Will the Colts actually make changes? Should you be concerned about Pascal Siakam?

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So, Eddie Garrison, folks of Indianapolis, lend me your ears.
I had one of my three p forty eight in
the morning. I did not sleep well last night at
all at all. No idea why slept like a rock
Sunday night last night. The law of averages balanced itself out,

(00:22):
water found its level. To use my term, didn't sleep
well at all. But as you know, Eddie, sometimes when
I don't sleep, I have these weird brain droppings that
happened just before four am when I'm staring at the ceiling. Okay,
and I had one that happened last night. Now you

(00:45):
are aware, as we all are in Indianapolis, of the
woman who is essentially and she passed away of course recently,
but the woman who who is credited with being the matriarch,

(01:06):
the visionary, the leader of the Indiana Pacers historically in
franchise history. You know who I'm talking about, correct, Eddie,
Sure that would be.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
I'm going to be a completely linistic. I wasn't paying attention.
I was just saying, sure to go along with the ban.
Now you're so you're working today, right.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah, I'm working on something with Scott Agnes right now.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
So okay, well, my apologies, so the maytriarch of the
Indiana Pacers. Everybody just pretend that Eddie's not working today.
Nancy Leonard is the answer I was looking for now.
I was going to have Eddie participate and a little
audience participation here, but I don't want to distract him
from the other things he has to do, so I

(01:48):
will do it on my own here. If you were
to take your high school like for myself, I went
to North Central High School, and if you were to say,
you know what, you have ascended to such greatness that
we are going to your last name where it is,
then like Querry North Central High School. Nancy Leonard I
knew was a native of South ben and I looked

(02:09):
it up. This is the kind of stuff that happens
to me at three forty eight in the morning when
I'm staring at the ceiling and I can't sleep. Nancy
Leonard attended Riley High School in South Bend, South Bend Riley,
which means if they decided to go ahead and dual
name the name of the high school because of the
fact that she is a graduate from there and became
the matriarch of the Indiana Pacers, it would actually be

(02:31):
South Bend Riley Leonard High School, and lo and behold,
does that not weigh perfectly into the storyline of today
that leads our show that we now know for a
certainty which I think we anticipated anyway, and that is Eddie,
if you could please the breaking news sounder, this just in,

(02:53):
Eddie is apparently here the breaking new sounder would be
Riley Leonard will be starting for the Colts come Sunday
against the Houston Texans. Now that is obviously not a
huge surprise, and this is a game that is for
the future essentially, not literally, because Riley Leonard in no
if Riley Leonard is the future for the Indianapolis Colts.

(03:16):
They're in a bigger world of hurt than we thought.
But what they have to do is find out just
exactly what they do or don't have there in terms
of is this someone that is that there is development
there that could be somebody that contributes within your franchise

(03:39):
moving forward. And that's why you draft a guy and
that's why you need to develop him and et cetera.
And in addition to that, this is the biggest reason
why Riley Leonard needed to start on Sunday, now I
have spelled out the reasons why Philip rivers there is

(04:05):
possibilities the wrong word, but I've laid out the gosh,
could there be a place for him for three games
next year? And I know that that sounds ludicrous, and
I know that that sounds crazy because theoretically Philip rivers

(04:26):
next year, you know, he is the ultimate doughnut tire.
Three game is probably the maximum you can get out
of that. And I think he even saw. You know
this year you had to limit your game plan a
little bit based on Philip Rivers did a good job.
He did everything that you would want him to do,
and everything you could ask him and expect him to

(04:48):
do at his age. Can you go back to that
well one more time for two or three games. The
only reason I bring it up, and I've brought it
up several times over the last couple of days, is
as I look towards next year, there are so many
question marks about next year. There are so many loose
ends and unopened or opened up and unclosed, whichever way

(05:11):
you will to look at it. Storylines for the Colts
next year, there are a lot of question marks, and
first and foremost with those is who is your quarterback?
I don't mean who is your quarterback when you show
up in Grand Park. I mean who is your quarterback
going to be? That you are your long term, ride

(05:32):
the season with quarterback next year And theoretically your best
option is Daniel Jones. You really have let me lay
out for you the options. Option one is Daniel Jones
because he was the guy you had this year. You

(05:54):
saw what can happen when he and Shane Steikin are
working step in step, and when pieces around him are
healthy and when you can protect him. Now, did Pittsburgh
show a blueprint a little bit in getting aggressive towards
him and throw him off kilter? That derailed things a
little bit? Maybe? Maybe, but through eight games pretty darn good.

(06:18):
Now Daniel Jones would be option one. But he's coming
off of the Achilles injury and you have question mark
about when exactly he is going to be one hundred
percent theoretically for week one, But does that mean that
he misses some time in camp? Do you have or
are you going to have another receiver that you've got
to work in because Alec Pierce has gone elsewhere to
greener pastures. Is Michael Pittman going to be here. I mean,

(06:41):
there are a lot of question marks there. But and
if Daniel Jones is playing for Shane Steichen, If Daniel
Jones is playing for Chris Ballard, there are a lot
of question marks there, but he is still right now.
Option number one. Option number two would be Anthony Richardson

(07:03):
a lot of question marks there. Are you going to
trade him? He's going to be in the last year
of his rookie deal. If Shane Steiken is the head coach,
is Shane Stikeen willing to put Anthony Richardson out there,
because all account seems that Shane Stikeen is not willing
to do that, does not want to. It appears as
though Shane Steiken has closed that book. But let's assume

(07:28):
Shane Steiken is the coach next year, assumption not fact.
And Anthony Richardson Chris Ballard if he's the general manager,
assumption not fact. Any of those things. There are a
lot of curve balls there, But Anthony Richardson would be
another option. Your third option would be Riley Leonard. If

(07:49):
you see enough in one game to say, you know
what we can win because it's different. It's different this
Sunday than it is a week one, week two, week
three next season, especially especially if Chris Ballard and Shane
Steichen are back next year. Do they know it is
now definitely now or never and we got zero margin

(08:11):
for air? So do we really feel comfortable sitting Riley
Leonard out to try to win us a game or
two or three before Daniel Jones is back again? Big
question marks Option four would be this, you don't have
a first round pick, but it is theoretically a relatively

(08:33):
decent draft for quarterbacks. Do you wait in round two
and spend your first pick on a Cade Clubnick? And
I don't say that because he's a Clemson guy. He
was a guy that was thought to be a top
mel kiper at the beginning of the season said best
quarterback in the draft. Now he's fallen a little bit,
but he has some He does have size, mobility, arm strength.

(08:57):
You know, do you wait and get a quarter back
in round two or three and push all in right
away and say you're going to start for us for
a couple of weeks. We're going to get you up
to speed and get you ready and there you go,
and then go to Daniel Jones. That's option number four
and then option five would be the crazy and that

(09:20):
is do you say to yourself, look, it is now
or never win time. If I'm Chris Ballard, I'm Shane Steichen,
and I know and Daniel Jones there's a chance he's
not ready for me at one hundred percent until say
week two, three, or four. I've got to win. I
can't just tread water. I've got to be swimming forward

(09:41):
against the channel here. I don't trust Riley Leonard in
that situation. I don't trust a second round pick in
that situation. And I also know it is going to
be far uglier to try to Then if Anthony Richardson
starts out for me and plays well, and I still
believe Daniel Jones is my guy handing over those keys

(10:05):
and doing that, it becomes real messy, and you have
a quarterback controversy. And nothing can derail a locker room
and a team faster than that. So do you bring
in a quarterback that knows for certain going into it
that he is literally a stopgap guy that is then
totally willing to get out of the car and hand

(10:26):
over the keys to somebody else for the rest of
the stent. And if that's the case, what veteran can
you do it with? In a very very very dry
I mean, dare I say, mohave veteran free agency pool
in this year's upcoming off season Unless you say to

(10:46):
Philip Rivers you want to do three more sounds ludicrous,
sounds ludicrous. But you have to go with Riley Leonard.
Even if that's the case, and even if you haven't
ruled out that possible, you have to go with Riley
Leonard this Sunday simply for this fact. If you are

(11:08):
Chris Ballard and you are Shane Steikin and you are
going into a game that is totally meaningless. It means
nothing towards your first round draft status. It means nothing
towards your playoff status, because both are non existent. But

(11:30):
if you go into it and you feel like in
the back of your mind you are gonna have to
sit down in a meeting with your boss and state
your case. And I don't know that they're gonna have
to do this. I don't know that they know if
they're gonna have to do this or not. But if
Shane Steikeen and Chris Ballard are thinking to themselves, there

(11:55):
is a chance within the next two weeks that we're
gonna have to go in, sit down and have uncomfortable
conversations about our future, and we are going to be
asked tell me what you bring to the table. I'm
not saying that Carl Ursa Gordon is going to do this.
I don't know that, and I would be totally lying

(12:17):
to everyone out here, which is a disservice to those
of you that give me your time and your trust
in listening to this radio show. It would be a
total disservice of me to sit here and tell you
that I know what's the thought process of the Cult's
ownership group, and I can confidently and comfortably look in
this camera and tell you that I'm being honest and

(12:37):
telling you that I don't know that for any certainty
because of the fact that one thing I'm certain about
is that there's no one that covers this team that
knows any of that for certainty, because it's a new
ownership regime, same family. Yes, new new buckstops here this year,
and it's one in which we have no precedent. So theoretically,

(13:04):
if Chris Ballard and Shane Steikeen know that they are
within a week of having to sit down and state
their case as to why they should be returning as
the head coach and the general manager. They have to know,
they have to know that if you're Shane Steikeen and
you are a quarterback whisperer, that's always been the selling point.

(13:30):
Shane Steiken is a this guy jump starts and revamps
quarterback careers. He got Jalen Hurts going. He's the guy
that you know Justin Herbert, he worked with Justin Herbert,
he worked with the Chargers, he worked with Philip Rivers.
Look at what he can do for quarterbacks. Chris Ballard.

(13:52):
Chris Ballard would want the ownership to say, very good
eye for talent, very good eye for an understanding, and
a good drafter that can bring guys in here. What
would it say about either of them? If the owner
then says, I understand Shane that you are a quarterback
whisper and I understand Chris that you are a keen

(14:15):
eye for late round talent that can later benefit this franchise,
even if only for a depth piece. Wouldn't she then
be well within her right to say so. Tell me then,
why in a meaningless game that did not impact our
first round pick because you sent both of those away
for the next two years and did not impact our

(14:36):
playoff seating because due to injuries, perhaps we played ourselves
out of the playoffs. But even in that situation, when
there was nothing to gain or lose for this franchise,
you had a quarterback on your roster that I was paying,
that you went out and you selected, and that you
went out and you were going to develop, and you
still didn't trust to put that guy on the field.

(15:00):
You still didn't trust to put that guy on the field.
So why should I going forward trust you to develop
quarterbacks and to find me talent if when it came
down to it, when literally nothing was on the line,
you still didn't trust the guy. And it's for that reason.
Even with all of the Fankees that might they may

(15:20):
owe to Philip Rivers, even if they think Philip Rivers
gives them a better chance to compete and win the game.
For guys like Alec Pearce, or for Jonathan Taylor, or
for Tyler Warren, or for Michael Pittman Junior, or for
Quenton Nelson. Even if for all of those guys, those
two guys making the decisions and executing, who has to
be on the field have to know that to an

(15:43):
extent if brought down to it where they have to
sit down and state their case, that their reputations a
little bit are determined upon not necessarily how well rather
than air plays, but how much they trust in putting
him out there. And that's why there was no choice.
There literally was no choice but for him to play.
And so that's going to be the case on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (16:04):
Now.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
As for what it means for Philip Rivers and long term,
you know, I don't know the answer to that at
this point, don't know, but it does make it fun
to watch. Speaking of fun to watch, everyone and their
brother literally everyone. Have you noticed in Indianapolis right now
it's twenty two degrees below zero outside with windchill. It's

(16:27):
the polar vortext moving through. But you know what, it's
kind of manageable because it's sunny outside, and like when
you're wearing sunglasses and you've got to dim the shades
a little bit because the sun is so bright, and
then it gets even brighter when it's dancing off of
that snow that's on the ground. All of that like
makes it feel a little bit warmer, but you might
have noticed today, And I have a wonderful and fail

(16:49):
proof I'm not saying that it's the best thing to do,
but when you get this weird snow that is not
really a wet snow, but like that kind of cool
what we saw yesterday, like blustery, almost looks like the
fake snow that falls from the theater ceiling when you
go to watch a Christmas carol, and it's actually just
shaved milk carton shavings that they're dropping from the ceiling,
but it looks like little snow flurries flying through. That's

(17:13):
what the snow last night that accumulated on your windshield
looked like today when you came out, if you park
outside like I do, you got a little layer of
snow on your car. And one of the fastest ways
to get off that, if it's not snow that is
frozen and compacted under your car, is you get in
the car, you make sure there's nobody else on the road,
and you go about twenty miles an hour, and you
let the wind take care of it. Very simple and

(17:35):
effective formula and way to do it. But you might
have noticed today if you decided to go with that theory,
which I did and try that out. You might have
noticed that when you get on the road to do that,
you have the wide open space to do it because
there was nobody on the road. Nobody on the road,

(17:57):
not because it's New Year's Eve eve, not because people
are still off for the holiday, not because it was
too cold and they were putting themselves on their own
two hour delay. There was nobody on the road today
because in the population, Eddie, can you look up for
me the population of the state of Indiana. I'm gonna
guess that the Indiana state population is five point seven

(18:21):
million people. That's my guess. Five point seven million people
living in the state of Indiana. On my lower high
you're too low. Six point one million. Still too low?
Seven million?

Speaker 3 (18:35):
What'd you say?

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Seven million? Close?

Speaker 3 (18:37):
Six point ninety two?

Speaker 1 (18:39):
Okay, six point nine to two million people live in Indiana.
Six point eight nine million are in Pasadena, California right now.
There's no traffic out there because literally half of central
Indiana has traveled to Pasadena. And I love every minute
of it. I don't care whether you are a Notre

(19:01):
Dame fan. I don't care whether you're a Purdue fan.
I don't care whether you're a Butler fan. I don't
care whether you're a ball State fan. I don't care
whether you're an Evansville fan. I don't care whether you're
a Valpo fan. I don't care whether you're an Indiana
State fan. And by the way, awesome to see coach
Graves back on the sidelines and the Sycamore is getting
a win. I don't care who you're a fan of

(19:22):
in Indiana. We've talked about this and banged this drum
and beaten this storyline. I realize, but every game from
here on out is the biggest game in the history
of Indiana football. They so far in the last two
years have had like five biggest games in Indiana football.

(19:45):
But this story is literally thirty for thirty Disney. And
it's a cliche, right, it's a cliche. They make a
story out of it, except for you wouldn't believe it.
But it's true. It's true to think that the Indiana

(20:08):
football program is going into a game and the most
historic venue in college football, the Rose Bowl. Yeah, I
mean Notre Dame Stadium has a lot of history. Yeah,
you know, obviously the LA Coliseum has a lot of history,
and for that matter, Wrigley Field has a lot of
football history, but the greatest, most iconic venue and game

(20:32):
in college football is the Rose Bowl, the granddaddy of
them all. And yeah, it's not the Big ten Pac
ten winner again facing one another like it used to
be traditionally Pac twelve now Big twenty eighteen, whatever you
want to call it, but nonetheless, for Indiana to go
into this game and take on and wait for it

(20:54):
and clutch. If you're a Notre Dame fan, clutch something
near you very tightly when I say this, because I
don't mean to upset you. Indiana is getting ready to
play the biggest tradition in college football. The best program
in the history of college football is now Alabama, not
today might have the most history and legacy and lower

(21:15):
about it, but the greatest long standing tradition of championship
level football is the Alabama Crimson Tide. And Indiana is
getting ready to go into a game in a college
football playoff as the number one seed in the country
and doing so. And I know I'm stating all of this.

(21:37):
You all know, all of you know it, but you
have to hear it to believe it. And if you
believe it, you have to hear it again, just to
soak it in. Indiana is favored over Alabama and the
Rose Bowl, and that is the first of three games
that they need to win to be the unblemished, undefeated
national champion in college football. Literally, I could say that

(21:59):
to start every hour of the next two shows that
we're gonna do before New Year's Day, and I don't
know that even I would still totally grasp and comprehended.
It is the greatest, most remarkable turnaround story in the
history of college football. Yes, there have been, and I
say this with all due respect what Marshall did, and

(22:21):
it's a different it's a totally different thing. But for
Marshall to see their football program and have a tragic
plane crash in the early seventies to then eventually getting
back to playing football and becoming their their divisional or
their their yeah, their divisional national champion is remarkable. It

(22:47):
didn't happen in a two year span, but it's incredible.
But what Indiana has done in Kurt Signetty with this
group truly is unbelievable. But literally, like it's seemingly everyone
I know everywhere I turn around, I'm looking on social media,
I'm getting text from people are in Pasadena and everything
about it's awesome. I hope that people stay dry. One

(23:10):
hundred percent chance of rain on January first, I think
a lot of that is going to be actually in
the middle the first part of the day, before the
middle part of the day in Pasadena, which is when
the game kicks off. I think it's gonna be a
soggy field. I don't think it's gonna be rain throughout
the day.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Didn't realize if they were considering all the tears of
joy that would be coming out of the fans of Indiana.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
That's exactly correct. That's exactly correct.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
And that's why they say it rains in the forecast.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
And I wonder how much Alabama travels for it, because
it's Yabama. They're going to travel, understood. But at the
same time, Eddie, as a Clemson fan, I will tell
you this, as a Clemson fan, it got to the
point with Clemson where like when they played Notre Dame

(23:58):
in the Cotton Bowl. I think it was in one
of the years in the semi finals. You know my
buddies down in Clemson that go to every single game,
they held off on that game because they're like, yeah,
you know what, though, we've got to do the double travel.
We're going to go to the championship game. Because you
kind of get spoiled, I'm using the term spoiled in

(24:18):
air quotes. You become accustomed to big time games, big
time moments, and so as a result of that, if
you're an Alabama fan and you've seen National championship game,
National Championship game, national semi final game, et cetera, and
by Alabama standards, three losses this year, this is probably
a yeah, this is like one of those years where

(24:40):
we're a five seed instead of a one seed in
the NCAA tournament. If you are Indiana or Purdue and
you have an accustomed to, you know, tournament prowess. So
I wonder if Alabama, if their fans aren't like, you know,
if they get to the title game, I'll go to that,
or if they get to the Peach Bowl, I'll go
to that. But I'm not going to go all the
way out to LA for this because I've been there,

(25:01):
done that, been there, done that, And there probably also
is an element of with Alabama fans a fadea complete
and their mind that why I'm going to go to
go out there because they're going to be in Atlanta.
Because I'll bet Alabama fans even though most of them
deep down I'm sure or like yeah, I mean they're
the number one seed and they beat Oregon and they

(25:22):
beat Ohio State. This team's got to be pretty good,
isn't it still in the back of your mind? Kind
of the equivalent of if Indiana or Purdue gets in
the NCAA Tournament and takes on like number one seeded
I'm not even gonna say Auburn or Alabama, but what's
a traditional basketball school that has always been absolutely horrific

(25:44):
or I'm sorry, football school that's been horrific in basketball?
I mean horrific, Kentucky, you know what I mean, Like
if or I'm sorry, a football school that's been give
me eddy a football school Miami. The year that Myaami
blew Indiana out of the NCAA Tournament. Going into that game,
weren't Indiana fans like yeah, but it's still Miami. Are
they that good in basketball? Because your branding comes into

(26:08):
play a little bit there. I got confused on my
reverse on my sports but you get what I'm saying.
So you got to wonder if Alabama fans, even though
they know Indiana's really good, do you think they're totally
sold on it or do you think they're like, yeah,
it's Indiana.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
Probably a mixture of the two, depending.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
On how much they paid attention. Right, speaking of paying attention,
if you were paying attention last night, there was a
moment in the Pacer game to me that was of
great concern. It was of great concern, and it made
me begin to wonder and think back again to precedent. Yesterday.
I talked about how the Colts and the situation that

(26:45):
they're in. You can look at the Turner Sabonus era
for the Pacers and maybe learn off of how Indiana
handled that from a basketball standpoint and what the Colts
can learn from that. And I wonder if there wasn't
something I saw last night that doesn't indicate perhaps there's
an area where you could learn from the Colts now

(27:06):
from a Pacer standpoint the other way around. I'll get
to that. I'll explain what I'm talking about. And on
the program today, Scott aginst you said you're working with Scott.
Did you say Scott's in for today? Yes, Scott's in
one o'clock. Yes, Scott against Joints is one o'clock today.
Stephen Holder coming up in the two o'clock hour. We'll
get more into the fact Riley Leonard your starting quarterback.
But what was it last night I saw about the
Pacers and what could they potentially learn from the Colts.

(27:30):
I'll explain next couple of news and notes before we
get into what I was going to discuss about the
Pacers last night. First off, I guess from a national standpoint,
Northwestern has hired Chip Kelly as their offensive coordinator. That
is significant only because there was some discussion speculation, probably

(27:51):
more so that perhaps Ohio State would go back to
that well and have Kelly come back for their playoff
run to call someplace for them. But he is on
his way to Northwestern as the offensive coordinator and the joker.
Did you see this last night in Denver? Actually? I
believe they were on the road, though weren't they?

Speaker 2 (28:12):
I can't remember where they were, but yeah, that was
a pretty scary injury.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
Nikola Jokic will miss four weeks with a knee injury
but avoided.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
Hyper nature, Yeah, hyper extension is what Sean's Shania is
reporting up and of course in the NFL Jake as well,
a lot of Stefan Diggs stuff coming out as of late.
He is facing some pretty serious charges. It sounds like strangulation,
possibly domestic domestic assault, battery.

Speaker 3 (28:46):
Yeah, so that's.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
A misdemeanor charge of assault and felony charge of strangulation
from a December second incident involving Stefan Diggs. Emotion. Hearing
was at eleven o'clock this morning in Massachusett. It's a
judge will decide whether to impound the court documents ahead
of diggs arraignment on January the twenty third. And it

(29:09):
goes without saying, you know, you don't say, well, you know,
the football takes priority here and then we'll see no this,
you know, this is more important than football itself in
terms of when you say, well, what would this mean
for his football time? That is significant only because he
is a key member of the Patriots offense. But Stefan

(29:32):
Diggs wonderful talent. But there have been, you know, more
than one occasion now where the character is certainly of question.
But that's the latest in that situation. Also, last night,
our fantasy football the Chicago's Pizza Fantasy Football League, Chicago's Pizza,

(29:54):
Nate Epple has been the dominant force. I mean he
literally has been the you know, he's the brilliant mastermind.
He's the Bill Pollion of all of this, right, and
had the dominant team, but Chicago's Pizza. We had an upset,
did we not Eddie in the championship?

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yes, yeah, we did have a slight upset. Although I
think George Alikhorn's team was a force to be reckoned with.
I don't think he was one that should have been
viewed as a major underdog.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
What was his record in the regular season, George.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
Let me pull it back up, but I know he was.
I think he was the second seed.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
Okay, so he pulled off the upset though even still
second seed over the top seed, over Chicago's Pizza, and
he will win wait for it at Chicago's Pizza gift
card for that. So we congratuate him for that. I
was actually playing in the seventh round, seventh place game.
It's funny like our league. I don't know if you notice,
like every single team except for those top two, seemingly

(30:51):
everybody was like eight to nine or nine to eight.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
Yeah, So Nate Epple Chicago's Pizza twelve and two going
into the postseason. DeVante's Inferno was George's team who ended
up winning the whole thing nine and five. He was second.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
I was the third seed who finished it back.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
Yeah, I was.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
I was the third seed who finished third nine and five.
And then Snowy White Sox also finished nine and five
in the regular season, and that was Jim.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
He beat you in the third place game, didn't he?
Did you get beat? No? I won? You did?

Speaker 3 (31:20):
I did win?

Speaker 1 (31:21):
Okay, I last night again, I got completely. Not that
anybody cares about your fantasy team, but because it's the
station and show, well the show fantasy, that guy will
tell you I made it right going into and this
is the problem when you get into last two weeks
of the year, right. So I had I was down

(31:42):
to like my ninth running back, and I went with
Washington's running back who was scheduled to be the starter
at the And I also had the Washington running back
that was scheduled to be out, and they flip flopped
him like right at game time. So the guy that
I started was out. The guy that I had on
my bench got twenty two points and I ended up

(32:03):
losing last night by the final catch of the game
for Pits. For the Falcons, I lost by one them
the way the cookie crumbles. So I was watching the
Pacer game last night. There was a play late in
the third quarter Houston rotated over Kevin Durant to the

(32:25):
top and Durant took a three point shot, and literally
there was zero rotation or effort from Indiana defensively. And
I noticed that Chris and Quinn commented that they thought
Rick Carlyle was protesting a non foul call on the
previous play, and I think Carlile was actually yelling at

(32:49):
his defense or his roster about the lack of defense
on the floor on that rotation. I mean literally, no
one even came out on Durant. And as I was
watching it, I realized this epiphanal concern that I have On.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
The radio side of things. Eddie Gille was just like,
he literally goes, what in the world You're leaving the
best player on the floor, one of the greatest players
you know the game has ever seen.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
Just wide open, wide open. I mean why, literally it
was almost like everyone it was it looked like everyone
did those you know, those drills you do at a
baseball game with I don't know if they do this anymore,
where they bring like three people out of the stands
and you've got to circle around the whiffleball bat, yes,
for thirty seconds, and then run to second base or whatever.

(33:38):
When they stop the music, everybody stops for a second
to get their bearings. That's what everyone defensively looked like.
They were just standing there looking around. It was bizarre.
And my one area of concern is this the I
oftentimes equate what happens to one franchise in town as

(34:02):
a learning or teaching moment for another. For example, Daniel
Jones Alec Pierce. We just assume that Daniel Jones will
be back next year, because who is going to want
a quarterback with a history of injury anyway that has
the Achilles injury and was you know, maybe showing a

(34:23):
little bit of not a regression, but showing that coming
down to earth a little bit at the time he
got hurt. Well, maybe Minnesota says, you know what, and
guess who their assistant GM is, Ryan Grigson. Maybe Minnesota says,
you know what, let's go back to that. We've seen
enough of JJ McCarthy, Daniel Jones, you're familiar with our
medical staff. That's the other place you might feel at home.
Maybe they maybe I'm not saying probable, but possible or

(34:49):
Alec Pierce. Could it be that Alec Pierce ends up
elsewhere because at the eleventh hour Alec Pierce or Daniel
Jones signed with somebody else without eating even really giving
the Colts the opportunity to match. We've seen that happen
in this town, right in terms of a player suddenly

(35:11):
coming up in free agency like, well, wait a minute,
what But what I thought about last night when I
saw that play and that breakdown defensively, was this one
of the guys that looked exasperated, one of the guys
that looked completely like at the end of his wits
with that was Pascal Siakim. And when the Pacers were

(35:35):
in the situation after making the trade of deciding whether
or not to max contract long term, Pascal Siakam, I
was one of them that said on these airwaves on
numerous occasion, I don't know that I would do it.
I don't know that I would give a max contract
to Pascal Siakam because I worry that by the end

(35:56):
of the contract, you're going to be trying to get
out of it because of the age. And we see
what happens when guys then are getting overpaid and they
become like trade deadline, you know, salary cap cutting moves.
And I could not have been more wrong. I could
not have been more wrong, because Pascal Siakam has been

(36:18):
everything and has delivered everything that you would ever want
out of that contract and more. Just last year's playoff
run alone, did it made it worth it right there?
It was everything about it was awesome and I was
there for every moment of it. Last night, I was
sitting there two forty eight in the morning look it
through my phone and I was looking at the photos

(36:40):
and everything and videos that I had from that playoff run,
and it's like, it's just now sinking in that finals run.
It was awesome. But I harkened back to when I
was waiting for the like everybody else in this town,
the announcement that the Indianapolis Colts were going to draft

(37:02):
Ricky Williams, and everyone was like, who is Edgar and James?
What it's Edrin James? Who is that guy? He had
one good game against UCLA right for Miami, and at
that time, in that moment, everyone was still shell shocked
from the fact that Marshall Falk had been traded and
so Marshall Fulk gets traded in and it's like, Okay, well,
I guess it's because they're going to get Ricky Williams.

(37:25):
But instead they go with Edrin James, who was a
little bit younger than Ricky Williams, even though they were
coming out at the same time. And that was all
because Bill Pullian, in his brilliance, went with making sure
that Peyton Manning had his running back, had his key receiver,
had his tight end, had all of his player You know,
you go away from Ken Doger and you draft Dallas

(37:45):
Clark and you have Marvin Harrison, but you go ahead
and you also draft Reggie Wayne, and you're making sure
that all of these timelines are at the same time
and every player is peaking simultaneously in their career. And
when the Pacers had that option of what to do
with Pascal Siakam, the age variation with Pascal Siakam and

(38:06):
the timeline not being aligned with the rest of that
core group of Pacer players was offset by the fact
that Siakam was a young version of what he was
because he had not played extended long minutes in Toronto.
If you remember, you know, it was like, no, you
got to understand he doesn't have in Toronto. He was

(38:28):
not playing the number of minutes on the floor night
in and night out, especially earlier in his tenure. So
even though he is a little bit older than Halliburton
and older than Top and an older than Nie Smith
and older than Nimhard, he is a younger variation of
what he is because he has not been playing year
round basketball through the ringer every minute a La Durant

(38:49):
or Lebron or whatever. And that was true, and last
year used to it was awesome. But what I worry
about now is as you're going through this year the
guy that seemingly is logging every minute as Pascal Siakam,
and he's doing it playing from behind and putting his

(39:11):
effort every single night out there to not get results.
And how much does that begin to physically and psychologically
catch him up to organically what his age is, and
does that offset now and shrink the window of time
that you have him in peak to go along with
the recovering Haliburton, a recovering toppin and a backend flow

(39:34):
Nie Smith and Nimhart. That's my one thing of concern.
Scott Agnes can talk about that and more with us
and what exactly this means in terms of the depths
now that the pacers have had to go through and
is there light at the end of the tunnel for them.
We'll get into that conversation at about fifteen hedy, I

(39:56):
guess we technically have time, meaning tomorrow still to come
up with this answer. Maybe we will revise it a
little bit.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
You don't have to do it without me. I won't
be here tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Okay. Who will be in for you tomorrow?

Speaker 3 (40:10):
That's a good question. Are you doing the pacer again tomorrow?
I am doing the Pacergain tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
You couldn't come in a couple hours early.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
I could have.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
Otticus is in tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
Okay, So I can ask Atticus this question tomorrow as well,
but I will ask you today. What is the when
you look back on twenty twenty five, either personally or
so In other words, if I say professional, I mean

(40:47):
like within the sports world or for you personally, you
know something that took place. What's the top thing that
happened to you in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (40:55):
That's a good question.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
What's your favorite memory of twenty twenty five?

Speaker 4 (41:00):
Mm?

Speaker 3 (41:01):
Probably the Pacers NBA Finals run.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
Almost impossible to argue that, right, Yeah, you know what,
to be honest with you, I think for a lot
of people, this would be a great Twitter pool.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
I could do.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Bigger surprise of twenty twenty five and he had a
football or Pacers?

Speaker 3 (41:27):
Probably IU football.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Yeah, not bigger surprise, I guess, but the one that
brought you more.

Speaker 3 (41:31):
Joy probably IU football still.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
Over the you think so, well.

Speaker 3 (41:37):
The Pacers had some success in the year prior to
the IU football, I'd never.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
Had any again, I'm gonna I want to go back
to not necessarily not necessarily surprise, but the one that
brought that was a more fun Maybe the Pacers, you
would say, was the more fun run because the NBA
playoffs provides itself for more high intense moments, right, I
mean the playoffs alone. They had to win what they

(42:04):
went in? Fifteen playoff games, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (42:09):
Yeah, sixteen somewhere around there, well.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Fifteen right, four in the first three rounds and then
three in the last round, Is that right?

Speaker 3 (42:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (42:17):
So and there were some I mean there were just
it was amazing. It really was like when you look back,
I think that sometimes I think, and I try not
to do this, but I think sometimes we get too
caught up in living in the moment and not stopping

(42:38):
to just look. You know, like Paris Builder said the
best right, life moves pretty fast. Sometimes you got to
stop and look around. And I think that finals run.
It's only now that you look back and you're like,
that really did happen? And that's probably you know, I'm
a late I've always been a slow learner. So six

(42:59):
months months from now, I'll totally be embraced by everything
that's taken place with IU. But I do think, and
this is probably a polarizing take, but I feel like
the Pacers getting so close to the NBA title was

(43:23):
almost more emotional for a lot of people because there
are a ton of people that have always wanted to
see IU football do well. But it doesn't mean that
they were like die hard in the wool, crying in
their beer fans. Does that make sense? Like can you
be a long suffering fan if you were never necessary?

Speaker 2 (43:45):
I mean, bless you? Did you sneeze or shack cough. Okay,
bless you.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
I you know, I know so many people and it's
it's awesome. Don't get me wrong, but they're like, oh,
I've been a huge IU football fan for fifteen years.
Every game, I'm like, how many of them do you
go into? Well, we got on tailgate, you know. I
mean if you stopped, if you stopped people that were

(44:14):
going into the Rose Bowl right now and said, okay, quick,
name the last quarterback that have started games for both
Indiana and Notre Dame, how many of them are going
to be like, oh, yeah, Matt Levechio.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
I can't.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
I don't mean that as a as a knock in
any I mean, Indiana didn't give them much reason to
outwardly be an IU football fan. You get what I'm saying.
But I think the Indiana story is one that is awesome,
But I don't know that it's one that people felt
relieved by. They felt emotional, but they didn't feel you know, validated,

(44:52):
because it wasn't like they were I mean, I think
there were there are people that with the Pacers that
have spent a lot of money and a lot of
investment and a lot of time with that team that
just assumed that that was never a possibility, and the

(45:12):
way it ended for the basers also kind of adds
to the whole story of just like what a miracle
all of it was. Now, are you going out tonight
in celebrating New Year's Eve? Eve time one on?

Speaker 2 (45:25):
I am not no, I am not you just playing doctor, huh,
I'm playing doctor. You just had an extra sick day
to burn, and so you said it's the last day
of the year.

Speaker 1 (45:35):
I'm out.

Speaker 3 (45:36):
Yeah, pretty much.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
We have a shortened show tomorrow, by the way, off
at two thirty for the Pacers pregame, right, that is correct, yes,
and so then J and B will be off tomorrow again.
It is tonight at seven o'clock a special edition of
Inside Indiana Football.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Correct, yep, seven oh five.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
Don Fischer, I'll have a coach Kirk Signetti on there,
Aden Fisher, I think we'll make an appearance and a
couple other players from the IU fot team.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
The I saw Mendoza or you know, it's media time
basically out there for the Rose Bowl for end of
Mendoza spoke today. We had a lot of interesting comments
coming in from college basketball standpoint, speaking of media stuff
of which we will get to coming up in just
a bit. Matt Painter. Last night, more and more coaches
are now talking about this non stop. I mean literally,

(46:24):
it feels like this avalanche of change that's taking place
with college basketball and this fear that it's going to
become this semi pro league, which it kind of already is.
We'll get into that in just a little bit. But
when we come back, he is the Fieldhouse files. We
can talk about last night what happened? Who in the
world was going to guard Kevin Garden or Kevin Garnett,
Kevin Durant and what in the world happened? They literally

(46:47):
they look like Kevin Garnett out there, you know what
I mean, Like ten years retired Kevin Durant last night
hit a shot wide open and the pacers. Is that
a sign of where they are? Scott Agnes to discuss next.
You know, there was a time where I actually thought

(47:08):
that this might have been John Mellencamp's John Cougar, John Cougar, Mellencamp,
whichever we want to look at it. There was a
time where I thought this might have been his signature song.
And obviously, obviously that is not even remotely in the
conversation now, because his signature song for John Mellencamp undoubtedly.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
Is what Eddie, Jack and Diane.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Yeah, it's got to be right or small town, small
Town's up there, just because of the mantra of it, right,
But that was kind of his first breakthrough hit. Hurt
so good right there with Jack and Diane off of
American Fool, Great album. I would also like to let
you know Eddie that randomly, yesterday I was researching something,

(47:57):
saw a stat and literally, I mean blew my mind.
I have what I believe to be the greatest trivia
question regarding the NFL of all time, and it is
so good that yesterday I asked Scottie Johnston. I asked

(48:22):
Scotti Johnston. This trivia question for those who don't know
Scotty Johnston is he's the copier guy of this place,
the brains and the muscle and everything behind the operation
that is the fan in WBC and Scotty. Not only
did Scotty not come up with the answer, he went
through all of the possible correct answers and it was

(48:44):
the last one and he still didn't know it the last.
But it's the greatest NFL trivia question of all time,
and I'm going to save it for some time, and
we have something to give away on this program. But
I have a great Pacer trivia question as well, which
I will allow you Eddie Garrison, to go up against
Scott Agnes of Fieldhouse Files to see which of the

(49:05):
two of you has the prowess to answer it correctly.
Oh boy, Scott from Fieldhouse Files joins us now in
the Java House Peel and port guest line. Java house
dot com is the website Jake twenty five the code
for twenty five percent off and you can get the
bundle of peeling por pods. It is so simple. You
peel and put them an eight ounces of water, instant beverage,
the amazingly smooth Colombian, the Wrangler Energy and the Liquid

(49:27):
Science hydration beverages, all available in bundle form. Just use
the fan in the search bar when you go to
Java house dot com to see what I'm talking about.
All right, Scott, are you ready for the trivia question
regarding the Pacers that I can ask to both you
and Eddie and you have to not think about it.
Give me your instinctive off the top of your head
answer and see which the two of you is closer.

(49:47):
Are you ready?

Speaker 5 (49:48):
Yeah, let's do it.

Speaker 4 (49:49):
And by the way, Sunday, I'm stopped by the.

Speaker 5 (49:51):
Broad ripple location of Java House.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
I was there too. What time were you there?

Speaker 5 (49:56):
Six o'clock baby, okay, right before closed. It was a
fourth ord actually.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
Okay, it's a great location, by the way. Okay, and
thank you for going in there. Eddie, here you go.
Would you like to guess first or second on this?
We're gonna do this card Sharks fashion, do you guys?
Either one of you guys remember the show Card Sharks,
not me? Okay. In Card Sharks, they would present a
scenario and the first person has to give a number,

(50:20):
and then the second person says whether they think that
number is higher or lower? Okay, the answer is higher
or lower. So Scott, I will let you go first
with this. You cannot think about it. I need instinctive,
off the top of your head, gut reaction answer. Okay.
Tell me the number of players that have scored a
point in the NBA this year, representing the Indiana Pacers.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
Go twenty one, Eddie, twenty six, Eddie.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
In Card Sharks fashion, you have to say, well, gosh,
twenty one is a good guess, and then you have
to give your rationale and then say, but I think
that number is going to be higher.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
So sorry your explanation please, Eddie, I'm just taking a guess.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
The correct answer, Eddie Garrison is your winner. Twenty four
players have scored for the Pacers this year. Twenty four players.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
Wait, we're not doing prices right style. So I was over,
so card shark style.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
You are correct, as you said over Okay, so price
is right style. Scott wins twenty four players. Scott, the
reason I bring that up? At what point do we
enter into the category when you used to? And I
realized not all these guys are around, right, I mean
Mac McClung, you know, short lived, Ray j Dennis no
longer around, Jeremiah Robinson, earl no longer around, you know,

(51:35):
But the number of players that are there, At what
point do the Pacers say, and in particular for a
Pascal Siakam, we've got to start now going back into
preservation mode and getting making sure that we're not wearing
anyone out. Because Pascal Siakam I worry about. Tell me
why I'm wrong.

Speaker 4 (51:54):
Yeah, I'm with you now, Jake, if you remember about
a month ago. I think we had a similar I said, hey,
we got to see them after.

Speaker 5 (52:02):
The NBA Cup. Let's see what they look like through
the rest of this year. Then we can make a determination.

Speaker 4 (52:08):
A lot of fans already calling for taking a lot
of fans calling and enjoying these wins, which is I
never can get involved with that and engage with that.
But I think you are at the point. To your
exact point here is you realize, all right, this season,
for its original purpose to get back to the NBA Finals,
it's not in the cards here. So you have to

(52:30):
have that long term vision so that you can restart
things next season and pick up where you left off
and not have more injuries and compounding and things.

Speaker 5 (52:38):
And Siakam, you're.

Speaker 4 (52:40):
Absolutely right, And you can tell he's going through a rut,
both physically but more so mentally, like this losing streak,
in the constant demands of him and players not being
in the right positions. That's just all confounded him. And
I think he's also at the point where he is
just fried. I almost think he should go on that
Lebron James uh mysterious three week vacation back to Miami

(53:03):
and then suddenly returned because I think his body deserves it.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
I mean, Scott honestly, And I mentioned this earlier, and
let's dive a little deeper into this aspect of it
with Siakam. And I can't remember the exact you know,
like wordage that was used or the explanation thereof, but
when Siakam was acquired by Indiana, you know, one of
the selling points about him, which turned out to be right, was, hey, listen,

(53:30):
just because he's a veteran player, he is not law.
He doesn't come with the mileage on him out of
Toronto with year round basketball and deep runs annually and
et cetera that a Durant or a Lebron or you know,
or even like a Paul George have had, right, and
so you were getting a slightly younger version of his age,

(53:51):
if you will. My worry is that this year is
going to eradicate all of that advantage on the back
end of his contract. Now my way overthinking this.

Speaker 5 (54:02):
No, I think it's fair.

Speaker 4 (54:04):
I think you're more worried though, Jake, and the big
picture of where he's at mentally in terms of this
situation and being part of it, and how much urgency,
does he have to maximize the rest of his career,
and also to show in good faith that you're putting
a group around him that's given him.

Speaker 5 (54:21):
A chance every single night.

Speaker 4 (54:22):
I think there are all those factors that you are
concerned with, but to me, it starts with that engagement,
that comfort level that when you go out there, you
legitimately have a chance to win every single night. I
don't think they felt that way here in the last
couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
Do you think last night there was a play Scott,
you know, we talked about it earlier. I think it
was third quarter, maybe late third quarter. They rotated the
ball over did Houston to the top of the key
and Durant has a wide open three. And when I
say wide open three, it didn't have to be. But

(54:58):
I think even Duract my aunt was surprised at the
literally five players for Indiana that didn't even come out
beyond the free throw line extended and just stood and watched,
and it looked like five guys that were like, man,
we are so over this. And the middle of that
group was Siakam. I mean when I say in the middle,
I mean like physically speaking, he was on the floor,

(55:20):
and he happened to me in the middle. But that's
what that was the first time that I began to
truly wonder if this was not the emotional toll on
Siakam that we have feared. But he has to know
going into it what the reality is, does he not?
Because there's no toping niece, Smiths been out, you know,
nim Hart was out at the beginning, No Halliburton. You know,

(55:43):
he had to know going into it what this year
was going to look like, did he not?

Speaker 5 (55:48):
Yes? But nobody thought it was looking like this, Jake,
not no one.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
I mean myself included to be fair, Yes, No, you know.

Speaker 4 (55:54):
If they were sitting here and they were the Charlotte Hornets,
they'd eleven and twenty one.

Speaker 5 (55:59):
They've lost just one game in a row.

Speaker 4 (56:01):
There's you know, on the road, they're four and twelve.

Speaker 5 (56:05):
That's reasonable.

Speaker 4 (56:06):
But to be at this point where you have it
one in three weeks, you've won one road game the
entire season, that you have the worst record in the league. No,
I'd be lying to you if I thought that. I
thought they'd probably be twenty seconds something like that in
the standings, especially as the injuries kept piling up here.
But yeah, that picture or that play rather that you
described there. I think all of us that were watching

(56:28):
can play it back in our minds because it was
the epitome of what we've seen throughout this month, in particular,
where I do not think it was guys giving up
or just casually going through anything. I think it was
a group that didn't have a ton of time together,
some players in the wrong position, some holding their ground
to where they think they should be, and it was

(56:49):
just a bunch of confusion. And the result is you
allow a Hall of Famer, one of the best to
ever do it, have as open of a shot as
he's ever gonna see. There wasn't anybody within five feet
of him, which is even more confounding. With that you
leave everybody else to go get Durant, especially when.

Speaker 5 (57:05):
He was the leading scorer in the game.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
Are we getting a little of the helium aspect here?

Speaker 3 (57:09):
Eddie?

Speaker 1 (57:10):
By the way, do we need to get Scott to
do when he's Scott? We've already got you doing the
lollipop guild stuff, right.

Speaker 5 (57:15):
I thought we fixed this.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
It comes and goes. We have a helium tank that
sits you know here. Now it's not part of the
Java House guest line. I should say that, right, but
you know occasionally it fires up Scott the I want
to get back to one other thing, and that is,
and I know that this is probably broken record stuff
matherin Jeris Walker. Is there anything more that we can

(57:38):
see here? Or do we now have pretty definitive idea
as to who they are? And does that now maybe
even take a back seat to other players that we
want to see what they can do a lah for
example Cam Jones, who's now going to get his opportunity.

Speaker 4 (57:53):
Yeah, I think one thing with benefitic Mather, and you
got to recognize it. He's laying it out there, even
though he's not feeling angry. He's not one hundred percent.
He's not just dealing Jake with one injury, but quietly.

Speaker 5 (58:04):
Dealing with two.

Speaker 4 (58:05):
He's got that turf toe and then he's also got
a spring right some in his shooting hand. And so
I can factor all of that in when considering his
current situation, and I think he's done a nice.

Speaker 5 (58:17):
Job here as a whole. In different games.

Speaker 4 (58:20):
You want more consistent scoring, You want him to be
have that engagement. Yes, the points are not as quite
as high as maybe you would have hoped he's more
like thirteen fourteen the last several weeks and not the
twenty in a row twenty points per game like he
started the season. In terms of like a Jared Walker,
I think there's a lot more he can show. He's
just overthinking everything, is how I simplify it with him,

(58:44):
Like the moment's too big at this moment.

Speaker 5 (58:47):
I like, I want to see more Furfy.

Speaker 4 (58:50):
I wouldn't mind seeing more Cam Jones, But more than anything,
I think it's important to make sure all these guys
are healthy and not have them, you know, forcing anything
out there or whatever. Trying to have the big picture
in mind here. It's good to the Sierraonnie smith back,
You're on the verge of seeing Ben Shephard, I think return.
It was notable that he was upgraded to questionable and

(59:11):
then downgraded into out, So that's the jets that he
went through shoot around. Wasn't quite feeling good enough to return.
But he's on the doorstep and that's encouraging.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
Scott to kind of go back to the trivia question
to start the conversation. As Chick noted, twenty four different
players have scored for the Pacers this year. I think
they have had twenty six total players on the roster
at various points throughout the season. What kind of message
does that sendo the locker room When you are a
team that just went to the NBA Finals, you felt

(59:41):
like going into the season you could still squeak into
the playoffs, and now it seems like, you know, the
front office or the coaching staff is kind of just
bringing in a fresh body every other week to kind
of fill out that last roster spot.

Speaker 4 (59:54):
To me, it shows, hey, this front office is still trying.
They haven't given up and pulled the plug on this
season at all because they're not bringing in players just
because the other guys haven't worked or whatever, or you know,
they've had these different injuries that have piled up and
they're trying to find the right combinations. At one point
they were down forwards. Then they needed guards and ball handlers.

(01:00:15):
Most recently it's been centers and so sure they could
have kept running back James Wiseman, but he was not productive.
He was not doing the things they wanted out on
the court. He did not have that basketball IQ that
would lead to the place like we've often seen here
recently like Kevin Durant getting the open shot. So if
I'm a player, I'm seeing the commitment thus far from

(01:00:37):
the Pacers that they're not giving up on the season.
They're trying to find guys out there. The reality is
there's a reason those players are available in the first place,
two months here into the season. And so yeah, the
challenge with it going into this year is we knew
that Tyrees wouldn't play, but that would that's not an excuse.

Speaker 5 (01:00:56):
For not getting back to the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (01:00:58):
But then it just felt like all these injuries filled
over that at some point there was about nine or
ten different guys on the injury report, four different emergency
hardship contracts. That's where we had to reset expectations. But no,
we did not expect the six win type season here
closing out twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
Scott Agus is our guest Java House Peelingport guest line
before we let you go, Scott Fieldhouse Files where you
can read his work. By the way, one guy that
I'm curious about because I believe I'm correct in this,
I believe if it's not the first, it was very
close to the first in terms of the Pacers home game.
The first at least within the first group of substitutes

(01:01:38):
at that time, was Taylor Peter, their rookie draft pick.
We have not seen a lot of him since. What
was the I guess what has been the reasoning for that?
Is that sim strictly a numbers game or was there
something they did or did not see early on? And
obviously I know that he's a two way player.

Speaker 4 (01:01:58):
Yeah, it's strictly numbers game, is how I view that, Jacob.
You mean back then you had no TJ. McConnell, no
Quintin Jackson. I'll obviously Haliburton was out and Smith was out,
so you had so many guys missing time that you
just kept going down the list of two way guys.
And Ethan Thompson's been the one that's been contributing the
most among.

Speaker 5 (01:02:18):
Those two way guys. But Quentin Jackson is.

Speaker 4 (01:02:21):
Ahead of Taylor, and so I think a large part
that's that's the reason why he's been out of the rotation.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
Here.

Speaker 5 (01:02:26):
You're good at that position. You've needed bodies at center
and on the wing spot.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
All right, Scott, appreciate the time as always. Happy New
Year to.

Speaker 5 (01:02:34):
You, all right, absolutely, Happy New Year to you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:36):
Guys enjoyed Pasadena.

Speaker 5 (01:02:38):
You know, I well appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
Take an umbrella. I'm telling you, Scott. By the way, Scott,
have you been to the Rose Bow before?

Speaker 5 (01:02:44):
No, this is the first time for all of that experience.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
Take a seat, cushion and an umbrella. But it's awesome,
and try to bring home a win for Indiana, certainly
Indiana Alabama. Scott, one of the nine hundred and forty
six thousand Hoosiers that are going to be in Pasadena.
I'm telling you, like they I haven't seen this many
people in Pasadena from Indiana since Guns n' Roses were
playing there. It's literally although last year I guess when
Indiana played UCLA because nobody thought that they would have

(01:03:10):
the chance to go back to the Rose Bowl. I mean,
whoever would have guessed. But speaking of college athletics last night,
and we talked about this yesterday, this is literally, objects
in the mirror are closer than they appear. This is

(01:03:32):
not in the mirror because it's something you passed. It's
in the mirror meaning it's in that lane that's coming
very very quickly, and I don't know what comes of it.
I don't, but I do know that the way that
the system is currently set up is likely not going
to stay the same. Now I'm old enough to remember

(01:03:56):
vividly remember when Indiana was getting ready to play Kentucky,
and it was a huge deal when all of a sudden,
the Hoosier State was like rocked by the shocking news

(01:04:17):
of alleged scandal. Steve Alford, the All American Boy, Indiana
Mister Basketball, Olympic gold medalist, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, I mean,
and you know, I mean, great, great, great, beloved player
and literally my biggest sports hero of my childhood. I

(01:04:41):
can tell you, I believe, believe you me. I can
go on and on and on. Twenty four hundred and
thirty eight career points. I know his birthday for crying
out loud, he called me out my birthday in the
eighth grade. I mean, you name it. But to find
out that Steve Alford would not be eligible to play
in Indiana's game against Kentucky because he had posed in

(01:05:01):
a calendar for a sorority at Indiana that I believe
the money was going towards the March of Dimes. I
think that was the charity. But he was the February
I believe it was February cover boy of the calendar
and a sport coat sitting on a basketball floor with
a basketball on his knee, and the NCAA deemed that

(01:05:25):
to be ineligible because he was part of something that
was of financial gain. And there was an irony as
well in the fact that the game in which he
was ineligible was against Kentucky, because Kentucky had had point
shaving scandals and Adolph Rupp had all kinds of allegations
against him. And then, of course Kentucky was four years

(01:05:46):
away from the Emery Air freight package scandal with Chris
Mills and Eric Manuel and fraudulent SAT scores and Sean
Kemp and everything that went to Kentucky darn getting the
death penalty, and most of what I just mentioned, by

(01:06:08):
today's standards wouldn't you wouldn't even bat an eye. And
I'm not sitting here saying that that's that it needed
to be back in the days of the Steve Alford
calendar stuff. But we've gone from in when the Ed
O'Bannon and Charles O'Bannon lawsuit took place against EA Sports,
and the entire thing about name, image and likeness, and

(01:06:31):
for those unfamiliar, this all began. This trace is all
the way back thirty years ago. In nineteen ninety five,
UCLA wins the National Championship. Ed O'Bannon was a fabulous player.
His little brother Charles was on the team as well,
tyas Edney Cameron Dollar, really good team. Jim Herrick's the coach,

(01:06:53):
and very shortly thereafter, Ed O'Bannon's playing in the NBA
for the New Jersey Nets. I think at the time
he was kind of a journeyman after a while, but
he notices that a video game comes out with college
basketball on it, and it has all of the schools
and it's very clear, very clear who they've patterned the play,

(01:07:17):
the look, the skin tone, all of it for each
player on the roster. And Ed O'Bannon is saying, that's me.
Everyone playing this game knows they're playing with Ed O'Bannon
on the low block, and I'm getting nothing out of
this multi billion dollar game and company. So he filed
a lawsuit claiming that he and his brother Charles should

(01:07:42):
be paid for their name, their image, and their likeness.
And it went back and forth in courts forever and Eventually,
within the last handful of years, the I believe Supreme
Court ruled in favor of student athletes that they can
be compensated for their name, their image, and their likeness.

(01:08:05):
And initially everybody said, yeah, this is the way it
should be, and this is the way it should be.
A guy that's playing basketball for Indiana or Arkansas or
Kent State or Arizona State or UTEP, they should be
able to do and add for the local sandwich shop
and get themselves a little spending money to take their
girlfriend of the movies on the weekends. Absolutely, they should

(01:08:28):
be able to do that. If they want to put
somebody's name, image and likeness on, you know, if you
want to get the local radio station in where State
university is and have their star point guard come on
and say his ten favorite songs every Tuesday night and
slide him two hundred bucks for his name. Yeah, absolutely.

(01:08:51):
But the university saw it differently, and they said, well,
this is going to be the wild, wild West, and
there appears to be no limitation to this. This is
literally like when you get to Montana and it says
speed limit reasonable and prudent. Well, that's one guy's reasonable
and prudent as another guy's autumn, so there was no

(01:09:16):
real cap on what this meant, and the universities immediately
and Indiana was one of the first and smartest to
do this. And I've mentioned this before. Indiana had booster
groups or podcast guys that were running like fantasy camps
where you could go down and play on the assembly

(01:09:37):
hall floor and pay a certain amount of money, and
that money was going to go towards the quote unquote
like collective to help with name, image, likeness, and everybody
knew what that meant. It meant that it was going
into a piggy bank where when a big time recruit
wanted to play in Indiana but he was also being
recruited by three other schools, Indiana could say, hey, if
you come here, we can't directly pay you, but we

(01:10:00):
can facilitate it where your name, image and likeness is
being compensated by something you're doing and we have this
other group of people here that are going to be
able to get you that money. And Indiana did that.
But at the same time, Indiana was already waiting for
the day when it was going to be cleared that
the schools themselves could create what was called a collective
where they could do it, and Indiana had that, and

(01:10:22):
that's why Indiana then kind of no longer had need
for like podcast guys that were running fantasy camps because
Indiana's like, we're good, we have our own internal collective
that is putting together this funding. So that was like
phase two of this restoration rebuild project of college basketball

(01:10:44):
as we know it today. And then you got into
phase three. Those top two things you kind of could
keep a corral on, but when you get into phase three,
then it becomes much more murky. And that becomes if
you are in fact giving players compensation for their name,

(01:11:07):
image and likeness, then what stops you from going out
and getting players who have already been compensated elsewhere? And
it started with one player that was signed by Baylor
who was drafted into the NBA but has yet to
play a game. And then the report that there is

(01:11:27):
a player in the G League currently that is being
talked to after having scored in an NBA game on
a two way deal, and another G League player that
has gone back into college, And now every coach is
talking about it because they all fear the same thing.
And I'm going to let you hear from what one

(01:11:48):
of the most trusted and scrupulous in college basketball had
to say about it, and we'll do it next.

Speaker 2 (01:11:56):
You.

Speaker 1 (01:11:56):
Literally, right now, it is difficult to go on social
media or any of the different news sources right here
being one of them. And I appreciate everybody that tunes
into this program. With all the options that are out there,
it is difficult to enter into the arena of discussion

(01:12:17):
about college athletics without hearing the conversation of all of
this happening with college basketball. And I think the thing
that makes it so interesting and at the same time frustrating,
it's almost like the movie pulp fiction. You know, the

(01:12:40):
movie pulp Fiction. You're like halfway through the movie before
you realize that what you're seeing is a movie of
different storylines that are taking place, non sequential, but at
the end it kind of all comes together and you're like, Okay,
now I can see the different pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.
They seem to kind of go out of order, and

(01:13:02):
the NCAA and they're handling of or they're trying to
get the tiger by the tail of this whole saga
involving Nil and everything that goes into it is the
same way of it almost feels like it's out of order.
Now I had mentioned that this all is coming to

(01:13:31):
a head because in the past week you have back
to back stories of Scott Drew at Baylor going out
and getting a mid season pickup from a player who's
already been drafted into the NBA but as yet to
sign a contract. And then you have another player that

(01:13:53):
is in the G League on a two way contract
and has already scored three points in the NBA this year,
that now is rumored to be being recruited by a
number of different schools, including if you believe reports, Indiana,
And you have two ways to look at it. One is, look,

(01:14:15):
everybody needs to take a hard line here and stop
this carousel from spinning before everybody pukes. And then the
second is, yeah, but you either get on board or
get left in the dust. Which way is it? One
of the most And I think has a future beyond

(01:14:38):
coaching if he ever so chose, in terms of administrative
aspect towards college athletics, a guy that I think defines scruples.
And maybe I'm wrong, maybe I've been sold to Billy Goods,

(01:14:58):
but the guy that I think is the pillar of
going about and doing things with integrity, doing it with principle,
and doing it with the right intentions in mind at
the core of what college athletics are supposed to be.
And maybe very soon we will say what they used
to be. But the guy that I think has become

(01:15:23):
a spokesperson for the sport and for what should be
right about it, and one that even if you're the
biggest diehard fan of a rivaling school, you should be
proud that this state has produced Matt Painter. And last
night Purdue ran at times a clinic against Kent State,
who's going to be a good team in their league.

(01:15:44):
But after the game, Matt Painter was asked about comments
that tom Izzo had already made about his concern of
where this is all headed. And the first thing that
Painter said simply was, can we all please, at least
at the very start of this, get on the same
page of some sort of outline as to what this

(01:16:05):
deal the ceiling should be.

Speaker 6 (01:16:06):
Yeah, we just want to know the rules so we
can abide by them, Like we don't. We don't know
what's going on, So that that's what I would say,
Like we need some leadership. We need someone to step up,
and like here's how it's ran. Here's name, image and likeness,
here's the transfer situation.

Speaker 1 (01:16:22):
Like whatever.

Speaker 6 (01:16:22):
Like we can go on to all these different examples
and give us the rules. We'll abide by them, you know,
because that's who the rules are for. The rules aren't
for the people who cheat. The rules are for the
people that abide by them. And so like that's where
this is all goes down, and there's no communication, Like
we just want to know, like tell us what to
tell us what to do, tell us how to go

(01:16:43):
about it, and then like you know, we'll go from there.
And it's just there's just a lot of gray area.

Speaker 1 (01:16:48):
Right now, here's where that gray area gets compounded. For example,
Alec points out Jake, the Trent and Flowers recruiting report
has been deemed false.

Speaker 3 (01:17:01):
Wait, my only friend, Alec, that's right, who worked with
my other friends Scott?

Speaker 1 (01:17:04):
Yes, last nime, you have two of them, then I guess.

Speaker 3 (01:17:07):
So yeah, it.

Speaker 1 (01:17:08):
Says he wants to go back to college because he's
a two way guy and wants to right his wrongs
and improve his stock. Most schools that were rumored to
be interested in him said they're not recruiting him. I
could see that them saying that now right, I'm not
saying that that's false. But that's not an isolated incident.
I guarantee you there's more out there about that and

(01:17:29):
within that. Okay, And here's where a lot of this
problem lies. And I'm going to speak from truth here.
That's not going to be very popular. There is amongst
and the sport basketball and baseball are the two sports
that jump out to me the most on this Travel

(01:17:54):
sports and year round sports within a specified sport is
ruining sport in many aspects. Those of you who have
kids playing travel baseball, I have bad news for you.
And I know that kids love playing baseball and it's wonderful.
It's a great sport. It's a great game, and it's
fun for kids to go out and play with their

(01:18:15):
friends and everything else. But you get to a certain
point where you might notice that your kid's involvement suddenly
comes with an increased price tag for different groups coaches
or organizations that are taking the money for your kid
to play, which is by the design, and they're going
to tell you that your kid needs to play in

(01:18:37):
that league, your kid needs to play for that team.
Your kid needs to increase and play at a higher
profile because that's what's going to allow them to play
at the college level or for another team, or for
a better program, a better system that improves their batspeed,
their velocity, their curve, whatever it might be. And while
there may be isolated cases of that, in more care

(01:19:00):
than not, it's because it's about the money that you
are being fleeced to pay, and you're getting swept up
and caught up in this hype that your kid's a
better player than they are. I'm sorry to break it
to you now. On the basketball side of things, I
always laugh at it. You can tell it. You see
a picture of some team, and it used to be

(01:19:20):
this is the number one fifteen and under team, fourteen
and under team, thirteen and under team. Now it's like,
and I get it all the time. If I could
show you my DMS, you would be floored at the
number of things I get. I got news for you,
And I'm not trying to be Debbie Downer and I'm
not trying to be pessimistic, Pete. I'm being realistic. Rick here, Okay,

(01:19:46):
every team that has second grade kids is a number
four team in the country. Nobody's the number one team,
everybody's the fourth ranked team. Everybody's got the number one
point guard in America. For kids that are nine years old.
I got dms right now from fifteen different parents and
coaches telling me about how their kid, their school, their

(01:20:09):
team is the number one team. They're second graders, they're
third graders. Ain't none of it matter anything until every
kid's gone through puberty. But it's all a racket set
up to fleece the money out of people to continue
to pay to support Half the time these completely shady
AAU programs or travel ball programs and everything else with
some guy whose pocket's getting fatter and fatter and fatter,

(01:20:31):
and he's convinced that if he facilitates for five hundred kids,
one of them might get to the NBA and someday
he'll be interviewed on a thirty for thirty while kicking
back his royalties. That's exactly how ninety percent of this works.
And I know that sounds ludicrous, but I'm realistic, Rick,
and there's a reason I'm bringing this all up. Okay,
now I can look at a picture right now, you

(01:20:53):
show it to me. It's the funniest thing in the world.
I see it on Facebook and social media all day long.
Bunch of kids holding up their rings. It's some tournament
out in Las Vegas or in Cincinnati or whatever, some
AAU team, and you look at the photo and you're like,
I can absolutely tell the one kid who's dad, he's
on the team because his dad's bankrolling this whole thing.
You can absolutely tell it. The four foot ten kid

(01:21:13):
that weighs sixty four pounds, Like, that kid's on the
team because his dad is the one that is convincing
his wife that they need to be paying for this,
because his kid's gonna get his shot someday to go
play big time Division one sports. Guess what. Dominant seventh grade,
dominant second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade kids,
you know what, most of them grow up to be

(01:21:33):
nice backup JV point guards. Because then everybody else goes
through puberty and it all evens out. And the same
thing happens in college recruiting because all these players now
they no longer are represented by they play for Lawrence
North or Warren Central or North Central or Brownsburg or
Ben Davis or Rebuff. Now it is they play for

(01:21:55):
you know, Indie Heat or Ohio Elite or whatever the
AAU programs are. And it's the AAU coaches again trying
to get that pocket that right. It's the AAU coaches
that are selling and over selling these guys as being
bigger and better than what they are, and they are
convincing all of these kids that they are going to

(01:22:17):
be NBA or G League or European Professional League players
and the reality is that like one percent of all
players reach that point and they're still at its core,
should be those players that college athletics allows for a player,
whether he is a player from rural America, whether he's

(01:22:38):
a player from inner city America, whether he's a kid
from suburban America, a kid who gets the opportunity to
advance his education and his worldly experience in doing so,
perhaps financially in a situation that otherwise would not be
afforded to him or her, And those are the ones
that this potentially is going to hurt, because what happens

(01:23:01):
if all of a sudden, now you are becoming essentially
nothing but a G league and you are doing it
with just one year rentals, over and over and over,
facilitated by greasy AAU funded money funneling, channeling, sponsorships and
all of that, and now all of a sudden, you're
losing sight of what the true purpose of the college

(01:23:22):
experience should be. And it sounds ridiculous except for you
realize that ninety eight percent of players playing in college
basketball are never going to be in a situation where
their livelihood has changed because of the game and playing
it beyond the age of twenty two, and Matt Painter
is well aware of that fact.

Speaker 6 (01:23:44):
We got to keep fighting for the ones that aren't
pros because you end up being a pro and you
get yourself in that position. But when you go look statistically,
ninety four ninety five percent of all pros have to
get another job, so we should probably fight for them too.
You know, making it isn't going to the NBA. You know,
making it is just being the best version of yourself

(01:24:04):
and helping other people like that's making it, Like and
so we get lost in this.

Speaker 1 (01:24:09):
Little world we're in when in reality.

Speaker 6 (01:24:11):
Like, let's don't lose that train of thought about doing
what's best for them. But it's getting really hard quit
with the landscape or where we're in right now.

Speaker 1 (01:24:24):
I go back to one of the best lines I've
ever seen while sitting in a movie theater and like
I literally I stopped. And there have been great lines
in movie history. Hope is a good thing, perhaps the
best of things. It's a great line, great line. There's

(01:24:46):
just one thing I want you to do for me? When? When?
What are we waiting for? It's a great line from
Rocky Too. It's a great line. Endless, but one of
the great lines I've ever heard. And it wasn't a
movie but a documentary was in Hoop Dreams with William Gates,
who I've mentioned on this show before, when they followed

(01:25:08):
William Gates and Arthur ag both kids my class class
of nineteen ninety one in high school, and they followed
him for all four years of high school, through their
journey in the Chicago public schools and in Gates' case,
going into the parochial schools in Saint Joseph in Westchester, Illinois,
same school that produced Isaiah Thomas and Darryl Thomas of
Indiana fame, and both of them were thought to be

(01:25:29):
sure fire NBA level players. And at the end of
that documentary they interview William Gates, who went under Marquette,
had a knee injury, had a modest career in college.
They get ended their for him from a playing standpoint,
and he says in that documentary, everywhere I go, everyone
says to me the same thing, don't forget about me

(01:25:51):
when you get to the NBA. And then he paused
and said, and what I want to say back to
them is, don't forget about me if I don't get there.
And every kid right now playing somewhere in the summer
League is convinced, as they probably should be, that the
game is always going to be there for them. And

(01:26:11):
we used to live in a world where there were
people who knew better that were able to say to them, son, daughter,
I want you to chase those dreams and aspirations, but
I want you to also have something in store if
in fact that isn't there for you. And the avenue
in which those things used to be there for people,

(01:26:33):
Matt Painter and others now are aware of the fact
that what if that also goes away? And that's the
real danger of where college basketball may be. Again, not
trying to be pessimistic, Pete, just realistic. Rick Stephen Holder
latest on the Colts just over fifteen. Stephen Holder coming

(01:26:54):
up just a couple of minutes from now, but before
we do that. And I'm thrilled about this, thrilled, and
I can only imagine how thrilled he is going to
be to be on the mic for the Rose Bowl
between Indiana and Alabama. A reminder inside IU Football tonight
seven o'clock. It is a special edition of it with
Don Fisher, Kurt Signetti, Aiden Fisher, lots of conversation about

(01:27:18):
this the biggest game in the history of the program
until next week when they go to the Peach Bowl,
if they do, and that becomes it and then you
just go on and on from there. But Don Fisher
joins us now on the Java House Peel and poor
guest line, and Don, you are already out in Pasadena, correct.

Speaker 5 (01:27:34):
That is correct?

Speaker 7 (01:27:35):
We flew out here yesterday afternoon. I got here early
last evening.

Speaker 5 (01:27:39):
And how are you?

Speaker 7 (01:27:40):
At a press conference this morning? And it took about
an hour with players, coaches, all of the Indiana well players,
not all of them, but a good portion of them.
And yeah, so it's been a fun morning thus far.
And it feels like it's already afternoon, even though it's.

Speaker 1 (01:27:56):
Not Okay, that's right, your body clock says differently. All right,
let's get to this weather report. What is the weather
there right now? Because I've seen, you know, there is
some talk that this is going to be a rain game,
which I think could be advantage Indiana.

Speaker 8 (01:28:09):
But that's a different discussion. But how was the weather. Well,
it's gray out here today. It's not the prettiest day
I've seen in California in the past, so but it's
not bad and the temperature is beautiful, So from that standpoint,
it's very comfortable. And like I said, it's not raining
at this juncture, so that's key.

Speaker 1 (01:28:28):
Don I want to get to this. You know, we
can sit here and break down this game and Indiana's
advantage I think on the ground. I mean, there's a
lot of things that we can go into, but I
wanted to since I have you here, I simply wanted
to get to this. And that is just about how
special this is, you know, not just for Kurt Signetti
and this group of Indiana players that have just been remarkable,

(01:28:51):
but for Indiana in general, and for you, you know,
as the face and the voice of Indiana football for
so long. And I know that you've been asked this
a lot, and you've you know, you've talked, we've talked
about it even but have you gotten a chance to
really just kind of soak in and take in everything
as it's happening before us here as it's unfolding.

Speaker 7 (01:29:14):
Well, as you know, Jake, it's one of those things
in the sense of what you're doing at the time.
But I question, it's a special time, especially from my perspective,
but it's a special time for the entire fan base
of Indiana University that has taken on this football team

(01:29:35):
as their own. And that's basically what's happened here, and
that's all because of Signetti and his tremendous success with
this program. And from my perspective, you know, it's been
a long time coming as we as we know, and
we've had some very good seasons through the years, but
not great seasons. And certainly in my tenure I counted

(01:29:58):
this up finally, Jake, I've been here fifty three years
now doing games for IU, and in my time here,
including the two years of Signetti, we have thirteen winning seasons.
So it's been something, to say the least, and most
of those other times that we had winning seasons were
all during the Bill Maher era, so it has been

(01:30:20):
a long time since we've experienced this, but we are
experiencing at a different level than we've ever had before.
And it's just so much to be fun. It's so
much fun for me to be a part of it.
That's number one. And then number two again, the people
that I feel best for are those fans that spent
the money to buy season tickets a year after year

(01:30:41):
after year after year and still continued to do so
through all of the tough times. And yet those fans
are being taken care of now just like I am
in the sense of the success that this program has
had over the last two seasons. So for me, it's
all about all of us who have lived through Indiana
Football through the years that were so lean, and now

(01:31:02):
such a tremendous, tremendous opportunity for this program.

Speaker 1 (01:31:05):
Don not that you would need any more joy out
of this, but is your joy accentuated by this fact,
and that is that you know there are two ways
to do things. Sometimes people shortcut things, or they sell
their soul to the devil and they compromise their principles,
their scruples, and they take the easy path. And this

(01:31:27):
is not a program that did that. This is a
program by all account that got there because they hired
the right guy who goes about it the right way
and has players that represent themselves in their university selflessly
by doing it the right way. And to me, for
someone like you, I would think that has to am
I correct in saying, only add to the satisfaction of

(01:31:51):
it all.

Speaker 7 (01:31:52):
Oh yeah, because what you see from this program right
now under Signetti is first class people. And that's the
one thing we talked about this as well, Jake, in
our conversation's here over the last several months, in a
couple of years now is the house Signetti goes about
running this program, and his belief and philosophy is you've

(01:32:16):
got to have character first, and then the mindset and
all those kinds of things and all the other things
that he talks about, which if.

Speaker 5 (01:32:23):
I reiterated, I'd have to go on.

Speaker 7 (01:32:24):
For at least three or four more minutes just talking
about his sayings and about the things he believes in
because he does it the right way and being first
class is the only way that he goes about his
business in that context, and he does that by vetting,
the players, vetting, the vetting, the people in his administration

(01:32:45):
of the athletic department, in the football program, and the
coaching staff, the coaches that work with him. And think
about this, all these guys that have stayed with Signetti
for all these years and still being able to hang
on to both coordinators. Yeah, they're paying them a lot
more money than they've ever made. But these guys wouldn't
have hung out with this guy for that many years

(01:33:06):
had he not been successful and been true to his
word and what he told them. I just from that standpoint,
it's just such a first class operation, and it makes
you proud to be a part of something like that
and as you said, not compromising any of your principles
and your beliefs. And that's exactly what this guy does
with his program, and I couldn't be prouder to be

(01:33:28):
a part of it.

Speaker 1 (01:33:29):
Don Where is Indiana going into this game from a
health standpoint? Because we saw, for example, in the Big
Ten title game, you know Omar Cooper went out early
daily obviously was hurt after the game. Where does Indiana
stand in terms of that injury report?

Speaker 7 (01:33:44):
Well, Omar is in good shape. There's another player that
we haven't talked about Harley at all for the last
what two thirds of the season, and Brendan Frankie the
kickoff guy, but apparently is available for doing that kind
of duty. Got a terrific leg hasn't hasn't had any
planning time however for quite some time now. I think

(01:34:05):
it was maybe the fourth Maye game of the season
where he got hurt and hasn't been able to get back,
and Brendan frank is now available to kick off, and
I think he's very valuable in that department at that
league is as strong as it was when he first
started out in the season.

Speaker 5 (01:34:18):
So they got him back.

Speaker 7 (01:34:20):
Obviously, there's still a question mark about Stephen Day's replacement
at this juncture. I don't think they've given anything away
in that area. They've mentioned and Daniel Dukeway as probably
the probable guy that will step in there, but I
think they have other things planned in regard to that
position as well. Because Briant Haynes, who was a tremendous

(01:34:42):
defensive coordinator and a magician that dialing out the different
kinds of aggressive plays defensively for this football team, and
he's proven how good he is with just how good
Indiana's defense has become. So I think he's probably got
some plans too for this ball club and for this
game against Alabama coming up on Thursday. And other than that,

(01:35:04):
there are no issues from an injury perspective at this point.

Speaker 1 (01:35:08):
And lastly, don does this game represent any sort of
you know, obviously there is probably I would imagine more
obligation of things they have to do before the game itself.
Alabama probably has gone through that before as well. But
have you noticed any change and just approach, scheduling, approach,
time management, any of it from the Indiana standpoint.

Speaker 5 (01:35:30):
No, not really.

Speaker 7 (01:35:31):
I mean I can tell you this that they, like
I said, this morning, we went to a press conference
that was underway at eight o'clock and all the guys
that have mattered on this team so far this year
from a playing perspective required to be there. He gave
the press an opportunity to talk to all these guys.

(01:35:51):
And outside of that, I mean, this is the first
day out here in the sense of guys out here yesterday,
But obviously nothing was planned for you today as far
as any kind of press conference. And now, of course,
in this situation, they are going through this.

Speaker 5 (01:36:06):
You know the scenario that they.

Speaker 7 (01:36:08):
Have to which is required by the College Football Playoff
and by the Rose bull itself. So there are things
that they're doing that are a little bit out of
the ordinary, but I know that Signetti is trying to
keep things as much in the context of how it
should be done and what they're concentrating on. At this point,
there's no doubt in my mind this team will be
ready to play.

Speaker 5 (01:36:27):
It might get off to.

Speaker 7 (01:36:28):
A little bit of a slower start than the norm
because they've had so much time off, and maybe you've
got to knock a little bit rust off that. I'm
confident in what this guy does and how he goes
about his business and this he will be ready and
if they get off to a slow start, they'll pick
it up at the end. I think this football team's
going to win.

Speaker 1 (01:36:45):
I think they're going to be the Alabama love It
pre game three o'clock on New Year's Day for the
Rose Bowl, Indiana the number one seed, number one ranked
in the College Football Playoff against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Pregame of three kickoff at four right here on the
fan again seven o'clock to inside Indiana Football don enjoy it,
go Hoosiers, and happy New Year to you.

Speaker 7 (01:37:06):
You can't do anything but enjoy it while we're out
here on the West coast.

Speaker 5 (01:37:10):
Jake, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:37:12):
Appreciated. Don Fisher, the voice of the Indiana Hoosiers, joining
us on the program All Right News from West fifty sixth,
including a change at quarterback to discuss Steven Holder will
let us know where things stand next we went with this.
Here's a contribute question for Stephen Holder. Stephenholder of ESPN
dot com who joins us on the Java House Peel

(01:37:33):
and Poor Guest line. He is the one that was
responsible for confirming the news that Riley Leonard will be
your starting quarterback for the final game of the season
for the Colts coming up on Sunday. Steven, would you
like to guess why we went with the Ghetto Boys
as our artist of choice today? Hm ah?

Speaker 9 (01:37:57):
Is this the Houston connection?

Speaker 1 (01:37:59):
Look at the big brain on Steve.

Speaker 9 (01:38:01):
Yes, yes, looten listen.

Speaker 1 (01:38:05):
Scarface the greatest Houston.

Speaker 9 (01:38:09):
I mean when you say Houston, you're saying the homeless
scarface as far as I'm concerned.

Speaker 1 (01:38:15):
But you know that makes just be me listen, I
love the song Scarf. Love the song Scarface. And the
other day, actually we were driving in the car, not
that anybody cares, we're going to tell anyway, and uh,
I'm driving. Shannon's in the pastor seat, and she says,
is this that song where you do that ridiculous duck
down again when the gunfire happens. I said, yes, as

(01:38:36):
a matter of fact, it is. It's an entire it's
an entire routine that happens when you ride in the
car with me. I can tell you that right now. Okay,
So speaking of that, Steven, we now know that, in
fact at the driver's wheel, with his hands on the
wheel will be Riley Leonard for the colts coming up
on Sunday. What does this mean, both in the short
term and then beyond crazy? Is that sounds? And here

(01:39:00):
me out on this for philip rivers.

Speaker 9 (01:39:03):
Okay, Well, I'll take the second part first, in terms
of philip rivers long term. For philip rivers, as we
sit here today, there is no long term. Okay. Let
me be clear about that. I sense no inclination from
him to give this any further consideration, and I certainly
don't hear that from the Colts. In fact, you know,

(01:39:25):
they don't ever want to be in this position ever
again where they have to call Philip Rivers. So, you know,
I want to want people to kind of understand it
from that perspective, Like it wasn't you know it would
be a great idea, let's go get Philip Rivers because
we think he's a great option. It was more like,
we don't have any options.

Speaker 1 (01:39:44):
We might have to.

Speaker 9 (01:39:44):
Call Philip Rivers. You understand that, Like those are two
different things, you know. So anyhow, that's where that stands
in terms of what it means for Riley Leonard. I
think it's an opportunity. It's what it is. It's an opportunity.
It's a tough spot, no question about it. I mean
that Houston defense is it is super Bowl caliber and
there's no question about it. And they come for the quarterback, buddy.

(01:40:08):
So he's going to get a test under fire and
it is going to be a I guess baptism under
fire if you will. And he just better be ready.
That's all I can say. He better be ready, and
it might be ugly, it might not go according to
the plan. I don't think any of that is necessarily
an awful thing because you know, he could be their

(01:40:29):
long term backup if he proves worthy of it. And
so that's kind of where that.

Speaker 1 (01:40:33):
Stands, Stephen. Didn't they find themselves in or is there
some truth to this thought that I had from earlier,
and that is Chris Ballard and Shane Stiken needed to
start Riley Leonard on Sunday for the reasons that you mentioned,
but at the same time also because at some point,

(01:40:54):
you know, Shane Steiken is the quarterback whisper and Chris
Ballard is hired to judge, assess and then acquire talent
coming out of the draft or out of college. They
are getting ready potentially to go in for end of
your meetings. Don't they need to be able to say,
wouldn't it not have been an indictment in a totally
meaningless game for them to not have gone with a

(01:41:14):
guy that is, to some extent the reason why they
should have that job validation?

Speaker 9 (01:41:21):
Well, I mean, I just think for consistency's sake, you
kind of had to do this. And what I mean
by that is the stated objective when you signed Philip
Rivers was we are doing this to make a run
at the playoffs. Now that didn't work, but I understand it,
and I actually don't hold that decision against them. I

(01:41:41):
think it makes sense now now that they are out
of playoff contention. I think if you want to be
consistent that goal, that carrot is no longer out there,
so there's nothing to prohibit you from playing the player
that you drafted. But that was true Sunday, Well this

(01:42:01):
past Sunday, Well, yeah, that's fair, but I would say this.
They said, ahead, it's time. I get it, but you
can you can accept the explanation or not. But the
thinking was they wouldn't know they were eliminated until Saturday night,
and by then it's too late to go back and
change what you've done all week. In terms of preparation,

(01:42:23):
you would be putting Riley Leonard out there without the
adequate preparation.

Speaker 1 (01:42:28):
I get it.

Speaker 9 (01:42:29):
Okay, Well, look, I mean I get I get.

Speaker 1 (01:42:31):
Why, I get the explanation. I'm not saying I buy it.
You know what I mean. I'm not saying you I
mean because my thought on that is yeah, but they
put to it.

Speaker 9 (01:42:39):
Although it is true, it is true that Rivers did
take the snatch, but go ahead.

Speaker 1 (01:42:43):
Well, but I mean what I'm saying is, I mean,
it's it's water under the bridge now. But with the
explanation of we have to go with Rivers because that's
who we used in the week preparation. I get that.
But then at the same time, they went with Rivers
three days after he was coaching a high school team,
you know what I mean, Like it wasn't like he

(01:43:03):
was there leading.

Speaker 9 (01:43:04):
Up because he has he's uniquely prepared to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:43:08):
Understood, he is, I understand, but rather than has been
in the building all year. I mean, but regardless, So
I would.

Speaker 9 (01:43:15):
Say I would just say this in closing on this point,
I do think there is at least some recognition that, look,
Philip Rivers came and did us a favor.

Speaker 1 (01:43:24):
Oh total, I get it. And he did a good job.
I mean, listen, I know they didn't win the games,
all things considered, he did a good job, no question,
and he's a very likable guy and all of those things.
The reason I asked about him beyond this year, crazy
as it sounds, when I look at next year there
it is my opinion their best option at quarterback next

(01:43:47):
year is Daniel Jones, but he's not under contract. Let's
say that he has resigned, You don't know for certain
that he is going to be one hundred percent and
up to speed ready to go in week one. What
quarterback on their roster gives them the best chance to
win until Daniel Jones is able to take the keys
and also has the least messy transition of power.

Speaker 9 (01:44:13):
Well, that's an important part of the question. I think
that last part. So I think the answer, Well, let's
back up, let's address it this way.

Speaker 1 (01:44:22):
Here's what I think is.

Speaker 9 (01:44:23):
Probably going to happen.

Speaker 5 (01:44:24):
How about that.

Speaker 9 (01:44:26):
I think the likeliest way forward here is, as you said,
they intend very very strongly to or their preferences very
strongly to re sign Daniel Jones, get him healthy. They
have already sort of latched on to the Aaron Rodgers story,

(01:44:46):
and I'm pretty sure that that Daniel has been in
touch with Rogers, you know, to kind of get some
advice from him on how he bounced back from from
his achilles in such short order, which he did do.
He didn't play great off of it, but he did
come back pretty quickly. Now Daniel's ten years younger, so
that helps. Anyhow, they think of a duplication of that

(01:45:08):
as as possible.

Speaker 1 (01:45:09):
So let's say they're right.

Speaker 9 (01:45:10):
Let's say which they can't possibly know now, but let's
say they're right, you get them back. There is that
chance that he might not be fully ready to go
on day one. Anthony Richardson is under contract for next year.
The reality is they moved on from Anthony Richardson. They
didn't say that, but I'm saying that. But they all
said it with their They said it with their with

(01:45:33):
their actions. I anticipate he gets traded. So if that
remains true, I think they are grooming Riley Leonard to
probably be a long term backup. And you have Daniel
Jones and Riley Leonard. That's what I see happening.

Speaker 1 (01:45:49):
What would Richardson realistically fetch on the market?

Speaker 9 (01:45:54):
Not a ton and because there's some uncertainty with him, right,
I mean injury performance, all of that for sure. But
I think there's gonna be I don't think there's going
to be a lack of interest, But I'd also don't
think teams are going to be willing to give up
the house, you know. I think there's there's two different

(01:46:15):
questions what teams to be interested? I think, yes, this
is not a great quarterback, class in the NFL draft.
I don't know what free agency looks like, but it's
probably not great depending on who falls out of the trees.
So I anticipate there will be teams interested in looking
at him in some capacity. But you know, but what

(01:46:37):
are you going to What are you going to get
in terms of a draft pick? I think it's probably
a mid round pick, is what I think. Could you
get a little more if there are multiple suitors, yes,
but I'm not talking about, you know, some sort of
like Day one or two pick. I mean I think
you're maybe a couple of mid round picks or something
like that. I mean, if you got a third round pick,

(01:46:59):
you would be thrilled, I feel, to be completely honest.
So I don't think people should have unrealistic expectations about that.
The trade, in my opinion, would be more about, you know,
just moving forward with Daniel Jones and honestly accommodating Anthony Richardson, who,
if he's not going to get the job, isn't going
to want.

Speaker 3 (01:47:17):
To be here.

Speaker 1 (01:47:18):
Do you think Stephen that the uncertainty Stephen Holder my
guest ESPN dot com. He's on the Joba house. Peelum
poor guest line, when you try to assess and will
begin with Chris Ballard and trying to determine whether or
not Chris Ballard returns next year, is there a bigger
uncertainty of answer because of the validity of which case

(01:47:39):
you could spell out either side of it, or because
simply we just don't know yet the the motivations and
the workings and the operating procedures of Carli ers Gordon.
So we don't know.

Speaker 9 (01:47:58):
I think on that second point, we don't know entirely
what to expect from her. However, I do think we
have some pretty good clues. I mean, some of which
she has told us in some of which we just
know from observing her, or at least me from observing her,
and not just this year, for many years observing Carlidan, right.
I mean, she didn't just parachute in, you know, six

(01:48:20):
months ago. She's been around for many, many years. I
would say that the thing about her is she is very,
very methodical. That is the thing that I think I
think encapsulates her best. You know, she she is methodical

(01:48:40):
in terms of what she says, in terms of what
she does, in terms of decisions.

Speaker 1 (01:48:45):
That she makes.

Speaker 9 (01:48:46):
All of these things. So I don't think this is
going to be something where she makes an emotional decision.
We lost six or seven in a row. I'm over it,
Get out of here, right, That's not what this is
going to be. Whatsoever, I can guarantee you that. I
will also guarantee you that she has thought and plotted
and considered what the next moves would be, depending on

(01:49:10):
what comes next, what are the subsequent moves. All of
that has been considered down to a very granular level,
because that's who she is.

Speaker 1 (01:49:19):
So whatever she.

Speaker 9 (01:49:20):
Decides, not everyone is going to agree with it, but
I will tell you it will be well thought out.

Speaker 1 (01:49:25):
And I would say that.

Speaker 9 (01:49:27):
As much as I respected Jimmiersy a lot, but I
do think we have evidence that he sometimes made rash decisions, right,
I mean, just Saturday wasn't interiom coach. I would venture
to say, Carli Ersa Gordon would never ever, ever ever
do that, right. So I just think that's where they're different.
She will not make emotional decisions. She will make rational

(01:49:50):
decisions and methodical decisions, whereas her father thought a little
more with his heart I think than his head.

Speaker 1 (01:49:57):
Okay, Stephen, before we let you go, that we've had
this intermittently. We've had fun with it. We we've got
a chipmunk that's quite frankly imphetomized that runs our computer.
We got a chipmunk that he runs on a wheel
and it runs our computer force. But occasionally we believe
he's hitting the met pipe and he starts running too

(01:50:18):
fast and it speeds things up. So your voice is
a little sped up here. Now we've had fun with
others doing you follow the Yellow Brick Road and a
couple of Alvin and the Chipmunks things. You sound a
little like Mickey Mouse right now? Is there any chance
we can just get you to say you're in Mickey's
fun house? This is Mickey Mouse on the fan. Can
we just get you to say that? And just in

(01:50:38):
your normal voice? But I think it'll take care of itself.

Speaker 9 (01:50:42):
All right, let me try this here with a straight face.

Speaker 1 (01:50:47):
What's THEE? How about simply how about simply m I
C K E y you're in Mickey's funhouse. That'll work.

Speaker 9 (01:51:00):
I see k U y You're in Mickey's fun house.

Speaker 1 (01:51:05):
Was it funhouse or playhouse? Trust me? Either way it works.
Believe you me. When you go back and you listen
to the podcast, which I know you do. Uh, either
one works, I believe, believe me. Okay, Colts Texan's coming
up Sunday. Lastly, before we let you go, you know,
and we'll get into it a later time more on

(01:51:25):
Ballard and Stichen in futures and that kind of thing.
Would you and I guess a two part question, any
other curve balls we might see on Sunday and then
certainty of the future of the franchise. We will know
better how long after the game.

Speaker 9 (01:51:42):
So I don't know that there are any huge curveballs
outside of outside of Leonard. I mean, I think you're
gonna see guys like Jonathan Taylor play, you know, most
of the other key players who are not hurt. I mean,
I can't imagine seeing the sauce gardener out there, for example,
when he's got the calf and wants to try to play.

(01:52:03):
Maybe if he can, But I can't see what the
point of that would be. So I think, yeah, I
think we can kind of predict what the lineup will
look like outside of Leonard in terms of the time
frame after that. That's a that's a complete unknown, complete unknown.
I will say, I do think it was notable that

(01:52:24):
last year. Jim Merci say put out that statement literally
the night of the season finale, right after during that
snowstorm that I got caught in. If you're a call
after the Week eighteen game, you put out that the
statement that he was retaining Chris Vallad and Shane Stiken,

(01:52:44):
and so there was no you know, there was no
consternation about that. Whether they will proceed similarly, I don't know.
I have no expectation whatsoever because there's nothing to base
it on. So I do think though, I will say
I do think whatever they're going to do, you have
to think they know, you know what I mean, Like

(01:53:06):
this thing, we were headed this way for a while.
We have we lived and headed this way for a while.
And so in terms of this season, the results of
this season, right, I know, they just got eliminated, but
the odds were always against them, right, and and so
I and I don't even think that's what this is
going to come down to.

Speaker 5 (01:53:24):
You.

Speaker 9 (01:53:25):
I think this is a long term decision based on
a preponderance of lots of different things.

Speaker 3 (01:53:31):
So we'll see what they do.

Speaker 9 (01:53:32):
But I think they I think they probably have a
very good idea of where this is going.

Speaker 1 (01:53:37):
You know, preponderance is a really big word for Mickey Mouse.
I'm not gonna lie to you like it's which is
kind of fun. Can we just one last time? How
about this? Just simply go M I c k E
y m O U s e. Can we get that
real quick?

Speaker 9 (01:53:51):
Why are you doing this to me? Uh? M I
c k E y m O U s E. I
worked for listen, I worked for the Mouse company.

Speaker 1 (01:54:04):
Right, that's You're obligated, Steven, You have no choice, right,
You're Why the.

Speaker 9 (01:54:10):
Hell did I do that?

Speaker 1 (01:54:13):
Hearing Mickey us profanity is also outstanding? All right, Steven,
appreciate it?

Speaker 2 (01:54:19):
All right, you got it, Stephen Steven Holder.

Speaker 1 (01:54:24):
Uh and by the way, his Miami Hurricanes now representing
the world as they take on the Ohio State University.
When is that Ohio State Miami game? That's tomorrow?

Speaker 3 (01:54:31):
Right? That is on New Year's Day and that will
be on the fan as that is tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (01:54:37):
Yeah, that's New Year's Eve.

Speaker 3 (01:54:38):
Yeah, New Year's Eve tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (01:54:40):
You see the video of Ohio State arriving. Which where
are they playing that game? Which one is that? That
is one of those Bowl games?

Speaker 3 (01:54:49):
Jake?

Speaker 1 (01:54:49):
Are they in so the Peach Bowl. That would be
the Cotton Bowl. I was going to say, I thought
they were in Dallas. I saw video of Ohio State
getting off their bus, and there was a guy just
standing there for every single player that came up the bus, saying,
Indiana already beat you. You're gonna get beat like you did.
Indiana's gona theyre gonna beat you like Indiana did. You're
gonna lose again like you did to Indiana. And finally

(01:55:11):
some assistant coach came up and goes, hey, man, what's
your problem, No, no problem, I just want to know
if they're gonna lose like they did to Indiana. I
think the guy and actually I think the guy said
he's an Oregon fan, he's not even a Miami fan.
But I have a feeling, of any of the college
football playoff games remaining, it feels like the Miami Ohio

(01:55:35):
State game may be the most lopsided. Right, I don't
know much about it, So which one do you think?
Let me guess? Hold on, you got so here are
the matchups, and then you tell me which one you
think could be most lopsided. You've got Indiana, Alabama, You've
got Miami, Ohio State, Texas Tech, and Oregon. Who am
I missing on the other side? Georgia, ole Miss, Georgia

(01:55:55):
ole Miss. Is that the last one? Yeah, it's just
US four. Which one that would be the most lopsided?

Speaker 3 (01:56:04):
I think I think Georgia ole Miss.

Speaker 1 (01:56:06):
I think Georgia could be.

Speaker 3 (01:56:08):
A little lopsided. Okay, also don't rule out the quack Cranck.

Speaker 1 (01:56:13):
Yeah, I don't know anything about Texas Tech exactly. I
think they're very good defensively from that, but I mean,
you know, I don't know anything more than that. I
do think that.

Speaker 2 (01:56:23):
I'm also curious to see how like Texas Tech, Indiana, Georgia,
Ohio State all start because those games last week, most
of them all struggled out of the gate, right with
that extended time off against teams Yeah last year between
the layoffs, right, Yeah, no, nobody who had to buy
last year one?

Speaker 1 (01:56:42):
Right. I think Georgia, I think is really good. I
think that we've kind of slept on Georgia because there's
been so much especially here locally, between Ohio State and Indiana.
Georgia is the one that's like they kind of feel
like they're just kind of laying in the weeds.

Speaker 3 (01:56:58):
There in the back. Huh lurking in the background.

Speaker 1 (01:57:03):
That is correct. I really enjoyed the Mickey Mouse Do
we happen to have that from Steven? Can we compare
that to some of the others, because he did a
solid job of which was better? Which of the two
clips was better, the funhouse clip or the spelling out
Mickey Mouse clip. I feel like k E Y m
O U s E.

Speaker 9 (01:57:21):
I worked for Hey, listen, I work for the Mouse company.

Speaker 1 (01:57:24):
Right, you're obligated, Steven. You have no solid is it not?

Speaker 9 (01:57:30):
Why the hell did I do that?

Speaker 1 (01:57:33):
Hearing Mickey use profanities? Also, I think he got a
hold of some tainted cheese. Did you say that we
we are or are not going to go back to Pasadena?

Speaker 3 (01:57:44):
This is a champion bearer. Give me a huk.

Speaker 9 (01:57:49):
If me humiliating myself like that made your day, than fine.

Speaker 2 (01:57:57):
Yes we are going, uh we are not ten going
out into Pasadena just yet. This person will be in
the airport.

Speaker 1 (01:58:05):
Though, Jake, on their way to Pasadena. Right. Fascinating. You
know what's a fun game to play? Trying to determine
whether or not two four seven Sports is flying direct
or with layover the flight will be on their way

(01:58:26):
via what city or is it a direct flight you think?
But we will talk to somebody that's going to be
covering the Rose Bowl next California, indeed the place to be.
Don Fisher was on with us earlier said that it
is overcast there, but that is not necessarily a bad thing,

(01:58:48):
because I do believe and I know that I'm probably
crazy when I say this if it is a rain
soaked Rose Bowl, and I don't know that it's supposed
to rain during the game itself, but I think all
leading up to it, I think rain may favor Indiana
because Alabama does not run the ball well, which is
weird to say about Alabama, but they are a past
first team and that might be advantage Indiana, who feels

(01:59:09):
like they are more balanced offensively. But a guy who
joins us now on the Java House peelupboard guest line.
You can read his work with peaks dot com also
with two four seven, twenty four to seven sports, whichever
way you would like to use that numerical combination. Matt
Weaver joining us on the program, and Matt, you are
on your way to Pasadena? Is that correct?

Speaker 10 (01:59:31):
Yeah, I'm in a terminal b here at the airport.
I'm gonna be bored in about twenty three minutes.

Speaker 1 (01:59:37):
Okay, you are flying direct or you're going through a city,
and if it's through a city, we're gonna guess it.
Or are you flying direct?

Speaker 10 (01:59:45):
I'm actually going through two cities. One of them I
don't get off the plane. One of them I don't
get off the plane.

Speaker 1 (01:59:50):
So you're flying southwest? Is that right? Yeah? I'm going
to go that. You're going through Dallas and Vegas.

Speaker 10 (01:59:59):
You got the second one, right, but not the first one.

Speaker 1 (02:00:02):
Where's the first one?

Speaker 10 (02:00:04):
Phoenix?

Speaker 1 (02:00:05):
And you're not getting off the plane in Phoenix, or
you're not getting off the plane in Vegas.

Speaker 10 (02:00:09):
I'm not getting off the plane in Phoenix. Like a
forty minute layover. I'm guessing some people will get off
and some people will get on or there, and then
why did they get to have a fifteen minute layover
and then from there.

Speaker 5 (02:00:19):
To La All right?

Speaker 1 (02:00:21):
Fair enough. There's nothing more sad, by the way than
the lady with a one ten slim cigarette, of which
one hundred of it is ash, that is sitting there
pulling like three levers in the Vegas airport during her
twenty eight minute delay. But nonetheless, all right, Mat, let's
get to this Indiana Alabama, the you know, from an
Indiana standpoint, let's start with health. We talked about this

(02:00:44):
with Don a little bit earlier, but the latest of
where things stand from Indiana from a health standpoint, and
is there anybody surprising that might have popped up on
the injury report that is of question for Indiana.

Speaker 10 (02:00:57):
No, I mean, I think they had four guys. Obviously
the two you know, obviously the Stephen Daily thing. Everybody
kind of knew that right after the Big Ten Championship.
Kellen Wlyott's been out since like October. In terms of
bryceon Bonds was another one. There's a fourth one has
an escaped in my mind, but it wasn't funny. I

(02:01:17):
don't think he played a lot. Brendan Frankian probable, I
think is a pleasant surprise. I wondered if he was
going to be able to come back, and people say, well,
he's just a kickoff guy. Well he's a really good
kickoff guy. Like basically, teams don't return kickoffs when he's
out there, and that's a big weapon to have, especially
you know you're playing to getst a team like Bama
with their speed athleticism. You know, anytime you can keep
them from touching the ball and running with it is

(02:01:39):
obviously a positive. So if he's able to kick and
he's back to his old self, that's that's a nice
that'd be a nice addition for IU.

Speaker 1 (02:01:46):
Is there anything that you got indication map from Kurt
Signetti or uncovering this that Indiana looks at with Alabama
and sees maybe some sort of an achilles that Indiana
creates a new wrinkle to exploit or or are we at
the point of the year now where it is this
is who we are and this is what we do.

Speaker 10 (02:02:05):
Well, you're always you're obviously always looking for every little
advantage you can get. I think you know, I mean,
Brian Haynes kind of said it when we talked to him.
You're kind of the point where you just do what
you do now, you're still going to try to I
mean Brian Haynes, and both on both sides of the ball,
they're they're so good at attacking the weakness or finding
the weakness and then exploiting it on the other team.
And obviously there everybody has a weakness, even Indiana undefeated

(02:02:28):
has weaknesses. I mean, nobody's perfect. They just have a
lot less weaknesses than everybody else. And they do a
great job of not letting people, you know, kind of
get to them or exploit them. So, you know, I
think on you defentively. I heard what you said before
I got on. I do I agree with you. I
think rain is a benefit Indiana. I think there's a
better running team. Alabama's really struggled to run the ball.

(02:02:49):
Now you know, they can still do other things. The
bores offense. They do a lot of quick passes to receivers.
But I do think weather favors Indiana. But I think,
you know, if you can get them into some second
and third and long unfavorable the behind the change kind
of distances. You know, even without Wyatt, I'm sorry, without
uh Stephen Daily and tell the Whyatt. You know, those
two two of their best pass rushers. I still think

(02:03:10):
you can get some pressure on him Yount they have,
you know, hopefully I get tied Senson into some mistakes.
But and then offensively, like I said, you know, I
think I think Indiana so balanced. I just think they'll
take whatever Alabama gives them if they want them to
if they if they if they played back, then they'll
run the ball if they're playing up, and then you know,
I think they'll steemen does are throwing the ball, you know,
on the field. Of course, weather we'll play a part,
but I think offensively they'll just do whatever they whatever

(02:03:32):
the you know, Alabama showing them they can.

Speaker 1 (02:03:34):
Do is their concern or have you seen any reason
to be concerned that the moment may suddenly kind of
sweep up Indiana?

Speaker 10 (02:03:46):
You know, I don't think so. I think last year
that was probably a little bit of it. And they
were they were for you know, that team. They had
a good year last year, you know, but they that
was the first time any of those guys pretty much
had ever been in that kind of situation, you know.
And I know they have to be a lot of
new faces, but you know, the key guys on this
team have played in these types of games, and they
played on the biggest stages, you know. And I mean, like,

(02:04:09):
you know, if they were gonna get swept up at something,
I would have thought it might be like the Big
Ten Championship, playing in your backyard, you're going to get
the team yet and beaten since you know, what is
it the late eighties, and so you know, I think
they've shown that. The otherwise is there gonna be some
nerves and startup shore. There will be will there'll be
some russ. I mean they haven't played since well it December,
that game December sixth, I think against the Hot State,

(02:04:30):
so you're talking almost a month. I mean literally almost
a month. So there's there's probably good and and uh,
you know obviously Alabama played more recently, so there'll probably
be some runs, some nerves, but I think they'll settle in.
This is a veteran team with the great leadership Aiden Fisher,
Pat Coogan, Mendoza, you go on down the list. This
is a really veteran team that they're just very business
like it. So I don't think they'll get caught up

(02:04:51):
in the moment. I think they'll be fine with that.

Speaker 1 (02:04:53):
Okay. Lastly, Matt, the one thing that is of interest,
I won't say concern, but of interest to me, and
I want you to tell me if you think I'm
overthinking it, and that is that if Indiana is to
win a national championship, which I mean they're the number
one seed, right, they're going to have to play three
consecutive weeks against three consecutive very deep and strong teams,

(02:05:15):
regardless of who it is, and they have the two
best wins in college football right now, but they didn't
have to do it week after week after week. Does
Indiana have the depth to be able to go up
against a blue blood three weeks in that is also
going into their third game in three weeks and has
better depth on their roster.

Speaker 10 (02:05:37):
No, I think that's a great point, and I think
I don't think you're overthinking that at all. And do
I think they can do it? Yeah, we won't know
for sure. I mean there are some spots, and obviously
now DeAnda is the same spot. I mean, you're down
to McCaul kamara, and I mean I'm not sure who
the other guys will be. Maybe in Dukeway, maybe they
put me at Mario Landino. But no matter what, you've

(02:05:58):
lost two really good players, and your depth is taking
a hit, and and if you have any more injuries
than some other spots, you know it could be tough.
Especially like you said, there's no there's no every other week,
there's no bye weeks. Now you're gonna be playing. If
you win now, you play well, the night and you'll
get like ten days. I think the National champions is
the nineteenth. Maybe get a little bit more time, but
still it's basically week after week after week. So yeah,

(02:06:19):
I think you make a great point and we'll find out.
I think they have the depth, but this is where
this is where it's gonna get tested for sure. If
they make a run here and they have a great
straight coach and Derek Owen, if you got this team
physically ready to play, so I think that I think
they can do it, but you never know. Injuries are
the uncontrollable, you know, you just there's nothing you can
do about them. And if those crop up, then obviously

(02:06:40):
that could throw a monkey wrench into everything.

Speaker 1 (02:06:42):
Uh did you pay for the early bird boarding delio?
By the way?

Speaker 10 (02:06:47):
Uh, I think I'm like, is it I'm in.

Speaker 1 (02:06:49):
B I'm gonna say you're B six. I'm gonna say
you're B six. What number do you got? B what?

Speaker 10 (02:06:54):
I think I'm gonna be B two?

Speaker 1 (02:06:56):
Oh? Nice? Yeah, you're fine. Your your your window or
I mean you're not middle seat. You're good. You're good.

Speaker 10 (02:07:01):
So I think I'll be too.

Speaker 1 (02:07:03):
So I mean, if people get off the plane in Phoenix,
get up and start throwing your elbows around. You know
what I mean, festival seating, I mean most of it,
matt we appreciate the time short notice. I realized safe
travels by all means, and we'll be reading the coverage
at twenty four to seven and peaks of the Rose
Bowl between Indiana and Alabama. Certainly appreciate it.

Speaker 10 (02:07:21):
Okay, thanks, you guys, have a great new year.

Speaker 1 (02:07:23):
Appreciate it you too, Matthew Weaver joining us on the
Java House Peel and poor guest line. I noticed the
helium tanks stayed out on that one, Eddie right.

Speaker 3 (02:07:31):
Not so sure, Jake just might not have been as obvious.

Speaker 1 (02:07:36):
Okay, fair enough. So Eddie told me yesterday, or told
me that tomorrow, and he just informed me of this today.
Now I'd like to know tomorrow's basically a half day
for us, because we're on until two thirty. Pacers take over.

Speaker 3 (02:07:52):
At that point.

Speaker 1 (02:07:53):
J and B will have no show tomorrow, so we're
on twelve to two thirty. Eddie's got to be in
here at two thirty to take over the pacer game anyway,
and he went ahead and takes a day off. Now,
what I want to know is since you're doing the
pacer game, does that count as a work day? Did
you do you get like a half a vacation day?
How does this work?

Speaker 3 (02:08:13):
It's a vacation day, it's a pt O day.

Speaker 1 (02:08:17):
It's a pt O day, but you're in here. Why
would you burn a PTO day on a day that
you've got to be in here two hours later?

Speaker 3 (02:08:21):
Anyway, we can discuss it off Aojake.

Speaker 1 (02:08:26):
That that seems to be.

Speaker 7 (02:08:29):
Like a.

Speaker 1 (02:08:32):
What's the word I'm looking for? Not great clock management?
Like you burnt a time out? Right? Did you did
you throw your your flag to challenge a play and
lose a challenge? No? Okay, did you watch last night
the Rams and Niners? I did. I may be the
only one that thinks this. I thought that was a

(02:08:56):
catch at the end of the game by Nikua. It
was an un unbelievable play and he had both feet
down and they claimed that the ball was coming out,
but he already had corralled control of it. The ball
was coming out and to me, it never touched the ground.
He surrendered the control again.

Speaker 3 (02:09:12):
Yeah, but when he regained control, he didn't have two
feet down.

Speaker 1 (02:09:14):
But he already had two feet down.

Speaker 2 (02:09:16):
He has to have the third element, which is either
a football move or maintain the process or maintain possession
of the ball through the ground, in which he did not.

Speaker 1 (02:09:24):
So because he had the feet down and control of
the ball, that's negated because.

Speaker 3 (02:09:28):
He lost control of the ball. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:09:30):
See I didn't think he lost control of it though,
because he had control when he hit the ground.

Speaker 3 (02:09:35):
Yeah, there was the sideline shot where you could see
the ball wasn't in his hand and it wasn't pinned
up against his body.

Speaker 1 (02:09:40):
But it was when he hit the ground, wasn't it.

Speaker 3 (02:09:42):
But he had two feet in bounds.

Speaker 1 (02:09:46):
Yeah, Because so I guess the rule, Like what I'm
getting at is he had both feet in and control, right, yes,
so right then, so long as when he comes to
that to me, and I would have to know this,
I mean, obviously the specifics on the rule would be that.
But to me, because he had both feet down and

(02:10:07):
he had control of the football, that then checks the
box of feet in. And then when he was losing
control and regained it. So long as he regained the
control at any point, he's already checked the box of
the feet in. If that makes sense what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (02:10:26):
I understand what you're saying. But in the aspect of
it was pretty much. I mean, he lost total control
of the ball, like he didn't have it at all.
So the process starts over.

Speaker 1 (02:10:36):
Yes, And that's where I disagree a little bit, Like
it didn't seem to me like he lost, Like he
didn't drop it and pick it back up right, It
just kind of bobbled up into the air and back
down into his arm. Yeah, it was an unbelievable play
either way.

Speaker 3 (02:10:47):
Yeah it was. It was unreal.

Speaker 1 (02:10:50):
But the stew on this.

Speaker 3 (02:10:53):
I hope fantasy managers that had puk and a cool.

Speaker 2 (02:10:57):
Last night didn't lose by like, you know, eight points
or last or whatever. Because he had a thirty six
year catch call back to to a holding penalty, a
forty one yard touchdown called back to a holding penalty,
and then.

Speaker 1 (02:11:10):
I lost by zero point eight points and Kyle Pitts
had the last and that's who put it over the
top on the last play of their offensive play of
the game. I think, Stu on this and think about
this for when we come back. Okay, think about this
question before we do the crossover with J ANDV. I
want you to tell me, Eddie when we come back,
who you believe right now is the best team in

(02:11:30):
the AFC, and who you believe is the best team
in the NFC on the other side. Okay, Eddie, I
asked you the question beforehand because I this is one
that to me is more intriguing perhaps than any other year.
And that's by design for the NFL. I mean, that's
the way they love it. But it seems to be
a fluctuating answer. And the question I asked you, in

(02:11:51):
your mind right now, the best team in the AFC
and the best team in the NFC, who are your
two respective answers.

Speaker 2 (02:11:56):
I still think even though they have been slipping as
a eight and they're in the wildcard, I think Los
Angeles the.

Speaker 3 (02:12:03):
Rams best team in the NFC. It's hard to argue
that just because that combination.

Speaker 2 (02:12:09):
Of Stafford, Puka Nakula, DeVante Adams when he comes back,
and Sean McVay. I think they can get the defense
back on track when the playoffs start.

Speaker 3 (02:12:17):
In terms of the AFC, that's the real toss up
for me.

Speaker 1 (02:12:21):
Like I want to say, Jackson, but I can't.

Speaker 3 (02:12:23):
I just can't do it.

Speaker 1 (02:12:24):
There are big question marks about all of the elite team.
I mean the AFC, the three that feel like they
could contend with Buffalo. All three you feel like, are
they mature enough yet? You know, I mean Denver, New
England and as well Jacksonville. I mean all of them
have quarterbacks that are playing at a very high level.

Speaker 11 (02:12:44):
But I don't think I don't think New England's ready yet.
I think a lot of people feel though J ANDB
has just walked in. Can I take Houston? Okay, Houston's
not a bad I'll take Houston. And here's why. Because
they have a quarterback who's obviously getting better and poised right,
and they have a defense that can shut you down

(02:13:04):
when they want to. And they have two dudes, if
not more than two dudes that consistently wage war against
the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (02:13:12):
You know what, that's how smart they look for moving
up when they took those two picks in the top
five or six or whatever that let's put over at
the top. That's a good call. By about Houston Crossover
brought to you by the good guys that love heating
and air lovedash hvac dot com is the website and
official Hile Heating and Cooling dealer three one seven three
five three twenty one is the telephone number. You know

(02:13:33):
that in Houston, John, you talk about that defense and
that front four and how nasty they can be. You
saw that they made life difficult for Justin Herbert, So
you can only imagine what Ryler Lionard.

Speaker 12 (02:13:42):
Well, they have the quarterback, they have Nicol Collins, the
wide receiver. I mean, they have essential, elite level pieces
that can be the difference in games. And you know
that's what this organization's been chasing around for a variety
of years, never to never to have it. So the
past rush, I mean, yeah, you've turned team. Here's why

(02:14:04):
I'm going to be interested in who's all going to
be back here next year. Let's just say, for example,
everybody is back, but player personnel wise.

Speaker 1 (02:14:12):
Who's not going to be here? You mean in terms
of the rock Stephen.

Speaker 12 (02:14:15):
I don't know if Stephen Holder shared this with you earlier,
but he doesn't think Alec Pierce is going to get
in the fold as of right now. I mean would
this year if I'm Alec Piers, I'd go someplace else. Yeah,
there's no doubt I meet that situation in Flux team
and Flux floundering.

Speaker 1 (02:14:30):
You're gonna think I'm crazy when I say this. Are
we certain that Daniel Jones just automatically re ups here?
I don't know where else he would go. Minnesota is
the only other place I could think.

Speaker 12 (02:14:42):
I think McCarthy though, solidified himself enough there.

Speaker 1 (02:14:45):
I would think. But you know who knows? You knew
I'd forgotten this. You knew Minnesota's assistant GM is Ryan Grigson. Yeah,
I had forgotten that he was in Minnesota. Yeah, he
bounced around a little bit, But you know, Pierce is won.
Then depending on what happens if you change. I realize

(02:15:06):
it probably does start with front office wise, but you know,
DeForest Buckner, is he back?

Speaker 12 (02:15:11):
I would have to think that if Daniel Jones is back,
that's why you're going to get styched back, because it
seemed like those two agreed success. Right, Yeah, it does
to me, and I don't think the Colts have any
unless you just say the hell with it and go
with anybody have any other options at quarterback other than
to hope that his whole rehab situations expedited and then

(02:15:31):
see what you have to to get him there, which
who the hell knows what that's going to be with
the Riley Leonard game coming up on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (02:15:40):
See, are you going to pick the Colts in that
game Sunday?

Speaker 12 (02:15:43):
Probably not, but I mean I'm assuming that that Houston.

Speaker 1 (02:15:48):
Yeah, Well that's this. This week becomes difficult to pick
games because you have no idea around the league, like
who's playing, who's not, who's who's in, who's out?

Speaker 3 (02:15:57):
Right.

Speaker 12 (02:15:57):
I just think I would go at Houston right now
just because in the AFC, just because they seem like
a team that has all the means to really get
you there and have definitive pieces at positions that matter.

Speaker 1 (02:16:14):
Are there any teams and I should have looked this up, Eddie?
You can help us out here, John, you might know this.
Are there any teams going into the postseason right now?
Who's whose seed is clenched?

Speaker 3 (02:16:23):
The Rams?

Speaker 1 (02:16:24):
Is that it just the Rams? Because you so there's
nobody so we're not like necessarily in resting phase right
if people feel that they can assist themselves up or
down either way the Ram.

Speaker 12 (02:16:36):
I think San Francisco and Houston's the super Bowl. I
think San Francisco plays in their own building.

Speaker 2 (02:16:41):
I believe the Rams are a team that's locked into
their seeding and the Packers are.

Speaker 12 (02:16:45):
Now, we'll see you get San Francisco and Seattle. I
just like pretty better than Donald. San fran has played better.
We'll see about it, Kittle and huh, Philly. Philly is
definitely getting better. I just I like, for whatever reason,
I like the forty nine ers and what they do. Again,

(02:17:06):
that's Christian McCaffery, as long as he doesn't become compromised
in any way because I think the Bears maker there.
I don't trust the Bears, but offensively they're entertaining as heck. Defensively,
they can't stop anybody, and I think that's the biggest
problem right there. I mean, I think right now they're
just as heavily offensive as they were defensive when they

(02:17:26):
ran roughshot in nineteen eighty five to a Super Bowl.
They just defensively, they just can't find stops, okay, but
offensively they got a lot.

Speaker 1 (02:17:36):
How about this better chance of winning a playoff game
NFC North winner or I mean, excuse me, NFC South
winner or AFC North winner.

Speaker 3 (02:17:46):
That's a good point, I would.

Speaker 1 (02:17:50):
I mean it. God of feels like Carolina and Tampa
are both backing their way in in which everyone gets
in right whereas Baltimore you kind of believe, you have
some belief in it.

Speaker 12 (02:17:58):
Yeah, But Pittsburgh, those are like teams and like situations
right there with the Steelers, Ravens, Buccaneers, and Panthers. Maybe
maybe the Panthers because they have more of a running game.

Speaker 1 (02:18:12):
Than anybody else.

Speaker 12 (02:18:13):
I know, I'm talking about Derrick Henry with the Ravens here,
but this seems like the Ravens are a bit of
a cluster right now. With everything you know, it seems
like there's an internal cluster they are, yes, and Aaron
Rodgers brings the cluster. I mean, at least with Carolina,
it's listens like all new and energizing to them.

Speaker 1 (02:18:30):
Right Carolina, they kind of don't know. They're not supposed
to be there exactly. All right, Jamie's up next. We'll
be back with you at noon tomorrow, No, jamv tomorrow.
We'll be back with you at noon until two thirty
before Pacers take over on this New Year's Eve eve.
I wish you the best and thank you for listening
to Quarying Cup

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