Softy & Dick 7-29 Hour 3: Logan Gilbert, Umps, Big 10, Phil Steele

In the third hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain talk about the frustrations for Logan Gilbert in Boston and one bad umpire call being partially to blame, then go over the Big Ten football schedule for television before talking to college football expert Phil Steele.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
By the way, we got totalk about what's happening here in Boston.
You know whatever, it's some footYou can't talk baseball all the game's going
on, Hey, you know whatever, you're talking baseball. We're talking baseball.
Why can't we talk baseball with you? Right whatever? Logan Gilbert just
gave up a four spot in thethird inning. And I don't remember the
exact scenario or who was at theplate because I'm doing the show here,

(00:22):
but two outs, two strike count, and he gets a fastball bottom frame
right there in the bottom ninety eightmiles an hour, easily should have been
striking inside the box, not evenon the corner of the box, inside
the box. He got totally hosed, did not get the call. Next
pitch, wild pitch scores a runfrom third RBI double by the next batter,

(00:45):
and it's now four nothing bought.Was it a home run home?
I am as a home run totwo run home r It's now four nothing
Boston, And I just wonder howmuch not getting that call there Dick kind
of affected Logan Gilbert' psyche. Buthere's the thing. We talked about this
when they pushed him back and theyskipped him during the Astro series. What

(01:06):
did we say on this show.Let's not look at how they do against
Houston necessarily, Let's look at howLogan Gilbert does. Coming off now eight
days of rest, nine days ofrest, and he has now allowed nine
earned runs in his last nine andtwo thirds innings. He has not been

(01:27):
sharp since the All Star break.And I'm not saying this is why.
I'm not saying it's not why.But a guy who was so dominant for
Seattle for the most part in thefirst half of the year is getting cooked
now by opponents and not very goodBoston La whatever. Okay, I just
think, I just I just thinkit's fair to ask and fair to wonder

(01:49):
how much of this is him justbeing rusty after taking all that time off.
I think it's a lot of it. I didn't understand it at the
time. I don't understand a lotof things that this manager, with the
pitching staff and Logan Gilbert has nowgiven up nine runs in his last two
Now only one of them was earnedthe last time, but he still gave
up five runs. And yeah,he got screwed out of this one.

(02:09):
There was no question about it.He should have got gotten out of it.
He's got great stuff in this game, but the facts of the facts,
after he after he gave up thatwalk, it was wild pitch,
base hit, home run, andnow another base HiT's five nothing. I
mean, I mean, he's gonnapulled here, he's gonna get yanked,
and you mess with success and you'regonna get burned. And that's exactly what

(02:32):
he's doing with him. He's babyand Brian Wus it's driving me nuts,
to be perfectly honest with you.Well, we talked about that with Steven
Sutha, you know, earlier today. And you know, look, I
mean I get Steven's point, youknow, about giving them credit for keeping
all these guys healthy. I mean, technically, you know, Wu did
miss a month and a half ofbaseball or whatever, but he's had some
injury history before, Logan, KirbyCastillo, Bryce Miller, They've all been

(02:55):
healthy right the entire year. Soif the long game is the game,
I get it, blah blah blah. But I just hope that this doesn't
last that long and that this isnot gonna be something that will plague him
now for a while, because he'sstill a fairly young guy, right,
he's not a rookie, but he'snot thirty years old either, and given
a guy that much time off Jackson, I was just concerned about how he

(03:17):
would bounce back from it. Iget that. Listen, I'm gonna preface
this next comment with I'm not tryingto tell anybody to calm down, and
I'm not trying to tell and I'mgonna calm down. I will say all
of this conversation we're having right nowabout Logan Gilbert would be I think we
wouldn't even think about bringing it upif the freaking umpire wasn't dumb and blind

(03:39):
and actually called what was an obviousstrike a strike. And it's just further
explanation to why we need to moveto this robot system, which is what
spring training next year, right isgoing to be the testing. So like
I just asked him off fee orabout one challenge per game, one pitching
challenge per game, and that wouldhave been it. I mean, it's
just it's mind boggling how bad theseguys. It's like they don't even care

(04:01):
anymore because they know they're going tolose their jobs next year, so the
umpires don't even give a damn andthey're just willing to call ball strikes and
strikes balls and let things go.And they walk off the field at the
end of the game and not givea damn because nothing will come back on
them. And they know they havenothing going on for them next year.
Makes it for their other jobs.You've got your ball, I mean,

(04:21):
but here's the you're allowed. Youdon't even have to have one. You
can have three minor leaguers all threechallenges. Here's the thing, though,
how do they do that in theminers? How do they decide what's a
strike and what's not when they goback and look at a review. Is
there a predetermined box like the tracer? Yeah, because a lot of it's
a different box than the tracer,But there is because a lot of umpires

(04:42):
and Boone has told us this onI think SUSA has as well. That's
not the box that they're being gradedon. The box that you see on
TV is not what umpires are beinggraded on. So who gets to the
side where the box is for thatday and where it goes depending on a
hitter's strike zone? I mean,I just love to know more about how
they do that. But I amcurious about how much Logan Gilbert's routine was

(05:05):
messed up by giving the guy aweek and a half off. I just
think he's a horse. I thinkhorses need to run. And the more
you have him sit in the barndoing nothing but getting fat, the worst
they perform. And you're seeing thatright now. Gilbert today two and two
thirds two and two thirds six runsand he's finished well. He has not
been good in the second half.And it's one thing to It's one thing.

(05:26):
If he was struggling, right,if he was scuffling, if his
velocity was down, if it justlooked like he needed some time off,
then absolutely you give him that extrathree days rest, like four days the
rest like they did. He waspitching better than anybody in the rotation,
right, he was coming off ashutout and you don't mess with it and
drives me crazy, man. Andit's games like this that is gonna cost

(05:48):
the Mariners the playoffs if they Imean the Mariners are if the Marrior's missed
the payoffs, They're not gonna missby six games, They're gonna miss by
a game, two games. Andit's games like this the yep pe away
that are gonna cost him the playoffs. Well, here's the thing, so
I just literally put this out onX where he got hosed on that third
strike call that he never got.And I get that it was a bad

(06:10):
call. He should have got aninning, should have been over and said
at least to six runs. Andit's unbelievable how the floodgates opened up after
that call. But trapezium magnesium atspice crack addict on Twitter, Wow,
just tweeted me, so we takehim for serious. Seriously, spice Crack,
He said, Dude, all ofthis came after an egregious misstrike three

(06:30):
that would have ended the inning,which I understand that. I just said
that on the air. I tweetedthat, I get all that, but
a guy still has to respond.He's got to get out, has to
respond. It's one of the thingsabout baseball and baseball fans that drives me
crazy. Why do we just allof a sudden take any responsibility away from
a pitcher after a mistake by anumpire or a fielding mistake by the defense.

(06:56):
It's like anything you do from thatpoint on as somebody else's so.
And that's I hate that. That'sa good point to go against kind of
what I was saying, which isthat none of this would come up if
the strike call had been given,obviously, but I will say like it
happened. It's such a mental game, and obviously pitching is such a mental
thing, right, where a missedcall like that can just flip a switch

(07:18):
and the floodgates as we mentioned open, right. So I really do put
so much of this on that missedcall because I know, yes to respond.
But at the end of the day, we know baseball and what it
is, and I just I it'shard for me to blame Logan Gil much.
Let me just say one thing.The umpiring is bad enough for you

(07:38):
to lose your mind, right,yes, and bat all your w oh
my gosh, So this one righthere, you wake up and you expect
that this is going to happen ina game. You're not gonna get every
call, You're gonna get hosed.You need to be able to respond to
this. I'm sorry if you thinkthat giving an all star starting caliber pitcher
a free pass because you got abad call that led to six runs is

(07:59):
all the umpire fault. I can'tgo with that because he needs to get
over it. He needs to respondto it, and he did not do
that. But you asked the questionwhy fans. Some fans baby major league
baseball players, right, And Ithink it's because major League baseball players are
babied. They're babied by their managers. When you think of football players,

(08:20):
we think of gladiators. Play throughthe pain, man, you gotta fight
through it. You get screwed bythe refs. Sorry, you still got
to get that first down on thirdand fifteens to the third and ten because
they gave you a bad call.But baseball players are not treated like that.
We're watching our manager pull his startingpitcher after four good innings and seventy
some pitchers and set me some pitches. I mean, it is unbelievable how

(08:43):
these guys are babied by their ownskippers. I agree with you on the
WU thing. I do think thatplaying baseball hurt is different than playing football
hurt. We've had this conversation beforeon the air. There's certain things as
a baseball player that are really reallyhard to do when you're banged up.
Versus playing football. It wasn't anour issue, uh No, not for
Low for sure either for Woo.No. I mean, look unless they're
just still so completely scared out oftheir minds about getting him banged up that

(09:07):
they're just not gonna let him golonger than seventy five eighty pitches the entire
year. That might be the case. He may be five inning Brian by
the time it's all s get ridof him. You know, why aren't
we trading him? If he's worththat much on the trademark, that's a
lot. I mean, I gotto give you a five strong every game.
That's pretty damn good in this dayand age. You just said yourself,

(09:30):
everybody's doing it right. Baseball managersare baby And we had a guy
pulled with a no hitter last week, Dick Steves Pittsburgh. This is the
way of the world. If youcan guarantee me, or as close to
guaranteeing that every time Brian Wu goesout there, I'm gonna get five strong
well with a great chance to winin the sixth. Yeah, here's the
reason, and here's the reason Iwould trade him, because in this organization,

(09:54):
with this general manager, I feellike we have a far better chance
to find the ex Brian Wu thanwe do to find the next middle order
that. Yeah, yeah, Ithink you're right. Yeah, and that's
say, if we can't find thenext middle of the order hitter anyplace else,
right, then why not trade?Brian Wof I had a senior moment
today, by the way, butI want to get your thoughts on.

(10:16):
I had a phone call from thehigh Line Water District today. Oh yeah,
man, you ever heard of them? Yes? I paid them every
three months. They provide all thedrinking water for the area that Dick and
I live in. Uh, thisis so and so from high Line.
We got your check, but it'smade out to recology. Oh you sent
the you sent the garbage checked theHighland Water. I sent the garbage check

(10:41):
to the water company and I sentthe water check to the garbage company.
Okay, so is that typical oris that a senior moment. That's the
first question I have is why areyou're writing a check? Yeah? Why
writing checks? What's on writing checks? Paying these people online? No?
I like checks? Yeah, well, I don't think I write a check
ever again for a monthly. Ithink they're all automatic deduction from my well

(11:03):
thematic card or my banking. Theautomatic deductions, I got a weird thing.
I'm okay with the automatic deductions.If it's the same thing, if
it's the same rate or price ornumber every month, but if it changes,
I want to be able to dothat myself, right, I just
it's weird. Well, you stillget you still get a receipt, I
know, But I want. Iwant if it's like like my my life

(11:26):
insurance premium I pay my car insuranceis the same every month. Yeah,
cell phone bill usually that's all automatic, cable automatic. But if something changes
and it's a different amount, Ijust I got to pay it, I
guess. And maybe I will startpaying things online, going online, going
to the website and just paying itthere. But I like writing checks.
Man, I just got tired pycents for a stamp of fifty. It's

(11:50):
like ninety cents now, I'm kidding. I have no idea, but it's
a lot. It's getting it's gettingexpensive. It's like the last piece of
my childhood is watching my parents writechecks. We were taught in elementary school
how to write a check. Istill balance my check book every month and
another bank does it for me.You were too. You don't write checks
at all. I've ever written acheck, You've never ever won time in

(12:13):
your life in a check. Wowow, that's wow, okay, just I
write a lot of checks. Itwas a generational thing, I mean because
for me, like and and thisis how I pay my bills. I
have a thing on my home screenon my phone that has all of my
bills that I have to pay thatmonth, and then I have websites for
I just click on the link.It takes me to the website. I
pay that bill, and I havea day of the month that I have

(12:35):
to pay that bill by. Soevery time I'm on my home screen,
I see it once a day ofOh, today's the fourteenth. You know
what is today, Today's the twentyninth, So I know that toy.
Don't look at it every day,though, what's just get automatic on my
home get automatic withdrawal so well,Sofie's point, like some things I have
automatic, some things have to paymanually. So like tomorrow it is automatic

(12:56):
that my Fubo in my Hulu,but I have noted here that that's coming
off on the twenty ninth. Andthere's some of them that have the links.
So when I have to go paymy gas bill, I had the
link to my gas and then Iput a little money sign insignia. That
means I've paid it, and that'show I run my finances. I'm trying
to hang on to a better,easier, less stressful, more productive time
in my life. I still goto the grocery store. I don't use

(13:18):
insta cart. My wife does.I don't. I don't either. I
write too expensive. I take thehorse to work, I feed the horse,
I bathe the horse, I clipthe horse. I do all the
stuff metaphors. Sorry, oh wehave two horses. Oh I'm kidding about
that part. I really don't dothat, But yes, I like,
am I the only schmuck here thatstill writes a check? Four? Nine,

(13:41):
four or five one? How manypeople? And we will find out
right now how old our audience is. How many people in the audience still
write checks? But she, shesays, hey, you gave us the
garbage check. You might want tocall recology and ask them if they got
the other check. And I didn'teven notice that they weren't cash yet.
I had no idea. I'm notdoing as much as you are online,
I guess. But I did eventuallysay to her, can I pay with

(14:05):
a debit card? I mean,that's what I would have done. Anywhere.
So I just I'm not writing checksto the wrong people and sending them
in the mail. Stop writing checks. Well, when I was sixteen years
ago, Oh, I got mychecking account from Sea First Bank and they
gave me one of those check covers. Now Jackson probably doesn't even know what
check cover is. Well, youknow the check cover, little plastic check
cover, right, Yes, itwas register check register. That's right.

(14:28):
It was a nineteen nineties, nineteenninety Seattle Seahawks check cover. There you
go. I still use it.Yeah, thirty four years later, I
have never changed the check cover.I love my check I love it.
Good for you online just more foryou, more like secure, an information
based and you can just monitor things. For some folks, I guess you

(14:48):
don't want to go online and doa lot of stuff. My wife doesn't
do nearly as much as I doonline. She just won't do it.
And I don't know. Maybe it'sbecause of her dad. I got no
idea. Their dad doesn't do iteither. I mean some older folks or
shipped out about sharing their credit cardnumber with people. They won't do it.
I mean this crap that happened withCrowdStrike, that's right. Are you
kidding me? Yeah, huh,I know, you know how easy my

(15:13):
worst night, I wake up andI look at my investment account and it
says zero. You kidd me.You know how close we are to something
like that maybe happening one day.That's a good question because I meant to
ask you guys, because this wassomething that least I was not taught it,
because I mean we really you're taughtall these things, but you're not
taught about like life in school.So I've always wondered, like how much

(15:35):
cash should you have on hand inyour house? Like how much cash should
depends on how it depends on youthink the zombie cop apocalypse is coming?
And if it does, how muchis a dollar worth? None? Nothing?
That's right, that's like it's afallout on Amazon, right, what's
the futures to currency? It's bottlecaps? Well, that's like the movie

(15:56):
that the Civil War movie that justcame out, right, Well, they
went to the gas station, right, and she says, I've got got
cash. Here's I got two hundredbucks. And the guy who's like two
hundred bucks will buy you a cupof coffee here, and she goes,
I got Canadian American dollars were worthzip is worth a butch. I think

(16:17):
Jackson's right, man, when disasterstrikes and the nuclear waste land is outside
your front door. Yeah, youthink your coffee can with ten grand in
cash will do you any good?Whatsoever? Nothing? Okay? Material things
all right? Food are weapons?Yep, you might want to get yourself
twenty five grand and food and weaponsto pass out. We're gonna break.

(16:40):
Phil Steele. Phil Steele's College FootballPreview, the unofficial official kickoff for the
college football season with the Ends gettingtheir asses kicked right now at Fenway seven
Nothing Boston Fourth Inning, uh sevento one. I'm sorry, Boston Fourth
Inning will discuss it all coming upon ninety three three KJR FM from the
R and R Foundation Specialists broadcast studio. Now back to Softie and Dick on

(17:03):
your home for the Huskies and theKrekend Sports Radio ninety three point three KJR
FM. So tomorrow is media dayover at UDUB. You guys are were
this media day for the UDUB footballteam. Much at press conferences, player
availability, coaches, all that stuff. So gotta hop out there in the
morning and kind of snoop around seewhat's going on. At you dub.

(17:26):
But Jedfish gave an interview with somebodysomewhere at some time. I think it
was at media Day. I'm notsure who it was. I forgot who
was with I was reading the articleon my phone. I think I still
have it. It was I can'tfind somebody talked to Jetfish and he told
this person during the interview he's hearingthe Iowa game is going to be a
big noon kickoff on Fox, whichmeans nine o'clock in the morning here eleven

(17:51):
o'clock in the morning out there,because their Central time, not East Coast
time. And I guess my onlyquestion about that, which I'm f with
that I love that the idea ofyou being on national TV like that.
How could they know that because Foxhasn't made those selections yet, it's like
week seven. What if both teamsare terrible? Well don't they do they

(18:12):
make the selections for the entire season. I don't think so. No.
I think that's just like the same. What I was told today is that
the TV selection windows are the sameas they were in the Pac twelve.
Everybody gets in line. They gotsix day windows, twelve day windows.
Nothing really changes with a Big Ten. There are some games that we do

(18:32):
no kickoff times for, but Iwas not one of them. So which
weekend is that that would be?I believe Week eight one to three,
four, five, six, seven, Week seven October twelfth, October twelfth,
Yes, October the twelfth. Soso Tommy Tommy is happening on October
the twelfth. I bet there's notvery many good right, Yeah? Yeah,

(18:52):
Well wait a second, Well there'sOhio State Oregon, so that's gonna
be that might be an ESPN,ABC kind of whatever, right primetime game.
I well, there's Penn State USCthat's pretty good too. Yeah,
Washington Iowa was the third best gamethat way. Yeah, and that depends
on how the teams look. Imean, if they're both terrible or average,
I'm not it's not a guarantee thatFox puts them on. Although maybe

(19:14):
Jed Fish is bringing stuff like thisup just to kind of pressure Fox,
right, kind of maneuver him intointo it, maybe one way or the
other, you know, kind ofwake wake gay. I'm here that that's
gonna be a game you're gonna wantto have on Fox. Both teams are
gonna be good. I don't knowhow many of those games have already been
decided by the way Dick as faras what time those games are, But
I don't think we should start topencil in or even sharpie and whatever.

(19:38):
Right that game being a big newongame, Well, both teams are probably
gonna have good records because both teams, I mean, both teams have really
really hard games the week before Washingtonhas Michigan, Iowa has Ohio State.
But other than that, it's apretty creampuff schedule for both teams. So
both teams should come in at leastfour and two, if not five and
one. Right, Well, whatis the I'm trying to think about,

(20:00):
And this will be a question Iguess for Willinger tomorrow. I'm sure we
can look it up. We probablyshould know this. Does ESPN, ABC
have any partnership at all with theBig Ten this year? I know that
CBS does, Peacock, NBC doFox? Fox does? Does ESPN have
anything to say at all about theBig Ten schedule? I'm looking at out

(20:23):
I always scheduled, and there's likeseven games already decided and none of them
are on ABC ESPN. Yeah,I'm not sure if they're on ESPN.
So those games that you're talking about, they could end up on CBS.
NBC is going to want to putsome games on Peacock. Peacock is going
to get bigger and bigger and biggerand bigger and bigger as the years go.
Does NBC have a terrestrial football gameor is it just their Peacock game

(20:48):
on Saturday Night? Well, theyhave Notre Dame, right, doesn't NBC
have Notre Dame right? I'm saying, do they have a terrestrial Big ten
game? Or is every Big tengame gonna be on peac that I don't
know. That's a great question forJohn Tomorrow. I think fans need to
and I need to really figure outhow much they're involved. What you're asking
is would NBC aragame like head tohead against Peacock or were they ara game

(21:12):
at twelve thirty on NBC in agame on Peacock. Yeah, because I'm
looking at, for example, thatweekend that I just told you about,
where there's Ohio State, Oregon,there's the Penn State, US such a
good Washington Iowa. Like, who'sgonna get what? Right? Right?
I mean? Is NBC going toput a game on Peacock or are they
going to be able to put agame actually on channel one oh five here

(21:33):
in Seattle. Right, So theBig ten media rights deal two years ago,
seven years, seven billion with Fox, CBS, and NBC. There
is no ESPN or ABC involved inthat whatsoever. Yeah, so you're gonna
see Big ten network, you'll seePeacock, you'll see NBC, you'll see
CBS, and you'll see Fox.But the idea that that game is guaranteed

(21:56):
to be on Big newon kickoff againstIowa because that eleven o'clock out there meeting
for fans that are going like me, we could potentially leave that night and
come back and not have to stayover in Iowa City an extra night.
So I'm just curious to see howall this shakes out, how many games
the Huskies get like on national TV. I know the first for Washington,

(22:18):
the first four afore, the firstfive are already set for kickoff times for
Weaver State, Eastern Michigan, Wazoo, and Rutgers for the first five,
and then the UCLA game on aFriday night. Both the Friday games are
set, and then the first threegames of the year. So the first
game we don't have any kickoff information. Four is at Northwestern. I have

(22:41):
no idea the time, network,all that stuff. God, how about
eight pm for your first game ofthe season? Eight pm kickoff? I
like it personally, well you knowwhy? Well, yeah, I mean
I like seven. I mean hegets a little I mean, geeze,
Louise Man that that freaking boat thatI'm hosting gets back at like one morning
on eight o'clock game. I likebeing able to sleep in a little bit

(23:03):
and go play eighteen and get upto the game. So I'm fine with
it. But I know that alot of people don't feel like me or
think like me. I'm not goingto be that naive to think that everybody
feels like I do. I thinkyou're right. From a you know,
non softy gets to play golf perspective, it's ridiculous. I mean, how
many people on the East Coast arestaying up at eleven o'clock to watch Weber

(23:23):
States? There? And you doneright? All right, we're gonna break.
Phil Steele's gonna join us, bythe way, coming up top of
the hour from Phil Steele's College FootballPreview, the official unofficial kickoff for the
college football season with the Guru.Nobody does preseason publications better than Phil Steel,
and nobody lives in my backpack longerthan Phil Steele and his magazine.

(23:45):
That's coming up at six A ParisOlympics update from Westwood One right now,
live from the R and R FoundationSpecialist Broadcast Studio. Now back to Softie
and Dick on your home for theHuskies Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ
r FM. All right, howabout a little sloppy seconds here on the

(24:07):
text line? Huh but like asloppy before Phil Steele. I only like
him sloppy Dick, like some sloppyJackson slop sloppy Joe. He likes some
slappy Who the hell doesn't like agood sloppy Joe my wife? Huh,
Well, there's something wrong with yourwife. She needs therapy. She should
talk to herself. I have hadgood sloppy Joe's. I have also had

(24:32):
nasty sloppy And to find a nastysloppy Joe, they taste way too much
like ragou. I mean, it'sjust less meat and more sloppy. You
know, you need to have someheartiness well in your sloppy Joe. I
have some actual beef. I agreewith that, although I tell you what
man, if you're starving and youhaven't eaten in maybe a couple of hours,

(24:55):
just a big old can of man, which is swallow the whole damn
thing. There's nothing wrong with that. The problem with the sloppy Joe's is
when the hamburger buns get all hardin gnarly. That's more like a cracker
than it is a bun. I'mI'm a guy. I will take the
sloppy Joe. Mix the sloppy partof the sloppy Joe man witch hamburger meat,

(25:17):
throw it into a big bowl withrigatoni pasta, cover better than cover,
Cover that thing in parmesan cheese,and just go to town. All
right to me, that's the that'sthe snafty sloppy Joe right there. All
right. When the nuclear apocalypse hits, you're gonna want to have a case
a man witch boxes piles of pasta, all right, frozen beef somewhere.

(25:44):
Spam. I have had spam.I don't mind. I've never had spam
before. You've never had spam.I'm trying to get through life without having
really that's your goal, Vegmite.But I've never died Spam on your gravestone.
Here lies Richard L. Fae,who never had all right, well
a couple of sloppy seconds here wasborn in the seventies, still used checks

(26:08):
for monthly bills that have different monthlypayments. That's what you do. But
I stopped writing in cursive exactly likeme, exactly to the t. I
could not. I could have writtenthat text, Swear to God, I
still writing curs. Could have writtenthe exact same text, curse. I
think kids should still learn how towrite curse. Why it's so much easier,

(26:30):
Why you get good at it?It looks better my kid. I'll
tell you what my kid's handwriting.I swear to God. If he asked
Dixon to write his name and thenyou just give it to somebody and just
say, all right, let meask you how old is this child that
wrote this name? And they'd belike a five. I mean, it's

(26:52):
awful. But nobody's handwriting anymore.That's the right. So what's the point
if nobody's doing it? What advantagesdo kids have today by learning long form
writing and cursive? What? What? What? What advantage? Right?
I mean? If he's on ifhe's online for a job interview at the
bank, and the guy says,you know, there's forty people here.
What I'm looking for is a tellerwho can write cursive. Is that going

(27:17):
to get him a job? Imean, because the other thing, too,
is, at least for my generation, it was typing, typing in
computer's computer. I've learned cursive infourth grade. Maybe you're right, and
they're not teaching it now. Right, it's done, it's over. And
I would say it's a good thingtoo, because if you can write notes.
The only reason, the only timeI ever write anything down is when
I take Sounder's notes mid game.I like just being able to jot a

(27:37):
note rather than type into my computerin front of me. Right. But
other than that, I don't writeat all. And I think for a
lot of my you know, journalistfriends, everybody uses a computer because you
know, they say, well,what you're using a notebook with paper?
How many you go through? Howmany sheets for each game? And how
many trees? Is that? Lookat this guy right here, all of
his notes, and he still haschicken scratch. I don't use cursive day.
I don't use cursive. I haven'twritten twenty five thirty years. I

(28:00):
guess paper it makes sense, ButI don't know. I just I still
like taking notes with that. Well, here's the thing. I mean,
we talked about this before that youknow, go back to like, you
know, hieroglyphics from you know,ten thousand years ago, right, and
I was getting my my latest editionhere done today, my buddy Miggy from
local roots in Des Moines. We'retalking about this that. You know,
people back in the day would leavemessages on the walls of caves man with

(28:23):
goat river sun stars, And nowI'm texting you man, goat river sun
stars emojis are modern day hieroglyphics.We are communicating with each other just like
we did ten thousand years ago.Nothing has changed. That's that's really cool.
By the way, that is legitimatelythank you. Usually we're going to

(28:44):
get to a point where we'll havegenerations of people that have never written anything
in their life. Yes, yeah, yes, wow, absolutely. I
think pens and pencils will be obsolete. I think the personal I think that
person's already been born. I thinkyou're right. I think you're right.
You know, matt makers are justlike extinct, They're done. Nobody uses
maps anymore. People that the bickfolks, people that work for Bicky,

(29:08):
they're shaking in their boots. They'redone, Dixon, Ticonder Roga, they
know they're exactly they know Crayola done. Careers are over. Let's see what
else. Blah blah blah blah blah. Animals poop and pee, you geniuses?
What? Yeah, there's poop inthe river from the always talking about
the sins Rell You what? Ibet there's a lot of people in the

(29:30):
dark streets of Paris that poop onthe ground and it all goes well.
You don't think that happens downtown.Absolutely, it's a three major city.
It's like Paris. How many timesdo we sit here, look out the
window at Elliott Bay and say,hey, look a turn. That's not
a turn, that's a submarine.Uh? Mayor the this from Blake,

(29:52):
Florida will hire Lane Kiffin before theyhire Jedfish. Just wait and see Lane
Kiffin. What's a better job allmiss or Florida, Florida, Florida.
So if Lane Kiffin goes ten andtwo, it all miss this year and
they fire Billy Napier, is therea better chance they make a run of
a guy like a Lane Kiffin ora gal like a Jetfish. What I

(30:14):
was told from somebody who would knowsomebody on dog Man using a screen name,
is that Jetfish would have to justkill it to be attractive to Florida,
like eleven and one, ten andtwo whatever. He'd have to put
out just a ridiculous year because hesays that Jetfish to a place like Florida
right now with small potatoes. Idon't know if I agree with that or
not. Kaylen to Board two yearsago, three years ago was a nobody.

(30:37):
Jedfish has got more national street crednow than Kaylen the Board did two
years ago. Today. That's agood, good point. Jay. He's
led a major Power five program toa pretty big bull win. Uh what
ball did they win? Remind meI have now I'm over Oklahoma. Yeah,
I mean, I guess you're sayingthat Jetfish has more. He has

(31:03):
more. What's the he's accomplished.He has more Q rating than Kaylen to
Board did before he has ever coacheda game at watch, Jetfish after one
year or two years in Arizona hasa higher Q rating than Kaylen to Board.
Did it you at Freshment? Yes, Jackson, would you agree with
that? I would agree with that. Okay, it's Power five versus non

(31:23):
power. Right, Yeah, you'reprobably right. Have you seen, by
the way, Florida's schedule Miami TexasA and m Mississippi State Tennessee, Georgia,
Texas LSU back to back to back. There's no way that guy's not
getting fired, No way he's done. He is Finito and the better Jetfish

(31:45):
does. I guarantee you this manyou flip on the SEC network and Paul
Finbaum, who thinks he runs theworld. By the way, you might
hear the name Jetfish. If theyget through five and oh and they start
five and oh and then find away to upset in Michigan at home,
then now you're taking But did youalso see the news about Michigan today?
They're talking about Michigan going on probationfor two years because of the Jim Harboston.

(32:07):
They throw away their title? Then, yeah, do you want it?
Do you really want it? We'regonna break Phil Steele. Who does
he have playing for the national championship? What does he think you dubb does
this year? Who's his Heisman winner? All that and more with the godfather
of preseason publications, The Official UnofficialKickoff to college football. Phil Steele going

(32:27):
to join next. I'm looking forwardto kind of thumbing through the magazine.
It's always a great day when thatthing arrives in the mailbox. Man.
But before we talk about where peoplecan get it and what it's full of.
This year, it's always full ofjam pack with good stuff. Let
me just get your thoughts from yourperspective. You're out there in the Midwest.
I think on the transition that hashappened at Washington, it feels like

(32:50):
the last couple of years, youand I have talked a lot about Chris
Peterson to Jimmy Lake, Jimmy Laketo Kaelin de Boor, and now it's
Kailin de Boor to Jed Fish.So what do you make just the view
from fifty thousand feet about what's happeningout here in the Pacific Northwest. Well,
first of all, I'm very happythat Washington landed in the Big ten,
you know, because that's a bigplus I think for the school and

(33:12):
as far as the transition goes.I mean, Jet Fish did a great
job at Arizona. It took hima little bit of time to get there,
but he got there. It wasn'twild about the you know, the
exodus of the players that came outof this year. It's a massive transformation
year. In fact, here's afunny story for you, SOFTI we contacted
the Washington SID and we said,hey, send us some pictures for the

(33:36):
players that are on this year's squad, that action photos from last year,
and his responses we don't have anya little tongue in cheek, but you
know, they really don't have alot of players left from last year's squad.
So I think it's going to bea transition year personally. Yeah,
but I like the jet Fish higher. I think he's a guy that did.
He got Arizona to a wondrous placelast year. I did not expect

(33:57):
him to get to And each yearI talked to coach Fish, he was
building that program, and wow,what a quick turnaround. Yeah, not
much of note back from last year. Carson brun or Elijah Jackson, a
couple of offensive lineman guys like that. But for the most part, it's
looking like a brand new football team. Forty six new scholarship players phil from
last year's club. And when yousay transition, I guess a lot of

(34:20):
people could interpret that differently. Right, for a team that went fourteen and
one last year, a transition couldbe nine to three, eight and four,
a transition could be five and seven. What kind of season do you
think we're looking at here? Yeah, that's a great question. Let me
take you back to nineteen ninety eight, Softy was Washington State was coming off
the Rose Bowl, right, andthat year I picked Washington State last in

(34:44):
the PAC twelve. So they hadme on I don't remember which show it
was, but it was in Washington. He goes, we got Phil Steel
here, he's got your Rose Bowlchampion in Washington State finishing last in the
PAC twelve. Now, let's openup the phone mines. They pretty much
beat me up for the entire halfhour. But guess what. They finished

(35:05):
eighth that year and last in thePAC twelve. Now, I'm not calling
for that for Washington by any stretchof the imagination. They are taking a
step up in competition. You know, I went over the team with coach
Fish and I actually still have despitethe transition. I have six of the
units ranked in my top units inthe front of the magazine. I like
the quarterback position with Will Rogers.I like the running back he brought in
and Jonah Coleman from Arizona. Thereceiving corps looks good with Giles Jackson,

(35:30):
Jeremiah Hunter, Denzel Boston up there. The linebacking corps is in my top
units. The DB's and even thespecial teams made it so there is still
talent there. Fish has done agood job bringing them in, but it
is basically a brand new squad now. I like the runway to start the
season. We were State Eastern,Michigan, Washington, State, Northwestern.
That should be a four and ohstart, giving this young team a lot

(35:51):
of confidence. But once they hitthe Big Ten schedule, and I mentioned
coach Fish, it is actually thetoughest Big Ten schedule this year each year
this year on Phil Steele dot com. I went through and put all the
different conference schedules. They draw Michigan, Oregon, Penn State, and Iowa
all four of those teams plus USC. I'm not going to count UCLA in

(36:15):
there. I don't think UCLA isin the same mix. But it's the
toughest schedule in the entire Big Tenthis year. So when I look at
it, I do see a bowlgame for Washington, but I'm thinking six
or seven wins this year in atransition year. Yeah, we've talked about
the idea they could be five andoh and end up at six and six
when the year is over and sneakinto a bowl game. But the one

(36:37):
team that you did not mention thereto start the year, and I get
why is Rutgers. And I thinka lot of Husky fans see those first
five games of the year and thinkoff five and oh we were stayed Eastern
Michigan, Wazoo, Northwestern, andthen Rutgers, and that Rutgers game doesn't
strike me as a gimme. What'syour take on the Scarlet Knights man,

(36:58):
Yeah, I'm bullish on Ruckers thisyear. And you look at what Greg
Ciano has done there and it's hisfifth year. If they get good quarterback
play, that's going to be thekey. Kelly ac Manus last year was
not good at Minnesota, but hewas under a different offensive coordinator. He
was good two years ago when hewas the Greek Gunslinger, the Kirk Soroka,
and Soroka's now his offensive coordinator here. They've got kaalamanan guy at the

(37:22):
running back spot. They've got aveteran offensive line one with practically everybody back.
Defensively, they look dominant in allthree positions. And it's a sort
of a sleepy game for Washington,you know, traveling across the country four
and ah, a lot of hype. Rutgers is going to be laying there
waiting for him. And if youwatch Rutgers football last year, they gave
Ohio State a much closer game thanthe final score at indicate the actually out

(37:45):
first down. Ohio State last yeartwenty two to fifteen outgained him during the
game, had a couple of keyplays go against him near the end zone
which cost him. And they evenplayed Michigan tough last year. I think
there was seven at the half whenthey played them. So this is a
dangerous game for Washington and one thatthey better not be thinking. They're four

(38:06):
to zero and one of the bestteams in the country. Yeah. Well,
Phil Steele is with us from PhilSteele's college footballpreview, phil Steel dot
com, the unofficial official kickoff forthe college football season right here on ninety
three to three kJ A RFM.So, okay, so, who's the
favorite in your mind and the bigten to win this thing? And who's
who's the sleeper or two in thisconference. Yeah, for me, the

(38:28):
two teams that have the best shotto get into the Big Ten title game
Number one is Ohio State. Thatcomes as a shock to you, doesn't
it often? Yeah a little bit. Yeah, yeah, you know that
they could give credit to Michigan forthis season. Why is that? Well,
normally Ohio State loses like eleven ortwelve guys in the NFL Draft,
but I think a lot of theseguys opted to return because they haven't beaten

(38:50):
Michigan for three years, don't havea Big Ten title and said, you
know what, I'm not leaving OhioState like that. So j T Twuamaloa,
the Ty Hamilton Jacks, Sawyer,the entire defensive line is back,
and many players returned. Plus theygot some key transfers like quinch On Junkets
from Ole Miss, Caleb Downs fromAlabama, and Will Howard from Kansas State.
So this is a very talented OhioState team. But they do have

(39:13):
to play Oregon on the road thisyear and Penn State on the road,
so they have two tough road games. And I really like the Ducks and
Dan Lanning came up short against Washingtontwice last year. But he's got even
better team this year. And yesthey lose bon Nicks, but they bring
in Dylan Gabriel. They got mynumber one receiving core in the country,
my number three offensive line, numbertwenty three defensive line, and they don't

(39:34):
have that drop off and experience likeWashington does. Their toughest game is Ohio
State in Austin Stadium at home.They do have to play Michigan on the
road. I've got that one atoss up. But I've got Oregon and
Ohio State playing for the Big Tentitle. The teams that also have a
shot. I would put Penn Stateup there. You know, they avoid
unlike Washington, they avoid Michigan,Oregon, and Iowa on the schedule.

(39:57):
They only draw Ohio State out ofthe big boys, and they get them
at home. So keep your eyeson Penn State and then Iowa. I
know everybody after they watching the bowlgame they lost thirty five nothing their stink
right, Well, that's not thecase. Last year. They didn't have
an offense. The last couple yearsthey haven't had an offense. But last
year they lost their quarterback, theylost their top two receivers, the offensive
line struggled. This year, it'sbest offensive line of four years. They've

(40:19):
got two quarterbacks that could play inCade McNamara and Brendan Sullivan. Last year,
they were trying to get by withDeacon Hill, their third string quarterback,
who completed less than fifty percent ofhis passes. You could stack the
box on. We can't do that. This year. They've got Lashawn Williams,
Caleb Johnson, one of the bestdefenses in the country, and the
top nine special team. So keepyour eyes on Iowa as well. Yeah.
Phil Steels with us on the radioshow again from Phil Steeles College Football

(40:42):
Preview, and we've been debating onthe airfil now with this twelve team playoff,
what would it take in the BigTen to get into the twelve team
playoff. I'm looking at week fifteen'srankings and LSU was the highest ranked nine
win team at thirteen before the finalrakings came out. Does an I in
three regular season Big Ten team haveany crack of making that top twelve in

(41:05):
your opinion? Or will it taketen plus to get there? Yeah?
I do actually believe that we aregoing to see a nine and three Big
Ten or SEC team get in oneof the two conferences. I think what
we're going to see here, Softyis the ACC Champ will get in,
the Big twelve, Champ will getin, the Group of five Champ will
get in, and Notre Dame willget in. That leaves you eight spots.

(41:25):
I think you're looking at four orfive SEC three or four Big ten.
And I do believe a three lossteam from one of that we could
call him the Power two Conferences becausethey are head and shoulders above the rest
of the conferences. Right now,I think a three loss team from one
of those two conferences gets in thisyear. Phil Steeles, Well, I
got to ask you about Kalen deBoor. He was on the radio show

(41:46):
with us a few days ago.How do you think he does in year
one in Tuscaloosa? You know,better than expected. When Nick Saban stepped
down, it was a late change. They like Washington, lost some players
of the portal and I was thinkingmaybe a rebuilding year. But you know,
he went out and brought into DemantiJackson from USC at corner Keyon Sabat
free safety from Michigan. Heck,he brought in the lu Grozo Award winner,

(42:08):
a kicker in Graham Nicholson. Alabamahad snap problems with their center last
year. That is solved. They'vegot Parker Brailes for coming in from the
Joe Moore Award winning offensive line.They got Jalen Milroe at quarterback, and
Milroe had actually a better long pastpercentage and then did Michael Pennox last year.
So I think he's got talent towork with and I think he's in

(42:30):
really good shape. So I've gotGeorgia and Texas playing for the SEC title,
but Alabama is a step behind him, and I can see them getting
the double digit wins. I definitelythink Alabama makes the playoff this year.
And as you know, Kaylin deBorn one of the better head coaches out
there. He's got one hundred andfour and twelve record and he took Washington
a national title game. I thinkhe's got an equal chance here with Alabama.

(42:52):
Well, let's go back to theHuskies for a second. Here,
Phil Phil Steel again with us onthe radio show from Phil Steele's College Football
Preview, the official unofficial kickoff forthe college football season right here on ninety
three to three KJRFM. So,you mentioned Parker Berelsford Julius below Nate Caleppo.
Two guards took off to go playfor Lane Kiffin at ole Miss and
Fatano and Rosengarten are in the NFL. So I've noticed that when you gave

(43:15):
us your top position groups that youdive, you did not mention the offensive
line. They got five new players. I feel I've never seen, as
long as I've watched Washington football,covered Washington football, even Seahawks football in
Seattle, I don't ever know ofa year where either the Hawks or the
Huskies lost all five starters from theprevious season. How concerned should we be

(43:36):
here about the Washington offensive line?That is my concern on offense for Washington,
clearly, because it's a one position. You can't just plug and play.
You could do that at running back, you could do that at receiver.
But I'm on the Joe Moore Awardcommittee and the one that awarded Washington
the title last year, and welike continuity, and there is no continuity
right now with the Washington offensive line. And I asked coach you know,

(44:00):
I said, hey, how doyou feel about this offensive line? And
he said, it's hard to answer. How I feel. Well, the
summer is going to be important howquickly these guys come together. You know,
he does bring in the starter fromSan Diego State, he brings in
a guy who started two games inOhio State, you know, a guy
from Arizona, but not a starter. So there's not a lot of starting

(44:21):
experience, very inexperience unit. Anddefinitely my biggest concern on the offense maybe
the entire team. Wow, yeah, no question. I mean, it's
all fair until we see what theseguys look like. But Phil Steele again
is with us on the radio show. Let's talk about the PAC two.
We're up here in the PNW,Phil, and you got some Cougar fans
tuning in, some Beaver fans tuningin. What should Washington State and Oregon

(44:44):
State? Those those poor bastards whodid not end up in a conference this
year. And I really do feelfor them, by the way, because
if I were a fraan of thoseteams, I'd be despondent. But what
do you make of what we're aboutto see from Wazoo and Oregon State this
year? Yeah? First of all, Sofie, let me tell you,
even though I'm in the Midwest thePAC twelve breaking up, I love regional
football and I think that's very hardfor me to take and it's very disappointed

(45:08):
in that. Now. When Italked to coach Bray and coach Dickert,
they both feel that there is andrightfully so, a big step down in
overall competition this year. Let's faceit. Last year, the Pac twelve
was probably the best it's been inat least ten years. It was up
there with the SEC and the Bigtwelve. Now they're playing a schedule of

(45:28):
Mount West teams and a couple ofPower five teams. First in Trent Brace,
thinking they're going to make the playoffwith this squad, and you know,
we'll see what happens if they canget the breaks on the schedule.
I wouldn't list them up their talentwise, or I think they will slip
ups in some games this year.Might be a little dangerous coming into the
season thinking that, because once youget a loss or two and that's out
of the question, then you wonder. But I think both teams will have

(45:51):
good seasons this year, probably couldimprove upon their record with the softer schedules.
Yeah, Phill Steel again is withus on the show. So you
and I have been doing this fora long time. And we usually talked
final four, National Championship, HeismanTrophy, dark courses. I mean,
we need to ask you for yourfinal twelve. Who makes the playoffs?

(46:13):
Yeah, I think what we're goingto see is mentioned. I think we
get one from the ACC, onefrom the Big twelve, and so in
the AC or in the Big twelve. I got Utah and you watched Utah
last year. You know they didn'thave Cam Rising. This year, Cam
Rising is back two PAC twelve titleswith Cam Rising solid on the offensive defensive
line, and they're my number onesurprise team in the country. Out of

(46:34):
the ACC. They may beat themselvesup quite a bit, but I think
it's between Clemson, Florida State,and Miami. Miami's doing a great job.
Remember what Christobal did for Oregon.We're starting to bring in some talent
and then Landing has just gone ontop of that. But Christabal has got
a lot of talent there. Broughtin Damian Martinez from Oregon State, a
big time transfer, Damian Ward fromWashington State. So they are going to

(46:57):
be a threat. But the teamI want to focus on out of the
ACC ismson and when I look atClemson, everybody talks about hey, Daanvill's
not hitting the portal. But guesswhat, he only lost three guys off
the two deep to the portal,so he doesn't need to replace the players.
They may have the best chemistry ofany team in college football because they
don't hit the portal. They're notbringing in new players, hit the same
guys he recruited. They were alltop recruits coming out. Kate Klutnick was

(47:20):
been numer one to rate a quarterbackout of high school. All these defensive
linemen were among the top guys outof high school. They're all vhds on
this team. Last year and theirfour losses, they actually had a ninety
four to sixty first down at soyou know Florida State was undefeated last year.
They didn't trail by a single secondin that game, gave up a
seventy yard fumble return for a touchdown, missed a field goal at the end

(47:40):
of the game which would have wonit, lost it in overtime. Watch
out for Clemson this year. Now, I like Notre Dame to make the
playoff. I think when you lookat their schedule, it's ridiculous this year.
As opposed to pass Notre Dame schedules, very few tough tests, and
I think you're going to see aten to eleven win Notre Dame team make
the players, and then the groupof five is wide open. As far
as who makes it, I thinkthat's really exciting. Boise State's my pick,

(48:06):
but you could go with you TSA, Memphis Liberty, Texas State.
It'd be a lot of fun.But as far as the rest of the
playoff teams, I do think theycome out of the Big ten in the
SEC. And out of the SEC, I would say it's Texas, Georgia,
Alabama, Old Miss and then cansomebody else be that fifth? And
out of the big ten, Ithink it's Ohio State, Oregon, Penn

(48:27):
State, and Iowa. So wemay just have four from each conference come
out of there. And like Isaid, maybe one of them has three
losses this year. With those schedulesthat each team is playing, it makes
it difficult. So I would saythose are my twelve right now, Softy,
all right, before you go,And by the way, it's okay
to call me frosty. Pete Carrollused to call me Frosty all the time,
so I could feel you going downthat road. Fail that's totally Okay,

(48:51):
Pete Carroll after fifteen years still didit, So why not you after
twenty plus? But hey, beforeyou go, my favorite question to ask
you, because I'm a big fanof the Heisman Trophy. I know you
are as well favorite for the Heisman, and give us a dark horse that
we can maybe put a couple ofbucks on. Yeah, you know the
favorite. You could pick any ofthese guys from the top teams in the

(49:13):
country. You know, Dylan Gabrielfrom Oregon, Carson Beck Georgia, Jaln
Milroe Alabama, Newers, Texas,Jackson Dart Old Miss even Will Howard from
Ohio State, all those guys becausethey're the quarterback for one of the top
teams in the country. But you'llgo a little out of the box.
I'm gonna take cam Ward from MiamiFlorida. Wow. I talked to coach
Christobal. They're talking about curing thosefumble problems he had last year at Washington

(49:36):
State. They have a ton oftalent and when I look at their schedule
this year, softy, they havea ten or eleven win season and I've
got their rank number ten in thecountry coming into the year. If that's
the case, he should put upsome stats. They've got a massive offensive
line in front of them. Imean, these guys are all like six
six, three hundred and thirty poundsacross the board. Their center is the

(49:57):
runt of the group. He's sixtyfive three hundred five. But it is
a big offensive line in front ofthem, and that would be my dark
horse. Yeah, if that happens, I feel horrible for Wazoo fans.
They they lose their conference and thentheir quarterback goes on to win the Heisman
Trophy for somebody else. So,hey, Phil, before you go,
where can people get the magazine online? In stores? Whatever? Yeah?

(50:19):
I appreciate that. You know,it's only available at Barnes and Noble.
That's the one location that you canget at, So don't waste your gas
money driving around the walmarts of thegrocery stores. Barnes and Noble is the
one location you can get it at. And if you don't have a Barnes
and Noble near you, then yourbest bet is to go to Phil Steel
dot com. And when you goto Phil Steel dot com you can order
the hard copy of the magazine.I'm charging you a shipping charge because it

(50:42):
costs the ship things, but Igive you the digital magazine for free.
And when you get the digital magazine, that's actually updated all the way through
the start of the season. Asan example, Utah States head coach Nate
Drelling is in the digital magazine,Jeff Tedfords or excuse me, Pro President
State's head coach Tim skipp Uh,that's been updated already. In the digital
magazine, players that are lost forthe season are circled. We update the

(51:05):
write ups and things like that allthe way through the start of the season.
So Barnes and Noble or Phil Steeledot com are your two locations.
Yeah, we got a bunch ofBarnes and Nobles in the area. So
that's great. Man. Hey listenPhil, great to hear your voice.
Let's try and catch you up atleast once during the season. Man,
appreciate this pal. Oh absolutely soft. We got to do this more often,
my friend. And then sorry aboutthe late to get into you late
this year, but what worth thewait? Nah? Typical man, just

(51:29):
typical. I love it. Hey, you're the man. Great stuff.
We'll talk soon. Body appreciate apal, All right, thanks a lot.
Have we go with somebody you betPhil Steele with us from Phil Steele's
College Football Preview. There it isthe official, unofficial kickoff for the college
football season. We made it righthere on ninety three to three kJ arfm