#92Noon! 10a Hour 7/25 - Ben Leber

Ben Leber in studio for most of the hour on Vikings/NFL football, training camp, money issues with the Niners and more! News follows.

Episode Transcript

(00:15):
Liber nine to noon, hardcore football. It's not Ben Liber a weekly piece
nine to noon. Right around teno'clock, it's ten oh five. Good

(00:37):
morning at Nacho Liber via the Socialmedia Machine and Twin Cities Live TCL.
Yeah you know we three to fourthirty today on Channel five. Good morning,
Ben, how are you? I'mgood. I just like that you
refer to me as your weekly piece. You're my weekly piece? Yeah,
buddy, how do you know it'snot w E A K L Y.

(01:00):
It could be that. It couldbe you know, maybe after a weekly
session with you on my turn week. No, no, no, no,
you're nothing. You're antithetical to weekyour verbal brute strength and good morning.
Good morning. Now today on theold Twin Cities Live, are you
guys discussing best parks in the TwinCities to bring the family perhaps for a
picnic, spread out the blanket andhave a good time. Well, I

(01:22):
mean kind of. So today we'vegot a split show. I'm going to
be at Mystic Lake. Your face, brother, you just today the best.
Today I'm going to be at MysticLake talking about the great Midwest rib
fests or a good nephew. Sothere you go. So not quite a
park. It is a parking lotmm hmm. And they're going to transform
it into the tenth annual rib Fest, So I will be down there from
three to four thirty kind of highlightingall the goods and getting the public prepared

(01:46):
for a weekend of rib festivities.Are you? Are you going to lay
down on your side and just kindof kick your legs out like you did
a target field and subsequently became yourTwitter profile mixture good morning, good morning.
Well, because the the why areyou talking like that? I don't
know, because you're making a soundkind of sultry and kind of like I

(02:07):
caught the Twins thing live. I'mwatching I got all your albums, So
I'm at Canterbury Park for whatever thereason. Twin Cities lives onto TV.
I see YB Young Benjamin lay outlike that doing your hit on TCL and
I ran up to the TV tryingto get like a picture of it to
say something on Twitter, and rightaway they I think they might have cut

(02:30):
away to Summer's close, the artof filling water balloons for the kids and
the spreading out the blanket, Iknow, right with a picnic or something
like that. But yeah, probablylike we're talking about Kid's Day or something.
At twins Field. I can't waitfor Monday when the football team dons
the pads. And it was coolseeing the gang yesterday, but the practices

(02:53):
and pads have been known to separate, say the chaff from the wheat.
What's up? What's first day inpads? Like after not banging around in
them for like six and a halfmonths, it's nerve wracking. Yeah,
yeah, I mean you don't geta you don't get a ton of sleep.
I mean you have that anxiousness likeit's the first day of school and

(03:13):
you already have that before you checkinto camp. But then it's like,
okay, this is the the reelmeets the reel and it's uh, it's
it's an intense day. I meanmentally, physically, emotionally, it's an
intense day. And the expect expectationsare very high because it's not like it's
the first day of pads and like, oh, we're just gonna, you

(03:34):
know, have a couple of defensesand it's gonna be a light little install.
I mean, by this point intime on Monday, the first day
of pads, the way they dothings and the way the structure things like
you've got a bulk of your playbookin so mentally there's a heavy, heavy
load, and then you gotta thenyou gotta think about the physicality of like
Okay, I got to go outand prove myself. It's like mm hmm.
It's like you're the you're the newfish walk into a prison and everybody

(03:57):
feels that way, like you gotto go out improve yourself, Like you're
not going to be anybody's be thisday. Like you've got to go out
there and take it to you thatday. That's where it starts. Yeah,
I mean it's like first impressions.Yeah, you know, and I
know that a lot of veterans,you do get a point where like,
Okay, this is not necessarily myfirst impression day. They know who I
am, they know what I canplay. Like, look, Harrison Smith
is not going to be probably losinga ton of sleep with a first day

(04:18):
of pads, but he's still goingto have a little bit of that extra
juice of now I got to showthese guys that I still got it.
You know, I know that there'sprobably question marks about about me losing a
step or half a step, ormy age and this and that, like
I still have to go out thereand prove something to them and prove something
to myself that I can still playat a high level. And that all
starts on the first day of PADSin this pads On equation and then to

(04:42):
the joints in Cleveland. Dallas Turnerexcites me the most in this equation,
at this stage of the equation andwatching him yesterday, you know it,
it's like, you know, we'veseen Grenard and we've seen Dallas Turner,
and like Grenard is he was,he's more slender, yes, then I
because I'm watching a lot of Texansfootball unless they're in the playoffs. So

(05:03):
like Grenard's, I mean he's licked, he's split fast, holy cow.
But he's more slender than I thoughtbecause we're raised on Denil and Turner.
I mean he's just thick. He'sjust you know, he's not super tall,
but he's thick, and he's fastand he's twitchy. It's I've been
excited to see him when he donsthat full armor, just to see what

(05:26):
positions they put him in. Yes, because you know it better than anybody.
Man. I mean, okay,so you were you were a week
side linebacker, right, yeah,okay, well so and Dallas is an
edge, but he'll also have hishand in the grass as a defensive end,
probably in nickel situations. He alsowhen Flores spreads out five, six

(05:47):
or seven and they're standing up andyou got enough film of it now so
they don't know where it's coming fromand it's third and say six or longer,
Well he might be your three technique. Yeah. So they're going to
put him in so many spots,like when we are in Cleveland to watch
him in a third down situation oppositeWyatt Dellar, one of the best guards

(06:09):
in the NFL. I mean thatsounds good enough to eat. I mean,
that's going to be unbelievable, isn'tit. I mean, pick your
poison with that deefense. Yeah,I the way the way he lived that
out there, I'm one hundred percentwith you. I mean, he is
one. He is one of themany, many people to watch and this
the thing is the fun thing aboutwatching him for this training camp. It's

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not really a competition, you know, It's not like you know, I
know, Van Ginkle's coming back froman injury and all this other stuff,
but it's not like, well it'sit's one or the other. It's a
battle between Van Ginkle, It's abattle between Dallas Turner and and somebody else.
No, it's just we know thisguy can play. Yeah, is

(06:51):
he going to be the best onthe outside? How's he gonna look as
an into your pass rusher? Whereare we going to use him when Van
Ginkle's healthy? Do we put weput Dallas on the line, Does perhaps
Ben Ginkold take a step back offthe ball? Does he drop a little
bit more in coverage? Does hehave more coverage skills to give us a
little bit sort of they that thatoff the ball outside linebacker. Look,

(07:12):
it seems like I think athletically theyboth can do it. And now you
just leave it up to the madscientists and Brian Flores to figure it all
out and say like, okay,we'll I've just got these little I've got
these these queens on the chessboard thatcan move in every direction and and they
can move as many many spaces aspossible. Where am I going to put
all these queens on this defense?And And I certainly don't say that desparately.

(07:33):
I just likes regulate that that iswhat is the most important piece on
the on the chessboard. And ifyou've got versatile guys that can move in
all directions and play multiple positions,yeah, do you've got the game licked.
It's not. It's when you sayqueens. It's obviously because the queen
is so operable in a chess game, going all directions. It's not like

(07:54):
my man that I see probably tentimes a year in the parking lot where
I park here. My man isa perm He's a Gucci, A one
of the one of the big businessesin this building. Every time I see
him from twenty feet away, hejust screams at me, Apa, what
do you think of him? Queens? I always love that one. How
about him? Queens? It ain'tlike that we completely understood how you get

(08:18):
it? They paid darisof How doyou feel about that? And what do
you like about it? I likethe fact that they're just getting out ahead
of it. I like the messagingthat this front office is taking. And
we were saying this a little bitthrough the off season, certainly with the
draft, but they've been talking aboutthis competitive rebuild and all this other stuff,

(08:39):
and they've they've had you know,they've come up with their own little
buzzwords, and it's it's what everyorganization does. You can't always tip your
hand, you can't always just likeshow exactly what you're doing. Because it
is a competition. We as afan base never really knew what's the buzzword
the competitive rebuild. Oh there yougo. Competitive, Yeah, because like
Kate, Kate, I'm sure thatyou've heard these before, but like KOC

(09:01):
has a bunch of them. It'slike when when you're inside the twenty,
where are you You're in the highred yeah, or the low red red,
And when you're in the high redor low red your your best,
your best is required. However,he puts that he's yeah, pretty well
well trained at that. Yeah.So I guess my point is, I
think for the first you know,year and a half, we were like,

(09:22):
we heard all these things and wewere excited about everything, but we
didn't really I didn't. I certainlydidn't see like this sort of path being
carved out it. I'm like,I don't, I don't know really what
this looks like. And it's notreally for us to know on the outside
anyway. But now that we've seenwhat they've what they're doing, with not
bringing back Kirk, you know,letting Danielle go, getting these other pass

(09:43):
rushers on younger deal, younger playerson these nice deals. Looking what we
did and moving one spot ahead inthe draft to get McCarthy, you know,
having the equity with that trade toget to get Dallas Turner in the
second round. Like I see itnow. Yeah, Like I'm understanding exactly
what this competitive rebuild looks. LikeI understand defensively we're getting we're getting more

(10:07):
athletic. All of this being saidis I can understand and see they want
to build a true foundation. Theygot JJ, They got JJ re signed.
We knew that darrisaw was was goingto get a contract. A lot
of his thought that was going tohappen maybe next year because he had two
years left on the deal. Likeokay, well it makes more sense to
do maybe next year. No,man, let's do it now. Let's

(10:28):
just send the message to the teamand to everybody else, like what we're
building here, We're building a young, very talented group that we want truly
to be the foundation of this team, whether it's JJ McCarthy that takes over
either this year or next year.Like we're letting him. Know, Hey,
is this dude over here that wethink is a premier and you know,

(10:48):
a budding premier left tackle. He'sgoing to be your guy. He's
gonna be a guy for a longtime. And you mentioned your premiere,
reach, premiere and budding in termsof Christian Darisaow's ascension over his first three
season and freakish lee Athletic, that'skind of a common way of describing him
that I've heard from the team.Brian O'Neil was quoted in The Athletic yesterday
saying just that what are you seeingthat as well? You're you're seeing the

(11:11):
ascension, the stability. Misses ahandful of games his rookie season, a
couple I think two years ago.But are you seeing the consistency and the
stability from him at that spot?I think consistency and confidence are the two
things that come to mind. IsI think that he and this is like
just a normal trajectory for a lotof young players. I think there's a
feeling out period of personally like doI belong here? Like? Am I

(11:33):
good enough for this game? I'dlike to think that I am. I
have to go out and prove it, and you know, a little bit
of a slow start his rookie year, and now he comes in and then
you know, within within you know, fifteen sixteen games, you know,
now it's like, whoa this guy? Man, he's like the next Trent
Williams. I mean, then hebecomes then they befriend each other, and

(11:54):
then you know, now he's gettingadvice from him. Now he's considered a
friend, and now he got therest of the league talking about him.
And now he's going out there withwith a little bit of a heavier weight
on his shoulders and these higher expectations. He go out that goes out this
last year, improves it once again, and now you start to really see,
Okay, he's athletic, he's skilled, but now he's got the confident
attitude that he knows he's the man. And I think that that is that's

(12:18):
exactly what every athlete's looking for,is like, I've proven us the league,
the league has these expectations of me. I'm living up to some of
the hype that I had internally andnow from the external factors, and you
start to see this dude that hashe's legit, like he knows he's legit.
This confidence that he has I thinkis really starting to shine through.
And the Vikings were smart, Ithink, very smart to get a deal

(12:41):
done now and not wait till nextyear when we all know that prices are
just going to go up. Imean, maybe maybe the percentage of the
cat remains the same, but stillit's real dollars and it's hard numbers,
and you know, take care ofthe guy right now. Send I think
it sends a positive message to theteam and to the rest of the league
that we're going to take care ofthe guys that we develop. And he's

(13:01):
quite the talent football. You mentionedTrent Williams, the super accomplished Hall of
Famer to be left tackle for theSan Francisco forty nine ers. How about
your Niners Brandon Aiyuk and now TrentWilliams holding out and they're both mad at
their money. I mean, soit's I mean that you know better than

(13:24):
anybody. Man. Shoot, youwere here in twenty ten with the ultimate
distraction with a Farv and Sturger,and I had a lot to do with
ruining the season. Distractions absolutely arethe ultimate equalizer. And these Niners favored
to get to the Super Bowl fromthe National Football Conference well now they have
hof left tackle and twenty twenty widereceiver crop Guy, both mad at their

(13:48):
money. What do you think ofall that? Well, I think it's
unfortunate because they are a team thatwe all know that is on the cusp
of actually winning one of these SuperBowl these years. They work so hard
to get there and prove they're oneof the best teams. They just can't.
They can't win it. Their windowof opportunity, I think is closing.
And Nordo and I hit on thathard yesterday. We agree with you.

(14:13):
Yeah, and beensive. Man.It's it's gonna get really Harry,
you know, especially with Trent Williams, where I think everybody knows that he's
one of the premier guys. He'sa he's a Hall of Famer. But
from a business standpoint, you know, A we don't really know what he's
looking for. Is he looking for? I mean, can't possibly be looking
for a four year deal. Imean, well, he sees Mercedes Lewis,

(14:35):
who you played against at age forty, Yeah, kicking ass and Bear's
camp because you're thirty five years oldand Trent Williams playing a position that is
oh man, I mean you areHe's been really you know, lucky and
durable over over his fifteen years.But man, you are getting what your
one roll up from behind from missingthis season, you know, not coming

(15:01):
back to form. I just ifI'm John Lynch like, look, man,
we love you, we love everythingyou've done. You're gonna be a
Hall of Famer. I hope thatyou invite me to your Hall of Fame
speech and your ceremony. But look, man, like, we can't give
you this money at thirty five.Yeah, you know, it's like we
really don't want to have to cutFred Warner to pay both of you guys.
I mean, Nordo hit on ityesterday. I'm looking at Warner's money

(15:22):
trying to find money for them.And then Heat and Drake Greenlaw off the
injury looks to be the one they'regonna if they if they if they reop
a Yuk and Williams, well,like two big names have to go.
Green Law probably won, you knowwell and then you and it's got to
be you know, we hear aboutit from these gms all the time.
It's you've got to be really,really disciplined to look at the years ahead.

(15:46):
I mean, we're making today's decisions. You have to look at the
future implications. And when it comesto the salary cap, you got rock
perty who Yeah, you know,polarizing quarterback. Yep, you can love
him or hate him. Is thata fifty million guarantee in a moment when
when when he wants money? Imean it is is he there say that's

(16:07):
fifty that's kind of light. Ithink that's That's why. That's where I'm
going with all of this, islike whether you think fifty is the number
or not, but and whether youthink that he's deserving or not. If
he goes out and takes this teamagain to the to the playoffs and plays
well and plays mistake free and ishe's efficient, he's throwing touchdowns versus interceptions,

(16:29):
I'm sorry. You may not likestylistically the way he plays. You
may not like the way he's alittle bit like Kirk Cousins and his personality
and just very very vanilla. Thedude can ball and if it balls out
again, you have to pay forproduction, and he's gonna have He's gonna
have san Fran bent Over saying like, hey, guys, I've done this

(16:52):
on a rookie contract. You gotto pay me. This is just what
happens in the NFL, and sothey have to allocate future dollars to a
potential contract, whether that comes tofruition or not. So that makes it
really hard to make a deal forIUK, and it makes the hard for
a thirty five year old Trent Williams. And with the party timing, what
is potentially compelling and or a conundrumfor them is next level Shanny's pet quarterback

(17:18):
Kirk Is. I mean, he'syou know, what's he going to be?
Thirty seven, thirty eight, thirtynine. You know when it's time
to pay party. So you justcan't call pet quarterback after a couple of
years at Atlanta and say, ah, come out over here and just make
it happen, you know what Imean. Well, to that end,
I'm having a hard time with this. And positionally it seems like markets are
set and in some ways almost regardlessof potential future production. It's well,

(17:45):
it's my turn to get paid,so I get paid. And we've seen
that with wide receivers and the blowup of those dollars over the last year
and a half. But I lookat Purdy in San Francisco, I look
at Tua in Miami, and Ilook at Jordan Love in Green Bay,
where each of those you could equallyargue that I can't give them a quarter
billion dollars. Whether it's it's party, you're analyzing the system of Shanahan,

(18:08):
with Tua, it's the concussions,And I would actually say the system of
Mike McDaniel. I think McDaniel canhave a lot of the same success with
those weapons if he had a rockparty, throwing the ball just like Tua.
And then Jordan Love with the rungame and doing exactly things exactly the
way Lafleur wants it. Do youdo you see it that way? Or
is it just simply it's a market. So Tua's next, He's got to

(18:30):
get two hundred and fifty million.I think that's really difficult for each of
those three spots to really put inkto pad to paper to make that happen
for those guys well, And Ithink that you hit on an interesting point
because the NFL every year and wetalk about it, even we'd look at
we look at legacy quarterbacks. Alot of quarterbacks with system guys. Look,

(18:52):
Joe Montana would not have been probablysuccessful if he was in a different
offensive system. Same with Steve Young. Yeah, it's and it's only you
know, it's only coincident that we'retalking about brock perty and what they're doing
with Shanahan. A lot of successfulquarterbacks are reliant on a system that just
happens to fit their strengths great andand that's no slight on them. It's

(19:15):
just like timing is kind of everything, and you you figure out. And
that's why the draft is so important. It's like, what do we know
about our offense and then who's theplayer that we that is is best fit
in the offense. And that's that'sregardless of quarterback, that's every position.
So if you're looking at Tua,and if you're the ownership, you have
to be thinking this is a packagedeal. So we understand that Tua works

(19:37):
in McDaniel's system. So or doeshe? Well? I think he does.
Yeah, I mean it's I can'tfigure out too. I mean,
I like him, but I thoughti'd love him by the stage of the
equation. Maybe I just need topay more attention to it. Okay,
Well, we'll see. I agreehe works best in McDaniel's system. Yeah,
Okay, Well, let's let's stickwith Purdy and Shanahan, right.

(19:59):
I think Shanahan's very confident that hey, I can probably go out there and
scout another guy like Brock Purty tobe successful. Yeah. John Skelton,
sure, yeah, yeah, JohnDavid Booty or something like that, no
doubt. McLeod baltas our Bethel top. Yeah. But anyway, but but
then again, that's that's a gamble, you know, And then you have
to think about your your window ofopportunity. If you feel like your window

(20:19):
of opportunity is closed and then weneed to start fresh, well then maybe
you don't pay Brock Purtty a tonof money. But if you feel like,
hey, look we he's he's goingto keep our window of opportunity open
a little bit because I have faithin the way that he can run my
system. It's sort of a packagedeal. And if John Lynch and the
and the ownership feel like, yeah, you know what, there's just something

(20:40):
missing with Shanahan and it's like,we keep getting to this this point and
we just can't get it. Hedoesn't have that that next step or that
next the next lever to pole.And if they just completely collapse that well
then Perdy probably goes with him.So I don't know. I don't know
how they how John Lynch and theownership feel about the package deal, because
they've very much are a package deal. Do you like bo Nicks at all?

(21:03):
Yeah? Okay, Well, wellhere's what triggered the thought. Well
way you laid it out, likesay, this doesn't work and that doesn't
work, and we went all inon McCaffrey and then we paid Iuka Yuka,
Yuka's on fire, we got debo, all that, and it doesn't
work. And then like next level, Shanny's out, pretty goes with him.
Do you know how excited they wouldbe in Denver if the anti Vike

(21:25):
like anti Vike's out. They justwant him out. He's just too too
power hungry and arrogant and stuff likethat. And next level Shanny rolls into
a Denver squad with bow Nicks andlike thirty two thirty five games under his
belt. Wow, I like thatpossibility. And it's a it's a Shanny
in Denver. Oh that would benice. It's unbelievable. I love that.

(21:48):
Have you been thinking about this awhile? Not until you tried to
get him fired? It's the palatecleanser. Yeah, all right, let's
pause. All right, this hasbeen a leberp Now. Yesterday Nordo dropped
a clip from Ivan Pace Junior hand an interview and something he said about
the green dot, which means orchestratingand calling the defense on the field.
It was very compelling to me,and I'm excited to extend the conversation with

(22:11):
somebody who knows about linebacker play andgreen dots and nickels and dimes and stuff
like that. Ben Liber at NachoLiber Twin Cities Live three to four thirty
today on Channel five from Mystic LakeCasino Hotel. And here's an order with
that cash. Yeah, the fanompigdeck dot com want to give you a
chance to put a grand in yourhand with the National Cash Contest. Go

(22:32):
to kfan dot com and enter thekeyword credit. You might win a thousand
dollars if you do the create thekeyword credit at kfan Doctor. Hey,

(22:56):
hey, k Hey, k Adams. That's I've been Pace Junior. Your
team believes in you a couple oftimes. I saw that green dot in
your helmet a couple two times lastyear. Are you wearing it this year?
I believe so. I believe,so shut up, he lost go
really yeah, yeah, we lostHiggs. Wayne went down. Last year.

(23:18):
I took over and they gave methat. They gave me that,
they gave me that trust that theyhad. So I believe now that he's
gone, I'm we're definitely word ofthe Green Dot next year. That's amazing.
I love that. Uh, youknow, I just that's amazing.
Congratulations on that. I wanted toask you quickly. I love that.
All right, great, So iftrue, and you know what, I

(23:42):
should have looked forward yesterday. Butif true, any surprise, it's not
Cashman. Now, now, Blakeran the Green Dot one time last year,
maybe two, filling in for Ibelieve Denzel Perryman and my Man had
like sixteen or nineteen dackles and somethinglike that. But it forget that.

(24:03):
It's the trust Demiko Ryans, whowe both immensely respect had with Green Doc
Guy down was going to go withBlake, and and from what I understood
from when they signed him, itworked really well. So if it is
Ivan Pace Junior, and any surprise, it's not Cashman, no, I
don't think so, got it.I don't think so. I don't think
it's a surprise at all. Imean, Flores, going back to the

(24:25):
pre draft process, he targeted Pace. It's it's his guy, it was
his it was his pick. Itwas he was the reason why he you
know, kind of stood on thetable and said, this is my guy.
This is the guy that can fitinto my scheme. I don't care
what you guys say about us,height, weight and all this other stuff.
He's he's the mentality that I want. He's the physical player that I
want for this defense. And nowthat he's come out and shown the rest

(24:48):
of the public what he saw inthis and Ivan Pace, I think it's
it's his job to lose. Imean, he's gonna have first writer of
refusal if he if he doesn't performwell with the green Dot, which I
don't. I don't think that's goingto be the case because I feel like
I remember even seeing a last trainingcamp where they're just swapping every once in
a while, you know, he'dhave green dot helmet on then you know

(25:08):
for a net for the next seriesor the next whatever. He didn't.
So like they've been you know,using it back and forth and getting him
accustomed to using it even in practiceas early as last last training camp,
and so he has experience with it, he's earned the trust. He's going
to be sounds like he's going tobe on the field for sure all three
downs. Now, okay that yeah, that's so. So he gets every

(25:30):
play, you get every play.Well, now, now we got to
start thinking nickel and dime. That'sexactly right, you know what I'm saying,
And it's confusing, at least tome, it is. Yeah,
And I don't I don't really seescenarios where they would swap in and out.
You know, I don't see whereyou would go into a nickel subsituation
because again, you know, theNFL is going to be you know,
sixty percent sub packages these days andnot so much base base personnel that that

(25:52):
he would go off the field andCashman would stay on the field and you'd
have to swap out helmets like you'renot You're not doing that. So you're
you're when you green dot the guyyou're basically saying, this is our three
down linebacker and or one of ourthree down linebackers. And so even in
a we got a true dime situationwhere you take all linebackers off the field
except for one and bring in anotherdefensive back that that's going to be the

(26:15):
guy. Then Cashman takes the seat, or maybe Cashman, you know,
because he's got a little rush tohim, like maybe he stays on the
field for certain packages. But basicallywhat you're saying is he's the quarterback of
our defense. He's staying on thefield all three downs. He's never coming
off the field. How difficult isthat? Is there prestige associated with it?
You played outside in a four tothree? What does this mean in

(26:36):
terms as I microanalyze this as anoutsider? What am I truly digging into?
Well? I think that you're youare. It is absolutely a badge
of honor. It's actually one ofmy sort of proudest moments. And it
had to come by default. Imean, EJ was our green dot guy,
and because I was on and offthe field on third down and base
personnel. But then when he gotinjured, which you never want to see

(26:59):
that nine, that was nine,and and and in ten as well the
toe Yeah in ten, wow,I think he heard it. Since that
eight Yeah, maybe that was wasNo, that was that was? That
was eight and then into nine.Now he had a miserable day in Nashville,
Wasshville because he missed meetings or waslate or whatever. So who's the

(27:25):
defensive coordinator, Leslie? Right?Okay, well be a childress through Leslie
whatever. He sat the first quarter, remember they at least the first right
might have been the first half,and then came in the game and messed
up his toe in like two minutes. Then he was done for a little
while. And I feel bad inthat situation because you're right for I knew
that we was a road game.I just forgot where we were at.
And well, Gus Faratt took oneof the hardest hits I've ever seen a

(27:48):
quarterback take back center of the endzone, and you know he threw it
away. Do you remember, Idon't remember who it was. Oh my
heavens, did he get hit soquick? Side story, so you know,
ej gets hurt. I think hegoes back to the locker room,
comes back and he's he's kind ofshowing me. He's kind of telling me
what he did to his toe.And I don't know why I said.
I wasn't trying to be a jerker. I go, dude, I think

(28:08):
you blew your toe out. He'slike, I think you, like,
I think you're done. He's like, well, he's like really like why
would you He's like, why wouldyou think that? I go, I
don't know, man, like theway that you just say, like it
doesn't function the way you think.So he actually didn't go to the locker
room yet. So we were justtalking like kind of right when he got
injured, and he kind of gaveme this like look of like why the
hell would you say that to me? And I'm like, I don't even

(28:30):
know what was going on, youknow, I don't even know. And
then come to find out that likeunfortunately I was correct and he was.
He was out. I mean,so you're just ben liber Profit for Pain.
You're just trying to kind of messaround with a little bit. You
feel for him. He's your teammate, he's your butty. I know.
I was like, kind of youhit him with a week four, I
think you're done, and he's caughtfor that, and then I know,

(28:52):
I think a Profit for Pain islike, well, you know what,
this is bad, but I gotnews for you coming up A No.
Nine. It's going to be anylet's go back out there. And so
anyway I was it is is oneof my prouder moments that in my career
that that they trusted me with theGreen Dot. You know, Greenway is
playing out of his mind. GreenwayGreenway was a better athlete than I was.

(29:15):
He was the better player than Iwas, and they were like,
Okay, we're gonna ge We're gonnagive the green dot to you. And
so it's it's an immediate like feelingof responsibility. And and so when it
comes to Ivan Pace, it's like, you know, here's a here's a
young a young star in our teamthat not only physically can go out there
and play, but they think thatmentally has the whereabouts and the wits in

(29:40):
the mental apptlitude to go out thereand be a coach on the field.
That's that's a big honor because becausethe way that you prepare and the way
that I had to prepare it,I mean it ratcheted up, Like I
had no idea what EJ Was goingthrough when he was a Green Dot guy,
and you really have to look atthe game much more intensely when you're
breaking down film. It helped,it really helped me become a better player
because I could now be a littlebit more forward thinking I could be a

(30:04):
little bit more thinking about, youknow, what could they possibly do,
and it helped me sort of gaina slight advantage, whether it's a quarter
of a step quicker to where Ineeded to go. Because I had to
think like a coach, you know, I had to get the play call
in the in the helmet, notonly give that information out, but I
immediately went into every check and adjustmentthat we had to make, not just

(30:26):
my position to make because I hadto make calls to I had to make
calls to Jared and some guys inthe defensive line on my side of the
field. But now I'm starting tomake calls to to the to the DBS
to say to Williams exactly, andyou have to you have to think about
it before it happens, so youknow, you break the huddle. Now,
Ivan Pace has got really no offensiveidentification. He's got to go names

(30:49):
and numbers, what their positions are, what they where they where they can
line up down in distance. Youknow what the play call is on defense
as well, and how that howthat affects how they line up. And
so from the second they break thehuddle to when they get lined up,
he's got to know, Okay,this is a tight split by this guy.
If he goes in emotion, thisis what we're calling. If this

(31:11):
tight end hot motions and steps backand changes the formation, Now we've got
to make a strength call. Nowthis blitz, this strong side blitz goes
from the tight end side. Nowwe got to check the strong side blitz
to the other side. Oh butwait, in the meetings, did we
actually are we actually going to keepit on or are we going to actually
rotate it over to the other side. And you have to make that adjustment

(31:32):
and that call on the field andthen tell that safety, no, no,
no, this safety is coming downto run the blitz. You're back
in coverage with whatever. So like, that's that's the type of weight that
the green dot carries. And I'mso I'm happy for him, man,
because it's a huge honor that explanation. Can you repeat the part of this
stuff where you said all about thingsgreenways in South Dakota So he won't be

(31:56):
joining us tomorrow, so you don'thave to record whatever potential er we're going
to get, all right, threetwo? So when the green dot came
open, how come you got it? And Chad didn't. I mean,
admittedly, because Chad and I talkedabout that. Admittedly, He's like,
I didn't. I don't want it. He's like my he's like my game.
He is my my game. I'mbest when I can play free like

(32:17):
he didn't. He didn't want tobe bogged down by some of the by
some of the x's and o's.And that's not to say that he couldn't.
He was extremely smart. I mean, the reason why he could make
so many plays is because he could. He knew, he knew what to
do and how to do it,and knew what the offense was trying to
do to him. But he's like, look, I he wanted to be
more Tasmanian devil on the field andlike I want to free flow. I

(32:38):
want to go. But then youknow, when when Zimmer came in,
he actually had he was green dotteda little bit. We had we had
some deeper conversations about what all thatentails, and I told him, I
go, look, I know it'sgoing to be an adjustment. I know
it's going to be a little Youmay feel like mentally your step slower in
practice and stuff, but I promiseyou you're gonna enjoy being the green doc

(33:01):
guy. It's gonna make you abetter player, And he admitted after a
couple of weeks, He's like,I really, I really enjoy, you
know, having this responsibility. Soit had nothing to do with that being
about the time that he got hisnew teeth and he was still trying to
get his tongue to mesh with hisnew teeth, and there was concern that
he wouldn't spit the play out theright way. I always love that one.

(33:23):
I don't think so. I wonderif he was wearing the green dot
on the Scott Chandler play. Iwonder if he had nitrous oxide when he
was getting the new teeth. Iwonder. I always love that wearing the
green dot on the Eric Swoop playor the Brandon Lafel play when he had
his ribs broken. All right,you're the best. To love you guys,
Love you too, Ben Lever.News do Norda's next. Hey,

(34:06):
it's news to nord and it's broughtto you by the casino at Canterbury Park.
Canterbury Park dot com Live racing partof a four day week as a
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for all post times and fun.While you're feeling the felt, when's the
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(34:27):
we're almost out of the collagey terrorism, and but still Hannah's still very
young. Yeah, very little,you know, and you got you got
three in the stable. So Imean, I I understand and respect all
of that, and you're an elitedad, Sure, how badly do you
want to feel the felt? Kiddingman? Have some SIPs head Chips,
especially when my son's the bartender.The only reason, frankly, the only

(34:51):
reason you're the best that I sayhaving SIPs at Chips is because that tells
you that when I do the necessaryCanterbury Reed, longtime sponsor De Noord Sports
Essentials and beyond, yeah, Iimmediately think about that being where I want
to go and knowing that on Wednesdays, if the show ends at eleven fifty
four and I do the podcasting induties, exchange pleasantries with the program director

(35:15):
and then I h tail it outof here that I could have a sip
with Chip and or Chips and tip. Dereck Allen quite well and you know
you can't. Hey, look whojust skipped in here. It's young Alc
for the eleven. Sweet, we'reback, we're back, We're back.
But all right three two, Yes, you know this better than anybody.

(35:37):
Even though you haven't really been tohandling school with it, I'm sure you've
experienced it. So it's like,you know, leave the radio station which
is just to the west of EroticCity copyright Prince Rogers Nelson. And you
know what I got about twenty fiveminutes because zip down into the Felt,
sip a chip tip, young Derek, and then buy in for three to

(36:01):
five on the Felt. Okay,yes, well, if you're in a
hurry, you know what happens.Oh yeah, you over, Matt,
Yes you do. Of course thedoubles come. Why wouldn't they. Of
course the fifteens find fours to makenineteens. And now all of a sudden,
you thought you had twenty five oryou're out of there in twelve.
Correct. Yes, So the fighting, the the impulse, compulse and controlling

(36:24):
all of that is has been aproblem that time. Somebody needs to find
young Alex Lewis and sunscreen at thetraining camp today. My man's nose is
of the cherry variety. Now helooks he's mid season form already. And
I mean the smile lines are crackingbefore our very eyes. We need we
need annointment, we need you know, I was a doctor for that,

(36:46):
and I was on the perch yesterdaymemorizing numbers. So across the field was
was young Alc. And you mentionedthe smile. I mean he has perma
smile. So he's chatting with hewas chatting with Dane miss Utani, big
smile, chatting with Kevin Seffert,big smile. I can't wait for eleven
o'clock to figure out when he startedchatting with Matthew Coller why the smile left?

(37:07):
What were you guys talking about.I just want to know what it
is. I mean, I justI just want to know, like what
was set or shared there? Becausewe're back, We're back the twins.
Are they going to be back onTV? That remains to be seen.
I saw a newsbit yesterday. Maybethere's some sort of solution on the horizon,
maybe even the near horizon between Valleysand Comcast and oh yeah, and

(37:30):
so that's cool. But in themeantime, what is cool is taking two
to three from the fills, saidTanna to left center field and deep.
Puckett goes deep, it goes nearthe wall and it's missed by marsh He
missed it. One run scores.Here comes Coupler heading home. These scores
that were tied, and the Carlossaid, Tanna, well to run double,

(37:52):
and then that's the tie. Andthen Kepler with the walk off rub
bowl up the middle. This isgonna work, This is gonna win it.
Kettler put it in play. Lordof stores. Twits win, Twits
win, the Twins walking up.I guess the Phillies by four. That's
Corey provis courtesy of Bally's. Andthe Twins take two or three from Philadelphia.

(38:14):
They're now fifty six and forty five, still second in the Central,
five games back from the Cleveland Guardians. Next up they go on the road
to see both the Detroit Tigers thatstarts tomorrow. In the next week the
New York Mets. Yeah, beforethey come back home. So a nice
job by the Twins yesterday. Metswhooped ass on the Yankees yesterday. Manea
out pitch. Garrett Cole is havingsome problems. The Metropolitans are four and

(38:37):
zero against the Penn Stripes this yearand Lindoor and Alonso and Nimo and those
cats. Man, they're really startingto hit. So that's why I said
in the opening segment the way Isaid it, the operative words today are
unfortunate, ominous, a harbinger,and foreboding. Yes, And you know

(38:57):
it built it up to like thejoy and pain where it's like, hey,
this is cool man, you guysbeat a good team. Bryce Harper,
Trey Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Randonmarsh Alec Baum and so on,
jt ray Al Muto. But cool. I mean it's the if a tree
falls in the forest and nobody's ableto find it because of a shoe size
contest, it it'll really fall.I think it's a fair way to look

(39:20):
at it. Indeed, last thingfor you here wrapping up news to Nord
something that will come up, ofcourse during next hour, and we have
mentioned it a couple of times already. Makai Blackman, it's been reported that
he tore his acl Everyone's back atpractice, the sun is shining, everyone's
happy to be there. You can'thelp but be magnetically connected to the perma
smile of Alec Lewis. But thenMakai Blackman hits the turf for an extended

(39:43):
period of time, so wiping outsome of the happy vibes at TCO yesterday
and expected, of course, ifthat is accurate, more testing and such,
I'm sure we'll ensue, but he'dbe done for the season. That
creates a significant depth issue. Wealready know Kyrie Jackson losing his life a
few weeks ago, so just focusingnot on the tragedy but on the pure
football side of it. Right,a second year is lost for Mackay and

(40:06):
the Vikings now have even more questionsthan they did twenty fourth, thirty six
hours ago at that spot. Butthe common thread that's being established up to
today because yesterday first day at campwas the Blackman ac L. You know,
we talked about it with the operativewords today in the open where Kyrie
Jackson and what transpired there, Godrest his soul. And then the Jordan

(40:30):
Addison piece of immaturity and now theyou know, let's say the third,
fourth or fifth corner second year usC. So he still has everything in
front of him this year pops theACL or blows the ACL. I mean
it's it's it's hopefully it's not aharbinger of what type of twenty twenty four

(40:50):
is going to transpire for the MinnesotaVikings. But you know, outside of
death obviously, you know, ifstuff like this is going to be of
the common red variety, you eitherwanted to stop, yes, or you
wanted to just keep going, becauseI mean it's it's like, if it's
just going to keep going, let'sjust get the number one picked. I
mean went went like, how manyteams, how many pro sports teams here

(41:14):
have had the number one pick?This is something maybe into which we can
other than the Wolves. Yeah,Anthony Edwards Twins had first overall for maur
Oh wow, thank you. Okay, Vikings first. I don't think they've
had first. I mean they gothigh with Khalil, yeah, and they
dropped back the Trent Richardson gold jacketbit. I wouldn't mind getting high with
Khalil, but for the wild havea pizza afterwards, right or zooiology biology

(41:39):
biology if there was zoology skipping intomy radio show because we're back. But
I you know, it's just it. You can't deny it, and I'm
not like, you know, whatkind of pizza would a zoologist. What
would they like? Probably zebra Zebrameat that's exotic, maybe with shavings from

(42:00):
the antlers of a giraffe. Createsome crunch and some some used tusk from
your favorite fat elephant. My ohMy, Show, Am Good, Poacher's
Dream ten fifty seven, Good MorningYA is next