#92Noon! 10a Hour 4/10 - Ben Leber

It's like Thursday on a Wednesday! Ben Leber joins for most of the middle hour on the Vikings, with truncated Twins/Wolves talkers in News!

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
The Bird football feats and the finalhour of nine to noon today we will
unfurrow some of our NFL Draft relatedtalkbacks via the free iHeartRadio app and the

(00:26):
baby microphone and thirty seconds to opineon whatever is tickling your fancy with the
National Football League Draft Round one fifteendays from today. Once again is the
Free iHeart Radio App. Those ofyou who are of the crafty veteran ilk
you know how to navigate it bythe microphone and offer up takes. But

(00:47):
we have tickets to the draft partythat will take place at US Bank Stadium
to be given away to a talkbackthat is selected during the course of each
and every weekday nine to noon.You can start filing those reports anytime you
want via the Free iHeartRadio app andwe will play some back in the final
hour and that's when the coronation ofa ticket winning champion transpires. Here's Ben

(01:12):
liber At Nacho liber via Twitter orthe X Machine Twin Cities Live three to
four thirty today on Channel five.Twin Cities Live three to four thirty on
Channel five. He is the cohost of TCL Yeah you know we and
It's a Wednesday with Nacho, whichis cool. That's very very cool.
Thanks for helping him. Good morning, How are what I'm doing great?

(01:33):
What a weird feeling? It is? Bodyclock off? Body clock is bodyclock
is off? You know power Tripthis morning we shifted everything because of the
Powershrip guys in Vegas. I'm herewith you. You're at TCO PC tomorrow.
You're nice and flexible to have mecome in today since I was already
here. So today truly is aThursday on a Wednesday, So it's good

(01:55):
to see you this hopefully for thisweek. Is the last time that I
bring this up. But it's justworking on me in a way where like
with stories I read and then there'ssome people with whom I chat. It
just it's not percolating with others theway it is me. And that's not
the first time this has happened,but it involves a former Vikings general manager,

(02:17):
Rix Pielman, and I mean,you played on the team when he
was the GM, you and weboth know him personally. It's so antithetical
and out of character as a generalmanager or a media member for the former
GM to come out and say,not, well, great question, I

(02:37):
think they should do this. Andthey should move there, and they should
take this guy. My man cameout and said they will like he's been
slight, like the eagle landed orthe birdie sang, or he's been slid.
The right answer, And I'm notone to say it's the right answer,
but I'm certainly not one to sayit's not. And you know that

(02:58):
that was with the CBS Sports podcast. Then your guy Charles Davis, who's
Salt of the Earth. I loveCharles, just like you. With the
thirty thirteen podcast, it's they're talkingabout the Vikes and just out of nowhere
he spitballs. Well, I meanwith this contract situal paraphrasing, with this
contract situation, they should trade justinJefferson, Well, that blew up,
you know. I just it's,you know, the way I've put it

(03:20):
is. And we'll see if youagree with this. Knowing Rick the way
we do. If if his ifhis predecessor, you like, say,
Rick got the job. He's ininto his third year, like Wycy,
if his predecessor two years removed fromthe job, was doing all this stuff
involving his team, he'd be infuriated. And and you know, I'm not

(03:42):
saying that it'd be like, headsare going to roll if I find out
who slid this information to former GMDujore. I'm just saying he wouldn't like
it, and he's doing it andit was kind of louderly in the week
and good morning. Yeah, Imean, putting myself in Quacy's shoes,
it would be a little unnerve becauseI think I think everybody, everybody wants
to keep all the information in house. And you know, I get they're

(04:06):
not Look, we're not trading nuclearsecrets here. It is just sports,
but it is their livelihood. Itis important to them, and thus you
want it to be secret. Andthere's so many voices and so many people
in these decision making rooms that youwant to feel like you can trust people.
And that's the biggest thing with everything, right, same thing in this

(04:27):
building, same thing in any building. You want to feel like I can
have dialogue and we can make decisionsand it doesn't leave this boardroom, and
I can have some confidence and Ican trust people. And when you feel
like more and more of this stuffwhether it's true or not, and you
know, because we're in a bigtake time, I mean, people are
just going to throw stuff out andyou might hear something like, well we

(04:49):
did talk about that scenario. Isdid that leak? Or are they just
thinking about the big picture and thinkingabout what we may do. I think
you can drive yourself a little paranoid, which is why I I think a
lot of times these guys really don'tpay attention to what Rix Bielman's saying.
It might hit their desk, youknow, days days afterwards. But I
think they really try to keep themselvesinsulated because you could drive himself crazy of

(05:11):
like, is that leaked information?Is that them just being smart? You
know, you got guys like LewisRiddick, who are you know they got
They got their ear of the groundand they can just hear things right,
and then they can just like startmoving pieces around in their own head and
like, Okay, well this mightmake sense because I've been in that situation
on draft day and how to strategizeand do all this other stuff, and

(05:32):
all of a sudden you're like,did somebody tell did somebody tell Lewis Riddick
that what we're doing? Right?So I look, I think that he
could get a little frustrated with it. I think in the end, though,
there's been every scenario thrown out therethat they're probably most likely chuckling and
laughing at the absurdities that have beensaid, and there might be a couple

(05:54):
that end up on Draft night beingcorrect, and we're all gonna do it.
We're like, see, I wassaying that two months ago. Oh,
and I said that two weeks ago, and I tweeted and posted about
that, you know, forty hoursago. And we're all going to like
try to like stick our flag insome sort of take that we have.
We've all had, so somebody's goingto be right. I don't. I
don't think that they really care thatmuch. I think that Charles Davis,

(06:15):
justin Jefferson talk to me if thatwas true. It's ludicrous to me.
It absolutely is ludicrous to me.You just you don't do that to once
in a generational player that's young,is kind of the identity of your team
and your offense seemingly does everything theright the right way. I don't think

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you do that to one of thosetype of guys. The linebacker's playing fast
on a Wednesday. It's Ben Lieberad not Joe liber via Twitter. Twin
Cities Live three to four thirty todayon Channel five if you want to watch
an cho all right, well,you know it's it's it's interesting what you
said about uh, the worried aboutsecrets leaking and draft related and areos leaking

(07:00):
and you know, the trust andand and keeping that everything in house.
I mean, it's as duplicitous asyou possibly can imagine, because the same
people in the same houses around theNFL are going to call certain media members
and just lie to them, yeah, and be like and like slide slide
little nuggets to them to benefit theirteam and their livelihood. And that's the

(07:24):
competitive nature of the business. Butthey're going to demand honesty and trust and
and and and forthright conviction with yourtrust and then call somebody a lie.
It's just it's just it's great.But it's hard though, because these these
NFL insiders. Then I'll pick onShifter just because he's the he's the top

(07:45):
of the heap. I mean,when you when you guy, when you've
got a guy that's on top ofthe mountain, that means he's easy to
analyze. He's fantastic at his job, he's developed trust from everybody across the
board. But he gets played andhe has to play game and it's unfortunate
because even in a football world,even in an entertainment sport, it still

(08:09):
becomes politicized in a way that wehate that our politicians get bought off and
they become shills for whatever organization orpack that they're getting money for. That's
really what these guys do. Imean, he's been and I talk about
him because he's been busted with that, like people have called him out for
that. You know, when somebodygives him information, you know, let's

(08:31):
say, you know, let's saythe Patriots have been giving him information about
free agents they're looking at, andthey're like, we'll let you have the
inside scoop. We'll do this bydoing that, there's an informal handshake deal
that like you're in bed with us. So when we need you to throw
out this information from Elliott Wolf thatwe're we're very high in JJ McCarthy and

(08:54):
we love him, we're going totake him. That's all information they're going
to say to chefter came in.Just we need you to say, we
need you to say this, yeah, and remember all those other bumps that
we've been giving you, right,we need you to give us a little
something. What a wonderful tie topolitics, just just an absolute beautiful tie
with things transp transpiring at the legislaturethis time of the year with a bunch

(09:18):
of different entities. Ben leeber nineto noon on a Wednesday. So just
to land the plane here on theSpielman thing is again, you know,
it wasn't well, you know,I mean, I've done he was at
the combine and like I saw thisand I've heard this. I like this,
and and Kevin O'Connell and the middlezone concept and everything. I think
this guy would be perfect and thiswould be overpay, but this is what

(09:41):
I think it would be perfect.But instead it was a they will,
they are going to draft, theyare going to overpay for JJ McCarthy.
So do you think he's accurate?Forget the opinion on the overpay. And
I saw your tweet, by theway, which was like who cares if
the guy's a rock star? It'syou know, ain't nobody gonna be talking
about that x amount of Like I'dforgotten what Buffalo gave up for Josh Allen.

(10:01):
I know they can't get past theAFC Championship game, but I still
take Josh Allen ten or ten timeson this team. But with all of
that said, do you think he'llbe accurate? Do you think that somebody
with cashier like that, who hasaccess to people even like you and I
don't have access to we may haveaccess, but we may not get the

(10:24):
answer. Do you think he's right? Yeah? I do think he's right.
I absolutely think he's right. AndI think that there's going to be
an absolute intent by the Vikings tomove up now again whether or not that
happens, whether or not on Draftnight. As we talked about before,
I think even last week, abouthow if you're one of these teams,
if you're Arizona, if you're NewEngland, if you're the Chargers, you

(10:48):
don't do a deal. Now,you do a deal when everybody gets very
desperate and nancy, and so youdo a deal as close to the draft
as possible, and most likely onDraft night. And as we saw that
that Monty Austin Fort viral video ofhim working the phones on Draft night and
stuff like that, that's that's howquickly these things can happen. And and

(11:09):
all of those scenarios that happened inthat conversation and that video are all things
that they pre planned they plan,they dock, they do mocks, and
they do dry runs and they rehearseall of that stuff, all of the
every movement of that and who I'mgonna call next, and what what you're
gonna do and what your job isgonna do? Wow, so what the
daily I think you know teams?Yeah, so you're so just just to

(11:31):
just off that. It's so likeyou're in a draft room and it's like,
all right, let's have it fallthis way. Caleb Williams uh jj
McCarthy second, Yeah, and thenlike how you react from that? Right?
Yeah, that's cool. It definitelyis. And you know what we're

(11:52):
going to have to figure out,going back to what Spielman said is is
there is there truly going to beintent to move up, which sometimes we
don't need, but no, youknow, if they don't happen to move
up and we're like, what isgoing on while we're still at eleven,
you know, we might we mightfind out that night, we might find
out two weeks later that yep,we tried desperately, this was the offer,
and then the Raiders moved up andthey and they they took that spot.

(12:16):
I mean, the good thing forus is is we have twenty three,
right, you know, that's that'sour I think our biggest weapon.
Everybody's worried about the Broncos. Broncosmay have to give up a player,
you know when it comes to draftcapital. This this draft, they don't
have a lot. Yeah, youknow they've got they don't have a second
rounder. They've got a first,to a third, a fourth, three

(12:37):
fifths and two sixth and not nota ton. That's so that that's I
mean, I hadn't thought of that. That's so sharp in my opinion.
You said that because they're so desperateout Denver way. I'm not kidding you,
man, I wouldn't be surprised ifit was. We want that free
so badly. We will give youtwelve. We will give you next year's

(12:58):
first round, and we will giveyou Patrick, sir Tam the second.
I'm not kidding you. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've
definitely heard. Yeah. If you'reoffering me that corner who you know,
he backed off, fell off alittle bit last year compared to his rookie
year, I take him ten outof ten times and you get a couple
of first for that spot, plusthat guy who's ready to go, Wow,

(13:20):
let me throw a scenario out toyou, because we don't have,
you know, going back to whatCharles Davis said, I think it's preposterous
to think that you'd want to moveJustin Jefferson, even though he's sitting on
a monumental deal, huge deal,maybe historic. I think he deserves it,
and I think he's earned that rightto get that to get that offer,
and I think the Vikings should doit because he is the face until

(13:43):
hopefully you get the quarterback situation figuredout. He is the face of this
organization from a culture standpoint, froman on field performance standpoint, he's the
guy. So let me throw thisout to you because we don't have a
lot of If you're the Denver Broncos, we don't have a lot of player
equity to give up. What ifthey what if somebody said, what if
the Patriots said, or what ifArizona said, Arizona most likely is going

(14:07):
to look at wide receiver. Whatif they said, give us Jordan Edison
on on on two picks and twopicks you swap You swap us at eleven,
you give us twenty three, Youmaybe sweeten the deal with a fifth
or something. Whatever I'd be moreto go eleven and next year's first and
keep that twenty seven so I canget one of these nice wide receivers on

(14:28):
a rookie deal. Well, yeah, because I'm giving up one, because
you're giving up one. Wow,I don't know how. I don't know
a whole lot of I don't knowa whole lot of the guys that we
would we'd be willing to give upyeap. I mean it would look,
it would be painful, it wouldhurt. But if you're talking about it,
seems like to me the last threefour years, these guys coming out

(14:52):
of college are wide receiver might bethe easiest position to transition from. It's
unbelievable. It's unbelievable you're getting onSaturday. Well, like Puka Nakua.
I mean it wasn't a Saturday.I think it was a Friday, but
I mean he didn't come in andjust like help, he came in and
starred. Yeah, And so becausehe fits what they do exactly, because

(15:13):
he fits what they're doing. Andthe thing is like, there's so many
varieties of offensive systems in college thatyou're gonna find these guys. You might
you might find a slot receiver outof out of northern Illinois, you know,
and maybe a late round and he'sa star because he fits in your
system, I think. And maybethe thing is it could be as super
hypothetical because Arizona could be thinking thesame thing. They're like, well,

(15:35):
wow, we're not going to askfor a guy, you know that's already
one year in the league when weknow that we could get you know,
we could swap picks and then we'llget your twenty third and we'll go draft
another wide receiver that we think canplay day one. So I'm just I'm
just throwing those out there that Idon't think it's justin. I don't think
it's Darisa. I don't think it'swho else, who who else you have

(15:58):
that you think would be, youknow, really good bait for a team
to jump onto. We just don'thave it compared to maybe a certain well
Ben Librad Notcho liber Via X.It is it's subterfuge season. So a
lot of these things that we reador we hear, we see, you
know, and and you you you'velaid it out with schefter, which is

(16:19):
top of the top, best ofthe best, and it can go both
ways. I mean it's he'll scratchit back and he'll get his back scratch
and that's just how that game works. But then there are lesser secondary type
names that like I'm not going tosay them, but like we've heard of
them, but we just don't,you know, like it's not the go
to to be like oh, Gosslingfrom the Dall Dallas Morning News, the

(16:44):
Goose he you know, he's eightyeight percent when he puts out a mock
draft on day one of the draft, well, you know that was that
was like grid iron Gospel Creed backin the day when he would do it.
Some of these secondary ancillary names whenwhen it's when it's splash season,
when it's subterfuse season, when it'sdraw people to your website season. I
mean I read three different spots todayand I had heard this. I mean

(17:07):
it's kind of a low hanging fruitsituation with Drake May, but I mean
they really really went into it hardhis footwork where it's like, you know,
okay, maybe right, you know, and you know more about this
than me, and I'll land theplane with the question. But it's kind
of was the same thing per sourcesources say, all right, chefty can

(17:27):
per source, and I'm good thereare some who can per source and I
believe them, and I believe theveracity and validity of the source. It's
so easy to be like, youknow, like why I'm glad Merril Hodge
came out and said, Drake Mayis the kind of quarterback that gets coaches
fired. He came out and saidit, and you can see him.
Yeah, he's not a source.So the source stuff sucks, you know

(17:48):
what I mean? And I guessyou got to do it that way,
specifically if you're second, third,fourth tier trying to bring people to your
site or your podcast or whatever.But it's all about Drake May his feet
and like when I'm reading it,you know, I'm like, well,
isn't And here's the question. Isn'tthat something high end coaching staffs can like
work out relatively quickly or is itproblematic? I think it's easier to work

(18:12):
out then straight up accuracy. Yeah, you know, we hear all the
time that accuracy in koc says it'slike his number one trait. And looking
for quarterbacks, I've heard from otherquarterbacks, not just some of the experts
and the pundits, but you know, working on your accuracy as you transition
from the from college to the NFL, where the windows get tighter, the

(18:34):
defenders are faster, and all thisother stuff. Right, if you don't
have the accuracy in college, eitherit's impossible to fix in the NFL,
or it's going to take a numberof years for you to fix other mechanical
things to make your accuracy better.So that being said is if you have
poor footwork, which they think isquote unquote poor footwork, but your accuracy

(18:56):
is still good, I don't Ithink that you're just nitpicking at this point.
I think that I've personally gone awayfrom looking at when I'm evaluating some
of these quarterbacks in college. It'slike they may have a funky throwing motion,
they may throw sidearm, they maythrow a little bit like Philip rivers.

(19:17):
They may have they may throw offplatform. The thing is, if
they're productive, they're accurate, andthey show arm strength and and the lack
of quote unquote mechanics prohibits them fromsome of those other traits, then I
think it's an issue. But ifyou're productive and you're you're getting the ball
there, and your eyes are good, and you're making all the reads and
stuff. I mean, look atJordan Love this year. He's he's he's

(19:40):
mimicking what he's he's seen from BrettFarv and from Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers
got it from Brett Farv and theywere they were playground built. They they
have terrible mechanics. I mean,if you if you look at Aaron Rodgers
and you look at the way helearned from Brett Farv, that is the
that's the mechanics you don't want tohave in a young quarterback, right,

(20:02):
But they're successful. So I thinkit's the time of year where we're gonna
nitpick at footwork and arm angle andarms slaught and arm this and all that,
and like can the dude play?I don't know. Can he play?
Can he process? Can he canhe pick up the defense? Does
he does he anticipate well? Anddoes he throw the ball accurately with velocity?

(20:22):
That's all I really care about allthis other like he's gotta look like
a prototypical quarterback. Does that everreally work out all the time? No,
it doesn't. He's been lieber andI'm Paul Allen around the corner.
The Minnesota Vikings begin off season workoutsnext week. What does that mean in
the early stages of the off seasonprogram and does some more draft conversation you're
listening to nine in it. Maybein subterfuge season, maybe there's like somebody

(21:49):
with the Minnesota Vikings who you knowhas been there quite some time and and
maybe like they were working under generalmanager Rick Spielman and they had a decent
relation ship, you know, butthey always like kept going for pay raises
things like that, or you know, trying to elevate themselves, and maybe
they were getting stonewalled and and likethey harbored ill will. So maybe over

(22:14):
the weekend somebody's like, hey,you've been great seeing you at the combine.
Know, by the way, it'sgoing to work like this, And
it does work like that, butit's not McCarthy. It's may put him
on the old flim Flamma palooza shot, but not a no shot because it's
subterfuge season. Yeah, well thatthis is the season to do all of

(22:37):
that stuff. And it happens allthe time, Yeah, it really does.
Now the the Vikings begin their offseasonworkouts next week, so like what
do they do during the early stagesof these workouts, like what is important,
Well, it might be important thisyear with all these new players.
Well that's that's true. I thinkwith all the new players and stuff,
and it's going to be a greatbonding time. I'm they really come together.

(23:00):
I've always said, and I've saidit before that this was actually my
favorite time of year. And youknow, we were checking in in mid
March and not mid April, sowe had a longer off season. And
I actually, I everybody talks aboutwhen they retire, the thing that they
missed the most is the locker room. It's the guys, it's the bantering,
it's the hanging out. It's you'regetting you're getting paid to hang out

(23:25):
with your friends. And we hadfour more weeks of that, four or
five more weeks of that when Iwas playing, And I think it's important,
you know, we we would cometogether as a team more. And
and I liked, you know,going out there and working with the guys
and sweating and running stupid hills andwanting to throw up, and you laugh
at each other and like, ohman, you just like when you're when

(23:47):
you're in the muck together, itjust kind of brings you together. And
so you know, they get theyhave four or five weeks less of what
of what I experienced, and Ithink the game sort of suffers a little
bit because of that, because you'renot in there doing football movements as much.
A lot of a lot of softtissue injuries, I think early in
camp and all that is because you'renot Guys aren't focused on football movements.

(24:10):
They're out there doing their their crossfitsand they're all this other stuff and these
these alternative workouts. But they'll getback in there. These guys will get
to know each other. I thinkthe first phase of it, they can't
even they can't even really be aroundthe coaches. Yeah, that's right.
They can't any coaching on the field, so they're not going to be on
the field. I think I thinkthey can. They can have player let

(24:32):
quote unquote player led meetings, youknow, which is basically just the coach
giving you, giving you the syllabusand and the daily schedule, Like,
Okay, I want you guys towatch this series of film that I broke
down. There's twenty plays here.Yeah, here's some notes. You know.
Leaders take over the room, youknow, So I think you imagine
that if it was like that whenCory Javis played and he got to be

(24:56):
the player coach in the room withthe film and the technique and the three
cone shuttle and all that. Holyyeah, oh yeah, I'm sure it's
it's always gonna be Shenanigans, youknow inside if it's player player let.
But the thing is, like,I'm jealous. I missed this time of
year. I missed the time ofgetting up early, you know, getting
a weight workout, in getting someconditioning, in hanging out. And now
these guys have these super fancy performanceand nutrition centers and they'll like get their

(25:19):
shakes, you know, and they'llget their cold their cold plunges and they're
hot and cold saunas, and youknow, like they get the pampering and
I and I never really I nevergot pampered as much as they get paid.
But you had shakes, and youhad hot tub and you had cold
tub. Now Tito chose seventeen daysin the Bahamas, two days before you
had to start running, and thenyou got there and it was hard.

(25:41):
Yeah, that's that is the funnything is like I always took care of
myself in the in the true offseason. Yeah, but inevitably you get
you get into that first week ofpractice or first week of off season training,
you're like, oh my god,I got muscles that I don't even
know it could be sore, sosore, Like you could work out so
hard, but there's a there's justnothing like you know, some of the

(26:02):
workouts that we went through. Haveyou ever you mentioned names or not not
not required. Have you ever duringyour playing career were you ever like in
the early stages of these off seasonworkouts stays one, two, or three
when people start showing up, wereyou ever next to a coach or players
or something. As somebody walked in, they're like, dude, what in
the hell happened to you? Ohmy god? All the time, all

(26:22):
the time, just looked like adifferent guy because they're so out of shape.
And the thing is it happens.It happened a lot. But again,
because we had four or five weeksof extra strength and conditioning time.
I don't think that I don't thinkthe coaches are that worried. They're like,
you know what, you went andenjoyed yourself as long as as long
as we especially if it's a VET, if it's a vet that they know

(26:42):
like, yeah, this is whathe does. This is what Paul Allen
does. You know, he loveshis bacon eater or some Wendy's. He
has two or three a day.Oh yeah, and he's going to come
in and he's going to be aboutfifteen pounds overweight. But we know that
he's going to work his butt offonce he gets in, once he gets
checked in, he gets styled inand by the time we get to OTA's
mini camp and certainly by training camp, you're going to be in great shape.

(27:03):
And I do understand a little bitwhere the the NFLPA sort of pushback
on having such a long offseason becauseyou know, you do as an athlete,
you want to peak at the righttime and if you're going you know,
we were going hard on the thirdweek of March, second week of
March, and by the time yougot to OTAs in May, you're like,
I'm I'm like, I'm already prettytired. You know, it's like

(27:26):
we've been going pretty hard here,but it's the mental time, not choe.
I know, it's like we've beengoing pretty hard here. So it
is kind of nice that they getmore of a true ramp up to the
season, all right. Lastly,just what do you think of this top
of your head, because we haven'tdrafted free agency with the A topics pretty
much done. I mean, yougot jav and Howard out there, you
got a few out there who mayAnd that's also interesting to me that the

(27:48):
team has money Flores coach jav AndHoward. He's a pressman corner and there
there's a need here and he's likestill out there. So maybe it's a
money thing or a urn thing orwhatever. Axavian from what I hear,
is still pretty good. But theDraftKings unleashed season win totals before the draft.
They're like the one of the firstgroups to do that. They're betting

(28:11):
limits on it from what I understand, So you know, you can't see
something, know who they're gonna draft, know who's injured, nobody else does,
and it's going to be longer thaneverybody, and then like crush for
fifty grand on and over eight youcan't do that. But nevertheless they it
had Green Bay and Detroit each tenand a half wins, go over and

(28:32):
under over under ten and a halfwins behind that the Bears eight and a
half. The over was you know, the the over was bet more than
the under at eight and a half, So they're kind of begging you to
bet the under eight and a half. And lo and behold there we had
the old Vikings at six and ahalf. Hit us little breakings r.
It's a six and a half overunder right now on the Vikings. It's

(28:55):
per DraftKings. I thought over theweek at six and a half, well
the once last year, so theywent aching by Yeah, but come on
to seven. Such volatility at quarterbacksunbelievable, unbelievable. Our defense is going
to be better. Yeah, andeven if it's Sam Darnold, Like really,
I'm definitely going the over on that. I ain't getting you at six
and a half right now. We'llsee what happens after the draft. Fire

(29:18):
bullet on TV today, I knowyou will. Thanks for the flexibility.
You got a podcast with a GabeHenderson today. I do. Yeah,
your head over TCOPC right now andI'll be there tomorrow. Quasiadofa Mensa joins
nine to noon tomorrow from a TwinCity's Orthopedics Performance Center. Gabe Henderson will
be on the radio show very earlyin the equation. All right, Ben,

(29:41):
have a good day. Yeah,you too. That's been labor on.
Paul Allen used Donord, isn't itwelcome back nine to noon? It
is news to Nord and it ispresented by the casino at Canterbury Park.
It's poker, blackjack and table gamesall year round. And what is it

(30:04):
the tenth of April, So weare just over a month away from live
racing where you're stacking those pick threesand fours and fives as long as you
can on as many horses as youpossibly can. At one of the best
family environments in the state of Minnesota. You can check out all you need
to know about feeling the felt,betting the ponies, and doing all of

(30:25):
that. Just go to Canterbury Parkdot com. The Minnesota Twins, well
they're three and six and you canflip that. And that's the score line
you saw last night at target Field, swept by the visiting Los Angeles Well
not swept. I think they gotone more today, excuse me, but
in the end six to three thefinal last night, glass Now as the
hits keep on coming. Fourteen strikeoutsfor mister Glasnow and the Dodgers last night.

(30:51):
That ties his career high, andit was a pair of three run
shots by the Dodgers that were thestory, and six rip Twins hit three
solo shots later in the game togive the home crowd at least something to
mildly murmur about. It was Jeffers, Correa and kirol Off with those solo
homers. The Twins are now likefor twenty eight, maybe even worse at
this stage with runners and scoring positionover the last four games. It's absolutely

(31:15):
brutal. And you look down again, just nine games, so sample size
game, etc. Many games togo. But it's Carlos Santana excited about
all those homers he hit a yearago. Well, he's four for twenty
nine. How about Eddie Julian movingon from Polanco, Love Eddie, He's
three of twenty eight, Willie Castrothree of twenty seven. Mister Jeffers three
of twenty five. Hitting a massiveissue for the Minnesota Twins. They need

(31:37):
to fix it in a hurry.And that was just another part of the
story last night, as the Dodgersvery much in control of it from start
to finish, and now they gotso it went it went Glass Now the
former Tampa Bay Rays star at times, you know, with the way the
Dodgers play. They could show showa Otani Taoscar Hernandez. We talked about

(32:00):
him yesterday. It's a side pieceand free agency. But I mean he's
good. He's like, you know, above middleing, but not great.
I mean it's a quality. Itwould be the best free agent pickup this
offseason the Minnesota Twins would have had, and a lot of other teams too.
So he goes to the Dodgers.Likewise for that picture glass. Now
you know who you know? Whenyou jump up six zero and you're facing

(32:22):
the Twins and they're going punch lessinto the night, there there is a
chance that your performance looks better thanit really is when you like you get
into it and you break down theall eighteen. But nevertheless, he was
solid. Now you got Miller.I mean, Bobby Miller has been so
highly talented for the last three yearsand for a fair amount of the time

(32:44):
he's come through and he's a nicepitcher, but he's not as good as
in my opinion, as what peopleexpected him to be a few years ago.
But now you're going against a teamthat has a chance to go punch
less into the day. The theO for twenty eight twenty eight consecutive such
a with runners in scoring position.It's oh for the last twenty eight.

(33:07):
Like Nordo said, Byron Buxton's strikeoutsdon't I don't have the number in front
of me, but it's starting to, as the kids would say, become
a thing. I think he haseleven right now. Really, they and
they just they just they need towin. I mean they need a w
if only to break the ice ofthings through which they're going at this moment.

(33:30):
But you know this is it maynot be reality, but it is
a fact that things like this andbad hitting situations. I mean, they've
they've happened to so many teams throughthe annals of time in Major League Baseball.
In April, when you flip thatthing to May, if it doesn't
get a little bit better than you'remoderately concerned. If it's still like this

(33:52):
in June, you're in a lotof trouble. Yeah, But that's the
beauty of the marathon game is youhave a long time to work through the
It's a nooner today, and ifyou didn't get to see Chris Paddock last
week against the Brewers, you'll getto see him today. Paddock, of
course, returns from injury, getssome relief work last year, and now
he's starting four innings just against theBrewers last week in a victory. But

(34:15):
it's dicey though. I mean he'sgiven up a couple of hits each inning
that he's pitched. We'll see whathe has today against Bobby Miller. Could
be a tough one at Target Field. So that's a nooner. Tonight is
the night nine pm. The battlefor the first overall seed in the Western
Conference kind of boils down to tonight, PA and game in hand, advantage,

(34:37):
tiebreakers, etc. The Minnesota Timberwolvesare at the Denver Nuggets, and
that's a nine pm ish tip offright here on your home for the Howl.
You'll think you're a good on thefan tonight. And we had a
shorty. We've talked to Chris Finchalready this week, but they did handle
business last night courtesy of fifty onepoints from this guy. Here's a highlight.

(34:59):
It's got it right side on theleft hand, trying to turn the
quartern. Gi'll get into the pint, runs it up the last he got
it for two more fifty one forAnthony Edward's a new career high first time
in his career has gone for fiftyplus ooh, fifty one points from ant
and it was it was dicey athalftime, but then, as the Wolves

(35:19):
have done so many times this year, it was pedaled down into the third,
just ran the Wizards out of thegym and they cruised to a victory
at the finish line. And nowtonight back to back against the Nuggets.
Here we got a Sham's bomb.We've got a Shams bomb. Pa shams
Cherania the Athletic. He's reporting itis expected that Karl Anthony Towns is set

(35:43):
to return for one of the finalthree games, could be tonight YEP or
over the weekend with Atlanta and thenPhoenix in the finale. My question to
you on this, though, iswhat kind of challenge is it. Do
you think where they want Cat back? You know the team ultimately can be
better with Cat, there's no doubtabout that. But in the same sense,
it's like you gotta you gotta goto work. You're battling to maintain

(36:04):
top three in the West. You'rehammering on beating good teams, You're you're
struggling in other areas, but youhave figured out how to live for a
month and a half without Cat.Now he's back. Is there a challenge
to reintegrating cat uh this close infront of a potential playoff series? My
guess would be the answer is absolutelyyes, because it's it's integrating something into

(36:29):
into a situation that now we havemore than a handful of games. Like
you said, it's about a monthand a half. So therefore there is
a it's just it can't possibly gobing bing bing bing perfect bing bing bing,
everything just as fluid, like wow, its like you've never been gone.
But it's it's undeniable that And we'veseen games like this with the Timberwolves

(36:52):
over the last month, maybe certainlyduring the time Karl Anthony Towns has been
gone. And what I'm talking aboutit was ottom ended last Friday at Phoenix.
I mean they just couldn't score,and KD and Booker and Beal and
all the right guys nurkics. Imean they all came out and were like,
if only for one night, let'streat this like Game seven of the

(37:14):
NBA Championship of the Phoenix Suns.Early in that Friday night game and through
it was like Wolves at Denver inthe last game where from A to Z
they weren't going to lose. Itwas hit legit, top level playoff performance.
Well, the Suns did that tothe Wolves. They couldn't get past

(37:36):
eighty seven points. That right there, plus some other scenarios they've had over
the last month where they've gone longpatches trying to find points. That's where
Karl Anthony Towns will really really helpbecause attention will have to go from Edwards
to him to a certain extent.They're still milking and feeding Rudy, specifically

(37:59):
in certain matchups like last night againsta centerless team like Washington, and so
therefore that's why, from what Iunderstand, they've been trying to get his
offense going for about three months.Just fluid and make it a play so
we know, teams know if wecome down to you, it's not an
immediate passout. Rudy Gobert now iscalled upon to score a little more from

(38:22):
the post. Well, that's gettingattention. Then you get like Alexander Walker,
Monte Morris, Jaden McDaniels. Theirpositivity with offense forever is on borrow
time. So but Carl's is not. That's what Carl Anthony Towns. Does
he scores? Of course, hecan rebound, he can pass. Never

(38:43):
been a big shot blocker, buthe can block them. But Carl Anthony
Towns scores from all over the court, and that's what they need. Now.
On the other side of it,they have been dramatically quicker getting back
on defense after missshots or made shotsagainst teams like okay, see you just
throw it in quickly and go yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm in Houston.

(39:04):
I mean, that's another team thatwants to run every second of every
single game. Well, it's they, you know, I know, it's
like if Nos and Kat raced fiftyyards, I'd bet NOAs, but I
don't think he'd win by you know, a ton of lanks, but I
bet Nods. I think he's fasterthan Karl Anthony Towns. He complains less.
When he feels he's fouled and didn'tget the call, he runs back

(39:28):
where Carl and it was a problemwith Anthony. You can tell it was
addressed. He's gotten a lot betterat it, not complaining as much and
making it four on five basketball.That's still a problem with Karl Anthony Towns,
the complaining and getting into it witha rep or something. Carl Anthony
Towns is on the ground more thanany basketball player I've ever seen in my

(39:51):
life. Whether he's falling, he'stripping, I don't know what's happening,
he's always on the ground. Andwhen that's the case, it's four on
five terrorism. You got PJ.Washington in the corner bearing threes and putting
you in a bad spot where youlose to a team like Charlotte. So
that's going to be something I believethey are going to have to overcome.

(40:12):
Is get making sure he gets backon defense. Likewise, for Rudy,
likewise, for the three best players, you know they can be at times
some of the slowest and in mostsluggardly fashioned to get back quickly, well,
there ain't no tomorrow with that nowwhen you get into the postseason.
So yeah, it's gonna help.It'd be foolish for anybody to say having

(40:35):
Cap back is not going to help. But I'm excited to watch him in
playoff games and see how he respondsto the way they're called. And they
finished. So we got the nuggettonight at nine o'clock on the fan.
Atlanta's here. I believe Friday andPhoenix is here Sunday, the Nuggets are
at Wemby and at the Grizzlies.Now Wemby and the Cell and that squad

(40:59):
that that's not an instant w anymore. For some reason, they're playing teams
tight. They're beating teams like Phoenixwithout Wemby, so that's not a preview.
And the Nuggets have been no bargainon the road the entire year.
I can't even name anybody other thanWemby that's actually healthy and playing for the
Spurs right now. They got GoncharI think that I forget what his name

(41:20):
is. They got a couple ofthose obscure guards. It's kind of like
the Wizards, and they are takingevery team to the wire. It's unbelievable.
Well, it's the it's the GregPopovich factor. Yea, Memphis their
final game, that's the Conchar gonChar team. Okay, yeah, well,
I mean they're awful. So andthey know the next day is the

(41:42):
off season. Yeah well no,excuse me, Sunday night's the off season.
So I'll tell you right now ifthey if they suit fifteen players for
the Memphis Grizzlies, I would laythe over under on how many of them
already have round trip or one waytickets to an exotic destination or Sunday night
if it's unless it's a night game, I would lay the over under at

(42:04):
eleven and a half. And theonly reason it's not fourteen and a half
is I'm sure Jaeger or whomever coachesthem is making four of them stay back
to like deal with rehab and stufflike that. So that's what they have
at the end. Oh, wejust have Phoenix at the end. But
you got to see where Phoenix isslotted and stuff, because Phoenix will sit

(42:25):
Kevin Durant, Nurkic and Bradley Beal. If they're locked in, they might
say Booker two, I would whyplay him in that game? You know,
unless you're so spiteful you're like,well, the Wolves beat us to
get the one seed. When youcompensate Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley
Beal, you're not supposed to worryabout who has the one seed, you

(42:46):
know why, because you're supposed tohave it correct and you don't. So
that it's amazing too. In theWest right now, like the Pels,
it's a two game split between theKings, and the eighth spot and the
pell and the Suns are shoehorned inthe middle. I mean they. I
mean the grind between not doing theplay in doing the play in is so

(43:08):
heavy right now, right Phoenix.Yeah, I think I think they I
think they come correct over the weekend. I think they need that game.
Oh, I think, Oh,in playoffs begin, I think they absolutely
come correct what I saw Friday night. If they have that in them eighty
percent consistently, I mean outside ofDenver, they're going to the NBA Finals.

(43:29):
If they can do that eight outof ten times, that was unbelievable
what I saw Friday night with theway they I mean, Durant was emotionless
in the game. It was steely. And if they all get like that
and they're in concert and they share, Wow, there's some high end tallent
all right into the final hour,nine to noon. That's News de Nord

(43:52):
courtesy of Canterbury Park and Canterbury Parkdot Com. It's Paul Allen by your
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setting up some some talkbacks we willplay later in the radio show NFL Draft
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