Jonny Athletic, Ben Goessling - Bumper to Bumper 5/17/24 Hour Two

Episode Transcript

(00:17):
That was fun with Sam Mitchell.I think we've pretty much figured out which
former Timberwolves coach not named Flip Saundershe was referring to in that anecdote about
trying to solve the pick and rollbetween Tom Chambers and Kevin Johnson the Phoenix

(00:38):
Suns back in the day and notreally giving the team at halftime much of
a solution. We'll get to thatmore in a minute, but I'm pretty
sure we can find the game exactlywell. You probably have to. I'm
sure there's games I'm guessing over theyears, but that was from a long,

(00:58):
long time go Johnny Athletic on hisway to Denver, Colorado, preparing
for Game seven in Factor. Ithink the Wolves plane was leaving sometime during
this show because I had requested MikeConley today and I think we might have
had a shot at him, butunfortunately, I think the team was leaving
during this period of time. Itwould have been a great day to talk

(01:19):
to to Conley. But we'll getJohnny Athletic now via the Connectico Water Systems
Hotline. Johnny, You're brought tous by who RBC Wealth Management, a
standing new sponsor of the Johnny athleticssegments, and as I said, I
think as recently as yesterday, wevery much appreciate that relationship. I know

(01:40):
you do as well, and hopeit becomes a long standing relationship because as
long as I'm doing a show,You're going to be welcome on it.
So we hope that continues for decadesand decades into the future. When we're
talking about what fourth or fifth ringfor championship for the Minnesota Timberwolves, what
do you think? I think that'sright? And so I mean, in

(02:02):
some ways, RBT smart to startbuy and low and just watch this rocket
chip take off exactly. I thinkvery savvy on their part because it's only
upward from here. Do you buythe theory I've heard advanced today nationally that,
yeah, kudos to the Wolves.Played a hell of a game.

(02:22):
Not going to take anything away fromthem, but human nature being what it
is, Denver knows they've got championshippedigree and they got that game seven at
home in their own back pocket,and maybe that meant they didn't once they
sort of saw the way this onewas going. They did sort of like
packet Yet any truth to that inyour review? You know, I do

(02:46):
think that what we have seen throughoutthis series is that the more desperate team
has had a huge advantage in Gamesone and two. I do think the
Wolves played with more desperation and itshowed in games three, four, five,
it was the Nuggets with more desperation. I think the Wolves relaxed a
little bit with the two and zerocushion and it came back to bite them.

(03:07):
I think there was some of thatin Game six. There was clearly
after the nine to two start whereyou thought, oh my gosh, this
thing is falling apart right now infront of our eyes. You just saw
an increase of intensity of focus ofeverything from the Wolves, and I think
that the Nuggets eventually just succumbed tothat and gave in and said, all

(03:30):
right, let's just save up forGame seven. That said, I still
don't want a short change Minnesota inthis, because that is the kind of
response that you absolutely need in thatsituation. And they met the moment they
were ready for it, and sothey just played harder, they played more

(03:50):
together, they executed better, theydid it all and they made Denver give
up. And so I think likethat that is something that you know,
I don't want to just explain itaway as that, well, the Nuggets
weren't really trying that hard. Idon't think so. I think they were
trying hard to start, and theTimberlves just took it from them. Yeah,
they certainly did on on several levels. And you know, the the

(04:12):
question of of the of the keythree or four developments during the game,
and we kind of all know whatthey are at this point. If you're
again itemizing them or or rating them, you know, in terms of what's
the most important, if it's ifit's greedy to expect you're going to get
all three things happen again, startingobviously with Jaden McDaniels, including Conley running

(04:35):
the offense as well as he didon this occasion, and and and Kat
you know, staying out of foultrouble enough to where he could devote more
of his time as the primary defenderon Joker, even if they threw some
other things at him. What's atthe what's at the top of the list,
in other words, what's non negotiableif they're going to find a way
to actually finish this thing up andoff in Denver's on Sunday. Yeah,

(04:59):
you know, Dan, I dothink that Conley is so important because it
takes some of the burden off ofEdwards and allows him to be more aggressive,
and I think that makes him moredangerous. That said, I still
think I gotta go with Kat.You know, Anthony has said it a
couple of times in these playoffs.When Karl Anthony Towns is not in foul

(05:19):
trouble, they almost always win thegame. And it is clear now through
six games of this series, throughtheir matchups in the regular season, through
last Series A last Playoffs, thatthe Wolf's best chance at making Nicola Jokic
look mortal, not you know,shutting him down, but actually just making

(05:40):
him look like a human being andnot fanos out there is having Karl Anthony
Towns be the first at the pointof attack against Jokic and then having Rudy
help having the double come from fromthe top side from some of the defenders.
But Towns holds his own in thepost against Jokitch better than anyone else,

(06:01):
and so if he on Sunday inGame six picks up three fouls in
the first quarter, that is goingto be just really hard for the Wolves
to overcome. But if he canhang in there and be stout and disciplined
defensively and play as controlled as hedid offensively. Then I really really like

(06:25):
the Wolf's chances. I think you'reone hundred percent nailed it. That's got
that's that's the most non negotiable one. I agree totally. I saw the
stat and I know this is hardto analyze possessions because you're not necessarily on
a guy in entire possession. Thereare some switches, there are some double
teams, whatever. One of theones I saw that I assume is accurate

(06:46):
is that when they're they're basically formost of the possession one on one Townsend
and Joker. Joker was three fornine on field goals, zero for three
from three and also has two turnovers. So if that's close to accurate,
it's what you describe. And Imean, we've now played six games in
this series, and I think it'snow fair to say that in three of

(07:10):
the six, and not surprisingly,the three of the Wolves have one,
they have made the best player inthe world seem not awful, but relatively
ordinary. That's a pretty good percentage. The question is can you get you
know, the one that really mattersin terms of winning the series. That
would be the fourth, but Idon't recall, you know, I'm trying

(07:31):
to go back to the Nuggets runlast season, and I'm sure maybe he
had a couple of stinkers in there, but that's a pretty damn good percentage.
I don't even think Denver had aseven game series last year on the
way to winning it last season.A pretty good percentage on making him look
relatively mortal. Yeah, absolutely,And yeah, I mean that's the discussion
that broke out about the Rudy Gobertversus Jokic thing. You know after Game

(07:57):
five was you know, hey,who no one can shut down Yokic.
No one does it like point tothe person who does, when in reality,
the closest you can get probably iswhat Karl Anthony Towns has been able
to do. And I loved theadjustment that Chris Finch and Mike and Norry
put in and Elson Turner put indefensively last night, was that you know,

(08:22):
a lot of times in Game fivethe Nuggets ran to Gordon Jokic pick
and roll to get a switch.So Jokic was on Rudy one on one,
and he and Jokic can move Rudya little bit easier to his spots
than he can Kat. What happenedwas is that Rudy dropped off of the
pick and roll way back to allowCarl to get underneath the screen and stay

(08:45):
with Jokic. And so the moretime that Kat can stay on Jokic without
following, just the better off itis for this Wolves defense. Now,
obviously it helps when Jamal Murray andMichael Porter Junior terribly. I thought that
they had good looks, but stillyou won by fifty. So even if
they shoot better, you have somesome cushion built in there with the way

(09:07):
you play with Karl on Jokics tomaybe be enough for you in game seven.
Yeah, we talked about that verypoint with with Sam. It's subtle
stuff, but it's fascinating because thenthere's a better chance Cat can stay you
know, as you say, there'sroom for Kat to say, uh,
we ain't switching here, and thenyou're dictating. That's really the little things

(09:28):
that it's all about who ends updictating, right, And if you can
dictate more often, then maybe theydon't get to the to the comfort zone
that they want. To your pointon Murray in the three Wolves victories,
he's I believe a collective thirteen forfifty that includes a four for eighteen and
a four and a three for eighteen. Was the four for one of them

(09:48):
was last night, the other onewas early in the series. So we're
back to that age old question.I mean, is it all defense or
is it? And even last nightin the first half, it looked to
me like Denver did have a lotof open shots. So are we overrating
what was done defensively? Is itactually to a certain extent, just as
much about Denver missing perfectly good shots, the chances are they're gonna hit if

(10:11):
they get those same looks on Sunday, how do we how do we?
You know? What's the balance therebetween bad offense and good defense? Yeah,
I think that it is a balancebecause there were certainly wide open looks
that were missed from Jokic, fromMurray, from Porter, from a lot
of the teams, or a lotof the players on the Nuggets, and
you have to think that some ofthose are gonna fall. I think the

(10:35):
bench, which had been really efficientfor the Nuggets was one for seventeen,
and so they are going to makemore shots, no doubt about it.
In Game seven at home. ButI do think one thing that you can
give the credit to the Wolves onis I do think their physicality, their

(10:56):
pressure does speed up Jamal Murray doesspeed up Michael Porter Junior, so that
even on the open looks, theyfeel like maybe they have to rush it
just a little bit more because theydo have someone that is going to be
closing out on them because they knowthey don't have a whole lot of room
to work and time to waste,and sometimes that just throws the rhythm off

(11:20):
just a little bit, so thateven the open shots are not as easy
as they should be because they're sothey can be very hard to come by.
The other part, again, thatgives credit a little bit to the
Wolves and the defenses. Murray saidafter the game that he had an elbow
injury early in the game that wasbothering him. And what that was is

(11:41):
it came on a cinderblock screen forRudy Gobert and it wasn't dirty. It
was a clean, hard shot thatweighed Jamal Murray out. And that's the
physicality that the Wolves are playing with, and that is the demands that they
put on your body, and thatshook Murray for the rest of the game.
I think now he has two days. We'll see how We'll see how

(12:03):
he recovers, We'll see how thatcap holds up as well. But I
do think that now we're going intoa very long series here, that the
wolves have worn him down a bitand are exploiting some of the injury issues
that he has had. Speaking ofMurray, there are people online who are
trying to make a huge issue ofa press conference moment that I thought got

(12:26):
completely misunderstood where he seems to sayhe being Murray says who in relation to
a let's say JR Ryder. I'vegot him on the brain because we're just
talking about him with sam Mitchell,with Edwards, and I thought that was
much ado about absolutely nothing. Canyou explain what took place there and whether

(12:46):
you think there's any juicy sort ofdissing attempted there on behalf of Murray at
Anthony Edwards. Yeah, Look,I think that that's a lot of projection
that happened because everyone's mad at Murrayfor a game, and understandably he acted
like a child. He should havebeen suspended, didn't work out whatever.

(13:07):
But what happened at the in thepress conference was that Jamal Murray was asked
like what was so effective for AnthonyEdwards defending Jamal Murray, and Murray responded,
who And if you just read thekind of the very disingenuous caption that's
put on the video of some ofthe tweets, it would seem to be

(13:28):
disrespectful as sort of like Jamal Murraysaying, oh, who's Anthony Edwards?
I don't even know who you're talkingabout. But really, ultimately what happened
was is that I don't think thatJamal Murray understood the question exactly. And
so you're saying, who are youtalking about? And Anthony Edwards on on
me? Or was he talking towas the question or talking about Anthony Edwards

(13:50):
on someone else? And so literallyJamal Murray was just asking for clarification on
the by the questioner, and notany kind of a dig at aunt.
As much as as you know aWolves fans and I think even Nuggets fans
want this to be a rival,you know that that just wasn't there in
this particular. No, the infact that when I I when I got

(14:11):
home, I was able to watchI think pretty much the whole pre all
the press conferences were rerun on NBATV, and it sounded me like Murray
was basically saying they they I meanthey they ate our lunch. I mean
that they utterly and completely deserved everythingthey got off of this game. Now,
there was a weird moment where Ithought though he said and it sounded
like, well, no, Edwardswasn't guarding me, which made it didn't

(14:33):
make sense to me unless it's somebodyspecifically. Obviously Edwards was guarding and hounding
him very successfully as well. Andmaybe that's the moment where you could argue
he's trying to be a little tooyou know, shrug off and like that
wasn't like he was bothering me atall. So I it's fun intrigue in
the in the during a long series, but ultimately there really hasn't. It's

(14:54):
maybe this is going to be thegame where it gets edgier because everything is
at stake, But we haven't really, you know, as many of those
edgy kind of playoff moments and staredownsas I thought we might have by this
point. Yeah. No, it'sbeen a pretty respectful series. I think
a lot of that stems from NikolaJokic. Yea, you know, there

(15:16):
was a point where Anthony Edwards wentdown with the tailbone thing and Jokic went
over to check on him. Ijust think that it's very evident that the
Nuggets have a healthy respect and anappropriate fear. As Greg Popovich always said
of the Wolves, they are notdismissing them at all. There's not a
whole lot of trash talk. Therewas a moment after Game four where Anthony

(15:37):
Edwards was kind of clapping at JamalMurray because he felt like maybe there was
a little bit of yapping going onthere, and so there was a little
bit of an edge. I keepwaiting for Jane mcgaan will to do something
because he's kind of the wolves potstir sometimes, but that has not happened.
Everyone has been under control of theiremotion so far. Yeah, like

(15:58):
you said, maybe game seven willbring out a little bit more of that,
but so far has been a veryclean series in terms of player interactions.
All Right, the last question fortoday, and it's one I'm loath
to ask, but but I thinkit's got to be a part of the
conversation. The assumption is that partof what helped the Wolves again last night
was the whistle was a little bitmore. Uh, was more sparing that

(16:22):
that you had a crew that wasnot calling things as tightly for both teams,
but that that, as we've learnedbecause of the Wolves approach, tends
to help Minnesota. So we're backto that same old question. Do you
buy that that that was part ofwhat changed in game six as opposed to
just playing a lot better? Andare we back to we got we got
a monitor who's going to be,you know, refereeing in game seven to

(16:45):
figure out exactly what kind of gameit's going to be. Yeah, I
mean, so this was the samecrew or the same crew chief Mark Davis
in game six that was there inGame two and Game two was absolutely very
physical, prison ball style of playthat certainly suited the Wolves. Did you

(17:06):
think it was that physical last night, Dan? In terms of like overt
It didn't feel like that to mewatching it like I was watching it.
I just thought that it was moreof the Wolve's intensity and the Nuggets kind
of giving in than anything else.Now, the one thing that I heard
someone I can't remember today talking aboutand I agree with is generally knock on

(17:27):
wood. Generally in game seven,they're more physical, right because the official
say we are going to let theplayers decide this game. We are not
going to get in the middle ofit, and so that would again seem
to fa favor the Wolves. Ijust generally hope that's the case, not
for the Wolve's sake, Dan,but I just think that's the way to

(17:48):
officiate these Game sevens, like justget out of the way and let them
go at it. So we'll seeif that's the case. But if there
are complaints about that right now,to me personally, I didn't see a
ton of it in game six,but they better be ready for it in
game seven, because I do thinkthat's generally how it goes in these kind
of contpt Do we know that isit a day before we tend to know

(18:11):
who the crew is or is theday of How does that work? Yeah?
I think it's usually the day before, the night before, and they
might wait to see what happens andif there's another Game seven and how how
all that other shakes out before weget it. But I would imagine the
evening of Saturday or at the verylatest Sunday morning will know who's there,
and of course everyone on both sideswill have conspiracy theories about the rests who

(18:34):
are out to screw them, Andyou know, I don't think anyone's going
to be cheering. Yes, wegot this guy or that guy. Conley
no worse for the wear coming outof this last game. Now he gets
an extra day of rehab as well. Is are all all signs positive that
he came out of that thing notfeeling any worse than when he started it.

(18:55):
Yeah, it did seem like itwent well. Now I thought he
was ated. In watching him,I don't think he moved as well as
certainly he normally does. But creditto him. I mean, he gutted
through it. He got them hugeshots, had five assists as well,
and really just played a very gutty, tough game. But you hit it.
Dan Like. Having an extra dayin between, I think is going

(19:18):
to be huge for him in this. So I would expect that he's going
to be He's gonna be ready togo in game seven. He may not
be one hundred percent, he maybe a little hobbled, but Mike Conley
is smart enough to figure out howto mitigate that stuff, and he did
it in game six, and they'regoing to need him to do it again
in game seven. Safe travels toDenver, Colorado, and we'll obviously be

(19:41):
in touch. Thanks Man. Asalways, we appreciate the extra time.
Can't wait, Dan, thanks alot, Johnny Athletic giving us some bonus
time today. We do have yetto go in this show, Ben Gestling.
We've got Rick Bosch on a PGAcontroversy involving is it your guy Scheffler?
Is that the guy Scottie Scheffler,Scottie Schefler who right now I believe

(20:03):
is in tied for third? Yeah, right, very much so, sEH
exactly. And we'll get to Lavellein the five o'clock hour as well.
Let's come back and give Ben Geslinga chance to discuss his reaction to the
official vikings schedule, unveiling what itmeans and whether there's a good chance we're

(20:25):
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(20:45):
the Island Events Center. On Mayeighteenth. In business, we call it
tomorrow. Hit your tickets today atTI Casino dot com. Well, it
may well still be basketball season intown, but it's all always football season,
as we have learned, the familyof football. That's what it's all
about. For me, not necessarilyin that order in many people's lives.

(21:08):
I wonder, Yeah, I'm I'mguessing in Ben Gesling's existence, that's the
proper order faith family in football orwould it be family faith in football or
is that too close to call?It's faith family fartlecks for running and then
football. Is that correct, Ben? That's exactly right. Yes, I
was going to say faith family infootball is true, but yes, fartlesweek.

(21:30):
Yeah, fartles and football are probablyuh one A one you know,
one A three, A three Athree B. Yeah, okay, I
probably football and fartles just because thefootball pays me more than the fartles thing
does. But yes, I wouldit would be uh faith family football fartles
would be the proper order there.Probably. So if we don't beat the

(21:51):
New York Giants in New York seasonopener, are we going to start the
season zero and seven? It isone that I think when you look at
the schedule, if they are goingto be serious and not have this be
a rebuilding year, and I thinkthey have every intention of being competitive,
and that's certainly how they're going totalk about it. I think this is

(22:15):
one you have to go win becausethe schedule after that, and again this
is May, it's not September,so lots can change, but the schedule
after that game does not look terriblyeasy. The next three games are against
teams that each won a playoff gamelast season, including the defending NFC champions
in the home opener the following week. So yeah, I think if they

(22:37):
want to make any kind of astatement, you have to go win that
one, because then it's forty nineers Texans Packers, and then you go
to London, which can get alittle goofy. They've never lost in London,
but Darren Rodgers all that kind ofstuff. So yeah, I think
this is one when you look atthat early schedule, getting off on a
good foot against the Giants is prettyimportant. I think it's fair to say

(22:57):
when it comes to for whatever it'sor the odds makers in terms of over
under, and also you know thenumber of times their favorite which I think
is three. None of that ultimatelyhas to mean a damn thing, but
it's it's indicative of a team that'sin a year, that's facing a year
in which they're just gonna they're gonnahave to to make organically make their own

(23:21):
momentum right, that they're gonna haveto prove we're back to we're gonna make
the Vikings prove that they can domore. And that's just the way.
I don't think that's any conspiracy.That's just that tends to be the way
it works. And sometimes you doit sometimes and it'll change quickly if you
come out of the gate and youwin four out of the first five when
nobody expects it, right, butit's the kind of year where you're gonna
have to do it all on yourown. Nobody's gonna help you. Yeah,

(23:45):
I think that's exactly right. AndI think a lot of it is
just based on the quarterback. Imean, at this point, everybody makes
a lot of decisions about who's gotequity, who's got you know, kind
of the benefit of the doubt,based on who's a quarterback. And there's
no better example of how quickly youcan change it. Then the team they're
going to play in Week three Houston. Last year draft CJ. Stroud,
everybody thought, well, this isthe the black sheep of the three in

(24:10):
some ways, the ugly duckling,whatever animal metaphor you want to use.
Everybody thought, this is not goingto be the one of the three that
turns out to be the best.He turned out to obviously be far and
away the best of any of thosethree quarterbacks that win in the top four.
Last year. The Texans kind ofrally around him, build the offense
to feature what he does well.They go to the playoffs after picking second

(24:32):
in the draft that year, soit can be done. And I think
if things click at quarterback, theVikings are in a position to do something
at least making the playoffs. Idon't know how much of a run they
go on, but a lot ofit is just the unknown at quarterback.
I think that ends up having theodds makers at this point kind of say
we don't know. Yeah, andagain maybe you know that the's with the

(24:55):
with the people he has around him, offensively, it'll end up being better
than you think. That's that's partof the beauty of how these beautiful mysteries
unfold, right. I mean it'syou think you know in this case,
I don't think. I think wethink. We suspect it's going to be
a struggle, but we're not goingto know. It's one of those deals

(25:15):
we were not going to know untilwe know. And part of it,
too is the context. The assumptionis the division is in a very different
place, right, that the Lionsare for real, the Packers are on
the way back, and the Bearsalmost can't do anything but get better,
even if their QB struggles a littlebit. There's enough skill there now and

(25:37):
enough draft picks that are getting older, enough talent that this is a division
where we were talking about this yesterdaythat there's no built in. Okay,
we've got two against Detroit, We'regoing to win at least one of those,
and maybe a good chance to wintwo that unfortunately those days are over,
yeah, no doubt. I meanyou think about the years where you
could almost assume three or four winsjust looking at the Lions and the Bears.

(26:02):
I mean, how often how longdid the Packers feast on that?
I mean the Aaron Rodgers, I'veowned you all my life. Stuff with
the Bears, it's kind of statisticallytrue, mased on how often he beat
them, and Brett Farva I thinkdid a lot of that in his heyday
with the Packers as well. Certainlythe Vikings have had those runs against the
Lions, probably more so than theBears, but those streaks that you know,
winning in Minneapolis against the Lions orMatt Patricia, you know how much

(26:26):
the Vikings beat the Lions. WhenMatt Patricia became the coach, they used
to kind of struggle with Jim Caldwelland then Matt Patricia takes over and it
turns it out two automatic wins ayear. There's no more of that in
this division, and it's certainly nota year or at least the way it's
set up right now where you figure, okay, nine or ten wins is
going to take it. You're gonnahave to probably win eleven games at least

(26:48):
and do it in a setting whereyou're not going to just say, Okay,
we can pencil in five based onwho we play, and we can
go get the rest and everything.They'll be fine. So we've talked a
lot about, you know, whatthe timetable is in their perfect world for
the QB. If the Vikings doend up because the schedule does look meaty

(27:10):
early, at least on paper.Right now, if they do struggle,
if they're sitting there at zero toseven or let's say two and five or
two and six, whatever, doyou think that kind of record makes it
more or less likely that they wouldthrow JJ McCarthy to the Lions, no
pun intended. I yeah. Thefunny thing is the Lions are in the

(27:30):
middle of that stretch that I thinkis going to be kind of tough.
Right after the buye they go athome against the Lions and then Thursday night
against Sean McVay Kevin O'Connell's old bossin the Rams. So it is interesting
because they, I think at thispoint would say it's not going to be
dependent on that. It's going tobe dependent on when JJ McCarthy is ready
and when we feel like he cantake that job and not look back.

(27:53):
But you know, everybody knows thatplans can change. Everybody's plans are great
until they get punched them out.You know the old Mike Tyson phrase to
you know, more or less,I'm not quitting it a quite forbadam,
but everybody has a plan to takea punch in the mouth. I think
it is a phrase, but youevery you can go in and say,
we're gonna go with Sam Doronald,We're not going to have this timetable rushed
on us at all. But whatwill they do if it doesn't start so

(28:17):
well? I think that is goingto be an interesting thing to watch.
And the other piece of it isif they are in this kind of meat
grinder part of the schedule where it'sthe early games and then you come out
of the buy and it's that Detroit, La Swing and then I think it's
three on the road after that,Like, where is the right spot to
drop him in? Do you saywe're not winning, this makes more sense?

(28:38):
Or do you say we're not winning. This gives us a little more
time to pick our date And maybeit's those home games in December that kind
of that Arizona, Atlanta Chicago stretchin there. Maybe that's kind of more
inviting if it goes that way.But the schedule, the way it sets
up, I do think makes itinteresting because it it doesn't give a terribly

(28:59):
smooth the runway for Sam Darnold.It's either going to be he shows that
he can play and then he stillhas something left or they're going to have
some trouble. I think early on, Yeah, I think I'm with you
with that last item. They weregoing to keep it short. Today I
got another of our You know,pretty much every time you're on text from
someone out of the six to oneto two area code, will you ask
Ben if jj is going to geta Kayajan Jefferson's going to get a contract

(29:22):
before the year starts. He says, I'm scared, Dan. I think
both of us have tried to talkpeople off the ledge on this, but
it's going to probably stay this wayuntil we finally have official public resolution.
Anything new to report there nothing new. I think that's fair. I mean,
I continue to think it gets done. I continue to think it's a
matter of kind of ironing out afew details. They did get close last

(29:47):
year. I mean, I dothink when Cuasio del Flamensa says that,
I do believe that based on thepeople I've talked to. But it's not
done until it's done, and ithas gone on long enough that I think
it is fair to ask the question. I don't know that I would be
sitting there panicking as a Vikings fanat this point. But given the fact
that it's gone as long as ithas, it is fair to start to

(30:07):
say, Okay, when is thisgoing to get done and what's keeping it
from happening. I mean, deadlinestend to spur these things. I would
keep an eye on Mini camp ina couple of weeks. I would keep
an eye on training camp some ofthose times, those timetables of things as
they get into these spots where he'smandatory that you're on the field and it's
kind of awkward if you're missing andall of that stuff. But yeah,

(30:29):
I think it's fair to ask thatquestion. I think it's fair to wonder
that. I still think it getsdone, but the fact that it's taken
this long, I can understand alittle bit of the tension just from people
saying, all right, let's getthis wrapped up and get Justin Jefferson under
a deal to be with JJ McCarthyfor the rest of his prime. We
will a chat next week. Thankyou, sir, as always, all
right, sounds good, Thanks DanBen Gastling. Brought to you by Standard

(30:51):
Heating and Air Conditioning. Don't forgetbefore this show is concluded. We've got
a five point thirty date with Destinywith Lavelle e Neil the third, and
prior to that, probably about fiveseventeen or so, a quick mini hit
with our guy Rick Bosich who's coveringthe PGA in the Greater Louisville, Kentucky

(31:11):
area, and he can give usthe latest lowdown on this Scheffler kerfuffle that
has gotten so much attention after avery bizarre morning and his arrest. So
that and maybe even when we comeback, a chance for GUARDSI to spread
his wings with an extended you wantto extend the top five at five because

(31:32):
we're on that. Oh, that'sright, we got to catch up.
Good love to well, maybe youcan do like the pre to the pre
our in our short segment before weget to the top of the hour.
Whatever works. We're back in aminute here in the fact we can count
on with every Vikings guest related visitor individual, will you know that covers

(32:01):
the Minnesota Vikings. Two questions.One is the JJ contract status. The
other is the Dalton Reisner status.And I didn't ask this time around Ben
Gesling, who just joined us onReisner. My assumption is it's got to
be one of two things. Onethe Vikings in their internal evaluation Arnest High

(32:23):
and Dalton Reisner as a lot ofpeople seem to be or they're literally feeling
confident enough that they're going to waitit out hope that then the price will
go down if there are relatively fewother offers, because I'm assuming if Reisner
to this point had had a greatoffer, he would have taken it,
right, wouldn't you presume that?Yes, so he didn't last year,

(32:46):
he didn't. He kind of waitedit out. That's true. But then
by that same logic, maybe they'resaying, well, we'll wait it out
too. I mean, yeah,there's something here that makes me not any
longer as fascinated as I was aboutthe whole Reisner story. So we'll see
where that goes. I'm a lotmore confident that JJ will be the extension

(33:07):
will be announced than I am anysort of feeling that Reisner is going to
be the UH is going to returnto the club as well. Uh Texter
six to one to two guy.This I'd put under the classification of worrying
about things really not worth obsessing over. And I get that's ironic coming from
me. Joki stood away from thebench the entire fourth quarter of Thursday's game,

(33:30):
no call was made. The pinsin the rule states that players during
the game must be seated except toreact to a player for a table check.
The bench could be warned, givena technical or fine, depending on
severity. I guess I would putthis under the classic clast classification of you
just watched presumably your favorite basketball teamwin by was it forty five whatever the

(33:57):
final was at one point, itwas fifty for one stretch that we laid
out earlier, it was fifty sevento extend the series to a winner take
all, well or when a winneradvance game seven. I just I I
wouldn't get too worked up over it. I did. I did notice that,
and I originally assumed it was Joker'sway of trying to stay attentive.

(34:20):
What I was told was is actuallyhis way that he does some kind of
I don't know if it's weight worthsomething after the game, and it keeps
him looser if he stands, becausehe literally stood like a statue, almost
literally that the entire time after hewas pulled. But I I'm not sure
I would turn this into the league, you know, even if technically it

(34:44):
was a violation I'd say that shipsailed when the league chose not to suspend
Jamal Murray then, and I sawthat's the one that's gonna be my threshold.
I'm not really gonna worry all thatmuch about that. It was interesting
to see, and people are alsoleaning that he was doing that and staring
at the kind of way to takeit all in and go, Okay,

(35:06):
well remember this, that's possible,which maybe I I think that might be
reading too much. Agreed as well, but I'd be grateful that you had
time to worry about the Pinson rexactly last night. Yeah, it's just
that's just I just don't think that'sone that you need to worry about at
this point. But that's just me. I maybe I'm understating the importance.

(35:27):
My wife and left the game earlya little bit. Yeah, i'd say
so. I mean I believe thatmy parents, they were watching the kids,
they had to be up early.Now that doesn't work. If you're
committed, you're committed, you shouldwait to soak in all of the we
soaked, No, not enough,so he soaked. But we left first.
Well, you made it sound likeyou left it like with eight minutes

(35:47):
to go in the third quarter.No, that's when we left game oh
three to go to the loon.Okay, that's very different. So you
left in the fourth quarter. Weleft when when uh uh malone called off?
The basically called off. When whenthe guys that the Nuggets are putting
out there, they're in They're allin the lane. You've never heard of
any of them. They're all likestretching out. Yes, like, oh

(36:09):
man, we got it. Thinkthat would play a long time. I
looked at Jenny and I said,we could probably go. It's late.
My parents had to leave. Like, let's not want though that that moment
when you're running out the clock inthe last possession, the crowds up again.
Everybody's cheering the whole time. Oursection stood the whole game. That's

(36:30):
annoying. It was great. That'stoo much people see behind you. There's
people who need to be able toactually watch the game. Everybody was standing
like that whole end zone basically wasstanding. We basically when Rudy and by
the way, I like the factthat they saved Rudy. I think that
was a very nice touch. Ithink that was intentional. Totally was I
think that was And we haven't reallytalked about it, but I didn't know

(36:50):
the very same thing. He wasthe the rest of the starters had already
been removed, and it was infact, I remember looking and going,
why is Rudy still out there?Doesn't make any sense? And then you
realize it was, Oh no,no, he wants he wants Rudy,
which would indicate they know, they, being the coaches, know that he
has spent two days nationally getting destroyedin some cases, like I said,

(37:14):
needlessly and unfairly and unfairly. ButI don't want to. You know,
we beat that, We've already beatenthat dead horse. But so they I
love this part of the deal.Yeah, I thought that was a nice
touch. I think Rudy enjoyed it. Yep as well. Does this means
he's a prideful guy like he takes? I'm sure he does take. Added
another layer of drama to that moment. As he's walking off, Missus Gobert

(37:35):
hands him they're bouncing baby boar ashe's nearing the score his table. How
coolou that have been? And thenit holds the baby up over his head
to the crowd like here, yeah, exactly here? How good that?
Well? Then ansal does it.We've got babies everywhere? Well yeah,
at least you know you still gotit. We're trying to want to we're

(37:57):
trying to want to chip here.We've got babies coming out June year.
Was that one of the games thedog show him? He was right next
to us for game three. Yeah, there was a lot there. We
stayed until when Ant did the seventhwhich was I loved it, and then
when Ruby got his ovation, thenit was time to go. If I
missed this or why do we dowe not have a cheering section for Anthony
Edwards called the Ant Hill? Whydon't we have something the Ant Hill where

(38:21):
it's all about you remember when Rubiohad his own section and they wore the
sombreros. Spanish culturally appropriated the wrongway that that Spanish tradition of sombreros and
eating tacos, that was bad.Why not the Ant Hill for Ant and
fans, the behive, the AntHill, the whole place is the Ant

(38:43):
Hill. Well that's probably, Imean, how could you discriminate. There's
nineteen thousand people there that Yeah,there's quit watching every single move the guy
makes. There's no question about that, all right? Top five will include
Wolves, twins, and what thehell happened to Scottie Scheffler today