May 14, 2024 • 24 mins
In the second hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain chat with Todd Milles about the WIAA vote against girl’s flag football and Zoom Diallo at Washington, then react to Dick Fain’s opinion about the hatred towards the Thunder lessening when the NBA returns.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Jordia on the radio show. Whenit comes to covering high school sports in
this state, nobody, and Imean nobody does it better than our friend
Todd Millers. Todd, how areyou, man? What's going on?
Hey, guys, good Monday?See you Yeah, you too, Man.
Great to hear your voice. It'sbeen a minute. Good to have
you back on the show. Andyou heard the story there from Dick that
a lot of people, including bythe way, almost the entire Seahawks organization
(00:24):
last week and for the last coupleof months. Really, I can't tell
you how many text messages we gotfrom Mario Bailey on this topic. They
were desperate to try and get girlsflag football sanctioned in this state as a
sports and it fell one vote shorttoday. Why is that and what are
the effects of this? You think? Well, actually, it fell a
(00:46):
few more shorts, a few morevotes than that. I think they needed
sixty percent approval votes, so theyneeded pretty few votes. So they were
what I mean, one six,I mean they were close. Let's let's
put it that way. Why didit fail? Uh? You know that's
a that's the most prong question witha multi prong response. I think people
are gonna look east where there's noflag football being played and go, you
(01:10):
know why, I think, what'staking you guys so long to you know,
familiar eyes with this, get onboard with this. They they just
haven't. Some of that's their budgets, you know, they've they've had some
some budget issues over there and someof their districts, and some of it
is what season do they play itin? Guys? You know over here
on the West Side it's a wintersport, largely because of stilled availability.
(01:33):
And you can't play this in inthe in the frosty cold winter seasons over
in eastern Washington. So I thinkthose were a couple of mitigating factors on
why Eastern Washington somebody over there justjust didn't take the ball by the horn
said hey, let's let's let's getthis thing going at a school or in
a district, or let's start aleague like like Takoma did you know four
years ago and you know it grewfrom from seventeens and you know, four
(01:56):
years ago and now eighty three schoolsin western Washington played played a you know,
a girls flag football season. Sothere's obviously once the momentum gets going,
you know, and with the backingof the Seahawks, and they're three
hundred plus thousand dollars of grants,you know, it catches on pretty quickly.
Correct me if I'm wrong. II read a little bit of politics
(02:17):
in that answer. Is it thefact that Eastern Washington is more read than
Western Washington? And oh, youknow, girls aren't playing football where it's
red as much as we're in inthe West, Or am I and I
read too much? I think thereare a lot of dots you could connect,
Dick. I mean there are others. There are other there are other
states that have had similar issues ingetting girls flag football pass as as Washington,
(02:42):
and that might have something to dowith it. But I think there
are other things in play, thethings that I mentioned before. The question
is I think Dave asked, whatwhat do they what's the recourse? What
do they have to do? What'sthe next step here? They could put
this back on the on the ballotnext year, and I think they will.
I mean, you know, thesenumbers, it's not like lost on
the landslide, right. They couldput this backs on the ballot and in
(03:02):
front of the rep Assembly board fora vote next year, or they could
go the pilot program. The WIAAExecutive Board has a two year pilot program.
They could go that route, remaina club sport, meet some of
the you know, the conditions,trying to get forty percent of their member
schools playing it by year two andif you know, and then that way,
(03:23):
that would sort of side step thewia Rep Assembly part of it.
It would just go to the ExecutiveBoard for approval. So they have a
couple options and what they can donext. But I think you're going to
see this as an amendment or ayou know, a new you know,
an amendment next year where they're goingto vote on at the same time,
you know, same place. Yeah, I would think this eventually passes and
(03:45):
becomes a sport, but for nowit does stays a club sport girls flag
football because it failed to pass today. But Todd Millis is with us on
the air, and Todd, Igot to ask you. You've been covering
high school football, high school basketball, high school sports for a long long
time, and we're starting to seearound the country the NIL era creep into
high school athletics. What's the futureyou think of NIL look like? In
(04:08):
our statement, Well, I meanthe door is open for that in Washington.
I know other states don't allow thatto happen, but I think we're
gonna see that very shortly. Guys, I'm just waiting. I'm fifty three
years old. I'm waiting for thetime that I come up to a high
school athlete and you know where theyHey, you know what am I getting
(04:28):
paid for this? I mean that'sthe right around the corner. So and
you could look at the Metro Leaguewith all those great athletes, those big
names that they're going D one programsin the NBA, and I think that's
probably where where we're going to seeit start. First, wait a minute,
you're telling me that some fifteen yearold kid is gonna pull a Patrick
Beverly on you and say I can'ttalk to you unless you subscribe to my
(04:51):
podcast. That's gonna happen time.I'm not only saying I'm not only saying
that, Dave. I'm also sayingthat he's probably gonna say you that if
you ask him to come on yourshow. Wow. Well, obviously the
Husky's got big news today with greatOsa War, but that's not the only
great player on this Battuh. Yousaw zoom y'allo a lot in high school.
(05:15):
I called him a top five playerin state's history from baseball on what
I've seen. But you've seen alot more zoom than I have. So
give Husky fans an indication of whattype of player they're getting. Yeah,
I mean it's power. It's it'spower and skill. Uh. I did
get to see him play in thebackdrop of the Hoop Summit down in Portland
when the US played the World teamand got to see him play against him
(05:40):
with some of the some of thebest athletes in this class. And does
he have the wiggle that some ofthese guys have? No, but does
he have the skill and the power. And when he gets downhill, you
know, I mean he's got anNBA body. You've seen it stick.
He's a what is he six fourand you know, fit and filled out.
(06:00):
Yeah, and he's gotten bigger sincehe's gone down in the prep school
in California. So very skilled.You're gonna like him. He's a he's
a good natured young man. Justa lot to like about him. And
plus he sees it. I mean, he's got the court vision. He's
not gonna be taking twenty five orthirty shots the game, so the well
rounded and the strength of his gamereally and I got to watch him center
(06:25):
twenty times when he's a Curtis andI know he's better now than he was
a year ago. Well, ToddMillis is with us again, senior writer
for SB Live Washington. Find himon Twitter at many Hats mill Us and
Todd, I want to ask youabout that, because there was a point
in time, you know what,five, six, seven years ago,
maybe even shorter than that, whereSeattle was the epicenter of high school basketball.
(06:46):
It was like New York City inthe sixties and seventies, for God's
sake, And I got frustrated myselfbecause I thought that was the perfect time
for Husky basketball to shine with thetalent in their backyard. It never happened.
How would you compare the overall talentlevel in Seattle based on where it
was when guys like Isaiah Thomas andBrandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Will Conroy,
(07:08):
We're all running around. Oh man, you're putting me on the spot.
I mean, we're talking about someof the best that I've ever come
out of Seattle on that era.I mean, is it's still that hot?
Though individually, I don't know ifit's the depth of it. Like
I'm a big Legend Smiley fan.If anybody that's watched him play basketball,
(07:28):
I think he plays basketball the rightway. I think you can mention him
with the grace that have come outof the city. And I think we're
going to see that next year atGarfield and then when he goes on to
college. But I mean, PaulaVentio is the best. I think he's
the best player I've ever seen comeout of Seattle in high school. I
I've mentioned that last week on socialmedia, I've mentioned that over the last
couple of years. But Michael PorterJunior is pretty good in his one year.
(07:50):
But in terms of comparing them,I just don't think you're seeing the
depth of what we saw with Nateand I mean Jamal back in the day.
I just that era was was special, good guys coming out of Seattle,
no question about it. And maybethis year was a little bit down
in the class of twenty twenty four, but man, it's it's man,
(08:11):
I'm kind of I love the guysfrom the nineties in the early two thousands.
I'm gonna stick with those guys andand I think their track record kind
of you know, speaks for itstuff there. Yeah, it was unbelievable
runner or real quick. I hada conversation when to go back to the
girls flight football for a second.I had a conversation with my daughter yesterday
because you'll show me in high schoolin two years, and really she really
(08:35):
likes, oh my god, isthat ridiculous? Good Lord? And going
on, and we were playing likewe were throwing the ball, right,
I was throwing the ball with her. She wanted to throw the ball with
my son as well. And Itold her, I said, hey,
when you're in I thought this thingwas going to pass. And I was
like, you're gonna have flag footballin high school. What do you want
to play? And She's like,yes, I want to play. I
want to be a quarterback. Andso what do I tell her now?
(08:56):
If it doesn't pass between now andthen, I mean, what opportunity does
does she have? Because it seemedlike under the WIA jurisdiction there will just
be a lot more accessibility because mostschools will actually have a team. I
think it's inevitable. I just okay, you know, there's a reason why
new sports just don't seem to pass. I mean hasn't. We haven't had
(09:18):
a new sport approved since nineteen ninetynine and girls bowling, But there's just
a lot of agendas in a lotof different districts around the state. What
you know, I don't pretend toknow what, just what a district athletic
director in Davenport, Washington was thinkingwhen he voted no or she voted no
on a girls flag football. Ijust think it just needs to sort of
marinate a little longer around the state. Most athletic directors on both sides of
(09:39):
the states I talked to say,Hey, it's inevitable this is going to
get passed. It's just right now. It's what road. Is it going
to be through the rep Assembly oris it going to be a sort of
a two year pilot program And oncethey meet they if they go that route,
they'll meet the criteria and get andget approved one way or another.
So tell your daughter she's going tobe playing thanks in Wi girls like when
(10:00):
she gets to high school. Idon't know when it is your ninth grade
year or sophomore year, but Ican almost guarantee that that that will happen
for her and you tell her,by the way, if she needs any
muscle, I'm her guy. Yeall right, and mess with her.
I'll beat your ass right in themiddle period soft. He's gonna be at
the heart rid not in your flagfootball. Yeah right, waiting for you
by the smoking section. I'm there, Todd, You're the you're the man.
(10:24):
Great stop, dude. Great tohear your voice and we'll talk sooner,
d buddy, you bet? Uh? Todd Millis again with us on
the radio show. Yeah. Imean, it was a big thing for
a couple of weeks and then itkind of went away. But I think
he's right. At some point intime this will get pass. I was
shocked to hear him say there's notbeen a new sport in twenty five years
since girls bowling. Is that true? I guess, Wow, you would
(10:45):
know more than I would, Butwould I know, I'm just than that
I would. But yeah, Ijust think it's a it's a no brainer.
I mean, I've coached flag Icoached flag football for four years and
it is a fabulous sport. Ihad the best player on my team for
all four years, and it wasa boys team. The best player I
(11:05):
had was a girl. The bestplayer I had, and we had a
really good team. And she's goingto Kennedy this year and she's not gonna
get the opportunity to play flag footballat Kennedy. She says, she might
turn out for the tackle football.Yeah, good for her. Isn't this
an Olympic sport now? Flag football? By the way? Or am I
crazy? I think it is?Or did I dream that? By the
way, I may have dreamt thatafter a couple of my ties in Malli
(11:26):
Live from the R and R FoundationSpecialists Broadcast Studio. Now back to Softie
and Dick on your Home for theHuskies and the Cruking Sports Radio ninety three
point three kJ R FM tied atone fifteen Crown rising to the feet George
World of Penn Leonard Spread Floor Leonardwith forty seven to nine, working it
(11:46):
down to two to one A teapthree What Plazers the series of Walk Off,
Straight, Problem Live, Trouble,Way, Fly Fly Away The Plazers
play one eighteen one fifteen the mostin Free. I gotta be honest with
(12:16):
you. I have not been thatturned on in months, by the way.
I was after hearing that you werejust a wife and Hawaii. Yeah,
that's what I'm saying. And yousaid, you said that that was
your favorite play that year. Inthe end, absolutely, that's my favorite
play since two thousand and eight.No, I think that's fair. No,
I think not like to play thatmuch in sixteen years. I think
that's very fair. And and II to this day every time I hear
(12:37):
that Kevin Collaboro, I believe wasgoing to say flying chickens in a barnyard
and help realize that was a Sonicscall, and he held back and said
fly fly away. Well, okay, and that's the team that your hate
is dropping for because waiting a bit. The fact that we have that call
(13:00):
and that is our favorite play insixteen years in the NBA should be proof
positive Jackson enough that all Sonic fansSonic fan excuse me, should hate their
guts and when they do come back, and the cool thing about when they
do come back is there's gonna benatural built in rivalries already, like the
Kraken are kind of looking for alittle bit of a heel here right to
(13:22):
play the role. Yeah, okay, that's not gonna be a problem.
When the Soups come, you'll havePortland, you'll have La, You'll have
Utah and you'll have Oklahoma City.And I hope and those guys come to
our arena when they come to Climateplague Arena. I hope the fans stand
for forty eight minutes and boo themthe entire game every time their offense has
(13:43):
the ball. Well, and andmy hate will be rekindled on those nights
there, question about it. He'slooking for a back alley. Oh no,
I mean on those lights slip out. When the Thunder are playing the
Sonics in Seattle. I mean,that is the perfect place for me to
recall all of that hate. Butwhen the Thunderer playing the Utah Jazz on
a Thursday night in Utah and theyhappen to beat them, Okay, fine,
(14:07):
I don't care, all right,But yes, when they're in Seattle
playing the Sonics, right absolutely,you're telling me if the Dallas Mavericks could
end the Thunder in the second round. Of course, when that happens,
yes to pickle when that happens.But and I'll be thrilled. I don't
know if I'll be as if KyrieIrving hits a shot in Game seven,
(14:31):
yes, to bury the Thunder.I will be tremendously excited. I don't
think I'll ever reach that Damian Lillard. Well, of course, because that
was a game winning buzzer beater fromlike forty feet away and had Kevin Collaboro
on the call. All right,I'm gonna tell you right now, it's
almost not even worth reading the textline because you're getting killed. Well that's
fine, al said. If Iever start is officially insane, And it's
(14:56):
one thing I respect about you becauseno matter how ridiculous people think your take
is, you stick to your gun. If I have I don't know what
if I start spine Island, starvingto death, eating sand, and you
still would stick to your gun.I do not care. If I had
a podcast, I already know thename of the podcast. If I had
a podcast. If I started apodcast, I already know what the name
(15:16):
is. It would be CPI contraryto public opinion, Okay, because I
love when I am contrary to themasses. That is my favorite takes,
Jacks are the ones that ninety percentof the people disagree with. Jackson,
you want to jump in here,all right, So I'm actually I'm actually
happy that Dick got here a littlebit at least a little explain his reasoning
(15:39):
on thought process a little bit ago, where he said, this is like
a deeply personal thing. I don'thold grudges. I think part of that
helps me make sense of where yourhead's at, Dick, because you did
get a few dec I mean,many decades of sonic basketball before they went
away. So now when they comeback, whether it's three years, four
years, whatever, these when thistwenty year span where you didn't have the
(16:02):
Sonics won't be as impactful to youbecause you had all that time. And
you tell us how you somehow stillremember Honking after the nineteen seventy nine champion,
Like, I don't understand that,but regardless, you have these years
where you have to draw from forsonic basketball. Me, when I was
about ten, eleven, twelve yearsold, that's when I really started getting
(16:26):
like, well, oh we havea cool basket, we have the Sonics.
That was the years of like twothousand and two, two thousand and
three, thousand and four. Yeah, and then and what they were gone,
just out of right as I wasstarting to like basketball and become a
fan, they just left, right. So I don't have so for me
right now in twenty twenty four.The way I view the Yoklahoma Thunder to
(16:48):
City Thunder is you stole and youknow, if these Sonics come back in
four years, you stole twenty yearsof me developing. What could I have
been? What would I have been? I'm a big, mean, huge
soccer fan right now, massive soccerfan. My soccer fandom took off in
about two thousand and nine ten whenwhen a the Sonics were gone and the
(17:10):
start right. But the reason whyand Gastono wrote about this in his Great
Sounders book. One of the reasonsthe Sounders were so massively successful in two
thousand and nine and in those earlyyears was because people like me and basketball
fans needed a new sport to draw. We we have an absence. Where
So for me right now, Iwonder, Okay, the Sonics were left
(17:33):
for twenty years, who could Ihave been? What What would I have
been? What were my opinions ofsports? What would they have been?
If the signing they okay, seedid is it stole twenty years? That
would have altered my life in waysI annoyed it in many people's lives.
You keep saying stoul, You keepsaying stull, though we also allowed them.
Sure, Okay, it's like somany people, so people are pissed
(17:56):
off in Oklahoma City and are justlike not even think about all the idiotic
things that we did. Sure,let me just John Van here for a
second, because I swear to ChristI'm about to punch myself on the face,
literally punch myself on the face.I am getting so freaking mad here
in this conversation right now, honestly, like I need to like breathe.
(18:18):
Part of it makes you so mad? Just hang on, let me get
to the point here. What makesme mad is I thought, like the
twenty five cent soda machine that wentaway, that there were certain constants in
our lives as Seattle sports fans thatwould never ever change. And the hate
that we hold collectively for the OklahomaCity Thunder, I thought was something I
(18:41):
could count on, like the freakingsun in the sky and the stars in
space, and the fact that oneof us is letting go of some of
that hate. I don't even knowyou anymore, man, I gotta be
honest. I mean, I don'teven know you anymore. And you're saying
we should be pissed off at GregNichols and Howard chilton'sday. But star You're
in one thousand percent correct, totallyagree with you, and you know how
(19:03):
much I hate those bastards. Ihave not been to Starbucks in sixteen years.
I have not consumed Starbucks coffee insixteen years because of that. But
if you're gonna have outside of aStarbucks that you drive by, Greg Nichols
is not in front of your face, that's right. David Stern's dead.
Okay. Every time you flip onSportsCenter or open up a sports page or
(19:23):
turn on the TV, you're gonnasee the Oklahoma City thunder right in front
of your face. It's a constantdaily reminder for me, just like Starbucks
coffee, that that should be ourteam. Well, that we should have
had Duran, we should have hadHard twenty, should have had Westbrook.
Okay, Oh, you know howbig NBA superstars are in cities across the
country. Those guys would have beenfreaking legends in this town. It would
(19:47):
have been the biggest thing going ifwe had those three guys in the shadow.
We were robbed of all of that, and they are living, breathing
reminders every day of what we lost. For Jackson, it's his his identity
as a sports fan. You andme at least had that growing up.
I would say it was still unbelievablyhard to see him go because they were
a part of you as a sportsfan. It was like losing a lung.
(20:10):
Dude, I'm not kidding you,and I get what you're saying,
Jackson, that you had a chanceto be kind of groomed by the NBA
to love basketball, and that lovewas lost because they took off. For
old guys like me and Dick.You grow up, you never think they're
gonna leave town. Ever, No, and the fact that they were taken
away from us, it still leavesa giant hole in your heart. I'm
(20:32):
just gonna wrap this up by sayingthis because I know you have a take.
I am gonna hate those bastards forever. I don't care how many championships
we get. I don't care howmany games we win. They are The
minute the Sonics come back from arivalry opponent perspective, they are enemy number
one by a large margin. Theminute they come back their enemy number one,
(20:53):
they aren't always I would totally agreewith that last time. There's no
true there's no team that you woulddislike more than them in the entire nbavior.
I think I just equated to,like, if you had a messy
divorce, right are you going now? Some people, some people have messy
divorces, and they choose to harborthe exact same amount of resentment resentment twenty
(21:15):
years after the divorce that they didon the day the divorce was final.
Right, But there's other people.But there's other people that are going to
harbor way more resentment the day andthe year after the divorce than twenty years
down the road. They're like,Okay, this was that was. Yeah,
I see her every once in awhile, but I don't harbor the
(21:36):
same resentment time heals all wounds,I don't harbor that. Not that I
don't resent, not that there's nothate. I'm just saying, if my
resentment level for the thunder was onehundred on July second, two thousand and
eight, every year it goes downby a point or two, and so
now it's down to like eighty.It's still a lot. It's still a
(21:57):
lot. It's gonna still be alot, but it's just it wanes over
time. To use your divorce analogy, first of all, depends on how
bad she screwed you number one,And I think she being the thunder and
the NBA screwed us because it wouldhave been one thing if the thunder went
there and they stunk for twenty years. But they've been a good team.
(22:17):
They've made the NBA Finals. Theyhad a great trio of players that I'm
telling you would have been up therewith Gary Payton and Sean Kemp and Griffy
and Edgar. They would have zornlargent. Those three together in this town
would have been gigantic. And whoknows how many titles we could have won
in Seattle if those guys were here. So every time I see her,
which is the thunder in this littleanalogy we're doing here, every time I
(22:41):
see her, I think that Bescrewed me big time. I should be
living on a house in Whileya,somewhere with a condo and a golf club
membership and a boat instead of hearingthis stupid raggedy ann apartment with a freaking
barbecue instead of an oven. BecauseI'm broke and I'm eating tick tacks for
dinner. All right, That's howI feel, because that Be screwed us.
(23:06):
Man. But as long as weblame ourselves as well. That's all
I'm saying. As long as inus I mean the two oh six,
everybody that was involved in the processthat had power in this city and this
state. As long as you're includingthose people in the screw, then you're
being accurate. Why do you thinkI haven't been to a Starbucks in almost
twenty years and you think I'm notholding people account? You think I'm not
(23:27):
harboring that animosity. Still, Ihaven't seen Greg Nichols in years. I
have been to a Starbucks. Theonly thing I can do is a Sonic
fan to fight back for the mostpart is not going to Starbucks and hate
the thunder And that's what I'm doing, all right. And when they come
I don't blame anybody that. Ihope we treat the thunder Jackson like we
did Alex Rodriguez. There's every time. There's every time it should be it
(23:52):
should be horrible. It should bea blood bath for them, a blood
bath when they come here. Buteven over time, I don't care.
Over time, shouldn't don't well,And you know what, Look, here's
the thing. I don't care whatother people do. Really, in the
end, you do you, I'lldo me. I can't speak like somebody
texted in. Thirty year olds likeJackson, twenty year olds have no idea
what the Sonics even are, Andyou're right, But I'm fifty years old.
(24:15):
I don't care about some punk kid. I'm fifty. I'm about to
be fifty one. All I careabout is me, and for me,
it sucks for forty two text themorennials. This should be fun. It'll be
coming next on ninety three three KJRFF
Jordia on the radio show. Whenit comes to covering high school sports in
this state, nobody, and Imean nobody does it better than our friend
Todd Millers. Todd, how areyou, man? What's going on?
Hey, guys, good Monday?See you Yeah, you too, Man.
Great to hear your voice. It'sbeen a minute. Good to have
you back on the show. Andyou heard the story there from Dick that
a lot of people, including bythe way, almost the entire Seahawks organization
(00:24):
last week and for the last coupleof months. Really, I can't tell
you how many text messages we gotfrom Mario Bailey on this topic. They
were desperate to try and get girlsflag football sanctioned in this state as a
sports and it fell one vote shorttoday. Why is that and what are
the effects of this? You think? Well, actually, it fell a
(00:46):
few more shorts, a few morevotes than that. I think they needed
sixty percent approval votes, so theyneeded pretty few votes. So they were
what I mean, one six,I mean they were close. Let's let's
put it that way. Why didit fail? Uh? You know that's
a that's the most prong question witha multi prong response. I think people
are gonna look east where there's noflag football being played and go, you
(01:10):
know why, I think, what'staking you guys so long to you know,
familiar eyes with this, get onboard with this. They they just
haven't. Some of that's their budgets, you know, they've they've had some
some budget issues over there and someof their districts, and some of it
is what season do they play itin? Guys? You know over here
on the West Side it's a wintersport, largely because of stilled availability.
(01:33):
And you can't play this in inthe in the frosty cold winter seasons over
in eastern Washington. So I thinkthose were a couple of mitigating factors on
why Eastern Washington somebody over there justjust didn't take the ball by the horn
said hey, let's let's let's getthis thing going at a school or in
a district, or let's start aleague like like Takoma did you know four
years ago and you know it grewfrom from seventeens and you know, four
(01:56):
years ago and now eighty three schoolsin western Washington played played a you know,
a girls flag football season. Sothere's obviously once the momentum gets going,
you know, and with the backingof the Seahawks, and they're three
hundred plus thousand dollars of grants,you know, it catches on pretty quickly.
Correct me if I'm wrong. II read a little bit of politics
(02:17):
in that answer. Is it thefact that Eastern Washington is more read than
Western Washington? And oh, youknow, girls aren't playing football where it's
red as much as we're in inthe West, Or am I and I
read too much? I think thereare a lot of dots you could connect,
Dick. I mean there are others. There are other there are other
states that have had similar issues ingetting girls flag football pass as as Washington,
(02:42):
and that might have something to dowith it. But I think there
are other things in play, thethings that I mentioned before. The question
is I think Dave asked, whatwhat do they what's the recourse? What
do they have to do? What'sthe next step here? They could put
this back on the on the ballotnext year, and I think they will.
I mean, you know, thesenumbers, it's not like lost on
the landslide, right. They couldput this backs on the ballot and in
(03:02):
front of the rep Assembly board fora vote next year, or they could
go the pilot program. The WIAAExecutive Board has a two year pilot program.
They could go that route, remaina club sport, meet some of
the you know, the conditions,trying to get forty percent of their member
schools playing it by year two andif you know, and then that way,
(03:23):
that would sort of side step thewia Rep Assembly part of it.
It would just go to the ExecutiveBoard for approval. So they have a
couple options and what they can donext. But I think you're going to
see this as an amendment or ayou know, a new you know,
an amendment next year where they're goingto vote on at the same time,
you know, same place. Yeah, I would think this eventually passes and
(03:45):
becomes a sport, but for nowit does stays a club sport girls flag
football because it failed to pass today. But Todd Millis is with us on
the air, and Todd, Igot to ask you. You've been covering
high school football, high school basketball, high school sports for a long long
time, and we're starting to seearound the country the NIL era creep into
high school athletics. What's the futureyou think of NIL look like? In
(04:08):
our statement, Well, I meanthe door is open for that in Washington.
I know other states don't allow thatto happen, but I think we're
gonna see that very shortly. Guys, I'm just waiting. I'm fifty three
years old. I'm waiting for thetime that I come up to a high
school athlete and you know where theyHey, you know what am I getting
(04:28):
paid for this? I mean that'sthe right around the corner. So and
you could look at the Metro Leaguewith all those great athletes, those big
names that they're going D one programsin the NBA, and I think that's
probably where where we're going to seeit start. First, wait a minute,
you're telling me that some fifteen yearold kid is gonna pull a Patrick
Beverly on you and say I can'ttalk to you unless you subscribe to my
(04:51):
podcast. That's gonna happen time.I'm not only saying I'm not only saying
that, Dave. I'm also sayingthat he's probably gonna say you that if
you ask him to come on yourshow. Wow. Well, obviously the
Husky's got big news today with greatOsa War, but that's not the only
great player on this Battuh. Yousaw zoom y'allo a lot in high school.
(05:15):
I called him a top five playerin state's history from baseball on what
I've seen. But you've seen alot more zoom than I have. So
give Husky fans an indication of whattype of player they're getting. Yeah,
I mean it's power. It's it'spower and skill. Uh. I did
get to see him play in thebackdrop of the Hoop Summit down in Portland
when the US played the World teamand got to see him play against him
(05:40):
with some of the some of thebest athletes in this class. And does
he have the wiggle that some ofthese guys have? No, but does
he have the skill and the power. And when he gets downhill, you
know, I mean he's got anNBA body. You've seen it stick.
He's a what is he six fourand you know, fit and filled out.
(06:00):
Yeah, and he's gotten bigger sincehe's gone down in the prep school
in California. So very skilled.You're gonna like him. He's a he's
a good natured young man. Justa lot to like about him. And
plus he sees it. I mean, he's got the court vision. He's
not gonna be taking twenty five orthirty shots the game, so the well
rounded and the strength of his gamereally and I got to watch him center
(06:25):
twenty times when he's a Curtis andI know he's better now than he was
a year ago. Well, ToddMillis is with us again, senior writer
for SB Live Washington. Find himon Twitter at many Hats mill Us and
Todd, I want to ask youabout that, because there was a point
in time, you know what,five, six, seven years ago,
maybe even shorter than that, whereSeattle was the epicenter of high school basketball.
(06:46):
It was like New York City inthe sixties and seventies, for God's
sake, And I got frustrated myselfbecause I thought that was the perfect time
for Husky basketball to shine with thetalent in their backyard. It never happened.
How would you compare the overall talentlevel in Seattle based on where it
was when guys like Isaiah Thomas andBrandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Will Conroy,
(07:08):
We're all running around. Oh man, you're putting me on the spot.
I mean, we're talking about someof the best that I've ever come
out of Seattle on that era.I mean, is it's still that hot?
Though individually, I don't know ifit's the depth of it. Like
I'm a big Legend Smiley fan.If anybody that's watched him play basketball,
(07:28):
I think he plays basketball the rightway. I think you can mention him
with the grace that have come outof the city. And I think we're
going to see that next year atGarfield and then when he goes on to
college. But I mean, PaulaVentio is the best. I think he's
the best player I've ever seen comeout of Seattle in high school. I
I've mentioned that last week on socialmedia, I've mentioned that over the last
couple of years. But Michael PorterJunior is pretty good in his one year.
(07:50):
But in terms of comparing them,I just don't think you're seeing the
depth of what we saw with Nateand I mean Jamal back in the day.
I just that era was was special, good guys coming out of Seattle,
no question about it. And maybethis year was a little bit down
in the class of twenty twenty four, but man, it's it's man,
(08:11):
I'm kind of I love the guysfrom the nineties in the early two thousands.
I'm gonna stick with those guys andand I think their track record kind
of you know, speaks for itstuff there. Yeah, it was unbelievable
runner or real quick. I hada conversation when to go back to the
girls flight football for a second.I had a conversation with my daughter yesterday
because you'll show me in high schoolin two years, and really she really
(08:35):
likes, oh my god, isthat ridiculous? Good Lord? And going
on, and we were playing likewe were throwing the ball, right,
I was throwing the ball with her. She wanted to throw the ball with
my son as well. And Itold her, I said, hey,
when you're in I thought this thingwas going to pass. And I was
like, you're gonna have flag footballin high school. What do you want
to play? And She's like,yes, I want to play. I
want to be a quarterback. Andso what do I tell her now?
(08:56):
If it doesn't pass between now andthen, I mean, what opportunity does
does she have? Because it seemedlike under the WIA jurisdiction there will just
be a lot more accessibility because mostschools will actually have a team. I
think it's inevitable. I just okay, you know, there's a reason why
new sports just don't seem to pass. I mean hasn't. We haven't had
(09:18):
a new sport approved since nineteen ninetynine and girls bowling, But there's just
a lot of agendas in a lotof different districts around the state. What
you know, I don't pretend toknow what, just what a district athletic
director in Davenport, Washington was thinkingwhen he voted no or she voted no
on a girls flag football. Ijust think it just needs to sort of
marinate a little longer around the state. Most athletic directors on both sides of
(09:39):
the states I talked to say,Hey, it's inevitable this is going to
get passed. It's just right now. It's what road. Is it going
to be through the rep Assembly oris it going to be a sort of
a two year pilot program And oncethey meet they if they go that route,
they'll meet the criteria and get andget approved one way or another.
So tell your daughter she's going tobe playing thanks in Wi girls like when
(10:00):
she gets to high school. Idon't know when it is your ninth grade
year or sophomore year, but Ican almost guarantee that that that will happen
for her and you tell her,by the way, if she needs any
muscle, I'm her guy. Yeall right, and mess with her.
I'll beat your ass right in themiddle period soft. He's gonna be at
the heart rid not in your flagfootball. Yeah right, waiting for you
by the smoking section. I'm there, Todd, You're the you're the man.
(10:24):
Great stop, dude. Great tohear your voice and we'll talk sooner,
d buddy, you bet? Uh? Todd Millis again with us on
the radio show. Yeah. Imean, it was a big thing for
a couple of weeks and then itkind of went away. But I think
he's right. At some point intime this will get pass. I was
shocked to hear him say there's notbeen a new sport in twenty five years
since girls bowling. Is that true? I guess, Wow, you would
(10:45):
know more than I would, Butwould I know, I'm just than that
I would. But yeah, Ijust think it's a it's a no brainer.
I mean, I've coached flag Icoached flag football for four years and
it is a fabulous sport. Ihad the best player on my team for
all four years, and it wasa boys team. The best player I
(11:05):
had was a girl. The bestplayer I had, and we had a
really good team. And she's goingto Kennedy this year and she's not gonna
get the opportunity to play flag footballat Kennedy. She says, she might
turn out for the tackle football.Yeah, good for her. Isn't this
an Olympic sport now? Flag football? By the way? Or am I
crazy? I think it is?Or did I dream that? By the
way, I may have dreamt thatafter a couple of my ties in Malli
(11:26):
Live from the R and R FoundationSpecialists Broadcast Studio. Now back to Softie
and Dick on your Home for theHuskies and the Cruking Sports Radio ninety three
point three kJ R FM tied atone fifteen Crown rising to the feet George
World of Penn Leonard Spread Floor Leonardwith forty seven to nine, working it
(11:46):
down to two to one A teapthree What Plazers the series of Walk Off,
Straight, Problem Live, Trouble,Way, Fly Fly Away The Plazers
play one eighteen one fifteen the mostin Free. I gotta be honest with
(12:16):
you. I have not been thatturned on in months, by the way.
I was after hearing that you werejust a wife and Hawaii. Yeah,
that's what I'm saying. And yousaid, you said that that was
your favorite play that year. Inthe end, absolutely, that's my favorite
play since two thousand and eight.No, I think that's fair. No,
I think not like to play thatmuch in sixteen years. I think
that's very fair. And and II to this day every time I hear
(12:37):
that Kevin Collaboro, I believe wasgoing to say flying chickens in a barnyard
and help realize that was a Sonicscall, and he held back and said
fly fly away. Well, okay, and that's the team that your hate
is dropping for because waiting a bit. The fact that we have that call
(13:00):
and that is our favorite play insixteen years in the NBA should be proof
positive Jackson enough that all Sonic fansSonic fan excuse me, should hate their
guts and when they do come back, and the cool thing about when they
do come back is there's gonna benatural built in rivalries already, like the
Kraken are kind of looking for alittle bit of a heel here right to
(13:22):
play the role. Yeah, okay, that's not gonna be a problem.
When the Soups come, you'll havePortland, you'll have La, You'll have
Utah and you'll have Oklahoma City.And I hope and those guys come to
our arena when they come to Climateplague Arena. I hope the fans stand
for forty eight minutes and boo themthe entire game every time their offense has
(13:43):
the ball. Well, and andmy hate will be rekindled on those nights
there, question about it. He'slooking for a back alley. Oh no,
I mean on those lights slip out. When the Thunder are playing the
Sonics in Seattle. I mean,that is the perfect place for me to
recall all of that hate. Butwhen the Thunderer playing the Utah Jazz on
a Thursday night in Utah and theyhappen to beat them, Okay, fine,
(14:07):
I don't care, all right,But yes, when they're in Seattle
playing the Sonics, right absolutely,you're telling me if the Dallas Mavericks could
end the Thunder in the second round. Of course, when that happens,
yes to pickle when that happens.But and I'll be thrilled. I don't
know if I'll be as if KyrieIrving hits a shot in Game seven,
(14:31):
yes, to bury the Thunder.I will be tremendously excited. I don't
think I'll ever reach that Damian Lillard. Well, of course, because that
was a game winning buzzer beater fromlike forty feet away and had Kevin Collaboro
on the call. All right,I'm gonna tell you right now, it's
almost not even worth reading the textline because you're getting killed. Well that's
fine, al said. If Iever start is officially insane, And it's
(14:56):
one thing I respect about you becauseno matter how ridiculous people think your take
is, you stick to your gun. If I have I don't know what
if I start spine Island, starvingto death, eating sand, and you
still would stick to your gun.I do not care. If I had
a podcast, I already know thename of the podcast. If I had
a podcast. If I started apodcast, I already know what the name
(15:16):
is. It would be CPI contraryto public opinion, Okay, because I
love when I am contrary to themasses. That is my favorite takes,
Jacks are the ones that ninety percentof the people disagree with. Jackson,
you want to jump in here,all right, So I'm actually I'm actually
happy that Dick got here a littlebit at least a little explain his reasoning
(15:39):
on thought process a little bit ago, where he said, this is like
a deeply personal thing. I don'thold grudges. I think part of that
helps me make sense of where yourhead's at, Dick, because you did
get a few dec I mean,many decades of sonic basketball before they went
away. So now when they comeback, whether it's three years, four
years, whatever, these when thistwenty year span where you didn't have the
(16:02):
Sonics won't be as impactful to youbecause you had all that time. And
you tell us how you somehow stillremember Honking after the nineteen seventy nine champion,
Like, I don't understand that,but regardless, you have these years
where you have to draw from forsonic basketball. Me, when I was
about ten, eleven, twelve yearsold, that's when I really started getting
(16:26):
like, well, oh we havea cool basket, we have the Sonics.
That was the years of like twothousand and two, two thousand and
three, thousand and four. Yeah, and then and what they were gone,
just out of right as I wasstarting to like basketball and become a
fan, they just left, right. So I don't have so for me
right now in twenty twenty four.The way I view the Yoklahoma Thunder to
(16:48):
City Thunder is you stole and youknow, if these Sonics come back in
four years, you stole twenty yearsof me developing. What could I have
been? What would I have been? I'm a big, mean, huge
soccer fan right now, massive soccerfan. My soccer fandom took off in
about two thousand and nine ten whenwhen a the Sonics were gone and the
(17:10):
start right. But the reason whyand Gastono wrote about this in his Great
Sounders book. One of the reasonsthe Sounders were so massively successful in two
thousand and nine and in those earlyyears was because people like me and basketball
fans needed a new sport to draw. We we have an absence. Where
So for me right now, Iwonder, Okay, the Sonics were left
(17:33):
for twenty years, who could Ihave been? What What would I have
been? What were my opinions ofsports? What would they have been?
If the signing they okay, seedid is it stole twenty years? That
would have altered my life in waysI annoyed it in many people's lives.
You keep saying stoul, You keepsaying stull, though we also allowed them.
Sure, Okay, it's like somany people, so people are pissed
(17:56):
off in Oklahoma City and are justlike not even think about all the idiotic
things that we did. Sure,let me just John Van here for a
second, because I swear to ChristI'm about to punch myself on the face,
literally punch myself on the face.I am getting so freaking mad here
in this conversation right now, honestly, like I need to like breathe.
(18:18):
Part of it makes you so mad? Just hang on, let me get
to the point here. What makesme mad is I thought, like the
twenty five cent soda machine that wentaway, that there were certain constants in
our lives as Seattle sports fans thatwould never ever change. And the hate
that we hold collectively for the OklahomaCity Thunder, I thought was something I
(18:41):
could count on, like the freakingsun in the sky and the stars in
space, and the fact that oneof us is letting go of some of
that hate. I don't even knowyou anymore, man, I gotta be
honest. I mean, I don'teven know you anymore. And you're saying
we should be pissed off at GregNichols and Howard chilton'sday. But star You're
in one thousand percent correct, totallyagree with you, and you know how
(19:03):
much I hate those bastards. Ihave not been to Starbucks in sixteen years.
I have not consumed Starbucks coffee insixteen years because of that. But
if you're gonna have outside of aStarbucks that you drive by, Greg Nichols
is not in front of your face, that's right. David Stern's dead.
Okay. Every time you flip onSportsCenter or open up a sports page or
(19:23):
turn on the TV, you're gonnasee the Oklahoma City thunder right in front
of your face. It's a constantdaily reminder for me, just like Starbucks
coffee, that that should be ourteam. Well, that we should have
had Duran, we should have hadHard twenty, should have had Westbrook.
Okay, Oh, you know howbig NBA superstars are in cities across the
country. Those guys would have beenfreaking legends in this town. It would
(19:47):
have been the biggest thing going ifwe had those three guys in the shadow.
We were robbed of all of that, and they are living, breathing
reminders every day of what we lost. For Jackson, it's his his identity
as a sports fan. You andme at least had that growing up.
I would say it was still unbelievablyhard to see him go because they were
a part of you as a sportsfan. It was like losing a lung.
(20:10):
Dude, I'm not kidding you,and I get what you're saying,
Jackson, that you had a chanceto be kind of groomed by the NBA
to love basketball, and that lovewas lost because they took off. For
old guys like me and Dick.You grow up, you never think they're
gonna leave town. Ever, No, and the fact that they were taken
away from us, it still leavesa giant hole in your heart. I'm
(20:32):
just gonna wrap this up by sayingthis because I know you have a take.
I am gonna hate those bastards forever. I don't care how many championships
we get. I don't care howmany games we win. They are The
minute the Sonics come back from arivalry opponent perspective, they are enemy number
one by a large margin. Theminute they come back their enemy number one,
(20:53):
they aren't always I would totally agreewith that last time. There's no
true there's no team that you woulddislike more than them in the entire nbavior.
I think I just equated to,like, if you had a messy
divorce, right are you going now? Some people, some people have messy
divorces, and they choose to harborthe exact same amount of resentment resentment twenty
(21:15):
years after the divorce that they didon the day the divorce was final.
Right, But there's other people.But there's other people that are going to
harbor way more resentment the day andthe year after the divorce than twenty years
down the road. They're like,Okay, this was that was. Yeah,
I see her every once in awhile, but I don't harbor the
(21:36):
same resentment time heals all wounds,I don't harbor that. Not that I
don't resent, not that there's nothate. I'm just saying, if my
resentment level for the thunder was onehundred on July second, two thousand and
eight, every year it goes downby a point or two, and so
now it's down to like eighty.It's still a lot. It's still a
(21:57):
lot. It's gonna still be alot, but it's just it wanes over
time. To use your divorce analogy, first of all, depends on how
bad she screwed you number one,And I think she being the thunder and
the NBA screwed us because it wouldhave been one thing if the thunder went
there and they stunk for twenty years. But they've been a good team.
(22:17):
They've made the NBA Finals. Theyhad a great trio of players that I'm
telling you would have been up therewith Gary Payton and Sean Kemp and Griffy
and Edgar. They would have zornlargent. Those three together in this town
would have been gigantic. And whoknows how many titles we could have won
in Seattle if those guys were here. So every time I see her,
which is the thunder in this littleanalogy we're doing here, every time I
(22:41):
see her, I think that Bescrewed me big time. I should be
living on a house in Whileya,somewhere with a condo and a golf club
membership and a boat instead of hearingthis stupid raggedy ann apartment with a freaking
barbecue instead of an oven. BecauseI'm broke and I'm eating tick tacks for
dinner. All right, That's howI feel, because that Be screwed us.
(23:06):
Man. But as long as weblame ourselves as well. That's all
I'm saying. As long as inus I mean the two oh six,
everybody that was involved in the processthat had power in this city and this
state. As long as you're includingthose people in the screw, then you're
being accurate. Why do you thinkI haven't been to a Starbucks in almost
twenty years and you think I'm notholding people account? You think I'm not
(23:27):
harboring that animosity. Still, Ihaven't seen Greg Nichols in years. I
have been to a Starbucks. Theonly thing I can do is a Sonic
fan to fight back for the mostpart is not going to Starbucks and hate
the thunder And that's what I'm doing, all right. And when they come
I don't blame anybody that. Ihope we treat the thunder Jackson like we
did Alex Rodriguez. There's every time. There's every time it should be it
(23:52):
should be horrible. It should bea blood bath for them, a blood
bath when they come here. Buteven over time, I don't care.
Over time, shouldn't don't well,And you know what, Look, here's
the thing. I don't care whatother people do. Really, in the
end, you do you, I'lldo me. I can't speak like somebody
texted in. Thirty year olds likeJackson, twenty year olds have no idea
what the Sonics even are, Andyou're right, But I'm fifty years old.
(24:15):
I don't care about some punk kid. I'm fifty. I'm about to
be fifty one. All I careabout is me, and for me,
it sucks for forty two text themorennials. This should be fun. It'll be
coming next on ninety three three KJRFF
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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