Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is it right here?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Combining a team of reporters, columnists and commentators.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Are you serious?
Speaker 4 (00:13):
Jack Ebling has brought thought provoking discussion.
Speaker 5 (00:16):
What are you doing?
Speaker 6 (00:17):
That's a day coaching the same opinion.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Customer is the one who decides when the future gets here?
Speaker 5 (00:22):
Oh no, check the report?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 7 (00:29):
That game was fixed?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
And overall infotainment.
Speaker 8 (00:32):
I'll tak Jim arba, what is done?
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Praise God to coming a.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Quiet please, and exactly fifteen seconds we'll be on the air.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Thanks, big fella.
Speaker 7 (00:43):
Don't you ever come back here again?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
No arguments.
Speaker 9 (00:46):
Those are called ashtans.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
So buckle up.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Are you talking to me?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
It's time for the Drive with Jack Ebling.
Speaker 10 (00:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (00:54):
For some reason or another, who signed a little Cola Radio.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Great afternoon mid Michigan and beyond, and welcome to the
Drive with Jack. It is the Spotlight Radio Network. Jack
Eblin here with my producer Boston Rob on a near
perfect Tuesday afternoon, seventy degrees mostly sunny. Cannot complain about
that here in mid October. The only reason it wouldn't
(01:22):
be perfect, Rob is if you are a Toronto Blue
Jays fan, or or if you have to watch tape
and try to figure out how to beat the Indiana Hoosiers.
And we have a guy here who has watched the
Hoosiers play for many decades, and I smile just when
I think about Don Fisher now calling these games. Don,
(01:44):
how are you? Congratulations to everyone in.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Hoosierland, Jack, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.
And obviously I have been doing it a long time,
but it's more fun right now than it's ever been.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Well, let's talk about the miracle man and when Kurt
Signetti was hired. What was the expectation.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well, I think no one really knew what the expectation was.
The guy comes into the building and gets introduced to
our basketball crowd. I think it was Maryland who we
played that night, and he said, I'm not used to losing.
I never have, I'm not going to now. He says,
Produce sucks, and so does Ohio State and Michigan. So
(02:35):
the place came down. It was just bed them in there,
people laughing and loving every second of it, giving him
a big crowd noise, and of course he dropped the
microphone at that point and walked off. But ever since
then people have become believers in what this guy preaches
and what he says and what he thinks he can do.
(02:57):
And there's no reason not to because what he did
last year was absolutely remarkable and what he's done this
year so far is basically said exactly the same thing.
It's a remarkable turnaround for Indiana football.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
N How many head coaches in Bliomington since you started
calling the games? Can you count him?
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Gosh?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I can let me look and see if I I mean,
I literally know who they all are. Of course, the
first one was League course, so he was there for
ten years. Then Sam Whitch for one. That's number two.
Then number three was Bill Mawry and he was the
best coach we had until we got Kurt Signetti and
he was here for many years. And then it was
(03:42):
Cam Cameron for five, and then it was Jerry DeNardo
for three. Then it was Kevin Wilson. Oh, I take
that back. It was Terry Heppner for two. He passed away,
as you know. So then after Terry it was Bill
Lynch there for four. Then it was Kevin Wilson, and
(04:03):
then after Kevin it was Tom Allen and now we
got Kurt Signetti. Is that nine?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
That's ten.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Okay, that is ten.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And I have thirteen Michigan State football coaches since I
started doing this in this racket. And so between us.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Are you older than coach Jacky?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Are you older than me?
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I'm turning seventy three in December.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, Lord, have mercy of mysol, I've turned I just
turned seventy nine, so obviously I've got you by about
six years.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah, well you sound like you're about forty nine. So
I can imagine that watching this team is going to
make anyone feel a little bit younger. And you know,
going back a week, I don't know what this week's stats.
I can't imagine it changed that much. Indiana and Texas
Tech were the only two schools in the country that
(05:00):
were top ten in offense and top ten in defense. Yeah,
it's not like you can look at the tape and say, well,
we can get them here. The problem is you've got
to get.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Off the bush exactly. And I will tell you this, Jack,
and I've said this since Kurt Signetti got here, that
I believe they'll win every ball game unless the other
team has better talent. And last year there were two
teams that did the last eight and Notre Dame in
the playoffs, and so far this year, nobody has better
(05:33):
talent than Indiana.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
At this point.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
But here's the other thing that's really weird. At this
point in the Big Ten season, did you think ten
State was going to lose three games in a row
and then fire their coach? And what about all these
other games? UCLA was zero to four and they beat
ten State and that started them on a winning streak.
So this has been a really weird year in some respects.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Signetti is responsible in some way don for the heat
or the firings here, because fans and administrations are looking
at what's happening in Bloomington and say, hey, wait a minute,
how come that can't happen here. Someone told me the
other day, you know what the school should do is
just go and pay whatever it takes to get Kurt
(06:21):
Signetti to leave Indiana. I said, first of all, why
do you think he would want the demotion to come
to your school. Second of all, Indiana right now is
in a position to match whatever a school would offer him.
And I think he's he's got as good a situation
as anyone. It's not like he's being compared to Nick Saban.
(06:45):
You know, there's some good coaches on that list you mentioned.
I have the utmost respect for Bill Mallory and a
few of the others. But to come in there now,
you know you're probably talking about the pantheon with Bob Knight.
As far as the love feel in Lomangion.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Oh, there's no question, I mean, and that's the only
comparison you can make in that regard, because what Kurt
Signetti has done in a year and a half here
is just like I said before, remarkable. But the thing
that and everybody, of course, after Franklin was fired, everybody's
all of a sudden panicking that Kurt Signette's going to
(07:23):
leave and go back to Pennsylvania where he grew up.
And I don't know that that's going to be the case.
And I think you're right, Why would you want to leave,
as he said last year after the season was over with,
Why would I want to leave an emerging power? So
at this point we will see what happens, but it
(07:44):
doesn't he seems more prophetic than just about any coach
I've ever been around.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah, yeah, well, you know, he did a great job
wherever he's been, and terrific at James Madison. But when
he got there he was kind of a novelty, and
people said, well, this is let's see what happens when
he starts getting pounded instead he's been doing pounding. Why
did you know don that this was going to be different.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I knew it when well, I knew it was going
to be different when he had his introduction to the
media when he was first hired, because of the things
that he said, the things that he talked about, his philosophy,
his belief of less is more and I'm talking about
practice time and that kind of stuff and how much
(08:32):
you know a time he gives off to his assistant coaches.
All the things he talked about were in many respects
were old school type things, but they were done in
a way that didn't think make you think necessarily of
old school.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
It was more just.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Common sense type stuff. You know, less is more, never
get too high, never get too low, one play at
a time, stacked days on time of one another, when
you're practicing all the little things that you know, a
lot of it sounds like coach speak, and yet he
carries it to the level that's different than I think
(09:11):
almost any coach I've ever been around, because he lives
what he preaches. I mean, that's the way he goes
about his stuff. And the first thing he looks at
from a player standpoint is the character of the kid.
That's the first thing he looks at. And then, of
course from a transfer portal perspective, he looks at the
character first, but then he looks to see how much
(09:31):
experience they've had playing at that level. And I think
because he's gotten a lot of guys that have played
one or two years or three years as starters, or
at least guys that played a ton of minutes and
a ton of plays, he gets those guys that have
the experience, and then all they have to do is
adapt to his style of play and his philosophy. And
(09:56):
if he gets a character kid, that kid's going to
buy him right away because they see what's happening on
the field.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
If I had told you that Fernando Mendoza could win
the Heisman Trophy and be a number one overall draft pick,
would you suggest that I get a sobriety test?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Well, not necessarily, because I got to watch a lot
of springball this year, Jack, which I did last year too.
I wanted to see what this guy did from a
coaching standpoint and practice and the sideline and all those
kinds of things. But I knew Fernando had he has
the pure physical talent to be that kind of guy.
(10:35):
But I didn't know how he would handle decision making
on the field. Could he adapt to the philosophy that
Kurtzignetti preaches And he's done all of that. The one
thing that he did at California that was a negative
he got chased around the field for like forty seven
different times in sacks. He got sacked forty seven different
(10:57):
times at California last year. And when he came to
practice the first three or four practices, I saw that
he was working out there with the quarterbacks and with
the other players. I saw happy feed, and I thought, well,
that's the one thing they're going to have to get
out of them, because obviously Indiana, we think, has got
a better offensive line than California had. But he still
(11:20):
looked like he had happy feed. And by the time
spring practice was over with and they only you can
take you can have fifteen spring practices. Here's another of
the lesser, more thinking process. He had thirteen. You know,
he said, we're going to have thirteen practices In both
years he's been here, they have practiced no more than
thirteen times in the spring. But their practices are so
(11:42):
efficient in that hour and fifteen minutes that they practice,
there's no lost time. And everybody's got a job to
do and they do it. And the coaches that he
hires and a lot of these guys have been with
him for a long time, and that's part of the
transition from JMU and why it was so successful, because
he had guys who have been there with Signetti, who
(12:05):
knew exactly what he wanted, and then he got a
bunch of those JMU players to come with him, and man,
the transition was almost without any kind of a problem
because he had so many guys.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
That could tell you and help you go through the process.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
We talk about a seamless shift. How many assistant coaches
and how many players did he bring.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
He brought with him seven six assistant coaches, including both
the offensive and defensive coordinators and the quarterbacks coach. He
retained Bob Bostad, who was at Wisconsin as you know
for many years and was a great offensive line coach.
And Bob was already here. He was the only coach
(12:49):
that he kept, because Bostad was hired by Tom Allen
two years before or a year before Sig got here,
and boats Dad has done a remarkable job of Bill
in the offensive line. But he had six of his
guys from JMU that were here. Mostad became the seventh
or at least the seventh man in my mind, on
the roster. And then he got a couple of guys
(13:10):
that had not been with him previously, but he knew them,
knew who they were, and he did the same thing
with those coaches. He found out about their character and
what kind of guys they were, and how good at
coaches they were. And that's why I hired him, because
he researches things unbelievably well.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
And how many players I know that he has guys
who certainly knew his system and culture.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
I think he had thirteen players from JMU last year
and this year I think he's got six left. Those
guys have helped immensely in that turnaround of the two years.
And then of course the guys who were there last year,
they've all bought into what he sells, so you're not
dealing with a team that's got a bunch of new
(13:53):
faces and they're not really and they're not helping each
other out there. They're helping each other all the time,
especially the guys who have been under Signetti for at
least a year and maybe three or four years. So
you've got you've got guys that are really helping with
that leadership role and understanding the philosophy that Signetti preaches.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
We are talking with the great Don Fisher. He is
on the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame Mount Rushmore.
I think you talk about Vince Scully, and there are
a few names, but Don's is certainly in the top
of that discussion. Don When when you think about when
(14:34):
Signetti said google me, how many people do you think
have googled him? And should he have some sort of advertising.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Deal U Valley, I don't think that he signed anything
with anybody, but everybody talks about what he said.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
You know, I win google me and that kind of thing.
So yeah, I mean he could.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
He probably could sell it if you wanted to wear patented,
if he wanted to do I guess.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
But the fact of the matter is he.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Used that last year and he was a little bit
more full of the hyper Bowl last year than he
has been this year. He's been a lot more serious
this year because I think he feels like I've got
a team capable of doing something special here, and we're
not going to screw that up with a bunch of
commentary by me that people take off on and decide that,
(15:24):
you know, this guy's a bravado guy, and but eddy ate.
All I can tell you, Jack is I love this guy.
I think he's a great coach. I think he's one
of the greatest coaches I've ever been around. And I
put him in the Night category and the Bill Mallory category,
at least from a standpoint of what they know football
(15:44):
and basketball wise. He's just such a good football coach
and he just knows the game. He loves absolutely the
whole time in his life. I think he's cared about
anything but football.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I asked him maybe.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I took him to lunch one time last year before
the season never started, and I asked him about do
you play golf or anything like that, and he says
I used to play golf, but he says I don't
play anymore. I kind of hurt my back and he said,
I really don't want to play golf.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Anymore.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
He says, I just like looking at film and I've
never I've never seen anybody that watches more film than him.
But he watches it for a lot of different reasons.
The character issue, how guys react to big plays on
the field, what kind of you know, what kind of
kid they actually are, that kind of thing. And then
that experience factor is I talked about earlier. That is
(16:34):
such an important part if you're going to get a
guy out.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Of the transfer portal.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
So, but he's just so smart in the way he
goes about his business.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
It's funny you say that, don I remember talking to
Saban when he became a head coach and he was
beyond driven at that point, and I said, hey, what
do you do to lighten up? And he said, yeah,
I watched special teams.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
You know, that's that's kind of his idea. You're right,
I mean, and that's Signetti.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
I mean, that's Signetti too.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
And here's the other thing you need to know. And
I know you probably know this, but Kurt Signetti was
under his last assistant's coaching job and he was an
assistant coach I think for twenty six or twenty seven
years before he got his first head coaching position, and
Nick Saban was his last job as an assistant in
the first four years of Alabama's under Nick Saban, Saban
(17:29):
hired him and he said he learned more from Nick
Saban how to run a program and how to set
up a program than anybody'd ever been around. And he
was under some great coaches, Johnny Major's and Chuck Amato
and guys like that, and through his years as an assistant,
and so he learned from a lot of really good people,
but he said Saban was the best at understanding how
(17:51):
to run a program, and he's utilized when he learned
in that regard from Nick Saban throughout these years.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
So if he doesn't go does he like music, does
he watch movies? What does he do away from the
football building?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Nothing?
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And I'm saying that because I've asked him that question,
and he says, I look at film.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
I look at.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Film of football games, games that we're going to play,
people that we're.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Going to play.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I look at film on players. I'm always looking at film.
And I'm telling you he does, I mean, if you
were if his coaches have left for the evening or
something like that, and he feels like he needs to
look at something he's on, he's looking at video. I mean,
he's doing it all the time. I don't think he
does it at home very much anymore. I think most
(18:46):
of the time it's at the office. But when he
goes home, I think he relaxes a little bit in
that old chair that everybody talks about, a recliner that
his wife won't that he won't let his wife throw
out because he's had it for like thirty some years now. Yes,
and he just he's a unique individual. But football is
his life. I mean, that's basically all he cares about.
(19:09):
And of course he goes on vacations with his wife.
He's got a wonderful wife named Minette, and she is
just she's a treating herself, just a really wonderful lady.
And he's got three kids, I think, two daughters and
a son. The two girls are brilliant. They're both women
that are in the medical profession or will be in
(19:30):
the medical profession out of college and so on. And
his son, I guess has been successful too. And I
think he's a grandfather. He's got one of his daughters,
I think has has two children. I think that's right.
And the other one I think is married now too,
and that'll probably pop another one out of there at
some point here in the near future.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Don you would be in the unique position to answer
this question, what would Bob Knight say about Kurt Signatty
if they came to a battle and they disagreed about something,
how much would you pay to watch it?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Well, I can tell you this, I'm not sure who
would win it, simply because I'm talking about an argument now,
We're not talking about a physical conversation. But I think
it would be they would probably come to some agreement
in the sense of what they were talking about, because
I don't think either one would give in on his
(20:31):
thinking process.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
If you know what I'm saying, Does.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
He have a political philosophy? We know that Bob Knight did,
some other coaches have. There's a little militaristic attitude with
some coaches. Has he talked about that and events outside
of sports.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
I've not heard him ever talk about politics. I've essentially
never heard him talk about anything but football. And I'm
just telling you he's a one track pony in that regard.
I just I mean, I'm not afraid to ask the question.
In fact, I may do so on a next talk show,
I'm going to say that Jack Ebling asked me to
(21:12):
ask you please do what your political affiliation is, and
he probably.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Will go none of your business.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Yeah, I would think that any candidate in the state
of Indiana right now would die for that endorsement.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Oh my goodness, you know they would.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
If you're a political if you're the political persuasion.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
That guy would.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Right now, he'd buy into anything Kurtsy if he wanted
a million dollars from If Signetty wanted a million dollars
from the guy, that guy'd probably give it to him.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Right right, right, don I've been a state chair for
the Heisman Trophy for forty years and a guy who
I had the utmost respect for, someone you knew very well.
It's the late Bob Hammill. But when you think about
why Indiana has done, you've come on this show and
(22:03):
talked about where it was historically the lowest of the
low in terms of the Power five, Power four Now programs.
People around the country are looking at this and saying, well,
where's our Signetti.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I guess there's only one of them, right Well, as
far as I know, I haven't seen anybody else ever
do this this quickly, and if it goes the way
a lot of people believe it's going to go here
for the rest of the year.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
I don't think we'll ever.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Have seen anything like this ever before, a team that
went out and did what they did last year, make
a college football playoff and then maybe rise to number
one in the rankings and then a Big Ten championship
and then maybe the College football I mean, you know,
you could look at it and you could say, until
(22:57):
they get to the college football playoff, should probably win out.
And I'm not saying that they will or should, I'm
simply saying it's a possibility. I mean, and nobody at
Indiana's ever thought that the past ever, right.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Right, Well, you look at the two losses you mentioned,
and they were the teams that played for the national
title last year. Hasn't lost a RUD game yet. I
do not have an AP vote this year. We cycle
on and off that, but if I did, I would
vote for Indiana number one in the nation. I think
that the performance against Illinois not just a sixty three
(23:34):
to ten went over a ninth ranked team, but three
hundred and twelve to two in rushing and then going
on the road. And I've been spit on at Austin Stadium,
so I know what that venue is like. And I
can tell you that a win there by double digits
(23:55):
is one of the most impressive things you can do
in college football.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Well I can, I mean, and I can't argue that
at all. And this team has been remarkable. I questioned
whether they would be as good as last year's team
at the very beginning because.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
They just didn't know.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
I didn't know how good Fernando Mendez was going to be.
I didn't know if our running backs were going to
be as good as they were last year because he
lost all the starting running backs from a year ago.
Are the guys that shared most of the reps last season,
those guys were all gone. He still has three, i
think two of the best receivers that were on the
(24:32):
roster last year. But he's got three or four other
guys that are very capable. But he's lose used less
of those people at this point in the season because
he's gone with his primary three. But facts, the wide receivers,
the quarterback, and here's the other thing, Jack, this is
(24:52):
a really good offensive line. It's a very good offensive line,
it's better than it was a year ago. And if
you looked at Indiana last year and who they played
and when they got beat, it was the offensive line
that didn't perform up to expectations or are hoped for expectations.
They just weren't as good as this group. So they've
got the experience, they've got belief, they've got confidence, and
(25:17):
they still have a chip on their shoulder because of
all the people that continue to doubt them, and of
course that Oregon bok probably took away a lot of
those doubts.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
All right, don what is a bigger surprise that Michigan
lost two and a half times as many games last
year and might again this year? As Kurt Signetti has
since he found the state of Indiana or that right now,
if you look at this, you know you have schools
(25:50):
that would be lined up to try to hire him.
And he's making over eight million dollars right now, right.
I mean, I think a lot of fans there have
given choice of watching IU football or Indiana basketball, might
pick football, and I don't think I would ever say that.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Well, I know right now that if you were here
last year, our fan base became Indiana football fans as
much for Indiana football as Indiana basketball sliding down the tubes.
If you know what I'm saying. There's no question that
football right now is number one at IU. And I
(26:33):
say that only because basketball hasn't started yet. But we
haven't heard the conversation about basketball starting this year because
we have a new coach and I think he's going
to be dynamite. I really like Darren DeVries a lot.
I went with them to Puerto Rico and watched them
play down there against the Serbian team that could play
in the Big Ten, and they beat them twice. In
(26:56):
those matchups down there, they beat a Puerto Rican team
as well, but there wasn't very good. But the Serbian
team that they played was long and tall and athletic,
and they had some really good players in that team,
including a draft choice for the Milwaukee Bucks. It was
on that Serbian team, and Indiana gotten behind in both
ball games down there against that team and came back
(27:20):
and won both of them.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Beat them badly.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
In the first time, after being down twenty three in
the first half, they got it to thirteen at halftime
and won that ball game going away by twenty one,
and then the second time they played them, they got
down twenty at halftime fifty to thirty, and they came
back from that game shipped away, got to the end
with a minute and a half left, made every play
at the end of the game.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
And won by one.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
So this team is brand new. There's not a single
player other than two walk Ons on the team that
was there last year. So you've got two walk Ons
and now you've got thirteen other new faces on this team.
I think you've really got three freshmen. One is a
true freshman from Indiana. Kid's name is Trent Sisley, and
(28:04):
he's really a good player. And they've got two others
at aristic kid from Serbia and a kid from Bosnia.
And the Bosnian kid is a project right now. I
don't think he'll play a lot this year. But they've
got a bunch of new faces. And these kids are
really good basketball players, almost all of them, but at
a lesser level, except for Tucker Debrees, who was with
(28:25):
his dad at West Virginia last year, but then he
got hurt early in the season and didn't play the
rest of the campaign. So that's why he's got a
year left. And so Indiana's got a bunch of new faces,
but I'm telling you, they play really hard, and they
play tough, and they are mentally They have mentally shown
me that they are capable of going out and competing
(28:47):
with just about anybody. Now, they're not going to beat everybody,
and I don't think they'll contend for a Big Ten championship,
but I wouldn't doubt that they'll finish in the top
five or six teams in the Big Ten after the
season's over with.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
And it is the only team that from the Big
Ten that pete Michigan State in Present Center last year
when the Spartans went seventeen and three. And you'll appreciate this, Don,
I was at the elevator on my way down to
the field to the interview area last Saturday and someone
said November three, thinking like, is there an election? What
(29:21):
am I missing here? And said, nope, that's the first
basketball game. So that's kind of the way it used
to be.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
At IU, I think, and that's true.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
You're right, Michigan State's going to show up and they
hope that they have a team left to play Michigan
the following week. Don, thanks so much for joining us.
Really appreciate it have fun this weekend and the rest
of the year.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Jack, I appreciate you having me and I'm sorry, I'm
so giddy right now.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Don Fisher, Hey, we will be right back and we're
going to talk with the former Spartan greats and captain
of a college football team and a team that you know, Hey,
all they did was go thirty six and five is
last three years. Darien Harris, now with the New York
Giants organization, will join us next on the Drive with Jack.
(30:19):
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Speaker 5 (33:56):
Russell, Welcome back.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
It is a driver with Jack the Spotlight Radio Network,
Jack Evling here with my producer Boston Rob Rob. This
is such a fun show. I mean, anytime you start
with Don Fisher, it's hard to top it. But we're
gonna try with my next guest and one of my
favorite guests in the twenty three years that we've been
(34:35):
doing this, that is Darien Harris. Not only one of
the best football captains and leaders in Michigan State, has
ever had, but now it's hard to find anything Darien
can't do. He is director of Player Engagement with the
New York Football Giants. He is co founder of Recharged
Pilates in downtown East Lansing. He is the proud they
(35:01):
owe me And we want to talk a little bit
about the NFL, but we're going to put that on
hold and talk about Michigan State first. Darian, you were
back on campus over the weekend for homecoming, right, yes, yps,
and we saw you singing.
Speaker 8 (35:19):
Can never go wrong with singing the fight songs.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Yeah, you and Twan Jones. You haven't forgotten the.
Speaker 8 (35:27):
Words, right, No, not at all, not at all. We
are of the generation where you had to learn to
fight song as a freshman to even participate in training camp,
so we will never forget the words.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I think the problem this year isn't that people have
forgotten the words or don't want to sing it. It's
that they haven't had nearly enough opportunities to sing it.
Going back to your state in East Lansing, with the
four bowl wins, with the Big Ten championships, with thirty
(36:01):
six and five, the College Football Playoff, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera outset for you right now.
Speaker 8 (36:09):
Yeah, I mean it's certainly difficult, you know, more so
from the reasons and the standpoint of you know, I
know that staff, I know the players in that locker room,
specifically the guys that have that have been there for
for a few years, and you know, I know how
hard it is to win at this level and specifically
in this day in Asia college sports and college football,
and so I know from the outside looking in, you know,
(36:34):
everybody's going to have a perspective and and have a
you know, have their own opinion on whether there's there's
juice and energy and enthusiasm and preparation and all those things.
But you know from the players that are coaches, it's
their careers that they are looking to enhands, and you
enhance those who win. So I know that they're putting
in the time, effort, and energy. It's just not quite
(36:56):
showing up on the field.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
What do you tell fans who maybe they came back
from homecoming and it was there one shot and they
saw what they saw, or maybe donors boosters, people who
have the money to help the program and they don't
know whether to get involved. Right now, what's your message
to them as true Green Spartan.
Speaker 8 (37:26):
You know, stay true to the school and the university
and support as best you can. You know, obviously this
is a you know, it's a challenging time in terms
of the last couple of weeks. But you know, the
team is not nothing six. You know, they have won
some games. They've shown that they know how to win.
They've won some games over the last couple of years.
(37:46):
Maybe not as many as expectations may state, but it
doesn't mean that the ship can't be righted. And look,
you know, these seasons are long, and there is still
an opportunity to see some good things this year and
then obviously you know long term, you know, I never
feel like your support for your school should ever waiver
(38:07):
in terms of you know, whether you are aren't going
to support them. It doesn't mean you can't be frustrated
or disappointed. But you know, I'm always more of the
point to some not the finger type of person. So
whether it's again players, coaches, staff, fans and lums, you know,
I think collectively we can all say hey, what can
we do better to help this team be successful?
Speaker 1 (38:27):
No one is going to want to give it back.
Darien but did you and your teammates and Mark d'antonio's
staff spoil the fans just a little bit that hey,
it's not quite as easy as they made it look.
And going thirty six and five the last three years,
(38:48):
you know, there are a lot of fans right now.
To some of those, they'd love to have five losses
in the season. Yeah, you had five in the last three.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 8 (38:58):
I've had some of those sentiment and shared with me
from former teammates where you know, we're kind of gone
back and forth and did we, you know, spoiler the fans,
so to speak. And I look at it differently. I
look at the fact that one, as the years go on,
I think that the appreciation for that time is going
(39:19):
to continue to enhance and continue to to, you know,
be put on even bigger of a pedestal. Look, I'm
somebody who when I was with the program, I would
tell every recruit aut of high school that I cannot
wait for our forty three wins and four seasons thirty
six and five in the last three records to be broken,
(39:41):
because that means we're winning championships. So it's not by
any means records we're trying to hold on to. But
at the same time, it does I think give a
fan base an opportunity to kind of reflect on how
good the times were in and like you said, how
difficult it is to win, and I say, even you know,
personally for myself and my teammates. Even more importantly than that,
I think he gives the base and opportunity to really
(40:02):
appreciate coach Antonio.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (40:05):
Yeah, excellent and amazing of a coach he was, and
how just as coach Izzo famers for a reason. You know,
hall of famers aren't aren't growing on trees and you
don't just plug and play Hall of famers. There's a
reason why coached he is who he is.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
When you mentioned those wins and that twenty twelve season,
and I think without the twenty twelve season and fighting
through adversity and getting that Bowl win at the end
of it, there was an eleven win season when you
came in and red shirted. That's fifty four wins in
(40:43):
the time you were on campus. There are very few,
very few Big Ten athletes who have ever experienced anything
like that. And the five eleven wins seasons or more
up to thirteen in the span of six years. The
only coaches in Big ten history who have done that
(41:05):
our Urban Meyer, Ryan Day and Mark D'Antonio.
Speaker 8 (41:10):
Yeah, I mean, I you know, winning is habitual, and
winning is essentially I learned science that goes along with talent,
and I truly believe that, I truly believe you have
to learn how to win and for it to be sustainable,
you have to continue to teach how to win. And
that is something that Coach Antonio was masterful at. He
(41:30):
taught us how to win. And again like the opportunity
that myself and my teammates have had especially very strongly
over the last few years in large and part one
because coach he has gotten in two Hall of Fame,
so we've been able to have some mini reunions, but
also just with the kind of the state of the
program we've we've really taken the time to reflect on
(41:52):
how we learned how to win through off season training
with Coach Mani and into springball and into the summer
workouts and when you infuse our winners manuals that all
of us, you know, still have at least one of those.
I have all five of mine that have different anecdotes
and quotes, and look, I put a quote above above
(42:12):
above my desk in my office here in East Rutherford,
New Jersey. That's a quote from the famous philosopher Lao Zu,
who was Coach D loved because I got it from
Coach D. Like, the impact that he had in terms
of our mental aptitude to go win is something that
was what really made him special, beyond the talent he
(42:34):
recruited and those types of things. So you know, yes,
those numbers stand out, especially in that stretch of time,
but I do believe we had a culture of winning, uh,
and we were taught how.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
To do that.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
What is that quote that you borrowed, Darien?
Speaker 8 (42:50):
It is anticipate anticipate the difficult by managing the easy.
One of the many Lauzu quotes that and quotes in
general that Coach D shared with us.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
I love it when you think about buy in and
getting players to know what you know and want to
do of the things that they may not want to do.
How difficult is that for players to do when they're
(43:21):
not experiencing success, When it looks like, uh, you know,
they're not going to bowl games and they're not fighting
for championships.
Speaker 8 (43:29):
It's very difficult because it becomes a question of all right, well,
what am I doing all this for? And and and
ultimately you know, the answer is for the team and
to again form form these habits that will shape us
going forward. But it's hard to see, you know, the
outlook and the projection of what may happen in the future.
Obviously you don't know. But but again that's like, that's
(43:53):
what hard work is, all right, that that's the reason
that you strive for success is because of the The
alternative is that you just don't stand a chance at
least if I put in the work, at least.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
I have a chance.
Speaker 8 (44:06):
And that's one of the hardest things to get through
to anybody, you know, whether it's in sports or business
or you know anything. You know, there's you know, there's
there's famous you know, picture depictions out of that of
the You take a gold miner or diamond minor and
he's acting through the you know, through the through the rocks,
and one guy has been acting for for days and
(44:28):
he turns around and the next guy just goes one
more step. And then there's the goals, like you just
never know when you're gonna hit it, and so that
is again.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
It's part of the culture.
Speaker 8 (44:38):
It's part of instilling winning values. And you know you
mentioned that twenty twelve season. I mean, you know, you
look at the numbers. It was at five games lost
by thirteen total points or whatever it is. But you
we get to the end of the game as the
season and Coach d gives us hacks that have program
win on it, like you got to get that last game.
You gotta win that game on the road at Minnesota
(44:59):
to win and go to a bowl. That's the program.
When that's a culture instilled. You know, we just came
off of the season where we played for the Big
Ten title and then we go into a season where
we have maybe an even better defense offense with talent.
We just got to plug and play with the QB.
Even though it didn't go our way throughout the season,
we had to have that last game and then we
(45:19):
won the bowl game, and then you go on.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
To thirteen and it speaks for itself.
Speaker 8 (45:23):
So that's a culture of standards that everybody was held
accountable for. Even when the scoreboard didn't show that way.
Guys were still competing and doing everything it took to
go out there and win.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
We're talking with Darien Harris. Darian, You're probably too modest
to talk a lot about this, but I thought you
were one of the best captains of Michigan State had had,
and the captains in that era or phenomenal. How important
is player leadership when maybe things could start to fray.
Speaker 8 (45:56):
Yeah, I think is as important as anything. Any coach
will will tell you that a player led team is
truly how you have success. And the coaches that are
at the level of a coach izzo who who talks
about it every single year, right when they actually are
able to implement it in a way that makes an impact,
(46:17):
then that again, and that's how you have championship teams,
and that's ultimately have you have championship coaches. You have
to have players lead from the front. You have to
have players that are leading in their own way, but
at the same time are able to carry on a
message from the coaches from the program and instill it
in the locker room. And I think that that is
(46:38):
you know, again, throughout the times that we played it
at MSU during my time, the guys that I learned
from to be a leader, and ultimately when I was
able to step in as a captain. You know, my
big thing was how do I first connect with everybody
on the team, no matter what, no matter where you
came from, no matter what's your position on the depth chart,
no matter the color of your skin. You know who
(47:00):
doesn't matter. Like, I got to connect with everybody, and
I got to get everybody on the same page. I
got to get this message across to everybody, and I
have to command the respect to everybody. But I think
even at at at the helmet of that, and what
really honestly helped me have a really good senior year
is I knew that I couldn't lead if I wasn't
playing well. And that's really the ultimate thing. It's still
(47:22):
a performance based business, and it's really really hard to
lead if you're not performing well because people are gonna
be like what you're telling me new is but you're
not out there making place, And so you have to
you have to be playing at a certain level to
be able to still galvanize the locker room. And that's
the toughest challenge of leadership, Darian.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
People say, well, football is football, it doesn't matter, but
there are a lot of differences between the college game
and the NFL. And I don't just mean where the
hash marks are, but in your time with the Giants,
what's the single biggest difference you see in the mindset
of players?
Speaker 8 (48:03):
Yeah, I would say, uh, just the attention to detail
is at another level at this level. And that's how
that's why these guys are having success here. You know,
no longer or or made it to this level and
then you know you're you're great. So you guys that
are truly having success having even you know more uh
(48:24):
more attention to detail because and the reason is what
I've really found, especially again in these these first you know,
six weeks and you know observing obviously watching the games
and observing the games from my lens and uh, you know,
being in game prep and all that is the difference
in talent from team to team is there? There really
(48:46):
isn't much difference in college.
Speaker 3 (48:48):
There's a big gap, right, And.
Speaker 8 (48:50):
That's why you have major major upsets in college, right
because you're not expecting certain teams to beat other teams.
And when it happens, it's a humong His story doesn't
mean can't happen, but it's very very rare that it
would happen in the NFL again, and especially this year.
The difference in talent from team to team is there
really isn't much. You may have some here, some there.
(49:13):
It really just comes down to execution and any mistakes
that you make, the other team's going to capitalize on
because of that good and so it truly is like
the attention to detail throughout the week and game preparation
that I see is the biggest difference.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
I was talking to someone in player personnel, Darien, and
I said, the difference between Team one, whoever that is
in the National Football League and team thirty two, that
gap is about as biggest between Team one and Team
six and the Big ten.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 8 (49:47):
I would agree with that, and I think it's exactly
why you know, they say that the quote unquote worst
NFL team would be the best college team by fifty
because the talent, the talent gap is, you know, from
college to the NFL where you truly are like you
say it in college like, oh, well, you know, everybody
was the best player on the high school team. And
(50:08):
that's yeah, that's true. But there are some not very
good high school players that still make it at college
level and some not really good football players that still
make it at college level based on athleticism, NFL professional sports,
and it's truly the best of the best. And I
would totally agree. Like the difference between Team one the
team you know, like I said, Team one's the team fifteen.
(50:31):
You know, team sixteen, Team one to the first team
out of the playoffs that doesn't make it. There's not
that much difference.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
Yeah, yeah, Darian, I want to talk for a minute
about the Giants, and I loved the game last Thursday,
not just because I had Camp Scataboo on a fantasy
football team, but because I love to watch teams that
love to play and the energy with Jackson Dart coming
(51:00):
in at quarterback. You know, he went to the to
the tent and you know everybody goes in to try
to find out if he's okay.
Speaker 5 (51:07):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (51:08):
You know, the coach goes in and you know, you
get table. It's got everybody's going in to check on him.
And the fan reaction there. We know what what New
York can be like. And now that the Yankees are out,
you know they're looking for someone to love. But to
see what the Giants did to the Eagles, and now
(51:28):
these teams are going to meet again.
Speaker 8 (51:29):
Right, Yes, Yeah, a couple of weeks obviously focused on
Denver first, should be a tough one for us on
on the road fan for that. Uh then yeah, right
back to Philly, which is interesting from the schedule schedule
makers there. But yeah, certainly this last Thursday was certainly
exciting for for the fan base and for for our organization.
(51:52):
And you know, watching those two young guys go out
there and compete, you know, we have a we have
a great mix of vets as well as younger players
that are making an impact and seeing each each side
embrace the other, you know, you kind of you know,
obviously everything is, everything's always better after wins, but you
kind of could see that, you know, simmering to a
(52:15):
to a good point, and it all kind of just
exploded in a great way on Thursday, And so, you know,
a lot more.
Speaker 3 (52:22):
Work to do.
Speaker 8 (52:23):
You talk about college season having some time love. NFL
season is long, and I'm learning that just as our
rookies are. You know, we're six games in and we're
only a third of the way through, so it's just
kind of we're kind of into quarter two of the
season and you just kind of break it down that way.
And you want to win each quarter as best as
you can. But even if you lose a quote unquote
(52:44):
first quarter of the season doesn't mean you can't finish strong.
Just like if you win the first quarter of the
season doesn't mean you may not finish your way you
want to. So we just want to keep building on
what we're able to do on Thursday and let that,
you know, lead us through the rest of the season.
But certainly was a certain it was a fun time
in midlife this past week.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
Someone said, you know, the Giants, there's something cooking there.
And it's a little bit like Kansas City when the
Chiefs identified Patrick Mahomes as their guy and traded up
to get him. Not to the top of round one,
but they traded up to be able to get the
guy that they knew was going to be a difference maker.
(53:24):
And then you find a guy later on in the draft.
You know, you might find a Kelsey or someone that
you identify becomes a great player. It's a little bit
like the Lions when they moved up and took Jamiir
Gibbs and everyone said, what are you doing that for
to take a running back? But then they found their
guy in round four in amen Ra Saint Brown and
(53:47):
it's a little bit like what the Giants have now.
They said, Okay, Jackson Dart is the guy. We have
to have him, so we're going to make a move
to get him. And then later on when everyone else
was sleeping, they didn't forget about Camp Scataboo. Can you
talk about those two players, probably the best pair of
(54:08):
rookies in the National Football League this year, and what
they bring to this franchise.
Speaker 8 (54:14):
Yeah, you know, it's been great to be around those guys.
You know, obviously in this role, spend a lot of
time with the rookies and you know since this summer
essentially you know, spent every day with them in the
summer and then of course spend time with them during
the season and get to connect with them on on
on different levels. And you know, both of those guys
embody what we're looking for in the organization, which is,
(54:35):
you know, tough, hard knows disciplined football players that bring
a level of leadership and a level.
Speaker 3 (54:42):
Of enthusiasm to the team. And that's what they've been
able to do.
Speaker 8 (54:45):
You know, it shows up on during the games, shows
up obviously on the sideline, and it shows up for us,
you know, each day in the facility, and so you know,
just continue to work with those guys on on you know,
staying grounded and staying in the moment and you know,
the of course, you know, continuing to play well, but
also understanding that you know there is going to be
a lot that comes with the success and you know, uh,
(55:08):
you know, not to get seduced by success, as we say,
so not to let the success be something that that
makes you complacent, which will definitely never happen with these guys,
but also expect to have that success, expect to play
at this level, expect to be able to compete at
this level, and expect to be leaders, which both of
them are and so you know they're true joy to
(55:28):
be around daily and you know, I'm looking forward to
continue to build with both of those guys.
Speaker 1 (55:34):
How would you tackle Cam Scattaboo in the open field?
Speaker 8 (55:38):
Yeah, it's tough, man, I mean, you know, I think
it is fast deck to Lawrence like kind of tough
to bring down and actually like it.
Speaker 3 (55:46):
It appears, so.
Speaker 8 (55:49):
You know, he's he's he's so loaded the grounds, you know,
but runs with such power that you got to get
under him. Because you know it's football, low man wins,
but but he's about as low as you can go,
and so it would be uh, you know, probably like
one of those side hot roll tackle kind of things,
just trying to trying to trip him up and get
his legs because he's yeah, I mean he's got you know,
(56:10):
he sent some all pros out there flying so very
very tough guy to bring down.
Speaker 1 (56:17):
Darien Harris. They brought a lot of honor to a
great number number forty five at Michigan State and director
a player engagement for the New York Giants. Last thing
for you, house Recharged Recharge.
Speaker 3 (56:30):
Is going well.
Speaker 8 (56:31):
Yeah, recharges plates is going extremely well. You know, we
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Speaker 1 (57:26):
Good luck to you and the Giants. I think a
lot of people needed to hear from you about Michigan
State and can't wait to get you back on press
Pass in November. That is Darien Harris, and we will
be right back. We're going to talk some Detroit sports.
(57:47):
We're gonna talk Lions and Tigers with Pat Caputo from
ninety seven to one the Ticket, and then Rich Kincaid,
our Detroit correspondent, will join us a little bit later.
Jim Keaton also going to be talking about the baseball
playoffs and can you believe these Seattle Mariners pretty incredible stuff.
(58:07):
I'm curious whether Tiger fans are rooting for or against
Seattle at this point. We'll be right back on the
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Speaker 7 (01:00:55):
Matterwardjuel, welcome back.
Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
It is a drive with Jack the Spotlight Radio Network.
Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
Jack evilin here.
Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
At my producer Boston Rob. I want to thank the
great down Fisher and Darien Harris for joining us. Now
we're going to talk some baseball and want to welcome
in the book Pat Caputo from ninety seven won the ticket. Pat,
how do you describe in twenty five words or less
(01:01:34):
what we watched Friday night in Seattle?
Speaker 10 (01:01:39):
Utter frustration, utter bitter news at the end, anger yet
juxtaposed with great effort.
Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
You did it in fifteen words, very concise.
Speaker 10 (01:01:55):
Thank you. You know I kept those leads pretty low.
You know I did a number of years as a
beat writer.
Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
There gets around, That's right. So do you think most
Tigers fans right now? I would like to see Seattle
win the World Series? So I could say, hey, you
know what, we took the World champs uh to fifteen
innings in the last game, or are they so hurt
and bitter that they would love to see Seattle lose
(01:02:21):
a bunch?
Speaker 10 (01:02:23):
Well, Tiger fans are completely one hundred percent confused about
how to feel. I talked to you know on the
radio more than Anyboddy. I think you know, all the
solo shows and come on after games and everything, right,
more Tiger fans and probably anybody, and there is mixed
feelings all over the place and torn feelings. You know,
(01:02:46):
you got like ten percent of them. Tiger fans are
very angry. It seems to me this is kind of
an informal poll. Yeah, and then you got ten percent
who are like, you know, the glass is always you know,
one hundred percent full because they love the Tiger and
they made the playoffs. And then everybody else is in
the confused category.
Speaker 4 (01:03:04):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:03:05):
It's like, on one.
Speaker 10 (01:03:05):
Hand, yeah, you get to the game five and you know,
they put in a real good effort and all those things,
and it was exciting games because Seattle was clearly a
better team than that.
Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
But I think it's a.
Speaker 10 (01:03:18):
Lot of frustration about like, why didn't you do more
at the trade deadline, the moves in the offseason that
didn't pan out, and you know, frustration about how the
fundamental baseball that they displayed so well the first hundred
games of the year just fell by the wayside, and
(01:03:38):
they sell into a lot of their bad habits offensively.
Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
Someone asked me, Pat, how would you explain the Tiger season?
I said, which one the ninety three game season at
the start, the sixty nine game season at the end,
or playoffs? And almost every one of these games could
have gone either way. You're talking about eight games total,
(01:04:03):
and you know there's so much drama involved in every
one of them. But how do you explain what Seattle
has done now? In the Mariners, you know, they played
the same number endings that Tigers did Friday, and then
they had that wild celebration and then they had to
get on the plane and fly to Toronto, and everyone said, well,
they're certainly not going to win Game one, and you know,
(01:04:24):
if they could somehow figure out a way to split
and go back to the Emerald City instead, they just said,
why don't we win them both? And now they're headed
home with a great chance to be in the World
Series for the first time.
Speaker 10 (01:04:40):
Well, the thing is, Seattle had a great deal of
pressure on them because they hadn't won a playoff series,
you know, you know, and gotten to the championship series
in so long and only six times they'd been in
the postseason in forty nine years, despite having all these stars.
(01:05:00):
So once I think that Dan broke, I think then
they started to play because you could see how up
tight that team seemed to be throughout that series, just uptight.
And secondly, there is no dominant team in the American
League this year. The Toronto Blue Jays are not you know,
(01:05:22):
you know the two thousand and you know, nineteen ninety
eight Yankees or you know, somebody like that, a great team.
So they're vulnerable, they have holes. They also have that
pressure on them. It's a huge area. They represent an
entire country in a huge metropolitan area, and you know,
(01:05:45):
they represent an area that quite frankly, other than the
Raptors one year, it represents playoff disappointment continually, considering the
hockey team and what the baseball team since been since,
you know, back the Joe Carter. Yeah, So there's just
this and that's why the window of opportunity was open
(01:06:08):
for the Tigers, and the Tigers did not augment their team.
If if the Tigers had one more relief pitcher, just
one more relief pitcher, there's a hot you know, like
a David Bednarn he did what for the Tigers, what
he did for the Yankees. They would have actually they
(01:06:28):
had a home field advantagement minimum in the playoffs, they
probably would have had a buy So they did not
do that. I mean, you can't get over it.
Speaker 4 (01:06:39):
They wouldn't have made.
Speaker 10 (01:06:40):
The playoffs it were not for Kyle Finn again, the
one player they actually got. Now, these other teams went
out and got other players. So it's you know, it's
you know, you can you can paint the frame it
any way you want about it, but it's the bottom
line about it. Just one more player would have made
all the difference in the world. The one player they got,
they wouldn't have made the playoffs. So there was a
(01:07:03):
fundamental miscalculation Scott Harris. And you know, and Scott Harris
is a smart guy. He's done a lot of great
things as Tigers GM their organization set up.
Speaker 16 (01:07:16):
Well and all that.
Speaker 10 (01:07:17):
But you can't just act like there's no window of opportunity,
you know, and you know, go shopping, you know for
you know, Aisle three at al D and you know,
at the trade deadline and then come out. I mean,
it just didn't make a lot of sense what they did.
Who contributed, See Walk contributed, Did Morton contribute? Nobody did
(01:07:39):
other than sin again, right, you know, and in his
contribution was significant? Did they have you know, in the
whole discussion at the news conference, doesn't bring up Loronto,
doesn't bring up Rasinio, doesn't bring up the four second
you know, well actually mcgonag gill may end up playing
second base, so they got an overload there. So it's
(01:08:00):
just a you know, the that's the issue. They said
that at the time of the deadline.
Speaker 4 (01:08:06):
Uh.
Speaker 10 (01:08:06):
The one thing I was wrong about is I thought
I didn't think they needed offense. You know, I thought
it was all about pitching. And I think if they'd
gotten that one more solid reliever, uh you know, I
mean a real good one, they would have ended up,
you know, having a better chance. But you know, they
needed offense. It turned out because all of a sudden,
you're hitting approaches were brutal. I mean, you know, Ronny Green,
(01:08:31):
he you know, he swings like he's trying to chop
down a tree, but he's swinging to chop down the
tree above his head. Yeah, you know, I mean that
is such a pronounced uppercut and there's no situational hitting there.
Torque fell out of that habit and no good moments
he had is when he took the ball the other way.
You know, I think Labor Torres was hurt. So I
(01:08:53):
don't want to, you know, but they just totally went
away from what brought them offensively, and it was it
was frustrating. So on one hand, those were supposedly thrilling games,
yet on the other hand, for Tiger fans, it was like, oh,
so what they got runners on first and second with
nobody out who cares? They're not going to score and
(01:09:14):
he wouldn't, They wouldn't over and over again.
Speaker 1 (01:09:19):
I was not at that year in press conference, and
I don't know Scott Harris other than what I've seen,
But why wasn't a direct question asked about those things?
Because I think it's on so many fans' minds, and
you know, Scott Harris probably deserved a chance to address it.
(01:09:39):
He wasn't going to bring it up, But I wonder
why they thought that they had to have three catchers
rather than try to win this thing.
Speaker 10 (01:09:47):
Yeah, well, I honestly don't know. You know, it's certainly.
Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
Not the Meatia's fault.
Speaker 4 (01:09:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:09:56):
You know, there's a.
Speaker 10 (01:09:57):
Zillion questions to ask, you know, in really you know this, Jack,
you can ask the most aggressive question in the world,
and it really doesn't work in a news conference setting
because you know, everybody gets into just talking point mode
and you know, kind of dismiss it, and then you
know the media person comes off as you know, being
(01:10:19):
over the aggressive sometimes and it's for no point. So
I don't know if you know what was happening. If
you're asking me, do I think the writers or beat
writers or a bunch of shills or something?
Speaker 3 (01:10:31):
I don't believe.
Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
No, no, no, no, I'm not saying that. I say that,
what would someone? I just wish someone had said. Look,
we know, Dylan Dingler, uh.
Speaker 3 (01:10:42):
That question should have should have been asked.
Speaker 10 (01:10:44):
But you know it's but you know he the thing is,
will he learned from this?
Speaker 4 (01:10:51):
You know?
Speaker 10 (01:10:51):
And all the words you can say or whatever don't
mean anything. The actions mean something. So you know, overall,
that news conference was just typical of those those type
of news conferences. You know, you weren't going to have
a dramatic moment where like George CRUs gonna yell at
wojo or something, you know, yeah like star Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
(01:11:15):
set is. You know, we're gonna have what it owes. Yeah,
you know, you know that type of thing.
Speaker 4 (01:11:22):
It was.
Speaker 8 (01:11:23):
Yeah, it's just what it was.
Speaker 10 (01:11:24):
And you know, Harris was, you know, dodging around the
questions those type of things. He did the best he
could to explain, you know, the accent the positive and
you know, try to explain the so called negative.
Speaker 1 (01:11:38):
And that was What do you think of the decision?
And I guess it was, you know what we should
have expected based on the entire season for Trek School
both to leave that game after a thirteen strikeout in
eighteen outspitch six innings. Could he have gone another ending?
Would that have helped?
Speaker 4 (01:11:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:11:56):
I would have helped, you know.
Speaker 10 (01:11:59):
I you know, look, I understand how the games play. Now,
you tell them give me six, give me a hundred pitches,
go all out. That's what we expected you after that,
you've done your part. But that was a little different situation. Yeah,
So you know, and it's like, hey, who I got
through my six innings. You know, I'm breathing a sigh
(01:12:20):
of relief. I'm going to celebrate. I didn't think that
that was the right tack there, and I think that
that was a poster sign for why you don't give
a pitcher four hundred million dollars in twenty twenty five
or moving forward, if that's the way.
Speaker 2 (01:12:35):
It's going to be.
Speaker 10 (01:12:36):
Because he pitches a seventh and flirty pitches one more ending,
then you go into the seventeen tenny. You know, as
it is once you put Tommy Kinley out there. With
all due respect, he's had a fine career and every time.
I'm not trying to make fun of him. It's just
a fact that every Tiger fan looked at that and
(01:12:57):
it was like planning a white flag on the mound,
and you knew it was over at that point. And
because Seattle had Castile in there, which wasn't like Kerek' scouble,
but like the next best thing, so they had no chance.
From that point on it was done. It was basically, hey,
the game's over. Maybe it'll go on another inning and
they'll get lucky against Castile. They weren't going to hit him.
(01:13:20):
Everybody knew that, So, yeah, you needed another inning from
Clarity because he would have given you a chance. And
he was fighting his guts out out there. You know,
great respect for the way he didn't have it and
he went out there and fought like crazy. But you know,
and certainly with Scooble, you know, seven innings, you can
(01:13:41):
give him seven. His arm wasn't going to fall off
at one hundred and twenty Pas.
Speaker 1 (01:13:48):
Struck out routing.
Speaker 10 (01:13:49):
No, No, So you know, I mean, I just I
didn't understand it. It's the mindset of the game right now.
A lot of people would say, you know, you don't
you do you understand the score here better?
Speaker 4 (01:14:01):
Now?
Speaker 3 (01:14:01):
Why would you say that?
Speaker 10 (01:14:02):
Not in Game five American Division Series? Yeah, we're yeah,
and uh, you know, gez Op, you know it's completely different.
And I don't know if and that tells you why
you don't give a starting pitcher like what you used
(01:14:23):
to give a starting pitcher. Can you imagine Verlander if
they tried to not have him start the seventh.
Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
Say, yeah, I.
Speaker 10 (01:14:33):
Mean him and Leland, I can just imagine that. And uh,
you know, those two very frank people, and I've seen
him be frank with each other before you know, and
then off the record setting, Uh, you know, it's remindful
of Tom watching him at basketball practice sometimes, you know,
because they they speak very frankly, right, you know, they're
both you know, competitors, they love each other. And uh,
(01:14:57):
you know then same with like Jack. Jack would have
but you know, would have been Mount Morris, there would
have been a volcano, you know. So in school it's like, yeah,
I did my job and whatever, and he's a competitor
and I'm not saying, you know, but that's the way
they're trained now, and it's that that part of it's
not good for the game.
Speaker 1 (01:15:16):
Yeah, Pat very quickly, which Tigers that we watched in
the playoffs will not be back next year? And will
Trek Schoolbo's last game maybe it already was as a Tiger,
or will it be next year at the trade deadline?
Will it be at the end of the season as
far as the Tigers go next year? Or is there
(01:15:38):
any chance you could see him pitching for Detroit in
twenty thirty, you.
Speaker 10 (01:15:44):
Know, just to be the whole thing with Borrows, the
Tigers relationship with him. Yeah, where you know the perception
of it is, I don't see him signing, but you
know that could change and that's up to terror school
bol quite frankly.
Speaker 4 (01:15:58):
So.
Speaker 10 (01:15:58):
But if he goes with his agent that he won't
come back. He has to step in and say I
want to pitch there, and that may be hard because they'll,
you know, if one team, it just takes one team
to break out of it, like it did with a
Freed last year or Snell, and then the price is
going to go way up beyond what it should be.
(01:16:19):
And so and if as is the Tigers just bitten
against themselves because they're going to wait it out Luis,
that's his strategy of his agent. So you know, I
don't see that. I don't see him pitching as well
in twenty thirty as he is in this year either.
All right, he's going to be what thirty three, thirty
forty years old. So it's just the whole dynamic of it,
(01:16:40):
is it juxtaposed with you've got a fan base that
is constantly they can't get this out of their mind.
Speaker 3 (01:16:46):
They just can't.
Speaker 10 (01:16:47):
It really hasn't been the Tigers lack of money spent
that's been their problem, and it wasn't this year for sure,
and it wasn't at the trade deadline because they added
significantly to their payroll, just threw money away. Actually, but
I don't see Finnigan back. I don't see Correz back.
And I think they have to make a decision on
(01:17:08):
Casey buys because he's getting higher up there. He's gonna
be a free agent not to get in the future
and Green and Torque, those guys, you know, moving into
arbitration area. Uh, they're going to have to decide, you know,
whether they want to make value for value trades, which
I tend to doubt that this general manager will do
based on his track record so far, even despite what
(01:17:29):
the his uh you know, people that he worked for
before he came here had different way of doing it.
And uh, I think that's where it is. And then
some auxiliary parts, you know, uh, you know, would be
like the windshell, Perez is, the uh Parker Vedos, those
type of players, they got to decide where they fit
into their chain based on what they're doing, uh with
(01:17:54):
some of their prospects and things you know that will
come in. Matt Berlin, that's another one that falls into
that category. We forget about him, you know, and uh,
you know, Jake Rogers is another one, you know, one
of those catchers going to be ready or what.
Speaker 3 (01:18:09):
Are they going to do?
Speaker 10 (01:18:10):
Uh, Jake Rodgers will have a pretty good salary. Is
it worth keeping him, you know, one more year at
this point and or moving into a different direction with
Gingler's emergence, and you know, they've got a lot of questions,
you know. The Roley Green, I feel like I have
to work on his athleticism. It's gone down quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (01:18:33):
The winds above his winds above.
Speaker 10 (01:18:35):
Replacement was half of what it was a year before,
despite those prodigious power numbers and spencer tooricleson. You know,
has to stand the same path that when he's doing well,
he can't fall out of that uh you know category
because he's not as good a player when he you know,
kind of loses that dody or you know, to hit
(01:18:56):
the ball the other way in key situations.
Speaker 3 (01:18:59):
Right.
Speaker 1 (01:18:59):
I'm glad that you mentioned Riley Green's athleticism because everyone
complains about the strikeouts, and there's plenty to complain about.
But when he came up pat and I remember watching
him here going against the lug Nuts, and he wasn't
a slow guy.
Speaker 4 (01:19:18):
I mean he was he was very.
Speaker 1 (01:19:22):
Richie Henderson or some of the left fielders. But you know,
he was certainly able to show some athleticism. And now
watching him is like plotting out there running the bases
are on left field and he's not that old.
Speaker 10 (01:19:37):
Well he's only twenty four years old, so you know,
down like this, I don't understand. Well, it isn't about
your eyeballs, my eyeballs, it's about the you know, you
can go to baseball some arms, see with the Doppler
radar technology, which is to the IMPERI says about that
(01:19:57):
range in the field, you know, throwing arms, you know,
just really really you you know, I mean, you know
there has to be more of that, and you know,
cut down of his swing in certain situations so he
can have his cake and eat it too, you know,
be able to get a hit with you know, runners
on second and third and nobody out in the line
of base hit instead of just you know taking the
(01:20:21):
uppercuts wing for forever. So you've got a lot of
work to do on that. But it starts at that
ass and I don't remember when we're kind of running
like that, you know, that form that he has right now,
I don't know where that all came from or there's.
Speaker 1 (01:20:34):
Foot I don't you look at him. And I was
a high school track coach and when I had a
guy who ran like that, we gave him three days off.
I mean, he just looks like he's uncomfortable out there.
Speaker 10 (01:20:48):
Yeah, it's uh, you know, it's notable. He was in
the bottom forty percent of the MLB runners in foot speed.
He used to be above that, you know, above the
halfway point, so right, and he was in the minor league.
One of the things there was a knock on him
that he didn't have speed. But then the Tigers are
testing him in the sixty yard dash and he ran
(01:21:08):
slightly above major league average. And then he had shown
that like when he was at Connecticut and then West
Michigan where you saw him as.
Speaker 4 (01:21:16):
He moved up to the Champett Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:21:20):
Pat, thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate it.
To hope I'll see it a game soon.
Speaker 10 (01:21:25):
All right, man, take here, but Pat Caputo, I.
Speaker 1 (01:21:29):
Want to stay right here. Rob and welcome in Artie
Troit correspondent well man for All Sports, Rich Kin Cade, Rich,
you heard some of the comments from Pat Caputo, sure,
Kenny that you disagree with about guys who are going
to be gone, or what this Tiger's team needs for
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 16 (01:21:51):
Well, you know, I'll just go back and start talking
about last Friday night. I want to talk about Pat
at some point because I remember, and I'm sure he does.
Two to night, I was chasing him around me after
he humiliated me during a hockey.
Speaker 2 (01:22:02):
Team Yeah right, he did.
Speaker 16 (01:22:06):
He was pants a bit of a pylon out there,
but he was from fifteen feet in.
Speaker 3 (01:22:10):
He was money.
Speaker 16 (01:22:11):
I couldn't stop the guy. He scored more goals off me.
Some guys got the pucket. The point, I'm having a
really bad night. I'm down ten nothing, ten to one whatever.
I'm just getting lit right and the computers are increasing.
He goes, how gonna you give it up tonight?
Speaker 3 (01:22:24):
Ten?
Speaker 1 (01:22:25):
You know?
Speaker 16 (01:22:25):
And I turned to stare at him or maybe hit
him with my blocker, And just as I turned right,
the guy at the point shoot and it goes right
between my legs and Kiputer goes, oh eleven then and
I threw it down my blocker, and I threw down
my glove and I sort of chased him rooney ice
and somebody says. Somebody says, what are you gonna do
if you catch him. So there you go.
Speaker 1 (01:22:43):
I would have loved to see that one when you
guys threw down. That would have been great.
Speaker 16 (01:22:47):
Let's let's let's talk about School. If he should come
out for that seventh, then I you know, I'm down
with the game has changed. You know, we can all
talk about Jack Boris and you know he'd have fought
for the baseball, you know, but it is different now
and essentially earlier today. Of School's last five starts this season,
all of them in the playoffs or you know, key
(01:23:08):
clinching games that sort of like the like the series
decider of Cleveland for example, and you see twelve strikeouts,
thirteen strikeouts, fourteen strikeouts in these outings, and then you
look at the bottom. Tigers were one and four in
those starts. So the reason the Tigers lost Friday was
at Kyle Finnegan walked the leadoff guy in the seventh
penn when the Tigers had a two to.
Speaker 2 (01:23:28):
One late Yeah, maybe that guy in the.
Speaker 16 (01:23:32):
Well, but you know, baseball Jack. I think what it
would have happened is if Scooba comes out and works
the eighth, Finnington comes out, walks the lead up guy
in the Ethan he comes around the scores of Tiger right.
It was just this game was the greatest baseball game
I've ever seen involving the Detroit Tigers. This was the
Tigers version of Game six of the nineteen seventy five
World Series Boston and Cincinnati. The Bernie Carroll home run
(01:23:55):
to tie up in the eighth inning, the three run shot,
and then of course Carlton fifth game winner. Well, is
that the fourteenth inning something like that? You know, this
was the Tiger's version of that. It was one of
the greatest baseball games ever played.
Speaker 1 (01:24:08):
Should write a book about it. Having written books, someone
should just write about that night. Sure, yeah, amazing and
so yeah, So how do you explain the Seattle Mariners
now and Jorge october is just going crazy in the postseason.
(01:24:35):
This is not Placido Polanco. This is Jorge Polanco and Seattle,
which could barely scrape itself onto the plane, uh to
fly to Ontario, is heading back to Washington State, or
is back now with the pair of wins and they're
two more, they may not have to go back to
(01:24:58):
Eastern Canada. They may be headed right to the World Series.
Speaker 16 (01:25:02):
Well, you want me you want me to explain that
I can only do you know, you you're limited to
pat computer to twenty five words to less in one
of his responses, I can do it in one sports.
Speaker 10 (01:25:13):
You know.
Speaker 16 (01:25:13):
That's you can't predict that. That's why I don't gamble
on this stuff. Oh my god, yeah, I mean that
was that seemed like a dead solid locks. Ye, that's
lot beating saddle in Game one for all reasons listed above.
But you know there's something I must be something to
be set for adrenaline and the playoffs so and have
have not the playoffs been great as usual?
Speaker 1 (01:25:33):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah absolutely? And mean for someone
who you know, I don't sit and watch all the
Tigers games every inning, but when we get into this
postseason drama, I mean, you can't have a script. Aaron
Sorkin couldn't write something any better than this. And oh
you're sitting there watching guys rise to the moment rich.
(01:25:57):
I mean I saw two throws Friday night as good
as any throw I have ever seen from a catcher,
first cal Rally, then Dylan Dingler. And to think of
what cal Rally has done this season, I mean, now
he's got sixty two home runs, but gold club defense,
(01:26:18):
and he was hitting for average against Detroit. He wasn't
trying to put the ball in the seats. He was
an absolute clinic for what Riley Green should do, and
it's situational hitting. Sometimes, yeah, you can hit a home run,
but you don't have to try to do it every swing.
And to watch what he has done, I mean, I
wouldn't want to have a vote for American League MVP
(01:26:41):
because Aaron Judge has had a season like few other
and one of these two guys is going to be
the runner up for this thing unless they have a
top yea.
Speaker 16 (01:26:52):
No, he's got such fast hands. That was the thing
that struck me about his swing. He just hits through
the hitting zone. I mean, it's just remarkable. You can
see what how he generates that that. Here's one for you.
What if you were to trade the best pitcher for
the best hitter. What if we traded Derek Derek Scooble
to the New York Yankees and got Aaron Judge.
Speaker 1 (01:27:11):
Any day, any day, sign me up. And I love
Terrek Scooble, but but he's pitching.
Speaker 3 (01:27:16):
What's the downside.
Speaker 1 (01:27:17):
He's pitching twenty percent of the games, right, Yeah, Aaron
Judge is out there and he can play one hundred
and fifty times, not thirty one or thirty two, and
he can impact the game in so many more ways.
You know, the thing that's most amazing about Aaron Judge
isn't his home run power. How many times he walks.
(01:27:41):
And the Tigers could use a few more walks.
Speaker 3 (01:27:44):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 16 (01:27:47):
Well, young mister Harris was developing that team. At his
presser yesterday when he talked about how the Tiger's got
got away from being contact hitters and all of a
sudden trying to hit on runs, and he did say
I said a number of things that were interesting.
Speaker 3 (01:28:01):
The one that stuck with me.
Speaker 16 (01:28:03):
If you go back a calendar year from late August
of twenty twenty four to late August of this year,
no organization in baseball, no major league baseball team had
more wins than the Detroit Tigers. Yeah, and I think
he phrased that for he said, that's an epic achievement,
and it is. It's just, you know, the timing of
the thing is such. It hasn't translated into the postseason
(01:28:24):
success that everybody wants to see. But it's just it's
still something to think about.
Speaker 1 (01:28:29):
Yeah, it's true. I think it's also maybe some camouflage
to cover up some questionable decisions made by Tiger's management.
And I don't just mean the manager. So there's that issue.
I want to talk about the Detroit Lions for a
minute and what we saw Sunday night. First of all,
(01:28:52):
it's amazing to me that they're playing Thursday night, Sunday night,
Monday night. I mean, it used to be a lock
at one o'clock on Sunday. It shows so you know
what the organization was. But here they are all over
the place. They go into Kansas City and the chief said,
wait a minute, we're not dead yet. We're going to
show you how this game is played.
Speaker 16 (01:29:15):
Well, Jack, your Detroit correspondent has let you down during
the game. On during the game on Sunday, I fell asleep.
There are you talking? Okay, well you you know it's
it's you. I wouldn't falling asleep. It was one o'clock
on a Sunday. But now on a Sunday I do.
And things are going so well.
Speaker 3 (01:29:34):
When I fell.
Speaker 16 (01:29:35):
Asleep, the lines were at ten to six. The offensive line,
especially the left side, was holding up nicely. So Jared
Goff had that clean pocket we always talk about. So
I'm thinking, you know, they'll he'll put up four or fifty,
whatever it takes. I know the secondary for the lines
was problematic, but nevertheless, so I text a friend the
next morning, you know, how do we make out? And
(01:29:55):
they said we lost?
Speaker 3 (01:29:56):
And I was legit.
Speaker 16 (01:29:57):
Surprised because that's how things were willing hand. Now I did, Jack,
I did go back and watch the rest on tape,
et cetera, et cetera. You know, not quite the same,
but no, losing on the road to a two time
Super Bowl champion. I think you can move on. I
don't think it's gonna you know, torpedo your season.
Speaker 1 (01:30:13):
Hey Rob, now I think we figured this out. We're
wondering what happened Sunday night?
Speaker 10 (01:30:18):
Kin Kate fell asleep and.
Speaker 1 (01:30:19):
That turned everything. But now now the Lions, with injured corners,
a free safety who is hobbling, and a strong safety
who's in trouble with the NFL for the eighth eighth
time and is suspended for a game, has to go
(01:30:40):
up against Tampa Bay team that has already won four
games by three points or less and probably has the
MVP at this point in Baker Mayfield. You know, Lions
haven't lost back to back games Rich since October of
twenty twenty two. Is that about change?
Speaker 3 (01:31:02):
Wow?
Speaker 16 (01:31:03):
You know I'm saying the praises of Baker Mayfield. There's
no denying that. I mean, we we've talked about this
where this is a guy who had a chance at
the National Football League level to develop his skills. And
we used to say it took five years for a
college quarterback to become an effective pro quarterback. We always
that was a mantra when I was growing up. But now,
of course, you know you're number one drafts, you're playing that,
(01:31:24):
you're playing, you know, come to fall. But he's yeah,
he's he's turned into a terrific quarterback. Boy, could Cleveland
use a guy like that right now?
Speaker 3 (01:31:32):
Eh?
Speaker 16 (01:31:33):
And uhh yeah, it's it's it'll be a challenge. The
whole thing was well, the secondary just sounds like a
complete disaster.
Speaker 1 (01:31:41):
So I want to ask both of you, Rob, I
want to start with you, who wins the game Monday
night at Ford Field.
Speaker 6 (01:31:52):
Wow, I'm gonna go Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1 (01:31:55):
Okay, Well, truth be told, Boston Rock is not a
New England Patriots fan. He loves all the Boston teams
except the Patriots. He is a Tampa baby.
Speaker 6 (01:32:07):
If it's close in the fourth quarter. If it's close
in the fourth quarter, Baker Mayfield, that's all I need
to say.
Speaker 1 (01:32:13):
Okay, okay, Rich, who wins money?
Speaker 16 (01:32:16):
Now, I'm scoffing. I'm scoffing over here. If it comes
down to the fourth quarter, what's the game on the line.
Of course it goes to Jared Goff. I'm upset about that,
but yeah, it may well come down. It may well
be a situation like that where it comes out of
the down to the fourth quarter. But in a late
inning pressure situation. I'm going to take cured golf Matt
Stafford and you know what's what Baker proved himself in
(01:32:37):
those situations a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (01:32:39):
How much fun do you think Baker Mayfield is having
right now? Rich? Looking at Lion's game.
Speaker 3 (01:32:45):
Tape, I.
Speaker 16 (01:32:51):
He was featured. They did the HBS training camp show
Hard Knocks the Cleveland the year Baker Mayfield was a rookie,
and I grew to like him. You know this kid
that's coming in getting him all it's seemed to still
be levels. But having they showed him signing his contract
for you know, fifty million dollars or whatever you know
happened to be. Yeah, but he still seemed like a
(01:33:12):
decent guy. And this sounds weird, but I liked him
in those insurance commercials where he was living at at
the Cleveland Brown Stadium there.
Speaker 1 (01:33:20):
Yeah, it just.
Speaker 16 (01:33:21):
Stuff like that, which has nothing to do with football.
I understand that.
Speaker 4 (01:33:24):
But I've kind.
Speaker 16 (01:33:25):
Of been full of you when you when you get
involved with something like that. You know, just through watching
the TV show, you kind of keep prack of him.
You know, he's been bouncing around here a little bit,
but he's home in Tampa Bay. And yeah, it'll be
a terrific football game, but yeah, if it's close Jared
goston Man.
Speaker 1 (01:33:44):
Yeah, well, we'll see if Aiden Hutchinson can make his
presence felt and introduce himself to mister Mayfield.
Speaker 16 (01:33:51):
I would like to go back and read the postgame
notes for the Development Scheam News this sort of thing.
Not much to read this week after the lost of
Kansas City, except for one that struck interesting. I'm a
around Saint Brown who hasn't been around that long. Is
now that he's about number three in the Alliance all
time receiving loss.
Speaker 1 (01:34:08):
He dropped the past Sunday and every time the ball
he doesn't just velcrow to his hands. You're shocked.
Speaker 16 (01:34:18):
Yep, yep, He's a beauty.
Speaker 1 (01:34:22):
All right. So Rich we talked about this briefly yesterday.
But heading into the weekend, okay, with the Tigers and
Schoobel on the mound and a chance to go to
the Alcs, with the Lions having a chance to beat
Kansas City and arrowhead again, with Michigan State favored to
(01:34:42):
win a game by more than a touchdown against UCLA,
and Michigan going out there and they're determined to make
this Michigan West, as they kept talking about out at
the LA Coliseum. Who would have thought that the only
bright lights we had for the weekend would be the
Detroit Red Wings and ms U volleyball.
Speaker 16 (01:35:05):
Wow, and I get a great NaNs Sunday night too,
so let's throw that in as well. But well, the
Runways laid a total eleg in their home and their
opener last Wednesday night. You know, at the gaming point
to all summer along. It's the opener, it's a sellout
Montreal and Town and they were just awful, you know,
it's got to be five to one every serious. Then
(01:35:25):
they turn around tonight said it beat Toronto, and then
yesterday beat Toronto again, and uh so so happy good
stuff for the Red Wings. Yeah, I mean on paper,
you know, I mean Montreal maybe maybe way improved, you know,
(01:35:46):
but yeah, definitely Toronto would be considered the starter club
at this.
Speaker 1 (01:35:49):
Point, Rob, Who's better the may Police are the Canadians?
Speaker 6 (01:35:54):
Why would you make Boston? Rob pick that nonsense, I'll go,
I mean, I agree, I mean Montreal is an up
and coming team, but Toronto right now, when you look
at the talent they have from top to bottom, I'd
go with Toronto over Montreal. Don't ever ask me that again.
Speaker 16 (01:36:14):
Yeah, well, Jack, I want to point out that when
we were doing a Red Wings season preview last week,
I said, the most important thing is, of course, goaltending.
All right. So Gibson, who the Red Wings, Apart from that,
I have over the summer, started on opening night, got
pulled in the second period, has not.
Speaker 3 (01:36:31):
Seen the ice since.
Speaker 16 (01:36:32):
Cam Talvert has played all the medicine goals since then.
So potential storm cloud brewing there because if Gibson is
not terrific, the Redds are not going to be terrific.
Speaker 1 (01:36:43):
So we have the Edmonton Oilers coming into Little Caesars
Arena Sunday afternoon. Yeah, and that means I coward coming in, right.
Speaker 3 (01:36:57):
You got me?
Speaker 16 (01:36:57):
And this one who's I coward?
Speaker 1 (01:37:00):
Well, he's a Hobie Baker Award winner, a guy who
from Michigan State and the guy who a lot of
spartans thought might stick around for another year. And now
he's got a chance to win a Stanley Cup with
the Oilers. And Connor McDavid. He's not playing on that line,
but he's playing a lot, and you know, he's doing
(01:37:22):
very well, I think as an NHL rookie.
Speaker 16 (01:37:27):
Well there you go, three games into his career, you know.
So yeah, the Runners have got five rookies in the
lineup right now, which is unusual. Two of our twenty
year olds. Two others have hyphenated names, and I haven't
quite caught on yet, but I will, I will, I promise.
Speaker 1 (01:37:43):
So well talk about hyphenated names, and Rich you will
appreciate this because you had to call some of these names.
But I felt very sorry for Mike Vitally and he
was doing the press box p Saturday at Spartan Stadium.
Good luck trying to pronounce these U c l A names.
(01:38:06):
I mean, they have the pronunciation guide here on the
flip card that they handed out, and you know you
can imagine some of the variations here. But if you
didn't know, you didn't have this fanatic guide, you would
sound like an imbecile with all of these samoan names.
Speaker 16 (01:38:26):
Well there's that and the hyphenated names that what are
really going to kill us. It's bad enough when it's
Smith's Jones passed Williams Daniels. You know right now, what's
going to happen when people with hyphenated names get married
and it becomes Smith Jones and Daniel Washington Johnson. Yeah, yeah,
we need to return to common censor. Jack, That's all
(01:38:48):
I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (01:38:52):
You were not down at the press conference with Scott
Harris and aj Hinch? Were you? Or were you?
Speaker 3 (01:38:58):
No?
Speaker 16 (01:38:58):
I was not, but I did watch the feed.
Speaker 1 (01:39:01):
Yeah what did you think? How did they do? I?
Speaker 16 (01:39:07):
He wouldn't talk about school's contract status, okay, which you
know we can't. What can you say you can't? I
actually liked his explanation for why they didn't make a
deal for a hitter at the trade deadline, which was
that they felt that the fans had been more upset
if they needed, you know, given the quality of the
hitters that were available to them and the price that
they would have commanded. They were talking about a position player,
(01:39:30):
for example, that was on the Divisional series roster, and
a number one rapt was you know, that's sort of
a situation, and he just didn't. I felt he was
being honest. I know he was being honest and right
off the top, and he said, we all wish we
were in Toronto, followed by an ellipse, you know, getting
ready for Game two tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:39:48):
Yadiyati and the Red Wings were in Toronto and they
did well.
Speaker 16 (01:39:54):
That's that's that'soltely right. And and one a thing it
would have been had the Red Wings that have been
doing well in fronto, Yes, let the Tigers would follow
that up with the game against the Blue Jays. Would
have been terrific.
Speaker 1 (01:40:05):
But you know, you know what I thought the press
conference was, and I mentioned took apudo that I wanted
to hear a direct question and I didn't hear it.
I thought that as Scott Harris was rationalizing, and I
think he was trying to say, well, you know, you
wouldn't have wanted this. I think most fans want to
(01:40:29):
go for it. It's kind of the Dan Campbell attitude.
You don't know if you're going to have a chance
to come back. It's nice to try to be the
team of the twenty thirties. And the Tigers have a
farm system which is at the top in Major League Baseball.
They're gonna be fine if they had traded their number
four or number five prospect for someone who might have
(01:40:50):
been an advantage for them trying to win this thing. Instead,
when Scott Harris at the trade deadline said well, you know,
we don't look got it in terms of windows, Well,
he's going to be looking through the window when Trek
Scoopa leaves. So I would have wanted to hear in
retrospect a little bit more about that, And I didn't
(01:41:14):
didn't hear that address the way I hoped.
Speaker 16 (01:41:17):
Yeah, and Pam was talking about it to the equality
of the questions that are asked a press conferences, Yeah,
and I think I take a bit of a harsh
review than Pat does. I think a lot of times
people are afraid to ask questions because they're afraid to
leave access, you know, yes, And it's it's just and
I think anybody in the business will tell you this
that it's so much different now than it used to be.
(01:41:38):
Used to be. The game it over. You just go
into the locker room, start stick a mic phone in
front some guys and start talking.
Speaker 3 (01:41:43):
You know.
Speaker 16 (01:41:44):
Now they bring them out the interview room. It's very
sanitized out there. Used to sit around three hours for
the game. The Major League Baseball managers would gather reporters
either in their office or in the dugout, and you'd
sit around and chew the fat with a manager for
forty five minutes. Yeah, you know, you don't think, don't.
Speaker 1 (01:42:00):
I don't like a situation rich where Yeah, the media
members are trying to be stars. Okay, they're trying to
get some publicity for being a tough guy. I know,
But I think you can ask a direct question without
being prosecutorial.
Speaker 16 (01:42:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:42:17):
Yes.
Speaker 16 (01:42:17):
When Matt Patricia coached the Lions, I was in the
press room for every one of his home losses, and
there were a lot of them, okay, And after each
and every one, the first word out of was a
mouth or near the first would be we.
Speaker 3 (01:42:30):
Got to coach.
Speaker 16 (01:42:30):
We got to coach better, you know, And towards the end,
it was hard for me not to say, one can
we ask the question? One can we expect to see
that begin? Is that a fair question? Or is it
me trying to be a star, or you know, is
it too? Is it two nasty questions asked in a setting.
Speaker 1 (01:42:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 16 (01:42:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:42:51):
The best question I've ever heard of the press conference
and it led to some action, was the two thousand
and to Michigan State Michigan game and the Spartans got smacked.
And afterward Mickey York asked Bobby Williams, have you lost
(01:43:12):
this team? Five words? And he didn't ask it to
try to get on the national news. He just asked
it because it looked like, you know, this was a
train wreck. And when Bobby Williams said, I don't know,
that was the end of his stay as Michigan State's coach.
Speaker 3 (01:43:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 16 (01:43:35):
No, that's a tough question, but it's it's it's tough
but fair. It's a fair it's a you know, take
a lot of guts to ask a question like that.
I think it's a hell of a question. I wish
I'd asked myself.
Speaker 1 (01:43:46):
Yeah, Yeah, Rich thanks so much for joining us. I
don't know if I will see you Monday at Ford
Field or I'll see you at the Michigan Michigan State
game here the twenty fifth. I will see you soon.
We'll look forward to talking to you next week.
Speaker 16 (01:44:04):
Not to worry, kid. Thanks Jack.
Speaker 1 (01:44:07):
Rich Kincaid, our Detroit correspondent. We're gonna take a break
and when we get back, we're gonna catch up with
Jim M. Keaton, junior Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of
Famer to sport athlete at Arizona State, former Denver Bronco.
And we're gonna talk about the baseball playoffs and a
little college football too.
Speaker 6 (01:44:25):
Hey, Jack, I got a quick question. Was Rich sleeping
as he fell asleep during the football game? Did he
has he? Does he even know what Baker Mayfield has
done in four to five wins for Tampa Bay with
last minute game winning drives? Did he fall asleep for
not too? I mean, in all respect to Garrett Sjared Goff.
(01:44:45):
You know I'm a I'm a golf fan, but my goodness, okay,
well we'll see yeah, yeah, just curious.
Speaker 1 (01:44:54):
Someone said that Tampa Bay was gonna win thirteen games
this year. I said, well, that's what they call a
Baker's does right.
Speaker 5 (01:45:00):
Ah. Very nice.
Speaker 1 (01:45:02):
Yeah. We will be right back with Jim Keaton Jr.
Coming up on the drive with Jack.
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Speaker 1 (01:45:46):
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Speaker 5 (01:48:02):
Welcome back.
Speaker 1 (01:48:03):
It is a driver with Jack the Spotlight Radio Network.
Jack Evlin here with my producer Boston Rob Robo. We
have our cleanup hitter ready to go.
Speaker 6 (01:48:13):
We most certainly do.
Speaker 1 (01:48:16):
He's been swinging that bat with a doughnut waiting for
this opportunity. Want to welcome in, Jim Keaton Junior. You
mentioned Hall of Famer and a multi sport stand out. Jim,
you have to explain something to me because all the
time I have watched sports, I'm going back to the
(01:48:37):
late fifties, I don't think I have been more wrong
about a game than I would have been with Game
one Seattle at Toronto and watching the celebration after the
fifteen inning game early Saturday morning, knowing that there were
going to be media sessions interviews, they were going to
(01:49:01):
finally stagger out of there, try to get their way
to the plane while the champagne high was still there,
and then it wouldn't be long and they'd be back
out on the field in Game one against the Blue Jays,
who were waiting and heavily favored. How Seattle won these
first two games.
Speaker 4 (01:49:22):
Well, and you have to remember, too, Jack, they had
TV stuff to get ready for the actual series with
you know, so, I mean, it wasn't like they had
a lot of time to do anything except maybe take
a nap and then it was like, okay, guys, we
got to get to the field for practice. But I
(01:49:43):
think I think what this really shows you, especially when
it comes to baseball, is uh, you can ride the
wave with baseball a lot easier you can with other
sports because you can take the time when you're feeling
(01:50:03):
confident hitting the ball, which is really what seemed to
happen for them when they got there. It's like the
weight of the world had gone off their shoulders from
getting through the Tiger Series. And this is the first
time they've been in the playoffs in a long time.
So once you get over that first pump and it's like, oh,
we did it, then all of a sudden you kind
(01:50:26):
of let the pressure that certainly was palpable when they
were playing the Tigers, and that fifteen inning just spectacular
baseball game for US baseball purists.
Speaker 3 (01:50:42):
It was just a beautiful game.
Speaker 4 (01:50:45):
But I just think that once they they relaxed, they've
been able to see it, hit it, and then make
it happen, and their their bombers have come up, and
then of course it doesn't hurt to have a guy
named Paul also on your team, I guess.
Speaker 1 (01:51:02):
Yeah, yeah. And for a lot of people who said
who is this guy? He did have twenty six home
runs in the regular season. He is batting fourth in
the lineup as a second basement for one of the
most powerful teams in baseball with the sixty two home
run hitter. Now if you had the postseason, plus Suarez
(01:51:26):
is at fifty and the other guys, you know what
a rose arena. Yeah, Rodriguez can do and nailor and
you know, this is a team that really fortified itself
at the All Star break and the trade deadline, and
unlike the Tigers, they said, okay, we're not good enough,
(01:51:46):
and so what do we have to do. Do we
want to just sit and say, well, it's not our
year or are we all in? And they pushed all
their chips to the middle of the table and they
may have a World championship to show for it.
Speaker 3 (01:52:00):
There's there's certainly uh in the groove.
Speaker 4 (01:52:04):
I don't anticipate to let down going back home, and
in fact Toronto is perhaps in danger without a couple
of very good pitching outings of getting swept out of here.
And it kind of reminds me of what happened with
the Lions last year. We had all these high expectations
(01:52:24):
and then in one game, you know, ended at all.
In this case, it's you know, for for theories, but
it has the same kind of feel. You know this,
And but I think that I think that they're a
well connected team. Those guys certainly like each other. And
you know, I like Palaco for the fact that you know,
(01:52:47):
he had gotten hurt and he was still rehabbing his knee,
and the fact that you know, I don't think they
signed him until just before going to training camp, and
and he had been shopping himself around and they ended up,
you know, offering him a deal, and and he bet
on himself. Basically, you know, he seven million dollars, which
(01:53:11):
looks like a steal, you know for a number four
hitting infielder right now that is leading you to the
World Series. And but he bet on himself, and so
an offseason, hopefully he'll be able to reap the rewards
for the success that he's had so far in the postseason.
And he had been regular Sason.
Speaker 1 (01:53:34):
Jim someone said that this is the first time a
contending team, a serious contender in the Baseball four has
had a second basement betting cleanup and a catcher betting
second and both of them switch hitters, having this much
(01:53:55):
impact on the postseason.
Speaker 4 (01:53:58):
Yeah, I I don't even remember, uh, too many catchers
that were switch hitters. That that to me is uh
is just an anomaly in and of itself. A middlandfielder
that's hitting both ways, you don't, you know, that's that's
that's not that unusual. But but the hit with the
(01:54:22):
power that he did you know, all season and hand
through the playoffs has been been really spectacular.
Speaker 3 (01:54:30):
I want to.
Speaker 4 (01:54:31):
Comment a little bit about what you said about when
they solidified themselves at the trading deadline is we all
know there's a certain team that we root for that
didn't make that decision. And uh, and then I seen,
I seem I seen the general manager doubling down saying
(01:54:51):
that it was the right decision. And you know, the
worst thing that I can think of for anybody in
power is to start defending themselves, because usually those in
power have no need to defend themselves.
Speaker 3 (01:55:08):
You just kind of let them go.
Speaker 1 (01:55:10):
Yeah, And when I you know, I have a real,
real good bullshit sniffer, And when I'm at a press
conference like that, Jim, I'm really really not trying to
get notoriety for myself. But with some of the things
I was hearing there, I would have been very tempted
(01:55:30):
to say, Scott, if the game had gone seventeen innings
instead of fifteen, would the Tigers have trotted out Chris
Paddock or Charlie Morton.
Speaker 3 (01:55:46):
Well, brother, I.
Speaker 4 (01:55:49):
All I can say is I appreciate your sentiments, and
I will not comment because I don't want to cast
any more aspersions on the story than what I already have.
It's from when you're in a position of strength. You
don't need to ask for permission. You just take control
(01:56:13):
of the situation and you make it happen. And I
found it very ironic that we have the resources. I
believe is what the word was used to sign mister
uh Eric the terrific. So does that mean we didn't
have resources at the deadline or did we just come
(01:56:36):
up with them in the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (01:56:40):
I'm get the feeling that they're so in love with
these prospects. I've listened to Fred Human for decades. Stream
upside can't play.
Speaker 3 (01:56:52):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:56:52):
That doesn't mean that you don't want to, you know,
build a strong minor league system. It's it's the lifeblood.
But I remember when the Tigers acquired Miguel Cabrera. He
was a very young player at the time, but they
traded top prospects, the best in their organization. And I
also remember Dave Dombrowski telling me when I did a
(01:57:12):
book on the Tigers, get the best player in the trade.
And if you're afraid to make a move, then maybe
you're not in the role you should be in. It
doesn't mean you can't be a great scout. And maybe
I'll be wrong, Maybe the Tigers will win four World
Series in the next ten years, but right now I'm
(01:57:33):
looking at opportunity slipping away.
Speaker 4 (01:57:36):
Well. One of the things that when he was making
his comments deck that I just it was, it just
ran through my mind.
Speaker 3 (01:57:44):
Yeah, he said, we have.
Speaker 4 (01:57:47):
The best minor league system in the world.
Speaker 3 (01:57:51):
Yeah, or in the game.
Speaker 4 (01:57:53):
And I'm like, I don't think the TV in das Moltz.
I don't see any lights, and I don't see any commercials,
and I don't see anybody in the minor league playing right.
Speaker 3 (01:58:08):
Now right sort world chancionship.
Speaker 1 (01:58:12):
And the Tigers system, Jim has two excellent prospects ranked
four and five in their system that every major league
team was coveting. They both happen to play the same position.
They're catchers who could be first baseman or dhers, but
they're catchers. And the other question I would have wanted
(01:58:35):
to ask Scott Harris was who's going to be the
Tigers starting catcher in twenty twenty eight And if he
had said it's going to be Lorenzo and I was said,
then maybe you could have traded Persono. If he said Personio,
I would have said that maybe you could have traded Lorenzo,
and if he had said, Dylan Dingler, I said, now
(01:58:56):
you really have malpractice because you have two guys you
could have traded for a bat or an arm that
would have gotten you to a point where we are
not right now.
Speaker 4 (01:59:09):
Yeah, No matter how I how I look at it, Jack,
this situation is one that is a head scratcher, and again,
to try to defend it is nothing more than digging
yourself a deeper hole to why you made a poor
(01:59:29):
decision to begin with. So but I digress. I I
like I like where tigers ended. I like how they battled,
I like how they played. I'm not sure how Trek
feels about it, because he would be one that I'm
nervous about that. If you're not going to be putting
(01:59:52):
people around me to help me win, what makes us
think that we can give him money and he wants
to stay because there'll be other people out there willing
to give It's kind of like the Texas A and
M story in Nil. Right, Yeah, well, this guy has
thirty million to give me against the seven that you want.
Speaker 3 (02:00:11):
To give me.
Speaker 4 (02:00:12):
You know. Yeah, I hope, I hope that he's guessing right,
But it certainly still feels like an opportunity loss, because
I can tell you getting back to championships is harder
(02:00:32):
than winning championships.
Speaker 1 (02:00:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think the great regret greater
than trying making a move and saying, you know what
we tried and we failed, is not making the move
and then having regrets. And I just wondering, what if
you know two more baseball things, And Jim, we haven't
(02:00:55):
even touched on college football. We don't have time for
that today. But Rob, I did a little survey a
couple of weeks ago about what the Tigers were gonna
do and this was during their last series with the
Red Sox, and I want to know how many more
games Detroit was going to win? And I asked twenty
(02:01:17):
two people who I thought really knew the game. Okay,
not just some schlep who staggered out of the bar.
I'm talking about people who had played baseball, who had
lived the game. And you know who had the highest
projection for Tigers wins out of those twenty.
Speaker 6 (02:01:35):
Two probably the guy we're talking to right now.
Speaker 1 (02:01:38):
You got it, Jim. I think you said they were
gonna win eight more times, and you weren't far off.
And if they had one Friday Night, you probably would
have won the whole thing. So when you were watching
this fifteen inning marathon, were you like riveted? Were you
(02:01:58):
like pounding things?
Speaker 4 (02:02:00):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (02:02:01):
Were you drinking heavily? How are you watching Friday night?
Speaker 3 (02:02:06):
You know what? Jack?
Speaker 17 (02:02:07):
I was as calm as the other side. I was
enjoying the game. I truly, I was enjoying it as
a fan. I was like, these are two really, really,
really good teams, and they are going at each other
at the highest level that you can do it, because
(02:02:28):
people don't realize playing at the highest level that you
can play at Yeah, and do it that consistently for
that long in that situation.
Speaker 3 (02:02:39):
Is very very, very very hard. And I was just
enjoying the game.
Speaker 4 (02:02:46):
I wanted to tell you every time of Tite out
of Tans, I was believe me, I was waiting for
the hit or but I really did.
Speaker 17 (02:02:54):
I was calm. I was just enjoying the effort.
Speaker 4 (02:02:57):
That those guys were putting out. They're understanding how hard
it was too, you know, to do that, but really
appreciated the game, and afterwards very disappointed, but also very
proud of the way they competed.
Speaker 3 (02:03:15):
And I mean because every guy that came out there.
Speaker 4 (02:03:19):
Just they did their thing, and it was it was
it was good for baseball. For me, it was like,
that's how baseball should be played, you know. And but
it doesn't take away this sting of knowing one more
bat might have made a difference, you know, all.
Speaker 1 (02:03:41):
Right, the last thing for you, And I ask you
this because you know a little bit more about these
two than than I would. I. I haven't stood in
batter's box and hit sixty home runs in with them
all much less in the major leagues. But this is
probably as tough a decision for an award. And I've
(02:04:04):
never voted for Most Valuable Player in Major League Baseball.
I voted for all the collegiate awards it could, but
I've never had a vote for this. And there are
a couple of media members covering each team that will
decide the AL MVP. Now cal Rally's going to tell
you he's not worried about that right now, he's got
bigger fish to fry. Aaron Judge does not. He is done.
(02:04:26):
But you have one guy who has really had a
generational season in terms of on base percentage OPS, being
the batting leader, pushing sixty home runs again and missed
a few games too. When you look at what Aaron
(02:04:46):
Judge did this year and compared to what cal Rally did,
hitting twelve more home runs than any catcher in history
and leading his team where it had not been. Who
do you pick and would it be wrong to have
a tie?
Speaker 4 (02:05:05):
Well? I think Jack in my own personal opinion.
Speaker 3 (02:05:09):
Just as a baseball guy.
Speaker 4 (02:05:11):
Yeah, that Andy Judge had a great season, but it
had comes nowhere close to where cal Roley in his season.
The fact that he's behind to play one hundred and
sixty two times, and I mean he he you know,
maybe it's one hundred and fifty. I don't know what
his number, but the guy was a trooper. He was
out there every day and the things that catchers have
(02:05:33):
to go through physically every day to play and then
be a switch hitter as well, and then hit sixty
home runs. In my opinion, this is one of the
greatest seasons ever by a player period. That's where I
would rank it. And he's not a little guy. He's
a big dude, right, and just getting your muscles loose
(02:05:56):
and ready to go every day, to go through the
rigors of the season and So I love Aaron Judge,
love him as the player, love him as a person.
But this year, without a doubt, cal Rally is the
best baseball player in the world period.
Speaker 1 (02:06:17):
Wow you hear that show? Hey, maybe we'll have to
bring Rally into pitch the way Jake Rogers did for
the Tigers. Jim, thanks so much for joining us. Really
appreciate it. And let's get together and watch a World
Series game over at One North.
Speaker 3 (02:06:36):
That sounds great, Jake, look forward to it.
Speaker 1 (02:06:38):
Jim Keaton Jr. Rob want to thank all of our
guests today. This was a fun show for me. I
don't know if it was for the listeners, but I
had a hell of a time. Starting with Don Fisher,
Hall of Fame Voice of the Indiana Hoosiers and the
long suffering doing IU football. I can't wipe the smile
(02:06:59):
off his face now, no question about that. Darien Harris,
director of player development for the New York Football Giants,
Spartan captain is back here for homecoming. Maybe some words
to the wise. It's easier to hear than to really
process right now for Spartan fans, Pat Caputo the book
(02:07:23):
from ninety seven to one, The Ticket, Longtime sports writer,
beat writer, columnist, you name it. Now doing terrific work
on radio in Detroit. Lots of pre and postgame shows.
Rich Kincaid, our Detroit correspondent talking about the Tigers, the Lions,
the Red Wings, and much much more. And Jim Keaton Junior,
(02:07:44):
former Sun Devil, former Denver Bronco Hall of Famer. Appreciate
him being with us. See tomorrow. We want have a
great night.
This is it right here?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Combining a team of reporters, columnists and commentators.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Are you serious?
Speaker 4 (00:13):
Jack Ebling has brought thought provoking discussion.
Speaker 5 (00:16):
What are you doing?
Speaker 6 (00:17):
That's a day coaching the same opinion.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Customer is the one who decides when the future gets here?
Speaker 5 (00:22):
Oh no, check the report?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 7 (00:29):
That game was fixed?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
And overall infotainment.
Speaker 8 (00:32):
I'll tak Jim arba, what is done?
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Praise God to coming a.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Quiet please, and exactly fifteen seconds we'll be on the air.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Thanks, big fella.
Speaker 7 (00:43):
Don't you ever come back here again?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
No arguments.
Speaker 9 (00:46):
Those are called ashtans.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
So buckle up.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Are you talking to me?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
It's time for the Drive with Jack Ebling.
Speaker 10 (00:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (00:54):
For some reason or another, who signed a little Cola Radio.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Great afternoon mid Michigan and beyond, and welcome to the
Drive with Jack. It is the Spotlight Radio Network. Jack
Eblin here with my producer Boston Rob on a near
perfect Tuesday afternoon, seventy degrees mostly sunny. Cannot complain about
that here in mid October. The only reason it wouldn't
(01:22):
be perfect, Rob is if you are a Toronto Blue
Jays fan, or or if you have to watch tape
and try to figure out how to beat the Indiana Hoosiers.
And we have a guy here who has watched the
Hoosiers play for many decades, and I smile just when
I think about Don Fisher now calling these games. Don,
(01:44):
how are you? Congratulations to everyone in.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Hoosierland, Jack, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.
And obviously I have been doing it a long time,
but it's more fun right now than it's ever been.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Well, let's talk about the miracle man and when Kurt
Signetti was hired. What was the expectation.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well, I think no one really knew what the expectation was.
The guy comes into the building and gets introduced to
our basketball crowd. I think it was Maryland who we
played that night, and he said, I'm not used to losing.
I never have, I'm not going to now. He says,
Produce sucks, and so does Ohio State and Michigan. So
(02:35):
the place came down. It was just bed them in there,
people laughing and loving every second of it, giving him
a big crowd noise, and of course he dropped the
microphone at that point and walked off. But ever since
then people have become believers in what this guy preaches
and what he says and what he thinks he can do.
(02:57):
And there's no reason not to because what he did
last year was absolutely remarkable and what he's done this
year so far is basically said exactly the same thing.
It's a remarkable turnaround for Indiana football.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
N How many head coaches in Bliomington since you started
calling the games? Can you count him?
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Gosh?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I can let me look and see if I I mean,
I literally know who they all are. Of course, the
first one was League course, so he was there for
ten years. Then Sam Whitch for one. That's number two.
Then number three was Bill Mawry and he was the
best coach we had until we got Kurt Signetti and
he was here for many years. And then it was
(03:42):
Cam Cameron for five, and then it was Jerry DeNardo
for three. Then it was Kevin Wilson. Oh, I take
that back. It was Terry Heppner for two. He passed away,
as you know. So then after Terry it was Bill
Lynch there for four. Then it was Kevin Wilson, and
(04:03):
then after Kevin it was Tom Allen and now we
got Kurt Signetti. Is that nine?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
That's ten.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Okay, that is ten.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And I have thirteen Michigan State football coaches since I
started doing this in this racket. And so between us.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Are you older than coach Jacky?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Are you older than me?
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I'm turning seventy three in December.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, Lord, have mercy of mysol, I've turned I just
turned seventy nine, so obviously I've got you by about
six years.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah, well you sound like you're about forty nine. So
I can imagine that watching this team is going to
make anyone feel a little bit younger. And you know,
going back a week, I don't know what this week's stats.
I can't imagine it changed that much. Indiana and Texas
Tech were the only two schools in the country that
(05:00):
were top ten in offense and top ten in defense. Yeah,
it's not like you can look at the tape and say, well,
we can get them here. The problem is you've got
to get.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Off the bush exactly. And I will tell you this, Jack,
and I've said this since Kurt Signetti got here, that
I believe they'll win every ball game unless the other
team has better talent. And last year there were two
teams that did the last eight and Notre Dame in
the playoffs, and so far this year, nobody has better
(05:33):
talent than Indiana.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
At this point.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
But here's the other thing that's really weird. At this
point in the Big Ten season, did you think ten
State was going to lose three games in a row
and then fire their coach? And what about all these
other games? UCLA was zero to four and they beat
ten State and that started them on a winning streak.
So this has been a really weird year in some respects.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Signetti is responsible in some way don for the heat
or the firings here, because fans and administrations are looking
at what's happening in Bloomington and say, hey, wait a minute,
how come that can't happen here. Someone told me the
other day, you know what the school should do is
just go and pay whatever it takes to get Kurt
(06:21):
Signetti to leave Indiana. I said, first of all, why
do you think he would want the demotion to come
to your school. Second of all, Indiana right now is
in a position to match whatever a school would offer him.
And I think he's he's got as good a situation
as anyone. It's not like he's being compared to Nick Saban.
(06:45):
You know, there's some good coaches on that list you mentioned.
I have the utmost respect for Bill Mallory and a
few of the others. But to come in there now,
you know you're probably talking about the pantheon with Bob Knight.
As far as the love feel in Lomangion.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Oh, there's no question, I mean, and that's the only
comparison you can make in that regard, because what Kurt
Signetti has done in a year and a half here
is just like I said before, remarkable. But the thing
that and everybody, of course, after Franklin was fired, everybody's
all of a sudden panicking that Kurt Signette's going to
(07:23):
leave and go back to Pennsylvania where he grew up.
And I don't know that that's going to be the case.
And I think you're right, Why would you want to leave,
as he said last year after the season was over with,
Why would I want to leave an emerging power? So
at this point we will see what happens, but it
(07:44):
doesn't he seems more prophetic than just about any coach
I've ever been around.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah, yeah, well, you know, he did a great job
wherever he's been, and terrific at James Madison. But when
he got there he was kind of a novelty, and
people said, well, this is let's see what happens when
he starts getting pounded instead he's been doing pounding. Why
did you know don that this was going to be different.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I knew it when well, I knew it was going
to be different when he had his introduction to the
media when he was first hired, because of the things
that he said, the things that he talked about, his philosophy,
his belief of less is more and I'm talking about
practice time and that kind of stuff and how much
(08:32):
you know a time he gives off to his assistant coaches.
All the things he talked about were in many respects
were old school type things, but they were done in
a way that didn't think make you think necessarily of
old school.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
It was more just.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Common sense type stuff. You know, less is more, never
get too high, never get too low, one play at
a time, stacked days on time of one another, when
you're practicing all the little things that you know, a
lot of it sounds like coach speak, and yet he
carries it to the level that's different than I think
(09:11):
almost any coach I've ever been around, because he lives
what he preaches. I mean, that's the way he goes
about his stuff. And the first thing he looks at
from a player standpoint is the character of the kid.
That's the first thing he looks at. And then, of
course from a transfer portal perspective, he looks at the
character first, but then he looks to see how much
(09:31):
experience they've had playing at that level. And I think
because he's gotten a lot of guys that have played
one or two years or three years as starters, or
at least guys that played a ton of minutes and
a ton of plays, he gets those guys that have
the experience, and then all they have to do is
adapt to his style of play and his philosophy. And
(09:56):
if he gets a character kid, that kid's going to
buy him right away because they see what's happening on
the field.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
If I had told you that Fernando Mendoza could win
the Heisman Trophy and be a number one overall draft pick,
would you suggest that I get a sobriety test?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Well, not necessarily, because I got to watch a lot
of springball this year, Jack, which I did last year too.
I wanted to see what this guy did from a
coaching standpoint and practice and the sideline and all those
kinds of things. But I knew Fernando had he has
the pure physical talent to be that kind of guy.
(10:35):
But I didn't know how he would handle decision making
on the field. Could he adapt to the philosophy that
Kurtzignetti preaches And he's done all of that. The one
thing that he did at California that was a negative
he got chased around the field for like forty seven
different times in sacks. He got sacked forty seven different
(10:57):
times at California last year. And when he came to
practice the first three or four practices, I saw that
he was working out there with the quarterbacks and with
the other players. I saw happy feed, and I thought, well,
that's the one thing they're going to have to get
out of them, because obviously Indiana, we think, has got
a better offensive line than California had. But he still
(11:20):
looked like he had happy feed. And by the time
spring practice was over with and they only you can
take you can have fifteen spring practices. Here's another of
the lesser, more thinking process. He had thirteen. You know,
he said, we're going to have thirteen practices In both
years he's been here, they have practiced no more than
thirteen times in the spring. But their practices are so
(11:42):
efficient in that hour and fifteen minutes that they practice,
there's no lost time. And everybody's got a job to
do and they do it. And the coaches that he
hires and a lot of these guys have been with
him for a long time, and that's part of the
transition from JMU and why it was so successful, because
he had guys who have been there with Signetti, who
(12:05):
knew exactly what he wanted, and then he got a
bunch of those JMU players to come with him, and man,
the transition was almost without any kind of a problem
because he had so many guys.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
That could tell you and help you go through the process.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
We talk about a seamless shift. How many assistant coaches
and how many players did he bring.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
He brought with him seven six assistant coaches, including both
the offensive and defensive coordinators and the quarterbacks coach. He
retained Bob Bostad, who was at Wisconsin as you know
for many years and was a great offensive line coach.
And Bob was already here. He was the only coach
(12:49):
that he kept, because Bostad was hired by Tom Allen
two years before or a year before Sig got here,
and boats Dad has done a remarkable job of Bill
in the offensive line. But he had six of his
guys from JMU that were here. Mostad became the seventh
or at least the seventh man in my mind, on
the roster. And then he got a couple of guys
(13:10):
that had not been with him previously, but he knew them,
knew who they were, and he did the same thing
with those coaches. He found out about their character and
what kind of guys they were, and how good at
coaches they were. And that's why I hired him, because
he researches things unbelievably well.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
And how many players I know that he has guys
who certainly knew his system and culture.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
I think he had thirteen players from JMU last year
and this year I think he's got six left. Those
guys have helped immensely in that turnaround of the two years.
And then of course the guys who were there last year,
they've all bought into what he sells, so you're not
dealing with a team that's got a bunch of new
(13:53):
faces and they're not really and they're not helping each
other out there. They're helping each other all the time,
especially the guys who have been under Signetti for at
least a year and maybe three or four years. So
you've got you've got guys that are really helping with
that leadership role and understanding the philosophy that Signetti preaches.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
We are talking with the great Don Fisher. He is
on the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame Mount Rushmore.
I think you talk about Vince Scully, and there are
a few names, but Don's is certainly in the top
of that discussion. Don When when you think about when
(14:34):
Signetti said google me, how many people do you think
have googled him? And should he have some sort of advertising.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Deal U Valley, I don't think that he signed anything
with anybody, but everybody talks about what he said.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
You know, I win google me and that kind of thing.
So yeah, I mean he could.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
He probably could sell it if you wanted to wear patented,
if he wanted to do I guess.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
But the fact of the matter is he.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Used that last year and he was a little bit
more full of the hyper Bowl last year than he
has been this year. He's been a lot more serious
this year because I think he feels like I've got
a team capable of doing something special here, and we're
not going to screw that up with a bunch of
commentary by me that people take off on and decide that,
(15:24):
you know, this guy's a bravado guy, and but eddy ate.
All I can tell you, Jack is I love this guy.
I think he's a great coach. I think he's one
of the greatest coaches I've ever been around. And I
put him in the Night category and the Bill Mallory category,
at least from a standpoint of what they know football
(15:44):
and basketball wise. He's just such a good football coach
and he just knows the game. He loves absolutely the
whole time in his life. I think he's cared about
anything but football.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I asked him maybe.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I took him to lunch one time last year before
the season never started, and I asked him about do
you play golf or anything like that, and he says
I used to play golf, but he says I don't
play anymore. I kind of hurt my back and he said,
I really don't want to play golf.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Anymore.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
He says, I just like looking at film and I've
never I've never seen anybody that watches more film than him.
But he watches it for a lot of different reasons.
The character issue, how guys react to big plays on
the field, what kind of you know, what kind of
kid they actually are, that kind of thing. And then
that experience factor is I talked about earlier. That is
(16:34):
such an important part if you're going to get a
guy out.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Of the transfer portal.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
So, but he's just so smart in the way he
goes about his business.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
It's funny you say that, don I remember talking to
Saban when he became a head coach and he was
beyond driven at that point, and I said, hey, what
do you do to lighten up? And he said, yeah,
I watched special teams.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
You know, that's that's kind of his idea. You're right,
I mean, and that's Signetti.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
I mean, that's Signetti too.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
And here's the other thing you need to know. And
I know you probably know this, but Kurt Signetti was
under his last assistant's coaching job and he was an
assistant coach I think for twenty six or twenty seven
years before he got his first head coaching position, and
Nick Saban was his last job as an assistant in
the first four years of Alabama's under Nick Saban, Saban
(17:29):
hired him and he said he learned more from Nick
Saban how to run a program and how to set
up a program than anybody'd ever been around. And he
was under some great coaches, Johnny Major's and Chuck Amato
and guys like that, and through his years as an assistant,
and so he learned from a lot of really good people,
but he said Saban was the best at understanding how
(17:51):
to run a program, and he's utilized when he learned
in that regard from Nick Saban throughout these years.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
So if he doesn't go does he like music, does
he watch movies? What does he do away from the
football building?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Nothing?
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And I'm saying that because I've asked him that question,
and he says, I look at film.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
I look at.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Film of football games, games that we're going to play,
people that we're.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Going to play.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I look at film on players. I'm always looking at film.
And I'm telling you he does, I mean, if you
were if his coaches have left for the evening or
something like that, and he feels like he needs to
look at something he's on, he's looking at video. I mean,
he's doing it all the time. I don't think he
does it at home very much anymore. I think most
(18:46):
of the time it's at the office. But when he
goes home, I think he relaxes a little bit in
that old chair that everybody talks about, a recliner that
his wife won't that he won't let his wife throw
out because he's had it for like thirty some years now. Yes,
and he just he's a unique individual. But football is
his life. I mean, that's basically all he cares about.
(19:09):
And of course he goes on vacations with his wife.
He's got a wonderful wife named Minette, and she is
just she's a treating herself, just a really wonderful lady.
And he's got three kids, I think, two daughters and
a son. The two girls are brilliant. They're both women
that are in the medical profession or will be in
(19:30):
the medical profession out of college and so on. And
his son, I guess has been successful too. And I
think he's a grandfather. He's got one of his daughters,
I think has has two children. I think that's right.
And the other one I think is married now too,
and that'll probably pop another one out of there at
some point here in the near future.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Don you would be in the unique position to answer
this question, what would Bob Knight say about Kurt Signatty
if they came to a battle and they disagreed about something,
how much would you pay to watch it?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Well, I can tell you this, I'm not sure who
would win it, simply because I'm talking about an argument now,
We're not talking about a physical conversation. But I think
it would be they would probably come to some agreement
in the sense of what they were talking about, because
I don't think either one would give in on his
(20:31):
thinking process.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
If you know what I'm saying, Does.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
He have a political philosophy? We know that Bob Knight did,
some other coaches have. There's a little militaristic attitude with
some coaches. Has he talked about that and events outside
of sports.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
I've not heard him ever talk about politics. I've essentially
never heard him talk about anything but football. And I'm
just telling you he's a one track pony in that regard.
I just I mean, I'm not afraid to ask the question.
In fact, I may do so on a next talk show,
I'm going to say that Jack Ebling asked me to
(21:12):
ask you please do what your political affiliation is, and
he probably.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Will go none of your business.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Yeah, I would think that any candidate in the state
of Indiana right now would die for that endorsement.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Oh my goodness, you know they would.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
If you're a political if you're the political persuasion.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
That guy would.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Right now, he'd buy into anything Kurtsy if he wanted
a million dollars from If Signetty wanted a million dollars
from the guy, that guy'd probably give it to him.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Right right, right, don I've been a state chair for
the Heisman Trophy for forty years and a guy who
I had the utmost respect for, someone you knew very well.
It's the late Bob Hammill. But when you think about
why Indiana has done, you've come on this show and
(22:03):
talked about where it was historically the lowest of the
low in terms of the Power five, Power four Now programs.
People around the country are looking at this and saying, well,
where's our Signetti.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I guess there's only one of them, right Well, as
far as I know, I haven't seen anybody else ever
do this this quickly, and if it goes the way
a lot of people believe it's going to go here
for the rest of the year.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
I don't think we'll ever.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Have seen anything like this ever before, a team that
went out and did what they did last year, make
a college football playoff and then maybe rise to number
one in the rankings and then a Big Ten championship
and then maybe the College football I mean, you know,
you could look at it and you could say, until
(22:57):
they get to the college football playoff, should probably win out.
And I'm not saying that they will or should, I'm
simply saying it's a possibility. I mean, and nobody at
Indiana's ever thought that the past ever, right.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Right, Well, you look at the two losses you mentioned,
and they were the teams that played for the national
title last year. Hasn't lost a RUD game yet. I
do not have an AP vote this year. We cycle
on and off that, but if I did, I would
vote for Indiana number one in the nation. I think
that the performance against Illinois not just a sixty three
(23:34):
to ten went over a ninth ranked team, but three
hundred and twelve to two in rushing and then going
on the road. And I've been spit on at Austin Stadium,
so I know what that venue is like. And I
can tell you that a win there by double digits
(23:55):
is one of the most impressive things you can do
in college football.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Well I can, I mean, and I can't argue that
at all. And this team has been remarkable. I questioned
whether they would be as good as last year's team
at the very beginning because.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
They just didn't know.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
I didn't know how good Fernando Mendez was going to be.
I didn't know if our running backs were going to
be as good as they were last year because he
lost all the starting running backs from a year ago.
Are the guys that shared most of the reps last season,
those guys were all gone. He still has three, i
think two of the best receivers that were on the
(24:32):
roster last year. But he's got three or four other
guys that are very capable. But he's lose used less
of those people at this point in the season because
he's gone with his primary three. But facts, the wide receivers,
the quarterback, and here's the other thing, Jack, this is
(24:52):
a really good offensive line. It's a very good offensive line,
it's better than it was a year ago. And if
you looked at Indiana last year and who they played
and when they got beat, it was the offensive line
that didn't perform up to expectations or are hoped for expectations.
They just weren't as good as this group. So they've
got the experience, they've got belief, they've got confidence, and
(25:17):
they still have a chip on their shoulder because of
all the people that continue to doubt them, and of
course that Oregon bok probably took away a lot of
those doubts.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
All right, don what is a bigger surprise that Michigan
lost two and a half times as many games last
year and might again this year? As Kurt Signetti has
since he found the state of Indiana or that right now,
if you look at this, you know you have schools
(25:50):
that would be lined up to try to hire him.
And he's making over eight million dollars right now, right.
I mean, I think a lot of fans there have
given choice of watching IU football or Indiana basketball, might
pick football, and I don't think I would ever say that.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Well, I know right now that if you were here
last year, our fan base became Indiana football fans as
much for Indiana football as Indiana basketball sliding down the tubes.
If you know what I'm saying. There's no question that
football right now is number one at IU. And I
(26:33):
say that only because basketball hasn't started yet. But we
haven't heard the conversation about basketball starting this year because
we have a new coach and I think he's going
to be dynamite. I really like Darren DeVries a lot.
I went with them to Puerto Rico and watched them
play down there against the Serbian team that could play
in the Big Ten, and they beat them twice. In
(26:56):
those matchups down there, they beat a Puerto Rican team
as well, but there wasn't very good. But the Serbian
team that they played was long and tall and athletic,
and they had some really good players in that team,
including a draft choice for the Milwaukee Bucks. It was
on that Serbian team, and Indiana gotten behind in both
ball games down there against that team and came back
(27:20):
and won both of them.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Beat them badly.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
In the first time, after being down twenty three in
the first half, they got it to thirteen at halftime
and won that ball game going away by twenty one,
and then the second time they played them, they got
down twenty at halftime fifty to thirty, and they came
back from that game shipped away, got to the end
with a minute and a half left, made every play
at the end of the game.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
And won by one.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
So this team is brand new. There's not a single
player other than two walk Ons on the team that
was there last year. So you've got two walk Ons
and now you've got thirteen other new faces on this team.
I think you've really got three freshmen. One is a
true freshman from Indiana. Kid's name is Trent Sisley, and
(28:04):
he's really a good player. And they've got two others
at aristic kid from Serbia and a kid from Bosnia.
And the Bosnian kid is a project right now. I
don't think he'll play a lot this year. But they've
got a bunch of new faces. And these kids are
really good basketball players, almost all of them, but at
a lesser level, except for Tucker Debrees, who was with
(28:25):
his dad at West Virginia last year, but then he
got hurt early in the season and didn't play the
rest of the campaign. So that's why he's got a
year left. And so Indiana's got a bunch of new faces,
but I'm telling you, they play really hard, and they
play tough, and they are mentally They have mentally shown
me that they are capable of going out and competing
(28:47):
with just about anybody. Now, they're not going to beat everybody,
and I don't think they'll contend for a Big Ten championship,
but I wouldn't doubt that they'll finish in the top
five or six teams in the Big Ten after the
season's over with.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
And it is the only team that from the Big
Ten that pete Michigan State in Present Center last year
when the Spartans went seventeen and three. And you'll appreciate this, Don,
I was at the elevator on my way down to
the field to the interview area last Saturday and someone
said November three, thinking like, is there an election? What
(29:21):
am I missing here? And said, nope, that's the first
basketball game. So that's kind of the way it used
to be.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
At IU, I think, and that's true.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
You're right, Michigan State's going to show up and they
hope that they have a team left to play Michigan
the following week. Don, thanks so much for joining us.
Really appreciate it have fun this weekend and the rest
of the year.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Jack, I appreciate you having me and I'm sorry, I'm
so giddy right now.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Don Fisher, Hey, we will be right back and we're
going to talk with the former Spartan greats and captain
of a college football team and a team that you know, Hey,
all they did was go thirty six and five is
last three years. Darien Harris, now with the New York
Giants organization, will join us next on the Drive with Jack.
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Speaker 5 (33:56):
Russell, Welcome back.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
It is a driver with Jack the Spotlight Radio Network,
Jack Evling here with my producer Boston Rob Rob. This
is such a fun show. I mean, anytime you start
with Don Fisher, it's hard to top it. But we're
gonna try with my next guest and one of my
favorite guests in the twenty three years that we've been
(34:35):
doing this, that is Darien Harris. Not only one of
the best football captains and leaders in Michigan State, has
ever had, but now it's hard to find anything Darien
can't do. He is director of Player Engagement with the
New York Football Giants. He is co founder of Recharged
Pilates in downtown East Lansing. He is the proud they
(35:01):
owe me And we want to talk a little bit
about the NFL, but we're going to put that on
hold and talk about Michigan State first. Darian, you were
back on campus over the weekend for homecoming, right, yes, yps,
and we saw you singing.
Speaker 8 (35:19):
Can never go wrong with singing the fight songs.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Yeah, you and Twan Jones. You haven't forgotten the.
Speaker 8 (35:27):
Words, right, No, not at all, not at all. We
are of the generation where you had to learn to
fight song as a freshman to even participate in training camp,
so we will never forget the words.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I think the problem this year isn't that people have
forgotten the words or don't want to sing it. It's
that they haven't had nearly enough opportunities to sing it.
Going back to your state in East Lansing, with the
four bowl wins, with the Big Ten championships, with thirty
(36:01):
six and five, the College Football Playoff, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera outset for you right now.
Speaker 8 (36:09):
Yeah, I mean it's certainly difficult, you know, more so
from the reasons and the standpoint of you know, I
know that staff, I know the players in that locker room,
specifically the guys that have that have been there for
for a few years, and you know, I know how
hard it is to win at this level and specifically
in this day in Asia college sports and college football,
and so I know from the outside looking in, you know,
(36:34):
everybody's going to have a perspective and and have a
you know, have their own opinion on whether there's there's
juice and energy and enthusiasm and preparation and all those things.
But you know from the players that are coaches, it's
their careers that they are looking to enhands, and you
enhance those who win. So I know that they're putting
in the time, effort, and energy. It's just not quite
(36:56):
showing up on the field.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
What do you tell fans who maybe they came back
from homecoming and it was there one shot and they
saw what they saw, or maybe donors boosters, people who
have the money to help the program and they don't
know whether to get involved. Right now, what's your message
to them as true Green Spartan.
Speaker 8 (37:26):
You know, stay true to the school and the university
and support as best you can. You know, obviously this
is a you know, it's a challenging time in terms
of the last couple of weeks. But you know, the
team is not nothing six. You know, they have won
some games. They've shown that they know how to win.
They've won some games over the last couple of years.
(37:46):
Maybe not as many as expectations may state, but it
doesn't mean that the ship can't be righted. And look,
you know, these seasons are long, and there is still
an opportunity to see some good things this year and
then obviously you know long term, you know, I never
feel like your support for your school should ever waiver
(38:07):
in terms of you know, whether you are aren't going
to support them. It doesn't mean you can't be frustrated
or disappointed. But you know, I'm always more of the
point to some not the finger type of person. So
whether it's again players, coaches, staff, fans and lums, you know,
I think collectively we can all say hey, what can
we do better to help this team be successful?
Speaker 1 (38:27):
No one is going to want to give it back.
Darien but did you and your teammates and Mark d'antonio's
staff spoil the fans just a little bit that hey,
it's not quite as easy as they made it look.
And going thirty six and five the last three years,
(38:48):
you know, there are a lot of fans right now.
To some of those, they'd love to have five losses
in the season. Yeah, you had five in the last three.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 8 (38:58):
I've had some of those sentiment and shared with me
from former teammates where you know, we're kind of gone
back and forth and did we, you know, spoiler the fans,
so to speak. And I look at it differently. I
look at the fact that one, as the years go on,
I think that the appreciation for that time is going
(39:19):
to continue to enhance and continue to to, you know,
be put on even bigger of a pedestal. Look, I'm
somebody who when I was with the program, I would
tell every recruit aut of high school that I cannot
wait for our forty three wins and four seasons thirty
six and five in the last three records to be broken,
(39:41):
because that means we're winning championships. So it's not by
any means records we're trying to hold on to. But
at the same time, it does I think give a
fan base an opportunity to kind of reflect on how
good the times were in and like you said, how
difficult it is to win, and I say, even you know,
personally for myself and my teammates. Even more importantly than that,
I think he gives the base and opportunity to really
(40:02):
appreciate coach Antonio.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (40:05):
Yeah, excellent and amazing of a coach he was, and
how just as coach Izzo famers for a reason. You know,
hall of famers aren't aren't growing on trees and you
don't just plug and play Hall of famers. There's a
reason why coached he is who he is.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
When you mentioned those wins and that twenty twelve season,
and I think without the twenty twelve season and fighting
through adversity and getting that Bowl win at the end
of it, there was an eleven win season when you
came in and red shirted. That's fifty four wins in
(40:43):
the time you were on campus. There are very few,
very few Big Ten athletes who have ever experienced anything
like that. And the five eleven wins seasons or more
up to thirteen in the span of six years. The
only coaches in Big ten history who have done that
(41:05):
our Urban Meyer, Ryan Day and Mark D'Antonio.
Speaker 8 (41:10):
Yeah, I mean, I you know, winning is habitual, and
winning is essentially I learned science that goes along with talent,
and I truly believe that, I truly believe you have
to learn how to win and for it to be sustainable,
you have to continue to teach how to win. And
that is something that Coach Antonio was masterful at. He
(41:30):
taught us how to win. And again like the opportunity
that myself and my teammates have had especially very strongly
over the last few years in large and part one
because coach he has gotten in two Hall of Fame,
so we've been able to have some mini reunions, but
also just with the kind of the state of the
program we've we've really taken the time to reflect on
(41:52):
how we learned how to win through off season training
with Coach Mani and into springball and into the summer
workouts and when you infuse our winners manuals that all
of us, you know, still have at least one of those.
I have all five of mine that have different anecdotes
and quotes, and look, I put a quote above above
(42:12):
above my desk in my office here in East Rutherford,
New Jersey. That's a quote from the famous philosopher Lao Zu,
who was Coach D loved because I got it from
Coach D. Like, the impact that he had in terms
of our mental aptitude to go win is something that
was what really made him special, beyond the talent he
(42:34):
recruited and those types of things. So you know, yes,
those numbers stand out, especially in that stretch of time,
but I do believe we had a culture of winning, uh,
and we were taught how.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
To do that.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
What is that quote that you borrowed, Darien?
Speaker 8 (42:50):
It is anticipate anticipate the difficult by managing the easy.
One of the many Lauzu quotes that and quotes in
general that Coach D shared with us.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
I love it when you think about buy in and
getting players to know what you know and want to
do of the things that they may not want to do.
How difficult is that for players to do when they're
(43:21):
not experiencing success, When it looks like, uh, you know,
they're not going to bowl games and they're not fighting
for championships.
Speaker 8 (43:29):
It's very difficult because it becomes a question of all right, well,
what am I doing all this for? And and and
ultimately you know, the answer is for the team and
to again form form these habits that will shape us
going forward. But it's hard to see, you know, the
outlook and the projection of what may happen in the future.
Obviously you don't know. But but again that's like, that's
(43:53):
what hard work is, all right, that that's the reason
that you strive for success is because of the The
alternative is that you just don't stand a chance at
least if I put in the work, at least.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
I have a chance.
Speaker 8 (44:06):
And that's one of the hardest things to get through
to anybody, you know, whether it's in sports or business
or you know anything. You know, there's you know, there's
there's famous you know, picture depictions out of that of
the You take a gold miner or diamond minor and
he's acting through the you know, through the through the rocks,
and one guy has been acting for for days and
(44:28):
he turns around and the next guy just goes one
more step. And then there's the goals, like you just
never know when you're gonna hit it, and so that
is again.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
It's part of the culture.
Speaker 8 (44:38):
It's part of instilling winning values. And you know you
mentioned that twenty twelve season. I mean, you know, you
look at the numbers. It was at five games lost
by thirteen total points or whatever it is. But you
we get to the end of the game as the
season and Coach d gives us hacks that have program
win on it, like you got to get that last game.
You gotta win that game on the road at Minnesota
(44:59):
to win and go to a bowl. That's the program.
When that's a culture instilled. You know, we just came
off of the season where we played for the Big
Ten title and then we go into a season where
we have maybe an even better defense offense with talent.
We just got to plug and play with the QB.
Even though it didn't go our way throughout the season,
we had to have that last game and then we
(45:19):
won the bowl game, and then you go on.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
To thirteen and it speaks for itself.
Speaker 8 (45:23):
So that's a culture of standards that everybody was held
accountable for. Even when the scoreboard didn't show that way.
Guys were still competing and doing everything it took to
go out there and win.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
We're talking with Darien Harris. Darian, You're probably too modest
to talk a lot about this, but I thought you
were one of the best captains of Michigan State had had,
and the captains in that era or phenomenal. How important
is player leadership when maybe things could start to fray.
Speaker 8 (45:56):
Yeah, I think is as important as anything. Any coach
will will tell you that a player led team is
truly how you have success. And the coaches that are
at the level of a coach izzo who who talks
about it every single year, right when they actually are
able to implement it in a way that makes an impact,
(46:17):
then that again, and that's how you have championship teams,
and that's ultimately have you have championship coaches. You have
to have players lead from the front. You have to
have players that are leading in their own way, but
at the same time are able to carry on a
message from the coaches from the program and instill it
in the locker room. And I think that that is
(46:38):
you know, again, throughout the times that we played it
at MSU during my time, the guys that I learned
from to be a leader, and ultimately when I was
able to step in as a captain. You know, my
big thing was how do I first connect with everybody
on the team, no matter what, no matter where you
came from, no matter what's your position on the depth chart,
no matter the color of your skin. You know who
(47:00):
doesn't matter. Like, I got to connect with everybody, and
I got to get everybody on the same page. I
got to get this message across to everybody, and I
have to command the respect to everybody. But I think
even at at at the helmet of that, and what
really honestly helped me have a really good senior year
is I knew that I couldn't lead if I wasn't
playing well. And that's really the ultimate thing. It's still
(47:22):
a performance based business, and it's really really hard to
lead if you're not performing well because people are gonna
be like what you're telling me new is but you're
not out there making place, And so you have to
you have to be playing at a certain level to
be able to still galvanize the locker room. And that's
the toughest challenge of leadership, Darian.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
People say, well, football is football, it doesn't matter, but
there are a lot of differences between the college game
and the NFL. And I don't just mean where the
hash marks are, but in your time with the Giants,
what's the single biggest difference you see in the mindset
of players?
Speaker 8 (48:03):
Yeah, I would say, uh, just the attention to detail
is at another level at this level. And that's how
that's why these guys are having success here. You know,
no longer or or made it to this level and
then you know you're you're great. So you guys that
are truly having success having even you know more uh
(48:24):
more attention to detail because and the reason is what
I've really found, especially again in these these first you know,
six weeks and you know observing obviously watching the games
and observing the games from my lens and uh, you know,
being in game prep and all that is the difference
in talent from team to team is there? There really
(48:46):
isn't much difference in college.
Speaker 3 (48:48):
There's a big gap, right, And.
Speaker 8 (48:50):
That's why you have major major upsets in college, right
because you're not expecting certain teams to beat other teams.
And when it happens, it's a humong His story doesn't
mean can't happen, but it's very very rare that it
would happen in the NFL again, and especially this year.
The difference in talent from team to team is there
really isn't much. You may have some here, some there.
(49:13):
It really just comes down to execution and any mistakes
that you make, the other team's going to capitalize on
because of that good and so it truly is like
the attention to detail throughout the week and game preparation
that I see is the biggest difference.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
I was talking to someone in player personnel, Darien, and
I said, the difference between Team one, whoever that is
in the National Football League and team thirty two, that
gap is about as biggest between Team one and Team
six and the Big ten.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 8 (49:47):
I would agree with that, and I think it's exactly
why you know, they say that the quote unquote worst
NFL team would be the best college team by fifty
because the talent, the talent gap is, you know, from
college to the NFL where you truly are like you
say it in college like, oh, well, you know, everybody
was the best player on the high school team. And
(50:08):
that's yeah, that's true. But there are some not very
good high school players that still make it at college
level and some not really good football players that still
make it at college level based on athleticism, NFL professional sports,
and it's truly the best of the best. And I
would totally agree. Like the difference between Team one the
team you know, like I said, Team one's the team fifteen.
(50:31):
You know, team sixteen, Team one to the first team
out of the playoffs that doesn't make it. There's not
that much difference.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
Yeah, yeah, Darian, I want to talk for a minute
about the Giants, and I loved the game last Thursday,
not just because I had Camp Scataboo on a fantasy
football team, but because I love to watch teams that
love to play and the energy with Jackson Dart coming
(51:00):
in at quarterback. You know, he went to the to
the tent and you know everybody goes in to try
to find out if he's okay.
Speaker 5 (51:07):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (51:08):
You know, the coach goes in and you know, you
get table. It's got everybody's going in to check on him.
And the fan reaction there. We know what what New
York can be like. And now that the Yankees are out,
you know they're looking for someone to love. But to
see what the Giants did to the Eagles, and now
(51:28):
these teams are going to meet again.
Speaker 8 (51:29):
Right, Yes, Yeah, a couple of weeks obviously focused on
Denver first, should be a tough one for us on
on the road fan for that. Uh then yeah, right
back to Philly, which is interesting from the schedule schedule
makers there. But yeah, certainly this last Thursday was certainly
exciting for for the fan base and for for our organization.
(51:52):
And you know, watching those two young guys go out
there and compete, you know, we have a we have
a great mix of vets as well as younger players
that are making an impact and seeing each each side
embrace the other, you know, you kind of you know,
obviously everything is, everything's always better after wins, but you
kind of could see that, you know, simmering to a
(52:15):
to a good point, and it all kind of just
exploded in a great way on Thursday, And so, you know,
a lot more.
Speaker 3 (52:22):
Work to do.
Speaker 8 (52:23):
You talk about college season having some time love. NFL
season is long, and I'm learning that just as our
rookies are. You know, we're six games in and we're
only a third of the way through, so it's just
kind of we're kind of into quarter two of the
season and you just kind of break it down that way.
And you want to win each quarter as best as
you can. But even if you lose a quote unquote
(52:44):
first quarter of the season doesn't mean you can't finish strong.
Just like if you win the first quarter of the
season doesn't mean you may not finish your way you
want to. So we just want to keep building on
what we're able to do on Thursday and let that,
you know, lead us through the rest of the season.
But certainly was a certain it was a fun time
in midlife this past week.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
Someone said, you know, the Giants, there's something cooking there.
And it's a little bit like Kansas City when the
Chiefs identified Patrick Mahomes as their guy and traded up
to get him. Not to the top of round one,
but they traded up to be able to get the
guy that they knew was going to be a difference maker.
(53:24):
And then you find a guy later on in the draft.
You know, you might find a Kelsey or someone that
you identify becomes a great player. It's a little bit
like the Lions when they moved up and took Jamiir
Gibbs and everyone said, what are you doing that for
to take a running back? But then they found their
guy in round four in amen Ra Saint Brown and
(53:47):
it's a little bit like what the Giants have now.
They said, Okay, Jackson Dart is the guy. We have
to have him, so we're going to make a move
to get him. And then later on when everyone else
was sleeping, they didn't forget about Camp Scataboo. Can you
talk about those two players, probably the best pair of
(54:08):
rookies in the National Football League this year, and what
they bring to this franchise.
Speaker 8 (54:14):
Yeah, you know, it's been great to be around those guys.
You know, obviously in this role, spend a lot of
time with the rookies and you know since this summer
essentially you know, spent every day with them in the
summer and then of course spend time with them during
the season and get to connect with them on on
on different levels. And you know, both of those guys
embody what we're looking for in the organization, which is,
(54:35):
you know, tough, hard knows disciplined football players that bring
a level of leadership and a level.
Speaker 3 (54:42):
Of enthusiasm to the team. And that's what they've been
able to do.
Speaker 8 (54:45):
You know, it shows up on during the games, shows
up obviously on the sideline, and it shows up for us,
you know, each day in the facility, and so you know,
just continue to work with those guys on on you know,
staying grounded and staying in the moment and you know,
the of course, you know, continuing to play well, but
also understanding that you know there is going to be
a lot that comes with the success and you know, uh,
(55:08):
you know, not to get seduced by success, as we say,
so not to let the success be something that that
makes you complacent, which will definitely never happen with these guys,
but also expect to have that success, expect to play
at this level, expect to be able to compete at
this level, and expect to be leaders, which both of
them are and so you know they're true joy to
(55:28):
be around daily and you know, I'm looking forward to
continue to build with both of those guys.
Speaker 1 (55:34):
How would you tackle Cam Scattaboo in the open field?
Speaker 8 (55:38):
Yeah, it's tough, man, I mean, you know, I think
it is fast deck to Lawrence like kind of tough
to bring down and actually like it.
Speaker 3 (55:46):
It appears, so.
Speaker 8 (55:49):
You know, he's he's he's so loaded the grounds, you know,
but runs with such power that you got to get
under him. Because you know it's football, low man wins,
but but he's about as low as you can go,
and so it would be uh, you know, probably like
one of those side hot roll tackle kind of things,
just trying to trying to trip him up and get
his legs because he's yeah, I mean he's got you know,
(56:10):
he sent some all pros out there flying so very
very tough guy to bring down.
Speaker 1 (56:17):
Darien Harris. They brought a lot of honor to a
great number number forty five at Michigan State and director
a player engagement for the New York Giants. Last thing
for you, house Recharged Recharge.
Speaker 3 (56:30):
Is going well.
Speaker 8 (56:31):
Yeah, recharges plates is going extremely well. You know, we
have an unbelievable member base that he built up, great
community of folks that are coming through there, great instructors
and just yet half south to my wife Olivia for
you know, building this this welcoming space that felt like
the city needed, especially in the health and wellness space,
and we're definitely going to continue to grow it. So
(56:53):
it's not anything where we're letting go just because of
this new opportunity with the Giants, but certainly something that
is you know, it truly is rooted in our love
of the Aastlantic in the community. So you haven't checked
it out, you know, jump on our website, get some info.
Come check it out, men and women alike. It's a
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(57:14):
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Speaker 1 (57:26):
Good luck to you and the Giants. I think a
lot of people needed to hear from you about Michigan
State and can't wait to get you back on press
Pass in November. That is Darien Harris, and we will
be right back. We're going to talk some Detroit sports.
(57:47):
We're gonna talk Lions and Tigers with Pat Caputo from
ninety seven to one the Ticket, and then Rich Kincaid,
our Detroit correspondent, will join us a little bit later.
Jim Keaton also going to be talking about the baseball
playoffs and can you believe these Seattle Mariners pretty incredible stuff.
(58:07):
I'm curious whether Tiger fans are rooting for or against
Seattle at this point. We'll be right back on the
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Speaker 7 (01:00:55):
Matterwardjuel, welcome back.
Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
It is a drive with Jack the Spotlight Radio Network.
Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
Jack evilin here.
Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
At my producer Boston Rob. I want to thank the
great down Fisher and Darien Harris for joining us. Now
we're going to talk some baseball and want to welcome
in the book Pat Caputo from ninety seven won the ticket. Pat,
how do you describe in twenty five words or less
(01:01:34):
what we watched Friday night in Seattle?
Speaker 10 (01:01:39):
Utter frustration, utter bitter news at the end, anger yet
juxtaposed with great effort.
Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
You did it in fifteen words, very concise.
Speaker 10 (01:01:55):
Thank you. You know I kept those leads pretty low.
You know I did a number of years as a
beat writer.
Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
There gets around, That's right. So do you think most
Tigers fans right now? I would like to see Seattle
win the World Series? So I could say, hey, you
know what, we took the World champs uh to fifteen
innings in the last game, or are they so hurt
and bitter that they would love to see Seattle lose
(01:02:21):
a bunch?
Speaker 10 (01:02:23):
Well, Tiger fans are completely one hundred percent confused about
how to feel. I talked to you know on the
radio more than Anyboddy. I think you know, all the
solo shows and come on after games and everything, right,
more Tiger fans and probably anybody, and there is mixed
feelings all over the place and torn feelings. You know,
(01:02:46):
you got like ten percent of them. Tiger fans are
very angry. It seems to me this is kind of
an informal poll. Yeah, and then you got ten percent
who are like, you know, the glass is always you know,
one hundred percent full because they love the Tiger and
they made the playoffs. And then everybody else is in
the confused category.
Speaker 4 (01:03:04):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:03:05):
It's like, on one.
Speaker 10 (01:03:05):
Hand, yeah, you get to the game five and you know,
they put in a real good effort and all those things,
and it was exciting games because Seattle was clearly a
better team than that.
Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
But I think it's a.
Speaker 10 (01:03:18):
Lot of frustration about like, why didn't you do more
at the trade deadline, the moves in the offseason that
didn't pan out, and you know, frustration about how the
fundamental baseball that they displayed so well the first hundred
games of the year just fell by the wayside, and
(01:03:38):
they sell into a lot of their bad habits offensively.
Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
Someone asked me, Pat, how would you explain the Tiger season?
I said, which one the ninety three game season at
the start, the sixty nine game season at the end,
or playoffs? And almost every one of these games could
have gone either way. You're talking about eight games total,
(01:04:03):
and you know there's so much drama involved in every
one of them. But how do you explain what Seattle
has done now? In the Mariners, you know, they played
the same number endings that Tigers did Friday, and then
they had that wild celebration and then they had to
get on the plane and fly to Toronto, and everyone said, well,
they're certainly not going to win Game one, and you know,
(01:04:24):
if they could somehow figure out a way to split
and go back to the Emerald City instead, they just said,
why don't we win them both? And now they're headed
home with a great chance to be in the World
Series for the first time.
Speaker 10 (01:04:40):
Well, the thing is, Seattle had a great deal of
pressure on them because they hadn't won a playoff series,
you know, you know, and gotten to the championship series
in so long and only six times they'd been in
the postseason in forty nine years, despite having all these stars.
(01:05:00):
So once I think that Dan broke, I think then
they started to play because you could see how up
tight that team seemed to be throughout that series, just uptight.
And secondly, there is no dominant team in the American
League this year. The Toronto Blue Jays are not you know,
(01:05:22):
you know the two thousand and you know, nineteen ninety
eight Yankees or you know, somebody like that, a great team.
So they're vulnerable, they have holes. They also have that
pressure on them. It's a huge area. They represent an
entire country in a huge metropolitan area, and you know,
(01:05:45):
they represent an area that quite frankly, other than the
Raptors one year, it represents playoff disappointment continually, considering the
hockey team and what the baseball team since been since,
you know, back the Joe Carter. Yeah, So there's just
this and that's why the window of opportunity was open
(01:06:08):
for the Tigers, and the Tigers did not augment their team.
If if the Tigers had one more relief pitcher, just
one more relief pitcher, there's a hot you know, like
a David Bednarn he did what for the Tigers, what
he did for the Yankees. They would have actually they
(01:06:28):
had a home field advantagement minimum in the playoffs, they
probably would have had a buy So they did not
do that. I mean, you can't get over it.
Speaker 4 (01:06:39):
They wouldn't have made.
Speaker 10 (01:06:40):
The playoffs it were not for Kyle Finn again, the
one player they actually got. Now, these other teams went
out and got other players. So it's you know, it's
you know, you can you can paint the frame it
any way you want about it, but it's the bottom
line about it. Just one more player would have made
all the difference in the world. The one player they got,
they wouldn't have made the playoffs. So there was a
(01:07:03):
fundamental miscalculation Scott Harris. And you know, and Scott Harris
is a smart guy. He's done a lot of great
things as Tigers GM their organization set up.
Speaker 16 (01:07:16):
Well and all that.
Speaker 10 (01:07:17):
But you can't just act like there's no window of opportunity,
you know, and you know, go shopping, you know for
you know, Aisle three at al D and you know,
at the trade deadline and then come out. I mean,
it just didn't make a lot of sense what they did.
Who contributed, See Walk contributed, Did Morton contribute? Nobody did
(01:07:39):
other than sin again, right, you know, and in his
contribution was significant? Did they have you know, in the
whole discussion at the news conference, doesn't bring up Loronto,
doesn't bring up Rasinio, doesn't bring up the four second
you know, well actually mcgonag gill may end up playing
second base, so they got an overload there. So it's
(01:08:00):
just a you know, the that's the issue. They said
that at the time of the deadline.
Speaker 4 (01:08:06):
Uh.
Speaker 10 (01:08:06):
The one thing I was wrong about is I thought
I didn't think they needed offense. You know, I thought
it was all about pitching. And I think if they'd
gotten that one more solid reliever, uh you know, I
mean a real good one, they would have ended up,
you know, having a better chance. But you know, they
needed offense. It turned out because all of a sudden,
you're hitting approaches were brutal. I mean, you know, Ronny Green,
(01:08:31):
he you know, he swings like he's trying to chop
down a tree, but he's swinging to chop down the
tree above his head. Yeah, you know, I mean that
is such a pronounced uppercut and there's no situational hitting there.
Torque fell out of that habit and no good moments
he had is when he took the ball the other way.
You know, I think Labor Torres was hurt. So I
(01:08:53):
don't want to, you know, but they just totally went
away from what brought them offensively, and it was it
was frustrating. So on one hand, those were supposedly thrilling games,
yet on the other hand, for Tiger fans, it was like, oh,
so what they got runners on first and second with
nobody out who cares? They're not going to score and
(01:09:14):
he wouldn't, They wouldn't over and over again.
Speaker 1 (01:09:19):
I was not at that year in press conference, and
I don't know Scott Harris other than what I've seen,
But why wasn't a direct question asked about those things?
Because I think it's on so many fans' minds, and
you know, Scott Harris probably deserved a chance to address it.
(01:09:39):
He wasn't going to bring it up, But I wonder
why they thought that they had to have three catchers
rather than try to win this thing.
Speaker 10 (01:09:47):
Yeah, well, I honestly don't know. You know, it's certainly.
Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
Not the Meatia's fault.
Speaker 4 (01:09:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:09:56):
You know, there's a.
Speaker 10 (01:09:57):
Zillion questions to ask, you know, in really you know this, Jack,
you can ask the most aggressive question in the world,
and it really doesn't work in a news conference setting
because you know, everybody gets into just talking point mode
and you know, kind of dismiss it, and then you
know the media person comes off as you know, being
(01:10:19):
over the aggressive sometimes and it's for no point. So
I don't know if you know what was happening. If
you're asking me, do I think the writers or beat
writers or a bunch of shills or something?
Speaker 3 (01:10:31):
I don't believe.
Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
No, no, no, no, I'm not saying that. I say that,
what would someone? I just wish someone had said. Look,
we know, Dylan Dingler, uh.
Speaker 3 (01:10:42):
That question should have should have been asked.
Speaker 10 (01:10:44):
But you know it's but you know he the thing is,
will he learned from this?
Speaker 4 (01:10:51):
You know?
Speaker 10 (01:10:51):
And all the words you can say or whatever don't
mean anything. The actions mean something. So you know, overall,
that news conference was just typical of those those type
of news conferences. You know, you weren't going to have
a dramatic moment where like George CRUs gonna yell at
wojo or something, you know, yeah like star Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
(01:11:15):
set is. You know, we're gonna have what it owes. Yeah,
you know, you know that type of thing.
Speaker 4 (01:11:22):
It was.
Speaker 8 (01:11:23):
Yeah, it's just what it was.
Speaker 10 (01:11:24):
And you know, Harris was, you know, dodging around the
questions those type of things. He did the best he
could to explain, you know, the accent the positive and
you know, try to explain the so called negative.
Speaker 1 (01:11:38):
And that was What do you think of the decision?
And I guess it was, you know what we should
have expected based on the entire season for Trek School
both to leave that game after a thirteen strikeout in
eighteen outspitch six innings. Could he have gone another ending?
Would that have helped?
Speaker 4 (01:11:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:11:56):
I would have helped, you know.
Speaker 10 (01:11:59):
I you know, look, I understand how the games play. Now,
you tell them give me six, give me a hundred pitches,
go all out. That's what we expected you after that,
you've done your part. But that was a little different situation. Yeah,
So you know, and it's like, hey, who I got
through my six innings. You know, I'm breathing a sigh
(01:12:20):
of relief. I'm going to celebrate. I didn't think that
that was the right tack there, and I think that
that was a poster sign for why you don't give
a pitcher four hundred million dollars in twenty twenty five
or moving forward, if that's the way.
Speaker 2 (01:12:35):
It's going to be.
Speaker 10 (01:12:36):
Because he pitches a seventh and flirty pitches one more ending,
then you go into the seventeen tenny. You know, as
it is once you put Tommy Kinley out there. With
all due respect, he's had a fine career and every time.
I'm not trying to make fun of him. It's just
a fact that every Tiger fan looked at that and
(01:12:57):
it was like planning a white flag on the mound,
and you knew it was over at that point. And
because Seattle had Castile in there, which wasn't like Kerek' scouble,
but like the next best thing, so they had no chance.
From that point on it was done. It was basically, hey,
the game's over. Maybe it'll go on another inning and
they'll get lucky against Castile. They weren't going to hit him.
(01:13:20):
Everybody knew that, So, yeah, you needed another inning from
Clarity because he would have given you a chance. And
he was fighting his guts out out there. You know,
great respect for the way he didn't have it and
he went out there and fought like crazy. But you know,
and certainly with Scooble, you know, seven innings, you can
(01:13:41):
give him seven. His arm wasn't going to fall off
at one hundred and twenty Pas.
Speaker 1 (01:13:48):
Struck out routing.
Speaker 10 (01:13:49):
No, No, So you know, I mean, I just I
didn't understand it. It's the mindset of the game right now.
A lot of people would say, you know, you don't
you do you understand the score here better?
Speaker 4 (01:14:01):
Now?
Speaker 3 (01:14:01):
Why would you say that?
Speaker 10 (01:14:02):
Not in Game five American Division Series? Yeah, we're yeah,
and uh, you know, gez Op, you know it's completely different.
And I don't know if and that tells you why
you don't give a starting pitcher like what you used
(01:14:23):
to give a starting pitcher. Can you imagine Verlander if
they tried to not have him start the seventh.
Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
Say, yeah, I.
Speaker 10 (01:14:33):
Mean him and Leland, I can just imagine that. And uh,
you know, those two very frank people, and I've seen
him be frank with each other before you know, and
then off the record setting, Uh, you know, it's remindful
of Tom watching him at basketball practice sometimes, you know,
because they they speak very frankly, right, you know, they're
both you know, competitors, they love each other. And uh,
(01:14:57):
you know then same with like Jack. Jack would have
but you know, would have been Mount Morris, there would
have been a volcano, you know. So in school it's like, yeah,
I did my job and whatever, and he's a competitor
and I'm not saying, you know, but that's the way
they're trained now, and it's that that part of it's
not good for the game.
Speaker 1 (01:15:16):
Yeah, Pat very quickly, which Tigers that we watched in
the playoffs will not be back next year? And will
Trek Schoolbo's last game maybe it already was as a Tiger,
or will it be next year at the trade deadline?
Will it be at the end of the season as
far as the Tigers go next year? Or is there
(01:15:38):
any chance you could see him pitching for Detroit in
twenty thirty, you.
Speaker 10 (01:15:44):
Know, just to be the whole thing with Borrows, the
Tigers relationship with him. Yeah, where you know the perception
of it is, I don't see him signing, but you
know that could change and that's up to terror school
bol quite frankly.
Speaker 4 (01:15:58):
So.
Speaker 10 (01:15:58):
But if he goes with his agent that he won't
come back. He has to step in and say I
want to pitch there, and that may be hard because they'll,
you know, if one team, it just takes one team
to break out of it, like it did with a
Freed last year or Snell, and then the price is
going to go way up beyond what it should be.
(01:16:19):
And so and if as is the Tigers just bitten
against themselves because they're going to wait it out Luis,
that's his strategy of his agent. So you know, I
don't see that. I don't see him pitching as well
in twenty thirty as he is in this year either.
All right, he's going to be what thirty three, thirty
forty years old. So it's just the whole dynamic of it,
(01:16:40):
is it juxtaposed with you've got a fan base that
is constantly they can't get this out of their mind.
Speaker 3 (01:16:46):
They just can't.
Speaker 10 (01:16:47):
It really hasn't been the Tigers lack of money spent
that's been their problem, and it wasn't this year for sure,
and it wasn't at the trade deadline because they added
significantly to their payroll, just threw money away. Actually, but
I don't see Finnigan back. I don't see Correz back.
And I think they have to make a decision on
(01:17:08):
Casey buys because he's getting higher up there. He's gonna
be a free agent not to get in the future
and Green and Torque, those guys, you know, moving into
arbitration area. Uh, they're going to have to decide, you know,
whether they want to make value for value trades, which
I tend to doubt that this general manager will do
based on his track record so far, even despite what
(01:17:29):
the his uh you know, people that he worked for
before he came here had different way of doing it.
And uh, I think that's where it is. And then
some auxiliary parts, you know, uh, you know, would be
like the windshell, Perez is, the uh Parker Vedos, those
type of players, they got to decide where they fit
into their chain based on what they're doing, uh with
(01:17:54):
some of their prospects and things you know that will
come in. Matt Berlin, that's another one that falls into
that category. We forget about him, you know, and uh,
you know, Jake Rogers is another one, you know, one
of those catchers going to be ready or what.
Speaker 3 (01:18:09):
Are they going to do?
Speaker 10 (01:18:10):
Uh, Jake Rodgers will have a pretty good salary. Is
it worth keeping him, you know, one more year at
this point and or moving into a different direction with
Gingler's emergence, and you know, they've got a lot of questions,
you know. The Roley Green, I feel like I have
to work on his athleticism. It's gone down quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (01:18:33):
The winds above his winds above.
Speaker 10 (01:18:35):
Replacement was half of what it was a year before,
despite those prodigious power numbers and spencer tooricleson. You know,
has to stand the same path that when he's doing well,
he can't fall out of that uh you know category
because he's not as good a player when he you know,
kind of loses that dody or you know, to hit
(01:18:56):
the ball the other way in key situations.
Speaker 3 (01:18:59):
Right.
Speaker 1 (01:18:59):
I'm glad that you mentioned Riley Green's athleticism because everyone
complains about the strikeouts, and there's plenty to complain about.
But when he came up pat and I remember watching
him here going against the lug Nuts, and he wasn't
a slow guy.
Speaker 4 (01:19:18):
I mean he was he was very.
Speaker 1 (01:19:22):
Richie Henderson or some of the left fielders. But you know,
he was certainly able to show some athleticism. And now
watching him is like plotting out there running the bases
are on left field and he's not that old.
Speaker 10 (01:19:37):
Well he's only twenty four years old, so you know,
down like this, I don't understand. Well, it isn't about
your eyeballs, my eyeballs, it's about the you know, you
can go to baseball some arms, see with the Doppler
radar technology, which is to the IMPERI says about that
(01:19:57):
range in the field, you know, throwing arms, you know,
just really really you you know, I mean, you know
there has to be more of that, and you know,
cut down of his swing in certain situations so he
can have his cake and eat it too, you know,
be able to get a hit with you know, runners
on second and third and nobody out in the line
of base hit instead of just you know taking the
(01:20:21):
uppercuts wing for forever. So you've got a lot of
work to do on that. But it starts at that
ass and I don't remember when we're kind of running
like that, you know, that form that he has right now,
I don't know where that all came from or there's.
Speaker 1 (01:20:34):
Foot I don't you look at him. And I was
a high school track coach and when I had a
guy who ran like that, we gave him three days off.
I mean, he just looks like he's uncomfortable out there.
Speaker 10 (01:20:48):
Yeah, it's uh, you know, it's notable. He was in
the bottom forty percent of the MLB runners in foot speed.
He used to be above that, you know, above the
halfway point, so right, and he was in the minor league.
One of the things there was a knock on him
that he didn't have speed. But then the Tigers are
testing him in the sixty yard dash and he ran
(01:21:08):
slightly above major league average. And then he had shown
that like when he was at Connecticut and then West
Michigan where you saw him as.
Speaker 4 (01:21:16):
He moved up to the Champett Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:21:20):
Pat, thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate it.
To hope I'll see it a game soon.
Speaker 10 (01:21:25):
All right, man, take here, but Pat Caputo, I.
Speaker 1 (01:21:29):
Want to stay right here. Rob and welcome in Artie
Troit correspondent well man for All Sports, Rich Kin Cade, Rich,
you heard some of the comments from Pat Caputo, sure,
Kenny that you disagree with about guys who are going
to be gone, or what this Tiger's team needs for
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 16 (01:21:51):
Well, you know, I'll just go back and start talking
about last Friday night. I want to talk about Pat
at some point because I remember, and I'm sure he does.
Two to night, I was chasing him around me after
he humiliated me during a hockey.
Speaker 2 (01:22:02):
Team Yeah right, he did.
Speaker 16 (01:22:06):
He was pants a bit of a pylon out there,
but he was from fifteen feet in.
Speaker 3 (01:22:10):
He was money.
Speaker 16 (01:22:11):
I couldn't stop the guy. He scored more goals off me.
Some guys got the pucket. The point, I'm having a
really bad night. I'm down ten nothing, ten to one whatever.
I'm just getting lit right and the computers are increasing.
He goes, how gonna you give it up tonight?
Speaker 3 (01:22:24):
Ten?
Speaker 1 (01:22:25):
You know?
Speaker 16 (01:22:25):
And I turned to stare at him or maybe hit
him with my blocker, And just as I turned right,
the guy at the point shoot and it goes right
between my legs and Kiputer goes, oh eleven then and
I threw it down my blocker, and I threw down
my glove and I sort of chased him rooney ice
and somebody says. Somebody says, what are you gonna do
if you catch him. So there you go.
Speaker 1 (01:22:43):
I would have loved to see that one when you
guys threw down. That would have been great.
Speaker 16 (01:22:47):
Let's let's let's talk about School. If he should come
out for that seventh, then I you know, I'm down
with the game has changed. You know, we can all
talk about Jack Boris and you know he'd have fought
for the baseball, you know, but it is different now
and essentially earlier today. Of School's last five starts this season,
all of them in the playoffs or you know, key
(01:23:08):
clinching games that sort of like the like the series
decider of Cleveland for example, and you see twelve strikeouts,
thirteen strikeouts, fourteen strikeouts in these outings, and then you
look at the bottom. Tigers were one and four in
those starts. So the reason the Tigers lost Friday was
at Kyle Finnegan walked the leadoff guy in the seventh
penn when the Tigers had a two to.
Speaker 2 (01:23:28):
One late Yeah, maybe that guy in the.
Speaker 16 (01:23:32):
Well, but you know, baseball Jack. I think what it
would have happened is if Scooba comes out and works
the eighth, Finnington comes out, walks the lead up guy
in the Ethan he comes around the scores of Tiger right.
It was just this game was the greatest baseball game
I've ever seen involving the Detroit Tigers. This was the
Tigers version of Game six of the nineteen seventy five
World Series Boston and Cincinnati. The Bernie Carroll home run
(01:23:55):
to tie up in the eighth inning, the three run shot,
and then of course Carlton fifth game winner. Well, is
that the fourteenth inning something like that? You know, this
was the Tiger's version of that. It was one of
the greatest baseball games ever played.
Speaker 1 (01:24:08):
Should write a book about it. Having written books, someone
should just write about that night. Sure, yeah, amazing and
so yeah, So how do you explain the Seattle Mariners
now and Jorge october is just going crazy in the postseason.
(01:24:35):
This is not Placido Polanco. This is Jorge Polanco and Seattle,
which could barely scrape itself onto the plane, uh to
fly to Ontario, is heading back to Washington State, or
is back now with the pair of wins and they're
two more, they may not have to go back to
(01:24:58):
Eastern Canada. They may be headed right to the World Series.
Speaker 16 (01:25:02):
Well, you want me you want me to explain that
I can only do you know, you you're limited to
pat computer to twenty five words to less in one
of his responses, I can do it in one sports.
Speaker 10 (01:25:13):
You know.
Speaker 16 (01:25:13):
That's you can't predict that. That's why I don't gamble
on this stuff. Oh my god, yeah, I mean that
was that seemed like a dead solid locks. Ye, that's
lot beating saddle in Game one for all reasons listed above.
But you know there's something I must be something to
be set for adrenaline and the playoffs so and have
have not the playoffs been great as usual?
Speaker 1 (01:25:33):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah absolutely? And mean for someone
who you know, I don't sit and watch all the
Tigers games every inning, but when we get into this
postseason drama, I mean, you can't have a script. Aaron
Sorkin couldn't write something any better than this. And oh
you're sitting there watching guys rise to the moment rich.
(01:25:57):
I mean I saw two throws Friday night as good
as any throw I have ever seen from a catcher,
first cal Rally, then Dylan Dingler. And to think of
what cal Rally has done this season, I mean, now
he's got sixty two home runs, but gold club defense,
(01:26:18):
and he was hitting for average against Detroit. He wasn't
trying to put the ball in the seats. He was
an absolute clinic for what Riley Green should do, and
it's situational hitting. Sometimes, yeah, you can hit a home run,
but you don't have to try to do it every swing.
And to watch what he has done, I mean, I
wouldn't want to have a vote for American League MVP
(01:26:41):
because Aaron Judge has had a season like few other
and one of these two guys is going to be
the runner up for this thing unless they have a
top yea.
Speaker 16 (01:26:52):
No, he's got such fast hands. That was the thing
that struck me about his swing. He just hits through
the hitting zone. I mean, it's just remarkable. You can
see what how he generates that that. Here's one for you.
What if you were to trade the best pitcher for
the best hitter. What if we traded Derek Derek Scooble
to the New York Yankees and got Aaron Judge.
Speaker 1 (01:27:11):
Any day, any day, sign me up. And I love
Terrek Scooble, but but he's pitching.
Speaker 3 (01:27:16):
What's the downside.
Speaker 1 (01:27:17):
He's pitching twenty percent of the games, right, Yeah, Aaron
Judge is out there and he can play one hundred
and fifty times, not thirty one or thirty two, and
he can impact the game in so many more ways.
You know, the thing that's most amazing about Aaron Judge
isn't his home run power. How many times he walks.
(01:27:41):
And the Tigers could use a few more walks.
Speaker 3 (01:27:44):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 16 (01:27:47):
Well, young mister Harris was developing that team. At his
presser yesterday when he talked about how the Tiger's got
got away from being contact hitters and all of a
sudden trying to hit on runs, and he did say
I said a number of things that were interesting.
Speaker 3 (01:28:01):
The one that stuck with me.
Speaker 16 (01:28:03):
If you go back a calendar year from late August
of twenty twenty four to late August of this year,
no organization in baseball, no major league baseball team had
more wins than the Detroit Tigers. Yeah, and I think
he phrased that for he said, that's an epic achievement,
and it is. It's just, you know, the timing of
the thing is such. It hasn't translated into the postseason
(01:28:24):
success that everybody wants to see. But it's just it's
still something to think about.
Speaker 1 (01:28:29):
Yeah, it's true. I think it's also maybe some camouflage
to cover up some questionable decisions made by Tiger's management.
And I don't just mean the manager. So there's that issue.
I want to talk about the Detroit Lions for a
minute and what we saw Sunday night. First of all,
(01:28:52):
it's amazing to me that they're playing Thursday night, Sunday night,
Monday night. I mean, it used to be a lock
at one o'clock on Sunday. It shows so you know
what the organization was. But here they are all over
the place. They go into Kansas City and the chief said,
wait a minute, we're not dead yet. We're going to
show you how this game is played.
Speaker 16 (01:29:15):
Well, Jack, your Detroit correspondent has let you down during
the game. On during the game on Sunday, I fell asleep.
There are you talking? Okay, well you you know it's
it's you. I wouldn't falling asleep. It was one o'clock
on a Sunday. But now on a Sunday I do.
And things are going so well.
Speaker 3 (01:29:34):
When I fell.
Speaker 16 (01:29:35):
Asleep, the lines were at ten to six. The offensive line,
especially the left side, was holding up nicely. So Jared
Goff had that clean pocket we always talk about. So
I'm thinking, you know, they'll he'll put up four or fifty,
whatever it takes. I know the secondary for the lines
was problematic, but nevertheless, so I text a friend the
next morning, you know, how do we make out? And
(01:29:55):
they said we lost?
Speaker 3 (01:29:56):
And I was legit.
Speaker 16 (01:29:57):
Surprised because that's how things were willing hand. Now I did, Jack,
I did go back and watch the rest on tape,
et cetera, et cetera. You know, not quite the same,
but no, losing on the road to a two time
Super Bowl champion. I think you can move on. I
don't think it's gonna you know, torpedo your season.
Speaker 1 (01:30:13):
Hey Rob, now I think we figured this out. We're
wondering what happened Sunday night?
Speaker 10 (01:30:18):
Kin Kate fell asleep and.
Speaker 1 (01:30:19):
That turned everything. But now now the Lions, with injured corners,
a free safety who is hobbling, and a strong safety
who's in trouble with the NFL for the eighth eighth
time and is suspended for a game, has to go
(01:30:40):
up against Tampa Bay team that has already won four
games by three points or less and probably has the
MVP at this point in Baker Mayfield. You know, Lions
haven't lost back to back games Rich since October of
twenty twenty two. Is that about change?
Speaker 3 (01:31:02):
Wow?
Speaker 16 (01:31:03):
You know I'm saying the praises of Baker Mayfield. There's
no denying that. I mean, we we've talked about this
where this is a guy who had a chance at
the National Football League level to develop his skills. And
we used to say it took five years for a
college quarterback to become an effective pro quarterback. We always
that was a mantra when I was growing up. But now,
of course, you know you're number one drafts, you're playing that,
(01:31:24):
you're playing, you know, come to fall. But he's yeah,
he's he's turned into a terrific quarterback. Boy, could Cleveland
use a guy like that right now?
Speaker 3 (01:31:32):
Eh?
Speaker 16 (01:31:33):
And uhh yeah, it's it's it'll be a challenge. The
whole thing was well, the secondary just sounds like a
complete disaster.
Speaker 1 (01:31:41):
So I want to ask both of you, Rob, I
want to start with you, who wins the game Monday
night at Ford Field.
Speaker 6 (01:31:52):
Wow, I'm gonna go Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1 (01:31:55):
Okay, Well, truth be told, Boston Rock is not a
New England Patriots fan. He loves all the Boston teams
except the Patriots. He is a Tampa baby.
Speaker 6 (01:32:07):
If it's close in the fourth quarter. If it's close
in the fourth quarter, Baker Mayfield, that's all I need
to say.
Speaker 1 (01:32:13):
Okay, okay, Rich, who wins money?
Speaker 16 (01:32:16):
Now, I'm scoffing. I'm scoffing over here. If it comes
down to the fourth quarter, what's the game on the line.
Of course it goes to Jared Goff. I'm upset about that,
but yeah, it may well come down. It may well
be a situation like that where it comes out of
the down to the fourth quarter. But in a late
inning pressure situation. I'm going to take cured golf Matt
Stafford and you know what's what Baker proved himself in
(01:32:37):
those situations a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (01:32:39):
How much fun do you think Baker Mayfield is having
right now? Rich? Looking at Lion's game.
Speaker 3 (01:32:45):
Tape, I.
Speaker 16 (01:32:51):
He was featured. They did the HBS training camp show
Hard Knocks the Cleveland the year Baker Mayfield was a rookie,
and I grew to like him. You know this kid
that's coming in getting him all it's seemed to still
be levels. But having they showed him signing his contract
for you know, fifty million dollars or whatever you know
happened to be. Yeah, but he still seemed like a
(01:33:12):
decent guy. And this sounds weird, but I liked him
in those insurance commercials where he was living at at
the Cleveland Brown Stadium there.
Speaker 1 (01:33:20):
Yeah, it just.
Speaker 16 (01:33:21):
Stuff like that, which has nothing to do with football.
I understand that.
Speaker 4 (01:33:24):
But I've kind.
Speaker 16 (01:33:25):
Of been full of you when you when you get
involved with something like that. You know, just through watching
the TV show, you kind of keep prack of him.
You know, he's been bouncing around here a little bit,
but he's home in Tampa Bay. And yeah, it'll be
a terrific football game, but yeah, if it's close Jared
goston Man.
Speaker 1 (01:33:44):
Yeah, well, we'll see if Aiden Hutchinson can make his
presence felt and introduce himself to mister Mayfield.
Speaker 16 (01:33:51):
I would like to go back and read the postgame
notes for the Development Scheam News this sort of thing.
Not much to read this week after the lost of
Kansas City, except for one that struck interesting. I'm a
around Saint Brown who hasn't been around that long. Is
now that he's about number three in the Alliance all
time receiving loss.
Speaker 1 (01:34:08):
He dropped the past Sunday and every time the ball
he doesn't just velcrow to his hands. You're shocked.
Speaker 16 (01:34:18):
Yep, yep, He's a beauty.
Speaker 1 (01:34:22):
All right. So Rich we talked about this briefly yesterday.
But heading into the weekend, okay, with the Tigers and
Schoobel on the mound and a chance to go to
the Alcs, with the Lions having a chance to beat
Kansas City and arrowhead again, with Michigan State favored to
(01:34:42):
win a game by more than a touchdown against UCLA,
and Michigan going out there and they're determined to make
this Michigan West, as they kept talking about out at
the LA Coliseum. Who would have thought that the only
bright lights we had for the weekend would be the
Detroit Red Wings and ms U volleyball.
Speaker 16 (01:35:05):
Wow, and I get a great NaNs Sunday night too,
so let's throw that in as well. But well, the
Runways laid a total eleg in their home and their
opener last Wednesday night. You know, at the gaming point
to all summer along. It's the opener, it's a sellout
Montreal and Town and they were just awful, you know,
it's got to be five to one every serious. Then
(01:35:25):
they turn around tonight said it beat Toronto, and then
yesterday beat Toronto again, and uh so so happy good
stuff for the Red Wings. Yeah, I mean on paper,
you know, I mean Montreal maybe maybe way improved, you know,
(01:35:46):
but yeah, definitely Toronto would be considered the starter club
at this.
Speaker 1 (01:35:49):
Point, Rob, Who's better the may Police are the Canadians?
Speaker 6 (01:35:54):
Why would you make Boston? Rob pick that nonsense, I'll go,
I mean, I agree, I mean Montreal is an up
and coming team, but Toronto right now, when you look
at the talent they have from top to bottom, I'd
go with Toronto over Montreal. Don't ever ask me that again.
Speaker 16 (01:36:14):
Yeah, well, Jack, I want to point out that when
we were doing a Red Wings season preview last week,
I said, the most important thing is, of course, goaltending.
All right. So Gibson, who the Red Wings, Apart from that,
I have over the summer, started on opening night, got
pulled in the second period, has not.
Speaker 3 (01:36:31):
Seen the ice since.
Speaker 16 (01:36:32):
Cam Talvert has played all the medicine goals since then.
So potential storm cloud brewing there because if Gibson is
not terrific, the Redds are not going to be terrific.
Speaker 1 (01:36:43):
So we have the Edmonton Oilers coming into Little Caesars
Arena Sunday afternoon. Yeah, and that means I coward coming in, right.
Speaker 3 (01:36:57):
You got me?
Speaker 16 (01:36:57):
And this one who's I coward?
Speaker 1 (01:37:00):
Well, he's a Hobie Baker Award winner, a guy who
from Michigan State and the guy who a lot of
spartans thought might stick around for another year. And now
he's got a chance to win a Stanley Cup with
the Oilers. And Connor McDavid. He's not playing on that line,
but he's playing a lot, and you know, he's doing
(01:37:22):
very well, I think as an NHL rookie.
Speaker 16 (01:37:27):
Well there you go, three games into his career, you know.
So yeah, the Runners have got five rookies in the
lineup right now, which is unusual. Two of our twenty
year olds. Two others have hyphenated names, and I haven't
quite caught on yet, but I will, I will, I promise.
Speaker 1 (01:37:43):
So well talk about hyphenated names, and Rich you will
appreciate this because you had to call some of these names.
But I felt very sorry for Mike Vitally and he
was doing the press box p Saturday at Spartan Stadium.
Good luck trying to pronounce these U c l A names.
(01:38:06):
I mean, they have the pronunciation guide here on the
flip card that they handed out, and you know you
can imagine some of the variations here. But if you
didn't know, you didn't have this fanatic guide, you would
sound like an imbecile with all of these samoan names.
Speaker 16 (01:38:26):
Well there's that and the hyphenated names that what are
really going to kill us. It's bad enough when it's
Smith's Jones passed Williams Daniels. You know right now, what's
going to happen when people with hyphenated names get married
and it becomes Smith Jones and Daniel Washington Johnson. Yeah, yeah,
we need to return to common censor. Jack, That's all
(01:38:48):
I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (01:38:52):
You were not down at the press conference with Scott
Harris and aj Hinch? Were you? Or were you?
Speaker 3 (01:38:58):
No?
Speaker 16 (01:38:58):
I was not, but I did watch the feed.
Speaker 1 (01:39:01):
Yeah what did you think? How did they do? I?
Speaker 16 (01:39:07):
He wouldn't talk about school's contract status, okay, which you
know we can't. What can you say you can't? I
actually liked his explanation for why they didn't make a
deal for a hitter at the trade deadline, which was
that they felt that the fans had been more upset
if they needed, you know, given the quality of the
hitters that were available to them and the price that
they would have commanded. They were talking about a position player,
(01:39:30):
for example, that was on the Divisional series roster, and
a number one rapt was you know, that's sort of
a situation, and he just didn't. I felt he was
being honest. I know he was being honest and right
off the top, and he said, we all wish we
were in Toronto, followed by an ellipse, you know, getting
ready for Game two tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:39:48):
Yadiyati and the Red Wings were in Toronto and they
did well.
Speaker 16 (01:39:54):
That's that's that'soltely right. And and one a thing it
would have been had the Red Wings that have been
doing well in fronto, Yes, let the Tigers would follow
that up with the game against the Blue Jays. Would
have been terrific.
Speaker 1 (01:40:05):
But you know, you know what I thought the press
conference was, and I mentioned took apudo that I wanted
to hear a direct question and I didn't hear it.
I thought that as Scott Harris was rationalizing, and I
think he was trying to say, well, you know, you
wouldn't have wanted this. I think most fans want to
(01:40:29):
go for it. It's kind of the Dan Campbell attitude.
You don't know if you're going to have a chance
to come back. It's nice to try to be the
team of the twenty thirties. And the Tigers have a
farm system which is at the top in Major League Baseball.
They're gonna be fine if they had traded their number
four or number five prospect for someone who might have
(01:40:50):
been an advantage for them trying to win this thing. Instead,
when Scott Harris at the trade deadline said well, you know,
we don't look got it in terms of windows, Well,
he's going to be looking through the window when Trek
Scoopa leaves. So I would have wanted to hear in
retrospect a little bit more about that, And I didn't
(01:41:14):
didn't hear that address the way I hoped.
Speaker 16 (01:41:17):
Yeah, and Pam was talking about it to the equality
of the questions that are asked a press conferences, Yeah,
and I think I take a bit of a harsh
review than Pat does. I think a lot of times
people are afraid to ask questions because they're afraid to
leave access, you know, yes, And it's it's just and
I think anybody in the business will tell you this
that it's so much different now than it used to be.
(01:41:38):
Used to be. The game it over. You just go
into the locker room, start stick a mic phone in
front some guys and start talking.
Speaker 3 (01:41:43):
You know.
Speaker 16 (01:41:44):
Now they bring them out the interview room. It's very
sanitized out there. Used to sit around three hours for
the game. The Major League Baseball managers would gather reporters
either in their office or in the dugout, and you'd
sit around and chew the fat with a manager for
forty five minutes. Yeah, you know, you don't think, don't.
Speaker 1 (01:42:00):
I don't like a situation rich where Yeah, the media
members are trying to be stars. Okay, they're trying to
get some publicity for being a tough guy. I know,
But I think you can ask a direct question without
being prosecutorial.
Speaker 16 (01:42:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:42:17):
Yes.
Speaker 16 (01:42:17):
When Matt Patricia coached the Lions, I was in the
press room for every one of his home losses, and
there were a lot of them, okay, And after each
and every one, the first word out of was a
mouth or near the first would be we.
Speaker 3 (01:42:30):
Got to coach.
Speaker 16 (01:42:30):
We got to coach better, you know, And towards the end,
it was hard for me not to say, one can
we ask the question? One can we expect to see
that begin? Is that a fair question? Or is it
me trying to be a star, or you know, is
it too? Is it two nasty questions asked in a setting.
Speaker 1 (01:42:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 16 (01:42:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:42:51):
The best question I've ever heard of the press conference
and it led to some action, was the two thousand
and to Michigan State Michigan game and the Spartans got smacked.
And afterward Mickey York asked Bobby Williams, have you lost
(01:43:12):
this team? Five words? And he didn't ask it to
try to get on the national news. He just asked
it because it looked like, you know, this was a
train wreck. And when Bobby Williams said, I don't know,
that was the end of his stay as Michigan State's coach.
Speaker 3 (01:43:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 16 (01:43:35):
No, that's a tough question, but it's it's it's tough
but fair. It's a fair it's a you know, take
a lot of guts to ask a question like that.
I think it's a hell of a question. I wish
I'd asked myself.
Speaker 1 (01:43:46):
Yeah, Yeah, Rich thanks so much for joining us. I
don't know if I will see you Monday at Ford
Field or I'll see you at the Michigan Michigan State
game here the twenty fifth. I will see you soon.
We'll look forward to talking to you next week.
Speaker 16 (01:44:04):
Not to worry, kid. Thanks Jack.
Speaker 1 (01:44:07):
Rich Kincaid, our Detroit correspondent. We're gonna take a break
and when we get back, we're gonna catch up with
Jim M. Keaton, junior Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of
Famer to sport athlete at Arizona State, former Denver Bronco.
And we're gonna talk about the baseball playoffs and a
little college football too.
Speaker 6 (01:44:25):
Hey, Jack, I got a quick question. Was Rich sleeping
as he fell asleep during the football game? Did he
has he? Does he even know what Baker Mayfield has
done in four to five wins for Tampa Bay with
last minute game winning drives? Did he fall asleep for
not too? I mean, in all respect to Garrett Sjared Goff.
(01:44:45):
You know I'm a I'm a golf fan, but my goodness, okay,
well we'll see yeah, yeah, just curious.
Speaker 1 (01:44:54):
Someone said that Tampa Bay was gonna win thirteen games
this year. I said, well, that's what they call a
Baker's does right.
Speaker 5 (01:45:00):
Ah. Very nice.
Speaker 1 (01:45:02):
Yeah. We will be right back with Jim Keaton Jr.
Coming up on the drive with Jack.
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Speaker 1 (01:45:46):
Jack Kevlin here with my good friend Matt Sloan at
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Speaker 5 (01:48:02):
Welcome back.
Speaker 1 (01:48:03):
It is a driver with Jack the Spotlight Radio Network.
Jack Evlin here with my producer Boston Rob Robo. We
have our cleanup hitter ready to go.
Speaker 6 (01:48:13):
We most certainly do.
Speaker 1 (01:48:16):
He's been swinging that bat with a doughnut waiting for
this opportunity. Want to welcome in, Jim Keaton Junior. You
mentioned Hall of Famer and a multi sport stand out. Jim,
you have to explain something to me because all the
time I have watched sports, I'm going back to the
(01:48:37):
late fifties, I don't think I have been more wrong
about a game than I would have been with Game
one Seattle at Toronto and watching the celebration after the
fifteen inning game early Saturday morning, knowing that there were
going to be media sessions interviews, they were going to
(01:49:01):
finally stagger out of there, try to get their way
to the plane while the champagne high was still there,
and then it wouldn't be long and they'd be back
out on the field in Game one against the Blue Jays,
who were waiting and heavily favored. How Seattle won these
first two games.
Speaker 4 (01:49:22):
Well, and you have to remember, too, Jack, they had
TV stuff to get ready for the actual series with
you know, so, I mean, it wasn't like they had
a lot of time to do anything except maybe take
a nap and then it was like, okay, guys, we
got to get to the field for practice. But I
(01:49:43):
think I think what this really shows you, especially when
it comes to baseball, is uh, you can ride the
wave with baseball a lot easier you can with other
sports because you can take the time when you're feeling
(01:50:03):
confident hitting the ball, which is really what seemed to
happen for them when they got there. It's like the
weight of the world had gone off their shoulders from
getting through the Tiger Series. And this is the first
time they've been in the playoffs in a long time.
So once you get over that first pump and it's like, oh,
we did it, then all of a sudden you kind
(01:50:26):
of let the pressure that certainly was palpable when they
were playing the Tigers, and that fifteen inning just spectacular
baseball game for US baseball purists.
Speaker 3 (01:50:42):
It was just a beautiful game.
Speaker 4 (01:50:45):
But I just think that once they they relaxed, they've
been able to see it, hit it, and then make
it happen, and their their bombers have come up, and
then of course it doesn't hurt to have a guy
named Paul also on your team, I guess.
Speaker 1 (01:51:02):
Yeah, yeah. And for a lot of people who said
who is this guy? He did have twenty six home
runs in the regular season. He is batting fourth in
the lineup as a second basement for one of the
most powerful teams in baseball with the sixty two home
run hitter. Now if you had the postseason, plus Suarez
(01:51:26):
is at fifty and the other guys, you know what
a rose arena. Yeah, Rodriguez can do and nailor and
you know, this is a team that really fortified itself
at the All Star break and the trade deadline, and
unlike the Tigers, they said, okay, we're not good enough,
(01:51:46):
and so what do we have to do. Do we
want to just sit and say, well, it's not our
year or are we all in? And they pushed all
their chips to the middle of the table and they
may have a World championship to show for it.
Speaker 3 (01:52:00):
There's there's certainly uh in the groove.
Speaker 4 (01:52:04):
I don't anticipate to let down going back home, and
in fact Toronto is perhaps in danger without a couple
of very good pitching outings of getting swept out of here.
And it kind of reminds me of what happened with
the Lions last year. We had all these high expectations
(01:52:24):
and then in one game, you know, ended at all.
In this case, it's you know, for for theories, but
it has the same kind of feel. You know this,
And but I think that I think that they're a
well connected team. Those guys certainly like each other. And
you know, I like Palaco for the fact that you know,
(01:52:47):
he had gotten hurt and he was still rehabbing his knee,
and the fact that you know, I don't think they
signed him until just before going to training camp, and
and he had been shopping himself around and they ended up,
you know, offering him a deal, and and he bet
on himself. Basically, you know, he seven million dollars, which
(01:53:11):
looks like a steal, you know for a number four
hitting infielder right now that is leading you to the
World Series. And but he bet on himself, and so
an offseason, hopefully he'll be able to reap the rewards
for the success that he's had so far in the postseason.
And he had been regular Sason.
Speaker 1 (01:53:34):
Jim someone said that this is the first time a
contending team, a serious contender in the Baseball four has
had a second basement betting cleanup and a catcher betting
second and both of them switch hitters, having this much
(01:53:55):
impact on the postseason.
Speaker 4 (01:53:58):
Yeah, I I don't even remember, uh, too many catchers
that were switch hitters. That that to me is uh
is just an anomaly in and of itself. A middlandfielder
that's hitting both ways, you don't, you know, that's that's
that's not that unusual. But but the hit with the
(01:54:22):
power that he did you know, all season and hand
through the playoffs has been been really spectacular.
Speaker 3 (01:54:30):
I want to.
Speaker 4 (01:54:31):
Comment a little bit about what you said about when
they solidified themselves at the trading deadline is we all
know there's a certain team that we root for that
didn't make that decision. And uh, and then I seen,
I seem I seen the general manager doubling down saying
(01:54:51):
that it was the right decision. And you know, the
worst thing that I can think of for anybody in
power is to start defending themselves, because usually those in
power have no need to defend themselves.
Speaker 3 (01:55:08):
You just kind of let them go.
Speaker 1 (01:55:10):
Yeah, And when I you know, I have a real,
real good bullshit sniffer, And when I'm at a press
conference like that, Jim, I'm really really not trying to
get notoriety for myself. But with some of the things
I was hearing there, I would have been very tempted
(01:55:30):
to say, Scott, if the game had gone seventeen innings
instead of fifteen, would the Tigers have trotted out Chris
Paddock or Charlie Morton.
Speaker 3 (01:55:46):
Well, brother, I.
Speaker 4 (01:55:49):
All I can say is I appreciate your sentiments, and
I will not comment because I don't want to cast
any more aspersions on the story than what I already have.
It's from when you're in a position of strength. You
don't need to ask for permission. You just take control
(01:56:13):
of the situation and you make it happen. And I
found it very ironic that we have the resources. I
believe is what the word was used to sign mister
uh Eric the terrific. So does that mean we didn't
have resources at the deadline or did we just come
(01:56:36):
up with them in the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (01:56:40):
I'm get the feeling that they're so in love with
these prospects. I've listened to Fred Human for decades. Stream
upside can't play.
Speaker 3 (01:56:52):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:56:52):
That doesn't mean that you don't want to, you know,
build a strong minor league system. It's it's the lifeblood.
But I remember when the Tigers acquired Miguel Cabrera. He
was a very young player at the time, but they
traded top prospects, the best in their organization. And I
also remember Dave Dombrowski telling me when I did a
(01:57:12):
book on the Tigers, get the best player in the trade.
And if you're afraid to make a move, then maybe
you're not in the role you should be in. It
doesn't mean you can't be a great scout. And maybe
I'll be wrong, Maybe the Tigers will win four World
Series in the next ten years, but right now I'm
(01:57:33):
looking at opportunity slipping away.
Speaker 4 (01:57:36):
Well. One of the things that when he was making
his comments deck that I just it was, it just
ran through my mind.
Speaker 3 (01:57:44):
Yeah, he said, we have.
Speaker 4 (01:57:47):
The best minor league system in the world.
Speaker 3 (01:57:51):
Yeah, or in the game.
Speaker 4 (01:57:53):
And I'm like, I don't think the TV in das Moltz.
I don't see any lights, and I don't see any commercials,
and I don't see anybody in the minor league playing right.
Speaker 3 (01:58:08):
Now right sort world chancionship.
Speaker 1 (01:58:12):
And the Tigers system, Jim has two excellent prospects ranked
four and five in their system that every major league
team was coveting. They both happen to play the same position.
They're catchers who could be first baseman or dhers, but
they're catchers. And the other question I would have wanted
(01:58:35):
to ask Scott Harris was who's going to be the
Tigers starting catcher in twenty twenty eight And if he
had said it's going to be Lorenzo and I was said,
then maybe you could have traded Persono. If he said Personio,
I would have said that maybe you could have traded Lorenzo,
and if he had said, Dylan Dingler, I said, now
(01:58:56):
you really have malpractice because you have two guys you
could have traded for a bat or an arm that
would have gotten you to a point where we are
not right now.
Speaker 4 (01:59:09):
Yeah, No matter how I how I look at it, Jack,
this situation is one that is a head scratcher, and again,
to try to defend it is nothing more than digging
yourself a deeper hole to why you made a poor
(01:59:29):
decision to begin with. So but I digress. I I
like I like where tigers ended. I like how they battled,
I like how they played. I'm not sure how Trek
feels about it, because he would be one that I'm
nervous about that. If you're not going to be putting
(01:59:52):
people around me to help me win, what makes us
think that we can give him money and he wants
to stay because there'll be other people out there willing
to give It's kind of like the Texas A and
M story in Nil. Right, Yeah, well, this guy has
thirty million to give me against the seven that you want.
Speaker 3 (02:00:11):
To give me.
Speaker 4 (02:00:12):
You know. Yeah, I hope, I hope that he's guessing right,
But it certainly still feels like an opportunity loss, because
I can tell you getting back to championships is harder
(02:00:32):
than winning championships.
Speaker 1 (02:00:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think the great regret greater
than trying making a move and saying, you know what
we tried and we failed, is not making the move
and then having regrets. And I just wondering, what if
you know two more baseball things, And Jim, we haven't
(02:00:55):
even touched on college football. We don't have time for
that today. But Rob, I did a little survey a
couple of weeks ago about what the Tigers were gonna
do and this was during their last series with the
Red Sox, and I want to know how many more
games Detroit was going to win? And I asked twenty
(02:01:17):
two people who I thought really knew the game. Okay,
not just some schlep who staggered out of the bar.
I'm talking about people who had played baseball, who had
lived the game. And you know who had the highest
projection for Tigers wins out of those twenty.
Speaker 6 (02:01:35):
Two probably the guy we're talking to right now.
Speaker 1 (02:01:38):
You got it, Jim. I think you said they were
gonna win eight more times, and you weren't far off.
And if they had one Friday Night, you probably would
have won the whole thing. So when you were watching
this fifteen inning marathon, were you like riveted? Were you
(02:01:58):
like pounding things?
Speaker 4 (02:02:00):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (02:02:01):
Were you drinking heavily? How are you watching Friday night?
Speaker 3 (02:02:06):
You know what? Jack?
Speaker 17 (02:02:07):
I was as calm as the other side. I was
enjoying the game. I truly, I was enjoying it as
a fan. I was like, these are two really, really,
really good teams, and they are going at each other
at the highest level that you can do it, because
(02:02:28):
people don't realize playing at the highest level that you
can play at Yeah, and do it that consistently for
that long in that situation.
Speaker 3 (02:02:39):
Is very very, very very hard. And I was just
enjoying the game.
Speaker 4 (02:02:46):
I wanted to tell you every time of Tite out
of Tans, I was believe me, I was waiting for
the hit or but I really did.
Speaker 17 (02:02:54):
I was calm. I was just enjoying the effort.
Speaker 4 (02:02:57):
That those guys were putting out. They're understanding how hard
it was too, you know, to do that, but really
appreciated the game, and afterwards very disappointed, but also very
proud of the way they competed.
Speaker 3 (02:03:15):
And I mean because every guy that came out there.
Speaker 4 (02:03:19):
Just they did their thing, and it was it was
it was good for baseball. For me, it was like,
that's how baseball should be played, you know. And but
it doesn't take away this sting of knowing one more
bat might have made a difference, you know, all.
Speaker 1 (02:03:41):
Right, the last thing for you, And I ask you
this because you know a little bit more about these
two than than I would. I. I haven't stood in
batter's box and hit sixty home runs in with them
all much less in the major leagues. But this is
probably as tough a decision for an award. And I've
(02:04:04):
never voted for Most Valuable Player in Major League Baseball.
I voted for all the collegiate awards it could, but
I've never had a vote for this. And there are
a couple of media members covering each team that will
decide the AL MVP. Now cal Rally's going to tell
you he's not worried about that right now, he's got
bigger fish to fry. Aaron Judge does not. He is done.
(02:04:26):
But you have one guy who has really had a
generational season in terms of on base percentage OPS, being
the batting leader, pushing sixty home runs again and missed
a few games too. When you look at what Aaron
(02:04:46):
Judge did this year and compared to what cal Rally did,
hitting twelve more home runs than any catcher in history
and leading his team where it had not been. Who
do you pick and would it be wrong to have
a tie?
Speaker 4 (02:05:05):
Well? I think Jack in my own personal opinion.
Speaker 3 (02:05:09):
Just as a baseball guy.
Speaker 4 (02:05:11):
Yeah, that Andy Judge had a great season, but it
had comes nowhere close to where cal Roley in his season.
The fact that he's behind to play one hundred and
sixty two times, and I mean he he you know,
maybe it's one hundred and fifty. I don't know what
his number, but the guy was a trooper. He was
out there every day and the things that catchers have
(02:05:33):
to go through physically every day to play and then
be a switch hitter as well, and then hit sixty
home runs. In my opinion, this is one of the
greatest seasons ever by a player period. That's where I
would rank it. And he's not a little guy. He's
a big dude, right, and just getting your muscles loose
(02:05:56):
and ready to go every day, to go through the
rigors of the season and So I love Aaron Judge,
love him as the player, love him as a person.
But this year, without a doubt, cal Rally is the
best baseball player in the world period.
Speaker 1 (02:06:17):
Wow you hear that show? Hey, maybe we'll have to
bring Rally into pitch the way Jake Rogers did for
the Tigers. Jim, thanks so much for joining us. Really
appreciate it. And let's get together and watch a World
Series game over at One North.
Speaker 3 (02:06:36):
That sounds great, Jake, look forward to it.
Speaker 1 (02:06:38):
Jim Keaton Jr. Rob want to thank all of our
guests today. This was a fun show for me. I
don't know if it was for the listeners, but I
had a hell of a time. Starting with Don Fisher,
Hall of Fame Voice of the Indiana Hoosiers and the
long suffering doing IU football. I can't wipe the smile
(02:06:59):
off his face now, no question about that. Darien Harris,
director of player development for the New York Football Giants,
Spartan captain is back here for homecoming. Maybe some words
to the wise. It's easier to hear than to really
process right now for Spartan fans, Pat Caputo the book
(02:07:23):
from ninety seven to one, The Ticket, Longtime sports writer,
beat writer, columnist, you name it. Now doing terrific work
on radio in Detroit. Lots of pre and postgame shows.
Rich Kincaid, our Detroit correspondent talking about the Tigers, the Lions,
the Red Wings, and much much more. And Jim Keaton Junior,
(02:07:44):
former Sun Devil, former Denver Bronco Hall of Famer. Appreciate
him being with us. See tomorrow. We want have a
great night.
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