June 2, 2026 • 21 mins
Jon Wilner of The San Jose Mercury News and Wilner Hotline joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about Mike Leach’s high chances of making the Hall of Fame, the government trying to set rules for college football, the current media rights situation, the ongoing situation with Brandon Sorsby after his gambling troubles, the Rose Bowl kick time possibly changing to one hour earlier, and Greg Lewis on the Hall of Fame ballot.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time for our weekly Pac twelve conversation with Senos
Mercury News reporter John Wilner, brought to you by Simply Seattle.
Our friends at simply Seattle dot com have the most
amazing collection of all things Seattle Seahawks gear UW had
some the largest selection of sonics gear anywhere in the world.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Learn more at simply Seattle dot com.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
All right, big thanks to our friends at simply Seattle
dot com. I was actually out there today, by the way,
at the Mothership, and the amount of World Cup gear
Jackson that is stuffing the office right now.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
You can't even move.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
It is absolutely unbelievable how much World Cup gear they've
got right now in the offices on the website. Gear
up for the World Cup team at USA Styles Seattle
host City Apparel, hats for every fan and more. Visit
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(00:53):
Here he is the Pope of the pack, the big
ten bearon himself, our friend Johnny Wilner. How are you
how what's going on?
Speaker 4 (01:01):
I'm good things?
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Are people excited about the World Cup? Up there?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Jackson is I don't know if the masses are as
fired up as we thought.
Speaker 6 (01:09):
Is that fair enough? In the last about two weeks
it's picked up.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Yeah, I mean I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Are you Are you excited for the World Cup to
come to see them and be on the West coast.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
Well, it's also in Santa Clara, But nobody is excited here. Nobody.
Speaker 7 (01:23):
We don't have We're not getting any of the top
fifteen teams in.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
The world, so it's not really big events.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
I love the World Cup.
Speaker 7 (01:30):
And actually, in a semi forced segue to college football,
I'm going to be curious to see how the group
play goes. You know, having expanded from thirty two to
forty eight, are there going to be more games that
we don't really care about watching? And see what that
might mean for a twenty fourteen college football playoff?
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Yeah? Maybe.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I mean, it's gonna be here whether you like it
or not. So a few weeks and we're going to
be inundated with World Cup. Just glory here in a
few weeks from now. But John, which Football Hall of
Fame ballot came out and Mike Leach is on and
you've been talking about this for years that they should
drop the standard to make sure Mike Leach can get in.
(02:11):
Obviously he gets in. Can we assume that he gets
in on the first ballot? And do you have a vote,
and if so, are you voting for him?
Speaker 5 (02:19):
I do not vote. I would vote for sure for
Leach first ballot.
Speaker 7 (02:24):
I think he will get in. The previous standard which
you had to have a six hundred winning percentage, and
his winning percentage was five ninety five. He was one
win short and they changed it, so now the standard
is five ninety five, and so Leach is going to
get in.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
You know, you could say what you.
Speaker 7 (02:42):
Will about his style, his personality, the success of his teams,
but the bottom line is there are very few people
in the last fifty years who have had a greater
impact on football at all levels than Mike Leach.
Speaker 8 (03:00):
John I just talked about in the update the letter
from the SEC, the joint letter SEC Big ten stating
that they do not support the Cantwell Cruise bill. Do
you think that has any chance of passing? And kind
of remind us of what the principles of that bill are.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Oh boy, I mean there's a lot.
Speaker 7 (03:17):
I do think it's got a chance I don't know
if i'd put it at fifty to fifty, but forty
sixty chance of passing. Although it's gonna get revised, you know,
in committees, and if it gets to the House, it'll
get revised in the House. The basics are five to
play five, you get one free transfer. They're adding, you know,
(03:37):
medical benefits. There's there's actually a lot of good stuff
in there. There's the Lane Kiffen rule where you can't
leave your team in the middle of the season, right,
but the big the big things that the SEC and
the Big Ten are upset about is that it basically
creates a situation where the schools could pool their media
(03:58):
rights negotiate as one entity like the NFL does, rather
than conference by conference. There's also a provision that prevents
the SEC and Big.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
Ten from expanding.
Speaker 7 (04:09):
It doesn't name them, but it says any conference it's
got at least a billion dollars in annual revenue cannot expand.
And they're not happy about that for obvious reasons. And
they're the only two with billion dollars, and so you
can kind of see that some provisions are specifically targeting
those two leagues.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Well, you mentioned the Lane Kiffin Rule, which again, as
you said, would ban college football coaches from accepting or
performing duties for a new coaching job before the end
of their current teams competitive season. I'd be a fan
of that. I'd be all for it. The NFL handles
that just fine. You don't see NFL coaches walking away
in the middle of a year or a playoff run.
Why can't college football adopt the same rule.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
I mean, it could.
Speaker 7 (04:52):
I would imagine it might get challenged. To me, it's
just hard for the government to say to a non
government mental entity, you know what you.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
Can and cannot do.
Speaker 7 (05:03):
The NFL stuff is all collectively bargained, and you know,
the coaches have their their deals with the league. I
just that's part of the issue. Is the Big Ten
in the SEC and other conferences. They spent millions and
millions and years and years lobbying Congress for help. Finally
(05:25):
there's a bipartisan bill that does address some serious issues,
and the Big Ten in the SEC here like, we
don't want this help. You know, this is what you
get when you go to Capitol Hill for help, is
they're going to help, and they're gonna get involved, and
they are there's a lot of pieces of this where
you could say Congress should not be dictating that about
(05:45):
college sports, and yet Congress is.
Speaker 8 (05:48):
John I read something about a seventy five percent provision
to pool media rights. How would that work and might
that entice the smaller FBS conferences to expand with FC teams.
Speaker 7 (06:01):
Well, the way it works is if seventy five percent
of the FBS schools agree to pool their media rights,
they can do it.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
Now, pulling media rights is against the law.
Speaker 7 (06:14):
You have to have NI trust protection, So the bill
grants ANI trust protection on that front. If seventy five
percent of SBS, so there are one hundred and thirty
eight teams, thirty four teams are in the SEC and
Big ten, one hundred and four is basically right on
(06:37):
the border of seventy five percent, it's seventy five point five.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
However, Notre Dame is the wild card.
Speaker 7 (06:46):
Basically, if Notre Dame sides with the SEC and Big Ten,
there's not they can't get to the threshold to pool
media rights. If Notre Dame does sides with everybody else,
they get past the threshold to pool media rights. And
that's you know, another instance of Notre Dame having outsized
leverage in college football.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Yeah, well, the other story this week in college football
that a lot of folks are keeping an eye on
and this really effects obviously the Big twelve more than
anything else at Texas Tech. But Brandon sorosby the NCAA
said nope, we're not going to reinstate.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Yeah, he's now obviously appealing. And I saw where Todd Monkin,
who's the coach of the Browns, was asked if they
would consider taking him in a supplemental draft and he said,
I don't know, man, I mean, that's kind of a
slippery slope to go down. He admitted, I guess that
he placed at least forty wagers on Indiana when he
was there, made thousands of bets overall, tolding at least
ninety thousand dollars. So, I mean, is this kid done
(07:40):
playing college football? Can we say that now? Or do
we not know that yet?
Speaker 5 (07:44):
We don't know.
Speaker 7 (07:45):
There was a hearing yesterday in Lubbock and the a
judge initially assigned to it is a Texas Tech fan
who does the guns up thing when photos with the mascot.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
He was replaced. He recused himself. He recused himself.
Speaker 7 (07:59):
They brought in a judge from a different part of Texas.
I think that within a week will know and this
is I think this is a huge deal because as
crazy as the NCAA is, and it's Washington and Rutgers
in the same conference, and it's kids playing at five
schools in six years, the one thing, the one line
(08:20):
that cannot be crossed. You cannot bet on your own
team because if that happens, then there's no difference between
college football and WWE.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
So do you think he should go you again?
Speaker 7 (08:31):
Honestly, no chance should he play again. Now he has
got a mental illness. There's no doubt his gambling addiction
is a mental illness.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
Getting treatment all that great for him. I'm not gonna
you know, I don't know about the NFL all that.
Speaker 7 (08:46):
I don't think there is any way he should be
allowed to play in college football because there would be
a legal precedent.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Now maybe it's not national, maybe.
Speaker 7 (08:53):
It would just be local, but there will be a
legal precedent for this to happen.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
So what happened the next time?
Speaker 7 (08:58):
So many gambles on their own team, you know, and
worst case, the game on their own team.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
To lose. Oh, I had a mental You know, I
have a gambling addiction. Okay, no problem. College football is
done if nobody believes it. What the competition is credible?
Speaker 8 (09:14):
John, Are we're going to see a five pm Pacific
Rose Bowl kick? And should we be up in arms
about this or is it just a just another another
reminder that college football no longer exists how it used to?
Speaker 7 (09:26):
Yeah, well, it's it's that for sure. I think that
they'll end up putting the Rose Bowl one. Now it's
not going to be a two, which is what it's
been for, you know, one hundred years.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
It may go one. I think that they will do
Rose Bowl one in Sugar Bowl five. That just makes
more sense to me. Yep, the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 7 (09:47):
The ratings for the Rose Bowl are just incredible, and
I don't think that they.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
ESPN is gonna want to screw with that.
Speaker 7 (09:55):
And I think that the committee will will make it
work with with ESPN to keep the Rose Bowl in
the early afternoon spot here.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
All right, Well, John, before you go, the last time
I saw you, you were with us in our little
booth there at Husky Stadium for a game. Which game
was that? By the way, that you came up for you,
dub Ruckers. Okay, it was Rutgers.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
I'll never forget because you were a nervous wreck.
Speaker 7 (10:17):
I think that that was like game six of the
marriages exactly.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
That's one hundred percent right.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
I mean, I'll admit I wasn't even watching the Husky
game to be honest with you. But you were in
our booth with Mario Bailey.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Being in your booth, your booth is awesome.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
You were in the booth with Mario Bailey and Greg Lewis.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
And I will tell you this right now that between
the three of us, me, Mario and Greg, one of
us is on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
Can you guess?
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Can you guess which one? It's not me? It's not me?
Can you guess which one it is? It's one of two?
So just take a guess.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Greg Lewis correct, Greg Lewis, he said the other day though,
he says, damn, I've been on that thing for like
ten years.
Speaker 8 (10:57):
Man.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
So we need you to really, I know you don't
have a vote here, but we need you to kind
of rev the engine, use your power, go on social media.
Let's get Greg Lewis the first winner. Of the dok
Walker Award ever in nineteen ninety into the College Football
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Can we count on you?
Speaker 7 (11:15):
I will do what I can. I gotta tell you, though.
The problem is not the candidates. The problem is the
process there are I mean it took it just takes
decades for some guys that you would think would be
first ballot to get in. Because there's so many players
and so many coaches.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
It's really difficult process.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
There's like fifty guys on the list. David di Castro
is on the list. The former Bellevue High Wolverinea went
to Stanford. Percy Harvin, Bobby Ingram is on the list.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Thirty years.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
It took like thirty years.
Speaker 7 (11:49):
It took thirty years for UH Nebraska's quarterback Tommy Fraser,
one of the greatest seasons in the history of the sport.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Yeah, that was incredible. Took twenty five thirty years for.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
In How many tackles can one man break?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Larry Coker, remember him, He's on the ballot for crying
out loud?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
All right, John, great stuff, love it. We're talking to
we sad.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
Thanks guys, all right?
Speaker 4 (12:11):
John Wilner with us. Yeah, we were thinking of the
other day. This is great.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I had no idea that Greg had even been on
the ballot up until this year, and apparently he's been
there and nobody's freaking noticed. So good for Greg. That's
a hell of an honor. But we need to get
a little help to get the guy in the Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
All right.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Well, a big story yesterday which is still picking up
steam today, is the Miles Garrett trade. Obviously, we had
Hugh on the year yesterday, Dick, when you were gone
yesterday talking about the deal, he described him. Obviously, Look, man,
you know he's thirty one, I believe years old this December.
You know, we went back and looked at guys like
Reggie White and Bruce Smith who even in their mid
(12:47):
to late thirties were still killing people in the NFL.
Reggie White was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year
when he was thirty seven years old. Can you imagine
a dude doing that now in the NFL, especially at
defense of line, maybe like a corner or maybe a line,
but at defensive line. My god. So look, the deal
(13:07):
for me about the trade for Miles Garrett is simple.
I think long term it may come back to Burnham
but if our focus is Seahawk fans is short term
on repeating as Super Bowl champions, this is a problem.
Miles Garrett going to the Rams. How big of a
problem remains to be seen. But I think they're a
better football team now than they were yesterday With Jared Verse.
Speaker 8 (13:29):
Oh, there's no question about that. They made themselves better
for twenty twenty six. I see it as a high risk,
high reward deal for the Rams. I see it as
a low risk, high reward deal for the Browns.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I mean, I.
Speaker 8 (13:44):
Agree with most of the pundits who say the Browns
got the better of the trade when you look at
the trade grades. The most that I've seen, Browns are
getting a's almost across the board for what they got.
My God, what I'm not hearing is enough of how
good Jared versus. That's the thing that gets me. Jared
Verse is one of my probably my five favorite defensive
(14:04):
linemen in football.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I mean, he is fantastic.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Well Millan talked about that yesterday. What was the line
that he used that watching Jared Verse compared to Miles
Garrett is like watching a JV player compared to a
varsity I.
Speaker 8 (14:16):
Understand he's I understand he's not Miles Garrett, but I
think that the question is this, what's Jared Verse going
to give you at age twenty five, twenty six, twenty
seven versus what Miles Garrett's going to give you at
thirty one, thirty, thirty one, and thirty two.
Speaker 9 (14:31):
It was a great question that you also post on
our text chat the three of us, and I'll just
read word for word the exact you know, word for word,
but the exact take that I have is I think
a lot and it's sad, but it will be I think.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
A lot better.
Speaker 9 (14:44):
Still, Yeah, because you look at what Miles Garrett has
done for the Cleveland Browns, right a team that is
constantly losing in games. The dude has been dominant force
and just set the single season sack record on a
team that was constantly losing. Now he's going to be
on a team that is constantly winning, and there's gonna
be facing offense that past pass pass Garrett might like
(15:07):
he might get thirty seconds.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Well, look, guys, here's the deal again.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
I don't think there's any doubt that it's possible that
long term this comes back to kind of maybe bite
them a little bit in the butt. But if they
win the championship this year.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
So what ye like?
Speaker 7 (15:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Who cares exactly?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
You have got one more year left of Matt Stafford,
likely one more year, maybe two more years. I mean,
the guy's playing. He's an MVP, so there's no need
for him to retire. And let's see what he wants
to He can still play. They protect them, They give
him a great defense. Now he's got McDuffie, he's got
Watson and the other part of the Miles Garrett thing,
by the way, that we have to factor into this
whole thing. If he convinces Aaron Donald to play again,
(15:44):
that's a gigantic tentacle to this entire thing. And oh,
by the way, for the Rams, here's why I like
it from their perspective. First of all, have you seen
his cap numbers, Miles Garrett? Look it up and then
get a barf bag, please, because you'll throw up on
the floor here in the studio. It's ridiculous. The three
picks that they gave up, by the way, are in
(16:05):
consecutive years twenty seven, twenty eight, and twenty nine.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
And that third round is conditional by correct.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So they it's not like they're blowing an entire draft
on this guy, and they're talking about, look, we're making moves.
Miles Garrett is more valuable to the Rams now than
he is to the Browns, for sure, And I'm with
you one thousand percent on the Browns perspective. For the Browns,
I'm actually shocked that took this long to get rid
of them. They stick, they have no quarterback. They're not
going anywhere. There's no need for them to have Miles
(16:32):
Garrett on their football team right now. They should have
traded him and the trade they got and the player
they got in return. If they can, especially Dick, if
they can resign them to a long term deal, and
he's got what two years left. I think Verse does
as a first rounder. I think from both teams it
makes absolute, total freaking sense to do this deal. The
Rams went out and they got their secondary better, they
(16:54):
got their defensive line better. And I'll throw one more
thing into the mix, by the way, that'll piss you
off even more. When whok and Nakua went nuts on
New Year's even decided to bite somebody that may have
denied him the chance to sign an extension before the
season starts. He's going to play pissed off and motivated
all year for a new deal.
Speaker 9 (17:11):
So all these things make sense for both teams, right.
The only thing that doesn't make sense is if the
Rams are all in on this next two to three
year windows, specifically the next two three years, Right.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Why the hell do you draft? Tysons?
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Have an answer for you.
Speaker 8 (17:26):
Yeah, that makes more sense to me now than it
did before, because they knew this deal was coming in
and they got in.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
What was the biggest problem with the Rams last year
the secondary, Right when I fixed that with mcduffee and watch,
and now their pass rush is better with Miles Garrett
and oh, by the way, there's only so much you
can do to improve your football team where it's worth
saying no to a quarterback that you think is going
to be really good.
Speaker 6 (17:46):
I just think that.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
And they knew they were going to trade their first
round pick next year.
Speaker 9 (17:50):
I think impact players there where you can make your
football team get almost guaranteed.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
You may be right. I happened to think this.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I happen to think that the guys that will dictate
the Rams fortunes in twenty twenty six were already on
the roster, right, like Reuben Bain Kenyon Sadik whoever. Me
and Hugh talked about him today off the year as well.
Are they really going to be that impactful where they are?
That one guy's the difference between making a supermu scare
(18:20):
and not one thousand percent. So I think they feel
like they've already improved their roster dramatically with all these moves.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
And Dick, I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
If you were a guy that thought, well that's just
a waste, well, okay, they went out and fixed those
holes other ways, and now they can sit back and say,
now we can find Matt Stafford's replacement and try to
do a Green Bay or a San Francisco when Stafford's
career is over.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
You know, I'm just looking at the numbers.
Speaker 8 (18:44):
And Sando had a great chart yesterday showing the other
ten pass rushers in history with four or more all
pros and years four to eight and what they did
in years nine to twelve. And you brought up the
exceptions the rules are, there's a massive drop off.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Sure, these four plus are all pros.
Speaker 8 (19:00):
The other numbers I'm looking at is pre season favorites
to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Oh, the rams are heavy favorites right now, man, heavy, okay, heavy?
How many of those won the Super Bowl in the
last twenty years? Probably none of them. But I'll tell
you what you should love as a Seahawks fan. We're
getting value now. Boys, they are plus eleven hundred. Now,
who do you think fourth favorite on the board. A
guy hit me up on Twitter and said that, he said,
don't say, don't tell me?
Speaker 2 (19:22):
And who do you think is pissed off?
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Now?
Speaker 8 (19:25):
The Hawks are the team that won the Super Bowl
now is being told by everybody they're not even going
to win their division.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I mean, that is a great place to be if
you're Seattle.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Don't we believe though?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
If we are not Seahawks homers here, the Rams have
moved past the seasons.
Speaker 8 (19:41):
They are more talented. Yes, correct, they are more talented.
I don't know if I agree with that. I don't
agree with that day, but they have moved past the Seahawks.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
And we all of us have said all three of
those games that they played a year ago could have
gone the exact opposite way, every single one. And we
said this yesterday with Jackson, right, Jackson, if you thought
the twenty twenty five NFC Championship was the real super Bowl.
The Rams have had Miles Garrett, Jalen Watson, Trent McDuffie,
(20:09):
may add Aaron Donald, and the Seahawks lost Kenny Walker,
boy A Mofey, Kobe Bryant, and Riquollan and signed Dante Fowler.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
So they've gotten better.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Now.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
We don't know a lot about Price yet.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
We'll see how he does it running back, obviously, but
he I think it's obvious to everybody. The Rams, if
it matters at all, have won the offseason and they
should be the favorite.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
I think they should be the favorite to win the West.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
I'm not putting five and a half to run on them, though.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
They should be the favorite.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
I mean, this is gonna be a fricking war between
these two teams, like the Niners. I mean, well maybe
we thought that last year and they were a factor
until Week seventeen where the Hawks killed him down there
in Sanfte in Santa Clara. So I just know this,
if you're the Arizona Cardinals, he may as well just
punt on twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Well, the Niners give it up.
Speaker 8 (20:56):
The Niners continually, as our friend Grant tells us down
there continually side to draft weird weird draft picks every
single year that don't help them.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
They were in the race all the way till the end.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Man Again, there was a difference, I think we all
agree with that with the two teams, but they were there.
One ball bounces this way, one ball bounces that way.
Who knows, man that electrical station you know, zips out
and freaks somebody out.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Well, you never know. We're gonna break a lot more
Speaker 3 (21:20):
To get to, including Game one Stanley Cup Finals at
five on ninety three to three KJRFM
It's time for our weekly Pac twelve conversation with Senos
Mercury News reporter John Wilner, brought to you by Simply Seattle.
Our friends at simply Seattle dot com have the most
amazing collection of all things Seattle Seahawks gear UW had
some the largest selection of sonics gear anywhere in the world.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Learn more at simply Seattle dot com.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
All right, big thanks to our friends at simply Seattle
dot com. I was actually out there today, by the way,
at the Mothership, and the amount of World Cup gear
Jackson that is stuffing the office right now.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
You can't even move.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
It is absolutely unbelievable how much World Cup gear they've
got right now in the offices on the website. Gear
up for the World Cup team at USA Styles Seattle
host City Apparel, hats for every fan and more. Visit
them in store or use code KJR fifteen for fifteen
percent off when you shop online at simply Seattle dot com.
(00:53):
Here he is the Pope of the pack, the big
ten bearon himself, our friend Johnny Wilner. How are you
how what's going on?
Speaker 4 (01:01):
I'm good things?
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Are people excited about the World Cup? Up there?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Jackson is I don't know if the masses are as
fired up as we thought.
Speaker 6 (01:09):
Is that fair enough? In the last about two weeks
it's picked up.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Yeah, I mean I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Are you Are you excited for the World Cup to
come to see them and be on the West coast.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
Well, it's also in Santa Clara, But nobody is excited here. Nobody.
Speaker 7 (01:23):
We don't have We're not getting any of the top
fifteen teams in.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
The world, so it's not really big events.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
I love the World Cup.
Speaker 7 (01:30):
And actually, in a semi forced segue to college football,
I'm going to be curious to see how the group
play goes. You know, having expanded from thirty two to
forty eight, are there going to be more games that
we don't really care about watching? And see what that
might mean for a twenty fourteen college football playoff?
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Yeah? Maybe.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I mean, it's gonna be here whether you like it
or not. So a few weeks and we're going to
be inundated with World Cup. Just glory here in a
few weeks from now. But John, which Football Hall of
Fame ballot came out and Mike Leach is on and
you've been talking about this for years that they should
drop the standard to make sure Mike Leach can get in.
(02:11):
Obviously he gets in. Can we assume that he gets
in on the first ballot? And do you have a vote,
and if so, are you voting for him?
Speaker 5 (02:19):
I do not vote. I would vote for sure for
Leach first ballot.
Speaker 7 (02:24):
I think he will get in. The previous standard which
you had to have a six hundred winning percentage, and
his winning percentage was five ninety five. He was one
win short and they changed it, so now the standard
is five ninety five, and so Leach is going to
get in.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
You know, you could say what you.
Speaker 7 (02:42):
Will about his style, his personality, the success of his teams,
but the bottom line is there are very few people
in the last fifty years who have had a greater
impact on football at all levels than Mike Leach.
Speaker 8 (03:00):
John I just talked about in the update the letter
from the SEC, the joint letter SEC Big ten stating
that they do not support the Cantwell Cruise bill. Do
you think that has any chance of passing? And kind
of remind us of what the principles of that bill are.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Oh boy, I mean there's a lot.
Speaker 7 (03:17):
I do think it's got a chance I don't know
if i'd put it at fifty to fifty, but forty
sixty chance of passing. Although it's gonna get revised, you know,
in committees, and if it gets to the House, it'll
get revised in the House. The basics are five to
play five, you get one free transfer. They're adding, you know,
(03:37):
medical benefits. There's there's actually a lot of good stuff
in there. There's the Lane Kiffen rule where you can't
leave your team in the middle of the season, right,
but the big the big things that the SEC and
the Big Ten are upset about is that it basically
creates a situation where the schools could pool their media
(03:58):
rights negotiate as one entity like the NFL does, rather
than conference by conference. There's also a provision that prevents
the SEC and Big.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
Ten from expanding.
Speaker 7 (04:09):
It doesn't name them, but it says any conference it's
got at least a billion dollars in annual revenue cannot expand.
And they're not happy about that for obvious reasons. And
they're the only two with billion dollars, and so you
can kind of see that some provisions are specifically targeting
those two leagues.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Well, you mentioned the Lane Kiffin Rule, which again, as
you said, would ban college football coaches from accepting or
performing duties for a new coaching job before the end
of their current teams competitive season. I'd be a fan
of that. I'd be all for it. The NFL handles
that just fine. You don't see NFL coaches walking away
in the middle of a year or a playoff run.
Why can't college football adopt the same rule.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
I mean, it could.
Speaker 7 (04:52):
I would imagine it might get challenged. To me, it's
just hard for the government to say to a non
government mental entity, you know what you.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
Can and cannot do.
Speaker 7 (05:03):
The NFL stuff is all collectively bargained, and you know,
the coaches have their their deals with the league. I
just that's part of the issue. Is the Big Ten
in the SEC and other conferences. They spent millions and
millions and years and years lobbying Congress for help. Finally
(05:25):
there's a bipartisan bill that does address some serious issues,
and the Big Ten in the SEC here like, we
don't want this help. You know, this is what you
get when you go to Capitol Hill for help, is
they're going to help, and they're gonna get involved, and
they are there's a lot of pieces of this where
you could say Congress should not be dictating that about
(05:45):
college sports, and yet Congress is.
Speaker 8 (05:48):
John I read something about a seventy five percent provision
to pool media rights. How would that work and might
that entice the smaller FBS conferences to expand with FC teams.
Speaker 7 (06:01):
Well, the way it works is if seventy five percent
of the FBS schools agree to pool their media rights,
they can do it.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
Now, pulling media rights is against the law.
Speaker 7 (06:14):
You have to have NI trust protection, So the bill
grants ANI trust protection on that front. If seventy five
percent of SBS, so there are one hundred and thirty
eight teams, thirty four teams are in the SEC and
Big ten, one hundred and four is basically right on
(06:37):
the border of seventy five percent, it's seventy five point five.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
However, Notre Dame is the wild card.
Speaker 7 (06:46):
Basically, if Notre Dame sides with the SEC and Big Ten,
there's not they can't get to the threshold to pool
media rights. If Notre Dame does sides with everybody else,
they get past the threshold to pool media rights. And
that's you know, another instance of Notre Dame having outsized
leverage in college football.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Yeah, well, the other story this week in college football
that a lot of folks are keeping an eye on
and this really effects obviously the Big twelve more than
anything else at Texas Tech. But Brandon sorosby the NCAA
said nope, we're not going to reinstate.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Yeah, he's now obviously appealing. And I saw where Todd Monkin,
who's the coach of the Browns, was asked if they
would consider taking him in a supplemental draft and he said,
I don't know, man, I mean, that's kind of a
slippery slope to go down. He admitted, I guess that
he placed at least forty wagers on Indiana when he
was there, made thousands of bets overall, tolding at least
ninety thousand dollars. So, I mean, is this kid done
(07:40):
playing college football? Can we say that now? Or do
we not know that yet?
Speaker 5 (07:44):
We don't know.
Speaker 7 (07:45):
There was a hearing yesterday in Lubbock and the a
judge initially assigned to it is a Texas Tech fan
who does the guns up thing when photos with the mascot.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
He was replaced. He recused himself. He recused himself.
Speaker 7 (07:59):
They brought in a judge from a different part of Texas.
I think that within a week will know and this
is I think this is a huge deal because as
crazy as the NCAA is, and it's Washington and Rutgers
in the same conference, and it's kids playing at five
schools in six years, the one thing, the one line
(08:20):
that cannot be crossed. You cannot bet on your own
team because if that happens, then there's no difference between
college football and WWE.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
So do you think he should go you again?
Speaker 7 (08:31):
Honestly, no chance should he play again. Now he has
got a mental illness. There's no doubt his gambling addiction
is a mental illness.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
Getting treatment all that great for him. I'm not gonna
you know, I don't know about the NFL all that.
Speaker 7 (08:46):
I don't think there is any way he should be
allowed to play in college football because there would be
a legal precedent.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Now maybe it's not national, maybe.
Speaker 7 (08:53):
It would just be local, but there will be a
legal precedent for this to happen.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
So what happened the next time?
Speaker 7 (08:58):
So many gambles on their own team, you know, and
worst case, the game on their own team.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
To lose. Oh, I had a mental You know, I
have a gambling addiction. Okay, no problem. College football is
done if nobody believes it. What the competition is credible?
Speaker 8 (09:14):
John, Are we're going to see a five pm Pacific
Rose Bowl kick? And should we be up in arms
about this or is it just a just another another
reminder that college football no longer exists how it used to?
Speaker 7 (09:26):
Yeah, well, it's it's that for sure. I think that
they'll end up putting the Rose Bowl one. Now it's
not going to be a two, which is what it's
been for, you know, one hundred years.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
It may go one. I think that they will do
Rose Bowl one in Sugar Bowl five. That just makes
more sense to me. Yep, the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 7 (09:47):
The ratings for the Rose Bowl are just incredible, and
I don't think that they.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
ESPN is gonna want to screw with that.
Speaker 7 (09:55):
And I think that the committee will will make it
work with with ESPN to keep the Rose Bowl in
the early afternoon spot here.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
All right, Well, John, before you go, the last time
I saw you, you were with us in our little
booth there at Husky Stadium for a game. Which game
was that? By the way, that you came up for you,
dub Ruckers. Okay, it was Rutgers.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
I'll never forget because you were a nervous wreck.
Speaker 7 (10:17):
I think that that was like game six of the
marriages exactly.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
That's one hundred percent right.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
I mean, I'll admit I wasn't even watching the Husky
game to be honest with you. But you were in
our booth with Mario Bailey.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Being in your booth, your booth is awesome.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
You were in the booth with Mario Bailey and Greg Lewis.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
And I will tell you this right now that between
the three of us, me, Mario and Greg, one of
us is on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
Can you guess?
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Can you guess which one? It's not me? It's not me?
Can you guess which one it is? It's one of two?
So just take a guess.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Greg Lewis correct, Greg Lewis, he said the other day though,
he says, damn, I've been on that thing for like
ten years.
Speaker 8 (10:57):
Man.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
So we need you to really, I know you don't
have a vote here, but we need you to kind
of rev the engine, use your power, go on social media.
Let's get Greg Lewis the first winner. Of the dok
Walker Award ever in nineteen ninety into the College Football
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Can we count on you?
Speaker 7 (11:15):
I will do what I can. I gotta tell you, though.
The problem is not the candidates. The problem is the
process there are I mean it took it just takes
decades for some guys that you would think would be
first ballot to get in. Because there's so many players
and so many coaches.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
It's really difficult process.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
There's like fifty guys on the list. David di Castro
is on the list. The former Bellevue High Wolverinea went
to Stanford. Percy Harvin, Bobby Ingram is on the list.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Thirty years.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
It took like thirty years.
Speaker 7 (11:49):
It took thirty years for UH Nebraska's quarterback Tommy Fraser,
one of the greatest seasons in the history of the sport.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Yeah, that was incredible. Took twenty five thirty years for.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
In How many tackles can one man break?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Larry Coker, remember him, He's on the ballot for crying
out loud?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
All right, John, great stuff, love it. We're talking to
we sad.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
Thanks guys, all right?
Speaker 4 (12:11):
John Wilner with us. Yeah, we were thinking of the
other day. This is great.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I had no idea that Greg had even been on
the ballot up until this year, and apparently he's been
there and nobody's freaking noticed. So good for Greg. That's
a hell of an honor. But we need to get
a little help to get the guy in the Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
All right.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Well, a big story yesterday which is still picking up
steam today, is the Miles Garrett trade. Obviously, we had
Hugh on the year yesterday, Dick, when you were gone
yesterday talking about the deal, he described him. Obviously, Look, man,
you know he's thirty one, I believe years old this December.
You know, we went back and looked at guys like
Reggie White and Bruce Smith who even in their mid
(12:47):
to late thirties were still killing people in the NFL.
Reggie White was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year
when he was thirty seven years old. Can you imagine
a dude doing that now in the NFL, especially at
defense of line, maybe like a corner or maybe a line,
but at defensive line. My god. So look, the deal
(13:07):
for me about the trade for Miles Garrett is simple.
I think long term it may come back to Burnham
but if our focus is Seahawk fans is short term
on repeating as Super Bowl champions, this is a problem.
Miles Garrett going to the Rams. How big of a
problem remains to be seen. But I think they're a
better football team now than they were yesterday With Jared Verse.
Speaker 8 (13:29):
Oh, there's no question about that. They made themselves better
for twenty twenty six. I see it as a high risk,
high reward deal for the Rams. I see it as
a low risk, high reward deal for the Browns.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I mean, I.
Speaker 8 (13:44):
Agree with most of the pundits who say the Browns
got the better of the trade when you look at
the trade grades. The most that I've seen, Browns are
getting a's almost across the board for what they got.
My God, what I'm not hearing is enough of how
good Jared versus. That's the thing that gets me. Jared
Verse is one of my probably my five favorite defensive
(14:04):
linemen in football.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I mean, he is fantastic.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Well Millan talked about that yesterday. What was the line
that he used that watching Jared Verse compared to Miles
Garrett is like watching a JV player compared to a
varsity I.
Speaker 8 (14:16):
Understand he's I understand he's not Miles Garrett, but I
think that the question is this, what's Jared Verse going
to give you at age twenty five, twenty six, twenty
seven versus what Miles Garrett's going to give you at
thirty one, thirty, thirty one, and thirty two.
Speaker 9 (14:31):
It was a great question that you also post on
our text chat the three of us, and I'll just
read word for word the exact you know, word for word,
but the exact take that I have is I think
a lot and it's sad, but it will be I think.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
A lot better.
Speaker 9 (14:44):
Still, Yeah, because you look at what Miles Garrett has
done for the Cleveland Browns, right a team that is
constantly losing in games. The dude has been dominant force
and just set the single season sack record on a
team that was constantly losing. Now he's going to be
on a team that is constantly winning, and there's gonna
be facing offense that past pass pass Garrett might like
(15:07):
he might get thirty seconds.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Well, look, guys, here's the deal again.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
I don't think there's any doubt that it's possible that
long term this comes back to kind of maybe bite
them a little bit in the butt. But if they
win the championship this year.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
So what ye like?
Speaker 7 (15:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Who cares exactly?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
You have got one more year left of Matt Stafford,
likely one more year, maybe two more years. I mean,
the guy's playing. He's an MVP, so there's no need
for him to retire. And let's see what he wants
to He can still play. They protect them, They give
him a great defense. Now he's got McDuffie, he's got
Watson and the other part of the Miles Garrett thing,
by the way, that we have to factor into this
whole thing. If he convinces Aaron Donald to play again,
(15:44):
that's a gigantic tentacle to this entire thing. And oh,
by the way, for the Rams, here's why I like
it from their perspective. First of all, have you seen
his cap numbers, Miles Garrett? Look it up and then
get a barf bag, please, because you'll throw up on
the floor here in the studio. It's ridiculous. The three
picks that they gave up, by the way, are in
(16:05):
consecutive years twenty seven, twenty eight, and twenty nine.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
And that third round is conditional by correct.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So they it's not like they're blowing an entire draft
on this guy, and they're talking about, look, we're making moves.
Miles Garrett is more valuable to the Rams now than
he is to the Browns, for sure, And I'm with
you one thousand percent on the Browns perspective. For the Browns,
I'm actually shocked that took this long to get rid
of them. They stick, they have no quarterback. They're not
going anywhere. There's no need for them to have Miles
(16:32):
Garrett on their football team right now. They should have
traded him and the trade they got and the player
they got in return. If they can, especially Dick, if
they can resign them to a long term deal, and
he's got what two years left. I think Verse does
as a first rounder. I think from both teams it
makes absolute, total freaking sense to do this deal. The
Rams went out and they got their secondary better, they
(16:54):
got their defensive line better. And I'll throw one more
thing into the mix, by the way, that'll piss you
off even more. When whok and Nakua went nuts on
New Year's even decided to bite somebody that may have
denied him the chance to sign an extension before the
season starts. He's going to play pissed off and motivated
all year for a new deal.
Speaker 9 (17:11):
So all these things make sense for both teams, right.
The only thing that doesn't make sense is if the
Rams are all in on this next two to three
year windows, specifically the next two three years, Right.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Why the hell do you draft? Tysons?
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Have an answer for you.
Speaker 8 (17:26):
Yeah, that makes more sense to me now than it
did before, because they knew this deal was coming in
and they got in.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
What was the biggest problem with the Rams last year
the secondary, Right when I fixed that with mcduffee and watch,
and now their pass rush is better with Miles Garrett
and oh, by the way, there's only so much you
can do to improve your football team where it's worth
saying no to a quarterback that you think is going
to be really good.
Speaker 6 (17:46):
I just think that.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
And they knew they were going to trade their first
round pick next year.
Speaker 9 (17:50):
I think impact players there where you can make your
football team get almost guaranteed.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
You may be right. I happened to think this.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I happen to think that the guys that will dictate
the Rams fortunes in twenty twenty six were already on
the roster, right, like Reuben Bain Kenyon Sadik whoever. Me
and Hugh talked about him today off the year as well.
Are they really going to be that impactful where they are?
That one guy's the difference between making a supermu scare
(18:20):
and not one thousand percent. So I think they feel
like they've already improved their roster dramatically with all these moves.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
And Dick, I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
If you were a guy that thought, well that's just
a waste, well, okay, they went out and fixed those
holes other ways, and now they can sit back and say,
now we can find Matt Stafford's replacement and try to
do a Green Bay or a San Francisco when Stafford's
career is over.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
You know, I'm just looking at the numbers.
Speaker 8 (18:44):
And Sando had a great chart yesterday showing the other
ten pass rushers in history with four or more all
pros and years four to eight and what they did
in years nine to twelve. And you brought up the
exceptions the rules are, there's a massive drop off.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Sure, these four plus are all pros.
Speaker 8 (19:00):
The other numbers I'm looking at is pre season favorites
to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Oh, the rams are heavy favorites right now, man, heavy, okay, heavy?
How many of those won the Super Bowl in the
last twenty years? Probably none of them. But I'll tell
you what you should love as a Seahawks fan. We're
getting value now. Boys, they are plus eleven hundred. Now,
who do you think fourth favorite on the board. A
guy hit me up on Twitter and said that, he said,
don't say, don't tell me?
Speaker 2 (19:22):
And who do you think is pissed off?
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Now?
Speaker 8 (19:25):
The Hawks are the team that won the Super Bowl
now is being told by everybody they're not even going
to win their division.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I mean, that is a great place to be if
you're Seattle.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Don't we believe though?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
If we are not Seahawks homers here, the Rams have
moved past the seasons.
Speaker 8 (19:41):
They are more talented. Yes, correct, they are more talented.
I don't know if I agree with that. I don't
agree with that day, but they have moved past the Seahawks.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
And we all of us have said all three of
those games that they played a year ago could have
gone the exact opposite way, every single one. And we
said this yesterday with Jackson, right, Jackson, if you thought
the twenty twenty five NFC Championship was the real super Bowl.
The Rams have had Miles Garrett, Jalen Watson, Trent McDuffie,
(20:09):
may add Aaron Donald, and the Seahawks lost Kenny Walker,
boy A Mofey, Kobe Bryant, and Riquollan and signed Dante Fowler.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
So they've gotten better.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Now.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
We don't know a lot about Price yet.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
We'll see how he does it running back, obviously, but
he I think it's obvious to everybody. The Rams, if
it matters at all, have won the offseason and they
should be the favorite.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
I think they should be the favorite to win the West.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
I'm not putting five and a half to run on them, though.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
They should be the favorite.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
I mean, this is gonna be a fricking war between
these two teams, like the Niners. I mean, well maybe
we thought that last year and they were a factor
until Week seventeen where the Hawks killed him down there
in Sanfte in Santa Clara. So I just know this,
if you're the Arizona Cardinals, he may as well just
punt on twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Well, the Niners give it up.
Speaker 8 (20:56):
The Niners continually, as our friend Grant tells us down
there continually side to draft weird weird draft picks every
single year that don't help them.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
They were in the race all the way till the end.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Man Again, there was a difference, I think we all
agree with that with the two teams, but they were there.
One ball bounces this way, one ball bounces that way.
Who knows, man that electrical station you know, zips out
and freaks somebody out.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Well, you never know. We're gonna break a lot more
Speaker 3 (21:20):
To get to, including Game one Stanley Cup Finals at
five on ninety three to three KJRFM
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