The "Achilles Uptick" Edition

The number of Achilles injuries in the NBA appears to be on the rise. What's causing the issues for today's NBA players?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's time for Clemson Sports Talk with Lawton Swan.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Finally, Clemson Sports Talk has come back. Two drive time.
Hell everybody, Lawton Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that shakes the south Land. Clemson
Sports Star for you each and every afternoon as you
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(01:03):
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(01:24):
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So the Tyres Halliburton injury tearing his achilles tendon, rupturing

(01:48):
his achilles tendon. Ooh, the pain of that moment, watching
the what looks almost like a shockwave ricochet up the
back of his leg just excruciating, especially in super slow Mo, Swannie,
what are you doing? You're glutton for punishment? You watch
that thing in super slow Mo.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
I I did, I've been run No, I did.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
But you feel bad, obviously for a guy like Tyrese Haliburton.
You feel bad for a guy like Jason Tatum. You
feel bad for a guy like Damian Lillard. And I'm
assuming again, I've had some achilles issues over the years.
It's still one of the things that scares me when

(02:34):
I do play basketball. Unfortunately, I've crossed over a threshold
in my age where I don't necessarily desire to go play,
and certainly don't desire to go run and jump and
do the things that I did when I was younger
as much, you know, the occasional game, having some fun,

(02:56):
no big deal, but always a little wary because the pain,
you know, the achilles tendon, achilles heel all goes back
to Greek mythology and the pain, though in the real world,

(03:19):
is legit and I have fortunately never torn into achilles,
but I have certainly strained one, and you can barely
walk with a strained achilles. And so flashback to like
Damian Lillard, Jason Tatum, and then Tyrese Haliburton in Game

(03:41):
seven of the NBA Finals after a unbelievable start three
or four from beyond the art nine points at seven minutes.
If Halliburton plays, I think the game is much more
competitive at the end, right, Like, is there any denying
that fact based off the way he was playing.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
Again, now, odds are in.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Your favor that you're gonna cool off, But to me,
if Haliburton's Helpedy, the Pacers are very close late in
that game. Nonetheless, a couple of things have come across
my radar over the past few days. Number one is

(04:23):
people talking about Kobe Bryant when he tore his achilles.
Because we've seen players carded off, We've seen players taken
off in wheelchairs, We've seen players that are unable to continue,
and and Kobe went to the free throw line and

(04:47):
shot a pair of free throws before coming out of
a game with his achilles got ruptured. And look, I
always liked Kobe Bryant. I was more of a shot guy.
I've been a Laker guy my whole life. But a
lot of people take that moment with Kobe Bryant and go, man,

(05:10):
why are these other guys like so soft? Why do
they why can't they finish the game, or maybe not
finish the game? You know, why, why don't they do
what Kobe did?

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Well?

Speaker 2 (05:20):
I don't know this, but how many of those guys
got fouled in the moment that they got injured, because
it is a little bit different if you get hurt
and you're in the middle of gameplay, like Halliburton was,
you're not going to the free throw line. What are
you to do other than to get carted off. Now
you could argue, well, Kobe walked off or or whatever,

(05:44):
but you know, Kobe shooting those free throws is kind
of glorified. But you have to have a certain situation.
And I'm not denying the the toughness that it takes
to stand up and shoot two free throws, let alone.
I think he made them, made them both with his
achilles issue. But let's not completely bemoan these guys who

(06:07):
maybe weren't fouled or weren't in a moment where they
could collect themselves and go do one final thing before
leaving the court, Like if you got the injury in
live action, what are you supposed to do?

Speaker 3 (06:24):
Anyway.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
The other thing that's popped up because of these injuries.
Is the confluence?

Speaker 3 (06:34):
Is that the right word?

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Just the number of players that have been injured with
achilles injuries and why it feels like they're maybe stacking
on top of one another. Now, I think there's a
couple of a couple of things that might go into
some of this. First and foremost, the game today is

(07:03):
a much more athletic version of the game than it
was even when I was a kid, even when Michael
Jordan and those guys were playing, and Jordan was a
supreme athlete. Do not think that I am diminishing Michael
Jordan here, but in my estimation, the speed of the
game and all of that probably has some influence on it.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
Now.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
I would think that shoe technology would be better today
than it was when guys were wearing Converse all Stars
in the NBA, But I don't really have a good
metric to measure that. I certainly believe that the efficiency

(07:53):
in which shoes are made is greater than it once was,
meaning they're made faster. Does that mean they're made better?
Perhaps not, perhaps a little more sloppily, you might say,
But I think more than the shoe, and I would
wonder the weight of the shoe I know they used

(08:16):
to have some things called like air Haachi's or something
when I was younger, and they were supposed to be
like these super lightweight shoes that guys would wear. And
I know they're not giving you military steel toed boots
to clod around on the basketball court. But I do
wonder if the shoes are a part of the issue

(08:37):
the modern design that guys wear today. You know, when
we were growing up, it was kind of a high
top shoe. That's not a high top anymore. And because
the high top shoe doesn't look cool, a lot of
guys have lower to sort of a mid level shoe,

(09:00):
which may reduce support for the ankle and potentially the
protection on the tendon. Now, I mentioned the faster pace
of the game and the more explosive play of the game.
But the other thing that's happened in the NBA today

(09:23):
versus the past is the different style of offense. And
back when I was younger, you know, it was a
lot of point guard brings the ball up the court.
It was a ten second violation. Back then you saw
a twenty four second shot clock, but you had ten
second violations, so you didn't have to push the ball
up the court quite as quickly. A lot of your

(09:44):
sets ran through the low post, so there wasn't necessarily
a ton of cutting and moving out on the perimeter.
And so that may also be a part of it,
and that the game is shifted to this perimeter oriented

(10:06):
get open runoff screens. You know, the amount of the
amount of space that's covered. What would be an interesting
stat to track. And I don't know that there's a
way to retrospectively do it, okay, but if you could

(10:28):
go back and take say a point guard or shooting
guard for that matter, any player, you pick them and
track how far they ran.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
In a season.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
Versus what these guys are currently running, and I venture
to guess that the numbers will be much higher. The
amount of mileage that these guys are putting on their
body to wear and tear is probably greater in this
era than it was previously because it was a little
bit of a slower game.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
Now.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
Other factors certainly include the fact that a lot of
these guys have played basketball their entire lives. Like I
even see some kids today at you know the five
A soccer level who have played soccer their entire life
from three on and for many years played in the

(11:33):
fall and the spring. Decide that around their junior year
of high school, they're they're just not going to play
in the spring or excuse me, in the fall anymore.
They're only going to play soccer for the high school
in the spring. But with basketball and AAU and the
training and everything, there's also a possibility that the amount

(11:57):
of the amount of games that these guys have played
by the time they're twenty five is perhaps much greater
than what they used to play. And the other thing
I would say too, I don't think that in this
era these guys necessarily play less with.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
Their buddies than we did.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
They might because of technology and things like that, you know,
getting on a video game versus going out and playing
with your buddies on the street like we used to
do back in the day. We drop tournaments and do
all this stuff. And I mean, there's a possibility that
there's not quite as much recreational play, but there is

(12:41):
the possibility that there is much more competitive play, which
might put their bodies in some different situations. And the
final thing I'll throw out there is we criticize openly.
I do the load management aspect of the NBA, and

(13:01):
if you aren't familiar, load management is when a team
rests their star players because of concerns about things of
this nature. That a guy gets worn down, and in
Halliburton situation, he was playing through an injury. That's probably
a part of it. You get a little bit banged

(13:21):
up in one area, you start, you start putting a
little bit more weight on the other leg, you start
shifting the way your stride is because you're trying to
protect that previous injury, and then the next thing you know,
you you do something that increases the pressure in the
wrong spot and bam, you've got your torn at your

(13:42):
torn acl You've got your torn achilles. Whatever the injury
ends up being because you've you've put a little too
much on the different body part to try and reduce
stress elsewhere. But load management is something I'll never be
a fan of unless the NBA makes this rule. And

(14:04):
I think this is the this is the fix in
my opinion for load management. I think you should be
allowed to rest guys as much as you want. I
don't have a problem with load management. And the NBA

(14:26):
has their rules and it applies to star players, and
that's defined as those guys that have been named to
All Star or All NBA teams any of the past
three seasons, So that's who you aren't supposed to load manage.
There are roughly forty nine players that fall under that designation.

(14:49):
The key restrictions are that no more than one star
can be rested per game unless the player is injured
or unable are unavailable for legitimate personal reasons. A star
player must pl in all nationally televised games and in
season tournament games unless legitimately unavailable. Rest balance requirement. A

(15:09):
star's one game absence must be evenly split between home
and road, with a preference for sitting home games. Number
four no prolonged shutdowns of star players, especially near the
end of the season, unless due to documented injury or illness.
And number five rested stars must be present and visible
at the game, seated on the bench, warming up, et cetera.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
And I like those rules.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
The one that they could change and I think increase
the rest is the one where the preference for sitting
home games. I think you should be able to rest
your stars at home as much as you want. If
you are willing to take away from your fan base
your star player in order to rest them and deal

(15:57):
with the heat and on the radio circuit, in the newspaper,
in the stadium. If you're willing to sit in that
fire and take it because you need to rest a
guy or you feel compelled, you should be allowed to
rest your players at home as much as you want.
But when your players go on the road, I don't
think you should be able to rest them at all,

(16:21):
because to me, when Victor winbin Yama comes to Charlotte
and I take my son to go see him play
and he rests, we only get a chance to see
him once a year, those guys, unless they're injured, should
have to play on the road. Every star should have
to play on the road. Now, teams can apply for

(16:44):
advanced approved rest days for older or high mileage players.
If you're thirty five and up on opening night, if
you've played one thousand plus career games, or if you've
played thirty four thousand regular season minutes, then you're eligible
because you've got some tread taking off the old tire.

(17:07):
And the NBA has some finds in place for this,
but it doesn't take you, know, you don't have to
be a rocket scientist to figure out that you know,
these injuries appear to be on the rise, and what
are the reasons for it. The best thing I can
come up with is that the game has changed to

(17:29):
such a perimeter oriented ball game that these players are
moving and cutting and trying to get open on the
perimeter so much more than they would have years ago,
that it's increased the stress on that part of your body.
Because when you cut, when you make a move like
that's one of the biggest influencers of your change of direction,

(17:53):
and so you hate to see it again.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
I think.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
The Finals Game seven would have been would have been spectacular.
It certainly appeared that it was starting that way. I
am afraid that it will forever be overshadowed now by
Halliburton's injury and what could have been for the Indiana Pacers,

(18:20):
who have not won an NBA or a championship since
the ABA title back in nineteen seventy three. All Right, yesterday,
I told you we were gonna hear some of our
interview that we do with facts and Childress last week
on Tuesday. I was gonna try to work it in yesterday,
couldn't get it done. We'll run that over the next

(18:43):
two segments. Mike Eva joins the program in our number two.
Of course, Mike, you're from Gamecockcentral dot com. We'll talk
with him about everything going on in the world of
the South Carolina game Cocks. Plus, I gotta get his
thoughts not only about this Tyreus Haliburton Achilles injury, but
I gotta find out what Mike thinks about the College

(19:07):
World Series result with Kevin Schnall of the Coastal Carolina.
Say it with me, now, chanticleers.

Speaker 4 (19:14):
Everybody say it with me.

Speaker 5 (19:16):
Shanta clears, Shanta clears, not schant clear.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
Shanta clears about Kevin Schnall getting shown the exit, getting
run in the first inning at the College World Series
in Game two. Still, it's an unbelievable mismanagement of the
moment in my opinion by the umpire. All right, with

(19:41):
a quick break, we'll come back. We'll dive into some
of our interview from last week with Tim Burray. Gonna
shift it up or switch it up just a little
bit for you here on a Tuesday afternoon, keep it
a lot for more of the show that shakes the
South lamb back at it on a Tuesday afternoon. So
last week we caught up with legendary longtime Clemson sid Tim.
We'll jump into some of that conversation with you here

(20:02):
on a Tuesday afternoon in our one, Tim, welcome in.

Speaker 3 (20:05):
How are you Lowton?

Speaker 6 (20:07):
Great to be with you.

Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, we missed you.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
Last week, but you had a big time there at
the eighteenth Green JJ Spawn with what a sixty four.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
Foot putt to win at all.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
A pretty impressive finish for Spawn for sure.

Speaker 6 (20:21):
You know, it wasn't an extraordinary opening, but it didn't
start out like people thought. You know, I'm I'm in
the eighteenth Tower with the announcers, got to work specifically
with Mike Turrico, and you know, when we came off
the air on Friday, they were kind of like, well,
this isn't the greatest leader board ever. Because of the
halfway point, the top ten players in the world were

(20:42):
combined seventy over par so there were a lot of
known names, but not just the guys. But then you know,
on Sunday you had such great competition. At one point
we had five guys tied for the lead, and you know,
and Scheffler was still still around the periphery. But it
was a very exciting finish. It's a different type of courses,

(21:05):
it's so hard with a rough so big. And then
the way jj spawn finished up was extraordinary. So how
about this for a stat All year he had not
made a putt of thirty five feet or more, and
then he did it twice in the last seven holes
of the final round of the US Open to win.

(21:26):
He made a forty four footer on the twelfth hole
and made a sixty four footer on the last hole.
In The sixty four footer, by the way, was the
longest putt anybody made in the entire tournament.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
I did not realize that, but I do know that
it was. It's what kept him as the only player
in the field under par. And you got to see
the conditions. And I know there's people that are critical
of how the US Open does it, but let me
ask you this, what would the average golfer, you know,
just your normal Joe that maybe you go out and

(21:58):
golf with. What would they shoot on the course like
that when when some of the great players are just
you know, fifteen over and things like that.

Speaker 6 (22:11):
I would say probably. Now, if you talk and play
by the rules and you know, count of a shot
and put out, I'd say about one twenty because it's
just so penal if you hit it in the rough
and it's just uh, you know, just just amazing, how

(22:32):
how difficult. You know, It's one thing to have the
rough five inches tall, but it's another thing to have
it's so thick. I mean, you know, I thought, you know,
Speef hit one, you know, about two feet and out
of the you know, from the roughs, and there was
just many many shots that way. It was really important

(22:54):
to drive the ball in the fairway. Roy McElroy, for instance,
one of the stats I've reached searched in the holes
he drove the boom fairway during the tournament. He was
three under par in the holes. He did not drive
it in the fairway. He was seven over par. So
it was a ten shot difference for him, the number
two player in the world, just between hitting and in

(23:16):
rock and otity.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
That's unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
Again, follow Tim Bray on Twitter at Tim Burray and so, Tim,
while you were gone, we didn't have you last week
because of the US Open, a couple of names were
inducted into Clemson's Ring of Honor, and I know you
have a big part in that. Michael Dean Perry and football.
But your good friend Larry Penley in men's golf, give

(23:38):
us some insight into that honor for Larry Penley.

Speaker 6 (23:44):
Yeah, two great selections. Coach is a very rare to
get inducted in the Ring of Honor in your first
year of eligibility, but that was the case with Larry
and of course he had an ex destroyer resume. Only
Clinton coach to win a national championship in a spring

(24:05):
sport or non fall sport for that matter. But his
level of consistency was unbelievable. Thirty he coached for thirty
eight years. Thirty seven years there was an NCUBA tournament
all thirty seven years. He brought Clemson into the ncublea
tournament and of course in the nc double as you

(24:25):
have a regional tournament and then you have a national tournament.
You got Cleinson in the national tournament every year from
nineteen eighty four to two thousand and four. So that's
an incredible twenty one year run. There is still a
record holder for regional championships in Nuba golf history. Won

(24:46):
ten ACC championships and just was unbelievable in his development
of players. I think thirteen of his players have been
on the pg A Tour one time or another, of course,
led by Lucas Glover, who won the US Open in
two thousand and nine. So and you know the other

(25:08):
thing about Larry is he was outstanding at the end too.
I mean his last year twenty twenty one, won the
ACC Championship. He was the district Coach of the Year
in three of his last five years. So and in
five different decades he won the ACC Coach of the
Year honor, one of only two coaches to do that

(25:30):
in any sport in the league. So incredible resume for
to Larry.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Tim will circle back to Michael Dean Perry momentarily, but
one of the questions that a listener had for me was,
everybody knows what the the I guess you would say,
kind of the anointment of the Ring of Honor for
football means you're gonna get your name inside Death Valley,
But what what what happens for guys like Larry Penley
or other individuals who are in Clemson's Ring of Honor

(25:57):
in terms of placement. Is there a facade? Is there
somewhere you can go and appreciate those individuals? People were
asking me quite frankly, I didn't know.

Speaker 6 (26:08):
Yeah, each home facility has had a display, and obviously
the most recognizable and prominent is in Depth Valley. Uh,
and there are I believe there are some clothes and
the works to uh have a museum, and I think
they'll obviously they'll be uh a strong presence of the

(26:29):
Ring of Honor there. But the for golf, for instance,
there's a there's a Ring of Honor display at the
practice facility. It's when a little John Coliseum, and the
and the and the uh in the concourse, there's signage
at the track for the track Uh ladies and men
who have gotten in the in the Ring of Honor.
So it is it is at each of the home facilities.

Speaker 7 (26:53):
UH.

Speaker 6 (26:54):
But you're right, probably, and we're hoping that we we
get to get a museum and we have a more
prominent display for the Ring of Honor people, because really
football obviously is gets the most attention.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
That's Clemson SID longtime Clemson SID Hall of Famer Tim
Beret with us here on the program on Thursday. We'll
jump back into a little bit more of this conversation
when we return on a Tuesday afternoon. Keep a lot
for more the show The Shakespare south Lane. Clemson supports
all right here well Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred and
of course on the iHeartRadio app the show The Shakesare

(27:29):
south Land On a Tuesday, Mike, you've been coming up
in our number two. Don't forget about our friends in
Alumni Hall on the corner of campus on College Avenue
in downtown Clemson. It's a lomnae hall at all your
officially licensed Clempson merchandise, hats, T shirts, Tailgate, Geared Moore,
go check about today or online at Alumni Hall dot com.
It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
All right.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
We were listening to a portion of our interview with
Tim Berey. We were talking about Ring of Honor inductees.
We dive a little further into that with the Clemson
Hall of Famer and longtime Clemson sid timber Ray, and
I would take it one step further. People would ask,
you know what's more prestigious, the Hall of Fame or
the Ring of Honor? And I certainly know the Ring

(28:09):
of Honor is. But with all your connections to both
of those, you know entities, if you will, where would
the retied jersey in your mind kind of rank amongst
those because we've got players that have retired jerseys but
may not necessarily be in the Ring of Honor.

Speaker 6 (28:27):
Yeah, you know, the retired jersey rule at Clemson is
is different, and the retired jersey rule is between the
head coach and the athletic director. So, for instance, to
get in the Ring of Honor, you have to be
a Clemson you have to be a graduate. Doesn't have

(28:47):
to be from Clemson, but you have to be a
graduate from a four year school, and you have to
already be in the Clemson Hall of Fame. So in
that regard you can see that the Ring of Honor
is above the Hall of Fame. But now the retiring
of a number is basically between the coach and the
athletic director at the time. For instance, C. J. Spiller's

(29:08):
number twenty eight was retired the year after you know,
he he left in twenty ten, and so you know,
obviously he wasn't in the Hall of Fame yet, but
he still had his number retired. So that's that's always
been a situation between the coach and the and the

(29:29):
enough Linux director and it hasn't happened very very often.
But yeah, when you get in the Ring of Honor
doesn't mean your numbers retired. That's a separate situation. Jack
Leggett's number was retired number seven the year after or
a couple of years after he left. Uh, he's in
the Hall of Fame. He's not in the Ring of

(29:50):
Honor yet, sure he will at some point. So there
are that's kind of three different levels of awards.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Timber Ray's on Twitter at timber Ray, the long time
Clempson sid and Clemson Hall of Famer and joining us
here on the program. So let's circle back. I promise
we would to Michael Dean Perry in his induction into
the Ring of Honor. I think what's really unique about
Michael Dean Perry maybe in some respects kind of like
Sterling Sharp and Shannon Sharp. His brother is probably the

(30:18):
more revered guy in terms of kind of the mindset
of a lot of fans, William the Refrigerator Perry, But
Michael Dean was the guy that really performed not only
at the collegiate level, maybe better than his brother, but
then certainly in the NFL level.

Speaker 6 (30:35):
That's true, but that doesn't have anything to do with
what you do in the NFL really doesn't have anything.
I mean, it can't hurt obviously, but it doesn't really
have anything to do, you know with getting in the
Ring of Honor. I'll be honest with it. The only
reason William Perry's not in the Ring of Honor and
didn't his decree. William had a better career at Onton

(30:57):
than Michael Dean did. He was three time All the American,
three time All accuh and Michael Dean had had a
great career, but he didn't come back and and uh
and and get his degree. So really, like I said,
I mean, to be honest with you, Michael Dean would
I mean, William would be in the Ring of Honors
the if he had come back and gotten his degree.

(31:18):
But Michael Dean had a terrific career also, he was
a consensus All American as a finalist for the Outland Trophy,
the only Island Trophy finalists that we've had, although Mick
Hyatt might have as an offensive linement also when it
was top five, and Michael Dean was when it was

(31:38):
just the top three. And then of course, uh, you
know with the a CC Player of the Year, as
William was, I think there's only been five defensive players
or six defensive players who have been acc overall as
c Player of the Year, and Michael Dean and William
were We're we're two of them. But Michael Dean has

(31:58):
been on a ballot for for a while and so
I'm glatdy Uh he finally got in.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
Now I think about what you just said about, you know,
William not being in because he didn't graduate. Uh is
there I mean in your in your mind, who are
who are some other individuals that you think would be
in the Ring of Honor if they did have their degree?
Are you Are you willing to share some of those names?

Speaker 7 (32:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (32:26):
Yeah, I mean I hate to single lot guys that,
but a guy that comes to mind that would be
an automatic as Bruce Murray.

Speaker 7 (32:33):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (32:34):
You know, Bruce Murray took our soccer program to do
national championships and he won the Heisman Trophy of of
of Soccer his senior year. DJ Trehan certainly would be
from the uh you know, from the golf program, and
I say Horace Horace Grant would be in terms of

(32:56):
of basketball. But that's that that uh stipulation is very
important to the committee. The Ring of honor goes back
to nineteen ninety four, Bobby Robinson's started it, and everybody
has ever been on the committee feels that, you know,
you can get in the Hall of Fame without having
your degree, but I think that the Ring of Honor

(33:17):
should be an extra step up and that everybody in
there should have a degree.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
There you go, that makes a lot of sense. But
I think it does clear up some names that maybe
people walk around and go, I wonder why that guy's
not in, And there's part of the reason for a
couple of those big names here, as Tim Burray hangs
out with us. So, Tim, since you were gone, we
got the new College Sports Commission and the changes after
the House versus the NCAA Committee or whatever the ruling

(33:48):
was was called your thoughts on sort of the changing
landscape and the new commission and what the future could
look like.

Speaker 6 (33:56):
Yeah, I'm not sure I know all the all the factors.
I mean, people seem to be excited about the House settlement.
They think it's gonna level the playing field. I'm still
not sure how that is. I mean, yeah, he does

(34:16):
bring up the question how much money do you need?

Speaker 5 (34:20):
Uh So, if everybody's gonna be able to uh use
you know, twenty million dollars to uh to get kids
to come in on ni M deals. But then you're
still gonna have uh ACC schools versus SEC schools where
the SEC schools are gonna have more money coming from
the television deals.

Speaker 6 (34:41):
So there's still gonna be some disparity there. So but
you know, hopefully, uh, you know, hopefully it's gonna it's
gonna it's gonna help. We'll just have to see how
it goes going forward.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
There you go, our time with Tim Burray from late
last week with a quick brank will come back with more.
We'll put a bow on out and every one Mike
you'va joins us an hour two Keep it locked. Final
segment of our one coming up Mike Eva game Concentral
dot Com. Don't forget our friends in Alumni Hall up
in Tigertown on the corner of Campus on College Avenue
in downtown Clemson. It's Alumni Hall. Get all your officially

(35:16):
licensed clempsont merchandise, hats, T shirts, tailgate gear, and Moore.
Don't forget to check out their hat wall while you're there.
And if you're a Clemson student faculty member, or in
the military. You get ten percent off when you shop
in store at Alumni Hall. You can shop online at
Alumni Hall dot com and I would encourage you to

(35:36):
get to that site through Clemsons Sports saw dot com
because if you do that, then I can get a
little bit of support from Alumni Hall as well. So
go check them out today. Alumni Hall. It's Alumni Hall
where Tiger fans shop, all right, So turning our attention
here in the final segment, back to the world of

(35:57):
college football. For Boston College quarterback now current Florida State
quarterback Thomas Castellanos told on three's Pete Nacos that he
dreamed of playing Alabama. He'll get that chance in Tallahassee
as the Seminoles will host the Crimson Todd the Tide

(36:20):
of course, with Kellen de Boor as their head coach,
enter into the backyard of the Florida State Seminoles, and
now they'll have a little bit of they'll have a
little bit of fuel for the fire. As Castellanos said, quote,
they don't have Nick Saban to save them. I just

(36:44):
don't see them stopping me.

Speaker 7 (36:47):
Well, sir, While I may not agree with what you say,
I'll defend to the death.

Speaker 6 (36:50):
You're right to say it.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
And so Castellanos in the off season, giving a little
bulletin board material to the Crimson Todd who buy the
away currently are twelve and a half point favorites in
that ball game on the road in Tallahassee. And look,
I'm not here to deny that that Thomas Castellanos is

(37:14):
a is a I'm not going to say an elite quarterback,
but he's a playmaker at quarterback.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
Right.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
He's a kid that can not only get you with
his arm, he can also get you, maybe even more
so with his legs. He's got incredible athleticism, but he
throws a lot of interceptions, and in my opinion, for

(37:42):
a guy who was benched at Boston College a year ago,
probably not the best thing to do.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
I mean again, it would.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
It's probably worse if you do it the week of
the game, Like maybe you hope this doesn't pop back up,
but everybody knows in this era it's gonna make its return.
So I don't know, you know, what would lead him

(38:14):
down that path. Now, that wasn't the only thing obviously
that Thomas Castellano said during this interview with Pete Nakos.
A portion of it was about, you know, when when
Jeff Haffley left to go be the defensive coordinator for
the Green Bay Packers, Bill O'Brien was hired and Castellanos

(38:39):
at that point was fielding questions about, hey, well you
you want to transfer, and Castelanos, in the interview with
with On three said quote, I really wish I would
have left when Halfley left, but I tried to give
it another go.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
BC wasn't the school for me.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
I wasn't able to be myself and I had to
try to make myself into something I will wasn't.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
I just didn't like it.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Bill O'Brien and I. But it heads early in the season.
I got banged up a few games. We had a
meeting and it kind of blew up in my face.
I did so much for that program, and I did
everything that I could. I just wasn't repaid the right way.
And so now Castellanos hopes that under Mike Norvel, who
I would argue, and I know Mike Norvel led Florida

(39:30):
State to an undefeated regular season a couple of years ago,
and then Jordan Travis gets hurt and the team basically
crumbles before their bowl game. They're left out of the
College Football Playoff. But he restructured his contract. He was

(39:57):
set to make nine point nine million in twenty twenty five,
but of course, Florida State finished two and ten one
year after that undefeated regular season. They got hammered in
that bowl game, sixty three to three by Georgia in
the Orange Bowl. And apparently he's restructured his contract to

(40:19):
contribute four point five million to the Florida State Athletics
Fund in a broader part of an initiative called the
Vision of Excellence. Now, it was a contract extension for
Norvelle that runs through twenty thirty one, includes a sixty
three million dollar buyout, which is the largest in the

(40:39):
Atlantic Coast Conference. But I would have to argue that
another season like the one he just had, I think
he's gonna be undoubtedly. Now look, I don't think they're
two and ten bad this year, right, But he's six
game over five hundred at Florida State. He's five hundred

(41:03):
in the conference, twenty wins at twenty losses, and this
is his sixth season with the Seminoles. I mean, if
if he doesn't have a really good year, and I'm
talking ten and two, nine to three ish. He might

(41:24):
be in trouble not to get fired this year, but
to well, I mean if it was bad enough, yes,
But I think Mike norvel with a bad season enters
next season on the hot seat, like twelve months from now.
If this isn't a good year in Florida for Florida
State standards, even with that contract, all of that, I

(41:47):
think Norvelle's probably on a very short leash and I'm
not sure how patient Florida State fans are willing to
be because that would be year seven at that point.

Speaker 3 (41:59):
So we'll see.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
Yeah, it all shakes out from Mike norvel this season
and Thomas Castellanos with an opener against Alabama in those.

Speaker 3 (42:06):
Words, probably not great, Probably not great. Stay with us.

Speaker 1 (42:13):
Each time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Schwan.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
It is our number two. That's a drive time right
here on the show that shakes Southland Clemson Sports. So long, Swan,
do you know with you on a Tuesday afternoon. That
means Mike, you've a Gamecockcentral dot Com joining the program momentarily,
and of course the show The Shakespeare south Land brought
you in part by are good friends over at Mets

(43:15):
Plumbing seventh three two drip, drip, drip drip. You know
the jingle, seventh three to two drip. That's Mets Plumbing,
mets Plumbing dot com.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
That's the website. All right, Mike, youva welcome in, my man.
What's up?

Speaker 8 (43:30):
I'm doing well, Swane?

Speaker 7 (43:31):
How you doing?

Speaker 2 (43:31):
I'm pretty good. I know, these weeks in the summer
to some people seem like they go by slow. And
I'm gonna tell you, when you're in our business and
you're covering, you know, talking about the NBA, talking about
the College World Series, uh, the expectations for the upcoming
football season, I'm looking at the calendar Mike, and I'm going,
holy smokes, we're gonna be turning it to July in

(43:52):
just over a week.

Speaker 3 (43:52):
That's wild.

Speaker 7 (43:54):
Well, it's crazy. I mean, think about it. I'm sure
the ACC Media Day is typically around the same time.
I mean, we're about a month away from SEC Media Days.

Speaker 8 (44:03):
ACC Media Days.

Speaker 7 (44:04):
Then you throw on an extra week because a lot
of these teams are reporting to fall camp even earlier
now because you have games starting up earlier and earlier.
It feels like each year it's absolutely insane to think
that college football fall camps are going to be here
just over a month and some change.

Speaker 8 (44:22):
So, I mean, look, it's one.

Speaker 7 (44:23):
Of those things, Swani, I'm sure you feel this way.
You enjoy summer, but once college baseball season ends, unless
you have a pro baseball team that's doing well, which
I think well, neither Red Sox fans or Braves fans
could really say right now you start looking ahead to football. Yeah,
so certainly excited for that to happen.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
Well, you and I off the air, got to speak
for a minute, but we didn't get to talk about this,
but you bring up a good point. So one of
the things that's in the conversation right now is the
calendar for college football because of the transfer a portal,
the changes that might come on that front, and the
hopes that maybe the season can end a little sooner.

(45:04):
But then doing so, Mike, one of the sidebars of
that is maybe starting even sooner.

Speaker 3 (45:11):
Where would you fall on that?

Speaker 2 (45:12):
I mean, it's already I know in New England it's
probably warm slash hot today, but you know what it's
like down here in August. I can't imagine playing football
in mid August or even sooner. If that was something
that they want to do at some point, that's just
crazy to me.

Speaker 7 (45:28):
Yeah, it would.

Speaker 8 (45:29):
It would be crazy, especially when you think about those
those southern schools.

Speaker 7 (45:33):
That have to deal with the heat. I mean, how
many times do you hear fan bases complain if there's
like a noon kickoff and certainly comes in fans. It
feels like there's been a lot of new kickoffs over
the last couple of years to start the year. And
I know Game Cuck fans aren't crazy about noon kickoffs again,
especially early on, even in their first game will be
in a dome in Atlanta.

Speaker 8 (45:53):
But yeah, I mean it's it's brutal.

Speaker 7 (45:56):
I mean, I think I may have shared this story
and I can, you know, say the player's name now
now that he's gone. But I remember when Dante Reno
got to South Carolina last year, he sent me a
message after his first practice because he's a new Englander
and he's like, that was a different level of huts
I've ever.

Speaker 8 (46:12):
Experienced in my life before.

Speaker 7 (46:14):
So I say that because you know, I can remember
when I was in college, we played down in Baltimore,
and you know, you're on the turf and obviously the
turf feels ten degrees warmer, and that was the hottest
I've ever felt. And I had a teammate of mine
who played at touch Fork if he looked at me
and he's like, brother, He's like, you have no idea
what he feels like when when you're talking about gap

(46:36):
in the South. So it's one of those things where
you know, look at the end of the day, I
hate to say this, but I think we all know
and we're seeing a patterns, especially when it comes with
the NCAA. If they feel like it will help them
as far as financially, they'll do what is in the
best interests of them, if that means putting players at risk,
you know, in terms of putting them in a situation

(46:57):
where you know they could be you know, I don't
want to get extreme here talking about okay stroking all that,
but I think, unfortunately.

Speaker 9 (47:06):
Having seen over time, they'll do with the best interest
of them if that makes sense. I think that's something
that I would not be surprised to see anything get
bumped up a week if they feel like it generates
more money for them.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
He's on Twitter at Mike Underscore UVA. We'll circle back
to college sports momentarily, but let's talk about the NBA Finals.
I was shocked at the job that Indiana did to
push that thing to seven, and then the way Tyrese
Haliburton was playing out of the gates before he got injured,
a similar injury to one that you saw with your
Boston Celtics with Jason Tatum. You know, when you think

(47:41):
about I don't remember Tatum's situation exactly, but I know
Haliburton was playing through a bit of an injury, and
of course he was in a Game seven of the
NBA Finals. Was Jason Tatum also nursing an injury at
the time that he had his Achilles deal? Or was
he pretty healthy up until that point, you remember?

Speaker 7 (48:00):
I mean it wasn't to the extent of hal burn
He hit some tightness in his cafe and some tightness
in other areas as well. I mean, certainly, I'm no
doctor here, you know, but when they look at a
lot of these injuries, yeah right, I mean, I'll be street,
but when you look at it, there is certainly a

(48:21):
pattern when there is some type of tightness in the
calf and you try to you try.

Speaker 8 (48:26):
To make sense of it.

Speaker 7 (48:27):
Swanny, because I think, you know, naturally what we've seen,
because I think there's three injuries this postseason when it
came to you know, big name guys Daman and Lillard
also being anem mixed. So it's one of those things
that when you when you're talking about that injury, naturally,
what happens when when you see multiple superstars have the
same injury, Well, people are going to look at It's

(48:48):
just like in football. Man, I don't know if Clemson's
had experiences over the last couple of years, but if
there's a specific positional group or there's the same injury
that happens over and over, naturally you're going to look
at and be like, all right, why is this happening?
And unfortunately, sometimes it's just a coincident. But other times too,

(49:08):
maybe it's just away from a preparation standpoint. I mean,
I saw something say oh, this is why we need
to shorten the season. It's like, what are you talking about.
They've been doing this for years, you know. I mean
if we talk about from a percentage standpoint of how
many times has actually happened, yeah, it's not that high.
I mean, it happens with superstars, and I think that's
certainly what creates the headline to be the way that

(49:30):
they are. But it's just I don't know. I mean,
I don't know if it's a preparation thing. I don't
know if it's maybe maybe it's the flip side of it.
Maybe it's just based on the fact that these players
have been taking more time off and it's the start
and you know, stopping go kind of feeling right. I mean,
I don't know. I don't want to compare it to
cars and pretending like I'm o to Liz.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
Abido over here, my CIFA with us here on the
program on a Tuesday afternoon. All right, So let's circle
back to the world of college baseball and the the
end of the season for Coastal and the championship for LSUE,
their second in three years. Most notably, though, Mike, I know,
in New England baseball is a much bigger sport than

(50:10):
it is in the South. College baseball. Maybe the argument
could be made the South loves it better than pro baseball,
for sure, But when you see an umpire tassa head
coach in the National championship game, even if there are
rules about what you can and can't argue about doesn't
the umpire in that situation have to be the bigger

(50:34):
person and show some restraint and maybe taught the coach down.

Speaker 7 (50:39):
He'd hope, So he would hope.

Speaker 8 (50:41):
So, I mean, I was sharing.

Speaker 7 (50:43):
This with you before we hoped on. My dad's have
been umpiring for god knows over what thirty five years.
He's in high school, he's been college, he's ben semipro,
and naturally, of course.

Speaker 8 (50:53):
He's gonna side with the But I'm like, you're a loser.
You know that, I said, You're as.

Speaker 7 (51:00):
Like, and really, we're going back and forth, and again,
I know umpires are going to protect their own, but
I kept saying to them, I said, well, basically the
same question that you just asked me. It's like, shouldn't
the umpire understand the situation that they're in, knowing the circumstances,
which is, this is Game two of the College World
Series Final.

Speaker 8 (51:22):
You're in the first inning. This guy so the only thing,
because again I try to.

Speaker 7 (51:27):
Go back and forth and have dialogue, he's like, well,
you know, if there was anything that was said maybe
the day before. These guys have a history, so I'm
not justifying it, but it's also throwing another because again,
here's where I stand on it. I think it was
I think it was crap. I do. I think you can't.
You can't take away a moment like that that early on.

(51:50):
And I understand we all know that it goes back
to the Little League. I mean, shoot, I was a
Little league umpire. I'm not saying my straight cente was
any better than what we saw from that guy in
the first inning, but you.

Speaker 8 (52:00):
Have to understand that.

Speaker 7 (52:02):
Yeah, you can't argue bolts and strikes. We understand that.
But at the same time, too, he couldn't have just
said a coach. I'm warning now. I understand they have.

Speaker 8 (52:11):
A rule in place, which I do think is good.
I wish more high school I can't speak.

Speaker 7 (52:14):
To South Carolina, but I hell, this is something then
from having a conversation with my dad, he would love
to see it happen up here, that when a coach
comes out of the dugout, and that's one of the
reasons why it prevents a lot of that.

Speaker 9 (52:27):
So I don't know if that.

Speaker 7 (52:27):
Happens often in South Carolina. It's been many years since
I've covered high school ball. But again, you combined everything
the heat of the moment. I get it. But it's
just like, come on, man, like, just loosen up the rules.
It's almost like here, I think this is a great
example twany right, we've probably have all been there in
some shapeway or form. You're driving, maybe the speed of

(52:48):
limit's twenty five, you're going thirty. You get pulled over,
and the officers just says, hey, slow down.

Speaker 8 (52:54):
They don't give you a ticket.

Speaker 7 (52:56):
Right, give you a warning.

Speaker 8 (52:57):
It's like, you know, okay, it's black and those are what.

Speaker 7 (53:00):
The rules are. Right, But that doesn't always mean that
you have to uh still attack it the same exact way.

Speaker 8 (53:07):
You can still have some gray area. I think that's
the best way to look at it.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Yeah, I mean you just in my in my opinion,
in that moment, given the magnitude of that game, even
if he's already argued, even if you've already warned him,
you bring him over, You let him walk over. He
can be raising all kine he wants, and then you
just look at him and say, listen, coach, this is
the national championship. If you if you do this again,

(53:30):
you're getting you. I'm ringing you up. You're out of
here now, you don't you know? You talk to him
like reasonable, you say, and you don't want to leave
your team without the head coach for a.

Speaker 7 (53:40):
Devil's advocate here, Yeah, let's play devils here. Okay, you're
the head coach of LSU. You're the head coach of LSU.
You know what the rules are, right, And I know
every competitor will say already fan will say, oh a
true competitor wants to beat him at full strength. All right,
that's a load of crap. We all know it. You
know if you can have.

Speaker 8 (53:59):
Take it.

Speaker 7 (54:00):
So if you're the LSU head coach, you know what
the rules are, and you see the coastal head coach
come out, what do you think. Naturally he's gonna do.
He's gonna be like he's supposed to be gone right.
So it's again, I'm just I'm playing both sides of
it here. But again, like I said, you guys know
where I'm man. I just but it would have been
interesting to see what he would have said if he

(54:21):
wouldn't have got ejected. The LSU coach came out and said,
wait a minute, this is what it says in the
rule book here.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
You know.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
The other thing that I really kind of started thinking
about on that front more than anything. Is like when
when you talk about the rules, say you can't argue
balls and strikes, what are we doing?

Speaker 3 (54:40):
Like that's the most consequential thing.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
That's like saying in basketball, well, you you can argue
a lot of stuff, but you can't argue fouls.

Speaker 3 (54:48):
What.

Speaker 7 (54:48):
Yeah, that's the big thing I think, And I think too.
Look you look at that one play. You look at
that one play, the strike that was called right before that,
I know he said, you know he missed three. Was
it a bad Was it a bad call?

Speaker 8 (55:08):
You know?

Speaker 7 (55:08):
The guy's taking off at second per second, catcher gets
up falls practically.

Speaker 8 (55:14):
In the batter's box with left eye. So now here's
something funny.

Speaker 7 (55:20):
Soyeah, I will give you this. Back to my little
league days when I was an umpire, my dad taught
me this. I think I've told you many times. My
dad is just as much as a wise guy as I.
I can't remember how long ago it was he was
umpire in a game and the coach was complaining about.

Speaker 8 (55:40):
Balls and strikes. Okay, near the dugout.

Speaker 7 (55:44):
Next inning comes up, right, my dad puts his mask down,
coaches down into his umpire's stand and he's like play ball.
He's standing right next to the coach and the dugout,
and the coach looks at him and said, what are
you doing? He's like, well, I mean, I've listening to
you all game. It sounds like you have a better
view of the strikestone than I do. I almost gonna

(56:04):
call the game from over here. And the coach just
shut up. You don't have some fun with it?

Speaker 3 (56:10):
Right right? Oh?

Speaker 6 (56:13):
Man?

Speaker 2 (56:13):
Anyway, what a what a run for Coastal Carolina. Unfortunately
it comes to a conclusion and LSU wins a second
championship in three seasons. Mike, you' have with us yere
on the program, Mike. One of the things that people
can get excited about now that they haven't been able
to get excited about for a decade up until last
year's College football twenty twenty six, the video game from

(56:36):
EA Sports Looming. I saw you tweeted a video of
South Carolina's entrance experience. You're younger than me. I grew
up with these games. I missed them for the great
portion of a decade.

Speaker 6 (56:50):
Well I'm older.

Speaker 7 (56:52):
Come on, man, but.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
You you missed out on some formative years of EA Sports.
College Football from twenty fourteen to twenty twenty four How
old are you in twenty fourteen, Mike?

Speaker 8 (57:03):
In twenty fourteen, how old was I?

Speaker 3 (57:06):
Roughly?

Speaker 7 (57:06):
Right now? Right now?

Speaker 8 (57:08):
Roughly? I was like twenty three.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
See, those are formative, Those are formative from twenty three
to thirty three, your formative game playing years for college football, Mike,
that's it's missing a lot of years.

Speaker 7 (57:20):
I just to hGe myself. So you know, men, I
t trying to look young, you know, try to look
hipp you know, keep the airline going right, rocking the
pompadoor out.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
Yeah, oh yeah, all right, So tell me a little
bit about the entrance. Tell me a little bit about
your experience with the game. Did you play last year's version?
And if you didn't, are you getting this year's I was.

Speaker 7 (57:41):
Able, I was able to play on someone else's because
I don't have the council. The last time I had
a PlayStation council got stolen in college, ironically, and TAA
fourteen was in there, so I had to go out
and I uh and I wanted to purchase a new one,
but it never happened. So that's why I've been retired
for so many years. Never mind the fact they just
things of the game. But no, I think I think

(58:03):
more than anything, it's twenty I mean you think back
to when NCAA football and it wasn't even just fourteen, right,
I mean just right, the game modes, you know, the
road to glory and just everything that you were able
to do.

Speaker 8 (58:18):
It's certainly was something that Okay.

Speaker 7 (58:21):
This is this is unique. But then you think about
it and that maybe it's the fact that I grew
up up north and I knew some of the traditions,
but I didn't really know all of them. Then you
see just how passionate these fan bases are about there
the tradition, right.

Speaker 8 (58:37):
Uh, I think it's really neat. I think it's really neat.

Speaker 7 (58:41):
I mean seeing just the response from game Cock fans
about here to this year where last year there were
black towels in the game, Well, that's a good way
to get game Cock.

Speaker 8 (58:50):
FANSBURI why aren't they white towels?

Speaker 7 (58:53):
And that was a white town.

Speaker 8 (58:54):
So like that just stuff.

Speaker 7 (58:57):
And I tried to explain to people up here, because
you know, some people will pay attention to my Twitter
up here.

Speaker 8 (59:01):
God bless them, I tell them, I say, I got.

Speaker 7 (59:03):
Two of them I said, I got the work one
for Rhode Island.

Speaker 8 (59:05):
I said, I got the South Carolina one. Do you
want to look at the.

Speaker 7 (59:08):
South Carolina one?

Speaker 8 (59:09):
Do it at your own risk. But they see this
stuff and they're just like, you know, the people don't
tell me that that's about one of the other stuff.
And you have no idea.

Speaker 7 (59:19):
I said, you have no idea. So that's the beauty
of it, right.

Speaker 8 (59:23):
So, I mean, how many times we talk about it,
and I've said it on your show.

Speaker 7 (59:26):
It's not just the SEC, you know, I would lump
cumpson in that group, certainly because you know, the a
SEC and comparison to say, like a school like Boston College,
I mean, you can't compare the two, right, So, I
mean the traditions that you have in college football, but
especially just the passion from these fan bases when it
comes to football in the South in general, it's special.

(59:47):
So it's really cool to see that they're capturing the
different traditions and things that I'm sure that you know
college football fans of that said school of to be
South Carolina, Compson and wherever the case may be, they
look at it and they were able to tell you
just the.

Speaker 8 (01:00:01):
Smallest detail that's off, And.

Speaker 7 (01:00:03):
I think that just goes back to the fact of
just how obsessed people are in the South about college football,
and that's why I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
Mike, you've again. He's on Twitter at Mike Underscore UVA
Gamecockcentral dot Com. About less than two minutes left, Mike,
so have to be quick. Last week we talked a
little bit about Lenora Sellers and his collegiate value, but
the professional value of Dylan Stewart seems to be on
the rise right now. Man, what do you expect to
see out of him? As he was announced as potentially

(01:00:31):
an early twenty twenty five Heisman Trophy conversation guy, the.

Speaker 7 (01:00:37):
Kid's special, the kids special, There's no other way to
put it, the kids special. And I think the big
thing when you look at this year is going to
be how does he respond now that the spotlight is
on him? And I'm not just talking from a national standpoint.
I'm talking about from a game plan standpoint. Because you
don't have Kyle Knnard, who obviously Defensive Player of the
Year and last year the Gersky Award winner, right, you

(01:00:59):
don't have him on the other side.

Speaker 8 (01:01:01):
On top of that, you're losing over.

Speaker 7 (01:01:02):
Fifteen hundred snaps from the defensive tackle room from a
year ago. And as I've had conversations with many defensive
players this year, especially in the D line, they know
how important the defensive tackles are in terms of being
able to take some of that pressure off and alleviate
some of that pressure when you're on edge.

Speaker 8 (01:01:20):
So I think for Dylan, he's going to probably.

Speaker 7 (01:01:22):
Be double teams a hell of a lot more this year.

Speaker 8 (01:01:25):
He's going to be the focal.

Speaker 7 (01:01:26):
Point when it comes to a defensive standpoint. I wouldn't
be shocked to see teams run away from them. I
wouldn't be shocked to see teams from a quarterback, you know,
rollout situation, trying.

Speaker 8 (01:01:35):
To you know, check out and go to the opposite side.

Speaker 7 (01:01:38):
So how does he go about things in a way
where my old college teammate refer to this, you know,
sometimes I feel like I'm out here and I'm just
a traffic cone. Well, there's gonna be times where you
have to be the traffic cone where you just basically
are just standing there, You're not at the stats. How
does he respond to that? Because if he tries to
do more than his one to eleventh, that's when things

(01:01:58):
go south. That's when the whole deep events can screw up.
So that maturity factor is something that I'm looking at
as well.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
Mike, have a great week.

Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
My man always appreciate you, Bud Big go, Mike Eva, Well,
hit a break, keep a lot Lowdon swan with you
on a Tuesday afternoon.

Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
That was Mike Eva before the break. All right.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
So if you've ever seen one of those videos where
they show like they're running.

Speaker 3 (01:02:24):
All time.

Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
Records wins in college football or whatever, and this guy
like teams and it's tallying up and going out, and
have you ever seen that as like a motion graphic
Almost they're pretty cool to watch, Like you can watch
a team like Clemson kind of emerge, especially during this
Dabo Sweeney run with the level of success that they've had,

(01:02:47):
and you could do it by conference, and there's a
bunch of different things like this out there. It's pretty
neat how they do it. But somebody somehow came up
with one that tracked the that tracked the jell O

(01:03:07):
shots at Rocos. Of course LSU runs away with it,
but you can see a battle between Murray State and
Coastal and then Arkansas makes a little bit of a push,
Coastal makes a late charge. Finally, Arkansas overtakes the racers
of Murray State at about the seven thousand someidd mark.

(01:03:30):
Coastal then continues their drive through the week at the
College rud Series and they end up surpassing Murray State
and eventually surpassing Arkansas before it was all said and done.
But man, this little graphic or this little I don't
even know what you call. It's a motion graphic. It's
pretty neat and so LSU not only when is the

(01:03:52):
College World Series at Roco's Pizza and CANTEENA heck, I
didn't even know that was the name of the place.
Finished second, Arkansas third, Murray State fourth, Oregon State fifth,
Louisville sixth, Arizona seventh, and UCLA eighth. There much easier
to read the board that way with this really cool

(01:04:13):
little graphic that somebody put out or emotion graphic that
they put out where you can actually see the trend
and you can see Coastal because they stuck around for
the next weekend, starting to gain on Murray State and
pass the racers, start to gain on Arkansas and pass
the Razorbacks, and so that was a pretty cool little
thing I ran into over the past twenty four hours over.

Speaker 3 (01:04:37):
On social media.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
Now, we all know that College Game Day Week one,
Texas and Ohio State will be Lee Corso's final salvo,
but what we didn't know is whether or not the
headgear picks would continue, and ESPN did announced that the

(01:05:03):
headgear picks will end with Lee Corso. College Game Day
will no longer do headgear picks after Lee Corso retires,
and so that begs the question of the possibility of
something different or is it just completely off the table,
because I've always thought that the Steve Spurrier visor pick

(01:05:29):
would be spectacular. But what Lee Corso created and his
impact on the game of college football, especially Saturday mornings
from nine until noon, was legendary, and I think it's
incredibly difficult to recreate anything similar to that because it

(01:05:55):
almost it almost has.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
To be natural.

Speaker 2 (01:05:59):
And that's kind of why, And I don't know that
Spurrier would ever want to do it, but it's kind
of the reason that I feel like the thought process
on a guy like Spurrier doing it would fit because
he's synonymous with the visor, and so it would allow

(01:06:21):
the college sports fan to still have a moment, but
it wouldn't be a moment like Corso. And it is
interesting to think about what the rest of the year
on college game day will be like minus Le Corso,
because regardless of your feelings on his minimized impact and

(01:06:47):
the number of segments that he was not a part of,
I think there were a lot of people like me
and even my son who's sixteen. He would often say
if we let's say, you have game day on, but
you weren't really locked in on it. You're doing something else,
you know about eleven thirty, eleven forty ish my so

(01:07:09):
and be like, hey, we gotta go watch We got
to go watch the picks. And I don't think it
was really about watching the picks as much as it
was about watching Corso's pick. I mean what everybody else
said and did, Yeah, that's great, but Lee Corso specifically

(01:07:29):
picking the venue and the game that they were at
by popping on a headgear, whether it's the home team
or the opponent, That's what made that moment. That's what
made those Saturday mornings spectacular. Now, to his credit, Pat

(01:07:53):
McAfee and the field goal that they do with all
the money that they put up, has probably, in the
mind's eye of this generation and maybe even for me,
become the biggest moment on college game day because there

(01:08:14):
if they were given away ten thousand dollars, it'd be
something to watch. But what McAfee has managed to do
is run that number up so high, give away other
people's money, saying, kirkle match it. You know in Herbstreet's
like what, I'm matching one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars.

Speaker 3 (01:08:36):
Like when when things like that happen.

Speaker 2 (01:08:39):
That you might say, I can't imagine Kirk Herbstreet would
give away be willing to give away one hundred and
twenty five thousand dollars for that kick. But let me
tell you something, even if the person makes it, Herbstreet
is going to make more than one hundred and twenty
five thousand dollars because of how much impact that segment has,

(01:09:03):
and he can cash in on that at his next
contract negotiation. Herb Street didn't lose money or won't lose
money from those kicks being made and that money being
wrung up, He's gonna make money. It might not be
on the front end, it'll be on the back end,
But give Pat McAfee credit because a lot of people
didn't like Pat, But that segment is one of the

(01:09:26):
best segments on College Game Day each and every week.
But no more headset picks after this final one at
the Ohio State Texas game to open the season for
ESPN's College Game Day Stay with Us, Lawton swan with
you on a Tuesday afternoon. So last week we kind

(01:09:47):
of got into the Wisconsin suing Miami for tampering thing.
I think I brought it up like right at the
end of the show one day because it just came
across came across my feed. So the Miami Hurricanes took
a kid named Xavier Lucas, who was the number one

(01:10:09):
ranked transfer cornerback according to two four seven Sports from
Wisconsin back in January.

Speaker 3 (01:10:20):
But tampering.

Speaker 2 (01:10:23):
Is a part of college sports today that should not
exist and needs to go away rather quickly. The Big
Ten also stood behind Wisconsin against Miami, saying, quote, the
Big Ten Conference believes that the University of Miami's actions
are irreconcilable with a sustainable college sports framework and is

(01:10:48):
supportive of Wisconsin's efforts.

Speaker 3 (01:10:53):
To preserve.

Speaker 2 (01:10:57):
The Big Ten is aware of the litigation recently five
by the University of Wisconsin against the University of Miami
and is supportive of Wisconsin's position as alleged to the
University of Miami knowingly ignored contractual obligations and disregarded the
principle of competitive equity that is fundamental to college athletics.

(01:11:22):
Now what happens from this, who knows, but Ross Dellinger
called it a quote landmark moment for the sport as
Wisconsin and It's nil collective filed a complaint in state
court against Miami over torneous interference, according to documents obtained

(01:11:43):
by Yahoo Sports. And so I don't know what the
ultimate end albe all of this will be, but I
do think at some point down the line, what you're
going to see is a situation where Miami right would

(01:12:04):
pay Wisconsin a fee like I would not be surprised,
much like you have buyouts for coaches. Is I think
you're gonna end up instead of the transfer portal. It
may very well be a situation where for a few
years at school X, Y, or Z, you're locked in,

(01:12:28):
and if you want to go somewhere else, if somebody
wants to come and get you. They can, but it's
gonna cost them a certain amount. Now, what I would
like to see happen I think, which would make these
situations even more intriguing, would say, if you could put

(01:12:49):
an amount on the player, kind of above and beyond
their nil value, that might allow some of the money
to move around on the sport. Meaning if Miami said, okay,
well we'll give you an extra million to bring Xavier
Lucas to Miami, then all of a sudden, Wisconsin would

(01:13:12):
have twenty one and a half million to spend this year,
and Florida, excise me a Miami would have nineteen point five.
Meaning that you could take some of your earnings and
give them to another school, and that school could then
take that money and invest in itself, which would perhaps

(01:13:33):
advance the reasoning and logic of improving a player's status,
because if you could pay a kid two hundred thousand
dollars a year and turn him into a one point
five million dollar player, and you were allowed to add

(01:13:53):
that money into your cofers and use it to like
you see what I mean, how you could it would
encourage at that point, it would really encourage younger players
being coached up well, so that you could turn a
profit on their value on the open market. If other

(01:14:18):
teams wanted them, and if they desired to leave now
maybe they say no, I want to stay here, coach,
I love this school. That's all well and good, But
this suit alleges that Miami interfered with Wisconsin's relationship with
a student athlete, Lucas, by making impermissible contact with him

(01:14:39):
and engaging in tampering. It's also been reported that Wisconsin
and Lucas agreed to a two year revenue share agreement
that was set to begin in a couple of days
July the first, and that's why Wisconsin refused to enter
Lucas's name into the portal when he requested a transfer.
But he found a way around it withdrawing from class
and enrolling academic at Miami in January anyway, which again

(01:15:03):
goes fundamentally against the grain of everything this is supposed
to be. Like, I want kids to be able to transfer,
but you should have to sit. And South Carolina had
a similar situation where a kid, a kid that was

(01:15:24):
from Louisville I can't remember, ended up going back to Louisville,
and with South Carolina didn't want to let him go
or whatever he just said, Well, forget it. I'm just
out of here. I'm gonna pay my way to Louisville
out of the money that I got from South Carolina.
Basically is how it went down, as I recall, and
you're just like, how is this real life? How is

(01:15:45):
this what college sports has become? So whatever comes next
will set a new precedent for college sports.

Speaker 3 (01:15:58):
Tampering.

Speaker 2 (01:16:00):
It's certainly a hot button issue. The other problem is,
let's say I'm the athlete. You can just talk to
my dad right now, you can get my dad's ear.
And if my dad says, son, I think we're gonna
switch schools, what do you think. Well, it's still tampering.

(01:16:22):
You're not talking to me. But you know, somewhere we
gotta draw the line. At some point, we have to
take back college sports and bring them to the world
of sanity. Because right now, every single story, every single feature,

(01:16:43):
we talk about, the legal action, the players in the portal,
the nil deals. To me, it all takes away from
the sport, and it takes away from your love of
the sport. And when the love of the sport goes away,
so does the support and the money, which makes all

(01:17:05):
of these rulings important for the future in my opinion
of college football. Final segment flip side, Stay with a Hero,
Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred.

Speaker 4 (01:17:18):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture, don't forget history.
Lucky for us at Clemson, the answers to the questions
what have you done for me lately? And what have
you done?

Speaker 3 (01:17:37):
Always are the same.

Speaker 4 (01:17:44):
We win.

Speaker 2 (01:18:31):
Final segment On a Tuesday afternoon, Lawd and Swine Clemson
Sports Talk So talked about Pat McAfee earlier. On Pat
McAfee Show. Today, Aaron Rodgers was asked about if this
was his last season in the NFL. You say, quote,
I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 3 (01:18:50):
This is it.

Speaker 2 (01:18:53):
Look, I know he's a four time m v P.
I know he's a Super Bowl champ, and certainly last
year after the injury that he had at the start
of his career with the New York Jets. I mean
last season he threw for thirty eight hundred almost thirty
nine hundred yards, twenty eight touchdowns, eleven interceptions. I mean

(01:19:17):
he did more last season than I thought he would.
But like what kind of numbers are you expecting from
him this year?

Speaker 3 (01:19:25):
Now?

Speaker 2 (01:19:25):
Pittsburgh added DK Metcalf, which should give him a very
talented and speedy wide receiver. They've got Calvin Austin third,
another decent wide out. Veteran Robert Woods is there. Roman
Wilson's a third year player who could contribute, but maybe

(01:19:49):
not with huge numbers. And I don't know much about
the offensive line. Looking at it, it seems to be
a pretty good mix of veterans and some younger players,
but with Mason Rudolph on the roster and rookie Will
Howard there to provide some depth. As long as Aaron

(01:20:12):
Rodgers is healthy, right, he's gonna get the majority of
these snaps. And from there, you know, what kind of
numbers does he put up ally?

Speaker 3 (01:20:27):
And what would he have to put up?

Speaker 2 (01:20:29):
This might be the bigger question now with him saying quote,
I'm pretty sure this is it in terms of his
last year. What kind of numbers would he have to
put up where he would feel comfortable enough giving it
another go. I think if he could flirt with thirty
eight hundred yards again and lower his interception you know,

(01:20:49):
if he could cut his interceptions down to about seven,
keep his touchdowns about the same, twenty eight, maybe thirty
if you're lucky. You know, if he could flip that
a little bit, you might could make an argument to say, hey, Bud.

Speaker 3 (01:21:05):
Let's squeeze.

Speaker 2 (01:21:06):
Let's squeeze another year out of the old Orange. But
it sounds like and again, I kind of thought his
career was washed up when he first arrived in or
New York with the Jets and had his achilles injury
in the fourth snap of his first game with the

(01:21:29):
New York Jets. But here we are, a couple of
years removed from that, in a pretty good season, not
a great season for the Jets by any means. But
he's the guy that Pittsburgh's now looking to as Russell
Wilson's gone to the New York Giants. And last year
they also had Justin Fields.

Speaker 3 (01:21:50):
I don't remember.

Speaker 2 (01:21:53):
Where Justin Fields landed. I might have to throw that
in the old Google machine and see Justin Fields, huh
landed with the Jets. So little a little spinner rooney there.
So both former Pittsburgh quarterbacks going to New York, Russell
Wilson going to the Giants, Justin Fields landing with the Jets,

(01:22:16):
but for Aaron Rodgers to kind of throw it out
there that this is likely his last season sort of
begins the storyline of the narrative about what this year,
in my opinion, what it looks like for him, and
if he's good enough in his own mind to play

(01:22:37):
for a couple more years. But the phrase quote pretty
sure was the words that he used. Here's that exchange
from earlier today on the Pat McAfee show.

Speaker 10 (01:22:49):
It feels as though since you signed with the Steelers,
it's been you know, I want to say more candid,
but it does feel as other's been a different, you know,
vibe from you. Is it you know, safe to say
that this is your last year playing as someone who
you know wants to savor everything. I would like to
know when it is your last year, just because every

(01:23:10):
time you're running through that tunnel would be incredible just
to say like, hey, let's make sure we really appreciate
what's going on here. Is that something you've thought about?
Is that something that you know for sure? Are you
also just kind of taking it week by a week,
seeing how your body's feeling and seeing how the mind
feels as you go throughout the season.

Speaker 11 (01:23:30):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is it. You know. That's
why we just did a one year deal. Steelers didn't
need to, you know, put in the extra years on
that or anything. So you know, this was really about
finishing with a lot of love and fun and peace
for the career that I've had. I've played twenty freaking year,
you know, like it's been a long, a long run,

(01:23:50):
and I've enjoyed it. And what better place to finish
than in one of the cornerstone franchises of the NFL
with Mike Tomlin and and a great group of leadership
and great guys in the city that you know expects
you to win.

Speaker 3 (01:24:06):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (01:24:07):
That was Aaron Rodgers earlier today on the Pat McAfee show.
We'll see what happens. See what happens. I think if
he has a good year, he could stick around, he says,
just a one year deal for that very reason, because
he's thinking about getting out.

Speaker 3 (01:24:19):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:24:19):
We'll be back tomorrow at four o'clock. Until then, it's
always I'll take care now, Hey go Tigers.