Furness Show 6-11: Bobby Casper and Tod Leiweke

The Mariners are sliding, Tod Leiweke is a gem of a sports executive and today is a special time for Ian's "Mayor of Maple Valley" event. Bobby Casper, Real Golf Radio joins Ian for a preview of the US Open, a look back at why our local Western Washington golf courses haven't been looked at favorably and why certain courses can be so difficult. Finally, he gives us his favorites for the weekend. We check in on the Kraken in the Daily Power Play! Tod Leiweke, Kraken CEO sits down with Ian to discuss the upcoming NHL draft, review the past season and look ahead to what we'll see in 2025-2026. Tod also shares some great stories and information on what the team is doing for fans in the future.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
No from the Star Rentals Sports to us Jordan ninety
three point three kJ RFM sports.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Headlines, helluys watch to by Frostbreit cors I choose chill.
M's got smashed by the Dbacks last night ten to three.
There are five hundred first time. So it's April called
up Logan Evans.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
He wasn't good. We'll just move on there.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
The good news is actually the Astros lost to the
White Sox. Huh what.

Speaker 4 (00:21):
Continue?

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Their final day of OTA is today.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
We'll give you any updates today and going on out
there to the Virginia Mason Athletics Center after today, they're
done until training camp starts. Scottie schefflerp the historic favorite
ahead of the US Open, which starts tomorrow. Plus two
to twenty five odds when at Oakmont Country Club Open
tea time start tomorrow at seven am Eastern four o'clock here,
Peacock USA Network, et cetera. Yes, you have to maybe

(00:46):
pay if you had to pay.

Speaker 5 (00:47):
Wall, what you have to pay extra to watch sports USTA.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
They're not very nice. We don't like them right now. Anyway.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
We'll get to that coming up in the first segment.
Pacers Thunders tied in the NBA Championship Finals, one game apiece,
Game three tonight at five at five to go Pacers.
Good news Deon Sanders. I guess he's been sick, right.

Speaker 5 (01:04):
So he's been dealing with some health issues.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yeah, so he's doing better.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Think what you want about Deon Sanders, but I'll be
honest with you, probably makes college football more entertaining to
have them there and hope he's okay.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Let's get to the show.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
There is a little event out here today that former
season ticket members were invited for lunch brunch. I guess
it was out here and just a quick shout out.
I've never seen anything like this. This This organization just
does things done differently. It's I think it's a lot
in part to Todd laiwiki Bill Chapin who worked with
Todd over the Seahawks and others. They invited a couple

(01:39):
hundred people that didn't renew their season tickets that were
members from the very beginning, like on that first day
of signing up, you know, back in twenty eighteen. I
guess it was to come out and have a brunch
and listen to Lane Lambert, Jason Bottle on Todd Liwiki
talk about where the organization's going. It was really cool,
really cool event, very grassroots and just kind of different,

(02:00):
kind of different how they do things out here. I
was part of that panel with Alice and Luke Cannon.
So just ended a few minutes ago. So we're doing
the show out here today. I wanted to be out
at Seahawks, but to be honest with you, they don't
finish until three ten, three fifteen. We don't gave me
on our show because I think we're done at three o'clock.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Is that right, Jack?

Speaker 5 (02:16):
At three o'clock. Yes, I'm counting down the minutes for
all this awesomeness.

Speaker 6 (02:19):
But we also we are on the air during their practice,
so we can't even watch it.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, So it's we were out there for mini camp
all the days of I mean all the days of
Open OTA's and then yesterday for mini camp. So we've
had our fair share of June football, to be honest
with you, and we'll be back out their rest assured
we will be back out there. Why well, because training
camp starts later on in July, they're off for a
little while. Effect you know, it's kind of cool. Today

(02:45):
they've sent out today their training camp start dates and
all that, which I do appreciate because it's always been
long before they've they've always kind of waited. July twenty
third is the first day of training camp. Nine training
camp practices open to fans at the Virginia Bason Athletics
Center starting on July twenty third. They'll have a Football
Fest at Lumenfield on Saturday, August second. Registration for all

(03:09):
the training camp dates in the football Fest open to
the public starting next Tuesday, So six days from now, correct.

Speaker 5 (03:17):
That's when.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yes, okay, June seventh, thank you, thank you for the confirmation.
That's why, that's why I missed you so much. June seventeenth,
you can start signing up for that. There will be
some you know, exclusive dates for season ticket holders and
all those things. It's I like, and I'm gonna say
this because they're not listening right now. I like the

(03:39):
fans out at training camp. It gives a certain energy.
It's fun, people cheering, getting loud for us doing a
radio show and baking in the heat on the cement
some long days. I know we're doing radio people, no,
but it.

Speaker 5 (03:55):
We do, bake, we turn.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
It gives me energy.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
I love it with those folks and hearing the fans.
I love the fact that fans come here to training camp.
I want to say, that's fewer dates than they've had
in the past for training camp.

Speaker 6 (04:10):
Do you only do ten or eleven and nine? Is
it's not that much different though?

Speaker 3 (04:14):
It's yeah, it's a little. It's a little, but it's fine.
It's good. They'll be out there a ton of fun.
So that's coming up.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
But we'll be off seahawk Land until July twenty third.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Okay, how are you?

Speaker 5 (04:26):
You know what? I am good. It's been really good
to be in the office day.

Speaker 6 (04:30):
I know that I'm not physically sitting with you right now,
but I just love our audience and I love being
on the Seattles airwaves with you guys.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
So well, yeah, it's great to have you back for
a second day. Everything you and your family are going
through and having you back with us and your your
spirit with us is awesome, Jess. So I'm happy you're
here with us.

Speaker 5 (04:48):
And because I'd hate to be a drag.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
No, you're not that we missed you for a couple
of weeks.

Speaker 5 (04:54):
I miss you guys too.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
It was just and me and Andres and you know, no,
we love you and and off today. He'll be back
with us coming up tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (05:01):
He does have his postgame show, He does.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Have his postcast coming up. I listen to that on
the way in today the case.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yes it is.

Speaker 5 (05:08):
Yeah, Crawford and him, they're great together.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
They're great together. But I feel bad for him because
when you're you know what I felt. I felt like
I did at times last season doing cracking pre and
postgame and you know, like especially in the back to
back games, it's like, oh God, we've been down this
road before.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
What say?

Speaker 7 (05:26):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (05:26):
What do you say now? But now those guys are great.
They did a great show last night again as well.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
We uh But I speak of great spirit and positivity.
Two o'clock today, a guy that I don't think has
ever had a bad day.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
I haven't seen it. Now.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
I've seen him make tough decisions and have to answer
those tough questions afterwards, but he always does it with
a spirit of of just a positive air around him.
Todd by Wiki, the CEO for the Krakens. Yeah, he's
going to join us at two o'clock. I'm also going
to tease this at two o'clock today. Listen carefully, golfers.
At two p m today, we will announce when you

(06:02):
can start to sign up and register. We will announce
when we can do that, all right, so stand by
for that coming up at two o'clock today. Really cool.

Speaker 5 (06:15):
I'm very excited.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, really cool. Support from so many people in the community.
I mentioned Tod Todd and the Kraken, Chuck Arnold and
the Seahawks, so good to me in this tournament. Shout
out to k martin the Mariners, same thing this year.
Great corporate sponsors with Prime Electric, Lone River Ranch Water,
Georgetown Brewing, other great people like Chambers Bay Distillery back

(06:38):
the Whiskey Wagon coming back again this year. But can't
wait for that. That's always a fun gong show. True links,
Cutter and Buck. Who am I forgetting somebody simply Seattle
Snow calling me Casino. I mean, we just have great,
great support for really a cool event that supports some
really good foundations in our area. So more on that

(06:58):
coming up at two pm today, so stand by for that.
Bobby Casper is going to join us coming up at
one twenty. I'm gonna, I'm gonna Real Golf Radio US
Open starts tomorrow. Don't forget We're gonna have don't forget
a sign up for our golf challenge at nine three
three k jr dot com.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
Uh, get signed up today.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
You got until like midnight tonight, win golf at Gamble
Sands and so much more. So make sure you get
your golfers in and sign up for that. We're on
the ten year anniversary of the US Open being here here,
not Northgate, but here in our area.

Speaker 8 (07:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
No, it was Bay, Chambers Bay. Yeah, I've down at
Chambers Bay. Just an incredible week, incredible week. One of
the things we do well in this area. And you know,
you have to kind of credit that the organizations around it.
And you know, whether it be the Winter Classic with
the Kraken, Major League Baseball All Star Game a couple
of years ago with the Mariners. We got the FIFA

(07:49):
Club World Cup coming and the World Cup coming next year.
We've had other big events out at Sahalli, other big
golf events, PGA Championship, Boeing Classic, So call me Ridge.
All these places we do events well. By all accounts,
that was a great US Open. I mean it was
a great US Open. The greens weren't very good.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
Why.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Well, because Mike Davis, the director of the USGA at
the time, directed that the greens not be watered for
a while, and they lost the greens, and they just
they were not good. They were not Not only are
they not championship caliber greens. They like if you were
playing on a decent golf course in the Pacific Northwest
and you were like, what the hell I just paid
one hundred and fifty bucks, two hundred bucks for these, Like,

(08:33):
that's brutal. That wasn't Chambers Bay problem, that wasn't a
Pierce County problem, that wasn't a up problem. That was
one hundred percent of USGA, Mike Davis, specifically them directing
the grounds crew how to take care of that course.
The course was a perfect test to golf for the
best golfers in the world. The fans support here was

(08:54):
off the charts.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
Through the roof.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
It's a hard course to walk, especially for fans. So
that's but listen, you know what, there aren't fans in
every hole the damn masters. Yeah, there's court. So that
part of the complaints I never quite understood. It kind
of pissed me off. It makes me even more angry
that they got in bed with the USGA, and they'll
throw us a bone every time, Oh we got a
two ball amateur two ball coming up or this. Nobody cares.

(09:17):
The best golfers in the world should be playing here
on that golf course. They should be And it's a
tragedy that ten years later we weren't. I just all
choose though, to remember that great event. God, we had
so much fun. We were down there. KJR was down there.
We had a booth set up in the media center.
We were there all week morning, noon and night. It
was broadcast that was there. It was broadcast. The golf

(09:37):
term itself was broadcast on Fox. If people remember Joe
buck Yeah and Greg Norman doing it, they kind of
got lamb based. But for us, it was great at Fox.
You know, we were there every day doing live shots
in the morning. We were there till late at night,
high above the ninth hole, right next to the club
house up there. It was a ton of fun. Man, Yeah,
I wish it would come back. Bobby Casper was here

(09:59):
for that. We'll talk him about that. Because we deserve
not just another major, We just deserve another golf a
PGA golf form. It not the champions Tour. Bowling Classic
is great, serves as purpose, it's fine. I think the
success of the Bowling Classic prohibits us from having an
event because they don't want to lose the Bowling Classic,
the Champions Tour, and that's part of the PGA. They
don't want to lose it. So like you're a victim

(10:20):
of your own success. Yes, I'd like to see the.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
LPGA come here. I think they're a ton of fun
to watch.

Speaker 5 (10:26):
I agree my dad, he loves it.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, so we'll talk about that, Bobby Caps.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
We can join us golf announcement at two Todd Lwicki
at two o'clock as well. Get to a daily power
play All coming up. Nine three point three.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
KFM podcasting live from the R and R Foundation Specialist
broadcast studio. Now back to Ian Fornes, powered by Seattle's
Close the Sports Book Snow Call me Casino on Sports
Radio ninety three point three kJ R FM.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
No's all right, welcome back.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
What's that?

Speaker 4 (11:05):
Jess?

Speaker 5 (11:05):
I said, what's no?

Speaker 3 (11:08):
Do I want another cookie? That was the question.

Speaker 5 (11:11):
See, that's the people need answers out here.

Speaker 3 (11:13):
I didn't know you could hear that.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
That's my buddy Bill shaping from the crack and they
had they had they had some leftover chocolate chip cookies.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
Shockingly, I already found one to consume, so we.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
Got to bring up one home for the wife.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
It was the kid's birthday today, so I got a
cake or something.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
I actually have a cake today. Anyway, welcome back. We're
at the thirty two bar girl in Fornost with you.
Ten years ago. At this time, I was on the
media center Chambers Bay for the US Open, which was
going to be which would begin tomorrow, but instead this
year it's an Oakmont joining us right now when there's
a golf major, Who do we go to, Jess, who
do we go to?

Speaker 5 (11:48):
Mister Casper?

Speaker 3 (11:49):
Bobby Casper joined US Real Golf Radio.

Speaker 7 (11:51):
How are you, sir, Great to talk to you, buddy.
How you doing.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
I'm good, I'm very good.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
Let me let I wanted before we get to this
year's events and at Oakmont and Scottie Scheffler in the field,
because it kind of feels like that's.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
Where we're headed.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
It's Scheffler versus Field. Before I get to that, you
came up. You and Brian, your partner on Real Golf Radio,
came up. We're here for both the media day and
also for the tournament itself. At the US Open in
twenty fifteen, we know that there were complaints about the greens.
I know why those happened, Mike Davis and others, but.

Speaker 7 (12:31):
I bought in last night.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yeah, well tell him thanks for ruining our golf course
up here and then blaming the fine folks at Chambers Bay.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
Anyway, you were up here, I thought it was a
great event.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
Green's notwithstand yeah, and I thought Chambers Bay showed well
We're a long ways away from ever seeing that here again.
What do you remember about Chambers Bay in twenty fifteen,
ten years ago?

Speaker 1 (12:51):
Oh?

Speaker 7 (12:52):
I remember it was.

Speaker 8 (12:53):
It was a really a fun golf course, a unique
golf course because you start out up way up high,
go all the way down to the sound, and then
come all the way and then come all the way
back up. So it's it's it was a great golf course.
I enjoyed playing it. I enjoyed being there. You know,
the bescue grass on the greens was one thing, but

(13:13):
those have been changed from what I understand since, and
but it's a fun golf course and at some point,
you know, you might get another one back there.

Speaker 3 (13:21):
I hope we do. I really hope we do.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
I I it frustrated a lot of us up here
because I think, you know, when the golf course gets
taken over by the USGA. The greens were an issue
in the Open of the course, There's no doubt about that.
Like I'm not I'm not saying they weren't right. But
then the lack of water that was allowed by the
USGA during the week, that was the issue, Bobby, that
was the issue, And so when guys were complaining, it
kind of pissed me off, you know, I kind of

(13:44):
even though I'm not a two five three Pierce County guy,
it's our it's our area. It pissed me off because
I thought it wasn't their fault.

Speaker 8 (13:50):
Yeah, yeah, And you know that's that's what happens in
USGA events. They stress a golf course to the max
to try to get to identify it, try to identify
the best player for the week. You know, you got
Jordan's feet that year, which he was the best player definitely,
and that year it was phenomenal. He wins the Masters,

(14:12):
he wins the US Open, He's has a chance at
the PGA Championship later in the year. Jason Day won
that and he missed a playoff at the Old Course
at Saint Andrews by a shot, so he had a chance,
a legit chance to get the Crew Grand Slam. But
but yeah, for to see him make some putts coming
down the stretch was was phenomenal and DJ unfortunately let

(14:37):
it get.

Speaker 7 (14:37):
Away from him.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, there was so much one on that week, Jason David,
a Verdigo, Tiger, not making the cut, things like that.
You know, it was, but it was it was, I mean,
just for us here, it was awesome. I thought the
fan support was incredible. Fan sport was just off the hook,
and I thought they did a great job with it.
All those things I now listen. Chambers Bay is a
different kind of golf course. It's a true links course.

(15:00):
It's different than a lot of places. You're you're going
across the country. You and Brian you going across the country.
You see all these courses, whether it be you know,
Augusta or other courses at host majors. I'm gonna this
is me, this is this is okay. Maybe I don't
deserve to say this as a sixteen handicap sixteen to
two handicap. But but I'm like, I look at Oakmont

(15:20):
and this is my my hot golf take of the week.
I just I'm bored by Oakmont. I know people like
love Oakmont. I just look at them, like, can.

Speaker 3 (15:26):
I have something there besides bunker's ony hole?

Speaker 7 (15:29):
And why do you say that? Why do you say that?

Speaker 2 (15:32):
It's just it's it's I need some water. It feels
like it's give me some more trees, give me something
besides a bunker, for a for a hazard along the way.
When you can pot a ball from one hundred and
twenty yards out onto the green, I think that's I
think it's odd. Yeah, I don't know if it's a
great test of golf, to be honest with you, but
I understand that that I'm very much in the minority.
And when I say I'm bored by it, that's me

(15:53):
as a viewer. Aesthetically, maybe if I was there'd be different,
but that's just me.

Speaker 7 (15:57):
Yeah. Yeah, so so Ian.

Speaker 8 (16:01):
This golf course was built by a guy two brothers,
no a dad.

Speaker 7 (16:07):
And a son that.

Speaker 8 (16:10):
They decided they wanted to build a golf course here,
and it was the only golf course that they ever designed.
It was like sixty three hundred yards apart seventy when
they first designed it, and the only trees that were
put on the golf course were by members that put
them on the golf course, that planted them, and then

(16:30):
fifteen thousand of them were taken out in the last
what five years or so. And they initially wanted to
this golf course to be like an inland type of
links golf course, so it's kind of back to what
that used to be. The clubhouse is very much a
Scottish farmhouse style. Everything lends itself to that. But this

(16:52):
is probably the toughest golf course a lot of people
say in the world. It's a brief, it's hard, it's difficult.
The members want it hard and difficult. The greens are
going to be extremely fast, around fourteen and a half
to fifteen on the Stimp meter. The members play it
in their member guest at eighteen, okay, and then.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
Have a lot of streams at eighteen.

Speaker 8 (17:19):
They can be the members play it at eighteen, they
that they will they will be fifteen for this event.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
Let me just interject real quick, because if somebody's listening
right now, they're not a golfer, they understand. Explain Explain
how fast that is. Maybe maybe someone goes out to
their local muni and just hacks it around once seat.
Once you're playing your local municipal, you pay eighty bucks
to play there. What are those rolling at in terms
of speed, and just kind of give us some context.

Speaker 7 (17:47):
They might be rolling at nine or ten.

Speaker 8 (17:51):
So that means that these greens, on continuous rollout, will
grow roll out another eight seen that's what eighteen is. Fifteen,
they'll roll out another five feet.

Speaker 7 (18:02):
Okay.

Speaker 8 (18:03):
Uh And when Johnny won in in seventy three, they
did this video. USJ did this video and they talked
to my dad, and my dad said, these greens, you
could have a two foot per par and three put
on these greens. That's that's how quick and treacherous and
slopey these greens are. So they'll be extremely difficult. You're

(18:23):
gonna see a lot of You're gonna see a lot
of train wreckseste Okay, You're gonna see double bobies, lots
of double bobies.

Speaker 7 (18:29):
Okay.

Speaker 8 (18:30):
The rough is the rough right now is was cut
at the beginning of the week at five inches and
it's you know, it'll be six to six and a
half by the time it's all said and done. And
if it stays warm, this golf course is really going
to get fast and firing.

Speaker 7 (18:45):
The fairways right now.

Speaker 8 (18:46):
They've had a ton of moisture in May, the most
they've ever had leading into a US Open, and so
the fairways are receptive. You're gonna have to hit fairways,
you're gonna have to hit greens, and you're gonna have
to put extremely well, and you can have some putts
that are seventy or eighty ft on these screens. So

(19:08):
and uh yeah, just are really really difficult.

Speaker 7 (19:13):
Okay.

Speaker 8 (19:13):
So Brian and I, Brian Taylor and I played it
in media day and we plugged in our handicaps, which
are about one from the championship teams. On this golf course,
we would be a nine handicap. That's how hard this
golf course is. And a lot of the players have
been asked, if you put it, if you Teeta, if

(19:36):
you had a ten handicap play here, would you break
a hundred?

Speaker 7 (19:38):
They'd say no.

Speaker 8 (19:40):
If you had us eighteen handicap play here, what would
they shoot at least one hundred and fifty.

Speaker 7 (19:46):
That's the type of golf courses is.

Speaker 8 (19:48):
It is extremely difficult and it's going to in my opinion,
it's going to be fun to watch the best players
in the world try to win this golf.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Term's so you sold me, then Bobby sold me, Bobby
cass for joining us Real Golf Radio.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
You did sell me. Okay.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
So so is Scotty Scheffler before I get to him
specifically with this tournament, this course, this week, in his game,
we're watching a guy that is just he's on a heater.
It's it's crazy because historically speaking, there's no way over
a stretch of time like two three years, that he
can do it. Tiger did over that same stretch of time.
But in today's modern, more modern game globalization of the game,

(20:24):
Scotty Scheffler is is when he's playing well, so hend
and shoulders above the rest of the world.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Why is that?

Speaker 8 (20:31):
I think I think there's he and he and Tiger
have something in common that that is crazy, and that
is their mental capacity to play the game and lot
let things affect them when when they're playing the game,
the knowledge that they know their game, that they know

(20:52):
they're better than anyone else, that they can they can
score and play better than anyone else. And and that's
that's just the way it is. But then they had
the tools to be able to play the game at
the highest level and be able to hit fairways, be
able to hit greens, and and their ability.

Speaker 7 (21:16):
To make putts.

Speaker 8 (21:17):
It's just it's just at an elite level that you
see in the game very not very often, very sparingly.
And and they come along every decade or two or three.
And uh, and we've got one in Scotti Sheffeer right now.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
Why would Scotty not be able to win this week?
He's a heavy favorite plus two fifty five in the books.
Why would he not win this week?

Speaker 8 (21:44):
Uh, he wouldn't win this week if if the driver
wasn't working for him, if if he hit if he
hit the ball in the ruff a lot this week.
That's that's the key. You can't You're gonna have to
hit a lot of fairways. And most of the guys
that win here at Oakmont hit seventy percent of their
fairways over the round of set over the over the

(22:05):
space of seventy two holes. Okay, of all the guys
that have played here, there's been like fifteen hundred guys
play here in major championships. Okay, there's only been twenty six,
twenty seven that have broken part ever. Wow, for seventy
two holes. I mean, that's that's what's difficult about this.
But he's he's in the top ten fifteen in driving,

(22:29):
he's he's in the top ten or fifteen in proximity
of the hole, in hitting greens, he's top twenty in cutting,
and he's one of the tops in short games and
and bunkers and all.

Speaker 7 (22:44):
That kind of thing.

Speaker 8 (22:45):
So when you put it all together, he's just he's
just heading shoulders above above the field. And if he's
driving the if he has a bad or a poor
driving week, he's not going to be able to win.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
Bobby casperl Golf Radio joining us here preview the US
Open starts tomorrow, Kant. We'll have updates for you here
on KJR throughout the afternoon on Thursday and Friday. Okay,
Bobby Rory McElroy completed the career Grand Slam, won the Masters.
Has absolutely just fallen apart since and maybe a lot
of folks may not know why, and it has to
do with what you just talked about.

Speaker 8 (23:16):
Ascotti the driver, right, Yeah, I think it is the driver,
but I think it's more than that. I think it's
his He's got the hangover. He's definitely got the hangover
going from the career Grand Slam and how long it
took him to get there, and how hard he worked
in the last seven or eight months leading into the
Masters to get that done, and so even said it

(23:39):
this week, he said, you know, maybe I need to
go back to my practice like I did leading into
the Masters this year. But he was also asked, what's
your five year plan? He goes, I have no idea.
I think he really has no idea right now, and
he's just kind of floundering a little bit because he

(23:59):
does has not doesn't have definite goals and so because
of that, his wings a little off, his drivers off
that that was was taken away from him at the
PGA Championship because it was nonconforming. But he's got a
new driver that that he's figured out some things with
last week when he was at home, and so you know,

(24:21):
if he can.

Speaker 7 (24:21):
Drive the ball well Rory.

Speaker 8 (24:23):
Rory is definitely one of the guys that is the longest,
tradest drivers on tour and if he can do that.
If he can drive the ball in the fairway, he's
going to have a chance.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
Bobby Bryson D Shambeau is a defending champ. But unlike
being a defending champ and say the Masters, where it's
the same course every year, different setup, how does this
course set up for Bryson d shamba I.

Speaker 8 (24:42):
You know, I think it's going to be tough for him.
He's going to be tempted to pull the driver out
too many times. And you know, you think about you
think about being able to hit it as far as
he hits his three forty three fifty three sixty off
the team, But when you hit it that far, you're
the error is so much more. You have to you

(25:04):
have to be able to rein it in and hit
it straight enough. And when when the ball travels that far,
just a little a little off line, that far down
the line in the fair way means that it's going
to be that much further out in the rough and
that kind of thing. So he's going to have to
figure out what what all of his clubs are off teams.

(25:25):
It's going to be fun to see him hit his
driver off the first t which is four hundred and
eighty yards and downhill for the second shot, and see
if he can drive it on the green, because there's
a good chance he could he can, because like Zach Blair,
as you talked about, he cutted it from one hundred
and twenty two yards and putted it right onto the
green on that downhill slope. So you know, I think

(25:47):
he's gonna he'll have it. He'll have a chance, He'll
have a good chance. But I think this is not
this golf course is not cut out for him.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
I'll get to the other players. We'll wrap it up
in a second of guys that you like in this tournament.
Before I do that, you mentioned how fast the greens are,
the rough five inches, et cetera. The bottom line is this,
I you know, as I spent my time pontificating about
how upset I am at the USGA and Chambers Bay.
But the bottom line is if you like to watch
the world's best golfers grind it out and struggle like

(26:16):
most of us do, like I'm gonna do later today,
whatever it might be, this is, this is what the
U They've had a few lower scores for winners of
US Opens lately than they probably like, what what do
you think the scores are going to look like at
Oakmont when we get to Sunday afternoon, Sunday night.

Speaker 8 (26:34):
Okay, if it continues to stay hot, it's going to
be over par. Winning scores going to be over par,
somewhere between three over par and ten over par. If
if they get rain like it's supposed to on Saturday
and Sunday, maybe some on Friday as well, then it's
going to be under part somewhere between three and five underpart.

(26:55):
It's going to be the winning score. You'll see some
you'll see some good scores. You'll see some you know,
four five under par rounds, you know, three under par,
two hundred par rounds. But this is a par seventy
and you're gonna see a lot of those mid range
seventy five to eighty scores as well.

Speaker 7 (27:16):
On this golf course.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
We always see like in round one, sometimes round one
and two, but let's just use around a lot of
times in round one, you'll see the morning or the
afternoon flight really have an advantage. Sometimes it's the morning,
sometimes it's the afternoon. Just depends I'm from what I'm
getting from you. If it gets baked out a little
bit and things like that. It sounds like the lower
scores tomorrow are gonna come from the early rounds, right

(27:39):
they could.

Speaker 8 (27:40):
Yes, you know, we're looking at at weather for the
next two days and tomorrow is gonna be eighty three degrees,
it's gonna be partly cloudy. It all depends on the
wind as well. But you know, if you get if
you get breeze and wind, it's gonna it's gonna bake
the greens out with the temperature and the sun that
they're getting to and the wind is also going to

(28:02):
dry out the greens, taking the moisture out of the
greens as well.

Speaker 7 (28:04):
So that's what the USGA wants.

Speaker 8 (28:06):
They want they want the most difficult test that they
can give that's fair to these players.

Speaker 7 (28:13):
And uh and then it.

Speaker 8 (28:15):
Looks like it looks like a fifty five percent chance
of some moisture on Friday, eighty percent chance on Sunday
and Saturday, and seventy five percent chants on Sunday.

Speaker 7 (28:25):
So you might see.

Speaker 8 (28:26):
Scores in that zero to five under par that will
win the golf tournament.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
I'll wrapping up with this, Bobby. We're a sponsored by
snow Qualm casino. Seattle's closest casino is now closest casino
in Hotel uh and the sports book up there, So
maybe you could just I'm not asking you the good
LDS man that you are down there and to to
you know, go too far down this road, but maybe,
just maybe, if our listeners are listing right now and

(28:52):
they might be swinging by the snow, call me casino
Scotty Cheff for the overwhelming favorite. Who are the guys
that you're keeping an eye on that you think really
set up well for this weekend?

Speaker 8 (29:03):
Well, I think you've really got to have a player
in your picks that can hit fairways. And Colin more
Cowa is number two in fairways on the PGA Tour
this year. He hits seventy two seventy three percent of
his fairways. That's right up the alley of who you

(29:24):
would look for, because then the golf course sets up
for you if you can hit the fairway, because otherwise
you hit it in that ruff, you're gonna you're gonna
have to You're gonna have to hack it out the
out of the rough, get it into play and try
not to make you know, a double bogie or something,
like that you can come back from bogeys in US
Open Championships. Another guy that's a really good driver of

(29:46):
the golf ball and has played really well one twice
this year is sept Straka. He might be another good one.
He's never won a major championship. And guys that have
won here at Oakmont have won multiple majors. So cal
More cows one two, Scottie Scheffer's won three, Rory's one six, five,

(30:08):
Bryson's one two.

Speaker 7 (30:09):
Uh uh, you know, I I.

Speaker 8 (30:12):
Find it hard to believe that you're going to get
a first time a first time major championship winner here.
But uh but Johnny Miller did it. He shot sixty
three in the final round when he won, which is
crazy crazy on this golf course.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
Great Johnny Miller used to call my show in Salt Lake.
That's my claim to fame. So did you too? So
did you as well? So it was you two. You
two guys, Bobby great stuff. Tell people a real golf
radio because you're a golf fan, you should be checking
out real golf radio.

Speaker 8 (30:42):
Well, you know we're on iHeart with you guys, Yes
you armed yep, and uh we're on all your podcaster
sites and uh yeah, we're on about oh, I don't
know about fifty fifty associations around the country and that
kind of thing.

Speaker 7 (31:00):
So just we're on eight to ten.

Speaker 8 (31:05):
Or excuse me, eight eight yeah, eight to ten on
Saturday mornings for two hours, and we'll have a great
show this week as well, and we're we're excited.

Speaker 7 (31:17):
It's twenty six years and still going.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
I love it started from the grassroots and now part
of the iHeart network.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
Real Golf Radio typing in.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Everyone's got the iHeartRadio app up here to go check
in with iHeartRadio's Real Golf Radio. Bobby, we'll check in
with you soon. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Hey,
thanks Dan, Thank you, Bobby Casper, Real Golf for Radio.
See got a little betting advice there as well. All right,
we'll take a break, come back. We'll check in with
Daily power Play.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
Next.

Speaker 9 (31:44):
Malkin shoots one it on goldiflucks and I stop please crossby,
could drop stop? This is the Daily power Play Deep
Slot one timer, mckenneth cook up No I So Sports
Radio ninety three point three.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
kJ r F M All right, Davy power Play, You're
home with the crack and nine three point three KJR
FM jess A man game is four is coming up tomorrow,
or as they would say.

Speaker 5 (32:20):
To Moral, I would just say, go Florida.

Speaker 2 (32:24):
Why because are you playing the role of Anders right now?

Speaker 6 (32:28):
You know what he has not with us today, and
I also am in his I'm just like, okay, go
go East Coast go.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
Your anti Canadian is what you're telling me, your anti Canadian,
anti Canadian?

Speaker 5 (32:40):
That is me too.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
Yeah, that's just why. I just want just want to
confirm that. That's all. I just want to confirm your
anti Canadian.

Speaker 6 (32:47):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
My Canadian mothers listening right now. She's not happy with you.

Speaker 5 (32:51):
She used to hear your favorite making up.

Speaker 3 (32:53):
No, I'm not making things that she used to be.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
You used to be her favorite on the station, and
I don't think that's I'm gonna get a text them
her soon, very very soon.

Speaker 5 (33:00):
Messages me quite a bit.

Speaker 6 (33:01):
So I'm saying, I very much enjoyed talking to your mother.
And anyway, No, I think it's really impressive for a
team that is based in the southeast to be and
we played that Gary Bevin sound yesterday and I think
it's impressive for any Carolina Florida team like I was
a big fan of the Lightning when I was, you know,

(33:22):
in my twenties. I just appreciate the fact that a
place that does not cultivate a situation where it's easy
to play hockey can come up with a good hockey team.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
Well, and it's just it shows you roster construction, good management,
good scouting, all that stuff. It doesn't matter where you're at,
it can happen. I want to mention this real fast
before we get to a break at top of the hour.
Here in a second, the we had this event today
and I was reminded we're gonna do a bunch here
on the home of the Krack at nine point three

(33:52):
kid drift during the draft. The draft is June twenty seventh,
which is a Friday, June twenty eighth, which is a Saturday,
Happy birthday on that sound. I just I'm happy to
hit the mark. I just that mark. That'll be an
upsetting mark. I'll be honest with you.

Speaker 5 (34:08):
That only gets better from there, it.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
Does, okay, thank you. I said that at twenty one.
I'm not sure if that was true either. Anyway, we
move on the on the twenty seven to twenty eighth,
the draft the two days of the AHL Draft, we'll
be broadcasting out here.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
I think Al.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Everett Benton on Friday are gonna do the afternoon show,
I believe, and then I'll be around with those guys
the same thing on Saturday morning, the thirty two Bar
and grill. If you're a cracking fans, canna be a
place to be. And it's not just because it's gonna
be a fun draft weekend. Yeah, they're drafting seventeen eighteen
year old kids and you don't know most of them.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
And all that. I get that. Jason Botterol has been
very upfront about one thing, and that is.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
This, this this will not just this is not a team.
Free agency is not great this year. The list of
players isn't great. And we'll talk about this with Todd
Lightwiki in a minute. You're gonna see moves made over
those two days by the Kraken that are trades, all
that kind of fun stuff. It's it's gonna be an
eventful couple days. I'll be stunned if it's not. That's

(35:07):
how they're gonna really do the right. They're not gonna
do it on July first, Free agency. Sure, they're gonna
try to do some things. The real action will probably
come on the draft days, not just drafting young kids,
but some moves they're gonna make as well. So get
out here, thirty two bar, Get out here to the
thirty two bar and grill on the twenty seventh and
twenty eighth. Also listen to it right here on your
home for the crack in ninety three point three KJR FM.

(35:27):
Don't forget sign up for the Golf Challenge. Go make
sure you do that right now at ninety three three
kjr dot com.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
Sign up.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
Get yourself ready to rock and roll with that. Mister
liwiki is here already, So we'll take a break. We'll
come back and check in with you guys next.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
Now from the Star Rents Sports to us your ninety
three point three j j RFM sports headlines.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Headlines are brought to you by Frost Brewed Coors Light
Choose Chill. I don't know who wraps those things up.
We got the issue. We have microphone issues here. Jess
gut did you did you put the equipment on?

Speaker 3 (35:54):
Why did you put the equipment away yesterday? Was that me?
I guess that was me?

Speaker 5 (35:58):
I think we we double teamed that one I think
it was all right.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
We got a good a head. Let's batch to my
Frostburg Cours. Late Mener's got beat by the Dbacks last night.
Ten to three was the final. By the way, Logan
Evans struggled recently called up Astros lead the Al West
right now by three games. Seahawks finishing up Mini camp
today at the Virginia Mason Athletics Center. I know a
guy to help build that. He's sitting with me right now.

(36:21):
After today, Mike McDonald says, Boom, you're done.

Speaker 4 (36:24):
No more.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Third day of mini camp. You're done after today. We'll
see you back on July twenty third. They did announce
today that the first day of open training camp will
be July twenty third. Fans invited for nine practices this summer.
Scottie Scheffler, historic favoritehead of the US Open that starts tomorrow.
Don't forget to get your golf picks in at nine
three three k jr dot Com your chance to win
some golf at Gamble Sands. Pacers Thunders tied for the
NBA Championship Finals one game apiece Game three tonight five

(36:48):
thirty two words go Pacers and Jessaman has something to
play for you. People been waiting for this for a while.
When are you gonna make the announcement? When are you
gonna make the announcement? Jess hit the promo Collinel Hacks.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
It's time for the annual Mayor of Maple Valley Open,
Ian Farnessa's yearly gong show and golfounding, all to benefit
Hilenski's Hope, the Jordan Morris Foundation and the Avery Huffman Foundation. Friday,
Jumai eleventh, one Drewids neighbor said.

Speaker 10 (37:16):
I'm shocked at how much damage they can do in
a nighthole scramble. Get registered today at Drewids Glen goolf
dot com. This baby's gonna sell out quick presented by
Lone River Ranchwater, Frime Electric and Georgetown Brewing. The Mayor
of Maple Valley open from Sports Radio ninety three point
three kJ R FM.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
So with that, Jessovin mccattsire, Yes, registration is open. The
Mayor of Maple Valley Open July eleventh. I do believe today.
Let me check my date June eleventh, so one month
from today. It's actually a Friday at Drewids Glenn Mayor
Maple Valley open Registration now available Drewids Glenn Goolf dot
com register now. It will sell out. I'm guessing we

(38:00):
always make a cool promo out of that. I appreciate
Rich Moore in the company doing that, and then usually
I'll tell Jess make sure it gets pulled very soon.

Speaker 5 (38:07):
Thereafter, because it fails fast.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
I want the promo to be pulled within a day
or so at the most. May Or Maple Valley Open,
Hulinsky's Hope, Jordan Morris Foundation, and Avery Huffman DIPG. I
bring that in because sitting across from me toddlight Weeking,
the CEO of the Kraken who is a huge, huge
supporter of my event every year, along with Chuck Arnold,
Kevin Martinez, simply Seattle Prime Electric, Georgetown Brewing, Lone River

(38:33):
Ranchwater Cotter, and Box so many others. And I couldn't
do it without everyone, but especially the three big teams
in town.

Speaker 3 (38:39):
So thank you.

Speaker 4 (38:40):
Yeah, it's cool because I think the teams all share
a commitment to community and it's a great fraternity to
be a part of.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
And I thank you for your support on this thing.
Our pleasure.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
You just it's the things that you do for us
are awesome and we can't wait for it again.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
So sign up right now. How are you.

Speaker 4 (38:57):
I'm doing good? Yeah, yeah, we're watching a little baseball.
They they gave up a home run there. But I'm
a big Mariners fan and it's it's fun to come
into the thirty two bar and grill and watch baseball
during the day.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
Your fantasy all sports period.

Speaker 4 (39:11):
I am. I have to tell you. I was going
to tell you a quick story, and I'm gonna go
ahead and do it. I'll try and keep the shirt up.

Speaker 5 (39:16):
Go for it, man, all right, here we go.

Speaker 4 (39:18):
So my wife and I were on the ferry coming
back from Friday Harbor and we got into Antacordis late
and I hadn't eaten any dinner, and it was really
quite late, and there was only one establishment open and
it happened to be Jack in the Box. Okay, so
there was a big line, and we got there and
there was there was just two people working in there,

(39:40):
and I felt so sorry for the kid and he
forgot he forgot part of the order, and so I
just couldn't help it. I just was like, this poor
kid is under So I gave him my business card
and said you're doing a great job. I happened to
be with a crack and if you ever want to
come to a game, you come. We got home and
about eleven o'clock I get an email and saying, could

(40:03):
this be true? My son works at the Jack in
the Box. And he says, you drove through the line
tonight and offered him a ticket to come to a game,
and if it's true, would it be possible to get
a second ticket for his mother? And I wrote her
back and said sure.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
So.

Speaker 4 (40:18):
About three weeks later, I was at a community event
and Rick Griz walks up to me and says, do
you know my grandson works at the Jack in the Box?

Speaker 3 (40:28):
Oh, that's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
Oh and Rick does so much in the community too,
does Yeah, he does. I take a cue from guys
like Rick that have been doing stuff like that for
a long time. I think we all have a I
think we all have responsibility to do something if we can,
if we have that form to do so. And that's
why we do those things every day. We have a
form to do it. And there's grace surround us every
day if you look at it, and it's people like that.
That kid that night was working so hard. They were understaffed,

(40:56):
but he had grace composure. You have a group here
in this thirty two bar and girl, I talk about
it all the time, Ken Kenny Moorey Already's staff here
is unbelievable. And I asked the people today, we had
a great event out here. I said, how many you
guys have been here? About a third of the people
raise their hands. I said, you gotta come back out.
This is a great I mean you can watch the
crack and practice. Yeah, you can watch figure skating, can
watch youth hockey. M just the ambassador of all things

(41:19):
Seattle restaurants, makes his way around a lunch hour every day,
you know, shakes hands, kiss his babies. It's just it's
a blast here. The twenty seventh and twenty eighth I
mentioned the draft weekend. We'll start there in a second,
be out here, we'll be on the air, We'll be
doing hopefully some kh and stuff, other things like that.
It's gonna be a fun weekend. And Ron Francis set
this team up where it's not just the draft. It's

(41:40):
not just taking the eighth overall pick on Thursday or
on Friday, and then the rest of the picks. There
might be some activity going on.

Speaker 3 (41:46):
I hope so on.

Speaker 4 (41:47):
I'm not going on. Would we have nice wood tables here?
And I'm not gonna win, but you know he has
set this up and you know, I'll jump into it.
I think we thought we had a better team and
what the performance was last year, and you know, we
were talking to the group that was here today about
putting all this together and how it took a little

(42:09):
bit of courage but a lot of determination. I'm proud
of much of what we did. We built I think
the most beautiful arena, The Bull is spectacular. The fans
have had great experiences coming there. We built this training center,
We built Coachella Valley. I hope before we're off we
can talk a little bit about Memorial Stadium, but yes
we will. You know, so much, so good and set up,

(42:32):
but our hockey team has got to kick to the
next level. And hard decisions were made. We worked on this,
you know plan as we were in the middle of
the season and worked on it virtually every day. And
you know where we came out was we were going
to add an executive into the hockey organization. Ron moved

(42:52):
up to president. But that took, you know, for him,
you know, a complete and total buy in on what
was happening around him, because he did give up some
authority and at the end of the day, he knew
that that structure only worked if Jason had authority as
the general manager in the final say, and then that
got fixed. And I think then both guys, you know,

(43:15):
came to ownership and said, we believe this team actually
has lots of good assets and attributes and they felt
it was important to get a coach in who is
going to push them to their potential, and thus ownership
Samantha Holloway, representing our owners UH supported the idea of

(43:38):
making coaching change. It was hard. Dan Biosma as you know,
a great guy, but you know, we owe it to
the fans to always put forward our best and when
we're not, we're going to fix things. And that's that's
what happened.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
Tyli Wickie with us, I want you expand on that
for a second, because in our business, we do a
lot of things, whether it be Alison Luke and myself,
Edzo whoever it is, and you know, we do radio
shows and talk to other media around the country, and
you know, oftentimes Ra asked about you know, well, what
three coaches in three years, three and five years, and
you know what's going on. I always harken back and

(44:12):
I tell them this story. I said, I you know,
the first time I met Todd LAWICKI was just a
couple of years after I got to Seattle and you
had Jim Morra was hired. You were the Seahawx president.
You'd hired Jim Mora and after one year you made
the decision to move on from Jim More Obviously it
worked out. Okay, there's a Super Bowl a couple of
years later, guy named Pete Carroll rolled into town. But

(44:32):
it wasn't about Pete Carroll. Remember you telling me that day.
It wasn't about Pete Carroll. What you said is the
locker room meeting, the players, the front office, and the fans.
They needed something.

Speaker 3 (44:43):
It just wasn't working.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
And if it's not working, you can let it fester
or you can fix it. And that you have that
same philosophy here and it has to start with ownership.
But it wasn't easy to move on from Dan right.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
Yeah, or Jim Morrow right, who I'd climbed an air with. Yes,
and that was you know that was one of the
crappy days really in my career, was walking into his
office that day, and in some ways it wasn't fair,
and I took criticism over it, and I accepted it.

(45:13):
I accept any criticism people bring about what our coaching
journey is. But the thing you can be criticized of
is not caring or trying hard enough, and that's just
not going to be in our DNA. We cared deeply
about this. We've cared so much that we've had a
lot of good outcomes here and I think that when

(45:37):
you look at what we built in the magnitude and
the impact it's going to have over the long haul.
And I'm not talking about me, this is a really
fantastic organization. But we do believe in, you know, some
basic things, and we think that the fans, Yes, they
pay money for tickets, but much more important, they give

(45:57):
us their passion, They give us their time, and we
owe them and I think we owe our best and
we owe the idea that our best days are in
front of us. This last week has been terrific. We've
had Lane come to town. It's one thing to interview
and it's another thing to be on the job and act.
Sometimes they don't always match up, but in this instance,

(46:19):
he's come to town and he's been so impressive and
he is who I kind of.

Speaker 3 (46:23):
Thought he was.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
I like it just because, And what I'll tell people
is this complacency doesn't win things, and sometimes you have
to make those tough decisions. Yeah, you know, you have
an owner in Sam and the rest of the ownership
groups that listens obviously to you, to Ron, to Jason Botter,
whatever it might be. And you made a tough decision.
This team was better than it showed on the ice
last season, and you could have just run it back

(46:45):
again and say, hey, maybe it'll get better. But I mean,
I think it's I think as a fan, you want
to see that, and nobody wants to see a guy
lose their job. But you do pay money, invest your
time and passion to.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
See a winner. And this was interesting and I think
that it was. An interesting thing about it is that
we weren't getting lots of letters from fans saying you
got to get a new coach. And Dan Bosma is
a good man. He's a really good man, and he
took us to great places down in Coachellow Valley. But
you know, we have hockey experts. We listen, and they

(47:19):
were over the opinion that a change was the right thing.
Lane has come in, and you know, this guy has
had an incredibly rich history in hockey and he's been
a part of a lot of really wonderful, impactful organizations.
Most recently, people are like, well, he was an assistant

(47:40):
in Toronto, No, he was a associate head coach, and
they brought him in to fix the defense that had
been underperforming, and without changing out substantial pieces on personnel,
he pushed them to becoming one of the top teams
in the NHL and defense and he has a rap
of being a defensive coach. But you know, as he's said,

(48:00):
if you want to play offense, you got to get
control of the puck. So he's he's said things in
the interview and he's said things since he's come that
super resonate and are going to make our fans happy.
He wants a team identity, he wants it to be
a fast team. He wants it to be a hard
playing team. He's going to bring a system here that

(48:21):
everyone will know, including the team's coming in the system
we play, it'll be very discernible. And you know, defensively,
that's a good thing because defense is a critical and
critical part of how you push into the playoffs and
ultimately in the playoffs, defense counts the game. The other
night Edmonton struggle a little bit on that side of

(48:44):
the game.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
But yeah, well they tried to play the game that
they try to play, the Florida's game, and if you
play the other team's game, no matter what the sport,
you're in trouble, right, And that's and that's what happens.

Speaker 4 (48:52):
Su're going to be an interesting game coming up here.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
I think it'll be quite interesting tomorrow. By the way,
I got Edgel's on the call for for T and
T tomorrow. You can also hear the game here on
nine three point three KJFM. You'r Home with a crack
and Tidelight weekly with two more little cracking things. And
I want to get to some bigger pictures of Seattle
Center stuff in the second show. The just the ticket
situation that you guys went through. Tell people what it is,
because I think I know you went. I was softy

(49:14):
when it first was announced. This is unprecedented in sports.

Speaker 4 (49:18):
Well, you know, I think some of it it wasn't
just the ticket piece what we were talking about that day,
and we whiteboarded it and I wish we had taken
a picture of it. But we talked about building fandom,
but also you know, acknowledging the people who got us
to this point in time, and you know, barriers to
the fandom that day on the whiteboard were being on

(49:40):
a regional sports network fantastic, great partnership with Root, but
the providers for cable were pushing it to the premium tier.
So I walked into a bar one day where I
used to watch cracking games and the bartender said, sorry,
we don't get it anymore because they pushed it on
the premium here. Yeah, and it happened a lot of places,

(50:03):
and it happened with our fans, and it was, you know,
a tough decision because quite frankly, the economics when you
moved over the air are a little less lucrative because
you've eliminated the cable fees from the ethos there. But
our ownership, again, we laid it out. We talked about

(50:24):
the need to produce our own games, We talked about
the need to storytell, and we thought about what the
ultimate package would be and we created it. Seventeen games
on King five, all the games one channel over on
you know, number six on Tong and then every game streamed,
not behind the payball, it's.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
On video, which everyone has now because the NFL, thank
you very much.

Speaker 4 (50:47):
It is and I think that you know, a lot
of people had it any I think there's probably more
prime subscribers in the market than there are cable subscribers.
But what we saw were fantastic results. And as a kid,
I fell in love with the game watching it on TV.
But real fandom happens when you go see a game live,

(51:09):
especially in the NHL. People don't realize how fast the
game is, and people say it's hard to watch. I
don't think it's hard to watch on TV, but I
think live you see the entire the shifts, the players,
the speed, the hits, the noise. So we then, as
a part of the research that led us to conclude
over the air in the ticket piece, we talked to

(51:31):
fans and they said, well, we're not sure that there's
tickets available. The place always looks full, and we don't
you know, I've got a family of four, and so
we said, look, we should rethink our prices. We set
this in a time where there was a lot of
pressure from financial institutions who backed us, because make no mistake,
this was the largest investment made in the history of Seattle,

(51:55):
highest expansion fee, privately built arena one point one billion,
maybe just a little kiss north of that okay rounding
air and you know it was there was a lot
of pressure, but some of that pressure had waned a bit,
and so we said, how do we create more access
for families wanting to come? So we reprised the bowl

(52:16):
ten percent of our family price. We're going to redo
it consent, But then what about the people that came
with the Initially it's great to invite families, but what
about the person who put the deposit down before there
was even a team name. So we thought holistically supportive ownership,
and those two things are good things, and we got
more on that whiteboard. There's other things we're going to

(52:37):
do to build fandom here with the Seattle cracking. Where's
the whiteboard? I've got a key card?

Speaker 3 (52:42):
Can I see it?

Speaker 4 (52:42):
We're no, no, it's actually turned the other way because
I know you you'd get your little binoculars out, and.

Speaker 2 (52:48):
He was, I mean twenty five percent off food and beverages,
including beer for season ticket holders.

Speaker 3 (52:54):
It's just unreal, like it's.

Speaker 4 (52:55):
Yeah, but it was a complain. We heard yeah a
lot and early on it's great. And you know now
you know you can get a course light if you're
a Susan ticket member. It'll have a six in front
of it. That's not sixty, that's six dollars.

Speaker 5 (53:10):
Wadd where exactly where? Where where do we go for that?

Speaker 3 (53:13):
I'm asking my friend.

Speaker 5 (53:14):
I'm asking for our friend.

Speaker 4 (53:15):
Come on, by the way, you have that friend made man,
I'll go up a beer with him during the game.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
Pay the first internasion i've seen.

Speaker 5 (53:21):
That recognize her?

Speaker 3 (53:22):
He does do that. Her name might be Justman Todd Light.
We do this.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
I'll get to the last question about the second question
about the Seattle Center and that other building in a second.
Let's just talk quickly about a place I played growing up,
Memorial Stadium, a place I watched the original Sounders play
in nineteen seventy four.

Speaker 3 (53:40):
But it's it needs work. What's what's the latest with
the Memorial Stadium project.

Speaker 4 (53:44):
Well, I'll try not to go along, but you know,
nineteen forty seven and it was the day that it
was unveiled. It was a day that the wall in
front of the Memorial Stadium seven hundred and seventy students
who lost their lives in World War two? How big
was Seattle at that point in time. Seven hundred and

(54:05):
seventy students literally perished in the war. I was standing
there because we had committed and I'm going to go
through that in a moment, and I'll try and be brief,
But I was there two years ago, standing in front
of the wall. It was before a cracking game, and
I love walking the campus and a lady walked by
and she said, what are you staring at? And I said, oh,
the wall with all these names, And she said, I

(54:26):
walked by here every day. I never noticed it. And
why she didn't notice it. The hedges had grown, the
lighting wasn't working, the fountain, and you know, that really
lit something within me. What happened was this school district
had passed a bond issue, and they knew it had
to be fixed. There were literally life safety issues rebar showing,

(54:49):
and you know, in the school district, forty seven thousand
students deserve better. The bond issue wasn't enough. The city
cared deeply what was going to get built on that campus.
So they contributed a good chunk of money, but it
still wasn't enough. They sent out an RFP. It was
a commercial RFP for someone to respond to develop and

(55:10):
potentially develop things around it. We looked at it and said,
there's no money to be made here. This is the
school district, this is forty seven thousand students. So we
actually responded to the RP and said, effectively, we'll do
this for our foundation. We know how to build, we
know how to develop, we know how to conceive, we

(55:30):
know how to manage. And it was again a serious
commitment by our owners. We also committed to go raise
a lot of money because there was a gap. So
we raised. We went out, we built the plan, We
studied best practices, We thought about who we were serving.
We thought about the needs. Richard Best, who runs construction

(55:50):
for Seattle Public Schools, Pat the athletic director, is there
a better guy in town? They told us what they needed,
but we also thought about greater purpose and how it
could better serve because so many things incubated in Memorial
Stadium and those things can still happen in the future.
So we went I raised thirty million dollars. It was

(56:12):
a little bit nerve wrecking. It was hard, but incredible
how people stepped up. And today you know, soon we're
going to break ground. The facility open in two years,
an incredible shot in the arm for Seattle Public schools.
Other big events will play there, other teams will play there.

(56:33):
We're getting amazing but that wall, the wall is going
to get rejuvenated lit. We're knocking out parking spots in
front of it. And it's for me, one of the
greatest projects of all the things in my career. I'm
not any more proud of anything than what the ownership,
Samantha and others have committed to do well.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
It means a lot to so many of us that
grew up here because so many people like me either
went like I played there on that field and I
watched games in the stands in that field, and so
for all of us it has a great memory. And
it's not just the stadium, in the field, the turf,
what have you. I mean, when I played there, it
was like as hard as it's rock, but it's playing
in the shadow the space, you know, it's playing in

(57:16):
the Seattle Center. And I think for Seattle kids to
go to school in Seattle. I think that's important. I
applaud you guys. I think it's I think it's one
of the I mean, CPA is the best thing you've done.
This is right there with It's it's right there.

Speaker 4 (57:26):
With it's great. And by the way, community is the
best part. And we live in a place, yes, the
community does. It's amazing. How many of the waterfront Yeah,
and that was Maggie Walker and what has been done
there all around us.

Speaker 3 (57:39):
I'm amazing.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
I've watched it because I drive that every single day.
I drove the viaduct every single day to get to
KJR and just were that. I mean, we're it's about
ninety eight percent done. It's spectacular. We finally have a
waterfront we can all be proud of. Incredible, it's awesome.
Before I let you go, people are like, well, Todd's
are Oakview CPA and all this. We hear a lot
of things from a lot of different people. NBA Finals

(58:01):
are going on right now. We're rooting very hard for
the Indiana Pacers here in Seattle. But one thing that
will make it a lot better is if someday there's
a there's a storm. There's a PWHL team, there's an
NHL team, and we all know what's missing.

Speaker 4 (58:13):
Where are we by the way back to you know
who you're rooting for, Sam Prest who started his career
and he's not here anymore time I hear you, Okay,
I see your eyes getting a little straid. Kevin Kevin
Pritchard on the other side, does a guy work with
down at the Baisershit's a dear friend.

Speaker 2 (58:29):
I know Kevin very well, and I'm and that's actually
it's funny you mentioned that I was there when Kevin
first got there. I was there when Kevin got his
first head coaching job, Mo got let go and Kevin
was I'm a big Kevin Pritchard fan, and so I'm
rooting for him too, And obviously we're all rooting against
the other team. If we grew up here, NBA, what
can you tell.

Speaker 4 (58:48):
Us, Well, I'd say the most important thing. And we
were deliberate about this, and quite honestly, it was one
of the magnets that drew me back to Seattle from
I was at the NFL and we knew that the
day was going to come where we needed to be
prepared and ready and you know, I was with the
Seahawks and a lot of things didn't come to the
arena that should have. But then this thing left and

(59:11):
it was just shocking. We're now so well positioned as
a community. This community has only grown. This community, there's
a great story to tell, there's legacy. You know, soon
we're going to have a statue or two outside this arena.
Lennie Wilkins. Is there a better person in the world?

Speaker 3 (59:34):
This guy.

Speaker 4 (59:35):
I believe he was actually, by the way, the first
athlete to have his own foundation.

Speaker 3 (59:39):
Incredible.

Speaker 4 (59:40):
Wouldn't it be amazing if Lenny got to see the
return of the Sonics. But time will tell. And we've
always said we're not going to get in front of
the commissioner. We already had lots of work to do.
We didn't have to spend time posturing. We had to
make sure that arena got built. Arena that was going
to be brilliant for the NBA. And when the storm
play in that building, it spect and they have flourished,

(01:00:02):
and uh, you know, I think the NBA is aware.
And I think that because the Krack and fans believed,
the hockey fans believed this arena got built we're now ready,
and we're not going to have to say we're shovel
ready or play down in another building for a few years,
and we'll get this done. We are ready and the

(01:00:23):
building is fantastic. And if they should deem this to all,
you know, want to happen, We're ready for that moment.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
What would you tell a Sonic an NBA fan who's
just kind of because they kind of see that light
at the end of the tunnel, what would you be patient?

Speaker 4 (01:00:39):
What would you tell them? I tell them if they
see a cracking fan out, buy him a beer. Because
it was actually the Krack and fans who believed early
on and gave life to this idea that made us ready.
And I mean that in a very sincere way. People
who jumped on the bandwagon early on did so without
knowing the team name. They thought it was a renovation.
They weren't sure what was coming, but they believed. And

(01:01:01):
that's such a big part is believing in things. And
they did believe. So if you're a Sonics fan, you're
on you see somebody wearing a crack and hat bottom
of beer, because they actually created this moment. And I
would say to the fans read the newspaper, stay abreast.
There's lots of information you can get on this. I
think Adam will make some statement at the upcoming Board

(01:01:22):
of Governor's meeting, and we'll be patient. We're going to
be respectful. This can be a four major league town, right, NBA, NHL,
Major League Baseball, NFL. I've never worked for greater fans.
These fans have the capacity to support things, and it's
not but you've got to put the storm in there
because they are a major league team. And then I

(01:01:43):
was going to get to that. You know, my buddy
Adrian Hanauer, the most successful sports executive in the history
of this city relative to winning and losing. He's the
only one done one thing whin it's incredible, and they're
playing in this BEF A World Club Championship and it's

(01:02:03):
just incredible. It's such a testament. And then you know,
the Women's Professional Hockey League has come and they've had
an amazing run on the bank on tickets and they've
got perhaps the best player in the history of the
US represented US in multiple multiple Olympic Games. Hillary coming
here is a huge, huge thing, and we're pulling for

(01:02:24):
them too. They need to get a name so I
can start using.

Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
Yeah, we met Hillary last year when they came to town.
She's awesome, and when she got announced here, I was like,
this is couldn't get much better.

Speaker 3 (01:02:33):
I kept you for a long time. Thank you so much.
My pleasure.