Best of Chuck & Buck 12-10

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Just so fascinating, reckless at breakfast today at seven forty five,
and so much more coming your way. There are a
few people out there on a rampage social media wise.
Media wise, I don't want to name any names. Cam Cleveland,
but our guy Cam may be the guy that's most on.
He's challenging everybody out there to the notion that Bowl
games are are done. And so I disagree with Cam.

(00:25):
I love Cam, but I do believe that the Bowl
games are on their last leg. I think we and
I predicted that this was going to come someday. So
I'm a little biased toward this conversation. But for all
of those that seemed to be all upset that Notre
Dame has declined, maybe it was out of sour grapes
and that's a bit childish, But Iowa States said no,

(00:47):
and Kansas State said no, and Baylor has said no.
There's just there's just just more at stake now. There's
just more awareness of what's happening with these ball games
than there has been in the past, and there just
doesn't seem to be interest in it. Coaches are leaving
before they ever play in it. Players who have NFL

(01:08):
futures are opting out of them. I mean, even the
tired conversation about how it means so much to the boys, Well, really,
I mean, how many guys stayed together for four years
of college football in today's world? So we're gonna keep
bowl games so that somebody who transferred three times in

(01:30):
the last five years chasing nil money can play one
more game with the guy he's bunked with for six months.
I just don't even buy that. I think even that
argument has gone by the wayside. So I get that
Cam Cleland is still holding to it, but I think
it's because Cam Cleland loved that about his own personal experience.

(01:52):
I just don't think that's the experience anymore of college athletics.
And I'm not gonna stand on ceremony any longer. I
think they're on their last leg, their last breath, and
I wouldn't be surprised within the last five years that
we didn't even have bowl games period. Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
I mean, I don't think I fully agree with Cam,
but I don't fully agree with you. I think that
it's most certainly there's different circumstances and situations for all
these different guys, right I mean playing and simple. It
was hard when Christian McCaffrey's like, I don't want to
play in the bowl game.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Because I'm like, what like?

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Because it was different, different, and yet it was all
It was different, and yet it was it's a smart decision.
You blow your knee out in a bowl game and
then it affects the rest of your career.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Jalen Smith, Yes, and so you I get that.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
So for that, okay, I understand if you're in that box,
you're going on to the next level and it's a
meaningless bowl game.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Now.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
I mean if guys start when they start bowing out
of playoff games, national championship games because they're worried about
the future, well, then to some degree, it's like, well,
at what point did you feel that it was solidified
with at game six of your senior season or your
junior season and you're like, mah, I'm done for the
right here.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
I read mel Kuiper. He had me already in the
first round.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
I'm good because that to me is you're getting into
something where this selfishness takes over.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
That's gonna be used against them. Yeah, in their football careers.
There's no NFL GM that's not going to bring up.
You backed out of your team with a national championship
to play, we don't want you.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, And so there's different there's different scenarios for different people.
There is some and I think this is where Cam's
come from to some degree, and I think his is
there's a little bit more of the ceremony of like
no just playing and simple. These guys got these things
have to stick around because how good they are. And
I don't know if they're necessarily good. As a matter
of fact, a lot of them, most certainly are not good.
I'm not sure they've ever been good. I think some

(03:46):
of them are good. I think I think there is some.
There's some guys that flat out their last game, think
about their last game of the regular season, and they
got six wins. Right, they're not any good. Their team's
not great, but they're not atrocious. They've got the six
wins and they know they can get one in their
bowl eligible. And there's some kids that can't wait to
play in it because it is going to be their
final real football game. So but they're not going to

(04:09):
keep it around just for that. They're keeping it around
because they have people that will you know, a Pop
Tart will say, hey, we'll sponsor a Bowl and then
the teams can get money. And money is important to
these teams even more so than well, maybe not more so,
but it's more necessary now because they have to give
some of that money away to the guys that are
actually out there playing. So I don't I think the

(04:31):
idea of some of the Bowl like maybe it might
be lessened to some degree. I think that there's going
to be more teams that are gonna opt out. It's
unfortunate because I'd be willing to bet that on any
team that opts out of it, that is not unanimous
when they opt out of it, just like if there's
teams that decide know we're going to play that that's
not unanimous that there's some guys that would like rather
like I don't know, maybe I'm on the fringe. I

(04:52):
might get to go to the combine and I don't
want to get hurt. And yet I we're not that good.
I'm not that big of a prospect to just quit
on my team.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
And so let's use your Christian McCaffrey example. Because once
the example is set, than others follow right. It started
with Christian McCaffrey and everybody thought that was into the
world until the next year, ten guys did it, and
the next year forty guys did it, and it just
keeps climbing and the same thing's going to happen with this.
I mean again, Notre Dame's not the only team that

(05:20):
has opted out of this process. Four teams have opted
out of this process. Three of them not because they
felt jilted by the College Football Playoff Committee. There's more
at play, and I think that maybe there is a
way to do a bowl game, which I'll get to
in a moment, that could be the new way to
do bowl games going forward. But the old way that

(05:41):
it has been done is dead and I don't think
there's any resuscitating it. And part of that reason. Another
part of that reason is, you know, we don't have
the transfer window, the transfer portal until the first of January.
You got teams that are getting ready to play bowl games,
that have seens that have opted out, injured players that

(06:03):
aren't available. They got to put a team on the field.
They're playing freshmen who no one in the country has seen,
and you're going to expose those players who you've kept
under wraps to a bidding war potentially in the next
couple of weeks. Because your freshman wide receiver who was
a three star but you knew there were some great
things about him, caught one hundred and seventy two yards

(06:25):
worth of you know, yards against Kennesaw State and a
pooland weed Eater Bowl, and now you've lost them to
a bigger program. I mean, there is a lot more
that they're having to protect, secretive information that they're having
to protect that we never had to deal with before.

Speaker 4 (06:42):
Yeah, I do think that it is definitely the different levels,
right because I think looking at those players that it
is the ones that are moving on to a different career.
That's why it is important. And I think those are,
you know, the majority of a team. The majority of
a team is not going on to the NFL. The
majority of your team is done after college. But I

(07:02):
can also understand, yeah, the necessity of well, now we're
fielding a team. Now all of a sudden, we've got
all these other things that we're going to we have
to consider in this new world of college football, and
maybe ball games don't fit in. But I can definitely
understand where Cam is coming from and saying that they
are still important, and I think they're important to the
majority of the team, not just the big names. And

(07:24):
that's where I think he's coming from.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
But but why is it important to play one more game?
We don't do that in any other way. I think
when you go when you go to a bull game,
you don't get done with a baseball season and just say,
let's everything.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
They have a senior day in high school, your senior
basketball to.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Day, that's your last dame. Why is it that not
a last.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Well, but if you get the opportunity to play one
more after your senior day, like if you.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Are, that's why that's important. I mean, that's sweet, it's cute.
But we obviously have moved past that. We're now running
this stuff like a business. Why do we need to
protect that ceremonial? Like I said before, it's not like
I mean, once point a time, it was four guys
that are excuse me, fourteen guys that have been together
for four or five years, and let's play one more

(08:07):
game for them. How many guys together as a group
even make it to their senior sit.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
I thing has nothing to do with playing with your
the same guys. It's just playing and simple. If you
know that this is your last game possibly and then
you win it, and so then you get a possibility
at another game, that other game means something. I mean,
I luckily I got to play beyond college, But had
I thought my last game in college was my last

(08:32):
game and somebody gave me another opportunity to play, I
would have wanted to play in it.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
Now.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
If you don't for whatever reason, because you know you're
going on, I don't fault them for making a smart.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
Business choice there.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
If you don't because you think the program like we
don't want to give away secrets, or with this little
sneaky three star guy that we had, I would be
more worried about you losing a recruit that you have
because you have too many guys that are they can't
play or they're gonna move on, and so you're gonna
go out there and just lay in ay, you're gonna
look really, really bad. And then like this other three

(09:06):
star guy that you're trying to bring in is like,
I don't know if I'm gonna go play there, because
I mean, if that's how who's gone next year, and
that's the team that I'm going into that doesn't seem
like a place that I want to go.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
All right, Well, there's more. I know we all have
more to say about us. We'll continue the conversation next
Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ RFM. All right, Chuck, Bile, Buggy, Jacobson,
Ashley Ryan with you. Just picking up on the conversation,
I had said that I think the Bowl games are
not gonna recover. I think that they are dinosaurs shivering

(09:39):
in the snow. I think their days are numbered. They
might look differently. There might be a way to preserve them,
which hopefully I'll get some time to discuss here in
a little bit. But I would just ask again. Bucky
answered it. Ashley wanted to didn't get a chance to.
I mean, we don't you played baseball. They didn't preserve
the right for you to play another game, even though

(10:00):
you wanted to do it. I just I'm not gonna
stop the wheels of progress just because we're used to
football players getting the chance to play another game together.
We don't do it in any other sport or in
any other walk of life. The only reason we want
to do it for these kids is it's because we
grew up with it. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (10:19):
Well, and I do think here's part of the problem.
We've been complaining about bowl games for a couple of years, right,
they've just gone years. Yeah, they've just gotten out of
control with the amount of bowl games, and it seems like,
I mean, I don't think a team that wins seven
games should.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
Be in a bowl.

Speaker 4 (10:34):
I do think they should be reserved for having a
better season. So I do think you could limit the
amount of bowl games that you have but still give
that opportunity because it is an experience, that's what it is.
It's not it is one extra game, but you get
the extra practices, the extra time with your team, and
you get the experience of going to the city where
the bowl game is. Right, they go all out, they
have big festivities every night, and so it's not just

(10:56):
the one game.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
It's the extra week of like a a bonding time
with your team.

Speaker 4 (11:02):
And I again, I don't know that that's necessarily the
important thing for those guys that are transferring every year
and the big names that are just going for the
best opportunity in the most money. It's for the guys
that are the heart and soul of the team that
haven't left, aren't going somewhere else for more money and
are just there.

Speaker 5 (11:17):
Well.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
I just heard Brady Quinn talk about this this morning,
and granted he's he's been burned by the process, so
he's not happy with college football right now. But he
said that his senior year, they went to a bowl
game that was beneath what they thought they should have
been and they just treated it like a party. And
he said, what is why is that worth preserving? I
would ask the same thing, why is it worth preserving

(11:39):
giving a bunch of seniors who've had a lot better
college experience than I had? Or you, well, you probably
had a pretty good one at USC But why wage
so hell bent on preserving a party week for these
guys just so they can bond together. Go bond on
your own. Yeah, no, I don't. I don't see that

(11:59):
that being valuable enough to keep it going. If that's
the only reason that we're doing it, then I don't
think that's valuable enough. If the reason is because coaches
want the extra playing time, then let's create a different
type of bowl game. I've talked about this and Reckless
at Breakfast in the past. Let's talk about one that
seniors can't play in that you do do it after
the transfer portal window. Either do it after the transfer

(12:22):
portal window, and let's showcase next season's players. And I
think that the fans would be more interested in it.
I think a freshman that didn't get to play would
be excited about that. And it would be we could
replace the spring game, which seems to be an encumbrance
to the entire calendar college football calendar and the process.

(12:43):
And so we just reserved that in January, and we
have bowl games in warm cities, and we do it
for the underclassmen who are going to stick around with
the program, and we just give people a taste of
what's coming next. I think that would be far more
interesting than making sure a bunch of seniors who spent
forty four years partying get the party one more time

(13:03):
together on somebody else's dime. Uh yeah, I mean, I
just don't understand. I don't understand the I guess.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
I mean, you boycotted bowl games for a long time, right,
you just don't like them.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
I don't know exactly why. Well, it's because of the corruption.
It's like you guys are talking about there were good
bowl games. Yes, there were good quality bowl games, but
there was never any good reason why we were having them.
It was all money. It was all money grip. Yeah,
and it still is and so to me. But it
wasn't always. It wasn't ever going to the players, and
it hardly none of it was going to the players.

(13:36):
It was just and very little of it was actually
going to programs. Most of it was being pocketed by
you know, fat cats in pastel suits that wanted to
I watched it happen. John Junker went to prison for it. Yeah, well,
I think for what it's worry.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
I mean, the good old days of college football, there
still was money being handed. I just know we weren't
knowing about it, right, Like some of the players are
getting paid there. There's been ugly stuff going on in
college football forever. To me, this is just if there's
there's money that these teams get for going and playing
into some silly bowl. There is some players on the
team that want to play, and if there's others that don't,

(14:15):
they don't have to if the entire team decides not to.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
For whatever reason.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Okay, if you come up with that on your own,
you don't want to go participate in it. You don't
want the paycheck however big or small, it is fine.
I just there's I just don't understand the the I
just want them all gone, except for because they're still
gonna always call whatever these playoff games are. They're gonna
call them a bowl game because they're gonna be. That's fine,
They're gonna be. Those are the only ones sponsored by something.

(14:40):
But I just don't understand the I don't want bowl
games for you know, whoever's on Nebraska's team this year
that isn't going to play after this, Like I don't
want them to be able to play in a game.
I just don't understand the reason for not wanting them
to have an opportunity to play another game.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
Well, I got a billion of them, but we don't
have time, all right, Greg Bell's X Sports Radio ninety
three point three kJ R f M. Let's go back
in time a little bit. We've had a lot of
SEC guys on here. They've never admitted it, but we
all know that SEC was an I l before in IL.
Hey you know you know, hey, hey, what's work? Way

(15:17):
past it? Queen? Now just admitt it?

Speaker 6 (15:19):
Oh good, Hey, going, I say, coach, you know you've
been not a coaching for a while, and though how do.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
You adjust at N I l so well, so minor adjustment.
What do you mean?

Speaker 5 (15:31):
I said?

Speaker 6 (15:31):
Back then we used to walk through the back door
to cash.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
Now we just got to walk through the foot door to.

Speaker 5 (15:43):
You.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
Unmistakable lead orser on on busting with the boys? Is
that what that is? Correct?

Speaker 4 (15:47):
Taylor Lawan and uh now Will Compton all right, seven.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
O'clock hour, Chuck Buck and Ashley with you. We roll
in Reckless at Breakfast coming a little bit later on
this hour. Uh also Greg Bell and a matter of
seconds to talk about the Seahawks and the Colts coming
up this Sunday. But first let me rip through your
headlines brought to you by Frost Brewed Corps Light Choose
Chill Hump Day, Seahawks Colts Sunday I won twenty five.

(16:12):
Philip Rivers was signed to the practice squad yesterday, and yeah,
there's no plan for him to play against the Seahawks.
But if Riley Leonard cannot go, they're gonna have to
field a backup quarterback on the roster. And that means
you're one injury away from Yes, Philip Rivers playing against
the Seahawks this Sunday. We'll talk more about that with
Craig coming up here in a minute. Week fifteen of

(16:35):
the National Football League season, Thursday Night football Falcons at
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will get it started. College football,
the La Bowl will be played this Saturday. Army Navy
Week and Heisman Trophy also being announced today or see
me on Saturday as well. The Major League Baseball Winter

(16:55):
Meetings continue. Kyle Schwarber is a Philly still Edwin DIA's
former Mariner has moved from the Mets to the Dodgers,
really the only two moves that have been made at
the entire Winter meetings. There are rumblings that are a
Polanco and his agent are asking for too much money
and for too many years from the Mariners, so that
they are seriously contemplating Plan B in that area. We'll

(17:19):
talk more about that later on this hour as well.
White Sox won the MLB lottery, the new fangled MLB lottery.
They do it in a much different way these days.
It's far too complicated to explain in a short period
of time. Just know that the White Sox ended up
with the number one pick this year and the Kraken
in action trying to snap a six game losing streak

(17:39):
tonight at home against the Los Angeles Kings. Al Kiniski
will join us to discuss the drought today at nine thirty.
Those are your headlines. It's time to chat with Greg
Bell with the bell tolls.

Speaker 6 (17:51):
It must be seven o'clock and time for twelve Man
News with Greg Bell, brought to you by Copola Diamond
Collection Pseco Chris Sparkling with bright Fruit flavors to make
every toast shine Game Day Bubbles only with Cocola Diamond Forseeco.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
Now with Man News, here's Greg Bell with Chuck and Bud.

Speaker 5 (18:12):
Good morning, Greg, Good morning.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
H.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
God. I was gonna jump right into Philip Rivers talk,
but let's let's make sure we have some beat Navy
talk before we start.

Speaker 5 (18:27):
Let it move on.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
We have to set that as a fact today, Okay,
Philip Rivers.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
How many know how many of your how many of
your guys are going to be there? How many how
many of your buddies are waiting for you and uh
for this game this weekend.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
The best man in my wedding and my roommate for
two semesters is that's the main attraction for us and
our families are tight, and then we're going to see him,
and then it's usually about a dozen guys I haven't
seen a while.

Speaker 5 (18:54):
Oh yeah, so it is. It is quite a.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
Party, and it's what the great thing is. When we
see each other, it's like we've seen each other yesterday,
because we're still tight and gone through quite a bit together,
and our spouses and families always amazed about Wait a minute,
he said, you haven't seen this guy in twenty years.

Speaker 5 (19:14):
Yeah, kind of work.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
When you were all kids to get kids, at one
point in your life, did you look up to Philip
Rivers and how good a football player he was back
when you were children.

Speaker 5 (19:26):
Back when my when my mom and dad were watching.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yeah, I was a Philip Rivers, one of your dad's
favorite growing up.

Speaker 5 (19:36):
I think Philip Rivers and Terry Bradshup played against each other.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
You know, yesterday we talked about it, and at first,
Bucky and I both agreed at first, there's no way
he's gonna be ready for Sunday. But then when I
started looking into this, he's a high school football coach.

Speaker 5 (19:53):
You may have talked about this. He's a high school
football coach at Saint.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Michael and Pharaoh Alabama. He coaches his Philip coaches his
son there. His son is a four or five star
rated quarterback recruited by Auburn and others. And they run
Shane Steiken's offense. And I didn't realize that Steiken had
been his quarterback coach for as long as he had
with the Chargers six years, and in the last year

(20:18):
and a half of that, well, the last season of that,
he was the offensive coordinator and play caller for Rivers
and the Chargers, and then that was twenty nineteen. Steiken
took over full time as the offensive coordinator in twenty twenty,
but that was the year the only year that Rivers
played for the Colts, and then he retired or supposedly
so after the twenty twenty season. But the point is,

(20:40):
not only does he know Steiken's offense, he calls it
and runs it. In high school four A Alabama Class
four A, not podunk football, big time Alabama high school football,
Class four A. They went thirteen and oh this year,
and then they lost two weeks ago in the second
round of the state playoffs. And in doing so, he
has been throwing the ball around.

Speaker 5 (21:01):
JJ Watt of.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
Course, the All Pro at dresser and now a CBS
game analyst said he learned in a production meeting yesterday
that Philip Rivers has been chucking the ball around in
those practices with his son in addition to running stain
Stecken's offense.

Speaker 5 (21:19):
So Watt said, there.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
Will be no run up in learning this off it here.
He knows it, and he's been throwing the ball somewhat regularly,
and so he's not just been sitting on the couch
for the five years since he last played. Of course,
he has ten kids and a grandkid, so we're not
gonna be sitting on the couch anyway. But the point is,
I'm beginning to believe Philip Rivers, at age forty four

(21:41):
during the holidays in Alabama, is not going to get
on a plane and go to Seattle to not play,
to back up Riley Leonard or Brett Ribbon or anybody.
It's lining up to me that he's playing Sunday.

Speaker 5 (21:56):
Wow, which man is that.

Speaker 3 (21:58):
I just don't see him playing. And in the culture
and such dire straits they have to win. They've lost
four to last five to go from seven to one
to eight and five, and on the edge of the
playoff race in the AIRC They wouldn't have done this
move now if they didn't think he could play right
now now that they didn't sign me the active roster
because okay, let's see it. Let's see him in person

(22:19):
day to day, and if he's casted, it will levate
him from the practice bittle. Let's not use a roster
spot on him just yet. But guys, this may become
the most interesting NFL game of the season and in
many seasons in regular season anyway.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, it's going to be interesting, and I think it'd
be great if he somehow figures our way to suit
up just to see the theater that will ensue good luck,
because it's not an easy task going back into the NFL,
especially against Mike McDonald in this defense.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
But I would just one more on that.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
I mean, I agree, I think there's no way if
andsrobots that he still has been throwing the ball and
you know, he can probably still shot and put it
the way he does, you know, back in twenty twenty played.
I think the mental side of understanding the offense. Yep,
he's calling the offense, not necessarily playing it, but the
speed of the game right. I mean, just to me,

(23:10):
I've talked a lot of times before about you just
take the offseason off and all of a sudden, everything
is different. It takes a couple of weeks to get
acclimated to just how hard the ball is coming in
when you get back to spring training, and so speed
wise of the game. I mean, have you ever seen
anybody miss just a year and then when they come back,

(23:31):
you know, you're watching them at practice and things look rusty,
but it's like because of the speed, not necessarily because
of lack of repetitions.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Marshawn lens he signed with the Seahawks and Christmas Eve
twenty nineteen, and that's the famous.

Speaker 5 (23:49):
Press conference when I asked him why he came back
and he said, Mary New Year, he pulled an Eddie
Murphy come into America me. That's one of my favorite
moments with him.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
I I when I watched him in practices that week,
we could only watch him at the beginning of practices.
He did look like, Okay, it's gonna take him a
little bit to roll into this, and he played that week.
Now that's a running back. But to Bucky's point, but Bucky,
could you take a year off and then come back.

(24:19):
And see the difference here with the Rivers is he
took five years off and then he's coming back in
the playoff run in December with no training camp, no
run ups at all. Could you come in to September
after being off just a year and hit a major
league fastball.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
No, that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
The timing wise, I couldn't even though on my body,
if my body back in the day was still good
enough to actually swing the bat at the speed I
need to do it. No, the timing wouldn't be there.
That's the whole thing. I don't think anything mentally, and
I think enough physically. It will be fine with him
because we've seen it before. Guys that are older can
can play quarterback. But it's the timing part of it

(24:59):
that I've would be toughest to figure out.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
Well, here's what the Colts and Saint Stichen are thinking.
Is that possible gap in timing worse than having Riley
Leonard hurt right or Brett Rippon start? And I bet
they're thinking, No, I'll take a forty four year old
Hall of Fame grandpa who was one of the best
of his generation even five years removed from that over

(25:24):
those two with the season on the line, that seems
to be the calculus that they're thinking in the Colts
headquarters right now. Do we just roll with it and
see if he can catch up the speed during the game.
Let's hand it to Jonathan Taylor a few times in
the first half of the game so we can he
can get his field feet under him, throw a couple
of screens and dump offfs.

Speaker 5 (25:44):
And then get go on.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
And that seems to be what they're thinking about. I
just you don't do this with this in these situations,
with this few games and the way the Colts are
headed and how they have to win now in the
next four weeks. You don't do that now if you're
not gonna.

Speaker 5 (26:00):
Play them now. That's what I'm starting to think about.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
As preposterous as all this is, it might be their
best option now having said all this, if you're Mike
McDonald and the Seahawks, what are you thinking? And then
we're gonna ask a Quesse this is I.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
Want to see how Philip Rivers on that high school
football field simulated Mike McDonald's defense.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
Right there, weren't any of Saint Michael High school's defenses
having nick emun warream Lafe at defensive end with Tevin
Williston behind him. Yes, yes, and yes. But for the Seahawks,
I wonder is this worse Because Mike McDonald's on Monday
talked about the wild card of a rookie quarterback. They

(26:40):
don't have much tape on them, and so they don't
it's a little tough, he says. It's actually tougher at
times for these rookie quarterbacks to get a game plan
and they're just going to do what they do. It's
got to be even tougher a forty four year old
Hall of Fame or is it played in five years?
You're talking about unpredictability. Is he gonna have any kind
of mobility? Is he going to get away from any

(27:01):
pressure at all? You would think that this plays in
even more to the seahawks favor because their defense just
tees off on quarterbacks who are not mobile. If there
was ever an immobile quarterback, one who's forty four grandpa
and hasn't played in five years, it's got to be
the definition of that.

Speaker 5 (27:17):
Right.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
So, as crazy as it sounds, as Mike McDonald might
be thinking, Holy cal this couldn't work out better for me.

Speaker 5 (27:26):
Now.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
The story of stories, of course, would be for Rivers
to just light it up and throw for four hundred
yards in the rain after not playing for five years.
That would be unpressed at.

Speaker 5 (27:37):
It in the league.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
And I don't know that the Colts are going to
ask him to do that. This is still going to
be a Jonathan Taylor game. But the quarterback on third
and eight will be one of the best of his
generation to do it, even if he's forty four. It
hasn't played in five years. It's wild. But the more
I think about it, the more I think he's not
coming to Seattle to stand on the sidelines in the rain.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
Bail Junior, I need you to be Devin Witherspoon on
this play. Monty, you come in here, You're gonna be
Leonard Williams. I got to get some practice in. Honey, Honey, honey,
put down the wash. I need you to come out
here and be Ernest Jones for me. I gotta figure
out I can need some practice against the Seahawks defense.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
Well, between his wife and ten kids, he's got enough.
He's got eleven right there to have a defense.

Speaker 5 (28:19):
He's got the numbers question.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
Yeah, he doesn't have to.

Speaker 5 (28:21):
He didn't even have to go outside his house.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
He's got the numbers. There's no question about that. Greg
bellis with us, our Seahawks insider, joins us nearly every
day here on the radio program gets you updated on
the Seahawks as they get ready to face the Indianapolis Colts.
And I suppose there are other stories than Philip Rivers
heading into this game. But I'll ask again about Jalen Sundell.

(28:47):
Did we get any more information about what's going to
happen with the offensive line?

Speaker 5 (28:51):
No, we're off yesterday. Yeah, and they haven't.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
They haven't activated him officially yet, so his clock hasn't started.
I'm expecting them to do that so that some doe
can get the full week of practice starting today. Of course,
I asked on Monday, does that mean he's going to
guard center? And McCone just looked at me and said, yes,
he said, we'll see. I think it's gonna be center.
I think they're going to, for continuity's sake, keep Bradford
at right guard, and they're going to roll back to

(29:16):
how they began the season. Listen Doll at center, Bradford
at right guard, and I mentioned he said that in Atlanta.
McDonald said that McDonald or that Anthony Bradford was their
highest rated offensive lineman, better in past protection than he's
been in a while. So I know fans would go,
what are you talking about. I'm going to take the
coaches and at his word and maybe they know a

(29:38):
little bit more than we do about this, unless he's
just flat out line and trying to support his guard.
Now McDonald doesn't seem to do that. Carol would always,
to a fault protect his guys and talk well of
them and shine them up. McDonald not so much. He'll
just kind of be if the guys, we'll see type
of thing. He I get the feeling that they're going

(30:01):
to just go back to week one with soundel and
then they'll have Abo Timmy as a backup swing center
and guard. The fact remains, if they had a better
option Anthony Bradford, they would have used them already. And
I don't think that at the expensive Center. The challenge
is going to be that.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
All right, Greg, excellent stuff, Thank you very much. You
know what's the first tradition that you guys will take
part in when you meet together for the Army Navy game.
Is it just a beer, is it a toast or
is it secretive?

Speaker 3 (30:33):
We actually we don't have an actual standard every time.
We all come in at different times. So yeah, it's
I can't think of a turch. We always have a
tailgate party. We always go to the march on and
watch the Yeah that's do a clinic on drill and
watch the midshipman look like Snoopy and Woodstock. It's just
absolutely ridiculously. I don't know why they do it. It's just

(30:56):
their scars are all askew and it looks like they
just came off the street and started walking around the
stadium like ushers or something. Anyone who's been an Arbor
Davy game knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
No, actually we don't. We don't look at it with
that find of an eye. I've seen it.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
They have to be that fine of an eye.

Speaker 5 (31:16):
They just have two eyes.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
You can see that. The Navy has absolutely no precision.
It's like they never have drilled before, the undisciplined. It'd
be like a bunch of frat boys you dub try
to do drill. It's just unbelievable. Their scarves are all askew,
and their buttons are off and some of them have
been untucked. Some of them. I've seen this before. They
wear sunglasses, which is absolutely against military rigs in all

(31:42):
forms and official duty uniform wearing sunglasses. I mean, anyway,
it's like a damn country club down there in the backlash.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
A man, we'll do some roundtable tomorrow, all right, we
will thank you, all right, Greg Bell, our Seahawks set
insider gets fired up this time of the year. That's
a great rant right now. Bias at all?

Speaker 2 (32:01):
No not, I mean, I think he looks at it
very evenly from both sides. I think there's any hidden
agenda there.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
Greg Bell's the segment brought to you by Coppola Diamond Prosecco.
Every game needs an MVP, and this one sparkles people.
Copala Diamond Collection Prosecco is tight, crisp and always a win.
Grab your bubbles and toast every touchdown game day bubbles
only with Copola Diamond Prosecco. I think he's taken a
little too far. With Philip Rivers. I have a really

(32:32):
really hard time believing that he would be starting by
this Sunday, But I think he is being brought back
to play. I will say that I think he will
play at some point. I think the idea is to
eventually get him there. It seems impossible to get him
up to speed in time for Sunday against Mike McDonald's defense.
But that doesn't mean that if Ripman goes down with
an injury that he's not on the sidelines. And guess

(32:54):
who's coming into the game. I think there is a
chance that we will face him this week. It's just
hard for me to believe that it'll start coming up
next Major League Baseball Winter Meetings. Interesting little tidbit in
the last twenty four hours. Maybe your a Polanco is
asking for too much money? What then Sports Radio ninety
three point three KJRFM get rid of some of this

(33:15):
drama here in the future. There's no solving it entirely.
You're always going to have a committee. There's always going
to be subcepjectivity. You got one hundred and forty teams
that you're trying to shove into a twelve piece box
here at the end of the season, and there's always
doesn't matter how large you make, the tournament going to
be somebody who's gets their feelings hurt, and so maybe

(33:37):
maybe a couple of things. And I got to give
credit for this what Rick new Isisl said yesterday, and
one of our listeners, Nick Allen, tweeted it to me yesterday.
And I don't know if this stuff's out there already,
and I just haven't seen it. But for whatever reason,
those two comments sparked an idea in my head, and
so I'm going to run it past all of you
here this morning on Reckless at Breakfast. So what if

(34:00):
we did replace conference championship week with a play in
round of the tournament? Now we don't call it the tournament.
You know, I've said steadfastly, I want to play this
twelve team tournament out for a little while and see
what we need to do. Obviously some adjustments need to
be made. But if instead of a college football conference

(34:21):
championship game, we had a play in round, so we
had the same number of games, four games, and you
get to automatically punch your ticket, but we use it
on the teams that are all on the bubble. So,
in other words, the typical sixteen team format is one

(34:41):
versus sixteen, and two versus fifteen, and so on and
so forth. We're going to have a sixteen team field,
but only twelve technically get into the tournament, and the
top four teams still get their buys, and the next
four teams still get their home game. But we're going
to use that conference championship game to determine who's in

(35:04):
the tournament and who's out of the tournament. So now
let me explain that because it might be confusing. So
under this, the teams that would be in, we're gonna
go ahead and get the conference champions regular season, regular season.
We'll use all the tie breakers, whatever we got to do,
so that would crown Virginia as the ACC champion. They
won by a full game over everybody else. ACC champion

(35:27):
Texas Tech, they won the tiebreaker over BYU smacked them around.
Ohio State actually won the regular season over Indiana, I believe,
and then we all now know famously that Alabama won
the regular season. We would have never even had to
worry about Alabama's resume. We just given them an automatic
bid right then and there and not made them play

(35:47):
a conference championship game. So those four are automatically in.
Then we're going to use the committee to vote four
more automatically in. So these are the four at large
teams that don't have to play to get into the tournament.
And just using the College FOOTBA Playoff Committee rankings, that
would put Indiana as an automatic in, that would put

(36:09):
Georgia as an automatic in, that would put Oregon as
an automatic in, and that would put ole miss as
an automatic in. So they are the four wildcard teams
that the Committee is determined don't have to sing for
their supper. Those eight teams are in. So now our
play in week and again using the College Football Playoff
Committee's pairings and rankings, will have a best of five

(36:32):
championship games. So this guarantees a best of five team
and our twelve, but it also make guarantees that we
don't have to have two of them in that don't
deserve it. So we will have Tulane play James Madison.
They play each other, and the winner gets in the
tournament and the loser is out, and then we take

(36:55):
Then we're going to rank them all over again. The
other three games that will be played Texas, A and
m As. The one we'll take on Miami because we're
not gonna have conference teams play each other in this round.
And this way the SEC is satisfied this is their
chance to get seven teams in the tournament. We can

(37:17):
also prove that maybe the SEC isn't as good as
what they think they are. So we're gonna make sure
if we can avoid it. We're not gonna make conference
opponents face each other in the play in week. So
based off of their pairings, that would be number one
Texas A and m versus number five Miami, Number two
Oklahoma versus number four BYU and number three Notre Dame

(37:38):
versus number six Texas and let Vanderbilt and Utah complain
because they didn't get in. Okay, okay, So we play
those four games as play in games to the tournament.
They aren't even considered tournament teams. We're using that week
conference championship week. We've gotten rid of the conference championship games.
It's too confusing, it's too muddled, and we play four

(37:59):
play games to determine who gets to the next round
where the five through eight teams ranked are waiting at
home to play in round number one of our tournament.
So Tulane James Madison winner faces Oregon the five seed

(38:20):
in Eugene, Texas A, Texas A and m and Miami
winner plays eight Virginia at Virginia two Oklahoma BYU they
will play at Alabama the final week. Our seventh ranked team,
you don't get top four seed just because you won
your conference three Notre Dame six Texas, they'll take on
our six seed all miss and then those two teams,

(38:41):
those eight teams play four games the following week to
determine who advances to the next round, where the top
four ranked teams in America are waiting Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia,
and Texas Tech. So it's a sixteen team field, but
we really only acknowledge twelve teams make the tournament, and
the same four that got the bye get their same

(39:04):
advantage that they had before, and the next four still
get that home field advantage in their first game, and
then we can allow four more teams to not get
ranked by the committee, but to actually compete for the
last four spots in our twelve team tournament field. What
do we think of that?

Speaker 2 (39:22):
I like it, and I don't mean to oversimplify it
because you just explained that very well.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
That's a bait. To me.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
It feels like a sixteen team tournament where the top
eight get buys. The top four get two buys right
where you get Yeah, so it's.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
Basically the same thing. I like it, I like and that.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Yet, if that's a way where it still feels like
it's a twelve team tournament, to me, it's you just
give an opportunity to some people that it feels like
there's people, not just the fan basis. Just when I'm
looking at I don't care about USC or Utah, I
don't care about Vanderbilt one bit, but they do people
cheering for them are like, come on, I mean way,

(39:59):
maybe not as much as the big hooplaw about Notre
Dame because of that whole thing and how they kind
of got screwed by the committee, but it takes it
a little bit out of the politicized thing. Sure, there's
still gonna be some of the issues at the end
of the season. Somebody's gonna be on the outside of
the bubble. They didn't even get to planned to play anything.
But yes, to some degree with the little wrinkle in
there of James Madison Tulane. Unless you've went thirteen and

(40:22):
oh or twelve and oh and you've found yourself ranked
in the top ten, somewhere where you're automatically in one
of the if you're like they are this year, where
you're twentieth and twenty fifth or whatever. All right, we're
gonna give you guys a chance to play each other,
and whoever wins, we're gonna thrust you into that play
in tournament part of the whole thing. But yeah, I
like the idea of expanding it somewhat, but at a

(40:45):
controlled pace where it's not just you know, trying to
make it some march madness, but for football, that's absurd.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
I like the idea of having those games replace the
conference championships. It seems to be much more productive, not.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
Nearly as confusing. Right, how do I value.

Speaker 4 (40:59):
Now getting in and losing? Yeah, you'd take you eliminate that.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Well, it's like how Hugh says, too, like the idea
of the whole season you play to where you hopefully
get a buye, and the conference championship week it's like, no, hey, Oregon,
you sit back and oh miss sit back. You guys
don't have to play in this thing. Well, these other
teams do, and they may or may not get punished
for it.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah. Yeah, have two different selection shows, you know, the
one that announces those that have made the play in
and the eight that don't have to play, uh and
are already going to be in the tournament. And then
once you play the games, you get have a second
selection show and then you reveal the matchups and how
you did rank the eight teams that were already in,

(41:41):
and that reveals who got the two buys. Maybe that's
the way to go with all of this it uh,
you know, And look, I'm not angry about what's happened.
I mean, we have a tournament now, and we knew
that there were gonna be some trial and err involved
in this, some experimentation that was going to take place.
I'm just happy we have a tournament. But every year
we should try to figure out ways to tweak it

(42:03):
and make it better, make it cleaner, and try to
take as much subjectivity out of it as we possibly can.
And maybe this is a better option than what we
have right now. Yeah, I think it is. I think
it's definitely better than what we have right now.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
And yet I'm with you, we're way better that we're
right now where we are than just three years ago,
and three years ago was better than where we were
for the hundred years before that direction.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
All right, coming up next. In case you were wondering,
we asked Rick new Isel point blank yesterday if he
is going to be the next head coach of the
Washington State Cougars. If you didn't hear it, will replace
some of it, and we will actually have time this
morning to react to his commentary. It's Chuck and Buck
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. Yeah, sounds so weird,
sounds helpful on the Hall of Fame ballot, five years

(42:52):
removed from the National Football League, and yet so desperate
are they that they have signed him this week. Philip
Rivers has signed with the Indianapolis Colts on their practice squad.
Greg Bell has given this twenty four hours of thought,
and earlier this morning told us that he's feeling like
they're going to start Philip Rivers. I don't think it's

(43:12):
going to happen, but I do believe, especially if Riley
Leonard can't go because of injury. I mean, he's gonna
have to be activated. He's gonna have to be your backup.
I mean, so Brett Rippin gets off the practice squad,
he starts in the game, but now you're one injury away.
From Philip Rivers playing, so I think there's a chance
that he plays on Sunday, which is miraculous enough. But

(43:35):
it's hard for me to believe that he goes from
five years coaching high school football, no matter what good
of shape that he's in, getting activated or getting signed
on a Tuesday, getting to the practice field on a Wednesday,
and he's ready to face Mike McDonald's defense as a
starter on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (43:53):
No chance, right, I mean, I don't think I think
it's no chance of him being successful in it. I
don't think there's no chance. I mean I think the
wane of Okay pros and cons our starter just went
out while we're in the middle of a downward spiral
as a team Torres Achilles. So he ringing Riley Leonard.
They probably feel okay about that, right, He's a young kid, Okay,

(44:18):
well see what he can do, and it wasn't all
that bad. But then he hurts his knee. If he's
healthy enough to go, that's who's going. If he's not.
I don't think it's far fetched to think that it's
that you go with Philip Rivers over Brett Rippon.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
I because I think I get it.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
I mean, it's because it's five years out, but it's
they they did a workout and they like the fact
that he can make the throws. He's obviously not incapable
of making the throws. I was reading an article talking about,
you know something that Greg ended up bringing up, but
I had read it yesterday about how familiar he is
with it. And it's not just because he runs it

(44:57):
in his high school. It's because he spent six years
with Shane Stikeen with the Chargers and one with the
one with the Colts, and so to me, it's he
understands what it is that they're supposed to do. That
to me is more he I'll bet you, even though
he hasn't been in an NFL locker room in five years,
he understands how this is supposed to be run better

(45:19):
than your your scout team quarterback does. Yeah, it's just
they also said he doesn't think They don't think he's
in shape for football, like the plane shape that you
have to be. Okay, so you can throw against air,
but how can you run around? And do you want
to put him at risk of doing it? That's where
it starts to weigh in. But to me, I mean,
I'm actually leaning more towards If Riley Leonard isn't ready

(45:43):
to go, I think your second string, your next guy
is probably Philiberts.

Speaker 4 (45:47):
Well, they adjusted their practice schedule too. They now they're
practicing Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. They usually don't, apparently.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
So it seems to me that the Seahawks have faced
a lot of backupquarterbacks this year. But Bucky and I
have talked off the air, it seems like it happens
a lot, not just this year, but year after year. Well,
I looked it up. I actually did a little bit
of digging on this, and it's not nearly as dramatic

(46:15):
as you would think, or that you and I thought.
I think this stems from that twenty nineteen season where
Mason Rudolph, Teddy Bridgewater, Matt Schaub for Matt Ryan, Kyle
Allen we faced for the Carolina Panthers. In twenty nine.
It was just a list of them, and I think
maybe that has tainted our thoughts because it hasn't been

(46:35):
that dramatic. I'll just go back the last three years.
Twenty twenty four, the only two Skyler Thompson in week
number three and oh by the way Ashley thinks we
lose to backup quarterbacks all the time. We don't. That's
also a little bit of a misnomer. Yeah, we did.

Speaker 4 (46:50):
It did feel like we were for a while.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
Yeah. Well, we won against Skyler Thompson. Boy he was terrible. Yeah,
he was really better. And then we won against Jimmy
Garoppolo and he didn't start because of injury, started because
he played the last game of the year because they
were saving Stafford for the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (47:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
And so we only faced two backup quarterbacks last year
and won them both. Twenty twenty three, only two PJ.
Walker in Week eight for the Cleveland Browns and Josh
Dobbs in Week seven for the Arizona Cardinals, won them both.

Speaker 4 (47:21):
Well, the year we played Cole McCoy, that's the one
I'm thinking.

Speaker 1 (47:23):
I think it was like twenty I think it was
like nineteen seventy four. And then in twenty twenty two,
just two again, Mike White of the New York Jets
and John Wolford of the Los Angeles Rams, and won
them both. So certainly I've had a pretty good record
in recent years against backup quarterbacks, but we haven't faced
nearly as many as what you and I thought that

(47:46):
they were facing until this year. There have been eighteen
NFL quarterbacks that have started all thirteen games this year.

Speaker 5 (47:56):
There have been.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
Twenty that have started twelve or more, and there have
been twenty two that have started ten or more. So
that leaves just ten situations in which we would have
even been exposed, you know, mathematically, to having face day
backup quarterback. Now consider the Ford guy. Four teams that
have benched their quarterbacks, so they don't count in this,

(48:19):
you know, injury luck situation that we're describing. The New
York Giants, the New Orleans Saints, the Cleveland Browns, the
New York Jets, they just changed their quarterbacks. They didn't
have anything we'ld do with Russell having an injury, or
Justin Fields got called out by his owner that he
can't complete a pass. So those have just been some benching.

(48:40):
So now that just leaves one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven seven situations. And I say seven because there's one
that takes the math a little bit over. But seven
injury situations out there that NFL teams have experienced. The
Arizona Cardinals, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Atlanta Falcons, the Washington Commanders,

(49:05):
the Minnesota Vikings, the San Francisco forty nine Ers, and
now the seventh and now the math comes out, Daniel Jones.
The Seahawks have faced five of those teams this year.
Five of those quarterbacks backup quarterbacks this year, so there
have been seven injured quarterback situations more than just a

(49:28):
week or two in the National Football League, and the
Seahawks have managed to face five of those teams while
their quarterback was out. The Cardinals, the Falcons, the Vikings.
Now Jade Daniels did start and we were dominating them.
We probably shouldn't count that one because we were dominating
them even with Jaden Daniels, and then he got injured

(49:50):
during the game. But now the Indianapolis Colt, So let's
throw Jade Daniels out. But we faced four of the
teams that have had injury situations this year in the
National Football we've got to face their backup quarterback. So
even though historically it's not as dramatic as what you
and I thought in our heads, this year it certainly

(50:10):
has been dramatic how often the Seahawks have locked out,
if you want to call it that, and gotten to
face the backup quarterback as opposed to the starter, and
it's huge. I mean if you think about all of
a sudden, we want all of them.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
Yeah yeah, if you think, I mean, it is what
it is, right, I mean there's other teams that end
up getting you know, it's not as important as the quarterback.
I understand that. But if you think losing your your
your lockdown corner the week before you have to go
against you know, a high, high flying offense, it has

(50:43):
a great you know receiver out there that can cost
you a week. And yet to me, I mean obviously
quarterback being the most important position is crazy.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
And we did lose our lockdown corner for a couple
of weeks.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
Yeah yeah, and you'd likely had you know enough the backup,
next man up type thing. Quarterbacks bigger drop off typically. Sure,
I think that that's we've talked about it for a
couple of years. When injuries happen. Of boy, how important
should people you know have as their backup guy? I
mean the fact that having you know, a Jimmy Garoppolo
is your backup versus having a Riley Leonard might be

(51:17):
a benefit to to some of these teams that choose
to go the younger route. So, but I think the
idea of when one of the big tie breakers obviously
you got your division record and your head to head record,
but it's not very far down that list of who
you played, like your record against some common opponents.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
And if you get to play a.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
Team that your you know, your division foe had to
play when they were fully healthy at the quarterback position,
you get to go against Max Brosner, that's a that's
a big advantage. And now they took advantage of it
and they won whatever twenty six to zero. So I
don't know for sure if JJ McCarthy would have made
a hill of beans worth a difference. But there's there's
some times that some teams beat San Francisco when it

(51:59):
was rock Party out there.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
We did face brock Party. Yep. Yeah, that's the one
you did have to Yeah, we did have to do that.
And we didn't want to face Cincinnati without Joe Burrow
but everybody else, Yeah, we got to face them, yeah,
and we want them all. So I mean, look, I
think the Seahawks are very good. I don't think the
ten and three record is because they faced a slew
of backup quarterbacks. But if you were wondering, yeah, you know,

(52:26):
if you win this week against the Indianapolis Colts, and
I'm taking jayd and Daniels out of this equation because
we were already dominating them. That's eleven wins, and four
of them against backup quarterbacks. Twenty five percent of your
wins this year have been against backup quarterbacks. And well,
actually more than that, over forty percent of your wins
have been against backup quarterbacks so far this season. And

(52:49):
even though I didn't do the math to the extent
to find out how much everybody else in the National
Football League has faced backup quarterbacks, but my guess is
that did give us a little bit of a advantage
this year.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
Well just look at the I mean, JJ McCarthy don't
think is the world beater necessarily, but the jury is
still out on how great he is. You get his
backup and they come in here, you beat him twenty
six to zero. He comes back to the game last
week and they beat the Commanders. Now they're not good team,
thirty one to zero. Right there, they shored zero against you,
and most credit goes to the Seattle defense. The next

(53:23):
week they go against a lesser team, but they get
the quarterback back and they win thirty one to zero.
I mean it's just that is the the night and
day difference between that team. Even though I understand the
difference between Seattle's defense and Washington Commander's defense, it still
is to not be able to score versus score thirty
one the next week, different different ballgame when you get

(53:44):
your starter out there.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
We across some breaks for sure. Not going to apologize.
Don't feel bad now we're ten and three. Yeah, we
take on all coms. You can only win whoever. You
can only beat whoever is out on the field in
front of you. Yeah, you can't have control over that.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
That ain't discounted that ten and three is a legit
ten and three, But still facts are facts.

Speaker 1 (54:03):
Seahawks take on all comers, that's right. It's not our
fault that the starting quarterbacks are scared of us. Yeah,
bring it, take it all right. Coming up next is
one famous donor to nil. Done with the process and

(54:23):
will others follow? We'll discuss the next Sports Radio ninety
three point three kJ R F M kill Ashley and
I have been discussing for a while, at what point
are all of these people that are so excited about
giving money to eighteen year olds who may or may

(54:43):
not stay at their school forever going to get tired
of doing it. Well, guess what. One guy has reached
the boiling point after one attempt at giving money to
a player to come to his alma mater and it
not working out. Troy Aikman is.

Speaker 7 (55:00):
I think there's got to be some leadership at the
very top that kind of cleans all of this up,
and starting with players that accept money, there's got to
be some accountability and responsibility on their behalf to have
to stick with a program. I gave money to a kid.
I won't mention who I've done it one time. UCLA

(55:22):
never met the young man. He was their year. He
left after the year. I wrote a sizable check and
he went to another school. I didn't even get so
much as a thank you note, you know. So it's
one of those deals to where I'm done with nil.
I mean, I want to see UCLA be successful, but
I'm done with them.

Speaker 1 (55:40):
And I think any reasonable person is going to draw
this conclusion when there are no guarantees that their investment
will stick around or even be grateful for the money
that they gave them. The problem I see is that
there's so much silly money in the world right now
that the next college football powers are just going to

(56:01):
be the people who have a lums that have so
much money. I mean, Troy Aikman's got a lot of money,
but I would imagine a million dollar check to Troy
Aigman's like, oh boy, I wish I had that back.
There are some people that have so much money. What's
a million dollars to me?

Speaker 5 (56:15):
Right?

Speaker 1 (56:15):
And if they take hold, I mean right now, Lane
Kiffin's trying to get to LSU and Kaitlin de Moore
had to get to Alabama. Are we sure in this
new era that those are going to be the powers
of the future? Because Texas Tech and Indiana turned things
around in one season, one off season of transfer portal recruiting, right,

(56:39):
And so are we sure that the powers that people
are trying to get to are going to be the powers?
Because I have a feeling that unless things radically change,
the powers are going to be the people who have
alums who have the silliest amounts of money. Yeah, and
you're right.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
And a former NFL quarterback back in the day, I
mean he wouldn't making anything like what they make nowadays.
But a guy back in the day doesn't compete with
like an oil money guy, an oil money or a
Bezos a town slash state full of oil money guys, right,
I mean imagine, I mean Alabama can't compete with Texas Tech.
They can't compete with Lubbock, Texas in terms of you

(57:17):
know how many billionaires that they have in the state.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
Imagine getting a group of the billionaires together like.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
Lead boys being they they know what they're playing with, right,
and they they can put together.

Speaker 1 (57:31):
Yetmu is smu the future power is San Jose State.
I mean, that's the home of the most multi millionaires
in America.

Speaker 4 (57:40):
Even that people though with the bajillions of dollars, didn't
get there because they spent their money, you know, stupidly,
right they So I think if they're not seeing a
return on their investment and those players still continue to leave,
they're going to eventually be like, well, this is what's
this doing for me?

Speaker 1 (57:55):
I think so. But those Texas Tech oil people have
seen an immediate return on their investment. They're now in
the college football Playoff. They got one of the top
four teams by BYU right now has one of the
top football teams and basketball teams in the country. And
there's a reason for it. Church wants to win. Church

(58:19):
wants to win bad. Those Mormons are competitive, and they are.
They went out and got the number one high school
recruit in America to come to BYU, and that kid's
not Mormon.

Speaker 2 (58:32):
Right, and just jumped into the whole frame too. Utah
just hired some crazy like a financial firm to take
over everything that is back, everything that is marketable in
the in the whole thing. I mean, so the entire
thing is going to be run by a firm now.

Speaker 1 (58:51):
Yeah, and I know crazy. They've introduced some restrictions on
what you can spend and so we'll see if that
takes hold in the future years and maybe it does
balance things out, and maybe it doesn't turn into the
world that I'm describing for you. But certainly, any right
minded thinking person, and I give Troy Aikman credit for

(59:12):
being one of those, is writing a check for half
a million dollars whatever the case may be, and watches
the kid leave and go join another program one year later,
and he got one win out of him, Yeah, two
wins out of him. Nobody's going to continue that habit.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
Well.

Speaker 4 (59:28):
And first they tried to get the fans to take
care of it, all right.

Speaker 1 (59:31):
And I don't want that to happen any well.

Speaker 4 (59:33):
And it didn't work. So then they did this and this.
I just don't see it. None of its sustainable.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
Don't take your kid's lunch money and put it toward
one college player, please, Yeah, you know, gamble it like
normal people do that either. He was kidding, all right.
Coming up next, it's Humpday, and normally we spend Humpday
sizing up the Seahawks next opponent. But the only topic,

(59:57):
it seems, is Philip Rivers. So we're gonna next segment
about the Colts and not about Philip Rivers. Sports Radio
ninety three point three kJ r F M. All right,

(01:00:20):
chuck out, Bucking Jacobson, Ashley Ryan with you on this
hum day, joining us now on the program to talk
some hockey, that all ice hockey. It is our friend
al Kiniski, color analyst for yours Seattle Cracking, struggling, Seattle
cracking right now. Six straight losses, Al what gives yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:00:39):
Bit of a rough patch lately for the kracking and
they're trying to dig their way out of it, but
the schedule is not offering them any easy games as
of late, and tonight they've got the LA Kings in town,
and you know you're gonna see two teams that play
a very similar game. It's almost like playing yourself in
the mirror. That LA plays a very defensive, structured game
two point four eight goals against average excuse me, goals

(01:01:03):
four average, but under three goals against. So I expect
it to be a low scoring game if the Cracking
can stay out of the penalty box. If they can't,
it could go sideways with you.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
I hear you on the idea of how they look
similar and yet they're right now kind of heading in
two different directions at least if I mean they're not
on some six game winning streak, like a six game
losing streak, but they've started to score the last couple
of games that they've had out there, And so what
is it going to take. Is it just staying out
of the box, or what is it going to take

(01:01:34):
to kind of give us the boost offensively to keep
up If they do end up putting you know, two
or three goals in the net, well.

Speaker 8 (01:01:41):
I think it's gonna be a couple of things, and
it sounds pretty straightforward, But the crackn have to find
some success on their power play. They've got to stay
on the box on their own and not give LA
any power play opportunities, or at least limit them like
they did last game, and then obviously kill them off.
But if they can get one on their power play,
limit the power plays for LA, and then play a

(01:02:03):
better version of that defensive structure, then they'll win the
game if they If they don't, and if they go
into penalty box too many times, I think LA will
hurt them on their power play and it will just
become a who can score more goals And I don't
think the crack and want to get into that game.

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
I don't know how similar the psychology of hockey versus baseball,
but a baseball player can be as a slump. They
can convince themselves they're not going to get out of
a slump, and then all of a sudden they get
a blue pit and they're next at bat, They're off
and running. So does that happen in hockey? Like you
get a power play goal, it was your only goal
against the Wild, but at least you got one finally,

(01:02:41):
first time in a long time. Can that just psychologically
unlock things or is there something wrong with our power play?

Speaker 3 (01:02:50):
Well?

Speaker 8 (01:02:51):
I think Chuck's psychologically maybe, But I also think momentum
is a powerful, powerful thing in sports that you know,
you get on a bit of a winning that's momentum.
You get on a personal goalscoring streak, that's momentum. I
think last game the krack and go in perfect on
their penalty kill, even though their penalty kills at the
bottom of the league right now, that could be momentum.

(01:03:11):
Come into tonight and I think they've made some adjustments
in that particular area that the penalty kill that they'll
continue to use today and tonight and tonight's game and
try and have the same outcome. Obviously, Stan out of
the box works as well, but my expectations are gonna
have to kill off a couple of penalties and if
they use the same structure they did last game, I
think that can generate momentum. So I think it's psychological,

(01:03:34):
but I think it's also momentum that can drive a
team forward into winning streaks.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
You know, when Lane Lambert was hired, we joked around
because he's got the you know, the widow's peak, like
he's got the hair of Dracula, so to speak.

Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
Right, Yeah, I don't have hair. I most certainly don't
have a widow's peak.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
I wish, but he just seems like a dude that
has that kind of I can get kind of gruff
with my team if needed.

Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
Have you heard anything?

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
Have you been standing outside the locker room and heard
him lay into him a little bit about going out
there and you know, being tougher and stopping this skid.

Speaker 5 (01:04:11):
I have not heard.

Speaker 8 (01:04:12):
Any garbage cans thrown around the red I have not
heard it. I have not heard anything break. But I
will tell you one thing about Lane Lambert is he's consistent.
He's going to be intense on the ice, He's going
to be intense when he talks with you. He's going
to be intense in the locker room. And I think
he expects that intensity to transfer over to your game.
And intensity usually means prepping properly, playing every shift properly,

(01:04:36):
you know, taking accountability when you do something wrong. And
I think he pushes that hard. And yeah, he barks
in practice, you know, I see him bark a lot
more than I see him laugh. But I also think
that he's a professional and that's what he's pushing his
guys to be is intense hockey players. And you know,
it's certainly shown up with the best start in franchise history.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
I really did say something though afterwards. Was it time
for that? Was it long overdue? Was he premature with
it as the role of captain to Jordan Aberley picked
the right time to kind of throw it out there
that we got to be better?

Speaker 8 (01:05:15):
No, I think he actually absolutely picked the right time.
Players hate it when you when you go on these
sumps like this, especially after a great start, and I
think it was absolutely the right time to, you know,
call out not a player, but call out his team
included himself, to say we need more. We need more
from everybody, and look at your own game individually. What

(01:05:35):
could I do better? What could I do more of?
How could I prepare better? How can I push harder?

Speaker 5 (01:05:40):
You know?

Speaker 8 (01:05:40):
How can I defend better? And I think that that's
what a captain does, is it's a message to the
entire team of we need more. And I look forward
to seeing how that message transfers into tonight's game.

Speaker 2 (01:05:53):
Yeah, obviously need to score more, and they probably just
need to try getting some more pucks on net.

Speaker 1 (01:05:59):
I mean, there's time and more, let's try to win more.

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
Well, okay, so let's score more and then hopefully that
turns into win more. But in order to do both
those things, they need to shoot more. Is there anyone
in particular that you're watching that you think is just
being too passive when there's opportunities in the offensive end.

Speaker 8 (01:06:17):
I think it's different in every game.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
Buck.

Speaker 8 (01:06:19):
I think that you know, from our comfy, warm, two
hundred foot spot above the rink, it's easy to see
that for us. I don't know if the players always
see it. I love a seam pass. The cracking have
been burned on seam passes in a few of these losses.
There's a time and a place for that. You often
see them the power play. But I think that when

(01:06:41):
you've got the puck anywhere in the slot area from
the top of the circles, in your very first, second,
and third thought should be shooting the puck because although
you might not score, Let's let's be honest, most of
the time you don't the NHL. You might not score,
you're creating a scored opportunity, not just for yourself, but
for the guys that are going to the net. Those
guys that are going to net have their sticks out.

(01:07:03):
They're looking for a deflection, they're looking for a rebound,
they're looking for a tapping. And if you put the
puck on net and a goalie gives up a bad rebound,
then it does turn into a scoring opptato or a goal.

Speaker 5 (01:07:14):
So I want to.

Speaker 8 (01:07:15):
See guys thinking shot all the time, and I think
that they've been emphasizing that a lot more over the
last few games. Listen, So the last six have been losses,
but the last couple have been one goal losses. The
cracking have been in these games. I think it's just
tweaking a couple of things to get them over the
top here tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:07:34):
All right, Well, tell us about the King's pretty good
team that we're facing. You've already alluded to that. Give
me something specific about what the Kraken got to take
away from them this evening.

Speaker 8 (01:07:44):
Well, they're a team that's, you know, like I said,
they don't give up a.

Speaker 5 (01:07:48):
Lot of goals.

Speaker 8 (01:07:49):
They've got great goaltending in Darcy Kemper, Anton Forsbergers are
backed up.

Speaker 5 (01:07:53):
He's great as well. Hasn't played quite as much about a.

Speaker 8 (01:07:56):
Third of the games. But they're a team that's not
gonna get you a lot of scoring opportunities. So see above,
you got to shoot the puck. I think that you
know they're they're a team that has a great power
play it's in the eighty percent mark. So if you
give them too many power play opportunities, they're going to
hurt you.

Speaker 5 (01:08:13):
So it's a.

Speaker 8 (01:08:13):
Pretty simple game plan. If I'm drying it up, stay
out of the box, put put everything on that, and
play your defensive structure that you've been playing so well
for the first twenty eight games.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
Need to win out. I don't know have you and
ever tried to shake it up a little bit, you know,
do your hair differently or a mustache so must yeah,
maybe you know, wear fancy shoes. I don't know, have
you tried anything to try to get it going.

Speaker 8 (01:08:36):
I mean, we tried to put our headsets on backwards,
but engineer Terry Ryan didn't like that. So you know,
we're we we'd wear each other's shoes, but we both
wear a size fifteen. That's not going to work either.
We'll come up with something for tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
Engineers don't care about winning, do they? I don't care
about Yeah for the sound, Skinny, now he's not. Just
tell him you don't worry about it, Skinny Terry of
all the sports though he might care about winning, though
it might be hockey. Knowing Terry, you might with it. Yeah,
all right, Well get us a win tonight. Al you
got it boys?

Speaker 5 (01:09:09):
All right?

Speaker 1 (01:09:10):
Alconiski our color analyst for our hockey coverage right here
on the flagship sports Radio ninety three point three kh
A r f M, and our weekly conversation would the
wonderful the genteel al Kiniski is brought to you by
Queen Anne Beer Hall, home of a legendary smash Burger
and your pre post and away game headquarters. So yeah,

(01:09:31):
if you're heading to the Kings game tonight against the Kraken,
head on over to Queen Anne Beryl. Why wouldn't you
want to do those two things together? Beer and hockey?

Speaker 3 (01:09:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:09:40):
Please, and a giant pretzel for that smash burger up in.

Speaker 4 (01:09:45):
Yeah, smash fists, a smash burger and a pretzel, and
then get a straw for your beer.

Speaker 1 (01:09:51):
You have to pick it up. Never have never drank
beer with a straw. It's never too late to start, Chuck,
I would like to do it tonight. Last thing It's next.
Sports Radio ninety three point three k j A r
f M