Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Twins aren't for sale, Matt Postins talks Big 12 football & Mitch Holthus on the Chiefs

Transcript

Twins aren't for sale, Matt Postins talks Big 12 football & Mitch Holthus on the Chiefs · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:09
I'm Millery Condon, Welcome to the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
0:12
Trent Condon, Ken Miller for the next couple of hours to talk
0:16
sports with you. Thanks for starting your
0:17
afternoon with us, wherever you're listing in the state of
0:19
Iowa. Grateful that you are.
0:22
Here's what's coming up on our program.
0:24
We're going to talk at 12:25 to our friend Matt Poston, who
0:28
covers the Big 12 for Heartland College Sports.
0:31
A really good website if you're a Big 12 fan, Heartland College
0:35
Sports has you covered over there, both basketball and
0:38
football season. They do an outstanding job
0:39
throughout the year as well. But Matt Poston's will join us.
0:43
Some Big 12 conversation coming up here in 25 minutes.
0:46
Then Mitch Holtis continues with his daily Chiefs training camp
0:50
reports, 12:45 or thereabouts. For that it's sponsored by Papa
0:54
John's throughout the state of Iowa.
0:57
Mitch Holtis will join us. We'll put one of his one of the
1:00
players on the spotlight and banter bought back and forth
1:03
with Mitch, our number 2 off to Chicago.
1:05
We will go catch up with the cap man should be good Cubs circling
1:10
the drain, etcetera. So Kathy, I'm sure will be fired
1:13
up. We'll ask him about if you
1:15
follow him on Twitter, as I know a lot of you do on XI should say
1:18
you saw his take on the kid UMP and the coverage that it
1:22
generated over the weekend. And if you didn't like it,
1:26
you're up against it because three different networks,
1:28
they're broadcasting the game and they're all going to have
1:31
they're kicking the can marquee and then Fox and then ESPN
1:34
Sunday night baseball. So we'll talk to Cappy about the
1:37
Chicago sports related topics. Obviously a lot of Bears
1:40
conversation and one of the air, quote, regional teams that we
1:44
have not had in the spotlight in the last little while are the
1:47
Green Bay Packers. So our buddy Dave,
1:49
sinicanzonecoverage.com is where he covers the Packers and talks
1:52
about him on the Radio year #30 of Packer review every Sunday
1:56
morning during the NFL season. Trent will make some picks.
1:59
We'll get on out of here just before 2:00 and turn things over
2:03
and off the bench with Lucas and Sean.
2:06
How are you, Trent Condon? Do you what?
2:08
Oh, I know, let's start there. Well, let's start there with the
2:12
news this morning. And if you're a Twins fan, I
2:16
mean the comments to the announcement are just worth
2:19
spending the 10 minutes and scrolling through So the poll
2:22
adds. That's not my comment.
2:23
I did. I got it on the air.
2:25
No, no, I got that one from you. Because every once in a while,
2:28
when we're off here, I'll just hear you in the studio, use that
2:30
exact same phrasing. Well, and it's been used in this
2:33
studio. If you're wondering what that
2:34
was, I think 12 different times. And if you Wikipedia KX&O,
2:39
you'll T so you'll see the magic words we're referring to.
2:42
That was really the beginning of the end of one era and the start
2:46
of another era on this radio station.
2:48
But anyways, the poll ads are not selling the team Trent.
2:54
They could have sold it to a lot of awful people and that would
2:58
have been a plus. That would have been positive
3:01
news. The fact that, OK, so they say
3:04
the right things, but they don't mean them.
3:07
I don't think that we've seen this before, but is it that just
3:11
because no one wanted to buy them?
3:13
I mean, that's a sports. The Portland Trail Blazers just
3:16
got sold. It did, right?
3:18
The biggest sticking point, before we get into my reaction,
3:24
the biggest sticking point appears to be the debt that is
3:27
on the books with the Pollad family, because the Pollad
3:30
family, they've been terrible at business recently.
3:33
Where did? They make their money.
3:35
Do you know did? They commercial real estate, oh,
3:37
commercial real estate, commercial real estate, which
3:39
after and that's not going very well as we know the last half
3:41
decade. So what have they done during
3:43
this last five years? Well, they have incurred all
3:46
that debt that they've had because of what they actually
3:48
invest in and they put it on the books for the twins to the tune
3:53
of half a billion dollars. Jesus.
3:56
So when you're looking at the books and you're looking at
3:59
ownership here, what? So all that debt would be.
4:02
So I'm going to pay $1.7 billion for your franchise, but oh, by
4:07
the way, get. The owners out of the deep end.
4:10
Here's another half billion in debt that is incurred in the
4:14
Minnesota Twins Baseball LLC. All of a sudden that price tag
4:19
goes from 1.7 and it's realistically more like $2.2
4:24
billion. That's where I believe the rub
4:26
has come from. But Manfred lied to us.
4:29
Tend to sale was imminent at the All Star break we've heard so
4:34
many times during the last 10 months.
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Could it? Could he?
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I mean, might it have been? We didn't hear any names ever.
4:40
So there was It's far. Outside of Ishpea.
4:42
Right. But but when we heard that the
4:44
sale is imminent and we kept asking, we asked Dean Mazatani,
4:47
who works for Sports Section and one of the two papers and what
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are you hearing? Who's the names?
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My last question for Matt Snyder on Monday was just that do you
4:57
have we've heard that it's close, Have you heard any names?
5:00
No. So we got national writers, we
5:03
got local people. Nobody ever heard any names and
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I think the depth is the reason for it.
5:09
But anybody but the Paulettes. And that's what it's been for me
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going back to December when we first started about EHPII didn't
5:15
care. It just it had to get away.
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Not just what the idiot sons have been doing in the family
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and the infighting and and all the stories that you hear up
5:23
there are just the awfulness of them as a whole.
5:27
But coupled with the old man was willing to get a check to have
5:31
the team just go away. And that will always linger.
5:35
You can't get over that. Your owner was willing for your
5:39
team to dissipate, to go away forever just to get a check.
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And now they're going to bring in a couple of minority.
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They better have a front facing person because Joe Pollad or
5:54
whatever idiot Pollad that they want to put out there, none of
5:56
them can do this and repair this fan base for the first time in
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21 years. They want a playoff series.
6:06
They had the longest losing streak in sports history in the
6:10
playoffs and it finally ended two years ago.
6:12
And what did they do with a nice young core?
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They cut the payroll by $30 million.
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That's what they did. Now we get to this trade
6:20
deadline and you could understand it because they're
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selling the team. All right, Make the books.
6:24
Look, no, we're not. That was another lie.
6:28
Can Derek Foley recover from this?
6:30
It it goes. Does Byron Buxton have an about
6:33
face? Would you blame him if they did?
6:35
No. I I hope Byron Buxton gets out
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of this train wreck. I hope that he has the last
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three 5-7 years of his career and he has it somewhere else
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with an organization that actually.
6:47
Cares about. And they don't, and they never
6:49
have and they never will. It's all a lie.
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They are absolute terrible people, terrible owners, and
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they are not stewards like I believe ownership should be.
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Who? Owns the ballpark.
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The the pole head family, they own the ballpark, I believe so,
7:04
yes. Yes.
7:07
How would you like to sell season tickets Minnesota Twins?
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You can't. You can't.
7:12
No, right. You think I'm mad?
7:15
I'm not. I'm not through a day-to-day
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like the people up there. They it has to be awful.
7:19
The morale inside that building has just be as low as it can
7:22
possibly be. Yeah, the Minnesota, what is it?
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Sports something. Minnesota Ballpark Authority
7:29
owns Target. Field.
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And who's that? Is that the pull ads I hope?
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Not I would guess they're probably a part of it.
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Oh boy. Yeah.
7:35
Well, not good news if you're a fan of the twins, especially
7:38
when you were told, and we were. Manfred said as much at the All
7:40
Star break that it's any day now.
7:43
So give me a is there a name or two that could be a, a face of
7:47
this, of this organization? Like Alex Rodriguez is going to
7:51
be the face or one of the faces of the T wolves, right?
7:54
He's a big name, obviously. Is is there a sports person in
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the, in the Twin Cities like ants not going to do it despite
8:03
his hundreds of millions of dollars.
8:04
He's busy playing basketball. Ken Herbeck doesn't have.
8:07
That no, he doesn't have that money.
8:08
I don't know, doesn't there is anybody that would make sense to
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be able to do it? Is there an Olympic?
8:14
What grants did I mean? The the the estate sale that
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they have every year for Bud Gray and all of this stuff.
8:20
Garage sale, Yeah, that's awesome.
8:22
That's awesome. Nothing needs the money just to,
8:24
you know, just force that in people's hands that want it.
8:26
There's got to be someone out there in a Minnesota sports
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legend. Could be an Olympian.
8:32
Just be somebody that people like, Yes.
8:37
Who would it be? It's difficult.
8:40
Jared Allen. I think you got to be a
8:43
Minnesotan. Well, I was.
8:44
Rodriguez isn't. It no, no, but there hasn't been
8:48
that guy. Yeah, but the T wolves aren't
8:50
seen in the same light as the. Twins, Randy.
8:52
Moss, Randy. Moss, Randy Moss and.
8:57
What kind of money? You don't have to have money,
8:59
no. You just want to be the face of
9:00
the organization. Somebody's got to do it.
9:02
It was a bad, it was bad news. I, I couldn't wait for to see
9:04
your response. I saw a post that and you didn't
9:07
disappoint at Trent Condon if you'd like to see with your own
9:11
two eyes. So with your own two eyes last
9:13
night, yes. Did you watch episode 2 of Hard
9:15
Knocks? I did and they got me back.
9:18
They got me back. It wasn't.
9:20
And what part of the show got you back 'cause I was thinking,
9:22
God, this is tough. The scooter.
9:24
Scooter with Hamlin was good. Hamlin's funny.
9:27
Yeah, Buffalo Joe's good. Yep.
9:29
Yep. And I heard a line on television
9:31
last night that I'd never heard before, and it wasn't expecting
9:36
the the woman I got to get the line.
9:38
I want to read it verbatim because I know where you're
9:41
going. Asked about, you know, Bill's
9:44
Mafia and some of the crazy stuff that they do.
9:47
And there's this woman. How old would you say Ashley
9:49
McDonald is, 3535? Yeah.
9:52
And, and she's asked about, you know what, just what it's like
9:54
to be Bill's Mafia. And what have you seen of Bill's
9:56
Mafia that sticks with you? Well, my husband drank my
10:00
friend's breast milk at a tailgate.
10:01
So that was that was a little weird.
10:04
Yeah, I'll say yes, it was. It was a little weird.
10:07
And now poor Ashley MacDonald, I guess she put brought it on
10:11
herself, but I had to rewind it because I didn't.
10:15
I couldn't believe that. That's what I just heard.
10:17
But it was better, wasn't it? At the end of the day, it was
10:20
better. Obviously Josh Allen's going to
10:22
be the focal point. But you know what?
10:24
I'm hoping that they, hey, I'm up in the I'm rooting for
10:27
Buffalo Joe to make squad. Yes, absolutely.
10:29
So I think that's what they do every year, right?
10:30
They do every day. There's always one of those
10:32
guys. Now it's Buffalo Joe.
10:33
It took until Episode 2 and it's a great story.
10:36
I mean, he grew up as a Buffalo fan, Tequila Spikes, him as a
10:41
little kid pleading with him. Mr. Spikes, Mr. Spikes was
10:45
walking away from the autograph scrum and didn't and, and poor
10:48
Buffalo Joe's little boy didn't get his autograph.
10:51
And he tried one more time and, and, and Spikes heard it and
10:54
turned around. They walked away together, which
10:56
is great because mom's got all of the pictures, which it which
11:00
is really cool, but he's going to be, I hope, a bigger part of
11:03
this because those are my 2 takeaways.
11:08
But I thought it got better. I didn't think it got great.
11:10
No, no. And this is not to sell it, no
11:13
that it's back to the halcyon days of hard.
11:15
Knocks right, but it will lead me to my television next week
11:19
after the baseball's over to watch episode 3.
11:22
Good beats. Yep, like Hard Knocks again.
11:25
Felt kind of like it. Yeah, episode 1 did not.
11:27
No episode Room was bad. Episode 1, if that's gonna hook
11:31
you and bring you in, episode 1 was bad, but we both said we'd
11:34
stick through the entire show last night and, and watch it and
11:38
give it a fair, give it a fair shake.
11:41
Look, maybe at at the end of the day, they're just boring.
11:49
Sean Mcdermott's boring, right? And he does not have to be about
11:53
to be bombastic like Rex Ryan or, or some of these guys.
11:57
He's just kind of boring. Yeah, there's not a whole lot
12:00
of. There's not a lot there.
12:02
Good for him. Yeah, talking about skin cancer.
12:04
Yeah, I agree. And OK, but he's not a overly
12:10
compelling figure. Yeah, no, I.
12:13
He's just a guy. Yeah, just a guy, but the
12:15
Hambler scooter thing was good. Anyways, I wonder what before we
12:19
get to the phones here, I want to talk about the Cubs.
12:21
We're going to have David Kaplan on and the the part I want to
12:23
talk about. Do you remember?
12:25
Of course you do. So the kid umpire, did you see
12:29
him all weekend? Did it bother you?
12:30
No, not at all. It was cool at first.
12:33
Yeah. It's a little too much.
12:34
It was a little too much. It was kind of cool at first on
12:37
Forest Ave. this winter, but it got way too much.
12:40
Yeah, too much. Yeah.
12:40
And and I kind of felt the same way about the Ben McCollum kid.
12:44
The kids dressed like McCollum. Yeah.
12:46
And enough's enough. OK, cool story once, but you
12:50
know, and I kind of feel the. Same about the umpires too.
12:53
So now we also watch baseball pretty different.
12:56
I mean, you're pretty locked in when the Cubs are on where I'm a
12:59
lot more flipping around. And because of that, I didn't
13:02
see every instance where they cut back to the kid.
13:05
So maybe that's the reason that it didn't bother me probably as
13:09
much as I know some people did, including.
13:12
Oh, Kaplan was apoplectic. No, I wasn't at that level.
13:14
I did think, you know, OK, we get it.
13:16
But here's the thing. And and you have to cut the
13:18
network some slack. It was three different networks,
13:20
right. Exactly the people that the Fox
13:23
producers can't. Well, maybe Marquis had it.
13:25
Well, it's the weekend. We got to shy away from it.
13:27
Or likewise on Sunday. Well, if if Fox showed we can't
13:30
play it, of course you're going to play it for you.
13:31
It was a kind of a cute story. I wonder, you know, it's kind
13:35
of, and it's not that I want to 10 years from now as a kid, an
13:40
umpire. Yeah, I think he is.
13:42
Yeah. I think he should mean that's
13:43
what he wants. To it's hard.
13:44
It's a hard 1 to get through though.
13:47
I. Mean oh, I know you got to pay
13:48
your dues. Yes, sleeping 4 to a room at the
13:50
Super 8 right? And travelling 4 in a car.
13:52
At least that's the way it used to be.
13:54
I heard some stories from the from the UMPS that worked their
13:57
way up, including Eric Cooper. You said something, I can't
14:00
remember if you said it today or during our TV show that we were
14:03
taping earlier Inside the Numbers on Mediacom, you said I
14:08
think the Cubs are circling the drain.
14:10
They're not circling the drain. Well, they're 500 since June.
14:13
They're going to. Have to.
14:14
That's not. Circling the drain.
14:15
It's just the Brewers. They're unbeatable, right?
14:18
But are you convinced that the Cubs are home free?
14:22
As a playoff team? As a playoff team, No.
14:25
I'm not either, and it looked as though they were going to run
14:27
away with the division. At least we thought.
14:29
Now the markets that give us predictions say that we're dead
14:34
wrong. That they are going to make.
14:36
It that they're going to make it easily so their schedule.
14:39
'S not daunting Trent they've got they've got a couple of
14:44
obviously next week I thought it was going to be appointment TV
14:47
and it's I'm going to watch all five of them.
14:49
But I don't think that the Brewers and the Cubs are going
14:52
to be for the division. I don't but I mean give me the
14:55
give me the difficult they'll play Tampa and Tampa's out of it
14:59
Cincinnati they've got a four-game set against
15:01
Cincinnati. I guess Cincinnati is still, you
15:05
know, mathematically alive. We'll be in the middle of
15:07
September and then they play the Mets and I think probably beyond
15:10
then the Phillies will put it away.
15:12
So looking at two different odd systems out there, Baseball
15:16
Prospectus and fan graphs. 2 very well respected places in
15:20
baseball with their analytics that they have.
15:23
Let's start with fan graphs. They give the Cubs still a 96%
15:27
chance of making the playoffs, making the playoffs, an 11
15:30
percent chance of still winning the division.
15:33
Over a Baseball Prospectus, the numbers are even better.
15:36
A 99.6% chance to make the playoffs, Making the playoffs
15:41
and a 27% chance of winning the division.
15:45
I won't go with the final number.
15:46
I do agree with they they will because here's the thing, the
15:49
the chasers, if you will, the Reds, the Cardinals, the Giants
15:52
and the Diamondbacks. I don't even throw the Marlins
15:55
in there And, and I, I, I can't see any of those teams in order
16:00
for one of those teams to make it.
16:01
The Padres are going to make it. Padres are tied with the Dodgers
16:04
as we speak in the National League West.
16:07
The Mets are going to hang around and mess around.
16:09
They're going to find a way in. The play offs are the Reds.
16:14
I would take I I still like the Reds more than the Mets.
16:17
I think the upside's higher too. I think they can do two games
16:20
back. Only two games back.
16:22
The rest of them though, I think you.
16:23
Think with that, with that lineup, with Soto and Lindor and
16:28
Pete Alonzo and with Brandon Nimmo, you think that
16:32
Cincinnati's got a better chance?
16:34
I do because of the pitching staff.
16:36
Oh, absolutely. The rotation is infinitely
16:38
better than what the Mets tried out there.
16:40
I know the Mets solidified their bullpen and what they did, but.
16:43
Clay Holmes is cooked. Yeah, Clay Holmes is cooked.
16:46
Cody Sanga is A5 inning pitcher Shawn Manaya Peterson.
16:50
Depends when you watch him. Meanwhile, over in Cincinnati,
16:53
they're going to throw out Hunter Green.
16:56
Both like him a lot. Both like him a lot.
16:58
Abbott, you turned me on to him earlier this year.
17:00
He's really good. Brady Dolo's the Dolo's OK, but
17:04
he's hurt, isn't he? Is he?
17:07
I think he's got that finger injury.
17:09
I think he's hurt. We'll see.
17:12
Let's before we get to Matt Poston's talking Big 12.
17:15
Mike's been on hold for significant amount of time.
17:18
He wants to talk about his cyclones.
17:19
By the way, Travis Hines In today's paper, the Des Moines
17:22
Register predicts the cyclones to go 8 and 4.
17:25
Meanwhile, Chad Leistekow, the columnist who covers Iowa, has
17:29
them at 10 and two. In today's online version of the
17:33
Register, Mike wants to opine a little.
17:35
Mike, off the Waterloo. We will go.
17:37
How are you? Hey, how you guys doing?
17:39
Good. I predict the record will be 11
17:43
and one offensive line I hear is the nastiest offensive line our
17:48
coach has ever had. And they're going to be so much
17:51
better at run blocking. The last few years at the point
17:54
of attack, our running backs were getting hit at the line of
17:56
scrimmage. Now Sama is going to have a he's
18:00
going to have 10 yards to run free and then when he's out in
18:03
the open, Katie by the door. But I tell you and the defensive
18:07
linebackers didn't Bacon back. My God, You remember a couple
18:11
years ago, he ran, he ran down that running back from Oklahoma
18:15
State. He was 5 yards behind in that
18:18
super. He was a good running back.
18:20
No, I'm with you now. Look, I, I, I, I left the
18:22
linebackers. Just let me pose this question
18:26
to you. Have you heard that the
18:27
offensive line is going to be better in previous years?
18:31
I've heard that, but I, I agree. I think this is, did you hear
18:35
that left tackle that Neil, our coach, our offensive line coach
18:39
said he's going to be playing in the NFL.
18:41
He's made that much improvement and.
18:43
Tyson Miller you're talking about.
18:46
He can bench press £700 or something I I'd like.
18:49
To see that. The Sky's the limit, and I got
18:51
one more prediction. OK, my Chicago White Sox will
18:57
have a better record in the Minnesota Twins next year.
19:00
Well, I hope so. The twins are turning down to
19:02
the studs. Well, I'm telling you, and the
19:04
superstar in Chicago is not your center fielder.
19:08
It's at Montgomery. I tell you.
19:10
Did you see that home run he hit the other day?
19:13
It's still travelling. It went 452 feet.
19:18
Unbelievable. What's he got?
19:19
12 home run. He's a four-game.
19:21
He's a terrific young player I'll give.
19:23
You, the and our catchers, I tell you, hey, ask happy.
19:27
I will. The White Sox, you guys never
19:29
ask him one question. Because nobody cares, Mike.
19:31
Nobody. The goal is to keep an audience.
19:33
So, so I want to go back to your hang on.
19:35
No, no, no, don't go. Don't go, don't go 11 and one.
19:38
Who's the one lost to Mike? Who do you have them falling?
19:40
To well, I think maybe Colorado out there.
19:43
So the beat Iowa, they'll beat Arizona State, they'll beat BYU.
19:48
Okay, TCU. I tell you, Rocco back, I tell
19:52
you he's not that tall, but I tell you when the games on the
19:55
line he comes through. Mike, appreciate your enthusiasm
19:59
and your passion for your squad. We'll talk.
20:01
To you. All right.
20:02
See you. Buddy, good to talk to you. 11
20:03
and one for Mike, Bench pressing £700.
20:06
Just throwing people around. Best offensive line ever. 11 to
20:10
one. I was surprised there was a one
20:12
in there. I was too, to be honest.
20:14
I should have asked him if that game of Colorado game could go
20:17
either way. Well of.
20:18
Course it could. You got guys benching 700 lbs,
20:21
Yeah. Fair.
20:22
Take time out. Talk to Matt Postings.
20:25
When we come back, we'll talk about the Big 12.
20:27
A love Mike from Waterloo. I really he's he's hardcore.
20:31
When we come back we will talk to Matt Poston's Mitch Holtis
20:34
this hour. David Kaplan, hour number two,
20:37
Dave syndicate on the Packers. Miller and Condon underway on a
20:40
Wednesday at the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
20:48
I'm Miller Condon. Welcome back.
20:50
Iowa Sports Radio Network. Trent Condon, Ken Miller 1230.
20:53
Mitch Holt is still to come. In this hour he will provide his
20:57
daily chief's training camp report.
20:59
They are sponsored by Papa John's throughout the state of
21:03
Iowa. Let's talk some Big 12, shall
21:04
we? Matt Poston's covers at
21:06
Heartland College Sports. Heartland College sports.com For
21:09
Matt Poston's Matt Trenton. Ken, as always, thank you for
21:12
coming on. Good to talk to you.
21:14
How are you? I'm good, although I'm surprised
21:17
the Chiefs are having training camp today given that Jason
21:19
Travis are dropping the podcast with Taylor today.
21:22
I figured that would be like a national holiday.
21:23
Yeah, it is for a lot of people, no doubt about that, and a lot
21:26
of well, we're certainly going to see the numbers and where
21:29
they come in. Anyways, Let's talk.
21:31
I want to talk about a team in your neck of the woods that boy,
21:34
they the the more I look at these Baylor Bears, the more I
21:38
start to think, you know what? This is a team as as the same
21:41
case fall in the same category as many teams.
21:43
They can absolutely win this conference.
21:45
I think if you have a quarterback, you have a chance
21:48
and they've got a quarterback and they've got a running back
21:50
and they've got a wide receiver. So where are you on Baylor
21:53
schedule is I think it fits them pretty well.
21:56
I guess they're toughest Rd. game, Maybe TCU.
22:00
Other than that, the roads, the road works out pretty well.
22:03
Utah has to come to Waco. The more I look at Baylor's
22:06
schedule and Baylor's roster more, I'm thinking maybe this
22:09
might be a team that gets to the championship.
22:12
Yeah, certainly possible. Losing Pendergrass hurts.
22:15
They they announced he was going to be out for the year this week
22:18
with an injury, so that takes away their backup running back.
22:21
The good news is they do have Price and Washington back and he
22:24
kind of shouldered a load for them last year, gaining more
22:27
than 1000 yards. So they've got coverage.
22:29
They're running back. The big question I have, and I
22:32
think the big, the big thing, it's going to decide whether
22:35
they're truly going to be a contender or not as their
22:37
defense, I mean, their defense was in the lower half of the
22:41
conference, in the lower half of the country.
22:43
And pretty much every major category, they had issues
22:46
creating turnovers, although their turnover margin was really
22:51
good. They did a really good job
22:52
protecting the football that got to get to the quarterback more.
22:56
You know, Dave Aranda has been, you know, pretty clear that, you
22:59
know, he felt like last year their defense just did not come
23:01
around until very late in the year.
23:03
And if you look at, you know, what they did down the stretch,
23:05
winning six straight games in conference play, that kind of
23:08
reflects that. So they need to have a defensive
23:11
performance coming out of the gate like they had the end of
23:13
last year. And if they can do that combined
23:15
with their offense, where they've still got plenty of
23:18
weapons and plenty of experience, yeah, they put those
23:20
two things together, they've got a really good chance at yet
23:22
pushing teams in in October and November.
23:25
Because if you look at that November schedule, they're in
23:27
position. UCF and Utah at home at Arizona,
23:31
home against Houston. I mean, that's a really nice
23:34
path if you've got maybe one or two conference losses at that
23:37
point to wrap up four and O and keep your fingers crossed that
23:40
you can get the invite, Darling, go.
23:42
Dave Veranda's got some pressure on them, but maybe no more
23:44
pressure than anybody in the conference that Joey McGuire is
23:47
going to be missing this year. The way that they spent, the way
23:50
that the expectations have raised, is it at minimum they
23:54
got to get to a Big 12 title game?
23:55
Is that how high the expectations are in Lubbock for
23:58
Texas Tech? I do think the expectations are
24:02
that high now. I don't think they're hot seat
24:04
expectations. In other words, if they don't
24:06
make it to the Big 12 championship game, you know,
24:08
Julie McGuire isn't going to lose this job.
24:10
Because the way that they approached this year and it's
24:13
been widely reported was, you know, with the new house ruling
24:16
and the Rev share cap and everything else, they were sort
24:19
of approaching this year as a, OK, we're going to push all of
24:21
our chips to the table in NIL and spend as much money as we
24:25
can this year because we know we're not going to be able to
24:28
spend as much money next year. Now, come to find out, they've
24:31
changed the rules a little bit around collectives and the CFD
24:34
and I'll go. So now they've softened those
24:37
rules, which I absolutely expected them to do.
24:40
But yeah, the expectation is to at least get to the Big 12
24:43
championship game. And, you know, they've addressed
24:46
every need they had in the offseason.
24:50
Baron Morton's completely healthy.
24:52
I think they have a collection of running backs that can at
24:55
least emulate what Brooks did for them last year.
24:58
But look, it's Texas Tech. So it's all about their defense.
25:03
Their defense was atrocious last year.
25:05
And when I talked to Joey McGuire at Big 12 Media Days in
25:07
July, I said, you know, I know coaches don't necessarily look
25:10
at the big numbers that everybody else looks at.
25:12
What are you looking at? So the two things we've got to
25:14
do better. We got to get teams off the
25:16
field more on 3rd down and we got to get to the quarterback
25:19
more. So they they went out and got
25:22
some more run stoppers, they went out and got some pass
25:25
rushers, they went out and got some defensive backs that can
25:27
help them in the secondary. And that's all for trying to get
25:30
teams off the field more on 3rd down and trying to generate more
25:34
stacks. If they can do those two things
25:36
combined with everything else they already have, they've got a
25:38
good chance of getting to the Big 12 title game.
25:41
They're one of the schools that have 5 Rd. games and three of
25:44
those five games I think are the most difficult on their schedule
25:47
at Utah, at Arizona State, at K State.
25:51
They got to go to West Virginia, to Houston.
25:53
So you should win those two, but those other three, Yikes.
25:56
All right, let's go to TCU because there's a lot of buzz
25:59
around TCU. Obviously, everybody loves the
26:02
quarterback. I get it.
26:03
Trent's been on Hoover. John Hoover, he's his guy.
26:06
Where are you on TCU? Are they a one of those teams
26:09
that fits in that category? And Yep, everything goes right.
26:13
They may get there. Yeah, they fit in that category,
26:16
although like a unlike Baylor, they're flipped.
26:20
I like what they've got on defense, even though they don't
26:22
have a lot of returning starters.
26:24
But I feel like the portal talent they brought in on the
26:27
defensive side is really going to help their second year
26:31
coordinator, Andy Avalos take that defense to a different
26:34
level. The thing on offense is, yeah,
26:36
Josh Hoover's back. I think he could put up some of
26:39
the best numbers in the conference.
26:40
And they've got 3/5 of their offensive line back.
26:43
But everything else is new. All their skill players were
26:46
either backup guys or second string guys or they're coming
26:51
from other programs. So unlike Baylor where you need
26:54
the defense to come together and coalesce quickly, TCU needs the
26:58
offense to come together and coalesce quickly because if Josh
27:01
Hoover has a big year, it's because the chemistry on that
27:04
side of the football comes along quickly.
27:07
They're able to beat teams like North Carolina and SMU early and
27:10
get some confidence going into Big 12 play.
27:13
And then, you know, at that point, if there, if they're
27:15
rolling offensively going into October, then I think they can
27:18
be a really dangerous team. One more Trent, just as an aside
27:21
that Labor Day gave a game at North Carolina against Belichick
27:26
TCU open as a 1 1/2 point dog. They are now a three-point live.
27:31
So a lot of love for TCU, sorry. Trent and I'm right there with
27:34
him. I I like that TCU team and
27:36
Hoover, he can make all the throws that you certainly want.
27:39
Let's come on the local level. Matt, I want to get your
27:41
perspective on Iowa State. I think we all feel at minimum
27:45
they're going to be solid. They're going to be a bold team.
27:46
But what would you say is the floor?
27:49
You know, they had someone score luck a year ago and that seems
27:52
to kind of even out year after year.
27:54
We've seen a couple of big steps back in years where we really
27:57
didn't see it on the surface from Iowa State.
27:59
How far do you think it could fall this year for Iowa State If
28:03
if a couple of things maybe go wrong?
28:06
Well, it's funny you've asked that because later today I have
28:09
an article coming out worst case scenario for each Big 12 years.
28:14
And so we kind of addressed that.
28:15
I've got Iowa State's floor at six wins.
28:18
And my rationale is if they go to Ireland and lose the Kansas
28:23
State and then they turn around 2 weeks later and they lose the
28:26
Iowa, then you're 1 and 2 going into the bulk of the rest of
28:29
your schedule. And I feel like their schedules
28:33
not like super difficult in conference, but I feel like
28:37
they've got some some games that could, you know, trip them up.
28:41
Obviously getting Arizona State at home helps them, but Arizona
28:44
State's a really good team. Going to TCU, that could be a
28:47
tough game for them. Going to Colorado could be a
28:50
tough game for them. Even even going to Cincinnati
28:53
because Cincinnati is such a desperate team right now.
28:55
And it's got Sutter Field, I think is coaching for his job.
28:58
There's some, there's some under the radar difficult games on
29:02
their schedule or if they get off to a poor start, you know, 1
29:04
and 2, two and two, I think they're going to have a hard
29:07
time, you know, getting back to Arlington.
29:10
And I think they go to a bowl game, but I don't think it's
29:13
much else if they come out of the game like that, that kind of
29:15
a start. All right, team that I'm
29:18
invested in is Utah. Such a terrific start last year
29:22
and then just completely fell apart.
29:25
Obviously bringing a transfer quarterback who can run like the
29:27
wind and damn fear. I don't I can't see Kyle
29:31
Whittingham having back-to-back seasons like this.
29:33
I just can't too good a coach. Utah was supposed to be one of
29:37
the teams. There was them in Oklahoma
29:39
State, right? This was the cream of last
29:41
year's 2024 Big 12. Well, we know how that worked
29:44
out. Utah.
29:45
Is this a bounce back year? Is this a legitimate threat to
29:49
win the conference? I don't know, I still feel like
29:55
I don't have a good feel for them yet.
29:57
I mean, you know, Dampier had a really good year in New Mexico.
30:00
Like you said, he's a, it's a very run based offense, which,
30:05
you know, can be helpful because it mitigates some of the risk in
30:08
terms of turnovers and things like that.
30:10
But it can also be a detriment when you think about the fact
30:14
that, you know, if teams know that your quarterback's going to
30:16
run more often than you might expect, you know, they can load
30:20
up in the box and make things more difficult and make them
30:23
throw it. That's something he's
30:24
uncomfortable with. I think Dan Pierce is a better
30:26
passer than he's been given credit for.
30:28
Obviously, they have a great offensive line.
30:30
Everybody's back. The key to me is you look at
30:34
what they had coming back and the receivers and the running
30:37
back were either backups last year or their transfers.
30:41
And, and most there are, you know, two of them are
30:44
sophomores. So how quickly can those guys
30:47
get up to speed with what they want to do offensively?
30:49
Theoretically, Jason Beck's offense should be pretty easy to
30:52
pick up and Kyle Weddingham is that I'm letting Jason Beck do
30:55
his night. So if they can pick up the
30:57
offense quick and and get get on the same page with the M pier,
31:01
then you know there's a distinct possibility that going into
31:03
October they could be a fairly dangerous team.
31:05
But I, I, I don't, I don't feel like they're in the category of
31:09
like ATC or a Baylor where if things go right, they could
31:12
contend. I think they're going to be.
31:15
I think they're going to spend the season on the outside of
31:17
that particular bubble. So I guess seven and five kind
31:20
of finish. Yeah, that kind of thing.
31:22
Speaking of seven and five, I think maybe BYU is trending that
31:25
direction. Do we have any more insight,
31:28
though, in the quarterbacks that they're trying to figure out
31:30
with Retzlof gone now to New Orleans?
31:33
Any certainty or or getting closer to a decision of what
31:36
they're going to do at QB? I, I haven't seen one to be, to
31:41
be honest, I have not seen a decision or any kind of, you
31:45
know, solid lead that would lead me to believe which quarterback
31:50
will start when they play Portland State in August the
31:52
30th. I think because they had that
31:54
game against an SCS team to start the season.
31:56
I think they had the luxury of going into that game and maybe
31:59
rotating quarterbacks, maybe giving one guy 1/2, giving one
32:03
guy the other half and seeing how they do if they can't make a
32:05
decision. I think obviously Kalani Santaki
32:08
would love to see one guy rise up and say, OK, I'm the guy,
32:11
improve it on the field and start in the first game.
32:14
I just think with everything that's happened this summer and
32:16
the way that it happened and the timing with which it happened, I
32:19
think you're going to see this quarterback battle extend into
32:23
non conference. They get Portland State, they
32:25
get Stanford and they get East Carolina on the 1st 4 weeks of
32:30
the season. That East Carolina Rd. trips
32:32
going to be tough. I mean, BYU having to go across
32:34
the country, that could be a particularly difficult game.
32:37
But I think I would not be surprised that they used all
32:41
three quarterbacks in all three of those games.
32:43
Like kind of like what Oklahoma State did two years ago.
32:47
And then when you get the Big 12 play, when they when they go to
32:50
Colorado, they name a starter. We've give me 10 seconds on K
32:55
State and then we've got we've got to go K State obviously
32:58
Friday on next Saturday, Week 0. Your thought on the Wildcats?
33:03
They're really good. If Avery Johnson levels up and
33:06
has a big year, they're going to have a really good chance of
33:09
getting into the Big 12 title game.
33:10
Yep. Figured so good stuff, Matt.
33:12
Post is Heartland College sports.
33:13
Matt, thank you for what you do for us.
33:15
Appreciate it. We'll talk to you in the weeks
33:16
ahead. Thank you, Matt.
33:19
Good to. Talk to you, Matt Poston's
33:21
Heartland College Sports as we check in on the Big 12.
33:23
Holtis next. Miller and Condon, Iowa Sports
33:26
Radio Network. I'm Millery Condon.
33:30
Welcome back. Iowa Sports Radio Network.
33:33
Take you until 2O clock. Let's get right to Mitch Holtis,
33:36
the voice of the Chiefs. Tomorrow, they'll be on an
33:39
airplane as they head out to Seattle.
33:41
Hopefully there's Wi-Fi on the plane so a lot of those
33:44
teammates can download the new heights.
33:48
It is going to break records. Mitch Holt is good to talk to
33:50
you. How are you my friend?
33:53
Don't you think we're going to like crash servers all?
33:55
Across the world, I believe you're.
33:57
Good. You know we all worried about
33:58
this is way back when Y2. K. 321 like nothing happened
34:05
right? This will be the Y2 Ki mean this
34:08
thing is going to. Yeah, going to be fascinating.
34:11
No kidding. So I love that when you kind of
34:14
start, once we get through the Chiefs, Mount Rushmore, not that
34:16
I don't enjoy that, I do, but when you start kind of putting
34:20
the spotlight on some of those lesser known guys right as
34:24
you're about to do here today. And maybe he shouldn't be or
34:26
maybe he won't be very long. Because when I saw your notes on
34:30
your note on Jayden Hicks, the stats that this guy's
34:32
accumulated kind of flying under the radar and as you point out
34:35
that there may be a bigger role in his future.
34:38
This is kind of what I really, really enjoy, some of those
34:40
names that, you know, not household names yet, not saying
34:43
they'll get there, but have a potential to do so.
34:46
Yeah, when, when, when you draft late in every round, which is
34:51
he's have done now for like a decade.
34:55
You've got to find God. You got to find Jules.
34:58
You got to find do your diligence and do your homework
35:02
and the Chiefs did that last year.
35:03
It seems like Brett Beach, Chiefs general manager, is
35:07
getting a steal every year somewhere.
35:09
We got one here with Jaden Hicks.
35:11
They got him in the fourth round last year's draft.
35:15
But this year if they got to get him on the field more, he only
35:18
had 330 defensive snaps Ken last year.
35:22
And with Justin Reed moving on to New Orleans, there's a lot
35:26
more that's going to be asked of Jaden Hicks.
35:29
But he's a talented kid. He's a ball hawk.
35:31
He's he's could be an emerging star, but he's like the guy you
35:36
just give me just laid out that you got to have these guys to
35:39
win. But I asked Jaden Hicks about
35:41
all this. That's new now for him going
35:43
into a second year and more that's required.
35:46
Definitely just how the defenses play, you know, how it's
35:48
supposed to be play. You know, it's a big part of our
35:51
our scheme. And, you know, just taking that
35:53
in and make sure I'm doing the right things.
35:55
You LED at Wazoo. How about being more of a leader
35:57
here? I know it's early in your
35:58
career. Yeah, definitely.
35:59
I'm trying to build my leadership role here and just
36:02
connecting with all the guys. I mean, it takes trust to build
36:05
that. And, you know, that's what I'm
36:06
going to do every day. Where'd you get your ball
36:08
Hawking ability? Seems the ball finds you.
36:11
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
36:11
I'd say back to my old days, man, I always been that type of
36:15
guy, you know, the jump ball guy.
36:17
You know, I believe that I can win any jump ball against any
36:19
receiver. Yeah, he's confident, but he's
36:22
not cocky. And again, at Washington State,
36:26
he was a leader of that defense. But a safety is like a catcher
36:30
in baseball cannon, Trent, where the field is in front of them.
36:33
They're the only guy that can really see the whole field.
36:36
And a safety on defense. He's going to be working with
36:38
Bolton now on the calls and getting into the right setup.
36:42
But the safety is the only guy that can see the whole field
36:46
around from all the defenders. So that's why safety is
36:49
important. This kid is really pretty good
36:51
and intercepted Brock Purdy last year in the end zone in San
36:55
Francisco. He's a ball hawk.
36:56
He had an interception the other night against Kyler Murray at
36:59
Arizona. He had two other big
37:00
interceptions down the stretch, including two in that time where
37:04
the Chiefs had to win every game and they had played 3 and 10
37:07
days. Hicks got two of those, but only
37:09
330 defensive snaps. They got to get that up to about
37:12
700 or 800 snaps. This could be could be good.
37:15
You mentioned Hicks in the ball ball Hawking ability that he has
37:19
and you know with Trent Mcduffie basically shutting down on one
37:21
side of the field, all these other defensive backs are going
37:24
to have plenty of opportunities because they're not going to
37:26
throw Mcduffie's way very often. What about the rest of the
37:28
defensive backfield short of Mcduffie and what we talked
37:30
about Hicks, how the rest of them are looking?
37:32
Back there. Well, you're going to steal part
37:35
of my Friday report I'm going to give you guys because that's a
37:38
big piece of this game. They've got to get some
37:41
definition to it. Nazi Johnson, who's been around
37:44
coming off an ACL two years ago, more of a special teams guy and
37:48
a scrimmage down guy. What can he do?
37:50
Christian Fulton, the X Charger, has been out of practice this
37:53
week, but he's missed most of camp.
37:55
Noel Williams is a rookie. Can he have another good game
37:58
after having a first game that was decent?
38:02
I think it feels like Jalen Watson, right?
38:06
You're looking at Jalen Watson, but it feels like five corners
38:09
and five safeties. But but the discussion here,
38:11
Trent, is that the Chiefs as much as anyone have these hybrid
38:15
safety guys that look like corners.
38:17
Hicks is kind of that, but Tamara Connor is really that
38:20
way. So it feels like five corners, 5
38:22
safeties, but you got 18 in this camp.
38:25
There's got to be there, has to start getting some definition,
38:28
and that's a big part of the Seattle game.
38:30
And Speaking of that Seattle game, and I'll ask you to put
38:32
the Papa John's talk about them in the same answer.
38:35
How much will we see Mahomes? And then let's discuss Papa
38:38
John's. $1,000,000 question, coach is I don't know, I have a
38:45
feeling we're going to see a lot of Gardner Minshew.
38:47
But, and I'll mention this on Friday again, even if that's the
38:50
case, I could see Minshew with the number one offensive line
38:54
even more than last week. They had one series that with
38:57
that set up. Don't know if Mahomes will play
39:00
if or any at all. It's it's it's a turf that's
39:05
kind of, you know, tricky in Seattle, but we'll see coach.
39:08
I'll have more details on that that later in the week and of
39:11
course, and we'll lay it all out during pregame on the play by
39:15
play. But hey, get ready man.
39:17
It's a Saturday night, It's the State Fair, It's Saturday night.
39:20
Feels like Papa John's pizza to mepapajohns.com.
39:23
We got a new special coming, but it's in Johnston under the hood.
39:27
We'll be here before we know it. Hopefully next week we'll get
39:30
the unveiling live on the Miller and Condon program.
39:33
Mitch Holtis, you have a safe flight to Seattle.
39:36
We'll talk to you next week. We'll hear you on tape Thursday
39:38
and Friday. Love the reports, Mitch.
39:40
Thank you. Talk to you Monday.
39:42
Yep, we're going to hit Nord Gray tomorrow, Nitty Gritty Guy.
39:44
And then Friday, we'll have your checklist.
39:46
Good stuff. Thank you bud.
39:47
Appreciate it. Mitch Holt is the voice of the
39:49
Kansas City Chiefs. Papa John's of Central Iowa
39:51
sponsored the daily Chiefs training camp reports.
39:54
David Kaplan is next. Cubs, Bears, etcetera with Cappy
39:58
Centurion Stone of Iowa sponsors.
40:00
Hour 2 is next. Miller and Condon on the Iowa
40:02
Sports Radio Network.