07-17-24 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight with Mario Vetanze

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to it, Broncos Country Tonight, but with all Brian Dick, Ferguson,
Grant Smith and it just kept buffinghere Mario with Tansy. Oh,
it feels so good to be back. It's been like a year since I've
been in here. The studio islike nicer and cleaner. You're more handsome
than the last time we did ashow. I've been working out last mis
Nick's always super hand well like,so I can't compete. That's that's what

(00:20):
happened. I could even look atyou because you're gonna distract me. Why
am I going to distract just becauseyou're so good looking? Man? Like,
I can't focus on what I'm tryingto say. He shaved the beard
off and you can see the featuresand everything. Look it looks he didn't
look at Day Over twenty five.It's unreal, and like I did it
when I did the show with you, when we did our podcast a couple
of weeks ago, I couldn't focuson anything that you were saying because I'm

(00:40):
just like getting lost in your eyes. Well see you did say that even
though I'm older than you, thatI look younger than you. Now,
thanks for bringing that up thick.Yeah, I'm really glad that you can
get down there Flat six six.It was a text line. You guys
gonna get involved in the conversation.Big show today. Uh. Quinn Myers
signed a big deal last night.Broke that on the air, four years

(01:00):
eighty million. Third highest paid guardin the NFL. The Broncos offensive line
has a ton of money attached toit right now. When you look at
the Glenchy, you look at nowminors, you look at Ben Powers that
boarded last year. Garrett Bowles,maybe do up for another extension. We'll
say that goes centers, the onlyposition they get paid. They're saving a
lot of money with Alex Forsyth asthe number one center right now. How

(01:23):
much compared to every other offensive line. I don't know if you have the
numbers, Ben, but this hasgot to be one of the richest offensive
lines in the league, right Ithink they're not one the top they're in
the top five. I'd have togo look and double check on some things,
but they're in the top five asfar as offensive I'll call this motivation
for Forestsight and anyone else on theteam, because it's obvious that you know

(01:46):
the Broncos to give it out thebat. You want to make sure you're
on that train, that you're receivingthe money. So if I'm a guy
that didn't get the bag, Iwouldn't be upset. I would be happy
and optimistic to know that this teamwe'll do it, because think about it.
I mean, two years ago theygave both Courtla Sudden and Tim Patrick
money when none of us thought.And then you may have a different opinion,

(02:09):
but I never thought that they'd begave both of those guys. Thought
it'd be one of the other.Yes, well, but I think at
the time, and this is somethingthat they talked about a KA Sports today
about how the Broncos since two thousandand one, only eight percent of players
they've drafted have got a second contractfrom the team, which is absurdly low.
But I think that at the time, George Payton had just took over

(02:30):
as general manager, and I thinkhe had to establish a culture that the
Broncos aren't cheap, that we dopay our own Because they paid Justin Simmons,
they paid Courtland, they paid TimPatt. It was all within a
span very quickly of each other,and I think he was re establishing a
culture that, hey, the DenverBroncos will reward you. We're not just
going to move on from you tolet you get the bag somewhere else after
a rookie deal, will reward youand keep those that talent in house.

(02:50):
Well, they did the same thingfor PJ lot right right. I mean,
no Justine Simmons, no Kareem Jackson, but i it's not a really
large payday, but it's a betterpaid aid than PJ. Lock has ever
seen before. So that's self evidentthat this is what the Broncos new culture
is like, and they need toset that kind of culture. And I'm
glad you brought up Justin Simmons becauseyou've talked, we've all talked to him.

(03:10):
He was convinced that if John Elwaystayed in the front office that he's
not getting an extension. They werejust strung him along. Who knows if
Justin sits out, Probably not,but that's well that he was tagged like
play he had said, right,and we like and we'll never know when,
thankfully, we'll never know. Buthe was convinced that if George Payton
hadn't gotten hired, that he's probablynot a Bronco long term. So you're

(03:34):
right, like, this is theprecedent that he's setting. Not only that,
but you are investing in your offensiveline, and this is how you're
successful in the NFL. Obviously,you need to solid defense, you need
a quarterback. That's all well established. You are not going to be a
competitive team. You are not goingto challenge for a division title or for
a super Bowl if you don't havea at least above average offensive line.

(03:55):
So this is what they're doing now. The means to which they're getting there,
that's up for debate, right.I don't know how we feel about
Mike mclintchy. It's like he struggled, but he was okay and he was
up and down. If he canget more consistency, then maybe that looks
like a good signing. Ben Powersbad at the beginning of the year,
got better as it went on,and so you're you're invested in it,

(04:16):
but you need to start getting areturn on the investment in your offensive line.
But in terms of the precedent thatyou're paying your offensive line means that
they know how important it is tohave a good offensive line. There was
a reputation, I mean there wasunder John l Way that the Broncos were
Uh, I was gonna say,frugal cheat. And it was more than

(04:39):
one player that said that. Wasn'tjust you know, justin being worried about
getting paid. Matt Parrott has saidit. Connor McGovern said that, Shaq
Barrett said it. Uh. Therewere guys. There were plenty of guys
that uh and that were saying,hey, look, you know, I'm
playing for the Denver Broncos. I'mauditioning for the team I'm gonna get paid
by, you know, and thatthat's a sad thing. Was it like
that when you were Was that?Was that an internal locker room reputation when
you were a Bronco? You know? It was the idea that mister b

(05:03):
gave coach Shanahan kart Blanche to prettymuch do what he wanted to do based
on his resume and idea is thatif you came in and you played well,
you were going to be rewarded.That was the kind of culture.
But once again, we have toseparate two things that sounds similar, but
they're different. Football business and thebusiness of football. And when it comes

(05:25):
to the business of football, it'sabout trying to get guys who can go
out there and play at a highlevel, and I didn't get them on
team friendly deals. So be it. And that's where the Broncos find themselves
right now. But still it's aboutresetting the culture as far as what this
team under Sean Payton and George Peytonis going to be, and it's rewarding

(05:46):
guys who produced. It was easierto get guys to take team friendly deals
and be cheap when you're winning.It's easier when you're competitive, when you're
playing the AFC Championship with the SuperBowl every year, it's easy to get
guys to take stuff like him raisingMario was also raising for some reason.
See that's that's exactly why John Elwiewas cheap because when he was in charge,

(06:08):
who was the quarterback? Jim Tebow, you're gonna come to Denver,
Emmanuel Sanders, TJ Warre, DarianStewart to keep to leave. The list
goes on and on. They're gonnatake less money because Peyton Manning is the
quarterback. And I think the problemwas that John Elway got used to guys
wanting to be in Denver. Hethought it was a culture thing. It
was a Peyton Manning thing. Right, So as soon as he was gone,

(06:30):
no longer players willing to give youteam friendly deals. Well, and
but as the as the drop offcame on, because John Elway's mindset never
changed, it never shifted over towhere he couldn't be cheap and frugal anymore.
Right, we saw it with becausethere were people that regretted it,
you know, Derek Wolfe and ChrisChris Harrison even came back and it was
like, hey, man, Ineed to be spiffed back this money I

(06:50):
gave. I gave blood at thebank. Now I need blood pipe back
in, you know. And wesaw what happened with that, with that
deal. I think that's that issort of a thing though. It's just
like you can lose side of whatis responsible for allowing it to be successful.
Ego corrupts. Ego does corrupt.But it goes back to what Mario
said, it's and several other teamswent through this. Look at the New

(07:12):
England Patriots. It went through itwith Tom Brady, like guys would take
less money to play with the Patriotsbecause you're playing with Bill Belichick his legacy
and Tom Brady and the potential toactually go to the super Bowl, and
then guys started realizing watching what Billwas doing to Tom, like, if
you're going to do that to me, I need to get compensated for that.
And so many teams think that,Okay, well, you know what,

(07:35):
everyone loves to be here. Wehave the right culture in the right
environment, and if you don't wantto take what we're offering, someone else
will. Until you at the bottomof the barrel looking at everyone else trying
to get back to the top,right, And I think that's that's Eventually
Ego corrupted that too. You know, he had a head coach who thought
he was all of it and aquarterback who thought he was all of it.

(07:56):
Led to a sort of acrimonious divorce. Tom goes down to MP and
I think settles that conversation once andfor all, winning one down there.
It would be nice to see Belichickmaybe come back in Dallas and you know,
and get close there to you know, to kind of spark that debate
back up. But at the endof the day, what makes you successful.
It's important, I think to identifythat what makes you successful and how

(08:16):
you can sustain that, and thenwhat the plan is after that mechanism breaks
down, whatever it is in thistaste, Peyton Matting or Tom Brady,
what is the plan after that?And the plan after that was brock Oswalder
left for Houston for a bag PaxtonLynch, which was a horrific evaluation in
terms of what he was a player, a lot of potential, but you
know, nobody's coming to nobody's takinghaircuts to come play with with Paxton Lynch.

(08:37):
And to be honest with you,Paxton Lynch wasn't taking haircuts to go
play Xbox. So I think,you know, at the end of the
day, you have to identify whatit is that makes us a success.
How do we keep that going?And then when that mechanism fails, what
is the plan? Well, rightnow, if you look around in the
league, here's what the pillan hasessentially become. We're gonna go out and

(08:58):
we're gonna take a rookie quarterback?Are we taking a ricky quarterback? Because
cost control? Cost control, itallows us four or five years to wait
till that quarterback develop and then wecan go ahead and build everyone around him.
That's kind of the new strategy inthe NFL. What did we see
you know Ryan Poe's do with theChicago Bears. He's essentially did the same
thing he had justin Fields. Didn'tput any players around him. Now,

(09:22):
everyone was saying that justin Fields,and I know, Ben, you're not
a Fields. You know he's nota good quarterback, but you didn't put
all the pieces around him that youjust did with Caleb wi DJ had Moore
Cole come at him and they putaround him two guys that did. They
put people around him. Whatever.Man, it's like watching you run the
ball in college football and that sucks. Oh, it doesn't suck. I

(09:46):
think. I think that's sort ofthe problem. By the way, I
was going to take a picture foryou today because I played somebody online and
I had eighteen and a half minutestime of possession to his one minute thirty
six for the game. Disgust.I hate it. Man, that would
be the worst person to play videofootball against ever, ever, ever.
Oh, you you're never gonna throwdeep. You don't really even I threw

(10:09):
like one two passes for the wholegame. That's I think two passes for
nine yards for the whole game.You know what I would do if I'm
sitting in front of Ben and Ican't throw passes. I'm gonna throw at
him, but that would be physicalviolence to our program. Doctor day Teffer's
like, Man, I'm not evengonna let you get to me like that.
He's like, I'm just turning themachine off. I'm just turning it
off. I'm not even letting youget to me like that. Because I'm

(10:31):
starting to save the audio files.These people will will everything screaming. Well,
it's a lot more colorful than that, but that's the gist, just
the message they're sending. And tome, it's fun for me. But
like nobody else can conceptualize its individualyou know you, I'm throwing deepest grow

(10:52):
up. That's yeah. Well,everybody out there's you know, running four
four verts on five wide and fourverts on every play and I'm out here
in the flex bone. That's whatI say. I would throw the mote
at it. You know, super, I'm not the Maryland I be offensive
tackles for the tight as full backunbalanced. Yeah, it is running back,

(11:16):
quarterback, flexbone heavy over it.Yes, that's that's my This is
a guy that's been the heavily influencedby guys like Paul Johnson, who would
run the triple option. Yeah,and I can't help but go back to
like Jamil Holloway Loclahoma and Tony Riceplayed for Lou Holtz in Notre Dame.
That's kind of the style of offensethat you you would let me, let

(11:39):
me, let me fast forward this. If you were coaching in the NFL,
would you have that same philosophy?Let me Okay, I'll tell you
a story. I would have builtoff that, and it wouldn't just be
the flexbone, but we would havebuilt off that. Gus Miles, I'm
started with the flexbone. Gus Mills, I'm started with the flexbone, and
he created the entire offense. Hedid like but you know, going to
okay, we're sing a wing andthen we're doing this. Okay, now

(12:00):
if we go up tempo, thatcan't sob and if we do that's he
built a whole thing. But itstarted running flexbone like Gus Mells. I'm
telling you he was at Hughes,Arkansas, which was our you know,
right down the road, twenty minutesdown the road, and he started off
running flexbone offense. Why don't wesee more of that? I felt like
ten twenty years ago you saw alot more of that in college me because
you can shut it down if you'rea gap discip the team, you can

(12:20):
shut it down the front, youknow. Yeah, but if you're able
to run it. I mean I'mnot saying stick initially where it's stick primarily
to it, but if you're proficientat it's like run it until they stop
it and then you can throw.I guess it's just like, is it
how you structure your program that youhave to devote yourself. You gotta have
the right frame of thinking college football. You gotta have a pipeline to have

(12:41):
that kind of you know, thoseexact kind of because there's a body type
involved too. If you got aquarterback back there playing and he's got a
body type like me, he's gonnaget murdered. But see in college football,
you can do that, right.Think about what Chip Kelly is doing
in the organ right right? Herun that up Timple office. Because you
have so many guys on the sideline, got you have unlimited Well it's funny
because Kelly's offense was was built offof Gus Maulsons hurry up, no huddle

(13:03):
with a combination of the fly sweepthat he got he stole from Bob Stitt,
and you know, and he mergedall that in football is a game
where that's what happens. You buildand you rip off of the people.
So if you're asking, if Iwas running the team in the NFL,
if I run the flex bone,it would we would be running a lot
of those type principles. I wouldbe using a lot of young first contract
quarterbacks that were very mobile, youknow this the crack like that, and

(13:26):
fields will be successful in my all. See, there's one team in the
NFL that could possibly ultimately No,no, no, no, no,
I'm not being going Baltimore. Okay, I'm going to San Francisco. Yeah,
you got Christian McCaffrey and you gotDeebo Samuel because of the weapons,
right, because of the weapon.For me, it's the quarterback and it
comes out of the You got tohave a quarterback that can run and throw
because at the NFL level, theathletes are too good and you couldn't get
away with it. And this comesfull circle as we're talking about like how

(13:50):
you're building a team, they havea rookie contractor rookie quarterback on her contract.
This is what the Broncos are doing. And this is why the Niners
it seems like they just keep throwingmoney at any dude that walks by them.
It's because they have a seventh roundquarterback that they're paying peanuts too.
That's how they're able to do.Now they will not be able to do
it the bill comes due, thewindows about to close, and so and

(14:13):
obviously there was the Brandon I Youkefinally officially requested a trade, which I
think you know, most of usknow has been going on for a while.
And they drafted two receivers this upcomingyear later this past draft. I
don't know why they would want tokeep Brandon. Now you get this point,
but this is how to trade negotiationsto say you're keeping them. Yeah,
yeah, sure, and that plannedout, that panned out really well.

(14:35):
But from here on out, you'reright, and it's like they have
one more year of this. Thisis their window. You're gonna have to
figure out how much to pay brockParty and then you're gonna have to allocate
all your other resources because it's unsustainable. The team that they have now they
have because of their quarterback situation.So let's look at this like it's a
fantasy football team. So there theyhave a lot of guys who are being

(14:58):
paid the substantial amount of money they'regonna have to play pay Brock Perdy,
Brendan and I you wants out.They just drafted two young wide receivers.
All the guys getting paid Deebo tosay Kiddle, Christian yes, and the
Bolson and I even throw a uK in there. What's guys are you

(15:20):
sacrificing and letting them walk? Andwhich guys are you keeping? Well?
Me, I'm going to sacrifice onreceiver. I wouldn't I wouldn't be my
if I'm building up to a team. We're not paying receivers. There's so
many of them coming out every year. We would number bucket has already changed.
They dictated that, Hey, thisis what the goal rate is.
I know, and I wouldn't beI'd be by Brookie. We'd be loading
up. We draft two rookies everyyear at wide receiver. Let's get loading

(15:41):
up. Let me ask you guysthis if we're talking about wide receivers,
because there was there was a discussionabout they would trade debo, they would
trade ayuk on your individual teams.If you got to choose with the forty
nine ers roster as it is,who would you rather have between Deebo,
Samuel and Brandon Ayuk? Right now, I'm gonna say Ayuk, Well,
am I changing anything else? Oris it just me taking over? You're

(16:03):
trading one or the other? You'reyou're taking over the forty nine ers right
now? What receiver are you keeping? That's tough because I use is a
better receiver, but Deebo is amore versatile player. But you know him.
Do you have less of a usefor a guy like Deebo because of
a guy like Christian McCaffrey who canknow? Because hurt, I'm swapping the
other. You know that the operativeword right there is hurt. And if

(16:26):
you look at Debo and Brendan andI you, Debo has been the guy
that's been injured the most. Sothat's why I'm gonna go with Brendan and
you because guess what you get aguy who can play you know, the
X or Z or the Z andI mean you throw him in the slot
and he blocks. That is verya pivotal part of Mike Shanahan's offense and

(16:48):
Kylee. Shenhan's office. And I'mnot saying that Deebo will not block.
But you see Brendan and I youbeing a willing better at it. Yes,
and then I would say this andthe comeback last year San Francisco versus
Detroit. That doesn't happen without playsexplosive plays by Brendan Ayuk. Yeah.
Well, and he was very vocalabout why he thought they lost the Super

(17:11):
Bowl. He took to Instagram,as guys are one to do, and
basically blame the fact that he didn'thave enough targets. Do you agree that?
No? Okay, but just outof curiosity, are you okay with
a player doing that? Far beit from me to say if he's right
or wrong, because he was absolutelyright. Anybody that watched the game knows

(17:32):
that he's right. Did you havea problem with how he handled it or
do you think it's just like getyours man, build your brand. I'm
okay with that because guess what,he was right. Yeah, when we
come back, we're going to talkabout how wrong those all star uniforms were
with gring Miners. Contract says forthe rest of the locker room plus you
guys just thoughts as well. Fivesix six nine yearls. The text line
in this Nebroccos country to night right. You're on ka Wa, I'm busiting

(17:56):
on bri and I'm better than you. Welcome to a Broncos country tonight.
Benjamin Albrighten, Nick Ferguson, GrantSmith here with you. Mario Vatanzi's the
other voice you hear somehow. Ibelieve that, maybe underneath Maria's T shirt,
somebody else's I believe it. I'mthere, I believe it. If
you earn it, maybe you'll seefive six, six nine year olds.

(18:18):
The text line, I've got severalpeople challenging me to games of college's college
football now, so i'll uh,I'll make sure we were cash in on
that. In this text line,I'm telling you guys, like I am
the world. It will frustrate itwill it will anger you. And here's
the thing. Even if someone wereto beat you, it's still gonna suck
like. It's not gonna be afun gay victory. The final score will

(18:40):
be in your favor, but I'llhave burned all the bridges and boats behind
me so you'll be able to celebrateit. The you guys see the All
Star Game uniforms. I cannot tellyou the last time that I committed any
amount of my free time on here. Last night, I saw I saw
the jerseys. We talked about itbefore, Ben, they need to just
wear their jerseys last night where yourjerseys had like an All Star hat and

(19:03):
you know, yeah exactly, andyou wear you wear the All Star jerseys
for the home run derby, theother little events that they do whatever.
I just don't like it. Imean, you know what it is they're
trying to They're trying to sling jerseys. It's fine fanatics. You know,
we know all about that whole debaclewith the new uniforms. They're god awful.
They look like knockoffs from China.Like you see these jerseys looks yeah,

(19:26):
yeah, you look like how theseyou see how these jerseys look.
The name looks like laughably bad.The material is bad, and it's like,
well, that's what you get fortrusting fanatics. I thought the blue
uniforms looked all right. I justfelt like that the the salmon and peach
uniforms were too much. What wascolor is it? Because it can't be

(19:47):
salmon. It was like salmon onthe sleeves and then like peach in the
on the core. Whatever. WhenI think it should have been white,
because the National League Force were likeblack with the blue you know, the
blue trim or whatever, and Ilike that. And then they had a
little like the tertiary color was likethe the salmon, and I was like,
okay, this works, but itwas too much. I felt like
I was watching like remember that colorRush game a couple of years ago where

(20:07):
somebody was all green and somebody wasall orange, and it was like the
color blind people couldn't even like tellwho was. There was a Broncos game
a few years ago where a homegame they wore orange and the Browns were
in brown. No, this wasorange and green, and I'm trying to
remember who was very different. Itwas Kansas City. It was Jets bills,

(20:30):
and it was red and green becauseit was around the color were all
red, Jets were all green,and the color blind people couldn't tell who.
I didn't really dislike them as muchas you did, because if you
go back to elementary school for asecond and you think about the color will
right the colors that were like thetope like brown and I couldn't tell,

(20:55):
you know, I don't know ifit was the television not, whether it
was orange or salmon. These colorsactually meshed well together. But I'll go
back to what Mario said. Ithink it's better. And Jack Corgan said
himself that the players where there aresome version of their home uniform, you
still a few fanatics, you stillcan push uniforms, but just for the

(21:17):
All Star Game, it's kind ofa different creative uniform, but still representing
your city. Yeah. I mean, that's that's what they used to do
when the Rockies hosted the All StarGame in ninety six. I'm pretty sure
they wore their like the All Starjerseys for the home run derby and then
they wore their own jerseys for thegame. That's the kind of All Star
game that I want to watch.But I really don't care because you know,

(21:38):
just interested in baseball right now.That was where my next question was,
what you know, until this teamis sold, you're not getting an
ounce of my attention and you're notgetting a dime of my money just because
the Rockies are not a great team. You just kind of just tuned out
how success. That's that's it makessense. I love baseball. I grew

(21:59):
up playing baseball. I coached baseballben and I covered baseball when we used
to do a show together. It'slike I used to be all and played
fantasy all that I have. Imean, you go to baseball alone,
yes, I know. So whyare you choosing not to watch baseball because
the home team is not playing well? Yeah, it's it's difficult for me
to be invested in in a sportwhere the team that I love not only

(22:21):
that they're not bad, but it'sterrible management. It's terrible ownership and there's
no real direction that I can seewhere they're trending in the right way,
So you would only root for thehome team and not for other players who
played for other teams around the league. I've never really been like that.
I mean I was that. Iwas that way with Ken Griffith Junior.
That's why I wear my hat backwardsstill. And that was like maybe the

(22:41):
one athlete and Michael Jordan, youknow, very typical of a night,
which is exactly this microphone's getting prettydisgusting and honest. But aside from that
man, it's like, no,I like to root for teams. I
like to root for the home teams. I always have, Like I grew
up going to Rockies games with mydad ever since they became a team,
Like we went to games at theold Mile High Stadium, we saw the

(23:03):
home run derby that they hosted innineteen ninety six. It's like, I
felt like I was a baseball puristand it's just difficult for me. It's
like, yeah, I would loveto watch show. Hey Tommy, Okay,
he's worth the price of admission,But I'm not going to be a
Dodgers fan or an Angels fan whenhe was there just because he's there.
I'm just not that kind of asports fan. I'm definitely not the kind
of guy that's going to be aLakers fan because Lebron goes there. All

(23:27):
these people who are like Lakers fansbecause of Lebron, You're exactly what's wrong
with sports fans? Well, Imean, because you and I were talking
about this was yesterday, it wasa couple days ago, anyway, you
know, and we talk about becausewe root for our friends that are you
know. I mean, I don'troot for a team anymore because we cover.
I mean, I root for theBroncos to win because it's more fun
with the Broncos win. But Idon't root for a team anymore. Really,

(23:48):
so much as I root for friendsor acquaintances to do well. You
know, no get you like youknow the players that I've worked on.
The guys are not here anymore.I will root for individuals and I want
them to do well and i wantthem to thrive and to eat. I'm
not necessarily going to root for thatteam just because they're on it now if
it's a playoff situation. Like ShaqBarrett was a really good friend of mine.

(24:11):
We got really close, and sowhen he was in the super Bowl,
obviously I'm gonna root for the Bucksbecause they were playing the Chiefs.
But then it was tenfold because Iwanted Shack Beartt to get another ring.
So I think there are stipulations,there are levels to this, but I'm
not gonna go buy Buccaneers gear.I'm not gonna go buy you another team's
gear and vehemently root for them.I'm gonna root for a team like that

(24:32):
I like over the other. I'mgonna root for any team that plays the
Chiefs, especially in the playoffs.Doesn't mean I'm a fan of that team.
It's temporary fans to take it wouldtell me this with that being said,
and we just had the MLB AllStar which have the professional leagues in
European. Now you gotta go backto when you watch baseball. Yeah,
that you would say had the bestall Star game. It's probably got I

(24:56):
mean right now, it's got tobe baseball. Back when the when the
Pro Bowl was an actual football game, there was a lot of money,
and they joked that it became flagfootball, and now it's literally flag football.
So that's a joke. The NBAAll Star Game, and this is
the thing. All of the AllStar games back in the day were so
far superior to what they are now, aside for baseball, because baseball stayed

(25:19):
the same. The NBA All StarGame is a complete and utter joke,
just like how the Pro Bowl is. But back in the day, when
you have Sean Taylor blowing up punterson the sideline, that give me that
Pro Bowl that's in Hawaii, that'sthe Pro Bowl. I love. So
back then, Pro Bowl was probablymy favorite, like all star game because

(25:41):
they've actually played. Now it's probablyBaseball because it's the only one that's still
true to form that feels like anactual game. The NBA All Star Game
is not a real game. It'sjust an exhibition, and obviously the Pro
Bowl is not real football. Theythat's crazy, see just canceled. I

(26:03):
don't mind the NBA All Star Game. I mean it's there's no defense being
played at all, I mean atall in that thing. But it's it's
fun because you get to see guyssetting up other guys. Front man,
it's the last time I feel likethe last time that the NBA All Star
Game was compelling was when Kobe Bryantwas there, and it's like he wanted
to win, yeah, and hemissed off everybody else and I was here

(26:26):
for that. I was definitely here. And now there's no Kobe Bryant to
all the people. This is whyI say, well, when you look
at basketball, like who's leading basketball? Why we say that Lebron James is
now not over though, yeah over, But once again I go back to
Kobe. Kobe was that dog andno matter what it was like. I

(26:47):
don't know if you guys see Ithink it's on Netflix. I encourage you
to watch it. When they hadd Wade and they were interviewing all these
guys, team he read through Iwant that do. It was like the
Danny Rojas versus uh yeah, Vandam or whatever. Yeah, when he
was playing for his country and hewasn't friends with that, he was and

(27:10):
then and then the tournament was over, he came back and he's Danny Rojas
again. Yeah. Absolutely, that'sthat's the kind of player that we need.
Do we have a guy like thatin the NBA. We got a
guy like that on traffic that's TarrenGope. Let's here it. Oh yeah,
professional wrestling. That's what I'm doingthe sit of the All Star Game.
Welcome back to it, Broncos Countrytonight. Benjamin al Bright, Nick
Ferguson, Grant Smith here with you. We've seen some rumors out there about

(27:32):
Russell Westbrook to the Denver Nuggets thatthat seems to be gathering steam as we
go forward. What are your thoughtson Russell Westbrook and how he fits and
what he brings to the table forthis team. I love the whole idea
of it, because for me,I go back to the Minnesota Gang and
Jamal was really frustrated trying to runthe point. And for me, if

(27:56):
you bring Russell Lynn, you gottawho can play up tempo basketball. And
I get it. Most will lookat his age and say, well,
you know his best days are behindhim. But if you're a coach Malone,
what are you asking him to do? You want him to push the
pace and with Russell playing the one, you push Jamal to the two.

(28:18):
It creates so much space for everyoneelse on the floor. If you think
about Michael Porter Jr. I mean, who's a set shooter. He just
wants to hang out. He's notcutting and diving to the basket. He
just wants to hang out. Youknow what, guess what penetrate dish kickout.
But this will work well for coachMalone because they give him a multitude
of options. So I'm rooting forit. I hope it happens. I

(28:38):
think the only disagreement to be hadis what is his role going to be?
Like you're saying that you want himto run point move Jamal to tude.
Maybe that works. It depends onwhat they want to do in terms
of pushing the ball. Like youhad said, Ben during the break,
jokicch brings the ball up anyway.So do you need a true point guard?
Yes, yes you do. Okay, having facilitators is a bad thing,

(29:02):
even if is to it. Here'sthe point, though, it's a
no brainer that you would want RussellWestbrook on this team because in essence,
he is replacing Reggie Jackson, andhe is a better basketball player than Reggie
Jackson, regardless of what you're tryingto do. The biggest thing that this
team lacked was their second unit couldn'tscore if their starters were off the floor.
There was not that one guy consistentlythat could put the ball in the

(29:25):
hoop. And answer Russell Westbrook whereyou think he needs to be a starter.
I think he needs to be asix man. It depends on how
they would want to use him,but bottom line is it's still an upgrade.
I would want him on the secondunit because then you have a guy
that can actually take it to therack and create shots and score. And
like you had said, bender thebreak rebound. They don't have a guard
that can rebound, and that's abig thing for me, is just getting

(29:47):
somebody who can who can rebound aswell, because that is that is when
you're taking a big man of puttinghimout on the perimeter as much as you
do with Yokichi, do take sizeout from unt of the hoop, and
it does You know, Gordon's beencleaning a lot of stuff up, but
there's there's been knights where and tohis credit, Porter has started contributing that
in the past year. But therehave been nights where the Nuggets sorely needed
rebounds. I couldn't get them forsecond chance opportunities. But it's the pace

(30:07):
Coach Malone is always talking about histeam, you know, in key game,
just take in some of them beingreally relaxed, especially coming out of
halftime. You have someone who canpush the pace. But the biggest thing
is it changes the culture. Itmakes the Nuggets tougher, and that's something
that they have been lacking now.They some of the players talk a good

(30:32):
game, but they are not aboutthat life. And that's where Bruce Brown
was about that life. KCP wasabout that life. They got bullied against
Minnesota. It's the bottom line,pillar to post. They got pushed around
because that was a team that wasbuilt specifically to beat them. It was
a team that was built to slowdown to Kola Jokic, which is what
they did for the most part,and bully them into submission. The Nuggets

(30:55):
didn't have that tough guy. Yeah, KCP a little bit, but Yo
kicch isn't necessarily that tough guy.Like he's a very tough player, but
he's not a you know, upthe tempo, getting your face, raw
rock kind of guy. Like hehe shows by doing right, like he
leads by doing You bring in RussellWestbrook, who's kind of got that nasty
streak in a nasty little attitude.You change the complexion of your team a

(31:15):
little bit in a good way.I think he's he does bring a little
bit of edge to you as well. But I mean he hasn't been a
starter since the twenty twenty two season. Twenty twenty one to twenty two season,
he's been a six man since then. Can he move back into the
starting lineup? Is at thirty sixyears old? Yes, of course.
It's like riding a bike. Youdon't forget how to be a baller,
especially in this offense where coach Maloneis not going to ask him to do

(31:41):
too much. Well, we arewe asking NFL players to do too much.
Joe Burrow had some thoughts on that. We'll get to that we come
back Broncos Country Night. Kae