July 3, 2024 • 16 mins
Legendary writer Larry Stone joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about Julio Rodriguez continuing to struggle at the plate, the philosophy with trading prospects at the deadline for offensive help, and LeBron’s son Bronny being drafted by the Lakers.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
It's time for our weekly conversation withlegendary sports writer Larry Stone, brought to
you by the Ram Restaurant and Brewery, Bigger, better and fresher since nineteen
seventy one, with eight fugit Soundlocations from Marysville to Lacey and everywhere in
between. There's a Ram there younow with Softy and Dick. Here's Larry
Stone. All right. They tellme there's all kinds of cool things happening
(00:23):
at the Ram. By the way, tell them what they've won. I
think I'm gonna head down there afterthe show. As a matter of fact,
maybe watch a little baseball down there. They have got some great summer
features, including coconut prawns for thefirst diver time. I like it.
Okay, nachos like it? Andhow about this one dungeon us crab and
bas shrimp Louis wedge salad, oryou can get the crab, shrimp and
(00:44):
artichoke melt. I like all ofit. It's kind of starting to wonder
why Banger hasn't gotten off his assand dropped off some of the food in
our studio, by the way,So a little bit disappointed there, but
a guy that enjoys that all thetime with his lovely family. We saw
himt Ian's golf tournament Friday, ourfriend Larry Stone, how are you pal?
I'm doing great? Yeah, itwas. It was good to see
you. We were I was ina group with Divish and Tim Boots and
(01:06):
Alex Akita and we were trying tohit Softy. Who was I think you
were ahead of us, so yeah, yeah, wait, that was our
goal, was to like send youscattering into the wheat. Well, whether
ball was coming towards you. Whatwas the combined blood alcohol level of Divish
and Aikita by the way, ohmy god, and the level and also
the level of mean things said toabout me and Softy in that because I
(01:30):
because they were heckling me on thetee. I mean, Divish was screaming
at me on the tee. Idon't want to repeat what he was saying,
but my god, well, wellthen your then your sun your SunShot.
Once you saw your SunShot shoot,he shut up, because good exactly,
Yeah, deal with Dixon, Divish, you're weirdo. Well, Larry,
(01:53):
you were spreading some Mariner cheer onsocial media today. Really appreciate that.
Man. I was in a goodmood until I saw your Twitter account
today. For God's sakes, butJulio Rodriguez, you covered this game a
long time. You've seen star playersgo through slumps. Julio has been doing
it for three months. For lackof a better question, what is going
on with number forty four man?Yeah, that is the the question.
(02:15):
I think that's going to unravel orit's going to be solved, or this
season is going to unravel even furtherthan it's unraveling right now. It's kind
of inexplicable. You know you,I think you tweeted that Cody Bellinger was
was mentioned in a trade rumor.This reminds me of Cody Bellinger, who
(02:38):
won the MVP his third year orsecond year with forty seven homers and then
just cratered for the next three years, to the point where the Dodgers didn't
even try to resign him and hewent off to Chicago and kind of revived
his career. But you know,it happened. Sometimes, I'm not saying
that it's happening, it's that he'snot going to get out of this,
but you know, he just he'mso lost right now. He's not pulling
(03:01):
the ball at all. He's,uh, you know my tweet that you
referred to one double since May twelfth. There's no power, no power whatsoever.
And I don't think any of thosedoubles were to the gap six off
season, and I don't think anywhereto the gap. They were kind of
down the line doubles. So he'sjust not doesn't have any power. He
(03:22):
looks out of balance, he looksyou could see it on his face now
that you know, the fun lovingJulio with a smile and all that,
now you can at least I thinkI see like strain and stress on his
face. I think it's starting toget into his confidence and into his head,
which is a bad place to be. So he just he needs a
(03:43):
breakout and I think maybe the teamwill follow if if that happens. But
we've been waiting for that for threemonths. So whose responsibility is it?
Is it just simply Julio and therest of the offenses, you know,
pick yourself up by the bootstraps,you know, take more BP time or
is there some onus on Scott's service? Is there some onus on this coaching
staff to figure out a way bothyou know, physically, to get them
(04:06):
out of the slump and also mentallyto get these guys out of the slump.
Well, I mean that is theirjob. I put the onus on
Julio himself. You know that certainlythe manager, he could, he could.
It's not his job to to tweakthe mechanics. That's the hitting coach.
(04:28):
It's his job to work with himmentally. And I'm sure Scott is
doing that. I'm not around theteam anymore, but I know that he's
that. That's he takes that roleseriously, and you know, calling guys
into his office, having long soulsearching talks, that sort of thing,
and I'm sure that's been done.But ultimately it comes down to the player.
(04:49):
And I think at this point theremay be too many too many voices
in his ear, you know,his pitching or excuse me, his hitting
coach, his off season hitting coachfrom Flow, Florida is here talking to
him. He's got the Mariners twohitting coaches. I'm sure other people,
Edgar, yeah, Edgar, andI'm sure other players are are giving him
(05:13):
tips and advice and and all that. You know, it sounds simplistic,
but I think he needs to justsee the ball hit the ball for lack
of a better phrase, and forgetforget all the video and all that.
Just do what he does and hasdone his whole life. Well, look,
I don't want to compare Julio's struggleson the diamond and my struggles on
(05:34):
the golf course. On one's twentythree and the other guy's fifty one.
They both look the same, though, right right, I see I've seen
both similar. But I can't.I can't have more than one voice in
my head. When I start goingon YouTube and watching videos and hearing them
from five different people, I'm afriggin mess. So I mean, Larry,
(05:54):
what you just said there, Ithink it's exactly right. Just mainstream
this, dumb this down one perso, not a grout and not a
committee. And that just seems likekind of a twenty twenty four thing for
a baseball team to do, toform a committee of people to get Julio
Rodriguez back on track. And Ihave no idea if that's actually what's happening.
It's what we see on social media. But don't you think that too
(06:16):
many voices is a bad thing forhim? Right now? Yeah? I
do, I do, And I'veseen this before with other players where the
same thing happens, and finally theyjust shut everybody else out and listen to
that one person that they trust themost. And I think that's what Julio
needs to do. I think wecould close the book on that this was
(06:41):
all Brent Brown's fault. I wasthe Yeah, I was, you know,
I was. I had an idlemoment. So I was charting the
strikeouts before and after Brent Brown wasfired, and they're striking out at a
higher clip, significantly higher clip nowthan they were before Brown was fired.
(07:01):
So, you know, the sameold problems. It wasn't I don't think
it was that one coach who wasthe cause of their problems. I don't
disagree with shaking things up, butyeah, I mean who he is totally
out of sorts and who knows what'sgoing on in his head, And but
(07:26):
I do think that he does needto simplify things. Well, Larry,
I saw a list today where nowa full twelve percent of all of the
Baseball top one hundred prospects our Mariners, twelve percent. They eight out of
mean, it's unbelievable how many theyhave. So how far do we go
to quote unquote mortgage the future.I'll just use that got on. I
(07:49):
know yet, I hate that somuch. I just say something else.
Okay, how far chicken sandwich?How how far do we chicken sandwich?
Larry? In order to save thisbaseball team this year? Yeah, Baseball
America released their mid season revised Topone hundred, and they have eight mariners
(08:11):
in there, from from cold Emersonat number thirteen to down to Logan Evans
who may be up in the majorsoon at eighty, and then Snell,
who's like seventeen years old at ninetyfive. I said, well, I
said twelve percent, I met one, I met one twelve. I'm sorry,
one twelfth of the Baseball Top onehundred. Go ahead, Larry,
(08:31):
Yeah, well, I think thatmakes it easier to trade some of them.
You're not mortgaging the future because youhave such a bulk of prospects that
if you trade two or three youstill have a good core of players to
help you in the future. ButI'm you know, I'm of the belief
(08:54):
that you've got to strike now.You can keep kicking it down the road.
What are prospects for. They're thereto there to win, and you
know it's always at some fake pointin the future. But they have a
chance to win now and so maybeyet, maybe you're gonna get burned,
you know. Uh. John Smoltzwas a throw in at a at a
(09:18):
trade deadline deal from Detroit to Atlantafor Doyle Alexander, who the Tigers needed
for the playoff run. Well,John Smoltz turned into John Smoltz that that's
gonna happen. That's the risk thatthat you're gonna that you're gonna have.
But a lot of times, alot of these deals, the prospects I
never heard from again. So uh, I been Mariners could have traded Jared
(09:43):
Keelnick for and gotten some really goodreturn when he was a minor league prospect
before he was in the majors.They ended up trading him. They ended
up giving him away to Atlanta,so they they didn't get the haul from
him that they could have gotten.So uh, that's a long way of
saying I think they're going to haveto grip their teeth and make some tough
(10:05):
choices, and they're going to tradesome of them. I'm almost positive they're
going to trade some of the guyson this list, and it's gonna hurt.
But this is a season that you'veeven with all the issues of late.
You know, they were in midJune, just two weeks ago,
they were thirteen games over five hundredat a ninety five win taste, and
(10:28):
so for two and a half months, they were playing ninety five win baseball
for two weeks. Since they're threeand nine, So do you which do
you believe that? Do you believethe two and a half months or do
you believe the two weeks? Youknow, if you want to believe the
two weeks, that that's fair enough. I think there's reasons to think that
might be closer to what they are. But I think you also have to
(10:48):
look at the two and a halfmonths that preceded that and hit your wagon
to that. If you're the Mariners, and go for it. Larry,
you're turning me on right now,Pal, you're speaking my language. I
am so with you on everything thatcame out of your mouth. I want
to just look at you and justgive you a big old virtual kiss through
the phone, because you're exactly righton the prospects, one thousand percent right
(11:09):
on the prospects. The Mariners tradedKelnick and Evan White with Marco Gonzalez to
Atlanta for two guys that blew theirelbows out for God's sake. So yes,
I am so with you on that. And the more prospects you have,
you know, the more you feelcomfortable trade in them because you have
guys to take their spot. ButLarry Stones with us. Larry, let
(11:30):
me just move away from baseball fora second. Dick and I have been
talking today a lot about Bronnie James. Petros was on today talking he's disgusted
in La by what's happening with theLakers. They gave him eight million dollars
before he even steps foot on asummer league court. What's your take on
this story involving lebron James working thesystem to get his son not only drafted
and signed, but eight million bucksbefore he walks onto a court. Yeah,
(11:56):
I don't know if that's the goingrate for a second round draft choice.
It's not at all, Okay,Yeah, it's at the hundreds of
thousands of dollars that's going rate fora The guy that went fifty to fifty
year ago got like six hundred grandby the way, okay, all right,
well, then his newfound wealth side, I feel sorry for Brownie James,
(12:18):
because he'll always know in the backof his mind that he's not there
on his own merit, that he'sthere on his dad's behest. And I
just don't think that's a good placeto be. I would want to.
I would want to at least Imean, nepotism is is nepotism, but
(12:41):
I would want to know that atleast some of this was done on my
own baf he wass say he's goneto call back to USC and had a
good year, then maybe you couldjustify it more. But this is a
guy who didn't do much in college, and now it's totally obvious that this
is purely a Ron James power play. So I just think it puts Bronnie,
(13:03):
who by all accounts as a real, you know, a good kid,
a good head on his shoulders andand all that. And I just
think that he'll forever be branded asa guy who made it only because his
dad said, So, where areyou on the lebron James love hate scale?
And and maybe that's a two partquestion that might be on the you
(13:24):
know, his his his play andyou know versus Jordan, and then also
just is off the court antics yeah. Uh, I'm a Lebron. I'm
a Lebron believer. I like Lebron. Uh. You know, he's done.
He's made a few missteps and afew things that have made me,
you know, arch my eyebrows.But for the most part, I think
(13:46):
he's I think he's conducted himself welland been a great representative and fantastic player.
I will always be though, Iwill always believe that the George is
the greatest. I just maybe it'sbecause of I was in my youth,
my prime, when he was inhis prime, and so it was sort
(14:09):
of just cemented in me that hewas the greatest. But I just I
just believe deep down that nobody hasdone the things that he's done with the
grace and the artistry and all that. So as great as Lebron is,
I still think that Michael's the best, the greatest. Edward Well, Larry
Stone is with us on the radioshow, and we had a little fun
conversation because Russell Wilson tweeted out yesterdaythat the Seahawks had sent him a throwback
(14:33):
jersey with his name on it,which I just like, Okay, that's
just kind of weird, like oddtiming. All of a sudden, the
second of July, Russell gets ajersey from the Seahawks when it was two
years after he got traded. SoI don't know what that was all about.
But Dick and I had a conversationabout, you know what Russell's perception
and legacy is now in this town, because let's face it, when he
(14:54):
left, it was at an alltime low for him. Now the draft
capital has been exhausted from Denver,or maybe people can root for the guy
again. Where do you think RussellWilson's legacy is as of right now in
this city. I think I thinktime heals these things. I think people
were bitter and mad at him whenhe left. It reminds me of Griffy
when he went to Cincinnati. Youknow, everyone was down on him,
(15:18):
and then when he came back forthe first inter league game, it was
a love fisk. Same with Randy. When Randy came back with Arizona,
it was standing ovation. People forgiveand embrace the except for a Rod,
people embraced the people, the starswho came through. And I think that
(15:43):
and as time goes by, andhe didn't burn the Seahawks by being great
in Denver. I think that helpedus. Well, there's a little sympathy
factor now. But I may bemy perception may be totally wrong, but
I think I think it's coming aroundto two people saying, you know,
he was he was kind of corny, but he was our he was still
(16:11):
our guy, and he won usto Super Bowl, and we'll embrace him
again. Yep, Larry, You'renever wrong, and when you're wrong,
you're right. Man, appreciate this, whatever that means. Have a good
fourth of July. Tomorrow. We'lltalk in a week, pal, Thanks
man, all right, I enjoyedit. Thanks all right, Bud.
Larry Stone with us courtesy of theRAM. We got a lot more to
get to Mariners and Orioles. Tonight. Is this the night, please God,
(16:34):
little baby Jesus, Will this bethe night that Julio finally erupts from
the dungeon and arrives to demolish AmericanLeague pitching? Please God? Tonight against
Baltimore. We'll discuss it next onninety three three KJRFM.
It's time for our weekly conversation withlegendary sports writer Larry Stone, brought to
you by the Ram Restaurant and Brewery, Bigger, better and fresher since nineteen
seventy one, with eight fugit Soundlocations from Marysville to Lacey and everywhere in
between. There's a Ram there younow with Softy and Dick. Here's Larry
Stone. All right. They tellme there's all kinds of cool things happening
(00:23):
at the Ram. By the way, tell them what they've won. I
think I'm gonna head down there afterthe show. As a matter of fact,
maybe watch a little baseball down there. They have got some great summer
features, including coconut prawns for thefirst diver time. I like it.
Okay, nachos like it? Andhow about this one dungeon us crab and
bas shrimp Louis wedge salad, oryou can get the crab, shrimp and
(00:44):
artichoke melt. I like all ofit. It's kind of starting to wonder
why Banger hasn't gotten off his assand dropped off some of the food in
our studio, by the way,So a little bit disappointed there, but
a guy that enjoys that all thetime with his lovely family. We saw
himt Ian's golf tournament Friday, ourfriend Larry Stone, how are you pal?
I'm doing great? Yeah, itwas. It was good to see
you. We were I was ina group with Divish and Tim Boots and
(01:06):
Alex Akita and we were trying tohit Softy. Who was I think you
were ahead of us, so yeah, yeah, wait, that was our
goal, was to like send youscattering into the wheat. Well, whether
ball was coming towards you. Whatwas the combined blood alcohol level of Divish
and Aikita by the way, ohmy god, and the level and also
the level of mean things said toabout me and Softy in that because I
(01:30):
because they were heckling me on thetee. I mean, Divish was screaming
at me on the tee. Idon't want to repeat what he was saying,
but my god, well, wellthen your then your sun your SunShot.
Once you saw your SunShot shoot,he shut up, because good exactly,
Yeah, deal with Dixon, Divish, you're weirdo. Well, Larry,
(01:53):
you were spreading some Mariner cheer onsocial media today. Really appreciate that.
Man. I was in a goodmood until I saw your Twitter account
today. For God's sakes, butJulio Rodriguez, you covered this game a
long time. You've seen star playersgo through slumps. Julio has been doing
it for three months. For lackof a better question, what is going
on with number forty four man?Yeah, that is the the question.
(02:15):
I think that's going to unravel orit's going to be solved, or this
season is going to unravel even furtherthan it's unraveling right now. It's kind
of inexplicable. You know you,I think you tweeted that Cody Bellinger was
was mentioned in a trade rumor.This reminds me of Cody Bellinger, who
(02:38):
won the MVP his third year orsecond year with forty seven homers and then
just cratered for the next three years, to the point where the Dodgers didn't
even try to resign him and hewent off to Chicago and kind of revived
his career. But you know,it happened. Sometimes, I'm not saying
that it's happening, it's that he'snot going to get out of this,
but you know, he just he'mso lost right now. He's not pulling
(03:01):
the ball at all. He's,uh, you know my tweet that you
referred to one double since May twelfth. There's no power, no power whatsoever.
And I don't think any of thosedoubles were to the gap six off
season, and I don't think anywhereto the gap. They were kind of
down the line doubles. So he'sjust not doesn't have any power. He
(03:22):
looks out of balance, he looksyou could see it on his face now
that you know, the fun lovingJulio with a smile and all that,
now you can at least I thinkI see like strain and stress on his
face. I think it's starting toget into his confidence and into his head,
which is a bad place to be. So he just he needs a
(03:43):
breakout and I think maybe the teamwill follow if if that happens. But
we've been waiting for that for threemonths. So whose responsibility is it?
Is it just simply Julio and therest of the offenses, you know,
pick yourself up by the bootstraps,you know, take more BP time or
is there some onus on Scott's service? Is there some onus on this coaching
staff to figure out a way bothyou know, physically, to get them
(04:06):
out of the slump and also mentallyto get these guys out of the slump.
Well, I mean that is theirjob. I put the onus on
Julio himself. You know that certainlythe manager, he could, he could.
It's not his job to to tweakthe mechanics. That's the hitting coach.
(04:28):
It's his job to work with himmentally. And I'm sure Scott is
doing that. I'm not around theteam anymore, but I know that he's
that. That's he takes that roleseriously, and you know, calling guys
into his office, having long soulsearching talks, that sort of thing,
and I'm sure that's been done.But ultimately it comes down to the player.
(04:49):
And I think at this point theremay be too many too many voices
in his ear, you know,his pitching or excuse me, his hitting
coach, his off season hitting coachfrom Flow, Florida is here talking to
him. He's got the Mariners twohitting coaches. I'm sure other people,
Edgar, yeah, Edgar, andI'm sure other players are are giving him
(05:13):
tips and advice and and all that. You know, it sounds simplistic,
but I think he needs to justsee the ball hit the ball for lack
of a better phrase, and forgetforget all the video and all that.
Just do what he does and hasdone his whole life. Well, look,
I don't want to compare Julio's struggleson the diamond and my struggles on
(05:34):
the golf course. On one's twentythree and the other guy's fifty one.
They both look the same, though, right right, I see I've seen
both similar. But I can't.I can't have more than one voice in
my head. When I start goingon YouTube and watching videos and hearing them
from five different people, I'm afriggin mess. So I mean, Larry,
(05:54):
what you just said there, Ithink it's exactly right. Just mainstream
this, dumb this down one perso, not a grout and not a
committee. And that just seems likekind of a twenty twenty four thing for
a baseball team to do, toform a committee of people to get Julio
Rodriguez back on track. And Ihave no idea if that's actually what's happening.
It's what we see on social media. But don't you think that too
(06:16):
many voices is a bad thing forhim? Right now? Yeah? I
do, I do, And I'veseen this before with other players where the
same thing happens, and finally theyjust shut everybody else out and listen to
that one person that they trust themost. And I think that's what Julio
needs to do. I think wecould close the book on that this was
(06:41):
all Brent Brown's fault. I wasthe Yeah, I was, you know,
I was. I had an idlemoment. So I was charting the
strikeouts before and after Brent Brown wasfired, and they're striking out at a
higher clip, significantly higher clip nowthan they were before Brown was fired.
(07:01):
So, you know, the sameold problems. It wasn't I don't think
it was that one coach who wasthe cause of their problems. I don't
disagree with shaking things up, butyeah, I mean who he is totally
out of sorts and who knows what'sgoing on in his head, And but
(07:26):
I do think that he does needto simplify things. Well, Larry,
I saw a list today where nowa full twelve percent of all of the
Baseball top one hundred prospects our Mariners, twelve percent. They eight out of
mean, it's unbelievable how many theyhave. So how far do we go
to quote unquote mortgage the future.I'll just use that got on. I
(07:49):
know yet, I hate that somuch. I just say something else.
Okay, how far chicken sandwich?How how far do we chicken sandwich?
Larry? In order to save thisbaseball team this year? Yeah, Baseball
America released their mid season revised Topone hundred, and they have eight mariners
(08:11):
in there, from from cold Emersonat number thirteen to down to Logan Evans
who may be up in the majorsoon at eighty, and then Snell,
who's like seventeen years old at ninetyfive. I said, well, I
said twelve percent, I met one, I met one twelve. I'm sorry,
one twelfth of the Baseball Top onehundred. Go ahead, Larry,
(08:31):
Yeah, well, I think thatmakes it easier to trade some of them.
You're not mortgaging the future because youhave such a bulk of prospects that
if you trade two or three youstill have a good core of players to
help you in the future. ButI'm you know, I'm of the belief
(08:54):
that you've got to strike now.You can keep kicking it down the road.
What are prospects for. They're thereto there to win, and you
know it's always at some fake pointin the future. But they have a
chance to win now and so maybeyet, maybe you're gonna get burned,
you know. Uh. John Smoltzwas a throw in at a at a
(09:18):
trade deadline deal from Detroit to Atlantafor Doyle Alexander, who the Tigers needed
for the playoff run. Well,John Smoltz turned into John Smoltz that that's
gonna happen. That's the risk thatthat you're gonna that you're gonna have.
But a lot of times, alot of these deals, the prospects I
never heard from again. So uh, I been Mariners could have traded Jared
(09:43):
Keelnick for and gotten some really goodreturn when he was a minor league prospect
before he was in the majors.They ended up trading him. They ended
up giving him away to Atlanta,so they they didn't get the haul from
him that they could have gotten.So uh, that's a long way of
saying I think they're going to haveto grip their teeth and make some tough
(10:05):
choices, and they're going to tradesome of them. I'm almost positive they're
going to trade some of the guyson this list, and it's gonna hurt.
But this is a season that you'veeven with all the issues of late.
You know, they were in midJune, just two weeks ago,
they were thirteen games over five hundredat a ninety five win taste, and
(10:28):
so for two and a half months, they were playing ninety five win baseball
for two weeks. Since they're threeand nine, So do you which do
you believe that? Do you believethe two and a half months or do
you believe the two weeks? Youknow, if you want to believe the
two weeks, that that's fair enough. I think there's reasons to think that
might be closer to what they are. But I think you also have to
(10:48):
look at the two and a halfmonths that preceded that and hit your wagon
to that. If you're the Mariners, and go for it. Larry,
you're turning me on right now,Pal, you're speaking my language. I
am so with you on everything thatcame out of your mouth. I want
to just look at you and justgive you a big old virtual kiss through
the phone, because you're exactly righton the prospects, one thousand percent right
(11:09):
on the prospects. The Mariners tradedKelnick and Evan White with Marco Gonzalez to
Atlanta for two guys that blew theirelbows out for God's sake. So yes,
I am so with you on that. And the more prospects you have,
you know, the more you feelcomfortable trade in them because you have
guys to take their spot. ButLarry Stones with us. Larry, let
(11:30):
me just move away from baseball fora second. Dick and I have been
talking today a lot about Bronnie James. Petros was on today talking he's disgusted
in La by what's happening with theLakers. They gave him eight million dollars
before he even steps foot on asummer league court. What's your take on
this story involving lebron James working thesystem to get his son not only drafted
and signed, but eight million bucksbefore he walks onto a court. Yeah,
(11:56):
I don't know if that's the goingrate for a second round draft choice.
It's not at all, Okay,Yeah, it's at the hundreds of
thousands of dollars that's going rate fora The guy that went fifty to fifty
year ago got like six hundred grandby the way, okay, all right,
well, then his newfound wealth side, I feel sorry for Brownie James,
(12:18):
because he'll always know in the backof his mind that he's not there
on his own merit, that he'sthere on his dad's behest. And I
just don't think that's a good placeto be. I would want to.
I would want to at least Imean, nepotism is is nepotism, but
(12:41):
I would want to know that atleast some of this was done on my
own baf he wass say he's goneto call back to USC and had a
good year, then maybe you couldjustify it more. But this is a
guy who didn't do much in college, and now it's totally obvious that this
is purely a Ron James power play. So I just think it puts Bronnie,
(13:03):
who by all accounts as a real, you know, a good kid,
a good head on his shoulders andand all that. And I just
think that he'll forever be branded asa guy who made it only because his
dad said, So, where areyou on the lebron James love hate scale?
And and maybe that's a two partquestion that might be on the you
(13:24):
know, his his his play andyou know versus Jordan, and then also
just is off the court antics yeah. Uh, I'm a Lebron. I'm
a Lebron believer. I like Lebron. Uh. You know, he's done.
He's made a few missteps and afew things that have made me,
you know, arch my eyebrows.But for the most part, I think
(13:46):
he's I think he's conducted himself welland been a great representative and fantastic player.
I will always be though, Iwill always believe that the George is
the greatest. I just maybe it'sbecause of I was in my youth,
my prime, when he was inhis prime, and so it was sort
(14:09):
of just cemented in me that hewas the greatest. But I just I
just believe deep down that nobody hasdone the things that he's done with the
grace and the artistry and all that. So as great as Lebron is,
I still think that Michael's the best, the greatest. Edward Well, Larry
Stone is with us on the radioshow, and we had a little fun
conversation because Russell Wilson tweeted out yesterdaythat the Seahawks had sent him a throwback
(14:33):
jersey with his name on it,which I just like, Okay, that's
just kind of weird, like oddtiming. All of a sudden, the
second of July, Russell gets ajersey from the Seahawks when it was two
years after he got traded. SoI don't know what that was all about.
But Dick and I had a conversationabout, you know what Russell's perception
and legacy is now in this town, because let's face it, when he
(14:54):
left, it was at an alltime low for him. Now the draft
capital has been exhausted from Denver,or maybe people can root for the guy
again. Where do you think RussellWilson's legacy is as of right now in
this city. I think I thinktime heals these things. I think people
were bitter and mad at him whenhe left. It reminds me of Griffy
when he went to Cincinnati. Youknow, everyone was down on him,
(15:18):
and then when he came back forthe first inter league game, it was
a love fisk. Same with Randy. When Randy came back with Arizona,
it was standing ovation. People forgiveand embrace the except for a Rod,
people embraced the people, the starswho came through. And I think that
(15:43):
and as time goes by, andhe didn't burn the Seahawks by being great
in Denver. I think that helpedus. Well, there's a little sympathy
factor now. But I may bemy perception may be totally wrong, but
I think I think it's coming aroundto two people saying, you know,
he was he was kind of corny, but he was our he was still
(16:11):
our guy, and he won usto Super Bowl, and we'll embrace him
again. Yep, Larry, You'renever wrong, and when you're wrong,
you're right. Man, appreciate this, whatever that means. Have a good
fourth of July. Tomorrow. We'lltalk in a week, pal, Thanks
man, all right, I enjoyedit. Thanks all right, Bud.
Larry Stone with us courtesy of theRAM. We got a lot more to
get to Mariners and Orioles. Tonight. Is this the night, please God,
(16:34):
little baby Jesus, Will this bethe night that Julio finally erupts from
the dungeon and arrives to demolish AmericanLeague pitching? Please God? Tonight against
Baltimore. We'll discuss it next onninety three three KJRFM.
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