#92Noon! 9a Hour 4/9 - Chris Finch

Wolves coach Chris Finch opened the show, followed by 2 segments of Vikings conversation!

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Shall we begin a little you're breakingup, Bob. Ye, great,
let's go. Let's go, everybody, let's go. Good morning. That's
okay, great radio. Keep listeningtonighte tonon hop foughts for everybody. Oh

(00:34):
my god, hold on to yourback. Yeah yeah. All I can
say is wow, I love it, baby, Thank you. I yukon

(01:26):
the champions in back to back fashion, super dominant team players. Some of
us in the state of hockey willfollow in the NBA. But I mean
it wasn't close to his energizing orstimulating or the excitement level up to it.

(01:47):
I just didn't match Sunday afternoon attwo o'clock and everything that was generated
with the Women's n seed double Atitle run. And that's a fact as
we welcome you to a talker Tuesdayat FM one hundred point three. Okay,
f A and Paul, alify yourside an order, by my side

(02:09):
and by our side. Is ChrisFinch, coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Courtesy of Prize Picks, Daily FantasyMade Easy and Second Harvest Heart Lamb at
two Harvest dot Org. Good morning, Chris Finch, It's Paul Allen.
How are you. I'm very good. Pault yourself pretty good back from Los
Angeles. I can see you havea little pep in your step into the

(02:32):
final week of the of the regularseason, then the play in piece and
you're not part of that. Iknow it's very important to you that you're
not part of that. And thenyou dust yourselves off after a week of
practice and you get after it.That got a little pep in the step,
don't you. Well, yeah,absolutely, this is the time you

(02:52):
need it. It's kind of crazy. Last week of the see that we
still have four games left to playfeels like a lot, but we're gonna
get it started tonight here at Washingtonuh and approaching the finish line, indeed,
with four to go, coach,not just for yourself, but like,
do coaches and players start to getexcited for what's next? Or is

(03:13):
it a little grindy because you knowwhat's next and you still got four in
front of you, a non playoffteam to start, a playoff team to
finish it with Phoenix. What whatwhat's it like for for the others?
Yeah, you know what? Tome, I think there's excitement for sure
about the playoffs, and there's youknow, I think if you have to

(03:34):
ask the guys, there's you know, some element of you know, wanting
to kind of hurry up and getthere, but to their credit and just
really with everything that's still on thetable for us, it feels, you
know, to me, it feelslittle more grindy. We still got some
grinding to do. You know,there's a lot, there's a lot at
stake, and you know we've setour sites to go for the number one

(03:55):
seed. So that's what we're goingto try to do here in the last
four games. And that's beautiful.And and you and Denver, Denver and
you guys right down to the wire. I mean that it's been an exciting
season, but it's even better rightnow with this final week and Washington,
your Wizards are here this evening.Uh. You and I about the same
age, both from the East coast, You Philadelphia and me Washington, d

(04:17):
C. Do you remember those lateseventies playoff battles between the Bullets and your
Sixers? Holy cow, I do. I said, some of the first
basketball memories I have as like ayoung fan, you know, so definitely
those are kind of burned into mymind. If you if you now,
I think it was Bullets Spurs withGeorge Gervin, Larry Keenan, Mark Olberding,

(04:43):
Billy Pultz, guys like that.It wasn't the sixers. But Dick
Motta has that all time famous phrase. So you know, hopefully you don't
get down three to one in aseries when the playoffs begin. But if
you do, will you say,to like John Krasinski, the opera over
till the Fat Lady sings. Hopefullywe can avoid that situation altogether. I

(05:06):
really don't have to come up withany clever, clever thing, go ahead
and go with that one. Intwenty twenty four, I mean you talk
about finding Yeah, you talk aboutfinding a way to ruin a playoff series.
Holy cow? Now when when whenwhen you play non playoff teams snipping
the off season? It's is itimportant to jump non playoff teams early or

(05:30):
certainly at some point of the firsthalf and let them know this bad boy's
over. Well, that's what youwould always like to do, get off
the great start, and that's somethingwe've been trying to focus on, particularly
at home, you know, aswe as we come down to stretch here
and get ready for a playoff.But you know, sometimes you know,

(05:54):
the game turns when it turns,so you just gotta you know, but
ideally you'd like to have be superfocused, come out with all the intent.
Are you executing the game plan?You know? Are the efforts all
there? And sometimes it has todo with your schedule, Sometimes it has
to do with your opponent. There'sa lot of things that factor into it.
But you know, we need tobe focused and ready tonight and tonight

(06:18):
the whiz here seven o'clock at Denverand Ball Arena tomorrow night. And the
Nuggets, with whom you're tied atopthe West, they're at Utah tonight and
probably will win. So quite theslugfest between you two down to the wire
for that one seed. Why haveyou always liked the way you guys match

(06:38):
up with the Nuggets? Well,I think you know, we we have
size, of course that helps us. You know, it's been such the
trend in the league for everybody togo with shooting and small ball and put
a lot of shooting around maybe onebig guy. But you know, Denvers

(07:00):
they have their their best player isNicolie Jokicic. They're not going to take
them off the floor to go small. You know that that allows us to
continue to play our you know size, and you know, we've pretty much
committed to doing that regardless of whatteams do anyway. So we're very comfortable
that's part of our identity. Andyou know, I think that's part of

(07:24):
I think that's part of it.You know, just they've been you know,
some version of themselves for a numberof years too. They you know,
made small roster changes, significant smallbut significant roster changes for sure,
and they've gotten better with their rosterconstruction and they I think have one of
the most perfectly complimentary starting fives inthe league. But you know, when

(07:46):
you play, when you have likethis knowledge that you build up over playing
team over and over and over againand just kind of a bit of a
refining process. And and and Isay all that to say, like it's
really really hard. They're a greatteam, and every time we play them,
you know, we have to makea thousand adjustments within the game and

(08:07):
it's never the same. So,uh, but we're you know, we've
been we have a confidence when weplay them, and I think that just
comes from like a collective experience overthe last several years. Atlanta and de
Jonte here Friday, then then theSun Sunday at Target Center to close the
regular season, and credit credit theSuns for a last Friday. Right,

(08:31):
How how did you see that game? Yeah? I mean a great job
by them. They've been playing inan outstanding rhythm coming into that game.
Uh. You know, we toldthe guys that they've been getting off the
big start that New Orleans and theCleveland games. They jumped them early.
They came out and jumped us early. Uh, and then they just kind
of never never relented. We hadone of those off nights offensively, you

(08:56):
know, credit to them again.Some of it was there doing. Some
of it was just bad, youknow, bad shooting luck. We couldn't
get anything to drop. We turnedit over a bunch early that kind of
fed to their run. So it'skind of a bad night. We've had
our worst offensive performance against Phoenix,uh, and our worst defensive performance against
Phoenix. So they've gotten our numbertwice in a big way. So you

(09:22):
know, we're gonna have to kindof address that and figure out who we
are against that team on Sunday.Chris, In what ways will next week
with some days off help you guysphysically? Yeah, physically for sure.
I think you get a chance tokind of regroup, get get a you
know, kind of planned rest,and you can really periodize your your training

(09:46):
so you can ramp up perfectly,and and I think also just mentally can
just take a little bit of abreak, kind of enjoy the season for
what it was. We may notknow who we're playing based on the play
in scenario where we finish, sowe'll have to wait to see where that

(10:07):
unfolds. But if we do knowearly, then you can start really focusing
in your training. So you know, all that just kind of helps your
mental and physical preparation. And whatwith Anthony Edwards, more so physically than
mentally. I mean, he playssuch big minutes and he's such a great
contributor and the largest reason quite honestlyor right there with Rudy as to why
you're in this position. But like, you know, if Anthony Edwards could

(10:30):
get off his legs for X amountof hours or days in what ways do
you think that would help him?Oh? I think it would help him
tremendously. You know, everybody atthis point of season is you know,
is either fatigued or banged up insome way, So you know, guys
will find it another gear for theplayoffs. They always do. But to

(10:52):
be able to rest and recover headinginto that is you know, going to
be key for him and everybody else. And I think the thing with the
other thing, sorry, the otherthing with with Anthony. You gotta remember,
like he played USA basketball, sohe had a long summer, and
I do believe there were times thisseason when that's kind of all all piled
up on him, you know.And assumingly we'll have a chat next week,

(11:16):
so so more on this and moreon the playoff airing and stuff like
that like that next week. Butbut with Karl Anthony Towns, is it
ramp up time next week? Well, we hope to have some clarity,
uh, this week about what nextweek looks like for him. So yeah,
but it's all all pointed in theright direction. You know. All

(11:37):
Stein's are are good, but thework has been amazing. The progress has
been on point. So you know, let's let's see what the next couple
of days bring and then we'll beable to have a plan. I would
hope, and would the belief bewith nas Red after starting so many games
and playing against ones or starters forevery team, for so long. You

(12:01):
know, maybe if he reassumes asecondary role and hooks backups at certain times
of the games. I mean thatthat that could only benefit him, right
well, I mean that's you know, how he's that's basically you know,
the season he's had for us.To me, he's the sixth man of
the year, and he's done anincredible job of moving seamlessly into the starting

(12:22):
lineup, and his confidence has beensky high all season, and I don't
see any reason for that to change, you know, heading heading into the
playoffs here, no matter what hisrole is. Thank you very much for
the time. I know you havea coaches meeting coming up in a minute,
and we'll talk next week. Bestof luck with this week from from

(12:43):
Washington through Phoenix. Keep them allhealthy and I look forward to our next
chat. All right, Hi,thanks pa Yeh Seebody. That's a Chris
Finch, coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, a weekly guest nine to noon.
Timberwolves battling your nuggets for the oneseed in the Western Conference, and they
get the whiz this evening winnable game, sixteen and a half point favorites winnable

(13:07):
game. You're at Denver tomorrow.Then you get in Atlanta team with Dejohnte
Murray and Clint Capella and a coupleof sneaky players where if you're not on
point, they could knock you off. And you finish your home against Phoenix,
a team that just held you ato eighty seven points. I didn't
get a chance to watch a lotof that game, so I checked in
on the score and I'm like,damn, man, we got eighty seven

(13:30):
points through three quarters. That's fantastic. No, Paul, it's for the
game. It was a dud,but duds will happen. And that's the
final week before the play in situationin the playoffs for your Minnesota Timberwolves.
Thank you, Chris, thank youPrize Picks, Daily Fantasy Made Easy.
And Chris is on the board ofSecond Harvest Heartland and a two Harvest dot

(13:52):
org is the wet website for them, order produces, And I'm Paul Allen,
a Happy the Sun is Emerging talkerTuesday at them one hundred point three
k F a N and we havesome bikes bites for you next. Welcome

(14:28):
back nine to noon and as we'vebeen we've been doing this for about a
week now. I was out mostof last week the talk back of the
day NFL Draft style, and wewant to hear from you, whether it's
the text machine six four six eightysix branch on, Brian KFE and text
line dig that, but we're lookingfor the talk back of the day.

(14:48):
So for those of you that listenon the free iHeartRadio app, thank you
of course for that. But youjust hit that microphone and give us up
to your best thirty seconds NFL drafttakes of all sorts, and then each
day we've been picking a winner,whether it was Joe and I forget who
it was last week while I washere, But you get two tickets to
the Miller Lite Vikings Draft party acouple of thursdays from now, so you

(15:13):
can go to KFE and dot comkeyword contest from more Intel and draft coverage
on the fan. By the way, it's presented locally by Pep's Drafthouse Pizza.
But talk Back of the Day we'regoing to be firing them off from
now until the end of the show. Ben Gesling's going to be in studio,
so get some hot takes out ofthe way. Maybe we share them
with BG but talk back of theday. Somebody's getting some tickets to the

(15:33):
Miller Light Draft party, which bringsus to fikes bikes. Okay, narrow
casting two and a half people willunderstand this. Yeah, I've hit it
twice too, trying to get itoff fast, and you only get the
end part of it. So it'slike ooze o little button bards. There

(16:00):
is them here nine to noon.Well, what's what's if you when when
executing your toil with these sounds,if you go, if you hit it
twice fast and go ooh, whatis that? You know? It's the
western suburb problems what we would callthem. Absolutely, whether it's pioneer,

(16:22):
it's angler, we all come togetherand there's no doubt when it comes to
that. Now, hey, Fike'sbites. Mister nord Quist hasn't pushed his
button like nine times in a row. Nord Quist, you ask, bro,
push your button. The worst thingI've ever watched in my life.
I've just pushed the button. That'sall you have. It's awful. And

(16:44):
they can't speak yet there speaking andthis, and then all of a sudden,
I think about this, and thenyou got this problem and this and
that pickaxe and ear Thousand Hills LifetimeGrazed grass Fed Beef brings you Vitit's go
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(17:08):
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(17:29):
grain fed piece. After I've readup on it and like I'm now knowing
what to taste for for Yeah,it's they do really really good work.
Thank you for that meat that yougave both of us. Cheers to that.
Let's start here, Pa. Thereis a zone coverage article. I
found this by Rob Searles and it'skind of don't make too much of the

(17:52):
McCown may link, so you're's aportion of the article and zone coverage.
Oddly enough, this is the secondstraight off season where account's press since his
quarterbacks coach of a new team wouldallegedly influence which signal caller prospect that team
would ultimately select in the draft.Shortly after the Carolina Panthers hired McCown in
mid February of twenty twenty three,the NFL content machine ran wild with CJ.

(18:15):
Stroud being Carolina's presumptive number one overallpick all because McCown was enamored with
him throughout the draft process, andpart of the article they have a couple
of YouTube bits McCown is comparing CJ. Stroud to Joe Burrow before he becomes
the Panthers QB coach. Le theytake Bryce Young. So whether it's McCown
to the Vikings, remember Cliff Kingsbury, he meets with the Bears, there's

(18:38):
the Caleb Williams link. Now he'swith the Commanders, Cliff Kingsbury Caleb Williams
connection. How much of any ofthe hire of Josh McCown PA has anything
to do with his link to Drakemay versus his link to Sam Darnold.
Or maybe he's just a good QBcoach that has a ton of experience in
the league and they're riding that forwho whoever they choose to select. A

(19:00):
couple of weeks from that, well, the brief, but I've yet to
meet Josh all right. Now,Nine to Noon is going to be at
Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center Thursday,and the feature guest Thursday is going to
be general manager Quasia do Fa Mensa. Now, so you know, in

(19:22):
attempts to link up with Josh McCownfor the radio, I mean, I'm
sure I could meet him if Igot over there more of this time of
the year, I've yet to meethim, all right, So therefore I
can't answer it exactly the way Iwant to from personal experience or being told
this. But what I've been toldfrom others about him is he's super well

(19:45):
respected. Well he's going to bean offensive coordinator one day, all right.
So I'm not saying it's a cinch. But I've had three of the
right people tell me he's o ciT offensive coordinator and training all right.
So there's that I'm not saying here, but I'm saying, just as you
played the thing out. Secondly,I don't know the last year he played.

(20:07):
It ain't that long ago, maybethree years how about that? Okay?
And his rookie season was the hereit is seasons on the line.
Two receivers left and right, McCowntakes a step, steps up, buyers,
Nathan Pole, heat of the city, throw up and there we go.
So that was his rookie year,Sam Houston State, so twenty nineteen,
so he's now but this will behis fifth year out I guess,
but still right fresh. But it'she it's beautiful, man. I mean,

(20:33):
he's a rookie and O three.So you have whatever generation of man,
generation of player twenty ten up totwenty nineteen. It's different. Things
change people, mature, people change, pandemic coaching, stuff like that,
going through all the bioreference trucks inthe parking lot, nasal swabs and the
old thing. His relatability with playersand man, I guess is high level.

(21:00):
I mean, I guess he justlyis really really calm when things are
hot. He gets he gets hispoint across without having to be confrontational,
and it just seems like a wonderfuladdition to the covenant. So when it
comes to the tie, it's youknow, the first thing we heard at
the combine was tied to Drake MayCharlotte High School. Right, that's a

(21:22):
low hangar, but low hanging fruitalso can be juicy and succulent. He
had a tie to Sam Darnold andthey played together, and I guess they're
really really close. Okay, wellSam's here, So in any way does
that elevate Drake May It's I believeit's one of two things. It either

(21:44):
elevates him or eliminates him. Soyou don't have middle ground because you have
personal experience and then you have film, and you have film with I guess
your heels had a good receiver twoyears ago. Then they didn't have a
good receipve and things fell off forhim, you know. And I read
a story on that. I thinkit might have been that Merrill Hodge thing

(22:04):
where he's like he gets quarterbacks likethat get coaches fired. I think it
was athlon sports, you know.But well, guess what Caleb Williams fell
off last year compared to two yearsago, and he's going to be the
first overall pick with a bullet soit it, you know, circumstances.
It's when Jordan Addison had anything todo with that. When you great point

(22:25):
when you when you draft a player, but specifically a quarterback, there are
so few in the history of theNational Football League you put in their game
one and they're as good Game oneas they are Game fifteen in their third
year. Right, So it's you'reyou're getting a commodity. You're you're you're
getting something that is is you're requiredto mold it to the way you want

(22:52):
it and to the skill to toamplify and magnify the skill set of the
individual to the very highest. Sothat's when when you take a quarterback,
it's that's why for me with McCarthy, and we've talked about this for really
the last couple of weeks now,this specific point what is super super fascinating

(23:12):
to me about JJ McCarthy is whathe did at ages nineteen and twenty and
the level at which he did it, and the progression is there. So
maybe they pulled the reins back alittle bit this year, the championship year,
because the defense was the identity ofthe team and then the play action

(23:32):
from under center to the running backwho's going to be drafted that set up
so much so he managed it beautifully, National Championship beautifully. I don't like
the assumption because he was asked tomanage and run and run the business.
So we're making you the CEO ofWolverine's offense LLC All right, well,

(23:56):
the stock just went to one hundredand eighty and split nine times because they
won the championship and he led it. So it's not good to say that's
his top and he can't be anythingelse. Thank you. If you tell
somebody if you looked at what hedid at ages nineteen and twenty and you
said that was his top, wellthen twenty you got burned in twenty twenty

(24:17):
one because his top, his progressionmaturation may not be visibly evident the way
it is with some others, butit doesn't mean it's not there. Yeah,
for somebody who turned twenty one yearsof age three months ago. So
all of that plays into the questionyou asked, where McCown would know what
Drake May was like at the stageof high school. I followed you all

(24:40):
during your collegiate career. Things felloff a little bit that last year,
but we know why, and Iwould prefer to have this guy over this
guy and why bites by long assanswer, but it was the only way
to get there. I dig it. Thank you to thousand Hills. Speaking
of answering, Kirk Cousins was answeringquestions from Shack PA. He was on

(25:02):
Shack's podcast within the last couple ofdays, and it's the first sit down,
first real public conversation that he's hadsince joining the Falcons. Maybe I
can call Byron Scott and get himto do faith and gall Sorry anyway,
But in that conversation, some Vikingsrelated bits came up, and one of
them was, you know, you'veplayed with a lot of guys former teammates.

(25:26):
Is there anybody you know they're witha different team now? But do
you just root for them to blowup? And here's part of that conversation
on Shack's podcast. Do you haveany teammates former teammates that you would like
to see have a breakout year?Guys that you just love that You're like,
man, I really hope they'd tearit up this year. Pretty much
all of them. But kJ Osborneis a receiver who was with US in

(25:47):
Minnesota who was kind of in theshadow of Justin Jefferson and Adam Dielan,
and I always felt like kJ wasbetter than the opportunities he got, and
so he went to free agency andwent to New England. I'd love to
see him have a huge year inNew eng kind of with a bigger role
than what he had in Minnesota toshow what he could do. But that
list would go on and on aguys who I feel like because they got
somebody in front of him, theydon't get to be as good as a

(26:10):
show, as good as they reallyare. How about that kJ Osborne,
the guy that he's rooting for toblow up now with that with these with
the Patriots. Yeah, moving onfrom Minnesota, so fond love Kirk Cousins.
He didn't get as many opportunities andthe guy that was throwing the ball
maybe, I mean he did havejustin Jefferson and Adam Field, and he
could have thrown it to kJ couldhave given a little more love to kJ.

(26:33):
kJ clutch, kJ walking off effectivelyon the Lions, kJ actually walking
off on the Panthers, moving chainsand scoring touchdowns. kJ Osbourne And they
got a one year, four milliondollar deal with the Pats. Yeah,
I think well Kirk had a lotto do with the reason Osbourne got one
year and four million. So listeningto Kirk there, maybe there's some contrition.

(26:57):
Maybe he feels bad in looking atall the film where Osbourne was open
for a fair amount of big chunksor touchdowns and we're sitting there doing jumping
jacks on the far side of thefield. But see, that's the that's
the likability of kJ. And that'swhat I think led Kirk to say what

(27:17):
he said is Osborne would not bethe show up the quarterback do jumping jackson
the end zone because I'm wide open. kJ would not be. I haven't
had a catch in two games.We just beat somebody, But I'm going
to steal the show and throw myhelmet when I get in the locker room
and it's it's going to break intoa thousand pieces. It's going to ruin

(27:37):
the moment. Quiet kJ, lovable, affable, kJ was always the consummate,
perfect teammate for Kirk to go downthat road and say I really pull
for kJ. Maybe he's, youknow, feeling a little remorse or whatever
the word would be that kJ gotone year and four million. I think
Kirk should just give him four milliondollars and just make it one and eight

(28:02):
and say that's before taxes and justsay I'm sorry. I mean the streaking
down the sideline at FedExField and TJ. Howkinson's debut on the third play of
the game. Yeah, you werewide open for a sixty some yard touchdown,
but I was I was immersed anddedicated to throw it to the new
guy. So I'm sorry, here'sfour million dollars. Well, I look
at it, and I hate toput it this way. I think Pastor

(28:26):
Nott's the reason that kJ is gettingone year and four million bucks. That
Atlanta game, man, I mean, you want to talk about hospital balls.
He put kJ the freaking abyss andthat was the concussion that he misses.
I think he missed the next game, the Saints game. I forgot
about that and it just wasn't thesame. And he's dealing with this obvious,
this dearth of talent at the atthe quarterback position. But that was

(28:48):
kind of the well Kirk's injury ingeneral. Now, I will you know,
I'm not saying Kirk's not giving.From what I hear, Kirk can
be very generous with his money.I feel I do feel though, that
there's a better chance of you givingme that duffel with ten grand in it
you were talking about yesterday, thenKirk just writing a check four million dollars
to kay Jay. Why I'm havinga good Tuesday. I get to run
tuesdays or and then I'm watching thisthing and I'm waiting, and I don't

(29:11):
know how it works because I neverwatch it because I don't like it.
In fact, I you used theword hate yesterday more than I've used him
in the last fifteen years. I'mwatching this boring thing. I'm hearing people
speak they don't know how to speak, and it's working on my ears,
and it just goes on and onand on and on and on. Then
you bring up the Duffel bagging.I got to do it again today.
Well how about me? Let mechange the topic while staying with Kirk part

(29:33):
of Shack's podcast Again. I didn'tlike that. I was intrigued by this
answer. It's about a minute andfifteen seconds long, but it's Kirk Cousins
when he's asked about by Shaq aboutwhat do you want Falcons fans to know?
Here it is, what do youwant the Falcons fans to know about
the new quarterback? Well, it'sawesome. Most of my story they would

(29:53):
likely know, but they need toknow that I'm going to be committed to
doing everything I can can to helpus win a world championship. That every
day I get up like I drovethe flowery branch today, you know,
and doing rehab and it's it's athree sixty five really, like what do
we have to do to win aworld championship? And I want this to

(30:15):
be my final stop. You know. I don't want to do the deal,
no offense, but I don't wantto go play for the Suns and
the Celtics at the end. Iwant to finish with the heat if you
will, and be done, youknow. Yeah, So that's that's really
my plan, is that I wouldn'tplay for another team. I finished with
the Falcons. Boys are my boysare six and five. They won't remember

(30:37):
that I played in Washington. Theywill barely remember that I played in Minnesota.
They're gonna remember I played for theFalcons, and I want those to
be good memories. So I feellike, you know, this is this
is the stretch. I want tofinish strong. People remember how you finish
more than how you started. Sostart was good, but I want to
finish really strong here in Atlanta andhave my boys say, yeah, he
may have played for Washington and Minnesota, but we remember as a Falcon and

(31:00):
we want fantas say the same thing. Well, how about that there you
go. Wants his kids to rememberdad as a falcon, not as a
Viking, definitely not as a commander, ye, but a falcon. Five
year olds remember things, Yes theydo, Okay, So it's you know,
sadly the five year old's going toremember the seven wins season with the

(31:22):
four quarterback trick and Dad's hopping offthe field at Lambeau. But it's still
us. I mean, it's likeyou just can't like draw a line through
the past performance, kids, andit never happened your best years. We're
here, and I'm telling you rightnow, and I will make this proclamation
and I will stick by it.And if I am wrong, I can

(31:42):
be chided or teased because that's whatwe do nine to noon or via social
media. Cousins will statistically not havea season in Atlanta close to his best
season here. I mean well closeas subjective. He will not surpass it.
It will not flow, at leastinitially in Atlanta. I believe the

(32:05):
way it flowed here for him atthe end. Now that's an unfair comparison,
because you know, in his firstyear here, coordinators here for five
minutes, then he's gone. It'sall new, you know, and then
it's new again, you know.But he really settled in. He settled
in the last year and a half. Man. I mean, he was
one of the seven ish best quarterbacks, eight ish best quarterbacks, most reliable

(32:27):
in the NFL for a year anda half and it was getting better.
And that's why nine to noon,despite you know, whatever's coming down the
road, Spielman says, it's overpaying for McCarthy. McCown says, what
about the high school kid. JadenDaniels is like, I'm slender, but
I can run. So if it'sone of those three, great, you
know, even with one of thosethree, I always believe there still was

(32:50):
a chance Cousins would come back.I didn't realize the guarantee would get to
where it did. And to aman, I and everybody listening now,
despite they want to disagree or not, they would take that. They would
if if I'm going to give youa choice of forty dollars or fifty two
dollars or one hundred dollars, you'regonna take one hundred dollars. So he's
gone. But it would have beenso. And see, that's why I

(33:15):
think when we saw that Kevin O'ConnellNFL Network thing and Kevin he of the
wearing his emotions on his metaphorical sleevevariety. You could just tell something bad
it happened. Then he caught winthat there was a bomb that's ready to
drop on this whole thing, anthe other you know, it happens here
and everybody talks about it's not supposedto happen here like this, and something
happened and it was that well,you could just tell Kevin knows the offense

(33:40):
with Kirk Cousins will be better firstgame through whatever game this year. Then
JJ McCarthy, Drake May, JadenDaniels, Michael Pennix, Boone, Nick
Spencer, Rattler, Sam Darnold putin there, whomever you want, because
it was trending that way, insuch a fluid way, and it was

(34:00):
so cold blooded. So now youjust got to kind of start over a
little bit. Bites bites. Thankyou Thousand Hills. Carmen Vitally. You
had her on the show maybe amonth ago, somewhere in the neighborhood Fox
Sports Detroit, right, she waswith Kay Adams, the up and Adams
bid on FanDuel yep, And hereshe had to say. This is what

(34:21):
she had to say in regard tostarting the season with Sam Donald. My
hot take is that Sam Donald isgoing to start the season for the Minnesota
Vikings. You do not pay himten million dollars to not play some meaningful
games for you. And again,both Kevin O'Connell and Josh McCowen being former
quarterbacks, they know how valuable itis to have a quarterback come in and
ease himself into the league rather thanhave to be the guy to start right

(34:44):
away. Even as good as thesituation is in Minnesota, if they can't
trade up all the way to getDrake may Drake may Goo's number two to
Washington, I think this is areally good situation for JJ McCarthy too.
And you can argue till the cowscome home about if he's a top five
pick he ends up being Minnesota's franchisequarterback, that was worth it for them,
And he thought, I mean,we've been so focused on moving up

(35:05):
and getting the guy. And wedid talk about it initially when when Darnald
arrived and what was he going toget paid? And ooh, it's is
it all based on performance? No, Actually that's mostly he's making about ten
million bucks. Yeah, it's likeeight high eights. Anyway, we haven't
really gone and liked it. Theidea of if you if you move up
and you take Drake may or JJas his thought of during that quote,

(35:28):
that now you have to satisfy thefan base and that guy's got a star
week one versus actually, I canjust bring in Sam Darnald and it's almost
kind of it's it's maybe not weekby week, but it might be month
by month and solely ease this rookieinto the mix. Well, that that's
the favored scenario, and that's whyI didn't even think it was a hot

(35:49):
take, Carmen. I think itwas very thoughtful. It's favored, but
it's not prohibitively favored. And here'swhy, because the one in ten or
the one in eight, like yousaid, Okay, I mean there,
that's not a proven deal. AndI would never disrespect Sam and be like,
well, you're here to prove thatyou can start game one and or

(36:09):
back up the new quarterback to aman after or if they splash and draft
a quarterback in one of the topfive picks, their hope is going to
be that my man comes in amini camp and just puts Bira Murphy on
skates. Just Makai Blackman's biting onevery double move. The under the center

(36:32):
play action off Aaron Jones with Addisonout of the slot on a double move
has everybody be fuddled because of theway the quarterback's doing it. Oh,
here comes Jonathan Grenard who got aroundDarisaw. Oh holy cow, look at
Drake, Look at jj look atJaden, look at them. Go we
haven't seen that since so there.That's why I say a veteran starting week

(36:58):
one is favor. But the justremember it's the steam is this is a
different type of quarterback class. Whenyou say deep, like a deep wide
receiver class goes seventeen eighteen deep withthose who get second deals playing a majority
of games. That ain't the casewith quarterbacks. I mean, if it

(37:20):
gets eight, nine to ten deepand you get a quarterback six seven,
eight nine and ten getting second dealsas high end backups or starters, that's
a deep quarterbacks draft. This isone of them. When you get one
of the purported for best and youhave a creative, clever, very well
respected a designer and play caller whosets things up for the quarterback to be

(37:45):
the CEO. If the quarterback comesthrough in mini camp and then in a
little bit of training camp, thatquarterback starts week one, Yeah, and
you just they're gonna be lumps.You know, there will be lumps.
You understand that. But the otherside of it is, you know,
say Darnold's the starter and you havea patch of some some wonky games.

(38:08):
You know, you have to thinkabout and recognize that, like specifically at
home games, we want JJ,we want JJ, or we want Drake
May, we want Jade and soI mean that's just how fans are.
Yeah. So then all of asudden it becomes a different form of a

(38:28):
meat grinder. Yeah, yeah,it's it's this is great. This is
just great. The the the Ifelt enterprising yesterday as I was boring myself
with that thing that I was watchingto write sixteen Takes, Talkers Tidbits sixteen
days from the NFL Draft, andit's littered with some quarterback related stuff.
It'll come up at eleven o'clock andtie to the talkbacks. So you can

(38:52):
join the con at the draft partyat us Bank Stadium. Used you orders
around the corner, you're listening tokfan Welcome back. It is news Donord.
News Donord is brought to you bythe casino at Canterbury Park. The

(39:15):
casino not a casino, it's thecasino at Canterbury Park. It's poker,
it's Blackjacket's table games all year round, each and every day you're having SIPs
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to watch the horses. My girlsloving it when they've had the Clydesdale's in,
they got the Corgi races. It'sin some ways barn on maybe the

(39:38):
best family venue in the state ofMinnesota. That's Canterbury Park. And as
events unfold, of course the music, vibe and everything they have going on
there, keep up with it atCanterbury Park dot com. Thirty years of
pick threes, pick fours and pickvibes never bugged anybody. But yeah,
it's a bount to full. Opportunitiesare there for the con well, it's

(40:00):
it's the only place to go inshakra Be for that matter, there's no
doubt about that that whole area CanterburyPark dot com. Uh, let's start
with the Twins briefly, Twins Lostyesterday, Dodgers are in town and the
Twins lose four to two without youknow, as we've watched, whether it's
the Caitlin Clark thing, it's it'sYukon last night winning. I believe their
sixth title is a program, secondin a row now with with Danny Hurley,

(40:23):
and that that becomes almost on theverge of being true all time greatness
as they enter into the twenty twentyfour to twenty five season. I'll admit
I haven't watched a ton of Twinsbaseball to start the season. Pa,
So I jump in, jump outit is it's it's it's back the baseball
team's background noise to me right now? Yeah, I understand. But of

(40:44):
the core four nine to noon isthe one that by bar does the most
sports and all that. I mean, I might have watched Seven Vicious.
Okay, no, I I becausethe Dodgers are cool. So like,
I watched it in and I seewhat you're saying. Yeah, I'm not
watching entire games. I'm jumping inand watching. I had to watch five

(41:04):
innings of the home opener. Ohawesome. But the theme is every time
I'm watching it, every time I'mwatching the team's not hitting right now,
league low and batting average, homeruns, bottom feeding and runs and hits,
et cetera. Glass now and Varlintonight. But this is that's the
turnarout. So I'm glad we're havingDan Dan Hayes on at the Athletic at
ten forty five because this thing hashad an absolute ugly start to the season,

(41:30):
and the Dodgers in town with theirleading the league in a lot of
these offensive categories. Cocker Dan couldbreak tonight in favor of the Twins,
or it's lopsided, and we shallsee. We'll talk to Dan about an
hour from that. Yeah, thankyou for booking Dan. A. I
really enjoy Dan on the radio.Secondly, Disco Dan chronicled the action at

(41:50):
Target Field, and you know,I didn't watch much of it, but
nevertheless, playing catch up with thebox score, reading his account stuff like
that. It's it doesn't make memad because stuff like this doesn't make me
mad. But like no salary capin baseball, Okay, I mean it's
yeah, I mean, we youhear charts talk about the Yankees and his
disdain and and it's fact. Imean, it's it's the spending. These

(42:14):
are the rules and the TV dealstie into it. The cash you get
or lack thereof, a lot ofthings play into it. But like look
at your La Dodgers, man,I mean you talk about flexing and just
showing off. Well they splash withsho heyo Tani. Okay, the the
best player in Major League Baseball.We want you. You're gonna have to

(42:35):
take a trip across a freeway toplay at Chevez Ravine, so you're on
our team. So they effortlessly andthey have the capital to get show hey
Otani. Yeah, Well the guypitching tonight as an ancillary piece. Oh,
it's just Tyler Glass now the bestpitcher of the Tampa Bay Rays had
last year. Oh Hernandez I uhwho uh oh ta Oscar that's right,

(43:00):
one of the three best players theSeattle Mariners had. So it's just it's
ridiculous how easy it is to addNow that's their market. These are the
rules, and it's my choice tolet it frustrate me or to brush it
off. I brush it off.But it's just if you're a Dodgers fan,

(43:22):
man, I mean you blink,and I blink a lot. So
if I'm a Dodgers fan, we'dhave every free agent you could find.
But you blink and shoe, hey, Otani's there, and then you blink
again. It's like what Glass nowthere? What? What? Well?
He might not be their best likethey got the Springs cat or whatever,
but you know what I mean,Glass now high ender switching leagues, so

(43:43):
it's going to take a minute tofigure out what he does. And then
Taoscar that's I think you say.It's Taoscar Ernandez, who was an in
and out kind of guy with theMariners. But he's good and like Taoscar
Hernandez added to the Minnesota Twins.That would be our signature free agent signing

(44:04):
for them. It's their third orfourth preference, correct, So that's who
we're playing. And Glass now,I mean glassdown might be sitting on a
gym. Yeah, the women andchildren. Otani, by the way,
yesterday, no big deal, justa double in a home run. Yeah,
he never never says anything, nevertalks now and they like opening Day.
I can't believe they did this.Maybe it's the numbers or whatever.

(44:28):
If it was a bit. Propsto the LA Dodgers when they introduced Ladies
and Gentlemen. Your twenty twenty fourLos Angeles Dodgers, number one buck On
and they go through the numbers.Yeah, Otani was standing right next to
Bets. I always love Mookie Bets, Right, you can't have Otani right

(44:50):
next to Bets when the translator thing'sgoing on. You have to the least
give it a second. Do youthink that they because he hits behind Bets
in the lineup. I think it'sone Bets into O'tani. It's that.
Do you think they have to potentiallyconsider a lineup change? Maybe maybe you
have Bets in the ninth hole.I don't know when you when you know
what I mean, if they're battingnext to each other this time next year

(45:14):
when we're able to ponder prop wageramI always love that one in game waggeram.
I always loved that one pick threesor fours that everybody's had for one
hundred and fifty years and a certainracetrack has had for thirty. I always
loved that one. Anyway. Yeah, So, anyway, Yukon did win
that championship. I watched most ofit into until it was about twelve minutes

(45:38):
left in the second half. Therewas they had no shot pa I mean,
Eadie had to score all of theirpoints. Finny did. He had
thirty seconds, so he tried.He had thirty seven. I think he
had a thirty seven and ten.Game was was what the stat line looked
like. I checked out with tenminutes to go because it was over.
It was over. So congrats tothe Huskies. I saw something. Usky's

(46:00):
covered the point spread every game ofthe NCAA tournament, I believe, might
be might be eight or nine ina might go back to even like the
title game or the final four lastyear. Well, but they did it.
They did it last night the sameway they've done the last three I've
watched. All right, this isweird. All right, this is weird.
All right, this is weird.Oh they're up by nine. Then

(46:21):
they're up by nine for four minutes. Oh they're up by twelve. Now
they're up by twelve for three minutes. Oh they're up by sixteen. Well
there's another three minutes. They suckthe life out of you in the second
half, metaphorically grabbing your throats andtaking your last breath. Well, they
all they do. And if you'rea Purdue fan, you had hope probably
until eight min eight minute mark inthe first half. Yep, where Guesline's

(46:45):
three minutes late, Edie's doing histhing, and then Braden Smith a couple
other cats. But they had towork so hard for every bucket. They
went through a four or five minutesscoreless streak and then it was just absolute
over. But early on you're like, okay, exchanging punching it punches with
the heavyweight. Kid's got a shot. Yeah no, there was no chance.
Yeah. The well, what Istarted thinking about last night was Zach

(47:09):
Edie and the NBA draft. Uh, Now, he can return for like,
you know, a fifth. Idon't know, he can return to
Purdue. But if he goes tothe draft, what kind of a player
would he be in the NBA?He has some functioning plompibility, he does,
so therefore that's going to hinder him. My take, having not looked

(47:30):
at our mock NBA, yeah,you probably can find mock NBA drafts now
right. It's uh you mentioned it. I have it written down. He's
projected I think thirty seventh to offthis. Okay, good, that's NBA
draft dot Net. That's just that'smy goal. I was gonna say,
he's identifiable, he can score,he can block shots, he's not top
ten, he's probably not top twenty, but yeah, I was kind of

(47:52):
thinking of him right around there.What if. Well, I'm picturing him
as kind of like san Antonio takeshim, I know, next to Wemby.
Are you kidding me? They'll loseevery game all he has to Yeah,
they will be slow team next tous. Excuse me'd be the slowest
team getting up and down mid courtin history of the NBA. Bookmakers can't
make that total low enough though.Well yeah, but I mean I just

(48:12):
again, think about a year fromnow, deep stretch of the NBA season,
full season for Zach Edie starting tohit that metaphorical wall of life,
and you're like thinking about what ishis proposition wage you're gonna be I always
loved that that evening when he's tiredand you're like, oh, that's right,
okay, yeah, But anyway,the I look at him and he

(48:34):
I think Len was higher touted,but like an Alex lenn type where he's
gonna play eight to ten minutes agame. He's gonna be on a roster,
he's gonna be the guy if youabsolutely needed a block in a fantasy
basketball league like that, and it'sa Sunday and you're just stuck and Mitchell
Robinson everyone's on ir Yeah, andyou just need a couple of blocks and

(48:57):
hit a free throw is not badfrom the stripe. I don't believe that's
your guy is ten minutes a night, couple of blocks and maybe a bucket
or two high percent. I thinkthe only reason human slash basketball players like
Mobamba and bowl Ball still make moneyin the NBA is to say fantasy teams
with blocks and field goal percentage onSundays. I always love. It's the

(49:21):
only reason they're still around, especiallyMobamba. Only count Well, I'm out
of it, but the Wolves arehosting the Wizards tonight. Wizard. Speaking
of out of it, they're Olympian. This is one of their worst seasons
probably as a franchise. And it'skiss Burt, and it's you know their
guy, Jordan Poole. Well,they trained it for pool. And who's
the advisa guy. How do youpronounce that guy? Saemmy Avija or something.

(49:42):
He's rolling out like thirty and twelve. Because all these l's are getting
opportunities every night. Yeah, untilyour maxing games on a Saturday, trying
to get to that thirty one andyou start him and he shoots twenty percent
and scores four points. I alwayslove that that's who he is because he's
a wizard. He's memhard. RashaanHolmes has a I don't know if I'm
hard. I don't know. Forshot. Holves is back that coulson who

(50:05):
played hockey for Saint Clouds State namedPudlick. John Holives could really dictate the
tempo tonight for the Whiz. Butthree games left, you'll hear from head
coach Chris Finch had him to openthe show. We're going to bunk end
the show with Finchy. In theend of the eleven hour comes Ben Gasoline.
He covers the Minnesota Vikings for theStar Tribunistar Tribune dot com to discuss

(50:28):
myriad topics involving the NFL Draft,but also some Harrison Smith related tidbits and
nuggets and all of that. Aroundthe corner at f N one hundred point three KFA