January 21, 2025 • 53 mins
In the third hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain continue to react to Ichiro making the Hall of Fame, then listen in as Ichiro takes the podium at T-Mobile Park to speak to the media about the honor before having Fun with Audio and a Jon Wilner conversation.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, obviously the big news of the day is
the hero induction or excuse me, not induction.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
What's the word. I'm looking election election.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Thank you very much, got the problem, chaos man, Today's
chaos has been awesome. I love shows like this big
thanks to Ryan Franklin, Jeff Nelson, Mike Cameron, Dan Wilson
joining us on the radio show, Bucky Jacobson. I bet
the place is going to be packed with X teammates
down there in the T Mobile Park media room. Mechiro,
by the way, is in town. He is here for
(00:28):
the press conference. Felix, for those wondering, got twenty point
six percent of the votes, and you know what, he's
probably in town two because if he made the Hall
of Fame, they had to have him ready as well,
so I wouldn't be shocked if the Kings hang.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Well.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
I was encouraged by the twenty percent. I saw twenty
point six you said for Felix, because I mean Edgar
five years in was at twenty five. Wow, Felix is
twenty right now at year one. So if we can
have the same type of social media push that they
had for Edgar down the stretch, now it's gonna take
Felix a while. I don't think you need to push
(01:00):
it for the first three or four years, but as
we get closer to year number ten, we got to
move towards Felix.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
But like you said, I mean.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
The Mariners have no shortage of Hall of Famers, which
again kind of pisses us off to a way because
we don't have a World Series ring with all these
Hall of famers.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Edgar Martinez was at twenty five percent in his fifth year,
but he was at thirty six percent in his fourth year.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
He actually went backwards.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
He went from thirty six to thirty three, to thirty
six to thirty six to twenty five, back up to
twenty seven, forty three, fifty eight, seventy and then boom,
the final ballot he gets eighty five percent. Hey, look,
the Mariners are not good at a lot of things,
There's no question about it.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
One thing they are very good at.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Is promoting people like this for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Promoting things period.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
They've done an unfelievable job behind Edgar Martinez and Griffy
and Ichiro Suzuki, Randy Johnson, all these guys whatever. So
I still believe Dick that without social media and the
Marrior influence on social media, there's a chance Edgar Martinez
never makes the Hall of Time.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
I don't even think there's a chance. I think Edgar
Martinez does not make the Hall of Fame without all,
without the Mariner's push, because just look at the last
two years.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
What was number year eighty or ten.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
For Edgar forty three to seventy and then eighty five
I'm sorry, forty three, fifty eight, seventy eighty five.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
The last two years is when we saw the push
huge the last two years, and he went up by
twenty plus percent each of those two years.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, well, I mean you're asking this off there. I mean,
I think it's appropriate, it's fair to ask it. You know,
you don't want to rain on people's parade, obviously. And
by the way, how about this, dude, I haven't paid
for this in a long time. Why do you swing
your chair over here a little bit and come look
at what I'm looking at right now. This is the
Edgar Martinez Baseball Reference dot Com page I'm looking at
right here. Okay, who do you think sponsors that page?
(02:51):
Look at that right there? What does that say? Right there.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
You sponsored.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Nothing paid for that thing of years when he went
to the Hall of Fame or was going into the hall.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
We decided a sponsor of the damn page and that's
still on there for crying out loud.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So that's a good investment out there. How about that?
Well it's free now, so it's an incredible investment.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
But I just think that for a guy like Eachiro,
obviously he never really had a real personal connection with
the city of Seattle.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Just answer me this.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
How many off the top of your head can you
name commercials, endorsements did he do when he was here.
I can't name one, only the Mariner commercials, and I
loved every one of them.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Then he did because we never.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Saw him the old Copasino spots, which are obviously now gone.
But outside of that, and maybe there's one and I
can't remember it, but you don't remember him doing anything
like that. Autograph appearances, commercials, TV spots, whatever.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
But I also believe this.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
I think if the Mariners had won games when he
was here and he had a chance to be in
the postseason, the.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Entire thing would have felt a lot different. You want
to get a break here, is that right?
Speaker 5 (03:57):
He shows running a little late, so we get a
break and get to the press conference right after.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
We'll do that each shro. Suzuki's in the Hall of Fame.
We're gonna hear from him, and I'm sure a few
other folks as well. Next on ninety three three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Now back to Suftie and Dick on your home for
the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl fifty nine. Sports Radio
ninety three point three KJRFL Touchdown.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
We're gonna head down to a T mobile park in
a matter of minutes here If not seconds, seconds become minutes,
minutes become hours, hours become days, weeks, months, who knows.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Could be forever. We could be sitting here until we're
eighty years old. I'm going home. Wait six o'clock. Our
care if he shows up or not.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Well, he's on his way to the press conference, running
fashionably late. Five sixteen was supposed to be at five o'clock,
but hey man, we get it. He's a Hall of
Famer now things are a lot different for him. If
you've never been to the Hall of Fame, I would
definitely recommend going. I don't know if i'd recommend going
during an induction weekend because it's total chaos. The one
really cool thing about Cooperstown during induction weekend, just main
(05:00):
drag is just full of Hall of famers, Like every
other shop has a Hall of famer that they would
bring back and pay them to sign autographs. And even
if you're not walking in to buy an autograph, baseball
or photo or whatever, just being around these people and saying,
oh my god, look at that guy, look at this,
and then a ton of guys that aren't even Hall
of famers like Pete Rose would always be there just
(05:21):
because he's Pete Rose and wanted to market himself right right,
Well not anymore, he's not because he passed away, but he.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Would be there all the time.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
But the the each he Ro phenomenon, and we saw
it up close and personal in Seattle when he was here.
I mean, imagine Dick there being an American athlete and
maybe even somebody like locally that you were assigned to
cover who was playing overseas like soccer or swimming, and
and your job was to literally move to wherever that
(05:51):
guy was. Because you remember, when the Otani thing came out,
there was rumors he would go to Toronto when John
Paul Morosi had that tweet that he was on his
way to Toronto, which turned out to be bogus, and
all the Japanese reporters that lived in LA were thinking,
Oh my god, we're gonna have to move to Canada
to cover this guy in Toronto.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yet he stays in LA. So they all stayed in
LA with him.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
But that phenomenon of the amount of media that covered
each yiroll back in the day, and I have no
idea how many people cover Otani.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I assume it's a buttload.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
But the amount of people that will be at that
induction ceremony, if it's anywhere near the amount of folks
that covered him, is going to be wild.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
It will be.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
And I'm trying to think of any American example of that,
an American athlete that goes overseas and gets Maybe it's
just a Japanese culture thing versus an American culture thing,
because I think can't think of any American athlete that
went overseas and got like international coverage because of someplace else.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, maybe like Lindsay Vaughan. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I'm thinking because let's face it, and I don't mean
to sound arrogant here, and I'm sure there's I mean,
outside of soccer or the pinnacle of most sports, at
least team sports is in this country, right, I mean,
NBA basketball they're coming here, Baseball they're coming here, obviously,
hockey they're coming here to play in the NHL. But
it's gonna be wild. I think it's great. There's two
other guys going in with him, and Billy Wagner and
(07:09):
c C. Sabathia. But it is a big deal for
Mariner fans, it's a big deal for the franchise. It's
a big deal that could have been even bigger. And
I think what you said last segment is exactly right
that the Mariners have had no problem in the last
fifteen to twenty years churning out Hall of famers.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
They just can't translate. They the wins well, which is
frustrating us out. And that's the only other strike against Ichiro, right.
The one strike was under his control, which was how
much he engaged with the fans in the media, which
was almost zero, so we didn't really know him. And
then the second strike was the fact that which wasn't
(07:46):
Echiro's fault because he was the best player on the
team for many of these years they went to one playoff.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Let's end down the Temobile Park.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
The new President of Business Operations, Kevin Martinez addressing the
crowd introducing brand new Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki.
Speaker 7 (08:02):
Eachio speaking on behalf of the entire Mariners organization and
our fans. Congratulations. Your historic election today is another example
of your excellence, another extraordinary accomplishment among a long list
throughout your illustrious and groundbreaking career. From the moment you
(08:24):
arrived in Seattle, you demonstrated your incredible passion, respect, and
love of the game of baseball. Every time you stepped
on the field. You energized fans in the Northwest, in Japan,
and around the world with both your skill and your
style of play. You were an inspiration to everyone, and
(08:47):
you did it all while staying true to yourself, showcasing
your wonderful personality both in the clubhouse and on the field.
It was simply a joy to watch you play, and
you can continue to make an impact on the next
generation of players as one of the game's greatest ambassadors.
Each Hei row on behalf of everyone in our organization.
(09:11):
Chairman and managing partner, John Stanton, our partnership group, and
our fans. It's truly my honor and privilege to announce
that the Mariners are retiring your number fifty one Jersey.
After your induction in Cooperstown this summer, we'll hold a
ceremony here at T Mobile Park on August ninth and
(09:32):
officially retire your number fifty one next to Hall of
Famers Ken Griffy Junior, Edgar Martinez, and Jackie Robinson for
permanent display in center field at our great ballpark. Each
row again, congratulations and I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yep, and tuning into ninety three three KJRFM. Each Ro
Suzuki has made the Hall of Fame press conference happening
live right now at T Mobile Park. We'll keep listening
(10:12):
right here on ninety three to three KJRFM, Seattle.
Speaker 8 (10:25):
Thank you Kevin, and thank you you tro Congratulations. At
this time we'll start taking questions. Please wait to be
handed a wireless microphone. There are runners on each side
of the room that will hand a mic. When you
get the microphone. Please identify yourself both for Etro in
for our fans watching and listening at home. Again, we'll
begin with questions in English, and then take that short break.
(10:46):
A final note before we start taking questions. Tonight, at
six pm, the Space Needle will be lit up in
blue and celebration of ETRO.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
We will provide photos.
Speaker 8 (10:55):
And video via normal media channels of that honor from
the Space Needle.
Speaker 6 (10:59):
And with that, at first question, Chris.
Speaker 9 (11:06):
Christy and King five A dro congratulations.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Uh, you've had a little time to think about this.
Speaker 10 (11:11):
Can you just talk about what this day means to
you that it has finally come.
Speaker 11 (11:32):
To Stashi.
Speaker 9 (11:36):
Need what circle?
Speaker 12 (11:38):
Excuse me?
Speaker 11 (11:39):
So you go there, I'll get you an.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 9 (11:58):
My Eco send this much.
Speaker 13 (12:21):
You know, it started in two thousand and one and
you know now it's twenty twenty five. But at that
time in two thousand and one, there's probably not one
person on this earth that thought that this day would come.
And obviously a lot of many things have happened. There
were there are many not just good, but there are
some bad too.
Speaker 9 (12:42):
But to be able to.
Speaker 13 (12:45):
You know, through all the the things that have happened,
to be able to be here means quite a bit
of a lot and just a very honor and special
day for me to hear today.
Speaker 14 (13:01):
Niko, then Shannon Nico to Mari and common, who's here
in Seattle? I Trio. You gave an entire generation of
Mariner fans something to cheer for, something to believe in,
rally behind, And now what does that mean to you
that you're giving them another Hall of Famer from this franchise.
Speaker 9 (13:33):
Seattle fans, Maniel.
Speaker 11 (13:50):
Miamie Kay the Creator, c On the Skettle and Kaima also.
Speaker 9 (14:14):
Top weeks more Top five on the Highly Good I
know Hi so no.
Speaker 6 (14:25):
Ma so no.
Speaker 9 (14:27):
They did Creta so no mo.
Speaker 11 (14:31):
That Sherka Jive Goku nam No.
Speaker 9 (14:57):
Two thousand one.
Speaker 13 (14:58):
My journey here began and twenty twelve it ended, and
I went to New York and then to Miami. But
then in twenty eighteen, I was able to come back.
Obviously grateful for the organization that brought me back. But
I remember that opening day twenty eighteen, how warm and
welcoming the fans were, and that moment will definitely be
(15:23):
the top five moment in my career where the Seattle
fans really accepted me again, and it just meant so
much to be to have felt them, And you know,
as I've gone through my career.
Speaker 9 (15:41):
I guess.
Speaker 13 (15:43):
Met with lots of people, and obviously I interacted with
many people, but I felt like those people's kindness and
their feelings really helped me perform and also be the
person that I am. And so that that interaction of
(16:03):
that twenty eighteen with the fans, it means a whole lot,
and so obviously that the feelings that I have towards
the Seattle fans is very special.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
All Right, you're listening live to each Hero Suzuki's press
conference choosing to address the media in Japanese at T
Mobile Park is translator there as well. The Mariners announcing
his number fifty one will be retired at a press
conference excuse me, a ceremony at T Mobile Park on
the ninth of August. Let's go back to the press conference.
Eachiro Suzuki in the Hall of Fame today it's happening.
Speaker 9 (16:36):
And also, what was the first thought that went through
your mind?
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Then?
Speaker 9 (16:39):
Well killed?
Speaker 15 (16:40):
You know?
Speaker 9 (16:43):
So they decided yea. So it was all set up.
Speaker 13 (17:29):
It was set up, and we were supposed to there
was a time frame and two fifteen could have been
the first, you know, time that that it could have happened.
And so we were set up like it was going
to happen, and so we were ready at two fifteen,
and that called didn't come for about fifteen minutes, and
(17:50):
so I started to think, maybe it's not going to come.
And so there's that nerves and that those worries that came.
And once it came, it was more of a relief
because that it did come. So I think the happy,
happiness and all the joy will probably come later. At
(18:11):
that time, it was just a relief. It Troo Adam
Jude Seattle Times.
Speaker 15 (18:17):
Looking back, what were some of the major challenges for
you in two thousand and one being the first Japanese
position player to play in major in the majors? And
now how how meaningful is it for you to be
the first player from Japan to be elected into the
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 13 (18:40):
Fame Man.
Speaker 11 (18:47):
And he's saying name yesterday, but on inswers to get the.
Speaker 9 (18:57):
No tim it is hen Boka.
Speaker 6 (19:03):
So do you.
Speaker 9 (19:12):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
You do you?
Speaker 10 (19:17):
Man?
Speaker 11 (19:18):
Saw you your health the putas the Masnogo my son
named Mayoyaku ma marik America, Oh American you so you
(19:38):
can kuga arimashta.
Speaker 9 (19:42):
The master skettle intest the.
Speaker 11 (19:56):
Boman skettle Genos.
Speaker 13 (20:35):
Two thousand and one, there were as the first Japanese
position player coming over. I had just finished seven years
of being the leading hitter in that league. Coming over,
(20:56):
there was definitely I felt like there was gonna be
judgment on.
Speaker 9 (21:02):
Especially the.
Speaker 13 (21:04):
The hitters that hit for our high average. I felt
like there was going to be judgment on Japanese baseball.
And so there's definitely that that pressure and that I
knew that how I performed was going to be really
looked at, as you know, this is Japanese baseball. And
then after three years of playing in in in the
(21:29):
major leagues, I felt like I was able to show
people here that this is what I can do. And
and that's kind of when I felt like that I
belonged in that I think that people saw what what
I was capable of. And then the two thousand you know,
(21:50):
now with this Hall of Fame, you know, right now,
I really don't know what it's going to do or
how this is going to impact anybody or any thing.
I'm not sure, but probably I'll look back at this,
you know, years down the road and say, oh, you know,
this was great, or this was this or so at
(22:12):
this moment, It's tough to say what what it means
to me now, but I'll know later what what this
is and what this means to me.
Speaker 16 (22:25):
I Trio, Curtis Crabtree, Fox thirteen. Looking back on your career,
what is it that you view was your your biggest
on field accomplishment? Is it breaking George Sissler's record? Is
it playing until you're forty five? Is it you know,
any number of game winning moments you had?
Speaker 17 (22:39):
What?
Speaker 5 (22:39):
What?
Speaker 9 (22:40):
What kind of stands out to you?
Speaker 16 (22:41):
Is the highlight of your career?
Speaker 9 (22:43):
You don't you know? I'm not sorry of Sushiba. I
don't need this skid at the moment? What's can you do?
(23:07):
Monod night? Ji? Can do? You? Who need.
Speaker 10 (23:12):
Your name?
Speaker 9 (23:13):
No go gots you can?
Speaker 11 (23:22):
They needs nag and massanga. To me, it's nat ju
go macuts.
Speaker 9 (23:38):
Rang sho can go star.
Speaker 11 (23:42):
So you know what conn night?
Speaker 9 (23:49):
The moments, so more moms to society, up the.
Speaker 10 (24:11):
To ananganga anod gang.
Speaker 9 (24:38):
Society.
Speaker 13 (24:42):
There are records and many numbers that that that I
have that are obviously special, But one that comes to
mind is in twenty eighteen. In May of twenty eighteen,
I was no longer an active major League Baseball player.
(25:08):
Until twenty nineteen spring training, I was not on the roster,
and so all I could do was come to the
field in practice. I came to the field practice with
the team, and that was an everyday thing. And that's
an experience that not many guys get to experience, but.
Speaker 9 (25:32):
I did that.
Speaker 13 (25:32):
I came to the ballpark every day, and twenty nineteen,
because I was able to prepare myself and come to
ballpark every day in twenty eighteen and prepare myself to
play in twenty nineteen, I was given the opportunity to
do that. And in twenty nineteen, I hadn't told anybody
(25:58):
that I was going to be retiring. So when the
game finished and everything, you know, all the media stuff
was finished, the fans were still there, and so I
went out, and obviously the fans were there and that
experience that I had there. So those two the twenty
(26:22):
eighteen and twenty nineteen, those things will be something that
I cherish and something that will help me throughout my
life and something that I can look back on and
feel with joy and cherish those moments. But those experiences
that twenty eighteen, not being able to play in the
(26:42):
games but still practice and be here. That's going to
be the what comes to mind when you ask that question?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
All right?
Speaker 1 (26:49):
That is the voice of each Euro's translator, Alan Turner,
each Ro Suzuki. In case you haven't heard your tuning
in right now, maybe you have a job. You can't
listen to talk radio all day long, which shame on you.
By voted into the Hall of Fame today, elected to
the Hall of Fame ninety nine point seven percent of
the vote, second highest vote total ever falls one short vote.
(27:10):
Shy of being the second unanimous Hall of Famer of
all time each year choosing to address the crowd in Japanese.
You know, if I were down there and maybe somebody
will ask this, I would love someone to ask him,
why do you continue to not be comfortable speaking English?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I mean there's a reason for it, you know. Is
it a cultural thing? Are you nervous about that? I'll
be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I was disappointed to hear that he did not do
the press conference in English when he had that phenomenal
speech when he went Dick into the Mariner Hall of Fame,
which was so cool to have that connection with him.
I don't know if somebody from the club asked him
to do it, maybe he said no, maybe they never
asked him about it. But I'll be honest with you
on a daylight today, when you know, basically, let's face it, man,
(27:53):
you got four Mariner Hall of famers, right, Like I mean,
if you want to count Beltray, that's fine. You want
to count Gooseguysage, that's fine. You want to count Ricky Henderson,
that's fine. Beltrey was here for a little bit long Harry, right,
but the big four are Randy, Edgar Junior and now
Echiro Suzuki. I think it's a huge day for the franchise.
I would have loved to have heard Eachiro address the
(28:13):
media and the fans in English, well.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Especially from what we heard two and a half years ago, right,
which was awesome, which was fantastic. I think it was
maybe Eachiro's greatest moment as a Mariner. It was something
that he did in front of a microphone in sort
of with a baseball bat in his hand.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
And he could have added to that today, and he
chose not to. At the very least, maybe give a
two minute.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
Written whatever anything speak right and then take if you're
not comfortable asking imprompt or answering impromptu questions in English.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah cool, but do what you did a couple of
years ago at least.
Speaker 12 (28:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Well, I mean, look, I mean there's been a lot
of folks that have talked about maybe the connection with
him isn't what it could have been, and that's one
of the reasons why. But hey, today we honor the
player that's a great player. Ichiro Suzuki is in the
Hall of Fame. Will be inducted later this summer along
with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner. We'll get a break.
John Wilner is going to join us at six o'clock today.
(29:08):
Talk some college football coming out of the Ohio State
Notre Dame game last night. A little Fun with Audio,
by the way, little football version of Fun with Audio
and more next on ninety three to three kJ RFF.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
It's now time for Safty and Dick's Fun with Audio.
Jimmy g paun Star, Jimmy mister Garoppolo. Now let's have
some fun with audio.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
All right, we'll switch to some college football. Johnny Wilner
going to join us. Reaction to Ohio State Notre Dame
yesterday coming up at six pm. Curtesia simply Seattle dot com.
The Etro Hall of Fame t shirt, by the way,
available now. It's simply seattle dot com. Be sure and
use code kjir fifteen for fifteen percent off anything anytime
at simply seattle dot com.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Here he is lo, here we go. Excuse me? In
three two one, little fun with audio. Hey, Dick, did
you happen to hear that?
Speaker 6 (29:55):
What's that?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
What's that?
Speaker 6 (29:56):
Dick?
Speaker 1 (29:57):
UCLA basketball beating Iowa by twenty one points on Friday
after the win. Keep in mind win head coach Mick
Cronin popping off to reporters about accountability and taking road trips.
Speaker 13 (30:12):
Mick, what would you think about the rebounding, especially after
you know what you said yesterday and talked.
Speaker 12 (30:17):
A lot about it and got to coach it better?
And I'm frustrated with myself.
Speaker 18 (30:22):
So anybody thinks that I'm not accountable doesn't know me,
or is just a clickbait person. Okay, Nobody is harder
on themselves in coaching than me.
Speaker 12 (30:35):
Nobody. I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't taste food.
It's irrelevant what I eat. I can't I can't just
I can't just I'm I'm literally ready to jump off
a bridge, Okay, blaming myself. So we got a coach
rebounding better.
Speaker 19 (30:50):
So much has been made about you guys going east.
You just came back from prolonged East Coast rap. I'm wondering,
have you seen anything from the teams that have to
come out here and stay out here? Is there any
kind of balance with that in terms of the wear
and tear and just what you've seen on.
Speaker 6 (31:03):
The tearing them?
Speaker 12 (31:04):
Yeah, is that a joke? Please tell me that?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Is it even comparable?
Speaker 12 (31:10):
We have to go back four times, Paulhu.
Speaker 18 (31:13):
The Big ten teams get to come to Los Angeles
where it's seventy degrees one time a year.
Speaker 12 (31:18):
They don't even have to switch hotels. Are you kidding me?
Please tell me you're kidding me?
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Do you?
Speaker 12 (31:24):
I mean, is this a plant?
Speaker 9 (31:25):
Is this a planet?
Speaker 12 (31:26):
Question? I mean, you cannot be serious with that. We've
seen the Eiffel Tower, or we've seen the Statue of
Liberty twice in the last three weeks. You can't possibly
just stop. I'm going to eat. Yeah, got comedians.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
In the Eifefel Tower.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
We've seen nataj Maahall seventeen times that hell is he
talking about?
Speaker 19 (31:46):
Man?
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Well, first of all, I think he sounds like a
whiny SLB. That's number one and number two. I'm glad
that Danny Sprinkle's not doing that, and I hope he
doesn't do that, because you know what we signed up
for this, man, right, We've signed up for this and
the big figure it out. Stop making freaking excuses and
throwing a fit because I think it makes everybody look stupid.
Mick Cronin needs to zip his lip about all this.
(32:10):
You wanted this, You're in the Big ten. You're making
a buttload of money partially because you're in the Big ten.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
I mean, he just sounds he sounds whiny.
Speaker 6 (32:19):
I hate it.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I hate when coaches bitch about stuff like this when
they can't control.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
It drives me crazy. If this was a one off,
you know, I wouldn't it wouldn't bother as much.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Remember, he went after his kids two weeks ago, right,
he went after his players, and so now this is
two press conference when he has been going off right,
Yeah right, I mean, hey, Mick Cronan, I think is
the best defensive coach in college basketball, but he sounds
like a miserable human.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Being well, he sounds like, honestly, to me, he looks
like a dude that's got a major short man complex.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
I don't know what his deal is, but he comes
a curse. He sound like he's having any fun in
any element of his life. He's got a Napoleon complex
going on.
Speaker 18 (33:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
It's why is it the short guys that are always
so fricking cranky?
Speaker 6 (33:04):
Man?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
I mean, he is a good god Mick Holy Moley.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yeah, well, anyway, I don't I don't hear Altman complaining
about that. I don't hear Muscleman complaining about it. I
certainly haven't heard Danny complain about it. This guy is
gonna be the one to carry the wine flag for
the rest of the Pac twelve schools, and now we
have to travel. We saw the Eiffel Tower, we saw
the Pyramids, we saw.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
The taj Mahal.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
Shut up, dude, And if you're gonna be that tight, right,
that's why you lose in the NC tournament. If you're
gonna a be that tight and B have a team
that doesn't rally around you because you lay him out publicly,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
UCLA is gonna bomb in the tournament. Just like they
usually do. Uh, hey, Dick, did you happen to hear that?
What's I do?
Speaker 6 (33:46):
Hey Dick?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Did you happen to hear that? What's that?
Speaker 3 (33:49):
Dick?
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Here was the final call? All right?
Speaker 17 (33:52):
Now?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I want to get some thoughts on this. This is
not gonna be what you think it is.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
This is the final call of last night's National Championship
by Iowa State Football radio voices Paul Keels and Jim
lasche On ninety seven point won the fan in Columbus, Ohio.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Seven seconds left, Notre Dame trying to hustle the line
of scrimmage. Four seconds left, three seconds, Leonard gets the
Irish on the ball. Leonard gets the snap back to
throw Riley. Leonard rolls to his right. At his twenty
Leonard sales at middlefield, where it's caught by great House.
He's tackled at the forty, tackled by Hancock. In Ohio
State National champions beating Notre Dame tonight thirty four to
(34:30):
twenty three, the ninth national championship in Ohio state history.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Did he just win the Sun Bowl or the National
champions So that's his style, right, Like we've played plenty
eclipse from him through the Larfield stuff whatever.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
That's the way he does it.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
But I mean, if there's ever a time good or
to venture out of your bubble and your own skin
a little bit, isn't it when your team wins a championship.
I mean compare that to like Castra Cone calling the
Sugar Bowl or the Oregon game voice or any game.
I mean I texted Tony and I told him if
you ever saw like that, I will punch you in
(35:05):
the face out.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
I mean, sound like you care, man, sound like you
care about You're todd awful.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
All right, Well that's a that's a little bit of
a PSA on what not to do if you're a
play by play man calling a national championship victory for
your favorite college football team. We're gonna break, John Wilner.
I guarantee you will bring a little more excitement than that.
Next on ninety three three kJ ARFM, It's time for.
Speaker 5 (35:29):
A weekly Tech twelve conversation with Senos Mercury News reporter
John Wilner, brought to you by Simply Seattle. Our friends
at simply Seattle dot com have the most amazing collection
of all things Seattle. Seahawks gear UW hats the largest
selection of Sonics gear anywhere in the world. Learn more
at simply Seattle dot com.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Goes here we go on a busy, busy Tuesday afternoon.
You may have heard the news by now. Each zero
no surprise in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. And
of course, our friends at simply Seattle dot com have
an Hyer Hall of Fame shirt available right now. By
the way, you have your eye on anything on the website,
it's always KJR fifteen for fifteen percent off whatever you want,
(36:10):
whenever you want. It's simply Seattle dot com. Use that
code KJR fifteen whatever. Here he is the former Pope
of the Pack, the incoming Big ten baron which I
guess we can still call him the Pope of the
Pack because the PAC twelve is not officially dead reincarnated
version of what it used to be. But here he
is back from the dead baby to cover the PAC
(36:32):
twelve and continue with his Big ten duties. From the
San Jose Mercury News, our buddy Johnny Wilner, John, that
sounded kind of morbid, I apologize for that was evidently.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Well, yeah, I get a little reboot.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Well because we keep saying things like Washington won the
final PAC twelve Championship. Ever, you go back and watch
the highlight of you know, Chris Fowler calling Dylan Johnson's
game ceiling run, he talks about that. Should we keep
proclaiming that that you have won the final PAC twelve
championship of all time?
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Or does that? Now Land is incorrect for you?
Speaker 17 (37:08):
Yeah, I don't think that's right because in twenty years,
I mean, who knows that. You know that at the
end of the decade, you know, the pacwolf could go
away completely. We have no idea what's going to happen
to major college football. But you know, it's also very
possible in twenty years the PAC twelve is going to
be a thriving conference of ten or twelve members that
(37:29):
maybe it's not what it was, but it's a solid
league at a group of five level. And you know,
we're not gonna think necessarily that it went away.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
Well, let's talk about big time college football and not
the PAC twelve, now, John Oh, let's talk about Wow,
big time college football. And when you get a guy
like Paul Feinbaum to admit that the Big ten is
conference supreme in the United States that is turning over
a new leaf.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Man, is he right? And how long should we expect
this to continue?
Speaker 17 (38:04):
Well, I think he's right right now, you know, just
and I think that that was probably the case even
before the last couple of rounds of the playoffs played out.
I mean, the SEC had a down year. I happen
to think that while the transfer portal and NIL has
even things out a little bit, part of the deal
(38:26):
is just SEC had bad quarterback play and that can
change in an instant.
Speaker 6 (38:30):
Right, But certainly it was a really good year at
the top of the Big Ten.
Speaker 17 (38:36):
It was a top heavy conference, had some very good teams,
and Ohio the you know, they had the best team,
and I think, you know, it was pretty clear throughout
the playoffs that when Ohio State was playing its best,
nobody was going to beat them.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Well, John, I'm looking at the Buckeye schedule this year,
and if I'm correct, they won six games against the
other top ten teams and the final ap pol Tennessee, Oregon, Texas,
Notre Dame, Indiana, Penn State.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
That's a pretty awesome run by Howard State.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
A lot of people are asking kind of where they
would rank amongst the all time great college football team.
It's hard for me to put them on the list
because they lost two games. But with the expanded playoff
now and the fact the teams are playing sixteen, maybe
seventeen games apiece, eventually do we have to kind of
re evaluate how we judge these things.
Speaker 6 (39:30):
I can't believe people are actually talking about that.
Speaker 17 (39:32):
I mean, they had a really good run through the playoff, sure,
but I mean that they lost to Michigan right as
a three touchdown favor. I mean, they should not be
in the discussion of the greatest teams of the last
twenty five years. They could be in the discussion of
having the best postseason runs because they had an opportunity
(39:55):
that nobody else has really had, right. I mean, I
would encourage any body who thinks that to go look
at LSU's twenty nineteen yeah, and.
Speaker 6 (40:05):
See how that team was an.
Speaker 17 (40:07):
Absolute powerhouse, obliterated, didn't lose a game, obliterated every ranked
team they played, and they beat I think seven or
eight ranked teams through the course of the year, including
three of the beat like number four Georgia and number
two Clemson and number seven Oklahoma in their last three games,
(40:29):
wiped them all out. Ohio State cannot hold a candle
to that LSU team, just for instance.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
I'd agree with that.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
I mean, and now you have the opportunity to play
sixteen seventeen games, there's gonna have more opportunity to play
top five and top ten teams. It doesn't necessarily make
them better, but John, you put out your final top
twenty five. So now the college football playoff, how do
your rank teams that had better regular seasons but maybe
lost earlier in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
That's that's kind of a new wrinkle. You got to
throw in.
Speaker 6 (41:00):
Big wrinkle, and it's hard and you kind of have
to take it one team at a time.
Speaker 17 (41:06):
Like first, it's Oregon, right obliterated in that it's only
playoff game, But does that offset like if you're just
basing it on that the Ducks should not be in
the top few, but you can't discount their thirteen and
a record.
Speaker 6 (41:25):
So like I ended up putting.
Speaker 17 (41:26):
Oregon third behind Ohio State and Notre Dame, but other
teams like Alabama.
Speaker 6 (41:31):
I dropped them considerably because they lost.
Speaker 17 (41:33):
To Michigan, which isn't very good, and Bama lost in
the bowl game for their fourth loss.
Speaker 6 (41:37):
So like it. It's really hard and it also.
Speaker 17 (41:41):
To be honest, the playoff is such, it's like the
NCAA tournament, right, Nobody really pays attention to the AP
poll after the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 6 (41:50):
Well, actually there is no APO pole.
Speaker 17 (41:51):
They don't pay attention to the coaches poll because the
tournament decides everything.
Speaker 6 (41:55):
And that's kind of what's going on with football.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Well, speaking of the tournament, justthing, the FBS commissioners and
presidents and chancellors got together on Sunday before the game
and there was no changes made to the format for
the CFP. But they're saying that everything's on the table.
And I guess the most likely or the most anticipated
potential change would be eliminating the idea that the top
(42:21):
four seeds all have to be conference champions. A lot
of people want to see that go away. I guess
John Twofold number one, what's your opinion on that? Is
it time to just give the top four seeds to
the top four teams period, regardless of whether or not
they won their conference? And do you think the conference commissioners,
chancellor's presidents will vote for that to go away?
Speaker 6 (42:43):
I do think they need to change it. I don't
think it's fair.
Speaker 17 (42:46):
For instance, Oregon plays a quarterfinal game against the number
one is playing number six.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
That just is not right.
Speaker 17 (42:55):
But I don't think it's going to change for this
coming season because it would take all of the conferences
to unanimously vote for the change after next seed, and there's.
Speaker 6 (43:08):
No reason for the Group of five, for the ACC,
for the Big twelve to.
Speaker 17 (43:12):
Agree to a change that's going to just set the
SEC and Big ten up for more riches and more success. Right,
this is like a line in the sand between the
two big ones and everybody else. I do think that
in twenty twenty six we'll see that because at that point,
the SEC and Big ten can just make up whatever
(43:33):
rules they want for the playoff.
Speaker 6 (43:35):
And that was a big you know, that's a.
Speaker 17 (43:38):
Not being talked about, but like this was a huge
playoff for the Big ten, not only on the field
but in the boardroom because their success gives them a
lot of leverage to negotiate a new format in two
years that will suit them and suit the SEC well.
Speaker 4 (43:56):
And speaking to the converce standpionship games, I saw where
the last four national champions either failed to make their
conference championship game like Ohio State or failed to win
their conference championship game. So is there any other reason
besides money television money of one particular conference championship game,
that we even have those conference title games anymore?
Speaker 2 (44:15):
And do you think we'll have them in ten years?
Speaker 6 (44:17):
I don't think so, but you're right, the SEC is
gonna be the holdout.
Speaker 17 (44:21):
And I think the SEC gets fifty million first championship
game from the ESPN. It's a huge number. PAC twelve
game I want to say, was worth like twenty twenty five.
My I guess there's big ten, you know, big tens
up there. But the SEC is also does blockbuster ratings.
That's gonna be the sticking point in getting rid of
(44:42):
the conference championships. The other thing they could do, and
I agree like George is a great example, right if
they were gonna be in the playoffs no matter what,
they had to play the conference championship game and they
lost their quarterback, So you do wonder competitively if it
is worth it.
Speaker 6 (44:59):
But the bigger issue is.
Speaker 17 (45:01):
The calendar, right, if we want to move there, I
think they need to move this playoff back closer to
January first. The championship game closer January.
Speaker 6 (45:11):
First, how do you do that?
Speaker 17 (45:13):
Do you start everybody week zero in late August? Do
you get rid of the conference championship games? They have
a calendar problem, and when the NFL goes to eighteen games,
it's going to become an even bigger problem for college
football to be playing in January.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Well, I know a lot of people were complaining about
that that it just didn't have the buzz on Monday night,
you know, Inauguration Day, MLK Day, the playoffs the day before,
all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
So we'll see.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
I haven't seen ratings yet for last night, but I'm
curious to see what they look like. But John, I
threw a poll out on Twitter, and I want to
get your thoughts on this. John Wilner is with us,
obviously from the San Jose Mercury News, courtesy of our
friends at Simply Seattle, watching that game last night, having
thinking one thing when am I beloved Husky is going
to be back in that game and playing again for
(45:59):
the national title. So we asked people to pick four options.
A within five years, B within ten years, C twenty
years or D more than twenty How long a wait? Well,
I have to endure and Dick to see this team
back in the national championship game like they were a
year ago.
Speaker 6 (46:19):
Ooh, that's a great quy. I'd love to know what
the results are.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
I tell you right now. I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Thirty two percent say within ten years, twenty seven percent
say within five, twenty percent say twenty years, and twenty
one percent say more.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Than even as the boards it's all over the place.
Speaker 17 (46:38):
Man, what do you think I would go five to
ten years? I think that the the program has got
what you need. It's got the foundation that you need
to get there. But the you know, the grind is
going to be difficult, and especially in the next few
years with all this revenue sharing, and we talked about
(46:59):
it before. Is Washington all in? And then is Washington
willing to go over the cap like its competitors in
Eugene and Columbus are gonna do.
Speaker 6 (47:08):
I think they can get back there. I mean, you know,
that's a program that made the.
Speaker 17 (47:13):
New Year six four times in ten years, right they
if you got the right coach and you've got the
institutional support, they can get there.
Speaker 4 (47:23):
John, you talked to a couple of college hoops analytics
people about how they'd fix the college football playoff selection.
Tell us about that deep dive, and can we see
like a college football version of the Ken Palm rankings
helping seed these teams?
Speaker 6 (47:39):
Yeah? I did because I was fascinated by it.
Speaker 17 (47:42):
Seemed to me like the committee had no idea what
to do with the unbalanced conference schedules right. For instance,
Ohio State played ten States, Oregon, and Indiana, but those
other three teams didn't play each other? So how do
you figure that out when you're doing the rankings and
the seedings. So I asked Ken and a guy named
Kevin Paga, who has another basketball metric, and and their
(48:05):
big thing was the sports are two different because you
can measure every basketball possession results in either points or
no points, so you can you can assign numbers to those.
Speaker 6 (48:17):
But football is so much more nuanced. Do you assign
a point.
Speaker 17 (48:20):
If you got if you get six yards on first down?
Or do you sign a point if you get four
yards on first down? It's it's so nuanced with the
way the game is played that it's gonna be hard
for them to ever come up with a version of
Ken Tom for basketball well speak.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
Yeah, speaking of basketball, John and John Wilner again is
with us. Courtesy is simply a seattle. We'll just play
a quick little game of agree or disagree, and you
tell me if you agree or disagree with this statement.
Speaker 2 (48:45):
All right, you're ready. Mick Cronin is a whiny.
Speaker 6 (48:50):
What's his deal?
Speaker 2 (48:51):
John? Agree or disagree?
Speaker 6 (48:55):
I would not I would not quite go that far.
Speaker 17 (48:58):
But I agree with you in principle that it is
ridiculous for anybody of those four schools to be complaining.
Speaker 6 (49:06):
About the travel, and especially at that school. So uh,
but that is that mix too.
Speaker 9 (49:13):
Uh.
Speaker 17 (49:13):
You know, that's the good and the bad of Mick
Cronin is he's gonna do something like that.
Speaker 6 (49:18):
But I mean, I got a good laugh, and I'm
sure a lot of people did well.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
And just so people know, Mick cron and the UCLA
had basketball coaches complaining about all the travel that they
have to endure. We saw the stop you orelebrity twice
and three weeks blah blah blah.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
It's like, come on, man, figure it out.
Speaker 4 (49:33):
You knew this was coming from pastics, no kidding, O
kidding well, speaking of a coach and the other guys.
Speaker 17 (49:38):
One of those one of those times they saw it
was their own doing. They agreed to play in North
Carolina in New York City. That's their own scheduling, not
the Big Ten.
Speaker 2 (49:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (49:47):
Yeah, speaking of coaches complaining, I know this is a
couple of weeks old, but I don't think we've talked
about it. John, what'd you think of Jim Mora calling
out Wazoo for tampering.
Speaker 6 (49:58):
I was surprised. I'm always prize coaches go public like that.
Speaker 17 (50:04):
Everybody's doing it, and you know Mora's doing it in
some way, shape or form, or his staff is doing
it in some way, shape or form. But I guess
he feels like, you know what, I'm at Yukon and
I can I can do whatever I want. The other
thing we don't know is like what were the negotiations
like between Washington State and Jim Mora or his representation.
Speaker 6 (50:26):
If there were negotiations, then that I don't know.
Speaker 17 (50:29):
That kind of blurs the line a little bit. You
can have some conversations with players that you wouldn't otherwise have.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
Well, I know a lot of us are waiting for
the spring portal coming up in April. You know, the
Huskies still could use some help along the defensive and
defensive lines. I also saw where the Coaches Association I think,
came out and recommended just to do the one portal
in the spring and dump the December portal. I'm not
sure how much power they've got, how much teeth they've got.
(50:56):
But do you see that eventually in the in the
near future being a reality.
Speaker 6 (51:02):
I don't know that.
Speaker 17 (51:03):
It's maybe if they're gonna have one portal, it's probably
more likely to be in the spring. The issue is
is the enrollment for spring semesters and winter quarters, so
that's what makes it tricky to limit it.
Speaker 6 (51:20):
In the winter time.
Speaker 18 (51:22):
Uh.
Speaker 17 (51:23):
But I just don't think they're gonna anytime you take
something back, you're gonna get sued.
Speaker 6 (51:28):
The nation has seen this for years. If you if
you restrict rights that.
Speaker 17 (51:34):
Athletes have currently, somebody's gonna follow lawsuit and the NCAA
is gonna lose. Generally speaking, I always assume the opposite
of whatever the Coaches Association says or does, because they
are the worst. That's the worst group to uh, you know,
come up with policy, right. They don't get they're all
(51:55):
out for the you know, right, they're so territorial, they're
so paranoid. You cannot listen to the coaches. You can't
let the coaches dictate.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
Anything, John before I let you go.
Speaker 4 (52:05):
I kind of feel like this move to the playoffs
has made college football more of a national sport instead
of a regional sport. I feel like we're moving away
from being more like baseball and moving more towards being
like the NFL. Do you do you feel like college
football got more popular and people in other parts of
the country are paying attention to other conferences now since
(52:28):
there's really only two major ones.
Speaker 6 (52:32):
I think the combination of playoff expansion and realignment has
done that.
Speaker 18 (52:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (52:37):
Did you guys see the ratings for the bowl games
that aren't part of the playoffs?
Speaker 2 (52:42):
They were up huge, really.
Speaker 17 (52:44):
And the games on ABC were at The bowl games
on ABC were at like an eleven year high.
Speaker 6 (52:51):
I think it has playffor expansion has increased interest in
the sport nationally. Certainly, you know.
Speaker 17 (52:58):
Boise State as those schools never would have gotten in
those conferences, never would have gotten in without expansion.
Speaker 6 (53:04):
I think what this is going to lead to is
more Bowl games. Get ready.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
Yeah, yeah, well, I want to congratulate you, by the way,
on finishing fourteen and nine in your twenty three week
run this year.
Speaker 2 (53:17):
Yeah, you were. I gotta be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (53:20):
You were nine and nine heading into the Penn State
SMU game and you close the year with five consecutive
wins to get to fourteen and nine.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
So if any future degenerates out there need gambling advice,
John Wilner is your man. Hey man, great stuff, and
we'll talk on a week. Buddy, appreciate that.
Speaker 6 (53:38):
Let let freezing cold cakes know about that and put
at the banks.
Speaker 2 (53:42):
I will.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
I will get to them on behalf of you and
make sure they're aware of your greatness. All right, John Wilner.
With us, we're gonna break
All right, obviously the big news of the day is
the hero induction or excuse me, not induction.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
What's the word. I'm looking election election.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Thank you very much, got the problem, chaos man, Today's
chaos has been awesome. I love shows like this big
thanks to Ryan Franklin, Jeff Nelson, Mike Cameron, Dan Wilson
joining us on the radio show, Bucky Jacobson. I bet
the place is going to be packed with X teammates
down there in the T Mobile Park media room. Mechiro,
by the way, is in town. He is here for
(00:28):
the press conference. Felix, for those wondering, got twenty point
six percent of the votes, and you know what, he's
probably in town two because if he made the Hall
of Fame, they had to have him ready as well,
so I wouldn't be shocked if the Kings hang.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Well.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
I was encouraged by the twenty percent. I saw twenty
point six you said for Felix, because I mean Edgar
five years in was at twenty five. Wow, Felix is
twenty right now at year one. So if we can
have the same type of social media push that they
had for Edgar down the stretch, now it's gonna take
Felix a while. I don't think you need to push
(01:00):
it for the first three or four years, but as
we get closer to year number ten, we got to
move towards Felix.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
But like you said, I mean.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
The Mariners have no shortage of Hall of Famers, which
again kind of pisses us off to a way because
we don't have a World Series ring with all these
Hall of famers.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Edgar Martinez was at twenty five percent in his fifth year,
but he was at thirty six percent in his fourth year.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
He actually went backwards.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
He went from thirty six to thirty three, to thirty
six to thirty six to twenty five, back up to
twenty seven, forty three, fifty eight, seventy and then boom,
the final ballot he gets eighty five percent. Hey, look,
the Mariners are not good at a lot of things,
There's no question about it.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
One thing they are very good at.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Is promoting people like this for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Promoting things period.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
They've done an unfelievable job behind Edgar Martinez and Griffy
and Ichiro Suzuki, Randy Johnson, all these guys whatever. So
I still believe Dick that without social media and the
Marrior influence on social media, there's a chance Edgar Martinez
never makes the Hall of Time.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
I don't even think there's a chance. I think Edgar
Martinez does not make the Hall of Fame without all,
without the Mariner's push, because just look at the last
two years.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
What was number year eighty or ten.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
For Edgar forty three to seventy and then eighty five
I'm sorry, forty three, fifty eight, seventy eighty five.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
The last two years is when we saw the push
huge the last two years, and he went up by
twenty plus percent each of those two years.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, well, I mean you're asking this off there. I mean,
I think it's appropriate, it's fair to ask it. You know,
you don't want to rain on people's parade, obviously. And
by the way, how about this, dude, I haven't paid
for this in a long time. Why do you swing
your chair over here a little bit and come look
at what I'm looking at right now. This is the
Edgar Martinez Baseball Reference dot Com page I'm looking at
right here. Okay, who do you think sponsors that page?
(02:51):
Look at that right there? What does that say? Right there.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
You sponsored.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Nothing paid for that thing of years when he went
to the Hall of Fame or was going into the hall.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
We decided a sponsor of the damn page and that's
still on there for crying out loud.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So that's a good investment out there. How about that?
Well it's free now, so it's an incredible investment.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
But I just think that for a guy like Eachiro,
obviously he never really had a real personal connection with
the city of Seattle.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Just answer me this.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
How many off the top of your head can you
name commercials, endorsements did he do when he was here.
I can't name one, only the Mariner commercials, and I
loved every one of them.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Then he did because we never.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Saw him the old Copasino spots, which are obviously now gone.
But outside of that, and maybe there's one and I
can't remember it, but you don't remember him doing anything
like that. Autograph appearances, commercials, TV spots, whatever.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
But I also believe this.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
I think if the Mariners had won games when he
was here and he had a chance to be in
the postseason, the.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Entire thing would have felt a lot different. You want
to get a break here, is that right?
Speaker 5 (03:57):
He shows running a little late, so we get a
break and get to the press conference right after.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
We'll do that each shro. Suzuki's in the Hall of Fame.
We're gonna hear from him, and I'm sure a few
other folks as well. Next on ninety three three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Now back to Suftie and Dick on your home for
the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl fifty nine. Sports Radio
ninety three point three KJRFL Touchdown.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
We're gonna head down to a T mobile park in
a matter of minutes here If not seconds, seconds become minutes,
minutes become hours, hours become days, weeks, months, who knows.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Could be forever. We could be sitting here until we're
eighty years old. I'm going home. Wait six o'clock. Our
care if he shows up or not.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Well, he's on his way to the press conference, running
fashionably late. Five sixteen was supposed to be at five o'clock,
but hey man, we get it. He's a Hall of
Famer now things are a lot different for him. If
you've never been to the Hall of Fame, I would
definitely recommend going. I don't know if i'd recommend going
during an induction weekend because it's total chaos. The one
really cool thing about Cooperstown during induction weekend, just main
(05:00):
drag is just full of Hall of famers, Like every
other shop has a Hall of famer that they would
bring back and pay them to sign autographs. And even
if you're not walking in to buy an autograph, baseball
or photo or whatever, just being around these people and saying,
oh my god, look at that guy, look at this,
and then a ton of guys that aren't even Hall
of famers like Pete Rose would always be there just
(05:21):
because he's Pete Rose and wanted to market himself right right,
Well not anymore, he's not because he passed away, but he.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Would be there all the time.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
But the the each he Ro phenomenon, and we saw
it up close and personal in Seattle when he was here.
I mean, imagine Dick there being an American athlete and
maybe even somebody like locally that you were assigned to
cover who was playing overseas like soccer or swimming, and
and your job was to literally move to wherever that
(05:51):
guy was. Because you remember, when the Otani thing came out,
there was rumors he would go to Toronto when John
Paul Morosi had that tweet that he was on his
way to Toronto, which turned out to be bogus, and
all the Japanese reporters that lived in LA were thinking,
Oh my god, we're gonna have to move to Canada
to cover this guy in Toronto.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yet he stays in LA. So they all stayed in
LA with him.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
But that phenomenon of the amount of media that covered
each yiroll back in the day, and I have no
idea how many people cover Otani.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I assume it's a buttload.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
But the amount of people that will be at that
induction ceremony, if it's anywhere near the amount of folks
that covered him, is going to be wild.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
It will be.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
And I'm trying to think of any American example of that,
an American athlete that goes overseas and gets Maybe it's
just a Japanese culture thing versus an American culture thing,
because I think can't think of any American athlete that
went overseas and got like international coverage because of someplace else.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, maybe like Lindsay Vaughan. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I'm thinking because let's face it, and I don't mean
to sound arrogant here, and I'm sure there's I mean,
outside of soccer or the pinnacle of most sports, at
least team sports is in this country, right, I mean,
NBA basketball they're coming here, Baseball they're coming here, obviously,
hockey they're coming here to play in the NHL. But
it's gonna be wild. I think it's great. There's two
other guys going in with him, and Billy Wagner and
(07:09):
c C. Sabathia. But it is a big deal for
Mariner fans, it's a big deal for the franchise. It's
a big deal that could have been even bigger. And
I think what you said last segment is exactly right
that the Mariners have had no problem in the last
fifteen to twenty years churning out Hall of famers.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
They just can't translate. They the wins well, which is
frustrating us out. And that's the only other strike against Ichiro, right.
The one strike was under his control, which was how
much he engaged with the fans in the media, which
was almost zero, so we didn't really know him. And
then the second strike was the fact that which wasn't
(07:46):
Echiro's fault because he was the best player on the
team for many of these years they went to one playoff.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Let's end down the Temobile Park.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
The new President of Business Operations, Kevin Martinez addressing the
crowd introducing brand new Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki.
Speaker 7 (08:02):
Eachio speaking on behalf of the entire Mariners organization and
our fans. Congratulations. Your historic election today is another example
of your excellence, another extraordinary accomplishment among a long list
throughout your illustrious and groundbreaking career. From the moment you
(08:24):
arrived in Seattle, you demonstrated your incredible passion, respect, and
love of the game of baseball. Every time you stepped
on the field. You energized fans in the Northwest, in Japan,
and around the world with both your skill and your
style of play. You were an inspiration to everyone, and
(08:47):
you did it all while staying true to yourself, showcasing
your wonderful personality both in the clubhouse and on the field.
It was simply a joy to watch you play, and
you can continue to make an impact on the next
generation of players as one of the game's greatest ambassadors.
Each Hei row on behalf of everyone in our organization.
(09:11):
Chairman and managing partner, John Stanton, our partnership group, and
our fans. It's truly my honor and privilege to announce
that the Mariners are retiring your number fifty one Jersey.
After your induction in Cooperstown this summer, we'll hold a
ceremony here at T Mobile Park on August ninth and
(09:32):
officially retire your number fifty one next to Hall of
Famers Ken Griffy Junior, Edgar Martinez, and Jackie Robinson for
permanent display in center field at our great ballpark. Each
row again, congratulations and I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yep, and tuning into ninety three three KJRFM. Each Ro
Suzuki has made the Hall of Fame press conference happening
live right now at T Mobile Park. We'll keep listening
(10:12):
right here on ninety three to three KJRFM, Seattle.
Speaker 8 (10:25):
Thank you Kevin, and thank you you tro Congratulations. At
this time we'll start taking questions. Please wait to be
handed a wireless microphone. There are runners on each side
of the room that will hand a mic. When you
get the microphone. Please identify yourself both for Etro in
for our fans watching and listening at home. Again, we'll
begin with questions in English, and then take that short break.
(10:46):
A final note before we start taking questions. Tonight, at
six pm, the Space Needle will be lit up in
blue and celebration of ETRO.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
We will provide photos.
Speaker 8 (10:55):
And video via normal media channels of that honor from
the Space Needle.
Speaker 6 (10:59):
And with that, at first question, Chris.
Speaker 9 (11:06):
Christy and King five A dro congratulations.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Uh, you've had a little time to think about this.
Speaker 10 (11:11):
Can you just talk about what this day means to
you that it has finally come.
Speaker 11 (11:32):
To Stashi.
Speaker 9 (11:36):
Need what circle?
Speaker 12 (11:38):
Excuse me?
Speaker 11 (11:39):
So you go there, I'll get you an.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 9 (11:58):
My Eco send this much.
Speaker 13 (12:21):
You know, it started in two thousand and one and
you know now it's twenty twenty five. But at that
time in two thousand and one, there's probably not one
person on this earth that thought that this day would come.
And obviously a lot of many things have happened. There
were there are many not just good, but there are
some bad too.
Speaker 9 (12:42):
But to be able to.
Speaker 13 (12:45):
You know, through all the the things that have happened,
to be able to be here means quite a bit
of a lot and just a very honor and special
day for me to hear today.
Speaker 14 (13:01):
Niko, then Shannon Nico to Mari and common, who's here
in Seattle? I Trio. You gave an entire generation of
Mariner fans something to cheer for, something to believe in,
rally behind, And now what does that mean to you
that you're giving them another Hall of Famer from this franchise.
Speaker 9 (13:33):
Seattle fans, Maniel.
Speaker 11 (13:50):
Miamie Kay the Creator, c On the Skettle and Kaima also.
Speaker 9 (14:14):
Top weeks more Top five on the Highly Good I
know Hi so no.
Speaker 6 (14:25):
Ma so no.
Speaker 9 (14:27):
They did Creta so no mo.
Speaker 11 (14:31):
That Sherka Jive Goku nam No.
Speaker 9 (14:57):
Two thousand one.
Speaker 13 (14:58):
My journey here began and twenty twelve it ended, and
I went to New York and then to Miami. But
then in twenty eighteen, I was able to come back.
Obviously grateful for the organization that brought me back. But
I remember that opening day twenty eighteen, how warm and
welcoming the fans were, and that moment will definitely be
(15:23):
the top five moment in my career where the Seattle
fans really accepted me again, and it just meant so
much to be to have felt them, And you know,
as I've gone through my career.
Speaker 9 (15:41):
I guess.
Speaker 13 (15:43):
Met with lots of people, and obviously I interacted with
many people, but I felt like those people's kindness and
their feelings really helped me perform and also be the
person that I am. And so that that interaction of
(16:03):
that twenty eighteen with the fans, it means a whole lot,
and so obviously that the feelings that I have towards
the Seattle fans is very special.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
All Right, you're listening live to each Hero Suzuki's press
conference choosing to address the media in Japanese at T
Mobile Park is translator there as well. The Mariners announcing
his number fifty one will be retired at a press
conference excuse me, a ceremony at T Mobile Park on
the ninth of August. Let's go back to the press conference.
Eachiro Suzuki in the Hall of Fame today it's happening.
Speaker 9 (16:36):
And also, what was the first thought that went through
your mind?
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Then?
Speaker 9 (16:39):
Well killed?
Speaker 15 (16:40):
You know?
Speaker 9 (16:43):
So they decided yea. So it was all set up.
Speaker 13 (17:29):
It was set up, and we were supposed to there
was a time frame and two fifteen could have been
the first, you know, time that that it could have happened.
And so we were set up like it was going
to happen, and so we were ready at two fifteen,
and that called didn't come for about fifteen minutes, and
(17:50):
so I started to think, maybe it's not going to come.
And so there's that nerves and that those worries that came.
And once it came, it was more of a relief
because that it did come. So I think the happy,
happiness and all the joy will probably come later. At
(18:11):
that time, it was just a relief. It Troo Adam
Jude Seattle Times.
Speaker 15 (18:17):
Looking back, what were some of the major challenges for
you in two thousand and one being the first Japanese
position player to play in major in the majors? And
now how how meaningful is it for you to be
the first player from Japan to be elected into the
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 13 (18:40):
Fame Man.
Speaker 11 (18:47):
And he's saying name yesterday, but on inswers to get the.
Speaker 9 (18:57):
No tim it is hen Boka.
Speaker 6 (19:03):
So do you.
Speaker 9 (19:12):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
You do you?
Speaker 10 (19:17):
Man?
Speaker 11 (19:18):
Saw you your health the putas the Masnogo my son
named Mayoyaku ma marik America, Oh American you so you
(19:38):
can kuga arimashta.
Speaker 9 (19:42):
The master skettle intest the.
Speaker 11 (19:56):
Boman skettle Genos.
Speaker 13 (20:35):
Two thousand and one, there were as the first Japanese
position player coming over. I had just finished seven years
of being the leading hitter in that league. Coming over,
(20:56):
there was definitely I felt like there was gonna be
judgment on.
Speaker 9 (21:02):
Especially the.
Speaker 13 (21:04):
The hitters that hit for our high average. I felt
like there was going to be judgment on Japanese baseball.
And so there's definitely that that pressure and that I
knew that how I performed was going to be really
looked at, as you know, this is Japanese baseball. And
then after three years of playing in in in the
(21:29):
major leagues, I felt like I was able to show
people here that this is what I can do. And
and that's kind of when I felt like that I
belonged in that I think that people saw what what
I was capable of. And then the two thousand you know,
(21:50):
now with this Hall of Fame, you know, right now,
I really don't know what it's going to do or
how this is going to impact anybody or any thing.
I'm not sure, but probably I'll look back at this,
you know, years down the road and say, oh, you know,
this was great, or this was this or so at
(22:12):
this moment, It's tough to say what what it means
to me now, but I'll know later what what this
is and what this means to me.
Speaker 16 (22:25):
I Trio, Curtis Crabtree, Fox thirteen. Looking back on your career,
what is it that you view was your your biggest
on field accomplishment? Is it breaking George Sissler's record? Is
it playing until you're forty five? Is it you know,
any number of game winning moments you had?
Speaker 17 (22:39):
What?
Speaker 5 (22:39):
What?
Speaker 9 (22:40):
What kind of stands out to you?
Speaker 16 (22:41):
Is the highlight of your career?
Speaker 9 (22:43):
You don't you know? I'm not sorry of Sushiba. I
don't need this skid at the moment? What's can you do?
(23:07):
Monod night? Ji? Can do? You? Who need.
Speaker 10 (23:12):
Your name?
Speaker 9 (23:13):
No go gots you can?
Speaker 11 (23:22):
They needs nag and massanga. To me, it's nat ju
go macuts.
Speaker 9 (23:38):
Rang sho can go star.
Speaker 11 (23:42):
So you know what conn night?
Speaker 9 (23:49):
The moments, so more moms to society, up the.
Speaker 10 (24:11):
To ananganga anod gang.
Speaker 9 (24:38):
Society.
Speaker 13 (24:42):
There are records and many numbers that that that I
have that are obviously special, But one that comes to
mind is in twenty eighteen. In May of twenty eighteen,
I was no longer an active major League Baseball player.
(25:08):
Until twenty nineteen spring training, I was not on the roster,
and so all I could do was come to the
field in practice. I came to the field practice with
the team, and that was an everyday thing. And that's
an experience that not many guys get to experience, but.
Speaker 9 (25:32):
I did that.
Speaker 13 (25:32):
I came to the ballpark every day, and twenty nineteen,
because I was able to prepare myself and come to
ballpark every day in twenty eighteen and prepare myself to
play in twenty nineteen, I was given the opportunity to
do that. And in twenty nineteen, I hadn't told anybody
(25:58):
that I was going to be retiring. So when the
game finished and everything, you know, all the media stuff
was finished, the fans were still there, and so I
went out, and obviously the fans were there and that
experience that I had there. So those two the twenty
(26:22):
eighteen and twenty nineteen, those things will be something that
I cherish and something that will help me throughout my
life and something that I can look back on and
feel with joy and cherish those moments. But those experiences
that twenty eighteen, not being able to play in the
(26:42):
games but still practice and be here. That's going to
be the what comes to mind when you ask that question?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
All right?
Speaker 1 (26:49):
That is the voice of each Euro's translator, Alan Turner,
each Ro Suzuki. In case you haven't heard your tuning
in right now, maybe you have a job. You can't
listen to talk radio all day long, which shame on you.
By voted into the Hall of Fame today, elected to
the Hall of Fame ninety nine point seven percent of
the vote, second highest vote total ever falls one short vote.
(27:10):
Shy of being the second unanimous Hall of Famer of
all time each year choosing to address the crowd in Japanese.
You know, if I were down there and maybe somebody
will ask this, I would love someone to ask him,
why do you continue to not be comfortable speaking English?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I mean there's a reason for it, you know. Is
it a cultural thing? Are you nervous about that? I'll
be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I was disappointed to hear that he did not do
the press conference in English when he had that phenomenal
speech when he went Dick into the Mariner Hall of Fame,
which was so cool to have that connection with him.
I don't know if somebody from the club asked him
to do it, maybe he said no, maybe they never
asked him about it. But I'll be honest with you
on a daylight today, when you know, basically, let's face it, man,
(27:53):
you got four Mariner Hall of famers, right, Like I mean,
if you want to count Beltray, that's fine. You want
to count Gooseguysage, that's fine. You want to count Ricky Henderson,
that's fine. Beltrey was here for a little bit long Harry, right,
but the big four are Randy, Edgar Junior and now
Echiro Suzuki. I think it's a huge day for the franchise.
I would have loved to have heard Eachiro address the
(28:13):
media and the fans in English, well.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Especially from what we heard two and a half years ago, right,
which was awesome, which was fantastic. I think it was
maybe Eachiro's greatest moment as a Mariner. It was something
that he did in front of a microphone in sort
of with a baseball bat in his hand.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
And he could have added to that today, and he
chose not to. At the very least, maybe give a
two minute.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
Written whatever anything speak right and then take if you're
not comfortable asking imprompt or answering impromptu questions in English.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah cool, but do what you did a couple of
years ago at least.
Speaker 12 (28:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Well, I mean, look, I mean there's been a lot
of folks that have talked about maybe the connection with
him isn't what it could have been, and that's one
of the reasons why. But hey, today we honor the
player that's a great player. Ichiro Suzuki is in the
Hall of Fame. Will be inducted later this summer along
with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner. We'll get a break.
John Wilner is going to join us at six o'clock today.
(29:08):
Talk some college football coming out of the Ohio State
Notre Dame game last night. A little Fun with Audio,
by the way, little football version of Fun with Audio
and more next on ninety three to three kJ RFF.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
It's now time for Safty and Dick's Fun with Audio.
Jimmy g paun Star, Jimmy mister Garoppolo. Now let's have
some fun with audio.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
All right, we'll switch to some college football. Johnny Wilner
going to join us. Reaction to Ohio State Notre Dame
yesterday coming up at six pm. Curtesia simply Seattle dot com.
The Etro Hall of Fame t shirt, by the way,
available now. It's simply seattle dot com. Be sure and
use code kjir fifteen for fifteen percent off anything anytime
at simply seattle dot com.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Here he is lo, here we go. Excuse me? In
three two one, little fun with audio. Hey, Dick, did
you happen to hear that?
Speaker 6 (29:55):
What's that?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
What's that?
Speaker 6 (29:56):
Dick?
Speaker 1 (29:57):
UCLA basketball beating Iowa by twenty one points on Friday
after the win. Keep in mind win head coach Mick
Cronin popping off to reporters about accountability and taking road trips.
Speaker 13 (30:12):
Mick, what would you think about the rebounding, especially after
you know what you said yesterday and talked.
Speaker 12 (30:17):
A lot about it and got to coach it better?
And I'm frustrated with myself.
Speaker 18 (30:22):
So anybody thinks that I'm not accountable doesn't know me,
or is just a clickbait person. Okay, Nobody is harder
on themselves in coaching than me.
Speaker 12 (30:35):
Nobody. I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't taste food.
It's irrelevant what I eat. I can't I can't just
I can't just I'm I'm literally ready to jump off
a bridge, Okay, blaming myself. So we got a coach
rebounding better.
Speaker 19 (30:50):
So much has been made about you guys going east.
You just came back from prolonged East Coast rap. I'm wondering,
have you seen anything from the teams that have to
come out here and stay out here? Is there any
kind of balance with that in terms of the wear
and tear and just what you've seen on.
Speaker 6 (31:03):
The tearing them?
Speaker 12 (31:04):
Yeah, is that a joke? Please tell me that?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Is it even comparable?
Speaker 12 (31:10):
We have to go back four times, Paulhu.
Speaker 18 (31:13):
The Big ten teams get to come to Los Angeles
where it's seventy degrees one time a year.
Speaker 12 (31:18):
They don't even have to switch hotels. Are you kidding me?
Please tell me you're kidding me?
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Do you?
Speaker 12 (31:24):
I mean, is this a plant?
Speaker 9 (31:25):
Is this a planet?
Speaker 12 (31:26):
Question? I mean, you cannot be serious with that. We've
seen the Eiffel Tower, or we've seen the Statue of
Liberty twice in the last three weeks. You can't possibly
just stop. I'm going to eat. Yeah, got comedians.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
In the Eifefel Tower.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
We've seen nataj Maahall seventeen times that hell is he
talking about?
Speaker 19 (31:46):
Man?
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Well, first of all, I think he sounds like a
whiny SLB. That's number one and number two. I'm glad
that Danny Sprinkle's not doing that, and I hope he
doesn't do that, because you know what we signed up
for this, man, right, We've signed up for this and
the big figure it out. Stop making freaking excuses and
throwing a fit because I think it makes everybody look stupid.
Mick Cronin needs to zip his lip about all this.
(32:10):
You wanted this, You're in the Big ten. You're making
a buttload of money partially because you're in the Big ten.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
I mean, he just sounds he sounds whiny.
Speaker 6 (32:19):
I hate it.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I hate when coaches bitch about stuff like this when
they can't control.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
It drives me crazy. If this was a one off,
you know, I wouldn't it wouldn't bother as much.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Remember, he went after his kids two weeks ago, right,
he went after his players, and so now this is
two press conference when he has been going off right,
Yeah right, I mean, hey, Mick Cronan, I think is
the best defensive coach in college basketball, but he sounds
like a miserable human.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Being well, he sounds like, honestly, to me, he looks
like a dude that's got a major short man complex.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
I don't know what his deal is, but he comes
a curse. He sound like he's having any fun in
any element of his life. He's got a Napoleon complex
going on.
Speaker 18 (33:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
It's why is it the short guys that are always
so fricking cranky?
Speaker 6 (33:04):
Man?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
I mean, he is a good god Mick Holy Moley.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yeah, well, anyway, I don't I don't hear Altman complaining
about that. I don't hear Muscleman complaining about it. I
certainly haven't heard Danny complain about it. This guy is
gonna be the one to carry the wine flag for
the rest of the Pac twelve schools, and now we
have to travel. We saw the Eiffel Tower, we saw
the Pyramids, we saw.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
The taj Mahal.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
Shut up, dude, And if you're gonna be that tight, right,
that's why you lose in the NC tournament. If you're
gonna a be that tight and B have a team
that doesn't rally around you because you lay him out publicly,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
UCLA is gonna bomb in the tournament. Just like they
usually do. Uh, hey, Dick, did you happen to hear that?
What's I do?
Speaker 6 (33:46):
Hey Dick?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Did you happen to hear that? What's that?
Speaker 3 (33:49):
Dick?
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Here was the final call? All right?
Speaker 17 (33:52):
Now?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I want to get some thoughts on this. This is
not gonna be what you think it is.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
This is the final call of last night's National Championship
by Iowa State Football radio voices Paul Keels and Jim
lasche On ninety seven point won the fan in Columbus, Ohio.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Seven seconds left, Notre Dame trying to hustle the line
of scrimmage. Four seconds left, three seconds, Leonard gets the
Irish on the ball. Leonard gets the snap back to
throw Riley. Leonard rolls to his right. At his twenty
Leonard sales at middlefield, where it's caught by great House.
He's tackled at the forty, tackled by Hancock. In Ohio
State National champions beating Notre Dame tonight thirty four to
(34:30):
twenty three, the ninth national championship in Ohio state history.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Did he just win the Sun Bowl or the National
champions So that's his style, right, Like we've played plenty
eclipse from him through the Larfield stuff whatever.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
That's the way he does it.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
But I mean, if there's ever a time good or
to venture out of your bubble and your own skin
a little bit, isn't it when your team wins a championship.
I mean compare that to like Castra Cone calling the
Sugar Bowl or the Oregon game voice or any game.
I mean I texted Tony and I told him if
you ever saw like that, I will punch you in
(35:05):
the face out.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
I mean, sound like you care, man, sound like you
care about You're todd awful.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
All right, Well that's a that's a little bit of
a PSA on what not to do if you're a
play by play man calling a national championship victory for
your favorite college football team. We're gonna break, John Wilner.
I guarantee you will bring a little more excitement than that.
Next on ninety three three kJ ARFM, It's time for.
Speaker 5 (35:29):
A weekly Tech twelve conversation with Senos Mercury News reporter
John Wilner, brought to you by Simply Seattle. Our friends
at simply Seattle dot com have the most amazing collection
of all things Seattle. Seahawks gear UW hats the largest
selection of Sonics gear anywhere in the world. Learn more
at simply Seattle dot com.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Goes here we go on a busy, busy Tuesday afternoon.
You may have heard the news by now. Each zero
no surprise in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. And
of course, our friends at simply Seattle dot com have
an Hyer Hall of Fame shirt available right now. By
the way, you have your eye on anything on the website,
it's always KJR fifteen for fifteen percent off whatever you want,
(36:10):
whenever you want. It's simply Seattle dot com. Use that
code KJR fifteen whatever. Here he is the former Pope
of the Pack, the incoming Big ten baron which I
guess we can still call him the Pope of the
Pack because the PAC twelve is not officially dead reincarnated
version of what it used to be. But here he
is back from the dead baby to cover the PAC
(36:32):
twelve and continue with his Big ten duties. From the
San Jose Mercury News, our buddy Johnny Wilner, John, that
sounded kind of morbid, I apologize for that was evidently.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Well, yeah, I get a little reboot.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Well because we keep saying things like Washington won the
final PAC twelve Championship. Ever, you go back and watch
the highlight of you know, Chris Fowler calling Dylan Johnson's
game ceiling run, he talks about that. Should we keep
proclaiming that that you have won the final PAC twelve
championship of all time?
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Or does that? Now Land is incorrect for you?
Speaker 17 (37:08):
Yeah, I don't think that's right because in twenty years,
I mean, who knows that. You know that at the
end of the decade, you know, the pacwolf could go
away completely. We have no idea what's going to happen
to major college football. But you know, it's also very
possible in twenty years the PAC twelve is going to
be a thriving conference of ten or twelve members that
(37:29):
maybe it's not what it was, but it's a solid
league at a group of five level. And you know,
we're not gonna think necessarily that it went away.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
Well, let's talk about big time college football and not
the PAC twelve, now, John Oh, let's talk about Wow,
big time college football. And when you get a guy
like Paul Feinbaum to admit that the Big ten is
conference supreme in the United States that is turning over
a new leaf.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Man, is he right? And how long should we expect
this to continue?
Speaker 17 (38:04):
Well, I think he's right right now, you know, just
and I think that that was probably the case even
before the last couple of rounds of the playoffs played out.
I mean, the SEC had a down year. I happen
to think that while the transfer portal and NIL has
even things out a little bit, part of the deal
(38:26):
is just SEC had bad quarterback play and that can
change in an instant.
Speaker 6 (38:30):
Right, But certainly it was a really good year at
the top of the Big Ten.
Speaker 17 (38:36):
It was a top heavy conference, had some very good teams,
and Ohio the you know, they had the best team,
and I think, you know, it was pretty clear throughout
the playoffs that when Ohio State was playing its best,
nobody was going to beat them.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Well, John, I'm looking at the Buckeye schedule this year,
and if I'm correct, they won six games against the
other top ten teams and the final ap pol Tennessee, Oregon, Texas,
Notre Dame, Indiana, Penn State.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
That's a pretty awesome run by Howard State.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
A lot of people are asking kind of where they
would rank amongst the all time great college football team.
It's hard for me to put them on the list
because they lost two games. But with the expanded playoff
now and the fact the teams are playing sixteen, maybe
seventeen games apiece, eventually do we have to kind of
re evaluate how we judge these things.
Speaker 6 (39:30):
I can't believe people are actually talking about that.
Speaker 17 (39:32):
I mean, they had a really good run through the playoff, sure,
but I mean that they lost to Michigan right as
a three touchdown favor. I mean, they should not be
in the discussion of the greatest teams of the last
twenty five years. They could be in the discussion of
having the best postseason runs because they had an opportunity
(39:55):
that nobody else has really had, right. I mean, I
would encourage any body who thinks that to go look
at LSU's twenty nineteen yeah, and.
Speaker 6 (40:05):
See how that team was an.
Speaker 17 (40:07):
Absolute powerhouse, obliterated, didn't lose a game, obliterated every ranked
team they played, and they beat I think seven or
eight ranked teams through the course of the year, including
three of the beat like number four Georgia and number
two Clemson and number seven Oklahoma in their last three games,
(40:29):
wiped them all out. Ohio State cannot hold a candle
to that LSU team, just for instance.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
I'd agree with that.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
I mean, and now you have the opportunity to play
sixteen seventeen games, there's gonna have more opportunity to play
top five and top ten teams. It doesn't necessarily make
them better, but John, you put out your final top
twenty five. So now the college football playoff, how do
your rank teams that had better regular seasons but maybe
lost earlier in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
That's that's kind of a new wrinkle. You got to
throw in.
Speaker 6 (41:00):
Big wrinkle, and it's hard and you kind of have
to take it one team at a time.
Speaker 17 (41:06):
Like first, it's Oregon, right obliterated in that it's only
playoff game, But does that offset like if you're just
basing it on that the Ducks should not be in
the top few, but you can't discount their thirteen and
a record.
Speaker 6 (41:25):
So like I ended up putting.
Speaker 17 (41:26):
Oregon third behind Ohio State and Notre Dame, but other
teams like Alabama.
Speaker 6 (41:31):
I dropped them considerably because they lost.
Speaker 17 (41:33):
To Michigan, which isn't very good, and Bama lost in
the bowl game for their fourth loss.
Speaker 6 (41:37):
So like it. It's really hard and it also.
Speaker 17 (41:41):
To be honest, the playoff is such, it's like the
NCAA tournament, right, Nobody really pays attention to the AP
poll after the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 6 (41:50):
Well, actually there is no APO pole.
Speaker 17 (41:51):
They don't pay attention to the coaches poll because the
tournament decides everything.
Speaker 6 (41:55):
And that's kind of what's going on with football.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Well, speaking of the tournament, justthing, the FBS commissioners and
presidents and chancellors got together on Sunday before the game
and there was no changes made to the format for
the CFP. But they're saying that everything's on the table.
And I guess the most likely or the most anticipated
potential change would be eliminating the idea that the top
(42:21):
four seeds all have to be conference champions. A lot
of people want to see that go away. I guess
John Twofold number one, what's your opinion on that? Is
it time to just give the top four seeds to
the top four teams period, regardless of whether or not
they won their conference? And do you think the conference commissioners,
chancellor's presidents will vote for that to go away?
Speaker 6 (42:43):
I do think they need to change it. I don't
think it's fair.
Speaker 17 (42:46):
For instance, Oregon plays a quarterfinal game against the number
one is playing number six.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
That just is not right.
Speaker 17 (42:55):
But I don't think it's going to change for this
coming season because it would take all of the conferences
to unanimously vote for the change after next seed, and there's.
Speaker 6 (43:08):
No reason for the Group of five, for the ACC,
for the Big twelve to.
Speaker 17 (43:12):
Agree to a change that's going to just set the
SEC and Big ten up for more riches and more success. Right,
this is like a line in the sand between the
two big ones and everybody else. I do think that
in twenty twenty six we'll see that because at that point,
the SEC and Big ten can just make up whatever
(43:33):
rules they want for the playoff.
Speaker 6 (43:35):
And that was a big you know, that's a.
Speaker 17 (43:38):
Not being talked about, but like this was a huge
playoff for the Big ten, not only on the field
but in the boardroom because their success gives them a
lot of leverage to negotiate a new format in two
years that will suit them and suit the SEC well.
Speaker 4 (43:56):
And speaking to the converce standpionship games, I saw where
the last four national champions either failed to make their
conference championship game like Ohio State or failed to win
their conference championship game. So is there any other reason
besides money television money of one particular conference championship game,
that we even have those conference title games anymore?
Speaker 2 (44:15):
And do you think we'll have them in ten years?
Speaker 6 (44:17):
I don't think so, but you're right, the SEC is
gonna be the holdout.
Speaker 17 (44:21):
And I think the SEC gets fifty million first championship
game from the ESPN. It's a huge number. PAC twelve
game I want to say, was worth like twenty twenty five.
My I guess there's big ten, you know, big tens
up there. But the SEC is also does blockbuster ratings.
That's gonna be the sticking point in getting rid of
(44:42):
the conference championships. The other thing they could do, and
I agree like George is a great example, right if
they were gonna be in the playoffs no matter what,
they had to play the conference championship game and they
lost their quarterback, So you do wonder competitively if it
is worth it.
Speaker 6 (44:59):
But the bigger issue is.
Speaker 17 (45:01):
The calendar, right, if we want to move there, I
think they need to move this playoff back closer to
January first. The championship game closer January.
Speaker 6 (45:11):
First, how do you do that?
Speaker 17 (45:13):
Do you start everybody week zero in late August? Do
you get rid of the conference championship games? They have
a calendar problem, and when the NFL goes to eighteen games,
it's going to become an even bigger problem for college
football to be playing in January.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Well, I know a lot of people were complaining about
that that it just didn't have the buzz on Monday night,
you know, Inauguration Day, MLK Day, the playoffs the day before,
all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
So we'll see.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
I haven't seen ratings yet for last night, but I'm
curious to see what they look like. But John, I
threw a poll out on Twitter, and I want to
get your thoughts on this. John Wilner is with us,
obviously from the San Jose Mercury News, courtesy of our
friends at Simply Seattle, watching that game last night, having
thinking one thing when am I beloved Husky is going
to be back in that game and playing again for
(45:59):
the national title. So we asked people to pick four options.
A within five years, B within ten years, C twenty
years or D more than twenty How long a wait? Well,
I have to endure and Dick to see this team
back in the national championship game like they were a
year ago.
Speaker 6 (46:19):
Ooh, that's a great quy. I'd love to know what
the results are.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
I tell you right now. I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Thirty two percent say within ten years, twenty seven percent
say within five, twenty percent say twenty years, and twenty
one percent say more.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Than even as the boards it's all over the place.
Speaker 17 (46:38):
Man, what do you think I would go five to
ten years? I think that the the program has got
what you need. It's got the foundation that you need
to get there. But the you know, the grind is
going to be difficult, and especially in the next few
years with all this revenue sharing, and we talked about
(46:59):
it before. Is Washington all in? And then is Washington
willing to go over the cap like its competitors in
Eugene and Columbus are gonna do.
Speaker 6 (47:08):
I think they can get back there. I mean, you know,
that's a program that made the.
Speaker 17 (47:13):
New Year six four times in ten years, right they
if you got the right coach and you've got the
institutional support, they can get there.
Speaker 4 (47:23):
John, you talked to a couple of college hoops analytics
people about how they'd fix the college football playoff selection.
Tell us about that deep dive, and can we see
like a college football version of the Ken Palm rankings
helping seed these teams?
Speaker 6 (47:39):
Yeah? I did because I was fascinated by it.
Speaker 17 (47:42):
Seemed to me like the committee had no idea what
to do with the unbalanced conference schedules right. For instance,
Ohio State played ten States, Oregon, and Indiana, but those
other three teams didn't play each other? So how do
you figure that out when you're doing the rankings and
the seedings. So I asked Ken and a guy named
Kevin Paga, who has another basketball metric, and and their
(48:05):
big thing was the sports are two different because you
can measure every basketball possession results in either points or
no points, so you can you can assign numbers to those.
Speaker 6 (48:17):
But football is so much more nuanced. Do you assign
a point.
Speaker 17 (48:20):
If you got if you get six yards on first down?
Or do you sign a point if you get four
yards on first down? It's it's so nuanced with the
way the game is played that it's gonna be hard
for them to ever come up with a version of
Ken Tom for basketball well speak.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
Yeah, speaking of basketball, John and John Wilner again is
with us. Courtesy is simply a seattle. We'll just play
a quick little game of agree or disagree, and you
tell me if you agree or disagree with this statement.
Speaker 2 (48:45):
All right, you're ready. Mick Cronin is a whiny.
Speaker 6 (48:50):
What's his deal?
Speaker 2 (48:51):
John? Agree or disagree?
Speaker 6 (48:55):
I would not I would not quite go that far.
Speaker 17 (48:58):
But I agree with you in principle that it is
ridiculous for anybody of those four schools to be complaining.
Speaker 6 (49:06):
About the travel, and especially at that school. So uh,
but that is that mix too.
Speaker 9 (49:13):
Uh.
Speaker 17 (49:13):
You know, that's the good and the bad of Mick
Cronin is he's gonna do something like that.
Speaker 6 (49:18):
But I mean, I got a good laugh, and I'm
sure a lot of people did well.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
And just so people know, Mick cron and the UCLA
had basketball coaches complaining about all the travel that they
have to endure. We saw the stop you orelebrity twice
and three weeks blah blah blah.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
It's like, come on, man, figure it out.
Speaker 4 (49:33):
You knew this was coming from pastics, no kidding, O
kidding well, speaking of a coach and the other guys.
Speaker 17 (49:38):
One of those one of those times they saw it
was their own doing. They agreed to play in North
Carolina in New York City. That's their own scheduling, not
the Big Ten.
Speaker 2 (49:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (49:47):
Yeah, speaking of coaches complaining, I know this is a
couple of weeks old, but I don't think we've talked
about it. John, what'd you think of Jim Mora calling
out Wazoo for tampering.
Speaker 6 (49:58):
I was surprised. I'm always prize coaches go public like that.
Speaker 17 (50:04):
Everybody's doing it, and you know Mora's doing it in
some way, shape or form, or his staff is doing
it in some way, shape or form. But I guess
he feels like, you know what, I'm at Yukon and
I can I can do whatever I want. The other
thing we don't know is like what were the negotiations
like between Washington State and Jim Mora or his representation.
Speaker 6 (50:26):
If there were negotiations, then that I don't know.
Speaker 17 (50:29):
That kind of blurs the line a little bit. You
can have some conversations with players that you wouldn't otherwise have.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
Well, I know a lot of us are waiting for
the spring portal coming up in April. You know, the
Huskies still could use some help along the defensive and
defensive lines. I also saw where the Coaches Association I think,
came out and recommended just to do the one portal
in the spring and dump the December portal. I'm not
sure how much power they've got, how much teeth they've got.
(50:56):
But do you see that eventually in the in the
near future being a reality.
Speaker 6 (51:02):
I don't know that.
Speaker 17 (51:03):
It's maybe if they're gonna have one portal, it's probably
more likely to be in the spring. The issue is
is the enrollment for spring semesters and winter quarters, so
that's what makes it tricky to limit it.
Speaker 6 (51:20):
In the winter time.
Speaker 18 (51:22):
Uh.
Speaker 17 (51:23):
But I just don't think they're gonna anytime you take
something back, you're gonna get sued.
Speaker 6 (51:28):
The nation has seen this for years. If you if
you restrict rights that.
Speaker 17 (51:34):
Athletes have currently, somebody's gonna follow lawsuit and the NCAA
is gonna lose. Generally speaking, I always assume the opposite
of whatever the Coaches Association says or does, because they
are the worst. That's the worst group to uh, you know,
come up with policy, right. They don't get they're all
(51:55):
out for the you know, right, they're so territorial, they're
so paranoid. You cannot listen to the coaches. You can't
let the coaches dictate.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
Anything, John before I let you go.
Speaker 4 (52:05):
I kind of feel like this move to the playoffs
has made college football more of a national sport instead
of a regional sport. I feel like we're moving away
from being more like baseball and moving more towards being
like the NFL. Do you do you feel like college
football got more popular and people in other parts of
the country are paying attention to other conferences now since
(52:28):
there's really only two major ones.
Speaker 6 (52:32):
I think the combination of playoff expansion and realignment has
done that.
Speaker 18 (52:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (52:37):
Did you guys see the ratings for the bowl games
that aren't part of the playoffs?
Speaker 2 (52:42):
They were up huge, really.
Speaker 17 (52:44):
And the games on ABC were at The bowl games
on ABC were at like an eleven year high.
Speaker 6 (52:51):
I think it has playffor expansion has increased interest in
the sport nationally. Certainly, you know.
Speaker 17 (52:58):
Boise State as those schools never would have gotten in
those conferences, never would have gotten in without expansion.
Speaker 6 (53:04):
I think what this is going to lead to is
more Bowl games. Get ready.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
Yeah, yeah, well, I want to congratulate you, by the way,
on finishing fourteen and nine in your twenty three week
run this year.
Speaker 2 (53:17):
Yeah, you were. I gotta be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (53:20):
You were nine and nine heading into the Penn State
SMU game and you close the year with five consecutive
wins to get to fourteen and nine.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
So if any future degenerates out there need gambling advice,
John Wilner is your man. Hey man, great stuff, and
we'll talk on a week. Buddy, appreciate that.
Speaker 6 (53:38):
Let let freezing cold cakes know about that and put
at the banks.
Speaker 2 (53:42):
I will.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
I will get to them on behalf of you and
make sure they're aware of your greatness. All right, John Wilner.
With us, we're gonna break
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