams, you know, there were
rumors and reports that he didn't want to go to
Chicago if they ended up with the number one pick,
which they obviously did. That's to me the disappointing part
(16:03):
is there are situations where you know something doesn't work
and it becomes obvious a change needs to be made,
and you know that the right people are making the decision,
and whether it works or not, they're going to do
the best to put the team and the players in
the best position. I'm just not sure that that's actually
going to happen when it comes to the Chicago Bears.
(16:24):
I mean, do you feel the same way that there
seems to be a reasonable chance that they're going to
screw up this higher even if they move, even when
they move off Eberflus this year.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
It's much more of a possibility than it was a
year ago. And a long time ago someone told me
that when they're smoked, there's usually a forest fire. So
these concerns about Kevin Warren, these concerns about Ryan Poles,
I think that there's more to it. I don't know
if hard knocks always tells the story. I don't think
it's shed them in a great light and Kevin Warren
in a great light. But I think that there's something
(16:54):
to that, and I think now you have more of
a reason to question it than you did a year ago.
I know it's not the full answer in the full backup,
but I do think that there's a reason to question
that it's not the necessary automatic home run, and that
may lead into the hire may not be the exact
higher and the Bears in the way that they pay,
and or maybe lack thereof of coaches could be another
(17:16):
reason why this could be destined to fail well.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
And that's again, is we hope that they get it.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Listen, I just and I said this last year when
Brandon Staley got fired with the Chargers, I said, look,
we all see the talent from Justin Herbert. I just
hope because the Chargers again were historically an organization that
did not make the right decision, that did not take
the big swing, that did not spend on coaches. And
I remember saying, like we all think, Justin Herbert is
(17:45):
this guy. I just want to see him put in
position where if he is on par with Mahomes and
Josh Allen, that he is put in position to show
whether he's actually capable of that or not. And I
just hope the same thing is true for Caleb Williams.
I don't know who the name is. Is it Ben Johnson,
is it somebody else? Whatever, that doesn't matter. I just
hope they don't screw it up and we never get
(18:07):
to see the best version of Caleb Williams.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
By the way, maybe the best version of Caleb Williams.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Isn't better than jayde and Daniels or bow Nicks and
he ends up being the fourth best quarterback in this
draft class anyway, But you just want to see what
it looks like when he is put in a position
to succeed. I think Ryan Poles obviously did a good
job of surrounding him with plenty of actual on the
field talent, but it also goes without saying the coaching
needs to be a lot better going forward.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
He's erin Torres.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I'm Dan Byer a special Friends giving episode of Cavino
win Rich Here on Fox Sports Radio. Tyron Tracy scored
from one yard out extra point was good. Giants have
taken a seven to three lead on the Cowboys the
now early in the second quarter. Cowboys, though driving at
the Giants nineteen again early in the second Giants up
on Dallas as seven to three, hit Aaron up at
Aaron Underscore Tours. You can find me at Dan Byer
(18:54):
on Fox or at Dan Byer on Blue Sky. Coming
up next, we go to the Man that knows you'll
hear him here on Fox Sports Radio. But he's coming
over from Thanksgiving, so now I only tell us what's
up now, but also a little trip down memory lane
when it comes to Thanksgiving in Motown. That's next here
on Fox.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
It's Cavino and Rich here on Fox Sports Radio. But
it's not just a regular Cavino on Rich episode.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
It is a It's the Buyer and Torres Friendsgiving on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
He's heards are as.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I'm Dan Bayer having some fun Cavino on Rich ren
for Dan Patrick earlier today. You can always check out
the podcast at Fox Sports Radio dot com wherever you
get your podcasts and hear what the guys were doing
earlier today. We've been having a lot of fun and
the only people not having fun today. I think of
the Chicago Bears for how they lost to the Detroit
Lions today at twenty three to twenty final score as
(19:56):
the Lions get their tenth straight win. Bears fall the
four and eight. But it's how they lost that is
so disappointing. We're going to hear from Matt Eberflus later
on in this hour as the Bears head coach tried
to explain how things went down today and how the
clock expired on them. Tough, tough go for the Bears,
who again fall to the Lions twenty three to twenty.
(20:18):
I also want to let you know Giants lead the
Cowboys seven to six.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
Saw early in the second quarter. The doorbell is rung,
and what do you know?
Speaker 3 (20:26):
We welcome in our good buddy, Bertie Fratto to the program.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Happy Thanksgiving, Dores Friendsgiving on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Bernie, I'm so excited to see you.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
I completely ran over the imaging, like I just completely
bulldozed it.
Speaker 6 (20:41):
Happy Thanksgiving, my friend, How are you well?
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Happy Thanksgiving to you guys.
Speaker 7 (20:44):
And on the ninetieth anniversary of the first ever Thanksgiving
in Detroit, on the fiftieth anniversary At the last time
the game was played outdoors Bears Lions Thanksgiving. They managed
to avoid an eight game losing streak Lion's Thanksgiving. Are
you not entertained?
Speaker 3 (21:03):
My goodness, Oh, the entertainment was overflowing, just like the
drinks will be tonight at our friends giving here on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
Is this all on Iberflus? That last play? Is that?
Speaker 3 (21:16):
How much do you put on Caleb Williams? Or is
this just Bears coaching?
Speaker 7 (21:20):
We're really not gonna know, but I think Abraflus was
a dead man walking before today. But that last eighteen
seconds he said they had a game plan. I don't
know what happened to Caleb Williams. He looked like he
was in the mall parking lot and couldn't find his car.
I couldn't understand what was happening there, guys, because the
Bears had genuine momentum and they had a timeout and
two shots at the end zone for what would have
(21:42):
been probably a high percentage field goal.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
So the short answer.
Speaker 7 (21:46):
To your question is yet it has to be on Eberflus.
It always starts at the top.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Well, Bernie, I was just gonna ask you. You know
for years, Dan and I were talking about this earlier,
but the discourse around Thanksgiving was how dare they put
the Lions on they.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
We got to get them off air? They stink?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
One, how happy are you to just see a competitive product,
especially for those people in that fan base that you
know well?
Speaker 5 (22:10):
But two, is it time?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Is it time to start that we got to get
the Cowboys off Thanksgiving Day discourse as well, because I
think it might be burned.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 7 (22:19):
What's interesting, guys? You bring him a good point. I
know that you know the old Chief Center. I think
it was Lamar Hunt bitched about not having a game
on Thanksgiving, But really he was the only one. Not
a lot of players, not a lot of teams, not
a lot of owners even want to play on Thanksgiving.
And this whole thing started back in nineteen thirty four
(22:39):
when a guy by the name of George Richards bought
the Lions they were then called the Portsmouth Spartans. Bought
it for eight grand, moved in from Ohio to Detroit,
and they weren't drawing any fans. So he called George
Hallis of the Bears and said, why don't we play
a game on Thanksgiving and see if we can rally
some pub for the NFL, which was actually kind of
fledged back in nineteen thirty four, way behind the college game. Well,
(23:03):
George Richards was also an NBA radio executive and he
uses connections to negotiate a day with NBC to carry
the game on ninety four affiliates.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
It was a huge success.
Speaker 7 (23:14):
The old Tiger Stadium brick stadium at the time sold out.
They could have sold double the amount of tickets and
a tradition was born. And interestingly enough, the Lions have
no advantage on Thanksgiving. Going into today's game, they were
thirty seven and forty five all time. But over the
years people have complained about why do we always have
to watch the stupid old Lions and now maybe to
(23:35):
your point, the Cowboys. But I don't see it changing
anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Guys.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
These are fixtures, These are become traditions, and I think
it's something that everybody looks forward to, regardless of who's
on the field.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
And we've got a Cowboys touchdown on the board. Dallas
has taken a twelve to seven lead as Drew Locke
and the Giants have just turned it over the Marvin
Overshown tipped passed to himself on a little dump off
to Devin Singletary in the flat and Overshell and ended
up taking it to the house of Dallas's up twelve
(24:07):
to seven. Pat coming up here in just a little bit.
You've been to many a Thanksgiving Day games in Detroit.
Bertie Fratter are joining us here on Commuto and Rich
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
He's erin Torres. I'm Dan Byer.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
It's part of our Fox Sports Radio friends giving Explain
what Thanksgiving Day is like at Alliance game? Do they
pull out the red carpet? Is it Turkey galore? What
would it be like for someone to attend a Turkey
Day game in Detroit?
Speaker 7 (24:34):
It's basically a national holiday in Detroit. I was tilling
Iowa Sam off air Man, I loved it. I covered
thirteen of them from ninety five to two thousand and
eight in an official capacity to final ten for the Flagship.
You park in the garage off Brush Avenue, you walk
up the street. Rob Parker knows this. You walk in,
you go to the fifth floor. They fed us extremely well,
(24:56):
the festivities, the people on the streets, the buzz.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
In the air, the holidays, the decor.
Speaker 7 (25:00):
Detroit's a wonderful city, especially around the holidays and especially
around Lions game.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
So it was special.
Speaker 7 (25:07):
It was special watching it as a fan, and then
when I got to cover it in a physial capacity,
it was even more special because it never seems to fail.
There's always something, a distinctive thing, even the first one
I ever covered, ninety five, the Lions beat the Vikings
forty four to thirty eight in a shootout. That was
actually a pretty good Lions team, that Scott Mitchell team.
He threw for four thousand yards. But the final play
of the game, the Vikings lined up for Taylor Mary
(25:29):
and they put Herman Moore in a free safety at
six ' five to bat a ball down, And for
some reason, you remember that. Then in ninety eight, the
first game I covered in the Flagship, the first year
I started doing pre and post. Dan, you talked about
it on the air just the other day. The Steelers
and Jerome Bettis he thought he called tales in the
coin toss. The referee thought he heard heads, And obviously
(25:51):
the Lions go on to win nineteen sixteen in overtime,
and everybody went ballistic. Steelers fans calling our post game
show dropping f bombs. What was also distinctive about that game, Dan,
is that Barry Sanders. That was his final ever Thanksgiving game.
We didn't know it at the time. Fast forward to
two thousand.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
And five, Barry Bernie, can I quick interject? You mentioned
Barry Sanders there. It was also the last time the
Steelers didn't get a call, so it was especially in
that city as a Seahawks fan. I know it well,
I know well, I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Ill like okay.
Speaker 7 (26:28):
I covered the two thousand and six Super Bowl too,
super Bowl forty, also in Detroit.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
That was basically a Steeler home game.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
Yes, it was unreal. I was there too. I'm not good.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yes.
Speaker 7 (26:39):
Fast forward to two thousand and five and the reason
I bring this up. You know, the Lions lost twenty
seven to seven to Atlanta. We were doing our postgame
show at a place called Fishbones. We did a remote
Rob Parker Mark Wilson to myself and Rob came in.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
He was a few minute Clay.
Speaker 7 (26:55):
He says, I got breaking new Steve Mariucci will be
fired in the morning. And Matt Miller was going to
Mooch the next day because Mooch wanted to start Jeff
Garcia and Millen wanted Joey Harrington, the afore mentioned Joey Harrington.
Sure enough, he was fired, who walked in twenty minutes later.
No one likes the name dropper, but I'm guilty.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Steven A. Smith.
Speaker 7 (27:14):
Wi All had dinner with Steven A. Smith that night.
Fast forward to two thousand and six.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
This was a beauty.
Speaker 7 (27:19):
The before mentioned Joey Herrington again traded to Miami. Miami
comes to town, beat the Lions twenty seven and nothing,
and I gotta tell you, they could have burned the
house down. The Lions fans were so upset they were
ready to get rid of Rod Marinelli. And the thing
I remember most about that day another name drop. I
get on an elevator to go to the fifth floor.
I'm with a guy by the name of Michael Vick
(27:39):
in a realized conversation. Finally, two thousand and eight, that
was the year the Lions went Owen sixteen. We had
a real tight game against Tennessee that day, lost forty
seven to ten. And that was the final year I
was doing it in an official capacity. But I'm glad
you bring it up, Dan, because, as you know, being
a great sports fan in his store, and you are.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Sometimes it's the game on the field.
Speaker 7 (27:59):
Sometimes it's the ancillary events surrounding the game and around
the game that make you remember. But Thankskeeping Day in
Detroit and football is just it's indescribable.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
Burn.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Another thing that I know that you've covered quite a bit,
and you've been to some of these games. Ohio State Michigan.
M Can you give me any sell on Michigan. You know,
good defensive front, Ohio State old line banged up. Can
you give any of us a sell on this one?
At least being competitive? Even if we know Michigan is
probably not going to pull off the upset for a
(28:30):
four straight year.
Speaker 7 (28:32):
Being the great journalist you are, you're looking for that
angle the.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
I'm looking for a hope. I'm looking for a.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
Reason, Not Bernie, let me reason.
Speaker 7 (28:42):
Let's be honest. The Buckeyes are laying twenty one points
for a reason. And not only is Ryan Day expected
to win, h he's expected to you know, show out
and show up and run up a score. Right, I
see no chance and you can save this Miching. I
think led Zeppel and re record the Gilligans Allen theme song.
(29:04):
And sell a million copies before Michigan beats Ohio State Saturday.
They're gonna get They're gonna get smoked, but that doesn't
mean they're gonna get blown out. I could see this
being a thirty one to fourteen type game.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Michigan will compete, they'll play hard.
Speaker 7 (29:15):
They don't have the depth, they don't have any differentclivities
they had last year. But what makes this game so
special it's the greatest rivalry in all of sports. I
don't care what anybody says. It started out as a
land war. They fought over Toledo in the eighteen hundreds,
which led to Michigan.
Speaker 5 (29:30):
On Wait, the two schools fought the two states, not.
Speaker 7 (29:32):
The two states. Yeah, not the schools, the states. Too
long of a story to tell, but I will tell
you this story. This is just one of a thousand
because I covered ten Michigan Ohio State games as well
and just truly loved it. And word otherwise, if you're
going to the game in Columbus and drive a car
down there, don't drive with a Michigan plate because you
might end up with a dent in the door or
something far worse.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
And I'm not joking.
Speaker 6 (29:55):
No, it's happened to me. Yeah, I'll tell you. You're done,
I'll tell you the story.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Oh I love it. I don't. I don't love it,
but you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
We I'll just click two thousand and six. I just
mentioned the game in the century.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Well yeah, yeah, nine.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
We were in town and our boss at Fox Sports
Radio got us a vehicle and they were with Michigan plates.
Speaker 6 (30:16):
Everybody was giving us the finger like we.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Weren't wearing blue, we weren't where there was no there
was no Michigan fans. You know me, I'm the Ohio
State fan. I think I even had a red hat
on at the time. And we were going to our
broadcast location. I am not kidding you. It was middle
Finger after middle Finger as we were trying to navigate
our way. And again this was six hours before kickoff,
(30:39):
because you're trying to be there earlier.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
Bernie is not lying. That is the absolute truth.
Speaker 7 (30:43):
You're walking into death hell at the at the Horseshoe,
they're a little bit nicer up in ann Arbor, they're
more verbal, but in the Horseshoe they come to play.
They're most have been hooked up to a blender since
about six am. The game's always at noon. But I'll
tell you just one of a thousand stories to give
you the flavor for how much these two schools heed
each other.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
So in nineteen sixty.
Speaker 7 (31:03):
Eight, bow Sham Beckler made his debut and he wasn't
supposed to beat Ohouse State, and they shocked the world
by knocking off number one Ohio State. So the next year,
Woody Hayes wanted to kill Michigan. They were leading forty
four to fourteen with a minute to go. They score
a touchdown to make it fifty to fourteen. Ohio State
lines up for a two point conversion. Now they didn't
(31:24):
convert it, but they end up winning the game fifty
to fourteen. After the game, in the postgame press conference,
a reporter says, Woody Woody Hayes, you're up fifty to fourteen.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Why the hell would you go for two?
Speaker 7 (31:35):
He said, because they wouldn't let me go for three.
Speaker 6 (31:39):
It's on T shirts in Columbus that exact question.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
I know you're nice there, Dan, you let me finish
my punchline. I know you knew this.
Speaker 7 (31:46):
Oh no, I'll give you an idea how much these
two schools hate each other.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Oh, it is so great, Bertie. We love you as
much as those schools hate each other. So we appreciate
the time you're on tonight for malor.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Is that I'm in a night for Ben Malloy?
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Yes, sir, all right, well we will tune in and
we always appreciate your contributions and have a happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 6 (32:04):
Thanks so much for.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Joining us, enjoy your Thanksgiving and want and only Bernie Fratto.
Only Bernie Fratto can do what Bernie Fratto does. Great
to hear, I've got one other not as good as
Bernie's notes and tidbits, but the Lions. When the NFL
went to thirty two teams in two thousand and two,
(32:25):
when the Texans joined, they went into a new scheduling
pattern where you were you're rotating every every year with
another division from the other conference. Well before this latest
TV deal, where like today we had Bears, Lions, and
we have Giants Cowboys, you have four NFC teams. There
was always the obligation that CBS would get the AFC
(32:49):
and the Fox would get the NFC matchups, but it
would alternate, so one year the Lions would be on
CBS playing an AFC team and then the next year
the Cowboys would be CBS playing an AFC team, and
there was a stretch there that you would get AFC
East or AFC South with the Lions playing on Thanksgiving.
(33:10):
So you had the Patriots in O, two Colts in four,
Dolphins at six, Titans in eight.
Speaker 6 (33:15):
That was the game.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Bernie talked about Patriots again in twenty ten, Texans in
twenty twelve, and then at that point they ended up switching.
Speaker 6 (33:23):
But you had this there was like there.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Were only four teams basically on certain years that you
could choose from because of how the TV networks were
set up, and thank goodness for Peyton Manning or a
good Titans team that you could put them on there
because you weren't getting a lot of You weren't getting
a lot of the Jacksonville Jaguars or Houston Texans at
that time because they were newer. But yeah, that's the
way that the scheduling set up that they would just
(33:46):
end up playing the AFC East and the AFC South. Interesting, Yeah,
I know that, yes, and the Cowboys same thing. But
now as you've seen, heck, we have five NFC teams
playing today, Dolphins, Packers obviously playing tonight as the Dolphins
of the lone AFC representative. We told you the Cowboys
scored defensively, they got the football back. They're up six
as they kicked the extra point, thirteen to seven in
(34:08):
their own territory, eight fourteen to go until halftime. And
as you heard, the Bears fell to the Lions today
in embarrassing fashion twenty three to twenty. We're gonna hear
from Bears head coach Matt Eberflus and how he described
the waning seconds of that tobacco that's next year on Fox.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. It's the Buyer and Torres Friendsgiving on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Ah yes, it is sitting in for Cavino and Rich.
So glad to have you with us. Big thanks to
Bernie Fratto who stopped by. Tim Patrick of the Lions
came by as well. Chris Gordy locked out se see
in Sports Talk seven ninety or FSR affiliates and Houston
(35:04):
came by to talk some SEC and so much more.
Jason Martin, Aaron Torres's tag team partner, Saturday nights, eleven
o'clock Eastern time, and there's more to come on this
Friends Giving. Iowa Sam's been here the whole time. Producer
Shay's hanging out as well. Iowa Sam was only on
a line when Aaron took that shot at Iowa when
(35:25):
he mentioned normally we would get Iowa Wisconsin and that
noon Eastern time wind I was like, why am.
Speaker 6 (35:30):
I catching straight?
Speaker 5 (35:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (35:31):
And then you use another Hiow example or Iowa Minnesota,
like these games that don't matter, these graveyard games.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Well, and it's funny because I actually thought earlier in
the show we were doing favorite Thanksgiving traditions, I assumed
Iowa Sam was going with the Iowa Black Friday game,
which has become a little bit of a tradition last
couple year.
Speaker 8 (35:51):
It is, it is, definitely, but I think I mean,
I think of the day of Thanksgiving and then I
think of like Black Friday as two different things, so
you could say the whole Thanksgiving weekend. But you know,
they've only been playing this Heroes game, I think since
twenty eleven, so it's not that old. But we are
a decade and a half into it now, so you
also have an expanded schedule.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Where Ohio State Michigan used to be the week before
Thanksgiving the season was over. It was always leading into
the Thanksgiving week, and now it comes the week after,
so it's a little different.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
As well.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
As an Ohio State fan, I do want to dive
into that Ohio State Michigan stuff in a sec. But
since we brought it up, I've always felt and it's
no longer apropos because they don't have a TV deal
with ESPN anymore. But the most ESPN two game you
could get at noon Eastern to me was Minnesota Michigan State.
(36:39):
Like I think each conference has just an ESPN two
game at that time in that window, And to me,
the big Tens is Michigan State and Minnesota, and they're.
Speaker 6 (36:51):
Both four and four.
Speaker 8 (36:52):
They're like they're fighting for something, but yes, they're kind
of out of it already.
Speaker 6 (36:56):
Yes, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
That's like a good spot for a Louisville Wake Forest game.
Speaker 5 (37:01):
You're like, oh, yeah, I forgot these gona.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
I was gonna say something like pitt In Wake Forest yep,
or Virginia Wake Forest. Right now, that's on ESPN two.
That would feel like in noon Eastern time. I think
you could do these with all of your conferences if
you wanted to.
Speaker 6 (37:18):
Yeah, yeah, Big twelve would be a bracket segment.
Speaker 8 (37:23):
You know, you could have like You're Yes, You're You're
Wake Forests and your yeah, You're Louisville.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
You can't be good, but you can't be bad, Like
you can't be good enough for that game. I would
say this, Uh, Cincinnati West Virginia. That seemed like a
good ESPN two game at noon Eastern time in Morgantown.
Speaker 6 (37:45):
Maybe with Beth Mowens on the call. Maybe, yeah, that
could be the case. Sure, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
I was gonna say the SEC version is pretty much
anyone that's not Alabama playing Mississippi State, it's like, just.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Rotate in Arkansas. I was thinking Arkansas in that spot.
That works, But I'm good with Mississippi State. Or let's
check out the Kentucky game. Whereas ESPN two, that's where
you can find it.
Speaker 5 (38:10):
I think with Kentucky Vandy, they're playing again.
Speaker 6 (38:12):
It felt like they just played last week.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
It's true, you can do it with all conferences except
the PAC twelve because number one, they weren't up early
enough in me at.
Speaker 6 (38:21):
Well, they basically no game last week exists. Yes, well
we're in state taken on to win.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Remember, by the way, I was thinking about this not
that long ago, the COVID year when the pack, well,
first of all, they came back super late, but their
answer to get more viewers was playing a nine am
local start time game. And it's like, hey, how about
you just have good teams and then you don't have
to worry about getting viewers. So what are we doing
playing a nine am local game in LA?
Speaker 5 (38:48):
That really happened Arizona State USC.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
I do remember that, and I think, gosh, Boise is
up early. They've got their game. Is it is it
tomorrow or Saturday? They've got an early start as well,
because Colorado had the Utah game was at a ten
o'clock local time start. Boise Oregon State tomorrow on Fox
nine o'clock local time for us on the West coast,
(39:13):
So noon eastern nine kick.
Speaker 6 (39:15):
So yeah, Poise getting these.
Speaker 5 (39:17):
Colorado a noon eastern ten am central kick.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Yeah, Oklahoma State, Yeah, you're right, another another ten am kick.
There's nothing I used I used to have to do.
The Wisconsin pregame shows like a tailgate prior to Badger
Games when I when I worked in Madison and we'd
be setting up, but there'd be some eleven o'clock local
time kicks, but you're there at like six thirty am
setting up for your two hour broadcast. There was nothing
like a hamburger and pepsi at seven to fifteen in
(39:44):
the morning. That was it was, there was. There was
this unique taste Aaron torre Is that I could. I
could still taste it to this day and it's been
about twenty years since I had it. But at seven
fifteen there was, yeah, quite the taste in your mouth
from from that tale gate. I did want to talk
Ohio State Michigan and what could happen if Ohio State
loses and Ryan Day's not going to be fired unless
(40:08):
they then would lose the next game. That would be
the only that would be the only way that Ryan
Day would be gone. So we can end that conversation there.
Speaker 5 (40:14):
Yes, I agree with that one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
He is erin Torres, I'm dan Byer. It is our
friends giving cowboys leave the Giants thirteen to seven with
six minutes left, and you won't believe what Matt Eberflus
had to say about his bears loss to the Lions.
Speaker 6 (40:26):
That's next.
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Rich Davis
Steve Covino
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