Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Roxy Bernstien on BIG 12 Football, Flyers Reset The Market (?), Utah Mammoth Free Agent Signings + More
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Roxy Bernstein are good friend, jack of all trades and
- 0:04Speaker 1: somehow miraculously a master of every single one. You can
- 0:07Speaker 1: hear him on ESPN, ESPN Radio, Sirius XM on the
- 0:12Speaker 1: game back in the Bay Area. Sometimes he's a Heisman voter.
- 0:16Speaker 1: He's my good friend, Roxy. Welcome back to the show.
- 0:19Speaker 1: How are you, sir?
- 0:21Speaker 2: Oh? See what's up, buddy man?
- 0:23Speaker 1: There's so much to talk about, and I do this
- 0:26Speaker 1: to you all the time because I'm fascinated by your
- 0:28Speaker 1: bandwidth to cover sports. Right it's baseball season, so I
- 0:32Speaker 1: know you're dialed in on baseball football seasons right around
- 0:35Speaker 1: the corner. Hockey has a bunch of fun offseason storylines,
- 0:40Speaker 1: and of course, the World Cup splashes itself down, which
- 0:44Speaker 1: I know has at least some of your attention.
- 0:46Speaker 3: So let's start there. The World Cup.
- 0:49Speaker 1: Was you were able to give how much energy time
- 0:52Speaker 1: viewing to this World Cup?
- 0:54Speaker 2: I've watched a good chunk of it. It's certainly been
- 0:57Speaker 2: looking as I'm not going to claim to be the
- 1:00Speaker 2: biggest soccer aficionado, but I do enjoy the game, and
- 1:04Speaker 2: certainly when the World Cup is front and center, So
- 1:07Speaker 2: I've been dialed in pretty consistently got swept up in
- 1:11Speaker 2: the American run of course, but you know, pay attention
- 1:14Speaker 2: like with Guanaman, England and Argentina and so these look
- 1:19Speaker 2: France to me has been the best team. But then again,
- 1:23Speaker 2: that's why you play the games, right, it is.
- 1:25Speaker 3: Why you play. For me, It's been awesome to watch.
- 1:29Speaker 1: I'm fascinated because we have this relationship with instant replay
- 1:33Speaker 1: or as they like to call it in soccer vaar.
- 1:35Speaker 1: We have this relationship in all sports about like, well,
- 1:39Speaker 1: we want it, but we also don't want it to
- 1:41Speaker 1: mess with the tradition of our game. We want it
- 1:44Speaker 1: to be more accurate, but we don't want it to
- 1:45Speaker 1: take too much time. We don't want to rewind so
- 1:49Speaker 1: far that we're taking away an Egypt goal that you
- 1:51Speaker 1: know that play started at the other end of the field.
- 1:53Speaker 1: Why didn't we take away an England goal when it
- 1:56Speaker 1: hit the guide wire? Like the balance of instant replay
- 2:01Speaker 1: in this FIFA World Cup, and more importantly for your
- 2:03Speaker 1: purposes and my purposes in American sports, are we at
- 2:08Speaker 1: the right inflection point balance wise in your mind?
- 2:12Speaker 2: Well, I don't think soccer will ever be or you know,
- 2:15Speaker 2: the world calls it football, we call it soccer will
- 2:17Speaker 2: ever be at the paramount of our sports culture. I
- 2:21Speaker 2: think it's going to run a distant fourth fifth, how
- 2:26Speaker 2: you want to look at it. The NFL clearally is
- 2:29Speaker 2: established himself as number one. You have the NBA, you
- 2:31Speaker 2: have Major League Baseball, and the NHL with the rating
- 2:34Speaker 2: spike that they've had this year. But every four years,
- 2:38Speaker 2: I think everybody gets swept up on the emotion of
- 2:40Speaker 2: the World Cup, especially when we're in it, unlike when
- 2:43Speaker 2: you know, the last time we weren't in it. But
- 2:46Speaker 2: I just think that for this month, month and a
- 2:49Speaker 2: half that the World Cup goes on, we consume it,
- 2:53Speaker 2: but it's still going to run further behind the other
- 2:57Speaker 2: sports here in the States. I mean, everybody look around
- 3:01Speaker 2: the world, since more than likely they're best athletes to
- 3:04Speaker 2: play soccer. We don't like our best athletes go to
- 3:08Speaker 2: the NBA or they go to the NFL. They're not
- 3:11Speaker 2: playing soccer, or they might play it, but that's not
- 3:14Speaker 2: the profession. They're going to go down and take nothing
- 3:17Speaker 2: away from this US men's national team because I think
- 3:20Speaker 2: they're a dynamic team to watch and Christian Polisic is
- 3:23Speaker 2: probably the best player in the history of American soccer,
- 3:27Speaker 2: but we're still running behind other countries because their top
- 3:31Speaker 2: athletes go into the sport and our top athletes don't.
- 3:37Speaker 1: I don't want to spend too much time on soccer
- 3:39Speaker 1: because I know you're deep in baseball mode. And but
- 3:43Speaker 1: like what is going on with the Oakland Athletics right now?
- 3:47Speaker 1: Used to be Open Athletics, soon to be Las Vegas Athletics,
- 3:50Speaker 1: currently Sacramento Athletics, the homeless Athletics, whatever you want to
- 3:52Speaker 1: call them. I mean, look, we've all seen Moneyball celebrating,
- 3:58Speaker 1: you know, double digit twenty plus win streak, and now
- 4:01Speaker 1: it's nine in a row that they've dropped.
- 4:03Speaker 3: What's happening with the Athletics.
- 4:07Speaker 2: They're just not a very good team sean. Now, they
- 4:10Speaker 2: have a significant amount of injuries, key guys that are hurt,
- 4:14Speaker 2: but they don't have the ability to overcome those injuries
- 4:20Speaker 2: like some teams do. For example, Like everybody's complaining about injuries,
- 4:25Speaker 2: and everybody has them, even the Dodgers have them. But
- 4:28Speaker 2: the Dodgers have the financial backup to be able to
- 4:31Speaker 2: overcome the injuries. Right, Okay, if somebody is out, well
- 4:35Speaker 2: they just plugged somebody else in and as dominant as
- 4:38Speaker 2: they've been here in the first half. The Dodgers are
- 4:40Speaker 2: the best record in baseball, and that's done without Blake Snell,
- 4:45Speaker 2: without Tyler Vlash. Now they're just plugging and playing some
- 4:48Speaker 2: other guys in the rotation. They haven't had Evan Phillips.
- 4:51Speaker 2: The Dodgers are a scary team because they haven't hit
- 4:54Speaker 2: their stride. They're going to hit it at some point,
- 4:57Speaker 2: but the A's, for example, they have trying to piece
- 5:00Speaker 2: it together with minor league free agents and going the
- 5:03Speaker 2: cheap route. I think they're trying to build toward Vegas
- 5:07Speaker 2: and they don't want to win until they are there.
- 5:11Speaker 2: I'm not saying they don't want to win, but they're
- 5:12Speaker 2: not necessarily pushing all their chips in to win now.
- 5:15Speaker 2: They're trying to slow play it so when they hit
- 5:17Speaker 2: Vegas they're going to have that momentum and be able
- 5:21Speaker 2: to compete right away. And this recent stretch, look they're
- 5:25Speaker 2: pitching has been bad. They've they've fired their pitching coach today,
- 5:27Speaker 2: Scott Emerson, who to me, Sean that was a scapegoat.
- 5:30Speaker 2: He's just a casualty of what's going on. It's not
- 5:33Speaker 2: his fault. The injuries have caught up with a poor
- 5:37Speaker 2: pitching staff that they assembled, and that's why they're where
- 5:40Speaker 2: they're at. And the crazy thing is as bad as
- 5:42Speaker 2: it's been, they're only eight games out of the American
- 5:45Speaker 2: League West. That goes to show you how mediocre that
- 5:47Speaker 2: division has been.
- 5:49Speaker 1: Wow, the the A's out there for everyone who's listening.
- 5:54Speaker 1: They're run DIFFERENTIALUS one. Oh say, they've given up five
- 6:01Speaker 1: hundred and twenty eight runs and scored four hundred and
- 6:05Speaker 1: twenty two on the year.
- 6:06Speaker 3: So far. Not ideal there, Rocky.
- 6:10Speaker 2: It's the worst in Baseball Sean, So yeah, not ideal
- 6:13Speaker 2: is probably the right way to go. Considering the other
- 6:17Speaker 2: end of the spectrum. We were just talking about the Dodgers.
- 6:19Speaker 2: Their plus minus in terms of runs is like one
- 6:22Speaker 2: point fifty on the other end, and they just lost
- 6:24Speaker 2: three straight. They were swept by the Diamondbacks over the weekend.
- 6:28Speaker 2: That goes to show you how drastic that difference is. Look,
- 6:31Speaker 2: they've won some competitive games and they were in the
- 6:35Speaker 2: race for a little while, but in a baseball season,
- 6:38Speaker 2: the law of averages will catch up to you, and
- 6:40Speaker 2: unfortunately it's caught up with them. The Padres are another
- 6:43Speaker 2: team that it's caught up with because they got off
- 6:45Speaker 2: to a great start. They were neck and neck with
- 6:46Speaker 2: the Dodgers until the end of May, and since then
- 6:50Speaker 2: the Dodgers have had the best record in baseball. The
- 6:52Speaker 2: Padres have been right near the bottom. And now San Diego,
- 6:55Speaker 2: all of a sudden, is twelve and a half games
- 6:57Speaker 2: out with a negative run different and even though there
- 7:01Speaker 2: are two games over or they're right at five hundreds.
- 7:05Speaker 1: Roxy Burdensten is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell show,
- 7:07Speaker 1: Talk at All Sports. We're on baseball right now, and
- 7:10Speaker 1: we do this. It feels like with every different league's
- 7:14Speaker 1: All Star break, you know, evaluate whether or not a
- 7:17Speaker 1: four nations is written necessary for the NHL. What can
- 7:21Speaker 1: the NBA do to kind of bring the All Star
- 7:23Speaker 1: Game mystique back? And it feels like they've got some
- 7:26Speaker 1: traction there. What about baseball? How do you feel about
- 7:29Speaker 1: you know, All Star Break, All Star Game, Home run derby?
- 7:33Speaker 1: As a baseball guy, does this stuff still have juice
- 7:36Speaker 1: for you?
- 7:38Speaker 2: It does? And the cool thing to me in the
- 7:40Speaker 2: All Star Game is seeing all the different uniforms. Right
- 7:43Speaker 2: remember when they tried to make everybody wear the same
- 7:45Speaker 2: uniform and it just backfired. Was brutal. You like to
- 7:49Speaker 2: see it. Like I was a kid, I was looking
- 7:51Speaker 2: forward growing up in the Bay Area seeing you know,
- 7:54Speaker 2: a giant where his uniform at the All Star Game
- 7:57Speaker 2: and an AS player do the same thing. That's what
- 8:00Speaker 2: I think is unique about the All Star Game, as
- 8:02Speaker 2: they wear their respective jerseys from their teams, and it's
- 8:05Speaker 2: the only All Star game that still does that, and
- 8:09Speaker 2: I think that's cool. They tried messing with the home
- 8:13Speaker 2: run derby to make it more exciting. We'll see if
- 8:16Speaker 2: this new model they're using this year will help, and
- 8:19Speaker 2: it certainly I think attracts viewers when Schwarber and Harper
- 8:22Speaker 2: are going to do the home run derby and a
- 8:25Speaker 2: lot of this big stars in the past have been
- 8:27Speaker 2: reluctant about competing, but I think that it's still an
- 8:33Speaker 2: exhibition and you can't force these guys to go. And
- 8:37Speaker 2: some players are opting out, which is unfortunate, but I
- 8:41Speaker 2: think it's still an attractive game to watch. The Midsummer Classic,
- 8:46Speaker 2: for example, Okay, Justin Verlander is going to pitch and
- 8:48Speaker 2: this is his last season. You get to see him
- 8:51Speaker 2: in the All Star Game. Bryce Harper is going as well,
- 8:54Speaker 2: So there are draws to watch this game. But keep
- 8:59Speaker 2: in mind it's an exhibition. I know when they tried,
- 9:02Speaker 2: oh it counts now and they try to determine home
- 9:04Speaker 2: field advantage of the World Series, it just doesn't work.
- 9:06Speaker 2: I think you have to treat it for what it is,
- 9:08Speaker 2: and we will as an exhibition and it'll be entertaining
- 9:11Speaker 2: to watch.
- 9:12Speaker 3: All right, jumping around a little bit.
- 9:14Speaker 1: And again, forget me, because you're one of the only
- 9:17Speaker 1: people I can have on as a guest that can
- 9:19Speaker 1: talk everything with you know, equal expertise and acumen. How
- 9:23Speaker 1: mad is the NHL right now at the Philadelphia Flyers
- 9:28Speaker 1: for trying to reset the market at eighteen million dollars
- 9:32Speaker 1: per year for top players with their their offer sheet
- 9:36Speaker 1: to Carlson.
- 9:37Speaker 3: I mean, this is wild.
- 9:39Speaker 1: And you see some of the reaction from around the
- 9:41Speaker 1: league and in Salt Lake City there was one of relief.
- 9:45Speaker 1: They're like, holy cow, if this is what's happening now
- 9:47Speaker 1: with these top you know, young scorers. Aren't we glad
- 9:51Speaker 1: that you got Cooley and Gunther and Schmaltz and all
- 9:54Speaker 1: these guys in Keller locked up relatively long term because
- 9:57Speaker 1: it's going to get a lot more expensive to do
- 10:00Speaker 1: business in the NHL. If this is what agents and
- 10:02Speaker 1: players want.
- 10:04Speaker 2: And it's looking like a relative bargain, right that the
- 10:07Speaker 2: money that the man has got Coolly and Keller and
- 10:12Speaker 2: all those gun th are and those deals locked up
- 10:14Speaker 2: for it. It's almost like Bill Armstrong knew what was
- 10:17Speaker 2: coming and he jumped in front of it before this
- 10:21Speaker 2: surge is happening. And I think everybody's eyes just popped
- 10:26Speaker 2: out of their head when they saw that the flyers
- 10:28Speaker 2: in the offer sheet they gave to Leo Carlson, and
- 10:31Speaker 2: you knew Anaheim was going to match Sean. They couldn't
- 10:33Speaker 2: let a young budding superstar center go even though the
- 10:37Speaker 2: money is crazy. But I guarantee you if, for example,
- 10:41Speaker 2: Mike Career in San Jose all of a sudden going oh,
- 10:43Speaker 2: I better get this deal done for Maclin Celebrina now right,
- 10:47Speaker 2: and Davidson in Chicago with badar like, they got to
- 10:49Speaker 2: get these deals done so that doesn't happen to them. Now. Look,
- 10:54Speaker 2: if the Ducks had not macked and they would retrieve
- 10:59Speaker 2: the four first on picks, okay, great, but you're not
- 11:02Speaker 2: going to let a player of that caliber go and
- 11:05Speaker 2: with the cap going up, it certainly is going to
- 11:08Speaker 2: command more money for those big time stars, and the
- 11:12Speaker 2: restricted free ation it made a challenging because by the
- 11:16Speaker 2: rules you can do that, and Philly did it, and
- 11:19Speaker 2: now that kind of hamstrings Pat verbekon what the Ducks
- 11:22Speaker 2: can do. And these got to adjustice roster and let
- 11:24Speaker 2: some guys go because they have to fit Carlson in
- 11:27Speaker 2: underneath the cap.
- 11:28Speaker 1: Yeah, who who in the West has got somebody like
- 11:32Speaker 1: a mole in the Flyers front office just like, hey,
- 11:35Speaker 1: do this because it's gonna even if they keep it,
- 11:37Speaker 1: it's going to hamstring the Ducks for a little while
- 11:39Speaker 1: and make our life that much easier.
- 11:42Speaker 2: Well, and the Ducks are a team that's clearly on
- 11:44Speaker 2: the rise when you saw them last year at the
- 11:46Speaker 2: young defense and the speed and the skill that they
- 11:50Speaker 2: have right up front, not just Carlson, but some of
- 11:53Speaker 2: the other young emerging stars like Beckett Seneca for example,
- 11:58Speaker 2: and we cutter Gochier, who oddly enough came from Philadelphia.
- 12:03Speaker 2: So if you want to draw your own conclusions there,
- 12:06Speaker 2: but then back on the defensive side, guys like Minchikov
- 12:10Speaker 2: and Lacomb, this is a team that's clearly on the rise,
- 12:13Speaker 2: and they were trying to I think cut them off
- 12:16Speaker 2: with the knees a little bit and have to force
- 12:20Speaker 2: Pat ver Beacon too making tough decisions because you have
- 12:24Speaker 2: to be judicious about the way you're spending your money. Yes,
- 12:27Speaker 2: the cap went up, but also means player salaries are
- 12:29Speaker 2: going up. And that's why I thought Utah was in
- 12:32Speaker 2: a good spot right because you have these deals locked
- 12:34Speaker 2: up for good players long term. But it gave Gil
- 12:38Speaker 2: Armstrong the flexibility to go make those two moves to
- 12:40Speaker 2: really bolster their front. And I think Utah made a
- 12:44Speaker 2: significant step forward with the two moves by bringing in
- 12:47Speaker 2: tro Cheeck and by bringing in League.
- 12:49Speaker 3: Well, that was going to be my next question for you.
- 12:51Speaker 1: They also retained Barrett Hayton, match an offer sheet on
- 12:54Speaker 1: him that certainly isn't as hefty as the one that
- 12:58Speaker 1: Anaheim had to match for Carlson, But you know, the
- 13:00Speaker 1: vision continues to kind of take shape and we adjust
- 13:05Speaker 1: our expectations based on that. Trocheck especially is kind of
- 13:09Speaker 1: like the big name here as the new addition, and
- 13:12Speaker 1: your thoughts on his fit with the Utah mammoth.
- 13:15Speaker 2: I think it's a great pickup, and look, you and
- 13:17Speaker 2: I have talked about this before. At least in my eye, Sean,
- 13:20Speaker 2: they needed to get some grit, right, They needed to
- 13:22Speaker 2: get some sand paper, They needed to get some physicality
- 13:26Speaker 2: up front, and they have so much skill and speed.
- 13:30Speaker 2: But that was the next step, at least in my eyes,
- 13:32Speaker 2: in terms of building this thing up for the Utah Mammots. Now,
- 13:36Speaker 2: by adding guys like Lee and Trocheck, you've changed the
- 13:40Speaker 2: complexion of your front and now you have that sand
- 13:45Speaker 2: paper to go with the skill. Trocheck is a very
- 13:48Speaker 2: skilled player, and so is Lee. But they also are
- 13:51Speaker 2: those type of players that will get their nose dirty.
- 13:54Speaker 2: They will go to the corners and mix it up,
- 13:56Speaker 2: and they have the skill to play with it. On
- 13:58Speaker 2: the top two lines. All of a sudden, you look
- 14:00Speaker 2: down the middle and there is so much strength on
- 14:03Speaker 2: his team when you have thro Check right now, let's
- 14:07Speaker 2: see where Bear decides to play Trocheck. Do you play
- 14:11Speaker 2: him at center on the second line? Then what do
- 14:13Speaker 2: you do with Cooley? Where does Schmaltz fit in. It'll
- 14:17Speaker 2: be an interesting dynamic when they go through camp and
- 14:19Speaker 2: figure out these line combinations. But they're clearly a better
- 14:22Speaker 2: team and they're going to be more physical which is
- 14:24Speaker 2: to me what they needed to address.
- 14:27Speaker 1: Roxy Bernstein for another couple of minutes here on the
- 14:29Speaker 1: Sean O'Connell Show, we just touched on some hockey, and
- 14:32Speaker 1: of course you can hear and see Roxy Bernstein when
- 14:34Speaker 1: college football comes rolling around in a little over a month,
- 14:39Speaker 1: and we were at Big twelve media days last week. Roxy,
- 14:42Speaker 1: they don't do predictions anymore. They don't take a media
- 14:46Speaker 1: poll because of a couple of seasons ago, Arizona State
- 14:49Speaker 1: ruining it for everyone by being much better than we thought.
- 14:52Speaker 3: But you've seen it. You know it's supposed to be Texas.
- 14:56Speaker 1: Tech BYU, maybe Utah Arizona a TCU. Who knows in
- 15:01Speaker 1: the tier behind those two teams, But starting with Texas Tech,
- 15:05Speaker 1: who is forefront headline maker this offseason for all the
- 15:09Speaker 1: wrong reasons. What are your thoughts on where they fit
- 15:13Speaker 1: without Brendan Soresby in an upcoming Big twelve football season.
- 15:17Speaker 2: Boy, we can actually talk about stuff on the field now.
- 15:20Speaker 2: Isn't that great? Isn't that what's going on off the field?
- 15:23Speaker 2: And soars these court actions and appeals and we're about
- 15:29Speaker 2: a little over a month away from the football season
- 15:31Speaker 2: beginning and Week zero, which we're excited for. But the
- 15:35Speaker 2: Bitswall race is so wide open, and I think soorsby
- 15:39Speaker 2: not being available to Texas Tech changes the dynamic because
- 15:43Speaker 2: a lot of people put them as a favorite, and
- 15:45Speaker 2: you wouldn't get an argument for me that, Okay, Texas
- 15:48Speaker 2: Tech would be the team to beat. But now it's
- 15:51Speaker 2: a level playing field. For me, it's pretty balanced when
- 15:55Speaker 2: I look at the Big Twelve, and I don't I
- 15:58Speaker 2: don't know if there's one team out right now say okay,
- 16:00Speaker 2: that's a clear cut favorite, like you pointed out, I
- 16:03Speaker 2: think there's a lot of really good teams that could
- 16:06Speaker 2: make a charge and make a run, and in Utah
- 16:08Speaker 2: is one of them for me. But I think this
- 16:11Speaker 2: race is going to be wide open and a lot
- 16:13Speaker 2: of it will come down. And I haven't broken down
- 16:15Speaker 2: the schedule. I'm sure you've looked at it. But who
- 16:17Speaker 2: do you play? Who are your home games? Who your
- 16:20Speaker 2: missus that could determine who wins the Big Twelve this
- 16:23Speaker 2: year and who got the break from the schedule makers?
- 16:25Speaker 1: You know what, I think you're absolutely right, Roxy, and
- 16:28Speaker 1: funny enough, the way that it works out for Texas Tech,
- 16:31Speaker 1: for BYU, for Utah is they obviously BYU and Utah
- 16:35Speaker 1: play one another. Neither Utah or BOYU plays Texas Tech,
- 16:40Speaker 1: and so that means Texas Tech misses at least a
- 16:42Speaker 1: couple of the good teams in the conference. It feels
- 16:45Speaker 1: like everyone has to play Arizona. So I think Arizona's
- 16:48Speaker 1: going to be good. And yeah, I know you have
- 16:51Speaker 1: some confidence in that coaching staff like they might be
- 16:54Speaker 1: the team that actually determines who wins the Big Twelve
- 16:56Speaker 1: conference because they got to play everybody.
- 17:00Speaker 2: And although but it could hurt them as well, right,
- 17:02Speaker 2: because then week in week out, you're getting those high
- 17:05Speaker 2: level games, you're not having that breather. I get it.
- 17:08Speaker 2: There's not many breathers in the Big Twelve and a
- 17:12Speaker 2: lot about a lot of it is when you're playing
- 17:14Speaker 2: somebody and how you're playing and to be healthy going
- 17:18Speaker 2: into games. And for example, Arizona needs to keep the
- 17:21Speaker 2: quarterback healthy. He is a talented quarterback and he's certainly
- 17:25Speaker 2: unique because of his size. But if they can keep
- 17:27Speaker 2: the feet of healthy, that gives them the significant edge.
- 17:31Speaker 2: And you're right, I'm a big Brent Brenton believer down there,
- 17:34Speaker 2: and I'm anteresot to see how the Utah program moves
- 17:36Speaker 2: forward with Morgan. I'm a big Morgan's Scally fan. Also,
- 17:40Speaker 2: he's been a terrific defensive mind. Now you're moving over
- 17:44Speaker 2: one office, which is pretty significant, and you've got big
- 17:47Speaker 2: shoes to fill with coach Witt now at Michigan. But
- 17:51Speaker 2: I think Morgan's ready for this. He's been ready for
- 17:53Speaker 2: a while. I believe he's got the pulse of the team.
- 17:56Speaker 2: I think he can relate to these guys, and you
- 17:58Speaker 2: spent more time around I have, but I've spent a
- 18:01Speaker 2: significant amount of time around Morgan. I'm a huge Morgan
- 18:04Speaker 2: Scalley fan, and I think it's gonna be fun to
- 18:07Speaker 2: watch this team grow and he grows into that role
- 18:09Speaker 2: as the new Utah head coach.
- 18:12Speaker 1: Anyone who's listened to us talking to one another over
- 18:15Speaker 1: the years knows you're a proud cal alum. Cal is
- 18:19Speaker 1: an interesting team as well this year. I know that's
- 18:21Speaker 1: not Big twelve football, and they don't the Bears don't
- 18:24Speaker 1: play BYU or Utah this season, but what are your
- 18:27Speaker 1: Bears gonna be on the football field.
- 18:30Speaker 2: They're gonna be an interesting chic. I think wild card
- 18:34Speaker 2: pick in the ACC because you have a brand new
- 18:37Speaker 2: coaching staff as tash Lapoy comes in, a former Cal
- 18:41Speaker 2: player coming in from Morgan where he was the deep C.
- 18:43Speaker 2: They hit the portal hard. They've recruited very well. It's
- 18:47Speaker 2: the most talent I've seen on a Cal roster in
- 18:49Speaker 2: a long time. They also have some inexperienced coaching, which
- 18:56Speaker 2: also makes you wonder, Okay, how's it gonna go. And
- 18:59Speaker 2: they get used La right out of the gate, which
- 19:02Speaker 2: is significant, and a rivalry game to start the season
- 19:06Speaker 2: in two schools that really don't like each other right now,
- 19:09Speaker 2: it's gonna be a fun watch. And you have one
- 19:11Speaker 2: of the elite quarterbacks in the country that's back that
- 19:14Speaker 2: could have gone anywhere he wanted to go, but wanted
- 19:17Speaker 2: to be a Calm. Yeah, don't think for a second
- 19:19Speaker 2: that Cal didn't take care of him. They did. But
- 19:22Speaker 2: it's going to be an interesting ride because you're in
- 19:25Speaker 2: the ATC. I don't think the league is all that great.
- 19:29Speaker 2: Miami has clearly made a run last year, and Mario
- 19:33Speaker 2: Christobal's team will be a presence in the ACC. But
- 19:36Speaker 2: I think Cal's got a shot, I really really do,
- 19:38Speaker 2: if this talent sits him. They have one of the
- 19:40Speaker 2: older rosters in the country, that if they can make
- 19:43Speaker 2: this thing work with all the new players, that they
- 19:45Speaker 2: can be a factor in the acc race.
- 19:48Speaker 1: Speaking of Cal, former Cal bear Kadu Lawabe one of
- 19:51Speaker 1: the biggest offseason acquisitions for BYU in the transfer portal.
- 19:56Speaker 1: And I know that's a guy he's coming back home
- 19:58Speaker 1: to Utah. He's repped here. But I know that's a
- 20:01Speaker 1: guy that you watched and probably liked for the Bears.
- 20:04Speaker 1: Give the fans here a sense of what he's going
- 20:07Speaker 1: to be in a BYU uniform.
- 20:10Speaker 2: His motor just s doesn't stop. He goes sideline to sideline.
- 20:14Speaker 2: He never gives up on a play. He had an
- 20:16Speaker 2: impact for the first moment he took the field as
- 20:19Speaker 2: a freshman playing linebacker for Cal, and he is going
- 20:23Speaker 2: to be a tackling machine. He battled through some injuries
- 20:26Speaker 2: last year and he tried to play through it. He
- 20:28Speaker 2: had a club on his hand for a while. But
- 20:30Speaker 2: he's tough, he's physical, and he's got the athleticism. And
- 20:35Speaker 2: you're getting a guy at BYU that has to potentially
- 20:39Speaker 2: be a first team All Big twelve linebacker. He's that
- 20:41Speaker 2: good and the production will be there. That's a significant
- 20:45Speaker 2: boosts for Utah and a big question for cal that
- 20:48Speaker 2: left a big boy. The Golden Bears were clearly trying
- 20:51Speaker 2: to keep them, but the call to come home and
- 20:53Speaker 2: wanting to play in front of friends and family and
- 20:56Speaker 2: go back to Utah and play at BYU was just
- 20:59Speaker 2: too strong. And it's a big loss for count, a
- 21:01Speaker 2: huge get for Kaloni Sataki and Byu.
- 21:04Speaker 1: Last thing before I let you go, and it's it's
- 21:06Speaker 1: just silliness, but it's something that for some reason has
- 21:10Speaker 1: It's a brainworm that I can't get out of my head. Twelve,
- 21:14Speaker 1: the Big Twelve Conference announced their partnership with Monster Energy Drink,
- 21:22Speaker 1: and that roxy right there is exactly the problem. That's
- 21:25Speaker 1: like it just makes everybody laugh. And then you see
- 21:27Speaker 1: the terms of the deal and it makes you laugh
- 21:29Speaker 1: even more. And I appreciate Brett your Mark, being the
- 21:33Speaker 1: bulldog that he is and trying to get revenue every
- 21:36Speaker 1: way possible and stuff. This feels to me like kind
- 21:39Speaker 1: of an underwhelming deal. It should have been worth more
- 21:42Speaker 1: to plaster your logo all over the field and the
- 21:47Speaker 1: jerseys and the Big twelve logo being inn mixed with it.
- 21:51Speaker 3: Now and you're.
- 21:52Speaker 1: Supposed to call Big twelve Football season Monster Energy Big
- 21:57Speaker 1: Twelve football season.
- 21:59Speaker 3: I mean, I get it.
- 22:00Speaker 1: They're all for sale, and the Big twelve is no exception.
- 22:03Speaker 1: But what do you make of this in the direction
- 22:06Speaker 1: we're headed with corporate sponsorships being plastered on everything, at
- 22:10Speaker 1: least in the Big Twelve.
- 22:11Speaker 2: For now, it's just a big reminder to everybody that
- 22:15Speaker 2: college athletics and college football is big business. Right, That's
- 22:20Speaker 2: what it is. Who can we sell this? Who can
- 22:22Speaker 2: we generate revenue from? And that's what brett Ormark did it.
- 22:26Speaker 2: And look he experimented with that court which they had
- 22:29Speaker 2: to backpedal off of the Big twelve Basketball tournament last year.
- 22:33Speaker 2: He clearly is trying to shake things out to do
- 22:35Speaker 2: things differently, and that's what you're doing here in this
- 22:38Speaker 2: partnership with Monster. Again, it's just a reminder that college
- 22:42Speaker 2: athletics has changed and it's big business and people are
- 22:46Speaker 2: trying to capitalize anywhere they can. Look, the players are
- 22:49Speaker 2: trying to benefit from nil and revenue, and the league
- 22:53Speaker 2: is finding new pass also, and it's not just the
- 22:55Speaker 2: TV deals and the money they can generate the conventional
- 23:00Speaker 2: economic paths. It's now trying to do things a little
- 23:04Speaker 2: bit differently and it's the latest example. It's going to
- 23:07Speaker 2: be funny to see the logo okay with Monster Energy
- 23:10Speaker 2: in the Big twelve and we get some chuckles at it.
- 23:13Speaker 2: But the end of the day, they're getting money out
- 23:15Speaker 2: of it and the school's going to get dollars. And
- 23:17Speaker 2: that's what Brett Gormark is in charge of doing, is
- 23:20Speaker 2: generating revenue and finding different ways to bring that to
- 23:24Speaker 2: his schools that he represents well.
- 23:27Speaker 3: Roxy here the man.
- 23:28Speaker 1: I love picking your brain about all different sports and
- 23:30Speaker 1: I appreciate you jumping around with me. Thanks for hopping
- 23:33Speaker 1: on today. Where do we hear you next? What's the next?
- 23:36Speaker 1: Roxy Bernstein broadcasting duty.
- 23:39Speaker 2: I am off for a couple of weeks, which is nice.
- 23:41Speaker 2: I just had a busy week. I had what I
- 23:42Speaker 2: had the Diamondbacks and Padres on TV Wednesday night for
- 23:46Speaker 2: our doubleheader on ESPN last weekend. I was in La
- 23:50Speaker 2: had the Dodgers and the Padres, and I was in
- 23:53Speaker 2: Seattle had the Mariners and the Blue Jays. I get
- 23:56Speaker 2: a little bit of a break, and then come August
- 23:58Speaker 2: it starts to get busy again. Got more baseball heading
- 24:02Speaker 2: into football, and then you know, waiting on the hockey
- 24:05Speaker 2: schedule which is going to be announced on Wednesday, and
- 24:07Speaker 2: I'll have a feeling of where I'll be bouncing around
- 24:09Speaker 2: for the NHL. But if there's a dope moment, Sean,
- 24:12Speaker 2: I have problems.
- 24:15Speaker 1: There's not a lot of those for Roxy Bernstein, best
- 24:17Speaker 1: in the business. You can hear him on ESPN, on
- 24:20Speaker 1: ESPN Radio and occasionally right here on the Sean O'Connell show.
- 24:24Speaker 2: Thanks again, Roxy, anytime, brother, Take care of see stay
- 24:28Speaker 2: cool man. I've heard the heat. There is no joke.
- 24:32Speaker 1: It's cooling down a little bit this week, but this
- 24:34Speaker 1: past weekend was whoo nasty.
- 24:37Speaker 3: Sweaty, my friend.
- 24:39Speaker 2: But it's a try heat, right, Yeah, yeah it is.
- 24:42Speaker 3: There's that Roxy Bernstein.
- 24:46Speaker 2: You're the man, see you, Sean.
- 24:49Speaker 3: I love catch it up with Roxy.