Top 5/Lavelle Neal - Bumper to Bumper 7/2/26 Hour Three

Dan and Gaardsy review the Top 5 before Lavelle Neal makes his weekly appearance to talk World Cup, Twins, Wolves and Wild.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oars of the day.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
But 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 m dot com.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Thank you gutter Helmet for your continued support for Guardgie's
Top five at five. Bill Buckner is fortunate the Boston
sports fans as rabbit as they are, not on the
level of Columbian drug lords. That's true. It's a lot
of ball between. There are a bunch you're right, Yeah,
Gary Anderson, that's a that's a great wide left. Yeah,

(00:33):
more localized. You're right. We got a bunch of them here,
don't we. Well, yeah, that's why we have the calendar
of calamity. He could have been used against Glenn Mason,
for example, all those fourth quarter collapses that might not
help us get them for another year. He's used to it.
I'm just thinking about whenever you do a Glenn Mason
cheep shot, I pause like Glenn Mason does when you

(00:54):
do it, you know, because he just sits there and
just stares at you. He doesn't say anything or just
go huh. He doesn't really do anything. So that's kind
of in my New Mason one because that's what I'm
used to him doing. Yeah, that's very very true. And
then the Buckner thing. Remember that was a very good
bit on Curby Your Enthusiasm. There was a whole absolutely

(01:15):
was it one episode or two? It was in New York,
it was, It was very very well done. All Right,
we got Levell in about a half hour. I'm sure
we'll talk plenty of World Cup and other matters, perhaps
a little closer to home, but top five now, Well,
real quick nugget on the World Cup. Richard Ditsch, sports
media reporter. Preliminary numbers for US Bosnia Herzegovina last night.

(01:40):
What do you think it peaked at five to nine
our time? Thirty three million, pretty close. Thirty one point
eighty eight million was the peak. The average twenty four
point four to three. So that's an NFL game basically. Yeah,
but it does remind us. But the power of the
National Football League, for sure? So is it gonna Is

(02:02):
it gonna level off like this? Is there a limit
to the people, the casuals who are gonna get into
this or the further they go, is the number gonna
go steadily up from there? What do we think. You said,
Monday night is the is the Belgium game? Yeah, Monday
night at seven. It's not a not a day game, unfortunately.
I actually wish it were from a scheduling standpoint for me.

(02:22):
But that's Monday night, you said, Yeah, so I think
I think that'll be The question is thirty one gonna
be the peak or the top? I bet you it'll go. Well,
I don't know. You canna get to forty? Probably not.
I don't get to thirty five. Belgium's not a draw.
Spain might be right, France would be well, I don't

(02:42):
even know if that's true, because the hardcore is know
how good France is. Does a casual fan even know
France has a team? Right? But the casual Yeah, that's true.
What does it matter if you're casual? It's just I
just want to be part of the spectacle, no matter
who they're playing. Probably that, yeah, probably that. Yeah. I
actually I thought it actually might be a little bit
a little bit higher. Thirty one is pretty big. That's
pretty big, yeah, middle of the summer. It's true. You

(03:06):
always loved when you'd be watching Bally or fan Duel
or whatever it was. This last year and Kevin gorg
would welcome you back to Grand Casino Arena. Our guy KG, who,
by the way, my last fifty text with Kevin gorg
or just me and him sending Sophie Cunningham pictures back
and forth because he likes it as much as I do. Yes,

(03:28):
And there's Midzy, there's Jake Middleton once he got no
shirt tarps are off. You loved that. That was one
of your favorite bits. Well it's over. He's gonna have
to Calgary. Whoever the Kevin Gorgon Calgary is now is
going to get to see Midzi with his shirt off.
So it wasn't It wasn't without his shirt off. Ever, No,
and I always said he should. I think that only

(03:49):
would seem fair. And now it's he'll never get that chance,
at least with the wild something dramatic changes. It's it's disappointing.
He did not think it was as a cool idea
as you and I did, because I did run a
buying So why do you just do it one time?
Take your shirt? It would be good television. Nobody in
the right mind should rip it. Nobody's gonna know one.
You know, they didn't worry about whether you're sculpted or

(04:11):
not so good. Yeah, it'd be tremendous. All of a sudden,
they cut and Kg's got his shirt off. Next to Midzy,
Jake Middleton, also known for huge crucial clutch mistakes in
the postseason Wow, is on his way to Calgary for veterans. Blake, Well,
it's also yeah, it's fact versus fiction. I'm not saying
he's a bad guy. I know he was good in

(04:32):
the room. Everybody liked him. We had him on the
Green Carpet Show a couple of times. Midzy it was great,
but a lot of a lot of high profile mistakes.
They're speaking of high profile mistakes. Blake Coleman and Ali
Mada are coming from Calgary to the Minnesota Wild. The
Wild also signed a former KHL star, maxim shop it Off,
to a one year, one point six million dollar contract.

(04:55):
As Russo wrote and told you about half an hour ago,
Mada is Middleton's replace on the blue line. They also
believe that Blake Coleman can play second line left wing
and shot it off. I need Adam Sandler to say
that has top six upside. They also believe that they've
got more flexibility or the remaining flexibility to go make

(05:17):
the Lavelle e Neil the third big splash move, which
could still potentially include Bill and markin. It sounds like
the Wild believe their best strategy is to weigh out
competitors and that in some cases some of those competitors

(05:39):
might be might be drying up. Now, I don't know
if that's what he believes or what they are telling
him that they believe. In other words, don't panic, wait
the thing out and we'll get there. It's clear he
also believes Russo that if it takes, if it takes
the goaltender, he'll trade thet even if it's not something

(06:03):
allegedly Detroit wants, maybe a three team deal, that kind
of thing. It almost feels like we've got a complete
shift on that that Gus Lison's coming along well enough,
and that if you have to find somebody to fill
in early, you'll do it. So, you know, I don't know,
it's it's gonna be interesting to see. I mean, I

(06:25):
still do, like Louis does, worry about some of the
production that we've lost, and we lost some significant production
with the Is he thirty eight or thirty nine, I
can't remember. Zukerrella. I think he's thirty eight, maybe about
to be ety nine, and so I you know again,
I I'm just telling you, like I said yesterday, the

(06:46):
hockey people told me he's vital. Now again, he's not
going to play till he's fifty. I don't think it's
out of Lebron James situation. So sooner later you got
to get off of that. But have you replaced or
can you replace that production? Which is a set prit issue,
But it sounds like we're saying we're willing to hang
in and in the end we have a hunch we
might be the last team standing on Larkin, So we'll see. Hey,

(07:08):
that happens. Sometimes I just wait everybody out. Olivia Miles
has been named a starter for the WNBA All Star Game,
and she's not alone with the Minnesota Lynks and the
FISA Colliers starter. No, she hasn't played. She could be.
She was playing. Natasha Howard, who we had years ago,

(07:28):
came back and now her career is reinvigorating because of
the links. Because of Olivia Miles earns her third All
Star nod and her first since twenty twenty two. It's
the fifth time in franchise history, the multiple Links players
were named All Star starters, the first since twenty eighteen
that was Sylvia Fowls and Maya Moore. But the spectacle

(07:49):
continues to add to her impressive list of accomplishments. Yeah,
that's I don't think anyone can argue with it. She
absolutely has earned that distinction already, And as I mentioned,
I don't think she was looking forward to not having
the Fisa Kllier with her from the start. But that's

(08:10):
the story, right, It's not just what she has been
able to show at the position. It's as much as anything,
what she's been able to show despite not having the
chance to get the ball to one of the best
players in the league. Right. And I think most people,
I'm guessing even members of this front office in the

(08:32):
head coach, thought that the first half of this season
was just to try to stay above water, just hang
in there until we put the band back together and
get the whole thing going. And we're seeing something far
more dramatic than that, and it's largely been because of
her and the only questions, as I said, the rest

(08:56):
of the way is durability, yep, staying healthy, which I
think she has has she missed any games yet this year,
Not on the top of my head on that. And
and also just teams obviously loading up, you know, finding
more and more ways to try to game plan her.
I mean, she's got to be a rookie they're already

(09:17):
game planning for which is in itself kind of astonishing.
But it's all been good and I'm looking forward to
this thing the rest of the way because, as I said,
she has become one of those spectacles no pun intended,
or maybe pun intended, that is it in the in
in we say a spectacle, usually say that a player
makes a spectable of himself. We're actually ripping them. In

(09:38):
this case, it's the opposite. And where you don't you know,
you feel a little bit disappointed if you forgot a
game or you didn't have access to a game. I
didn't have to be working that day to ubi because
she's fun to watch and effective, not just flash. It's
got to lead to baskets and that's largely what has
taken place thus far. Links back in action to tomorrow

(10:00):
night against the New York Liberty Dorka Uhas and the Fista.
Collier will not play. The official game status report came
out about an hour ago. They are listed as out.
I should say Collier is out, Jujas is questionable. But
they both returned to practice this week. We talked about
it during the Top five at five. So the band
is getting back together, the team is getting healthier. Where

(10:21):
did I want to go next? I just had something
pulled up. Oh, this is for you. You don't have
to worry. Slow moo. Kyle Anderson has agreed to a
one year, three point nine million dollar deal with the
Toronto Raptors. This is a shams bomb from about an
hour ago. Anderson will enter his thirteenth season, providing depth
to the Raptors roster. Reunites with his former San Antonio

(10:43):
Davy teammate Kawhi Leonards. So so another babysitter gone. M Conley.
Mike Conley already gone to Boston. Correct, yep, unless he
tries to get out of the deal. Somebody did say today,
if you are running the Celtics, who is that the
guy used to beler coach Brad Stevens. Brad Stevens. If
you're Brad Stevens and you see me, I gotta believe

(11:06):
you anticipated some of the negative reaction in Boston. But
apparently it's been beyond what anybody could have even predicted.
The savagery. Right, Well, they're bitter with the ownership too.
Have you caught that, Yes, I have a private equity, guys,
That's what I wonder. That's what I figured could be
the only explanation. Even though somebody said, well the contract
their inheriting is a bad one. I think it goes

(11:26):
on for two more years. I think it's one year
on the in the case of not Jeff George, Paul George,
and then it's a player option for the year after
that you'll pick which. Yeah, he obviously is gonna say no,
that's over fifty million. As I recall it, what if
you're out, you still have an out? What if the

(11:47):
out is I heard your guy I Sola talk about
this today. You just make sure that the Celtics doctor
Burns flunk some on the physical, they bring Paul George in,
they go, this knee is not workable. Deals off. On
the other hand, if you do that, then you have

(12:10):
the added issue of having to come back to Jalen
and say, Jalen, right, we're good, right, come on, man,
you know, just kind of kidding around a little bit,
no hard feelings, right, The problem is, yeah, exactly, they
already sent a letter of yes goodbye to Boston and
they don't have anywhere else. They don't have anybody else
to trade him for. I think that was kind of

(12:31):
the concession after they didn't get Johnny's astonishing but apparently true.
The contract was pretty crazy. A lot of it was
I did talk to Johnny about this and others, and
I think I've mentioned this elsewhere where this has been written.
Did we not talk about this on air the Celtics
when the Wolves came calling the Celtics that several people

(12:52):
have reported said here's what we want. We want Rudy,
we want Randall might have even named another player, and
we want like three number ones. Yes, yeah, your mind.
And so what happens sometimes is maybe you say, well,
that's where we'll start to give people the impression we're

(13:13):
not gonna get them away. But then the market, it
almost felt like the market kind of dried up, right,
and obviously that was their best offer, their best, you know,
the best return, which is dismal in the history of
accomplished great players. It's one of the not even thirty
years old or about the turn thirty. It's one of
the worst ever. Go ahead Fan has your chance to

(13:35):
win twenty five hundred dollars. Just enter the keyword trip
at kfan dot com part of our two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars cash contest this week kfan dot com.
Make the keyword trip texters, we'll get a couple, get
to a couple of those, and then we will prepare
for I'm assuming some soccer talk, maybe I don't know,

(13:56):
some hockey talk, maybe some basketball talk, who knows what else.
Lavell at five thirty, This is bumper to boomer with
Dan Barrero at a fan all right, we are indeed back.

(14:52):
As I mentioned, Lavelle will join a day early, with
the best of scheduled for tomorrow. A couple some people
are saying they think I misread the Herschel text. The
texture was not necessarily saying be careful what you wish
for on Herschel they miss meant the hubbub at the

(15:16):
time was considered shocking because no one knew. Everybody knew
that the Vikings did want I had a running back,
but I don't think there'd been any advanced warning that
Herschel might be a possibility. So if that's where the
texture was going, I do apologize for that in assuming
he was trying to make a different point. Who knows,
it's difficult to say. Sometimes that's part of the danger

(15:38):
of the text line. I've learned over the last week
that hardcore soccer fans are bigger gatekeepers than old school
ball guys. Imagine the Bob Slid community getting this mad
during the Winter Olympics because once every four years people
actually pay attention. Think about it. That's from flip uh, yeah,

(16:01):
that's still that's still something the soccer community needs to
work on. And it's a problem. It's smaller, it's a
smaller problem than it used to be there, I hope.
So I think it is. I hope so because it's
I think it is, because I also think there's more.
I think they feel a more earnest effort from a
lot of other people as well, the casuals coming in,
and so they're foolish, and I think they're even starting

(16:23):
to lecture their own community about we're we're a wide
ten here. We're letting everybody in smart, We're not doing this.
I see that. I see that a lot on social
which unfortunately doesn't seem to fly in the w NBA community. Nope,
it's it's it's there's similarity there. Yeah, we like our bubble,
although we like the money too that that Caitlyn helped

(16:44):
bring in. This is from one of the k Fallness
Burner accounts. Billy G's meatballs are slow cooking in the
crock pot. Be patient for an emergency beyond the pontoon
this summer, beyond the ponte, the pontoon. That would be
good play. Yeah, there's a Okay, there's a philosophical question.
We already said we would stream yard in. Yeah, we already.

(17:10):
But what if it's Dylan Larkin. I don't think, well,
it's been built into something. I don't think it's I
don't know. I I lean no. But then the problem
with leaning no is then that's what gets the hockey
community enraged. However, for the basketball guy, Yeah, however I
think are out on this one. Is even though you're

(17:32):
the hockey ambassador, I think there are better people to
stream yard in in our stable to talk about this.
That's probably true. You know what I mean to get
the real reaction. Yeah, I guess what I'm saying is
I hope Tennybee doesn't have plans. I hope in town
and available. I know he mentioned maybe value. Yeah, that's true.
You might have to cancel valley fairs. Maybe it's up
to him to stream here to worry about it. Yeah,

(17:54):
that's what I'm saying. Maybe we did it, and we
weren't exactly Parisian suitor experts, but we still did it.
We bought people in too, and that was the other
thing we did bring. I think we had people on that.
We had everybody, Mikoletty, we had everybody. That's true. Yeah.
By the way, Olivia Miles numbers she's played in nineteen games.

(18:15):
How many have we checked to see how many games
the links have played. I think it's nineteen. They're fifteen
and four'll double check. I think she's played what's that
they're fifteen and four? Fifteen and four? I think said
nineteen and four. No, no, no, go await even that that
even you have failed miserably on that matter. I double checked.
Here they are fifteen and four. She's averaging thirty point
eight minutes a game, averaging eighteen point seven points, five rebounds,

(18:41):
six assists, one and a half steals. And here's the
number that is the most impressive to me. From the
field fifty two that's pretty good. That's pretty good right
there for a guard. Remember she's a guard. Yeah, it's
a perimeter player. Fifteen. Again, she does get to the
basket a lot, but that counts. That's the point. Fifty

(19:04):
two percent from the floor, gets the free throw line
five times a night. I'd like to see that go
up a little. It probably will, but that's a very
good start and free throw line hit shooting eighty nine
point five percent from the I mean, look at that number.
Those numbers. Fifty two percent field goals, ninety percent free throws.
I mean, that's that's a big time right there. Man.

(19:26):
You get that three point shooting to forty and fifty
triumphant that everybody looks for. It's exactly correct. That's very
very true, Davy. A couple of their texts here are
thoughts on Kyle Anderson signing with the Raptors. I feel
like you could have been so much needed port depth

(19:46):
of the guy knows the organization. I just think we're
at diminishing returns with Kyle at this point. Now, I
will admit I maybe I'm not objective about Conley. I
would have liked him back, but I actually wiped him
back as much. I think he does. Might he still
might have a little ball in him as a backup

(20:07):
who comes in an emergency situation or foul, you know,
problem situation. But I was thinking more as the adult
on the bench. You could say Kyle can do some
of that. I don't know. I think the ship is.
I think it's time on Kyle to be honest with you. Well,
and there also somebody said this, and I think it's
smart in a way. They're eliminating a lot of the

(20:29):
safe the Finch safety nets. That's also a good point, Yeah,
because we know Finch loves Kyle Anderson, and Kyle Anderson
again two years ago, twenty twenty four, massive reason they
were in the Western Conference finals was a huge, huge
factor just in how he did it and you know,
moving guys around and just being you know, after he
and Rudy kind of got their dust up all settled,

(20:51):
you know, a couple of years after. But Conley's not
here anymore. I kind of what I like about all
of this is that it is when we talked about
this maybe four or five days ago, it's time. It's time.
It's time for Zuccarello to lea, even for Caprisos to
do it on his own. It's time, it is it is.
You don't need is it? Dumbo have to be on

(21:12):
the move the movie Dumbo. He thinks it's the feather. Yeah,
he thinks the feather is the reason he can fly.
And you got to take the feather away and you
can fly on your own, hopefully soon. Yeah. Go, I
I tell me if you if you can see anything
from this text from my daughter that indicates she's my

(21:32):
daughter so much for Kyle Anderson, will miss you, will
really miss you. Oh my god, it's unbelievable. She can't
make it up. She wants to do she I mean,
she's on the lebron thing And I go, yeah, you
just don't get too excited because I think it's still
very much a long shot. She had to be pumped

(21:53):
about Io's extension. Yeah, that's very much show. Yeah, very much.
So well, really miss it. It's sad. Also, hey, regarding
the supersonic thing coming back, Yeah, this is from nine
to five to two guys, my company is designing the
escape slides for those planes. We also do a lot
of Airbus and Boeing boom seems legit and it's likely happening.

(22:18):
Maybe some inside information there. Well with respect to that, Texter,
I don't want to know anything about those slides. I
hope I never have to hear. Yeah, I'm sure your
slides are great. Yeah, they better be because that worries me. Yeah,
that's somewhat true. Before Miles came in and took off,
this was supposed to be a gap year for the Links.

(22:38):
I love the way these women have come out and played,
and probably big props to Cheryl Reeve and all of that. Well, yeah,
because Reeve again, I think everybody kind of wondered because
she can be tough on point guards. So there's that
issue of she wants to give freedom, but she also

(22:59):
has structure, and so that was I think it'd be
the open question. Can she how much room? How much
license was she going to give a player who likes
to play free? But I think Miles has made it
easy in many ways because she's got such good visions.
She's basically making other players look better, exactly what I

(23:21):
think the Wolves hope LaMelo Ball can do, right, So
that's got to make it easier to Okay, it's gonna
be occasionally a dumb turnover. You know it's gonna be
a yep, maybe a shot that's a little quick or
a little a little silly whatever. But if you're doing
the risk reward thing, it's not close. And she obviously
has seen that from the beginning. Lavelle e Neil the
third is coming up much to get to with him.

(23:44):
You have questions. The Bradshawn Bryan kfan text line is
always willing to take your concerns and questions. Six four
six eighty six. You're listening to Barrera on the fan.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
Some people say soccer culture doesn't exist in the US.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
You Croatia is coming up soon, right, is it? Six
o'clock yards on Central and then and that's the round
of thirty two and then the third game, which is
a late start. I think nine Central Switzerland, Algeria. Spain
already destroyed Austria three zero to advance, and so Spain

(24:29):
will play the winner of Portugal and Croatia. So in
the round of sixteen. By the way, we're holding off
on Lavell. He needs a little extra time and he
might be crafting, so he's going to join us next segment.
We hope fourth of July noon, actually probably eleventh Central Canada, Morocco.

(24:56):
Later that day Paraguay, France, and then Sunday, July five
in the round of sixteen Brazil, Norway, Mexico, England. Then Monday,

(25:17):
as we said, Spain versus to be determined, and Monday night,
USA takes on Belgium. By the way, in the case
of SlowMo, it's not a bad place to land. Toronto.
They they they're they're taking a bit of a risk
with Kawhi. But Kawhi again last year, by his standards,

(25:42):
was healthier than usual, and by all accounts, I didn't
really see much of the Clippers, but the people I
trust basically said he was a top five player last year.
He was that good. They got another, They've got some
other nice pieces. So for slow Ma it might be
a chance to be on a team that could go someplace.
I'm not saying win the whole thing, but it should

(26:02):
work out pretty well for him. Good teams have a
spot for SloMo. Yeah, he's a good player for a
good team because he doesn't you don't need a ton
from him and go in there and help kind of
keep things moving if you have some injuries. Speaking of depth,
Tyas Jones Denver Nuggets. Wasn't he? He was with them?
He was actually played pretty well against US. I thought,
I can't believe. This is how paranoid I am. I'm

(26:26):
convinced if David Adaman would have left him in in
game six. Yeah, you've said that, you convinced just because
he was cooking us there for a stretch and things
got a little tight and a little tense, and they
could because he was driving and kicking and they were
hitting shots. Yeah, and then we got smart and we
just decided to let him try to finish at the
rim instead of helping off of them. But man, I

(26:50):
still think he's got value. I do. The slides get
used five to ten times a year and almost always
on the ground with almost no injuries. But they are
also capable of being used as a life raft. Good
with these slides, that's important. I appreciate it. You know
you were kind of concerned about that. Does that make
you feel any better about the whole concept. I'm glad
that they well, like you said, they only get used
five to ten times a year. That's when you think

(27:12):
about the thousands of flights that go out year. That's
good percentage. Did you see this headline? WNBA players ranked
Caitlin Clark Shark shockingly low in All Star voting. Again,
the Caitlin Clark snubs have reached a fever pitch. Get
I get it. One year after fellow WNBA players ranked

(27:33):
Clark ninth among guards in All Star voting, she fell
to eleventh among her peers in balloting released today. The
twenty four year old fever star was still voted in
as a starter for the July twenty five game at
Chicago's United Center, as she was ranked second among fans
and third by the media, third by the media eleven.

(27:57):
Now again she's been injured again. That hea, he's not
doing great. I don't have any problem that she's not
at the top of the list necessarily, But what do
we do eleventh? The players?

Speaker 2 (28:07):
We do?

Speaker 1 (28:07):
It's the same story. I think I'm honestly rooting. I
know Live Golf is failing. I'm hoping the pive whatever
that the piffs, whatever that fund is that gave all
the money. Right, I hope they just started Women's Basketball
League and I hope Caitlin Clark goes in place for it.
So here's the way it works. In the WNBA All
Star Game fan votes count as fifty percent. Players and

(28:29):
media split a twenty five percent share of the ballot.
That doesn't make sense. They split They must meet twenty
five percent each. You must yeah otherwise, or do you
only got seventy five percent? We can do that math.
Even though we can do that math. So she's averaging
career highs in points twenty one point two and field

(28:50):
goal percentage forty three, so seven percentage points behind our gal. Funny? Yeah? Uh?
Did you also happen to see the commentary from so
I can find it Courtney Williams. Was this from Dix yesterday?

(29:13):
I don't know, but this is the quote that got
my attention. Actually was passed along to us by a
friend of the program, and I don't know that I
know the context, but here's what she said. Money makes
these women go. That's all I'm going to say. I
was kind of wondering how these NBA dudes was doing it,

(29:36):
but now I completely understand. So what is she talking about?
The implication I think that I got out of it
was she's saying, now that she's making more money, maybe it,
you know, it draws more attention for the extracurriculars. Extracurriculars
by the way it does. That's how I that's how

(29:58):
I took it interesting, which I found to me. She's like, hey, yeah, exactly,
it interesting. Why should it be any different. It's not illegal.
I'm sure it's not. But it's classic Courtney, right, I mean,
is there's no filter, unfiltered, unfiltered, Yes, exactly, stud buds
half of the stud Budds's got to kick out that.

(30:18):
UH said, you got to have a lot of discipline
to live in miamswer that's true. I was kind of
wondering how these NBA dudes was doing it. How good
is that? It's tremendous, that's funny. Basically, I think the
context was the way how a new WNBA s salaries

(30:39):
have changed the players lives. So that's brilliant. That's very
very good. So let's go ahead and pause here. Hopefully
Lavelle has got whatever writing done that he needs to
get done, and then he can join us. Keep the
questions coming for him, and we'll go in other directions
if for some reason h Lavell decides to us off,

(31:00):
but he never does, so we expect him next. This
is BO with Dan Morrero breaking news with boots on
the ground journalism, writes Brandon from Becker, the school supply

(31:21):
displays are being built at Target. Summer is over, very
acceptable listening material for shoppers. Keep it up, Dan, how
about that State fairy is right? It's it's gonna be
here in a blink State Fair. We'll be here in
a blink of that. I've already thrown out a couple
of feelers. Oh my god, that's almost depressing. Lavelle e Neil,

(31:44):
the third massive State Fair fan, now joins us. Do
you feel like summer is almost over? Or is that
a little bit terroristic to say?

Speaker 4 (31:54):
No, I got pissed off a couple of weeks ago,
but I believe it was a Sunday when we hit
the summer solstice, and that means you get, you know,
less daylight every day.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
It's like, to me, best give me that's already started on.
Where are the days are? Even? Are shorter?

Speaker 4 (32:09):
Yea? So to me it's it's it's a great day.
It's also a depressing day because now you know, like
there's days of sunlight they're getting shorter and shorter, and
the next thing you know, we're gonna be back to
watching the sunset of four twenty in the evening.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
You want to explain why you weren't ready at five
point thirty? What the hell are you working on?

Speaker 4 (32:25):
I was at Dphins and then my relatively new sports
editor walked in and want to ask me questions. I
just cannot get after me.

Speaker 1 (32:33):
My sources say it's a new sheriff in town. That's
what I've been told.

Speaker 4 (32:37):
Yeah, Nalie Pring, she's from the Lousville Courier. She's got
a lot of interesting ideas for how to push the
start being sports department into the modern age. So I'm
all here, so a transition. But she's got she's got experience.
That's a good thing.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
Yeah, well you want that, that's very, very very important.
You want how far will Mexico have to go before
you apologize.

Speaker 4 (33:08):
The winter next game, I'll have to give him. I'll
have to give him some flowers and give Nick Loody
some flowers. But they they'd beat Ecuador. It's not like
Ecuador is like our top fifteen team. They killed Ecuador,
and and what we move by cheating?

Speaker 1 (33:23):
Well, actually, in this case, we told we did the
story about the fact that the Ecuadorian club bitter because
they claim at the team hotel and they didn't get
into like the night before. They were trying to do
the old strategy where we're just going to blow in
and blow out, and apparently they got no sleep because
Mexico fans got out Voo Boo Zella's megaphones and right

(33:46):
in front of the hotel and just made noise all
night long.

Speaker 4 (33:50):
Saw jump set. But anyway, by the way, Dan, that's
called getting concer casts. That is in the Mexican Fan
Fan playbook. It's like inside the front cover, it's brilli
uh to show up that the that the visiting teams
hotels and play music into the wei hours. That's not
the first time it's happened. It's happened regularly to the
United States, and they've traveled to Mexico and other countries

(34:11):
in the Conca Cat Federation. I can't wait to see
how England deals with this. Yeah, because they are a
bunch of spoiled paper divas who have to have everything
perfect and if when thing's thrown out of their hair,
they're whiny. So I'm sure they're gonna try to ask
the authorities to keep the people from making playing music
outside the hotel stop it. But it's not gonna work.

(34:33):
You know, They're gonna have to figure out ways to
deal with it. So that could be the only way
Mexico will be a guarantee to win if they if
they resort to their hijaens. We the United States is
in a weird uh a weird confederation. This is a
confederation in which, during World Cup qualifying, a game in
Costa Rica was delayed because the armadilla was crossing the field.

(34:56):
No one made an attempt to move the thing manually.
They just let it slowly walk. And it's not like
it's a fast mover. It's got like little legs that
are pumping faster. It's only doing like a malinar. And
I sat there and watched the video of everybody just
standing around waiting for the armadillo to walk off the
field on its own before they resumed the game. That
was a welcome qualifying game. This this is the this

(35:17):
is the weird confederation that the rest of the world
doesn't know anything about.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
How often in the round of sixteen do we have Canada,
the United States and Mexico.

Speaker 4 (35:32):
Zero. This is gonna be a first Canada wait, mute
Canada never won a work up game, I don't think,
so it's gotta be yeah yeah this year. So this
is the first time. The great the fun part fun
fact was an O two to get to the chorus.
I think the United States beat Mexico in the A
round of sixteen. It was called the Soprameo Classical and

(35:57):
that was that was one of the original Dose zero
victories that the United States had over their rivals to
the south. So this is great that all three host
cities got in. You know, Canada screwed up by I
think losing their last group play games, so they actually
have to come. I think they have to come to

(36:17):
the United States to play instead of being able to
play the knockout stage game in their home country. So
is that game to night. I'm trying to remember, trying
to think the schedule on the top of my head.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
Don't they play Canada? Morocco is Saturday, July fourth in
the round of sixteen?

Speaker 4 (36:37):
Okay, I guess Morocco. How about how about Morocco with
the with the Pelly kick victory over the Netherlands. Who
saw that? One company? Apparently Brits was full of Moroccans
on Monday for that game, So I didn't know we
had a Morocco community. Here. I learned more and more
about how much of a melting pot the twin cities
are each passing World Cup Houston.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
By the way, that game is in to to support
your point, Canada, Morocco will be in Houston gun belt
tight Saturday July. For for sure. You're getting ripped by
the way by several people who say the solstice is
the longest day, but the latest sunset happens mid July,
not until mid July.

Speaker 4 (37:20):
We're all there at mid July.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
Yeah, we're not there yet though.

Speaker 4 (37:27):
When the day starts getting shot shorter, that's what I'm
I mean, I corrected, but I always thought that, man,
it was the longest day of sunlight of the year.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
Yeah, I think it's a little I think it goes
on a little bit longer. But we'll get We got
a lot, believe me, we got a lot of Hall
monitors who listen to this show and they'll they'll be
checking in with their own version of that via the
branche on Brian Cafe in text line at six four
six eighty six, did we get job by the officials?
I'm talking about the Balligan suspension or you know, red card,

(37:58):
leading of course the fact that he will not be
avail for the Belgium game. What do you think?

Speaker 4 (38:03):
I think it was a yellow and out of red.
I think he deserves something for that activity. It's kind
of hard you can't not give anything. So I'm actually
mad the referee for not giving the yellow because I
think if if there was a yellow already handed out
and he was asked to check for red, then I
think he would have kept it as yellow, because I

(38:24):
believe he only had a choice of either nothing or
red when he went to the VR screen, and that
put him in kind of a box. But Balligan came
down on the guy's foot and made him tumble and
caused an injury. You just can't ignore that. Someone's pointed
out that Nino Messi got nothing for doing something similar

(38:45):
earlier in the tournament, and he's right, and that tells
you how tough it is to for a referee to
be consistent across the board and events like this. And
plus it's probably the messy factor, and also the the
Bosnia Herzegovina gentleman acting like you know, he had just

(39:06):
been shot. So I'm sure that people that take a
look at the replay. I don't think it was a
job man. I thought there was enough contact there to
warrant a card. It was unfortunate. Uh and now uh
Boligan's gonna lose miss the next game. But Riccarlo Peppy
is a capable striker.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
Man.

Speaker 4 (39:25):
I I I I've told you, I've told you this
before the tournament started. This is the one World Cup.
I'm not worried about scoring goals. And I think Peppy
can come in and do an admiral, admirable job. And
I think the United States is gonna have to the
fans have to realize they're not gonna be able to appeal. Uh,
their guys canna be out. So just get behind Peppy

(39:45):
because I think he could do the job. He has
scored a lot of goals in the Dutch League this
past year and he has developed into a fine, fine forward,
so he can get the job done.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
What did you think in general of our performance against
Bosnia Herzegovina.

Speaker 4 (40:01):
I thought bossiing at the beginning was a little bit
tougher the breakdown than they tried to get Paraguay in Australia.
But the one fact that I pointed out my column too,
is that Ponchatino's got these guys playing defense closing down,
and he's got his attackers acting a defenders up front,
and so Bosion had a tough time of getting the

(40:23):
ball from UH through the midfield into the attack into
their attacking end. On the first on the goal that
Baalians scored, the United States pressed Shirk forced the camera.
I think it was number four. I ken't putout the
last name. I'm not going to try to pounce any
of those players' names. He ended up trying to hit
a long ball to the middle of the field and

(40:45):
it went straight to Tim Ring. Now Tim Ring's like
thirty eight years old. I'm worried about him lasting in
this tournament. But the one thing he brings to his
team is he passes very well.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
For a defender.

Speaker 4 (40:57):
And he immediately collected the ball and said it that's
into Tyler Adams and redirected, redirected it to Tillman, and
then Tilman fed the box to Balligan and it was
like bam, bam bam. Balger holds off the defender and scores.
And that's all started by a defender UH starting UH
a scoring Opportweeny what an incisive pass coming off the

(41:21):
United States pressure. I think that was one constant throughout
the game. It was weird, Dan, because I actually thought
they moved the ball pretty good when they fell behind
by ten fell down to ten. I'm sorry they fell
fell at ten men.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
It seems like they were.

Speaker 4 (41:35):
Able to get the ball forward a little bit easier
than they did when they had a Lovin on the field.
But you know, Bosnie was pushing for a time goal
at the time, so they probably got caught with their
pass and a couple of times leading to that, especially
you know the free kick that Tillman scored on team
because the United States player got grabbed from behind by
a Bosnian player uh and gave him a free kick

(41:57):
outside the box. So it wasn't essensible things it was
against Paraguay that was about the same, a little bit
better than than Australia. And I'm I'm not even going
to count the Turkey game because there were like nine
different guys on the field for that one.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
You're getting ripped again by several soccer fans, including Jake
and Egan and a nine to five to two guy
who say, among other things, Peppi is a huge downgrade
from Baligan nowhere near Baligan had a horrible warm up
with the USA in the scrimmage games.

Speaker 4 (42:34):
I disagree. I think Peppy can play, and I think
he's going to showt against Belgium. He was an up
and comer through MLS for a few years, went over
to Europe, struggled mildly at the beginning. I don't know
it was if it was homesickness or what, and he
came alive this year. I know Baligan scored a bunch
of goals for Monica this year in the French League,

(42:55):
and that's nothing to you know, shake his stick at.
But I think Peppy has developed very nicely and I
and for what they like to do with conchobs, you're
gonna see someone in Peppy who a little bit better
at Baligan and putting pressure on the back line when
they're trying to pass the ball out of the back.
I think he's better than Baligan at that state, at

(43:16):
that talent, and I think that could lead to some
turnovers against the Belgium side who's pastor their past their prime.
They're not at their expiration date, but their pastor prime.
From the Gold generation where a couple of World Cups
a go. You know Ramelo Kaku's gat some wave the
Bruyn's that's brawing. Yes, the name Belgium should raise an eyebrow,

(43:38):
but they're definitely beatable, and I think that this game
is not beyond Pepy's ability to have impacted.

Speaker 1 (43:46):
This is from Matt out of Saint Paul, the Bosnia guy,
act like you got shot. I really love the World
Cup and I have so many years, but can we
just acknowledge that players roll around on the ground for
five minutes and then they get up and start sprinting.
I want to stay with this whole theme for a
minute here, because I had a text earlier I meant
to star and I didn't where. It was somebody who said, look,

(44:07):
you know, I'm not that into soccer, but I thought
i'd give it a try last night, and then I
saw the first flop and I couldn't stand it. Here's
my problem with that being the dismissal of some people.
We know that is an element of the game to
varying degrees. It'd be undeniable, right, But I got to

(44:29):
ask these folks, if that's all you're watching, that's all
you're fixated on you're leaving out a bunch of other
stuff that is not related to that. And I guess
for me, even in basketball, I'm not as obsessed with
the flopping issue as some because I still feel like

(44:50):
I don't love it, but there's still so much other
stuff that's going on, And I really sense that there
are some people who really don't want to give it
a chance, who then feel like they have a license
to dismiss it because I watched it for three minutes,
I saw a flop. That was it. Because there's so
much more that's going on even if that exists, So
why is it so difficult for some people to just

(45:11):
continue to focus and concentrate on a number of other
aspects to what is going on on the field. They
make it sound like there's a flop every thirteen seconds.

Speaker 4 (45:22):
No, that's not true. Well it's not that bad. It's
not like going on in the entire game. But you know,
the players picked their spots stuff. They get a chance
to draw a penalty, they're going to fall in the
box or if they're outside the box, going to try
to act like they've been severely injured, you know, And
the referees are allowed they happened once in this World Cup.

(45:42):
I believe I think it was you say, Paraguay game,
that they can give out cars for similation. If someone's
like faking an injury or pretending that he got hit
and they decide to look at it through replay, then
they can like that guy up with a car. So
that's my point too. I'm not the state there compare
the round soccer ball to the pointy football ball. But

(46:05):
you know, receivers that claim in their interfield with every time,
every every place on the field as.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
Well, right, and by the way they sell it and
they try so, you don't have to like any of it.
But to reduce all these games to just jumping on
those plays tells me you're not really watching, you're remembering
exactly what you want to remember. To complain about that
particular aspect of the game. It's just it's to me,

(46:33):
it's as tiresome as the as the flopping itself.

Speaker 4 (46:38):
And the other thing too, is that this a ninety
States team is the most talented team they've ever had
of the World Cup. And if you sit there for
a while and watch them play, now, they weren't as
letho as at Wrigas Paraguay. But there's moments against Bosnia
Hertzegavinia where they're trying to break them down and they're
putting some wonderful little combinations with click on a little
little short passes and tight spaces. You know that makes

(47:00):
you go, oh, that was a nice little decsive past there.
And that's where you get the enjoyment out of the game.
About how you're trying to move your ball with the
feet instead of picking up and throwing it to a receiver.
You know, it's just different and you have to, you know,
just absorb the game for what it provides exactly.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Yeah, that's it. That's a good way to put it.
And again, I'm still you don't have to love it.
I'm not telling you. I'm not trying to force you
to love it. But if you're dismissing it for that reason,
like oh, I gave it a chance last night, I
so I'll flow up. I say I gave up. Come on, man,
you did not really want to give it a chance.
So just don't watch. It's legal. I mean, no one's

(47:38):
gonna come to your house and put you in jail
for it. But I just think it's become the fashionable
thing to say about so many of our sports. And
it's an element and it's annoying, but it's not all
of what we're seeing. And if that's all you're concentrating on,
I think sometimes that's more on the people, the person watching,

(47:59):
than necessarily is the sport itself.

Speaker 4 (48:02):
Yeah, I played. I played in the indoor league when
I worked in Kansas City, and I've been kicked. If
flipping hurts, man, yeah, it hurts. It does it has to.
So yeah, just get I'll tell you what. We'll have
a demonstration. We'll put on me and j G. I'll
put j G the ball, I'll try to take it
away from and I'll stomp on this foot and see
how it feels about it.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
I mean, you're not getting it from me. Let's be
real here. You won't do that. You want to lie that.

Speaker 4 (48:29):
No, No, Once you have a racket in your hand,
I think you're very vulnerable, vulnerable, vulnerable.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
And now we might have to do and the problem
is now wise we'll both get injured. That's the problem.
Must will get hurt. It'll be real, it won't be flopping,
and it can't wear a lot of pads can they
can they wear any I don't see any pads.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
You got shing guards on?

Speaker 1 (48:49):
Okay under the sock, gotcha?

Speaker 4 (48:54):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
By the way, don't sleep on laj laro. After a
slow start, they look pretty good. They toyed with Austria today.

Speaker 4 (49:03):
Hey man, this is to different tournaments. The group stages,
it's one part of the tournament. Now you get a
knockout stage.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
Yeah, that's good.

Speaker 4 (49:09):
The games get tighter, you know, the talent and the
cream rises to the top. And these in this part
of the tournament, and historically a bunch of teams that
started out slowtering group play and then the edgines starts
churning once you get into the knockout stage and they
just become different teams. It's it's it's just like, you know,
it's just like a lot of postseasons. You you have
a regular season of a postseason, when your team grows

(49:32):
during the postseason. That that happens in this in this
uh FIFA World Cup as well.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
Did we talk since the bell the lamellow ball acquisition
by the Wolves, have you? Huh No, Let's let's let's
get into it a little bit. It's kind of ancient
news at this point, but it's still not official. I
think it would be official in the sixth and then
there'll probably a whole new wave of discussion about it. Uh,
very polarizing, mostly ripped nationally. You like it, scared of it,

(50:03):
hate it? What do you make of it?

Speaker 4 (50:06):
I like it. I actually like it because you're getting
someone who's not just gonna make things easier for end.
He's gonna help everybody on that floor and he's an
elevator in that regard, and that's what the Wolds need.
They haven't had a reliable point right since what who
Ricky Rubio? I mean, I like Mike Collin, but you
know he's gonna He was teeing off on the on

(50:27):
on whole fourteen when he got here, you know, and
he quickly got the whole seventeen. So good luck come
at Boston and once again you got to find another
weekly Guess that's funny how how that happens. But uh,
I think he's gonna have an impact on Jay McDaniels,
Rudy Gobert, who can you know with the pick and
rolls and the rim running and things like that, because

(50:48):
the balls can be right there, the balls can be
right there, and it's gonna make easy, uh, make things
easier for the other four guys in the floor, and uh,
there's someone now to make teams when that's getting blitzed
and double teamed. McDaniels knows if he you know, if
he executes the offense properly and cuts to the basket
at the right time, it's gonna be a ball in

(51:09):
his hands, and he's gonna have a chance for a jam.
He's gonna make it easier for everyone. Like Olivia MOUs
is done for the links. You know she's got, She's
got Howard going back to the All Star Game, goodness sake. Yeah,
you know, so I think it could work out. Now.
Is there a room Is there a room downtown for

(51:29):
all his cars? I'm not sure. I don't know if
his wardrobe is organized by era or by color, And
how many closets he needs, I'm not sure that either.
But I know once he gets on the court, I
think he's gonna help the team out.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
We're very naked front court though, so it's see, you know,
the comeback is even if you like what ball represents,
and I certainly do as well, are you so naked
in the front court? That you've just career ad another
problem that also will be very difficult to overcome.

Speaker 4 (52:04):
Well, Lebron could play it for.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
You.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
Got yeah? Are you gonna help with the UH with
the campaign again?

Speaker 4 (52:14):
I mean, I'm gonna try to get him. I'll give
him a membership to our UH, to the cigar lounge.
He can smoke his munch as he wants there all
day long, as long as it's not marijuana's But no, Bron,
I would I would kick my brother and sister out
of the house for for Lebron. Bronnie wouldn't be allowed.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
That's problem for Bron.

Speaker 4 (52:34):
Does Barney have to come as well?

Speaker 1 (52:36):
Yeah, well he's under contract, at least for now, still
with the Lakers for next year, so I don't know
how that's gonna work. I'm sure he's gettable.

Speaker 4 (52:44):
I've been trying to figure out where where Bron's gonna go.
I I keep thinking, I'm wondering if he's gonna go
back home to Cleveland, go to Golden State and hang
out with with Steph Curry, or go to Miami for
another return there and play with Greek Creek.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
I will tell you this, I think I actually think
Miami is his best bet, I really do. I think Miami.
The beauty of it in Miami is they they're gonna
need a little ball handling, and so he's not gonna
have to do the you know, be the old Lebron
handle everything. But he can from time to time, which
is helpful to a team. You got great defensive anchors

(53:20):
behind you, right because Lebron does not play defenses as
as effectively as he once did. I I you know
a lot of people think Golden State would most be
most intriguing. I think it actually might be the heat.

Speaker 4 (53:32):
I agree. I think it's more intriguing than the heat.
With the Wolves, he's got Rudy playing behind him too,
So no question he'd be the only he'd be the
one guy who would need on know. I got to
see what LaMelo Ball's playing situation is. Can he go
eighty games this year? Are they? Are they going to
watch his minutes like Charlotte had to? But the Wolves

(53:54):
in situation and they got so many guys who like
to play all the time that you know, if he's
the low old management guy in a roster, that's not
gonna be detrimental.

Speaker 1 (54:02):
No, that's very true. What is the do you have
a Sunday calm Are you off? This weekend?

Speaker 4 (54:07):
I talked to one of your old friends for a
column about her transfer, her transition from being a head
coach at college to be an assistant in the WNBA.
Guess who that is?

Speaker 1 (54:17):
Lindsay Whalen.

Speaker 4 (54:18):
Wendsy Whalen.

Speaker 1 (54:19):
Nice. That go great.

Speaker 4 (54:22):
Actually I tossed out a question about the Gopher situation.
She gave me a nice quote that I'm gonna use.
You know, she kind of said she had to do
it all over again. She probably do things differently, and
she said she kind of wishes she would have been
in a sister for a couple years before she went
to college. If you remember, she played in twenty eighteen

(54:43):
before coaching the Gophers in twenty eighteen. But she couldn't
happen in this day and age with nil money and
people going into the transfer portal. So that was a
right a unique situation and probably should not have been
activated by Mark Carl.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Here's the tough spot everybody was in. I think your
alma mater comes to you. That's hard to say, no,
but I think she was aware of exactly what you're
laying out now. She's talked to us about it too,
that it's it's very difficult to say no to when
they come to you and you say, you know, I
got good instincts. Let's see maybe I can learn on

(55:20):
the job. I think what she's learned since is you
got to strip it down first. You got to do
the grunt work of an assistant to really understand everything
that goes into it. And and and that's exactly like
you say, what she's what she's doing now?

Speaker 4 (55:37):
Yeah? Yeah, So she's loving it. Mean, she loves her all.
She said, never say number to be the head coach again.
But she's she's on a rock star coaching staff. She
knows the system from playing it. Yeah, she's got a
Livio Miles to develop, you know. Jenel Macao, one of
her good friends is on the on the coaching staff.

(55:57):
She's it's a good fit. And I was playing back.
You gotta go on YouTube and and play Lindsay's presentation
speech for charl Reeve at the About Basketball Hall of Fame.
It was hilarious, hilarious.

Speaker 1 (56:13):
It was terrific. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (56:16):
Yeah, because I asked Cheryl about Lindsay, you know, giving
away my apartment Colm, but he said, basically she thinks
that former head coach has become the best assistance because
they can kind of think like the head coach, you know.
And but she started talking about the speech going. It
was Wales being Wales. She had the room going. She
knows how to work the room. She was like she

(56:37):
was like interacting with people in the audience during the speech,
and she was getting on the teleproperty for being slow.
It was it was awesome.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
Be careful with the cherry bombs this year. Okay on
the fourth and the fire and you know the firecrackers.

Speaker 4 (56:53):
I haven't a little firework since I alwash you get
to the story of the radio. I have a little
firework in about fifteen years. It was an hilarious moment.
I'm going out to a buddy's house in Cottage Grove
and like his neighbors always like pull their money together
or they compete against each other. Yeah, they have fireworks
shows in their backyard. So we just kind of stand

(57:14):
and kind of watch other people shoot up fireworks and
enjoy each other's company. So I'll be off there Saturday
night with the brother and sister celebrate number two fifty.

Speaker 1 (57:23):
That works out, well, that's for sure. Nope, By the way.
Clayton from Rochester checks in Lavelle giving gives you losing
Conley as a guest cheap shot, and then he's ready
to trade brother Larry for Lebron cannonball splash. That's from Clayton.
That was Both of those are pretty subtly put in.

(57:45):
Enjoy your Fourth of July weekend. My friend will chat
next week you too.

Speaker 4 (57:49):
Take care.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
There's Lavelle meaning know the third there's the splash. We'll
give it. Update on Portugal Croatia World Cup round to sixteen.
Review of some controversial elements to today's program two and
we will mock and ridicule one of the most tired, overused,

(58:12):
boring anti soccer jokes in history.

Speaker 4 (58:16):
You're listening to Barrero on the fan from the one
to eight hundred ask Gary Traffic Center this report.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
He is sponsored by the com mercial grade pressure washers
since nineteen seventy five. It's the bumper to bumper show
wrap Portugal and Croatia still scoreless. About nineteen minutes in.
I think this is live out of Toronto, Ontario. It's

(58:45):
the second of three games today. Spain toys with the
Austria earlier today. I believe that final was three nil.
Tonight's game in Switzerland Algeria. US back in action on
Monday night. Right to advance, We got it, well, it

(59:06):
would be to advance to the Elite eight, right, sure,
what a round a sixteen game? Yeah, that'd be that
would be massive. That's of course against Belgium. Thank you
to Lavelle who joined late, and thank you to the
inbox contributors who came through early. And thank you to
Russo Radio who came through in the middle of the program.
A good hockey nuggets from him as usual between four

(59:31):
and four to thirty tonight. Do we go into soccer
coverage stud in the fan or that's only when the
US performs. I think the answer to both of those
is no. But we're going to fan on demand on
the air. We have soccer tomorrow. Oh okay, starting at
four thirty pregame show tomorrow at four thirty we have
a ninety minute best of Bumper to Bumper and then

(59:52):
back to back World Cup matches. A lot of good
World Cup conversation late with lavel early in the show
regarding the US's victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina and the
controversy over the red card that makes one of the
top players on the team, Battigan, unavailable for the next

(01:00:17):
round game on Monday night. You said tomorrow we're picking
up coverage at five. Yes, Argentina Cape Verdi and Colombia
and Ghana back to back matches. Okay, that's all good
stuff too. After the Sarah Spain replay for Best of
July fourth, we can never play it enough, There's no

(01:00:39):
question about that. Ever ever play it enough? How quickly?
By the way, a new team has entered allegedly the
Lebron sweepstakes. Is that right? The New York Knickerbockers. Why
you can what's that cliche? You can never have enough

(01:01:00):
that or if you're you have to constantly move forward
if you're if you're standing still actually losing ground. Shot
of that effect. I saw Mitchell Robinson's gone right, yeah,
he went to Boston. Lebron could be the backup five.
I heard two other teams. You know, it's it's gotten
kind of silly because I don't know that any of
it means anything. But for whatever reason, well I think

(01:01:22):
it's all drama. Lebron's guys are they're milking it because
they're saying We're not ruling anybody. Bring all your your
your you know, ideas to us, all the teams that
want to, and we haven't yet eliminated any of them.
I think the betting money is still Golden State, Miami

(01:01:42):
or Cleveland, but I don't know Denver's in the mix now.
Allegedly they've expressed interest. I'd be interesting, I'd be fascinating, right,
So it doesn't sound like it's going to end quickly.
I think he's gonna milk it. Yeah, he's yeah, I mean,
I think he's he's enjoying this old there's no question

(01:02:03):
he's I mean, if he does it the other way.
And I guess I'm still stunned that he said no
to the Lakers or I don't even think he gave
he ever gave the Lakers an audience. But I don't
think it's any accident that he's playing it out this way.
I think he, you know, he loves the speculation. He
loves like I said, the story today out of New York,

(01:02:25):
yep was the Knicks. Every tweet that he puts out.
Don't sleep on the Knicks. You never know. By the way,
when's the big wedding Taylor Swift's yeah, it's this, it's
this weekend, this weekend, but now the rumors are already married,
and this is just a big party that wouldn't shock
you would none of it shocks you know what did
shock me