Furness Show 6-7: Finals talk, Mike Morris, Farhan Lalji and Mike Parker

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
No from the Star Rentals Sports tous your ninety three point three k j
R FM sports headlines headlines brought toyou by Vini Kings. Vini Kings dot
Com Manners took another from the A'syesterday, taking down Oakland three nothing.
Mitch Garver home run, Dylan MooreRBI Mariners undefeated with Brian wu on the
mount. I heard Greg and Christalking about him earlier. He is pitching

(00:21):
like their best picture right now.It's pretty remarkable watching this guy six innings
to it, struck out six alongthe way. Celtics took game one of
one of the worst NBA finals I'veever seen. No, I wasn't that
bad, but it has been asnoop sports. Let's go. Yeah,
wasn't it amazing to watch? I'mlooking for Puxwold. Where's the where's the

(00:42):
thing here? You used to havelike a snoring thing? I could hit
here? That's what I want tohit that one? How was that boring?
Well? I don't know. Twentyfive point game the whole time,
except for the after after Dallas signBecause Boston when they get out big,
they always let the other team comeback, regardless of the opponents. He
got down to nine did and thathad me on palpitation. And then they

(01:03):
hit the switch in the back whena twelve to two run. Thanks for
coming boor ing anyway, we'll getto that later, boring, Jaylen Brown
twenty two six. Well, Iam boring. I know that Sounders take
on Sporting Casey tomorrow five thirty.You can hear that game over in your
home. For the Sounders ninety fivenine to fifty KJR A M. Kansas
City is awful, by the way, which is weird. Usually they're very
good. They're not. They're theworst team right now. So Jackson Feltz

(01:23):
is guaranteeing a win. If not, he'll give every Souander fan a free
drink at Jimmy's on first Ooh okay, Jackson Europe for the challenge sound like
cut playoff set Oilers Panthers tomorrow fiveo'clock. Got that forty right here in
your home. For the Hockey forNHL. For the Kraken ninety three point
three KJR FM shout out to DorisBurke calling the game. First female calling

(01:45):
an NBA Finals game ever, AndI could think of anybody else that would
be better in that regard. Icould do without JJ Reddick, but I
can. I certainly love Doris Burke'sfantastic. Breen does a great job.
Game itself will get to we'll spendsome time on that, maybe at one
o'clock today. Mariners tonight taking onKansas City. Good Kansas City team.
They're better than Seattle right now,but I mean it's and you know,

(02:06):
can't say really good. They're pitchingstaff thirty quality starts this season. That's
pretty good right now. Sales gotthirty nine. That's just your little note
of the day. Put people thirtyquality starts for Kansas City in the top
five in the in Major League Baseball. Stales got thirty nine, two ahead
of Philadelphia, which is number twoin that category. Mariners are a in
first place for twenty six consecutive days, eight games above five hundred, best

(02:30):
record of the year. Heading infor what should be. I mean,
this should be a great series withKansas City, a good baseball team as
well, a couple guys heating upa wee bit as well as far as
hitting the ball. So here wego for a nice little weekend. Can't
wait, Let's go. We gotStanley Cup Finals tomorrow. Right here,
on KJR NBA Finals re Zoom onSunday. Kind of a nothing burger in

(02:54):
a lot of ways. That firstgame, it's a huge burger, you
know what, even Okay, I'llput myself in your shoes for a second
because I'm going to talk at NBAeight one o'clock in bigger picture stuff because
Adam Silver met with the media beforethe game yesterday and kind of did a
lot of not answering things. Butyou know, with that the great and

(03:15):
I think I'm trying to think wasit was it Faine maybe talking about it
yesterday. What's hurt the NBA playoffsso far is fact that the NHL playoffs
have been so good and the NBAplayoffs have lacked any drama whatsoever, Like
just any drama. It's just beenthe best team wins with nothing. Yeah,
And that's kind of what I askedLocke yesterday, like, is this

(03:36):
is the case of the best teamwinning and and you know, he thought
that maybe Denver was the second bestteam, but there's no question in Boston's
the best team. And it wasa really lousy conference. I mean,
there's it's and it would have beena shame if they didn't get there because
I think, I know, welike upsets, but you want to see
the best team like you want tosee the best teams, and basketball's matchups
sometimes as well. And it's gameone. Those guys are all been sitting

(03:58):
around for a while waiting and waiting. But we'll we'll getting a little bit
more hoops coming up at at oneo'clock today. I mentioned this with Crosstalk
with Greg. Mike Morris is goingto join us at twelve twenty. Sat
down with him on Monday, Ibelieve it was. Was it Monday?
I was out there. I thinkit was Monday, right, That's not
right, It was Monday. Itwas Monday, Yap, Yeah, Monday.
We were out there and it wasa weird interview because we were waiting

(04:18):
and waiting, and you know,behind the scenes, we're just kind of
at the work the mercy of whenthey're done with doing their stuff. And
he decided first Mike McDonald does extrastuff after practice, and then the D
line run the berm and then theycome in and so our two twenty interview
was actually at two thirty five,and it was right nerd middle of a

(04:41):
spot break. And the way radioworks is if you're listening on Terrustrial Radio
with right now Here on ninety threeto three kjar FM. Love wouldn't you
listen on the FM? But ifyou're listening on the app, and we
love people that listen on the app. iHeartRadio app. It's easy, it's
free, download it boom, thanksfor coming. Clear signal everywhere you're at.
It doesn't matter, it's perfect.But thing called a tone. You
go to a break and then thecomputer says, I'll see you in the

(05:03):
end of the commercial break. Well, Jess hit stop, Mike Morris sat
down, and so if you werelistening on the app, you probably didn't
hear a good chunk of the interview. Even if you did, it's a
Friday and it's seventy degrees and we'replaying it again. No not kidd,
Well that's only half Truean's gonna gorun outside and play in the grass.
Just shout out. Shout out tomy buddy Hawk blogger. He was.

(05:23):
He reached out to me yesterday andloved the interview, and I know he
talked about it on his podcast todayas well, with both McDonald, with
both Mike Morrison, also with GeorgeFan who he had on last week and
we replayed some a fan on Monday. You know, sitting down with guy's
face to face, you get alot of good information out of there.
And for Morris, there was alot talking about the defense, kind of

(05:44):
the intricacies of the Mike McDonald defense, what he expects this season, who
he expects to kind of take astep up, and and what he expects
of himself. He's an interesting dude, man. He basically red shirted last
season. Darryl Taylor did that hisrookie year as well, where you just
never see the field because of injuries. And I think in some ways a
similar injury. I think Darryl hada shoulder or something, if I'm not

(06:05):
mistaken, his first year. Andso but that was Morris the situation.
He'll talk about that. Rehab sucks, it's not a lot of fun.
But this this this dude looks good. I mean, he's every bit of
six to six. He's a he'sa little over three hundred pounds, looks
a little lighter, and that's nota bad thing. He just he looks

(06:26):
and he's a very versatile player.And if you look, and he'll talk
about this with you, look atwhat that defense is, so you've added
a guy like you've added a dudethat you kind of for free, Like
just, oh, where's this guyat? Oh? It wasn't drafted,
he's already under contract Boom Perfect satout all of last season with once he
had surgery. But they like versatility. Jaron Reid in this in this defense

(06:47):
can be versatile. Draymond Jones probablyhas a better role in this defense.
A healthy chin of nuusu boy amafe. There's a guy named Byron Murphy,
the third that's a rookie. Itlooks crazy good out there. I
mean it's it's we're watching him.Who is I showing this too? Oh?
My buddy, Manny down, I'mname dropping today. I'm sorry,

(07:08):
but we're I swung by Georgetown yesterdayto talk about the golf tournament and the
mayor beer and all that stuff,and ran into Manny and the owner and
we're talking. He's a huge Seahawkfan. He's pretty tight with Schneider because
shockingly, Schneider likes beer, goodbeer, so he drinks Theirs. I
know, weird. And we're talking. He says, like, and I
showed him the video we took ofMurphy running the Cones and just with his

(07:30):
hands. He's like, damn,I'll go yeah, Like, you don't
have to be Trent Kirchner or MattBerry or you know, Nolan or any
of those guys that are like scouts, like good big time scouts in the
NFL. Is just look at thisguy and go, WHOA like different?
Like very different. So yeah,their defensive line. I think he's going
to take a massive step forward thisyear. I'm excited for that. So

(07:54):
we'll talk to Mike Morris coming upin just a few minutes time. Jason
Gregor is going to join us fromEdmonton at one point. Thirty Oilers and
the Panthers coming up. Jess,that's a really wild, wild series.
It's gonna take about I'm gonna guessfive minutes or less to get nasty.
I I love it. It's goingto be a nasty, nasty series.

(08:16):
I can guarantee you that these guys, these are two teams that are going
to flat out get after it andit's gonna be fun to watch. There's
a bunch of ex Calgary Flames onthat roster that had a huge rivalry with
McDavid and Nugent Hopkins and Dry Sidleand Bouchard and and Nurse and the rest
of the oilers. It's going ifyou like. Listen, sports hate's been

(08:41):
on the docket all week, hasit? Not like with the w NBA.
It's we've been talking about sports hatenow for a while. A lot
of drama. Okay, this won'tbe drama. This will be I hate
you and I will take a stickand shove at someplace that you don't want
to go. That's what it's gonnabe. It's it's it is going.
It is there you go, It'sgonna be. It's gonna be and I
can't wait. Starting tomorrow night atfive o'clock. So we got a lotted

(09:03):
to get to you today as alwayswant to hear from you four nine,
four to five one tell them ornew text line when it's game time and
it's Tully time. And by theway, just before we go to break,
I'm sorry, but we are gonnare Listen to Mike Morris. You
gotta hear what he says at theend. It is the best part of
the interview and it is worth stayingtoo. I think if you're a Seahawks
fan, you're gonna love And we'vehad him on. Well, the last
time we had him on or anybodyhad him on really was last training camp.

(09:26):
Yes, exactly. We tried toget him on after McDonald was hired,
and he wasn't around, and andso it's been a while. He
played for Mike McDonald at Michigan andnow he's playing for him in the NFL.
So we'll hear from the Seahawk defenseman. If you want to hear it,
it's such, it's fantastic. Ifyou want to send into a voice
text talk back, you can dothat as well. Go to the iHeartRadio
app Little Read microphone and do that. Mike Morris coming up next live from

(09:52):
the R and R Foundation Specialist BroadcastStudio. Back to Ian Fernetz Power Advice,
Seattle's closest sports book, Snow callMe Casino on Sports Radio ninety three
point three kJ R FM. We'lltouch in more on some Mariner conversation in
the one o'clock hour some NBA finalsas well. If you get outside to

(10:18):
watch the game or you indoors inthat gorgeous night last night, Uh what
if? What if I told youboth? Okay, like watching on a
TV outdoors? Yeah, yeah,so very good like I'm like a patio
or something or porch. Yeah,that's good. I have a lot of
local junts in my neighborhood there yougo. Yeah, I mean it's hard

(10:39):
to want it, hard to beinside. Right now. We feel it
feels like we've been cooped up forso long. We had that one weekend
like a month ago right where itwas like eighty degrees, like eighty degrees,
and ever since then, it's justlike it's the black dark cloud hanging
over our head. You just Iyou know, we because we're just dumb
and we like to you know,we know, nothing else will come up,

(11:01):
like the HVAC system. We wenton bus some new patio furniture,
you know, yeah, of course, yeah, yeah, and just it's
sat there just looking at just lookat it and look at it. But
now we can use it. Itis it is. It's been so yeah.
Man, if you're listening today,I hope you're driving around. I
hope you're driving home, is whatI hope you're doing. I hope you're

(11:22):
you're either home, driving home,getting ready to enjoy your weekend. Go
go check things out along the way. By the way, shout out.
I mentioned these guys earlier. Georgetown. They're a big sponsor the golf tournament.
You go pick up the Bob's BrownAle. Still they also have a
Pride Month beer that's really good,really taste the IPA. So all the
proceeds go to various charities down there. So go check out at George.
Go see my friends at Georgetown,or you know what, my friends at

(11:43):
Seattle Sider with the Vidsider as well. I mean, just go get something.
Support local this weekend. Do theyhave a patio then I'm there they
Oh, have you not been toGeorgetown, not recently? I went there
way early. Okay, you gotto go. Yeah, they have outdoor
It's like this indoor outdoor. It'sfantastic. And yeah, they hit the
lottery. They opened it in Ithink November of twenty nineteen for four months,

(12:09):
right, and then the Sea Outsiderused to be the Witch Tasting Room
now Seattlesider tap Room with some Theyhave Beer Insider there. They have outdoors
outdoor seating as well. Go supportlocal this weekend. Just do me fair,
do me a fair. Whatever you'redoing this weekend, support local,
like support our local businesses. Whetherit's Red Hook by the way, is
not a local brewery. It isnational yea, and they are greasy.

(12:33):
We don't like them. Oh,we don't know. They did a little
trademark infringement on our friends from NoLie. Yeah yeah, really like really
owned by a cannabis company based inToronto, a bunch of lawyers based in
New York. Yet, yeah,what happened to you? Guys? Lost
your soul? Anyway, go supportlocal this weekend. Restaurants, bars,
beers, ciders, whatever, Getout there and support local this weekend.

(12:56):
All our folks have been probably justwaiting, like, let's go get outside.
Okay, we were outside. Itwas crazy. They were outside Monday.
Yeah, think back to what Mondaywas, guys. It was like
thirty mile an hour wins off LakeWashington and a little bit of rain here
and there. Mike McDonald says,screw it, man, this is nice
compared to Baltimore. So like wasHe's like, this ain't bad. This

(13:20):
is nothing. Yeah, exactly exactly. So they were outdoors on Monday.
We got a chance to watch himagain for the for the last ota we
get a watch. They wrap thoseup today, Mini camp next week we're
gonna be there at Seahawks Monday orTuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, open to
the media. We'll be able toreport on things, talk to some more
players. Love doing that, lovesitting down with guys face to face.
We'll be out there again next weekdoing that. So we had a chance

(13:43):
to talk to Mike Morris, lastyear's fifth round pick out of the University
of Michigan defensive lineman. Played withMike McDonald or played for Mike McDonald at
Michigan when he was a decordinator there, and I think a guy that could
pop this year could be a nicelittle surprise, nice little boost to this
roster. So some of you mayhave missed it Monday for are reasons,
technically and otherwise because he was Andhere's how the interview started. He literally

(14:03):
came in after practice, a littlebit of a walk through after practice,
and then the big boys ran upand down the berm a whole bunch of
times. So when he sat down, he was maybe just a little bit
out of breath. I apologize tothe fans, I'm breathing a little heavy.
I hope they will hear this,but I'm tired of one of my
teammates, Miles Adams. He washe looked at the hill one day and

(14:24):
was like, I'm gonna run thehill and I was like, well,
I'm not gonna let you out workme, so I'm gonna run. I'm
gonna run hill with you. Andso we've been doing that every day since
since we started working out during Ithink phase two, since we started Phase
two, me and him just goingthe hill. We run, and we
got Gotel doing it as well.And hopefully he said, this is Miles

(14:45):
words. He said that hopefully oneday, like I had a vision that
the whole defense is running there,so hopefully we get more guys. Where's
the rookie at where's the first roundpick? Oh? Oh, Byron runs
it with us. It's okay,Byron runs it with us. Let me
just get that Byron. And actuallycoach Ad All he runs it with this
as well. Wow, But wewere doing some other conditioning stuff and Byron

(15:07):
was doing talking to the coaches andthe rookies had extra work, so he
didn't do it with us. MikeMorris is a second year guy, but
almost feel like you're the red shirtfreshman of this group. Right. It's
like, didn't play much. Youhad the first game, you got a
little few snaps and then you gotit shut down for the rest of the
season surgery, shoulder right should chargeron my left. Yeah, how you
feel, I feel great. Ifeel great. Definitely. I'll get that
confidence back from just going through injurylike that where it was hard, difficult,

(15:31):
and also seeing the guys work andgrind during the season. It was
hard, but when I learned,So did you get hurt? I actually
got hurt during during camp. Duringcamp, I got hurt in the first
game, and then I sat withthe last two games. And then I
played that first game and then Iwas telling the coach. I was like,
I can't go no more. Likemy shoulder it is about it feels
like jello after every game. SoI was like, I can't do it.

(15:54):
Keep doing this strange defensive lineman needsto be upper body's strength and leverage.
Is that what you're telling us?Can't really do it with one arm,
can't do it one In the Ramsgame, I tried to do it
with one arm. I tried todo one arm and it wasn't working out.
Yeah, And like every time Idid pass rush, I would try
to stab with my left arm andit was just it was just falling and

(16:14):
I'm like, yeah, bro,this hurts well, and that's why I
wanted to get change your day.I was telling Richard, a great pr
guy here. He says, youlike talking to Mike, Well, yeah,
first talk to him a second.What I You know, some of
the media guys were sitting in thisroom out here, and you know,
all the world's problems get solved.We sit out here in this room with
all the media guys, right,because you can imagine a bunch of smart
guys. Not really, but yourname comes up a lot because I felt

(16:36):
like last year you were going tobe a big part of this defense,
especially when Channah went down, thatyou would have had a nice role there
as well. But you missed theseason. You get healthy, you come
back, you're ready to go.You're not a rookie, but you are
a rookie. Yes, what's itlike year two in that regard? What
do you expect out of yourself?Right now? I'm trying to feel out
the scheme of things, especially withthe with this defense and not playing,

(16:59):
not being in this defense, andnot being at my true position while I
played in college under Pokocomac. Yeah, so just trying to find my fit
in the defense and being comfortable withthat, and also just not being timmed
with my shoulder, not playing likeI hope my shoulder doesn't mess up,
or playing scared. So I thinkthat's one thing that I'm really really focused
on and trying to get my game. I quback, was it frustrating watching

(17:22):
for the sideline last year thinking youwould help? Oh? Yeah, that
was frustrated. It was I don'tknow how much of impact I would have
made, And I don't want tosay the things would have been so different
if I would have played. Idon't want to be that guy, but
I feel like I would have madean impact. I feel like I would
have helped my team. It hurtbecause I got to see some of my
guys out there and I just feltlike I could have helped a lot.
And I did it, and whoknows what could have happened, but I

(17:45):
feel like I could helped. Whatposition are you to walk us through this
defense? Because it's what do youwant to call it? Last year?
A three four all? But youknow what is it this year? Position?
And where were you at? Iwas at like three tech Peavy five
the same thing this year. It'skind of a very similar defense. It's
just the scheme is just a lotmore technical. It's different than Michigan.

(18:07):
Same same as Michigan. Same asit's like a glove for you. Every
time they're taking notes about players,I'm like, yep, I know that.
I even I even do my signals. I'll even do the signals.
So it's it's it's funny, likeboris how nice is that? Though?
It's so nice just rolling in here. It's like, Yeah, it's like
it's like an old glove. You'rejust like perfect man coach Mike, coach

(18:27):
Parkers and the coach hardball every dayand I'm just like, what's up?
Yo? Tell us about the newhead coach? You had him in college?
Uh? You have a year withouthim? Is he's in Baltimore?
But tell what? What? Whatshould you expect? What do you tell
the teammates? He's a slouch man? Oh joking, But he's one of
the greatest coaches I ever I everhad. Yeah, I would probably say,

(18:48):
uh, he's definitely, He's definitelytop three. He's definitely top three
coaches I've ever had. Just thisjust off his i Q and who he
has as a person and how heholds people accountable, but also is like
a player's coach in terms of cateringto what they need and putting them in
positions to succeed with Is it deep? Like, I guess what's the what's

(19:11):
the biggest difference between last year andthis year? And I asked it to
all the players that have been around, and I'm not We're not trying to
take a shot to the old stafjust in terms, but what are the
nuances? The difference is just froma players standpoint. Obviously the music's not
as loud, but what are thebig differences. I feel like it's a
lot more technical because there's a lotof pieces that are moving at once.
Because like just watching Baltimore last year, anybody like not just like trying to

(19:36):
ride on our own defense and tellevery about our defense, but like Baltimore
will show one way, bring pressurethe other way. If you show one
way and they're like, okay,they're going the opposite way, he's gonna
like make you play it true andrush that way. So it's it's a
lot more technical in terms of howthe back end looks, in terms of
the rotation of the safeties, howthe mics, how the mics are gonna
fit the rotation of the nickel,and it's just it's beautiful for what everything

(20:00):
is orchestrated perfectly. But right nowwe're trying to get that fine tuned because
like it's so intricate, so weneed time to out why this time of
the year is really important. Ifeel like that the whole defense is here
is very important. Like we havelike a couple of guys missing, but
the core is here and so that'sthat's what is important right now. It

(20:22):
looks to us and I had Georgefannin last week for the last time we
were here for the media, andwe were talking about this the the teaching
that Scott Huff who's the offensive linecoach, is doing, but this is
the intricate teaching and all that,and it sounds like you're seeing the same
thing on the defense. There's alot of teaching moments and like, how
far into the install of the defenseare you guys right now? What Mac

(20:45):
told us he was like, weprobably can go and play a first a
first quarter, so you're twenty fivepercent. I probably say we're twenty five
percent because I feel like we're notgonna really install anything else. We haven't
seen a lot of things are gonnalook the same would be called different,
and they might be different on theback end, but everything that we have
in sold right now is kind ofwhat we're gonna run. Who are the

(21:08):
dudes that are gonna jump off thepage at people this year on defense?
Who are the dudes who are theguys defensively that this scheme, this coaching
staff is going to elevate their game. I hope myself I probably my number
one who out just j Reid forsure. I feel this defense is kind

(21:29):
of built for him in terms ofin terms of how how what are the
words, how high, how highlevel of i Q that this defense takes
to perform at a high level.He has that, So I feel like
him he will do amazing in thisdefense because I sit beside him in our
team room and he was like,I'm gonna run this defense in Madden.

(21:52):
Yeah, because he sees a lotof things I see like I definitely just
like everything he says. Anything hesays. I'm just my ears are fully
open. Just listen. I noticedhim last year a couple of times in
the locker room after games, andthere was, you know, for whatever
reason, there's you know frustrating losseshere or there. I always saw a
guy that's exerted a lot of leadership, kind of a presence in there.

(22:14):
We've known Jared for a long time. When he's here before then he came
back. What's what's he like?Is he the guy? Is he the
dude on that defensive line? Ishe your leader? And what does he
do to help guys like you andother young guys? I would think,
yeah, I would say he's theleader. But what he does for us
is just invites us and provides usthat that higher level thinking. Because so

(22:36):
he'll be like, yes, likeABC, but I want you to look
at this and also see X yZ, and so that just takes your
that just takes you into a wholenew level. It's like, okay,
yes, like look at the formation, look at the set, and this
is what you're gonna get. Theseare the only place you can get out
of that. So play it andlike you know what you're gonna get,

(22:56):
so you shouldn't be timid or scaredof it. So that so he's been
helping me out so much about andalso just like helping me get back and
be like Mike, you can dothis. Go go, go, go,
do this, do this, dothis, just on my back about
a lot of things, and Iappreciate it for that. How much does
this defense rely on some true depthon that defensive line? Rotations are big

(23:17):
and having guys come in. Imean, you guys started losing your out
Chenn's out last year. I meanthe depth was really tested for a bunch
of the season last year. Howmuch is this defense, like you just
said, you're showing pressure from oneside, come on the off the other.
Feels like there's a lot there youneed to be rotating guys a lot.
Yeah, it's it's I mean,shoot, we had my last two
years I Missigan, we had probablylike I'm not gonna say ten packages,

(23:41):
but I want to say like tendifferent packages where like different people were all
in different spots. So will there'dbe like a Mike Morris package or a
or a Shennity Wolf's who packed.There doesn't be a ten package like a
like a Leo package. Ye,Like just like getting big guys out there
and also having like a two groupthis case, somebody goes down Guy Ford
and yeah, there's like so manyThere's like we saw so much that Yeah,

(24:04):
I'm so excited. I'm so excitedthat we're playing football. Like,
what's there not to be excited aboutit? Well, w and you're not
on the boat this year, right, you don't have to go on the
boat like you last year. Man, I'll never trust my team again,
never Who was the worst guy inthe boat? People to know, you
guys took like a little the Muckleshoottribe came up here. You guys went
out in the and went and youwere not happy afterwards. I'm gonna say

(24:26):
Southern because you're Canadian too. Hestood up, He stood up on the
boat, and I'm like, bro, sit down like it did, like
y'all like on Florida. Yes,we can go in the water and I'll
get wet because the water's warm,right, but it's cold, it's freezing.
You don't want to be in thatwater. And plus like I can't
see at the bottom, no,the like, I don't know what's down
there. And I'm a conspiracy theorist, so like what are you thinking,

(24:48):
like locknest monster or something. There'snothing like that here, you know where
that's not up in Canada. Speakingof Canadians like Sutherland, I don't trust
it. Yeah, they got ogpogo up there, and if I can't
see it, if I can't seeit, it's it's something down There's something
down there. There's something down therekilling something down before you let go.
Mike Morris joining us, give mea scouting report on the rookie. We
just talking about Biron Murphy. Hguy comes in and I mean it's you

(25:12):
want we watch him like running drillsand stuff. There seems to be explosive.
If you you've played with and arounda lot of great players, what
jumps off the page at you?With your fellow d lineman. I just
think like like he's just untapped potential. Mm hmm. Like I feel like
he can be everything everyone compares himto and probably and the more I feel

(25:34):
like I'm just I mean, I'veseen everything about him, Like the way
he carries himself, like he's notallowed. He's his ears open, eyes
open, just looking at everything,looking at everyone. Coke coke, very
coachable. Listen to what Jay Reidsays. Not Leo's here, he can
give him information as well. Andhe's been just a phenomenal player and just

(25:55):
a just a person that a friend, also a teammate, brother, Like
he's in. I'm not really worriedabout him and a slaw player, because
he's gonna do some amazing things.But as a person, I feel like
he's a great dude. What's yourceiling? If I'm being very honest,
my confidence needs to come back.And when it does, I felt it's

(26:18):
gonna get really scary, really scaryfor a lot of people. But I'm
finding it. And when I findit, it's gonna be it's gonna be
pop. I love it, MikeCorse. I appreciate it coming by.
Thank you so much. That's MikeMorris. Uh, that's powerful. We'll
replay that little bit at the endand kind of comment on in a second.
That was good stuff. That waspowerful stuff from him. Jared Reed

(26:40):
the guy that he expects to takethe biggest leap in this particular defense with
the versatility he has, and Iwould you know Draymond Leonard Williams And when
mentioned earlier, I mean, Ithink they've got dudes on the defensive line.
I think they've got dudes. Itwas one of the great mysteries last
season that even when when Nue's whowent down and it felt like the defense

(27:02):
just melted down and fell apart andwas no longer just able to stop anything.
It was just it was some somewhatmind boggling because you look at the
personnel that they had, and likein terms of who they are, their
body types, just the players they'vebeen in their career, all those things.

(27:23):
It didn't make sense. But asnice a guy as Clint Hurt was
nicest, one of the nicest humanbeings I've ever dealt with in sports,
I just don't think that that wasAnd I know Pete was a defensive guy
as a head coach. I thinksometimes we oversimplify, well, his defensive

(27:44):
head coach. He's gonna run thedefense, yeah, but he's also running
the whole team, right, Andyou know it still falls in the coordinator.
Now, McDonald's got to rebuild thisdefense this year, But Clint had
been with him for a long time. It wasn't like this year, like
this year, Mike mca donald's gonnarun that defense with Adderdey and they're gonna
run the defense. But it's MikeMcDonald. But Mike McDonald, I'm sure

(28:04):
at some point we'd like to kindof he's talked about that, like at
some point kind of hand off alittle bit more of the responsibilities and things
like that as the head coach,because he's the defense he's the head coach.
Clint Hurd been with Pete for solong. I just I put a
little more blame on Clint. Ijust think he was over his skiz.
I just don't think it ever workedwith him as a defensive coordinator, didn't
work with Ken Norton. And that'spart of the problem that might that Pete
Carroll had. Pete Carroll went throughso many coordinators, had so many different

(28:27):
coaches that I think it just itfinally just kind of caught up to him.
The quality of the coaching staff wasn'tas good. I think this coaching
staff's better, and I'm just I'mexcited. I think that front's going to
be really much improved. The problemis who's behind him, because they're awful
thin at inside linebacker or just ifyou want to look at the stack linebackers,

(28:48):
the guy's behind the line of scrimmage. I mean, Baker non existing.
So far, he's been hurt,Dodson has been hurt. I mean,
your two projected starters aren't there.And we think we saw enough of
Radigan and mccon and O'Connell the lastyou know a little bit that they're not
starting linebackers in the NFL, sothey've got to find some help there.
But I like their defensive front andI like Morris as well. Okay,

(29:10):
we'll take you a quick break.We'll come back reset the day. We've
got some hockey to talk about,some basketball talk about. We've got Mike
Parker joining us, coming up attwo o'clock. All right, here nine
three point three KTERFM live from theR and R Foundation, specialist broadcast studio,
back to Ian Fernetz, powered bySeattle's closest sports book, Snop Call

(29:32):
me Casino on Sports Radio ninety threepoint three kJ R FM. All right,
we're back in the R and RFoundation studios, rolling on on a
Friday. Our friend Mike Parker willjoin us, coming up at two o'clock

(29:57):
today. We we'll touch in theNBA finals. Do have me all joking
aside? And then NHL Finals haveme intrigued, and we'll get to that
at one o'clock. Great time ofthe year sports wise, I'm also a
little bummed. I'll explain why,because it's a great time of the year,

(30:18):
but yet it's also kind of that. It's a similar feeling I get
in January as well. I'll explaincoming up a little bit later on Okay,
just we'll put a rap on theSeahawks for now with with Mike Morris
and that conversation that we had withhim, and I'll even ask you guys
this four four tell them the textline was game time, Telly time.
Also the voice text as well.You can talk back Mike, fire away,

(30:41):
thoughts, comments, questions, concerns, all those things are there for
you when like like we're doing Chuckand Buck and Ashley and Anders and whoever
else is filling in on that show, are doing a daily Seahawk. I
wish I'm one series one serious.Okay, that's it's every day one media

(31:02):
member, either from here or anothermarket takes one player and they wax on
about that player. That's their that'ssomebody they're watching for this year. Yeah,
Holme Grin did it the other day, he did. My guy got
taken already. I'm not going totell you who it was, but my
guy got taken by by Hugh Millen. He has priority, you, I

(31:26):
know. That's what you know.What's funny, that's exactly what I said,
damn you, Hugh. So Igot to figure out who I'm going
to take. But I think itmight be one of the defensivelignement. But
I would ask you guys this question, who do you think and who do
you expect to have the biggest jumpthis year for the Seahawks under the new

(31:48):
coaching staff. Whether it's a guyon offense, whether it's a guy on
defense, but who And I wouldjust say, let me just think about
this. For Secon. Yeah,you know what, they didn't have any
all pros last year. They didn'teven have I mean the pro I mean
Julian Love was a pro bowler sortof, I guess. I mean a
few guys problem but there were noBut there's nobody who jumped out of me.
He said, boy, those Ican't I can't say right here today

(32:10):
that there was anybody that last yearhad a season that they would probably be
content with. Would you agree?I would agree with. I mean,
Walker I would have liked, buthe just was hurt. DK didn't put
up the numbers he should. Tylerwas good, He's kind of Tyler.
JSN didn't have a good start tothe Sea. I mean, you go
through the list skill guys go throughthis list of guys on the defensive line.

(32:31):
Mafey would have been that guy sixweeks into the season and then we
had to put an apb out forhim. I don't know where he disappeared
to for a while after he setthat record for consecutive games with a sack,
he just disappeared. Maybe it's mafeBut who do you think, who
would you expect to make the biggestleap year one to year two, well
from last year to this year inthe new coaching staff. Uh, I

(32:53):
asked one guy, and and thisis such a great sound, but I
want to play it one more time. What's your ceiling? If I'm being
very honest, my confidence needs tocome back. And when it does,
I felt I was gonna get reallyscary, really scary for a lot of

(33:15):
people. But I'm finding it.And when I find it, it's gonna
be. It's gonna be. Papa, I love it, Mike Morris,
I appreciate it coming by. Oh, thank you so much. There you
go. That was Mike Morris.That's just a very end. He took
a pause. I looked, Loo, you liked the pause. I like
that. He thought about his answerwell that he wasn't he wasn't you know,

(33:37):
uh, that stuff that's just inyour head to say to fill time.
He thought about his answer, andthat was really honest. You don't
hear guys say that they've lost theirconfidence, right right, No, nobody's
that honest. And he knows andhe's working on it. The fact that
he's willing to admit it means he'sworking on it. And when he said

(33:57):
it's gonna get really scary, Ifear for the offensive lineman he is going
up against in the running backs.Yeah, I think that. I think
that a guy that goes through that, any player that goes through an injury,
you know, because I would Ithink knwos who's gonna be one of
those guys too? Like I thinkchen Is gonna. I think chen Is
gonna take this this. I'm justwatching him. I'll watch him a little
bit the other day, and he'sone of the he's one of the guys.

(34:22):
When he was hurt last year,I had a chance to talk to
him a few times just away fromyou know, when he's not playing and
just standing there and man, thatguy's as serious as the day is long,
and he wants to be great.You get to that level, you've
got a little autphit in you anyway, and if you're playing in the NFL.
That's why I never ever ever usethe word soft when it comes to

(34:43):
NFL players. I just, Imean, there's some guys that are harder
than others, but I just thinkyou're playing in the league, you're not.
You aren't that guy. Ever.There's athletes and pro sports that I
think I would use that term for, but not in the NFL. I
just can never fathom it. Butthere's other guys that take hard to a
different level, and I think Chenis one of those guys. I think
Jaron Reid's one of those guys.And you listen to Morris and he's around
and he just is a sponge witha guy like Jared Reid, and I'm

(35:06):
a I'm a Jaren Reid fan.I think he's just got he's just got
a little red ass in him,and he's what you need. This team,
for a while was the toughest,baddest team in the NFL. It's
gotten away from that for whatever reason. There was a lot of remember the
old term popcorn muscles. I thinkif somebody turned was the Pittsburgh Steeler linebacker
that someone made fun of saying yougot popcorn muscles anyway, like you know,

(35:27):
just your bodybuilding beach buddy, Yeah, but you're not there's nothing behind
it. I felt like I feltlike I felt like that's who they've been
for a while. But there's somedudes on that team that are not that
and and reads one. I wouldput Shenna in that category as well.
And looking at in Morris's eyes whenI'm sitting there telling me that stuff,
that that's he's one of those dudestoo, listened. Devin Witherspoon's one of

(35:52):
those guys. Trey Brown is oneof those guys they got just a little
and DK is one of those guysyou know that just have a little bit
of just a little bit more jammedthan a lot of than other guys do.
And So anyway, who you thinkis going to take that big step
under the new coaching staff offense ordefense? Four nine four to five one.
We'll check those texts a little bitlater on love to get talked back
as well. We'll come back ina lot of ways. Last night was

(36:15):
a big disappointment, which is evenmore of a disappointment because of the time
of the year we're in. Itshould be great, but it wasn't.
It also should be the time ofthe year that we really enjoy it,
and yet I keep finding myself lamentingwhere we're at this time of year.
I'll explain all that next now fromthe Star Rentals Sports Deats Jordan ninety three

(36:36):
point three KJRFM Sports Headlines one o'clockheadlines by two My Buddies, Goodies Glass
always for twenty buddies. Mariners tookanother from the age yesterday took down Oakland
three to nothing. Mitch Garver.Who Mitch Garver? Huh Mitch Garver home
run in the game? Is hethe real Mitch Garver? Should he please
stand up? Sorry? You werea little slim shady with that one.

(36:58):
I know I was I slim shadya little bit. I've been called a
lot of things. That's probably thelast thing ever. Mitch Garver was good,
really good. Was a guy namedBrian Woo. He was very good.
Six innings, two hits, struckout six Mariners. Now in first
place, they are eleven three toone over the last fifteen series. Since

(37:22):
mid April, when they were sputteringout of the Gate. They have turned
it on. They're twenty nine andeighteen in that timeframe as well. Look
at them go huh, look atthem go. Tonight they take on the
Kansas City Royals, first game ofa three game series to wrap up the
six game road trip. Bryce Millertakes on Daniel Lynch the fourth. Not

(37:44):
Daniel Lynch the third. Not DanielLynch Junior. This is Daniel Lynch the
fourth. It's a good thing we'renot seeing Daniel Lynch the third. I
heard he's really good too. Behere all week. Try the meal tip
your waiter. Celtics took game onthe NBA Finals more than that. In
the second Sounder Sporting casey tomorrow fivepoint thirty. Here that game on your
home for the Sounders ninety nine fiftykr a M. Stanley Cup Playoffs set

(38:07):
Oilers Panthers tomorrow up five as well. You can hear that over here right
here on nine three point three kJFM, your home for the Kraken and
the National Hockey Leaguelet's move into thetwo o'clock hour LI from the R and
R Foundation specialists broadcast studio back toIan Fernetz, powered by Seattle's closest sports
book snowp call me Casino on SportsRadio ninety three point three kJ r FM.

(38:39):
You clause there, you hit alittle riff on the on the guitar.
You're playing the guitar. I seein there playing the guitar. I
was just playing that, by theway, that's just playing that. And
then I took a pause. Itwas Barry Mike Morris of me. I
want to I want to hit thefinals for a second. I told you,
I'm going to give you why Ilament things. Can I just ask
you a quick question? Sure?I always wonder if we were blow things

(39:00):
media wise. I think we do. But I think we do, especially
if there's people that we like andare well liked by their peers. How
big a deal is what Doris Burkedid last night. You're a woman in
the business, you work sidelines,You've done a lot of different things.
You've worked at ESPN. How biga deal was Doris Burke calling an NBA
Finals game. I honestly didn't realizeshe hadn't to be, But I didn't

(39:22):
realize she had. Okay, that'sfunny, because you know what. Okay,
that's I knew she had not becausethey had what Mark Jackson and Jeff
Van Gundy before for years it feltlike right, but so I knew she
hadn't, but I hear her,but I feel like she had as well.

(39:42):
I'm kind of the same way.I was like, why don't we
make it such a big deal ofthis? Oh? Oh, it is
her first NBA finals. I didn'tknow it was her first finals, just
because the amount of NBA that Iwatched on ESPN, I hear and see
her so often. I just didn'tknow. I do think it's a big
deal, especially for her. Yeah, you know, that's that's what about
for the gender, like like liketake her away. I mean, listen,

(40:06):
great achievement for her personally and everyonein whatever profession you are in,
you probably want to reach kind ofthe pinnacle of what you do and get
to that certain level and that certainpoint. And she has like that's it.
That's as good as a guess.Yeah, I don't. I don't
even think gender is even a partof it. If anyone gets the chance
to call an NBA R final,that's it's the NBA. She didn't play

(40:29):
in the NBA, She'll never playin the NBA. That's not that's she
did not play in the NBA.So for her, how big a deal
is it? Big for the genderbreaking down barriers moving ahead, how big
a deal is it? I usethere's people that have come, you know
that you've probably looked up to,right and have paved away. Hey Day

(40:50):
dab And and Beth Mowens have beenpeople that I've looked up to forever.
Linda Cohne is one as well,and Heather Cox is another that I have
I've always looked up to. AndI don't think and I mean, for
instance, last year, it wasmade a big deal over me getting called
up to the booth when Matt Chasenowlost his voice on a Cougar broadcast.
Right, I didn't look at itas a big deal for the gender that

(41:14):
day. I looked at it likea holy poop my pants moment. I
have to be there and I haveto do the best job that I can.
But it was made a big dealout of And I don't think that's
a bad thing. I think it'svery subjective in the realm of how big
a deal something is, because Ithink it in the grand scheme of things,

(41:37):
it only matters to that person.And so that's the way I look
at it. But I think it'sa good thing for women in sports to
have someone like Doris who is fantastic. And I think that, okay,
because people get used to I'm justgonna go on a little rant here,
sure, but it's not a rant. People get used to hearing something over
and over and over seeing something hearingsomething. So you know, when you

(42:00):
open a can of coke, youdon't want to taste pepsi. You are
used to what you hear all thetime. Very true. Yeah, so
when something different comes along, itcan regardless of how great the person is
at it, it sounds different.It's like being the guy who would replace
toward Stern, you know, ora guy or girl who would replace something

(42:22):
that you've listened to all day.So I think that it's subjective to the
listener or viewers' ears and eyes.But someone like Doris, I don't notice
the difference someone who's so good atit. And I would say the same
for Beth Mowens, is that Idon't notice this difference in the cadence and

(42:43):
the call of the game. Sohaving more women out there who are calling
things that were used to only mendoing who are so good at it,
I think is very good for womenin sports. Well, and I would.
I would. What you said therejust it's it. It makes a
ton of sense because I think oneof the biggest criticisms of what happened last

(43:06):
night during when people were watching peoplethat were watching the NBA Finals came with
the halftime show and the pre andpost Well the postgame show ABC just uses
a vehicle for Scott Vaanpelt. Andif you like Scott Vampelt, sure that's
fine, but it's not what you'reused to for a postgame show. They
do the same thing with money thenfootball. If it's your cup of tea,
great, But what you said,the familiarity is big, and I

(43:28):
agree. Here's the example. Allpeople have been talking about over the last
two months is inside the NBA andwhat they do pre halftime and postgame.
Well, they're done because it's nowon ABC and ESPN the rest of the
way. So you get Malika Andrews, Michael Wilbon, Stephen A. Smith,

(43:50):
and Bob Myers's whatever. And itgot massively panned, like people just
crushing how bad it was. Partof it was they had only about two
and a half minutes of actual contentover three segments and fifteen minutes. It
was all commercials and promos and everythingelse. But nobody like those guys could
be great. I don't think theyare, but they could be. It

(44:14):
doesn't matter because we're so used tothe last few months, people just watching
inside the NBA. Wor's Charles worseShack, what's Kenny gonna say, that's
Captain Obvious whatever? It would beright, all these things, and it
wasn't them. It was these guys. And it's just such a downer.
The the NBA playoffs, first ofall, had been a downer, like
they just have had zero, zerodrama, nothing compelling. It just hasn't

(44:36):
been. It just hasn't. It'sjust been one of those years. And
that happens. That happens all thetime. It happens in all sports.
Sometimes you just have bad playoffs.Just that's part of it. Last night
earlyle by Dallas, Boston stepped ontheir throat at one point, and then
and then when when Dallas made theinevitable NBA run which happens in every NBA
game, and they caught it withinnine points, what was it a twelve

(45:00):
to two, fourteen to three somethinglike that run? After that it was
over. There was there was noreason to watch. I was never comfortable
because you work sidelines for the Kuks, and I understand your vibe. I
understand that I can relate to thatmore than anybody. And you grew up,
Yeah, you grew up with theJets, the Mets, and now

(45:22):
you work for the Kuks. Yeah, so of course it could have been
a forty point game. You weren'tgoing to feel comfortable. Those of us
that don't care who wins this serieswere like, that's a fair point because
I had a lot of investment.I mentioned that this is kind of a
bummer time of the year for me, and it's it's because of this.
The month of basically mid April throughmid to end May is so awesome as

(45:46):
a sports fan. Yeah, becauseyou have every night, there is something
on every night. You've got NHLplayoffs, NBA playoffs, even if they're
not good this year, whatever,like, you've got something on. You've
got playoffs on every night. Youknow we're at right now, we're at
the end of the end of seasonbecause we're basically a week and a half,
ten twelve days away from just havingbaseball but the summer, but just

(46:08):
having baseball. I'm just talking toa sports fan. No, I know,
I get melancholy this time of year. I'm like, oh, Like
I go to turn the TV onthe to night and I'm like, oh,
I guess I gotta see something onNetflix. We've been doing the same
thing where on Monday, right wasthe first time we didn't have a Mariners
game in seventeen days? How aboutthis? And there was nothing that day,
not because the NHL and the NBAwere waiting for their finals to start.

(46:30):
I know, it was just like, God, I just love this
time of year. Oh now I'mkind of getting I get that feeling I
get when the NFL season ends andwe're just like, okay, we've got
playoffs. First week, first weeksof the NFL plast great. Then all
a sudden, here we go,what are we gonna do? Now?
What am I doing with you?That's what I'm bean, honest, I
don't know what I think. That'swhat's made me a bigger college basketball fan

(46:51):
is that I've I've kind of gravitatedto that a little bit. And obviously
hockey, We've got hockey, butyou know that's that's eighty two games.
But yeah, I was just kindof feeling little melancholy. So I'm feeling
sorry for myself. It's a toughleft. I know, first world problems,
right, Which sport to watch?Which sport to watch? Yeah,
I don't have one thoughts still onthe NBA Finals. I just I just
I I'm just not And I watchmy son's a huge NBA fan, and

(47:15):
he sat down and watched the middleof third or the fourth quarter, and
we're just like, he got upand left. It was just like,
dude, you watch that's the onesport you'll watch start to finish. Oh.
But was so exciting to see himback, at least like for me,
I was. I liked just tosee what he can. But most
people not in Boston or Dallas arewatching to be entertained, and there was

(47:36):
nothing entertaining, because entertaining in agame is when there's a result in the
balance, and the result was franklynever in the balance. I hope this
turns into a good series. Bywhat I saw last night, it ain't
going to be like just matchup wise, porzingis being back changes a lot.
Locke told us that yesterday, Sothat changes everything for who they are.

(47:57):
Anyway, your thoughts on that form. For I know couple of people who
will be at Game two. Maybewe can have them call in and let
us know. All right, well, we're gonna head to North of the
Border in a second. Oh,Farhand Lolgy is going to join me from
TSN. Let's get and the goodthing is he's actually in Toronto today.
He's based out of Vancouver, buthe's in Toronto because the CFL season started

(48:19):
and so he's doing some stuff upthere. But he covers the Canucks,
covers the NHL, actually covers Americanfootball too, does it all? But
he's in Toronto. Let's get alet's get the pulse of what's going on
north of the border. How manypeople actually want to see the Oilers win
or not? And we'll also talkNFL with him. He covers the Seahawks
forster in the season. He comesdown almost every home game, so we'll
talk about a variety of things.Farhan Lolgy coming up next live from the

(48:45):
R and R Foundation Specialists Broadcast Studio, Back to Ian Furnance, Power Advice,
Seattle's Closest sports book, Snow CallMe Casino on Sports Radio ninety three
point three kJ R FM Back ona Friday. Our show brought to you
by St Calle Me Casino. SeeI was closest casino, Son'll call me

(49:05):
Casino. NHL Stanley Cup Finals begintomorrow right here, and you're home for
the crack in the ninety three pointthree k r FM, we'll have the
game for you. Five o'clock.Art coverage begins Edmonton Florida, Game one,
Stanley Cup Finals. Let's go.I wanted to get a little bit
of a pulse because we always gothrough this down here in the States.

(49:28):
When you know, like with ourteams, Hey, would you root for
the Huskies in the national championship game? If you're a Cougar fan? The
answer is usually no, and viceversa. Sometimes fans can't understand why you
won't root for them if you're notteams not there. But you know what,
there's no better example of probably asplit country in terms of fandom than

(49:50):
what's going on right now. Edmontontrying to become the first Canadian team to
win a Stanley Cup in three decadestaking on the Florida Panthers. One guy
that can give us at a littlevibe litt view what's going on. He
is by the way I should.I need to introduce him correctly. My
good friend Farhan Lalgi is also aHall of Famer inducted into the twenty twenty

(50:10):
four Canadian Football Hall of Fame.First and foremost, my friend, congratulations,
how are you? I'm good,pal, Thanks for having me and
yeah, it was quite the honor. I was surprised when it happened.
That's a pretty cool deal. Well, I'm not surprised. You do a
ton for the sport of football aswell as covering hockey and everything else up
there for TSN. By the way, what are we think in Montreal over

(50:31):
Winnipeg twenty seven to twelve? TheCFL season's underway. Let's go huh,
here we go? There we goup at you in Toronto hosting the CFUL
panel filling in for week one,and then next week we've got the game
in dcent plates, which is gonnahave fifty five thousand minutes for a fifty
cent concert along with the Lions homeopener against the Calgary Especially a lot of
fun as well. You're gonna haveyou up and experience in Canadian football like

(50:52):
friends. Well, I'd come upthose guys, don't. There's a couple
of guys, Donnie and Dolly andthose guys. They stopped me at the
border every time I might try tocome across. I don't know what the
deal is there, some sort ofthere's some sort of deal going on,
so I need to come up andI'll just say I know you before the
record, and for what please do. And for the record, you know
I'm a massive Huskies fan, Yes, but I would cheer for the Cougars.

(51:14):
I know the Couper's played in thebig Game. I would absolutely cheer
for the Coroogers. I'm not suggestingyou should. But when people ask me
who your second favorite team is,and maybe it's because it was rate in
Canada that I can live in thatworld, but I would always tell them
that it was WSU. And youknow, for me, I grew up
in an era where college football wasa reflection of the high school talent in

(51:35):
your state. Yes, and Iwas such a I had such an affinity
for high school football in the stateof Washington. And you know, I
coached high school I bring teams downthere and I got to know coaches and
you know, so for me,you know, there was there was probably
more high school kids playing in aWSU from the state than there were Washington
chocolate. You not like WSU.So even though maybe you know when I'm
getting that in the nil era andall of that. Like, I still
I'll cheer for the Huskies in theApple Cup, but every other game I'm

(51:59):
cheering for the Krugers. And it'snot one of those tachy on the head
and little brother cheers. It's likemeaningful. I like the Kruegers. Well,
and listen, we've had this cover. I should just tell people far
and I've had this conversation many times, and I appreciate that as kind of
how I feel growing up a Canucksfan. I I'm but I'm I'm in
my with my family being Canadian,I grew up watching Hockey Night in Canada,

(52:22):
so I'm I grew up a Canucksfan, but I'm rooting for Edmonton
in the Stanley Cup Finals. Iwant to see Edmonton win it. But
you're this is actually great. You'rebased TSN by the way, for being
a know TSN is basically the ESPNof Canada, and you're based in Vancouver,
but you're in Toronto right now.As you mentioned for the CFL panel,
as the season kicks off for theCanadian Football League, so you have

(52:42):
a pretty good vibe of the country, I think, more so than others.
It describe the relationship with the EdmontonOilers and the rest of Canada.
How complicated is it? Well,I mean, I think the notion of
a Canada's team generally is quite complicated, right because you know, you go
to see the annoying version of itwith the Toronto Blue Jays. Now,
there's only one major league baseball teamin Canada, so you are going to

(53:06):
get a certain amount of fandom acrossthe country because it's the only one.
But other than that, like forme, a domestic league, you can't
have a national team in a domesticleague. So you pull the majority of
people in Vancouver and really the majorityof people in the Western Canada. They
want no part of Edmonton winning becauseyou can't hate Edmonton all season and then

(53:27):
all of a sudden share for themto win the Stanley Cup. And you
know, all of these Canadian hockeyfan bases have a real annoying element to
them, so you don't want tosee that annoying element succeed. So you
know, and for me, Iremember in twenty eleven, when the Cannucks
made it to the Stanley Cup final, it wasn't Canada's team, right,
Like, there was not a lotof national love and sentiment and warm and
fuzzy around this team, you know. And then the teams the fan bases

(53:51):
in the media in those cities wouldcome up with a reason and they would
say, oh, well, youknow, you guys, are this kid
that or this one player that didsomebody's hand and these other guys that die.
You try to come up with amoral high ground reason for not wanting
to cheer for your rival, Well, guess what, they're your rival,
you shouldn't hear for them. Solike, if you're looking at at Calgary
and Vancouver, those fan bases haveno interest in seeing Edmonton win. And

(54:15):
whereas in Eastern Canada the rivalry withEdmonton may not be as big, so
you might get a little more ofhey, let's get a Canadian team to
win. But it's not like there'sviewing parties where everybody's gonna get excited.
They're gonna have a pocket parade indowntown Toronto. If the Oilers were the
Standard Cup, it's just kind ofyeah, sure, yeah, good for
them, Let them win. Thenwe can end this streak and stop talking
about it. So depending on thehalf of the country that you're in,

(54:37):
there's a little different level of passionand angst around it. And then on
top of that, the last pieceis the Connor McDavid factor, because I
do think that everybody, even ifyou're not cheering for the Oilers, you
do hope at some point this generationalplayer wins a Cup. You know,
if you're a Vancouver fan and aperfect world, the guy's going to play
for an American team. You knowlater in his career he can win there.

(55:00):
But you don't want to see thatguy never win because he's so darn
good, both both he and Leondrey cidele far on Lology from TSN joining
us right now. You said,like that part of Eastern Canada wants to
you know, like, okay,get it over, we win. You
know, the streak's over, it'sthirty plus years, no longer exists and
all that. How big a dealis that, the fact that the Cup

(55:21):
has not been north of the borderin three decades. It's a deal to
a point. And you know,I think it's it's a talking point,
but it really isn't something everybody,and that matters to everybody. Now.
I think where these issues are isthat there is so much passion around the
game in Canada that there's a narrativeout there that the top players don't necessarily

(55:42):
want to play in Canada because theydon't want that level of attention, right,
even the top Canadian players. Imean, it's almost like playing for
the Yankees, kind of everybody wantsto do it once and not for a
long period of time, right,and then you kind of want to get
back to where you can just kindof have your life again. So there
is a concern for all the fanbases that, look, we're not going
to get these top players here,and if all of a sudden one team

(56:02):
can overcome that and win it,then maybe we can do it too.
And then the other side of itis the tax serramifications in Canada are significant,
right, So I mean, ifyou're Florida, then you're playing no
state taxes or Vegas or a numberof other places. You know, in
Canada, the taxes are heavy here. So you also feel that based on
the enormous pressure and media attention thatplayers are getting here, plus that the

(56:25):
tax part of it, there's goingto be so hard. People just believe
that in the end, you can'tbuild the same way that you can build
an American city. So I thinkthere is a part of that that if
you can just get through that,maybe we can win it too, and
it shows us we can win it. And I think that's probably more of
why it matters as opposed to athirty year drought. If that makes sense,
Yeah, it does Ifarhan, wewere talking about this yesterday, kind

(56:47):
of proving the NBA finals and theNBA is an interesting sport in the sense
that once you get seven game series, usually in the NBA, in a
seven game series, the best teamor the better team at least in that
matchup, the better team will winin a seven game series in the NBA
the NHL, we all know it'sit's not always that case. I mean,
you know, you can have ateam that's at the bottom of the
wild card gets a goaltend of thetop Florida last year, whatever, and

(57:10):
take a run and get to thefinals and maybe even win it. But
it does feel to me like there'sno doubt that Florida was the best team
in the East this year, andI kind of feel once they got things
going with Chris Nablock behind the bench, that Edmonton might be the best team
in the West. Are these thetwo best teams in your mind that are
playing for the Stanley Cup? Trump, I guess you gotta say that.

(57:34):
I still think Dallas was better.Probably deep down I think Colorado was better.
But you know, at the endof the day, and Edmonton played
better, and you know they deservethose series wins. I thought, you
look at the last game, andthere's been so much of this in the
playoffs this year. It was itwas shot thirty five to ten in favor
of Dallas and Edmonton linds up winningthat game. And there's been a bit
of that right Vancouver one games againstNashville where they were I think they won

(57:58):
one game where they only had twelveshots, and it's flipped the other way,
you know for game two. Andthere was some of that in the
Edmonton Vancouver series. And we've seenthat league wide, so it's not always
reflected that. You know, toyour point, over a seven game series,
it should play itself out right,and you know, Edmonton has got
those top two players, but whatthat gives them is they give them this
incredible power play, and that powerplay made a huge difference in the Los

(58:23):
Angeles series, where it basically carriedthem to a win. They didn't do
anything five on five. And nowthe flip side of it is, as
the playoffs have progressed, they've gotthis incredible paying kill, right, so
I think they've won a lot ofgames just kind of based on winning the
special team's battle, even if it'snot all power play anymore. So their

(58:43):
top end is really good. Ithink Florida is a deeper team. I
think Florida's goaltending is better, so, you know, so we'll see.
And I do think Florida, havingbeen to this stage a year ago,
you know, and not winning,I think there's something to be had there.
And when you look at what theirlineup looked like last year when they
played in the five, when thenumber of guys that were missing or playing
with significant injuries that now are relativelyhealthy, I think Florida's rightly favored in

(59:07):
this one. But you know,when you got Connor McDavid and drives downle
on the other side, you cannever put anything pass. I think we're
going to see some true sports hatetoo, aren't we, Especially with the
X ex Calgary Flames in the lineupfor that team against against their old rivals.
I mean, this is this isgoing to be a nasty series,
isn't it? Oh for sure?And I mean when you get to this
point, you know, the onething that always impresses me is just the

(59:30):
resiliency of NHL players and they're willingnessto play through everything. And it's not
like this in other sports, right, I mean, in football, what
do we do in the playoffs?We just eliminate the terrible teams, right,
yeah, somebody, You've just gotgood teams that know how to play
Paulish football. In basketball, thegames get worse because you can't jack up
threes and run the court. You'vegot to play a half court offense.

(59:51):
And the games aren't even entertaining inthe final compared to what we see in
the regular season. Some would arguethat there's no defense in the regular season,
so maybe they prefer this. Butyou know, and in baseball,
the game d are more entertaining.We just hang on every pitch more.
But in hockey, the level ofplay and just the determination and fight and
desperation to just win every play,to finish every check. The games look

(01:00:15):
markedly different in the playoffs, andthe hate is there for sure and by
the court. But the time youget through a seven game series, if
it wasn't there to start, it'llbe there. And in this case,
as you mentioned, with those exCalgary players in Florida, I think it'll
be their game one before they gofar. Hon Lolgy joining us from TSN
I mentioned, I mean, you'reup there covering the CFL, but you
cover a ton of both college footballin the States for TSN and also the

(01:00:37):
NFL. I see every week whenthe Seahawks are at home. I haven't
had a chance to talk to youabout this. Thoughts on Mike McDonald.
We're asking our listeners a question whichI'll get to in a second, but
your thoughts on the hiring of MikeMcDonald and the Pete Carroll era coming to
an end. Yeah, I meanit looks so far, so good.
I like some of the decisions thatthey've made. You know, when you

(01:00:59):
look at johnsh it almost felt likehe kind of had to go this way
because of what ownership wanted at thetime. So they've always been a defense
first team and that's not going tochange under McDonald. But I think how
they defend was going to be alittle bit different. I think we're going
to see a much more modern approachto it. And I do think that
that Pete Carroll era was amazing andit's something that Pete should never have to

(01:01:22):
apologize for. You know, hetook the Seahawks to a place so they
just hadn't been in terms of justthat level of longevity. But sometimes the
life cycle of a team, afranchise and era ends, and I just
think it did in Seattle and theyneeded to change, you know. So
at the end of the day,you know, when I look at this
team, I still see the samepieces offensively, and I'm curious to see

(01:01:45):
if they ever change their identity offensivelybecause for so long Underpeate, the offensive
identity was a reflection of how hewanted things done defensively. And I hope
at some point personnel allows McDonald sneyderto kind of hope things up a little
bit on that side of the ball. But I'm excited to see how they
play defense now because cleaning the wayPete was doing it at the end wasn't

(01:02:07):
working, and he also got loyalto the guys he probably shouldn't have been,
you know, as things went right, like you got to move on
from guys a year too early,not a year too late. And I
think sometimes they were guilty of goingthe other way with certain players at the
end of the Carolina Yeah, Ithink you're speaking of the Huskies. I
think Ryan Grub and Scott Hoff aregoing to make a difference on that offense
for sure. I'd be shocked ifthat wasn't the case. Final thing before

(01:02:30):
I let go. Your son's ahigh school football player. I know he's
kind of going through the camps.By the way, is he coming down
it? There's a million camps thisweekend or all over the places. Got
who's taken with the camps? Ifyou're back in Toronto? Nobody? And
he was at the Avery Showcase upstoday, so he was there. But
we're going to Europe. He actuallygot hurts last season and I wasn't sure

(01:02:52):
where he would be, So ratherthan doing all the camp stuff this year,
we just decided, you know what, We're going to plan this trip
because it's probably the only time wecan do it, and then we'll go
heavy camps next year. He's justfinishing his freshman year up in London,
so it's a great program. They'rein springball. I'm so I'm dying that
I'm missing all of his practices forthe week, but I'm looking forward to
getting back for the scrimmage and thenwatching him play this fall. I bring

(01:03:15):
that up for this reason because youknow, and you know, you know
my son as well, and bothof our sons played football. I'm the
state of football, and I'm includingCanada because and I had heard that they
were going to have I heard thatthe other day that fifty five thousand people
for a CFL game in Vancouver nextweek. That is massive, Like,

(01:03:37):
that's huge. I you know,they a couple of years ago they're struggling
to sell twenty thousand tickets, sofifty five for that you guys are doing
a panel. It seems like theCFL, I believe, is pretty healthy,
which is great to see. Andhere the state of football in North
America. We want to take likehitting out of it, we want to
take the physicality out of it sometimes. But it feels like the health of
this sport is maybe on the uptick, even north of the Yeah, I

(01:04:01):
know, I think so, andcertainly in British Columbia, I'm on the
Board of Directors provincially in terms oftrying to grow the game there and from
BC high school football and our registrationsince the pandemic had gone up significantly,
and that's been good to see,you know, and I hear, you
know, good things about the trendsof where the game is going from a
participation standpoint. You know. Ihate what's happening in college football truly south

(01:04:25):
of the border, and I worrythat there's going to be a trickle down
effect because of the lack of opportunities. The amount of opportunities that are being
taken away for high school graduating seniorsbecause of the portal is frightening to me,
and I think that's going to affecthigh school football. I hope it
doesn't, but there's just fewer opportunitiesfor those guys to get recruited coming out

(01:04:45):
of high school. That's dangerous.So I don't like where the sport's going
from that perspective. But what I'mseeing at the high school level of the
state of Washington and what I'm seeingacross Canada, I just I called we
have an all Canadian game, likeyou get the under Armor game, we
have a all Canadian get here whichthey held at Autawa last week, which
is for players that still have highschool eligibility remaining. It's primarily for guys

(01:05:05):
going into their senior years and evensome guys going into their junior years,
and just to see the level oftalent there on a yearly basis, increase
in the amount of exposure these kidsare getting, in the quality of coaching
they're getting. It warms your heart. It's awesome, but I worry that
you know, you're going to bitethe hand that feeds you, and in

(01:05:26):
college football, you're fed by highschool football, and I just hope there's
a way to get this thing backon the rails so that those high school
kids are negatively impacted by what's happeningin the portal. Well said, my
friend, have a safe trip toEurope, good vacation with the family,
and I assume I will see youend of July out of the Virginia Mason
Athletic Center when you come down tocover training camp. I will be there.

(01:05:46):
Can't wait, my friend, Thanksbuddy, I appreciate that's far.
Hon Loalgy, the Hall of Famerfrom north of the border in Canada,
joining us here on the Beacon plumbinghot line. Yeah, it's an interesting
comment he brought interesting thought he broughtup up there about and I need to
have this conversation with Huffman again becauseyou know, Brandon's always said to me,
and I've heard this from others.We talked about this with with Gary

(01:06:10):
Parrish as it relates to college basketballas well, not just college football,
about how well, yeah, there'sstill the same number of opportunities, same
number of roster spots in college footballin college basketball. True, true,
and that is true, But itfeels as if more and more those high
school kids are having to take adifferent route before they get to that level.

(01:06:34):
And I don't know what the numberslook like, but the number of
kids in the portal every year tellsyou that there may be fewer opportunities.
High school recruiting may not be asimportant as it used to be. I
know. I see the trickle downeffect at the small college level, guys
that are either trying to move upor guys that are having to come down
because there's no spots left for him. It's I think that the level of

(01:06:57):
play in all levels of football onthe collegiate level is better than it has
been because there is so much movingup and down, But I don't know
if it's a good thing, especially, as far Han said, for the
high school kids and everyone wants theirmoney, reaching out with a hand,
give me my bag, all thatkind of fun stuff. Right. Well,
that's all nice and fine, butthere may not be the same opportunities
or once was that seems like aconversation we're gonna have to have with our

(01:07:18):
buddy Brandon Huffman at some point aswell. Four nine four one Telemaro text
line when it's game time time,thoughts, questions, comments, concerns,
whatever's on your mind. We'll takethose coming up at two thirty today.
Also, where are you watching thegame tomorrow? Which game? No?
No, I mean I want tohear from people. Well, they's Stanley
KOCHI. Well they're listening right herein KJRRD. Was gonna say, I

(01:07:39):
hope you're sinking. I hope you'reon a patio listening on a radio or
app. I'm gonna go find MikeBenton and be with him. Want to
sit next to Mike Benton as weNo, I'm not going to do that.
That would be that's just too much, too much. No, it's
too much, too much good stuff. That's too much. It's just no,
that's too much with Mike. Nottoo much. That's you know,
a half full of press box uppereThis is the climate plage. That's good

(01:08:00):
enough for me. No, you'vedone a lot of postgame with them too.
Yes, he's a I love Mike, he's one of ours. He's
our Hall of Famer. We loveye captain. All right, well,
come back, we have a dailypower play update you on what's going on
with the Coachella Valley Firebirds. MikeParker top of the hour, the voice
of the Oregon State Beavers, thestate of college athletics. We'll talk about

(01:08:23):
that with him, the Beavers ofcourse in the PAC two right now,
what he's hearing. And he's downat Texas A and M for the Super
Regional with the Beaver baseball team.So lots of stuff going on, lots
of rumors, lots of things todiscuss. Will do that, friends of
fur Nest with Mike Parker coming upat two o'clock right here in niney three
point three kJ FM No from theStar Rentals Sports to us Jordan ninety three

(01:08:45):
point three k j r FM SportsHeadline two o'clock headlines are brought to you
by Buddies, Goodies and Glass SoI was for twenty eight Buddies, also
by Vinie Kingsandy Kings dot Com.Why do I give them both? I
have no idea where I'm at inthis world, So there you go.
They both got their little plug.Today. We got lots going on world
sportsclup. The Mariners took another onefrom the A's yesterday three nothing, the
final Garber home run, Dylan MooreRBI, Brian Wu unreal six innings,

(01:09:09):
two hits, struck out six wasfantastic. Next up tonight take on on
the Kansas City Royals. Bryce Milleron the bump. Celtics took Game one
of the NBA Finals. Final scoreone oh seven eighty nine. Chris STAPs
Porzingis twenty point six rebounds. Backin the lineup, Jayalen Brown twenty two
points six rebounds. Jason Tatum addedsixteen with eleven and five. I read

(01:09:30):
all of that only because Jess putit down for me, and she's a
Celtics fan. Didn't want her workto be wasted. Okay, Sounders Sporting
KC tomorrow five thirty. You canhear that game over in your Home for
the Sounders nine to fifty KJR AM, and the Stanley Cup playoff is set.
The Oilers take on the Panthers fiveo'clock tomorrow. We got it for
you right here on your home forthe NHL and the Krack in ninety three

(01:09:51):
point three KJFM are television voice tothe Crack and John Forslin on the call
for that game. Move into ournumber three. Welcome to mail it in
Friday. So you know what thatmeans. Our midday host has tapped out
and needs to lean on his friendsand the biz to carry us, sorry

(01:10:14):
caboose to the weekend. It's timefor friends of furness or the guests he
can bribe to literally phone it inwhile he blows off his commitment to his
fans like an Oakland a'se owner,Ladies and gentlemen, Captain Slacker Bean forness.
Indeed, Mike Parker, do youlike that? Huh? Part of

(01:10:35):
the Slacker Hour that I'm part of, part of your vision to this segment
of the show. It's an honorto be How are you? I'm great,
Mike, how are you great?To hear your voice? Of course,
Mike Parker is the great voice ofall things Oregon State athletics, football,
basketball, and before we get abigger picture, things and lots of

(01:10:57):
stuff going on in the world ofcollege athletics. Oregon State baseball, which
has been really the premier program inthe rest in peace, the PAC twelve
for the last one almost twenty years. Oregon State is in the Super Regionals
right of the NCAA Baseball Tournament.What's the story down there, Well,
we're in Luxingtonnesse city. I've neverbeen in I've spent very little time in

(01:11:18):
Kentucky in fact in my life.So this is fun. It's new,
it's a new experience. We justgot done with practice at their beautiful ballpark.
People were talking about going to somesort of museum for I don't know
if it's a museum or a cemeterywhere some of the great horses. I
don't know much of It's not muchin my world, and I don't know,
but I was here and talk onthe bus coming back from practice about

(01:11:42):
war, Admiral and Seabiscuit and manaWar. I mean, they might all
be interred here that I don't know, but I heard people talking, so
I may be jumping on another busto go see that. It's a beautiful
part of the world that I've neverbeen in. The Beavers have a tough
draw with Tucky is a number twoseed and number two team overall, but
you know, the Beavers have donepretty well for themselves in the postseason and

(01:12:06):
I'm just looking forward to a newexperience down here. Well, and kind
of is it in a sense,Mike, is a little bittersweet in a
sense that's the last time the Beaverswill be competing with whether it's hopefully it
keeps going after that to the tothe World Series next week, but is
a little bittersweet when you look downand you see Oregon State Beavers on the

(01:12:27):
on the jersey and also see thatPAC twelve logo, no question, no
question that it's it's been that wayall year. And I, you know,
Jess was telling me that you hadAnne McCoy on and that she was
great, and I you know hermessaging I saw on a column that Canzano
wrote, you know, on hissite, yep, and in interviewing Anne
as well that so I'm going totake Martine order from man, which seems

(01:12:50):
like she seems like a good personto do that. The message of positivity.
We need the fan bases for theKoogs and the Bees to not be
wallowed in a sense, not thatyou're wallowing and asking me that question.
And there's a genuine bittersweet element andhas been this entire athletic year. It's
been tough. Well, it's beentough to kind of you know what I'm

(01:13:11):
saying, And you've got our showdownhere, and it's been difficult to maintain
the positivity. So I'm trying todo that and watch the Beavers compete and
maybe get to Omaha and maybe bringanother national championship home. But it's it's
hard to think about get my mindaround the end of all things as we've
known it in our league. Well, and I just my yeah, And

(01:13:32):
I've been on Mike's show a handfulof times, and I always appreciate being
asked to go on that show downthere and talk to to your great audience,
and it's it's it's a pleasure andan honor to do so, and
I like doing it. And youknow, I think a couple of times
we've come on it has kind ofbeen you know, Ian driving the bitter
bus, and I've kind of triedto channel some of that energy, you
know, into what the positives canbe. And you know, we had,

(01:13:54):
you know, the the NCAA tournamentrun with the Kougs, and even
though Kyle left and most of theroster did afterward is not named by Isaiah
Watts. You know, you tryto move on and you try to see
what the positives are. I channelit this way. Like for me,
I've been following Oregon State. Ilike, I want to see them win
the damn College World Series and justshove it. And that's you know,
and that's so there goes my negativeagain. But I like, I want

(01:14:15):
to see him do that. Bythe way, they play tomorrow three o'clock
Pacific time on espn U and Sundaythey play at six pm Pacific time on
ESPNU. So if you want toroot on the beaves, all Cougar fans
should be doing just that in whatshould be a really really tough regional.
Yeah, it should it will be, but it's an opportunity, you know,

(01:14:38):
And you're right, and I canjust tell in what you just said,
it's been We've been trying. It'shard not to be angry and bitter
and enraged at times about all that'shappened, you're I mean, it's easy
to go there. In fact,it's easy to walla win it. I
think that's why Anne and Scott Barnesand and President Schultz and President Murphy and

(01:14:59):
saw honors and yet yeah, Okay, we know been delta bad hand,
but I think Wilner and others havepointed out that in being dealt maybe the
worst hand in the history of collegiateathletics. I think both institutions are playing
their hands as fast as possible andstaying nimble. That seems to be the
big ward. We're nimble, We'regoing to adapt, We're watching, we're

(01:15:19):
waiting, we're looking, we're proactiveas well. But I still I think
I like our leadership, and Ilike I still believe there's a good end
for both of our great schools.My quick thought, before I let you
go, just on, and notbefore I let you go, before I
get to the bigger picture stuff,just on the game itself. In Oregon,
Steed, there's some like for thoseof us that are mirror fans up

(01:15:40):
here, there's some dudes, right. I think your second basement might be
the mis projected to be the firstoverall draft pick in the Major League Baseball
draft? Right? Who are watchingfor this Oregon State team that we could
be saying seeing playing the major leaguesoon enough. He's got a real shot
at being one one any any mockdrafts that I've seen. Travis Bizana,
the Wonder from down Under as theycall him, or the Basmanian Devil.

(01:16:02):
He's got a lot of nicknames thatTravis Bazana's grew up just outside of Sydney
and has just been a force anda joy to be around. He loves
the game. Ryan Rowland Smith introducedTravis Ryan in the minor leagues. Pitched
with our pitching coach who was RichieDorman. They were teammates for four or
five years coming up in the Marinerssystem and became great friends. And so

(01:16:27):
we owe it to Ryan Rowland Smithessentially that we have at Oregon State now
maybe the premier baseball player, andin fact I think he is the best
player, whether he wins the GoldenSpikes or the Houser or whatever else.
I don't know. There's a guyat Georgia mashing the ball in Charlie Condon,
but I've read Ian back and forth. It's either Charlie Condon out of
Georgia or Travis Bazan out of OregonState. The one to one pick and

(01:16:51):
whoever doesn't take the one, theother will be two' That's what I'm sensing.
And Bizon has been really special.So if anybody does and in watch
our second basement four fifteen and twentyeight home runs. And he's just and
he's a great defender, tremendous leader, loves our community. And he said

(01:17:12):
to me the other day in aninterview, he said, Oregon States meant
everything to me, and I'm goingto be the biggest ambassador for Oregon State
in my life ahead. And Ibelieve them. That's awesome. I wish
I wish our local team here hada higher draft pick because they could certainly
use a second baseman. Mike Parker, the voice of the Beaver's joining us
here on the Beacon Plumbing hotline.You referenced it. We had Anne McCoy
and here, the inter athletic directorthe other day from Washington State University,

(01:17:35):
and yeah, she you know,she said, you know, now's the
time to rally and all those things, but let me take a let me
take a step back, because I'dlove to get the perspective, what what
are in Mike hosts a show downthere and so you hear him from from
you know, Beaver fans all thetime. What's the general feeling right now
amongst Oregon State fans in regards tothe Mountain West Conference and football come up

(01:18:00):
this fall? Is there any excitementon your team's supposed to be pretty good?
But what are we hearing in termsof you know, cause I know,
like I have a lot of Cougarfriends that are like, yeah,
whatever, man, it's you know, they're having a hard time getting excited.
What are you hearing from Beaver fans? And I think it's a mixed
bag. You know. The thingis, in this final year of the
conference, we've kind of had ourheads down, just working, you know

(01:18:23):
what I'm saying, working, goingto the games, playing the games that
we have ahead of us. Wewere good in football, you know.
I mean when I think about theBeaber football season just passed, they were
number ten in the country when Washingtoncame to town and the Beaver's nearly got
them, you know what I mean. I mean it was a monsoon.
But if you win that game,then the whole mood and everything changes.

(01:18:44):
You were close to doing it.And from that point, from losing the
game and the rain late in Corvallisto the Huskies, to the ensuing rivalry
game the Civil War, to Jonathantaking most of his staff for the man
players, it was just one,you know, body blow after another for

(01:19:05):
weeks, and our fans were really, really down, you know, and
there was nothing we could say onthe show to say, well, no,
no, no, everything's okay.Nothing to see it. We're going
to be fine. I mean,it was hard to kind of keep people,
you know, looking. But TrentBray has energized the fan base,
you know, he really has.I think he's going to do a good

(01:19:25):
job. I think we're going tobe good in football. I don't think
we quite know yet. I understandwhat you're saying some of your crew friends
and fans and who are having ahard time maybe generating some excitement about the
Mountain West heavy schedule. The Beaversdo have Washington and I mean Oregon and
Purdue on their schedule, which Ithink helps a little bit in the early

(01:19:47):
part of the year, but Ithink it's going to be later as the
reality sets in. I mean,you have a September with Oregon and Purdue
on your schedule. Okay, yah, stuff that's going to feel kind of
like yeah, But the season thenwears on. I think that's when I
might be able to answer the questionabout how do our fans really feel now?
So to speak? Right now,I still think there's a genuine sense

(01:20:12):
of hope and excitement about what FrentGray's going to do as the head coach,
and a reasonably you know, adecent schedule, A window with Boise
State on the day after Thanksgiving that'sgoing to be a national windows of themselves.
I mean, I think all ofthe news that we've heard about the
CW and Fox and the schedule rollingout, all of that news has still

(01:20:36):
kind of kept people. Okay,you know, we'll see in the twelve
to fourteen months ahead about you know, whether we're going to have a merger,
reverse merger, rebuild the fact twelveyou know, through that method.
I don't know, but I stillthink it's too early and to know how
fans are going to feel when Septemberis over and now you're playing essentially in

(01:20:58):
the Mountain West. I think that'swhen we're kind of kind of kind of
get a feel. Now if you'rewinning those games. If you play well
and win, I think that's goingto keep you know, for the most
part, I think people are goingto accept this at least as our temporary
new reality, not necessarily forever relegated, so to speak to that. But

(01:21:19):
if you're if you're playing well,winning, I still think Recher is going
to be a tough out, atough place to play, and I think
our fans will stay engaged. Ireally do, but it's it's hard for
me to tell right now. MikeParker joining us a voice of the Beavers.
Mike, what's the what's the thoughtfrom Oregon State fans on keeping the

(01:21:40):
I'm going to use the term I'msorry, just but that's how I know
what the Civil War, but thegame with Oregon still going. I know
for a lot of Washington State fansthey were done, like they just they
wanted no part of it. AMcCoy said, they're going to keep it
for now. I'll be honest withyou. The reason she said that is
because the game next year is inPullman and that's a cash cow. Like,
if we're being honest, that's whatthat's why you keep it one more

(01:22:02):
year. But most Washington State fansthat I've heard from, they just want
to move on. They just theyyou know, you guys, go play
in the Big Ten. That's fine, we want to move on. Hell
would rather play Oregon State as ahome and home or something. But what
do Beaver fans think about playing Oregonevery year? That's also that's also you
know, a mixed bag and avolatile, a volatile subject in terms of

(01:22:27):
raising the hackles of people that arejust done, like you said, angry
and bitter and but but I alsoknow that the as the Apple Cup is,
so is the Civil War. It'sjust it's part of, you know,
what the Beaver State has been allabout for so long that I think
even the people that are bitter aboutit, if it does indeed go away,

(01:22:49):
it's going to be sorely missed asan event, a galvanizing kind of
event for the entire state. Sothe cash cow aspect you're talking about,
my argument is it's always going tomake sense that way for Oregon State to
play it, and thus anything wecan do, you know, in the

(01:23:09):
all of the challenges ahead from revenuescreams, that game is going to always
generate a gigantic amount of money bothhome and away that the department you know,
will certainly need. And from thatargument alone, even some of the
emotions aside, and think it makessense to try to keep playing the game.
I'll wrap it up with this,Mike. There's been I mean,

(01:23:30):
there's just so many rumors flying aroundright now. What's going to happen with
the ACC and Florida State and Clemson. You've actually you know, you're probably
in the neck of the world whereI could ask you this next week or
next time I'm on your show,we can talk about it more because I'm
sure the word in Lexington, Kentucky, down in SEC and ACC country,
You're probably going to hear a lotof stuff over the next twenty four to

(01:23:51):
forty eight seventy two hours. Butoverall, when you hear all these things
and all the rumors, what wouldMike Parker like to see happen in say
twenty four months time or twelve monthstime. Would you like to see a
rebuilt PAC twelve with Mountain West teams, maybe hoping that say Stanford and cal
comeback. Would you like to seeour two schools end up in the Big
twelve? Maybe just full time membershipin the Mountain West. What would you

(01:24:14):
like to see right? Well,you're right. One of the people I'm
looking forward to sitting down with ifhe will gain to do so, is
Kentucky's ad Mitch Barnhart, who youremember Mitch, and he did great work
at Oregon State. He's been herea long time and is in fact driving
in It's the Barnhard Athletics Complex drivebecause he's he has raised the money for

(01:24:36):
the softball, the soccer fields,the beautiful baseball park Kentucky now plays,
and Mitch has done the heavy lookingand all of that. I'm hoping to
pick his brain about all of thisstuff and kind of get a feel from
his important seat as the ad atKentucky kind of what he's feeling during what
he thinks our best play and bestshot would be. Because he cares about

(01:25:00):
Oregon State. He was a bighired Dennis and he was a big part
of a lot of things at OregonState in his time in Corvallas. So
I look forward to kind of whenyou say in the neck of the woods,
yeah, we're in the heart ofbig time stuff here in Kentucky and
Lexington, and I look forward tohis perspective But my best case, I
think, even though I don't,you know, after what's happened to us,

(01:25:23):
I don't want to see another GreatLeague implode per se. But if
it does, if the ACC does, you know, go the way of
the Pact twelve, with the FloridaState and Clemson being the first and the
others to follow. As in ourcase, I think in a couple of
years time, maybe you know aStanford and cow looking back to you know,

(01:25:45):
back out here where a where areef, you know, who's ever
left in the ACC forming kind ofa bicoastal type conference as a term I've
heard that involved. You know,as long as it's national, you have
good, good properties, but havea West Coast representation. But there's also
travel, you know, perhaps tothe to the Atlantic coast. I mean,

(01:26:06):
that could happen to me. That'sa that's a scenario I could.
I think I could be pretty excitedabout. I'm less so about just a
you know, a straight merger withthe Mountain West. I like a lot
of the schools there saying I'm nottrying to disrespect them in how good they
are and in what they've done historically, but somehow to be involved in in

(01:26:29):
kind of a bi coastal type thing. And I think that's what Anne and
everybody talks about when we're watching andwaiting and looking what's going to happen there,
what's going to happen next. Butthat still feels like further down the
road than the twenty four months you'retalking about. So I don't know what
to say. And I think longterm, I'd like to be affiliated as
much as possible with as many Powerfive schools historically as the Bees and Koogs

(01:26:54):
have through all these decades. Ihope that's kind of where we land as
opposed to in a sense saying,well, that's not our world anymore,
you know, we do need tokind of step down or back a little
bit. I'm hoping that that.I think that's maybe further down my priority
list that a straight merger or areverse merger to me is as you know,

(01:27:17):
more attractiveness than just a straight mergerwith a current Mountain West. Again,
no disrespect, but it's not theworld we've lived in, and so
I'd like to see us somehow stayaligned with as many traditional Power five four
schools as possible. Yeah, Ithink that's well said. It's so hard
because you've been there and we wereso used to a certain level and certain

(01:27:38):
schools and things like that. Iwas in Salt Lake when when the Mountain
West was formed. Actually I wasworking down there Insult Lake are formed,
and liked the Mountain West. Butyou know, one of the things I
liked about it was they just tookthe best of the whack and tried to
kind of in sense, you know, take one step closer to the PAC
twelve, because they wanted to bethe PAC twelve. Yes, and that's
what they did when they had theBreakaway eight and all that, and and

(01:28:00):
they had great rivalries, I mean, especially byu Utah being in the same
conference was awesome back then. Well, Mike, I look forward to being
invited back on your show if Ididn't make anybody mad down there. Love
to come back on anytime. Itwas always fun talking to you guys down
there. In the meantime, I'mjust rooting on the beaves this weekend.
Go take care of business against Kentucky, all right. Appreciate it, Ian
and Jason, and great talking toboth of you guys, who look forward
to future conversation. As Mitch revealsthe master plan, I'll share it with

(01:28:24):
you via tech. You've got mynumber. I'll look forward. If I
see that five. I see thatfive for what area code, I'm like,
here we go. Mike's got someinfo. I like it. Make
my weekend, my friend go beeveshave fun this weekend, sir. Take
care. There you go. That'sMike Parker joining us, the great voice
of the Oregon State Beavers. Allthings beas Yeah, I think you can
tell in his voice. Mike's apretty positive guy. You know. The

(01:28:48):
more we talk about it, it'sit's hard. It's a very hard conversation
that everyone's having right now. ButI in the back of my mind,
I keep like when we had Amacoyaand the other to the acc is is
just like the tremors are happening,like it's just it's going to emplode.
And what Mike said about I don'twant to see another great conference go by

(01:29:11):
the wayside like ours. I'm atthe point now where and I learned this
from the Sonics in two thousand andeight. I don't care. I just
don't care with you on that.I care about my school, I care
about my teams. I don't youknow, like when when there was talk
about Sacramento. Moving up here,I was like, people are like,
oh, I don't know if yes, we do? You know why why

(01:29:32):
not? Because it just at thatpoint you have to worry about number one
in this case as a fan oran alumb er, whatever it might be.
You worry about your school or yourteam, and yourself and your market.
And I'm kind of at that pointright now. Mike's lot nicer and
I am, though, so youknow, it's funny. Mike is one
of the first people I talked tooutside of just those I'm close with the
Washington State when all of the everythingwent down, and he was and I

(01:29:54):
mean you could hear in his voicehe was crestfallen, and so we were
just kind of talking as you know, brothers from another mother essentially, and
he is just all about college athletics. I would say, you know,
obviously it's Oregon state number one,but he was so upset about seeing That's

(01:30:15):
so it doesn't surprise me to hearhim not want another conference to go by
the wayside. But I'm with you. I'm with you, and I'm Susie
Bleep and sunshine. Most of thetime. I don't care if you're going
to do that to that conference.Then I don't care which is the next to fall

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