Furness Show 11-10: Lenny Wilkens passing, Hugh Millen, Mike Sando

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now from the Star Renolds Sports to us Jordan ninety
three point three KJRFMS sports headlines.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Headlines brought to you by Frost Brewed Coors Light, Choose Chill,
Sad News. This weekend, NBA and Sonics legend Lenny Wilkins
passing the way passed away at the age of eighty eight.
More on that in just a couple of seconds. Seahawks
continue to roll another dominating win over the Cardinals forty
four to twenty two. You knew that, I hope you
know that. They host the Kracking Nests with the weekend.
They beat Saint Louis Saturday, great dramatic come from behind win,

(00:28):
scored with two seconds to go in regulation, win in
overtime four to three the final, but then lost the
Stars two to one yesterday. They host the Columbus Blue
Jackets tomorrow. I climbed played Aurina six thirty pre game
right here on your home for the crack of nine
three point three kter FM. You have had a rough
goal of it, also falling out of the top twenty
five as they lose to Wisconsin thirteen to ten on Saturday.
Also Saturday, Sounder season ended with a loss in game

(00:51):
three the MLS Playoffs, they lost in a PK shootout
to Minnesota, and the Giants have fired their head coach,
Brian dave Ball today as well. Monday Night Football later
on tonight it is the Packers hosting the Philadelphia Eagles.
Right here in nine three point three KJR FM, let's go.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Your home for the twelfth Man in the NFL proudly
presents Hardcore Football with Hugh Mellon, brought to you by
Hunt Services, Tait on the Horn and Cole Hunts. Now
here's you with the inferness on Sports Radio ninety three
point three KJR FM.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
All right, we go do things a little different today
with Hugh because I wanted to spend some time before
we get into hardcore football with Hugh because as the
if we take Mike comrin ow the mix, Hugh as
the two elder statesman on the radio station. You and
I we are both old enough to remember Lenny Wilkins
as both a player and a coach for the Sonics

(01:45):
among other teams, and of course the seventy nine championship
team as well, and so I kind of wanted to
if I could just spend some time with you and
me just discussing Lenny Wilkins and his significance to us
and to people our age who were able to watch
those Sonics teams that went back to back finals, winning
the second time around after losing in seven games the
first time when Lenny took over from for from Bob

(02:07):
Hopkins the previous season and all that, but a sad
day yesterday for all of us here in this area.
Lenny Wilkins and really probably across the NBA. He coached
for six different teams. He played for four teams. Some
of those were acrossover Portland and Seattle, for example in Cleveland,
but he had an impact across the league. He's both
inducted as both a player and a coach in the

(02:28):
Nate Smith Basketball Hall of Fame. His impact in the
community goes without saying with the Lenny Wilkins Foundation, but
he will just let you speak on Lenny Wilkins and
and and who and what he meant to you.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
Well, I was gonna it's your show, I was. I think,
I think your listeners want to hear from you, and
I'd be happy to piggyback on it. I've got some
thoughts and memories for sure, But yeah, well it sounds
like it's emotional to you. So let me let me
go ahead the table and just kind of stretch from you.
So what, first of all, you were when Lenny took

(02:59):
over the job? That was the That was a lot
of people say it's the seventy nine season, and and
the Sonics won the title that year. Now, as you know,
not true. That was the seventy seven, seventy eight season.
So it would have been late seventy seven, right forty
eight years ago. And uh, Bob Hopkins had had been
what an understudy to Bill Russell who had been the

(03:21):
coach during the mid seventies. Bob Hopkins gets his you
know who's the owner at that time? Was it was
it Sam Shulman? I think it was Sam schu was Sam?
So they started five and seventeen. Yeah, and and and
you know, I could have googled all this stuff and
it's readily accessible, but I'm just going off memory. I

(03:42):
think that his first year they said five and seventeen,
we've seen enough.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, that's that many was right? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yeah, and uh and and then and then they they
lo and behold they go to the title. So what
what do you remember before we talk about the seventy
nine Let's let's talk about that first year year, right
the year that they came out of nowhere to go
all the way to the NBA Finals.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
You know what I remember, Hugh is that you know,
and and I think for a lot of us that
are you know, roughly our age, you know, late fifties,
early sixties, what have you, that was our team. Like
you know, we there was no Seahawks. There was there
was no such things as Seahawks are the Mariners, And
you know, I mean we were college football fans probably
like I'm you know, Sunny six Killer. I remember being
a fan of his growing up and the Huskies. But

(04:25):
you know, I mean the Sonics were our pro sports
franchise and you know, my first memories of that was
you know, Spencer Haywood. And you know when Bill Russell
came in and Bill Russell gave us in Seattle, I
think you would agree Bill Russell gave us legitimacy. He
was kind of like Chuck Knox with the Seahawks, like
it went from fun little expansion team whatever you bring

(04:48):
in Bill Russell and Bill takes the Sonics to the
playoffs for the first time, and I believe in nineteen
seventy four and stuck around for a couple of years
seventy five, right, yeah, so then you go to the playoffs,
he leaves. His understudy was Bob Hopkins, and I think
it was his cousin, was it not Bob Hopkins? I
believe that. I don't. I think there was a relationship.

(05:09):
But nevertheless, Bob, you know, seventy seven to seventy eight season,
they start five and seventeen, as you mentioned, and you know,
we're all Sonics fans, We're all bummed out what's going on.
I thought they had a pretty decent team, and Lenny
takes over and goes forty two and eighteen. And I
vaguely remember Lenny as a player with the Sonics, vaguely,
Like I mean I was what five or six or something,
seven eight maybe when he was playing, but I remember

(05:31):
him taking over that team, and you know, god, I
was a fan. I mean, I remember Dean Tolson like
that was my favorite player because he could dunk like
he was like the best dunker in the league. You know,
he did they say he could pill quarterbs off the
top of the thing, like back when guys didn't do that,
Like now and at the top of the backboard.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, yeah, which seems crazy, right. You know what I
remember he was was so I went to extem Middle school. Yeah,
you know in the Seattle public schools, and you know,
blessed the sonics they had. They would send some players
out and we'd have an assembly and then they would say, hey,
just go to your you know, the office, and you
can get I believe the figure was five dollars. Yeah, really, honestly,

(06:09):
I think five dollars tickets. So my buddies and I
we take the bus on down and and uh in
the mid seventies, remember now, as you you touched on it. No,
no Mariners, no Seahawks, and the Huskies. Uh you know
Don James's first year was seventy five. But prior to that,
Owens had had a great career, but not in the
at the end, so there was no success right. And

(06:31):
and I'm I thought it was the cool thing that
Slick Watts led the NBA in steals and assists in
nineteen seventy five. I remember reading Not in Sports Illustrated
and uh, you know like that's like that's the crumbs
that we had. And and and I will say, you
know it was great, but like there was there was
no championships. It's like, oh my god, we got a
guy Steve let the league and Steals an assistant. Yeah yeah,

(06:52):
and so so then when uh so when when they
go to the title. You know, I think it was
Matt call because I'm gonna call him out a little
bit because because I had friends with him, I think
he's great, wonderful call him. He had to call him
a few months back. Top five most painful losses in

(07:13):
Seattle history. Oh yeah, and you and I can simply
five was the first professional uh playoffs for any team
in this city, right, so we remember all of them.
What does one of five ninety nine mean to you?
In Game seven of the NBA Finals, How did you

(07:34):
take that?

Speaker 2 (07:35):
As a kid? I didn't take it well because it
was also a home game, Like we come home like
and you just feel like you're figuring that you're gonna
win in Game seven at home. That's a win, that's
that's a championship. That's likely gonna be the coolest thing
ever for our city. And you know West Unsold and
Elvin Hayes, the Big E, Bobby Dandridge and those guys.

(07:57):
They come in and they beat our Sonics at all
home in our building, and I remember being devastated, like
devastated by that. And then Hugh think about kind of
think about what happened then after that, like they lose
a key player, Marvin Webster, the human Eraser, the human
Eraser leaves us, and and yet they get back and

(08:18):
win it next year. You know, Lenny was Yeah, I
think that's also you know, like when when I heard
he passed yesterday and and you know, you know, we
were actually going we were like five minutes away from
going on the air for our sale Crack and pregame
show on TV, and I see the news and I'm like,
oh my god, Lenny Wilkins died. And I'm just like whoa, whoa.

(08:40):
And now, luckily here's a little funny little side bit
from TV. Our studios at the Root Studios, we were
able to put together a pretty good little, uh piece
of video because guess what's Guess what's in the Guess
what we have there? Every videotape from the Sonics.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
Back in the day.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah. So but they our producers went back and they
you know, our editors Stu and Marcus, they put a
little you know that's I'm seeing video of this. But
but Hugh, I think what it is is that the
Sonics leaving when they did in eight I think what
hurts to this day is that when they left, were
left with just memories and the inability to create new ones.

(09:20):
But those memories we have are so good, and honestly,
it's thanks to Lenny Wilkins. Lenny Wilkins took this franchise
to the finals and then Lenny Wilkins won a championship.
And we've had two major championships in the history of
our city at the pro level. If you want to
just include the form and sorry, we're just gonna include
the four major sports. And sorry, Todd Lightwick if you're listening,

(09:41):
the nineteen seventeen Stanley Cup doesn't count because the NHL
didn't exist, so it was an NBA title in seventy nine.
And what Pete and the Seahawks did in Super Bowl
forty eight, that's all we have. And you know, Lenny
got us there, and Hugh, you know what I do
remember more than anything is that when I was in
eight grade, our Lady of Fatima, I remember skipping school,

(10:03):
which was unheard of for a Catholic kid going to
a private school, jumping on the number nineteen bus with
my buddy. I think I think it was Mike Taft
was my buddy, jumped on the number nineteen bus from
see it from Magnolia, went down to the parade and
it was insane. It was awesome. It was the coolest
thing ever. And Hugh, you'll remember this. Lenny had to
control a team that I've always kind of I've used

(10:27):
this this comparison. I think that seventy nine team was
very much like the Seahawk Super Bowl team in this sense.
They had the biggest personalities in the league period. End
of story. And Paul Silas, I remember interviewing him a
number of times when I first got to KJR. I
had a good relationship with him from some stuff I'd
done in the NBA over the years. And he said, Man,

(10:49):
our practices were harder than any game we ever had.
We would just he said, I'd have to sit there.
I'd be squared up, ready to fight Lonnie Sheldon every game.
I had the egos of with DJ and Gus in
the back court, their egos. Fred Brown thought he should
be and probably should have been a starter, would have
started for any team in the league. He was six man,
best shooter in the league. Maybe you know, back when

(11:10):
they didn't have a three point line man, what numbers
he would have put up. Lenny Wilkins, much like Pete
Carroll Hugh, had to somehow wrangle all those big personalities
together and all that talent and get them on the
same page to go to back to back finals. To me,
that was the greatness of Lena. Aybody ever met Lenny
would know just like one of the nicest human beings

(11:33):
in the world, but everyone respected him. Yeah, And for
him to be able to do that with that group,
because remember that parade. If you look back at pictures
in the parade, it's June. You know what, those dudes
are all wearing top hats, fur coats, They're all in
separate cars. It was them dudes were the biggest personalities
we've ever seen in this town until Sherman Company rolled
in a few years later.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
You know, schematically, you're touching on so much. You know that,
As I mentioned the mid seventies, Slick Watson, Fred Brown starters, right, yes,
but then that championship team was, you know, considered to
be a backcourt led team. And it was the three
and it was you know, that's a point and DJ
DJ really hit because he was only in what year two.

(12:15):
He hit the scene again in that series against the
Nuggets when he held down David Thompson. The Skywalker was like
a big spread in Sports illustrated, huge, you know, double
page spread, and it was like, whoa this dude can
He was the glove before the glove, yes, right, And
he made his mark on that series against the Nuggets.
But you mentioned they bring in Fred Brown off the

(12:37):
bench and they would run a double pick on the
back on the baseline and he would launch a twenty
four footer from the corner and it was it was
sound basketball when it was only word two. Yes, yeah,
and you know and and they say, coaches say, you
got a square up on your jump shot. Fred Brown
had this interesting way where he did not square up.

(12:59):
He was like his right shoulder was more at the rim.
And and anybody who can in your minds, I can
see Fred Brown shooting. But it was so graceful. Was
it was like Ernie Els or Fred Couple's golf swing.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
It was so pretty.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
And he would come in and they'd run that play
in the baseline he would launch that thing.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
I lose you. I lost you for a second.

Speaker 4 (13:21):
Oh my gosh, I think he was of breath.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
The best thing was with good Fred get he reconnected,
you know, the first of all. I love that because
we just went hardcore basketball during hardcore football.

Speaker 4 (13:31):
You know what.

Speaker 5 (13:32):
It was so hardcore.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
You give me a thumbs up when you get Hugh
back on because that was good stuff. And it's true.
I'll pick it up where he left off, because yeah,
I mean that team the starters were DJ, JJ, Jack
Guss and and I mean it was and and and
obviously with Dennis Johnson and DJ, I mean it was
they were unbelievable. Wannie Shelton was the other starter, just

(13:57):
a big, bruising power forward out of Oregon State that
you know. Unfortunately, you look through this list, we've lost
almost all of those players from that championship game team.
I mean, Gus has gone, Dennis is gone, JJ's gone,
Lonnie's gone, Paul Silas has gone. I believe Dennis Austry
just passed away as well. Wally Walker and Jack I

(14:19):
think are the only ones left from the teams that
from that championship team. And now we've lost wasn't that
he was on the championship team. But we've lost all
those guys and then losing le I think I think
that's what hurt yesterday is losing Lenny was kind of
like the capp er. It's like, okay, now we've lost
pretty much everything off that team except for we still

(14:39):
have Jack and we still have Fred Brown and Wally.
But that's it. And it's unfortunate because we lost the team,
and you know, it's a long long time ago. Nineteen
seventy nine was a very long time ago. I will
do this while we try to get Hugh back. I
want to let you guys, and I'll carve some time
out after Sando before we get to factor fiction today,

(15:00):
if you want to share memories of what Lonnie or
long sorry, what Lenny Wilkins meant to you as a
Sonics fan, as to see how sports fan, and you
don't have to be fifty five or sixty years old.
You can be as young as they are because he
was still such a massive part of our community and
was still such a huge part of this area. And
thank god that the statue was unveiled at Climate Pledge Arena.

(15:23):
Shout out to Todd and the crew over there for
getting that done, you know when they did. Because obviously
Lenny didn't get to see the NBA come back. And
today's not the day to be bitter about that. But
in the back of our minds, every one of us
is thinking that is that it's too bad that he
didn't get to see the NBA come back to that building,
new building, same roof that he led a team to

(15:44):
the title end although they won obviously the championship was
won on the road, But that's too bad. But I'm
glad that the statue's there, and I know this, I'm
going to make time tomorrow before the Cracking game, before
we do the game tomorrow night to make sure I
stop by and just kind of a tip of the
cap and just not I mean, Lenny Wilkins was Seattle
sports and Lenny Wilkins is such a massive part of

(16:06):
our history that it's hard but inevitable. He's eighty eight
years old, lived a great life. The other part of
Lenny Wilkins I think that we need to acknowledge is
what he did and meant off the floor. The Lenny
Wilkins Foundation did a ton of good work and I
know it was all documented in the papers and all
the old bitch we've seen, we're seeing in all those things.

(16:27):
But the work he did off the court was amazing,
and he made sure that he made an impact away
from basketball as well. And then you think about the
greatness of Lenny Wilkins in the game of basketball. Leads
a team to an NBA title as a coach, but
also is inducted in the Hall of Fame as both

(16:47):
a player and a coach. Only a handful of people
have done that. I mentioned six teams that he coached,
four teams he played for, and he meant something to
all those markets. I know in the same thing in Portland, Q.
I've said my piece. I'll let you wrap it up
next the next couple of minutes before we get to
a break and get into football. But by the way
I did mention, we lost you. This is why I

(17:08):
love you. Only you could turn hardcore football and attribute
to Lenny Wilkins into hardcore basketball. And in the back
of my mind, I'm envisioning Fred Brown in the corner,
coming off that pick and in that jump shot. But
how many of us growing up would do that in
our backyards or at the You know, playing seventh grade
middle school basketball whatever. We all wanted to remember the

(17:28):
Fred Brown pump like he'd bring it down to his
waist kind of double pump and put it up like
we all wanted to be Downtown Freddie Brown. We all
wore the knee pads and the elbow pads and eighteen
wristbands like Slick, like the late great Slick Wats did. Right.
We all wanted to be those guys. They were iconic
figures to all of us. But you know, as far
as the title goes, as I wrapped up and I'll
turn it over to you, Lenny led us to that title.

(17:50):
And he did such great work off the floor as well,
which I mentioned, but I'll let you take the final
two minutes before we get to a break in your thoughts.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
I just think that his vision of the three guard offense.
You know, among my friends when we you know, I
was a Jim Ratt. I love to play hoop inside outside,
didn't matter. And you know, but you could A third
of my friends, you know, when they pull up, they
go GUS like their gus. A third of them pull
up and say DJ like they're DJ, third of one.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
So Downtown, you know.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
Freddy Brown, and so it was like, I don't know
that there. I didn't get the sense that there was
any one favorite. I think we loved that all three
of those guys. And then the front court. You know,
everybody thought, you know, Jack Sikma, who's this Dutch boy,
haircut guy from Illinois Wesley and look it up, because
I know there was somebody that most fans thought we
should have got other than Sigma. And then his rookie year,

(18:40):
he was just so good as the power forward on
that team. Just is so good in so many ways,
so poised. And then when Webster left, now Lenny has
the vision, Hey, I'm gonna take Jack in year two
and make him my center. Let Lonnie Shelton be the Ford,
but Johnny Johnson as the small forward, run the basically

(19:03):
a point forward offense, you know, from the top of
the key. And he had this vision schematically and personnel.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
Wise, and you know he took that vision right to
the championship and gave us the parade you talked about.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
I didn't see the parade. I think I was in
base baseball, but I slept on the streets for championship
tickets down at the Squire shop. You remember the square
shop down on the University.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
I did the same, but I went to Fidelity Lane.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
Buddy, you got, okay, you got so they had all
these ticket Outlet's right, you didn't have to And so
I slept in front of this squire shop, got the tickets.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Man of this great memories.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
And then you know, and I'll close with this, the
next person that you hear say a bad word about
Lenny Wilkins in any way will be the first in
all of those champ in all of those games. Do
you ever remember Lenny Wilkins even raising his voice? There
was just a stature that he had. He knew how

(19:58):
to handle those those personalities. But it had to be
now that I played professional sports, there had to be
a respect because he never raised his voice. No, he
could just cross his arms and look at you, and
he got everything that he wanted. And you know, I
went to his football camp when I was in middle school.
I can't remember the year. And you know, so that
that speaks to his community outreach and and hey, it's

(20:20):
not just going to touch the basketball players. Let me
see if I can bring the football kids into the
community and we can all run this thing and make
it even a better camp. You know, it's just you know,
that type of impact of the community. Never will forget
him real quick. Just that draft he was taken eighth
was Jack Yeah, Kent Benson. Kent Benson went one, Otis
bird Song two. And I think you could take any

(20:43):
like Marcus Johnson, Greg Ballad Walter Davis, Kenny Carr, Bernard King,
Sickma went. And then after that the guy you might
Cedric Maxwell. Maybe maybe it was Cedric Maxwell because Tom
mcguard went right after him and a playing but it
might have even been a guy like Tom mcguard, like
from pro career they had you have to think of.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, maybe you know because Caroline, Ernie Grunfeld.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
It might have been Grunfield because Grunfield, Oh god, well
he was part of that duo.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yeah, what Tennessee, I think you would. I think there's
a whole bunch of guys on that list because le Guard, No,
Ray Williams, Ernie Grunfield, Cedric Maxwell, Tree Rawlins remember him, God,
Brad Davis, the guard speaking.

Speaker 5 (21:26):
Careers.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
But what you thought of them based on their college career? Yeah, No,
I think I think I'm guess I'm gonna guess I'm
gonna guess it might have been either Tom mcgard or
Cedric Maxwell.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
Yeah, it took about a month for Jack Sickman as
a rookie power forward to make us forget all about
those complaints. And then you know, he just kept stacking
greatness on top of it. Of course he's a Hall
of Famer, but he, you know, to switch to center
in year two to fill the Webster. Nobody would know.
I'm telling you there's nobody in Seattle that thought, okay,

(21:57):
we'll be fine without Marvel a front court.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Other than Lenny. Yeah, other than Lenny. Lenny put together
that front court with him, JJ and Lonnie. Oh my gosh,
that was something. All Right, we'll take a break, we'll
come back, we'll jess.

Speaker 6 (22:10):
Yes, Yeah, I just wanted to tell you guys that
I actually got to go to the unveiling of Lenny's statue.
It was over a weekend and it's almost like, you know,
you're not planning on someone passing, but he got to
witness basically what would have been said at his funeral.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Good point, you know, for a statue.

Speaker 6 (22:28):
For a statue, you know, it was less than six
months ago, it was you know, it was in June
end of June, and he got to witness all of
these amazing people that he has impacted in his life.
And I just think it's so special that he got
to actually witness it. It wasn't I memoriam when that
was happening. Family got the entire family and every single

(22:51):
but it was like a red carpet that was pulled out,
And I just wanted to say that I'm very happy
he got that.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
The statue, he got to see Lenny wilkens Way he
got to see and his family got to share that
with him. And God bless you, any man, you made.
What a difference you made in our city. All right here,
we'll talk about a difference yesterday. That would be the
Seahawks roll into another win. We'll get to hardcore football next.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
From the R and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio. Now
back to He and Fernez powered by Seapple. Was closest
sports book Snow call me Casino and Hotel on Sports
Radio ninety three point three kJ R FM.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
Hi, We're back Humlin's with us hardcore football. Let me
get to this fe because I don't want to run
out of time today and we'll probably end up keeping
you the next two segments anyway. But I was asked
a question, I'm do this a little differently today. Well,
you had a couple hours to break down the game today,
and I'll get to something I want to talk about
the defense of the next segment. But we were getting
ready for the hockey game yesterday. We got we all
got it, got there early for the for the pregame

(23:52):
show for a broadcast at our track and Hockey Network studios,
which happened to be the Roots Studios, And my buddy
Stuve Vicu, our great editor, says, we're watching JSN, and
he said, what is it about this guy that makes
him so good? He's on pace for almost two thousand yards,
right around two thousand yards this season. He's having this
incredible year, and you know, and a due pointed out

(24:14):
roll and then the whole bunch of us are talking
about it. Hugh. It's he's six feet two hundred pounds.
He's not physically imposing, he's not the fastest guy straightaway speed,
but right now he is playing like the best wide
receiver in the NFL. What is it? If you were
like putting on your personnel hat, what are the traits
that make JSN so damn good.

Speaker 3 (24:34):
Well, I break him into two categories. His athletic traits.
You know, if the sport of football didn't exist, he'd
still have athletic traits. And then and then get a
little more granular again granular with his football traits.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
And you touched it.

Speaker 3 (24:49):
At six foot and five eighths, he's in the thirty
seventh percentile. So well, let's talk about what he's not.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
He's not tall.

Speaker 3 (24:55):
He did not run at the combine due to his
hamstring that got him in that last year at Ohio State,
So we don't know his his uh, his top speed
on a forty, but just looking at him on tape,
he does not have elite long speed. But as we said, look,
you know six foot and a half, mid mid size,
not a small guy, not a big guy, but he

(25:17):
is a long torsoed, short leged guy, you know, a
low cut athlete. So so I mean it's just like
you know what what's going to corner around a turn
faster or better a suv or you know, of course
nine to eleven, right, Like the lower you are to
the ground, you your your your weight, you can you
can you have body control because you're he has a

(25:39):
low center of gravity. So uh if if if you
think of like a horse running around a barrel at
a contest, you know you you you want to keep running,
but can you can your body make that turn? So
he can make speed cuts at at you know, near
full speed and and keep it at a tight radius

(25:59):
because of his body style. Now, as far as receiving attributes,
his IQ is next level elite. Let's talk about let's
just take boxes and say can we even can we
check them as and and can we put a special
color for elite like a green ail Marco, not just
he has elite IQ and awareness.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
And uh and so he knows zone. He knows how
to sit.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
Down and be friendly to a quarterback in a window
if you know, basically has a quarterback. If I see
a guy's side numbers running through, he's sprinting through. If
I see a guy turn his front numbers to me,
then he's telling me that he's slowing down. He's id
lean into that well Jackson Smith and Jacob but just
does that quicker and better and more decisive than almost

(26:51):
everybody else. So get he's next level IQ. He has
great feet while he doesn't have great long speed. He's
got a feet like a sewing machine, and he can
you know the line of scrimmage his releases that touchdown
passed that Eliza Royo had against the Commanders. Remember the
release that JSN had on the other side of the field.

(27:11):
It was open by four yards. He's the root and
so he's got a great great you know. So he
has elite quickness in his feet, even though he doesn't
have elite long speed. Then when the balls in the
air that touchdown that he had on Sunday where he
ran the out and up, so he starts the inside
straightens up because he had an inside alignment with cut split,

(27:35):
the defender was going to be outside the divider. The
divider's ten yards from the sideline. So the corner says,
if he's inside of that divider, now it would be
a little bit ball that would be in the balls
in the middle. The ball on this case was on
the right hash, so the divider would be inside. But
nonetheless he was still about three yards inside the numbers.

(27:55):
So that's inside the divider. So what the corner is
going to be outside? Does that make sense? The corner
back is gonna be outside. But when the ball is snapped,
he's gonna be outside leverage. So now and Jigba loses
even more ground, more leverage to him. So he goes
way inside and then he starts to bow out. He's
widening the corner, and then he goes up. All of
this is mindful of where the safety can close on

(28:19):
the ball because he's got to create space for himself
on the ball. Now you got, uh, Sam Darnald. He
runs a bootleg, so he's going to his left, really
never sets his feet. He's kind of like his momentum
is taking him the sideline. Talking about Donald's. So even
though it's a nine point nine on an accuracy scale,
it's not a ten. It's just slightly underthrown. But now

(28:42):
here's another elite trait, Jackson Smith. And Jigba looks back
like a like a great center fielder tracking the ball.
Where's it gonna go. He knows it's gonna be slightly underthrown.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
So what he starts. He gets the defender on his back.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
He literally puts his arms out like he's got like
he's spread like he's like he's getting nailed across or something.
And I mean, just uh, that's that's a kind of
a morbid analogy, but you get what I'm saying. He
like he puts his arms out and and and slows down, Sweeten,
he gets the defender on his back so that at
the last split second he can accelerate to the ball

(29:16):
and still uh have be completely unaffected by the safety's
coming over.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
So his ability to close. So what are the elite
attributes elite IQ elite.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
Uh quickness, not elite speed, elite ball tracking, and the
elite hands in finishing ability. I'm pulling it down in traffic.
So uh, that would be you know, that would be
where I would start in the analysis.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
I love it. That's I mean, that's a great, great breakdown.
And I because I seriously it turned into a big
conversation with a bunch of guys yesterday that you know,
cover sports for a living, that are working in sports
you know obviously you know behind the scenes and are like, man,
just what and you know what. I think it might
have actually even come up on the on that same
drive when Donald, I think it was the eight yard past.
Donald kind of rolled to his left and I was

(30:06):
talking about it was an eight yard gain to Jackson
Smith and Jigbee. We're als talking about like real quick,
we got like a minute here, Hugh. You talked about
it the day they brought Sam Donald in his ability
to roll left and throw across his body over Yeah,
on that one, I've.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
Seen when he runs that over out, so's he's on
the backside an overrout. His years intermediate and he'll sometimes
sit down based on the zone defenders. But on that
one he said, no, no, no, I've got to accelerate through.
So he was on the move as if it was
man coverage. So he immediately read, hey, I can't settle

(30:44):
down like.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
A normal zone.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
I've got the area is to sprint and create as
much separation from that linebacker on the other side of
the window. So so so, but now when Donald turns around,
he did, you know, you can just read him. He's
just easy to read, and and you say, okay, I
can see it. He's trying to get to the other
side of that linebacker. He's trying to accelerate through. And
so now Donald turns his shoulder, very difficult throw, throws

(31:08):
it in. Was it a cloud corner, which means the
corner to that side of the field is rolled up
in the flat that that is really disconcerting for a quarterback.
You feel like he's going to fall back into the play.
But Donald, you know, he just timed it up and
smoked it in there. I mean that that's high level football.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
I love it from two people high level. Speaking of
high level, we got one segment left. Won't be long,
but you've got to tell me for a team that
doesn't normally blitz what they were doing on I've never
seen this before. Back to back touchdowns rock and roll, Yeah,
get that. We'll hit that next on Hardcore Football. Next

(31:49):
from the R and R.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio. Now back to He and for
Andez powered by Seattle Close to the sports book Snow
call me Casino and Hotel on Sports Radio ninety three
point three kJ R FM.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
My Hardcool Football continues after big Seahawk winner with the
Cardinals femailing with us. It wasn't back to back drives,
but two out of three drives for the Seahawks getting
touchdowns DeMarcus Lawrence. If it was hockey, we'd say the
goal scored by DeMarcus Lawrence the Assiscos to Tyrese Knight, Hugh,
How similar?

Speaker 3 (32:21):
How different? What happened on those two plays. Well, I
think that they're different. I think they're you know, a
lot different, but I certainly see the similarities. I think
from a quarterback perspective. On the first one, there was
a big overload to Brissette's left where you had d Law,

(32:43):
Emon Worry, and Kobe Bryant all on the line of
scrimmage but outside of the left tackle. So there was
an overload to Brissette's side. Now you had the running
back coming to the left side, so you could handle
that provided that Tyreese Knight doesn't do what's called a

(33:04):
green dog or a key dog, which means that if
the running back steps up to block Emon Worry like
he did, Tyree Knight is he's watching and say, well,
I got you.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
If you're gonna.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
If you're going to release into the pattern, but if
you block, I'm going to accelerate to the quarterback.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
And so that's what he did.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
And and you know the Cardinals as proof of how
bad they were confused on this, to uh Brissett's right
a chenna nuosu, he dropped off into the flat from
his defensive end position, and so the there's a there's
a picture there where you got the right guard and
the right tackle on the right side of the cardinal

(33:45):
offensive line blocking Leonard Williams. And they had had an
extra lineman in this beach him guy, the backup left
tackle number sixty eight. He had been in the backfield,
and he's coming over on that side as well to
block an overload from the right side. That never happened.
All the overload was to the offense's left side. Uh

(34:07):
uh And and yet Seattle busted the coverage. I'm I'm
absolutely certain that the Drake Thomas should have been in
the middle of the field covering Trey McBride. Mc bride
is wide open. But Seattle was so effective in their
blitz and their confusion and the blitz that they were
able to get the hand on and force the fumble

(34:28):
and what have you. That the next one was was
more of a standard. That was a seven man up front.

Speaker 7 (34:34):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
To Brissett's left, there are four. To his right there
are three. They drop off two from his left left
and then bring a third. And and uh they were
they set up Night was coming. He blocks the offensive
guard on his inside shoulder to set up the the twist.
In essence, he's giving up his his body so that

(34:58):
that uh Arcus Lawrence can loop around on the stunt
on the inside. But once he slammed the guard, there
was nobody there. That inside gap was a free access.
So he goes up and and and credit Night. I
will say this, credit Night to have the exact timing
of where to put his hand to put his hand

(35:18):
on the football, right they were breaking it down into frame.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
He got it just in time.

Speaker 3 (35:24):
So I give Night a lot of credit for his
kind of football awareness.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
D Law Love d Law.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
That is a Seattle Seaawk. Very hard for me to
give a hell of a lot of credit to him.
It's going to go down in the books that he
had two touchdowns, and I'm sure it's gonna raise his
grade by somebody. But I think that's just the luck
of the of how the ball bounced, because because he
didn't do it, he didn't do anything of consequence other
than not blow the fumble recovery right, right.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
Yeah, scoop and score better go right, you got a
scoop and score, don't jump on it.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
Yeah, So I guess I should give him a little
bit of credit, but I think I think number one
credit goes to Mike McDonald. Yes, absolutely, and then the presence,
as I said, the timing by night is absolutely that.
That's that's playmaking football by NFL standards. He did it,
and see how benefited obviously. Okay, I got two minutes, Shre.
I gotta ask you this question. I brought it up earlier.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
This is a team. I don't know if it's the
same as as baseball, but we talked about we use
a baseball analogy when you talk about the coverage all
the time with the infield and our fingers and all that.
So we go three ye right, yep. So let me
in baseball, if you lose the middle of your infield, catcher, shortstop, slash,
second basement one or the other, and a center fielder,

(36:37):
you're probably in trouble. Seattle was missing a defensive tackle
in Jared Reed, their middle linebacker, and Nurst Jones and
their safety and Julian Love and yet their their defense
is playing at this level right now. Is that just
speak to Mike McDonald.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
It does.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
And I would say, if there's this kind of like
you gotta be strung up the middle, my reply would be, well,
wait a minute, aren't aren't the the pivotal players on
a defense The defense, the edge rushers and the cornerbacks
like Al Davis would say, no, it's not being strung
up the middle, it's being strong on the perimeter. So
I I just think he got eleven players. They all

(37:15):
have to be good and and and you really can't
have lousy players. But to your point closing it out,
I have just blown away at Tyo Cotta's development in
just watching him play for a month. You know, he's
just he's firing his gun, his his presence of where
to be. You know, he's he's playing with confidence and awareness.

(37:38):
He seems to be playing with a high IQ level.
And Drake Thomas, uh, you know his you know, just
an underachieving guy. But here here's what Drake Thomas has
given you excuse me, overachieving, overachieving for his physical traits
you know, small right, uh you know, not not real
tall for sure, not real heavy, but overachieving. Let me
emphasize that point. I misspoke.

Speaker 8 (38:00):
But you know, for a.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
Linebacker, it's your vision is a lot like a running back.
Like a running back has to find daylight.

Speaker 6 (38:06):
Right.

Speaker 3 (38:07):
Well, so many times when you're watching Drake Thomas, the
plays he's been making.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
How about that third and one on the on the
counter play.

Speaker 3 (38:13):
Where he like just like he is his vision and
scene where the holes are it really mirrors in many
ways of running back and so he's finding the holes
to sift through to go get the running back and
so so yes, I would say, Mike McDonald.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
You know what a firm believer I am on him
in every aspect.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
He's got a vision about how NFL defense should look,
and the bar is very high. He knows how to
teach it, he knows how to adjust to it. And
I mean, it's damn fun. It is really fun to
watch these guys and and it's a hard defense to
prepare for. And you know this, this Sunday makes for
one of the most exciting Regular Seasons games we've seen

(38:57):
in many years. By my book, it's to be awesome.
It is going to be absolutely awesome as well.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
You're the best. Thank you, my friend, Thank you so much.
I can't be the best when you're the best. Sap it.
That was a fun trip down memory. Yeah, I was,
thanks for letting me. I'm glad we got to do that.
That's the first thing I thought of yesterday. You know,
we're a lot of different guests. We could go down.
I said, you know what, I want to talk to
a guy that's kind of in my same generation that
probably let me means the same thing to him as

(39:23):
to me much younger than you. Don't be selling that fiction.
First of all, that's not true. But okay, I'll tell
you this. I was in high school watching humil and
play in college. So I'm just you guys do the math.
You guys do the math. I asked for that, the
math man. All right, but I'll talk to you soon.

(39:45):
Take care see it. Thanks you email and we'll take
a break. Come back. Mike Sando Joints just coming up next.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
No from the Star Rentals Sports to us your ninety
three point three k j R f M sports.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
Headlines headlines right to my frostbrew course like choose Chill.
NBA and Sonics legend Lenny Wilkens passing away the weekend
over the weekend at the age of eighty eight. Of course,
he's got a statue outside of Climate Plagerina, which they
unveiled this past June to pay tribute to him. So
lucky he got to see that before passing away. Yesterday,
of course, led the Sonics to a championship in nineteen
seventy nine, inducted to the n Aate Smith Basketball Hall

(40:18):
of Fame as both a player and as a coach.
Seahawks continue to roll another dominating victory forty four to
twenty two in a game that frankly wasn't that close
for the Cardinals yesterday. They are now seven to two
on the season. They have a little game coming up
this weekend against the other team in the NFC West
at seven to two against the Rams of LA for
first place. Rams winners over San Francisco yesterday. In the NFL,

(40:41):
Kraken lost yesterday to the Stars of Dallas two to
one in the second half of a back to back.
That's sixteen straight losses in the back half of a
back to back for the Kraken. Next up, they host
Columbus tomorrow, seven o'clock drop of the buck, six to
thirty pre game right here in your home for the
crack in ninety three point three kJ RFM. You have
got a rough COVID. On the weekend, they lost to
Wisconsin thirteen to ten, fell out of the top twenty five.

(41:02):
Sounder season ended with a loss in Game three the
first round of the MLS playoffs. They lost to Minnesota
in a PK shootout. Giants have fired head coach Brian
Daball today as well. I mentioned earlier Lenny Wilkins passing.
If you want to chime in your thoughts, your memories
of Lenny Wilkins, maybe what he meant to you, go
to our talkback. All you have to do is go
to the iHeartRadio app red microphone and give us your

(41:22):
thoughts in thirty seconds or less. The iHeart Radio app
ninety three point three KJFM part of the iHeartRadio App.
It's free, of course, you should have already downloaded it.
Speaking of the red microphone and tell us your thoughts
on Lenny Wilkins. Will also take your text four nine
four five one factor fiction coming up at two thirty five.
But right now it's time for Mike Sando.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
It's time for our Monday visit with Mike Sando of
the Athletic, brought to you by Hunt Services for HVAC, plumbing,
sewer and electrical needs. Get on the horn and call
Hunts or visit Huntservices dot com. Now with Mike Sando.
Here's the Infernetes.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
Mike Sandal joining us from the Athletic to pick six.
Call him is up there, Sandals pick six at the Athletic,
the Athletic dot com. You go check that out right now.
Great read, especially because he spends a lot of time
talking about the NFC, which we'll get to you in
just a couple of seconds. Hi, Mike, how are you great?
How are you? I'm good. I'm good. Ready for a
good money night game. We'll get quick fun on out
and mentioned that in our headlines. I should we have
the game for you here on ninety three point three
k TERR FM starting at five o'clock tonight. Packers and Eagles.

(42:27):
That's a pretty good NFC tilt, isn't it. It really is.

Speaker 8 (42:30):
You know, you got the Packers coming up or the Eagles.
You know should be rested for this. But the Packers
are you know, a team that's had a couple losses.
I think their fan base is a little nervous. You know,
they've lost at home to Carolina, they lost to Cleveland,
gave up forty points tide Dallas. I think they were
a team that, you know, probably was a favorite to
maybe get to the super Bowl, and now we're I mean,

(42:53):
we're not so sure, you know, all of these heather
teams have surged and they haven't.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
Yeah, we'll get we'll get back to them. We talk
to the NFC as a whole. In just a second
thought from you, Brian Daboll fired today by the Giants.
They're sitting at two and eight. Not that long ago
they were a playoff team. It feels like they may
have found, if he can stay healthy, their quarterback in
the future in Jackson Dart. But he's let go. Mike
Kafka takes over, who was a guy that, if I'm
not mistaken, was kind of a trending head coach in

(43:19):
waiting guy a couple three years ago. But he's still
in New York. So what's Mike sandals thoughts on what's
going on inside the Giants room?

Speaker 8 (43:27):
Well, I do believe that. I think they've they've blown
four double digit leads this year and lost. Sometimes it's
losing is one thing, but how you lose when you're
up nineteen to nothing in the fourth quarter and give
up thirty three points to Denver and then you know,
yesterday they had another one where they were how did
you lose this game? I think those take a toll.

(43:47):
And then Brian Daball's personality is obviously intense, so that
combination probably didn't help. I think Mike Kofka is not
like that at all. So Kofka has interviewed for coaching
jobs with the Seahawks, with the Saints, with other teams,
and uh, you know has impressed some people with that

(44:08):
and intrigued some people. Obviously people weren't ready to just
make him the head coach right then, but he he's
been on people's radar. So I think it's a really
good opportunity for them if they feel like they have
the quarterback in Jackson Dart if he's going to be
you know healthy soon he has a concussion. But what
does this pairing look like?

Speaker 2 (44:26):
Right?

Speaker 8 (44:27):
And could Mike Kafka be the head coach, especially if
you're planning to kind of not blow the whole thing up,
depending what they're gonna do with the GM at the
end of the season. You know, just Coffie gets some
different results. Is it a better vibe in the building.
Because Daballs had issues with staff and Wink Martindale back
and forth and that sort of a thing. This from
an intensity and personality situation, whereas Kafka has been a

(44:51):
quarterback of a team, and he you know, he's a
little bit of a different, different temperament.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
I was gonna ask you, So it does sound like it,
And maybe the reason they make the move is kind
of an audition, so to speak, for the final seven
games of the year.

Speaker 8 (45:04):
Well, yes, once, that's not the only reason. I mean,
the reason is they're losing and Brian Dabo has too
many losses, right. But I do think you when you're
going to make that decision, you do have to ask yourself, Okay,
is there an alternative that we want to look at?
I think in this case there is. I think Kafka
would be somebody that not only do they want to
look at, but the league gets to look at him too.

(45:27):
He'll do people will get to see his postgame press conference,
so they'll get to see his sideline demeanor. They'll get
to see what Jackson Dart looks like, you know, with him,
and those types of things are valuable when you're trying
to project how somebody might do in the role.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
It is Mike Sando joining us here. Pick six column
is up right now. Seahawks an impressive win over the
weekend over the Arizona Cardinals, impressive in the sense that
he's pretty much dominated to start to finish. Arizona obviously
having its issues, also impresses what the what the Rams
did along the way as well.

Speaker 3 (46:00):
Well.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
You posted the graphic today NFC teams odds to reach
the Super Bowl per the playoff simulator, the Rams at
the top of the list, followed by the Eagles and
the Seahawks. Right now, Rams the biggest change, right plus
sixteen percent from the preseason, Seattle number two at plus
eleven percent. So let's start with the Seahawks and what

(46:21):
they're doing with Mike McDonald, because I know that they're
in that building and you're over that building every now
and then, like I am. They're probably not surprised by
the results right now, but I think a lot of
other people around the league, and maybe list some of
the executives that you talked to, or are they surprised
by what Seattle's doing?

Speaker 8 (46:37):
Yeah, I would say that Seattle is better than most
people in the league thought. There were people who liked
their roster, but I think you needed to see what
they had at the quarterback position, how that would fit,
and that's been spectacular. I don't know that anybody could
have thought it would be this good with I mean
Sam Donold's every nine point nine yards capacity, that's just

(46:57):
not done, you know, over a season. So that's better
than anybody thought it would be, maybe even better than
Seattle thought it would be. So what strikes me about
the team is they play with an aggression on defense.
They are bought in, They are really playing physically. So

(47:21):
that is super encouraging for just the health of the program,
you know, And it's not like they just have one
or two stars who are you know, the key to
the whole thing. It's a lot of different people. They
have a lot of different guys, waves of people up
front that make plays and all sort of play with

(47:44):
that tenacity. So that's a very positive reflection of the
head coach to me.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
The other team they're going to see this week, the Rams,
also seven to two in the NFC West. You wrote
about this. Matts Stafford has hit RAMS career high, RAMS
era career high for EPA P pass play air yards
per past attempt at the age what is he? He's
thirty eight, right, is he? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (48:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (48:06):
What's going on with him? I mean he's playing his bet.
You can make that argument some of his best footballs played.

Speaker 8 (48:11):
The reason why they have had their Super Bowl odds
improved the most is because everyone thought he was done
in training camp back injuries, not practicing age. Remember even
you know, it wasn't that long ago they let him
like look at other teams, you know, it sort of
felt like it's been winding down for him with the RAMS,
and so for him to come out after the back

(48:31):
injury and just now be totally fine and playing the
whole season and looking like he's thirty two probably is
not what the expectation was. So it's really why I
think their whole team, you know, has probably responded to that.
Right when you know you've got a chance every week
and you know you've got one of the best quarterbacks,
you're gonna get the most out of your whole roster.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
We know what Pukiniku is all about. What is DeVante
Adams meant to them?

Speaker 8 (48:57):
It's very interesting in one of the quotes in the
story will resonate with Seahawks fans when you talk about
adding a veteran receiver, right, the thing that's always most
valued by the quarterbacks, even sometimes beyond how fast they
are or anything like that, is do I know where
they're going to be when you're trying to assimilate in
Think about how long it can take for a coach

(49:18):
or a quarterback and a receiver to get on the
same page. So when you have a veteran quarterback like
Matthew Stafford, you plug into DeVante Adams. He is the
type of guy who's going to be where he's supposed
to be, and so there's confidence and trust right away.
Look at Aaron Rodgers in Pittsburgh and how that's not
the case with DK Metcalf. DK Metcalf's sometimes makes a
great play, sometimes he doesn't turn around. Sometimes he slows

(49:40):
up his route because he's not sure it's coming there.
And you can tell that even though Rogers is at
fault sometimes too with it being so finicky, he doesn't
know where Metcalf's going to be all the time, so
it's harder to have that automatic reppoor in crunch time situations.
Devanta Adams very good along the boundary, along the back
of the end zone, getting his feet down on all
of those types of things. He's an expert at those

(50:03):
little details of the game. So it meshes very well
with some of like Stafford, who knows exactly what he's doing.

Speaker 2 (50:09):
Mike Sando joining us from the athletic All right, we
touched it on, but let's go back to it. Eagles
and Packers tonight. Sam Darnold has made a big difference
for Seattle. Matt Stafford, you just articulated exactly what he's
doing for the Rams right now. I know you talked
to at least in one executive. Maybe not the same
confidence in a Jalen Hurts as you have for say

(50:29):
even a Jared Goff or a Sam Donald and Matt Stafford.
I don't know where Jordan Love fits into that mix,
because as I'm looking at all these top teams and
you got Baker Mayfield with the Buccaneers as well, very
quarterback driven league. Is there concern with guys you talk
around the league about Jalen Hurts Right now, I'm.

Speaker 8 (50:46):
A super WEW MVP, So you say, hey, what's he
lacking that the other guys aren't lacking? And I think
when they have their whole system going, with their offensive line,
running back all of that, he's an integral part of
a very productive offense. What people recognize, though, is when
you do get if you do get into a situation
where you've got to got to throw the ball, not
get to throw the ball, but you have to throw it.

(51:09):
That's not his strong suit as much as it is
some of those other guys. Some of those other guys
are better, more consistent passers than he is. And that's
taking nothing away from Jalen Hurts, because he's proved himself
as a guy who wasn't he was expected to not
even be good enough to be a starter at one point.
He's certainly that. And he throws the ball well enough,
but I don't think you want him throwing it as frequently,

(51:31):
you know, as comfortable with him throwing it as frequently
as you are some of those otter guys. And so
that's why there's that feeling in the league. Now you
put him with Saquon Barkley in a great offensive line
and all of that, it can still be a great
situation for them.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
Yeah, I'm just as I look through here these just
that chart you put up, Rams, Eagle, Seahawks, Packers, Lions, Buccaneers,
I'm going to take the forty nine ers out of
it just because I don't think I think with the
injuries they had, they're not a true super Bowl content anymore.
So one two, three, four, one two, three, four five.
Is it safe to say there's six teams in the

(52:06):
NFC that could probably win it?

Speaker 8 (52:09):
I mean it's probably five and a half, yeah, because
I don't know if I think Tampa's almost in that
same boat with the injuries. Yeah, they have four wins
by total of nine points. Yeah, the Mike Evans injury
hurts them, right, That's that's a tough one. Mike Evans
is out, you know, and then they've had a multiple
offensive linemen out, running back out. Defense really gave up
some huge place in New England yesterday. So yeah, I

(52:32):
mean I think they're good, but I don't I think
that they maybe have faded a little bit.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
Other side of the ball. You wrote about New about
Buffalo just kind of almost a malaise, and they're they're
you know, they're eight and two Buffalo or their six
and three. Rather New England is eight and two leading
the AFC East, which Buffalo has just kind of run
roughshot over for the last however many years kind of
cruising along. Is Buffalo in trouble? Are there legitimate concerns

(52:59):
about Buffalo or are they going to be like Kansas
City and hit a switch at some point.

Speaker 8 (53:04):
I think there's legitimate concerns because I don't think their
defense is as talented as maybe it's been other times.
I think it's well coached and well coordinated. But you know,
then look at the wide receiver position I think is okay,
but not anything special. So I think in the AFC
this year, maybe this is why the Colts made a
big trade. You respect Buffalo and they can turn it

(53:25):
on and they can be good, and you don't want
to play them, but no one, you're not necessarily seeing
anybody there that you're it is so consistently that right,
there's question marks. You just asked a question about Buffalo,
which maybe we wouldn't have been asking last year. We
don't only been asking can they get past Kansas City
in the championship game? Well? Is Kansas City going to
be in the championship game this year?

Speaker 2 (53:45):
Right? Yeah?

Speaker 8 (53:46):
I think it's you know, I think Buffalo's got as
good a chance as there's a lot of those teams
in the FC, but not as they're not as reliable
as they've been.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
I want to throw a curveball at you if I
can to end things off and I'm just not curveball,
but just I'm looking for clarification because for be able
to know Mike's involved with the Hall of Fame process
as well. Six nine head coaches, nine semifinalists this year
in the coach category, Bill Belichick, Tom Cofflin, Mike Hongrim,
Chuck Knox, Buddy Parker, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer, George Seffert,

(54:19):
and Mike Shanahan. That list was released the other day.
We've gone around around, We've talked about it. You know
how we all feel about Mike. We see Bill Belichick's
name on a list, and it seems like that's absolutely
a no brainer, probably year one, but who knows. I mean,
you guys have to go through the process. Is my
question is is it still just one? And would there
ever be a push to have more than one? And
I'm not even asking for Mike, because the Dan Reeves

(54:42):
argument is a really strong one, right, I mean, all
those guys are strong arguments. Marty Schottenheimer's one. You could
make a strong argument for Mike Shanahan, for sure. They
all feel Hall of Fame worthy. The Pro Football Hall
of Fame, to me, is the hardest one to get
into Mike. It just is It's like it feels like
the Nay Smith, all due respect to Lenny and everybody else,
Nate Smith. It feels like if you're an All Star
a few times, you're in the damn Hall of Fame.

(55:04):
Pro football is really hard, baseball kind of hard, but
with the coach part of it. Have you guys ever
had discussions about more than one coach going in per year?

Speaker 8 (55:13):
Not really, but they do change those things every once
in a while. I think the move has been towards
more exclusivity. They've made it harder for the coaches to
get in. Just last year, so you know, this year,
I would be I don't want to speak out of turn,
but I mean Bill Belichick's up. I mean, you would
think Bill Belichick would just go right into the Hall
of Fame, right, He's number two in the wins and yes,

(55:35):
you know, and he's you know, got six Super Bowls
and you know, a great defensive coach and all of that,
so you know, he probably has the best resume, and
I would you know, I would think that there will
be his year this year and then come back the
next year and you know, home we're gonna probably be
kind of where he was this last time. I would
think he was at the top before Bill got there.

(55:55):
But you know, Bill Belichick is.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
One of one Bill Belich. I mean, yeah, let's let's
take Carolina out of the mix, for North Carolina out
of the mix for a second. Is what he's done
in terms of winning Super Bowls. Tom brady aside doesn't matter.
I mean, it's it's unparalleled and obviously in pro football history.
I just I think if I'm a Denver, I'm like, well,
what about our guys, Shanahan, what about our Yeah? Right,
I mean it's I love Chuck Knox. I don't think

(56:18):
Chuck is in that same category with those guys, obviously
with the Super not having Super Bowl win. But but yeah, Mike,
I mean that that's a really impressive list of guys
that are going to be up every single year moving ahead.
That's why I ask if there would ever be a
push for more.

Speaker 8 (56:30):
That's okay though, That's okay with me because to me,
I would have rather had the exclusivity even before. I
felt like, you know, they've changed the standards enough that
there's a couple of coaches that got in that wouldn't
get in. Now you know, and so that's the hard part.
Is like homegruns having to wait when a couple other
guys went right in, Uh, you know, Dick for Meal
or whoever went in Dick. If Dick for Meal is

(56:52):
not in right now, you know, is he getting in?
Nothing against Dick for Meal. I have all the respect
in the world for him, but is he is his
resume better than Holme grins? Right? You see what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
Yeah, no, exactly hard.

Speaker 8 (57:04):
It's a hire. It's like they raised the bar after
some of these guys got in.

Speaker 2 (57:07):
Yeah, it's I mean, you guys have a tough job.
There's absolutely no doubt about that. But we'll see what happens.
But yeah, we'll probably have to wait another year for
Mike to be a finalist because the Super Bowl rings
that the Bill Belichick has filling up his hands does
not lie. That is that does not lie at all.
All Right, Mike, great stuff. Go check out his pick
six column if you're an NFL fan. It's a must
read every Monday morning at The Athletic Theathletic dot Com.

(57:29):
Thank you, sir, Thank you. There you go. That's Mike
Sando joining us. He'll also be on later on this
week with our morning show as well, talking all things
and flu again, you can fire off if you want
to do a talkback. Gives a talkback, go to the
iHeartRadio app, little red microphone and fire away. We're talking.
And what I mentioned for that earlier is the Leady
Wilkins stuff. If you have a memory, and I don't

(57:50):
know anders I even just touched on it. You're a
lot younger, different generation. You heard the name Lenny Wilkins.
Is passing? What went through your mind?

Speaker 3 (57:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (57:59):
Well it's It's funny because right before Hugh came on,
it was He's like, you probably don't remember anything about
Lenny Wilkins, And I'm like, not me personally, but my grandfather,
who I've mentioned a couple of times on this show,
has been lucky enough to have a lot of really
interesting relationships, and I think he had a couple really
cool interactions with Lenny Wilkins, has nothing but great things

(58:20):
to say about him. So I have a little bit
more of a personal connection through my grandfather. Of course,
who you know, played at the same golf course as
he did for a long time, and they've they, like
I said, he would know who he was, so It's
pretty cool that they have that. But yeah, it's it's
something that I'd never had a personal experience with, but
I can see from the reaction of everyone, whether it's you,

(58:43):
whether it's Hugh, whether it's Jess, kind of all people
that had any sort of relationship, even through something else,
whether it was just watching his games on TV or
something like that. I love what you said about no
one has anything bad to say about him, and just
everything that I've seen and heard from about who he
is as a person, I think is the biggest thing

(59:04):
that we're going to miss from him.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
Just an iconic figure in Seattle sports. And just the
fact that he was here after his playing and his
other coaching. You know, he coached after Seattle obviously, but
once it was all said and done, is his he
was still a Seattle guy through and through, even though
he wasn't from here originally. Is pretty awesome to see. Yeah,
it's condolence is obviously the Lenny Wilkins and his family

(59:27):
along the way, And yeah, I remember just all my
other quick story. His son was really a soccer player,
by the way, Randy really soccer player, played for Lakeside
and remember playing against him, I remember the coolest thing
ever seen Lenny Wilkins there watching a game, like, oh
my god, he's here. Game screw up so let his
kids score. I don't know, no, it was. It was awesome.

(59:51):
He was a treasure. He was our treasure. And may
he rest in peace. We'll come back check the text line,
maybe get a talk back or two, and then a
little Factor fiction next.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
From the R and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast studio. Now
back to He and Fernez powered by Seapple's closest sports book,
Snow Call Me Casino and Hotel on Sports Radio ninety
three point three kJ R FM.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
No Factor Fiction coming up in five minutes time. In
the meantime, read a couple of texts.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
Here along the way.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
My last favorite, Lenny Wilke's memories. When you guys got
him on KJR, he and Jess would get to talking
and they would both slip back into national East Coast access.
Lenny never lost that accent. Let me always not. Yeah,
Jess will slip back into it every now and then.
Fucking yeah.

Speaker 9 (01:00:40):
I think that was when he was here in studio
with Craig Bell, right, yes, I believe so, yep, yep.
Earlier this summer.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Yep, all right, let me get to the ones earlier. Hey,
fellas great Lenny stuff. I could add him eighty one,
but you're the best. That's from Larry, Larry uh Downtown
Freddie Boum before the three point line, Yeah, I was.
If you look at Fred Brown's career numbers, like in

(01:01:06):
the final series that they won, he averaged nine points
a game. If there would have been a three point line,
I'm guessing I'd be like fifteen. Well, I mean almost
all his shots for the outs. Okay, so I'm gonna guess, yeah,
closer to maybe twentieth. Yeah, yeah, yeah, guess same way.
I gut shot from I mean as well. But yeah,
that's that's for sure. Like you Ian, I took the

(01:01:30):
bus to the parade from North Seattle. That's from the
two six.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Yeah, man, that's that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
Lenny Wilkins meant to me basketball. I had the record
the Sonic Boom, listened to it and played the highlights
out in my bedroom from five to ten years old.
Lenny was a player, coach, was the leader of the
Sonics organization. Bob Blackburn was the voice and Lenny was
the leader. Yeah. You know when they when Lenny was
coaching here. Very few games were on TV and are
for many of us, are window to the Sonics for

(01:01:58):
most games was Bob Black on the radio, right, and
then you know the odd TV game you'd see or
you'd see the highlights. Back when you know, we would
have sports on the new local news at eleven o'clock. Yeah,
I know, it's crazy, crazy talk and they'd show like highlights.
That's that was kind of our window to the world.
But yeah, that was that was it. Keith Miller. I'm

(01:02:20):
doing one more Hobegger hop for Lenny. Rest in peace.
Lenny the Legenie made a two h six a better
place to live. We'll keep up the good fight to
bring back our Sonics.

Speaker 9 (01:02:28):
Yeah, that's the one sad part I think, and you
guys alluded to it when you were talking with you,
but the fact that he didn't get to see them
come back sucks.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
Yeah, And I just I I'm so glad. And I'm
guessing that was a that was a lie Wiki and
CPA world thing. I'm sure there's a politician or two
taking credit for it, but knowing how they work with things,
that seems very todd.

Speaker 9 (01:02:53):
L Wiki liked little bit of an expedited process to
get that and get that statue, you know, and I'm
a big fan. I don't think you could have enough statues.

Speaker 4 (01:03:02):
I think it's great.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
It's awesome, right and mobile, Yeah, you know, but CPA
should have more. Lenny should have been the first, and
he was. Sue absolutely, Sue goes up there. But I
think there's other sonics we could put. I think George
could have one.

Speaker 9 (01:03:20):
I think, you know, I think, you know, get a
Peyton Kemp one together. Yeah, I kind of like that.
That's actually a good idea.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
I don't I think you could certainly put like put
some Look, we have great artists and sculptures out there.
I think something with the seventy nine sonics besides Lenny
should be out there. I don't know what it would be.
Maybe it's just a statue of the Larry O'Brien troph,
I don't know, but something with the plaque with them on. Yeah,
you know, there should be something there because that was

(01:03:49):
a title and the first title. Yeah, the first title,
and I think you know, having something you know with
Jack and Freddie, I mean that's starting five, and you
had of Paul Silas and Wally Walker and all those
guys in there. I mean, that's there could be something done.
And listen, knowing how some of those guys operate, I'm
sure those discussions have taken place. I mean they're already
doing so much of getting that stadium redone and all
those things. But yeah, I'm glad that there was that

(01:04:11):
statue and Lenny Wilkins's way, and he was there every time.
I hear Foresland say that you know he's coming right
down and all that. So let's see. Thank you, Hugh
Millan for paying the picture of downtown Fredy Brown. I'm
sixty years old. I can really remember fred taking that
screen and shooting with his shoulder forward and making his
three yes Lake Louise elementary shooting that long shot. I

(01:04:32):
wasn't at Lake Louise. I was at Fatima. But yeah,
and I was not a shooter or lea Fatima. I
was not a shooter by any means, not even close.

Speaker 9 (01:04:41):
Two five three guys Sikma's jump shot where he double
pumped with no chance of ever getting blocked. I imitated
that show.

Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
He held it above his head, right, you ever watch
it like hold it above his head and do that
along the way so yeah, I think the you know,
the end result listened a lot of good texts today.
Lenny Wilkins meant so much to so many of us
my age. But then the legacy of what he created
still is there. And I think the coolest thing is
is that there's a statue there. There's a banner that

(01:05:10):
needs I wish the banner was hanging, to be honest
with you, in Climate Pledge. Yeah, I know, I know
they're waiting. I get that. I don't know. I'd like
to see it hanging in there. I think we should
have that seventy nine banner.

Speaker 9 (01:05:20):
It's going to beat the Home of the Sonics, but
I'd like to I'd like him now, put it up now, right,
put it up now, put it up now. But we
don't win a championship without Lenny Wilkins coming in his numbers.
By the way, that year, I think I go back
and find this his numbers. He was talking about it
and we kind of got distracted and we lost him
for a second.

Speaker 4 (01:05:38):
You got to scratch him with you.

Speaker 2 (01:05:40):
Well, sometimes that happens. I just want to go back.
I think he was was it forty two and seventeen?
I do believe, Yeah, something like that after he took
over for for Bob Hopkins. That's crazy, like he came
in and just flipped the switch on that team. I
mean just boom. Oh now we're in the NBA Final.

(01:06:00):
That's cool. Yeah, oh, that's all right.

Speaker 4 (01:06:01):
Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
It's why he's in the Hall of Fame as a
coach and as a player. Let's get to it. Factor Fiction.

Speaker 5 (01:06:06):
Where's that to go?

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
Glad you're with us, it's your shot at our weekly
thousand bucks and the ten thousand dollars grand prize. It's
Factor Fiction, probably presented by Lucky Eagle Casino and Hotel
where every Day Feels Lucky. Factor Fiction is on Sports
Radio ninety three point three KJR FM. Factor Fiction brought

(01:06:29):
to you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:29):
By the Lucky Egl Casino and Resort, Every Day Feels Lucky.
They're going twenty four every Friday and Saturday. Twenty four
hour gaming started last Friday at Lucky Eagle dot com.
Three and two week for this show. Ladies and Gentlemen
three and two week for this show.

Speaker 9 (01:06:43):
The only show that had a winning week last everyone
else was a loser.

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
Let's go the bookend shows Morning Drive Afternoon Drive both
one and four NICs. Oh you hate to see it,
you really do. Fain and Chuck the only ones getting wins.
MJ was O and three last week, Seek kid two
O six see kid two O six two and oh
last week.

Speaker 9 (01:07:07):
Yeah he's climbing his way back into a little bit.

Speaker 4 (01:07:09):
Yeah he's a scrapper.

Speaker 2 (01:07:10):
After start, he's a scrapper. I was one and two.
You guys were both one and oh well, oh now listen,
I might have rooted to be wrong in one of them.

Speaker 5 (01:07:19):
Hedge.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
Yeah, minus eleven and a half. That was a loss.
I'd gladly take that one all day. They're gonna do
it again this week.

Speaker 9 (01:07:26):
I guarantee it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:27):
Broncos minus nine and a half versus the Raiders in
the worst Monday night game of the year. My apologies
for anybody to watch that game. God easily cleared the
bar with Oregon, Iowa and the snow h This is
the final four weeks of Factor fiction. By the way,
final four weeks coming up of Factor fiction. I'm going
a college game and this is even a hedge. Even

(01:07:50):
though he yelled at me during the draft a couple
of years ago. Uh yukon coming off an upset win
over the blue levels of Duke, who still have an
outside shot to win the ACC, the absolute gong Show
disaster that is the Atlantic Coast Conference. They still only
have one loss in the ACC. They're five and four overall, Duke.

(01:08:12):
You know why because Yukon beat him last week. Yukon
playing host to air Force this week, favored by seven.
Jim Mora is gonna get the dirt bags going. I say,
Yukon minus seven facts, go Huskies. That's what I'm saying
right now. Four nine four five.

Speaker 4 (01:08:27):
Okay Huskies.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
Yukon Husky's fact minus seven against air Force fact four
nine four to five one if you disagree, fiction four
nine four four. He's got them seven and three, seven
and three, dirt bag Jim Moore has got him.

Speaker 4 (01:08:40):
Going right, Yes, Psycho, but he's a decent coach.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
That is an incredible coaching job for an independent school
that only cares about basketball and soccer. That's all they
care about there, and men's and women's basketball and soccer
is number four on the list. Football is like way
down there somewhere, so good for them. Good for Jim
Mora seven and three, coming off a big, big win
over Duke. I'm going again with my guy, my guy,

(01:09:07):
Jim by the way, air Force two and four, three
and six overall. Yeah, more is gonna slam those guys.
Fact four nine four to five one minus seven a
Yukon fact four four five one if you discrete fiction fourne.

Speaker 9 (01:09:18):
Four Quick clarification, is Yukon home in this game? Yes
they are so, it's not at air Force, I believe so. Yes,
yes they're home, Yes they're Yes, they're playing in minus
seven minus seven.

Speaker 2 (01:09:29):
Yeah. I like on minus seven. I like it against
a three and six air Force team. Come on, come on,
what are we doing here?

Speaker 6 (01:09:36):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:09:36):
Yeah? I agree, let's go. Jim Moore the next coach
of the Washington Huskies. He's gonna go Huskies to Huskies when.

Speaker 4 (01:09:41):
Jed Fish leaves right well, he can't say that out
loud anymore. That's how he loses jobs.

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
That's true. That is true. Hello Atlanta Falcons, Serry. Yeah,
I'm I'm on team Mora. So Jim, if you're listening,
I'm I'm telling you I'm rooting for you this week.
Let's got me text.

Speaker 4 (01:10:03):
Him, No, I'll get him on the phone.

Speaker 2 (01:10:05):
We cleared things that. We cleared things up after an
uncomfortable you're fine. We were fine after a while.

Speaker 4 (01:10:10):
He just needed to give you the business.

Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
Well, he tried to blame me for getting fired, like,
I know, that was ridiculous. How do I have any
juice at all?

Speaker 4 (01:10:19):
He fired himself, you know what.

Speaker 2 (01:10:20):
The dumb thing about that, the dumbest thing about that
is I was critical of him getting fired on the
air to the point where Todd by Wiki was a
president of the Sex and he pulled me aside at
the news conference and said, look, Furnace, you know what
I'm doing. You saw this, You saw it, you were there.
That is such a Todd life.

Speaker 4 (01:10:38):
Did he call you furnace, Yes, he still does. That's
what my phone calls here.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
He calls me Furnace. You were there, you saw I
don't know. Yeah, Todd, I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 (01:10:50):
Is difficult though.

Speaker 7 (01:10:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:10:51):
Well, when Todd had to go to Paul g Allen
and say, we're gonna pay this guy like twenty million
dollars not to coach, yeah, i'd be hard. And oh,
by the way, we're gonna pay Pete Carroll like eight
million to come in from USC Yeah, that's a hard
one to do.

Speaker 4 (01:11:02):
Then we're going to pay seven million dollars to team.

Speaker 2 (01:11:07):
I deficited Jim and he and then he got mad
at me when they drafted Christian Haynes on draft nights.
And you know what, in Europe, you didn't even stand
up for me. I had to fight my own battle.

Speaker 4 (01:11:16):
You stood tall in the pocket.

Speaker 3 (01:11:18):
I was there.

Speaker 2 (01:11:18):
I did. I'm still tall in the pocket. I still
try pressure again, like you're blaming me. Were you getting fired?
What's more time with the pick in? I don't know
rooting for you, head coach Jim Moore than you cut
Huskies go Huskies minus seven fact over air force four
nine four to five one fiction If you disagree four
nine four five one the next coach of the other Huskies.

(01:11:41):
Oh okay, well I mean right now, I think tell
you right now, Jim Morris. Jim Moore didn't lose to
a team this year who's the opposing quarterbacks through twenty
four yards and that quarterbacks plural. Jim Mora didn't lose
to a team that had forty eight passing yards for
a game, twenty four coming from the punter. GM Moura
didn't do that. His Huskies wouldn't lose that game. Jed,

(01:12:03):
damn right, I'm a Jim more.

Speaker 4 (01:12:04):
Guy, can't wait for the next segment.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
Were about actually, were gonna talk about something else? We
gotta we got about all right? There you go, Factor
Fiction four nine four five, The Lucky Eagle Casino and
Hotel where every day feels lucky. I don't want to

(01:12:29):
waste everything you're doing it today with Lenny.

Speaker 5 (01:12:32):
Oh there's nothing oh that yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 (01:12:34):
I don't want to I don't want to do that,
but uh, I did want to get a quick thought
from you before you Yeah, just with you and I talking,
I mean, you know, we're we're old enough to remember
Lenny Wilkins coach and player. And I don't know player
as much. But how old were you? Seventy nine six six,
so you probably five and three quarters. I don't have
a lot of memory of the seventy nine team. My

(01:12:56):
memory is where sonic basketball started, probably in the early eighties,
like early early eighties, when the either King County or
Seattle PD used to hand out basketball cards.

Speaker 7 (01:13:08):
Oh really they did, Seahawks and Marion's officer friendly, Oh yeah,
they all had cards on him. That was back when
they gave kids candy and baseball cards and things like
that and changed your job was to behave yourself and
listen to mom and dad, which you did not work
at all. No, so that's a memory less hot Baker
lived across the street from us. The old assistant coach,

(01:13:30):
Bob Blackburn lived on Woodridge Hill, so we'd see him
running around all the time. But yeah, I mean Lenny
was a god. I mean he's one of the very
few guys in this town where you don't even need
to say his last name. You just say Lenny and
people know who you're talking about, right, I mean, that's it.
So very few people reached that status. And I remember
when Clay bought the basketball team. Were you there when

(01:13:52):
he came to the old three point fifty one Elliott
Avenue for the meeting. We had a meeting downstairs and
a boardroom, and Lay had enlisted Lenny Yep for a
pr kind of purpose to help him sell people on
the idea that he was going to build a new
arena in renting Yep, And he brought Lenny down here
with him, and I remember thinking when it was over,

(01:14:15):
and I remember thinking in the months after that that god,
man is is Lenny just being gullible.

Speaker 2 (01:14:20):
With this guy?

Speaker 6 (01:14:20):
No?

Speaker 7 (01:14:21):
He honestly wanted to believe anybody and everybody who wanted
to bring the Sonics back to town.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
Yeah right, at that point, I let him leave because
they're here.

Speaker 5 (01:14:30):
Yeah right, Yeah, you know he would just he would
just believe you.

Speaker 7 (01:14:34):
Well, no matter how gullible that guy that or how
you know, skeptical, you were pessimistic, you were, he was
all in and he would he was down there was
defending him.

Speaker 2 (01:14:43):
He was like, this is the guy, let's do it.

Speaker 7 (01:14:45):
Everybody was desperate, and I was desperate to get them back,
partially because the guys like him that we knew this
was possible.

Speaker 5 (01:14:52):
He was eighty eight years old. And now I'm getting
kind of irritated and.

Speaker 7 (01:14:55):
Kind of pissed off all over again, because this is
why we keep saying, Hey, don't give us this. They'll
be back. Don't give us It's only a matter of time.
Not everybody has forever, and Lenny was one of the
guys that did not have forever. And now the fact
that he's gone and he won't get to see them
return when they do return, this is why there's urgency here.

Speaker 2 (01:15:15):
Man. Well, no one's getting younger.

Speaker 5 (01:15:18):
No, And just like Mike and the Hall of fame, right,
I mean, come on, and it's it's.

Speaker 2 (01:15:22):
Going to be another year, two years for that. Yeah,
because this.

Speaker 7 (01:15:25):
Year my dad, your dad never saw a World Series.
How much would you guys have loved doing that together
as father and son?

Speaker 2 (01:15:31):
Are you kid?

Speaker 1 (01:15:32):
Maybe?

Speaker 2 (01:15:32):
I think, well, and you go back this we talk
about the Sonics for a second. This has been a
brutal year, Gus Slick and now Lenny And then you
look at that, you know what. I was talking to
Hugh earlier about it, and I was looking at the roster. Jack,
it's Fred, Jack and Wally. It's about it. That's it.

Speaker 5 (01:15:50):
That's about it.

Speaker 2 (01:15:52):
Dennis Autry pass away that I don't know that I
don't is the big name, big name. Those are the three.

Speaker 7 (01:15:58):
I mean, you know, for Tito passed away a couple
of years. That's right, yeah, he here forever. All those
guys man, So it's uh, yeah, we're not getting any younger, dude.
So this is the price you pay when you drag
your feet, right, It's the price you pay when you
let the politician say goodbye to something like this.

Speaker 5 (01:16:19):
You rely on them to get it back for you.

Speaker 2 (01:16:21):
You know.

Speaker 7 (01:16:21):
I think about Greg Nichols and that stupid ass comment
he made the day they left it. Well, if we
want the team back, the best thing we can do
is let him walk. And I'm like, freaking gullible idiot.
The Mayle chuckled up there.

Speaker 5 (01:16:32):
Yeah, God, remember Jean godd And I'm not even sure
if she's around it anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:16:36):
I think all I remember from that is I think
I was at that point.

Speaker 6 (01:16:38):
I was.

Speaker 2 (01:16:39):
I was down there at City Hall and I think
I was holding physically holding the least woodward back. I
thought she was gonna go out there, Well she saw
the greatest. The least story is when she saw Howard
a Costco and went after him. He was like selling books,
he was doing a book there, Like, well, I mean,
how tone deaf are you? I know right, I mean,
you're you're the dude that let this thing walk anything

(01:17:00):
walking into a Costco and asking for people to buy
your book and pay for your autograph? Are you?

Speaker 5 (01:17:04):
Are you that dense?

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
Apparently he was.

Speaker 5 (01:17:06):
He was unbelievable. So yeah, we're going to miss him tremendously.

Speaker 7 (01:17:09):
My last conversation with him that Dick and I had
on the air when he got the statue. The one
thing I remember about that is calling him up and
he says hello Lenny and softy.

Speaker 6 (01:17:20):
Oh.

Speaker 5 (01:17:24):
So we're going to actually replay.

Speaker 7 (01:17:26):
Portions of an interview that we did with him about
three years ago. You could kind of tell that he
was slipping a little bit when he was last on
the year with us. So we're going to go back
to a conversation we had with Lenny three years ago
and replay that at four twenty eight, Husky reactions, seahawk reaction,
and then Packer's eagles at five o'clock.

Speaker 2 (01:17:46):
What did he say again when you called him?

Speaker 3 (01:17:47):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:17:49):
How often you get that reaction? All the time? All right,
all the time for the mild mannered and marginally objectionable,
the inperness.

Speaker 5 (01:17:58):
This is paddle Day saying along everyone,

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