Best Of Query & Company - Wednesday 7/30/25 - Query & Company

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is upon us college football in terms of in
particular teams getting underway with It's crazy to think, you know,
kids back at school before August and now obviously the
Colts in training camp. Day off today for the Colts.
By the way, Joela ericson at about twenty but joining
us now on the program. He is, of course with
the Big Ten Network to preview the conference. Our friend

(00:22):
Dave Revsen joins us. Dave, how are you?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
I couldn't be fine, or Jake.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
We embarked tomorrow on our preseason camp tour line to Lincoln, Nebraska.
We'll see the Husks on Friday, and then we're off
and running. It's pretty amazing to think it's upon us.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
It's always an exciting time it is.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
And then but you know before you know it, And
this is what is fun.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
Dave.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
I love like those those early fall Saturday night under
the lights games where it's just starting to get crisp
in the air and you see these big matchups right
separation Saturday and etc. So let's start with this. Eddie
and I were just talking about it. We each predict
who you may say for your answer. Okay, this year's
and I know that you haven't gone to camp and

(01:05):
seen a lot of these teams yet, so I understand that.
But when you look at scheduling and other such things,
the team that could be this year's Indiana, and by
that I mean I don't mean one that is starting
out ranked in the top twenty five per se, but
one that just you kind of have your eye on
it and you're curious to get to their camp because
you think things may come together for this team, despite

(01:26):
people not necessarily talking about them at this point. Who
jumps out at you as the potential of that squad?

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Well, I mean, people are talking about Illinois, so maybe
that's not.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
A fair one.

Speaker 5 (01:38):
I feel like they won ten games a year ago.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
And you know, maybe they can be a team that
makes the playoffs this year. But it feels like the
way that you said that up Illinois maybe isn't an
acceptable response. So I guess if not them, I might
say Minnesota.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
I'm a little concerned about that.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
That was my prediction, Dave. I predicted you were going
to go with Minnesota. And we did not discuss this
ahead of time, by the way.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Okay, all right, well no we did not.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
That makes me feel good, because you know, Kay, and
it means it must be.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Bordering on the truth.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, I just I'm concerned about quarterback. I mean, I've
just never seen Drake Lindsey play other than him practice
last year. And he's a big kid with a nice arm,
But I mean he's not a five star recruit. It's
not Bryce Underwood coming in. But other than that, I
just feel like they've got a lot of really good answers.

(02:34):
I think they'll be really good on defense. They were
elite on defense last year. They did lose their DC,
Corey Heatherman. He went to Miami, but I know Danny
Collins has been with PJ Fleck for a long time
the need DC, and I was talking to PJ and
Las Vegas and he's really excited about him and doesn't
think they'll miss a beat there.

Speaker 5 (02:54):
I think their offensive line will be good.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
It really struggled last year, but I think they upgraded
some in the poor They have a really good running back.
I just think there are a lot of pieces in
place for them. I wouldn't predict they're going to make
the playoff, Like I don't think they're going to have
the year that Indiana had a year ago. But if
we're talking about a team that people aren't talking about,
and again I think that excludes Illinois. I think to

(03:16):
a certain extent that excludes Iowa. I mean, I would
say Iowa is a team that they could rise up,
but again I feel like they may show up in
some preseason top twenty fives. You know, I'm not sure
I'm buying Nebraska. I'd go Minnesota.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
And it's such a loaded league, Dave, you know what
I mean. When you look at it, you just you
can make a case really for about everybody and then
you know, obviously excluding Purdue. And we'll get to that
in a second, but I want to focus on Kurt Signetti.
Dave Revson, Big ten Network is our guest. A year ago,
Kurt Signetti was was making waves with you know, we've
talked about it obviously, the uber confidence, the famous quotes,

(03:53):
the preseason stuff, and he backed it up. And I
found it interesting that when he came out and was
talking about scheduling as you know, as if you were
an SEC school, and you know, the breaking the contract
with Virginia, Dave, from an Indiana standpoint, it seemed as
though Kurt Signetti all of a sudden has elevated himself

(04:14):
into a coach that the rest of the Big Ten
kind of backed up now what he was saying, and
that he was like this spokesperson for other coaches who
then came out and said, yeah, he's right, and we
agree with that. That's the Indiana perspective. Is that an
accurate assessment or is he still seen by other coaches
as this bravada that is kind of eyebrow raising.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
I can't speak to how other coaches see him. I mean,
I just don't know. I haven't asked them how they
view him. I look what, I'd rather see Indiana play Virginia.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Than some of these games that they're scheduling.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
I would, but I also think that in life, you
do what you're incentivized to do, and I just don't
think there's incentive to play these top level non conference games.
And again, I think this is why the Big Ten
is advocating for four guaranteed spots in the playoff for
them and for the SEC, because you know, they've been
the best leagues. I mean, I think if you go

(05:11):
through here in recent years, the most elite teams, it's
those two leagues. But also from the Big Ten's point
of view, you know, they look at versus the SEC,
and the SEC is only playing eight conference games and
no one penalizes them for that.

Speaker 5 (05:26):
The Big Ten when you play.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Nine and again you're the math is you're guaranteed that
half your league's going to lose one more game.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
And so if we're.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
Leaving all this in the hands of the committee and
they're looking at one loss record above and beyond everything,
I understand kind of the notion of well, we're not
going to schedule the potential for another loss. We already
are playing one more conference game than our top rival
league is. So you know what the coaches think of it,
I don't know, but I understand where big where Big

(05:55):
ten teams are coming from.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
It's versus scheduling.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
I mean, I do think like until the committee shows
us that they're.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Going to go deep and you know they're going to
pick up.

Speaker 5 (06:07):
Whatever it is, a three.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
Loss team over a one loss team, or or a
three loss team over two loss team, or whatever it is, they.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Just haven't really done that.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
And so I think like, your goal is just to
minimize your number of losses, and part of the way
to do that is to schedule as easy and non
conference late as you can.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
You know, it's interesting for Indiana and Kurt Signetti's offense. Now, Dave,
it's hard to say this because they got such good
play last year at the quarterback position, so I mean
it is no slight, but they might have even upgraded.
I'm a mate. You know, Mendoza coming from California has
not only experience, but I think there seemingly is a
lot of intrigue about him being a literally a top level,

(06:48):
first round level pick at that position. Your intrigue level
about Mendoza and just about Indiana offensively this year trying
to maintain what they were able to do a year ago.

Speaker 3 (07:01):
It's really high, Jake, And I'll tell you I think
I maybe even I can't recall whether we talk about this,
but like Curtis Rourke had a terrible day when we
were practice last year, and that's why we always kind
of say, hey, we're parachuting in. It's one day. You
don't know whether it's representative. And everyone there was telling us, no,
he has had a great camp and we think he's
going to be really good. I mean, Tavin Jackson had

(07:23):
a way better day than Curtis Rourke and everyone kept
telling us this was his worst day by far.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
He's going to be really good.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
So I mean, I'm excited to see Fernando Mendoza. But again,
I didn't come out of camp last year thinking like,
oh my goodness, Curtis Rourke, they've really got this thing
figured out. But looking at tape of Fernando Mendoza, I
certainly understand why people are excited about him. I mean,
he certainly has the size and the physical tools.

Speaker 5 (07:51):
In all of that.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
You know, the offensive line's got to be better for him.

Speaker 5 (07:55):
In Indiana than it was at CAL.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
I mean, that was really the challenge for him, and
I think part of the reason that he was kind
of middle of the pack in the acc and passing efficiency.
But it's easy to look at the tape and the
highlights of him from Callum to see why people are excited.
But I would just say, I mean, what Curtis Rourke
did last year was pretty amazing, and to do it
with an injury, as we later learned it was, it

(08:19):
was a remarkable year. And so yeah, I don't want
to slight that at all.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
I mean, is it an upgrade.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
It'd be hard to be much better than Curtis Rourke
was last year. But if they're just the same at quarterback,
if they're just as good, that would be a really
enviable spot because they were one of the elite quarterback
teams in the country a year ago.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
By the way, Dave, do you really actually parachute in?
Is that a tandem jump or are you a solo guy?

Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, DeNardo likes to parachute in. He wants to get
up into a plane.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
Is this big thing?

Speaker 3 (08:52):
I mean? And I just kind of through the years
and been like, all right, we'll parachute in. Yeah, we're
usually you know, we to land at midfield.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
We've had the Blue Angels a couple of times. I mean,
it's it's a pretty big production. Ye.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
That takes some practice too, which is impressive.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
Right it does.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
But again, I mean, that's what the off seasons for
Jake like, We're not just sitting around resting on our laurels.
We're trying to figure out how we can get better.
And part of that is you make sure he hit
the fifty every time and.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
At Paris Island for the entire offseason, getting getting things
right exactly. Hey, David, your thoughts on you know, obviously
at Purdue this is a complete rebuild, and and I'm
fascinated by Barry Odom in terms of I think if
you really do look and I mean, you know, how
much do we really follow un l V football?

Speaker 5 (09:45):
Right?

Speaker 1 (09:45):
But if you look at his team there and you
go back and look at it, I think you know,
a disciplined style of football, kind of a an older
school style of football. I think he can bring that
to Purdue and operate that. But ken that win in
the Big Ten? And how long does it take to
turn that around? If you will? What do you anticipate,

(10:08):
if anything, this year from Purdue in this rebuild.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
I haven't the faintest idea. I mean, I really, we
just have to see.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
Them in camp. I mean again, you're talking about a
team that essentially.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
Has like one player that anyone knows anything about.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Probably he doesn't have the faintest idea, right, I mean,
they've got to be nat.

Speaker 5 (10:27):
I can't imagine that he does.

Speaker 3 (10:29):
Again, I think it would be unfair to say, you know,
can you do what Kurt Signetti did? I just but
in this day and age, you don't have to rebuild
over four or five years.

Speaker 5 (10:40):
You can be competitive right away.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Because he utilized the portal and again, he's got a
handful of guys coming from UNLV. It's nothing like the
JMU contingent that came last year with Signetti. But again,
I really, I mean, I have no field at all.
I would agree with you. I think he did a
really nice job at UNLV. You know, my old colleague
Kenny Mayne, of course, was a backup quarterback at UNLV,

(11:05):
so he would always regale me with tales.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
Of UNLV football.

Speaker 3 (11:09):
But the truth of the matter is it's not much
of a tradition. And you know the fact that he won.
They won twenty games in two years. I think he
was responsible for nineteen of them because he left before
the Bowl game last year, but they had won you know,
I think like five years the year or five games
the year before he got there. So he did a

(11:31):
really good job. You know, he wasn't great at Missouri. Again,
I just reserve judgment. I want to see. I thought
he was impressive in Las Vegas. He's a pretty even
keeled guy, or at least came across that way. He's
different from Signetti. I mean, there's a whole lot of
bravado there. There are lots of different ways to get

(11:52):
this done. And I just anxious go to camp and
see what it looks like.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
So take me through, Dave revsent our guest Big ten Network, Dave,
the coverage that you got, we'll begin doing. And I
know that you obviously, you know probably are doing your
final preparations in terms of getting ready to do your
camp tour. You mentioned it starts at Nebraska. What is
the next say two weeks like on the Big ten
network in terms of where all you're going to be
and all that you have planned.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
Yeah, we start, as I said, we start the camp
tour at Nebraska on Friday. We go to Minnesota from
there and then we head east. What we're flying, we're
not it's not all buses anymore for obvious reasons, which is,
you know, you really couldn't get it done.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
So we head east after that and we'll be.

Speaker 3 (12:42):
I want to say, we go to Maryland and then
kind of do the the Penn State, Rutgers and that
whole leg of the trip. So yeah, it's I'm looking
up here to see when we're at Indiana and producer,
We're at Indiana on August the eighth, and we're at
Purdue on August the ninth. So that's kind of the

(13:04):
back end. We go east to Maryland and then swing
back through the state of Indiana and then go back
out to Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern and then the West coast schools,
which Ashley.

Speaker 5 (13:14):
Is going to be doing.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
Uh, those start in the middle of August.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
You know, I don't. And here's the thing, Dave. It's
parachuting from the top of a bus. Very dangerous, right yeah,
I mean yeah, you got to yeah, may not open quickly.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
You may not open.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, I mean that's an ankle issue at that point, right,
So it's probably better that you're on the plate, right right.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, I think. Well, you know what we do, it's
it's a mixture.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
We've got We've got this company called land Jet, which
has these tricked out sprinter vans, and so we use
land Jet quite a bit like kind of in.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
These shorter haul trips. But but we don't have the.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
Full like concert tour bus that we used.

Speaker 5 (13:57):
To have, so uh, it's it's.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
A little bit of flying, a little bit of driving,
and a lot of parashute.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
By the way, before we let you go, Dave, two
things in terms of you mentioned concert now. Number one,
if you remember the last time we talked to you.
I had just purchased my tickets for my annual White
Sox game with Shannon, which is going to take place
coming up here on the thirteenth of August. I set
up an alert on my phone to buy face value,
like you know, right there off the top, and I'm thinking,

(14:26):
based on their year, you are correct in the fact
that was not a sound business decision. Probably secondary market
readily available right now. Correct.

Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yes, Yes, I've been out there twice in the last month.
I was there for the win over the Cubs on Friday,
which of course was packed house, but then the other game,
I would I think there could have been more than
ten thousand people there. So you'll have your not just
your pickup seats, you'll to your pickup a road.

Speaker 5 (14:49):
I know.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yeah. Well, here's the other thing you mentioned. Concert I went,
and you tell me, you know, everybody on the show
knows this because I talked about it forever. It was unbelievable.
I did go to Manchester, England to see Oasis for
two shows in Manchester, their hometown. In the view of
Dave Revsen music officionado, that is lame or that is cool?

Speaker 2 (15:12):
Oh, man, I think that's super cool.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
I mean, I'm not a huge Oasis fan, but I mean,
first of I'll just go to Manchester for a concert
to see a group in its hometown.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
I think that's I think that's awesome. Was it fun?

Speaker 1 (15:25):
It was amazing. It was They have a park that
is as a matter of fact, it's basically the size
of Central Park and they had they listed it at
eighty thousand. I think it's closer to one hundred thousand.
Here's the one thing I learned, Dave that I shared
with our listeners, but you and our friends, so I'm
going to share this with you. In the event that
you go to a concert in the UK, you start

(15:48):
seeing cups flying through the air, a lot of moisture
through the air, cups celebrating like with big songs. And
I learned, thankfully, I was tipped to this in advance,
when you get these big crowds like that. For outdoor
this is a soccer thing. Is where it started. You
double fished your beers, but then it's too hard to
get to the portolettes, so then the empty cups are

(16:11):
used for that purpose until your favorite song comes on
in which you hoist them in the air. So if
you're going to go to a show there, you want
to be in the back like forty percent.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Oh my goodness, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
It was.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
It was a little eye opening, to say the least.
And then you like you talk to people afterwards and like, yeah,
I got kind of wet. I just went back and
took your shower. I'm not sure, and I'm like, okay.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
Oh as a germaphobe, you have just described it's literally
my worst night.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, I mean listen. But other than that, and that's
you know, that's like the twenty five and undercrowd that's
in the front. You know, David was amazing. I mean,
they are. It was electric just to see. That's the
thing about music. When you can look around at people
that grew up on the other side of the planet
and realize that you have the common thread of the
same soundtrack, that means a lot to you. That is

(17:03):
a special thing. So it was very, very cool, and
I'll enjoy that exact same fraternal feeling with the other
two hundred and forty six people that will be at
the White Sox game with me on the thirteenth. So
if you're not at a camp, swing by and say Hi.

Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, I'm sad that I'll be out of town on
that day because I mean, I would like to see you,
but I probably have my soul.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
The Socks went, I.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
Mean I went one and one, and the win over
the Cubs Friday was fun.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
Well, two games in a season. You're doing better than
most Socks fans, that's for sure.

Speaker 5 (17:37):
Yeah, no, I know, yeah, all right.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
Nebraska is the first of the tour for Dave Revsen
and the group from the Big Ten Network, and again
August eighth and ninth, they will be coming through the
state of Indiana. Look for the low flying plane and
Dave pulling the ripcord jumping out of it along with
Jerry DeNardo. Dave appreciate it as always, man, look forward
to talking to you again.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
Oh, i'd be good. Thanks you.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
It's our buddy, Dave Rebsen from the Big Ten Network.
Joela Ericson would be happy to know than just we are,
like I think two weeks three weeks away from IndyCar
and Milwaukee. And I don't know if you know this,
but whenever IndyCar goes to Milwaukee, and I bought tickets
last night, by the way, for the Brewers. The Brewers

(18:17):
are playing the Giants. And let me tell you something.
The Brewers tickets. You know, I always buy like the
top literally the top row of like right field. No
joke on the Brewers tickets this year. I mean there
it was.

Speaker 6 (18:32):
Are the best team in baseball?

Speaker 1 (18:33):
Round I listen, I mean it was, And I mean
I have no idea how top dollar I paid more
for the Brewers Giants game than I did for the
Oasis concert. I'm being extremely sarcastic, but whenever the Brewers
are playing and I'm up there for a game or
for IndyCar, then the beer fairy shows up at Erickson's house,

(18:55):
which is always exciting. He joins us now, and I'm
sure thrilled to be doing so on the guest line
on an off day for the Colts. So exactly what
most beat writers want to do is join this program, Joel.
Let's begin with this from an injury standpoint. We discussed
it yesterday, but for those that were not here yesterday,
there were a couple of tweaks. Does anything can you

(19:16):
recap for us a couple of the injuries that we
saw yesterday, and if there's any information at all to update.

Speaker 7 (19:23):
Yeah, I'm mostly focused on the cornerbacks. Juju Brents after
we talked to him. Sometime between us talking to him
and the next day was out with the hamstring. And
then we saw Jalen Jones deal with a hamstring injury.
We saw him pull up that one. As hamstrings go,
it looked it looked pretty bad to start. And I

(19:44):
think that that that's the one I'm focused on because
there their competition with Justin Wally, and Wally has been
ahead of them so far for that cornerback job. I
think that's the biggest one. Michael Pittman kind of finished practice.
I wonder if his growing is maybe more just Maten,
But yeah, I think the corners are the one.

Speaker 4 (20:03):
I'm most interested in.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
The injury that you talked about with Jalen Jones, because
you are right, I mean that that seems to be boy.
I mean now, and let me ask you this, my apologies.
Is it Whaley or Wally because I hear both.

Speaker 7 (20:19):
I've been saying Wally, and now I'm concerned that I
said it wrong.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
I've been saying Whaley and then I went to Wally,
and then I went but I've kind of how about
this Justin w How's that.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
The person to ask is Matt Taylor. Tomorrow, I'm going
to just pull Matt Taylor aside and say, hey, am.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
I saying well, listen, Joel. This is not unprecedented because
we've had like Antoine Bethay was Antoine Bethay, that he
was anton Antoine Betheya then back you know what I mean.
We've had players and in racing I can tell you.
I mean, Tony Kanan was Tony Kanaan when he first
came to the United States, and then everybody said Canaan
and it was like, Okay, we'll just go with that,
you know what I mean. So so we're all off

(20:56):
the hook here. But having said that, he has been
really and you tell me if I'm wrong, he's been
kind of the buzz of this camp so far.

Speaker 4 (21:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (21:06):
I think early on it was mostly because he was
ahead of those guys. The last two days, though, we
started to see him make more plays on the ball.

Speaker 4 (21:14):
Some of the stuff we heard.

Speaker 7 (21:15):
Them talk about in the off season, we didn't really
see that last week. We started to see it this week.
I think the thing that I keep thinking about him
is when I talked to him in June after they've
been praising him and saying he was breaking up all
these passes and making all these interceptions. I said, is
this easier than you thought it would be? Or are
you more comfortable than you thought it would be? And

(21:36):
he said, no, this is the hardest thing I've ever
done on a football field. And I think when your
head is swimming and you're still impressing the coaching staff
and making plays, to me, that's an indicator of something
something to be excited about.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
The quarterback competition is the one Joel that is always
going to be the storyline of this camp. It was
going into it is now. But before we go there,
I'm going to ask you what I've asked a couple
of others, and that is you mentioned corner. Is there
another area that you look towards where maybe there is

(22:13):
a potential unseat of the incumbent or a battle taking
place that you did not anticipate three weeks ago was
going to be a story.

Speaker 7 (22:21):
I think we're maybe not talking about center enough. You know,
Maganzolvez at right guard has basically just been the right
guard with the first team at center. Tanner Bordolini and
Danny Pinter are are they are trading off days I.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Thought, I thought, I mean, guilty is charged here because
I thought that that was a dune one and that
Bartolini was going to be the guy.

Speaker 7 (22:43):
That's that's kind of I think what most of us
thought going in. But but so far it has been
sixty there one day and then sixty three there the
next day, and they have continued on that. I think
that is a real competition at the center position that
maybe maybe we need to pay a little more attention
to as we go forward.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
Is that because of the fact that that Bartolini has
played poorly or because Pinter has exceeded expectation.

Speaker 4 (23:09):
I think it goes back to last year.

Speaker 7 (23:11):
Because they've really only been in full pads for two days,
they don't really have a ton of data on.

Speaker 4 (23:16):
The offensive lineman. Yet, I think it.

Speaker 7 (23:18):
Goes back to last year borderlining came back from an injury,
Pinter had started a game, and instead of just giving
Bortelini back the position he'd had earlier in the year,
they went with Pinter to start another game before Ryan
Kelly came back. Something something in the evaluation for Tony
sparan or that's the offensive line coach and the rest
of the coaching staff tells them that that should be

(23:40):
more of a competition.

Speaker 4 (23:42):
And I have made a note.

Speaker 7 (23:44):
I made a note to myself yesterday I need to
watch the centers a little more closely than I.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
Have been interesting because you know the but I will
give and you tell me Joel if you agree with this.
I said it yesterday. Bernard Ryman. Do you remember when
Bernard Ryman came out, he had short arms? You remember that,
like everybody was they and actually they they initially when
they drafted him, they only had a photo of a

(24:08):
t rex. They didn't actually have a photo of him,
and that was the big knock on him, right and
and Chris Ballard basically said, look, we think this guy
can grow into it. And he did. And I will
give Ballard credit there. And in a time when we
have been very critical of Chris Ballard over the last
couple of years, the one area where I give him

(24:30):
credit is I do think that they have built an
offensive line here that does have some depth and some
guys that can Swiss Army a little bit. And he
gets credit there because not all of them were can't
miss products. Am I giving him too much credit?

Speaker 4 (24:45):
No?

Speaker 7 (24:45):
No, I think you're right. I think Ryman in particular
should be looked at, regardless of whatever happens, as one
of the best draft picks of his tenure. You don't
get left tackles outside of the first round.

Speaker 4 (24:58):
You just don't. I mean there's a couple.

Speaker 7 (25:01):
David Bachiari's a forced drawn Armstead was a third, but like,
it's very few and far between. For like left tackle
names that people might know that came outside of the
first round. Ballard took one in the third. Saw something
with him and he has developed into that. That is
much harder I think than we necessarily give it credit
for based on you know, if you just go back

(25:24):
and look at the history of left tackles, and I
know someone's gonna go out there and go, I found
this guy and this guy or whatever. But my editor,
Natt newele Is is big in the numbers and has
done this.

Speaker 4 (25:33):
Plenty of times.

Speaker 7 (25:33):
It is very hard to find a left tackle outside
of the first round.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
The Colts were able to do it.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
The quarterback position, let's get to it. Leader right now is.

Speaker 4 (25:44):
Who Anthony Richardson? I think is.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
That because Anthony Richardson has taken a step or because
Daniel Jones is not.

Speaker 4 (25:54):
I think for.

Speaker 7 (25:55):
Me, it's because I thought, for Daniel Jones to win
this job coming in that he had to be leaps
and bounds more efficient as a pastor and accurate as
a pastor, and I haven't necessarily seen that.

Speaker 4 (26:06):
So far.

Speaker 7 (26:08):
Richardson has had periods and stretches of practice where he's
been much more accurate than we've seen in the past.
I still have like yesterday's practice is a good example.
He was nine to eleven at one point with one
of the incompletions coming on a shovel, and you feel
really good about that, and then the last period comes
out and he goes oh for three with with some

(26:29):
misses in there, and so there's a piece of me
that wonders, you know, which one to hang my hat
on or pay attention to. But Jones, I thought, you know,
his advantage was, you know, he's a he's a guy,
a veteran with reputation for knowing the offense and working
really hard and doing all that stuff. And those guys,
I think you have to complete a ton of passes,

(26:53):
and I just don't know that we've seen that. I
think the thing that I've noticed most with him is
he has a tendency to either throw a little bit
late or lock on a receiver or whatever it is.
It's hard to tell, but there are a lot of
sort of ruts where a receiver has settled down and
he throws and it gets broken up. There was one
practice where every incompletion he had was like that, and

(27:15):
to me that that was the kind of throw that
he has to be making over and over and over
again to take the job away from Richardson, because Richardson,
I think we haven't necessarily seen it in camp so far,
but he gives you he's more dynamic as a runner,
and he's definitely more dynamic as a thrower down the field.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
So and Richardson has am I correct in saying, Joel
shown a little bit more consistency in the layup game
right like the over the middle. The timing has been
better right in tern and to the point where there
were people that were wondering who he worked with in
the offseason. But before I get to my other question,
am I correct in saying that he has been more
precise in the rhythm passing. Talking about Anthony Richardson, I so.

Speaker 7 (27:54):
I looked up last year, I looked up what I
had last year for training camp and by the end
of training camp if I had him at sixty one
percent completion. That's my unofficial count. I'm sure the Colts
have a different official count. It's the same. Right now,
I have him.

Speaker 4 (28:07):
At fifty four fifty five, So I.

Speaker 7 (28:10):
Do think there has been an uptick in him getting
the ball out of the pocket on time, all that
type of thing. I would like to see a little
more before I'm ready to say that it's definitely different
than it was last year.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
Okay, so this is my follow up to that, and
it involves spoiler alert here. I'm about to reveal a
deep secret from a movie and ruin the movie if
you've not seen it. But the movie's thirty years old,
so I feel safe that it's not really a spoiler alert. Joel,
have you seen the movie. I've referenced it before on
this show maybe with you. Have you ever seen the
movie Primal Fear with Ed Norton and Richard Gear. Yes,

(28:50):
it's a fabulous movie. In the movie, Ed Norton plays
a defendant who is a very likable, innocent young guy
with this like sinister streak, and at the end of
the movie you find out that in fact, he is
a sinister guy with a fake persona of an innocent

(29:13):
kid that he can do in a streak. Is there
any chance that Anthony Richardson, when we see these things
about him as a consistent quarterback, is actually Ed Norton,
and when the regular season rolls around, we're going to
find out that he is not a guy now that
is an accurate quarterback where that has come together, that
has mobility, but rather he's a mobile guy that still
does not have accuracy.

Speaker 7 (29:34):
I think that it's definitely possible, and I think I
think part of it is maybe a lesson for me
in the time I've covered this team is I don't
want to overvalue what we're seeing on the training camp field.

Speaker 4 (29:47):
And I know, as somebody who's who's.

Speaker 7 (29:49):
Writing an observations piece every day where I'm detailing every throw,
that may sound a little bit you know, hypocritical, but
the thing is, like, you know, we're what were we
thinking coming out of camp with Matt Ryan, you know,
and some of these other guys, some of these other camps.
Over the time, I think I think there's a there's
a piece of me that's become a little bit skeptical

(30:12):
on stuff, like I said, I had him at I
had him at sixty one percent at the end of
camp last year. I think it's it's definitely possible that,
you know, some of the some of the periods we've
seen where he hasn't been as accurate so far, end
up being more of the norm. Once you're in a
less controlled setting. For the colt's sake, you don't want that,

(30:33):
but it's I think it's definitely possible.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
Joel A. Erickson is our guest Indianapolis Star is where
you can read his work. We're talking about the Colts
who have the off day today again. Jalen Jones yesterday
hamstring injury. Juju Brent's it was not visible, but apparently
is dealing with a hamstring injury.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
Michael Pittman junior had a groin injury late in practice.
Am I correcting that?

Speaker 4 (30:57):
Yes?

Speaker 7 (30:57):
And it was it was very late because he had
something like catches in teamwork before that.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
Okay, so did it And that was not something that
you saw right. We just were told about it later.

Speaker 4 (31:11):
I didn't see it.

Speaker 7 (31:13):
I know Nay Atkins, who covers the cults with me
at any Starr said that he was kind of it
looked like one of those things that maybe you kind
of go over to the trainer and say, hey, this
is bothering me, and then they kind of just make
a decision on it. So it wasn't like the Jalen
Jones thing where you saw it happen very obviously in
front of you.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
You know, one guy that I have heard, you know,
there seems to be some optimism about. And I get
the fact that it's hard to get excited about anybody
that is going to be spelling Jonathan Taylor, because Jonathan
Taylor is obviously, you know, an elite player in one
that you anticipate being on the field as much as possible.

(31:53):
But I've heard good things about DJ Giddens, and it
seems like he has been impressive. They're rookie running back
out of Kansas State. On the fact that he has
jumped out a little bit.

Speaker 4 (32:04):
Fact definite fact. I think Giddon's he's an interesting.

Speaker 7 (32:08):
Runner because you know, you don't have sort of the
the jarring jump.

Speaker 4 (32:13):
Cut that you get with Taylor's, the.

Speaker 7 (32:16):
Kind of sudden and hard change of movement. He's more
of a glider. I think the word is the word.
Shane Stiken used.

Speaker 4 (32:24):
It's subtle. The way he makes cuts is subtle. It's
a little thing here or there, but he's really.

Speaker 7 (32:29):
Good at navigating traffic. And then the other thing I
think that that helps him get on the field is
he looks really natural catching the football, which you know
is a weakness of Johnson Taylor's. I don't think anyone
would ever say that Johnathan Taylor looks natural catching the football.
Every time they've thrown it past the Giddons, it's looked
very smooth, very consistent, and so I think that probably

(32:51):
helps him get on the field and gets him in
some situations if he can do that receiving work out
of the backfield, They've they've wanted to have somebody that
can rely on to do at and spell Taylor a
little bit.

Speaker 4 (33:02):
For a while.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
Joel, how do you think Shane Steichen's different than last year?
If in any way, shape or form.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
I would say he's.

Speaker 7 (33:13):
It feels to me like he's every year he's been here,
he's gotten more comfortable in just the atmosphere of being
around the team. I don't want to say just because
I mean, honestly, who cares how he is with the.

Speaker 4 (33:26):
Reporters and stuff. Like that. That's such a small part
of his job.

Speaker 7 (33:29):
But I feel like the comfort level he has is
is probably gone up every year. I think the other
thing with him that I notice.

Speaker 4 (33:38):
Is he's he's he's really into.

Speaker 7 (33:41):
This year in practice trying to throw some unexpected at
the players. There's been a couple of times in practice
where you know, Matt Taylor is announcing to everybody, this
is what's going to happen, and Shane's.

Speaker 4 (33:55):
Out there like, no, it's not.

Speaker 7 (33:56):
I'm going to do a sudden change thing and deviate
from the part. I don't know if I think deviate
from the practice plan he talked about. He didn't feel
like they did a good job with that in games
last year. It's an interesting tactic. I have no idea
if it's going to work out or not, but it's
interesting that he's that devoted to it, that he's throwing
a wrench into practice in random spots to kind of

(34:16):
get the players out of their comfort zone. That's maybe
the other piece that I've noticed with him that's pretty different.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
By the way, Joel, the last couple of days they
have increased the practices, I mean from an hour to
an hour and a half it's not like it's overbearing
and they're doing it before it is truly truly scorching
hot out. But it's been warm, right. I know this
is an NFLPA thing, and I get it the collective

(34:44):
bargaining agreement in terms of players and the amount of
practice they're doing. And maybe I'm just old, but I'm
still a little bit surprised at just how short the
practices are and at least to this point. And you
tell me if I'm wrong, the the lack of overall intensity.
I'm not the one out there, so don't get me wrong,
and I'm not trying to be. You know, the guy

(35:06):
that sits here talks about how tough Dick Buckets was.
But have you been, I guess, in any way, shape
or form, surprised by the i'll say lack of work
to this point, if that makes sense relatively speaking.

Speaker 7 (35:20):
I think that you know, I've been covering the NFL
for about a decade now, and I think that that
puts me in the reins where I'm i this is
kind of what I own pretty much what I've seen,
even in covering another team and covering another coach and
Sean Payton, I attribute.

Speaker 4 (35:37):
A lot of it to.

Speaker 7 (35:39):
A lot of it to the NFLPA, but a lot
of it also to what goes on in those conversations
with the training staff and the medical staff behind the scenes.
I don't necessarily know that you would see it different
anywhere other than I think the one place that has
a reputation for being more physical than anywhere else is
Pittsburgh with Mike Tomlin. But he's also kind of an

(36:01):
old school coach himself. He's been there a really long time,
and I think he kind of pushes the boundaries on
the physicality. I'll tell you this. I mean, I think
basically everyone you know who coached in a different era
of football says that it. You know, even when they
say they're being physical, they're not really being physical, right.

(36:24):
I just don't know that it's that different from anywhere
else around the NFL. It just feels like to me,
this is the way the.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
NFL primin it's is now.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
It's basically the collective Barney Agreement, right. I mean, didn't
they say we only want to do so? And I
get it again, I get it. I guess the question
I had in Steven and I were talking about this yesterday,
Joel But Joel eric'son our guest, and that is do
we know Do we have enough body of work to know?
You know, the Colts have had a history in the
last decade or so of seemingly being a team that

(36:58):
has dealt with more little injuries over the course of
the year than most franchises. Maybe we just say that
because we cover them, right, But do we know or
will we ever know, whether or not scaling back practices
increases or decreases injury potential.

Speaker 7 (37:16):
That's that's a fantastic question, because I think it's not
just the CBA. I also think it is these teams.
I think it's the school of thought within the people
who are in charge of strength and conditioning and rest
and recovery and all that stuff.

Speaker 4 (37:31):
I think that is it is their school of thought
that this is the way to go as well.

Speaker 7 (37:35):
Without seeing the data, Without seeing the data that they
have and that they use it at the owners meetings
and stuff like that, I think it's really hard for
us to know, because I know in terms of the
Cults having more injuries, I know another thing that the
NFLPA has really talked.

Speaker 4 (37:50):
About a lot is surfaces.

Speaker 7 (37:53):
The surfaces they're playing on and that the old Lucas
oil turf was known as a bad surface to be
playing on, and that that that that was there's a
thought school of fuff that that has contributed to some
of the colts injuries over the years. Without having all
of the data available to us, I don't think we have.
I think it's really hard for us to do anything

(38:13):
more than speculate on it. And I also don't know
how to make them give us that data or or
sit down with us and say, okay, you're doing this,
how different from previous? How is that different from you know,
twenty years ago, four thirty years ago.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
Joel, do you think I should get three and a
half percent of Bernard Ryman's contract since it was on
this show that he said that they were far offer
than they got a deal done.

Speaker 7 (38:36):
Uh, I'm totally fine with giving you three and a
half percent his I'm.

Speaker 4 (38:42):
Pretty sure that's more than his agent gets. But I
have a.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
Agent typically gets seven percent, right, isn't that about right?

Speaker 4 (38:48):
No? No, no, no, that's gone down over the.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
Years, has it really? I mean a lot of these
agents have like one hundred guys, so it doesn't matter.
So what's the agent get what's the cut.

Speaker 7 (38:56):
I think it's more in like the I thought I
in front of me right now, and I know we
have agency if I was wrong, But I think it's
more in like the.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
Two Joel's gone down, Joel, hang on, Joel, I'd like
to I'd like to walk back what you just said.
I know there might be agents in this city that
are listening. Let me inform you of something. We got
twenty two female listeners. That's now up to twenty four.
I think when Eddie was gone the other day we
picked up female listener number twenty four. Okay, yes, just

(39:24):
yesterday Shannon, who I've been dating now for twenty years,
actually asked what I do when I go to work?
So so that's off the table. My mom's at a
lunch today right now. And then. So I appreciate your
belief and confidence that there are listeners of this program,
but this is basically you and I sitting in a tent.
You know that, right.

Speaker 7 (39:46):
I get enough text messages after I'm on with you, Jake,
because I know there are people listening.

Speaker 4 (39:51):
Really, Oh yeah?

Speaker 1 (39:53):
Is it mostly people saying how big an ass is
that guy?

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Is? That?

Speaker 1 (39:56):
Typically what most of them say?

Speaker 7 (39:58):
No, No, most of there. Most of them are like
most of them are like, Hey, I heard you on
on Jake talking about this and this or that. Sometimes
it's football, a lot of times it's about beer or something.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
That's how it goes on this program, Joel. Let's be honest, right,
I mean, that's the way it goes. You know, you
sign up for this class, you're getting more, You're getting
a couple of electives along with it. Okay, Now, hold on, Eddie,
do you haven't had the breaking new sounder. We have
a verdict from Matt Taylor on the pronunciation of the

(40:32):
guy that right now is the clubhouse leader at corner,
the rookie out of the University of Minnesota. Justin is
the first name. There is discussion whether it is Wally
or Whaley for the last name, and we have a
ruling from Matt Taylor, the voice of the Colts, who,
of course would know you would like to guess for
what answer Matt on that, Well, that's true, it's not Matt, Joel, Joel,

(40:53):
you would like to you're going with which one.

Speaker 4 (40:56):
I've been I've been assuming it's Wally, so I'm gonna
stick with.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
It, Eddie. Wally is indeed correct. That is the correct
answer is justin Wallach. I don't know why I I've
heard it both ways, though I'm not wrong there right.

Speaker 7 (41:09):
There is a there is I know there's a beat
writer who I will not name, but that has has
had the other pronunciation.

Speaker 4 (41:15):
So you've definitely heard it the other way.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Okay, but it is indeed. Wallet. Now I'm telling you,
so what percent do I get for Ryman?

Speaker 4 (41:24):
Let's go two and I say two and a half.
We'll give you two and a half.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
Wow, listen, I'll take I'll take point zero two point
zero two, Eddie, can you look up for me please?
I mean it's got to be an easy Joel. Are
you a math whiz? You're a writer, so you're not right.
You flunked every math class you ever took.

Speaker 4 (41:41):
Right, I was good at mask back then. But now
someone gives it to me on a print out.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
By the way, my buddy, my buddy, Rick Givers. Rick
Givers is an agent, but he's a media agent, and
he says there's at least one agent listening.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Now.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Rick thinks I should get twelve percent, but that's because
we're buddies.

Speaker 5 (41:58):
Eddie.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
Can you look up? What point zero two percent is
of one hundred million, or just of one hundred what's
point zero? I should know that, what's point zero two
of one hundred? So one percent of one hundred is one?

Speaker 6 (42:09):
So really you look at what point oh two of
one hundred is?

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Yeah, obvious, but of one hundred million, right, So then
you got to add, yes, it's two no, two percent,
two percent is two.

Speaker 6 (42:28):
Hundred, jake, it would be.

Speaker 4 (42:29):
Two yeah, but yeah, point zero two is two.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
Percent, correct, that's two one hundred. Yeah, you're right. Okay,
So but of one hundred so of one hundred million,
how much is that?

Speaker 6 (42:40):
That would be two million?

Speaker 1 (42:42):
Oh well, hell, let's go. Yeah, I'll take the point
oh two. No, point oh two of a percentage, right,
two million would be oh yeah, you're right for one
hundred million, you're right, Yeah, let's go. I'll take the
point oh two again. I mean, like I said, I
flunked algebra. I had to take it seven times and
then missus means helping me get through it. So two

(43:03):
and a half million for point oh two. Hell, I'll
take point oh two. Right, I'll take two hundred fifty grand.
That would be point oh two, right, Joel, I believe though,
come on, keep up here, man, I mean, you know
we're doing quick math. You got to keep up, Joel.
You're with math wizess here.

Speaker 7 (43:18):
I helped a little bit, but now we're getting further
into it and I'm getting right again.

Speaker 1 (43:21):
Listen, I got all kinds of arrows flying past me.
All right, Joel, much appreciated. What's your beer order in
case I don't talk to you between now and when
I go to Milwaukee. Same as always?

Speaker 4 (43:32):
Yeah, I think, same as always. Yep.

Speaker 7 (43:34):
If you find, if you find the fat squirrel, bring
that back as well.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
That's now. Now here's the thing. And you got to
clarify this. When you're talking to a Wisconsin I you're
actually talking about the beverage fat squirrel. You don't want
me to bring back an actual hefty squirrel, right because no, no,
you know what I mean. No, I mean we listen,
we have squirrels in Indiana. We don't I don't need
any squirrel understood. But but as you know, if it's
from Wisconsin, it's a fatter squirrel because everything up there's
fatter because they live on beer and cheese. Right, I

(43:59):
mean we know this, right.

Speaker 4 (44:00):
That's a thousand there's zero debate about that.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
See the one thousand percent, now we know what that is.
A thousand percent of the hundred million. I'd take all right, Joel,
appreciate it as always, you bet, you bet, Joel Ericson.
I'm sure thrilled is to be spending his off day
with us today. The Fever are in action tonight, taking
on the Phoenix mercury. You know, when you really think
about it, when you get fever and mercury in the

(44:24):
same building, things are hot, right.

Speaker 6 (44:26):
The same for when they face Connecticut. You've got the
Fever in the sun. Yeah, imagine that's fortune. Yeah, I mean,
you know, the mercury in the sun. I mean, I
never really thought about this until now, but it makes
perfect sense because I don't know, if you know, there's
not Eddie but outside right now, especially with that corn
sweat one hundred and sixteen degrees, tell you what the
mercury is up there on the thermometer.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
It is. But the Fever are hoping that their hot
play can continue. They've won two in a row. But
there are a lot of question mark question marks wrong.
We'd a lot of things to discuss though, because of
where they navigate now through without Caitlin Clark joining us
now on the program, a return get to the show
and always happy to have her. Debbie Antonelli, who you
see doing television work, is the analyst for the fever. Debbie,

(45:06):
how are you?

Speaker 8 (45:08):
What's up, Jake? And yes, let's hope that there's a lot.

Speaker 9 (45:11):
Of hot hands in the gym tonight, that their offense
is fast and furious.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
Okay, I want to get to that because and I've
talked about this with Stephanie White, but I want your
thoughts on it, Debbie, in terms of the way that
you watch it and how they're navigating this, and that
is there is no denying and we know this that
Caitlin Clark is the straw that mixes the drink for
the fever in a perfect situation. But when you remove that,

(45:35):
then you have this kind of balance between sustaining until
she returns or if you don't know when that's going
to be moving forward without her. And I know that
that sounds ridiculous, but I think you get what I'm
saying there. Let's begin with the first part. They have
been able to play without her because they have utilized
or taken advantage of.

Speaker 9 (45:56):
What their overall team right now, Kelsey Mitchell's thirty one
minutes a game, Aliah Boston thirty minutes a game.

Speaker 8 (46:05):
Everyone else is less than that.

Speaker 9 (46:07):
So I thought Stephanie White and staff continue to do
a great job of balancing out.

Speaker 8 (46:13):
To change in the rhythm of the game.

Speaker 9 (46:16):
And one of the ways you can do that is
with the depth of the team, the schemes, you can
call time out, you can substitute, There's a lot of
things you can do to change the rhythm. But I
think that they have done a really good job of
keeping their depth as a focal point.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
And then the other question with that Debbie becomes when
Caitlin Clark returns, and we can get into the win
in a second, but when she does, clearly she is
an elite player, But do you have to kind of
slowly reacclimate that because of getting used to or finding
your way through without her in that lineup.

Speaker 8 (46:52):
I definitely think there's some acclamation to.

Speaker 9 (46:56):
Weeding her back in, if you will, And it seems
like such a soft term to use. I mean, obviously,
when you've got the elite level skill set, the all
star power that Caitlin brings on the floor, when you
look at her numbers. Last year she took fourteen and
a half shots a game. This year she's taking fifteen.
It's not that big of a difference in terms of
the number of shots, but her impact, her influence on pace,

(47:19):
on space, and certainly in making everyone else better, which
is hard to measure in any sort of statistical category.
Those are things that you have to acclimate Caitlin into
with the speed and the rhythm of the game.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
When you look Debbie, and this is going to sound
like I'm being critical, I please understand that's not where
this is coming from, Okay, But when you look at
for example, you know Kelsey Mitchell, who has played really
well in the absence, and you talk about the fact
that Aliah b Auston becomes a little more focal in
terms of their offense, and we know how gifted she
can be on the low post, but is winning that

(47:54):
way and playing that way without her sustainable.

Speaker 9 (47:59):
I don't think that you, in the back of your mind,
believe that you're going to be at your best until
you have Caitlin one hundred percent. So having said that,
I think the players have to take it to the
next level.

Speaker 8 (48:10):
And everyone has done that.

Speaker 9 (48:11):
Now does Aliah Boston get the same number of field
goal attempts without Caitlin, or does she catch the ball
in the same quality as shot area.

Speaker 8 (48:19):
That she's really good in. No, I would say that
doesn't happen.

Speaker 9 (48:21):
But part of that is because of what Indiana runs
and the offense that they run. And Kelsey Mitchell is
on fire, but she was on fire at this point
last year. When you look at her numbers from last
year to this year, she is sustaining that elite level play.
I actually watched her today go through a shooting workout today, Jake.
I mean, look, this is the morning of the game,
and I'm watching Kelsey go through the different spots and

(48:45):
shots that she's going to get on the floor, working
on her footwork, working on her cuts and her different
movements without the ball.

Speaker 8 (48:53):
Look, she sustains the high level of excellence.

Speaker 9 (48:55):
It's not a surprise to any of us that have
been watching Kelsey for a long time what she's capable
of doing. I thought she put up those same numbers
on the floor with Caitlin. I think she's getting a
chance to get a few more shots per game without Caitlin,
and that's a good thing for the fever because they
need her scoring to be able to win.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
You know, when you talk about Debbie Antonelli is our guest,
we're talking about the Indiana fever, Caitlin Clark in terms
of the number of shots that she was taking, and
then we saw her shooting percentage really go down, especially
from the outside. Do we have enough now that we
can say that that is that that was injury related?
Do you think?

Speaker 8 (49:33):
I personally think so after watching Caitlin.

Speaker 9 (49:35):
For as many years and knowing as a shooter that
she certainly has the ability to self correct and.

Speaker 8 (49:41):
She has the ability to get her muscle memory where
it needs to be. I've talked about this with you
before about shooters.

Speaker 9 (49:47):
You know, when your footwork and your base and your
balance isn't what it needs to be. Just think about
letting your back hurts a little bit, or when your
knee aches and you can't do the things that you
typically do as a regular person. And then you compound
that with the types of injuries that she's had and
how that affects her ability to navigate space on the floor.
Maybe her step back isn't as far back as it's been,

(50:09):
Maybe it's off by a little bit of a rhythm.
There's certain things that shooters know about, you know, the
bottom part of their shot versus the top part of
their shot, because there's two different things there, right the
bottom your footwork, your load to high, your load where
you catch the ball. Then the top part where your
hands are. Do you have to drop your hands on
a pass or your hands up? But where's her follow through?

(50:30):
There's so many technical things that I don't worry about
that stuff with Caitlin.

Speaker 8 (50:35):
I clearly think that.

Speaker 9 (50:36):
Injury has played a role in her not being able
to shoot the ball as efficiently as she's done it
in the past. But then we're at twenty six games, Jake,
and she's played thirteen and she's missed thirteen. It's been
in and out all year, so she personally has not
been able to get in much of a rhythm.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
Debbi when we talked. I talked yesterday to Stephanie White
about just the overall evolution of the WNBA and the
number of different styles that coach White has to prepare
for versus say, if you were coming up with game
planning twenty years ago. Because the game has evolved, but
it also the women's game has evolved. Has that trickled

(51:12):
down to you now that we have an entire and
I think it's easy to forget this. We have now
college basketball players who have never known different than seeing
women playing at the professional level. And to be someone
sometimes you have to see someone. And if you look
back at your playing career at NC State and you

(51:34):
look at the style of college play today, are we
seeing now the overall level and versatility of the game
at the college level being benefit from an entire generation
of seeing that example before them.

Speaker 8 (51:50):
I don't think there's any question.

Speaker 9 (51:51):
And that is a beautiful thing and a wonderful statement
that we have incredible skill set at the elite level
with the best players in the world showcasing that on
a platform that everyone can consume. And you're watching all
these little young girls come up that are learning how
to play the game because they're emulating what a Caitlin
Clark might do, or what in the Leah Boston or

(52:13):
Kelsey Mitchell might do.

Speaker 8 (52:14):
I think that's a wonderful thing.

Speaker 9 (52:16):
And yes, back in the day, we didn't run any
ball screens.

Speaker 8 (52:19):
We ran everything off the ball.

Speaker 9 (52:20):
And now you do see a trickle down from what
comes internationally or NBA internationally into.

Speaker 8 (52:27):
The women's game.

Speaker 9 (52:28):
And you know what we have as a hidden jewel
or gem on our staff in Lynn Dunn. There are
a lot of intricacies that Lynn Dunn has brought to
the game that we have all learned from. She brought
horns from the NBA into the WNBA. She inverted on
out of bounce plays defensively, which is something that no
one was doing. So yes, I do think that there

(52:49):
is a pass through and I do think it is
passing through and that is part of the reason why
our game is at such a good level right now
and the product is so good. That's why the young players,
the rookie class come in and.

Speaker 8 (53:00):
Have an immediate impact.

Speaker 9 (53:02):
It's fun to watch, it's exciting, and it's really good
for the future growth of the league.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
I'd like to take a road trip with Lynn Dunn.
I'd like from here, just drive, like from here to
Wyoming with Lynn Dunn. It would be non stop pilarity,
would it not.

Speaker 9 (53:15):
Lynn Dunn can tell you what Los Angeles and or
Chicago might have run for Candas Parker in the third
quarter on an that a bounds play.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
In the second Yeah, I mean, it's amazing.

Speaker 9 (53:27):
Dotted down and she has such incredible knowledge. She is
such a savant when it comes to the game and
the intricacies of the game. And she's you know, serving
a very important role with the Indiana Fever, which she
has served for many years.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
Okay, Debbie Antonelli our guest. Of course, you see her
on Fever games as the television analyst for the Indiana Fever.
Fever and Action tonight taking on Phoenix pregame with Eddie
at six forty five. Debbie, you know, I'm going to
ask you this before we let you go, and this
is something we have discussed before, but I want to
revisit it. I think it's important. This is in Indiana
right now now, I mean literally this week. Teachers are

(54:02):
back in school, kids are getting ready to go back
in school at most of the schools here. For people
that are listening that have young students that are getting
ready to go back to school, we just talked about
the importance of sometimes to be something, you've got to
see something. And for those kids that are going back
to school, that are going back as your son Frankie

(54:22):
did in special ed that want to be and have
visions and dreams and hopes and aspirations just like kids
that are in the normal general education classes. What can
somebody who is a parent of a general education student
say to or encouraged to their child right now at
the start of the school year to get things started

(54:42):
on the right foot for those that are in special
education that can allow those special ed kids to see
what it is that they two can be. What can
a general ed student be encouraged to do or say.

Speaker 8 (54:56):
Jake, this is one of the reasons why I will
always say.

Speaker 9 (54:59):
Yes to having it has to be on your show
because you have always allowed me to talk hoops and
then use my basketball platform to share what's really important
and what basketball has taught me and how we've gone
about raising Frankie. Today, ironically, is Frankie's twenty eighth birthday.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
Outstanding.

Speaker 9 (55:16):
My son Yes with Down syndrome is living independently with support,
holding two jobs now granted he works a three or
four hour shift, and he has friends that he socializes with,
and he has a full, complete, living his best life.
It is a village that is required to have somebody

(55:38):
with special needs to be able to live a full,
complete life that is healthy and has options to make
healthy choices and can thrive if you're.

Speaker 8 (55:50):
A parent and you have a kid and.

Speaker 9 (55:52):
You haven't talked about tolerating differences and showing empathy and
working on your emotional like you even as a young person.

Speaker 8 (56:00):
These are things that.

Speaker 9 (56:01):
As you grow, you're going to be a part of
society that is ever changing with people that are different.
Everyone has something, everyone has something different if you just
take the time. There's two cliches that I often quote
that I do not like. Do not judge a book
by its cover. And you don't know anything about somebody
till you walk a mile on their shoes. If you're

(56:21):
making a judgment, take a step back, take a deep
breath and think about what you would do if you
were that parent of that child with special needs. How
would you approach them and what would you say to them?
And how can you help everyone around you be happy,
healthy and involved.

Speaker 8 (56:38):
That's the way we've raised our three boys. Those are
the three most important things.

Speaker 9 (56:42):
That we talked about all the time. And making good
choices and making a good choice would be making a
new friend.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
Yeah, I was going to say, sometimes as simple as hey,
you want to sit with us at lunch today? That
can go a long, long way.

Speaker 9 (56:53):
Right, it can, and then if you can follow up
with it, because it's just like any other networking comportunity.

Speaker 8 (57:00):
If you spin it back, you know.

Speaker 9 (57:02):
We're all trying to network to advance whatever we want
to do.

Speaker 8 (57:05):
So you meet new people so that you can build
a bigger circle.

Speaker 9 (57:09):
Think about that as a kid at lunch, if you
invite him to sit down that don't let that be
the only time or the one time you do it.
Continue to invite that kid to do something else with you,
and maybe it's something outside of school, because that will
matter more than you ever realize, and it could have
an indelible impression on yourself.

Speaker 8 (57:26):
It's not just about the kid with special needs, it's
about everybody else.

Speaker 1 (57:30):
Well, our friend Fulton said he just blew out twenty
six birthday candles last week, and now Frankie does two better,
twenty eight of them he'll blow out today. Tell him
happy birthday from us.

Speaker 9 (57:39):
All right, Yeah, thanks Jake, love being on with you guys.

Speaker 8 (57:43):
Enjoy the game tonight.

Speaker 1 (57:44):
I appreciate it. Debbie Antonella joining us Fever and Action
tonight against seven o'clock against Phoenix six forty five. Pregame
with Eddie

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