#92Noon! 11am Hour 7/13 Andy Greder!

#92Noon! Greder - Soccer - Post Game

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mh hour of the nine to noon was their own.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Last week? Wasn't just last week?

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Brett blake More starting to bland together now.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
That we were talking about team of U s A
with star spangled eyes, you could say, and those a
star fell up promptly back.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Down to earth.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Our flag was not still there.

Speaker 4 (00:58):
It was not still We're all making a wish for
a more successful campaign in twenty at thirty, but the
fan has learned the World Cup is still in action.
Despite the US getting bounced. We're down to the semi finals.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Only four teams remain.

Speaker 4 (01:14):
Whole nations have their cheeks clenched in anticipation of heartache
and heartbreak or happiness and hopefulness. It's the real deal now,
and you know when the deal gets real, bread Blakemore,
we got to call on an expert from international football
to Gophers football. Demand just exudes ball knowledge. The Pioneer
Press is finest, Andy Greeter, Andy, thanks for giving us

(01:37):
some time today.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Brother. We appreciate you.

Speaker 5 (01:39):
Yeah, happy, happy to be back on appreciate it Max.

Speaker 4 (01:42):
Yeah, anytime, brother, before we get to the final four
teams that are left in the World Cup. I'm sure
you've talked about this at length. Being an elite soccer mind,
it's kind of been a soccer civil war that has
erupted here among US fans. Debates are raging left and
right about developmental programs and where do we go from here?

(02:03):
And maybe for the people I don't know, I guess
like okay, in my opinion, I would say one of
the main selling points of soccer, and one of the
primary reasons, is one of the most popular sports, if
not the most popular sport in the world by landslide,
it has.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
The lowest barrier of entry. Like if you.

Speaker 4 (02:19):
Want to play football, if you want to play hockey,
you need a ton of equipment, you need the right
kind of space, ice time, x amount of people, etc.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Et cetera.

Speaker 4 (02:26):
Gymnastics, tennis, golf, all those other sports you kind of
need a lot of other things going for you just
to get your foot in the door. But soccer you
really just need a ball. You can make any two
points a goal and all you need is a ball.
That's why we see guys from the slums as much
as we see guys from the suburbs.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
And anybody can play at any time, and if you're.

Speaker 4 (02:45):
Good enough, these systems will sort of pick up your
financial slack if you ain't got the funds, and make
sure you find your way up the ladder. But right now,
what I'm seeing from a lot of people from inside
the US, from US soccer fans, they feels is basically
pay to play here in the United States, Like the
barrier of entry is just way too high.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
You got to pay these exorbitant views just to get
in the.

Speaker 4 (03:05):
Door year round travel, and the developmental system isn't really
quite on the level that it should be for the
cost that parents are paying. Andy, I'm just curious where
are you at on this whole US developmental debate that's
going on right now.

Speaker 5 (03:20):
I think that it's a byproduct of the specialization that
we see across this country. Right I think it's not
just about soccer, it's about every sport and the high
demands from parents and coaches to have your your son
or daughter specialized in that sport early on and not
have them be ecactic and play multiple sports and learn

(03:44):
different body movements and different life skills. They're always specialized
into you know, hockey as we see in Minnesota at
a young age, and other sports on down the line.
So I think it's it's a kind of a broader
thing as well, that we kind of always try to
pigeonhole and may to pick one sport so early on
basic and terms and hotels and all the skis that

(04:09):
you see everywhere is a problem in this country because
everybody wants to try to play at the highest level
in the fewest amount of sports asly as they can.
And I think that's a problem in this country beyond
just soccer. But I think when you look at the
development in this country, I think every MLS team has

(04:30):
an academy, and I don't think I saw that brought
up enough that there is a better structure here now
with the advent of MLS and with that being you know,
thirty years on, that there is a better a development
pathway that they're establishing at the lower levels now. I
think there's a divide between once you get to an

(04:51):
MLS academy, once you're a teenager, and when you kind
of start to specialize at you know, eight, nine, ten
years old. I think that's where maybe if some more
of the issues that people were trying to identify with,
and it was unfortunate to see that the conversation turned
immediately after that blowout lost of Belgium, especially my Twitter
algorithm to go into that so quickly, it just felt important,

(05:14):
and I felt like a little bit of it was
too many armchair experts to be guys, all the answers,
all the experts of what soccer was and is turning
in when I think that there was a lot of
ignorance involved in it as well.

Speaker 6 (05:29):
The other thing that erupted after the loss to Belgium,
Andy was the divide between Polisic defenders and Christian Polisic attackers.
Carly Lloyd was one of the biggest attackers of all time,
basis saying he skipped out on the Gold Cup, but
he skipped out on the team and he gets hurt,
which come to find out, he literally had a fracture
in his leg from that game and that's why he

(05:51):
was taken out. But she refused to apologize for that,
basis saying he arrested. I'm here to tell you no
one cares about the Gold Cup anymore. It's all about
the nation's league.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
But what do I know?

Speaker 6 (06:00):
So where do you land on the Polisic Because I
thought everyone on the pitch for the US in that
game against Belgium was terrible. That's not just Polisic who
was also terrible.

Speaker 5 (06:10):
That Yeah, I think it was to borrow phrase about
the twins, the complete system tailure. Everybody was bad from
the opening kickoffs throughout. Loan were extra motivated. Obviously they
were coming in into the lions Den in Seattle against
the host country, and obviously President Trump did to get

(06:31):
Moregan Valligan's red card suspended. I think that added most
extra motivation, and you saw a very hungry Belgium team
and the US team that played horrifically. I think that
there's a broader conversation about christientilistic. I think that there's
a lot of people that surround him that wrote people

(06:51):
like Carly Lloyd like landed down in the wrong way.
I think the fact that he decided not to play
in tournaments last year, we're to rough people the wrong
way because he's the captain and he did a captainist.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Oh I think we might have lost to Andy.

Speaker 5 (07:10):
And when you have injuries coming during this World Cup
and he kind of searched the middle things or it
looks like he's milking things for he, you know, out
this day when it supe, I.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
Think and he's going through a rough patch on his
drive right now, and the Greeter of the Pioneer Press,
he's breaking down the World Cup eloquently. Maybe we should
pause a little bit here and then try to get
Andy back on track. Brett Blake Moore, I got a
lot more to ask him about the World Cup. If not,
we got plenty to talk about Brett blakemore. We still
got UFC, we got the Minnesota Timberwolves. We got a

(07:46):
bunch of stuff on deck. Couple more segments of nine
to noon to go. We're gonna take a qui commercial
break trying to get Andy back after this.

Speaker 7 (07:54):
How many people said no for this show to happen.
It's worst cases.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
There's a reason we're called the worst case scenario, folks.
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, even when
you have an elite food ball mine like Andy Greeder
the Pioneer Press.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
I think it's something.

Speaker 4 (08:24):
I think the AFRO is messing with the static and
messing with the signal there.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Andy, I bet that's what's happening to you.

Speaker 4 (08:31):
Speaking of broadcasts, I got I got a quick question
for you, because our broadcast isn't the only one that
suffering a little bit. I just read half of US
World Cup viewers are watching the World Cup in Spanish
because of the Telemundo broadcast. Me and Bred have talked
about it before. The English broadcast is it's fine, it's
I you just yeah, and they won a goal and

(08:53):
go for Argentina. Then you watched a telemoono Brothers. No,
it's the most goal and the goal call lasts like
two minutes long, even if nothing's happening. You're running to
the TV because just the excitement, the hype that they're
bringing off of their cadence alone. Are you are you
a Telemundo guy? Are you watching it in the old

(09:13):
English broadcast?

Speaker 5 (09:15):
You know? I usually was watching it on Fox, but
I caught a couple of games on Telemundo. I think
it's reflective of how myst soccer viewing habits are in
this country. I think Leka and Mecki's the Mexico League
has better viewership than Major League Soccer, and I think
it's just a nod to the Latino population that's in

(09:36):
the US and how they are football man.

Speaker 4 (09:40):
Andy, I'm curious because we were just talking about Christian
pulistic right. I think a guy that a lot of
hopeful US soccer fans stop. Maybe this is the guy
that's going to kind of light the fire here in
the US because a lot of these sports, even sports
now that are beloved in some of the most popular
in the state. They kind of had that initial guy
that set the world on fire, right, I mean the

(10:01):
NBA Finals broadcast, I think they were on tape delay
before the Larry Bird.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
And Magic Johnson rivalry.

Speaker 4 (10:07):
You know, you just kind of need that initial superstar
to kind of to set the whole thing on fire.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
And it might not have.

Speaker 4 (10:13):
Been Christian pulistic, but out of nowhere, maybe it was
Earling Holland. I mean, the whole country fell in love
with Earling Holland.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
Over the last couple of weeks, people are writing.

Speaker 4 (10:24):
You know, fan fiction, romantic fan fiction about him and
Bellingham people.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
People are you haven't seen that? Oh dog, It's like.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
It's just a numbers the Internet.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
It's doing numbers and listen, I'm telling you.

Speaker 4 (10:35):
People are You know, people are kind of treating him
like a K pop star almost so give him the
Ka Kawhi.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Kind of treatment.

Speaker 4 (10:41):
You know.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
The memes are everywhere.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
You am I overstating this and do you think is
maybe Earlin Holland, the guy that kickstarted a little bit
of soccer interest here outside of the Team USA.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (10:54):
I mean he's he's very recognizable, right. He's a Norwegian
Viking at six foot four with shoulder like blonde hair,
and he kind of has this kind of scowl about
him at times, and he also has this kind of
cheeky smirks at other times. And he was corn goals
like crazy, So I think it was it was great
to see a guy like that that a lot of
people weren't you know, aware of, to kind of come

(11:15):
onto the stage like that. He certainly looks the parts
as kind of a movie star, maybe a movie villain
at times too.

Speaker 4 (11:22):
He absolutely does look like a movie villain speaking.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
It looks like he'd be a great targariany on right, Yeah,
Carus and he was.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
He was yelling Jacaris that most of those teams there,
But we're now down to the final four. Just a
couple of segments ago, Andy, we were talking about how
Argentina sort of went from being a darling to being
dastardly right, that the whole world seemingly turned on Argentina.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Is it just kind of classic sports?

Speaker 4 (11:49):
You're a victim of your own successor where do you
think this vitriol for Argentina is coming from all of
a sudden.

Speaker 5 (11:55):
Well, I think they play in kind of a you know,
I wouldn't say dirty, but a little bit cheap, a
little bit aggressive, and I think that people get tired
of people that are on top, right. I think people
want to see underdogs, especially you know, the the neutrals
that are in the US. I don't think everyone wants
to see the same teams every time, and I think

(12:16):
they kind of feel like, well, maybe they got some
calls the Navy shouldn't have got it, they getting some
preferential treatment as Shifa and a tip into scales in
their favor. I think we've seen a lot of that.
I had other stages in this tournament, with Ronaldo having
his pre World Cup red cards rescinded, the flooring and
Balligan situation. I think there's just a number of things

(12:36):
that kind of point to, you know, maybe they are
getting some preferential treatment. I think that might be part
of the reason that people are maybe anti Argentina like
they weren't four years ago.

Speaker 6 (12:47):
Just taking a step back here to a couple of
rounds ago, unfortunately. Would you say that this was a
successful World Cup for the US men's national.

Speaker 5 (12:56):
Team, You know, I think it was just kind of
status quo. I think we're looking to see if they
could take the next step and do something more. So
I think it is a letdown. I don't think the
round of sixteen is what they have historically done, so
I don't think it was a positive. I think it
was kind of the status quo, and I think everyone
wants to see this game grow in this country, and

(13:17):
the fact that they're not able to do it in
a home World Cup with a lot of players that
are playing in Europe that are in their prime, I
think it was a letdown.

Speaker 4 (13:25):
Overall, Andy were down to the final four. The semifinals
starts tomorrow with France versus Spain. Wednesday we get England
versus Argentina. You're an elite football mind, I want to
just kind of run through the teams.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
Here.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
Give me a reason why Spain will win against France
and why they won't.

Speaker 5 (13:47):
It's going to be France. I just think they've been
an absolutely juggernaut in this tournament. But if there is
a reason to do it, they've got a very good midfield.
They've got a midfield that's playing at some of the
biggest clubs in the world. So if there's a way
that they can and you know, kind of control things
in midfield and get enough from their strikers, I think
they'd be in a good spot. But I think Rance
is the overwhelming favorite in my book.

Speaker 4 (14:08):
And why is France so dominant? I mean, obviously this
what they're approaching, possibly their third straight World Cup final.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
They have Killian.

Speaker 4 (14:16):
Imbappe rightly in arguably a top five player in the world.
But what is it about this iteration of the French
Les Blue I think they call themselves that makes that
makes them so dominant.

Speaker 5 (14:28):
Well, I think it's you know, Killing and Bope. Obviously
he's the superstar, but it's Michael Elise who is I
think one assist away from breaking Pella's record for most
assists in a World Cup. He's been of the table center,
he's been the playmaker that's been setting up killing in Babbe,
the Bayern Munich midfielder. So I think if if he's
able to kind of create for Imbabe, I think that's

(14:50):
where the real danger lies is it's not just a
one man show for the Frenchman.

Speaker 6 (14:55):
Well, do you think of the other side of the
bracket as far as England is concerned. It's every time
we go to a World Cup and we see England
that's an all star team and they bring on people
from the bench that are also all stars. They don't
reset their reload. What do you think of this England
club going into the semi final?

Speaker 5 (15:12):
Oh, I think the England club has been mostly underwhelming
for the most part. They haven't put together a great
showing so far this tournament. I think their game at
Mexico at seventy seven hundred feet elevation at Asteca, having
to survive a red card for the last half hour,
and that game just had it all. I thought it
was just a complete gutty performance. And then you know,

(15:34):
kind of outlasting Norway on Saturday. I think that they
I think they're going to beat Argentina and make it
an England France final, and if England is able to
put together a whole game, I think it'll be really
dangerous for the French.

Speaker 4 (15:50):
Well, yeah, you preempted me there on my next question, Andy,
So you got France versus England in the final.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
Who takes home at the Trophy this Yeah.

Speaker 5 (16:01):
I think, like I said, I think it's hard to
argue against France. They've shown themselves to be the most
complete team all tournament. But you know, to Brest's point,
I think England is a star studded team and if
Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham can do it together in
the same game, obviously they've kind of been rotating on
who the starman is for the three Lions. If they're

(16:21):
able to produce at the same time, I think they'll
really give a challenge to the French. But it's just
hard to argue with what France has been able to
do in this tournament. They've just been a running roughshot
on everybody.

Speaker 4 (16:32):
They look like the soccer version of the Harlem Lobe
spotters out there. I think one of the announcers that
and I couldn't put it better. They're just having so
much fun and they're playing so freely. I won one
last question for you about the World Cup. I do
want to just get it just.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
A little just into the Gophers a little.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
Bit, and because I know you're an elite golphers' mind,
I think it's hard to argue against the results in
this expanded World Cup. This year, we've seen a lot
of underdogs kind of fighting their way through and making
this World Cup more interesting. I would assume that there
was a lot of people that were probably against the
World Cup expanding, and now they're talking about expanding it
even further from forty eight to sixty four. Do you

(17:09):
think that's I think it is a little too much.
Has this year convinced you?

Speaker 5 (17:14):
I think it's too much too quickly. I was skeptical
of how much quality there was going to be able
to be in this tournament and where there's going to
be a lot of blowouts, there's going to be a
lot of chalk, a lot of the best teams just advancing.
And I think we have a final four with the
top four teams going into the tournament, so I think
it's gone chalk at the end. But throughout the tournament,

(17:35):
I think Cape Verdey was probably the best example, right
one of the smallest countries, a tiny island nation off
the coast of Africa that has five hundred thousand people.
I was pushing Argentina to the limit, which tide Spain,
which was just this great underdog story that I think
got a lot of people interested in it. But I
think there's a thin line between kind of creating an

(17:57):
opportunity for underdogs and just watering down too much where
it doesn't even map matter anymore. I think one of
the gripes that I've had with this World Cup is
a lot of times they say records like this is
the first time that blank has happened, and it's like, well, yeah, because,
like we talked about it, it's watered down with less competition,
more teams are in, more teams are able to make

(18:18):
it deeper into the tournament. So when you say it's
the first time that X has happened ever, well, it's like, well,
this is because it's an expanded tournament. We're talking about too,
We're talking about apples and oranges, and I think when
you kind of strip away that context from kind of
some of the things that are happening in this World Cup,
it does kind of water it down. And I think
I think sixty four is going to be too many. Obviously,

(18:39):
there's two hundred plus members in FIFA, and obviously we
see playoffs expanded in all sports all the time, so
it's just kind of status quo. But I think just
keep it at forty eight. For now, let's not be
as money hungry as you has shown itself to be
at every juncture and just keep a good thing going
and not make it too watered down that it just
loses some of the value real.

Speaker 6 (18:58):
Quick before we one more soccer question before we go
to Gophers football, because there's a lot to get to there.
You have to get to know essentially a new team,
as is college sports these days.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
Are Tottenham Hotspur back?

Speaker 2 (19:11):
Oh God? Are they back a back?

Speaker 7 (19:13):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (19:13):
Man, It's it's hard.

Speaker 8 (19:15):
It's hard to say that, Brett, after you know, finishing
in seventeenth and back to back years and two relegation fights,
say you know you're able to you're fully back until
you see it on the field.

Speaker 5 (19:27):
They've just spent so much heartache with that team that
it's difficult to say they're back. But I think when
you add two marquee signings like they did and break
their transfer record in the same day, it's just unlike Tottenham,
and I think it shows that they're not trying to
have any sort of third time, third three pet if
you will, of another relegation fight. So hopefully the worst

(19:49):
is behind us and they can start getting back up
into playing a Champions League and contending in the Premier League.
I think that's what all Tonham fans want.

Speaker 3 (19:57):
Spurs are.

Speaker 4 (19:59):
You're just being right now, getting a chance to talk.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
About your time I want on the air.

Speaker 4 (20:05):
It's it's to be determined if the Spurs are back,
but the golfers will be back in action. And just
a little bit here, Andy, what's what's a preseason storyline
that you're keeping an eye on right now?

Speaker 5 (20:17):
Well, I think it's you know, are they going to
be able to run the ball successfully? Because they've they've
struggled with that year after year and it used to
be their calling card with Mo Ibraham setting the program
record for rushing. It was kind of always it was
row the boat and it was RTB also stood for
run the ball, and they haven't been able to do
it this last couple of years. So if they're able

(20:37):
to run the ball consistently, I think Drake Lindsay, the
the red shirt sophomore quarterback, is going to be able
to have a big year. I think I think they've
added some more weapons around them. We've got some wide
receivers that have come back to Von Tracy, Jalen Smith
and guys who have some experience at the Big ten level,
and they added a couple of transfers, so I think
they should be able to pass the ball, but they

(20:58):
need to have the run game take the weight off
of Drake. I think that they can have a good year.
I think they can surprise the people. I think that
eight wins is kind of the benchmark. But I think
if that running game, like I mentioned, is able to improve,
I think they can, you know, win maybe nine or
ten games. We'll see. I think it's the schedule isn't
as daunting. Obviously they go to Indiana, that's going to

(21:20):
be the most challenging game. They obviously have Michigan too,
but it's you know, I think there's a lot of
opportunities on the schedule as well.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
Andy, And there's always a lot of opportunities for you.
You're an elite ball mind Football Go Goo football, American football.

Speaker 2 (21:36):
You're just full of ball knowledge.

Speaker 4 (21:38):
Andy, thanks for giving us some time today.

Speaker 5 (21:41):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (21:41):
Thanks guys, Andy Greader of the Pioneer Press. He keeps
up with international football, the loans, go first Football read
Andy stuff. He is the elitist of elite football minds,
going from that to well, we're minds. I don't know
if we're elite at anything, but we're a couple of mines.
Brett Blakemore. It's just me and you taking it to

(22:03):
the top of the hour. One more segment of Worst
Case Scenario at nine to noon coming up next.

Speaker 7 (22:10):
We are just as surprised as you are. Worst Case
Scenario on the fan.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Our iHeartRadio Music Question.

Speaker 4 (22:30):
Final A segment of nine to Noon Worst Case of
Cinnatio Edition Brett Blakemore.

Speaker 6 (22:35):
Brought to you by Al Roofing postgame show, last sing
of the show, Al Roofing, thank you.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
You're still not going to do a rap are? Somebody
on the.

Speaker 4 (22:43):
Text line was asking for it a little bit earlier.
They wanted a freestyle rap battle.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
It's not well that came the wrong place.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
Sorry.

Speaker 4 (22:51):
One of these days, Brett Blakemore. One of these days
we're gonna get you to spit some bars.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
I don't know how.

Speaker 4 (23:00):
Teacher nor could teach you. I would assume that it's
going to be back to usual tomorrow. Are you aware
of their schedule tomorrow? Me and Alex Lewis Lewis tomorrow,
that's super that'll be super exciting.

Speaker 6 (23:11):
Wow, if you didn't get your vikings filled today, whether
or not Kyler Murray is going to be the starting quarterback, yes,
then why.

Speaker 3 (23:19):
We'll cover all tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (23:20):
Oh yeah ya and double B got you covered. I
just want to say thanks to all the listeners that
are chiming in on the text line six four six
eight six. We started out the show asking people about who.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Would win in a fan royal run, but.

Speaker 4 (23:33):
We still have a plenty of those texts to get
to Brett blakemore. But speaking of keeping in touch with
the with the fan base on on Wolves Twitter over
the weekend, because it was kind of a renewed conversation
with the LaMelo ball trade finally becoming official, I believe
there may be a press conference sometime this week introducing
possibly LaMelo ball to said Timberwolves fans. It started it

(23:57):
reignited the conversation around the trade around nas Reid and
I saw least a handful of tweets of interesting little
debate here and I'm curious to hear your opinion on Sorry, yes,
I just had to laugh at this though text someone
said weird tune into Kfin and Max. Of course, the

(24:19):
first thing he mentions is rap battle. Come on, dude,
your entire personality is your skin colored Nordo white man.
Spoiler alert wraps at the end of every shelf. That's
while that subject came up. Thank you for texting that.
In listener, Brett put the counter down to zero. On
days that people were not weird about me being a
black man on the air anyways, there were people debating

(24:43):
on wolves Twitter whether or not nas Reid's number should
be retired by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Nas reads vaunted number eleven.
If he should be retired, should be hung up in
the raptors. Nobody else can don the nas read eleven Jersey,

(25:05):
And I think it's on surface level. I think a
lot of people kind of making the face of t're
vacing right now. Bro Blake, We're kind of like, eh,
I don't know, I love them. We love the story
in this town.

Speaker 7 (25:16):
We do.

Speaker 6 (25:17):
We it's the most important thing is the story. It
doesn't matter if it's best for business, if it leads
to championships, or if it's just the right thing to do.
The story is the a topic, because that's that's what
we are. We're heartwarming people exactly.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
We loved We root for the good guys. We root
for the people that choose us. We look for the.

Speaker 6 (25:38):
Story exactly, Like let's bring for instance, you know, we
could have brought anders Lee here.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
It's one of us.

Speaker 6 (25:46):
You got to bring them back home, like, well, yeah,
maybe that wasn't the best thing for the while. You know,
I could go on and on about that. Sometimes you
just got to win a championship. You don't care where
they're from. But regardless, nas read I don't. I think
this is a situation for me. If there was a
ring of honor, I think it'd be a much better discussion,

(26:06):
Like the Vikings have. Vikes have a ring of honor
where you don't get your number retired, your name's in
the stadium forever. I think that would be a To
be honest, I think even that would be a little much,
but at least that would be closer to reality than
retiring his number. I don't It doesn't do anything for me.
We love him, he was a great dude. Still, he's

(26:27):
still alive, the fans learned, still going to live.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
A great life.

Speaker 6 (26:30):
Yeah, I just think that's it's gone too far.

Speaker 4 (26:34):
I don't know, Man, the more I thought about it,
I'm kind of of two minds on this one, because,
on one hand, I kind of love the idea of
nas Reed's number being retired. He's this is not just
any Minnesota sports athlete. This is not any dis Minnesota.
I think it's okay to call him Minnesota sports icon.
He's in rare air when it comes to beloved sports

(26:58):
figures here in Minnesota. Terms of popularity throughout my lifetime,
I'm thirty two, He's up there.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
The only other people that you.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
Could mention with nas Reed in terms of popularity are
all time greats. I mean, right now, in terms of
Minnesota athlete popularity, Nasried is up there with Anthony Edwards.
He's up there with Justin Jefferson. He's up there with
Career capriz Off. I mean formerly you know, Royce Lewis,
maybe even Byron Buckston, I would say would be in
that conversation a Fisa Collier. There have been fan favorite

(27:32):
underdog kind of guys on every team in town before,
but none of them have had the impact or staying
power that the love that people have for Nasrid has.
People were getting tattoos on their lips, on their fingers,
on their arm, lower back tattoos.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Which I have to still get covered. I always love it.

Speaker 4 (27:54):
The Nasrid towel became a cultural phenomenon. People brought it
to wrestle media. People brought it to New Zealand, to
South Africa. I saw a nas Reed talent freaking match.
You peach, you one of those seven Wonders of the world.
The day he was traded, Which is funny that you
said that. Just in a second ago, you would have

(28:14):
thought that he died. People were texting me telling me
they were in mourning. Dudes were coming home from work,
falling into their wives arms, crying, shedding tears. Women were
taking half days from work to sit and listening to
sad music in the car, in the room in the dark.
Parents were sitting their children down to have the talk.
Not the birds and the beads, but that nas Reed

(28:37):
has been traded. It was devastating to.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
The basketball player in a GM love each other.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Sometimes I don't see that on They still love you.

Speaker 4 (28:47):
Yeah, but that's that's a kind of love that is rare.
It should be commemorated. I absolutely would love it. I
wouldn't be opposed to it, and I think we're tied.
His jersey is kind of a perfect way to immortalize
what was a once in a lifetime kind of relationship
between nas Reed and Wolves fans here in Minnesota.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
But also.

Speaker 4 (29:11):
On the other hand, I kind of loved the idea.
We talked about it a little bit off the air
of nas Reed's number almost being like a mantle that
has passed along, like Batman, a spider Man. You know,
a lot of those superhero movies. The underlying message is that, hey,
anyone can end up being the hero. Anyone could be
the next nas Reach. I kind of love the idea

(29:31):
that spiritually, the next person to wear number eleven would
become the successor to Nasried Nasried part two, like the
number will maybe bestow some kind of powers on the
next guy and he will try and rise and take
on the mantle that is number eleven, and Nazried can
transcend being a person.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
He can be an idea, a concept. Even I kind
of love that idea a little bit.

Speaker 6 (29:55):
More and said, I never got to thank you.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
You'll have to. I love it, man, I would be
I'm okay with it either way.

Speaker 4 (30:05):
I know a lot of people are saying, PST, this
is insane.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
A lot of people are are are.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
Disagreeing in the text line right now, But it was
a It was a pretty spirited debate on Wolve's Twitter,
and I think a lot of people were for it. Now, granted,
my algorithm is probably geared towards the most hardcore, hardcore
Wolves fans that are agreeing.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
With this take, I'm okay with it either way.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
Listen, I'm not going to stand outside Target Center where
a sign. You know, I'm not going to be glue
girl and glue myself to the quarter or chain girl
and chain myself to.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
The ring that the chickens. I think you're so like.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
I don't think.

Speaker 4 (30:38):
I don't feel that strongly about it. I never would
have conjured this up in my own brain, but seeing.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
People talk about it, I I don't know. I think it.
I don't.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
I'm not.

Speaker 4 (30:50):
I'm not anti retiring now as read's number. I do
think part of it is a little ridiculous. Part of
it is as an eye roll. But man, I'm telling you,
this is a he had something special going here. I
think people are going to build him a statue something.
Maybe not outside of Target Center, but somebody will build
a statue somewhere. People love Nasried to death. I think
people are underestimating how much the mutual relationship between Nasried

(31:14):
and Timberwolves fans.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
We don't have Kevin Garnett's number retired now yet. I mean,
it's coming, it's happening, right.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
That was more of a beef between the owner and.

Speaker 6 (31:27):
To do nas Reed before that, you just can't do it.
Nas Reed was there. It is true that there has
not been a cultural sports culture phenomenon in this town
to that level right ever.

Speaker 4 (31:44):
For though, because let's be Nasried is a great player.
We loved him, but he's six man coming off the bench, right,
not for the level that he's like again, the only
people that are more popular than Nasried are our true
blue superstars with.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
A capital ass.

Speaker 6 (32:01):
I didn't see a you know, justin Jefferson sign or
flag at WrestleMania.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
Didn't see that.

Speaker 4 (32:09):
That would.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
I don't know. I mean, I love the optimism.

Speaker 6 (32:13):
I loved just that's the story and he was great,
like none of it is the spirit. I don't think
they should have retired Miko Koivu's number. I thought that
was ridiculous. I think you've got to do something great
to be have your number retired like that's a big deal.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
And he was just around.

Speaker 6 (32:31):
He stayed here for a long time. He loved it here.
That's fantastic. He's a Ring of honor player, He's not
a retireing number player. That's got to be like, you
win a ring, then we'll talk, you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Yeah, I get that, I get that.

Speaker 4 (32:43):
I totally get Is there no, is there a Nazrid
equivalent for the Minnesota while that you would be making
this argument for or your ring or bust kind of guy.
You don't get the jersey, you don't get the number
retired championship.

Speaker 6 (32:55):
No, I'm I mean the closest in my mind would
be Pereizy because he scored, you know, and he had
a lot of the offensive. But I don't think he
should have his number retired either. I think from a
cultural perspective, I think so many people love Marcus Felino
the way that he plays in his personality off the ice.
But again and they chant moose or common says, why

(33:18):
is everyone booing Marcus? To me is there's nothing quite
like the Nasried phenomenon. It's just that's a fact.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
It should be studied.

Speaker 6 (33:29):
I'm not sure that that Warren Warren's getting his numbers Okay.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
I see, I can see it from both sides.

Speaker 4 (33:35):
I kind of a bore leaning towards the number eleven
becoming a mantle for the next Nozina. I love that
the future Nazri. We can make any any anybody can
be the next NASERI six.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Five one guy.

Speaker 6 (33:48):
They should hang his towel in the rafters.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
Brilliant. Now that's brilliant.

Speaker 6 (33:52):
But again, I just think retiring the number should be
something so special, like you are a legend of the club,
and he was beloved.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
He was a six man off the bench.

Speaker 6 (34:07):
He was a role guy like but he's still legendlegendary.

Speaker 4 (34:11):
Though he's still legendary, people will tell their children about
Nasviriy some days they already have.

Speaker 6 (34:16):
I mean, I'm trying to get more into the Wolves.
In the last couple of years, I've been getting more
and more into it. So maybe I'm still an outsider
in this. I'm not a fan of any other basketball
team or Wolves fan, but I'm a casual, you know,
So maybe that's my problem.

Speaker 3 (34:30):
Maybe I'm just not as far into it yet as
I need to be.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
Someone texted it and said, plenty of room in the raptors.
I say no, number eleven.

Speaker 4 (34:37):
But I would say overwhelmingly people are nominating me for
a PST Award for.

Speaker 3 (34:43):
Saying I'm getting nominated too.

Speaker 6 (34:45):
Here's about Koivu playing a thousand games one team isn't
enough to get your jersey retired. Both of y'all have
lost your damn mind mid games. Congratulations did your bit
now that that guy does not get his number retired
as a New York Ranger or a Chicago Blackhawk or

(35:07):
a Montreal Cave eight a m doesn't happen.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
So enough numbers as it is.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
It's true we were going to run out of numbers eventually.

Speaker 4 (35:15):
While we're on the subject of retirement, I think that
is uh on the horizon. Won Connor McGregor after the
disaster that was a UFC three twenty nine over the weekend.
It had been five years since we've seen Connor McGregor,
and don't we're you know, we're debating about the nasre thing.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
It's not debatable.

Speaker 4 (35:34):
I would say that Connor gregor is the biggest MMA
fighter of all time. I would say he's aside from
Floyd Mayway, they're probably the most known, well known combat
sports figure in general of the last twenty five years
or so. Even someone that's never watched UFC before will
tune in to see Conor McGregor, or someone that's never

(35:58):
that doesn't partake in any bad sports knows who Connor
McGregor is. He's was a larger than life kind of
figure and we hadn't seen him in action in five years.
The last time we saw him twenty twenty one, he
broke his leg early on in the fight against usin Poorier.
Obviously that took some time to heal. He's also patently
a maniac and I would imagine impossible to deal with

(36:20):
when it comes to business negotiations in your Daana White.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
So it's taken him.

Speaker 4 (36:24):
A long time for him to make his return. It
was much hyped. He's he called out everyone, he said
he'd beat everyone.

Speaker 3 (36:31):
Was that him that was throwing chairs at the bus?

Speaker 2 (36:33):
That was him?

Speaker 4 (36:34):
And after the the him versus Kabebe fight, which I mean,
you know, we've seen more downs and ups and this
part of Connor McGregor's career, both in and out of
the octagon. But he was supposed to make his high,
you know, his much hyped, vaunted return over the weekend,
and he throws a flying kick. Basically right away. The
first thing he does into is the fight and instantly

(36:56):
tears his ACL. The fight is called.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
Max Holloway was.

Speaker 4 (37:00):
You know, he's grounding and he's punching them while he's
on the ground, but he's looking at the ref like
he's clearly hurt. Connor mcgure. He let Connor McGregor get
back up. He's he's clearly hobbled. He cannot continue to fight.
The fight is called, and now he's going to need
surgery and the UFC once again is without their biggest star.

Speaker 6 (37:17):
I have been seeing some conspiracy theories circle around. Some
people are suggesting that he might have been hurt going
into that.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
I could see that happening.

Speaker 6 (37:25):
And just hey, let's go out there, get to say
that I'm injured during it. We'll get the check and
we'll get out here.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
I wouldn't. I would not doubt that.

Speaker 4 (37:33):
I think at that point, when you get that far
into it, and with how much promotion was behind this fight,
and you're Connor McGregor, so he kind of you know,
you're writing checks that your button I might not be
able to cast. You know what I'm saying. You said,
you're knocking out everyone. I'm pretty sure he said he
would knock out Max Holloway within one minute of the fight,
and then he ends up thinking that he's Bruce Lee
and throwing a flying kick and knocks himself out essentially

(37:56):
in the first minute of the fight.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
Torres acl probably I.

Speaker 4 (37:59):
Would have imagine not going to see Connor McGregor back
in a UFC octagon probably ever Again, one of the
all time greats in MMA are larger than life, bigger,
their biggest salesman. I would have you charted UFC's success
with Connor McGregor's success. I bet it's. I mean, it's
almost a synchronized line. He was the face of the

(38:21):
UFC for a while, and I think this is sort
of a microcosm of the problem with the UFC is
facing right now is they don't have a Connor McGregor successor.
We saw Patty Pemblet, Patty the Battie in the co
main event over the weekend. That's kind of the guy
they're pushing now. He's brash like Connor McGregor. He's a scouts,

(38:41):
he's got the accent, he's ready to run down anybody,
talks back to anybody, fight anybody, but the thing he
doesn't have. It's almost too much parody. We love parody
in sports, right, but it's almost too much parody because
in fights you kind of want someone to build that aura, right.
It's like part of the around Floyd Mayweather was the
zero You don't have to be undefeated. That doesn't happen

(39:03):
in MMA. You know, like very few people are ever undefeated.
But when you used to watch Connor McGregor, it wasn't
just him telling you I'm the best in the world.
It's him looking like the best in the world. You
watched him and you're like, Okay, yeah, I can see
how this guy's the best fighter in the world. I
don't necessarily feel that when I'm watching Patty Pemblet. Maybe
he can get to that point. But they just have
a hard time building these new stars in the post

(39:27):
Connor McGregor era, and I think, ther.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
Yeah, we are in. We are firmly in.

Speaker 4 (39:32):
After Saturday, it is the post Connor McGregor era, and
it's the post worst case scenario era.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
We're out of here for the day. Brett Blake, mar