Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Travis Hines talks Cyclones, Mike Palm from Circa Sports on football wagering & Football Friday Picks presented by Circa Sports

Transcript

Travis Hines talks Cyclones, Mike Palm from Circa Sports on football wagering & Football Friday Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

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  Hour number two, Miller and Condon, welcome back, Iowa
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  Sports Radio Network, wherever you're listening.
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  Thank you for doing so. Another keyword to come this
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  hour, Mike Palm, still to come this hour.
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  Our picks on these games this weekend.
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  Still to come this hour, busy hour.
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  Travis Hines momentarily. You know, just back to what Dan
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  Patrick was talking about there, the gambling scandal.
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  How in the right mind? I mean, who would take a first
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  half bet of $424,000 on a on a Mac game of all things right?
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  First half $424,000 on a Mac game.
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  Alarm bells. Bells should be going off
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  instantly. Absolutely.
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  That should never have that ticket, should never have been
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  punched. Absolutely.
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  I I don't get it. There's more to this story.
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  I it just smells, I think. Anyways, let's get Travis Hines
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  in here. He covers Iowa State.
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  Eugene Rapey will be in Cincinnati's.
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  He flies to cover them. Travis, Trent and Ken, thank you
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  for coming on. How are you?
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  I'm doing great, thanks for having me on.
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  Appreciate you coming on, You know, before we get into
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  basketball, a lot of ground to cover with you.
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  I'm guessing it will be, you know, within the next week or so
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  that Jimmy Rogers and company finally emerge from that bunker
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  that they must be in trying to rebuild this roster.
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  And I'm guessing that, you know, he'll give media an opportunity
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  to at least you would hope, go over, you know, some of the
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  players on this roster that they've brought in.
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  But on the surface, I think he's done a pretty good job.
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  And I mean, he's had he's had experience obviously doing this
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  in Washington state. But, you know, I have no idea
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  how they're going to fit together all of this new roster.
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  But on the surface, it seems like maybe there's some maybe
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  there's a home run or two that, you know, that have joined Iowa
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  State. Where are you on this?
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  I think I'm very much in the same boat as you.
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  Like, I'm not going to pretend to have like great knowledge on
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  the 4050 sixty newcomers into this program.
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  And I certainly, like you mentioned, haven't really gotten
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  a chance to talk to Jimmy Rogers, haven't gotten a chance
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  to talk to Jesse about it as I talked to Tyler Roll briefly.
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  So I don't even, you know that I know that I have a great handle
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  on what their vision for on the field looks like.
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  So it's even harder to put these guys into a context of what
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  they're going to be asked to do individually in the fall and
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  then collectively. So it's really hard to to have a
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  a feeling of how this is all going to get together.
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  But I do think when you look at it big picture, the task that
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  they had, you know, a month and a half ago was to collect as
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  much and as good a talent as you could within a within a budget
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  and within whatever limitations you are as a new staff in Ames,
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  IA. And I think when you judge it
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  against that and you look at the players they brought in, from
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  where they were, the positions they play and the other schools
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  interested, this was a successful portal season for
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  Iowa State. That doesn't mean it's going to
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  be a successful 2026 football season.
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  It doesn't mean it's going to be a failure of a football season
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  in 2026, but when you look at the job that they were given to
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  do over the last four or five, six weeks, I think you look at
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  it and you feel, if you're an Iowa State fan, you know that
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  they understood the assignment and then they completed the
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  task. Absolutely.
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  Did I am, I'll be honest, shocked the way this thing has
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  come together, the names you mentioned, some of the offers,
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  some of these guys had, some of their backgrounds.
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  I mean, this is so much better than I anticipated this thing
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  was going to be. And I think Cyclone fans,
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  though, they don't know many of these guys, obviously, like they
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  did in the past, this is something where it's coming
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  together at a very, very high level.
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  Jimmy Rodgers having to do this last year at Washington State, I
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  mean, that's has to be a big part of this, too.
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  And maybe a reason that Jamie Pollard had that shortlist that
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  maybe it's just a list of 1. He knew this guy had just gone
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  through it, and boy, he was able to hit the ground running.
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  Yeah, I think the experience certainly was beneficial, but I
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  think like the other part too is they had to really scale it up
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  in terms of the type of player they were going after and the
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  budget that they had. I mean, like you can do this
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  with a two and a half million dollar NIL budget.
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  Like you're playing a different sport when you're doing it with
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  a 13 or $14 million NIL budget and you're competing against
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  Kansas State and you'll probably not Texas Tech or BYU in terms
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  of the money you're spending, but you're going against these
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  other your peers in the power for like it is a very different
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  animal. So while the experience can
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  probably give you a broad outline of how you have to
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  attack it to be able to go out and execute it and get players
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  that are going to you hope if you're Jimmy Rogers and Iowa
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  State fans be able to compete, you know, at least you have you
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  as a competitive team in 2026. That's a very different thing
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  than doing it at Washington State in the unique
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  circumstances they have over there in the the pack too.
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  So yes, the experience I think was important, but I do think
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  you have to give them credit for figuring out a way to transport
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  that from the pack to into the PAC 12 and what looks to be a
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  pretty successful transfer portal window for them.
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  Yeah, I just wonder when. So once it all comes together, I
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  believe, and Campbellton would never do this, you know, open up
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  Jack Trice for a spring practice, a spring game, the
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  final Saturday. And just, you know, let the fan
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  base kind of get a feel for this team that they're going to be
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  asked to, you know, pony up and buy tickets and show up at Jack
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  Trice because they don't know them.
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  This roster is going to be so differently.
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  So I'm anxious to, you know, obviously once once the smoke
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  clears and Rogers, you know, was able to come out and talk to you
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  guys to find some of the plans that they have going on.
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  Well, let's talk about basketball.
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  TJ Alzel, Berg and his team, they've got a plan against
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  Cincinnati tomorrow. But let's go back before we go
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  forward. They weren't going to get
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  through the Big 12 unscathed. But I don't think many people
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  thought that we would see just the 1st 20 minutes back at the
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  fog on Tuesday earlier this week.
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  Go the way that they did is they just got ambushed right from the
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  start. And yes, they did fight back and
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  make it somewhat of A and they put up a fight in the
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  second-half but had no answers in the first half.
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  What did you what was your take away from that?
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  Just draw a line through it. That's a learning experience in
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  some respects for TJ Sponsor. When you look back at the Kansas
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  game, what was your take away? I think it was that they
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  probably were getting a little complacent with their level of
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  focus, intensity and play because they were really
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  delivering, you know, probably BB minus performances, you know,
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  to that point in the Big 12 and getting away with it.
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  Like they were playing fine, but not great and not at the level
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  that I think we saw them play in Las Vegas in West they had and
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  then I Hilton against Iowa and like you need to hold them
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  accountable for that, no doubt. But I think when you look at the
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  way that the schedule unfolded, it makes sense, right?
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  You played a bunch of nobodies for the back half of December
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  and then you get into Big 12 play and you're not playing the
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  top of the league and you're getting by with not playing your
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  best. And I think, you know, a wake up
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  call would probably be too strong of a way to turn that on
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  Tuesday night. But I do think it was a
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  realization of if you don't play an A game when you play the
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  best, you know, the upper for half of the Big 12, you're going
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  to get spanked, especially at Allen Fieldhouse and you know,
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  maybe even a lot of other places in the Big 12.
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  Like they have to come out and they have to play well.
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  And when they do that, I think, you know, this is a final four
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  national title contending team. But I do think like they have to
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  have some realizations. They have to make some changes.
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  Like you look at the first half that Joshua Jefferson had like
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  that, that was a bottoming out of sneakily not having a great
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  start to Big 12 play. I think he's shooting under 40%
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  from two point range and Big 12 play under 30% from 3 point
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  range. And like again, I don't think J
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  Jeff has forgot how to play basketball or suddenly, you
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  know, is figured out by the Big 12.
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  I think he's got to make some adjustments.
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  TJ and the staff have to make some adjustments holistically
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  and they all just need to get back on the same page and, you
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  know, have some patience. I thought a lack of patience and
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  poise was really what undermined them on Tuesday at Kansas
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  because they were in that game and then they started kicking
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  the ball around. They started really early shots
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  in the shot clock and really like Kansas off the hook
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  defensively. And when you do that and you're
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  turning it over, you're giving really good opportunities on the
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  other end and not allowing, you know, what is your best asset is
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  that defense to set itself and then be aggressive.
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  And I thought they were playing on their heels the whole game.
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  That's just not the way that that team is built to win is by
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  they're built to win by being the aggressor, and they were not
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  that on Tuesday night. Slow starts I there's never a
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  coach that said, you know what, guys, let's start off really
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  slow and hopefully we can come back.
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  I I know that is not the messaging, but there are certain
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  teams for whatever reason, and Iowa State's falling into that
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  trap, even though they've come back and, and go back to the
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  Iowa game. Obviously you look at the
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  Oklahoma State game and there's been plenty of examples of that.
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  So what's the elixir here? What can you do to make that
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  happen to get the team ready? Is it a conversation?
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  Does that have to come internally from the team or is
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  it maybe even a change in the starting lineup?
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  What can you do to get off to better starts?
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  Well, my theory before Tuesday night is that the slow starts
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  were a function of being a top three team and getting the best
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  shot that every team has. Like you step out on the floor,
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  it's a Tuesday night for you or it's a Saturday afternoon for
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  you. For the other team, it is a
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  chance to have a signature win and for other teams that you
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  don't have the win of their season.
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  And I think sometimes it is hard to match that intensity.
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  And my theory again before Tuesday night is that Iowa State
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  would absorb that and then push back and that's when you would
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  see those runs to get that 10 plus point separation.
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  I think on Tuesday night they learned that that's probably not
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  a viable option going forward, that they have to commit to
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  being the aggressor and matching that intensity right off the
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  bat. And sometimes I think for like a
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  team like Iowa State, despite all that tenacity and
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  aggression, they want to play defensively.
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  I think when you have a a senior heavy team, an experienced team
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  with a lot of accomplishments, you kind of have a professional
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  attitude, which is a good thing because you're even keel.
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  But sometimes that makes reaching that you know, TJ
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  talked about it yesterday as the non conference is the NBA
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  regular season. The conference season is the NBA
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  playoffs and when it is the NBA five holes for the other team
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  sometime I think it is hard to initially match that intensity,
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  but they have to like you just have to figure out a way
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  internally to do that. I don't think a starting lineup
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  change makes a ton of sense because who are you taking out
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  and who are you putting in? Because I do think the five that
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  they start are unquestionably their best five and they play
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  well together. It's not a a scenario where you
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  plug and play and it allows you to play a different way that
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  maybe you're more effective, even if it's not your most
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  talented 5. I just don't think that's the
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  case for Iowa State. I do think it is how do we match
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  and exceed the intensity from the get go.
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  And again, it's early in the season.
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  This team has had a ton of success.
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  I think that if that's your biggest problem going forward or
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  your biggest problem to solve, I think you're in a pretty good
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  spot, especially when you look at the history of this team in
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  this program, like matching intensity and effort has not
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  historically been a problem for them.
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  Perfect world. What's up?
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  What's the right number of minutes for Bateman?
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  We've certainly hadn't seen him have his moments off the bench.
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  I'm not saying he should start. He shouldn't, but off the bench
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  he's certainly been effective. He's had a couple of games where
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  he didn't. He didn't show much, didn't show
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  up in the box, scored all the Oklahoma State game.
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  He only played two minutes in that game.
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  So where, where where's Bateman at in his freshman campaign and
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  kind of what's ideal, do you think, for him?
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  151617 minutes somewhere in there.
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  Yeah, I would think somewhere around 15.
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  And like my general philosophy when it comes to depth rotation
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  and minutes is that every minute one of your starters isn't on
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  the floor is is a suboptimal minute.
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  Like, obviously they're not all going to play 40 minutes, but
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  when it's a 40 minute basketball game and you're only playing,
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  you know, 32 regular season games, two games a week, I just
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  tend to think like there is not other than in game fatigue,
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  there's not a lot of downside to play in Your starters take a lot
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  of minutes, especially in college where the drop off is
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  usually pretty significant. I don't know that that's
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  necessarily the case for this Iowa State team.
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  But as good as Jamarian Bateman has been, like, do you want less
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  minutes from Killian Torre? Do you want less minutes from
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  Milan Manchilovic? Like that doesn't make a lot of
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  sense to me either. But clearly Bateman, I think has
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  played his way into the lineup to some degree.
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  My philosophy is just like, I think those other guys are
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  better right now and I think they should be on the floor as
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  long as their legs can, you know, keep up.
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  When we get to March, how different will this team look?
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  Is there anything that you can point to and say this is going
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  to evolve, this is going to change it?
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  You know, Ken brought up Bateman, obviously a freshman.
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  We'll see what he's able to do. Is there anything different?
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  Is it just going to be as a state or TJ team?
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  We'll we'll know what we have come March.
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  I think we'll know what they have come March, but I do
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  anticipate seeing some offensive wrinkles because I think, like I
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  mentioned, I think teams are making it really difficult on
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  Joshua Jefferson right now where they're loading up the pain on
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  him. Like a lot of his issues on
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  Tuesday night were like poor decisions, poor play, no doubt,
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  but he was doing that. A lot of that is a function of
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  defenses kind of baiting him into those choices.
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  And I think we saw specifically in the second-half, Kansas was
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  giving Gillian Torre, maybe not quite the full freshman tame and
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  Lipsy experience, but something close to it where they were not
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  guarding him at the three-point line, they were not guarding
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  him, you know, really 18 feet and out.
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  And that really makes things difficult.
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  And I think Iowa State will have some wrinkles how they can mix
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  that. And maybe that is where the
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  Bateman minutes become more important because he can stretch
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  the the floor. And maybe you do need to mix and
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  match those guys a little bit to open up some space for Jefferson
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  because I do think he is, you know, the focal point for a lot
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  of what they run in the half court.
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  And I think again, like knowing Nate Schmidt, knowing Eric
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  Crawford, like those are the guys that run Iowa State's
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  offense. Like they are looking at this to
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  try to find those kind of wrinkles and those kind of
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  counters to what defenses are doing.
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  And I think we'll start to see that kind of unfold over the
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  next week or two. And like, again, like that's
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  part of the process that, you know, probably goes, you know,
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  under reported by us of like how much these teams evolve over the
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  course of the non conference. And then they probably evolved
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  two or three times over the course of 18 conference games
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  because they're they're coaching and playing against such high
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  level competition that if you stay static, you're going to get
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  beat because there are going to be adjustments made against you
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  and your counters to your counters to your counters get
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  really important. That Kansas team that you saw
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  now two and two and they'll play tonight.
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  Big Fox has the game 7:00 against Baylor If you're looking
• 14:35
  for something to watch out there Baylor Kansas tonight Big 12
• 14:39
  hoops on the schedule. So this Kansas team Travis,
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  look, I saw him play a couple of times not the full game.
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  I'm the North Carolina game was just a tale of two halves, but
• 14:50
  they looked like Kansas. Dare I say again, what did that
• 14:53
  win over Iowa State? What's it?
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  What's that win got a chance to do for this group?
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  You know, I think it'll be interesting to see because while
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  they are very, very talented and they have a potential number one
• 15:05
  pick and Darren Peterson, like this is not, I don't think the
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  level of talent and experience that we've seen from the best KU
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  teams. I think it is, you know, really
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  akin to the last couple of years where they're good but not great
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  talent wise. And then Peterson is such a wild
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  card because like, I have no idea if he's going to play from
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  night in to night out, if he's going to be able to play 15
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  minutes or 35. Like I think they got to get him
• 15:29
  figured out even if it's not playing 30 or 35 minutes to know
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  we're getting 25 minutes from Peterson tonight and here's how
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  we're going to deploy him so that they can at least have a
• 15:39
  style and a consistency to maximize that team.
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  I think if he's in and out of the lineup and like even within
• 15:45
  a 40 minute game, if his teammates and his coaches don't
• 15:47
  know from minute to minute if he's going to be available or
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  able to go, I think that makes things really hard, you know,
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  mentally and from an execution standpoint.
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  So they got to get that figured out if they don't, and I think
• 15:59
  we're going to see them be up and down all season if they do
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  get it figured out. I still don't think they're one
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  of the two or three best teams in the Big 12, but they're
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  certainly capable of beating any of the two or three best teams
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  in the Big 12 on any given night.
• 16:12
  Travis Hines Des Moines Register desmoinesregister.com along with
• 16:15
  Eugene repay covers the men's football obviously basketball
• 16:19
  Birchy on the women, but Travis Hines desmoinesregister.com
• 16:23
  sitting and give us a few minutes.
• 16:24
  Travis thank you enjoy the weekend.
• 16:26
  Appreciate you popping on. Yep, have a great weekend guys.
• 16:29
  Good to talk to you, Travis Hines as we check in on Iowa
• 16:32
  State. Let's check in on a keyword,
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  shall we? You can head to kxno.com.
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  This nationwide contest continues on.
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  This hour's keyword. More keywords throughout the
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  afternoon with Sean and Lucas, Miller and Condon.
• 16:58
  We'll head to Vegas when we come back, Mike Palm, VP of
• 17:02
  operations at circus sports is with us.
• 17:04
  It's the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
• 17:06
  Hi, Millery. Condon, welcome back.
• 17:09
  Approaching 130 on a Friday. Our picks still to come.
• 17:13
  Circus sports sponsor. Those are head to head
• 17:15
  competition with the boys in the afternoon.
• 17:18
  We have a narrow lead as I've gagged down the stretch and let
• 17:23
  them back into it and you as you and I, Ruby, are you and I are
• 17:26
  flat footed tie going into our final couple of weeks of this
• 17:30
  exercise. So here's my question when it
• 17:32
  comes to the early game on Sunday.
• 17:34
  Early game on Sunday. And I think we would both agree
• 17:38
  that CJ Stroud, if you were to grade his game on Monday night,
• 17:42
  it would be an F. Yes, right.
• 17:46
  If he plays to the C minus level, is that good enough?
• 17:50
  No, with that defense, no. You don't think it is?
• 17:53
  No, now it gets New England. New England still going to be
• 17:56
  able to do some things. Yeah, it was good enough against
• 17:59
  the Steelers, and it would have been a blowout.
• 18:02
  It would have been worse than it looked until the fourth quarter
• 18:05
  if that was the case. But no, I I like that defense.
• 18:09
  I think everybody likes that Houston defense.
• 18:13
  I think it's going to take more than that though.
• 18:15
  Will will the patriots be able to run the football against that
• 18:18
  defense will be able to will Drake may be able to do some
• 18:22
  damage through the. Air, I think that's got to be
• 18:24
  the path. I mean, it has to be Drake May
• 18:27
  has to win this game. Yeah.
• 18:28
  CJ Stroud doesn't have to win the game.
• 18:30
  I don't think he, I don't think he has that ability.
• 18:32
  Drake May. Has to win the game.
• 18:34
  I think that's the only path to victory for New England.
• 18:37
  And Nico Collins, as of yesterday had not seen the
• 18:40
  practice field, which tells me that he's not going to clear
• 18:43
  concussion. It's.
• 18:43
  Going to be a lot of cyclones. It's going to be a lot of
• 18:45
  cyclones, three of them, yes, in fact, Hutchinson, Nolan Higgins
• 18:49
  and and Christian Kirk, who was out of his mind.
• 18:51
  But you know that the Patriots will be looking to shot him down
• 18:55
  if he gets that opportunity. Dalton Schultz is a nice tight
• 18:58
  end, but I mean again, CJ Straw could not have played any worse.
• 19:03
  He couldn't. Have.
• 19:04
  Two defensive scores in the fourth quarter.
• 19:06
  Oh my God, open things up. And at 76, I thought this is
• 19:09
  going to be another Steeler special.
• 19:10
  When you told me, it reminded me that the game going into the
• 19:14
  fourth quarter was 76. You forgot because I watched it
• 19:18
  with my own two eyes and Houston was by far the better team on
• 19:21
  the field. And it was still.
• 19:23
  But that's what the Steelers do. And you just had that feeling.
• 19:27
  Yeah, the Texans are a lot better.
• 19:28
  But here we go again. There's no way that we know it
• 19:31
  didn't happen. Of course, we know the way that
• 19:33
  it turned out that did. Texans defense is really good.
• 19:37
  But also the Steelers are so limited.
• 19:39
  Are we? Do we read too much into it?
• 19:41
  I just go back to Week 18 and Riley Leonard going up and down
• 19:45
  that field. I know.
• 19:46
  I know I saw that I was. I was stunned.
• 19:52
  I. Still don't.
• 19:53
  Here we are. I'm taking Houston.
• 19:55
  Oh, I'm, I'm not surprised when I owe it.
• 19:57
  I'm taking news. Yeah, I'm not surprised by that
• 19:59
  one little bit. But Strauss can lose it, right?
• 20:02
  Stroud can absolutely lose that game.
• 20:04
  He was terrible. I mean, that's as bad a
• 20:07
  quarterback play and it's particularly the big spot,
• 20:10
  obviously. But you, you go back over the,
• 20:13
  the, the year, I can't, I can't recall one that bad.
• 20:17
  It was terrible. If he just elevates his game
• 20:20
  even a tad, he goes from an F to AD plus is is that going to be
• 20:26
  good enough? We shall see.
• 20:27
  All right, Mike Palm coming up here momentary.
• 20:29
  Let's get a call in here quickly.
• 20:31
  Thunder Joe joins us. Hello, Joe.
• 20:33
  And I like Fairburn, the kicker for Houston as well.
• 20:35
  So hello Joe, how are you? Hey, pretty good real quick,
• 20:40
  Drake, I talked, I think I talked to you off the air
• 20:42
  earlier in the week, but Drake May is going to have to play
• 20:45
  better too. His numbers were kind of a
• 20:47
  placebo in that game. Against the Chargers, he didn't
• 20:50
  look only that good on his feet. He did.
• 20:52
  But other than that, it's going to take more than that to no, I
• 20:56
  agree. And I'm not sure he's going to
• 20:57
  be able to do his damage on the ground as he was able to do
• 21:00
  against the Chargers. I'm not.
• 21:01
  And like, and like, like I told you off the air, I said we're
• 21:03
  not going to know how well the Patriots are until next year
• 21:06
  until they actually have a schedule.
• 21:08
  Yeah, yeah, Fairpoint Joe, thanks for appreciate the call.
• 21:11
  Enjoy the games, enjoy the games.
• 21:14
  Yeah, I'm not so sure the Davis Mills wouldn't be an upgrade for
• 21:17
  CJ Stroud, the backup over the well, Trent and I over the
• 21:20
  earlier in the week, we grade we ranked top 8 quarterbacks, the 8
• 21:24
  quarterbacks remaining. I mean the tournament CJ Stroud
• 21:27
  was was last. Let's get.
• 21:29
  To Vans Arnold. CJS last straud was last for me.
• 21:34
  Seventh. Yeah, 7th for you.
• 21:37
  Here's Mike Palm, VP of operations at Circus Sports.
• 21:39
  He joins us. Hello, Mike Palm, how are you?
• 21:42
  How you doing, guys? It's another big weekend coming
• 21:45
  up here. We're down to the final eight
• 21:49
  and we'll have a national championship game Monday.
• 21:51
  Night, Yeah, it's going to be fun.
• 21:52
  So I want to go back to last weekend.
• 21:53
  Did you anticipate being as busy as you guys were at Circa for
• 21:57
  Wild Card weekend? I mean, it was a great weekend.
• 22:00
  It was a great, you know, Thursday through Monday, but did
• 22:03
  you guys expect the volume of wagers that you were able to to
• 22:07
  take this past weekend? Well, we took some really live.
• 22:12
  We took a handful of seven figure wagers can so over the
• 22:16
  counter at circus. So that certainly did well for
• 22:19
  our for our handle and and we were on the right side of it.
• 22:22
  As bad as the national semifinals were in college
• 22:25
  football, wild card weekend was was better for us.
• 22:30
  Probably our best weekend we've ever had.
• 22:32
  If you look at if you look at a two or three day stretch, if you
• 22:35
  count to Monday as well, and and the atmosphere, especially on
• 22:40
  Saturday, the atmosphere bears Packers in the book at circus
• 22:46
  Saturday night. You you would have if you just
• 22:48
  walked in and you didn't know his head, you would have thought
• 22:50
  it was a Super Bowl. It was that electric.
• 22:52
  It was that electric. And Mike, you tell us a lot.
• 22:55
  You have tons of Midwesterners that make your way kind of a
• 22:58
  Midwestern type of book out there.
• 23:00
  What you guys have created. And with that, you have to
• 23:02
  anticipate with the Packer fans and the Bears fan.
• 23:05
  So what do you have a game like that?
• 23:06
  Can you tell if there's a split? Obviously, if the Raiders are
• 23:09
  playing, yeah, there's going to be a lot of Raiders fans.
• 23:11
  But something like that, Is it normally 5050?
• 23:13
  Does it depend on the brand? What's it like in the book?
• 23:16
  Would he have a big match up like that?
• 23:17
  And in terms of the population inside the sports book, rooting
• 23:21
  for one way or the other? You know, I would have said
• 23:25
  three or four years ago it but it leaned like 6040 Packers.
• 23:29
  But now that we're, we're in Illinois and, and we're on
• 23:33
  marquee. And if you know the, the, the
• 23:37
  game they played on red, they played three times in 35 days.
• 23:41
  The second of the three games, the one in Soldier Field where
• 23:44
  the Bears also had a miraculous comeback.
• 23:46
  That was 7525 Bears fan. It was probably more like 2/3
• 23:50
  Bears fans on Saturday night. Wild.
• 23:53
  Personally, Mike, do you like one of the four games this week
• 23:56
  on NFL games? Do you like one of the four
• 23:58
  divisional round games better than the others?
• 24:03
  You know, I, I, I don't want the games the way I liked last
• 24:08
  weekend where I, I had three very convicted plays last
• 24:12
  weekend, Buffalo, the Packers and Houston.
• 24:15
  And you know, I go 2 and one I teased this weekend, I teased
• 24:20
  Seattle down and Houston up. Don't love them.
• 24:23
  I played the Bears game under 49.
• 24:27
  So, you know, I'm not really convicted and I have Buffalo
• 24:30
  now. I just took 1 1/2 as the number
• 24:32
  moved to 1 1/2 at most of the books out here.
• 24:34
  I, I favor Buffalo to win the game.
• 24:36
  I took the 1 1/2. I don't think it's going to get
• 24:39
  to 2. So but I don't have the
• 24:41
  conviction I did last weekend. Kind of have the same feeling
• 24:44
  games. Looks like the Lions are
• 24:45
  incredibly tight. The one that we have to wonder
• 24:48
  about is after the entry report yesterday with Sam Darnold.
• 24:52
  We saw about 1/2 point shift after that with the questionable
• 24:55
  tag that was put on the Seahawks quarterback.
• 24:57
  However, if he is ruled out, if we find out, maybe, I don't
• 25:02
  know, tomorrow morning, Sam Darnold's not going to play.
• 25:04
  What does that do to the point spread?
• 25:06
  We know what an elite level quarterback means.
• 25:09
  How about the drop off from Sam Darnold to Drew Lock in terms of
• 25:12
  the point spread? Well, we've seen in the regular
• 25:15
  season in games, sometimes it's worth 6 points, right?
• 25:18
  The quarterback being out to an untested backup.
• 25:22
  I think here, you know, the nature of Seattle's defense
• 25:25
  deems so dominant. It really drives this line.
• 25:28
  Not so much sand Arnold. And since we tend Arnold's been
• 25:33
  actually if you look at his stats, they're they're in the
• 25:36
  bottom half. I would guess this line would go
• 25:40
  to 5 1/2. I don't think it's a dramatic
• 25:44
  swing. Maybe it goes to five.
• 25:48
  I can't see it getting to 4. You know, San Francisco is
• 25:52
  really injury riddled and, you know, you lose Kittle and and
• 25:56
  Pretty was, I thought Pretty was bad in Philadelphia and they
• 26:00
  still won the game. But yeah, I it's it's not as
• 26:04
  dramatic as if you found out Josh Allen wasn't playing
• 26:08
  tomorrow and then Denver would be 7.
• 26:11
  Yeah, absolutely would. Well, we'll see.
• 26:13
  Let's go to Monday night. The the college football
• 26:15
  semifinals, as you said, have not been kind to Circa.
• 26:19
  The betters have got you in both of them.
• 26:21
  It's a big number here, Mike. There's a lot of folks that are
• 26:24
  going to use alternate spreads that just don't think Indiana
• 26:27
  can be stopped. Where Where are you in this game
• 26:30
  and where's circus it at this point?
• 26:34
  Oh, the look ahead. When we were down to the Final
• 26:37
  Four, the look ahead of Indiana and Miami, we had four and then
• 26:42
  4 1/2. It got that too.
• 26:43
  On the look ahead numbers. We opened at 5:00 and it's 8
• 26:47
  1/2. So we get, we get destroyed by
• 26:51
  Indiana each week. They they just crush us.
• 26:54
  And I don't know, I'm trying to make arguments here for Miami,
• 26:59
  but but this is a huge coaching mismatch.
• 27:02
  I do think Miami lines up with them on in the trenches probably
• 27:07
  as well as any team other than maybe Texas A&M defense would
• 27:11
  line up that was in the playoffs.
• 27:14
  And yet this Indiana team can seem to do no wrong.
• 27:17
  I have to tell you that I believe that this is the
• 27:20
  greatest 2 year coaching job in college that anyone's ever done,
• 27:24
  regardless of sport, regardless of gender.
• 27:27
  To take a team that was perennially amongst the worst
• 27:30
  five to 10 power for flash 5 schools had won nothing in 30
• 27:35
  years. Nothing right since Anthony
• 27:37
  Thompson. Were they even relevant?
• 27:40
  And to take them and go 30 and two or whatever, they're going
• 27:43
  to be 29 and 2 and your only two losses were true Rd. games at
• 27:47
  the two teams that played in the national championship game last
• 27:50
  year. It is stunning what Signetti has
• 27:52
  done these two years. Is the line peak do you think is
• 27:55
  there if you're if you want Miami, should you wait for a
• 27:58
  nine or do you think it pops? It wouldn't surprise me if it
• 28:03
  goes to 913. 1/2 has been a has been a popular alternate. 16 1/2
• 28:08
  has been a popular alternate. Jeez.
• 28:12
  The Indiana Hoosiers, The Indiana Hoosiers, here we are
• 28:16
  Speaking of the NC double ASL Charlie Baker, as always,
• 28:19
  looking for a little bit of help from the regulatory bodies that
• 28:22
  are out there. He has asked that they need more
• 28:25
  safeguards and asking for regulators to suspend collegiate
• 28:28
  prediction markets. I know this has been a big
• 28:31
  conversation piece, Mike, with people in the gambling industry.
• 28:35
  These prediction markets. We saw some things on the
• 28:37
  political side of things that leave some people certainly
• 28:40
  scratching their heads. Give us your thoughts on this
• 28:43
  just overall these prediction markets that are out there and
• 28:46
  the regulation or lack thereof of them currently?
• 28:50
  Probably illegal. They're unregulated, untaxed.
• 28:54
  This is meant to trade economic futures, to hedge on your
• 28:58
  positions economically. The results of these prediction
• 29:01
  markets have to have a widespread economic impact.
• 29:04
  These do not. If you can get this to the
• 29:06
  Supreme Court, I think that there's a very good chance the
• 29:09
  Supreme Court will say that this is gambling and it has to be
• 29:12
  regulated and they will shut these companies down and they
• 29:16
  will fall under state regulations.
• 29:18
  Each state body that they operate in would have control
• 29:21
  over them. You have you had, I think the
• 29:24
  justices in the middle will have the common sense principle of
• 29:28
  looking at what is being wagered out in these prediction markets
• 29:31
  and saying, look, this is a sports bet.
• 29:35
  This is this, this is not a soy future.
• 29:39
  And then, you know, you you have a justice on the Supreme Court
• 29:42
  that has shown to be very favorable to Native Americans as
• 29:45
  well and protecting their rights, who they may have the
• 29:47
  best argument. Yeah, of all how it violates
• 29:50
  their compact. Yep, it absolutely does.
• 29:53
  They're no longer able to. They cannot regulate on their
• 29:56
  sovereign land. So I think if you can get it to
• 29:59
  that being said, I don't think you get a Supreme Court ruling
• 30:02
  till 2028. Interesting, since we're down
• 30:06
  this path and I do want to get back to baseball because I want
• 30:08
  to ask you about the Dodgers, the Mac, the, the story about
• 30:13
  the Mac that, that you were able to, somebody was able to bet,
• 30:16
  you know, but I'm not saying it was all at one place, but
• 30:18
  $424,000 on a first half spread between 2 Mac teams.
• 30:23
  How did a flag not go up instantly on that game?
• 30:26
  How are how are people able to bet that much money on that
• 30:28
  game, Mike? Well, I, I, I would like to know
• 30:32
  too, Ken, because on games of that magnitude, even though
• 30:36
  those that have the highest limits here would not be able to
• 30:38
  get down more than 3000 a person, right?
• 30:41
  There's a handful of people that have those 10 times odds that we
• 30:44
  give, right? So it it, it's hard to believe
• 30:47
  unless they took so many separate bets, but you would
• 30:49
  recognize the pattern within a matter of 15 to 30 seconds.
• 30:55
  So I question these. I also question about how you
• 30:58
  got guys that averaged 10 minutes in the NBA, a game in
• 31:01
  the NBA and you're taking, you're taking hundreds of
• 31:04
  thousands on their props. Come on, you're asking.
• 31:06
  You're asking to get screwed on those things.
• 31:08
  Yeah, no doubt. All right, let's see the news
• 31:10
  from last night that Kyle Tucker is a Dodger.
• 31:12
  He joins the the club. It's unbelievable.
• 31:15
  So I mean, did, did, did, did, did you guys react to Kyle
• 31:19
  Tucker on the futures market? And what's baseball going to be
• 31:23
  like with this? I don't want to call the dynasty
• 31:25
  because it's I mean, maybe it is, but where what the Dodgers,
• 31:29
  you, you take so much money on them seemingly last year.
• 31:31
  I remember we can't get a bet on anybody else other than the
• 31:34
  Dodgers. Is it going to be worse this
• 31:36
  year or do you have to price it so high?
• 31:39
  They're not as short as they were.
• 31:41
  We closed plus 220 when they went to Japan to play the Cubs.
• 31:46
  We moved them from plus 270 to plus 250 last night and the
• 31:52
  amount of money is ludicrous. 60 million a year for Tucker.
• 31:55
  Who's who's like the the he doesn't want to be, He doesn't
• 31:59
  want to be a superstar. He doesn't want the media
• 32:02
  attention. We saw that in Chicago.
• 32:03
  He's an unwilling star. And now I understand why Houston
• 32:07
  was willing to part with him. That always was a head scratcher
• 32:10
  to me. Well, we learned from watching
• 32:12
  him in Chicago this year. Now you're going to pay him 60
• 32:15
  million a year. I like what the Cubs did.
• 32:17
  I love getting Cabrera from the Marlins and I like getting
• 32:20
  Bregman because they have to get some pop in that lineup and
• 32:22
  Bregman will be a very affable superstar in the city of
• 32:25
  Chicago. I'm going to tell you another
• 32:27
  deal. I think the team way overpaid
• 32:29
  and it's the Mets and and you, you're close to this. 42.
• 32:33
  Million a year, Yeah, for Bichette, Toronto is spending
• 32:38
  money. This is a big red flag to me
• 32:40
  that they didn't resign. Bichette tells me.
• 32:42
  He's damaged goods and I think the Mets panic and way overpaid.
• 32:45
  Yeah, he want to play shortstop. Apparently he's not going to
• 32:48
  play shortstop. Jimenez got that locked up, so
• 32:51
  we shall see. So busy weekend in Vegas, Mike.
• 32:53
  Fun weekend, Divisional weekend normally.
• 32:56
  Yeah, it'll be very good, very fun weekend.
• 32:58
  Some there's a lot of groups that only come out here to
• 33:00
  Vision a weekend, a large groups for many years and that's the
• 33:04
  weekend they come, they come to Vision A weekend and it's a
• 33:06
  solid group that we've known for many years.
• 33:08
  It's it's a very, very, very good weekend.
• 33:11
  Much, you know, much better than next weekend because you just
• 33:13
  have the two games. Yeah, I watched your check
• 33:15
  presentation ceremony last Friday night.
• 33:18
  Seemed like there's a lot of people on the on the link
• 33:21
  watching it parade in the following the drummers in front
• 33:24
  of the mega bar down to the book.
• 33:26
  That was a good touch. I'm going to be a part of one of
• 33:28
  that line one of these years. That's the goal.
• 33:30
  Mike Baum, one of those big. Checks in hand, it was nice the
• 33:34
  drum bots came by. And what a heck of a game at
• 33:37
  T-Mobile last night. That was absolutely.
• 33:39
  I believe that. And the atmosphere was like a
• 33:41
  Stanley Cup game. And what, wait 888 days from
• 33:44
  now? They're going to play in Toronto
• 33:46
  as well. We had a ton of Canadians here
• 33:48
  for this. Did you really?
• 33:49
  Yeah, the Leafs did. They travel well, No doubt about
• 33:51
  that. Good stuff, Mike.
• 33:53
  Have a great weekend. Thanks for doing this.
• 33:54
  Trent's on vacation next week. I will talk to you on Friday.
• 33:57
  Thank you, Mike Palm. All right.
• 33:59
  Thanks guys. Have a great.
• 34:00
  Weekend good to talk to you. Our buddy Mike Palm, VP of
• 34:03
  operations at Circus Sports. You can download the app couple
• 34:05
  places if you're in Illinois on the listing on the other side of
• 34:08
  the river have out of the Illinois app and of course here
• 34:11
  in the state of Iowa, check out the new app.
• 34:12
  It is spectacular. And don't forget about our
• 34:15
  neighbors to the South, Missouri.
• 34:16
  You'll always forget about the people down there.
• 34:18
  True. I do.
• 34:19
  You got to knock that off. I know it's wide-ranging.
• 34:22
  We got you covered. We'll see if Nebraska ever
• 34:24
  catches up. Minnesota, Wisconsin, we'll get
• 34:26
  there. South Dakota, all of our
• 34:28
  neighboring states here across the network on the Iowa Sports
• 34:30
  Radio Network and some Hawkeye steam coming in and college
• 34:34
  wrestling tonight there is down to down now just a 24 point
• 34:38
  underdog after the opener of 25. They're going to get clobbered
• 34:41
  by Penn State. Let's get Bill in here.
• 34:43
  He's been patient, waiting to jump on.
• 34:45
  And he does. Hello, Bill.
• 34:46
  How are you? What's on your mind?
• 34:49
  Yeah. Am I on?
• 34:51
  Yes, Sir. Fire away.
• 34:53
  Yeah, I'm so pissed off at the Yankees.
• 34:57
  Why with not? Well, not getting Bichette.
• 35:00
  They got to get Bichette. He could be there at short stuff
• 35:03
  for the next 6 years. Yeah.
• 35:04
  You don't like Volpe? He's a Packer head.
• 35:07
  He can't play for the Yankees. Yeah, no, he's he caught.
• 35:11
  He's make some bad errors, no doubt about that.
• 35:14
  Thanks, Bill. Appreciate the call.
• 35:16
  Yeah, I mean, I'm glad the the Yankees didn't get him.
• 35:19
  As a Blue Jay fan he's out of the division right now but 41
• 35:23
  million is a lot of money. All right take your time.
• 35:25
  I'll come back our Pixar next Miller and con the circus sports
• 35:27
  sponsors those it's the Iowa Sports Radio network and.
• 35:30
  Off the bench, who knows football better?
• 35:34
  The war wages on. It's time for the afternoon
• 35:37
  pickup sponsored by Circus Sports on One O 6.3, KX&O and
• 35:43
  the Iowa Sports Radio Network. I'm Hillary Congo, the final
• 35:47
  couple of minutes on a Friday so far.
• 35:49
  We are up 4 on the boys in the afternoon running out of games.
• 35:53
  Trent and you and I are tied. Lucas has actually won more
• 35:57
  games, but Sean Roberts not pulling his share.
• 35:59
  Of the role. Anyways, let's get into it.
• 36:02
  Circus sports sponsors. You had another good week last
• 36:05
  week, by the way, your red hot and women's college.
• 36:07
  Basketball. That's the place, apparently.
• 36:09
  I guess so. Let's get into your picks.
• 36:11
  Let's do it. Let's kick things off in the
• 36:13
  college game as we go to the national championship game.
• 36:15
  I've said it all week long. I said it since it went, I can't
• 36:18
  get off this Indiana train. I'm going to lay it 7 1/2 out
• 36:20
  there at Caesar's will lay the 7 1/2 against the Canes pick #2 We
• 36:24
  go to Denver where your Broncos take on Buffalo.
• 36:27
  I just don't want to be in the same spot I was a week ago.
• 36:30
  I really took Trevor Lawrence over Josh Allen.
• 36:33
  I'm not really going to take Bo Nicks over Josh Allen.
• 36:35
  Give me the Buffs. Bills plus 1 1/2.
• 36:39
  Going to lay it with New England.
• 36:40
  Going to lay the three here against Houston.
• 36:41
  Concerns about them offensively and the Houston offensive line
• 36:44
  still got question marks. They're my best bet of the week.
• 36:48
  Now. It doesn't involve my Bears.
• 36:49
  That is my stay away for the week.
• 36:51
  I am going with the Niners getting the touchdown in
• 36:54
  Seattle. This has never happened before.
• 36:58
  Never happened before. Pick four games.
• 37:01
  Yeah, I got the exact opposite. Wow.
• 37:03
  I've taken the points on Monday night.
• 37:06
  You're the one. I you know what?
• 37:08
  I don't know. What am I thinking, right.
• 37:09
  I know that I'm going to be sitting there at about just
• 37:11
  before half time. It's going to be 24 to 3.
• 37:15
  Indiana gets the ball to start the second-half.
• 37:17
  I mean, what were you thinking, you fool?
• 37:19
  But hell with it. 8 1/2, Give me the points.
• 37:22
  I'll take my Broncos. Hell yeah.
• 37:23
  I'm going down with that ship. Houston, 3 1/2, I can find that
• 37:27
  out there. I will take it in my best bet of
• 37:30
  the week. I think the Seattle Seahawks are
• 37:32
  going to win the Super Bowl, and if they do that, they'll have to
• 37:36
  get by San Francisco. I'll lay the touchdown. 7 is the
• 37:39
  number my best bet of the week, the Seattle Seahawks.
• 37:43
  That is crazy. Isn't it something?
• 37:45
  All right, so you're out of here next week.
• 37:47
  Yes. Headed to my Headed to the
• 37:49
  warmth of Mexico. Good for you, you leave Sunday.
• 37:53
  Yes, it's crackheads. 50th birthday, also known as Brendan.
• 37:57
  He has never done drugs before that I know of.
• 37:59
  Certainly has never done that. He is a flighty guy.
• 38:02
  He's a little different. He got that nickname in college,
• 38:04
  not because of drugs, because of his personality, but one of the
• 38:08
  best people I know. Really excited to hang out with
• 38:11
  the whole crew. They're already actually on
• 38:12
  their way down there. So we got a couple of days.
• 38:16
  Grandma's coming to town, watching the kids while we're
• 38:18
  away and a little sunning and funning.
• 38:20
  And I'll be back with you getting ready for the Super Bowl
• 38:23
  as our teams will face off against each other.
• 38:25
  And then we got to figure out the way how we can get to San
• 38:27
  Francisco. Wouldn't that be fun if our
• 38:28
  teams didn't play each other? I mean, seriously, on your final
• 38:32
  year on the air, your final football season on the air, if
• 38:35
  it culminates with the Bears and the Broncos in the Super Bowl,
• 38:40
  don't we have to find a way? I'm not going.
• 38:43
  Not even I was into the game of. 50 in San Francisco.
• 38:48
  So I saw my squad win a Super Bowl Radio row.
• 38:52
  No, it's, it's, it's cool. I, I was part of that in San
• 38:55
  Francisco. That was cool.
• 38:57
  But the stadium, I mean, if you stay in San Francisco, it's 45
• 38:59
  minute drive, sure, it's a long drive.
• 39:02
  Maybe definite. Maybe.
• 39:04
  I know what that means in the world of Ted Miller.
• 39:06
  Yeah, it's not happening. You have a fun trip in Mexico.
• 39:09
  Thank you. Everybody is off on Monday.
• 39:11
  All of the local shows are off on Monday, but we do have one
• 39:14
  more local show before we get off and that's coming up next.
• 39:16
  That's the boys in the afternoon, Lucas and Sean off
• 39:19
  the bench, where Miller and Con Trent and I are with you every
• 39:22
  Monday through Friday from noon to two on Des Moines sports
• 39:24
  station 106.3, KX&O and the Iowa Sports Radio Network.