Top 5, Lavelle E Neal III! - Bumper to Bumper 10/31/25 Hour Three

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Just in case you missed it, it's the top five
spot Staggers of the day. Now it's time for Dan
Barrero's Top five and five brought to you by Gutter
Helmet of Minnesota. Never clean your gutters again. Learn more
at gutter Helmet mnt dot com.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Are you catching shade for both password and from Fallness
of late? What's that about? What did I miss? Is
there some kind of password controversy today?

Speaker 3 (00:25):
I mean a couple of weeks ago I had a
bad password performance.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
But I mean that's that's a tough that's a tough job.
I don't I don't rip anybody for that. That's not
an easy position to be, especially when you're when you're
kind of like when you're kind of thrown into it. Yeah,
it's not like something you do every week, right, Yeah, it's.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Once in a blue moon when all kind of wants
whatever the critics are everywhere, you know, Yeah, exactly. I
think this might be history where maybe Kevin Fallance doesn't
want me to start a great point.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Does he have to be careful what he wishes for? Well?

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Time now for the obligatory Kevin Fallness, this Minnesota wild mention.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
So after the loss to the Penguins. Here's a Russo tweet.
The Wild have now won three of their first twelve games.
They are zero two and two on the six game
homestand losers of five in a row, with one win
in their past nine one five and three. They are
now one three and two at home, with no regulation wins,
twenty four goals against in the last five games, and

(01:24):
the Penguins, who they just played, are six to zero
to two in their past eight. This team's in trouble.
It's not looking good. Everything just seems so hard for them.
Every breakout seems like they have to struggle and work
for and everything that the Penguins did was just smooth
and crisp. I mean, if the panic button isn't out now,
I don't know. Because it's hard to dig and climb

(01:45):
in this league, it's a lot easier to just maintain.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
We're in the opposite position right of the position we
started last season in as I think, as I think
you know very well and trying to call up the
specific nugget stat got my attention again today. Last December
early December, this team had a record of eighteen four

(02:09):
and four.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
What's our current record? The current record. Let's see, I
didn't have it in front of me. They're not good.
It's like three and they're.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Just not kidding. Well, but I guess I'm looking for
the number of losses because I believe we already have
more losses. There are three, six and three. Okay, we
had We were eighteen four and four last December six,
so we've already lost a couple more games, and we're
just we haven't even hit. We'll hit in November, obviously tomorrow.
And I think the surest sign of desperation is every

(02:46):
day there's sort of a different theory advanced. Well, we're
too fragile. Well, we're not physical enough. Well, our second
and third line people aren't doing the job, we're not
holding each other. That's what happens when you're running out
of ideas already, it just becomes a different thing every day,
and it's worrisome. Now again, what's the way out of

(03:09):
the box? Win one and then go back the next
game and build on it and win two, and you know,
get to a place where, okay, suddenly they've won six
out of seven. That's really the only way out of it.
It's all the sports cliches that you hear you have
to start with one in a row four Mike yo,
and try to go forward from there. The question is
whether they're capable of it, and how beaten down have

(03:34):
they already become. And you get to that place, then
you're kind of in a very untenable and scary position
for a team that, let's face it, we knew from
the beginning of the season at best did not have
much margin for error. And for me, it's as simple
as this. Everything. Maybe I have been too obsessed with

(03:55):
Jacques Lamire lately, but I honestly believe for me, everything's
going go. Everything goes back to defense, that's goaltending and
the game in front of you. This is not an
explosive team, not on a consistent basis. So then I
go back to, well, if that's if we can't count
on that the way some teams can, then we have

(04:15):
to do the basics incredibly well. And that goes back
to defending our side of the rink, and that clearly
is not happening. Whatever the reason, well, certainly including the
penalty kill, which is one of the worst historically ever. Right,
did I see the percentage for other teams? Is it
sixty eight? Percent or was it sixty five? It was

(04:38):
well over fifty percent so far. I mean, that's not
even close to being sustainable obviously. So that's what I
would like to see. Boys. I don't want you even
thinking about scoring. Don't even think about it. I don't
even cat. I want everything to be about what we
can do to muck the game up in the mo

(05:00):
as conservative fashion possible. Maybe out of inspiration, go back
to look at some Lamaire tapes. I'm not saying we
we we play his style of hockey, but that's how
average teams find a way to stay in it is
they're good enough defensively that all right, we're hanging around.
We're hanging around. We're hanging around, and maybe we can

(05:20):
steal the game. Yesterday it was one one in the
third right there. Yeah, all of a sudden, yeah, and
then all of a sudden it was gone. Uh and
then we ended up I think the last goal was
open bet or wasn't it? They four to one.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
The penalty kill percentage is sixty You guessed the deadline.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
That's unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
That's but then just some stupid like Brodein doesn't box
out a guy right in the Crease Hartman hits a
guy into Gussosen who then can't make a save.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Like just dumb, dumb mistakes from this team.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Uh the Wolves, I mean, they're just trying to tread
water until Aunt gets back. They lose by one point
to the Lakers. That's on Wednesday. They play tomorrow on
the iHeartRadio app Timberwolves Shan they played the Hornets.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
I think that's there correct, Yeah, it isn't Charlotte. The
Wolves are meandering, but you can at least say now
they meandered the last two seasons and still ended up
being in a pretty good position. I don't the Laker
game was should not leave a good taste in anybody's
mouth surrounding the Wolves, and seemingly didn't. You heard a

(06:23):
lot of players say they were frustrated. It's that classic
case of both teams were missing stars. The Lakers were
missing two of theirs, and they still played like we're
gonna we're going to rise above that, We're going to
be engaged from start to finish. The Wolves were engaged
for a short period of time that allowed them to
be in a position it seemed to steal the game.
But as I said yesterday, I think the basketball gods

(06:45):
intervened and said, we're not going to let you steal
this game because you really, over the course of the
game don't deserve it. You were at home, it took
you too long to figure out what you needed to
do to play. And so the goal right now is simple.
The rest of the good teams do this. You see it,
even when your best players out. There is nothing illegal

(07:05):
about still winning a bunch of games, especially when it's
a short stretch. You're not asking this team to be
good for two months without aunt. You're asking them to
be competitive and a factor for a few games. And
I mentioned this on Enough said on TV, I don't
know what time we're gonna be on the night because
it's going to have to be on Fox nine. After
the Game six of the of the World Series, we

(07:29):
all fell in love with Shannon Terrence. Shannon last year
looked like he was ready to emerge. He had that
great energy downhill, the whole bit couldn't be stopped. He's
not off to a very impressive start, and again, one
of the young guys on this team, I believe has
to be part of the solution, and early we're not
seeing it from him. We're not seeing anything good defensively

(07:53):
from him as well. Dillingham's been in and out. But
that's the I think everybody just plugged. Shannon in said, hey,
we saw it last year. He's ready to take the step.
He is not taking the step right now. Completely agree.
There we have it. That's good enough for me. We've
got Lavelle coming up at five thirty five. Questions for him.
Passed those along to us, and we will get to

(08:14):
some interesting texts that have come in before we get
to lovel Stay tuned, probably go to the fan at
two minute junk Chuck.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
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(08:46):
prizes every quarter. Go the details now KFA dot com key.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
Recount Peli Sero gets it. Here's a quote. This is
via Vikings dot com. He was interviewed on the Viking
Studio set to beat Detroit and Detroit. I think would

(09:12):
just be a galvanizing type of thing. It counts the
same relative to being a division game, but it would
just feel like a momentous moment. That's frankly what the
Vikings need. I'm not saying they're gonna do it. I
don't think they will. But sometimes if you define a
momentous moment, I think it's this where there's no logic

(09:34):
to it. You're the inferior team right now in terms
of what you've established to this point. But that's what
would make it galvanizing. If somehow, some way illogically as
it is as it appears to be, you find a
way to do it. You have you play your best
game of the season. The Lions play down a little bit.

(09:56):
That's sort of the position there in. That's kind of
that's the sort of plan your feet kind of a
thing you need. It doesn't make sense right now. It
may not be in them, they may not have it
in them to do it, but that's sometimes if you're
going to change the direction of an entire season which

(10:17):
looks like it's hanging by a thread, that's your only
chance I think to do it is a game like
this on the road division opponent, et cetera, et cetera.
A section item I want to get to before level.
Two federal judges today, there's been a lot of discussion

(10:38):
having to do with the SNAP program and the number
of people who might very quickly find themselves in significant trouble.
Regarding food assistance benefits, two federal judges today said the
Trump administration must use emergency funds to keep paying federal

(10:58):
food assistants benefitsistance benefits, a day before they were set
to be suspended because of the government a shutdown. The
first judge is John McConnell in Rhode Island. He issued
a temporary restraining order during a hearing directing the USDA
to use contingency funds to make payments under the SNAP
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Quote. There is no doubt and

(11:22):
it is beyond argument, that a reparable harm will begin
to occur if it hasn't already occurred, said the judge.
In a related case, Judge Indira Talwane in Massachusetts today
said the move to suspense SNAP benefits was likely unlawful
and as the government was required to use emergency funds
is needed to make payments. The government has argued that
the nearly six billion dollars in contingency funds won't be

(11:45):
enough to cover November benefits. SNAP payments typically cost roughly
eight billion a month. Talwane instructed the government to inform
her if they intended to authorize at least partial payments,
or they would explore using other funding to make full payments.
The two orders may help temporarily alleviate rights. The Wall
Street Journal one looming crisis resulting from the impasse between

(12:10):
Republicans and Democrats on a bill to fund the government
and end the shutdown. Remember, the SNAP program is massive.
It helps forty two million poor and disabled Americans buy food.
Retailers and manufacturers also count on the sales from SNAPS.
Spending on clear how quickly the Trump administration could move
to deploy now the question also, the assumption would be

(12:33):
that the Trump administration would appeal these rulings. I don't
know exactly how that would work.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
But the.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
Judges have ruled here, and we'll see where it kind
of where it goes from here. If that means there
is a reprieve and the money will show up somehow,
some way will the Trump administration abide by the judge's rulings.
They tend to be selective on that. But that's the
latest information on it. On a maybe related note, say
I can find it here. This was a headline New

(13:05):
York Post today. JFK forced to ground all planes due
to wild winds and shutdown as all of NYC's major
airports are in crisis. JFK was forced to ground all
planes today as the Metro areas. Two other major airports
were also snarled by high winds as the ongoing government

(13:26):
shutdown has reduced air traffic control center staffing. So some
of us has to do, apparently with the weather, but
some of us has to do with the inability to
deal with these kinds of weather conditions as easily because
of the shutdown and reduced air traffic staffing as well.
La Guardia Newark airports were also ordered to ground all
planes due to the gusty weather. According to the FAA,

(13:49):
travelers should expect widespread rippled delays and check with the
airline for the latest flight SATs.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
Now.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
This is not unprecedented. Sometimes in these kinds of winds,
these things happen, but it sounds like the situation is
exactly did by not having the usual numbers in the
control towers that might help these airports deal with some challenging,
very challenging conditions. That was a few couple of hours ago.
I don't know. We may even have some people traveling

(14:14):
back from New York who could give us an update
on exactly that. So a couple of stories related to
the shutdown. And you know, like I said, the it
doesn't I don't think there's anything more basic or fundamental
than snap funds in terms of mean this is how

(14:34):
some people are fed. And you'd like to think that
cooler heads would prevail and we find a way for
the two sides to come together at least on that much.
But these to this point, it doesn't appear the Trump
administration is interested in playing ball in that regard. So
we'll keep you posted if we get anything new on that.

(14:57):
Bratchew on Brian kfan text line is open if you
questions for Lavell. At six four six eight six, he wrote,
mister Park wrote about the hockey team earlier in the week.
We might get to a little bit of what he
had to say there, and I'm guessing a little bit

(15:18):
about the Twins managerial decision. We'll see how he feels
about that, Vikings, Lions, maybe a little bit of Gophers
and the general sad condition of the Minnesota sports scene
on the men's side, which we have sadly but I
think necessarily been covering this entire week on the Bumper

(15:41):
Bumper program, where we try to maintain the mantra that
the truth cannot be controversial. Level is next.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
If you want to time to what's happening to your
favorite kfan shows, you can make your voice heard on
the Bradshawn Bryant Kfan text line. So you have to
say by texting your message a six four six eighty
six at six four six standard text message in data spot.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
TV. Question for the officionados out there who have more
might have more details on this, and Blake Moore you
may know something about it. I'm not sure, but I'm
told that ESPN, ABC and Disney just got yanked from
the YouTube TV that there's a I guess contractual battle

(16:25):
that's going on there right now, And of course there's
We're heading to a sports weekend lots of college football
as well. Is this going to be one of those
short lived standoffs or something that lasts a while. But
there I'm assuming now there's a lot of YouTube TV
people who aren't you know, they're not living in nineteen

(16:47):
eighty five. They don't care about what people have done traditionally,
so they may be feeling this and at this moment
frustrated by it. A battle between YouTube TV and ESPN,
ABC and Disney Lavelle. Are you a big YouTube TV subscriber?
Are you affected by this?

Speaker 4 (17:07):
No, I'm still expindity the customer. I'm not sure for
how much longer. I I always talk to think about
kind of just unplugging and go all the card already.
I mean, besides my expinditing account, I've got Paramit. Plus,
I've got Netflix, I've got what I'm saying, I've got
HBO Max, I got Airmizon Prime. I mean, I got
all this stuff, you know, and I'm like, I need

(17:29):
to streamline some of this stuff because you know, the
money's just going out left and right. You know, there's
no question since I gotta I gotta figure out how
to corral some of this in there. But I do
have friends who have YouTube TV, especially one person got
it because the Twins games were put we're availed on
there a few years ago, and so uh he was
watching Twin games via YouTube TV. So I don't know

(17:52):
how you getting the Twins games now or if you
really want to watch the Twins right now if they
were playing. But yeah, I saw the headline. I didn't
read a story. I saw the headline about some sort
of stuff. Was amazing how these things could come out
of nowhere, but it's never communicated to the consumer that
this may be coming down the pike. I still blame
the Twins for not communicating their issues, you know, with

(18:15):
with with their provider a couple of years ago last year,
at least warning them instead all of a sudden I
was finding out at the last second. I thought that
was not fair to their their face here. So hopefully
the sides reach a conclusion and find a deal sooner
than later, while people are you know, without without the

(18:35):
option of watching their favorite sports.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Believe it or not. I want to start with hockey
with you, and I want Blake Moore to get in
on this as well. A text got my attention from
earlier in the show, and I want to get your
reaction novel and yours as well. Blake Moore, This is
from two and eight, guy, is it two and eight?
Let's see, let me double check the area code. Yeah,

(19:00):
we seem to be. That's definitely north. We seem to
be forgetting how much the wild outperformed expectations early last year.
They got out to that super hot start, then barely
hung on to make the playoffs, albeit without Caprice. So
so we have a return to the mean going on here.
For everyone who thought we would become an instant Stanley
Cup contender the first year after the Pereizy suoter contracts

(19:22):
are off, the books aren't really seeing the forest for
the trees. This is when the rebuild starts. People, and
I would say, we're actually ahead of schedule on said rebuild.
It's going to take some time, Lavel, What do you
think is he being too reasonable there? Is he letting
the franchise and the general manager and the team off

(19:43):
the hook too easily? Or is he saying what we
really have to better understand, even if it's frustrating to
hear it.

Speaker 4 (19:51):
Well. I pushed back on his first and assertion that
they overachieved last year because I don't know if he's
over a cheap, but they had they missed caprice Off
for half the season. That missed like thirty games. If
those guys are healthier, that's like one hundred and five
one hundred and seven pointeen, you know, playing great hockey,

(20:13):
you know. So I don't think it was overachievement. I
think they got on a roll and caprice Off was
entering that as seawan and being an elite player, and
Bowdie was stepping up his game, and Marco Rossi had
proved from a year ago. By the way, Rossie is
improving from last year as well right now. So I
don't think it was I don't think it was I

(20:33):
don't want to say I don't think it was over
I don't think we were over ample about what we
saw last year is that they weren't healthy, and when
they were healthy, they're a damn good team until they
got to the postseason. Now his second part, I do think.
I think there's a little bit of a you know,
happy days of here again feeling when the Wild got

(20:53):
out from under Presing and Suit his contract and then
they signed Rossie and then they signed caprice Off. I
think there's a lot of feeling there. But he's kind
of right that we need to take a step back
on this. I wrote we needed to change our expectations.
We shouldn't expect. I think the expectation go to the
season for me was that while we're gonna be one

(21:14):
hundred point team, you're gonna make the playoffs, and damn
it is typing them to win a postseason series. That's
that was my expectations for this club going into the season.
I'm worried about what I saw here. We were worried
about what I'm seeing because they're not playing their game,
and defensively, there's breakdowns. When your coaches talk about you

(21:34):
guys are being tough enough, that's a damning statement. They're
not checking, and when they do check, it's a stick check.
You know, it's not a body. Even John Hines pointed
out that they were in the top six in the
hockey last year and limit these shots in the slot,
and now teams are just firing away down Main Street.
You know that stuff that didn't happen a year ago.

(21:54):
And a lot of same personnel is back. And just
because you know, I know, Nigo's terms out, so he's hurt.
His face offsibilities hurting him on the pelle he killed
and Zuperrello is some potty cold with with the caprice
off and he but he's he's out. That's been hurting.
But man, you're always gonna have injuries. I mean, we
had this conversation with the last couple of weeks about
the NFL. There's always going to be someone broke broke

(22:16):
down in hockey, just like it is in football. So
the ability to improvise and overcome is a challenge that
players individually and the coaching staff passing deal with on
a continuing basis, and right now while they're not doing
that and also being onto the fact that, yeah, they
started the season with six players under twenty four on
the rocks or something like that, and they're breaking in rookies.

(22:39):
They get blue wunters like zeb Bulliam and David Jerisak,
who has been making a boat with the mistakes, especially
Juriscuh Bulliam, you know miss hammlon bucks and passes on
the power play break breaking down that way, he is
still contributing a little bit. You could see the offensive potential.
He also to see that he is a skinny little
dude who's getting most of off the punk time and

(23:00):
time again, and they are just learning how to play
in NHL. So John Hines has had to limit their
ice time. They're down on like playing what fourteen thirteen
minutes a game now while the guys are playing like
twenty minutes. I've noticed that, you know, Bulam wasn't on
the William wasn't on the the power play. The game
I covered against Winnipeg, it was urgon in favor. So

(23:21):
he tried to make some adjustments coming out of the
gate because it has not looked good. But they're trying
to find their game. They're trying to find their identity. Weird.
I think the Bikers are trying to find their identity
as well. We got an identity crisis in down here
with the men's teams, I know. So I just think
there's a lot of issues going on with the Wild now,

(23:43):
and so I disagree with it with his first assertion,
but I do believe that he's right trying to win
and develop right now, and the veteran players aren't doing
enough to win, and the rookies are looking like rookies
and caprice hops making mistakes low the ice. Some people
believe he may be trying to press, trying to make
up for what else is going on in the ice
and is leading the problems that may be possible. But

(24:05):
when the when the coach comes out and says they
have to have a talk with them about making better decisions,
that's not good either. So there's a lot of negative.
There's no one Bluto on this team right now, and
they gotta find la Blake.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
Moore, What do you think?

Speaker 3 (24:18):
I mean, I agree and disagree with the text. I
agree with parts. I do think the returning to a
mean the Wild should be closer to what they were
last year at the beginning of the year than they
are what they are showing right now. I would say
it's not really a mean. I don't think there is
as good as they showed earlier in the year or
earlier last year, but they're closer to that. The problem

(24:41):
with me is the rebuild is well under way, and
it's true that we're playing a lot of young players.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
And I'm all for that.

Speaker 3 (24:47):
My problem is is that a rebuild typically means you
show some people out the door, yeah, and you bring
new people in the door. And one thing we know
with Billy g is he is loyal to his guys
to a fault, to an end. I mean Joann Johansson,
who has been playing well, but I mean he brought
him back on a vet minimum where they probably wouldn't
of It is seeming to be paying off at least slightly.

(25:08):
Goodreau was here for like three years, longer than he
probably should have been. There are guys on this team
and then the coaching staff that he is just loyal to.
And so I don't agree entirely with the rebuild because
eventually you've got to actually build something new, and it
feels like we're running back the same thing for the
most part, and right now it's not good enough.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
But I mean, hopefully they turn it around. It's a
long season. Let's talk football level. I want to talk
both in the college level with the Gophers and the Vikings.
And it was a horrific weekend, as you well know.
In both cases, the poll ad term applies total system failures.
The Vikings were never really in the game against the Chargers.

(25:49):
What do we lose by was it ended up being
thirty seven to ten? We continue to play it. We've
continued to play a quarterback. I don't know what we thought.
We were proving that he's good. We're going to be
tough guy and he wants to play or keep throwing
him out there. He looked like he was going to
die out there. He looked like he was in agonizing pain.
He also didn't look like through much of it that
as the game went on that he was really even

(26:10):
capable of doing anything in a game where it might
might not have mattered if he could offense and defense
completely beaten at the line of scrimmage by Harbaugh's gang.
In the case of the Gophers, you could argue it
was even worse in that at one point in that
ball game, the home standing Iowahawk guys had thirty one

(26:34):
points and the Golden Gophers had one yard of total offense.
That was the comparison thirty one to one points two yards.
So which team? I guess it's an easy question if
I ask you which team has a better chance to recover,
largely because the Gophers are at home playing a very

(26:56):
beatable Michigan State team. Meanwhile, the Vikings have to go
to Detroit to take on the Lions. Do you give
them any chance to pull the upset that they obviously
need if they're going to kind of shock the system
and give people the impression maybe even themselves, the impression
that they can still save this season.

Speaker 4 (27:17):
About the Vikings, Yeah, so what are you doing.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Vikings?

Speaker 4 (27:22):
Yeah, I wouldn't even I wouldn't even take the Vikings
in the points if I was in Vegas the way,
because my big, my big concern is that what the
hell's going on on defense? I think the interior of
the defensive line. Their tackles have not a hard grave
has not been good, and the other guys been not
been much better. And the Chargers were running down their

(27:44):
throats and they they were so chesty in preseason about
how great the defensive tackles looked, and they were able
to trade hairs themselves because they had other guys they
thought they could get the job done. What's not happening,
and they're getting obliterated of the gut, justin Herbert completing
passes through the mill just torch in the middle of

(28:04):
that secondary. I was trying to figure out what's going
on there from a precious standpoint, from a covery standpoint,
from an assignment's standpoint, that's really concerned for Brian Floor's defense.
So they got small corners and the bigger, bigger receivers
can give them problems especially if they got some speed.

(28:25):
I just don't know what's going on in the secondary there.
And if Jim Harbaugh can carve up that defense, what
do you think that the Detroit Lions can do with
this two headed running attack of so Jamiir Gibbs and
David Montgomery, and with the weapons that Jared Golf has
across the board, with his three receivers and Sam Reporter.

(28:46):
That's a tall task for the Vikings that go on
the road and overcome. And they've lost the last five
times they faced the Lions. You know, I was reading
to start tributing today and Ben Guessli mentioned that the
last time they lost five straight was when the Viking
goes back when the Vikings were expansion team. Oh my god,
you know, so that was just that's pretty remarkable. I
don't have any confidence that the Vikings are gonna go

(29:07):
in to win this game. I don't have any confidence
that they're gonna get within was eight a half points.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
And nine half points and a half right now?

Speaker 4 (29:13):
I don't know if they it was an eight and
a half with j J. McCarthy making his third NFL start, right,
third NFL start, and you're asked to come in and
and and manage the offense where the offensive line is
still trying to get hold. I don't know when they're
gonna have their starting center back, if ever T J.
Hockinson's been m I A don't know what you think

(29:35):
about the running game. This is just this is just
too tough of a tax tax for the Vikings to overcome. Uh.
If I was the betman, I would take the line.
I take him the cover man. The Gophers have a
much better chance. Although I noticed the only was a
three and a half play favorite two and a half.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
I didn't check that. We'll double check it. We'll double
check it. I haven't checked the tie.

Speaker 4 (29:59):
I mean that's in the diamond on the Vikers too,
because the golfers too, because the the Michigan State spartans
or anything to write home about. They're on the road
and that's and that's all they're favorite. Buy that's a
little concerning, Yeah, that I would get open eye. They
got to being all three phases. Their probably couldn't kick
the ball the pounds. The best player is a you know,

(30:20):
first year starting quarterback, and when he's not playing well,
we see how horrible the offense is. The offensive line
is significantly worse than it was a year ago, to
the point where his marginalized Darius Taylor, even if he's
healthy or not or not one hundred percent. Pj's got
some issues here and it's not out of the run.
The possibility that Michigan State hangs at l on the

(30:44):
Gopher tomorrow and Bank Stadium, So I think the Vikers
have a much harder path to uh to beat their
opponent this weekend. But we could be back in your
on your show a Monday lamenting another weekend to be
all the football teams get off.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
That would be you don't talk about devastating back to back,
especially if the Gophers can't take care of I think
Michigan State is winless in the conference to this point.
They haven't gotten like blown out of every game. They
did get blown out by the by the Hoosiers most recently,
but they're that's a game you gotta win. Derek Shelton

(31:24):
will be introduced as the new Twins manager. I think Tuesday,
do you are you? Do you subscribe to the theory
that this pick is too safe a managerial choice I
would have been trying.

Speaker 4 (31:37):
With either Shelton or Dames Rolson I think the I
think the question that the Twins struggled with during this process,
if James is ready for his first opportunity to manage,
you know, I I like James resume up to this point, Jyrow,
we all call him jy Row. He's worked with great hitters,
He's worked on good teams. He is a bench coach

(31:58):
under Done Manningly, who I think is one of He's
one of the smartest baseball people I've ever encountered in
my travels as a baseball writer. So he worked under
a brilliant man and Manally who, by the way, is
the bench coach of the Blue Jays in the World
Series tonight trying to uh win Game six and win
the series. So I wouldn't mind James, I think in

(32:19):
the Twins' minds, I'm trying to I'm trying to think
like I think they were, they would take like I
think they they wanted a manager who's got some experience
because he wants them. He wants them to be able
to reach out to some of these kids that are
trying to get over the hump and and try to
get them to be more productive. Royce Lewis has to
be at the top of the list, and then Brooksley

(32:40):
has to be close second, followed by why Waller. So
you I think they just wanted to avoid having the
first time manager Jitters. But man, I will tell you this,
if there was a time to try first time manager,
be right now when you're at hock Bottom. Because there's
no indications that they're gonna add to this roster. I
don't think they're gonna add much to it. There's a

(33:00):
good chance to may trade Joe Ryan during the offseason,
and they're gonna have to, you know, reset their rotation.
They definitely have to build a bullpen because their bullpen
was a play ben ten the second half of the season.
This may have been the right moment to bring in
a new guy, So I could see some I could
see the reason in behind thinking that the Twins played
this one safe. But I do think I do think

(33:21):
Shelton's incredible guy. And believe it or not, ladies and gentlemen,
he was in the worst situation in Pittsburgh are now
because they they've never spent on that team. The Pirates
during COVID throws their payments to the employee pension plan,
which was I think it was the only team that
did that. So they definitely offered on the chief, but
leave they would never in the minds even think about

(33:42):
possibly signing Carl's Korell. You know, at least had Twins
tried that. So you're coming back here, who's familiar gets
a chance three set his career and apply some of
the things he's learned, you know, as a manager, see
if he can put the Twins on the right track.
So I wouldn't mind either one. I kind of wish
Jay Row would have got his first shot here, but
I'm not too upset about something.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
Look, here's I mean, that's part of what you've alluded to.
Part of what worries me here is that the that
one of the reasons it's a safe choice is that
this is a manager who's already accustomed to even worse
payroll conditions. And to that extent, they're going to assume
that he's not going to be a guy who's going
to chafe much about it or complain much about it,

(34:26):
because he's already learned how to deal with it. And
you know, I mentioned on the TV on Enough set
of the TV show, which is going to be on
sometime late tonight on Fox nine after the Game six
of the World Series, which I want to get to
in a minute, that the move strikes me. And again,
this says nothing about his ability as a manager, you know,

(34:46):
because I think most people think he's a competent, very
competent baseball guy. But it feels like a country club move.
I used to call the Wolves the six hundred first
Avenue country Club back in the Michale flip days where
they got kind of caught in the middle, make the
playoffs every year, get knocked out in the first round.
And I felt like they all had been around each

(35:07):
other so long in the country club that they were
reinforcing each other's views and protecting each other. And it
was really needed was a voice from outside of all
of it. And by the way, they brought that voice
in briefly Dwayne Casey and basically did never never get
the country club, never gave him a chance to actually
be the coach that I think he could have been.

Speaker 4 (35:29):
And to me, he got kicked up by that.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
I agree, Well, he got kicked out now was it
was also while we gotta put we gotta change, we
got to put Randy Whitman back as the interim coach
as the country club member for so long, and this
feels country clubish to me. This is a guy they
already know. Chances are he's not going to make a
ruffle a lot, you know, a lot of feathers. He's
not going to make a lot of waves. And you'd

(35:54):
like to see I think somebody that might even be
willing to challenge the front office, mean like open mutiny,
but just with some different ideas. Let's hear from somebody
completely outside all of this, and because maybe we all
need to hear it. And as you say, maybe it's irrelative,
irrelevant if the talent's going to be as limited or

(36:15):
you're going to continue to trade away talent. Maybe we're
spinning our wheels kidding ourselves at any managerial hire matters.
I would just like you say, say, I'll I'd rather
take a chance on a first time guy because they've
got so little to lose at this point.

Speaker 4 (36:30):
Well, I would say this though, if they wanted to know,
if they wanted to get out of the country club comfort,
they should have you know, dug In Dee Fronk Scott
Servis who was from the Seattle Mariners. He actually coaching
manage their playoffs with them. Uh, he had Julia Rodriguez
when he was a rookie and and you know, tore
up the league as a rookie. So he knows how

(36:50):
to deal with young players. And maybe he's a guy
because James Robinson was a coach here for three years,
he kind of he's part of the country club.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
That's true.

Speaker 4 (36:59):
That were doing would just be renewing his membership. Yeah,
maybe he Maybe they could have went that route with Service.
Oh maybe, because I don't know the ins and out
to how all these interviews went at Service talked to
the Twins. Team may have heard about their future and
what their plans were and said, maybe this isn't the
right place to get back into the game.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Man.

Speaker 4 (37:17):
He may decided that too. We don't know that for sure.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yeah, there's a lot of open questions. Are the the
I mentioned the World Series which resumes in Toronto. Everybody
left Toronto for Dad after the eighteen inning, you know,
mini drama. But they've responded very nicely. The Dodgers are
suddenly having difficulty hitting. Are the Dodgers in trouble? Do

(37:39):
you think Toronto's got this series.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
Twos in trouble? Think an eight gal, you know, texting
me after that epic game and said, well, the Dodgers
gonna win the series. Now, Well, one she hates the
Blue Jays because she's a Yankees fan. All right, so
I'm gon get the Yankees fans. We're dancing in the
streets after that after that game. But that all negated
by them beating Otai. And once your slay the dragon,

(38:03):
anything's possible now. Uh. The Blue Jay's ability to work
counts extended fats and get some production with different people,
even the bottom of their order, triggers out a way
to have competitive, professional at bats and it has not
allowed the Dodgers to carve them up as much. And
they they have to go to the bullpen and good

(38:24):
things happening. You penetrate that Dodgers' bullpen. So I think
they got a chance here. If you can be old TONI,
you could you could be Mimotos now ya. Momoto has
been a monster this postseason. He's been outstanding. Uh. His
last started against the Blue Jays in a complete game
against the the Brewers in the n OCS. But this dog,

(38:44):
this blue Jays offense, No, they could swing in and
they can take pro bats and They're not gonna They're
not gonna give into this guy. So if they can
get a decent ounty from Kevin Gosman, who I'm worried
about a little bit going into this game, and they
get a decent out from Gosman, then get to you am.
In the first three innings, they could win this thing

(39:05):
and in the baseball season tonight. And if they don't,
it's gonna be very interesting for geven Game seven, because
I was reading stories this morning about Otani possibly possibly
being used as a closer in the game of a
situation that would be pretty interesting. I'm looking forward to
selling in and watching some ball tonight.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
How last item for you today, Lavo, how do we
explain what I believe is the inexplicable that, in an
era in which I get it, baseball is not the
national pastime the way it once was. That despite that,
the Otani story should be much bigger beyond the you know,

(39:44):
the sort of the relatively closed world of ball guys
and baseball fans. I honestly don't think your average sports
roube appreciates enough exactly what this young man has accomplished
and how pretty much unprecedented his run of pitching and

(40:05):
hitting is I don't feel like it's getting the staying
power and the attention that it deserves. Do you agree,
And if you do, why is that? Do you think?

Speaker 4 (40:16):
I don't know why it is? I do agree with you.
It's kind of fascinating in that and it hasn't been
a lot of as much, maybe because we're in the
World Series. There's so many in the World Series, there's
so many different storylines, there's so many tentacles to what
goes on over a seven game series that's hard to
focus on the one thing. But man, you know, ever
since he came into magic baseball, you know, they've been

(40:37):
trying to have been experiment and there's been a couple
of kids come out of college who were supposed to
be good hears and pitchers and they just couldn't reach
the majors. A Tanya has done it. And there's still
no one in the pipeline. We still don't know who
the next Sotani can be. There's no one that's there.
So what he's doing now, it's not just generational, it's
the entire history of baseball that there's not been a

(40:59):
player like him, And just to you, it makes you
sit in your seat because if he's pitching, you get
to watch him pitch, and you get to watch him hit,
and you it's such a fascinating, fascinating draw here. And
someone was asking me, we'll never see another athlete like
this again, and I said, well, Victor Woodmayama is now

(41:20):
bringing the fall up for the spurd. I want to
see where it's just ded with him. But right now
with Otani and the thing that he's doing, he's gonna
go down is He's gonna go down as the greatest
athletes ever. You can be up there with Hank Carry.
He's gonna be up there with whoever you think is
the greatest NBA player ever regards if it's Jordan, or

(41:42):
if it's or if it's Lebron or wherever. Uh. He's
gonna be up there with whoever you think the great
football Jim Brown or whatever. You know. He's that guy,
He's him. He's on right now. He's actually creating the
Mount Rushboro. Have one faith his because there's no one
else who who is achieving the things the way he's
achieved it.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
No, he's made a mockery of the most recent baseball tradition.
One of those that I do not at all enjoy,
and that is, well, we're losing the game by sixteen runs,
so we're going to save our bullpen, and we're going
to use every day you know players to finish the
game by pitching the last couple of innings. And nobody

(42:23):
expects those everyday players to do anything but maybe just
get an occasional out, maybe give up four runs, but
save the arms. And that reminds us just how absurd
it is to think that in a game that has
the best baseball players in the world, the best hitters

(42:43):
and the best pitchers, that one person could be both
could be great in both categories. It's my on top
of it, as you know, in the era of pitching specialization, right,
that this guy can be a dominant pitcher and still
the best hitter in the ballpark. Not to mention, I'm

(43:04):
told he's probably the fastest Dodger. Somebody wrote this as well,
we're seeing something really special and I I don't think
it's being properly appreciated at all.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
Yeah. And then a couple of years ago I wrote
a calm on the Thames player who they were. I
think he was an occasional starter but mostly a chilly player,
but he was trying to pitch and be a reliever
as well, and that didn't pan out. But that's like
the closest you know, triple A, A triple A guy
just trying to extend his career by being a reliever
in addition to being a position player, not not expected

(43:39):
to be a three hundred hitter, not expected to be
a twenty game winner, be able to strike out two
batters every inning, just to survive as a multi positional player,
not someone who can play on an elite level like
Michael Tani. So we got an Enjoyia plays and tell
me why it lasts. This is all entertainment, and he's

(43:59):
great for baseball. He's wonderful for you know, the latest
and many Japanese players who will come over here and
been able to produce. You know, he's one of one.
But it's still tip of a cap for that country
and what it's contributed to baseball as well, because it's
made this ward a lot smaller and it's main things
more fascinating. Well, I got to believe it or not.

(44:23):
I did the column. I went back and looked at
Twins managers and the transitions, how they've gone and the
sound a common thread, the history of familiarity with these hires.
And two, there's always a first year bump when a
when a new Twins manager comes in. Tom Kelly won
Ratarry his first full season, Guardy won the division title.

(44:44):
Even Maler finished with a winning record after the Twins
and bost ninety games four straight years. So there could
be a little bit of bump with Shelton if he
can get he didn't get a winning record out of
this crew. I think we should just give him a sketching,
you know. And then I'm also we're to go for
a game tomorrow against.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
All Right, Well, good luck on both on the especially
Gophers Michigan State. I hope you can make the deadline,
isn't there isn't this a Sunday deadline like two o'clock.
I think the game's studn't start till two forty.

Speaker 4 (45:15):
Now it's two thirty. I got till seven. Yeah, we'll
get in some way somehow.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
Oh that's not that's more liberal than I expected. Thanks
has always had a great weekend.

Speaker 4 (45:24):
We're out time for that. That's going to change by
the end of the year.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
I'm not surprised. We'll talk next week. Thanks love, thanks
for having me, Lavelle e Neil the third. This gives
us a nice stretch of time to review some fascinating
texts that have come in throughout a very busy program
today on a number of highly controversial subjects. We'll get
to those and more next fan.

Speaker 3 (45:52):
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(46:15):
slash teachers.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
We were chatting earlier about my unscientifically based belief that
people have lost the thread on adjusting in the darkness
to another car coming towards them, which back in the

(46:48):
day obligated said driver who had his bright lights on
or her bright lights on to flick them off so
that the car coming in the other direction is not blinded.
I have found this endless array of examples of people
who either were oblivious or quite frankly didn't care, And

(47:09):
I was trying to figure out what that was all about.
We got a lot of text on that earlier and
some people believing, well, the new led lights, those aren't
the brights, And I'm saying, well, I'm a little more
careful about that because I am aware of that change.
These are where the old fashioned two headlights and the
second one being illuminated indeed does indicate bright lights are on.

(47:31):
And I got a text that I saved from an individual.
This is via the Let's see what area Coda thinks
seven to sixty three, saying, Dan, do you remember the
button on the floorboard for brights? Now, I'm guessing that
phrase means absolutely nothing to you as a youngster.

Speaker 3 (47:56):
Because a button on the floorboards, so you have to
push it with your foot exactly it Once upon a time,
it seems counterintuitive, Well it was. I don't know what's best,
but he's one hundred percent right that once upon a
time that's how you turn the bright lights on.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
You didn't have anything on the console. There was a
button on the left hand side, you know, on the
floor towards the left hand side, that you tapped with
your foot, your left foot, your left foot. Okay, that
allowed you to go to Bright's. And it is an
interesting relic from automotive history that we have somebody in

(48:34):
our audience who's old enough or experienced enough to remember
exactly that, Yeah, once upon a time, that is how.
And it's actually not that bad of an idea because
your foot is in a spot where then you don't
have to mess with the steering wheel, you don't have
to mess with any of the buttons, the directional button,
whatever it might be. But yeah, those were the olden days.

(48:56):
Maybe that act may it made you more conscious of
what you were doing, and there was a more of
a willingness and understanding that, oh, yeah, I got to
hit the button again because somebody's coming from the other direction.
I don't want to blind them. I want to be
respectful of the possibility that other people are coming from
the other direction and it might have difficulties seeing everything

(49:18):
if I blind them with the so called bright lights.
A number of other texts on a number of oh
this is for much earlier. We were talking to Ben
guestling about the Vikings inability to stop the run and
the Lions obviously being one of the best running teams

(49:39):
in football with two runners averaging basically five yards or
more a carry, and I laid out the number of
teams good teams who are among the top teams in
the league when it comes to yardage allowed per game
on the ground, and somebody said, well, that can be
a misleading stat because sometimes what that is indicative of

(50:02):
is that you're ahead. The team you're playing is behind,
so they even if they want to run or they
can't because to get back in the game they have
to throw. There's some truth to that. That can be
the stat. Yardage stats can be a little bit misleading.
But if you look up yards per attempt, which is
a better number, all the teams that we quoted at

(50:27):
being very good near the top of the list also
in terms of yardage, were very good also in yards
per attempt, and that includes I think the Lions are tenth.
Every team we talked about was top ten, Vikings are
I don't even think top twenty in that regard as well.
In fact, let me find the Vikings total, so you

(50:50):
know the every stat every yardage stat can be a
little bit misleading depending on team, But on the other hand,
you could also say, well, if that means one team
is ahead of that means realistically it's a pretty good team.
And we'll all agree. I think your Packers club is
up high against the run. Let me see if I
can find it again. NFL teams yards rushing per attempt allowed.

(51:20):
Let's see what we have here and see what we
come up with. Via teamerankings dot com. Seattle. One of
the teams we cited is number one at three point
three yards per attempt allowed. New England excellent season three
point five. Your club is fourth three point seven. The

(51:43):
Green Bay Packers very very good Vikings. Now they're not horrible,
but they're in the middle of the pack. They're sixteenth
at four point three yards per attempt tied with a
number of teams there. So you know it most of
the teams that we were sighting as being very good

(52:03):
against the rush in terms of yardage. It adds up
a little bit with what they're doing in terms of
yards per attempt as well, so it does sort of
follow the Vikings you could say have done a little
better in terms of yards per attempt than yardage. But
we've seen in certain games, how many games have we
given up two hundred yards? Rushing is a two, three,

(52:23):
four too often, and it's happened against really good runners
like the Atlanta Runner. And then we've we've given it up.
We gave up a bunch of rushing yards this game
most recently, which doesn't bode well against the Detroit Lions.
The bigger stat in terms of the vikings in and
in contrasting this defense today from a year ago is

(52:46):
points per game, right, and last year in terms of yardage,
we weren't great. We were kind of bend but don't break,
but we were top five. I think we either tied
for fifth or were fifth in scoring defense a year ago.
This year we go into Detroit game nineteenth in the
National Football League, we have slipped dramatically in that regard.

(53:08):
And it's the Sean Salisbury opinion that he's still more
bothered by the offense than the defense. And you know,
the argument can be made that this defense has been
worn down by an offense that rarely holds onto the ball,
always loses the time of possession, and it eventually you
break a little bit if you don't feel like you're

(53:29):
getting the help you need, then you're gonna get a
little weary of having such a large burden. And I
don't completely rule that out, but I think we've seen
some enough fundamental breakdowns defensively, even from the start of
the game forward, that to put all this on the
offense is a mistake. What's the best, you know, helper

(53:49):
to a struggling defense. The offense holds onto the ball
longer and keeps the ball away from the other team's offense.
And that has not happened here. We again are the
number of short drives and possessions. We had a bunch
of those again against the Chargers is legendary. And part

(54:10):
of the reason you could say, well, we didn't run
enough or we didn't get this established, is we didn't
have enough plays. The only chance to get anything established
is to have first downs, sustained drives, and you can
then you have a chance to whatever your plan offensively was,
whatever you wanted to put together, you can get to
it because you have enough plays that give you a

(54:32):
chance to get to all aspects of whatever your offensive
game plan might be. We'll pause here, wrap up the program.
Remind you what you missed from earlier in a very
busy show, and what we will also tell you what
we have coming up next here in the fan. It's

(54:55):
the Bumper to Bumper show wrap. A standing array of
guests today, not including notwithstanding Carl Gerschmidt prediction segment at
three point thirty this afternoon. We also had Ben Gestling
at four to thirty to help preview Vikings and Lions,

(55:17):
and of course Leavelle at five thirty tonight. Is it
Vikings X's and O's No, it's got a different name.
To minute warning, two minute warning tonight and then I
don't know what do we have after that? Is it
syndicated program pretty much goes pretty much, Yeah, that's exactly it.
A one hour edition of a Sermons scheduled Sunday, So

(55:37):
Packer preview is seven to eight on Sunday, Yes, seven
to eight Packer preview. Don't miss it. Viker, I should say,
go for football Sunday eight to nine, a one hour
edition of Sermons nine to ten, and then Vikings pregame
will start at ten o'clock on Sunday. Texter Nate writes

(56:00):
the Vikings are twenty eighth in offensive place per game
that's at least a contributing factor to the defensive struggles.
It's an absolute factor. It's a factor on the offense
and defense struggling. Quite frankly, that's sort of self explanatory.
But you got to have you got to be able
to string together drives, and in part because that usually

(56:22):
leads to good things offensively, and also because it does
take some of the pressure off of your defense. That's
been one of the biggest issues for this team sustaining things,
which is why I've said earlier, I hope that the
objective is just holding on to the ball. Doesn't mean
you have to get too conservative, doesn't mean you can
never try to throw over the top. But I just

(56:45):
want to see first downs put together. And you know,
back in training camp when we see this team said
a lot of things that haven't come to fruition. That's
part of what we heard. You know, it's okay to
take the short pass, it's okay to just keep a
drive alive for four more downs, even if we're not
getting thirty two yards in the play. The head coach
really hasn't adhered to any of that. And the other thing,

(57:05):
let's be clear, and this is why we learned the
hard way again to not put so much stock in
what people see in training camp, good or bad. What
did we hear the entire training camp? My god, this
defense that was good last year, they've got a chance
to be historic this year. They're dominating everything in practice,

(57:29):
and we're learning the limitations of what that really in
the end means, because it didn't mean much of anything.
You know, maybe part of the reason the defense dominated
was the offense wasn't very good. And no doubt, again,
the best ally of a good defense is an offense
that keeps the other team's offense off the field, so
it's a factor. But every aspect of this team is

(57:54):
going to have to improve as soon as this Sunday
to knock off the Lions and give the sense that,
like pat Riley says, this club is ready to plant
its feet and to take a stand. And it may
not make sense, it may not be logical, but that's
really the only way I think you change the feeling
about this team and get people to going, wait a minute,

(58:17):
maybe there's something here, Maybe there's something that the Vikings
can indeed build on. I'm as curious as anybody. I
am not optimistic because I think the lions don't care.
They're not here to help. They enjoy beating the crap
out of people, and they're very good at it, and
they're very efficient at it as well. Thanks for watching today,
Thank you indeed for a listing, and good luck tonight.

(58:41):
It's Halloween night, whether or not conducive, but I hope
it works out for it. Be safe, enjoy the candies,
and we'll talk to you on Sunday at nine