Best Of Query & Company - Wednesday 7/23/25

Today’s Best of Features:

(00:00-18:09) – Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce joins Jake Query at Grand Park to recap the first training camp practice, admits that it was a challenge adapting to all the different quarterbacks early in his career, states that he doesn’t really notice a different between Anthony Richardson or Daniel Jones when they throw passes to him, shares what his mindset is like going into a contract year, believes that the addition of Tyler Warren is going to help him down the field, and reveals what his offseason entailed after the season ended and before he started preparing for the upcoming season.

(18:09-36:17) – The IndyStar IU Athletics beat writer, Zach Osterman, joins the program to discuss the comment Curt Cignetti made yesterday at Big Ten Media Day regarding non-conference football scheduling and referencing how the SEC does things. Zach agrees with Jake on how challenging it is for programs to schedule non-conference games because the series get scheduled five years in advance with the hope that the team is still a formidable opponent to bolster the strength of schedule.

(36:17-56:59) – NASCAR announcer, and Jake Query’s high school classmate, Adam Alexander joins Query & Company to reveal what it means being able to broadcast the Brickyard 400 at IMS in his home state, shares what some of the storylines are heading into the race this weekend, states that he believes in momentum in racing with Denny Hamlin winning at Dover last weekend, and identifies Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace as a driver that has had a tough season thus far but always has a chance at winning the Brickyard 400.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Colts camp up here at Grand Park in Westfield. It
is day number one practices in the books that went
from ten until just after eleven o'clock and joining us
now here in Grand Park. He is entering his fourth
year for the Indianapolis Colts, which is hard to believe
Alec Pierce, that this is year number four for you,
but good to see again, let's begin right to it. Actually,
just in terms of getting that first practice under the belt,

(00:22):
how to go today.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, well, you know, I think it was, you know,
as expected first practice. I feel like a low rusty everybody,
you know, just definitely have a lot to improve on.
But you know that's what camp's for, going to look
at the tape, you know, and just continue to get
better on things worth timing, just you know, small details stuff.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
You know, your position is an interesting one because to me,
when you look in the NFL in general, and certainly
your position coach in Reggie Wayne is kind of the
poster child of this receiver. Seems to be the position
sometimes that we have to be the most patient with guys,
and I think you've showed that because in your rookie year,
you know, we're admittedly there were a lot of people
that were like, man, what's going on with Alec Pearce.
Then we started to see what can happen when you

(00:59):
can get behind defenses. When you look back on year
one into year two, how difficult was it?

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, you know, it's a lot a lot different, I
think just in terms of coming from college. Just like
for me, everything was different in terms of like the
way they called the plays, the way you lined up,
just the amount of details that went into everything. I
think it was at your ass a lot more in
terms of like knowing what to do, which routes to run,
Like I think I didn't run a tough like the

(01:27):
biggest route train in college, so kind of having that
being asked to do more. So it takes it takes
a little while to kind of learn and add that
stuff to your your game and kind of figure out like, okay,
like on this route here, like little pick up little
things on how to get open and what to do
and stuff like that. So I think it's just it.
It definitely is like truly an art and I think
it takes a little bit of time to figure that out.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
What point, if you look back at the first three years,
at what point did it finally start to kind of
slow down.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
I always say when you start a new job, you
can't wait for the day when you don't know what
day of the week it is, because it's just you're
in a routine that happened for you win.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
I would say somewhere between my like somewhere maybe in
my second year, sometime during the season or cause I
feel like my rookie year, it took probably the whole
year to kind of master the offense and know exactly
what was going on. Like you know, obviously I knew
where to line up and knew what to do, but
just like for it to be kind of like second nature,
like a like a different language, you know, like I

(02:22):
could you could say the plan, I know, kind of
all the positions and stuff like that. It took me
probably about the whole year to sad master it. And
then we changed coaches, so that changed up some things
and kind of same thing happened. Probably not as long
as a process, but I bet you know, it still
took me a little while, maybe into that second year,
to kind of get things. That's really slow down.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Did you ever feel like you were in the beginning,
maybe even to this point, that it's been difficult because
you've had to change quarterbacks a lot as well.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
I mean, that's definitely, that's definitely a challenge. I try
to I try to be for me. I just focus
on myself and I try to be the most consistent
and just like detailed, you know, like they're gonna tell us, okay,
this route, we want you to get to fifteen yards,
we want to break here on this foot. I try
to make sure things are just very like to the paper,
to the t like very detailed, because I know, especially

(03:10):
it's tough for the quarterbacks, like if you have your guy,
like you know, Reggie playing with Peyton or even Andrew
Luck for a while, like they had probably such good
chemistry going that it might have been like Peyton una understood, Okay,
Reggie might do this here, Marvin might do this here.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
You know.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
So it comes with.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Almost like Alec petersard guest here there comes does there
not with almost like a you know quarterbacks have told
me before, A receivers just like a look like you
can kind of look down the line and then you
both just know, have you ever felt And I mean
this is no knock on him, but just because of
the in and out nature of it.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Have you ever gotten that with Anthony Richardson.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, I mean I think I know, especially especially for me,
Like I know what plays that are really kind of
like my money plays, like where I know I'm gonna
get the ball where they It's the stuff that I
kind of do the best. So I think there's always.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Really far and turnaround.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
That's it, right, stuff like that, run run deep, run fast,
run by people, run away from people. Uh, any any
of those kind of like dynamic explosive plays. I feel
like a lot of times get dialed up for me,
and I feel like a lot of times it's like
a you know, you might get a look, you might
get a look here. Okay, we got we got some pressure.
We got a lot of tight man coverage here, and

(04:24):
that's where you might get that look and you kind
of know, like it, yeah, like he's he's looking to
come to you here, even though it might not have
been a route that was like necessarily during the week,
we we thought it was, you know, during practice he
might have thrown to the other guy. But it's look
a different defensive look here that we weren't anticipating. So
you might give you the kind of that look and
you see it and you're kind of like, Okay, let
me make sure I really, I really run my best

(04:44):
route here, you know, and get open.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
How much in the NFL is like Sandlote football, honestly,
Like how much do you ever have plays where you know,
you're in a huddle and you just say, like, listen, man,
I'm telling you like they're they're they're cheating on this side.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
Let's just go with it.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
I don't think we very much at all do that.
I feel like there's some teams you watch and they
might they might, like you said, it might be more
of a when you get a little bit more connected,
or or it might just be different philosophies with different coaches.
But for us, I feel like it's pretty detailed. We
do have some like some stuff, you know where it
does get a little bit more you know, option based

(05:20):
and kind of more like feel and you can go
kind of either way with it, but it's all pretty scripted.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
It's what is the difference between catching a pass from
Anthony Richardson and catching a pass from Daniel Jones, just
in terms of the release point, the break point when
they hit you, Yeah, tell me the difference of the two.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
Yeah, I wouldn't say. Honestly, I don't know if I
really feel much of a difference. Like I I almost
have to consciously like look look before the player after
the play, be like, because I honestly won't even really
notice the difference because right now ur Vier's you know,
and and team are out there rotating. Obviously, Team I
hear in the huddle, so I know who's talking then
and I see who it is. But if you're out

(06:02):
there Rva is like you might catch a ball and
I have to look back, Okay, who threw that one there?
Because I think they throw pretty similar balls, you know,
and that's a compliment to both of them.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
Alex Pierce is our guest. Colts Camp getting underway today.
We're at Grand Park up here in Westfield. A big
year for you obviously, from let's be real a financial
standpoint here, right when when you're in a contract year.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
The mindset of that as a professionals.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
What I mean for me, everything's always been just taking
things day by day. Yeah, that's kind of just the
way I live life. And yeah, so I just try
to focus on camp. You know, focus on coming out
here seeing what I can do every day, you know,
continue to prove to the coaches, prove to the quarterbacks,

(06:45):
proved to myself. You know, just earn more reps, earn
more balls in the game and stuff like that. So
that's that's kind of how I attack things.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
But if you look at it, so you've started forty
one to forty nine games right in three years and
a year ago, I think you took a big step.
Eight hundred and twenty four yards, you know, seven touchdowns. Clearly,
I think at that point it's like, Okay, Alec Pierce
is a part of this offense and a part of
what you want to go towards moving forward. So based
on that, isn't there a part of you that says,
what's the hesitation?

Speaker 3 (07:12):
Let's get this done.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, I mean I think there's a lot of a
lot of complications that goes into things, you know. I mean,
I think it's like that's up to the front office
and all those guys.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
But yeah, but at the same time, I'm not trying
to do double man coverage here, right, I'm not trying
to press coverage.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
But but from your.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Standpoint, wouldn't it be would there be a piece with
it of knowing you know, I know that, Look, you
got to be confident what you can do. But at
the same time, there would I would think that there
would have to be some sort of a pressure that
comes off if you know that you're locked in going
into the year as opposed to again still playing for
that for another season.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, I'm sure that would that would
be a pressure taking off. But I don't know. To me,
I look at things, you earn your keep, You earn
your way every single day, so I don't view it
as like any more extra pressure. I think it's just
like every day, here's a blessing and you got to
just keep on working on that.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
By the way, you look like you've been running like
ten miles a day and lifting weights regularly and you're
a little bit tan. I want to know what the
offseason regiment is here.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
Uh yeah, I'm outside all the time, so that that
helps with the ten But you know, just work out.
Usually would hit the field first and then go lift
some weights, and then afternoon probably go play golf or
something if if I got people around there wanted to play.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
What is the in all honesty? Alec Pierce.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
What is the off season regiment especially for a receiver, right,
because I mean conditioning for everybody is a big deal,
but for you obviously speed all of that that goes
into it. When the season is over with, You've got
to let your body rest. Then you got to keep
your body in shape. There's a lot of a balancing
act there. Can you kind of walk me through what
life is an NFL player is like in non NFL season?

Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, you know, for me, I feel like I usually
right after the season, I've gone on like a big
train the past two years, so kind of get away,
probably give myself about a month of not doing like
not even thinking about football in terms of like working out,
and you know, I might go I might go hit
some like yoga or something pretty light like pilates, but yeah,

(09:15):
I'm not I'm not really even like lifting weights yet.
And then probably once once like February comes along or however,
like you know, a few four weeks after the season,
I'll probably start doing some like weightlifting, but depending on
how the body's feeling, just more so just attack, like
just making sure my body's feeling good. So probably more
like weightlifting and less like like cutting and stuff like that,

(09:37):
and you.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
Know how long into that month vacation is it before
you feel normal.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Honestly, I feel like I've learned. I learned this year,
Like I think the time off is not the not
the best thing for you. I think it's like I
think it would be better to stay active and are
like just go like light light activity, And I do,
cause I was like I went on vacation, I was
very like active, as you know, did you go. I
went out to I went out to Japan and then

(10:03):
Thailand and Singapore nice, so I was all over. There's
a lot of flights, but yeah, like we out there
in Thailand were like hiking through the jungle basically, like
so we're moving around, we're at the beach, we know where.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
So this humidity is nothing for you, right right.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
It was like this every day there. So yeah, that
was that was a good time. I actually wanted with
a couple of teammates.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
So Daniel Jones was talking Alec Pierce just a couple
of minutes ago as a matter of fact about kind
of getting to know this roster and talked about you
guys getting together I think in California and just the
importance of acclimating to one another aside from the field.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yeah, your takeaway from.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
That was, what, Oh, it's huge. I mean I'm such
a firm believer in that. I even going back to college,
I just know, like my college team was so tight.
Everyone was such good friends with each other and just
like such such great cambaraderie between the teams. So I
think what we did this year this offseason, just even
though it was a pretty quick trip, you know, able
to get in some work, but then just really kind

(11:00):
of connect with each other outside of football, outside of
you know, the building. Because I noticed a lot of
guys I got a lot closer with on that trip
who might be a little bit more closed off on
the building because they might just not feel comfortable. I
don't know, such as like like a big one was
Tyler Warren. Like I didn't get a word out of
him during OTAs I introduced myself, and I think he
was just very much like focus. You know, he's probably

(11:20):
stressed trying to figure out the offense stuff like that.
But once once we went out to Cali, who's here's
a good time?

Speaker 3 (11:25):
How big does he become?

Speaker 1 (11:26):
Though offensively for you guys, because he can kind of
get that middle area of the field where defenses have
to be honest about that, right, Yeah, and that kind
of theoretically that opens you up right for sure.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
For sure. No, I think having you know, tight ends
are such valuable pieces of offenses. You know, you look
at across the league, like a lot of teams you know,
just do such great things with the tight ends. So
I think it'll just only make our better offense better.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
What was your favorite sport growing up?

Speaker 2 (11:52):
Football?

Speaker 3 (11:53):
What's your best sport?

Speaker 2 (11:58):
Football? That's a I mean, I was very I was.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
It's coming out here.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
There's another one that I was. I was good at volleyball,
and I was good. I was good at track too, but.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Probably I would think track could be really good. Now,
volleyball is interesting because men's volleyballs. I mean that's yeah,
that's NonStop action, man, for sure, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (12:14):
Like that the athleticism that goes into that.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
You also went to Wrigley recently, right, Yeah, So tell
me about the Wriggley experience because was awesome.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
I grew up a grew up a die hard clubs fan,
so probably was my favorite, you know, professional sports team
out of any team. So I went out there. I
got the opportunity for the first pitch back in April.
It's actually really fun. I brought a bunch of teammates
up there because we had it was kind of like
the same thing as going out to Cali as like
good little weekend tripped o t as, you know, early
ot as. It's like everyone's back. I'm like, hey, guys,

(12:44):
you know I'm I'm I'm from around there, so I
kind of know the city. So I was like, let's
go up here. Let's grab an airbnb and just have
a you know, fun weekend there. We can go to
nice dinner. You got to do Wrigleyville, right, Yeah, So
we got we got there Wriggleyville after is there were
so many people. There's a good time.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
How many people realized when you were out in Wrigleyville
just too actly.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
They were in regular go.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
With h I do I do a pretty good job
of blending in, but they did. They gave me. They
gave me a jersey that said fourteen Piers on it.
So I think, uh, I think when people saw that
like that, you know, it blends in because everyone's got
the the white and blue pinstripes on. But I think
if people really really looked at it, they might have
noticed the.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
Now most importantly, on the first pitch, did you go
for a legit first pitch or just do a toss?
Because people get in trouble with this.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
So I I kind of got in trouble, I think
because I I was going to go with the heater
and I was further than you think. Yeah, I was
working on the heater, and but they brought out the
mascot and he had just like a he had like
a cartoon glove. It was like a four foot glove
on and he's got the the thing on his head,
yeah Clark. So he's got the he's got the head on.

(13:47):
So like I'm like, can you really see? And he's
got that huge glove. So I kind of I kind
of lobbed it a little bit more, and I think
I mean k Kanti said Clark. Clark stepped back. He
gave me a bad he got it. He's got to
get glove on that. I think he backed up. He
kind of like, let it, let it one hot, but
I think he could have got the glove to it.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
Okay, so it's a little low.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
It's a ball low.

Speaker 3 (14:05):
You threw out the first pitch.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
Josh Downs, your teammate did say on this radio station
that you are the best player on the roster in
one particular sport.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
What sport was it?

Speaker 2 (14:14):
He probably said golf? He did, he said golf. Okay,
so I much just I mean, yeah, it's your Hananiel
Jones would like to argue with that.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
Your handicap is what six? Solid?

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (14:25):
Solid? Right?

Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, we don't we don't have the we don't have
the best golfers here. We're working on it.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
So you're the best golfer by default? Is that what
you're saying.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
I mean, I don't know. I've gotten a lot better
this year, but I was just say I was probably
about a ten handicap last year, and and maybe the.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
Best ball players have no excuse. You got that like
you got it so much time? Correct, right, it's great.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah you can't. You can't. The thing about football, that's
like talking to my brothers. A basketball player, I'll talk
about all the times, like I can't run routes for
for five hours a day, every single day. It'll be
like I don't. I don't even know what would happen
with your body at that point. You you're gonna You're
gonna hurt yourself. So it's like you go out there
and you you're if you're hitting the field right and
doing like a receiver work like you don't need you

(15:09):
can't ever be out there for more like an hour
hour and a half, like you're gonna your body's gonna
be done.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
You can wear it down?

Speaker 2 (15:14):
Can you can wear something about that?

Speaker 1 (15:16):
Honestly, Like, like you look at the NBA and the
number of and obviously in this town, I mean achilles injuries.
I hate saying it, but there is discussion that perhaps
that's coming from over use in the off season.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Now, Is that the dumbest thing you've ever heard? Or
do you think there could be some legitimacy to that?

Speaker 5 (15:32):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (15:33):
Man, I'm not, but I'm the doctor. I mean, you
got I think you gotta look at like the the
past and maybe you know, like how how that injury
has increased or if it's kind of stayed the same
over these years, because I mean, and and then just
compare it to like how much they practice and do
off season stuff compared to that in the past. I mean,
I don't know, it's probably be hard to to kind

(15:53):
of correlate those two.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
Your brothers a basketball player. Lastly, did you at least
become a Pacer fan in the last couple of months.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
Oh, man, I'm fully on the pace Is Bend wagon. Yeah,
I'd say I'm definitely paid this fan.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
Man.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
These past two years been super fun. Got an opportunity
to go to a bunch of games, especially those playoffs games.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
So you know those guys at all.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
I don't know them a ton I've met. I met
Obi and James Johnson out on the golf course one time.
That was, Uh, those are the only guys I think
I've ever and I met. I've seen Ben Sheppard around
a few.

Speaker 3 (16:20):
Times, better golfer of those two, which one I don't know.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
I wasn't playing with them, but I've I've heard that. Uh,
I heard James Johnson is really good.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
Really you have as a martial artist, you know that.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, yeah, I know he sounds like he's like, you know,
Jack all trades, like you do everything. But uh, I
think he said he's j T.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
Rookie.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
I said, he's like like cousins or second cousins or something.
So you have to ask him about it if you
get him, because I he told me that James.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
James Johnson's in the same situation as you. Right, there's
there's question contract, not not that, there's a question if
you'll be back.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, so is he a free agent right now?

Speaker 3 (16:52):
He is, Well, he's got to bring the rosters full
and so then they've got to create there.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
But yeah, yeah, that's tough.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
But so I guess actually the last thing would be this,
James Johnson is a guy for the Pacers. He's one
of those guys that he doesn't have to be on
the floor to make his impact.

Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, that player for the Colts is who.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Taekwon Lewis, Maybe Taekwon Lewis or I'm trying to think
of a guy. That guy just like great locker room presence,
Taekwan's probably a good a good pick, uh, I would say,
would say Ashton Doling, But I mean I think ash
is very important to our team and a lot of aspects.

(17:30):
Also a jack of all trades guy, right, yeah, yeah, exactly,
So there you go. It could be Ashton Dolon kind
of you know, kind of the thankless jobs and stuff.
But yeah, I know that that's a guy that if
you really really know football and you really watch the
tape he's one of the best at what he does
in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
So a year ago, three hundred or excuse me, eight
hundred and twenty four yards, thirty seven catches over the
course of the year, seven touchdowns and again entering.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
Year number four.

Speaker 1 (17:54):
Hard to believe that for Alec Pearce, Aleck, appreciate the time, certainly,
wish you the best of luck in camp and most importantly.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Good health to you.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
And then the contract status as well, that's luck on
how that plays out.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
We'd love to have you stick around.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
Thank you, appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
Appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Alec Pierce here on the program, joining us now on
the always busy and once again available to be sponsored
guest line. He is our friend for the Indianapolis Star.
He is the athletic beat writer for INDIAA University. Talking
about Zach Osterman. Osterman that joins us, although we now
know it's Osterman because we have the recording of it.
That's correct, right, Eddie, if you hit that, that.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
Is correct, Yeah, Zach joining us now.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
Before we get to Zach, Kurt Signetti and his comments
yesterday and how it relates to the SEC for Indiana Football.
So terically speaking, I will simply say I did not
know until recently that Liverpool, England is amongst your favorite
cities in the world, and after having visited there, I
concur entirely it is really nice and I was surprised.

(18:54):
I don't know that I mentioned this when I came back,
but the stereotype, like from the Beatles era of Liverpool,
and certainly this might have been the case in the
early sixties, was that it's like this gritty, bloody knuckled,
blue collar shipping yard town, and yet a lot of
the neighborhoods of it, to me, reminded me of the
near north side of like Meridian, Kessler, or even Lockerby

(19:16):
area of Indianapolis. I thought it was extremely quaint, friendly
and it was a day like today when I was there,
so it was very, very pretty.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
I thought, really really a cool town. Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 5 (19:26):
I mean, and people I think will know I'm a
fan of Liverpool Football Club and that's obviously kind of
how I found the city. But I get a lot
more excited now when people tell me they're visiting Liverpool
than when they want to talk about the club, because
I mean a lot of what you said there is
at least sort of broad strokes. True, it was a

(19:46):
very blue collar town. Obviously, was a very sort of
shipping heavy town for a lot of its modern history.
But even then, you know, a lot of that wealth
was kind of centered in a small class and so
it's always had a real sort of working class part,
very defiant, very outward looking, which is kind of unusual

(20:06):
for the country of England. You know, for a long time,
English policy was to make the world England. Liverpool is
never really never really felt that way. It's always reflected
the world much more so than its own country, and
you get that from just the wonderful blend of cultures.
There's incredible food, incredible nightlife, incredible architecture right there on

(20:28):
the river, so you have you know, just right there,
well not just on the river, but if you go
just a little bit north on the sea as well.
And it's not too big, so it's very walkable. People
are very friendly. It's very easy to have a great
night out in Liverpool. It's I mean, I went over
for a match in twenty seventeen and I always tell
people I went over for a football match and I

(20:49):
came back in love with the city. So anybody who
needs it. I know there are Disney planners out there.
Anybody who needs a Liverpool planner, I'm your man. I've
already got I'm already I'm already formulating for a buddy
who's covering the British Open next year at Robe Birkdale.
So I'm already the wheels are already in motion for
that when I'm happy to get anybody else in Itinera.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
If they need it. Yeah, it's cool. It's a very
cool town. All right. Let's get to what Kurt Signette
said yesterday.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
I thought one of the things that was interesting and
I wanted you too, and I hope I'm not. You know,
we did not pre plan our conversation here, so but
it was via one of your stories, and I think
that I saw that Kurt Signetti said this. I thought
Kurt Signetti had an interesting comparison to Indiana football and
the SEC, and by that I mean Zach not necessarily

(21:35):
in where they are like competitiveness or whatever else, but
rather just in terms of formula and strategy of scheduling
and the way that Indiana. Because there's been a lot
of discussion about the drop of Virginia on the schedule,
and I thought. Kurt Signetti made an interesting point when
talking about some of the elite level programs in college football,

(21:57):
and notably he pointed out the SEC the way that
they do things, and that he liked that blueprint. Can
you elaborate for our listeners on exactly what the strategy
is from Indiana's standpoint for scheduling.

Speaker 5 (22:11):
Yeah, So rewind back to twenty twenty three. This was
when Tom Allen is still the head coach. Indiana bought
out of the last two years of the series with Louisville,
and its reasoning was we'll make up the money and
then some by scheduling home games winnable home games, you know,
the games that have turned into fcs or maybe you know,
group of five home games. And at the time, Indiana

(22:34):
was pretty open about just saying, of course, you know,
expectations were different then that it was just trying to
create a path to being more consistently competitive, basically making
it easier to get into bowl games and to build
kind of a firmer foundation underneath the program and recognizing
that football success is kind of the ultimate form of

(22:57):
agency in modern college athletics. Scott Dalson knew he needed
to make it easier in a nine game Big Ten
schedule world, or it said football coach to map out
a postseason past fast forward to where we are now,
no one would have seen Indiana become a playoff contender,
a playoff participant, and therefore, you know, kind of a

(23:19):
bit of a I don't know, I guess in some
places a straw man or a punzie bag because of
Indiana's scheduling philosophy. He Signetti was asked about it, I
think in a sort of widely public way for the
first time yesterday, because recently Indiana also bought out of
a two year series with Virginia, which was further.

Speaker 3 (23:38):
On the line.

Speaker 5 (23:39):
Indiana also dropped a trip to Yukon off its schedule
a few months ago as well, and Signetti said that
philosophy predated me, but I signed off on it when
I came in because I think it makes sense. A
lot of the criticism has come from our friends down south,
who have I think been I think probably turned to
Indiana into a bit of a lightning rod for their

(24:00):
complaints about the Big Ten of the playoffs. Just in general,
we don't have to rehash all of the nine win
Alabama versus eleven win Indiana from from last fall for
everyone to kind of remember that. You know, the SEC
seemed to sort of chafe at the idea of an
interloper without as many signature wins, you know, jumping over
an Ole Miss team that lost to Kentucky or an

(24:22):
Alabama team that lost to Vanderbilt, and SEC. You know,
critics and the SEC and elsewhere have said, you're not
challenging yourself at all in a non conference you know,
that's that's that's weak, that's cowardly scheduling. Kurt Signetti's point
is the SEC only played eight conference games.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
Now.

Speaker 5 (24:40):
Culturally, the SEC is resisted going to nine, in part
because there are, unlike the Big Tent, a lot of
historical rivalries that are out of conference. Georgia plays Georgia Tech,
Florida places Florida State. You know, South Carolina plays Clemson, Kentucky,
Louisville and so forth. But Signetti's point is, that's just
an ninth Power five game or Power four game on

(25:03):
your schedule. We already played nine, because we play a
nine game conference schedule. We're already where you're going to
just by playing these rivalry games or just by setting
up you know, maybe a non conference game Texas Michigan
or something like that. And the point he made, excuse me,
the point he made is if you look at the
other three games on the average SEC non conference schedule,

(25:27):
they look just like what Indiana's non conference schedule looks
like and what Indiana's strategy looks like. And he dropped
that Stignetti kind of one line or about we thought
we'd just go in an SEC scheduling philosophy. I mean,
you know that there's a little bit of the Steve
Spurrier in that. We know Signetti likes a touch of
dry humor. But his point was we're already playing nine

(25:49):
Power five games. You play nine. The average SEC school
played nine Power five games too, and then does generally
what Indiana does with the other three games on its schedule.
And really what he was trying to say is, and
he articulated it well, and of course nobody listened to it,
because Twitter grabbed one sentence and went nuts, is there

(26:10):
is a need for scheduling uniformity across college football. And
there are different ways. That's all aside from kind of
meet in the middle on that. But as long as
we have some conferences that play eight and some that
play nine, and some that have, you know, this set
of priorities, and some that have this set of priorities,
and we don't know, we don't even have a settled
format for the playoffs. Everybody's just going to kind of

(26:31):
have to do what they think is best for them.
And his point was Indiana's schedule in the average year,
if you just wipe off you know, what games or
conference games and what games aren't, doesn't look that different
to the average SEC.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Schedule, you know when you think about it, Zach, Let's
let's be real here, if you were going to play
an outset like a Power five pre conference opponent, you
would almost have to make it. It's difficult to do
five to seven years out. I think that's the biggest challenge.
But whether you're Predue Indiana, whoever it may be, wouldn't

(27:05):
it be whoview to only schedule an opponent that if
you were to lose to them, it would not be
a demerit per se and hurt you really in terms
of your bull elegiit, you know, your bull standings or
seatings or even playoff contention. If you're Indiana or where
Purdue ultimately would like to be. But in other words,
like a Virginia and I admire it and appreciate it,

(27:29):
and I liked having a Virginia on the schedule. But
the reality is if you beat Virginia, people go okay.
But if you lose to Virginia, then it's like WHOA
Like bad loss for the playoffs or whatever else.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
But if you go with a Texas A and m
or A.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
You know, I'm trying to think of another school that
you know falls into that same level of category.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
Yeah, give me what you know what I mean? Like,
in other words, if you lose to them, it's not
a huge demerit.

Speaker 5 (27:54):
Indiana's got a series on the books with Notre Dame
for I think it's twenty thirty and twenty thirty one.

Speaker 3 (27:58):
Yeah, perfect example.

Speaker 5 (28:00):
Anything decided that far out for IU yet. But my
sense from asking around is there's a lot more appetite
to keep that on the schedule, right. I think to
the point that you're making, which is win or lose,
that is a game that has value if you are
trying to build a competitive resume, whether it's to make
the playoffs, whether it's just to be I mean, frankly

(28:21):
just to just to be a serious football team. You know,
eight to nine wins plus that is a game that
has value. To your point, you know, Virginia maybe would
in two or three years, maybe you wouldn't you know,
in Indiana scheduled that Louisville series. If I'm remember incorrectly,
it was right around the time Lamar Jackson was at Louisville,
So Louisville looked like a really formidable opponent. Then Louisville

(28:44):
kind of posts Lamar Jackson freightered under Bobby Petrino and
had to recycle some things and then gets Jeff brom
and now Louisville's on the upswing again. And if you know,
if Indiana had played like Scott centerfield Louisville, maybe that
means something. Maybe doesn't. On the other hand, if Indiana
had played and beaten Louisville on the road last season,

(29:05):
it would have meant something. It would have been something
very meaningful to their playoff resume. We probably wouldn't be
having this specific discussion. But that's the difference. That's why
the series, like Notre Dame, I think there's more appetite
for that than there is. Virginia certainly than there is,
you know, a Yukon on the road something like that. Now,

(29:25):
to your point, it's hard to make all those pieces
fit into place because you know, everybody wants to do
their schedule six seven, eight years out. Well, what happens
if you try to play I don't know ole Miss?
And right now ole Miss is a great program. But five, six,
seven years from now, Lane Kiffen has left for Alabama

(29:45):
and they've gotten a couple highers wrong, and ole Miss
has winning three games a year in the SEC, then
it suddenly doesn't feel quite so impactful. But then to
your point, you lose that game against the three win
SEC team and that really impacts your resume. So I
mean it's it's again. This is where we get back to.
As long as every conference is kind of looking out

(30:05):
for itself and doing its own thing, and the ACC
and SEC are at eight to Big twelve and the
Big ten or at nine, we're going to wind up
with these conflicting scheduling philosophies. And then and Christ talked
about this a little bit too. You're asking the selection
committee to judge teams from different conferences that have been

(30:25):
handed you know, markedly different paths to the college football
playoffs sort of, let's say bubble. You're asking the committee
to evaluate them the same way, it's a little bit
more difficult.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
Zach Osterman is our guest from the Indianapolis Star talking
about Indiana football yesterday. Kurt Signetti talking to the media.
I'm curious of this, Zach. You know, a year ago,
Kurt Signetti was and I understand it. You know, I
totally get why. Kurt Signetti had a bravada about him
and a confidence bordering on almost like an arrogance about him.
Arrogance probably the wrong word, but super confident. And then

(31:01):
everybody loved it because he backed it up.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
I mean, it was great. He backed it up.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
He backed it up with jmu and I think Indiana
needed that a year ago. Indiana needed that, and truthfully,
I thought that it got them to where they wanted
to go. And then, and this is probably just me
being over analytical, I thought he went to that well
won too many times. I thought the comments on the

(31:25):
college football game day on the field hours before the
Indiana Notre Dame game, even though that would't have made
its way in the Notre name's locker room, but they
didn't need it.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
At that point and he went to it.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
He spun that wheel one too many times and it
kind of blew up on him. Did he in any way,
shape or form, appear to be different this year just
because he's done, he's turned the program around. He's got
him now, he's got them relevant. He doesn't need to
be that guy per se or is that just his nature?

Speaker 5 (31:54):
No, I mean it's a bit of boa. Clifton and
I have made this comparison going back twelve months now again,
and I don't.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
I don't.

Speaker 5 (32:02):
I'm not going to catch myself as the expert on
all things SEC football. But you know, I grew up
at the height of Steve Spurrier's Florida like that was
that was the SEC program. That was the program that
ran the SEC when I was ten, eleven, twelve years old.
And you know, they are different personalities in some ways.
But Steve Spurrier Kurt Signetti there needs, I think, always

(32:26):
to be a little bit of that edge and a
little bit of that sort of playful humor and a
little bit of that what we would call in more
modern parlance trash talking. And obviously the Spurrier ones are legendary.
You can't spell citrus bowl without ut and you know
the books that weren't even colored in at the Auburn
Library when it burned, and all these different things that
we can go through. I don't know if Signette's, you know,

(32:48):
got quite that catalog of one liners, but he does
have a part of it will always just be his
personality to be a little playful to drop. You know
that that comment yesterday about we figured we just adopt
an SEC scheduling philosophy, I think, knowing full well before
he said it what kind of reaction it was going
to provoke. But I have said this to other people.

(33:12):
I forget who first asked me this, but I said
this to somebody a couple weeks ago, where in general,
I don't think Signetti has been quite as bullish and
quite as.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
Quotable this year.

Speaker 5 (33:22):
And I think it is for the reason that you
just outlined, which is I think a year ago, even
if you rewind all the way back to the comments,
and he makes the night that he gets hired produce
sucks and all this, hope I'm allowed to say that,
I'm er forgive me, he said. He said later that
the reason he said that, the reason he kind of

(33:43):
got fired up on the micropront The way he did
was because his first day on the job, he was
walking around meeting different athletics officials, different people run the
football program, different people in the department in the university,
and everybody was just talking about we'd love to go
six and six, We'd love to be produced. And he
was thinking that is that is equally the wrong mentality,
and that's not how I do things. We're not here
to just be all right, We're not here to just

(34:06):
sort of like meet minimum expectations. I've got to start
resetting the way these people think about their football program.
And from that point forward you have the google me comment.
There's some things that he says that in spring, in
the spring season, there are a number of different comments
from big to media days, you know, twenty twenty four,
and then through the season all the way up to

(34:26):
and including the comment that you talked about on game
day at the Notre Dame game. I think that reflected
Signette trying to in his way, again reflecting his personality
and what works for him, trying to affect the sea
change in the way that people inside and in the
immediate orbit of his football program thought about that football program,

(34:48):
what to expect from it, how to support it, you
know what, it was capable of all of it. And
I don't think he's sitting there thinking, oh, and now
this year we're going to go fifteen to h and
win a national and everything's fixed. But I think he
steps back now twelve months later, and I think he
doesn't feel like he needs to be quite so intentional
that some of that, at least the basics of that

(35:11):
culture change has kind of taken root because of the
success that people saw was possible when they sort of
bought in essentially, And so I think it has been
noticeable to me this offseason. It's not like he's been
dull and boring, but he hasn't had nearly as many
of the sort of viral signetti moments that kind of
became his calling card last season, became so much a

(35:34):
part of the profile of the twenty twenty four IU
football season. He hasn't had nearly as many of those,
And I don't think it's because he felt like he
needed to tone them back. I think it's because he
doesn't see the need for them this year in the
way that he did last year.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
A pre conference schedule against opponents that went eleven and
twenty five last year Old Dominion, Kannesas State and Indiana State.
It begins for the Hoosiers August thirtieth against old Dominion,
and we can get between now and then more into
some of the new faces you will see from a
personnel standpoint with Zach Ostman, Zach, appreciate the time, the

(36:08):
perspective today and we will talk to you soon.

Speaker 5 (36:10):
All right, absolutely, thanks for having me as always.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Zach Ostraman joining us on the guest line. Cam Blankenship
is the onsite engineer. We are here at Colts Camp,
Grand Park and Westfield where the Colts wrapped up practice
number one just after eleven o'clock today. Now the only
activity on the field is that of a John Deere
that's running around and getting everything ready for tomorrow. You

(36:34):
might hear that just off in the distance. We are
just off to the sidelines here on a very warm
day in central Indiana. It will be a warm day,
one would assume, with track activity coming up this weekend
at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday, the running of the
Brickyard four hundred and that from a television standpoint will
be anchored by Adam Alexander, who has done the Brickyard before.

(36:55):
From a radio standpoint, joins us now on the guest
line and Adam, I actually had Eddie Garrison play Prey
by mc hammer coming Back. Because you probably don't remember this,
but I think we were juniors in high school when
I gave you the mc hammer tape and you broke
into a spontaneous version of that song with your excitement
and getting this over me giving you an mc hammer

(37:17):
cassette tape, and so I thought, you know, what, can
you do a little mc hammer pray for me real quick.

Speaker 4 (37:23):
I was going to say, there's a zero percent chance
that's going to happen today, Jake, and I would also
say I'm highly offended. I would say I'm highly offended
that you come on the air and you say, hey,
we're over here on the sidelines. I thought maybe that
was a shot at me because that's where I spent
most of my time playing high school football at North Central,
you know, on the sidelines.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
Hey, Adam, here's the thing.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
So for those that don't know Adam Alexander and I
were we met. If you can remember this, Adam, I'll
give you a shiny, brand new fifty dollars bill, just
like Bozo the Clown used to give out. Do you
know what class we were in when we first met,
by the way.

Speaker 4 (37:55):
It was English, right, like freshman year English.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Is that right?

Speaker 1 (37:59):
Sophomore year English? Miss Martin? She was like twenty four
and she was hot. Do you remember Miss Martin?

Speaker 4 (38:03):
By chance, I have no comments on that.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
I so you were wearing a Purdue shirt and I
was like, well, who's this guy? You know, this loud mouth,
the Purdue fan, and I was an IU fan, and
we both knew that we wanted to get into broadcasting.
And then, as fate would have it, junior year at
wj e L at North Central, we were very fortunate, Adam,
that they had a radio television program and you and

(38:28):
I were in that, and mac Ingall was in there
with us as well, Chris Love, you know, David Woods
who I work with now a lot of folks, but
we were very very fortunate, and you know, without getting
to you know, boring people, with us being the two
old guys from the Muppets here, it truly was a
special time because you and I immediately just hooked up
and said, you know what, and We were the best

(38:49):
of buds from the get go and that continues to today.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
But man, it was a special time, a lot of
fun back then.

Speaker 4 (38:55):
It really is amazing that it all worked out like
it did. And I was talking to some folks yesterday
about come back to Indy and do a Brickyard four
hundred and they ask, you, know, what's it like to
do that race in your hometown? And I said, this
is truly full circle because our broadcasting careers began, you know,
right there at North Central and Jailbrettlight Crier Center and
WJ EL So to be able to start there and

(39:17):
do all the things that we were able to do
at such a young age and now to be back
is cool. And obviously you're a part of the sports
landscape every day in Indianapolis and all you do for
the community is amazing. And I know for you the
foundation laid right there, and so it's got to be
great for you to be able to be around like
you are and share so many great moments with the
city of Indianapolis and the sports community.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
Do you remember Adam before we get to the brickyard,
because there is there are some storylines to talk about
with that but do you remember, And I think it's
hard for people now to understand what a thrill this
was for us then, but you and I when we
were juniors, and I take a lot of pride in this, Adam, honestly.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
And I know your career has gone on to to
great things.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
I mean, you're the television voice and NASCAR for the
Brickyard four hundred upcoming on T and T, also on
those races that take place on Prime and you know
you have done a number of different broadcasts in college
football as well. But I don't know, Adam, that anything
canny clips the moment of joy and pride that I
had in the excitement, maybe even the nervousness of the

(40:23):
fact that I believe that you and I, if I
can pat ourselves on the back, I guess, but we
I think we were the first two students ever from
a high school broadcast standpoint to be granted credentials to
broadcast live the Indiana Kentucky basketball All Star Game back
when it was a sellout at Market Square. Eric Montrosse
was and Damon Bailey were the top two players. Dwayne

(40:43):
Morton was for Kentucky. But we just took it upon
ourselves to apply for a credential, and it was kind
of a waiting process of whether or not they were
going to let these two knuckleheads from North Central do it.
But do you remember, Adam, what a thrill that was
for us and just how at the time time how
honored we were to be able to do that broadcast

(41:04):
of what it meant for our level of excitement to
broadcast that game.

Speaker 4 (41:09):
Well, I think Jacob just speaks to the passion that
we have for what we do. And that's why you're
still doing it today and I'm still doing it today,
and that is we just love showing up and going
to work, and you know, being in the moment when
it comes to live sports, whether you know, radio, TV,
whatever it is. And you know, back then, our energy

(41:30):
level was so high, for high for it, you couldn't
hold us back, and we just wanted more and more.
And so after getting to spend you know, an entire
season doing North Central basketball, which in and of itself
was a great honor because of the schedule we played
in the great gyms we got to go to across
the entire state of Indiana, that just wasn't enough for us.
And so when it rolled around in June it was

(41:51):
time for the Indiana Kentucky All Star Game. We wanted
to be a part of that. So, you know, I
just think it speaks to the passion that you and
I both have for this. We had it at sixteen,
seventeen years old, and we still have it today now
to run our fifties.

Speaker 3 (42:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
So this race coming up this weekend, Adam, and I
know that you know what it will mean for you
to be back home and be it, in my opinion,
the greatest race track in the world, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But let's get into some of the storylines because you know,
with this particular race and the fact that it was
moved obviously to the road course for a number of
years there now back on the oval that obviously a

(42:26):
year ago was the return. But this particular track and
the challenges that it presents to these drivers, what makes
aside from the history Indianapolis different, I.

Speaker 4 (42:38):
Would just say the nostalgia, you know, and you mentioned history,
but for me, you know, and I was talking to
Dale Junior about this yesterday. He'll be a part of
our coverage Sunday on tn T. You know, outside of Daytona,
this is one. I think a lot of drivers, Circle
is a place you want to win, just because you
know how winners at Indianapolis are celebrated, and it really

(43:00):
you know, the Indy five hundred is the Indy five hundred,
but it really, you know, if you're a racer, you
want to win there. And I think about those that
did it in Formula one and now Michael Schumacher is
still celebrated today having won it, you know, five times.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
And what Jeff.

Speaker 4 (43:13):
Gordon, you know what his name means, not just because
of what he's done in the history of NASCAR and
the championships and all that he's accomplished, but the five
wins at Indianapolis or something that is right there at
the top of his resume, just because of the magneting
at that place. And I know a lot of drivers
were disappointed, you know, when it went to the road course.
They understood that move and the timing of it and

(43:36):
all of that, but it took away an opportunity for
them to win one of the crown jewels in NASCAR
because the Brickyard four hundred was not on the schedule.
And I know Danny Hamlin, for one, you know, he
won last week He's on a roll right now. He's
been close to Indy, he's never won, and I know
he feels like, at forty four years old, how many
more opportunities am I going to have? I had three
opportunities that went away when we were on a road course.

(43:59):
I feel like I need to go get it done
right now. And so there's a lot of drivers that
fill that urgency that are on the back side of
their career. If they haven't wanted, they want to get
it done to say they want at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway on the.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
Oval, you know, Adam on Sunday, I don't think and
I don't want to mention, you know, weatherwise, if the
forecast doesn't look great, it doesn't look terrible. I think
it's a small chance of some precipitation. But I do
think the air is even if it doesn't rain, it's
going to be humid, it's going to be thick. How
does that impact I know from an Indy car standpoint,

(44:32):
you know, a thick air like that can kind of
slow those engines down to kind of slog through that
thick air. The grip can become challenged if it gets
too hot on the track, but what about from a
cup standpoint, how does it impact the cars themselves?

Speaker 3 (44:44):
And maybe even the strategy of a long race.

Speaker 4 (44:46):
Like that, Well, strategy is going to be a big
part of the equation. And if any way, shape or form,
you know, the weather impacts the handling of the cars,
whether that be the you know, the track conditions themselves,
or just what it does to you know, to bog
down the engine or change.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
The way you race.

Speaker 4 (45:04):
You know, if it has an impact on strategy, that's
a big deal because this is a strategy race. And
we see that, you know, in the Indy five hundred
and two, but in Nascar, you know, it's so challenging
to pass here. You know, you get the restarts and
that's where there's a lot of excitement. But then once
you find yourself in position, it comes down to when
are you gonna pit? How many stops are you going

(45:26):
to make? How can you minimize your time on pit road?
And is it better to pit three times but have
to wait on fuel or is it better to pit
four times and have quicker stops? And then when you know,
when are these cautions going to come out? We know
when we'll get two of them at the end of
the stages. But but when will there be other cautions?
And so it's a lot to manage for these teams.
And you know, you talk about weather, We're coming off

(45:48):
one of our hottest races. It was it was not good,
you know, Sunday in Dover it was hot and humid
and very hard on these drivers. And I would anticipate
it will be more of the same Sunday in Indy
for sure.

Speaker 3 (45:59):
You know, Dover was and Adam Alexander is our guest.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
You can see him and hear him Sunday on T
and T for the coverage of the Brick Card four hundred.
In terms of that race in Dover, nobody, I guess,
if you were to look at it coming off of
that would be hotter than Denny Hamlin because he won
that race and he's put together a couple of wins
this year. Do you believe Adam in momentum when it
comes to racing or are the tracks so different one

(46:23):
to the next that it's kind of hard to judge.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
No.

Speaker 4 (46:26):
I do believe in momentum, and I think it's top
to bottom within the team. You know, certainly a driver
maybe has a little bit more, you know, swagger about
themselves if they've won, and I saw that in Denny Hamlin.
I felt like after he won it dover in the
way he won, he was energized. But I also feel
like that, you know that crew plays such a big
role and they filled the momentum and the expectations of winning.

(46:51):
And you know, from from a Crucie standpoint, as you
align strategy, you know, when you've won races, it builds
a little bit of an insurance policy once you get
to the playoffs, and that opens the door, you know,
for the risk you can take once you're in a race,
especially when you're going to a venue. Whereas we said,
strategy is going to be a big deal. So I
feel like, you know, momentum is something that is real

(47:13):
and that could play a factor. It's different than other sports,
but certainly it's something that's a part of the equation.

Speaker 1 (47:20):
By the way, Adam, speaking of swagger, we double dated
for grad dance and we took our dates for pizza.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
Do you remember that. I mean, that's some swagger, isn't it.
I guess it is.

Speaker 4 (47:28):
I'm sure I wasn't thinking that at the time. It
was probably more of a budget decision. But fifty two, now,
let's just go as swagger.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
You know I heard that that much.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
Yeah, well listen, listen. A lot of people don't realize this,
and maybe you don't want me.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
I mean, I'll say it like on the air here
speaking of swagger.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
So maybe we didn't have it in high school, but
by the time you were, you know, early to mid twenties,
you had some swagger. Because I was there the night
that you and aud were your wife met, so like
you had natural slagger, right, I mean I wasn't even
a man, right, Well, that was.

Speaker 4 (48:02):
Like, you know, thirty years ago or whatever that was,
you know, over thirty years ago. So it's all worked out.
We're still together. I don't know what that says about her.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
You know you had some swagger though, man.

Speaker 4 (48:13):
Yeah, yeah, I guess, so I guess.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
Down in Evansville, all right, Right, I want to get
I want to go back to just in talking about
this race in general, and you know, we talked about
Denny Hamlin. Obviously Kyle Larson knows his way around this
track as well. But is there somebody that you look
at and you think to yourself, you know what, I
feel like this driver might be just kind of like
that caged animal that's about to break out. Things haven't

(48:37):
gone their way, but just with the right break here there,
their year could look totally different. Who jumps out at
you in that capacity or description.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
And that category is Tyler Reddick. You know, he started
on the poll last year in this race, he ended
up finishing second, and he was the regular season champion
last year. They haven't won this year. They're pretty much
a lock for the playoffs. He's got an enormous advantage
over the cut line that's not going to deteriorate. I
don't think we're going to get, you know, five more
winners before the end of the regular season. So he's
going to be a part of the playoffs. But they

(49:09):
haven't won, and when you haven't won, it eats at you.
And we know what he's capable of as a driver.
He actually won one of those races on the road
course at Indianapolis when we were racing there. But he's
not done it in the brickyard. His two starts there
on the oval top ten and that runner up finish
I mentioned a year ago. That's a team that I
feel like, if they could get it going, could make

(49:29):
it happen. And you know in his teammate, Bubba Wallace
is another driver to watch. Bubb has had you know,
sneaky good numbers at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and I
feel like that, you know, they could have cars this
weekend that could compete. Qualifying is going to be big
because that pit road's tough and you want track position
and then you also want a good pit stall selection.
So that'll be big for those two drivers. But those

(49:50):
are two to watch for sure. When you talk about
drivers that haven't won yet that need to get something
going and could you know, jump start their season on.

Speaker 1 (49:58):
Sunday, you know with that when you talk about just
track position in general. Adam Adam Alexander our guest here
joining US Colts Campus where I'm located here in Grand
Park and Westfield, and Adam will be on the call
for the brick card four hundred coming up Sunday. You know,
there's always that narrative, Adam that the track the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway, that the width of those cars, it's a

(50:20):
difficult passing track.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
Do you buy into that?

Speaker 1 (50:23):
And you know, is there a particular driver that you
look at and you go, you know, what you could
say that, but that driver's figured out where to kind
of cut those corners and make areas passing zones that
others may not want to go into.

Speaker 4 (50:34):
Well, there's no doubt that that is a big deal
at Indian It's very challenging for the drivers to pass there,
and that's been a topic of conversation really since we
went there for the first time, you know, way back
in the mid nineties. But I would say that you
know a couple of drivers that I would put on
that list. Kyle Larson has won and you know, he
won this race last year and it just seems to adapt.

(50:55):
And they had been on a little bit of a
summertime slump, but he's seen to come out of that.
Last week at Dover, didn't win, but did some very
Kyle Larson liked things last week, and so my expectations
for him or high this weekend. He's running the Saturday
race and the Sunday race, so that extra track time
probably will help him as well. And someone else I
think we need to be talking about is Chase Frisco.

(51:17):
We know Indiana drivers have had success in the Brickyard
four hundred. We talk about Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman.
Chase Frisco won at Pocono. If you were to say
what track on the schedule is like Indy, the one
that is closest is Pocono, and it just feels like
a lot is aligning right now that team is running
well second to last two weeks. I would keep my

(51:38):
eye on Chase Frisco this weekend?

Speaker 3 (51:39):
Does it Pocono?

Speaker 1 (51:40):
Adam and I might be thinking of Ontario back when
it was still around, but I think I thought it
was Pokono that when it was designed, has one corner
like one is exactly as Trenton was one is I
think Ontario and doesn't have I think it's turned three
in Pocono is nine degrees twelve minutes and is specified
to resimble the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
Did I just make that up? Or am I remembering
that correctly? No, you're right, and.

Speaker 4 (52:04):
It's it's Trenton, which how you pulled Trenton, New Jersey
out is amazing. That's that speaks to your weird brain.
But yes, it's it's Trenton, it's Indianapolis and turn two
the tunnel turn, and then turn three model after the
Milwaukee Mile. But yeah, there are characteristics that pass over
for sure.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
Okay, speaking of my weird brain before we let you go,
Adam Alexander, you know I have to play this. I've
done it with Mac as well. So I remember, I
still have like two tapes of when we did the
short lived Jake and Adams Show on w j Yell
in high school. Now, I got fired from that show. Remember,
I got in trouble and got suspended, And I know

(52:44):
that's shocking to people that then you had to you
had to do the rest of the year by yourself, right,
and that how that worked out.

Speaker 4 (52:49):
I feel like that's how it was.

Speaker 5 (52:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:51):
Yeah, So one night though, we're doing this show and
you know, I mean we had done like three of them,
and we already had run out of stuff to talk about.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
So we didn't know what to do.

Speaker 1 (52:59):
And our buddy Jason Venturi, who's dad Rick Ventury of
course part of the Colts family, and Jason Vontury had
a new keyboard. He was a musician, and his keyboard
had some sound effect that sounded kind of like race cars.
So we decided one night on the Jake and Adams
Show that instead of the show itself. We would just
do a two hour ad lib totally fake, made up
off the top of our head.

Speaker 3 (53:19):
Indy five hundred.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
We had a crash on lap five with somebody that
I think ended up actually coming back and finishing third,
which was miraculous.

Speaker 3 (53:27):
But anyway, so Eddie's got it cued up.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
Here Here is Adam the last I think lap and
a half for the last lap of the always exciting
nineteen ninety or nineteen ninety one there about Fantasy Indy
five hundred. This is Adam Alexander, myself, Mac Ingele. Chris
Love was on the broadcast as well. Jason Voncurrey on
the keyboards. Here we go trying to make it move.

Speaker 5 (53:48):
It's Bears, he can't do it.

Speaker 4 (53:50):
Cut it up room.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
Mike Anny is working hard on Rick Behers right now,
he is working hard.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
It's Mears.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Engine begins to smoke.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Michael ahead Breddy has hash Rick for session.

Speaker 3 (54:01):
Eddie cheeber Now let's take it over, two guys. He
has got passport. That's Soliman. I mean, I'm looking us
move up.

Speaker 4 (54:07):
And now was in such position as the sow senior
Michael Ethreddie mcberton ban guy said.

Speaker 3 (54:12):
Then Eddie Cheever. Just that Cheever takes Sollivant, Soliman takes
Chieva right back.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
Danny Sullivant, the great driver at the beautiful Red and
White Stars shot shot back in the eighth place. Back.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
You've got the race coming up.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
Holy go Cherry Bird, god Boy, come on, went Cherryber
all the way coming into tour three.

Speaker 1 (54:34):
Now, needless to say, Adam, Matt got overly excited, right
he did.

Speaker 3 (54:38):
He was in his moment there.

Speaker 1 (54:41):
Now you were able to call in the Danny Sullivan
Red and white beautiful car, which is also a pretty
good recall.

Speaker 3 (54:47):
Right there you.

Speaker 4 (54:49):
Go, I got I didn't remember that, I remember doing that.
And I gotta say, like, when you think about, and
I said earlier, the passion we have for this, that
right there illustrates what it meant to us. We just
couldn't get enough. And you know, to come in that
night and do that, and that's pretty cool to pull

(55:10):
that tape up when you think about where we are
and what we're doing now well and.

Speaker 3 (55:14):
In particular how bad we were.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
But it was fun, and you know, I think it
also I think it also speaks to our swagger, Adam,
because needless to say, me, you and Meck were just
absolutely lady killers back then by broadcasting cord down fake
infy five hundred.

Speaker 4 (55:25):
Right, that's right, yeah, yeah, when you do that with
your evenings, it speaks to what your social life is
all about in high school.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
That's exactly right. We had a ton of fun though,
I will say that, all right, Mac. The schedule of
events in terms of everything taking place at IMS this weekend,
and in particular your coverage and when it all gets underway.

Speaker 4 (55:44):
Yeah, So we'll have practice on Friday for both the
Infinity and Cup Series, and on the Cup side that'll
be on True TV. I think we're on the air
at one o'clock Eastern time there to track on Friday,
and then on Saturday, we've got qualifying for the brick
Yard four hundred. We'll have to see w coverage for
the NASCAR Expinity race. I think we're on the air

(56:04):
four o'clock Eastern time with that event late Saturday afternoon,
and then Sunday NASCAR on TNT Nascar Nation on the
air at one o'clock getting you ready for the Brickyard
four hundred, and we'll be green shortly after two from
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and I'm hoping. I'm hoping that
the rain stays away because I'm going to hang a
day and come out the Colts camp on Monday.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
That's my plan anyway, So.

Speaker 1 (56:25):
I'm hoping you'll be good out, bring your speed. Oh
it's warm here, not that it's not, but it's warm here.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
You know, that's right, So there you go.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
All right, Adam, Hey, obviously, say hello to your dad,
say hello to audit for me as well, and hopefully
we'll see you this weekend. I'm doing IndyCar in Monterey,
but also we'll be around Monday as well, so probably
we'll see you over the course of the weekend.

Speaker 3 (56:45):
But appreciate the time. All right, travel safe, thanks so much,
shake you guys.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
Have a good one, all right, Adam Alexander joining us
on the program again. T and T coming up on Sunday,
and then, as he mentioned, CW for the Expinity Race
as well the Pennzoil two fifty