Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Hawkeye talk with Tom Kakert, Story time with Mike Palm from Circa Sports

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Hawkeye talk with Tom Kakert, Story time with Mike Palm from Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:08
Eric Condon, welcome back Iowa Sports Radio Network where
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they're listening on the Iowa Sports Radio Network where we
0:15
are in the state of Iowa, Des Moines Sports station one O 6.3
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KX or no or anywhere on the iheart at momentarily.
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Tom Cakehart hawkeyereport.com What is Tom?
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I want to see where was his eyes be trained tomorrow when he's
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watching the Hawks go through their spring prep.
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We'll do that and then Mike Pom, VP of operations at Circus
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Sports, he will join us in studio coming up here about 1:25
0:37
or there thereabouts. We do owe you a keyword for the
0:40
next hour of the program. In fact, just in case I forget,
0:43
I'm going to let you know right now it's family.
0:45
But hang on for a few minutes before you go in.
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It's family. That's the keyword in this
0:49
nationwide contest. All right, Tom Cakert,
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momentarily we will talk some Iowa.
0:53
Their spring event gets underway.
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Essentially, it's the same time it's going on to Jack Price and
0:58
Ames, IA City and Kinnock Stadium will be doing exactly
1:02
the same thing. Here's Tom Cakert, Tom Trenton.
1:04
Ken, thanks for coming on. Tom Kakert, how are you?
1:08
Doing well. How are you guys?
1:09
Doing OK Look, before we get to football, just because when you
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joined me, Trent was off last week, as you recall, you kind of
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hinted around like this might be a productive weekend for
1:18
Mccollum's basketball team. And boy, it sure turned out to
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be right With the back-to-back announcements over the last
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weekend, we talked about your message boards, kind of getting
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impatient when it's going to happen, when's it going to
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happen? And and it happened.
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And I'm guessing that made the subscribers at Hawkeye Nation
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appease them, at least for the time being.
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How about that? Yeah, everybody kind of calmed
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down after they got the two guys.
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So I think they're excited about Tyree Coleman and and getting
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the big fella 73, Andrew McKeever.
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I think they've that's kind of what they were looking for.
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So we'll see if they end up going after anybody else or if
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they kind of wait to see what happens with Tavion Banks
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because they've got one spot left.
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You can, you can have 15 on the on the list, so you know total
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players and, and they're at 14 right now.
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You look at the counting stats for both the guys, eight points,
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9 rebounds for McKeever, you see obviously Coleman, what he did
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as a freshman in the Missouri Valley.
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But one thing that really jumped out is looking at, you know,
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hoops Guru and to come of the some of the deeper analytical
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sites is both of these guys play at an elite level in pick and
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roll. What does Ben McCollum like to
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do pick and roll? It's not just about those
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counting fat. What do you look deeper and you
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look at just the way that they fit in the system.
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These feel like really good pickups to me, Tom.
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That's the thing that jumped out at me was especially with
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McKeever with his side and, you know, just bulk and just natural
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height in that screen roll game, he's going to be really
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effective rolling down the lane and going to be tough to handle.
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So yeah, I'm I like what they have there.
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And Coleman, it just seems like the arrows just pointing up now.
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I know people point out, wow, they both, you know, McKeever
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only started 10 games and Coleman was coming off the bench
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most of the time. But I'm just like, look, they're
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the arrows pointing out for Coleman for sure.
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You know, he dumped 17 on Auburn and then NIT semi final game.
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And he just looks like a kind of a tough kid that's going to keep
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keep getting better. And remember, he's just a
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freshman. So he's, you know, got three
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more years left. Mckeever's got two years left.
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So they'll have the opportunity to really develop those guys and
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just having McKeever. I mean, you go back to that,
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that Illinois game and it was 5150 with about 7 minutes left
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and they just dumped it into the V search, you know, 3 * 2 or
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three times in a row and scored. And that was the end of the
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game. That's where the game flipped.
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And Iowa had nothing to do with nothing to counter 72.
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Now they do. And that's going to make a big
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difference for him I think next year.
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Plus he he's a really good offensive rebound.
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His offensive rebound rate led the country.
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Tom, as we switched to football, I think another tentacle of the,
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of the transfer portal not opening after, you know, may
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early May, as it's done in the last couple years with that no
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longer being an option. I couldn't tell in the past if
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coaches were just blowing smoke off up a player's skirt or not
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because they wanted to stick around.
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You know, you'd, you'd hear about a position battle and,
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well, you, this guy's good buddy.
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You can't overlook this guy because he's well, you don't
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know if that was true, right? Is he just trying to keep him
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from transferring or not because they have that option now.
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When it comes to the quarterbacks this year, I
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believe it more so that both quarterbacks are having a good
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spring because you don't have to, you know, tell A-fib to try
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and keep your player as part of your program.
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Quarterback battle tomorrow. And listening to Tim Lester
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earlier in the week, were you surprised?
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Maybe it's as close as Lester kind of believes that it is.
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Not really. I've kind of heard that all
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spring, that it was kind of bouncing back and forth.
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I think the thing that interested me was, Lester said
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that was it. Hank Brown had more explosive
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plays, like 29 of them. And that's kind of running
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counter to the narrative that everybody has that Hecklinsky's
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the gunslinger. He's going to make the explosive
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plays where it's maybe it's Hank Brown.
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And, you know, I, I've had some people tell me that that, you
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know, if they played this Saturday, if they were playing a
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real game, Hank Brown would probably be the starter.
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So, you know, but we'll see what happens in August.
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And the other thing that you that you wonder about at least,
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is when the lights are on, who's going to perform?
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That's the key thing. You know, you can do it in
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practice, but what's going to happen when the lights are on?
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And it's so interesting with Hank Brown.
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Can I think we talked about it last week, that that the
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narrative of Hank Brown would be so different if he completes
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that path? It was so different.
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Yeah, he'd be the overwhelming favorite.
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No doubt they beat Indiana, they beat the defending champions.
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I don't think there's any way after that that he loses the
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backup role to Heklinski, regardless how well that
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Heklinski played in practice and definitely changes the equation.
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Need guys upfront though in order for it to happen.
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You feel good about Lock, you feel good about Peeper, but do
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we know where Peeper is going to play now?
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This is reading between the lines a little bit.
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Tim Lester is very much open to praise.
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It felt like he was pumping the brakes a little bit about peeper
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inside. Did you take it that way?
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And are we sure that peeper is going to be the center or could
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we see somebody else there and him going back to where he
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started? Eckard.
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A little bit he was pumping the brakes.
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I think Pete might be dinged up a little bit.
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So I don't know if we'll see him tomorrow.
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So we'll see if that if that comes to pass or not.
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But maybe maybe that's what he was kind of speaking about was
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just like a probably won't see him out there and you know, he
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just couldn't say that, but he's been kind of dinged up a little
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bit. So kill winter is a guy that
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keeps getting mentioned, you know, walk on and my Solinsky
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still waiting to get his his sixth year approved and and he's
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been dinged up a little bit. So the center thing I think is
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going to that race is going to drag into August is my guess.
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And they'll figure that out as they go.
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But I do think that if peeper is the guy at center, Lucas
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Allgeier is going to be the right guard.
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I feel pretty confident in that right now.
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So it's just good. But if peeps not the center
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people is going to be the right guard.
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So it's just it's going to be however that that shakes out,
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it's probably, you know, three players to figure out for two
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spots and Dozler's doing doing well at at right tackle and a
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lot of praise for Leighton Jones.
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So that's good to hear that he's really kind of solidified
8:02
himself at that left guard position.
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Tom, obviously the defensive lines of question on a lot of
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Hawkeye fans minds, do you guard against getting too high or too
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low after what you what is gleaned?
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I guess tomorrow weather goes either way.
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Yeah. And I, I think it would probably
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be the latter. It might not.
8:22
Yeah. You know, we might might look at
8:24
and go, boy, this is a big concern.
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And you know, it's not like you can go out and and get get
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anybody this spring either. That's the other thing.
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You've got your roster and this is what you got.
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Unless they do the unless we get we get to anarchy taking over
8:39
college football even more with the five for five thing and they
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grandfather those guys in. And then you call up Aaron
8:44
Graves and say come back, you know, you know, but I don't know
8:50
that he would be interested. You know, I don't know if he's
8:53
ready to go on with his life. I mean, he already graduated
8:56
with one 1°, maybe 2° already. And he graduated in like 3 years
9:01
or some two years, something like that.
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So he's you know, it's just fantasy stuff right now.
9:09
So you just really can't worry about it.
9:10
But I think they've got to find that's going to be Phil's
9:15
biggest challenge and Kelvin Bell their biggest challenge is
9:18
getting that line up to up to snuff.
9:20
Because if if they can't stop the run, it's going to be a long
9:24
year for that defence and Phil Parker might have an aneurysm
9:27
about four or five times on that sideline.
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No doubt about it. And yeah, when when they're
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struggling there, we definitely see it in very animated Phil
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Parker. Even when they're good, we'll
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see an animated Phil Parker. Speaking of that, the linebacker
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spot, we have just seen an embarrassment of riches at the
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position throughout the last couple of decades.
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Now, Cam Buffington, I mean, is this the dude we talked so much
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last year about Preston Reese and he was on the freaks list
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with Bruce Feldman, so that definitely led to it.
9:53
But Cam Buffington, is he your starter at middle linebacker,
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too, or he'll just be out there as one of the two starters?
10:00
Yeah, I kind of the buzz about him is sort of like the buzz
10:03
coming off of like Josie Jules red shirt freshman year where
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everybody was like he's going to be the guy.
10:09
And he was he was the guy. He was the guy immediately.
10:13
He just knew right away, OK, this kid's a different and he's
10:16
going to be really good. And I think that's the same
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thing with, you know, with Buffington that and I think just
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given that there's there's struggles and the potential
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struggles on the interior of the line, the D tackle positions
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being kind of unsteady. You need that bigger body, that
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kind of Jack Campbell like body that can be in the middle of
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that line to clean things up and make some tackles where, you
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know, Jaden Montgomery did a terrific job last year, but he's
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just not big. He's kind of sawed off.
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He's probably sub 6 foot and just not that big.
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So I would, I would really think that having him out there and
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maybe having Derek Weiskopf out there too would, would benefit
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Iowa linebacker just because both those guys are 6, three,
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you know, 23240. How many Hawks get drafted
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tonight? I think potentially 2, I would
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think that I would think that Dunk and and then Lojo would be
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the two would be the two guys that go I am Trent.
11:21
Trent, are you hoping for Lojo with the the second round second
11:24
pick? He's got to be happy with his
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first. Round.
11:27
Yes, absolutely. Oh my.
11:28
Gosh, we're so happy. So happy for bears, Yeah.
11:32
Yeah, which is rare. There's been plenty of
11:34
complaining throughout the years, these last couple of
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decades on the radio. So it's nice to actually have a
11:39
smile when you come in the next day after the draft.
11:42
Logan Jones, absolutely. And I, I think it makes a ton of
11:45
sense. Left tackle, though, boy, the
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the Bears and what's happened out there, that's just scary.
11:50
And we know Jen Dunker is not that.
11:52
Do people in the NFL, Tom, have you heard?
11:54
Do they believe? Yeah, most people think he's a
11:56
guard. Can he play right tackle in a
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pitch, though? Is is he athletic enough to be a
12:01
right tackle in the NFL? I think he could, but I I do
12:04
think you're probably right that he's going to end up being a
12:07
guard and anybody having a better, you know, rise and
12:12
Jennings dunker, He's like a legend now.
12:14
I mean, everybody's talking about him and the flowing red
12:19
hair. I saw I saw a video of him at
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like AB dubs or something with with some social media thing
12:25
where he's getting. I mean, he's living the life
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right now. He and Cooper to Jean still
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living the life. Yeah, no, no doubt about that.
12:33
They certainly have seen some pictures of Cooper de Jean
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living the life in this offseason.
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Why wouldn't you? Right?
12:39
Hey Tom, before we let you go, and I don't want to run out of
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time or or forget to do this, is the Chuck Long auction still
12:45
going on? Yes, yeah, just kicked off.
12:48
We're going through May 2nd. Oh, OK.
12:51
Thanks for putting that out there.
12:53
Yeah, you can, you can check that out on our social media
12:56
feeds. They've got all the the give
12:58
butter link, but you can just search Chuck Long Charity
13:03
auction and they'll take you to the children's therapy center.
13:06
There are so many cool things. Caitlin Clark jerseys and Cooper
13:10
de Jean signed a 16 by 20 photo that says it wasn't a fair catch
13:15
him on that play. I mean, they've got some great
13:18
things. Some, you know, historical
13:21
things. They've got the program from the
13:24
Notre Dame Iowa game in 1939. That's the game that launched
13:30
now I think to win a win a Heisman Trophy.
13:33
And they've got a ticket for the game that was never played, the
13:37
Iowa, Notre Dame 1963 November game that that got cancelled
13:42
because JFK was assassinated. And there's somebody that's got
13:46
a game ticket that's framed. It's really cool.
13:48
That really is how much will that stuff go for?
13:52
I don't know. That's rare, as rare can be.
13:55
Yeah, it's it's amazing. They've got some, some great
13:58
stuff football helmets from the signed by a bunch of the guys
14:02
from the 85 team, including Larry Station, who never signs
14:05
for anything. And you know, there's there's
14:09
some awesome stuff basketball from the, the, the, the men's
14:14
and women's team this year for Iowa and all kinds of stuff.
14:17
So really cool. Thanks for letting me mention.
14:20
Sure. No, we'll do it again next week
14:21
with you. And you find Tom on Twitter at
14:24
Hawkeye Report, and you can find the links and, of course, all
14:26
the information is, well, hawkeyereport.com.
14:28
Tom, Last thing for me, over to women's basketball.
14:31
Another Georgia player making her way to Iowa City for a
14:35
visit. Didn't play a ton as a freshman,
14:37
but a top one player coming out and Lasanda Barrett continues to
14:41
use those southern roots and she is bringing in some talent.
14:44
What's the likelihood we hear of a commitment this weekend?
14:47
I think Jocelyn face on is going to probably commit.
14:52
That would be my guess. You know, she that's that point.
14:57
Lasanda Barrett has really paid dividends, hasn't she just, you
15:01
know, bringing in, you know, chitchat and then Carnegie, it's
15:07
just been a really good run and they can get her.
15:11
I brought up the the women's team in the in the context of
15:15
that five for five thing that might end up passing and and
15:19
being grandfathered in. I mean, could you call it Taylor
15:21
McCabe and get her to come back Perhaps that?
15:24
'D. Be nice.
15:25
Yeah, that'd be, I mean, Ham Stolky could come back.
15:28
I don't know that both parties would want that.
15:30
But it's just, you know, it's something that something to
15:34
consider, but it's, you know, I tailor with the guard needs that
15:39
they have right now. I think would be a really
15:41
interesting piece to come back if if that could happen.
15:45
Tom Keikart hawkeyereport.com We'll have you covered your
15:48
spring practice, the spring event tomorrow morning and then
15:52
the recaps and all the interviews, etc afterwards.
15:55
Tom, look forward to reading@hawkeyereport.com and we
15:58
will talk with you next Friday. Thanks, Tom Keikart.
16:01
OK. Thanks guys.
16:02
Yeah, good to hear from you. Tom Keikart, hawkeyereport.com
16:05
Boy, those pieces, My God, what an auction that would be.
16:09
No, I'm not getting involved, but I hope you got a bunch of
16:13
zeros in your balance. Do you ever you used to be big
16:17
into memorabilia? Yeah, well, not big what I could
16:19
afford, right? Right.
16:20
Do you ever wish that you dabbled in it more throughout
16:24
the years? Yeah, Yes, there were pieces
16:26
that you had your eye on. Absolutely wish I would.
16:28
Have the great whale that got away.
16:29
Yeah, for sure. And not just the Ray Ordonia
16:32
story. You know, he popped on my
16:33
Twitter feed the other night and and I'm watching.
16:37
What an unbelievably gifted defensive shortstop.
16:40
For for our guest in studio, yeah.
16:42
Well done 1. You you have to replay this
16:46
story for. Jordan Break.
16:47
Yes, this is unbelievable. Our audience has heard it a ton
16:51
and I love it so much. He's so good defensively.
16:55
All right, time to give you an opportunity here to win that
16:58
$1000 in this nationwide contest.
17:00
You can head to KX and o.com right now or whichever your
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station you're listening on, head to their website,
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thekeywordthishourisfamilyapopupboxwillappearfamily@kx&o.com. Your chance to win $1000 in this
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nationwide contest. More opportunities throughout
17:15
the afternoon with Sean and Lucas Miller and Condon back in
17:18
studio. Mike Pom will join us when we
17:21
come back on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
17:41
I'm Mary Condon, Welcome back. I was Sports Radio Network
17:43
Trenton Ken with you until just before 2.
17:46
Still to come, Trent's plays of the day, Circus Sports sponsor,
17:50
those joining us in studio, the VP of operations at Circus
17:54
Sports back home for a couple of days visiting family.
17:57
That was Dubuque by Palm, was it as you remember it?
18:00
Well, it's never as you remember it, but you know, I, I, I like
18:04
to give my mom a hard time and say what, what, what happened to
18:07
this place? What happened to that?
18:09
But, you know, we went to the Kennedy Mall yesterday and had
18:12
lunch there at a Dubuque mining company, which is a great lunch
18:15
spot. But I mean, the Kennedy Mall in
18:18
the 70s and 80s was a big deal, right?
18:20
It was the first air conditioned enclosed mall in Iowa.
18:24
And you know, it had a bunch of it's.
18:25
Not a fact I didn't know. That, yeah, Now, I mean, it's a
18:28
bunch of local stores that they say are national stores and all
18:31
that, but, you know, things change, yeah.
18:33
Absolutely. Well, good to see you.
18:35
I'm glad you got home for a nice visit.
18:38
NFL draft, I don't know if you were able to look at some of the
18:42
results as far as circa last night.
18:45
What I know it's not the biggest event, popular in some corners,
18:49
some markets. How busy was it and what kind of
18:52
what kind of night was it for Circa?
18:53
Well, they said so I got reports, obviously I wasn't
18:56
there, but that they had a very nice crowd at Stadium Swim and
19:02
in the book for the event handle was down a little bit as
19:08
compared to the last three years.
19:09
Quarterbacks maybe? There wasn't a lot of buzz on
19:13
this draft and you know, Nevada's, you know, you got to
19:16
take it down 24 hours before in Nevada.
19:18
It's up for a short win. Not that we mind.
19:20
We don't really want to take any bets.
19:21
But we lost again, but not enough that Derek won't book it
19:24
next year. So that's that's good.
19:28
The big losers were McCoy over and and Delaine under for us,
19:32
and Love and Simpson were small losers.
19:36
Very few winners really, really in the mix.
19:38
But you know that's what you expect, so we're not crying too
19:42
much in our beer. So here in the state of Iowa,
19:44
the props for the NFL draft had to be taken down.
19:47
Is it 24 hours before? Is that what it is?
19:49
So yeah, same. You guys have the same thing.
19:53
Is it just because too many people have too much
19:55
information? As you get closer, is that some
19:57
of the justification behind it? Yeah, it is and.
20:02
The closer to the draft, the more things leak out.
20:04
Some states you can't even book it.
20:06
In other states, you can have take it down an hour before.
20:11
It's just, it's one thing, you know, that the bookmakers have
20:14
to know the rules in every state.
20:15
But it's frustrating for customers because they're
20:17
they're trying to follow along and Oh well, they didn't know
20:20
that in their state it's it's down already and they're trying
20:22
to bet day of. So it's just one of those things
20:25
that each state Gaming Commission makes their rules on.
20:28
When it's not an event played on the field, it's going to have a
20:30
whole different set of parameters.
20:32
When when you look around the country is, is there still room
20:35
for expansion in this in this marketplace?
20:38
Do you think Countrywide still states that need to get
20:41
involved? You know, it's, it's very
20:43
hingent on what happens with these prediction markets, Ken.
20:46
I mean, they're taking a a, a big, a big piece of, of the
20:50
industry. Let's be honest here and.
20:52
Is it regulated? It's yeah, by the, you know,
20:56
CFTC, which has a, a budget, 11 thousandth of that of the SEC
21:01
and you're going to pretend that it's regulated like the market,
21:04
the stock market, which is certainly isn't.
21:05
They don't, they don't have the bandwidth nor the resources to
21:08
do that. And and that's why you see
21:10
another example of the you know, of the the the guy that's on
21:15
special OPS, you know, and makes 400,000 in the market.
21:17
No one when you're going to take down a dictator somewhere.
21:19
I mean it just like the bad Bunny deal.
21:22
I mean, there's nothing to protect against this insider
21:25
information and who who loses. Is not the markets, it's not
21:28
calci, it's the people on the other end of the bet.
21:31
Remember, these are all contracts.
21:32
If I'm meeting this, there's somebody on the other end of my
21:34
bet. That's has to happen for it's
21:36
like exchange and horse racing. Yes, exactly can.
21:39
So what would be the best case scenario for for you and the
21:44
sports gambling industry? What is it that there is more
21:47
regulation for them and these markets really start to tighten
21:50
up? What is the best thing in your
21:53
guys''s role? They have to be treated like
21:55
sports bets and they have to be regulated by the states or the
21:58
tribes where they're occurring. And that's the only thing that
22:02
puts it on a fair playing field. You know, as a regulated sports
22:06
book operator, we're paying a lot of money just to get a
22:10
license. You know, there's a lot of
22:12
background fees that go into it and all of this and then a ton
22:15
of money on responsible gaming. Billions is spent on responsible
22:20
gaming to protect that only people that should be betting
22:22
are betting and kids aren't betting and addicts aren't bet,
22:25
stuff like that, that none of they don't have to go through
22:27
any of this. And then paying their fair share
22:29
of the revenues as well. So it needs to be regulated as
22:32
if it were sports wagering. I was told back in the day that
22:36
a Nevada gaming license is a as tough a license as you're going
22:40
to ever, ever try to obtain, but once you obtain, it might be one
22:44
of the more coveted license that you want.
22:46
Yeah, once you get it, it's very valuable.
22:49
I don't know if it's the hardest to obtain.
22:51
I've been in other states, New Jersey, it's it's the background
22:56
is incredible really for Derek. It's on a whole nother level, on
23:00
a whole nother level just going in in and they were the nice
23:03
people to work with in Missouri. But to say it's invasive.
23:06
I mean, do you have to provide the numbers of in laws and and
23:10
it's for interviews and things like that if you want to hold
23:12
the license? They knock on the in laws.
23:14
Doors too well, phone calls and emails and you know, and I mean
23:17
in laws of of not current spouses, I mean, you know,
23:20
that's, you know, tax returns for 30 years and credit card
23:24
statements for 30 years. And I mean this is extremely
23:27
invasive process. Stadium swim, Somebody asked me
23:31
this, how do you keep it open during the winter while it's not
23:35
winter like we know winter or what you grew up winter wise,
23:38
but it's still very popular. Super Bowl.
23:40
It's it's packed always out there.
23:42
Stadium swimming year round proposition for you guys.
23:45
How difficult is it? It's not, it's not really.
23:47
Obviously it's not as possible popular in the winter because
23:51
it's colder and. Sun's only out for, you know.
23:54
Limited the sun is I'm listen, I can't you know, I'm in Dubuque
23:57
in this I rained last night, but the sun's out here till 8:00.
24:01
We don't really get that in Las Vegas.
24:03
It gets darker earlier than that.
24:04
But instead of having, you know, sun from opening at 8:00 AM
24:07
until, you know, 7:30 at night in the in the winter, obviously,
24:11
you know, you get into that 5:30 then 5:00 and 4:45 and that.
24:15
But the water's warm. The place to be is actually in
24:18
the pool because we heat the pools in the winter and there's
24:21
a fair number of people that go out there, but you don't have
24:24
the people watching you do in the winter like you do in the
24:26
summer. I know other property stories.
24:28
I know other properties are trying to do something similar.
24:31
When you first saw the drawings of what stadium swim was going
24:35
to look like or the plan, you know what we're going to do on
24:37
this level, we're going to do something to everyone.
24:39
When you first saw it or heard about it, what was kind of your
24:43
pushback or did you have a push? But there were six different
24:45
concepts to begin with and one was there was one real was like
24:48
7 stories up and the other one they were trying to separate
24:52
adults from kids until we finally made the decision 21 and
24:55
up. And that made the drawing a lot
24:56
simpler. The concept that I challenged
24:59
there because he thought it was going to be all sports audio and
25:02
I said listen, people are not paying to come out here to hear
25:06
the Orioles and the Rays on Thursday morning.
25:08
It has to be DJ's other than featured events right Which the
25:13
Stanley Cup playoffs, NBA playoffs draft.
25:15
Last night, you've drafted the sound.
25:17
We had the draft on the sound, we had WrestleMania on the sound
25:20
at the pool and the sports, other sports in the book, right?
25:24
So we can differentiate between the venues.
25:26
But other than that, I mean, 85% of the time it's, it's what a
25:30
normal pool would be in Las Vegas with day drinking and DJ
25:34
music, you know? And we hear that when we're
25:36
doing our show out there. We get a little bit of that
25:38
background music and it's a fun scene.
25:40
It really is no one thing. We don't talk very often is
25:43
upstairs and the sunset views that you guys have up there at
25:46
Legacy and we talk about the sports book obviously a ton.
25:49
We talk about stadium swim, but that's something that we just
25:52
don't bring up probably as often as we should.
25:54
I will tell you and I will tell our listeners, my wife's
25:57
favorite time that we always spend together is up there.
25:59
So you're looking to maybe have a little bit of time with that
26:01
special subway to your life. So that seals the deal.
26:04
Is that what you're saying? Take him upstairs.
26:05
That place is incredible, Mike. Take us through that kind of
26:09
thought process. 1st I'm disappointed that their favorite
26:11
time isn't with. Well, Tara had a.
26:14
Great time with you that night. Oh boy.
26:16
Yeah, we had a lot too much fun. Yeah, we were drinking this a
26:20
bit. But no, it's it's great.
26:22
And we get more and more corporate events up there.
26:24
Trent, you know the half buy outs and a quarter buy outs of
26:28
the venue to do different events this weekend.
26:31
Is the Maddox poker tournaments going to be up there Sunday
26:33
night. We have another poker tournament
26:36
next weekend we're going to have and it's it's really romantic.
26:39
It's nice. You have, you know, not in the
26:41
dead of summer, but other times of the year.
26:43
The fire pits are really nice and you have the panoramic
26:46
views, the 360 views, you got the mountains and the strip,
26:49
sort of nowhere else do you get that, that view.
26:51
And it's just a really classy place.
26:52
And I think they've done a great job with it, and more and more
26:55
people are getting to know about it five years later.
26:57
Isn't that something, you know, one of the things that when you
27:00
first get off the elevator and you see the gold bars, So what?
27:04
So refresh my memory, that was $1,000,000 in gold.
27:07
That was it's put behind Glass 2.
27:09
Million 2,000,000 and then you know, I don't follow it, but it
27:12
was over 5. I don't know if it still is, but
27:14
at one point here in the last month or so it was over 5.
27:17
Now that's. His the running tally is the day
27:19
goes on. Yeah, it's got the, it's got the
27:21
thing at the ticker on top. So that's his investment.
27:24
That's Derek's. And so he bought that at
27:25
2,000,000. Yeah.
27:28
And so it's not a great thing for the economy, the higher that
27:31
goes, I'll just tell you that. So Mike, you mentioned Derek.
27:36
We we've had Derek on the show. We've had him on our TV show.
27:39
We talked to him every time that we're out there in Vegas.
27:42
Tell us a little bit about your relationship with him.
27:44
We see him. I know all the Cubs fan see him,
27:47
Royals fan see him on the television commercials.
27:49
What your relationship kind of was and how it built into what
27:52
you guys done and and have worked together to create here
27:55
over these last how many years now?
27:56
Yeah, I mean, he, it was, I was part of a real estate
28:00
acquisition for him, right? I met him when he was buying
28:03
Fitzgerald's and I was working at Fitzgerald's.
28:05
I didn't know who he was, but Don Barden, who had owned it,
28:08
had passed away and his family had put it up for sale, both of
28:12
them out of Detroit, right. One Don Barden made his money in
28:15
cable TV and obviously Derek and auto parts supply, but they came
28:20
in and it was, you know, they bought the property officially
28:25
took over on I believe it was November 1st of 2012, you know,
28:32
and I had a meeting with him subsequent just before
28:35
Thanksgiving and I was running the poker room and keno and
28:38
special events at the time. And and you know, he said, you
28:43
know, this space, we think that this space, the poker room has
28:46
probably it makes more sense to be slots.
28:49
But we would like, you know, if you have a rebuttal, you know,
28:53
we'll give you 48 hours to put together a proposal.
28:55
So yeah, I come back, my argument was to look at not just
29:00
the poker of it, but all the wives that played slots while
29:03
the husbands played in the poker.
29:04
And we had, it was his little 6 table room, two or three cash
29:07
games. But we would spread 3
29:08
tournaments a day. And that's what get the people
29:10
in and get the cash games going. And yeah, we give them a little
29:13
cute tournaments, but you know, up on the 2nd floor.
29:16
But the, the argument here, I put all the wives together.
29:18
I said, you know, if they, we don't have this poke room, then
29:21
they're going to go play at the Nugget or Binions, who are the
29:23
two other poke rooms downtown. And their wives are going to go
29:26
play slots there because they're not going to be at a different
29:28
casino than their husbands. And he looked at it and he said,
29:30
well, this is really well thought out and it's impactful.
29:32
Now, how long do you need to close the room?
29:35
I said, we got a bad jackpot. I got $30,000.
29:38
I'm going to have the right to gaming.
29:39
I'll have a, a tournament based on I've hours of played folks.
29:42
And I'll give away the 30,000, but I need to apply to gaming
29:46
and they're going to have to respond.
29:47
I probably need 45 days, he said.
29:49
Well, that's about right because the Sunday before Super Bowl has
29:52
to be your last day because I need slot machines in here
29:54
before Super Bowl. We can start.
29:56
So we did, and we invited people from everywhere and they came
29:59
from everywhere. That had played in the past.
30:01
That had played. I had, of course, the hours
30:03
recorded of the six years the poker was open up every hour.
30:05
Everybody played. And we let people qualify in
30:08
that that month as well. But we invited, I think we
30:11
invited like 90 some people and sixty of them showed up and we
30:14
had a 2 day tournament that Saturday.
30:16
And so I mean we spread it out and we gave out all kind of
30:18
prizes. And I think it ended about 11:00
30:21
on that Sunday night and that was it.
30:24
And you know, by 2:00 AM I was still up there and they were
30:26
pulling the tables out and clearing the bat.
30:28
Yeah, getting into turn and putting the in the when.
30:32
Did the name change? The name changed in in March,
30:35
right before March Madness, is when they changed from
30:38
Fitzgerald's to the D, They rebranded it.
30:40
That was the best T-shirts, and I still have two at home, it
30:43
said. And it was the Saint Patrick's
30:45
Day T-shirt, it said. I fell asleep at Fitzgerald's
30:48
and woke up and the front and woke up at the D on the back.
30:52
It was the best, the best shirt we ever did.
30:54
But you know what he said to me was he said, look at that time I
30:57
was working 2 full time jobs. I was a shift manager in the
31:00
poker room at the Venetian and I was a poker room manager at
31:03
Fitzgerald's. He said this is nonsense, you
31:06
can't work 2 full time. I just bought a big house and
31:08
you know you can't work. Anderson, Summerlin.
31:11
Where were. You it's border Summerlin, it's
31:13
Spring Valley, but like 2 blocks from what Summerlin is.
31:16
And I said, you know, he said you got to make a choice.
31:20
And I said, well, you know, the Venetians have big great
31:22
benefits. You're working for Sheldon
31:23
Adelson, right? You don't even you didn't even
31:25
pay for your insurance out of your check.
31:27
He covered everything and the co-pays were it was really good,
31:30
great dining room. He said, yeah, that's very safe
31:33
choice, but but you maybe you'll take a chance with me.
31:36
You know he's and I said, well, what, you don't even want poker.
31:39
I mean, poker is my he goes no, but you know sports.
31:42
I've already learned that you know sports and we're going to
31:44
build the best sports book in the world.
31:45
He. Said it might.
31:46
Not be, might not be in no, no idea.
31:49
He owned the Golden Gate. That was it.
31:51
It might not be in five years. It might not be in 10 years, but
31:54
we're going to have the the best sports book in the world.
31:56
And he said, you understand it, you know, content, you know, and
32:00
I went home and I talked to my wife, my first wife at the time.
32:04
And I said, what do you think? And she said, it's a very good
32:07
question. She asked me, if you give your
32:09
two weeks at the Venetian and it doesn't work out with this guy
32:12
from Detroit six months from now, could you get your job back
32:15
at the Venetian? I said probably, if not another
32:18
job, that I could work back into that job probably within a year.
32:21
And she said, then why wouldn't you take a chance?
32:23
And she was right. And so, and now you know the
32:25
rest of the story. That is awesome.
32:26
When did the shovel go in the ground for Circa?
32:30
Well, we started. Designing in in 2018 and what?
32:36
Was the name of the property that was the stood there.
32:38
The Vegas club, he played Monopoly for several years,
32:40
buying all those properties right in that city block.
32:43
Mermaid. Gulch or whatever that.
32:44
Glitter Gulch. Glitter Gulch.
32:46
Yeah, right. Glitter Gulch was the strip
32:48
club, Mermaids the Las Vegas club, and then there was a
32:51
T-shirt shop. The T-shirt shop was the worst.
32:54
Because they wanted 10 times the value because he saw he was
32:56
buying everything else up. It was unbelievable.
32:58
But once he played Monopoly and then we started designing the
33:01
property and 1st you had to implode all those, those
33:04
buildings. And then the real, the amazing
33:08
part of the story is, you know, we were building and here hit
33:12
the pandemic, right? The pandemic speak.
33:14
I heard you guys with Rudy Gobert in your opening segment,
33:17
right? I'll never forget him with the
33:19
sneezing, coughing on the phone and that we had.
33:21
People, people blame him that he I was on air, Paul Howard was
33:25
under the weather. So I did, I did the Wednesday,
33:28
Thursday show with Mitch Moss that week.
33:30
Right when? The world shut down. 6 to 9 out
33:33
there. So right.
33:34
So eight or four to seven out there, 6 to 9 here.
33:39
We were on air as the Big Big East tournament started at
33:42
Madison Square, guy. I think we were too.
33:44
Saint John's and Creighton. It wasn't.
33:46
It started right. Yeah, they get to halftime and
33:50
they shut it down and here game comes on, Swafford was crying in
33:53
the ACC. They were canceled, right?
33:54
And the world shut down. And it was like Gobert 2 nights
33:56
earlier with the whole thing right and the world shut down.
33:59
Did you see Fred Hoiberg at the Big 10 tournament?
34:01
Do you remember that video? No, I didn't look like he was
34:03
gonna look. Like he was, he was just had the
34:04
flu. He was sick.
34:05
No, I did don't. Remember, it was we were just
34:07
learning what is happening and you see him just looking awful
34:10
on the bench like, well, Fred Hoiberg with that heart
34:12
condition, he's probably done. At the phone, the phone's going
34:15
to stop the pay anyhow. What a nonsense.
34:18
Anyhow, what the thing was, remember we everything shut down
34:24
South for 11 weeks. Nevada was totally shelter in
34:27
place. Well, what that did was it
34:29
allowed us to. Construction workers to work 24
34:32
hours a day where they could have only worked 8:00 because of
34:35
the noise ordinances. However, because of social
34:38
distancing, you could only put four in an elevator.
34:41
So what they did is build the podium.
34:43
They got way ahead and so we opened the podium 2 months
34:45
early, but we couldn't open the tower because we can't get the
34:47
tower done any faster because you couldn't get guys up in an
34:50
elevator because you had to be 6 feet apart.
34:52
So you could only put. Four people in an elevator.
34:54
But it was amazing that you could.
34:56
The pandemic actually helped us to open early, two months early
35:00
with Circa Yeah. That's wild.
35:01
I mean, what seen the pictures of Fremont Street and the strip
35:04
just absolutely deserted. What's what's strange time.
35:07
Let's talk, let's go behind the counter.
35:09
NHL and NBA. Do you is is there a team in
35:12
either of those leagues that you at circa would would hurt you
35:16
financially? Well, the the biggest.
35:18
One in is the Penguins, but. Well, they're done.
35:21
They're down through. I have to tell you, maybe people
35:23
will say this is not nice for me to say or that it's judge
35:26
mental. I don't mean it in that way.
35:29
But I bet, I bet the Flyers, just because I thought the price
35:31
was wrong, the IT opened one of the books in Vegas, opened
35:35
dollars. You can't play it.
35:36
Sir, $1.70 Pittsburgh 153. I said that's not right.
35:43
This should be like A15135 series.
35:45
So I simply bet it on the number.
35:47
I didn't think the number was, but sitting there watching game
35:49
one Dan. Muse looks like he should be
35:52
your high school, yes? Uh huh.
35:55
Astronomy teacher. Whatever, right?
35:56
Math. Yeah.
35:57
Right. Yes.
35:58
How can you look at Dan Muse and then turn and look at Rick
36:00
Talkett and say the Penguins are going to win that?
36:02
Series Rick Talkett's career. I do.
36:04
What a tough. SOP and and and young people
36:07
today that have just followed the NHL like since that they
36:09
have no idea what kind of player Rick Talkett, but how could.
36:12
You look at those two and think, so that wipes that out.
36:15
We booked to need the favorites. You know who we need?
36:17
We need Colorado, Tampa Bay. Isn't that something?
36:20
Yeah, Edmonton's good for us. The Knights is good for us.
36:23
Minnesota hurts us a little. Yeah, Minnesota hurts us a
36:26
little. People were on them even before
36:27
the Hughes trade, so that hurts us a little.
36:29
Montreal hurts us a little. That's an interesting series.
36:32
I think Cooper's coaching this wrong.
36:34
You know Tampa, I know, but Tampa is a much more skilled
36:38
team. Why do they want to play bully
36:39
ball with Montreal? I don't get it.
36:41
Nobody's afraid of Tampa Bay anymore.
36:43
John Cooper, you've went out the last three years in the first
36:46
round. Nobody's intimidated by this
36:48
team, but you're a more skilled team.
36:50
Use your skill. I Dobish has been great and
36:52
that's a coin flip series right now.
36:55
I'm very disappointed with Ottawa.
36:58
Ottawa did not attack. You got a chance with Freddie
37:00
Anderson. They put no pressure on Freddie
37:02
Anderson late A5 on three, they couldn't get a shot off.
37:05
I'm, I don't know, I'm my friends texting me.
37:07
They're booing their it's their lungs out in that wasteland in
37:10
Ottawa because they can't even get a shot on goal.
37:12
Five on three. Travis Green I thought was awful
37:15
in this series with Ottawa. I thought they were going to
37:17
push Carolina a little bit. They haven't at all.
37:21
The Knights are in trouble. I'm I'm not I'm not saying
37:23
they're in trouble, but nobody everybody's ah, the Knights won
37:25
five. The Knights no way.
37:27
Utah doesn't. I bet them plus 150.
37:30
Utah doesn't do anything poorly. What they don't have is that
37:32
extra gear the Knights can get into, but the Knights are going
37:35
to have to get into it to win these games.
37:37
Utah will make them work every step of the way, and boy, have I
37:40
been impressed with Anaheim. The amount how?
37:43
How about all the high? Danger chances they're
37:46
generating against Edmonton. Do they get dry settle?
37:49
Badminton's tired. I don't know, McDavid
37:50
something's he's not right. I.
37:52
Mean the Olympics took a toll on him in a big, big.
37:55
How about the last two seasons they go into the cup?
37:57
Seven games right there, golfing.
37:59
Florida was good for them to miss the playoffs.
38:01
It wasn't. I really believe it was great
38:02
for them to miss you. Can bet Florida next year with
38:04
confidence. Yeah, I think I do.
38:06
I think it was a good thing for them.
38:08
Minnesota and Dallas. You know, it's interesting.
38:10
I thought, you know, I have Minnesota, I have a lot of
38:13
futures on Minnesota. They look great in game one.
38:15
You knew Dallas would give him hell in Game 2 and then it was a
38:17
coin flip. In game three, right?
38:19
And so they, they, you know, I don't think home ice matters at
38:22
all in this series. You just have to play better.
38:24
Home ice is irrelevant. So yeah, you know Colorado.
38:29
They're not good. They're.
38:30
Playing not to lose in this series.
38:33
Did you see him? Yes.
38:34
LA was the better team last night.
38:36
They didn't win the game. They should have won the game.
38:38
Colorado's playing so passive right now.
38:40
I don't like. I think if they keep playing
38:42
like this, whoever comes out of the Dallas series will, will
38:45
knock them. We'll knock them out.
38:47
So it's I love it, though. I love every second of this, the
38:52
NHL playoffs. I just adore it.
38:53
Now in the NBAI made three bets. I'm going to lose the first,
38:57
yes, three series bets. I'm going to lose the first one.
39:00
I bet Houston minus the game and a half.
39:02
Now I got to win four in a row. Boy, have they looked awful.
39:04
No, Reeves is coming back. No, yeah, no, no sense of our
39:08
offense for them. They're just all one-on-one now
39:10
the other two, I'm in good shape.
39:11
Well, at least I I took Atlanta plus 220 just because I thought,
39:16
you know, they have 4 point of attack players.
39:18
Where do you hide Brunson on defense?
39:20
And I thought they could defend Cat with their length.
39:23
You know, that's the coin flip tube.
39:24
Two of those games they come back and steal one and then the
39:27
Knicks kind of fumble. I really loved, I really loved
39:30
the Timberwolves here. I made Denver 150 in this
39:32
series. How can any?
39:34
They've been to the Western Conference finals 2 years and
39:37
they built this team to beat Denver.
39:39
That's why they have Gobert long before this phenomena of OKC,
39:42
you had to beat Denver, right? And they built A-Team to beat
39:45
Denver. And they can do that if they
39:47
defend the way that they can defend.
39:49
I read a quote from Mike Conley before the playoffs.
39:51
He said I've never been on a team that so relishes being an
39:55
underdog and hates being a favorite.
39:56
Well, they're the 6th seeds, so they're going to be a dog in
39:58
every series. I I said I thought the winner of
40:01
Denver, Minnesota will beat San Antonio in the second round.
40:04
And OKC has a really looks like an easy path to the file.
40:08
But I just thought this Minnesota and get a + 280 and
40:11
then, you know, I was even last night.
40:13
I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
40:14
Where's the run? Yeah, where's the run?
40:16
Denver's gonna. They never got back in the game.
40:18
They never got back in the game. And now I think the whole series
40:21
is game four. I think whoever wins game four
40:23
will win this series. If Minnesota can get a 3-1 lead.
40:26
I really feel good about this series.
40:28
But you. You know, Jokic is forcing
40:30
stuff. He's really frustrated and you
40:33
know, McDaniel said it. I wish he wouldn't have given
40:36
him bullet bit more, but he said none of them are good
40:37
individually. Defensively, we're just going to
40:39
attack them. We feel we could attack all five
40:42
of their players. What a day to be in Minneapolis.
40:44
Puck drops at 4:30, ball goes in the air at 7:30.
40:47
Hey, great to see you, man. We got to go to break.
40:49
Thanks. Pon, VP of Operations, Circus
40:51
Sports. Back in his home state for a
40:53
couple of days. What time's your flight 4:00?
40:55
5:00. 5:00 A safe trip. We'll see out there this summer.
40:59
Millery Condon back with our final segment of the week, it's
41:01
the Iowa Sports Radio Network. Hi, Millery Condon, welcome
41:10
back. Final couple of minutes, Iowa
41:12
Sports Radio Network off the bench.
41:14
Coming up top of the hour. Sean and Lucas take you until 5.
41:17
Overtime, Iowa 5 to 6. Good to see Mike Palm in studio.
41:21
Appreciate that CIRCA Sports sponsors your plays of the day.
41:25
Just real quick, sounds like Michigan has replaced Mara.
41:28
He's going pro, right? The big 7 footer 7 two or is he
41:32
coming back? He I hadn't seen an
41:34
announcement. I'd heard somebody speculate
41:36
about it earlier in the week. I haven't, unless I missed it,
41:38
come across officially what he's deciding.
41:41
But what are you? You know, the 20, you hope the
41:45
29th pick something like that you get the first round
41:48
guarantee. Well, where I was going, they
41:49
just picked up Cincinnati's big man.
41:51
OK, I can't say. I can't say his last name.
41:54
It was good. He averaged double digits, I
41:57
think 8 rebounds, just a junior. But yeah, so he goes to he goes
42:01
to Michigan. And they may have found Mara's
42:03
replacement. Mara had a great tournament.
42:05
Yes, he did. He had a great tournament.
42:06
He was outstanding. You've had a decent week sports
42:09
betting by your standards all. Right.
42:12
What are you betting? What?
42:13
What's caught your attention? All right, we'll go back to the
42:16
player props again. This has been something that's
42:18
worked over the last week. More about that coming up.
42:21
Pete and Pritchard under 2 1/2 three pointers tonight.
42:25
We're also standing playing in that game tonight.
42:27
We are going to play Derek White over 14 1/2 points in the ball
42:32
game, one more Darren Fox under 1 1/2 three pointers, SO3 player
42:38
props in there and that's all I have for now.
42:40
We'll just stick with the player props because the games last two
42:43
nights have not gone well. You know, I'll probably bet some
42:46
more this. Afternoon, you have pretty good
42:47
chance. Yeah, you, you know me a little
42:49
too well, but we'll just stick for our purposes, the way we
42:52
grade things here during the Picks of the Day presented by
42:55
Circa Sports 3. Props for tonight.
42:57
All right, good stuff. What are you up to this weekend?
42:59
Staying home. Well, yes, kind of.
43:03
I mean, in Des Moines, I know you're not going to stay home.
43:05
We got the opener opening practice for little Tiger
43:09
baseball tomorrow. You want to come watch some 6U
43:11
baseball? No.
43:12
OK, how about Sunday going to a movie too?
43:18
Are you? Which one?
43:19
The Mario Movie Jack has been asking for weeks to go watch the
43:22
Mario movie, so we got that on the docket.
43:24
Let's see our good dad that's going to do it for us.
43:26
So appreciate you being with us whenever you can.
43:30
Coming up next is Off the BENCH, we're Miller and Condon.
43:32
Trent and I talk sports with you Monday through Friday from noon
43:36
until 2 on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.