January 8, 2026 • 52 mins
In the third hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain talk to Hugh Millen about the latest news that Demond Williams is returning to the Washington Huskies, then take calls from fans reacting to UW’s quarterback coming back, then Kraken coach Lane Lambert joins.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood. Lady, you know that
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Speaker 2 (00:18):
Now from the Star Rentals Sports Tests your ninety three
point three KJRFM Sports headlines.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
All right, we're back on a busy Thursday night from
the five twenty Bar and Grill headlines. Right here, Saftie
Dick Jackson, brought to you by a friends and Frost
Brewed Coors Light shoes. Chill, baby, you tell me if
this is an appropriate drop, by the way, for this
story that we're about to read here Dick on.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
The air, I cannot believe it.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
This just in What a world, man, what a world?
As my friend just said to me on text. Demon
Williams announcing on Instagram, I'm gonna just read this statement
to you guys if I can. After thoughtful reflection with
my family, I am excited to announce I will continue
my football journey at the University of Washington. I am
(01:02):
deeply grateful to my coaches, teammates, and everyone in the
program for fostering an environment where I can thrive, both
as an athlete and as an individual. I am fully
committed and focused on contributing to what we are building. Additionally,
I apologize at the timing of these events coincided with
the celebration of life for me A Hammond, a beloved
(01:22):
member of our university community. I never intended to call
attention away from such an important moment. I am excited
to reunite with my teammates and to lead the University
of Washington to success in the twenty twenty six season
and beyond.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
Go Huskies.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Demon Williams, two days after announcing he wants to put
his name in the transfer portal, has decided to pull
his name out and continue as a Husky on myl.
Speaker 6 (01:47):
And let me quickly just jump in and let you
know that Pat Chun and Jedfish have now made official
statements as well by Washington housee Athletics, and they have
confirmed that he's back, and statements are long where they
talk about the complex process that has gone on over
the last few days.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Got you all right, Well, why don't we just stay
with this story, Dick and just get humoing on right now?
Speaker 7 (02:09):
Can you add this to the list of you know,
would you have thought that Pete Carroll, after leading the
Trojans with lead Shawks and the Super Bowl and the
Sonics thirteen years after going to the twelve years after
going to the Finals, would not be around anymore?
Speaker 8 (02:21):
Nope, this was about as likely as those things happening.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
I think you're right, come back and play.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Well.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
We talked about this on Tuesday night when it came
down that you just can never say no to any possibility,
and I guess him returning was one of them, and
we could never say no to that.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Well.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I don't know, man, There's a big part of me
that doesn't like it. There's a part of me that
is okay with it. I don't know how I feel
right now. I got a lot of emotions swimming around
in my brain. To be honest with you. As a
Husky fan. Hugh Millan, who once quarterback the Huskies to
a number one ranking forty two years ago in eighty four,
not many guys can say that. Not many opinions matter
(02:54):
more than this guy, and he joins us right now
on the ear, Hueie, He's back.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
I don't like it for many many reasons. I don't
like it.
Speaker 9 (03:04):
First of all, I don't I don't buy that he
had to change of heart when he went into the
the the portal, he had to do not contact designation.
What does that signify to you that he had a
specific team in mind. My hunch can't prove it. My
hunch is that the specific team was LSU, and that
(03:27):
with the threat of the legal action that LSU, you
notice nothing's coming out of LSU. And I think there's
a high probability that this about face has more to
do with what his options were and the legal ease,
whether LSU even wanted to to bite into that apple,
(03:49):
and and so you know, among many reasons, that that's
one reason where I'm I'm just.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
I'm not buying it, Hugh.
Speaker 7 (03:59):
I a one hundred agree with you as far as
that being the most likely reason that Demon William is
doing this. My question to you is do you think
that over time, after we hear a public apology, hopefully
we'll hear something more than just the Instagram post. After
Fall Camp Spring Camp Fall Camp, he rips up the
crap that we're going to play in September. He's on
(04:21):
the Heisman Trophy list before we even play a Big
ten game. Do you think a majority of Husky fans
and even yourself will be like, all right, let's roll.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
I'm with him.
Speaker 9 (04:31):
Well, there's very distinct entities that demand Williams has to
deal with the fans. Absolutely, that's a factor. If you've
got booing fans, that is bad energy for any team
professionals to operate within, let alone college players. So that
is far less than ideal. And so that could be
(04:52):
an issue. And look, I coached youth and high school
football for twenty four seasons and the resident of the
of the Youth Association asked me to be on the board.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
I served.
Speaker 9 (05:04):
I've given a lot of thought to UH leadership and
and what constitutes a team being tight and what have you.
And I've always said to my own sons, to the
to the kids, it's a great privilege to to UH,
to coach young people. I say, look, if you have
(05:24):
somebody apologize to you and a sincere apology, only a
complete a hole rejects a sincere apology. And on the
other hand, in lot because because you're gonna make mistakes
in life, and and when you do, you better realize it,
and you better give a legitimate apology, not a gaslighting apology.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
Well, I'm sorry if I offended. You know what that means.
Speaker 9 (05:47):
That's that means that, uh, that you're the one who's
too sensitive. No, a legit apology is is I screwed
up your right to be mad or hurt or whatever
it is. And and so there is that portion. I
believe in all of that. I also believe there's consequences
for actions. And and Demon Williams is old enough to
(06:09):
go to war and get carved up. He's a he's
a grown ass man adult, and he knows there are
consequences to what he did. And and one of the
things I'm just anticipating right now, which I'm gonna roll
my eyes and I and and I can just see
all the suckers buying this is we're gonna have Jetfish
come on and say everything's fine with the players. No,
the players are fine. And there's gonna be two or
(06:32):
three guys go on on record and say no, we
love Demon, everything's fine, And then a lot of people,
hundreds thousands of people are gonna draw conclusion. See everybody's
fine with demand. No, the guys that that that don't
feel that way, they're not gonna say anything, and they're
gonna get They're gonna quietly grouse. And so the leadership
(06:53):
it has been frayed in ways that might not.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Be uh repaarable for a lot of people on that team.
Speaker 9 (07:00):
You can take the porcelain egg off the mantel and
it can fall and shatter on the go. You can
pick it up and you can glue it back together
piece by piece, and you can stick it back up
on that mantle. Guess what, it still has cracks. It's
never the same. And and where this could play out.
You talk about the fans, I said, there's an energy
in that stadium. Yeah, you're right, he's gonna he's gonna
(07:21):
blow up September and Washington State and Utah State and
Eastern Washington.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
He's gonna blow them up. That's what he did last year.
That's what he does. That's who he is.
Speaker 9 (07:29):
He's he's the the number one drop in performance quarterback
in all of power for a quarter I can give
you the numbers to prove it. And so yeah, he's
gonna carve that up. But when things get tough, they're
gonna play Indiana at home, Iowa at home, Minnesota, Penn State.
There's gonna be at Oregon at Nebraska at some point
when things are going tough. That leadership that he has
(07:53):
it is thin, it is, and it's gonna fall through
the ice because it's thin and and and so for me,
I can just see it now. Everybody's gonna try and
convince me and you that everything's five from a leadership standpoint.
I promise you there are dozens scores of Husky players
that are going to be pissed the hell off that
(08:13):
their leaders has done this, particularly if they believe, like
I believe, that it wasn't because he had a change
of heart. It was he realized that he had a
roadblock and he had to turn tail and put his
tail between the legs and come back.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Hugh Milling with us and Dick.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
We've been doing this a long time, combining like sixty
two years on this radio station, and I have just
been I am at a loss for words right now, man,
I am at an absolute loss for words because what
I've been doing on this radio show is just sharing
my emotions with fans for three decades, and I sometimes
I think, do an okay job of turning those emotions
(08:52):
into words you and putting them out over the air.
Sometimes I do a terrible job of putting those emotions
into words. I'm just gonna speak from the heart as
much as I can, and if it makes sense, I
guess it makes sense.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
If it's translatable, then great.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
There's a big part of me right now that is
just saddened by this whole thing, you know what I'm saying,
Because You've got a large portion of this fan base
as we're sitting here on January of the eighth, there's
a large portion of this fan base that doesn't like
the starting quarterback for you, Dub and doesn't want him
to come back and play football for Washington. And I
never want the Husky football fan base to feel like
(09:30):
that about the starting quarterback.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
Ever.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
We've had guys that didn't play well, that got booed
and weren't great performers. But this is different. This is
personal now for a lot of Husky fans, and it
saddens the hell out of me that there's a lot
of people out there that feel that way. And I
don't blame them at all for feeling that way. I'm
kind of one of them. I'm very concerned if this
(09:53):
is the right move by jet Fish to allow this
guy to come back. And Hugh, you may be exactly
right about his reasonings, but I'm nervous about what happens
when he stumbles on the field. I'm nervous about when
he makes a mistake late in a game that costs
the Huskies a game. If it does happen like that
down the road. There's a lot of this decision, Hugh Millan,
(10:13):
for lack of a better word, I guess that just
makes me really really uneasy.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
That's it, just based on the response of the crowd
and the.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Respond yes, everything, the whole thing, the whole story, because
this is I don't know how much people's opinions are
going to change between now in September. I really do
hope Dick and we talked about this on the air
off the year, Hugh as well. I really hope that
Demon Williams talks to the media. I really hope that
Demon Williams has a press conference and answers any and
all questions thrown his way.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
I think he owes that to Husky Nation.
Speaker 9 (10:46):
Well, the only thing that would appease me as a fan.
I'm just talking one fan, one former player, one alum,
what have you, Just one guy. But if he actually
came out and said, which I know he will never
say this. What I'm about to say is not going
to happen. I'm aware of that. But if he said
I didn't have any options, the uh, the the legal
(11:09):
challenges that uh the other schools were going to uh undertake,
they weren't willing to uh you know, they didn't want
that smoke.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
So I'm back here, like I would actually go, whoa, dude.
Speaker 9 (11:22):
There is a transparent uhle right there. I would actually
respect that more than if he tries to say.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Oh, you know, I feel bad for my to because
I don't buy it. Yeah, I don't buy it.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I think that, Yeah, you're he's got to be as
transparent as possible. He's got to be transparent.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah, and you know, we don't know.
Speaker 9 (11:42):
Maybe we will know at some date in the future, dick,
but right now we don't know. And and what happens
is is that there's a visceral response. I'll just speak
for myself. That's like, wait a minute, you're trying this
whole thing. I just smell a whole big buffalo situation,
you know, like like, well, you know they're gonna try
and buffalo us on this and that and this. You know,
(12:03):
he came back because he wanted he wanted to be
a Husky and and all the players are supporting him.
And I'm my all, my I'm gonna say my ass oh,
I ask so spid somewhere else.
Speaker 7 (12:14):
Totally echoing out all the thoughts I had last hour
and when this first come back came back. And you know,
I think for me, I'm not I don't have any
animus towards Demand Williams, but my outlook towards next year changes,
and I think it goes from hopeful to skeptical. And
what I mean by that is going into this year,
(12:35):
if this never would have happened over this last week,
I was gonna be hopeful all year that the numbers,
the accurate numbers that Hugh Millen has put out numerous
times on the air that he just did ten minutes
ago about demand against the crappy teams versus the good teams.
I was gonna be hopeful that with another year of seasoning,
those were gonna change.
Speaker 8 (12:55):
Well, Hugh and Dave. I have gone from hopeful to
you sure has helped.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Man.
Speaker 7 (13:01):
If you put us through this, I you better turn
it around against the best teams in the country.
Speaker 8 (13:08):
Because otherwise, what did we go through this for.
Speaker 7 (13:11):
We could have gotten Boprabulah to go eight and four,
We could have gotten any of these dudes off the
anybody could have gone eight and four with this football
team coming back this year. If you're gonna do this
to us, Demand, you sure as hell better beat those
good teams, go ten and two and get to the
college football players right now.
Speaker 8 (13:31):
That's how I'm treating him right now.
Speaker 9 (13:33):
Jed Fish has compared Demand to Kyler Murray, who was
a Heisman Trophy winner, number one overall pick and a
two hundred and fifty million dollars quarterback. Right now, I
haven't seen any evidence that he's anything more than Dorian
Thompson Robinson, who was a damn good quarterback through for
ten thousand, seven hundred yards at UCLA. I remember a
game in the Rose Bowl where down on the goal
(13:56):
line dtr put a funk move on some Husky defender.
I can't remember who it was, but it's like, oh
my god, he just he just undressed him right there
at the goal line, like he was a hell of
an athlete. But you know what, he lost four games
is second to last year. He lost four games. His
last year he was drafting the third round. There was
a big difference between Kyler Murray and DTR. And right now,
(14:18):
all all I see is something in akin of DTR.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So you're right. I think the one way he can
he can get.
Speaker 9 (14:25):
Everybody back is go play at a Heisman level that
I don't think he's capable of doing it. I do
think it's possible that he can do it. I think
he's talent enough that he could do it. If I'm betting,
I would bet he would not do it, and I
and one of the reasons I would bet he would
not do is right now, this fractures the covenant that
he has with his teammates.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
And and it.
Speaker 9 (14:42):
Might be fine when you're beating up on Utah State
aggies and then everybody's chest bump when you go, you know,
oh wow, look at that. They seem to be resolved.
But then when when the rubber hits the road in
the U you know, in the middle of the third
quarter and you're down ten or fourteen to Indiana or
Penn State or whomever whatever it is. Then how how
(15:04):
deep is their bond Because if you're gonna have a
special season, that bond has to be deep. And uh,
he's he's gonna he's gonna have to thread the needle
in multiple ways to somehow acquire that back.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, I'm just I'm floored by this. I'm very curious
to see how this plays back. I mean, there's a
gigantic part of me, Hugh and Dick that thinks this
is a bad idea to have him return to you,
dub for everything that you've talked about, Dick and everything
Hugh's talked about that there just seems to be a
lot of drama and a lot of scrutiny and a
lot of barriers that he's gonna have to get through
(15:38):
to make this, you know, feel good for people you
know next time, you know.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
So yeah, you know, and just a quick thought.
Speaker 9 (15:45):
On some level, I was prepared to defend this guy
in the following way, like we have how many people
have unloaded? Hey, a contract's a contract, And it is
absolutely true there are people that are hand shaped people,
and those people are to be recognized and lauded right
in life. But I think you look at what greed is.
(16:05):
Is that not part of the DNA of humanity? Jesus
had more parables about money than lover or any other topic.
Look at Socrates and all the and Shakespeare and all
the humanity the evidence of greed. And I would just
ask this. There are a lot of people people say, well,
you got to honor a contract. You know, want to
(16:26):
know why, because most contracts have to be honored. You
don't get a chance to pull out. But here's a
hypothetical thought experiment. How many And maybe you're a man,
maybe you're forty. You're a forty year old man. You
just agreed to sell your house for four and a
half million, but you got a long list of stuff
you gotta do on the inspection report. Then a guy
(16:46):
comes along four days later and he says, I'll give
you a seven million and waive the inspection. And then
you say, well, oh shoot, I'm under contract. Damn I
just signed a contract. But then they say, you know,
just to the analogy, you know, well, the state legislators
is reviewing these real estate contracts, so you've got a
(17:07):
winding time where you those contracts mean nothing, you can.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Just tear it up.
Speaker 9 (17:11):
How many people wouldn't for an extra two million and
less assle and and and and that that was with
LSU being able to play with uh, you know, better line,
better receivers, what have you. So I'm trying to make
an analogous situation. How many how many forty year olds
or sixty year olds wouldn't if they had an opportunity,
wouldn't walk away from a contract if it was if
(17:34):
they could that gave them more than two million dollars
more and less work. And if you if you say no,
I wouldn't do that at forty how many of you
wouldn't do it when you're twenty. So I don't think
this is a unique problem to college football players and
college coaches. I think this is a unique feature of
most of humanity. There are honorable people, agreed, But a
hell of a lot of people who have been on
(17:56):
there on their bully pulprit just directing all these freaking
arrows at Demon Williams. If they had a chance in
their own life to get out of a similar contract,
you'd be make your head spin?
Speaker 4 (18:07):
How many people do? Because that's part of humanity.
Speaker 9 (18:09):
And that's something Jesus and Shakespeare and Socrates and everybody
else is recognized about humans.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Well, but guess what, Hugh, you might be right about that,
But on the opposite side of that coin, the people
that they would be screwing over would be also pissed
off at them for doing that exactly.
Speaker 9 (18:23):
That's why I said there's consequences to her actions, right, right,
I agree?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
But but yeah, this is wild? Is this not wild? Guys?
Just completely unbelievable. One of the craziest, most insane, unpredictable
stories that we've ever covered here in Seattle.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
It's not It's not gonna go away.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
This will be a bar top coffee talk, water cooler
conversation the entire offseason.
Speaker 7 (18:48):
You think this will end other kids from doing what
them just did when they find out that maybe it
got roadblocked. Yeah, maybe this will stop this from that.
Maybe the mod will be the one and only person that.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Does about that that.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Maybe, Hugh, that you dubbed can be now the straw
that breaks the camel's back and decides change in college football.
Maybe you dubbed us just got to a point where
now kids will think twice about doing this before they
have solid.
Speaker 9 (19:11):
Answers, Well, I think I think it's it would be
a narrow band of influence, and it would be the
group of players that had signed a and relatively iron
clad to the extent that we can have ironclad contracts.
I mean, remember now in contract that you always have
these clauses in any good contract where there's a section
(19:33):
about the what breaches the contract, and then there's a
section about remedies.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
You know, It's just like Jed Fish could have taken the.
Speaker 9 (19:39):
Dallas Cowboy job three days after he signed the Washington job,
and they say, okay, well here you know, is it
a breach? No, here's here's the outlined remedies. I assume
that there was outlined remedies in in uh Demon's contract.
So so I think that the the influence would be
the players. You say, wait a minute, if you sign
(19:59):
one of these nil deals with exclusivity, exclusivity to a
certain school for one year, then you're gonna have, you know,
more entanglements than it's worth if you try and get
out of that.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Right, all right, man, good stuff, More to come. I
guarantee you that I believe more to come. Man, all right,
we'll talk soon. But all right, you bet here milling
with us. By the way, update from the Miami all
missed three nothing Hurricanes late first quarter, uh in that game.
So we're just kind of kind of blow a few
things up here right between now and crack and hockey
(20:36):
at six thirty.
Speaker 10 (20:37):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Let's rob some calls. Let's talk to the audience, Husky fans.
Is your chance to share your take on this? I mean,
the emotions are all over the map on social media
that are all over the map on the text line,
whether good or bad, supportive, not supportive, whatever, Getting a
lot of people texting saying they don't want nothing to
do with them, other people saying map bring them back
and give them a chance to explain himself.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
Man.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
So to Mount Williams, if you're just tuning in right now,
has announced on Instagram that he is going to return
to Washington.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
How about that. Let's get some phone calls.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Two eight six ninety five ninety five eight hundred eight
two nine h ninety five. Oh, your take on this?
Next live on KJR coming up on ninety three three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood and this hour is
brought to you by Duke seafood. Why don't you make
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Speaker 3 (21:32):
All right, so we're back in the five twenty bar
and girl Saftie Dick Jackson with you until six twenty
tonight Cracking Wild by the way, coming up pregame six thirty.
So if you missed the big news, Damon Williams announces
on Instagram he is going to return to Washington next year.
How many people just finding out for the first time
right now, lot in their.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
Car going what did it? Honey? Quiet? Kids? Shut up?
Did he just say he's coming back? Yes?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Demon Williams has claimed on Instagram he is going to return.
Jet fish says over the last few days, Demand and
I have engaged in very honest and heartfelt conversations about
his present and future. We both agree that the U
DUB is the best place for him to continue his academic,
athletic and social development. I appreciate Demon's statement. I support him.
(22:16):
We will work together to begin the process of repairing
relationships and re getting the trust of the Husky community.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
I actually like that quote, by the way, from Jetfish. Yeah,
I like that.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
I like that he said that let's go to the
phone lines. Your take on this man, unbelievable story, just incredible.
Jordan is in Maple Valley, Jordan, you're on KJR with
Softie Dick and Jackson.
Speaker 5 (22:39):
How are you man.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
All right?
Speaker 11 (22:42):
Better than you guys? It sounds like. But I would
just as much as I like that saving from Jetfish,
I would still put a lot of blame on him
for even allowing this to happen, as in welcoming him back,
because where you talked about loyalty the other day, where
is Jed's loyalty to the standard that he's supposed to
be setting as a head coach for the Washington Huskies
(23:06):
Right now, he's basically allowing the fracture to happen in
the locker room as he was talking about by welcoming
him back. And I don't know what it is so
that he can make sure that he can at least
make good on his promises of what demand is going
to be. I liken that to Pete Carroll bringing back
Jamal Adams and paying him outrageous amounts of money so
(23:28):
that he can make himself look good for the trade
and trying to put him in a position to get
all those sacks. That's no different to me than what
Jeded is doing. I don't think the jet has any
credibility anymore based on how he's approaching this, because he's
allowed the cancer to come back in his in his
locker room, and as an adult, you should be able
to set a standard for the team that you're leading,
(23:50):
and I don't think he's doing that here.
Speaker 7 (23:52):
Appreciate I think we need to compare what Jed's looking
at here. Jeed is looking at item option A bringing
Demond back, a guy that everybody already knows, and him
repairing the relationship between Demand and the rest of the
team as option A. Option B is hopefully grabbing someone
(24:14):
out of the transfer portal that will actually get along
and be a leader with a new football team. I
think he's got a better chance, and I think he
believes he's got a better chance repairing the fracture with
Demond with the team that already knows him, versus bringing
a completely new guy in and hoping that guy works
out with his new team.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yeah, I just you know again, I told you the
other day, Dick, that there's three words in this business
that I think we just don't use enough, and it's
I don't know. I don't have any idea how this
is gonna play out. I really don't. I mean, I
think any take that You've got is great and justified.
Any take Jackson's got great justified me. Same thing. This
is such a unique thing that nobody's really ever been
(24:56):
a part of here. This is what the era of
the atmosphere around college football like. Excuse me, So I
don't know. I mean, this could be great. You know,
Demon Williams could handle this unbelievably, say everything he's got
to say, win fans back, go ball out right, and
be an unbelievable ambassador for you Dub and make people
forget about this. Or this could be an absolute disaster
(25:17):
for Washington. So I don't know where this is gonna go.
You know, from a media perspective, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 8 (25:24):
What does disaster look like here?
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Disaster means that half the fan base doesn't like this guy,
doesn't want him as a starting quarterback, and doesn't want
a guy that quit on the team's under center for you,
Dub half the fan base thinks that the only reason
why he's coming back is because he was shut down
by LSU and he had no choice. When he struggles,
people kill him even more than they were killing him
a year ago.
Speaker 8 (25:43):
Do you think that affects the win loss record?
Speaker 7 (25:45):
Though?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Uh, what do you mean effects the win loss record?
But if he plays poorly an effect and win loss.
Speaker 8 (25:49):
Yeah, I think he's gonna play poor.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
I mean, if he hears booze in his own stadium,
you don't think his confidence could be rattled?
Speaker 5 (25:55):
Dick, I just don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
I don't want to make any proclamations about any of
this stuff. I mean, this is exactly the conversation that
you and I had on Tuesday night that you don't
want to say no to anything in college football. And
I got no idea how this fan base is going
to react. I mean, I'm seeing a lot on Twitter
that don't like this move, that hate it for the program,
and a lot of people on Twitter that love it
for the program. I don't know, honestly, if I can
(26:19):
remember the Husky fan base being this split on a
topic ever, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
Man.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
All right, Jackson, let's go Who's next? David and Pugh Allum, David,
you're on the air.
Speaker 12 (26:29):
Go ahead, Hey, good evening, guys. Hey listening to you
guys talk and specifically you talking about like the egg
and the ball and you put it back together, and
there's always craft. This could potentially go really really deep
into the team itself, in fracturing the team itself and
(26:50):
players not wanting to play for him block for him,
you know, and I would hope not. They're but they're
eighteen nineteen year old kids that have emotions and are
hurt by a person that they thought was their teammate
and their leader.
Speaker 10 (27:07):
And just left and now he's coming back.
Speaker 12 (27:10):
So I think the mending and the healing that Fish
needs to really make an emphasis of. I think that's
a really really important part here, because if he doesn't
really get the team all in alignment going the same
place and going the same way for their quarterback, it
(27:32):
could be not just a terrible disaster, it could be
a catastrophe and you know, for the team and for
Demon and just everybody associated with Washington, it could just
could really really suck if he doesn't get everybody on
the same line.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Well, the good news for Jet, he's got nine months, right,
He's got nine months to get that done. There's going
to be a lot of new players on this football
team that don't have any preconceived notions or relationship with
Demon William, so they'll only know that Demon post portal
chaos story. So that's good. I mean the fact that
this happened now with nine months to go. But you
know again, I mean, I just think all those things
(28:06):
are all those things are possible. I'm just really curious,
Dick to see how Washington handles this with Demand from
a public facing perspective. Do they shut him down, does
he say anything? Is he persioned on Grada? Does Jed
address this? Do we wait until springball now to hear
from Demand in person?
Speaker 5 (28:23):
Do we hear from Jed right away?
Speaker 3 (28:25):
I mean, I'd put both of them on the air
tomorrow and get him in a room and have him answered.
I would just rip off the band aid as quickly
as possible. Any question that anybody has is fair game,
and I would get through them all asap.
Speaker 7 (28:40):
I would be massively disappointed if those two were not
given the opportunity to talk to the media before springball,
and then we go into spring ball and they're saying
this football only questions, right, I mean, I would be
massively and I think that'd be a bad look for
the UDUB if that happen.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Right, yeah, yeah, again, I just don't know, two years
covering this football team if I've ever seen this fan
base fractured like this, Man, Brian's and Berry and Brian,
You're on the air with Softie Dick Jackson, Go ahead, man.
Speaker 13 (29:09):
Based off the ay Dick boy, you he wasn't pissed.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Off, was he? Yeah?
Speaker 12 (29:15):
Right?
Speaker 5 (29:16):
Oh, we go.
Speaker 13 (29:18):
I I personally am just shocked at how shocked people are.
I just I've seen this coming for a long time.
I I mean, it's you follow the coaches, these kids,
see what the coaches do. It's a big money grab.
I mean, I can't believe this is the first time
this has happened, quite honestly.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Yeah, yeah, I mean quite, uh that first time?
Speaker 5 (29:44):
That's what that what's happened. I'm sorry, what do you
mean by that?
Speaker 13 (29:48):
So that somebody's tried to break contract that they just signed.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
All right? Got you?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Well you know, And then to Dick's point, because Dick
asked earlier, and I appreciate the comment, what's the difference
between like you know Frick's. I think Vincent Holmes, the safety,
put his name in the portal, took it out. Will
Rogers put his name in the portal too, but he
hadn't played here yet. That's right, because he remember he
committed to Debor and that Jed talked him out of
stay in or talked to him into staying. I think
it's different when you have a starting quarterback. I think
it's different when you combined like there was a there
(30:16):
was a stu, a salad of negativity that was involving
this story. You had the deal he signed, and then
you lost a couple of guys in the portal and
maybe you want to back, maybe partially because you're paying
him four million dollars. Then you had the timing of
the announcement, obviously, which came during.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
Me as service.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
And then you had the fact that he's the quarterback
and supposed to be the leader.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
He's supposed to be the.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Guy that doesn't quit on the football team, and he
quit on the football team, and he's gonna have to
mend a lot of fences.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
Man, there is no doubt about that.
Speaker 7 (30:48):
What's fascinating to me, and it just keeps rattling through
my head is that the Q rating of de Mon
Williams is so high, right, much higher than it was
a week ago. Twenty five or less percent of college
football man knew who DeMont Williams was a week ago.
Right now, almost one hundred percent of college football fans
know who DeMont Williams are. Do you think that positively
affects the publicity that Washington gets going into this season
(31:13):
and maybe even gives him a better chance of being
ranked in the top twenty five because everybody knows who
their quarterback is and everybody knows he was wanted by LSU.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yeah, well more people know him now than before, There's
no question about that. I mean, this was the biggest
story in college football for the last forty eight hours, right,
even bigger than these games, bigger than the right. It
was unbelievable. So we'll do this.
Speaker 5 (31:32):
We're gonna break Jackson. Can we any more calls? Next segment?
Does that work? Two?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Age six, ninety five, ninety five to Mont Williams announcing
he's returning to Washington.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
Your take? Next? On ninety three three KJARFM.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood and this hour is
brought to you by Duke Seafood. Why don't you make
it a Duke's Night tonight. Reserve your table today at
dukeseafood dot com. Now back to Softy and Dick on
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
All right, we're back in the five twenty bars and
Grail saw if you Dick Jackson with you until six
twenty tonight. I don't do this very often, but I
want to just before we get the phone calls on
this story. By the way, you're tuning in right now.
Demon Williams is returning to UDUB. Yes that's true, all right,
No it is not. It is January eighth. He is
returning to U dub. He announced on his Instagram account
(32:19):
a few what about half hour ago or so Jackson
officially that he is returning. I want to just read
you guys real quick, and just got a quick thought
from both of you before we go back to the
phone calls. Here what I just wrote on x or Twitter.
Sometimes the idiot and me, it helps me to put
some thoughts down on my Twitter account. So I said,
here's my take. I've gone from anger to uneasiness. I
(32:43):
don't know if allowing Damon back is the right thing.
If you asked me yesterday, I would say no, and
I still think i'd say no. This is unlike anything
I think I've ever experienced as a Husky fan. I've never,
in thirty two years in this business, seen the fan
base this split on an issue this big. To say
that I'm nervous and skeptical about how it will out
is an understatement.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
How do you feel? So that's what I just put
on Twitter. So your thoughts on that.
Speaker 7 (33:05):
I think the last time this this school was this
split was probably whether to fire Tyrone Willingham or not,
because I remember that was after the seven season. Yes,
that was a fifty to fifty split right down the middle.
Half of them were saying ty sucks him and saying, oh,
I'll give him one more He's you know, let's let's
give him one more chance.
Speaker 8 (33:22):
But you know, I agree with you. I think uneasy
he's a great word for me.
Speaker 7 (33:26):
I just think there's a whole lot that Demon Williams
has to prove to me over the next twelve months.
First of all, he's got a he's got to prove
that he's contrite and I need more than an Instagram post.
I need to hear from Demon Williams. I need to
sit in the same room with the Mon Williams at
a press conference and look at his face while he's
saying it.
Speaker 8 (33:45):
I need to see it from Jed Fish as well.
Speaker 7 (33:47):
Yeah, and then I need Demon Williams to play better
than he did this year.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Yeah, he's going to have to be coached up on
how to deal with the media too. And the questions, Man,
no doubt, Jackson, what do you think?
Speaker 5 (33:56):
I hate this?
Speaker 4 (33:57):
I hate all this.
Speaker 6 (33:58):
And I thought, listen, I'm staying open to hearing from
him at a press conference and he better be very,
very emotional, and that better be real, real emotion, not
fake emotion that comes from a young kid who's forced
to give it. But right now, listen, as a Husky fan,
this kid just said, ooh, more money at LSU. And
whoever people in his corner, his dad is, you know,
(34:19):
people close to the family who convince him to, you know,
agree to make the LSU move, and you go to
the transfer portal like I'm sorry, like all of you,
like I just I am not going to forgive you
very easily. It's gonna take a lot more than winning
nine or ten games, It's gonna take a lot more
than just tears at a press conference. It's gonna take
a lot more than that, because at the end of
(34:40):
the day, man, and we also we all know these
are just you know, paid mercenaries to come for programs.
Speaker 14 (34:46):
We know that's what college football is.
Speaker 6 (34:47):
But damn if I don't try to believe that you
have some loyalty to the purple and gold of the
University of Washington, and for you to throw that loyalty
away for a couple million bucks and then to throw
it away well, doing it during the during what happened
to Mia Hamman and everything in the University Washington a
couple of days ago. To put your announcement on Instagram
(35:08):
during that, well, your teammates and coaches were at her service.
Speaker 5 (35:13):
Man, screw you for doing that.
Speaker 6 (35:14):
I don't care if you're back being the quarterback and
under center at the University of Washington. I will never
forgive you for doing that part of it.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Gotcha? Gotcha all right? Jim and West Seattle. Jim, you're
on with us Toffy Dick Jackson on kJ R, how
are you.
Speaker 15 (35:27):
Man, Well, I'm upset with Judge Fish he's not a
quality coach. It proves the fact that he doesn't have
a backup quarterback. You gotta blame Fish. He praised Williams
as this Greek god player, and I always look at
Don James. He always had one or two quarterbacks who
are upstanding. Remember nineteen eighty five when Hugh Millan came
(35:51):
in and basically should have won the national championship when
they beat Oklahoma. Hugh Millan was not the starter and
who was his backup in nineteen eighty five for Hugh
Millen Paul Chandler.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Well, Paul Sickero was on that team too, Yet Chandler,
he was the Sarler came the year. Chandler came the
year I think I think his first year was eighty
six if I'm not mistaken. But Chandler was not on this.
Chandler was on that team, on the eighty four team.
But guys, can we can we admit into what.
Speaker 15 (36:15):
My point is ahead is that Don James, who was
who is the backup to Billy Holbert, Mark, Mark Rudell,
Jeff Judge.
Speaker 12 (36:23):
Fish did not have a backup quarterback?
Speaker 5 (36:25):
What is this? But he would have gotten Daves? What
is he would have gotten on. I'm sorry, what's his name, David?
I believe Jam, Jim, Jeff Jim.
Speaker 7 (36:32):
You do realize that nil did not exist in nineteen ninety.
Speaker 14 (36:36):
Correct, No team has, No team.
Speaker 7 (36:38):
Has backup quarterbacks now because the backup quarterbacks leave for
starting jobs elsewhere.
Speaker 15 (36:45):
I'm not going to defend fish. I still think he
didn't need to have an outstanding or at least he
should be paying somebody three million as a backup quarterback
or do something, because any any outstanding coach has a backup,
a backup quarterback to help the game. If they don't,
it kind of shows.
Speaker 5 (37:04):
The win gym.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Listen, I got to cut you off because we want
to get some more calls. But I'll just say this,
I appreciate the call. If your point is that he's
only bringing him back because he had no I mean,
he would have gotten somebody, maybe not to Demon Williams level,
And maybe Jed believes that this is the best call
because the guys he could have gotten were not going
to be as good as Demon Williams. But don't allow
what the roster looks like now to dictate to you
(37:26):
what the roster would have looked like in September, he
would have gotten somebody in the portal. I'll just say
that Josh is in Takomba, Joshu are on the air
with us.
Speaker 5 (37:33):
Go ahead, dude, Hey guys.
Speaker 16 (37:36):
So the biggest thing I take away this obviously is
with them on his decision, and with that he brought
so many bridges. He lost so much trust in the team,
the coaching staff, the stan base, And honestly, I don't
see anything outside of a true selfless act like donating
his nil money to cancer research or something like that. Well, actually,
(38:00):
you know, gain that trust back, because right now he
just looks like a selfish guy, right, wrong or indifferent.
That's that's the reality. He brought so much trust here
and he's got to do something truly selfless to actually
try to earn that back.
Speaker 5 (38:13):
Yeah, all right, appreciate the call, man.
Speaker 4 (38:14):
It's interesting.
Speaker 5 (38:16):
I mean, I would add that that would be.
Speaker 7 (38:18):
A show if he if he donated a chunk of
cast in the University of Washington Medical Builders, that would
do a lot for me.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Well, that's how you do it, right, Like you go
to the extremes, right, whether whether negative or whether positive,
you go to the extremes.
Speaker 5 (38:32):
And you you.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
You have a press conference with the press, and you
take every question and you blame nobody but yourself, and
you make an announcement like that that you know, fifty
percent of your nil is going right back to the
cancer research center over at UDUB or Fred hutch or
whatever you you. You go all out. Your legacy is
on the line here, right and that's important. It may
(38:55):
not be important to him right now, but when he's
fifty two years old like us, it'll damn well be important.
By the way, let's get one more Marcus an ever
it Mark, you're on the air, Go.
Speaker 17 (39:03):
Ahead, man, hey man, thanks for taking my call and
talk with you guys in a long time. But I
definitely had to chime in.
Speaker 16 (39:10):
On this one.
Speaker 12 (39:11):
I'm not forgiving this kid.
Speaker 5 (39:13):
Well.
Speaker 17 (39:13):
He just put the fan base through what he put
you through, what he put so many people through.
Speaker 12 (39:18):
This last you know, two three days is insane. The
fact that it could even be allowed, I I you know,
should we all pinch ourselves?
Speaker 17 (39:27):
Are we really live in this new reality where every
year we have to have the feeling that our coach
or our players are always going to leave. It's yeah,
I'm so lost, you know, I've been going to game
since nineteen eighty, had seven tickets last nineteen years, and
this year I was just pretty much saying, Hey, I
guess I'm just going to go for your twenty and
(39:47):
then just watch them from the sofa because the investment
in this sport is not it's not giving me the
returns that I'm wanting.
Speaker 10 (39:56):
And then to allow a.
Speaker 12 (39:57):
Kid to do this, to manipulate us, and you know,
I'd be sick.
Speaker 17 (40:02):
I'm a grown ass man, but man, this kid, he
twisted and turned like a knife in our back and
I just don't see how you come back from that.
And when I heard the report that if there was
a possibility of him coming back, I would just like.
Speaker 10 (40:14):
There's no way.
Speaker 17 (40:15):
There's no way, because I'm gonna be in my seat
and I'm gonna have to foo this kid because he
deserves it.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Man, well I will. I will say this. Man, I
appreciate the call. Uh, this is just one player's opinion
who's no longer on the roster. But Zion Tupoloa Fatui
just tweeted out, I don't know, man, it's gonna be
hard to It's gonna be a hard relationship to fix
this with the fan base. I think the damage is done,
says ZTF. Okay, so there's gonna be a lot of
(40:44):
X players that will have a take on this, and
some will support and some will criticize. But either way,
I think I would just hope that one thing all
of us can agree is that whether we like it
or whether we don't like it, or whether we're indifferent.
Speaker 5 (40:56):
There's risk here. Yeah, there's risk.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Risk and letting this develop and letting this happen the
way it did. So let's hope it's all worth it, right.
Let's hope that demand handles it the right way. Let's
help Jet and Pat Chun handle it the right way.
Let's hope the university handles it the right way, and
that we can move on.
Speaker 5 (41:15):
Hear what we need to hear, see what we need
to see.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
And the risk turns into a major reward for everybody,
and that there's a happy ending to this story. Right now,
in my gut, I am extremely uneasy about this. Okay,
I'll just leave it at that for now. We've got
a break cracking coming up.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Welcome to a special Cracking game Day where you could
win a dream trip to Tokyo by donating blood today
for all the details log on the bloodworksnw dot org
slash win. Now it's cracking game day with Softy anddig.
Speaker 5 (41:48):
Evan's through the logo. Hands it off to Cocko.
Speaker 8 (41:51):
Now Jet Side steps this way in.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
Gatrou and fought cock up.
Speaker 14 (42:03):
Berkley Catton's got two howry boys and girls.
Speaker 8 (42:06):
There you go.
Speaker 14 (42:07):
Big night for Berkeley Catton.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
We'll see if he can do it again tonight against Minnesota,
don't you know on the head coach of the white
freaking Hot Seattle Crack and oh my god, eight oh
to one in their last nine.
Speaker 14 (42:19):
They've won four in a row.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
And I gotta be honest with you, man, if this
team starts losing again, I'm getting the hell off this
interview because ever since I've been gone, they've been kicking
everybody's ass. And the head coach Lane Lambert before tonight's
came of Minnesota joining us right now on the radio show, Coach,
how are you man?
Speaker 16 (42:38):
Good?
Speaker 10 (42:38):
Good?
Speaker 16 (42:38):
Thanks?
Speaker 10 (42:40):
I actually can't even believe you're on this interview.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
Listen, man, you know what, I gotta get that vacation
time out of the way before the year comes to
an end.
Speaker 14 (42:50):
But I am volunteering.
Speaker 5 (42:52):
Man.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
If this doesn't continue, I will sit aside and Dick
can take over. So what has been the key to
all this? This team has turned it around a total
one eighty. You haven't lost in nine games. What's what's
your take on what's been spurring this run?
Speaker 16 (43:09):
Man?
Speaker 10 (43:11):
Well, first, let's go back to the before the nine games.
We thought we were you know, we thought we were
playing pretty well during the stretch where we were not winning.
We were coming on there out on the wrong side,
just finding ways to lose by one goal. You know,
we had tied or leading in third periods and just
making some mistakes that we that we couldn't afford to make.
(43:34):
We've cleaned those up a little bit. Our power play
has been good, our penalty kill has been better, and
our goaltenders have been playing excellent for us. So, you know,
just a little bit of a little bit of a change.
Sometimes it's a little puck luck, but certainly the guys
are committed and they're playing for each other, and you know,
(43:55):
it's nice to see.
Speaker 7 (43:56):
Let's talk about the offensive game plan, because these numbers
are even for a dummy like me to come up
with the average you had in your losing stretch, you
had twenty two goals in eleven games for two goals
per game. In the last nine games, you've scored thirty six,
so you've exactly doubled your goals per game output in
the last nine games.
Speaker 4 (44:16):
What is the reason for that?
Speaker 10 (44:20):
I think that, you know, I think our power plays
hot and again, we were getting chances back in that stretch,
and we just weren't capitalizing on them. Sometimes, you know,
with the ebbs and flows of the season, you know,
sometimes you get hot and sometimes you don't. And I
(44:41):
think the biggest concern is always if you're not getting
the chances, and you know, we were getting the chances,
we just weren't finding a way to get it into
the back of the net. And now we are so
again it's good to see and we would love it
to keep going in that trend.
Speaker 14 (44:58):
Well, that coach, that highlight we heard they are coming
in Berkeley.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
Caton second of his two goals the other night against Boston.
Give us if you can a little bit of insight
into this kid. Young guy had his first two goals.
What's he been like behind the scenes. How is he
handling being a.
Speaker 14 (45:14):
Professional at such a young age.
Speaker 10 (45:15):
So far, he's doing a really good job, you guys,
and you know you're right. It is a young age.
You know, his teammates love him.
Speaker 4 (45:25):
Uh, he's uh, he's.
Speaker 10 (45:28):
Living with Chandler Stevenson's family, So that's a really positive
thing for him, you know, just to get his his
feet under him here as a as a pro hockey player.
This is not an easy job. It's not an easy league.
It's completely different from where he came from. And the
one thing that I've thought he's done a really really
(45:51):
good job of is he's handled and I'm sure inside
it's probably bothered him a little bit obviously, but he's
handled the fact that he hasn't scored up until the
other night, he hasn't scored a goal. He's handled it
very well. And I think he's kept his confidence through
the whole thing, because I haven't seen a change in
(46:12):
him in terms of how he wants the puck, the
place he makes with the puck. A lot of times
when guys lose their confidence, they just want to get
rid of the puck, and that's not the way it
is for him. So I think he's done a real
good job of handling a little bit of adversity. And
I'm hoping that you know, these these sort of monkey
off the back goals can get him going here even better.
Speaker 7 (46:37):
Cracking head coach Lane Lambert joining us here in ninety
three point three KJRFM coach. We talked a lot about
the second half of back to backs and that was
a struggle for this franchise, dating before you even got here. Well,
you've had a lot of back to backs recently, and
in the second half of back to backs recently you're
three to zero to one. So was there a different
(46:57):
plan put in place over the last two three weeks
to kind of deal with those second half of the
back to backs.
Speaker 10 (47:06):
I mean, it's just a mindset and it's a mentality,
and you know, as a coaching staff, we've really tried
to drill at home that there aren't any excuses. You
can't use it as an excuse. We've tried to use
our entire bench to the best of our abilities and
distribute those ice times over the course and not only
the first game of the back to back, but also
(47:27):
the second game of the back to back. We've talked
about having and needing to get contributions from everyone, and
so that's part of what it is, you know, to
maintain and manage the fatigue level. And our goaltenders have
played well, and we've kind of ran into a little
bit of a scenario which is different than they've had
(47:47):
in the past here where Joey's played the second game
of the back to back instead of the first game
of the back to back, and I think both goaltenders
have played extremely well. I don't care who you are
in this league, if you don't have a goalie that
plays well in a back to back, you don't stand
much of a chance of winning because it is a
more difficult game to play, especially when you have teams
(48:09):
sitting there waiting for you, like Boston was here for
two days waiting for us. You know, Vancouver was here
waiting for us, you know, coming out of the break.
So I think we've done a pretty good job from
that standpoint of managing the goaltenders.
Speaker 3 (48:23):
Yeah, well, coach, before we talk about Minnesota tonight, we're
just talking on the air, off the air about you know,
what you guys are doing on the ice since I
was on vacation and you asked me off the ear,
am I superstitious? And I said absolutely, I'm superstitious man.
So again I mean, if you guys lose tonight, this
may be the last you hear from me the entire year.
Speaker 14 (48:41):
I'm telling you right now. So are you superstitious?
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Do you have any crazy, wacky superstitions you can share
with us?
Speaker 10 (48:49):
Well, I won't talk to you if we don't win
the game tonight.
Speaker 4 (48:52):
So here we go about it.
Speaker 14 (48:55):
Get the hell out of here.
Speaker 4 (48:56):
Dam more time off for me.
Speaker 10 (48:59):
Great, Yeah, here, I'll tell you. I'll tell you a
funny story if you got a moment now. I used
to be extremely superstitious when I was with the Washington Capitols.
We were on a ten twelve game winning streak. I
wore the same suit, same tie, everything, and I couldn't
find my tie one night on the way to the game,
and I said to my wife, I go, where's my tie?
(49:19):
Where's that tie? I can't find it? And she said,
why do you need the tie? I said, because we
win with the tie. And she said, what makes you
think that your tie has any bearing on this hockey game?
These National Hockey League players winning this hockey game. And
I thought to myself, you know what, she makes a
(49:40):
pretty good point there. So I completely stopped being superstitious
and we ended up winning the Stanley Cup. How's that?
Speaker 2 (49:46):
There?
Speaker 4 (49:46):
You go?
Speaker 7 (49:47):
Well, the wife always knows, there's no question about that. Hey,
final thing for me, Softie may have one more from me.
Speaker 14 (49:53):
I just want to hear your thoughts about Grooby.
Speaker 7 (49:55):
Grooby had a very rough season last year, there is
no question about and he is playing statistically as well
as he's ever played in his entire career this year.
So what's the change?
Speaker 10 (50:09):
Well, for me, I had Philip Grubauer in Washington. I
don't know what, you know, how it went here the
last little bit, and I don't really care how it
went here the last little bit. I think when I
got the job and him and I had the relationship,
and we brought in Colin Zuliano, our new goalie coach,
who's done an amazing job with all three goalies, I think,
(50:32):
you know, it was just a fresh start for him.
He handled he handled that very well in terms of
you know, his summer and how he prepared, and he
came in focused on one thing and one thing only,
and that was to play well. And he's done it.
And so I'm really really happy for him. I know,
(50:53):
you know, he actually I think he keeps getting asked
questions about last year, but past his past, he's playing
well right now and that's all we care about. And
good for him.
Speaker 3 (51:01):
Yeah, well, coach, before you go, you guys are red hot.
You're facing a really good Minnesota team tonight. Give us
a few seconds on the opponent in the wild tonight.
Speaker 10 (51:09):
Man, extremely good hockey team. You guys like Big, one
of the biggest in the league. They made the trade
for Quinn Hughes, who is arguably the most dynamic defenseman
in the league. You know him and mccarr kind of thing.
But you know, I mean, we we've got our work
(51:29):
cut out for us, there's no question about it. We're
gonna need everybody. We're gonna need good goaltending, and this
is an extremely difficult opponent opponent for us.
Speaker 3 (51:38):
Go get him tonight, coach, best of luck and if
you win, we'll talk in a week. If you lose, Dick,
we'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 4 (51:44):
All right, all right?
Speaker 3 (51:47):
Thanks ye Lei Lambert, head coach of the Kraken. That'll
do it for us. Let's get the heck out of here, Big.
Thanks to the five twenty bar and grill, we got
cracking hockey. Minnesota Head of Boys coming next on ninety
three to three KJRFM. To see a bit
This is Duke of Duke Seafood. Lady, you know that
this hour of softy in Dick on your home for
the Huskies and Kraken is probably brought to you by
Duke Seafood. Why not make it a Duke's night tonight.
Reserve your table today at Dukeseafood dot com on Sports
Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Now from the Star Rentals Sports Tests your ninety three
point three KJRFM Sports headlines.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
All right, we're back on a busy Thursday night from
the five twenty Bar and Grill headlines. Right here, Saftie
Dick Jackson, brought to you by a friends and Frost
Brewed Coors Light shoes. Chill, baby, you tell me if
this is an appropriate drop, by the way, for this
story that we're about to read here Dick on.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
The air, I cannot believe it.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
This just in What a world, man, what a world?
As my friend just said to me on text. Demon
Williams announcing on Instagram, I'm gonna just read this statement
to you guys if I can. After thoughtful reflection with
my family, I am excited to announce I will continue
my football journey at the University of Washington. I am
(01:02):
deeply grateful to my coaches, teammates, and everyone in the
program for fostering an environment where I can thrive, both
as an athlete and as an individual. I am fully
committed and focused on contributing to what we are building. Additionally,
I apologize at the timing of these events coincided with
the celebration of life for me A Hammond, a beloved
(01:22):
member of our university community. I never intended to call
attention away from such an important moment. I am excited
to reunite with my teammates and to lead the University
of Washington to success in the twenty twenty six season
and beyond.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
Go Huskies.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Demon Williams, two days after announcing he wants to put
his name in the transfer portal, has decided to pull
his name out and continue as a Husky on myl.
Speaker 6 (01:47):
And let me quickly just jump in and let you
know that Pat Chun and Jedfish have now made official
statements as well by Washington housee Athletics, and they have
confirmed that he's back, and statements are long where they
talk about the complex process that has gone on over
the last few days.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Got you all right, Well, why don't we just stay
with this story, Dick and just get humoing on right now?
Speaker 7 (02:09):
Can you add this to the list of you know,
would you have thought that Pete Carroll, after leading the
Trojans with lead Shawks and the Super Bowl and the
Sonics thirteen years after going to the twelve years after
going to the Finals, would not be around anymore?
Speaker 8 (02:21):
Nope, this was about as likely as those things happening.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
I think you're right, come back and play.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Well.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
We talked about this on Tuesday night when it came
down that you just can never say no to any possibility,
and I guess him returning was one of them, and
we could never say no to that.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Well.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I don't know, man, There's a big part of me
that doesn't like it. There's a part of me that
is okay with it. I don't know how I feel
right now. I got a lot of emotions swimming around
in my brain. To be honest with you. As a
Husky fan. Hugh Millan, who once quarterback the Huskies to
a number one ranking forty two years ago in eighty four,
not many guys can say that. Not many opinions matter
(02:54):
more than this guy, and he joins us right now
on the ear, Hueie, He's back.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
I don't like it for many many reasons. I don't
like it.
Speaker 9 (03:04):
First of all, I don't I don't buy that he
had to change of heart when he went into the
the the portal, he had to do not contact designation.
What does that signify to you that he had a
specific team in mind. My hunch can't prove it. My
hunch is that the specific team was LSU, and that
(03:27):
with the threat of the legal action that LSU, you
notice nothing's coming out of LSU. And I think there's
a high probability that this about face has more to
do with what his options were and the legal ease,
whether LSU even wanted to to bite into that apple,
(03:49):
and and so you know, among many reasons, that that's
one reason where I'm I'm just.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
I'm not buying it, Hugh.
Speaker 7 (03:59):
I a one hundred agree with you as far as
that being the most likely reason that Demon William is
doing this. My question to you is do you think
that over time, after we hear a public apology, hopefully
we'll hear something more than just the Instagram post. After
Fall Camp Spring Camp Fall Camp, he rips up the
crap that we're going to play in September. He's on
(04:21):
the Heisman Trophy list before we even play a Big
ten game. Do you think a majority of Husky fans
and even yourself will be like, all right, let's roll.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
I'm with him.
Speaker 9 (04:31):
Well, there's very distinct entities that demand Williams has to
deal with the fans. Absolutely, that's a factor. If you've
got booing fans, that is bad energy for any team
professionals to operate within, let alone college players. So that
is far less than ideal. And so that could be
(04:52):
an issue. And look, I coached youth and high school
football for twenty four seasons and the resident of the
of the Youth Association asked me to be on the board.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
I served.
Speaker 9 (05:04):
I've given a lot of thought to UH leadership and
and what constitutes a team being tight and what have you.
And I've always said to my own sons, to the
to the kids, it's a great privilege to to UH,
to coach young people. I say, look, if you have
(05:24):
somebody apologize to you and a sincere apology, only a
complete a hole rejects a sincere apology. And on the
other hand, in lot because because you're gonna make mistakes
in life, and and when you do, you better realize it,
and you better give a legitimate apology, not a gaslighting apology.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
Well, I'm sorry if I offended. You know what that means.
Speaker 9 (05:47):
That's that means that, uh, that you're the one who's
too sensitive. No, a legit apology is is I screwed
up your right to be mad or hurt or whatever
it is. And and so there is that portion. I
believe in all of that. I also believe there's consequences
for actions. And and Demon Williams is old enough to
(06:09):
go to war and get carved up. He's a he's
a grown ass man adult, and he knows there are
consequences to what he did. And and one of the
things I'm just anticipating right now, which I'm gonna roll
my eyes and I and and I can just see
all the suckers buying this is we're gonna have Jetfish
come on and say everything's fine with the players. No,
the players are fine. And there's gonna be two or
(06:32):
three guys go on on record and say no, we
love Demon, everything's fine, And then a lot of people,
hundreds thousands of people are gonna draw conclusion. See everybody's
fine with demand. No, the guys that that that don't
feel that way, they're not gonna say anything, and they're
gonna get They're gonna quietly grouse. And so the leadership
(06:53):
it has been frayed in ways that might not.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Be uh repaarable for a lot of people on that team.
Speaker 9 (07:00):
You can take the porcelain egg off the mantel and
it can fall and shatter on the go. You can
pick it up and you can glue it back together
piece by piece, and you can stick it back up
on that mantle. Guess what, it still has cracks. It's
never the same. And and where this could play out.
You talk about the fans, I said, there's an energy
in that stadium. Yeah, you're right, he's gonna he's gonna
(07:21):
blow up September and Washington State and Utah State and
Eastern Washington.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
He's gonna blow them up. That's what he did last year.
That's what he does. That's who he is.
Speaker 9 (07:29):
He's he's the the number one drop in performance quarterback
in all of power for a quarter I can give
you the numbers to prove it. And so yeah, he's
gonna carve that up. But when things get tough, they're
gonna play Indiana at home, Iowa at home, Minnesota, Penn State.
There's gonna be at Oregon at Nebraska at some point
when things are going tough. That leadership that he has
(07:53):
it is thin, it is, and it's gonna fall through
the ice because it's thin and and and so for me,
I can just see it now. Everybody's gonna try and
convince me and you that everything's five from a leadership standpoint.
I promise you there are dozens scores of Husky players
that are going to be pissed the hell off that
(08:13):
their leaders has done this, particularly if they believe, like
I believe, that it wasn't because he had a change
of heart. It was he realized that he had a
roadblock and he had to turn tail and put his
tail between the legs and come back.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Hugh Milling with us and Dick.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
We've been doing this a long time, combining like sixty
two years on this radio station, and I have just
been I am at a loss for words right now, man,
I am at an absolute loss for words because what
I've been doing on this radio show is just sharing
my emotions with fans for three decades, and I sometimes
I think, do an okay job of turning those emotions
(08:52):
into words you and putting them out over the air.
Sometimes I do a terrible job of putting those emotions
into words. I'm just gonna speak from the heart as
much as I can, and if it makes sense, I
guess it makes sense.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
If it's translatable, then great.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
There's a big part of me right now that is
just saddened by this whole thing, you know what I'm saying,
Because You've got a large portion of this fan base
as we're sitting here on January of the eighth, there's
a large portion of this fan base that doesn't like
the starting quarterback for you, Dub and doesn't want him
to come back and play football for Washington. And I
never want the Husky football fan base to feel like
(09:30):
that about the starting quarterback.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
Ever.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
We've had guys that didn't play well, that got booed
and weren't great performers. But this is different. This is
personal now for a lot of Husky fans, and it
saddens the hell out of me that there's a lot
of people out there that feel that way. And I
don't blame them at all for feeling that way. I'm
kind of one of them. I'm very concerned if this
(09:53):
is the right move by jet Fish to allow this
guy to come back. And Hugh, you may be exactly
right about his reasonings, but I'm nervous about what happens
when he stumbles on the field. I'm nervous about when
he makes a mistake late in a game that costs
the Huskies a game. If it does happen like that
down the road. There's a lot of this decision, Hugh Millan,
(10:13):
for lack of a better word, I guess that just
makes me really really uneasy.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
That's it, just based on the response of the crowd
and the.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Respond yes, everything, the whole thing, the whole story, because
this is I don't know how much people's opinions are
going to change between now in September. I really do
hope Dick and we talked about this on the air
off the year, Hugh as well. I really hope that
Demon Williams talks to the media. I really hope that
Demon Williams has a press conference and answers any and
all questions thrown his way.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
I think he owes that to Husky Nation.
Speaker 9 (10:46):
Well, the only thing that would appease me as a fan.
I'm just talking one fan, one former player, one alum,
what have you, Just one guy. But if he actually
came out and said, which I know he will never
say this. What I'm about to say is not going
to happen. I'm aware of that. But if he said
I didn't have any options, the uh, the the legal
(11:09):
challenges that uh the other schools were going to uh undertake,
they weren't willing to uh you know, they didn't want
that smoke.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
So I'm back here, like I would actually go, whoa, dude.
Speaker 9 (11:22):
There is a transparent uhle right there. I would actually
respect that more than if he tries to say.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Oh, you know, I feel bad for my to because
I don't buy it. Yeah, I don't buy it.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I think that, Yeah, you're he's got to be as
transparent as possible. He's got to be transparent.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah, and you know, we don't know.
Speaker 9 (11:42):
Maybe we will know at some date in the future, dick,
but right now we don't know. And and what happens
is is that there's a visceral response. I'll just speak
for myself. That's like, wait a minute, you're trying this
whole thing. I just smell a whole big buffalo situation,
you know, like like, well, you know they're gonna try
and buffalo us on this and that and this. You know,
(12:03):
he came back because he wanted he wanted to be
a Husky and and all the players are supporting him.
And I'm my all, my I'm gonna say my ass oh,
I ask so spid somewhere else.
Speaker 7 (12:14):
Totally echoing out all the thoughts I had last hour
and when this first come back came back. And you know,
I think for me, I'm not I don't have any
animus towards Demand Williams, but my outlook towards next year changes,
and I think it goes from hopeful to skeptical. And
what I mean by that is going into this year,
(12:35):
if this never would have happened over this last week,
I was gonna be hopeful all year that the numbers,
the accurate numbers that Hugh Millen has put out numerous
times on the air that he just did ten minutes
ago about demand against the crappy teams versus the good teams.
I was gonna be hopeful that with another year of seasoning,
those were gonna change.
Speaker 8 (12:55):
Well, Hugh and Dave. I have gone from hopeful to
you sure has helped.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Man.
Speaker 7 (13:01):
If you put us through this, I you better turn
it around against the best teams in the country.
Speaker 8 (13:08):
Because otherwise, what did we go through this for.
Speaker 7 (13:11):
We could have gotten Boprabulah to go eight and four,
We could have gotten any of these dudes off the
anybody could have gone eight and four with this football
team coming back this year. If you're gonna do this
to us, Demand, you sure as hell better beat those
good teams, go ten and two and get to the
college football players right now.
Speaker 8 (13:31):
That's how I'm treating him right now.
Speaker 9 (13:33):
Jed Fish has compared Demand to Kyler Murray, who was
a Heisman Trophy winner, number one overall pick and a
two hundred and fifty million dollars quarterback. Right now, I
haven't seen any evidence that he's anything more than Dorian
Thompson Robinson, who was a damn good quarterback through for
ten thousand, seven hundred yards at UCLA. I remember a
game in the Rose Bowl where down on the goal
(13:56):
line dtr put a funk move on some Husky defender.
I can't remember who it was, but it's like, oh
my god, he just he just undressed him right there
at the goal line, like he was a hell of
an athlete. But you know what, he lost four games
is second to last year. He lost four games. His
last year he was drafting the third round. There was
a big difference between Kyler Murray and DTR. And right now,
(14:18):
all all I see is something in akin of DTR.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So you're right. I think the one way he can
he can get.
Speaker 9 (14:25):
Everybody back is go play at a Heisman level that
I don't think he's capable of doing it. I do
think it's possible that he can do it. I think
he's talent enough that he could do it. If I'm betting,
I would bet he would not do it, and I
and one of the reasons I would bet he would
not do is right now, this fractures the covenant that
he has with his teammates.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
And and it.
Speaker 9 (14:42):
Might be fine when you're beating up on Utah State
aggies and then everybody's chest bump when you go, you know,
oh wow, look at that. They seem to be resolved.
But then when when the rubber hits the road in
the U you know, in the middle of the third
quarter and you're down ten or fourteen to Indiana or
Penn State or whomever whatever it is. Then how how
(15:04):
deep is their bond Because if you're gonna have a
special season, that bond has to be deep. And uh,
he's he's gonna he's gonna have to thread the needle
in multiple ways to somehow acquire that back.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, I'm just I'm floored by this. I'm very curious
to see how this plays back. I mean, there's a
gigantic part of me, Hugh and Dick that thinks this
is a bad idea to have him return to you,
dub for everything that you've talked about, Dick and everything
Hugh's talked about that there just seems to be a
lot of drama and a lot of scrutiny and a
lot of barriers that he's gonna have to get through
(15:38):
to make this, you know, feel good for people you
know next time, you know.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
So yeah, you know, and just a quick thought.
Speaker 9 (15:45):
On some level, I was prepared to defend this guy
in the following way, like we have how many people
have unloaded? Hey, a contract's a contract, And it is
absolutely true there are people that are hand shaped people,
and those people are to be recognized and lauded right
in life. But I think you look at what greed is.
(16:05):
Is that not part of the DNA of humanity? Jesus
had more parables about money than lover or any other topic.
Look at Socrates and all the and Shakespeare and all
the humanity the evidence of greed. And I would just
ask this. There are a lot of people people say, well,
you got to honor a contract. You know, want to
(16:26):
know why, because most contracts have to be honored. You
don't get a chance to pull out. But here's a
hypothetical thought experiment. How many And maybe you're a man,
maybe you're forty. You're a forty year old man. You
just agreed to sell your house for four and a
half million, but you got a long list of stuff
you gotta do on the inspection report. Then a guy
(16:46):
comes along four days later and he says, I'll give
you a seven million and waive the inspection. And then
you say, well, oh shoot, I'm under contract. Damn I
just signed a contract. But then they say, you know,
just to the analogy, you know, well, the state legislators
is reviewing these real estate contracts, so you've got a
(17:07):
winding time where you those contracts mean nothing, you can.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Just tear it up.
Speaker 9 (17:11):
How many people wouldn't for an extra two million and
less assle and and and and that that was with
LSU being able to play with uh, you know, better line,
better receivers, what have you. So I'm trying to make
an analogous situation. How many how many forty year olds
or sixty year olds wouldn't if they had an opportunity,
wouldn't walk away from a contract if it was if
(17:34):
they could that gave them more than two million dollars
more and less work. And if you if you say no,
I wouldn't do that at forty how many of you
wouldn't do it when you're twenty. So I don't think
this is a unique problem to college football players and
college coaches. I think this is a unique feature of
most of humanity. There are honorable people, agreed, But a
hell of a lot of people who have been on
(17:56):
there on their bully pulprit just directing all these freaking
arrows at Demon Williams. If they had a chance in
their own life to get out of a similar contract,
you'd be make your head spin?
Speaker 4 (18:07):
How many people do? Because that's part of humanity.
Speaker 9 (18:09):
And that's something Jesus and Shakespeare and Socrates and everybody
else is recognized about humans.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Well, but guess what, Hugh, you might be right about that,
But on the opposite side of that coin, the people
that they would be screwing over would be also pissed
off at them for doing that exactly.
Speaker 9 (18:23):
That's why I said there's consequences to her actions, right, right,
I agree?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
But but yeah, this is wild? Is this not wild? Guys?
Just completely unbelievable. One of the craziest, most insane, unpredictable
stories that we've ever covered here in Seattle.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
It's not It's not gonna go away.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
This will be a bar top coffee talk, water cooler
conversation the entire offseason.
Speaker 7 (18:48):
You think this will end other kids from doing what
them just did when they find out that maybe it
got roadblocked. Yeah, maybe this will stop this from that.
Maybe the mod will be the one and only person that.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Does about that that.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Maybe, Hugh, that you dubbed can be now the straw
that breaks the camel's back and decides change in college football.
Maybe you dubbed us just got to a point where
now kids will think twice about doing this before they
have solid.
Speaker 9 (19:11):
Answers, Well, I think I think it's it would be
a narrow band of influence, and it would be the
group of players that had signed a and relatively iron
clad to the extent that we can have ironclad contracts.
I mean, remember now in contract that you always have
these clauses in any good contract where there's a section
(19:33):
about the what breaches the contract, and then there's a
section about remedies.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
You know, It's just like Jed Fish could have taken the.
Speaker 9 (19:39):
Dallas Cowboy job three days after he signed the Washington job,
and they say, okay, well here you know, is it
a breach? No, here's here's the outlined remedies. I assume
that there was outlined remedies in in uh Demon's contract.
So so I think that the the influence would be
the players. You say, wait a minute, if you sign
(19:59):
one of these nil deals with exclusivity, exclusivity to a
certain school for one year, then you're gonna have, you know,
more entanglements than it's worth if you try and get
out of that.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Right, all right, man, good stuff, More to come. I
guarantee you that I believe more to come. Man, all right,
we'll talk soon. But all right, you bet here milling
with us. By the way, update from the Miami all
missed three nothing Hurricanes late first quarter, uh in that game.
So we're just kind of kind of blow a few
things up here right between now and crack and hockey
(20:36):
at six thirty.
Speaker 10 (20:37):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Let's rob some calls. Let's talk to the audience, Husky fans.
Is your chance to share your take on this? I mean,
the emotions are all over the map on social media
that are all over the map on the text line,
whether good or bad, supportive, not supportive, whatever, Getting a
lot of people texting saying they don't want nothing to
do with them, other people saying map bring them back
and give them a chance to explain himself.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
Man.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
So to Mount Williams, if you're just tuning in right now,
has announced on Instagram that he is going to return
to Washington.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
How about that. Let's get some phone calls.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Two eight six ninety five ninety five eight hundred eight
two nine h ninety five. Oh, your take on this?
Next live on KJR coming up on ninety three three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood and this hour is
brought to you by Duke seafood. Why don't you make
it a Duke's night tonight. Reserve your table today at
dukeseafood dot com. Now back to Softy and Dick on
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
All right, so we're back in the five twenty bar
and girl Saftie Dick Jackson with you until six twenty
tonight Cracking Wild by the way, coming up pregame six thirty.
So if you missed the big news, Damon Williams announces
on Instagram he is going to return to Washington next year.
How many people just finding out for the first time
right now, lot in their.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
Car going what did it? Honey? Quiet? Kids? Shut up?
Did he just say he's coming back? Yes?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Demon Williams has claimed on Instagram he is going to return.
Jet fish says over the last few days, Demand and
I have engaged in very honest and heartfelt conversations about
his present and future. We both agree that the U
DUB is the best place for him to continue his academic,
athletic and social development. I appreciate Demon's statement. I support him.
(22:16):
We will work together to begin the process of repairing
relationships and re getting the trust of the Husky community.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
I actually like that quote, by the way, from Jetfish. Yeah,
I like that.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
I like that he said that let's go to the
phone lines. Your take on this man, unbelievable story, just incredible.
Jordan is in Maple Valley, Jordan, you're on KJR with
Softie Dick and Jackson.
Speaker 5 (22:39):
How are you man.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
All right?
Speaker 11 (22:42):
Better than you guys? It sounds like. But I would
just as much as I like that saving from Jetfish,
I would still put a lot of blame on him
for even allowing this to happen, as in welcoming him back,
because where you talked about loyalty the other day, where
is Jed's loyalty to the standard that he's supposed to
be setting as a head coach for the Washington Huskies
(23:06):
Right now, he's basically allowing the fracture to happen in
the locker room as he was talking about by welcoming
him back. And I don't know what it is so
that he can make sure that he can at least
make good on his promises of what demand is going
to be. I liken that to Pete Carroll bringing back
Jamal Adams and paying him outrageous amounts of money so
(23:28):
that he can make himself look good for the trade
and trying to put him in a position to get
all those sacks. That's no different to me than what
Jeded is doing. I don't think the jet has any
credibility anymore based on how he's approaching this, because he's
allowed the cancer to come back in his in his
locker room, and as an adult, you should be able
to set a standard for the team that you're leading,
(23:50):
and I don't think he's doing that here.
Speaker 7 (23:52):
Appreciate I think we need to compare what Jed's looking
at here. Jeed is looking at item option A bringing
Demond back, a guy that everybody already knows, and him
repairing the relationship between Demand and the rest of the
team as option A. Option B is hopefully grabbing someone
(24:14):
out of the transfer portal that will actually get along
and be a leader with a new football team. I
think he's got a better chance, and I think he
believes he's got a better chance repairing the fracture with
Demond with the team that already knows him, versus bringing
a completely new guy in and hoping that guy works
out with his new team.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yeah, I just you know again, I told you the
other day, Dick, that there's three words in this business
that I think we just don't use enough, and it's
I don't know. I don't have any idea how this
is gonna play out. I really don't. I mean, I
think any take that You've got is great and justified.
Any take Jackson's got great justified me. Same thing. This
is such a unique thing that nobody's really ever been
(24:56):
a part of here. This is what the era of
the atmosphere around college football like. Excuse me, So I
don't know. I mean, this could be great. You know,
Demon Williams could handle this unbelievably, say everything he's got
to say, win fans back, go ball out right, and
be an unbelievable ambassador for you Dub and make people
forget about this. Or this could be an absolute disaster
(25:17):
for Washington. So I don't know where this is gonna go.
You know, from a media perspective, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 8 (25:24):
What does disaster look like here?
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Disaster means that half the fan base doesn't like this guy,
doesn't want him as a starting quarterback, and doesn't want
a guy that quit on the team's under center for you,
Dub half the fan base thinks that the only reason
why he's coming back is because he was shut down
by LSU and he had no choice. When he struggles,
people kill him even more than they were killing him
a year ago.
Speaker 8 (25:43):
Do you think that affects the win loss record?
Speaker 7 (25:45):
Though?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Uh, what do you mean effects the win loss record?
But if he plays poorly an effect and win loss.
Speaker 8 (25:49):
Yeah, I think he's gonna play poor.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
I mean, if he hears booze in his own stadium,
you don't think his confidence could be rattled?
Speaker 5 (25:55):
Dick, I just don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
I don't want to make any proclamations about any of
this stuff. I mean, this is exactly the conversation that
you and I had on Tuesday night that you don't
want to say no to anything in college football. And
I got no idea how this fan base is going
to react. I mean, I'm seeing a lot on Twitter
that don't like this move, that hate it for the program,
and a lot of people on Twitter that love it
for the program. I don't know, honestly, if I can
(26:19):
remember the Husky fan base being this split on a
topic ever, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
Man.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
All right, Jackson, let's go Who's next? David and Pugh Allum, David,
you're on the air.
Speaker 12 (26:29):
Go ahead, Hey, good evening, guys. Hey listening to you
guys talk and specifically you talking about like the egg
and the ball and you put it back together, and
there's always craft. This could potentially go really really deep
into the team itself, in fracturing the team itself and
(26:50):
players not wanting to play for him block for him,
you know, and I would hope not. They're but they're
eighteen nineteen year old kids that have emotions and are
hurt by a person that they thought was their teammate
and their leader.
Speaker 10 (27:07):
And just left and now he's coming back.
Speaker 12 (27:10):
So I think the mending and the healing that Fish
needs to really make an emphasis of. I think that's
a really really important part here, because if he doesn't
really get the team all in alignment going the same
place and going the same way for their quarterback, it
(27:32):
could be not just a terrible disaster, it could be
a catastrophe and you know, for the team and for
Demon and just everybody associated with Washington, it could just
could really really suck if he doesn't get everybody on
the same line.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Well, the good news for Jet, he's got nine months, right,
He's got nine months to get that done. There's going
to be a lot of new players on this football
team that don't have any preconceived notions or relationship with
Demon William, so they'll only know that Demon post portal
chaos story. So that's good. I mean the fact that
this happened now with nine months to go. But you
know again, I mean, I just think all those things
(28:06):
are all those things are possible. I'm just really curious,
Dick to see how Washington handles this with Demand from
a public facing perspective. Do they shut him down, does
he say anything? Is he persioned on Grada? Does Jed
address this? Do we wait until springball now to hear
from Demand in person?
Speaker 5 (28:23):
Do we hear from Jed right away?
Speaker 3 (28:25):
I mean, I'd put both of them on the air
tomorrow and get him in a room and have him answered.
I would just rip off the band aid as quickly
as possible. Any question that anybody has is fair game,
and I would get through them all asap.
Speaker 7 (28:40):
I would be massively disappointed if those two were not
given the opportunity to talk to the media before springball,
and then we go into spring ball and they're saying
this football only questions, right, I mean, I would be
massively and I think that'd be a bad look for
the UDUB if that happen.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Right, yeah, yeah, again, I just don't know, two years
covering this football team if I've ever seen this fan
base fractured like this, Man, Brian's and Berry and Brian,
You're on the air with Softie Dick Jackson, Go ahead, man.
Speaker 13 (29:09):
Based off the ay Dick boy, you he wasn't pissed.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Off, was he? Yeah?
Speaker 12 (29:15):
Right?
Speaker 5 (29:16):
Oh, we go.
Speaker 13 (29:18):
I I personally am just shocked at how shocked people are.
I just I've seen this coming for a long time.
I I mean, it's you follow the coaches, these kids,
see what the coaches do. It's a big money grab.
I mean, I can't believe this is the first time
this has happened, quite honestly.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Yeah, yeah, I mean quite, uh that first time?
Speaker 5 (29:44):
That's what that what's happened. I'm sorry, what do you
mean by that?
Speaker 13 (29:48):
So that somebody's tried to break contract that they just signed.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
All right? Got you?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Well you know, And then to Dick's point, because Dick
asked earlier, and I appreciate the comment, what's the difference
between like you know Frick's. I think Vincent Holmes, the safety,
put his name in the portal, took it out. Will
Rogers put his name in the portal too, but he
hadn't played here yet. That's right, because he remember he
committed to Debor and that Jed talked him out of
stay in or talked to him into staying. I think
it's different when you have a starting quarterback. I think
it's different when you combined like there was a there
(30:16):
was a stu, a salad of negativity that was involving
this story. You had the deal he signed, and then
you lost a couple of guys in the portal and
maybe you want to back, maybe partially because you're paying
him four million dollars. Then you had the timing of
the announcement, obviously, which came during.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
Me as service.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
And then you had the fact that he's the quarterback
and supposed to be the leader.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
He's supposed to be the.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Guy that doesn't quit on the football team, and he
quit on the football team, and he's gonna have to
mend a lot of fences.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
Man, there is no doubt about that.
Speaker 7 (30:48):
What's fascinating to me, and it just keeps rattling through
my head is that the Q rating of de Mon
Williams is so high, right, much higher than it was
a week ago. Twenty five or less percent of college
football man knew who DeMont Williams was a week ago.
Right now, almost one hundred percent of college football fans
know who DeMont Williams are. Do you think that positively
affects the publicity that Washington gets going into this season
(31:13):
and maybe even gives him a better chance of being
ranked in the top twenty five because everybody knows who
their quarterback is and everybody knows he was wanted by LSU.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yeah, well more people know him now than before, There's
no question about that. I mean, this was the biggest
story in college football for the last forty eight hours, right,
even bigger than these games, bigger than the right. It
was unbelievable. So we'll do this.
Speaker 5 (31:32):
We're gonna break Jackson. Can we any more calls? Next segment?
Does that work? Two?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Age six, ninety five, ninety five to Mont Williams announcing
he's returning to Washington.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
Your take? Next? On ninety three three KJARFM.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood and this hour is
brought to you by Duke Seafood. Why don't you make
it a Duke's Night tonight. Reserve your table today at
dukeseafood dot com. Now back to Softy and Dick on
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
All right, we're back in the five twenty bars and
Grail saw if you Dick Jackson with you until six
twenty tonight. I don't do this very often, but I
want to just before we get the phone calls on
this story. By the way, you're tuning in right now.
Demon Williams is returning to UDUB. Yes that's true, all right,
No it is not. It is January eighth. He is
returning to U dub. He announced on his Instagram account
(32:19):
a few what about half hour ago or so Jackson
officially that he is returning. I want to just read
you guys real quick, and just got a quick thought
from both of you before we go back to the
phone calls. Here what I just wrote on x or Twitter.
Sometimes the idiot and me, it helps me to put
some thoughts down on my Twitter account. So I said,
here's my take. I've gone from anger to uneasiness. I
(32:43):
don't know if allowing Damon back is the right thing.
If you asked me yesterday, I would say no, and
I still think i'd say no. This is unlike anything
I think I've ever experienced as a Husky fan. I've never,
in thirty two years in this business, seen the fan
base this split on an issue this big. To say
that I'm nervous and skeptical about how it will out
is an understatement.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
How do you feel? So that's what I just put
on Twitter. So your thoughts on that.
Speaker 7 (33:05):
I think the last time this this school was this
split was probably whether to fire Tyrone Willingham or not,
because I remember that was after the seven season. Yes,
that was a fifty to fifty split right down the middle.
Half of them were saying ty sucks him and saying, oh,
I'll give him one more He's you know, let's let's
give him one more chance.
Speaker 8 (33:22):
But you know, I agree with you. I think uneasy
he's a great word for me.
Speaker 7 (33:26):
I just think there's a whole lot that Demon Williams
has to prove to me over the next twelve months.
First of all, he's got a he's got to prove
that he's contrite and I need more than an Instagram post.
I need to hear from Demon Williams. I need to
sit in the same room with the Mon Williams at
a press conference and look at his face while he's
saying it.
Speaker 8 (33:45):
I need to see it from Jed Fish as well.
Speaker 7 (33:47):
Yeah, and then I need Demon Williams to play better
than he did this year.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Yeah, he's going to have to be coached up on
how to deal with the media too. And the questions, Man,
no doubt, Jackson, what do you think?
Speaker 5 (33:56):
I hate this?
Speaker 4 (33:57):
I hate all this.
Speaker 6 (33:58):
And I thought, listen, I'm staying open to hearing from
him at a press conference and he better be very,
very emotional, and that better be real, real emotion, not
fake emotion that comes from a young kid who's forced
to give it. But right now, listen, as a Husky fan,
this kid just said, ooh, more money at LSU. And
whoever people in his corner, his dad is, you know,
(34:19):
people close to the family who convince him to, you know,
agree to make the LSU move, and you go to
the transfer portal like I'm sorry, like all of you,
like I just I am not going to forgive you
very easily. It's gonna take a lot more than winning
nine or ten games, It's gonna take a lot more
than just tears at a press conference. It's gonna take
a lot more than that, because at the end of
(34:40):
the day, man, and we also we all know these
are just you know, paid mercenaries to come for programs.
Speaker 14 (34:46):
We know that's what college football is.
Speaker 6 (34:47):
But damn if I don't try to believe that you
have some loyalty to the purple and gold of the
University of Washington, and for you to throw that loyalty
away for a couple million bucks and then to throw
it away well, doing it during the during what happened
to Mia Hamman and everything in the University Washington a
couple of days ago. To put your announcement on Instagram
(35:08):
during that, well, your teammates and coaches were at her service.
Speaker 5 (35:13):
Man, screw you for doing that.
Speaker 6 (35:14):
I don't care if you're back being the quarterback and
under center at the University of Washington. I will never
forgive you for doing that part of it.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Gotcha? Gotcha all right? Jim and West Seattle. Jim, you're
on with us Toffy Dick Jackson on kJ R, how
are you.
Speaker 15 (35:27):
Man, Well, I'm upset with Judge Fish he's not a
quality coach. It proves the fact that he doesn't have
a backup quarterback. You gotta blame Fish. He praised Williams
as this Greek god player, and I always look at
Don James. He always had one or two quarterbacks who
are upstanding. Remember nineteen eighty five when Hugh Millan came
(35:51):
in and basically should have won the national championship when
they beat Oklahoma. Hugh Millan was not the starter and
who was his backup in nineteen eighty five for Hugh
Millen Paul Chandler.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Well, Paul Sickero was on that team too, Yet Chandler,
he was the Sarler came the year. Chandler came the
year I think I think his first year was eighty
six if I'm not mistaken. But Chandler was not on this.
Chandler was on that team, on the eighty four team.
But guys, can we can we admit into what.
Speaker 15 (36:15):
My point is ahead is that Don James, who was
who is the backup to Billy Holbert, Mark, Mark Rudell,
Jeff Judge.
Speaker 12 (36:23):
Fish did not have a backup quarterback?
Speaker 5 (36:25):
What is this? But he would have gotten Daves? What
is he would have gotten on. I'm sorry, what's his name, David?
I believe Jam, Jim, Jeff Jim.
Speaker 7 (36:32):
You do realize that nil did not exist in nineteen ninety.
Speaker 14 (36:36):
Correct, No team has, No team.
Speaker 7 (36:38):
Has backup quarterbacks now because the backup quarterbacks leave for
starting jobs elsewhere.
Speaker 15 (36:45):
I'm not going to defend fish. I still think he
didn't need to have an outstanding or at least he
should be paying somebody three million as a backup quarterback
or do something, because any any outstanding coach has a backup,
a backup quarterback to help the game. If they don't,
it kind of shows.
Speaker 5 (37:04):
The win gym.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Listen, I got to cut you off because we want
to get some more calls. But I'll just say this,
I appreciate the call. If your point is that he's
only bringing him back because he had no I mean,
he would have gotten somebody, maybe not to Demon Williams level,
And maybe Jed believes that this is the best call
because the guys he could have gotten were not going
to be as good as Demon Williams. But don't allow
what the roster looks like now to dictate to you
(37:26):
what the roster would have looked like in September, he
would have gotten somebody in the portal. I'll just say
that Josh is in Takomba, Joshu are on the air
with us.
Speaker 5 (37:33):
Go ahead, dude, Hey guys.
Speaker 16 (37:36):
So the biggest thing I take away this obviously is
with them on his decision, and with that he brought
so many bridges. He lost so much trust in the team,
the coaching staff, the stan base, And honestly, I don't
see anything outside of a true selfless act like donating
his nil money to cancer research or something like that. Well, actually,
(38:00):
you know, gain that trust back, because right now he
just looks like a selfish guy, right, wrong or indifferent.
That's that's the reality. He brought so much trust here
and he's got to do something truly selfless to actually
try to earn that back.
Speaker 5 (38:13):
Yeah, all right, appreciate the call, man.
Speaker 4 (38:14):
It's interesting.
Speaker 5 (38:16):
I mean, I would add that that would be.
Speaker 7 (38:18):
A show if he if he donated a chunk of
cast in the University of Washington Medical Builders, that would
do a lot for me.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Well, that's how you do it, right, Like you go
to the extremes, right, whether whether negative or whether positive,
you go to the extremes.
Speaker 5 (38:32):
And you you.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
You have a press conference with the press, and you
take every question and you blame nobody but yourself, and
you make an announcement like that that you know, fifty
percent of your nil is going right back to the
cancer research center over at UDUB or Fred hutch or
whatever you you. You go all out. Your legacy is
on the line here, right and that's important. It may
(38:55):
not be important to him right now, but when he's
fifty two years old like us, it'll damn well be important.
By the way, let's get one more Marcus an ever
it Mark, you're on the air, Go.
Speaker 17 (39:03):
Ahead, man, hey man, thanks for taking my call and
talk with you guys in a long time. But I
definitely had to chime in.
Speaker 16 (39:10):
On this one.
Speaker 12 (39:11):
I'm not forgiving this kid.
Speaker 5 (39:13):
Well.
Speaker 17 (39:13):
He just put the fan base through what he put
you through, what he put so many people through.
Speaker 12 (39:18):
This last you know, two three days is insane. The
fact that it could even be allowed, I I you know,
should we all pinch ourselves?
Speaker 17 (39:27):
Are we really live in this new reality where every
year we have to have the feeling that our coach
or our players are always going to leave. It's yeah,
I'm so lost, you know, I've been going to game
since nineteen eighty, had seven tickets last nineteen years, and
this year I was just pretty much saying, Hey, I
guess I'm just going to go for your twenty and
(39:47):
then just watch them from the sofa because the investment
in this sport is not it's not giving me the
returns that I'm wanting.
Speaker 10 (39:56):
And then to allow a.
Speaker 12 (39:57):
Kid to do this, to manipulate us, and you know,
I'd be sick.
Speaker 17 (40:02):
I'm a grown ass man, but man, this kid, he
twisted and turned like a knife in our back and
I just don't see how you come back from that.
And when I heard the report that if there was
a possibility of him coming back, I would just like.
Speaker 10 (40:14):
There's no way.
Speaker 17 (40:15):
There's no way, because I'm gonna be in my seat
and I'm gonna have to foo this kid because he
deserves it.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Man, well I will. I will say this. Man, I
appreciate the call. Uh, this is just one player's opinion
who's no longer on the roster. But Zion Tupoloa Fatui
just tweeted out, I don't know, man, it's gonna be
hard to It's gonna be a hard relationship to fix
this with the fan base. I think the damage is done,
says ZTF. Okay, so there's gonna be a lot of
(40:44):
X players that will have a take on this, and
some will support and some will criticize. But either way,
I think I would just hope that one thing all
of us can agree is that whether we like it
or whether we don't like it, or whether we're indifferent.
Speaker 5 (40:56):
There's risk here. Yeah, there's risk.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Risk and letting this develop and letting this happen the
way it did. So let's hope it's all worth it, right.
Let's hope that demand handles it the right way. Let's
help Jet and Pat Chun handle it the right way.
Let's hope the university handles it the right way, and
that we can move on.
Speaker 5 (41:15):
Hear what we need to hear, see what we need
to see.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
And the risk turns into a major reward for everybody,
and that there's a happy ending to this story. Right now,
in my gut, I am extremely uneasy about this. Okay,
I'll just leave it at that for now. We've got
a break cracking coming up.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Welcome to a special Cracking game Day where you could
win a dream trip to Tokyo by donating blood today
for all the details log on the bloodworksnw dot org
slash win. Now it's cracking game day with Softy anddig.
Speaker 5 (41:48):
Evan's through the logo. Hands it off to Cocko.
Speaker 8 (41:51):
Now Jet Side steps this way in.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
Gatrou and fought cock up.
Speaker 14 (42:03):
Berkley Catton's got two howry boys and girls.
Speaker 8 (42:06):
There you go.
Speaker 14 (42:07):
Big night for Berkeley Catton.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
We'll see if he can do it again tonight against Minnesota,
don't you know on the head coach of the white
freaking Hot Seattle Crack and oh my god, eight oh
to one in their last nine.
Speaker 14 (42:19):
They've won four in a row.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
And I gotta be honest with you, man, if this
team starts losing again, I'm getting the hell off this
interview because ever since I've been gone, they've been kicking
everybody's ass. And the head coach Lane Lambert before tonight's
came of Minnesota joining us right now on the radio show, Coach,
how are you man?
Speaker 16 (42:38):
Good?
Speaker 10 (42:38):
Good?
Speaker 16 (42:38):
Thanks?
Speaker 10 (42:40):
I actually can't even believe you're on this interview.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
Listen, man, you know what, I gotta get that vacation
time out of the way before the year comes to
an end.
Speaker 14 (42:50):
But I am volunteering.
Speaker 5 (42:52):
Man.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
If this doesn't continue, I will sit aside and Dick
can take over. So what has been the key to
all this? This team has turned it around a total
one eighty. You haven't lost in nine games. What's what's
your take on what's been spurring this run?
Speaker 16 (43:09):
Man?
Speaker 10 (43:11):
Well, first, let's go back to the before the nine games.
We thought we were you know, we thought we were
playing pretty well during the stretch where we were not winning.
We were coming on there out on the wrong side,
just finding ways to lose by one goal. You know,
we had tied or leading in third periods and just
making some mistakes that we that we couldn't afford to make.
(43:34):
We've cleaned those up a little bit. Our power play
has been good, our penalty kill has been better, and
our goaltenders have been playing excellent for us. So, you know,
just a little bit of a little bit of a change.
Sometimes it's a little puck luck, but certainly the guys
are committed and they're playing for each other, and you know,
(43:55):
it's nice to see.
Speaker 7 (43:56):
Let's talk about the offensive game plan, because these numbers
are even for a dummy like me to come up
with the average you had in your losing stretch, you
had twenty two goals in eleven games for two goals
per game. In the last nine games, you've scored thirty six,
so you've exactly doubled your goals per game output in
the last nine games.
Speaker 4 (44:16):
What is the reason for that?
Speaker 10 (44:20):
I think that, you know, I think our power plays
hot and again, we were getting chances back in that stretch,
and we just weren't capitalizing on them. Sometimes, you know,
with the ebbs and flows of the season, you know,
sometimes you get hot and sometimes you don't. And I
(44:41):
think the biggest concern is always if you're not getting
the chances, and you know, we were getting the chances,
we just weren't finding a way to get it into
the back of the net. And now we are so
again it's good to see and we would love it
to keep going in that trend.
Speaker 14 (44:58):
Well, that coach, that highlight we heard they are coming
in Berkeley.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
Caton second of his two goals the other night against Boston.
Give us if you can a little bit of insight
into this kid. Young guy had his first two goals.
What's he been like behind the scenes. How is he
handling being a.
Speaker 14 (45:14):
Professional at such a young age.
Speaker 10 (45:15):
So far, he's doing a really good job, you guys,
and you know you're right. It is a young age.
You know, his teammates love him.
Speaker 4 (45:25):
Uh, he's uh, he's.
Speaker 10 (45:28):
Living with Chandler Stevenson's family, So that's a really positive
thing for him, you know, just to get his his
feet under him here as a as a pro hockey player.
This is not an easy job. It's not an easy league.
It's completely different from where he came from. And the
one thing that I've thought he's done a really really
(45:51):
good job of is he's handled and I'm sure inside
it's probably bothered him a little bit obviously, but he's
handled the fact that he hasn't scored up until the
other night, he hasn't scored a goal. He's handled it
very well. And I think he's kept his confidence through
the whole thing, because I haven't seen a change in
(46:12):
him in terms of how he wants the puck, the
place he makes with the puck. A lot of times
when guys lose their confidence, they just want to get
rid of the puck, and that's not the way it
is for him. So I think he's done a real
good job of handling a little bit of adversity. And
I'm hoping that you know, these these sort of monkey
off the back goals can get him going here even better.
Speaker 7 (46:37):
Cracking head coach Lane Lambert joining us here in ninety
three point three KJRFM coach. We talked a lot about
the second half of back to backs and that was
a struggle for this franchise, dating before you even got here. Well,
you've had a lot of back to backs recently, and
in the second half of back to backs recently you're
three to zero to one. So was there a different
(46:57):
plan put in place over the last two three weeks
to kind of deal with those second half of the
back to backs.
Speaker 10 (47:06):
I mean, it's just a mindset and it's a mentality,
and you know, as a coaching staff, we've really tried
to drill at home that there aren't any excuses. You
can't use it as an excuse. We've tried to use
our entire bench to the best of our abilities and
distribute those ice times over the course and not only
the first game of the back to back, but also
(47:27):
the second game of the back to back. We've talked
about having and needing to get contributions from everyone, and
so that's part of what it is, you know, to
maintain and manage the fatigue level. And our goaltenders have
played well, and we've kind of ran into a little
bit of a scenario which is different than they've had
(47:47):
in the past here where Joey's played the second game
of the back to back instead of the first game
of the back to back, and I think both goaltenders
have played extremely well. I don't care who you are
in this league, if you don't have a goalie that
plays well in a back to back, you don't stand
much of a chance of winning because it is a
more difficult game to play, especially when you have teams
(48:09):
sitting there waiting for you, like Boston was here for
two days waiting for us. You know, Vancouver was here
waiting for us, you know, coming out of the break.
So I think we've done a pretty good job from
that standpoint of managing the goaltenders.
Speaker 3 (48:23):
Yeah, well, coach, before we talk about Minnesota tonight, we're
just talking on the air, off the air about you know,
what you guys are doing on the ice since I
was on vacation and you asked me off the ear,
am I superstitious? And I said absolutely, I'm superstitious man.
So again I mean, if you guys lose tonight, this
may be the last you hear from me the entire year.
Speaker 14 (48:41):
I'm telling you right now. So are you superstitious?
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Do you have any crazy, wacky superstitions you can share
with us?
Speaker 10 (48:49):
Well, I won't talk to you if we don't win
the game tonight.
Speaker 4 (48:52):
So here we go about it.
Speaker 14 (48:55):
Get the hell out of here.
Speaker 4 (48:56):
Dam more time off for me.
Speaker 10 (48:59):
Great, Yeah, here, I'll tell you. I'll tell you a
funny story if you got a moment now. I used
to be extremely superstitious when I was with the Washington Capitols.
We were on a ten twelve game winning streak. I
wore the same suit, same tie, everything, and I couldn't
find my tie one night on the way to the game,
and I said to my wife, I go, where's my tie?
(49:19):
Where's that tie? I can't find it? And she said,
why do you need the tie? I said, because we
win with the tie. And she said, what makes you
think that your tie has any bearing on this hockey game?
These National Hockey League players winning this hockey game. And
I thought to myself, you know what, she makes a
(49:40):
pretty good point there. So I completely stopped being superstitious
and we ended up winning the Stanley Cup. How's that?
Speaker 2 (49:46):
There?
Speaker 4 (49:46):
You go?
Speaker 7 (49:47):
Well, the wife always knows, there's no question about that. Hey,
final thing for me, Softie may have one more from me.
Speaker 14 (49:53):
I just want to hear your thoughts about Grooby.
Speaker 7 (49:55):
Grooby had a very rough season last year, there is
no question about and he is playing statistically as well
as he's ever played in his entire career this year.
So what's the change?
Speaker 10 (50:09):
Well, for me, I had Philip Grubauer in Washington. I
don't know what, you know, how it went here the
last little bit, and I don't really care how it
went here the last little bit. I think when I
got the job and him and I had the relationship,
and we brought in Colin Zuliano, our new goalie coach,
who's done an amazing job with all three goalies, I think,
(50:32):
you know, it was just a fresh start for him.
He handled he handled that very well in terms of
you know, his summer and how he prepared, and he
came in focused on one thing and one thing only,
and that was to play well. And he's done it.
And so I'm really really happy for him. I know,
(50:53):
you know, he actually I think he keeps getting asked
questions about last year, but past his past, he's playing
well right now and that's all we care about. And
good for him.
Speaker 3 (51:01):
Yeah, well, coach, before you go, you guys are red hot.
You're facing a really good Minnesota team tonight. Give us
a few seconds on the opponent in the wild tonight.
Speaker 10 (51:09):
Man, extremely good hockey team. You guys like Big, one
of the biggest in the league. They made the trade
for Quinn Hughes, who is arguably the most dynamic defenseman
in the league. You know him and mccarr kind of thing.
But you know, I mean, we we've got our work
(51:29):
cut out for us, there's no question about it. We're
gonna need everybody. We're gonna need good goaltending, and this
is an extremely difficult opponent opponent for us.
Speaker 3 (51:38):
Go get him tonight, coach, best of luck and if
you win, we'll talk in a week. If you lose, Dick,
we'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 4 (51:44):
All right, all right?
Speaker 3 (51:47):
Thanks ye Lei Lambert, head coach of the Kraken. That'll
do it for us. Let's get the heck out of here, Big.
Thanks to the five twenty bar and grill, we got
cracking hockey. Minnesota Head of Boys coming next on ninety
three to three KJRFM. To see a bit
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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