March 27, 2025 • 41 mins
Former NBA sharpshooter Wally Szczerbiak breaks down playing against MJ, Kobe, and LeBron, and discusses why Cooper Flagg shouldn't risk another year at Duke. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey discusses how the conference has become a basketball powerhouse, and shares how the transfer portal and NIL are reshaping the college sports scene. And MLB insider Tim Kurkjian breaks down the MLB season ahead on Opening Day, and shares why he's not quite ready to pencil in Shohei Ohtani for MVP.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
He was the sixth overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves
back in nineteen ninety nine. He's while he's ERBIAX CBS
Sports college basketball studio analyst, also works for the New
York Knicks. Good to talk to you again, Wally. Do
you have your Miami of Ohio sweatshirt on? Is that okay?
Speaker 3 (00:22):
All right?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're repping.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I like that.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Reppin' Ohio baby. Yeah, I know you went to Dayton.
I went to Miami. We were rivals back in the day.
Dayton's gone a good path. They just missed the tournament
in Miami, lost by two in their conference championships. So
Travis Steele's doing a great job. I'm excited about where
the program is.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
If you didn't go to Miami, where were you going?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Well?
Speaker 4 (00:43):
I wanted to go to Saint John's, but they didn't
recruit me. They had Felipe Lopez going there, so they
didn't really give me an opportunity.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
That was a little under recruited.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Other schools I was looking at was Harvard, North Carolina State,
Iowa Siena. That was another one I really wanted to
go to Duke, but again didn't recruit me. Really wanted
to play for Rick Patino, didn't recruit me. I really
wanted to play in the Big East. So I ended
up at Miami. Played for great coaches. Sean Miller was
an assistant, Bad Moda was an assistant. Herb Senec who's
(01:11):
still coaching at Santa Clara doing a great job.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
He was the head coach.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
So I went to kind of the cradle of coaches,
which Miami is known for in football and also in
college basketball. All those guys are thriving. So I got
some great coaching for four years.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
But would you have stayed there in the transfer portal,
nil era, No, I just.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I loved it. It's an amazing school.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I got my degree, I have great friends. It's just
an awesome campus, awesome place. But in today's landscape, the
way players from mid majors are getting kind of taken
away from small teams and going to the big schools.
You look at a team like Florida, you know, Walter
Clayton junior from my own, Elijah Martin from fau Will
(01:55):
Richard transferred from a mid major.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
A lot of those top tier teams and we heard
Bruce Curle even said it.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
He said he loves to get transfers that come from
mid majors that haven't had the glorious meals, pregame meals
that have been driving the games back and forth on buses,
which we used to do in Miami of Ohio and
the Mid American Conference. They really appreciate coming to those
big schools from mid majors.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
They work hard, they grinders.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
A lot of the top players in this tournament left
are transfers from mid major schools.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
John cali Perry said yesterday in Pat McAfee show, at
least I think it was yesterday, but he was talking
about how you got to wait for the transfer portal
before you can get a high school player. But I'm
guessing these coaches have contact with these high school players
and you kind of have a sense of who on
your team is going to be transferring or put their
(02:46):
name in the portal. So is it that big of
a deal that we have the transfer portal window open
right now?
Speaker 4 (02:54):
I think it could wait a little bit longer. I
think it puts a lot on a coach that are
still coaching's plate because they need to focus on trying
to win a national championship and win games, and you
can't be recruiting guys watching film on guys in the
transfer portal on the side, because you don't know whether
those guys are going to pull the trigger and go
to school and take a sure thing as far as
(03:15):
the scholarship and opportunity and an nil opportunity, it's got
to be crazy.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Listen, the coaches have been doing it for years.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Like for example, Herb Syndic, God bless them, we had
a great freshman year.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
He ended up going on to NC State.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
You know, we hired Charlie Goles and my career kind
of exploded, so it worked out great for me.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
But coaches leave when they have good.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Seasons to take better opportunities. Now players have the opportunity
to do the exact same thing. I think it's better
for the game of basketball. I think if it's elevated
the play of the players and of the teams, because
iron sharpens iron, and now the best players they can
go to the best teams and play for the best coaches.
And I think that's why we see eight teams left
from the SEC and the Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Okay, but what kind of tweaks are you going to
make If I said you're going to run college basketball,
what's the one thing you want to change.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
The one thing is to make sure there's a lot
of promises out there as far as transfers and nil
money and stuff like that that don't get delivered. If
there's any way that it can be a lot more.
It's kind of a wild wide West, and it's like
a promise that might never come to fruition.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
If there can be a.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Way to just guarantee stuff and happening, you know, maybe
a contract something like that, a two year deal where
coaches know who's going to be playing for them for
at least two years and not just one, and they
can just transfer after one. Something like that. Maybe giving
a guy one transfer in their four years without sitting out,
then if they want to transfer again, they have to
(04:45):
sit out a year. Goes back to the old roles
back when I played, where if you transferred, you need
to just sit out a year and pay your dues
kind of in order to play for a new coach
on a new team and a new campus. So I
think those are a couple ideas that are being thrown round,
but overall, the quality of the game.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Is very good.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
I love seeing high level basketball, and I like watching
the best basketball players in college in the amateur level.
And this year we've gotten to that point where the
best players are playing on the best teams for the
best coaches.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Talking to while the Zerbiak, CBS Sports College Basketball Analyst.
So you faced Michael Jordan at the end of his
career with the Wizards. You had Lebron early in Lebron's career,
in Kobe kind of middle of his career.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
I had Kobe the whole entire time picking my butt out.
They're not just out of the playoffs. He felt like
every year with Kobe and Shack. When I was with
the Minnesota Timberwolves and Kevin Garnett's Frett Well and Cassel,
that team was just dominant.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
So Kobe was outstanding.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Okay, most frustrating out of that three to cover.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
H Well, I didn't play against Jordan in his prime.
The hardest guy for me to cover. I've always said
this was Paul Pierce. I played against him for years.
He was such a smart basketball player. For me, being
six seven sixty eight, Paul Pierce had had had the
height that could match up with me, and I just
had a lot of problems guarding him. You know, he
(06:10):
changed speeds, He's so smart. He was one of the
most underrated superstars I think in my generation. The opportunity
to play with him in Boston also for a year
and a half, got to know him as a guy.
But he was a handful for me. Obviously, Kobe was
because he was so quick.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
So fast. But the thing I could kind of I could.
I could post up Kobe a little bit, and you know, because.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
I had a little bit of a size and strength advantage,
so I could get some buckets on him.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
I couldn't stop him though, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
On the other end, was Jordan still talking trash back
then at the end of his career.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Jordan talked the most trash to me on the golf course.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
I've played with golf with Michael a couple of times,
and he's a lot of fun to play golf with.
He's a lot of fun to play against in basketball too,
But he talks a.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Lot of trash on the golf course.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
He's he's a big time competitor, and he talked a
little bit of trash. But when he was with the
Wizards and I was with the Timberwolves. In the three
years that I played against him, we won. We were
six and zero against the Wizards, back and forth, home
and away. We beat him every single time. So I
caught him at the end of his career. But nothing
but respect for him. He's my goat.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
With all due respect to Lebron, my teammate.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
I got Lebron number two on the greatest of all
time lists Michael Jordan. What he accomplished when he needed
to win a game, he won it. When he needed
to make the big shot, he made it. And the
way he dominated basketball on both ends of the floor
for his career. He's my greatest of all time.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Okay, but is there something Lebron could accomplish that would
change that list?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
You know what he's doing. The longevity, it's incredible, it
really is.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
It's just the tightness of Jordan's career, making it to
six finals and winning all six. Obviously had great teammates
and a great coach, but he dominated his era of
basketball like nobody else. Did you know the longevity of
Lebron If you want to enter a different argument, the
fact that he's still doing it at forty years old
is absolutely incredible. I think They're a legitimate title contender
(08:09):
this year, so it's amazing. But the fact that Michael
Jordan did it in a small span of time and
just dominated every finals, I just don't think there's anything
Lebron can do to surpass that. Fifty thousand points plus
amazing accomplishment and I got them number two, right behind
Michael Jordan.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Looking at the games tonight BYU Alabama, Maryland, Florida, Arizona, Duke, Arkansas,
Texas Tech, where's the surprise slash upset in that group.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
BYU Alabama is must be TV. That's the game to watch.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
This BYU team coached under Kevin Young, an NBA mind
that came from the Phoenix Suns. Spreads the floor, out
shoots a lot of threes. They get up and down
the floor. They have outstanding big rebounders down low. So
Alabama's going to have to bring their hard hat and
they're going to have to rebound. This game is going
to be first one to one hundred. I'm really for
this game. I think it's being played in Newark out
there in New Jersey. This is gonna be a great one.
(09:05):
As far as upsets, I think Maryland might be able
to pull an upset. I mean Maryland. They have a
great crab five. They announced standing save an outstanding starting five.
They're rested after the first weekend. Florida looked a little
bit vulnerable against Yukon. I love Walter Clayton Jr. He
shot him out of that game making some big shots.
And if Yukon could have hit some open threes which
(09:27):
Danny Hurley drummed up for his guys, they could have
won that game. They just missed too many open shots.
Caravan and McNeely, I think that could be an upset.
Special look out for the Maryland terms.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
If you were Cooper Flag, give me a reason why
you would go back to Duke.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Because it's a lot of fun to play in college
basketball on campus.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
There's nothing like it.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
The thing is, there's a lot of risk if he
does go back. You know he's the surefire number one.
He's ready for the NBA. What you get when you
go to the NBA the coaching, the professionalism off the court,
the physical therapists, the trainers, the strength coaches. It is
an all inclusive program to maximize your basketball abilities. Not
(10:17):
saying that Duke is not the same, because Duke is
at one of the highest levels in college. BYU is
doing the same thing with Kevin Young coaching. They're trying
to become basically a G League team, an NBA development
team in college to get guys ready to play at
the next level. But Cooper Flag just has so much
to risk. If he doesn't come out, he's going to
be the number one pick in the draft. The number
(10:38):
one picking the draft makes a lot of money guaranteed,
So we'll see. I know he's thrown out the idea.
I think it would be great for college if he
came back. I would love it because I love watching
him in a Duke uniform. But at the same time,
it's a very risky move if he does.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah, but the Wizards could be there. I mean it's
hard to say, Hey, you know, they won the lottery
and I'm the prize I get to go to Washington.
If you were going to go to Washington right now,
or you had a chance to stay at Duke for
one more year, what would you do.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
I'll tell you that's a great point, you know, but
there but what if the flip side is what if
something happens it is, you know, at Duke and he
hurts himself.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
You know, just something funky happens.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
That's a huge risk to take, you know, and you
never know with with how the draft is going to
pan out. You know, we've seen teams jump up in
the draft and you have to trust that. You know,
most organizations in the NBA, they're figuring out once they
get talent, they're figuring out how to maximize that talent
and how to be pretty relevant. Washington's has been pretty
(11:45):
irrelevant for a pretty long time. And I understand where
you're coming from, but it's just I think too big
a risk for a guy like Hooper to take.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Good to catch up with you again, Walie, thanks for
joining us.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
Always fun. Enjoyed the Sweet sixteen. It's going to be
a lot of fun the rest of the way. All
the to San Antonio.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Crining a champ.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
That's Wally zurbiank CBS sports college basketball analyst, former store
at Miami of Ohio.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 5 (12:20):
Hey Steve Covino and I'm Rich David, and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to
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iHeartRadio app. Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world. We have a lot of fun talking
about the stories behind the stories in the world of
(12:42):
sports and pop culture, stories that well other shows don't
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check us out. We like to get you involved, to
take your phone calls, chop it up. As they say,
I'd say, the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio,
maybe the most interactive show on planetar. Be sure to
(13:02):
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and the iHeartRadio app from five to seven pm Eastern
two to four Pacific, And if you miss any of
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get your podcast, and of course on social media that's
Covino and Rich.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
He's the SEC Commissioner. He's Greg sank Back on the show, commissioner,
thanks for joining us. When did the SEC first start
to focus its resources maybe on making the Conference of
basketball powerhouse? Was there, you know a moment where you said,
why don't we just take the headlines in other months? Well?
Speaker 6 (13:38):
Yeah, I can speak to when it became really raw
for me, and it was March of twenty sixteen.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
That was the end of my first basketball season as the.
Speaker 6 (13:49):
SEC's commissioner, and we had three teams selected to the
NCAA Tournament on the men's side. Now, Dan, that was
the fourth time that had happened in the prior to
ten years, so it's not like we had a great
trend going. But when you're in the commissioner's share, that
moment was pretty raw and we had to do some
things differently from our end in the conference office.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Okay, but what was the plan that you put in place?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, a couple of things.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
One, we had had some consulting relationships where we really
weren't talking about the right things. You remember the old
RPI which is now the net. We would spend an
ordinate amount of time trying to figure out how to
game the RPI and scheduling. We weren't talking about hiring
the right people. We weren't talking about facilities, we weren't
talking about recruiting. The day after that selection, Sunday, I
(14:40):
transitioned away from one advisor and I brought Mike Trangheesi in.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
The next day.
Speaker 6 (14:45):
And what Mike did is help us talk about the
right things. The other bonus with Trengeese and I grew
up outside Syracuse, New York, so watched the Big East
Form was like when Mike said you're good at basketball
to the media, you were automatically.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Good at basketball. But one of the things he did
was he.
Speaker 6 (15:02):
Talked to our ads as they were going through the
hiring of coaches, and not tell them to to who
to hire, but talk to them about perhaps who not
the hire, who may not be ready for the stage
that we have. Those kind of conversations became much more relevant.
We had some other tweaks we needed to make, but
that was a big part of the conversation.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Did you take the same approach to football at any
point where you guys have been successful winning titles, but
now with more teams in the playoffs, and is there
any a different shift in philosophy?
Speaker 6 (15:36):
You know the reality of this job and a long
time ago, I was Southland Conference commissioner. I was like
way off Broadway. You never called me for an interview,
so I never had the opportunity. I made a decision
that every day in that role, you had to think
about football one way or another. And I think the
reality of the Southeastern Conference is football is dominant on
(15:57):
a daily basis. We have twenty one other sports. But
we also have to recognize the conversation allocation, the time allocation,
so football is a bit more natural. Do we talk
about issues, Absolutely, We're talking about scheduling in the conference.
We talk about non conference scheduling, we talk about CFP impacts.
(16:19):
That's daily. We had to be a little bit more
intentional on the basketball front ten years ago.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Are you in favor of more teams qualifying for marech Maendness.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
Yeah, I'm in favor of fully exploring that. I think
there's advantages to doing so, given there's more Division one
members right now, there's one less conference. But what we're
doing is excluding from participation some of the top fifty teams.
And I think when you look last year at North
(16:50):
Carolina State on eleven seed makes it to the final four,
you've had two or three teams playing Dayton that have
made it to the Final four or made it into
the Elite eight and Sweet sixteen. What that tells me
is there's a competitive balance at the high end, and
we have to think about providing access.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Now. I wouldn't just run to.
Speaker 6 (17:09):
Expand for the sake of expansion. I've never put a
number on it, I think, and I've been clear that
it needs to be fully explored. I'm pleased at the
NCAA leadership and the committees involved are doing so.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I'm talking to Greg Sanki, SEC Commissioner. I'm more concerned
about transfer portal and nil with college football or college basketball.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I think both are are relevant.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
You know, I watched the rhetoric right now, Dan, and
I mean, we forget that we've just seen coaches transfer,
right We've seen head coaches leave a program last week
to go to another program. I've had in my league.
I've had it in my league a year ago, where
a coach leaves Program A and the SEC to go
(17:52):
to Program B. That's reality. The commentary about young people
doing the same thing needs to be.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
In the context that the adults have that advantage.
Speaker 6 (18:02):
Now. There needs to be an orderly process so when
you watch coaches move, it's a pretty tight timeframe. There
are anomalies to that, and I think we need to
tighten up the time frame. Don't forget, like three or
four years ago, the transfer portal was opened three hundred
and sixty five days a year. It's been narrowed, it's
been moved back a week. Plenty of opining that we
shouldn't have the transfer portal open during the NCAA tournament.
(18:26):
I'll give you that, but I also know there's a
lot of backroom conversations that take place, and at least
right now with the portal open, everything's on the table.
If somebody is looking to leave, they go in the
portal and it's known and people can deal with that.
It makes it busy for sixteen teams, and I'm empathetic there,
but we ought to just think contextually about what happens
(18:48):
big picture in the game quick the nil front we've got,
we're going to see in a week and a half
the outcome of a lawsuit settlement, and whether that provides
meaningful oversight of third already name itage and likeness activity.
It can be a much healthier environment.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
What if we cap the number of transfer portal players
that you can bring in, or like, I'm just trying
to everybody you know says we have a problem. I
just haven't heard solutions here. How can we make this
better for all involved?
Speaker 6 (19:18):
Yeah, we've talked about solutions. So I think some of
you have to go back. There used to be an
NCAA limit on the number of entering team members in
a year or over two years. The basketball community really
ended up railing against that. Miles Brand was the president,
but that came in. We go right back to that
(19:38):
and create some continuity. I do think you have to
remember that we have had attorneys general in states file
lawsuits over transfer policies, even common sense transfer policies. We
also have to remember the NCAA has a habit of
being asked for waivers and granting waivers, which I think
magnifies the problem. So if we if we came to
(19:59):
a point where said, hey, the rules are the rules,
here's the timeframe you can engage in certain behavior, and
there are no waivers and there are no lawsuits out
of those waves, that'd be idyllic for us.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Compared to where we are.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Now, twelve teams in the college football playoffs. When do
we go to fourteen, we'll see not this season. It's
a topic of conversation.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
My view is it took us a heck of a
long time to just get to twelve. I think twelve
was a success. By all accounts. You saw continuing interest
through the playoff. We actually took a deeper dive as
a CFT management committee. So that's like gobblygook for the
commissioners and the Notre Dame ad Looking at an analysis
(20:43):
of viewership throughout the playoff, a lot of positive stories.
You would hear this like year over year comparison of
a particular game being down. That didn't tell the full story.
So I think it was the right time to expand.
I think it worked well. I think we learned a lot.
We've got some work to do before the twenty five
season to make some adjustments. I think the bracketing where
(21:07):
we had these seeds that got moved into the top
four and people lost home games, I'd like to see
that change.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I think that's immediate.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
I do think there's some relevance to thinking about expanding
the number, whether it stays at twelve or fourteen. I
think even sixteen's a relevant conversation in advance of the
twenty sixth season. That doesn't mean we just go there,
but like that NCAA tournament expansion, we should be looking
at what are the impacts and what are the opportunities.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Give me an alternative to these selection committees.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Well, we had the.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
Old BCS computer r anchorings, remember those days, and everybody said,
you know, how can we have computers making these decisions?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
We need people?
Speaker 6 (21:50):
And what we have now is how can we let
people make these decisions?
Speaker 3 (21:53):
We need computers. So it's the full on pendulum swing.
Speaker 6 (21:58):
Yeah, Dabor, there's something in the over the combination of
a committee and better informed data help support decisions. What
I do think is really important from a Southeastern Conference
perspective is the number on the left hand side of
wins and losses the most important or the right hand side.
And what happened last year and maybe the last couple
(22:21):
of years causes, at least among my athletics directors, the
question of we need to lose fewer games. That creates
thinking about non conference scheduling that kind of dumbs it down.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
I don't think that's good for the game.
Speaker 6 (22:34):
I don't think Nebraska canceling the Tennessee series is good
for college football, and the citation was that members of
the CFP selection committee said, well, it won't hurt you
that much for dropping the game. I think that's problematic.
I tend to think we should play nine conference games,
but to get there, we have to have more clarity
(22:55):
on the CFP selection process. So in answer to your
direct question, there's likely a balance that can be struck
between the human thought process and the analytics. We know
that people didn't like just analytics, and now they're trending
towards we just don't.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Like humanity as much as we thought we did. So
Where's the middle ground? Is another one of those works.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Would you be in favor of a college football schedulings are.
Speaker 6 (23:26):
Some of these outside ideas have said that I'd welcome
a conference commissioner having more authority over just deciding conference
and non conference schedules. I don't think the culture of
college football lends itself to csurs. I probably said to you,
like the Russian czar thing didn't work out very well
over time, and remember, like the eighties, drugs are and
(23:49):
we still have problems. So I don't think just identifying
that one mechanism solves the problems. I'd welcome if people said, hey,
you go set my commend schedule, pick the number of
games in this league and our non conference opponents. I
pursue that in a different way, but that's not something
that resonates within a room of athletics directors and have
(24:10):
football coaches quite the same way it does on a.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Zoom with you.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
One other item, and this is off topic with football
and basketball, but it does relate to it. Can we
can you see where we separate college football college basketball,
and then you have these other sports that we don't
want to lose. They're not revenue producing but softball and
lacrosse and soccer, and we make them regional so they're
(24:37):
not flying. You know, Cal and Stanford aren't flying cross
country for wrestling or volleyball. That we make this regional,
so you know, your budget is not at stake here
and you can still keep these smaller you know, sports,
Olympics sports.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
Maybe I don't know what kind of awards you give
for g decision making, but I think you just gave
me a gold start because we are a regional conference
and for example last.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Week, well you guys are, yeah, but college college sports
is not.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
Well, that's because others made different decisions and they have
to to live with those decisions.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I'm running college sports to me, so it's why I'm
asking you know that that that's I'm making you the
college football notts are you're you're running college sports. Why
don't we let these other sports, smaller sports, non revenue producing,
stay regional while football and basketball, if you want them
going cross country, great.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
Again, I'm gonna I'm gonna hold the Southeastern Conference up.
Was the bright shining example of decision making. And here's
a why I actually think I'm not gonna speak to
everybody else. They made their decisions for different reasons, but
I've made those decisions. I think you can look at
what we've done and say, no, they wouldn't have done.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
The same thing.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
We had a pack stadium for l Issue at Texas
last week in baseball packed, we had a pack stadium
for Auburn or Texas and softball. I think those build
on each other. I think those build on each other.
So your question kind of the foundation was take football
and basketball. I think if you're going to do something
in basketball, you're doing it for men's and women's basketball.
(26:20):
We have to acknowledge that, and I'm going to have
baseball programs first round draft picks in baseball who say,
wait a second, I play in front of more people
for conference baseball games, and my basketball team plays in
front of it. And I'm going to sign an eight
figure contract with a signing bonus. That's enormous, right, Why
don't I deserve the same treatment as my basketball colleagues
(26:43):
men or women.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
I think there are.
Speaker 6 (26:45):
Distinctions that can be made, but I think some of
that has to play out decision making. So for the
Southeastern Conference, I think what we do in football has
great meaning and what we do in basketball, and you
saw it with our environments in basketball this past year.
I think what we do when football and basketball plays
out in baseball and softball and meaningful ways. I think
people want to be in those environments. If you want
(27:07):
to spend your time preparing, learning and competing, not on airplanes,
You're going to come and challenge yourself here at the
highest level.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
That's my recruiting pitch.
Speaker 6 (27:18):
Others may have to make different decisions because I think
you've seen with these coast to coast conferences people opining about, Hey,
maybe we need a central hub for competition, so we're
not flying all over the place. I think they're probably
all learning from this first year as they go. But
I really like the way we've configured ourselves because it
meets the exact question that you've asked me on a
(27:40):
sport by sport basis.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
He's the former Great commissioner from the Southland Conference. He's
Greg SANKI great to talk to you again, enjoy the
rest of the tournament. Good to visit with you again.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
I certainly hope I do.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Thank you, Greg.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six ams on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Jim Kirchin of the Mothership and a Hall of Famer,
he joins US opening day double dip with the Mothership
Brewers Yankees at three Eastern Tigers and the Dodgers seven Eastern.
Joe Buck will be on the call for the game
in New York, and you can catch Timmy on Baseball
tonight following the Brewers and the Yankees. Let me hit
you with a poll question. Are the Dodgers good for baseball? Yeah?
Speaker 7 (28:27):
I think they are, Dan now, the way they do
business as we know is completely legal, and if everyone
else had the same advantages of them, they would do
the same thing. I think they're great for baseball because
wherever they go, they're gonna draw a lot of people.
I think every great drama needs a hero and a villain,
(28:48):
and to some people, the Dodgers are the villain.
Speaker 8 (28:51):
There's also a chance they will be so good this year.
Speaker 7 (28:54):
That they potentially could make history in some kind and
of course be the first team since the potentially Yankees
ninety eight through two thousand to win.
Speaker 8 (29:04):
Back to back World Series.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
So look, I understand this isn't fair to smaller market
teams that they can defer all of this money, and
I think it needs to be changed, and it will
be changed, I believe. But to say that they're terrible
for baseball, I'm sorry. I'm just not buying it. Dan,
those two games in Japan were really cool, and the
(29:26):
Japanese players are so good, and the rookie Sazaki's going
to pitch in the big leagues this year.
Speaker 8 (29:33):
I think it's good for baseball.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
I do.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Was it good for baseball to have Opening Day in Japan?
And the reason why I bring this up is, couldn't
you play two spring training games over there and accomplish
the same thing. Did it have to matter to the
Japanese baseball fan.
Speaker 8 (29:49):
Look, Dan, I'm older.
Speaker 7 (29:50):
Than you, Okay, I'm sixty eight, and I enjoyed a
parade in Cincinnati and that was the first game to
lead to the season.
Speaker 8 (29:59):
Still do a p in Cincinnati.
Speaker 7 (30:00):
But I believe they should all start on the same
day we should start in this country.
Speaker 8 (30:05):
However, I'm also a realist. This is all about money, Dan.
Speaker 7 (30:10):
We're growing the game. Those games in Japan were tremendous,
and the more and more growth that baseball can get,
the better it is. If you're asking me what would
I like, I would like every team to open the
same time on April the first in this country. But
am I going to argue with what we saw and
the Otani show and the Suzaki Show.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
No, I'm not arguing how many teams can win the
World Series.
Speaker 7 (30:39):
Dan, I'm again in the big minority here. The beauty
of this sport is its unpredictable nature. I think the
Dodgers are the best team, and I think there are
six other teams in the NASH five other teams in
the Nation League, maybe six that have a chance to
win the World Series is if, of course, every thing
(31:00):
goes right. I'm not so sure about the American League.
I don't see a great team in the American League,
although the Rangers can just mash when everybody is healthy.
Speaker 8 (31:11):
But the beauty of the sport.
Speaker 7 (31:13):
Dan, is that there's so many teams in the American
League that are pretty good and not great.
Speaker 8 (31:17):
It's gonna be a free for all.
Speaker 7 (31:19):
And there are so many really good teams in the
National League that's going to be an equal free for
all to see who maybe gets to play, Say the
Dodgers in the NLCS.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Okay, let's run down the teams. You got the Phillies
and the Braves. Are you in the Mets in there?
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (31:36):
Now the Mets have to get there starting pitching healthy
Sean and I has got to be as good as
he was down the stretch. So those are three teams
I think could win it. From the East.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Who else?
Speaker 3 (31:47):
All Right?
Speaker 8 (31:48):
The Brewers are pain the neck to play, Dan.
Speaker 7 (31:50):
They catch it, they're hungry, they're young, they're aggressive, they
steal more bases than almost anyone. They are a dangerous team.
So I'm gonna put them in there. And then in
the National League. Of course, you have the Dodgers, you
have the Diamondbacks, who are vastly underrated, especially with the
pitching they have now. And I know the Podres aren't
spending much money right now, but they're going to be
(32:13):
a nightmare also if everything works there, so I think
you could find six seven teams that could win the
World Series from the National League.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
How much does Otani pitch this season?
Speaker 7 (32:27):
I thought he would be ready sooner than this. I
was told in spring training he might be ready on
May the first. We don't need him until then because
of all the off days in April. They could go
to a six man rotation. I'm not sure when he's
going to pitch, but I promise you when he does pitch,
he's going to be really good. Let's say it's let's
say it's mid Let's say it's the All Star break.
(32:49):
When he gets back, he's going to be really good, because,
as you know, Dan, he is a machine in getting
his body and everything else ready to play in the
big leagues and be like no one we've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
But because of that, I don't know how he does
in factor into the MVP every year. If he's still
able to pitch and hit. He's like Travis Hunter at Colorado.
He's a two way player that nobody is like that,
so he has a decided advantage. It feels like every
single season going in, you know, for the MVP, he.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
Does dan And I'm sorry, I don't like it that way.
When I first started voting for these things in nineteen eighty,
it depended on whether your team won or not. Chipper
Jones won in nineteen ninety nine because he carried his
team the last two months into the playoffs.
Speaker 8 (33:44):
I refuse to believe that we're just going.
Speaker 7 (33:46):
To give it to Otani before this season starts, even
though he's the best player in the game period. But
let's say Juan Soto hits three seventy and hits forty
homers and carries the Mets into the playoffs. You're telling
me that's not an MVP season and is gonna get
aced out just because the most remarkable player we've ever
(34:09):
seen is really good. Again, I'm sorry, I can't look
at it that way. I want to watch the season
play out.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Give me the next player to make six hundred, seven
hundred million dollars.
Speaker 7 (34:23):
I'm not sure anyone's going there anytime soon. But I
think Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles has a chance to
get somewhere near there because he's so young, he's so good.
He plays a premium defensive position, shorts up exceptionally well.
Louis Gonzales remember him from the Diamondbacks. He met Gunner Henderson.
(34:45):
I was standing right next to him last year and
he shook Gunner Henderson's hand at the at the batting cage,
first time he'd ever met him. Gunner walks away, and
Louis looks at me and goes, I think that's the
biggest shortstop I've ever seen it, and I think he's
got the biggest hands of any shortstop I've ever seen.
Speaker 8 (35:02):
That's what we're dealing with here.
Speaker 7 (35:04):
And Dan great high school basketball player, tremendous athlete, He's
going to figure everything out, and an absolute dirt dog
when it comes to playing the game and playing it properly.
Speaker 8 (35:17):
He would be next on my list.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Can we do anything about those elbow things that these
guys wear when they go to the plate.
Speaker 8 (35:25):
I think it's a little too late for that, Dan.
Speaker 7 (35:27):
We what we really care about is protecting our players
and making sure they don't get hurt.
Speaker 8 (35:35):
Dan, we have healthy scratches.
Speaker 7 (35:37):
Now, I got three hits last night, but he ran
an awful lot last night. So one of the people
are saying he might be a little tired. We're going
to give him the day off. So as long as
we're trying to keep our players healthy, I think what
they're going to allow dear and arm arm, armor and
stuff like that.
Speaker 8 (35:58):
And yet the.
Speaker 7 (35:59):
Irony is, or the paradoxes, the more we've protected, the
more it seems they get hurt.
Speaker 8 (36:04):
It's a little confusing to me.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
And I rail on this and I have for a while,
and then nothing can be done about it.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
But the White Sox had six pitchers go down in
spring training and they all need Tommy John surgery. And
you know, this is it's concerning that. You know, maybe
maybe it's analytics that God is to this point here,
but if you're the commissioner of Baseball and you're watching,
I mean, it's it's not a question of if, it's
(36:34):
when this happens, and it's a health issue for Major
League Baseball, So what do you do about it?
Speaker 7 (36:39):
Well, Dan, you have to go all the way back
to Little League. And I know this sounds corny. You
got to stop the ten twelve year old from throwing
off a mound twelve months.
Speaker 8 (36:48):
Out of the year. That's how guys are getting hurt.
Speaker 7 (36:51):
Dan, you know when you played baseball as a kid,
November fifteenth came around and whatever you were doing at
that time, you picked up a basketball. And that's what
we should be doing more often. When you play this game,
which is so diabolically difficult to play, and you're throwing
off a mound twelve months out of the year, no
wonder you're going to get hurt. Plus, the industry has
(37:14):
demanded that our pictures throw as hard as they can
on every pitch, and when they don't throw a heater,
they want them to spin a slider or curveball at
the highest rpm ever, and we wonder why they're getting hurt.
The reason you were a good high school pitcher is
you played other sports that made you a better pitcher
(37:35):
when March came around because you just got back from
the basketball season. I am really worried that we are
specializing with our young kids. We have to go back
to the Little league and make those changes. Otherwise we're
going to keep having these Tommy John and other arm injuries.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
What would Pete Rose's stats be, Tony Gwynn stats, Rod
Caruz stats, Wade Bong stats if they played in today's game.
Speaker 7 (38:05):
Well, with the shifting a little bit different. I think,
first off, they would be great players today because great
players transend all ears.
Speaker 8 (38:14):
If you're going to play.
Speaker 7 (38:15):
Rod Grew the way that they play certain guys, he's
going to get two bunt hits a game.
Speaker 8 (38:20):
And I'm not making that up.
Speaker 7 (38:22):
George Brett, who's a very humble man, told me a
couple of years ago when everyone was shifting all over
the place.
Speaker 8 (38:29):
He said, if.
Speaker 7 (38:30):
I played today at for fifty.
Speaker 8 (38:33):
He would see where to hit it. Tony Gwynn was
a magician.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
But would they be power hitters because of the analytics though?
Tim when they're coming up in the minor leagues, they
you know, the emphasiss is on power.
Speaker 7 (38:48):
Yes, I'm well aware, and it really bothers me that
we would take a player like Wade Bogs who's hit
three twenty eight lifetime walks well over one hundred times
because he can a hard line drive single to left
field better than any left handed hitter I've ever seen,
and they would tell him wait, you're unbelievably strong. You
need to hit forty homers. That's that's what they would
(39:10):
do with him today, And he wouldn't hit three twenty eight.
He'd probably hit two eighty eight with thirty five homers.
But I would rather watch way Boggs hit it to
all fields than be just another guy who hits a
million homers.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
When was your first Opening Day?
Speaker 7 (39:27):
My first was in nineteen eighty two. I count that
dan as my first one, even though I did eighty one.
But eighty two, I was the full time beat writer
covering the Texas Rangers and the first three games of
the season got snowed out in New York, so we
had to open in Cleveland. Seventy four thousand people in
(39:49):
Cleveland for Opening Day. The next day they had like
three thousand people. So it was memorable for a lot
of reasons.
Speaker 8 (39:57):
And this is so.
Speaker 7 (39:58):
George Wright was the rookie lead guy for the Rangers.
He got three hits on opening Day. I went to George,
rookie from Oklahoma City. I said, George, did you have
a good time today? He goes, yeah, I've never been
to a major League game before. So the first game
he had ever attended in his life.
Speaker 8 (40:18):
He got three hits.
Speaker 7 (40:19):
And I just found out like six months ago that
Mickey Rivers, the mischievous center fielder, maked an injury in
spring training in order for George Wright to make the team.
And that's how George Wright ended up on the roster
on opening day because Mickey loved George right, he said,
I'll fake an injury and you could play center field
(40:41):
out opening Day, and then he got three hits in
the only game he'd ever attended in his life.
Speaker 8 (40:47):
That is the beauty of baseball.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
Have fun today, Tim, great to catch up with you
as always.
Speaker 8 (40:52):
Well, good to see you, Dan. Take care.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
That's Tim Kirkchin, ESPN baseball analyst and a member of
the Baseball Hall of Fame.
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
He was the sixth overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves
back in nineteen ninety nine. He's while he's ERBIAX CBS
Sports college basketball studio analyst, also works for the New
York Knicks. Good to talk to you again, Wally. Do
you have your Miami of Ohio sweatshirt on? Is that okay?
Speaker 3 (00:22):
All right?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're repping.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I like that.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Reppin' Ohio baby. Yeah, I know you went to Dayton.
I went to Miami. We were rivals back in the day.
Dayton's gone a good path. They just missed the tournament
in Miami, lost by two in their conference championships. So
Travis Steele's doing a great job. I'm excited about where
the program is.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
If you didn't go to Miami, where were you going?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Well?
Speaker 4 (00:43):
I wanted to go to Saint John's, but they didn't
recruit me. They had Felipe Lopez going there, so they
didn't really give me an opportunity.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
That was a little under recruited.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Other schools I was looking at was Harvard, North Carolina State,
Iowa Siena. That was another one I really wanted to
go to Duke, but again didn't recruit me. Really wanted
to play for Rick Patino, didn't recruit me. I really
wanted to play in the Big East. So I ended
up at Miami. Played for great coaches. Sean Miller was
an assistant, Bad Moda was an assistant. Herb Senec who's
(01:11):
still coaching at Santa Clara doing a great job.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
He was the head coach.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
So I went to kind of the cradle of coaches,
which Miami is known for in football and also in
college basketball. All those guys are thriving. So I got
some great coaching for four years.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
But would you have stayed there in the transfer portal,
nil era, No, I just.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I loved it. It's an amazing school.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I got my degree, I have great friends. It's just
an awesome campus, awesome place. But in today's landscape, the
way players from mid majors are getting kind of taken
away from small teams and going to the big schools.
You look at a team like Florida, you know, Walter
Clayton junior from my own, Elijah Martin from fau Will
(01:55):
Richard transferred from a mid major.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
A lot of those top tier teams and we heard
Bruce Curle even said it.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
He said he loves to get transfers that come from
mid majors that haven't had the glorious meals, pregame meals
that have been driving the games back and forth on buses,
which we used to do in Miami of Ohio and
the Mid American Conference. They really appreciate coming to those
big schools from mid majors.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
They work hard, they grinders.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
A lot of the top players in this tournament left
are transfers from mid major schools.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
John cali Perry said yesterday in Pat McAfee show, at
least I think it was yesterday, but he was talking
about how you got to wait for the transfer portal
before you can get a high school player. But I'm
guessing these coaches have contact with these high school players
and you kind of have a sense of who on
your team is going to be transferring or put their
(02:46):
name in the portal. So is it that big of
a deal that we have the transfer portal window open
right now?
Speaker 4 (02:54):
I think it could wait a little bit longer. I
think it puts a lot on a coach that are
still coaching's plate because they need to focus on trying
to win a national championship and win games, and you
can't be recruiting guys watching film on guys in the
transfer portal on the side, because you don't know whether
those guys are going to pull the trigger and go
to school and take a sure thing as far as
(03:15):
the scholarship and opportunity and an nil opportunity, it's got
to be crazy.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Listen, the coaches have been doing it for years.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Like for example, Herb Syndic, God bless them, we had
a great freshman year.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
He ended up going on to NC State.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
You know, we hired Charlie Goles and my career kind
of exploded, so it worked out great for me.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
But coaches leave when they have good.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Seasons to take better opportunities. Now players have the opportunity
to do the exact same thing. I think it's better
for the game of basketball. I think if it's elevated
the play of the players and of the teams, because
iron sharpens iron, and now the best players they can
go to the best teams and play for the best coaches.
And I think that's why we see eight teams left
from the SEC and the Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Okay, but what kind of tweaks are you going to
make If I said you're going to run college basketball,
what's the one thing you want to change.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
The one thing is to make sure there's a lot
of promises out there as far as transfers and nil
money and stuff like that that don't get delivered. If
there's any way that it can be a lot more.
It's kind of a wild wide West, and it's like
a promise that might never come to fruition.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
If there can be a.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Way to just guarantee stuff and happening, you know, maybe
a contract something like that, a two year deal where
coaches know who's going to be playing for them for
at least two years and not just one, and they
can just transfer after one. Something like that. Maybe giving
a guy one transfer in their four years without sitting out,
then if they want to transfer again, they have to
(04:45):
sit out a year. Goes back to the old roles
back when I played, where if you transferred, you need
to just sit out a year and pay your dues
kind of in order to play for a new coach
on a new team and a new campus. So I
think those are a couple ideas that are being thrown round,
but overall, the quality of the game.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Is very good.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
I love seeing high level basketball, and I like watching
the best basketball players in college in the amateur level.
And this year we've gotten to that point where the
best players are playing on the best teams for the
best coaches.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Talking to while the Zerbiak, CBS Sports College Basketball Analyst.
So you faced Michael Jordan at the end of his
career with the Wizards. You had Lebron early in Lebron's career,
in Kobe kind of middle of his career.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
I had Kobe the whole entire time picking my butt out.
They're not just out of the playoffs. He felt like
every year with Kobe and Shack. When I was with
the Minnesota Timberwolves and Kevin Garnett's Frett Well and Cassel,
that team was just dominant.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
So Kobe was outstanding.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Okay, most frustrating out of that three to cover.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
H Well, I didn't play against Jordan in his prime.
The hardest guy for me to cover. I've always said
this was Paul Pierce. I played against him for years.
He was such a smart basketball player. For me, being
six seven sixty eight, Paul Pierce had had had the
height that could match up with me, and I just
had a lot of problems guarding him. You know, he
(06:10):
changed speeds, He's so smart. He was one of the
most underrated superstars I think in my generation. The opportunity
to play with him in Boston also for a year
and a half, got to know him as a guy.
But he was a handful for me. Obviously, Kobe was
because he was so quick.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
So fast. But the thing I could kind of I could.
I could post up Kobe a little bit, and you know, because.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
I had a little bit of a size and strength advantage,
so I could get some buckets on him.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
I couldn't stop him though, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
On the other end, was Jordan still talking trash back
then at the end of his career.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Jordan talked the most trash to me on the golf course.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
I've played with golf with Michael a couple of times,
and he's a lot of fun to play golf with.
He's a lot of fun to play against in basketball too,
But he talks a.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Lot of trash on the golf course.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
He's he's a big time competitor, and he talked a
little bit of trash. But when he was with the
Wizards and I was with the Timberwolves. In the three
years that I played against him, we won. We were
six and zero against the Wizards, back and forth, home
and away. We beat him every single time. So I
caught him at the end of his career. But nothing
but respect for him. He's my goat.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
With all due respect to Lebron, my teammate.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
I got Lebron number two on the greatest of all
time lists Michael Jordan. What he accomplished when he needed
to win a game, he won it. When he needed
to make the big shot, he made it. And the
way he dominated basketball on both ends of the floor
for his career. He's my greatest of all time.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Okay, but is there something Lebron could accomplish that would
change that list?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
You know what he's doing. The longevity, it's incredible, it
really is.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
It's just the tightness of Jordan's career, making it to
six finals and winning all six. Obviously had great teammates
and a great coach, but he dominated his era of
basketball like nobody else. Did you know the longevity of
Lebron If you want to enter a different argument, the
fact that he's still doing it at forty years old
is absolutely incredible. I think They're a legitimate title contender
(08:09):
this year, so it's amazing. But the fact that Michael
Jordan did it in a small span of time and
just dominated every finals, I just don't think there's anything
Lebron can do to surpass that. Fifty thousand points plus
amazing accomplishment and I got them number two, right behind
Michael Jordan.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Looking at the games tonight BYU Alabama, Maryland, Florida, Arizona, Duke, Arkansas,
Texas Tech, where's the surprise slash upset in that group.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
BYU Alabama is must be TV. That's the game to watch.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
This BYU team coached under Kevin Young, an NBA mind
that came from the Phoenix Suns. Spreads the floor, out
shoots a lot of threes. They get up and down
the floor. They have outstanding big rebounders down low. So
Alabama's going to have to bring their hard hat and
they're going to have to rebound. This game is going
to be first one to one hundred. I'm really for
this game. I think it's being played in Newark out
there in New Jersey. This is gonna be a great one.
(09:05):
As far as upsets, I think Maryland might be able
to pull an upset. I mean Maryland. They have a
great crab five. They announced standing save an outstanding starting five.
They're rested after the first weekend. Florida looked a little
bit vulnerable against Yukon. I love Walter Clayton Jr. He
shot him out of that game making some big shots.
And if Yukon could have hit some open threes which
(09:27):
Danny Hurley drummed up for his guys, they could have
won that game. They just missed too many open shots.
Caravan and McNeely, I think that could be an upset.
Special look out for the Maryland terms.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
If you were Cooper Flag, give me a reason why
you would go back to Duke.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Because it's a lot of fun to play in college
basketball on campus.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
There's nothing like it.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
The thing is, there's a lot of risk if he
does go back. You know he's the surefire number one.
He's ready for the NBA. What you get when you
go to the NBA the coaching, the professionalism off the court,
the physical therapists, the trainers, the strength coaches. It is
an all inclusive program to maximize your basketball abilities. Not
(10:17):
saying that Duke is not the same, because Duke is
at one of the highest levels in college. BYU is
doing the same thing with Kevin Young coaching. They're trying
to become basically a G League team, an NBA development
team in college to get guys ready to play at
the next level. But Cooper Flag just has so much
to risk. If he doesn't come out, he's going to
be the number one pick in the draft. The number
(10:38):
one picking the draft makes a lot of money guaranteed,
So we'll see. I know he's thrown out the idea.
I think it would be great for college if he
came back. I would love it because I love watching
him in a Duke uniform. But at the same time,
it's a very risky move if he does.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah, but the Wizards could be there. I mean it's
hard to say, Hey, you know, they won the lottery
and I'm the prize I get to go to Washington.
If you were going to go to Washington right now,
or you had a chance to stay at Duke for
one more year, what would you do.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
I'll tell you that's a great point, you know, but
there but what if the flip side is what if
something happens it is, you know, at Duke and he
hurts himself.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
You know, just something funky happens.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
That's a huge risk to take, you know, and you
never know with with how the draft is going to
pan out. You know, we've seen teams jump up in
the draft and you have to trust that. You know,
most organizations in the NBA, they're figuring out once they
get talent, they're figuring out how to maximize that talent
and how to be pretty relevant. Washington's has been pretty
(11:45):
irrelevant for a pretty long time. And I understand where
you're coming from, but it's just I think too big
a risk for a guy like Hooper to take.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Good to catch up with you again, Walie, thanks for
joining us.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
Always fun. Enjoyed the Sweet sixteen. It's going to be
a lot of fun the rest of the way. All
the to San Antonio.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Crining a champ.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
That's Wally zurbiank CBS sports college basketball analyst, former store
at Miami of Ohio.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.
Speaker 5 (12:20):
Hey Steve Covino and I'm Rich David, and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
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We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
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about the stories behind the stories in the world of
(12:42):
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check us out. We like to get you involved, to
take your phone calls, chop it up. As they say,
I'd say, the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio,
maybe the most interactive show on planetar. Be sure to
(13:02):
check out Covino and Rich live on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app from five to seven pm Eastern
two to four Pacific, And if you miss any of
the live show, just search Koben on Rich wherever you
get your podcast, and of course on social media that's
Covino and Rich.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
He's the SEC Commissioner. He's Greg sank Back on the show, commissioner,
thanks for joining us. When did the SEC first start
to focus its resources maybe on making the Conference of
basketball powerhouse? Was there, you know a moment where you said,
why don't we just take the headlines in other months? Well?
Speaker 6 (13:38):
Yeah, I can speak to when it became really raw
for me, and it was March of twenty sixteen.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
That was the end of my first basketball season as the.
Speaker 6 (13:49):
SEC's commissioner, and we had three teams selected to the
NCAA Tournament on the men's side. Now, Dan, that was
the fourth time that had happened in the prior to
ten years, so it's not like we had a great
trend going. But when you're in the commissioner's share, that
moment was pretty raw and we had to do some
things differently from our end in the conference office.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Okay, but what was the plan that you put in place?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, a couple of things.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
One, we had had some consulting relationships where we really
weren't talking about the right things. You remember the old
RPI which is now the net. We would spend an
ordinate amount of time trying to figure out how to
game the RPI and scheduling. We weren't talking about hiring
the right people. We weren't talking about facilities, we weren't
talking about recruiting. The day after that selection, Sunday, I
(14:40):
transitioned away from one advisor and I brought Mike Trangheesi in.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
The next day.
Speaker 6 (14:45):
And what Mike did is help us talk about the
right things. The other bonus with Trengeese and I grew
up outside Syracuse, New York, so watched the Big East
Form was like when Mike said you're good at basketball
to the media, you were automatically.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Good at basketball. But one of the things he did
was he.
Speaker 6 (15:02):
Talked to our ads as they were going through the
hiring of coaches, and not tell them to to who
to hire, but talk to them about perhaps who not
the hire, who may not be ready for the stage
that we have. Those kind of conversations became much more relevant.
We had some other tweaks we needed to make, but
that was a big part of the conversation.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Did you take the same approach to football at any
point where you guys have been successful winning titles, but
now with more teams in the playoffs, and is there
any a different shift in philosophy?
Speaker 6 (15:36):
You know the reality of this job and a long
time ago, I was Southland Conference commissioner. I was like
way off Broadway. You never called me for an interview,
so I never had the opportunity. I made a decision
that every day in that role, you had to think
about football one way or another. And I think the
reality of the Southeastern Conference is football is dominant on
(15:57):
a daily basis. We have twenty one other sports. But
we also have to recognize the conversation allocation, the time allocation,
so football is a bit more natural. Do we talk
about issues, Absolutely, We're talking about scheduling in the conference.
We talk about non conference scheduling, we talk about CFP impacts.
(16:19):
That's daily. We had to be a little bit more
intentional on the basketball front ten years ago.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Are you in favor of more teams qualifying for marech Maendness.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
Yeah, I'm in favor of fully exploring that. I think
there's advantages to doing so, given there's more Division one
members right now, there's one less conference. But what we're
doing is excluding from participation some of the top fifty teams.
And I think when you look last year at North
(16:50):
Carolina State on eleven seed makes it to the final four,
you've had two or three teams playing Dayton that have
made it to the Final four or made it into
the Elite eight and Sweet sixteen. What that tells me
is there's a competitive balance at the high end, and
we have to think about providing access.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Now. I wouldn't just run to.
Speaker 6 (17:09):
Expand for the sake of expansion. I've never put a
number on it, I think, and I've been clear that
it needs to be fully explored. I'm pleased at the
NCAA leadership and the committees involved are doing so.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I'm talking to Greg Sanki, SEC Commissioner. I'm more concerned
about transfer portal and nil with college football or college basketball.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I think both are are relevant.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
You know, I watched the rhetoric right now, Dan, and
I mean, we forget that we've just seen coaches transfer,
right We've seen head coaches leave a program last week
to go to another program. I've had in my league.
I've had it in my league a year ago, where
a coach leaves Program A and the SEC to go
(17:52):
to Program B. That's reality. The commentary about young people
doing the same thing needs to be.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
In the context that the adults have that advantage.
Speaker 6 (18:02):
Now. There needs to be an orderly process so when
you watch coaches move, it's a pretty tight timeframe. There
are anomalies to that, and I think we need to
tighten up the time frame. Don't forget, like three or
four years ago, the transfer portal was opened three hundred
and sixty five days a year. It's been narrowed, it's
been moved back a week. Plenty of opining that we
shouldn't have the transfer portal open during the NCAA tournament.
(18:26):
I'll give you that, but I also know there's a
lot of backroom conversations that take place, and at least
right now with the portal open, everything's on the table.
If somebody is looking to leave, they go in the
portal and it's known and people can deal with that.
It makes it busy for sixteen teams, and I'm empathetic there,
but we ought to just think contextually about what happens
(18:48):
big picture in the game quick the nil front we've got,
we're going to see in a week and a half
the outcome of a lawsuit settlement, and whether that provides
meaningful oversight of third already name itage and likeness activity.
It can be a much healthier environment.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
What if we cap the number of transfer portal players
that you can bring in, or like, I'm just trying
to everybody you know says we have a problem. I
just haven't heard solutions here. How can we make this
better for all involved?
Speaker 6 (19:18):
Yeah, we've talked about solutions. So I think some of
you have to go back. There used to be an
NCAA limit on the number of entering team members in
a year or over two years. The basketball community really
ended up railing against that. Miles Brand was the president,
but that came in. We go right back to that
(19:38):
and create some continuity. I do think you have to
remember that we have had attorneys general in states file
lawsuits over transfer policies, even common sense transfer policies. We
also have to remember the NCAA has a habit of
being asked for waivers and granting waivers, which I think
magnifies the problem. So if we if we came to
(19:59):
a point where said, hey, the rules are the rules,
here's the timeframe you can engage in certain behavior, and
there are no waivers and there are no lawsuits out
of those waves, that'd be idyllic for us.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Compared to where we are.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Now, twelve teams in the college football playoffs. When do
we go to fourteen, we'll see not this season. It's
a topic of conversation.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
My view is it took us a heck of a
long time to just get to twelve. I think twelve
was a success. By all accounts. You saw continuing interest
through the playoff. We actually took a deeper dive as
a CFT management committee. So that's like gobblygook for the
commissioners and the Notre Dame ad Looking at an analysis
(20:43):
of viewership throughout the playoff, a lot of positive stories.
You would hear this like year over year comparison of
a particular game being down. That didn't tell the full story.
So I think it was the right time to expand.
I think it worked well. I think we learned a lot.
We've got some work to do before the twenty five
season to make some adjustments. I think the bracketing where
(21:07):
we had these seeds that got moved into the top
four and people lost home games, I'd like to see
that change.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I think that's immediate.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
I do think there's some relevance to thinking about expanding
the number, whether it stays at twelve or fourteen. I
think even sixteen's a relevant conversation in advance of the
twenty sixth season. That doesn't mean we just go there,
but like that NCAA tournament expansion, we should be looking
at what are the impacts and what are the opportunities.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Give me an alternative to these selection committees.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Well, we had the.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
Old BCS computer r anchorings, remember those days, and everybody said,
you know, how can we have computers making these decisions?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
We need people?
Speaker 6 (21:50):
And what we have now is how can we let
people make these decisions?
Speaker 3 (21:53):
We need computers. So it's the full on pendulum swing.
Speaker 6 (21:58):
Yeah, Dabor, there's something in the over the combination of
a committee and better informed data help support decisions. What
I do think is really important from a Southeastern Conference
perspective is the number on the left hand side of
wins and losses the most important or the right hand side.
And what happened last year and maybe the last couple
(22:21):
of years causes, at least among my athletics directors, the
question of we need to lose fewer games. That creates
thinking about non conference scheduling that kind of dumbs it down.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
I don't think that's good for the game.
Speaker 6 (22:34):
I don't think Nebraska canceling the Tennessee series is good
for college football, and the citation was that members of
the CFP selection committee said, well, it won't hurt you
that much for dropping the game. I think that's problematic.
I tend to think we should play nine conference games,
but to get there, we have to have more clarity
(22:55):
on the CFP selection process. So in answer to your
direct question, there's likely a balance that can be struck
between the human thought process and the analytics. We know
that people didn't like just analytics, and now they're trending
towards we just don't.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Like humanity as much as we thought we did. So
Where's the middle ground? Is another one of those works.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Would you be in favor of a college football schedulings are.
Speaker 6 (23:26):
Some of these outside ideas have said that I'd welcome
a conference commissioner having more authority over just deciding conference
and non conference schedules. I don't think the culture of
college football lends itself to csurs. I probably said to you,
like the Russian czar thing didn't work out very well
over time, and remember, like the eighties, drugs are and
(23:49):
we still have problems. So I don't think just identifying
that one mechanism solves the problems. I'd welcome if people said, hey,
you go set my commend schedule, pick the number of
games in this league and our non conference opponents. I
pursue that in a different way, but that's not something
that resonates within a room of athletics directors and have
(24:10):
football coaches quite the same way it does on a.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Zoom with you.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
One other item, and this is off topic with football
and basketball, but it does relate to it. Can we
can you see where we separate college football college basketball,
and then you have these other sports that we don't
want to lose. They're not revenue producing but softball and
lacrosse and soccer, and we make them regional so they're
(24:37):
not flying. You know, Cal and Stanford aren't flying cross
country for wrestling or volleyball. That we make this regional,
so you know, your budget is not at stake here
and you can still keep these smaller you know, sports,
Olympics sports.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
Maybe I don't know what kind of awards you give
for g decision making, but I think you just gave
me a gold start because we are a regional conference
and for example last.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Week, well you guys are, yeah, but college college sports
is not.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
Well, that's because others made different decisions and they have
to to live with those decisions.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I'm running college sports to me, so it's why I'm
asking you know that that that's I'm making you the
college football notts are you're you're running college sports. Why
don't we let these other sports, smaller sports, non revenue producing,
stay regional while football and basketball, if you want them
going cross country, great.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
Again, I'm gonna I'm gonna hold the Southeastern Conference up.
Was the bright shining example of decision making. And here's
a why I actually think I'm not gonna speak to
everybody else. They made their decisions for different reasons, but
I've made those decisions. I think you can look at
what we've done and say, no, they wouldn't have done.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
The same thing.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
We had a pack stadium for l Issue at Texas
last week in baseball packed, we had a pack stadium
for Auburn or Texas and softball. I think those build
on each other. I think those build on each other.
So your question kind of the foundation was take football
and basketball. I think if you're going to do something
in basketball, you're doing it for men's and women's basketball.
(26:20):
We have to acknowledge that, and I'm going to have
baseball programs first round draft picks in baseball who say,
wait a second, I play in front of more people
for conference baseball games, and my basketball team plays in
front of it. And I'm going to sign an eight
figure contract with a signing bonus. That's enormous, right, Why
don't I deserve the same treatment as my basketball colleagues
(26:43):
men or women.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
I think there are.
Speaker 6 (26:45):
Distinctions that can be made, but I think some of
that has to play out decision making. So for the
Southeastern Conference, I think what we do in football has
great meaning and what we do in basketball, and you
saw it with our environments in basketball this past year.
I think what we do when football and basketball plays
out in baseball and softball and meaningful ways. I think
people want to be in those environments. If you want
(27:07):
to spend your time preparing, learning and competing, not on airplanes,
You're going to come and challenge yourself here at the
highest level.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
That's my recruiting pitch.
Speaker 6 (27:18):
Others may have to make different decisions because I think
you've seen with these coast to coast conferences people opining about, Hey,
maybe we need a central hub for competition, so we're
not flying all over the place. I think they're probably
all learning from this first year as they go. But
I really like the way we've configured ourselves because it
meets the exact question that you've asked me on a
(27:40):
sport by sport basis.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
He's the former Great commissioner from the Southland Conference. He's
Greg SANKI great to talk to you again, enjoy the
rest of the tournament. Good to visit with you again.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
I certainly hope I do.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Thank you, Greg.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six ams on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Jim Kirchin of the Mothership and a Hall of Famer,
he joins US opening day double dip with the Mothership
Brewers Yankees at three Eastern Tigers and the Dodgers seven Eastern.
Joe Buck will be on the call for the game
in New York, and you can catch Timmy on Baseball
tonight following the Brewers and the Yankees. Let me hit
you with a poll question. Are the Dodgers good for baseball? Yeah?
Speaker 7 (28:27):
I think they are, Dan now, the way they do
business as we know is completely legal, and if everyone
else had the same advantages of them, they would do
the same thing. I think they're great for baseball because
wherever they go, they're gonna draw a lot of people.
I think every great drama needs a hero and a villain,
(28:48):
and to some people, the Dodgers are the villain.
Speaker 8 (28:51):
There's also a chance they will be so good this year.
Speaker 7 (28:54):
That they potentially could make history in some kind and
of course be the first team since the potentially Yankees
ninety eight through two thousand to win.
Speaker 8 (29:04):
Back to back World Series.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
So look, I understand this isn't fair to smaller market
teams that they can defer all of this money, and
I think it needs to be changed, and it will
be changed, I believe. But to say that they're terrible
for baseball, I'm sorry. I'm just not buying it. Dan,
those two games in Japan were really cool, and the
(29:26):
Japanese players are so good, and the rookie Sazaki's going
to pitch in the big leagues this year.
Speaker 8 (29:33):
I think it's good for baseball.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
I do.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Was it good for baseball to have Opening Day in Japan?
And the reason why I bring this up is, couldn't
you play two spring training games over there and accomplish
the same thing. Did it have to matter to the
Japanese baseball fan.
Speaker 8 (29:49):
Look, Dan, I'm older.
Speaker 7 (29:50):
Than you, Okay, I'm sixty eight, and I enjoyed a
parade in Cincinnati and that was the first game to
lead to the season.
Speaker 8 (29:59):
Still do a p in Cincinnati.
Speaker 7 (30:00):
But I believe they should all start on the same
day we should start in this country.
Speaker 8 (30:05):
However, I'm also a realist. This is all about money, Dan.
Speaker 7 (30:10):
We're growing the game. Those games in Japan were tremendous,
and the more and more growth that baseball can get,
the better it is. If you're asking me what would
I like, I would like every team to open the
same time on April the first in this country. But
am I going to argue with what we saw and
the Otani show and the Suzaki Show.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
No, I'm not arguing how many teams can win the
World Series.
Speaker 7 (30:39):
Dan, I'm again in the big minority here. The beauty
of this sport is its unpredictable nature. I think the
Dodgers are the best team, and I think there are
six other teams in the NASH five other teams in
the Nation League, maybe six that have a chance to
win the World Series is if, of course, every thing
(31:00):
goes right. I'm not so sure about the American League.
I don't see a great team in the American League,
although the Rangers can just mash when everybody is healthy.
Speaker 8 (31:11):
But the beauty of the sport.
Speaker 7 (31:13):
Dan, is that there's so many teams in the American
League that are pretty good and not great.
Speaker 8 (31:17):
It's gonna be a free for all.
Speaker 7 (31:19):
And there are so many really good teams in the
National League that's going to be an equal free for
all to see who maybe gets to play, Say the
Dodgers in the NLCS.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Okay, let's run down the teams. You got the Phillies
and the Braves. Are you in the Mets in there?
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (31:36):
Now the Mets have to get there starting pitching healthy
Sean and I has got to be as good as
he was down the stretch. So those are three teams
I think could win it. From the East.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Who else?
Speaker 3 (31:47):
All Right?
Speaker 8 (31:48):
The Brewers are pain the neck to play, Dan.
Speaker 7 (31:50):
They catch it, they're hungry, they're young, they're aggressive, they
steal more bases than almost anyone. They are a dangerous team.
So I'm gonna put them in there. And then in
the National League. Of course, you have the Dodgers, you
have the Diamondbacks, who are vastly underrated, especially with the
pitching they have now. And I know the Podres aren't
spending much money right now, but they're going to be
(32:13):
a nightmare also if everything works there, so I think
you could find six seven teams that could win the
World Series from the National League.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
How much does Otani pitch this season?
Speaker 7 (32:27):
I thought he would be ready sooner than this. I
was told in spring training he might be ready on
May the first. We don't need him until then because
of all the off days in April. They could go
to a six man rotation. I'm not sure when he's
going to pitch, but I promise you when he does pitch,
he's going to be really good. Let's say it's let's
say it's mid Let's say it's the All Star break.
(32:49):
When he gets back, he's going to be really good, because,
as you know, Dan, he is a machine in getting
his body and everything else ready to play in the
big leagues and be like no one we've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
But because of that, I don't know how he does
in factor into the MVP every year. If he's still
able to pitch and hit. He's like Travis Hunter at Colorado.
He's a two way player that nobody is like that,
so he has a decided advantage. It feels like every
single season going in, you know, for the MVP, he.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
Does dan And I'm sorry, I don't like it that way.
When I first started voting for these things in nineteen eighty,
it depended on whether your team won or not. Chipper
Jones won in nineteen ninety nine because he carried his
team the last two months into the playoffs.
Speaker 8 (33:44):
I refuse to believe that we're just going.
Speaker 7 (33:46):
To give it to Otani before this season starts, even
though he's the best player in the game period. But
let's say Juan Soto hits three seventy and hits forty
homers and carries the Mets into the playoffs. You're telling
me that's not an MVP season and is gonna get
aced out just because the most remarkable player we've ever
(34:09):
seen is really good. Again, I'm sorry, I can't look
at it that way. I want to watch the season
play out.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Give me the next player to make six hundred, seven
hundred million dollars.
Speaker 7 (34:23):
I'm not sure anyone's going there anytime soon. But I
think Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles has a chance to
get somewhere near there because he's so young, he's so good.
He plays a premium defensive position, shorts up exceptionally well.
Louis Gonzales remember him from the Diamondbacks. He met Gunner Henderson.
(34:45):
I was standing right next to him last year and
he shook Gunner Henderson's hand at the at the batting cage,
first time he'd ever met him. Gunner walks away, and
Louis looks at me and goes, I think that's the
biggest shortstop I've ever seen it, and I think he's
got the biggest hands of any shortstop I've ever seen.
Speaker 8 (35:02):
That's what we're dealing with here.
Speaker 7 (35:04):
And Dan great high school basketball player, tremendous athlete, He's
going to figure everything out, and an absolute dirt dog
when it comes to playing the game and playing it properly.
Speaker 8 (35:17):
He would be next on my list.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Can we do anything about those elbow things that these
guys wear when they go to the plate.
Speaker 8 (35:25):
I think it's a little too late for that, Dan.
Speaker 7 (35:27):
We what we really care about is protecting our players
and making sure they don't get hurt.
Speaker 8 (35:35):
Dan, we have healthy scratches.
Speaker 7 (35:37):
Now, I got three hits last night, but he ran
an awful lot last night. So one of the people
are saying he might be a little tired. We're going
to give him the day off. So as long as
we're trying to keep our players healthy, I think what
they're going to allow dear and arm arm, armor and
stuff like that.
Speaker 8 (35:58):
And yet the.
Speaker 7 (35:59):
Irony is, or the paradoxes, the more we've protected, the
more it seems they get hurt.
Speaker 8 (36:04):
It's a little confusing to me.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
And I rail on this and I have for a while,
and then nothing can be done about it.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
But the White Sox had six pitchers go down in
spring training and they all need Tommy John surgery. And
you know, this is it's concerning that. You know, maybe
maybe it's analytics that God is to this point here,
but if you're the commissioner of Baseball and you're watching,
I mean, it's it's not a question of if, it's
(36:34):
when this happens, and it's a health issue for Major
League Baseball, So what do you do about it?
Speaker 7 (36:39):
Well, Dan, you have to go all the way back
to Little League. And I know this sounds corny. You
got to stop the ten twelve year old from throwing
off a mound twelve months.
Speaker 8 (36:48):
Out of the year. That's how guys are getting hurt.
Speaker 7 (36:51):
Dan, you know when you played baseball as a kid,
November fifteenth came around and whatever you were doing at
that time, you picked up a basketball. And that's what
we should be doing more often. When you play this game,
which is so diabolically difficult to play, and you're throwing
off a mound twelve months out of the year, no
wonder you're going to get hurt. Plus, the industry has
(37:14):
demanded that our pictures throw as hard as they can
on every pitch, and when they don't throw a heater,
they want them to spin a slider or curveball at
the highest rpm ever, and we wonder why they're getting hurt.
The reason you were a good high school pitcher is
you played other sports that made you a better pitcher
(37:35):
when March came around because you just got back from
the basketball season. I am really worried that we are
specializing with our young kids. We have to go back
to the Little league and make those changes. Otherwise we're
going to keep having these Tommy John and other arm injuries.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
What would Pete Rose's stats be, Tony Gwynn stats, Rod
Caruz stats, Wade Bong stats if they played in today's game.
Speaker 7 (38:05):
Well, with the shifting a little bit different. I think,
first off, they would be great players today because great
players transend all ears.
Speaker 8 (38:14):
If you're going to play.
Speaker 7 (38:15):
Rod Grew the way that they play certain guys, he's
going to get two bunt hits a game.
Speaker 8 (38:20):
And I'm not making that up.
Speaker 7 (38:22):
George Brett, who's a very humble man, told me a
couple of years ago when everyone was shifting all over
the place.
Speaker 8 (38:29):
He said, if.
Speaker 7 (38:30):
I played today at for fifty.
Speaker 8 (38:33):
He would see where to hit it. Tony Gwynn was
a magician.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
But would they be power hitters because of the analytics though?
Tim when they're coming up in the minor leagues, they
you know, the emphasiss is on power.
Speaker 7 (38:48):
Yes, I'm well aware, and it really bothers me that
we would take a player like Wade Bogs who's hit
three twenty eight lifetime walks well over one hundred times
because he can a hard line drive single to left
field better than any left handed hitter I've ever seen,
and they would tell him wait, you're unbelievably strong. You
need to hit forty homers. That's that's what they would
(39:10):
do with him today, And he wouldn't hit three twenty eight.
He'd probably hit two eighty eight with thirty five homers.
But I would rather watch way Boggs hit it to
all fields than be just another guy who hits a
million homers.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
When was your first Opening Day?
Speaker 7 (39:27):
My first was in nineteen eighty two. I count that
dan as my first one, even though I did eighty one.
But eighty two, I was the full time beat writer
covering the Texas Rangers and the first three games of
the season got snowed out in New York, so we
had to open in Cleveland. Seventy four thousand people in
(39:49):
Cleveland for Opening Day. The next day they had like
three thousand people. So it was memorable for a lot
of reasons.
Speaker 8 (39:57):
And this is so.
Speaker 7 (39:58):
George Wright was the rookie lead guy for the Rangers.
He got three hits on opening Day. I went to George,
rookie from Oklahoma City. I said, George, did you have
a good time today? He goes, yeah, I've never been
to a major League game before. So the first game
he had ever attended in his life.
Speaker 8 (40:18):
He got three hits.
Speaker 7 (40:19):
And I just found out like six months ago that
Mickey Rivers, the mischievous center fielder, maked an injury in
spring training in order for George Wright to make the team.
And that's how George Wright ended up on the roster
on opening day because Mickey loved George right, he said,
I'll fake an injury and you could play center field
(40:41):
out opening Day, and then he got three hits in
the only game he'd ever attended in his life.
Speaker 8 (40:47):
That is the beauty of baseball.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
Have fun today, Tim, great to catch up with you
as always.
Speaker 8 (40:52):
Well, good to see you, Dan. Take care.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
That's Tim Kirkchin, ESPN baseball analyst and a member of
the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Hosts And Creators
Todd "Fritzy" Fritz
Dan Patrick
Patrick "Seton" O'Connor
Paul Pabst
Marvin Prince
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