May 30, 2025 • 35 mins
In the second hour, Dick Fain, Hugh Millen and Jackson Felts hold their Bracket Friday centered around the best pro athletes from the Puget Sound region, inspired by words from Jim Nantz earlier this year about Fred Couples, who enters as the top overall seed.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Softian Dick without the soft one. Couple more shows. Jackson
is here, Hugh is here, and I love Fridays in
the summertime. I love when we do these. And it's
just a matter of picking which one of the plethora
of brackets the Jackson and I have concocted in our
silly little brains, and we decided to go with this one.
(00:22):
We decided to go with the top athlete from the
Puget Sound Region. The Puget Sound Region being defined as
the Puget Sound Region Olympia up north to Everett, because
that's where the Puget Sound is, and then it becomes
like the Straight of wand Afuca and the Sailes's Sea
and all that sort of stuff up there. So the
Puget Sound Region is the Puget Sound region. And we
(00:42):
do want to give a couple of shout outs here,
first of all for our because we have a lot
of honorable mentions, certainly do. It was very different, difficult.
Hugh helped us fill out the bracket yesterday and it
was tough to and we even have a couple of
names that were not on Jackson's tweeted honorable mention that
I'm gonna name on the air here as well. But
good Jackson, you tweeted out honorable mentioned Corey Dillon, Jason Terry,
(01:06):
Casey Keller, Nathan Adrian, Isaiah Thomas, John Oleroude. I threw
out Buddha Baker, and then one that you and say
you and Tim Booth were talking about today at Sounders
is an absolutely great one. And as soon as soon
as you mentioned WNBA, it came to my mind Courtney Vanderslout.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Jade Evans and Tim Booth were like, you gotta have
Courtney at Kentwood High School. Accolades are I mean, justus.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Very like if not for Sue Bird, you can absolutely
argue she's the second best point guard in the history
of the WNBA. So right, there is another But but
I think one of these, I think one of the criteria, guys,
and Hugh you can jump in here. I think one
of the criteria has got to be named familiarity as
(01:53):
far as greatest athletes, that to me, and and I
don't think I think there's a lot of people in
for example, Courtney vandersliving has a lot of people in
Seattle that don't know who Courtney vander Slut is. But
there's nobody in Seattle or very few people that don't
know who Michelle Akers is. When you're talking about a
female athlete, to Michelle Acres makes the list? How how much, Hugh,
do you think name name familiarity should be a part
(02:14):
of the criteria.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Uh, for me, I think it would be. And I'm
one of the people I didn't know who Michelle Acres
was two days ago.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Really Okay, So.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yeah, I think you have to you have to first say, okay,
are all sports exactly the same? And if which means if, if,
if there's somebody from Renton that was the all time
greatest squash player in the history of squash?
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Right, does that? Does that do?
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Are you going to put that?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Look, Christy, you played by whatever rules you want to
play by, right, But but just understand, if you don't
have a scale, then then every sport is equal.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
How low do you want to go on this breadte? No,
that's that's exactly right. So we we had a lot
of honorable mentions and that gets us to our elite
eight are eight finalists And what actually spurred us on
was a Hall of Fame broadcaster and talking about his
Hall of Fame golfer friend last month when Softie and
(03:14):
I were over at the at the Awards Bank with
the Seattle Les Sports Commission Awards banket here is Jim Nance.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
And I think you could build a case tonight where
he is the most famous athlete ever to come out
of Seattle.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Now he used the worst word famous, which obviously connotates
do you know who they are or not? Now we
put best, But I think fame is a part of this. Absolutely.
I think fame is definitely a part of this. So
our number one versus number eight is Fred Couples, Golf
(03:51):
Hall of Famer nineteen ninety one and nineteen ninety two
Player of the Year nineteen ninety two Masters champion out
of Oday High School against the eight seed Apollo Ono,
two time Olympic gold medalists, two times silver medalist, four
times bronze medalists, eight World Championship gold medals out of
Federal Way. Jackson, I'll let you start on this one,
(04:14):
Fred Couples or Apollo on a See.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
It's funny because I think we just accurately used the
clip where we talked about famous and for me, like
growing up as a kid, Apollo Ono was like a
household name. And I'm the younger generation, right, Like I
was born in ninety two, so I was born when
Fred Couples was doing his thing, and I just didn't
grow up with golf. But Apollo Antono what happened. So
(04:38):
that's a household name. That's the guy from Seattle who's
dominating the Olympic level. Fame certainly plays a part in it.
The other part is like Fred Couples had this dominance
for this, you know, as you mentioned, they're the kind
of this couple of years stretch where he was dominant.
Paul anton he was dominant for a while in the
Olympic Games.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
So well, Fred's been dominant the Masters for like thirty sure,
but we only talked about him being a one time
Masters winner, that's right, so and again only two time
overall player of the year, where a Paulo was like
the king of his You're calling for the eight one
upset right now, Jackson, Guys, you know what, and fame
does play a part of it, and we talk about
you know, I think people my generation would vote for
(05:17):
the eight seed and I am gonna vote for the
eight seed here. I'm probably gonna lose, but nonetheless, I
think when we talk about this, I'm gonna go off
of a two time gold medalist. He has six other medals.
He's an eight time world champion at the highest level.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I think the stretch was bigger. So give me the
eight seed for the I have to.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
All right, we're starting with a potential upset here on
his back, Yeah, exactly on his back already. Are we're
gonna get the eight over the one?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
What do you think you well, I would say this
goes back to my prior point. And by the way,
I'm in jest saying I'm doing this under protest, because
if we're gonna give a nod to to Jim Nance,
I think that we should we should have a contest
that under the framework of Nance, who said the most
famous athlete from Seattle?
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Right right right?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
And so look, I I my sense. I don't think
you could go very far outside of Seattle and and
people would know who Apollo Ono is. I think I
think most regions of the country, there's a lot of
sports fans that would give you a palms up. I
don't know who Apolo is. And now I could agree
(06:29):
with Jackson that Apollo Ono is a bigger figure for
speed skating than Fred Couples is for golf definitely, you know.
So again you, I guess you just have to internalize that.
For me, I think golf is a bigger sport than
speed skating and Fred Couples. Fred Couples has an endearing
(06:50):
nature to him because it wasn't just the one major.
I think that there's a popularity to him, you know,
the he was one arguably well liked golfers on tours
for two decades, absolutely and remains that. Yes, and I
think that he's in the discussion for the smoothest golf
swing in the history of planet Earth. Ye, along with
(07:11):
Ernie Ls. Some people say Sam Snead and what have you.
But Couples just has that buttery swing. He has that
likable nature. There's no way I can put a Paulo
Ono in front of Fred Couples, even though there are
sums if you, if you pin me down, as I said, yeah,
I could con see Ono's greater. So anyways, I'm going
(07:34):
with Fred Couples, all right.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Well, with all due respect to Jackson, and with all
due respect to a Paulo anton Ono who was fabulous
and I rooted for him in multiple Olympics, and I
was very proud that he was from you know, basically
grew up like ten miles south of me. I mean,
I mean a little bit later than I grew up,
but yeah, but just about ten miles south of me.
Freddie Couples is synonymous with Seattle. I love the fact
(07:57):
that Jefferson Park has brought up every single Masters every
year by Jim Nantz when Fred Couples, including this year
when Fred Couples was on the first page of the
leader board after the first day at the Masters, and
he still was hanging in there after day number two.
Give me Fred Couples moving on over Apollo on a
all right, the two seven, This is gonna be interesting
(08:18):
Baseball on Baseball crime the two seed Ron Santo Hall
of Famer, nine time All Star, five time Gold Glove
out of Franklin High School versus Ron Say, six time
All Star not yet in the Hall of Fame. We'll
(08:39):
see if he gets there. Nineteen eighty one World Series
Champion and World Series MVP, something that Ron Santo did
not accomplish from Mount Tahoma High School and Tacomb also
a Wazoo Cougar three hundred and sixteen career home runs, Hugh,
I'll give you the first one on this. I don't
know how much how much I'm I'm sure you remember
Ron Say play. Are you old enough to remember Ron
(09:01):
Santo play?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yeah, I would say with regards to that, but that's
a tough one.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
That that that's tough because I've got.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
World Series m v P nine against uh so the
team Accomplishment. I'm trying to be guided by the spirit
of Nance's comment, and so I think it's just hard
to push aside the Hall of Fame. And and I
think I think that's a that you know, you know,
(09:33):
that Hall of Fame is like a mic drop. Now,
somebody could say World Series MVP is But in theory,
you could be a so so player who's the freeze
kid kid from Saint Louisa, you know. I mean there's
guys who've gotten hot and gotten World Series m VP.
So but you you can't just get hot and make
your way, you know, for a brief time and make
(09:55):
your way into the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
So so.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
And I'm not saying Ron Say just got hot. It
was a six time All Star. But I'm gonvin that
the odd ever so slightly to the Hall of Fame,
and so I'm going with Santo. I'll go next on
this one.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I'm just looking the accolades, the length of time, nine
time All Star versus six time All Star, five time
Gold Glove versus I believe zero time Gold Glove. Right
for Ron, say, I think that eclipses World Series MVP.
The numbers across the board, while not massively in Santo's favor,
(10:33):
they are in Santo's favor. He's got a higher OPS,
He's got thirty more home runs in his career, He's
got two hundred more RBIs in his career. He's got
a batting average of two seventy seven versus two sixty one.
So I think, clearly, while they both had awesome careers,
I'm gonna go Ron Santos. So Jackson, you don't get
a vote on this, No, would you vote?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
This is a two seven game, but it's closer to
be a four to five. Yeah, right, that's right. This
is super close. And at the end of the day,
for me, there's two things that make a difference here.
World Series not only Champion m the p of the
World Series, and also, I don't know how much stock
you guys are putting in this, but it's part of
my influence here, the fact that he was a Wsu cougar,
(11:14):
the fact that he stayed local in the area of sorts,
and then I think that does play a small role.
It's very close, but it is Ron Santo by a hair.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
All right, let's move on three versus six. This is
gonna be interesting because it's two players in not the
most popular sports, at least in the country. Soccer certainly
more more popular than bowling. But Michelle Akers the three
seed Soccer Hall of Famer, two time World Cup champion,
nineteen ninety one, Golden Boot in the World Cup for
(11:45):
Best Player, Olympic gold medalist, and this is the one
that gets me FIFA Female Player of the Century in
the entire world.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
FIFA named her the greatest soccer player of the century
in the world. Out of Shortcress High School. She is
the three seed. Earl Anthony. Hey, I knew nothing about
bowling when I was growing up, but I knew who
Earl Anthony was because Earl Anthony was the goat and
I actually bowled quite a bit and we were like, oh,
ask b, I want to be Earl Anthony. I want
(12:16):
to be Earal Anthony, and he's you know, he's growing up.
He's playing in Tacoma, twenty miles south of where I
was growing up. So Earl Anthony six time Bowler of
the Year, ten pro major titles, that's the second most
all time forty three total titles. And and you know,
if if somebody said that Earl Anthony was the goat
of his sport, I don't think anybody would bat an
eye that that would say he's the goat of the sport. So,
(12:37):
but I'm gonna I'll start with this one player of
the century. You just I mean, for me, that's dropped
the mic player of the century in the world in
your sport. Michelle Akers moves on, all right, So I
know who's Jackson's voting for.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
So Hugh, you get the next one.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Okay, I'm going to see what if there's a case
to be built for Earl Antonine. Okay, he's he's considered
the greatest.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Is he objectively the greatest? Oh Weber?
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I mean, but he is known as a top three
bowler of all time, consensus top three bowler of all time?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yes, okay, And so the FIFA Player of the Century
I assume that was the twentieth century, correct, Yes, right, So,
and and we're talking how long had she played like
the last the last decade ish of the twentieth century.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
She won the World Cup in ninety one and ninety nine,
so we know at least she played the last ten
I think she started about the eighty and eighty something
like that.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah, So where would she be considered? Now, well, that's
a Jackson question. I would probably say, the list of women,
on the list of all time women soccer players, where
would she be considered?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
She's squarely in the top ten, probably right around five. Okay,
but there's also but there was also a hell of
a lot more top women soccer players and work that's
grown because of her. Because of her, then there is bowlers,
I mean the top five, the people that are ahead
of her probably because of her, well, because she she
grew the game, I mean, and just her quality. Like
(14:12):
you think about like girls who especially here, who are like,
oh my gosh, you know, look at what Michelle Akers
is doing from Seattle, and then the sport, especially in Seattle,
especially the girls soccer here in Seattle grew massively because
of her, Her fame and her status.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
All right, So if I put bowling and women's soccer equal,
you out of your own mouth, you said she's maybe
top five, whereas Earl Anthony is. So I'm going to
ural Anthony.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Okay, all right, it's Michelle Akers. I appreciate Hughes vote.
It's a nice case study. But I think Hugh said
something really really smart a couple of minutes ago that
I hadn't even thought of. When you say hall of fame,
it's a mic drop. It's just done. End of story.
Hall of fame. That's it.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
But they're both hall of famers. Earl Anthony hall of fame. Absolutely,
he's got to be. He's the top three all the
time in his sport. Of course, I get that.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
But I'm just going off the accolades, and I didn't
see a hall of fame.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Anthony is in the bowling Hall of Fame. He's one
of two facts are true. Either he's in the Hall
of Fame or there's no bowling Hall of Fame. Might not,
I don't know. I'm pretty sure that either way. Regardless,
it's in Arlington. It's in Arlington. Arlington, Texas is the
International Bowling.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Mustium must be in there. I would think that your
entire Why didn't you show up on his internet? I
don't know, Michelle player the same. Right, one more before
we take a time out. We get done with the
first round. This is a good one.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Jamal Crawford the four seed, three time NBA six Man
of the Year, sixtieth on the all time scoring list.
I mean, this is a guy that maintained such a
high level of play over so many years. I mean,
I think that's the thing that gets me the most
about Jamal cr is he constantly looked like he was
(16:03):
twenty eight years old on the floor, whether he was
twenty eight, whether he was thirty eight, he looked like
he was twenty. I mean, this guy averaged double digits
in the NBA for five, ten, fifteen, eighteen years in
a row. Number sixty on the old time scoring list.
I mean, the long chevity and the body that he
(16:24):
was able to keep up. He just retired five years ago,
for God's sakes. I mean, he played high school in
then early nineties. He's only four years younger than I am,
absolutely five years younger than I am. Absolutely unbelievable. Jamal
Crawford against Tim winzicam four time All Star, three time
World Champion, two time Cy Young winner, led the league
(16:46):
in strikeouts three times, two no hitters out of Liberty
High School and the Jackson's Point earlier also stayed around
and was a udub husky for what's that worth? Jamal
Crawford did not stay around and decided to go to
Michigan for some reason for a year before going to
the NBA. So here, once you start us off, Tim
Linz or Jamal.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Crawford, Well, first of all, big fan of Jamal Crawford.
I remember going to heck ed on a m l
K tournament uh uh and just watching him at the
ground level and and uh, you know, watching him at Michigan,
So been a big fan. I I just am looking
at Tim Lindsey Coom's UH World Series titles. But really
(17:28):
what's got me focused is two Cy Young Awards. Now,
I don't like the baseball carves their their league in half.
So I understand, it's just a national league. So you
could say you got half of an uh envy, but
but you're basically saying he's the best pitcher in the
National League for not once but twice. I don't I
(17:51):
don't see any of the accolades that Crawford had now
other than the longevity, sure, which but I just have
so I think you can make a case for either.
I think the case is more compelling to me that
it's Lenscombe.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I'm with you. I think one thing that really hurt
Jamal Crawford's case is the fact that he played on
crappy basketball teams most of his career. My god, I mean,
he played on the Bulls right after right after Jordan.
He played on the Knicks right after the good Knicks teams.
He played on the Hawks, he played on Golden State
(18:28):
before Golden State was Golden State. He played in the
Blazers for a year, and he played six years with
the Clippers. I mean, it was rough. Feel sorry for
Jamal Crawford, but I think that hurts him. If Jamal
Crawford had many many playoff opportunities, it might be different
and it might even the scales a little bit. But
I'm with you, Tim Wins, I'll be at a shorter
(18:50):
amount of time had a more successful baseball career as
far as accolades go, than Jamal Crawford did. So I'm
gonna go with I'm gonna go with Tim Linsingham the
five over the four.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
It just feels like Linscomb did it in a tighter window.
Jamal Crawford did it for so long, And I mean
I look up career strikeouts. Linsicomb is one hundred and
thirty ninth all time for career strikeouts with the seventeen
thirty six total strikeouts. Crawford's number sixty for career points.
I know it isn't you know, it's a little apples
(19:22):
to oranges, but still like, yeah, Crawford's sixtieth, it's Linsecum.
But for me, like I think it's Lynscomb from just
by the hair that he went to UW stayed here.
He was a local guy through and through who stayed
here where Crawford left and part of that, does you know,
irk me that he just didn't stay home. And Tim
and the Sports Center commercial we talk about the fame, right,
(19:44):
the more people across the nation know the name Tim
Lincecomb because he was on a Sports Center commercial was
a Timmy Timmy slim gym or something like that. So like,
I think it's super close, but I'll go with Tim
as we.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Well, Linsingomb was a super and over he only had
four good years Yeah, but they were four at least,
like he's like the junior Sandy Kofax. I mean, he's
just they were four where he was considered as good
of any pitcher in baseball. But there was only four
years and then he had the injury problems. Then he
retired in twenty sixteen. All right, second round coming up
(20:15):
next on ninety three point three KJRFMA.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
Casting live from the R and R Foundation specialist broad
JAST Studio. Now back to Safti and Dick, powered by
Emerald Queen, Casino, the vetting capital of the Northwest, on
Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ r FAM.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Hright, round number two of our Friday bracket. It is
the best pro athlete from the Hugest Sound region. First round,
Fred Couples beat Apaulo anton Ono, the one over the eight.
Tim Linzicam took out Jamal Crawford, the five over the four,
Michelle Akers over Earl Anthony, the three over the six,
(20:53):
and Ron Santo over Ron Say the two over the seven.
Let's go now to the one versus the five. Fred
Couples against Tim Linzicam. I'll start on this one, guys,
And you know we talked about longevity with Jamal Crawford
and Tim Linzicam, and we still gave the edge to Lensicomb. Well,
(21:14):
we gave the edge to Linzinghmbe partially because of his
elite status and where he was considered the best, even
though it was only for four years. Well, Fred Couples,
I'm just looking at this. We all know his prowess
and the Masters, right, I mean, eleven top tens in
the Masters and a Masters Championship, what I think? What
I forgot, and I'm sure a lot of people forgot
(21:36):
how great a golfer he was in the other majors
as well, and that takes that's only the krem de
la creme. If you're a guy like Scottie Scheffler, if
you're guy like Tiger Woods, I mean, if you're one
of the greats of the game that can take your
game and play in completely different setups US Open, completely
(21:57):
different from the Open Championship, which is completely different from
the Masters tournament. He has eleven top tens in the Masters,
He's got nine top tens in the US Open. He's
got nine more top tens in the British Open. I
mean that is twenty nine. He's got three more of
the PGA Championship, that is thirty two top tens in majors.
(22:21):
Now he only has the one title. But my goodness,
the longevity of greatness for Freddy Couples does it for me?
Over four great years of Tim Linzikam Hugh Well.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And I also think he was voted the Tour Player
of the year. So essentially he was thought to be
the best golfer on earth for two years of his life,
right in addition to damn good on all the other years.
As you aptly describe, when I look at it, lense Come,
it's an incredibly incredible resume, it's an incredible resume. Excuse me,
(22:54):
But if you take the cy Young you could you're
kind of having it twice. You're saying, okay, this, what
is the cy Young Award? He won it twice, as
Couples won Golfer of the Year twice. Well, the Cy
Young you cut it in half, you say, okay, pitchers
versus position players, and then just the nature of the award,
you cut it in half again, American League versus nationally.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
So so in.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Essence, I'm roughly equating as Cy Young to twenty five
percent of a Golfer's Player of the year.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
So the longevity.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Even if you just wanted to say, okay, the comment,
well you could, I.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
Would say that Couples could.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
You could argue even just the best four years, you
could argue that Couples is better.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
So yeah, for me, it's Fred Couples.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Jackson, want Addie think Fred Couples moves on.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
It's a good math there from Hugh, and the math
makes a lot of sense. I personally would say that
I would also give let's say, zero point five to
each World Series title, because I value winning a championship
in your league, so I would give it by just
a just a hair to Linsicum. But I mean, we're
we were really really splitting hairs on this matchup. So
I understand that Fred Couple's wins, but.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Freddie moves on. So Freddie will take on the winner
of Michelle Acres and Ron Santo. This is a tough one.
I think the popularity of sport comes into play here. Certainly,
baseball more popular sport in America than soccer is, even
though soccer is much more popular around the world. But
(24:29):
Michelle Acres, you know what I'm gonna I'll go last.
Jackson you go first, Michelle Acres or Ron Santo.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
It's closer than you may think for me, because you
just look at Ron Santo. I mean a Hall of
Fame there, nine time All Star. Nine times he was
an All Star. And I don't know how to compute
that into like soccer terms, because Michelle Acres was only
on the two World Cup champion teams in ninety one
and ninety nine, although ninety five two, but still so
(24:55):
at the end of the day, I'm gonna go Michelle Acres.
But because I think just Dicky put it really well.
I think in the first segment we were talking about
the weight of the line female Player of the Century.
I mean when when, if if there was a baseball
work for we're giving out the player of the twentieth century.
Like I don't know if it's the Babe Ruth or what,
(25:16):
but like that that person just in with a dot
for for I think the winner here so way of
the sport and popularity sport matters, But for me, player
of the Century wins out.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
All right, Hugh, what do you think?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Well, not to quibble because Player the Century is immense
and it seems like a mic drop in and it
most likely is she was the co player of the
century with China's soon win. Okay, so does that dilute it?
It's got to dilute it at least point one percent.
(25:50):
Umber you put a number like co player of the
century is not equal to player this century.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
This is.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Really awesome.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
You only want to go point zero zero zero one, fine,
but you have to reduce it some Okay, I I
asked at the beginning, you tell me the rules of
the game. Are all sports created equal? Is a squash
player equal to a professional football player?
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (26:19):
So in that regard, there's no I don't I don't
think there's any dispute that Michelle Acres on the pantheon
of women soccer players. And I didn't even know who's
I'd heard of me a ham but two days ago.
If you just said Milt Michelle Acres is a great athlete,
I said, what was she a swimmer?
Speaker 4 (26:34):
I didn't know who she was, right.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
So, so, so in light of that, there's no I
don't think there's any dispute. Having read her accomplishments, she
is a greater women's soccer player than Ron San Santo
as a baseball player. On the list of the greatest.
But that was that was your earl Anthony a few
minutes ago.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah, but baseball's baseball, and so for me it's Ron Santo. Okay, uh,
I'm okay docking bowling. You know, when you're comparing a
baseball to bowling, basketball to bowling. I'm okay docking bowling
a significant amount. I'm not okay docking soccer that much.
(27:15):
I'll dock it a little bit versus baseball. But it
is the most popular sport in the world. And Michelle
Acres prompted Mia Hamm and Brandy Chastain and you, and
however many other US World champions to play and to
(27:36):
play and to and they really put US soccer, US
women's soccer on the map, something the men haven't been
able to do.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
So I'm voting for Michelle Acres to move on to
the championship against Fred Couples. So we got Michelle Acres,
we got Fred Couples. Well, crown a champion. Next, we
have time for some text maybe two. What the heck
it's a Friday heat. Do a next On ninety three
point three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
Broad casting live from the R and R Foundation, Specialist
Broadcast Studio. Now back to SOFTI and Dick powered by
Emerald Queen Casino, the betting capital of the Northwest. On
Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FF.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
We've reached the finals. We are going to determine who
the greatest athlete from the Puga Sound region is right now.
And what we say is final Jackson. Yeah, we say
his final exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
This is it. This bracket will decide. I mean, just
like it decided the best husky play of the entire
season we went to the National Championship. Was the Oregon
missed field goal? You love We are the deciding voice
of Seattle Arights. But you like it or not, we
are the deciders.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Are one seed Freddy Couples Golf Hall of Famer nineteen
ninety one and ninety two Player of the Year nineteen
ninety two Masters champions, as I mentioned, thirty two top
tens in majors against the three seed Michelle Acres Soccer
Hall of Famer ninety one and ninety nine World Cup Champion,
ninety one World Cup Golden Boot, ninety six Olympic gold medals,
(29:11):
and FIFA Female Player of the Century co Player of
the Century from Shortcrest High school Jackson, you go first,
Michelle Acres.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Michelle Acres player of the co Player of the Century. Well,
even we can just simply say, I mean, listen, if
they had to, if FIFA was said, no, you must
only give it to one person, Michelle. I can assure
you that Michelle would be the one, but you don't
want to make it a global thing. On top of that,
it is the Olympic gold medal. It's the two time
world If we equate, you know, player of the Year
(29:43):
in golf to the World Cup, then there's that the
Masters we could equate to the Olympic gold medal. But again,
it kind of comes back to the longevity of it.
We keep talking about longevity. Michelle Acres did it for
so long. She was the best player in her sport
for so long. And again I do understand you knock soccer,
but I would also say you could knock golf the
(30:05):
same way as you knock soccer. There's a lot of
golf hitters, like there's a lot of soccer haters, So
I think that that applies to both. I think again,
it's the longevity. It's the player of the century, So
give me Michelle Acres Hill one vote for Michelle Acres.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Well, I think it's very interesting because we've got a
confluence of factors here not in including the fact we've
got a male against a female. And I think what
would be very interesting would be to compare golfers if
you had a similar male golfer to a female, like
(30:41):
if Nancy Lopez or Anika Shornstein was in this right,
if they had been from the puges. Sound, do you
quate men and the women the same? Tell me what
the rules are? I could, I could go by whatever
the rules are. The men's game is more popular in golf, right,
And then if we're going to apply that to this
(31:02):
and we say, okay, if there is and I'm not
arguing that there should be, but if there is a
difference between men and women, because men maybe in this
sport have a higher profile. With regards to women's soccer,
where do you put more weight? You could argue that
the women, the women in America are more prominent than
(31:24):
the men soccer. Now, the men bring in more revenue,
but the women are certainly more accomplished.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Definitely, And I can name right the women than I
can the men.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Last years, Yeah, and so I I understand this, but
I'm going to go with a sport that I think
is more popular in America, and that's golf. And I
think Fred Couples says he was for two years at
least was considered the greatest golfer on planet Earth.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
And then.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
In addition to that, he's had decades plural of being
out or near in terms of that's right of his
accomplishments in terms of his popularity. And I'm going to
nod to I'm going to nod to the inspiration of
this contest to Jim Nantz, who made the assertion that
(32:15):
Fred Couples may be the most famous athlete in the
history of Seattle. So I think I'll be nudged along
that way and go with Fred Couples.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
All right, I'm the tiebreaker, Then I'm the tiebreaker. I
think Michelle Acres is a better soccer player than Fred
Couples is a golfer, but that is only one of
the criteria, and I think one of the criteria that
(32:46):
we need to look at is as great as Michelle
Acres was. Longevity wise, Fred Couples got a top ten
in the Masters in nineteen eighty four. He also got
a top ten in the Masters in two thousand and ten,
twenty six years later. But they weren't. He didn't have
(33:10):
top tens to the entire stretch, though, I would push
back on that he had top tens too.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Well.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
He had two in the two thousand. No, that's what
I'm saying, right kill, he got five in the nineties,
but he had three in the eighties. I'm just not
saying it wasn't it wasn't consistent. Well, he didn't just
push back on that a little bit. He didn't miss
a cut in the Masters until two thousand and eight,
when he was like, what fifty how many? How many
(33:38):
golfers make a cut? Well, I mean, I'm just I'm
just telling you. My final criteria is this. I'm going
to use the old We're gonna pull one hundred sports fans,
men and women of all ages in Omaha, Nebraska, and
we're just gonna pull him off the street, and we're
gonna find out. We're going to ask them this simple question,
(34:00):
do you know who Michelle Acres is? And we're gonna
take that number out of one hundred, and we're gonna
write it down and we're gonna do the same thing
with that same one hundred people and say, do you
know who Fred Couples is? And we're gonna write that
number down. I believe in my heart of hearts, and
I think popularity is one of the one of the
main focuses here. I think Fred Couples is known by
(34:25):
more of those one hundred people in Omaha, Nebraska than
Michelle Acres is. And I think Fred Couples, while he
was a great golfer, what made him greater was what
Hugh talked about. He was one of the most popular
golfers in the world for a quarter of a century.
People still follow him around here in Seattle. Every single year,
(34:47):
people followed, did you watch Thursday at the Masters this year?
His gallery was as big as any when he was
sitting there throwing down a sixty nine or whatever it
was on Thursday at the Map. So because of that,
all due respect to Michelle Akers and I admitted better
soccer player I believe than Fred Couples was a golfer,
(35:10):
I'm going to give the edge to Fred Couples as
the greatest athlete of the Puget Sound region. And so
Jim Nantz was right according to our according to our vote,
it's Okay, guys. You guys can both be wrong.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
It's totally fine, and you're both entitled your opinion even
when you're wrong.
Softian Dick without the soft one. Couple more shows. Jackson
is here, Hugh is here, and I love Fridays in
the summertime. I love when we do these. And it's
just a matter of picking which one of the plethora
of brackets the Jackson and I have concocted in our
silly little brains, and we decided to go with this one.
(00:22):
We decided to go with the top athlete from the
Puget Sound Region. The Puget Sound Region being defined as
the Puget Sound Region Olympia up north to Everett, because
that's where the Puget Sound is, and then it becomes
like the Straight of wand Afuca and the Sailes's Sea
and all that sort of stuff up there. So the
Puget Sound Region is the Puget Sound region. And we
(00:42):
do want to give a couple of shout outs here,
first of all for our because we have a lot
of honorable mentions, certainly do. It was very different, difficult.
Hugh helped us fill out the bracket yesterday and it
was tough to and we even have a couple of
names that were not on Jackson's tweeted honorable mention that
I'm gonna name on the air here as well. But
good Jackson, you tweeted out honorable mentioned Corey Dillon, Jason Terry,
(01:06):
Casey Keller, Nathan Adrian, Isaiah Thomas, John Oleroude. I threw
out Buddha Baker, and then one that you and say
you and Tim Booth were talking about today at Sounders
is an absolutely great one. And as soon as soon
as you mentioned WNBA, it came to my mind Courtney Vanderslout.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Jade Evans and Tim Booth were like, you gotta have
Courtney at Kentwood High School. Accolades are I mean, justus.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Very like if not for Sue Bird, you can absolutely
argue she's the second best point guard in the history
of the WNBA. So right, there is another But but
I think one of these, I think one of the criteria, guys,
and Hugh you can jump in here. I think one
of the criteria has got to be named familiarity as
(01:53):
far as greatest athletes, that to me, and and I
don't think I think there's a lot of people in
for example, Courtney vandersliving has a lot of people in
Seattle that don't know who Courtney vander Slut is. But
there's nobody in Seattle or very few people that don't
know who Michelle Akers is. When you're talking about a
female athlete, to Michelle Acres makes the list? How how much, Hugh,
do you think name name familiarity should be a part
(02:14):
of the criteria.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Uh, for me, I think it would be. And I'm
one of the people I didn't know who Michelle Acres
was two days ago.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Really Okay, So.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yeah, I think you have to you have to first say, okay,
are all sports exactly the same? And if which means if, if,
if there's somebody from Renton that was the all time
greatest squash player in the history of squash?
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Right, does that? Does that do?
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Are you going to put that?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Look, Christy, you played by whatever rules you want to
play by, right, But but just understand, if you don't
have a scale, then then every sport is equal.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
How low do you want to go on this breadte? No,
that's that's exactly right. So we we had a lot
of honorable mentions and that gets us to our elite
eight are eight finalists And what actually spurred us on
was a Hall of Fame broadcaster and talking about his
Hall of Fame golfer friend last month when Softie and
(03:14):
I were over at the at the Awards Bank with
the Seattle Les Sports Commission Awards banket here is Jim Nance.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
And I think you could build a case tonight where
he is the most famous athlete ever to come out
of Seattle.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Now he used the worst word famous, which obviously connotates
do you know who they are or not? Now we
put best, But I think fame is a part of this. Absolutely.
I think fame is definitely a part of this. So
our number one versus number eight is Fred Couples, Golf
(03:51):
Hall of Famer nineteen ninety one and nineteen ninety two
Player of the Year nineteen ninety two Masters champion out
of Oday High School against the eight seed Apollo Ono,
two time Olympic gold medalists, two times silver medalist, four
times bronze medalists, eight World Championship gold medals out of
Federal Way. Jackson, I'll let you start on this one,
(04:14):
Fred Couples or Apollo on a See.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
It's funny because I think we just accurately used the
clip where we talked about famous and for me, like
growing up as a kid, Apollo Ono was like a
household name. And I'm the younger generation, right, Like I
was born in ninety two, so I was born when
Fred Couples was doing his thing, and I just didn't
grow up with golf. But Apollo Antono what happened. So
(04:38):
that's a household name. That's the guy from Seattle who's
dominating the Olympic level. Fame certainly plays a part in it.
The other part is like Fred Couples had this dominance
for this, you know, as you mentioned, they're the kind
of this couple of years stretch where he was dominant.
Paul anton he was dominant for a while in the
Olympic Games.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
So well, Fred's been dominant the Masters for like thirty sure,
but we only talked about him being a one time
Masters winner, that's right, so and again only two time
overall player of the year, where a Paulo was like
the king of his You're calling for the eight one
upset right now, Jackson, Guys, you know what, and fame
does play a part of it, and we talk about
you know, I think people my generation would vote for
(05:17):
the eight seed and I am gonna vote for the
eight seed here. I'm probably gonna lose, but nonetheless, I
think when we talk about this, I'm gonna go off
of a two time gold medalist. He has six other medals.
He's an eight time world champion at the highest level.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I think the stretch was bigger. So give me the
eight seed for the I have to.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
All right, we're starting with a potential upset here on
his back, Yeah, exactly on his back already. Are we're
gonna get the eight over the one?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
What do you think you well, I would say this
goes back to my prior point. And by the way,
I'm in jest saying I'm doing this under protest, because
if we're gonna give a nod to to Jim Nance,
I think that we should we should have a contest
that under the framework of Nance, who said the most
famous athlete from Seattle?
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Right right right?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
And so look, I I my sense. I don't think
you could go very far outside of Seattle and and
people would know who Apollo Ono is. I think I
think most regions of the country, there's a lot of
sports fans that would give you a palms up. I
don't know who Apolo is. And now I could agree
(06:29):
with Jackson that Apollo Ono is a bigger figure for
speed skating than Fred Couples is for golf definitely, you know.
So again you, I guess you just have to internalize that.
For me, I think golf is a bigger sport than
speed skating and Fred Couples. Fred Couples has an endearing
(06:50):
nature to him because it wasn't just the one major.
I think that there's a popularity to him, you know,
the he was one arguably well liked golfers on tours
for two decades, absolutely and remains that. Yes, and I
think that he's in the discussion for the smoothest golf
swing in the history of planet Earth. Ye, along with
(07:11):
Ernie Ls. Some people say Sam Snead and what have you.
But Couples just has that buttery swing. He has that
likable nature. There's no way I can put a Paulo
Ono in front of Fred Couples, even though there are
sums if you, if you pin me down, as I said, yeah,
I could con see Ono's greater. So anyways, I'm going
(07:34):
with Fred Couples, all right.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Well, with all due respect to Jackson, and with all
due respect to a Paulo anton Ono who was fabulous
and I rooted for him in multiple Olympics, and I
was very proud that he was from you know, basically
grew up like ten miles south of me. I mean,
I mean a little bit later than I grew up,
but yeah, but just about ten miles south of me.
Freddie Couples is synonymous with Seattle. I love the fact
(07:57):
that Jefferson Park has brought up every single Masters every
year by Jim Nantz when Fred Couples, including this year
when Fred Couples was on the first page of the
leader board after the first day at the Masters, and
he still was hanging in there after day number two.
Give me Fred Couples moving on over Apollo on a
all right, the two seven, This is gonna be interesting
(08:18):
Baseball on Baseball crime the two seed Ron Santo Hall
of Famer, nine time All Star, five time Gold Glove
out of Franklin High School versus Ron Say, six time
All Star not yet in the Hall of Fame. We'll
(08:39):
see if he gets there. Nineteen eighty one World Series
Champion and World Series MVP, something that Ron Santo did
not accomplish from Mount Tahoma High School and Tacomb also
a Wazoo Cougar three hundred and sixteen career home runs, Hugh,
I'll give you the first one on this. I don't
know how much how much I'm I'm sure you remember
Ron Say play. Are you old enough to remember Ron
(09:01):
Santo play?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yeah, I would say with regards to that, but that's
a tough one.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
That that that's tough because I've got.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
World Series m v P nine against uh so the
team Accomplishment. I'm trying to be guided by the spirit
of Nance's comment, and so I think it's just hard
to push aside the Hall of Fame. And and I
think I think that's a that you know, you know,
(09:33):
that Hall of Fame is like a mic drop. Now,
somebody could say World Series MVP is But in theory,
you could be a so so player who's the freeze
kid kid from Saint Louisa, you know. I mean there's
guys who've gotten hot and gotten World Series m VP.
So but you you can't just get hot and make
your way, you know, for a brief time and make
(09:55):
your way into the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
So so.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
And I'm not saying Ron Say just got hot. It
was a six time All Star. But I'm gonvin that
the odd ever so slightly to the Hall of Fame,
and so I'm going with Santo. I'll go next on
this one.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I'm just looking the accolades, the length of time, nine
time All Star versus six time All Star, five time
Gold Glove versus I believe zero time Gold Glove. Right
for Ron, say, I think that eclipses World Series MVP.
The numbers across the board, while not massively in Santo's favor,
(10:33):
they are in Santo's favor. He's got a higher OPS,
He's got thirty more home runs in his career, He's
got two hundred more RBIs in his career. He's got
a batting average of two seventy seven versus two sixty one.
So I think, clearly, while they both had awesome careers,
I'm gonna go Ron Santos. So Jackson, you don't get
a vote on this, No, would you vote?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
This is a two seven game, but it's closer to
be a four to five. Yeah, right, that's right. This
is super close. And at the end of the day,
for me, there's two things that make a difference here.
World Series not only Champion m the p of the
World Series, and also, I don't know how much stock
you guys are putting in this, but it's part of
my influence here, the fact that he was a Wsu cougar,
(11:14):
the fact that he stayed local in the area of sorts,
and then I think that does play a small role.
It's very close, but it is Ron Santo by a hair.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
All right, let's move on three versus six. This is
gonna be interesting because it's two players in not the
most popular sports, at least in the country. Soccer certainly
more more popular than bowling. But Michelle Akers the three
seed Soccer Hall of Famer, two time World Cup champion,
nineteen ninety one, Golden Boot in the World Cup for
(11:45):
Best Player, Olympic gold medalist, and this is the one
that gets me FIFA Female Player of the Century in
the entire world.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
FIFA named her the greatest soccer player of the century
in the world. Out of Shortcress High School. She is
the three seed. Earl Anthony. Hey, I knew nothing about
bowling when I was growing up, but I knew who
Earl Anthony was because Earl Anthony was the goat and
I actually bowled quite a bit and we were like, oh,
ask b, I want to be Earl Anthony. I want
(12:16):
to be Earal Anthony, and he's you know, he's growing up.
He's playing in Tacoma, twenty miles south of where I
was growing up. So Earl Anthony six time Bowler of
the Year, ten pro major titles, that's the second most
all time forty three total titles. And and you know,
if if somebody said that Earl Anthony was the goat
of his sport, I don't think anybody would bat an
eye that that would say he's the goat of the sport. So,
(12:37):
but I'm gonna I'll start with this one player of
the century. You just I mean, for me, that's dropped
the mic player of the century in the world in
your sport. Michelle Akers moves on, all right, So I
know who's Jackson's voting for.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
So Hugh, you get the next one.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Okay, I'm going to see what if there's a case
to be built for Earl Antonine. Okay, he's he's considered
the greatest.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Is he objectively the greatest? Oh Weber?
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I mean, but he is known as a top three
bowler of all time, consensus top three bowler of all time?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yes, okay, And so the FIFA Player of the Century
I assume that was the twentieth century, correct, Yes, right, So,
and and we're talking how long had she played like
the last the last decade ish of the twentieth century.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
She won the World Cup in ninety one and ninety nine,
so we know at least she played the last ten
I think she started about the eighty and eighty something
like that.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah, So where would she be considered? Now, well, that's
a Jackson question. I would probably say, the list of women,
on the list of all time women soccer players, where
would she be considered?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
She's squarely in the top ten, probably right around five. Okay,
but there's also but there was also a hell of
a lot more top women soccer players and work that's
grown because of her. Because of her, then there is bowlers,
I mean the top five, the people that are ahead
of her probably because of her, well, because she she
grew the game, I mean, and just her quality. Like
(14:12):
you think about like girls who especially here, who are like,
oh my gosh, you know, look at what Michelle Akers
is doing from Seattle, and then the sport, especially in Seattle,
especially the girls soccer here in Seattle grew massively because
of her, Her fame and her status.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
All right, So if I put bowling and women's soccer equal,
you out of your own mouth, you said she's maybe
top five, whereas Earl Anthony is. So I'm going to
ural Anthony.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Okay, all right, it's Michelle Akers. I appreciate Hughes vote.
It's a nice case study. But I think Hugh said
something really really smart a couple of minutes ago that
I hadn't even thought of. When you say hall of fame,
it's a mic drop. It's just done. End of story.
Hall of fame. That's it.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
But they're both hall of famers. Earl Anthony hall of fame. Absolutely,
he's got to be. He's the top three all the
time in his sport. Of course, I get that.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
But I'm just going off the accolades, and I didn't
see a hall of fame.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Anthony is in the bowling Hall of Fame. He's one
of two facts are true. Either he's in the Hall
of Fame or there's no bowling Hall of Fame. Might not,
I don't know. I'm pretty sure that either way. Regardless,
it's in Arlington. It's in Arlington. Arlington, Texas is the
International Bowling.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Mustium must be in there. I would think that your
entire Why didn't you show up on his internet? I
don't know, Michelle player the same. Right, one more before
we take a time out. We get done with the
first round. This is a good one.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Jamal Crawford the four seed, three time NBA six Man
of the Year, sixtieth on the all time scoring list.
I mean, this is a guy that maintained such a
high level of play over so many years. I mean,
I think that's the thing that gets me the most
about Jamal cr is he constantly looked like he was
(16:03):
twenty eight years old on the floor, whether he was
twenty eight, whether he was thirty eight, he looked like
he was twenty. I mean, this guy averaged double digits
in the NBA for five, ten, fifteen, eighteen years in
a row. Number sixty on the old time scoring list.
I mean, the long chevity and the body that he
(16:24):
was able to keep up. He just retired five years ago,
for God's sakes. I mean, he played high school in
then early nineties. He's only four years younger than I am,
absolutely five years younger than I am. Absolutely unbelievable. Jamal
Crawford against Tim winzicam four time All Star, three time
World Champion, two time Cy Young winner, led the league
(16:46):
in strikeouts three times, two no hitters out of Liberty
High School and the Jackson's Point earlier also stayed around
and was a udub husky for what's that worth? Jamal
Crawford did not stay around and decided to go to
Michigan for some reason for a year before going to
the NBA. So here, once you start us off, Tim
Linz or Jamal.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Crawford, Well, first of all, big fan of Jamal Crawford.
I remember going to heck ed on a m l
K tournament uh uh and just watching him at the
ground level and and uh, you know, watching him at Michigan,
So been a big fan. I I just am looking
at Tim Lindsey Coom's UH World Series titles. But really
(17:28):
what's got me focused is two Cy Young Awards. Now,
I don't like the baseball carves their their league in half.
So I understand, it's just a national league. So you
could say you got half of an uh envy, but
but you're basically saying he's the best pitcher in the
National League for not once but twice. I don't I
(17:51):
don't see any of the accolades that Crawford had now
other than the longevity, sure, which but I just have
so I think you can make a case for either.
I think the case is more compelling to me that
it's Lenscombe.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I'm with you. I think one thing that really hurt
Jamal Crawford's case is the fact that he played on
crappy basketball teams most of his career. My god, I mean,
he played on the Bulls right after right after Jordan.
He played on the Knicks right after the good Knicks teams.
He played on the Hawks, he played on Golden State
(18:28):
before Golden State was Golden State. He played in the
Blazers for a year, and he played six years with
the Clippers. I mean, it was rough. Feel sorry for
Jamal Crawford, but I think that hurts him. If Jamal
Crawford had many many playoff opportunities, it might be different
and it might even the scales a little bit. But
I'm with you, Tim Wins, I'll be at a shorter
(18:50):
amount of time had a more successful baseball career as
far as accolades go, than Jamal Crawford did. So I'm
gonna go with I'm gonna go with Tim Linsingham the
five over the four.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
It just feels like Linscomb did it in a tighter window.
Jamal Crawford did it for so long, And I mean
I look up career strikeouts. Linsicomb is one hundred and
thirty ninth all time for career strikeouts with the seventeen
thirty six total strikeouts. Crawford's number sixty for career points.
I know it isn't you know, it's a little apples
(19:22):
to oranges, but still like, yeah, Crawford's sixtieth, it's Linsecum.
But for me, like I think it's Lynscomb from just
by the hair that he went to UW stayed here.
He was a local guy through and through who stayed
here where Crawford left and part of that, does you know,
irk me that he just didn't stay home. And Tim
and the Sports Center commercial we talk about the fame, right,
(19:44):
the more people across the nation know the name Tim
Lincecomb because he was on a Sports Center commercial was
a Timmy Timmy slim gym or something like that. So like,
I think it's super close, but I'll go with Tim
as we.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Well, Linsingomb was a super and over he only had
four good years Yeah, but they were four at least,
like he's like the junior Sandy Kofax. I mean, he's
just they were four where he was considered as good
of any pitcher in baseball. But there was only four
years and then he had the injury problems. Then he
retired in twenty sixteen. All right, second round coming up
(20:15):
next on ninety three point three KJRFMA.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
Casting live from the R and R Foundation specialist broad
JAST Studio. Now back to Safti and Dick, powered by
Emerald Queen, Casino, the vetting capital of the Northwest, on
Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ r FAM.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Hright, round number two of our Friday bracket. It is
the best pro athlete from the Hugest Sound region. First round,
Fred Couples beat Apaulo anton Ono, the one over the eight.
Tim Linzicam took out Jamal Crawford, the five over the four,
Michelle Akers over Earl Anthony, the three over the six,
(20:53):
and Ron Santo over Ron Say the two over the seven.
Let's go now to the one versus the five. Fred
Couples against Tim Linzicam. I'll start on this one, guys,
And you know we talked about longevity with Jamal Crawford
and Tim Linzicam, and we still gave the edge to Lensicomb. Well,
(21:14):
we gave the edge to Linzinghmbe partially because of his
elite status and where he was considered the best, even
though it was only for four years. Well, Fred Couples,
I'm just looking at this. We all know his prowess
and the Masters, right, I mean, eleven top tens in
the Masters and a Masters Championship, what I think? What
I forgot, and I'm sure a lot of people forgot
(21:36):
how great a golfer he was in the other majors
as well, and that takes that's only the krem de
la creme. If you're a guy like Scottie Scheffler, if
you're guy like Tiger Woods, I mean, if you're one
of the greats of the game that can take your
game and play in completely different setups US Open, completely
(21:57):
different from the Open Championship, which is completely different from
the Masters tournament. He has eleven top tens in the Masters,
He's got nine top tens in the US Open. He's
got nine more top tens in the British Open. I
mean that is twenty nine. He's got three more of
the PGA Championship, that is thirty two top tens in majors.
(22:21):
Now he only has the one title. But my goodness,
the longevity of greatness for Freddy Couples does it for me?
Over four great years of Tim Linzikam Hugh Well.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And I also think he was voted the Tour Player
of the year. So essentially he was thought to be
the best golfer on earth for two years of his life,
right in addition to damn good on all the other years.
As you aptly describe, when I look at it, lense Come,
it's an incredibly incredible resume, it's an incredible resume. Excuse me,
(22:54):
But if you take the cy Young you could you're
kind of having it twice. You're saying, okay, this, what
is the cy Young Award? He won it twice, as
Couples won Golfer of the Year twice. Well, the Cy
Young you cut it in half, you say, okay, pitchers
versus position players, and then just the nature of the award,
you cut it in half again, American League versus nationally.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
So so in.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Essence, I'm roughly equating as Cy Young to twenty five
percent of a Golfer's Player of the year.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
So the longevity.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Even if you just wanted to say, okay, the comment,
well you could, I.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
Would say that Couples could.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
You could argue even just the best four years, you
could argue that Couples is better.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
So yeah, for me, it's Fred Couples.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Jackson, want Addie think Fred Couples moves on.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
It's a good math there from Hugh, and the math
makes a lot of sense. I personally would say that
I would also give let's say, zero point five to
each World Series title, because I value winning a championship
in your league, so I would give it by just
a just a hair to Linsicum. But I mean, we're
we were really really splitting hairs on this matchup. So
I understand that Fred Couple's wins, but.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Freddie moves on. So Freddie will take on the winner
of Michelle Acres and Ron Santo. This is a tough one.
I think the popularity of sport comes into play here. Certainly,
baseball more popular sport in America than soccer is, even
though soccer is much more popular around the world. But
(24:29):
Michelle Acres, you know what I'm gonna I'll go last.
Jackson you go first, Michelle Acres or Ron Santo.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
It's closer than you may think for me, because you
just look at Ron Santo. I mean a Hall of
Fame there, nine time All Star. Nine times he was
an All Star. And I don't know how to compute
that into like soccer terms, because Michelle Acres was only
on the two World Cup champion teams in ninety one
and ninety nine, although ninety five two, but still so
(24:55):
at the end of the day, I'm gonna go Michelle Acres.
But because I think just Dicky put it really well.
I think in the first segment we were talking about
the weight of the line female Player of the Century.
I mean when when, if if there was a baseball
work for we're giving out the player of the twentieth century.
Like I don't know if it's the Babe Ruth or what,
(25:16):
but like that that person just in with a dot
for for I think the winner here so way of
the sport and popularity sport matters, But for me, player
of the Century wins out.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
All right, Hugh, what do you think?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Well, not to quibble because Player the Century is immense
and it seems like a mic drop in and it
most likely is she was the co player of the
century with China's soon win. Okay, so does that dilute it?
It's got to dilute it at least point one percent.
(25:50):
Umber you put a number like co player of the
century is not equal to player this century.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
This is.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Really awesome.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
You only want to go point zero zero zero one, fine,
but you have to reduce it some Okay, I I
asked at the beginning, you tell me the rules of
the game. Are all sports created equal? Is a squash
player equal to a professional football player?
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (26:19):
So in that regard, there's no I don't I don't
think there's any dispute that Michelle Acres on the pantheon
of women soccer players. And I didn't even know who's
I'd heard of me a ham but two days ago.
If you just said Milt Michelle Acres is a great athlete,
I said, what was she a swimmer?
Speaker 4 (26:34):
I didn't know who she was, right.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
So, so, so in light of that, there's no I
don't think there's any dispute. Having read her accomplishments, she
is a greater women's soccer player than Ron San Santo
as a baseball player. On the list of the greatest.
But that was that was your earl Anthony a few
minutes ago.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah, but baseball's baseball, and so for me it's Ron Santo. Okay, uh,
I'm okay docking bowling. You know, when you're comparing a
baseball to bowling, basketball to bowling. I'm okay docking bowling
a significant amount. I'm not okay docking soccer that much.
(27:15):
I'll dock it a little bit versus baseball. But it
is the most popular sport in the world. And Michelle
Acres prompted Mia Hamm and Brandy Chastain and you, and
however many other US World champions to play and to
(27:36):
play and to and they really put US soccer, US
women's soccer on the map, something the men haven't been
able to do.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
So I'm voting for Michelle Acres to move on to
the championship against Fred Couples. So we got Michelle Acres,
we got Fred Couples. Well, crown a champion. Next, we
have time for some text maybe two. What the heck
it's a Friday heat. Do a next On ninety three
point three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
Broad casting live from the R and R Foundation, Specialist
Broadcast Studio. Now back to SOFTI and Dick powered by
Emerald Queen Casino, the betting capital of the Northwest. On
Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FF.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
We've reached the finals. We are going to determine who
the greatest athlete from the Puga Sound region is right now.
And what we say is final Jackson. Yeah, we say
his final exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
This is it. This bracket will decide. I mean, just
like it decided the best husky play of the entire
season we went to the National Championship. Was the Oregon
missed field goal? You love We are the deciding voice
of Seattle Arights. But you like it or not, we
are the deciders.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Are one seed Freddy Couples Golf Hall of Famer nineteen
ninety one and ninety two Player of the Year nineteen
ninety two Masters champions, as I mentioned, thirty two top
tens in majors against the three seed Michelle Acres Soccer
Hall of Famer ninety one and ninety nine World Cup Champion,
ninety one World Cup Golden Boot, ninety six Olympic gold medals,
(29:11):
and FIFA Female Player of the Century co Player of
the Century from Shortcrest High school Jackson, you go first,
Michelle Acres.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Michelle Acres player of the co Player of the Century. Well,
even we can just simply say, I mean, listen, if
they had to, if FIFA was said, no, you must
only give it to one person, Michelle. I can assure
you that Michelle would be the one, but you don't
want to make it a global thing. On top of that,
it is the Olympic gold medal. It's the two time
world If we equate, you know, player of the Year
(29:43):
in golf to the World Cup, then there's that the
Masters we could equate to the Olympic gold medal. But again,
it kind of comes back to the longevity of it.
We keep talking about longevity. Michelle Acres did it for
so long. She was the best player in her sport
for so long. And again I do understand you knock soccer,
but I would also say you could knock golf the
(30:05):
same way as you knock soccer. There's a lot of
golf hitters, like there's a lot of soccer haters, So
I think that that applies to both. I think again,
it's the longevity. It's the player of the century, So
give me Michelle Acres Hill one vote for Michelle Acres.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Well, I think it's very interesting because we've got a
confluence of factors here not in including the fact we've
got a male against a female. And I think what
would be very interesting would be to compare golfers if
you had a similar male golfer to a female, like
(30:41):
if Nancy Lopez or Anika Shornstein was in this right,
if they had been from the puges. Sound, do you
quate men and the women the same? Tell me what
the rules are? I could, I could go by whatever
the rules are. The men's game is more popular in golf, right,
And then if we're going to apply that to this
(31:02):
and we say, okay, if there is and I'm not
arguing that there should be, but if there is a
difference between men and women, because men maybe in this
sport have a higher profile. With regards to women's soccer,
where do you put more weight? You could argue that
the women, the women in America are more prominent than
(31:24):
the men soccer. Now, the men bring in more revenue,
but the women are certainly more accomplished.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Definitely, And I can name right the women than I
can the men.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Last years, Yeah, and so I I understand this, but
I'm going to go with a sport that I think
is more popular in America, and that's golf. And I
think Fred Couples says he was for two years at
least was considered the greatest golfer on planet Earth.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
And then.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
In addition to that, he's had decades plural of being
out or near in terms of that's right of his
accomplishments in terms of his popularity. And I'm going to
nod to I'm going to nod to the inspiration of
this contest to Jim Nantz, who made the assertion that
(32:15):
Fred Couples may be the most famous athlete in the
history of Seattle. So I think I'll be nudged along
that way and go with Fred Couples.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
All right, I'm the tiebreaker, Then I'm the tiebreaker. I
think Michelle Acres is a better soccer player than Fred
Couples is a golfer, but that is only one of
the criteria, and I think one of the criteria that
(32:46):
we need to look at is as great as Michelle
Acres was. Longevity wise, Fred Couples got a top ten
in the Masters in nineteen eighty four. He also got
a top ten in the Masters in two thousand and ten,
twenty six years later. But they weren't. He didn't have
(33:10):
top tens to the entire stretch, though, I would push
back on that he had top tens too.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Well.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
He had two in the two thousand. No, that's what
I'm saying, right kill, he got five in the nineties,
but he had three in the eighties. I'm just not
saying it wasn't it wasn't consistent. Well, he didn't just
push back on that a little bit. He didn't miss
a cut in the Masters until two thousand and eight,
when he was like, what fifty how many? How many
(33:38):
golfers make a cut? Well, I mean, I'm just I'm
just telling you. My final criteria is this. I'm going
to use the old We're gonna pull one hundred sports fans,
men and women of all ages in Omaha, Nebraska, and
we're just gonna pull him off the street, and we're
gonna find out. We're going to ask them this simple question,
(34:00):
do you know who Michelle Acres is? And we're gonna
take that number out of one hundred, and we're gonna
write it down and we're gonna do the same thing
with that same one hundred people and say, do you
know who Fred Couples is? And we're gonna write that
number down. I believe in my heart of hearts, and
I think popularity is one of the one of the
main focuses here. I think Fred Couples is known by
(34:25):
more of those one hundred people in Omaha, Nebraska than
Michelle Acres is. And I think Fred Couples, while he
was a great golfer, what made him greater was what
Hugh talked about. He was one of the most popular
golfers in the world for a quarter of a century.
People still follow him around here in Seattle. Every single year,
(34:47):
people followed, did you watch Thursday at the Masters this year?
His gallery was as big as any when he was
sitting there throwing down a sixty nine or whatever it
was on Thursday at the Map. So because of that,
all due respect to Michelle Akers and I admitted better
soccer player I believe than Fred Couples was a golfer,
(35:10):
I'm going to give the edge to Fred Couples as
the greatest athlete of the Puget Sound region. And so
Jim Nantz was right according to our according to our vote,
it's Okay, guys. You guys can both be wrong.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
It's totally fine, and you're both entitled your opinion even
when you're wrong.
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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