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Sean O'Connell Show - Full POD 6-22-26 · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:15
Speaker 1: Oh happen Monday, everybody.
0:20
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Sean O'Connell Show on ESPN seven hundred
0:23
Speaker 2: and FM.
0:26
Speaker 3: Happy to be with you today.
0:27
Speaker 2: We've got a fun show lined up on a day
0:31
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say surprisingly large news day, June twenty second,
0:37
Speaker 2: one day removed from the NBA Draft, of course, the
0:40
Speaker 2: Utah Jazz hold on to pick number two. We are
0:43
Speaker 2: going to be doing a draft night special for you
0:46
Speaker 2: down at the engine room, Smitty Gordy Spence myself. I'm
0:52
Speaker 2: gonna Gordy Smitty Spence myself in order of basketball knowledge
0:57
Speaker 2: and importance.
0:59
Speaker 3: Okay, That's how I'm That's how I'm handicapping it.
1:02
Speaker 4: So you're just gonna even though you're even though you're
1:05
Speaker 4: gonna be anchoring it with Spence, You're gonna you're just
1:08
Speaker 4: gonna be as quiet as possible. There's gonna be a
1:09
Speaker 4: lot of b going uh huh oh, totally coming up
1:13
Speaker 4: with trying to come up with intelligent questions for all
1:16
Speaker 4: that basketball.
1:17
Speaker 3: No, no, not even that, not even that.
1:19
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna be like Smitty aj debonsa react. It's
1:24
Speaker 2: gonna be from me. I could promise you. Terrible radio
1:28
Speaker 2: from the other three. It will be excellent, incisive, incredible
1:33
Speaker 2: analysis of the NBA draft as it plays out down
1:37
Speaker 2: at the engine room just off thirteen hundred South.
1:40
Speaker 3: Gonna be fun night.
1:41
Speaker 2: And of course leading into it, we've got Kristin Peak
1:44
Speaker 2: joining us today. We've got Bowler Buckle up, Bowler, Craig
1:47
Speaker 2: Bowler Jack joining us today, Jason Chris, RSL and Utah
1:53
Speaker 2: Royals President of Soccer Operations, to talk about this beautiful
1:57
Speaker 2: World Cup we're watching play out, and of course, on
2:00
Speaker 2: top of that the impending return of RSL and Royal's
2:05
Speaker 2: soccer after the international break. So fun show lined up, and,
2:11
Speaker 2: like I said, a relatively heavy news day, big news
2:14
Speaker 2: if you're a Utah Mammoth fan. On the coaching staff
2:17
Speaker 2: there Bear tourney has been extended, Blaine Forsyth has been extended.
2:22
Speaker 2: Adam Foot, two time Olympic gold medalist, Stanley Cup winner
2:28
Speaker 2: is joining this Utah Mammoth staff.
2:30
Speaker 3: So there was a lot of questioning.
2:34
Speaker 2: Handwringing, worry, wonder about whether or not Coach Bear was
2:38
Speaker 2: ever going to have, you know, the fastball needed to
2:42
Speaker 2: get this team over the hump, ownership management, et cetera.
2:45
Speaker 3: They I will give credit every time I bring it up.
2:51
Speaker 2: They have been very cohesive in their vision for what
2:54
Speaker 2: they think Utah Mammoth Hockey should be what it has
2:59
Speaker 2: been so so far in the first two seasons, and
3:03
Speaker 2: Bear Tourney has been a big part of that. So
3:06
Speaker 2: he's getting extended as his lead assistant, and they're adding
3:10
Speaker 2: Adam Foot, who if you're an NHL fan, you've watched
3:17
Speaker 2: Adam Foot on the ice. I don't know a ton
3:21
Speaker 2: about the impact he's expected to have off the ice, honestly,
3:27
Speaker 2: but he did spend some time with the Vancouver Canucks
3:30
Speaker 2: as their head man. So now you've got another experienced
3:34
Speaker 2: hockey lifer on the bench. And Little Bird tells me
3:38
Speaker 2: that Coach Bear is going to be joining us on
3:40
Speaker 2: the Sean O'Connell Show this week. James, can we officially
3:43
Speaker 2: say that we can? It's been confirmed twelve thirty tomorrow.
3:47
Speaker 2: We're going to move the Daily Dump a little bit
3:49
Speaker 2: later in the show to make room for Coach Bear.
3:53
Speaker 2: One of the coach Bears, yes, in the professional ranks,
3:57
Speaker 2: not to be confused with Utah Tallon's off ball head
4:00
Speaker 2: coach Coach Beart. This is Bear Turney, the Utah Mammoth
4:04
Speaker 2: head coach, so we'll ask him about what he expects
4:07
Speaker 2: the role he expects Adam Foot to play. But congratulations
4:11
Speaker 2: to everyone who got this thing done, everyone who put
4:13
Speaker 2: this together.
4:14
Speaker 4: NHL Draft also this week, by the way, kind of
4:17
Speaker 4: sneaky for us is we're still a burgeoning hockey NHL market.
4:22
Speaker 2: Well and a little bit less momentous for the franchise.
4:28
Speaker 3: You're not holding a number two pick.
4:29
Speaker 4: Not top four like last year even for the Mammoth. Yeah,
4:33
Speaker 4: you're you're picking later in the first round, but that's
4:36
Speaker 4: also this week, so it'd be plenty of questions for
4:39
Speaker 4: Bear tomorrow on that as well. Going back to Adam Foot,
4:44
Speaker 4: I don't know yet how that what that how important
4:49
Speaker 4: that is for hockey to have a former head coach
4:52
Speaker 4: as one of your assistants, right, But we've seen that
4:55
Speaker 4: trend a lot lately in the NBA, particularly with a.
5:00
Speaker 3: Brand new head coach.
5:03
Speaker 4: The Lakers did it recently with JJ Reddick that he's
5:08
Speaker 4: got a couple of former head longtime head coaches on
5:11
Speaker 4: his staff. The Clippers, Tyler's not a new head coach,
5:16
Speaker 4: but he's got a guy like Jeff Van Gundy on
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Speaker 4: his staff. Before that, he had other head coaches former
5:23
Speaker 4: head coaches on his staff. So that's a trend in
5:25
Speaker 4: the NBA. It seems to work well in that league.
5:27
Speaker 4: I would think that it's never a bad thing, no
5:30
Speaker 4: matter what sport you're coaching to have that kind of
5:33
Speaker 4: to have head coaching experience on your bench as well.
5:35
Speaker 2: And again we'll ask coach bar about all this. I
5:38
Speaker 2: think that for this Mammoth squad, I think what Adam
5:41
Speaker 2: Foot brings to the table is just he was a
5:45
Speaker 2: nasty player. He was a physical He's a pretty big
5:48
Speaker 2: guy right to twenty ish and this team, Bill Armstrong,
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Speaker 2: coach Bear, all these people that have been involved have
5:56
Speaker 2: talked about wanting that to be more part of the
5:59
Speaker 2: Utah Mammoth identity. Now, I think that they're going to
6:03
Speaker 2: adapt the team sort of reputation, culture, etc. To the personnel,
6:09
Speaker 2: because that's what you have to do. And I think
6:11
Speaker 2: there's maybe an acknowledgment happening that, at least in the
6:15
Speaker 2: offensive attack, this might be more of a finesse and
6:18
Speaker 2: speed team than initially planned. But when you look at
6:23
Speaker 2: the recent acquisitions, when you look at the recent draft picks,
6:27
Speaker 2: they have tried to build size on this roster and
6:30
Speaker 2: Adam Foot is a guy who if you pay attention
6:33
Speaker 2: to his playing days, he's a guy that knows how
6:36
Speaker 2: to maximize physicality and size. So my uneducated vision of
6:44
Speaker 2: what role he will serve on this staff is to
6:47
Speaker 2: kind of bring that ingredient into the recipe. But we'll
6:51
Speaker 2: talk to Coach Barr about it. We'll see what he
6:53
Speaker 2: has to say. Really fascinating weekend in sport. Obviously the
6:58
Speaker 2: World Cup going on, and that has really kind of
7:01
Speaker 2: elbowed a lot of other things aside. If you're a
7:04
Speaker 2: hardcore golf fan, you were watching a thrilling and insane
7:08
Speaker 2: Shinnecock Hills US Open. Wyndham Clark ended up winning that
7:12
Speaker 2: thing wired to wire. Second US Open victory for Wyndom Clark.
7:16
Speaker 2: And remember when we had John Wright on, Remember when
7:21
Speaker 2: we had Paul Pugmyron and we were like, all right,
7:24
Speaker 2: three guys in the history of US Opens at Shinnecock
7:28
Speaker 2: Hills have finished under par. And at the time of
7:32
Speaker 2: our show on Friday, they were like seven under par.
7:36
Speaker 4: Heading into the weekend, there was I can't remember if
7:39
Speaker 4: it was eleven or thirteen, but they were double digit
7:42
Speaker 4: guys under par.
7:43
Speaker 3: A lot of them just one under par. Oh see, but.
7:46
Speaker 2: Still under park under par, still under park one under counts.
7:49
Speaker 2: It ended up and I asked, I said, when it's
7:53
Speaker 2: all said and done, is it going to be tripling
7:56
Speaker 2: the all time number of guys who finished under par,
7:58
Speaker 2: doubling whatever? Paul Pugmer settled on doubling, and that's exactly
8:04
Speaker 2: what we got. Previously three individuals had finished under par.
8:10
Speaker 2: In this year's tournament, three individuals finished under par. Wyndham
8:14
Speaker 2: Clark ends up getting his second and he ties retief
8:18
Speaker 2: Goosen's all time record in the US Open at Shinnecock
8:21
Speaker 2: Hills at four under.
8:26
Speaker 3: So who is it? Sam Burns? Yeah, he had a
8:31
Speaker 3: great push at the end there.
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Speaker 2: Sam Burns finished second.
8:36
Speaker 4: Just the second we there research on Friday, OC. I mean,
8:41
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna say our your research on Friday you
8:44
Speaker 4: found that there was It was the two thousand and
8:47
Speaker 4: four to one that Goosen and Phil Nicholson both finished
8:50
Speaker 4: under part. This is only the second time a US
8:53
Speaker 4: Open at Shinnacock has had multiple people finished under par.
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Speaker 2: Hey, Shinnecock, you're losing your fastball. I hate to say it,
8:59
Speaker 2: because the last time two guys finished under par in
9:02
Speaker 2: this recent time, three guys finished under par. Next time,
9:06
Speaker 2: twenty years from now, it's gonna be four guys finishing
9:09
Speaker 2: under par. Shinnacock, you're stinking it up. Yeah, what are
9:12
Speaker 2: you doing? I thought you were a tough course.
9:14
Speaker 4: We gotta we gotta credit Paul Pugmyer for another reason too,
9:18
Speaker 4: and John Wright said this too. But not only did
9:22
Speaker 4: he nail it with it's gonna be three more guys
9:25
Speaker 4: they finished under par. That was his guest here. He
9:28
Speaker 4: also said the course is going to catch up to
9:31
Speaker 4: these players, and that's exactly what happened. They we went
9:35
Speaker 4: from eleven ish. Oh, we got a PK with Messi early.
9:39
Speaker 2: On Argentina Austria coming up on the eighth minute and
9:44
Speaker 2: Leo Messi is putting the ball on the spot for
9:47
Speaker 2: a penalty kick.
9:48
Speaker 3: This.
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Speaker 2: If he scores this, it would make him the all
9:51
Speaker 2: time leading World Cup goals scorer, breaking the tie.
9:57
Speaker 3: And he misses.
9:59
Speaker 2: Leo Messi, he just missed a penalty kick against Austria.
10:04
Speaker 3: He didn't even put it on frame.
10:08
Speaker 4: So the keeper guessed right, so he might he might
10:11
Speaker 4: have blocked it anyway, but Messi missed it wide.
10:14
Speaker 2: He missed it wide right. He tried a little stutter
10:19
Speaker 2: step at the end, a little slow play, delayed release
10:23
Speaker 2: on the shot.
10:27
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna lie.
10:28
Speaker 2: That was the least impressive penalty kick I've ever seen
10:31
Speaker 2: in my many minutes of watching World Cup soccer.
10:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was. That's a tough one.
10:38
Speaker 4: He immediately hands on his face, like, oh man, how'd
10:41
Speaker 4: I miss it?
10:42
Speaker 3: That's a huge missed opportunity.
10:44
Speaker 2: Now, uh, we're only in the now ninth minute of
10:48
Speaker 2: Argentina versus Austria. But let that be the biggest story
10:52
Speaker 2: of the soccer day so far, Leo Messi mincing missing
10:56
Speaker 2: a penalty kick. By the way, I was forty two
11:03
Speaker 2: and three quarters years old when I learned of the
11:06
Speaker 2: new rule at World Cup and international tournaments that you
11:11
Speaker 2: get a red card if you cover your mouth while
11:14
Speaker 2: you're talking to an opponent. Did you know about this?
11:17
Speaker 2: James eight seven seven three five three zero seven hundred.
11:20
Speaker 3: I did not know this. Did you know about this?
11:23
Speaker 2: All of you out there, all of you soccer officionados,
11:25
Speaker 2: all you hardcores like it's it's honestly kind of fun,
11:31
Speaker 2: even when you're a sports guy and you should know
11:33
Speaker 2: these things. It's kind of fun learning a new rule
11:36
Speaker 2: about a sport that you feel like you've got at
11:38
Speaker 2: least the basics on. I did not know this was
11:42
Speaker 2: the case. I'm watching over the weekend, and it was
11:49
Speaker 2: in the Paraguay game. There's a little there's a situation
11:56
Speaker 2: where you know, players are getting a little bit heated
11:59
Speaker 2: at one another, getting a little bit bothered. And Paraguay
12:05
Speaker 2: versus Turkey Turkey. Eh, there's a little extra curricular conversation happening,
12:14
Speaker 2: and and Siso puts the jersey over the mouth. No,
12:20
Speaker 2: it wasn't in Ciso. He would he had been subbed
12:22
Speaker 2: out in any case, he a Paraguay player. I'll find
12:27
Speaker 2: out who it was. Puts his his shirt up over
12:32
Speaker 2: his mouth or puts his hand over his mouth, and
12:35
Speaker 2: he says something, and everyone on the TURKEYA team starts
12:38
Speaker 2: freaking out right. They go to the var. They do
12:44
Speaker 2: the whole like I'm a mime making a box thing.
12:48
Speaker 2: They go to the var. The ref goes and looks
12:51
Speaker 2: at it and determines somehow that this individual has been Uh,
12:59
Speaker 2: he covered his mouth and he said something. And the
13:02
Speaker 2: reason behind the rule is makes perfect sense because abusive language,
13:06
Speaker 2: especially like slurs racial stuff, has been a big problem
13:10
Speaker 2: in international soccer, and the ref goes over, he evaluates
13:17
Speaker 2: the replay of the trash talking, and then he pulls
13:21
Speaker 2: out the red card and Paraguay plays a good chunk
13:25
Speaker 2: of the game of man down.
13:28
Speaker 3: And I was like.
13:31
Speaker 2: My wife, who's played college soccer, big soccer. I was like, wait,
13:34
Speaker 2: did you know about that rule? She's like, I didn't
13:36
Speaker 2: know about that rule? Insane eight seven seven three five
13:41
Speaker 2: three zero seven hundred. If there's any similar rules in
13:44
Speaker 2: sports that you learned like way after, you should have
13:47
Speaker 2: learned them, And this one, I think is a relatively
13:50
Speaker 2: recent development. So I'm giving myself a little bit of
13:52
Speaker 2: latitude on not knowing that it was a rule. But
13:56
Speaker 2: that's a hard and fast thing in international so and
14:01
Speaker 2: the broadcast team did a great job of explaining it,
14:03
Speaker 2: and there was not there was zero controversy at all
14:07
Speaker 2: about oh, yep, that's against the rules, that's you got it.
14:10
Speaker 3: It's kind of like.
14:13
Speaker 2: I was about to say, it's kind of like targeting,
14:14
Speaker 2: but then I realized that's not true at all, because
14:16
Speaker 2: no one can agree on what's targeting what's not targeting.
14:18
Speaker 4: But there's ever there's always controversy when there's a targeting call.
14:22
Speaker 2: But it's it's something that they have decided to emphasize
14:24
Speaker 2: with the referees in these games, in these tournaments, and
14:28
Speaker 2: they just said, like the broadcast team was like, yeah,
14:31
Speaker 2: that's a no brainer.
14:31
Speaker 3: He's out. I was like, okay, mean words.
14:36
Speaker 2: You say something mean and you can lose your opportunity
14:41
Speaker 2: to compete for your national team in the World Cup.
14:45
Speaker 2: And that was a win, by the way for Podaguay.
14:47
Speaker 2: So they held on. They eliminate Turkey a USA team.
14:51
Speaker 2: USA wins the group and we are off to a
14:54
Speaker 2: World Cup at least quarterfinal.
14:56
Speaker 3: Baby, I'm calling it now.
14:59
Speaker 4: I don't know if you're allowed to change your prediction.
15:03
Speaker 4: Oh see, I've got you down for a round of sixteen.
15:07
Speaker 4: Are in our very informed predictions that everyone should everyone
15:11
Speaker 4: should listen to. By the way, not feeling good about
15:15
Speaker 4: my Jordan pick. Wait, why not James, And they're not
15:19
Speaker 4: eliminated yet now okay, it's still they're still in it
15:23
Speaker 4: in that group, but I'm feeling great about it.
15:27
Speaker 3: So tam USA.
15:30
Speaker 2: Wins the group and a lot of conversation happening this
15:34
Speaker 2: week this weekend, I should say about.
15:41
Speaker 3: Whether or not.
15:43
Speaker 2: A significant run in the World Cup will change our
15:48
Speaker 2: relationship with soccer here in the United States.
15:53
Speaker 3: And I listened to a bunch of pundits.
15:55
Speaker 2: I listen to people who are soccer people, and they
15:58
Speaker 2: are mostly skeptics. I listen to people who are college
16:00
Speaker 2: football guys. I listen to just like the random you know,
16:04
Speaker 2: nighttime fill in ESPN Radio cats, Kirk Morrison filling in
16:10
Speaker 2: for the Rich Eisen Show today. And you know, there's
16:14
Speaker 2: some part of some level of this question coming from
16:18
Speaker 2: you know, ninety percent of the sports talk radio shows
16:21
Speaker 2: that you're listening to right now that you're tuning into
16:24
Speaker 2: over the weekend. After USA wins the group, and in
16:29
Speaker 2: winning the group, they will end up with a smoother
16:33
Speaker 2: path to whatever matchups they get in the round of
16:38
Speaker 2: thirty two, whatever matchups they get in the round of
16:40
Speaker 2: sixteen are now more favorable.
16:41
Speaker 5: Right.
16:42
Speaker 2: And so as this this glimmer of hope starts to appear,
16:46
Speaker 2: you've got former US men's national team goalkeeper Tim Howard
16:50
Speaker 2: saying on a conversation with Landon Donovan, it's impossible for
16:55
Speaker 2: this US men's national team to win the World Cup.
16:58
Speaker 3: It's literally impossible, were his words.
17:02
Speaker 2: And that throws a lot of cold water on the hope,
17:04
Speaker 2: the expectation, whatever.
17:07
Speaker 3: I think that this World Cup, regardless of whether or not.
17:13
Speaker 2: The team that we hope wins it wins it, which
17:16
Speaker 2: I don't think it's I don't think the US men's
17:18
Speaker 2: national team is going to win the World Cup. I
17:20
Speaker 2: don't think any of us actually believe they're going to
17:22
Speaker 2: win the World Cup. I think that the small glimmer
17:27
Speaker 2: and possibility and hearing Zlatan Ibrahimovich and Terrynrie and those
17:33
Speaker 2: individuals who have never had any reason to put respect
17:36
Speaker 2: on the name of US men's national team soccer starting
17:40
Speaker 2: to reluctantly do so. I think that's what changes the
17:43
Speaker 2: relationship that the American sports fan has with soccer. And
17:47
Speaker 2: it's not going to change it overnight drastically in a
17:52
Speaker 2: sort of binary way, like, oh, we weren't a soccer
17:54
Speaker 2: nation before and now we are, but watching this World
17:57
Speaker 2: Cup and we're a couple of weeks into it now,
18:00
Speaker 2: and the novelty for some has worn off. But while
18:05
Speaker 2: the novelty is not the main driving force in the
18:08
Speaker 2: interest anymore, like the soccer is compelling, the continued relationship
18:13
Speaker 2: with the visiting fans is compelling, the fact that the
18:18
Speaker 2: gathered crowds at these watch parties and on the plaza
18:22
Speaker 2: at every stadium. Is not trying to copycat European soccer standard.
18:30
Speaker 2: Is compelling to me. And I'm not the only one
18:34
Speaker 2: to make this point. I'm not the first one to
18:35
Speaker 2: make this point. But a point that I think matters
18:38
Speaker 2: when we're watching this World Cup.
18:42
Speaker 3: Is you have to adopt. You have to adopt and adapt.
18:45
Speaker 2: I should say how soccer exists in the US to
18:50
Speaker 2: an American mentality and ethos. Right, You've got to stop
18:56
Speaker 2: the flopping. It's ridiculous. You've got to You're not gonna stop.
18:58
Speaker 2: You have to mind. The US men's national team cannot
19:02
Speaker 2: be guilty of the Oh you got tripped Now, I'm
19:05
Speaker 2: gonna roll seven times.
19:07
Speaker 3: That's a real number. By the way.
19:09
Speaker 2: We were watching and I was laughing, and my wife
19:12
Speaker 2: was kind of like, come on, it's just it's soccer.
19:15
Speaker 2: Stop making fun of these. This is what soccer's I'm like,
19:17
Speaker 2: I know, but that guy fell down and he should
19:20
Speaker 2: have stopped his momentum stopped him right there.
19:22
Speaker 3: As soon as he hit the ground. He rolled seven times.
19:24
Speaker 3: I counted.
19:26
Speaker 2: I'm like, that's that's something that American sports fans will
19:29
Speaker 2: never be able to embrace but our team won't do it.
19:33
Speaker 2: If our team's not doing it or is doing it
19:35
Speaker 2: markedly less. I think we're okay if we try like
19:39
Speaker 2: we did with the MLS teams, and I've been vocal
19:42
Speaker 2: against this, if we try to just copy the way
19:45
Speaker 2: we name our teams, the way just well, that's what
19:50
Speaker 2: you know that Manchester United is DC United.
19:53
Speaker 3: Like I don't like that. I don't like that we
19:54
Speaker 3: did that with the MLS.
19:57
Speaker 2: The newer teams in the MLS are doing a little
19:59
Speaker 2: bit less of that, but I think that that is
20:02
Speaker 2: something that we can do to separate American sport, American
20:06
Speaker 2: soccer from the rest of the sport of soccer in
20:09
Speaker 2: a way that will make it more appealing to Americans.
20:12
Speaker 2: And I know that that's not necessarily the one goal
20:16
Speaker 2: of MLS. They want to embrace the European kind of
20:20
Speaker 2: mentality because it works over there and if it ain't broke,
20:23
Speaker 2: don't fix it. But it doesn't work in America the
20:27
Speaker 2: relationship that we have with soccer. When I asked two
20:31
Speaker 2: weeks ago, is it going to change how you watch soccer?
20:33
Speaker 3: Is this going to be like the Olympics? We're watching
20:36
Speaker 3: it happen.
20:36
Speaker 2: We're watching sports fans in major American cities go out,
20:42
Speaker 2: buy a US men's national team shirt, Go buy a
20:44
Speaker 2: Mexico shirt, go buy an Argentina shirt, whatever, and go
20:48
Speaker 2: experience soccer in a way that is not going to
20:51
Speaker 2: make it rocket to the top of their rankings. It's
20:55
Speaker 2: not going to replace NFL football or college football. But
20:59
Speaker 2: if this team that we're rooting for, the patriotism in
21:02
Speaker 2: US demands that we root for, if they could make
21:05
Speaker 2: it to a round of sixteen, if they can make
21:08
Speaker 2: it to a final eight, if they can make it
21:12
Speaker 2: dare I dream to the final four of this tournament.
21:16
Speaker 2: Now we have the respect of the international community and
21:21
Speaker 2: you have something to kind of attach your pride to.
21:24
Speaker 2: And now it does change the relationship that people have
21:27
Speaker 2: with soccer in the United States. But I don't think
21:29
Speaker 2: it's going to take all of that. I just think
21:31
Speaker 2: I think this is elevating soccer in the US as
21:36
Speaker 2: we speak, regardless almost of the results of the US
21:38
Speaker 2: men's national team, And if they end up winning anything
21:41
Speaker 2: significant or making you know, even it doesn't have to
21:44
Speaker 2: be winning the World Cup, because I don't think they're
21:45
Speaker 2: gonna do that. If we upset somehow on this path,
21:51
Speaker 2: if Christian Polistic gets healthy and scores one against I
21:58
Speaker 2: don't know, Spain scores one against Argentina scores one against
22:03
Speaker 2: the team that you're not supposed to beat. I think
22:06
Speaker 2: now that glimmer of hope it exists, and the belief
22:09
Speaker 2: starts to exist. And the reason I feel confident in
22:11
Speaker 2: that is because two years ago, three years ago, we
22:14
Speaker 2: never would have thought hockey would have much of a
22:16
Speaker 2: chance in Salt Lake City. People didn't know to speak
22:20
Speaker 2: the language of hockey in Salt Lake City, even those
22:23
Speaker 2: of us who are in the sports business. I was
22:25
Speaker 2: born in Minnesota, okay, like it was part of the
22:31
Speaker 2: early early childhood. It was part of like the fabric
22:34
Speaker 2: of your life growing up there, right, And I always said, yeah,
22:42
Speaker 2: we need more sports teams here. Hockey was okay, but
22:46
Speaker 2: we didn't know it was gonna look like it does
22:49
Speaker 2: the most optimistic outlook. And I credit Smith Entertainment Group,
22:54
Speaker 2: Ryan and Ashley. I credit everyone who had the vision
22:57
Speaker 2: to know that, like, you know what, if we if
22:59
Speaker 2: you build it, they will come. That's what's gonna happen
23:02
Speaker 2: with American soccer. And we're watching it happen in this
23:06
Speaker 2: World Cup. I really do believe that we're watching Americans
23:10
Speaker 2: embrace the world game, Embrace the beautiful game, Embrace the
23:14
Speaker 2: game that is number one on the list of literally
23:17
Speaker 2: four plus billion people worldwide and is number six on
23:22
Speaker 2: our favorites. Right, it's not gonna go to number one,
23:25
Speaker 2: but it might go to five, or it might go
23:27
Speaker 2: to four, just like hockey did for you here in
23:29
Speaker 2: Salt Lake City. If I asked all of you, honestly,
23:33
Speaker 2: five years ago, where is hockey on your list of
23:37
Speaker 2: favorite sports, you would have said it's four out of
23:42
Speaker 2: the major four, and a lot of you would have said, well,
23:44
Speaker 2: it's five behind MLS soccer, And now I don't know
23:50
Speaker 2: anyone it's lower than three, because why because we have
23:53
Speaker 2: something to root for, because you have something to cheer for.
23:56
Speaker 2: And guess what's gonna happen with the Utah Jazz if
23:58
Speaker 2: they draft well tomorrow, their place secure at number one
24:04
Speaker 2: for so long, and then they fell down to two
24:07
Speaker 2: for a lot of people. They fell down to three
24:09
Speaker 2: for a lot of people because they have not been good.
24:12
Speaker 2: Because the patience that is required to root for a
24:15
Speaker 2: team that is five years deep into a tanking effort
24:18
Speaker 2: just evades most of us. If they give you something
24:22
Speaker 2: to cheer for, suddenly they climb. We're all, to some
24:26
Speaker 2: extent fair weather fans, which is why suddenly the BYU
24:32
Speaker 2: contingent is louder and more obnoxious than they ever were.
24:35
Speaker 3: And you got to give credit where it's due.
24:36
Speaker 2: They've been BYU faithful for obvious reasons, even through some
24:40
Speaker 2: lean years. Utah football, you had to suffer through really
24:44
Speaker 2: one embarrassingly bad year and it got pretty loud about
24:50
Speaker 2: how dissatisfied people were. Right, we need this, We need
24:55
Speaker 2: something to care about, to cling to, to have hope for,
24:59
Speaker 2: and this World Cup is giving us that for soccer.
25:04
Speaker 2: That's really all we need is sports fans. Utah fans
25:09
Speaker 2: right now are on paper entering a year with a
25:13
Speaker 2: massive amount of uncertainty, massive Utah Jazz fans, a massive
25:19
Speaker 2: amount of uncertainty. You still don't have a Walker Kessler
25:22
Speaker 2: deal done. You don't know if Lowery Marketing can stay
25:26
Speaker 2: healthy for a whole year. You actually have no idea
25:29
Speaker 2: how Jaron Jackson Junior is going to truly fit with
25:33
Speaker 2: this team. We don't know for sure if Will Hardy
25:36
Speaker 2: is a good basketball coach. We think he is, but
25:39
Speaker 2: we don't know because he's never been asked to actually
25:41
Speaker 2: try to win.
25:43
Speaker 3: Right, There's a huge amount of uncertainty.
25:47
Speaker 2: With two of the three or three of the four
25:51
Speaker 2: of the most important sports products in your life as
25:55
Speaker 2: a Utah sports fan. And you're still optimistic, and you're
25:58
Speaker 2: still rooting, and you're still buying the gear, and you're
26:00
Speaker 2: still listening to this stupid show because you have what
26:04
Speaker 2: you have, a small grain and glimmer of hope, because
26:09
Speaker 2: you trust Morgan Scally at least some. Because you think
26:14
Speaker 2: that Devin Dan Pierre and if not him, Bird Ficklan
26:17
Speaker 2: has what it takes. Because you like way Sean Parker
26:21
Speaker 2: this much. Because Kelvin obod is the highest rated recruit
26:25
Speaker 2: that this program has ever seen. Because you think John
26:28
Speaker 2: new Hall making the move from safety to linebacker, this
26:32
Speaker 2: is the year that he is going to break out
26:34
Speaker 2: as a big time All Conference player. Whatever your reasoning is,
26:37
Speaker 2: it doesn't on paper, It doesn't even really have to
26:41
Speaker 2: make a ton of sense. Two victories in group play
26:47
Speaker 2: is all I have needed and all most of us
26:49
Speaker 2: have needed from the US men's national team. The idea
26:54
Speaker 2: that Darren Peterson and or aj Debonsa might actually end
26:59
Speaker 2: up being an be a star that you get to
27:02
Speaker 2: watch during the All Star break and that you get
27:05
Speaker 2: to buy a jersey for. That's enough that jazz fans
27:09
Speaker 2: are jumping back on this bandwagon.
27:11
Speaker 3: The Utah Mammoth.
27:12
Speaker 2: Made it into the playoffs, that didn't make it out
27:15
Speaker 2: of the first series. But now suddenly we are hardcore
27:18
Speaker 2: hockey fans and we're just like, yeah, let's let's build
27:22
Speaker 2: some more facilities for them, Let's make it a part
27:24
Speaker 2: of our culture. I mean, I used to be really
27:28
Speaker 2: pessimistic and honestly pretty dismissive on the soccer front of
27:32
Speaker 2: the United States, and I am prone to being a
27:36
Speaker 2: prisoner to the moment for sure. But I'm looking at
27:39
Speaker 2: it now and I'm saying, if certain things break the
27:42
Speaker 2: right way, we don't have to ignore this for the
27:47
Speaker 2: next four years. We don't have to accept that, eh, US,
27:52
Speaker 2: that's just not our thing. Soccer is just not our thing.
27:55
Speaker 2: This golden generation might actually start building into something that
28:00
Speaker 2: we can compete on a world stage. It's still a
28:03
Speaker 2: big maybe, but I don't know that a lot of
28:07
Speaker 2: people had it handicapped that this US men's national team
28:10
Speaker 2: after two games would have secured the group already.
28:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I'm I agree with you. I think the
28:19
Speaker 4: thing that would send this soccer fandom on a rocket
28:27
Speaker 4: ship to the moon, so to speak, for people like
28:31
Speaker 4: you and me and others out there that are kind
28:34
Speaker 4: of only World Cup I get into it only US
28:37
Speaker 4: men's national team stuff.
28:38
Speaker 3: I get into it.
28:40
Speaker 4: I think what it would send that you know, rocket
28:44
Speaker 4: ship to the moon into the air. There would be
28:48
Speaker 4: an upset like that because what we've seen with US
28:50
Speaker 4: men's national team over the years, we've seen them win
28:53
Speaker 4: their group in World Cup before. We've seen them get
28:57
Speaker 4: to the quarters, although it's been a really long time,
29:00
Speaker 4: we've seen them, and that means we've seen them win
29:02
Speaker 4: a knockout round game. I don't know that they've ever
29:05
Speaker 4: beaten a top you know, blue blood so to speak,
29:09
Speaker 4: blue blood in world soccer. That they've had that kind
29:12
Speaker 4: of a monumental upset before, that really signals, hey, we're
29:18
Speaker 4: we've not only arrived, we're actually good at this game.
29:22
Speaker 4: You know, you may not ignore us so beating in Argentina,
29:26
Speaker 4: beating a Spain, beating a Brazil in this year's Worldwide.
29:31
Speaker 2: By the way, Brazil I don't think Brazil is that
29:33
Speaker 2: great this year. Like you could beat Brazil, Yeah, that would.
29:38
Speaker 4: Still be a monument, that would still be looked at
29:40
Speaker 4: as a monumental upset in this World Cup. That's the
29:42
Speaker 4: thing about this, Like it's fantastic that they won their
29:47
Speaker 4: first two games so far and they've won their group
29:49
Speaker 4: through two group stage games. What it's kind of gotten
29:53
Speaker 4: a little out of hand is the fact that they've
29:54
Speaker 4: played their third, the third or fourth worst teams in
29:59
Speaker 4: the maybe the second and third or the third and
30:02
Speaker 4: fourth worst teams in their group so far. Well, okay,
30:05
Speaker 4: so Turkey is eliminated, right, so they're the worst. They're
30:10
Speaker 4: the worst, but they're actually probably the most talented. So
30:13
Speaker 4: they were picked by a lot of people to win
30:15
Speaker 4: the group absolutely.
30:18
Speaker 3: Right.
30:18
Speaker 2: As it stands right now, who you meet in the
30:22
Speaker 2: first knockout stage is Bosnia Herzegovina seems beatable.
30:28
Speaker 4: Shout out to our friends who've been working out in Utah,
30:30
Speaker 4: by the way, practice training in Utah.
30:32
Speaker 2: And again, as it stands now, still one more game
30:34
Speaker 2: to play in group. Your second round matchup would be
30:37
Speaker 2: the winner of Chechia and Australia.
30:40
Speaker 3: Chechia in New Zealand. That's they seem beatable as well. Yeah.
30:45
Speaker 2: Anyway, I'm not gonna go too far down this rabbit
30:48
Speaker 2: hole because I'll say something wrong. But we're all starting
30:51
Speaker 2: to believe and I love it. Staying on that belief
30:53
Speaker 2: front again with the Utah Jazz. It feels like people
30:58
Speaker 2: are ready to fire back up the old expectation machine.
31:02
Speaker 2: A lot of that is dependent on how the draft
31:04
Speaker 2: goes tomorrow. Is it predictable, Well, we see some madness.
31:08
Speaker 2: Kristin Peake is going to join us talking about her
31:11
Speaker 2: final mock draft and of course what we think will
31:14
Speaker 2: happen tomorrow night. Sean O'Connell show rolling on a Monday
31:18
Speaker 2: ESPN seven hundred and ninety two one FM.
31:23
Speaker 1: Belong with me.
31:26
Speaker 4: And I can tell it.
31:30
Speaker 1: To the Sean O'Connell Show for the Murdoch Chevrolet Studio
31:34
Speaker 1: of ESPN seven hundred and ninety two to one a half.
31:37
Speaker 2: M eight seven seven three five three zero seven hundred.
31:48
Speaker 2: Was there a Christmas or birthday or special occasion as
31:51
Speaker 2: a kid, you kind of knew what you were getting,
31:57
Speaker 2: you knew what was coming, but you were excited about
31:59
Speaker 2: it anyway, Right, you get to like eight nine ten
32:02
Speaker 2: years old, and you start to figure out that Santa
32:07
Speaker 2: Claus is gonna get the big thing that you ask
32:10
Speaker 2: for as long as you're within reason right, you have
32:15
Speaker 2: some sense at that point in your life of the
32:19
Speaker 2: manufacturing means of Santa Claus, if that makes sense, and
32:24
Speaker 2: you're like, you know what, Santa Claus, I want this bike,
32:28
Speaker 2: this specific bicycle. Santa Claus is the thing that I
32:31
Speaker 2: am really excited about. And you feel really confident that
32:36
Speaker 2: Santa Claus is going to come through on that bike.
32:38
Speaker 2: But it does not take away from the anticipation, the excitement,
32:43
Speaker 2: the joy of Christmas. That's where I think I'm at
32:47
Speaker 2: with this Utah Jazz draft that's coming up tomorrow night,
32:50
Speaker 2: NBA draft.
32:51
Speaker 3: It's not just a Jazz drafting.
32:52
Speaker 2: Of course, our draft show will be six to two
32:56
Speaker 2: whenever the first round ends down at the engine room,
33:01
Speaker 2: swing by, say hello, food and drink specials, some things
33:04
Speaker 2: to give away. Gordy chiers A, Richard Smitty Smith Spence
33:11
Speaker 2: checkets myself at the engine room talking about what I
33:14
Speaker 2: think will be an announcement that the Utah Jazz are drafting. Well,
33:19
Speaker 2: it's one of two things. So it's you're either getting
33:22
Speaker 2: the bicycle that you wanted, or you're getting the Sega
33:25
Speaker 2: that you wanted. And if you were as smart as
33:27
Speaker 2: a kid, you always gave Santa the good backup option,
33:32
Speaker 2: right or you were like, look, here's the big thing
33:35
Speaker 2: I want from Santa Claus, and here's the big thing
33:38
Speaker 2: I want from mom and dad. I want a bicycle
33:43
Speaker 2: from Santa Claus. And if he can't pull that off,
33:46
Speaker 2: then maybe mom and dad you can get And it
33:48
Speaker 2: was always a group present in our house. You can
33:51
Speaker 2: get me an older brother and younger brother and younger sister.
33:54
Speaker 2: You can get us a Sega, Sega Genesis, a Super Sega.
33:59
Speaker 2: We we did regular Nintendo, then we did Sega, then
34:06
Speaker 2: we did PlayStation, then we did PlayStation two, and that
34:09
Speaker 2: was it. That's after PlayStation two, I kind of aged
34:14
Speaker 2: out of the video game world. I think that's what
34:21
Speaker 2: we're getting with the Utah Jazz Tomorrow, where we kind
34:24
Speaker 2: of know it's either gonna be AJ or more likely,
34:30
Speaker 2: it's gonna be Darren Peterson. I don't know who is
34:32
Speaker 2: the bicycle in this case and who is the video
34:35
Speaker 2: game system, but it feels like it's one of those
34:39
Speaker 2: two as the most likely outcome and it's a wonderful
34:46
Speaker 2: Christmas morning either way. We've talked ad nauseum with a
34:52
Speaker 2: lot of different pundits, a lot of different insiders about
34:56
Speaker 2: you know, the fit thing, about the question about as
34:59
Speaker 2: to whether or not you know, somebody wants to be here.
35:03
Speaker 2: I have helped, i think, drive the narrative that it
35:05
Speaker 2: makes sense to me that the Utah Jazz would care,
35:08
Speaker 2: should care, will care about whether or not a guy
35:12
Speaker 2: really is enamored with living in, playing in working in
35:15
Speaker 2: Salt Lake City, maybe staying here in off seasons if
35:18
Speaker 2: they care about them. And I've also perhaps falsely felt
35:25
Speaker 2: sure that aj Debonsa has given us enough information that
35:30
Speaker 2: he is likely to want to be here. But there's
35:34
Speaker 2: also the likelihood, just maybe not fifty to fifty, but
35:38
Speaker 2: there is some likelihood that he's experienced Utah these last
35:42
Speaker 2: few years and now he's like ready for something new
35:48
Speaker 2: report this weekend, and you have to dig. But the
35:53
Speaker 2: Dallas Hoops Journal, which is you know, it's not the
35:58
Speaker 2: New York Times, it's not Shams or somebody like that.
36:03
Speaker 2: But the Dallas Hoops Journal is not just some tabloid
36:07
Speaker 2: that doesn't have any real journalistic integrity. The Dallas Hoops
36:11
Speaker 2: Journal has reported that Darren Peterson, while he hasn't didn't
36:16
Speaker 2: come out and work out for the Utah Jazz, he
36:20
Speaker 2: has met with the Utah Jazz. He at least had
36:24
Speaker 2: conversations with Jazz Brass.
36:26
Speaker 3: Now.
36:28
Speaker 2: I don't know what the content of that meeting would be.
36:32
Speaker 2: I don't know if there are people who you know,
36:35
Speaker 2: he sat down with who listened to him say, well,
36:38
Speaker 2: turns out I just don't want to be here. Leo
36:42
Speaker 2: Messi just scored for Argentina after missing the PK in
36:46
Speaker 2: about the eighth minute, in the thirty eighth minute on
36:49
Speaker 2: a beautiful crossing pass left foot into the back of
36:56
Speaker 2: the net. Argentina up won zero on Austria.
37:00
Speaker 6: YEA.
37:03
Speaker 2: I don't know what the content of whatever meeting with
37:05
Speaker 2: Darren Peterson was when the Utah Jazz executives were able
37:08
Speaker 2: to sit down face to face with him, as the
37:10
Speaker 2: Dallas Hoops Journal is reporting, talking to Gordy, talking to Spence,
37:18
Speaker 2: talking to Smitty, talking to people that are much more
37:21
Speaker 2: connected even than those guys, well, not more connected than
37:25
Speaker 2: Gordian Smitty, but more connected to Spence and I are.
37:29
Speaker 2: And knowing what we saw last year with Ace Bailey.
37:33
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter to some extent what Darren Peterson had
37:38
Speaker 2: to say. If he is the most talented, if he
37:42
Speaker 2: is the best option, if he is the best available,
37:45
Speaker 2: then it's Darren Peterson to the Utah Jazz. And as
37:49
Speaker 2: far as we can tell, it worked out okay with
37:51
Speaker 2: Ace Bailey. So that's how it will work out with
37:55
Speaker 2: Darren Peterson. Until we have reason to disbelieve that, I
37:59
Speaker 2: will believe that that's how it will work out with
38:02
Speaker 2: Darren Peterson.
38:03
Speaker 3: There's also a lot of rumor out there.
38:05
Speaker 2: There's a lot of conversation that Washington, who holds the
38:09
Speaker 2: number one pick, that they've fallen in love with Darren Peterson. Well,
38:17
Speaker 2: you can fall in love with Darren Peterson and still
38:19
Speaker 2: acknowledge that AJ Debon say is something that you love
38:23
Speaker 2: even more, and that AJ DEBONNSA might be a better
38:26
Speaker 2: fit for your franchise. The Jazz are in a really
38:30
Speaker 2: unique situation where it feels altogether predictable that you're going
38:36
Speaker 2: to end up with one of those two people, and
38:38
Speaker 2: in either case you're probably happy. In either case, you're
38:43
Speaker 2: you're pleased with the outcome. Eight seven seven three five
38:52
Speaker 2: three zero seven hundred just tell me where you're sitting
38:56
Speaker 2: a day ahead. I think most of us think Darren Peterson, right,
39:02
Speaker 2: and then you get into the conversations about how will
39:04
Speaker 2: Darren Peterson co exist with Keyante George, And then the
39:08
Speaker 2: conversation extends to will Darren Peterson have to exist long
39:12
Speaker 2: term with Keyante George or will he end up replacing
39:17
Speaker 2: Keyante George? And Kyante George, who wants an extension, isn't
39:22
Speaker 2: going to get one anytime soon. It doesn't seem probably
39:25
Speaker 2: won't at least I think we're gonna go into a
39:27
Speaker 2: Walker Kessler situation with Kiante again this year, where he's
39:32
Speaker 2: going to say the right things and he's likely going
39:34
Speaker 2: to do the right things. But then we're going to
39:37
Speaker 2: watch them play together, maybe watch them play one coming
39:41
Speaker 2: off the bench once starting, we still have to figure
39:45
Speaker 2: it out. He goes back to what I was saying
39:46
Speaker 2: in the first segment. We've got this optimism and this
39:50
Speaker 2: excitement about not only the draft but the results of
39:52
Speaker 2: the draft and what it does for this roster. There's
39:55
Speaker 2: still a lot of things up in the air. There's
39:57
Speaker 2: still a lot of unanswered questions about this Utah Jazz team.
40:01
Speaker 2: But because of the positive trending, the direction that the
40:07
Speaker 2: franchise is headed, and the fact that finally, at long last,
40:12
Speaker 2: something good happened for you in a draft lottery. Now
40:15
Speaker 2: we're cool. Now we're feeling good. Now we're hosting a
40:17
Speaker 2: watch party for the draft at the engine room. Now
40:21
Speaker 2: we're all sitting down and being like, all right, this
40:24
Speaker 2: is gonna be fun. We didn't get the bicycle that
40:26
Speaker 2: we wanted, but we got the video game system instead,
40:29
Speaker 2: and we're going to turn this into a great Christmas.
40:36
Speaker 2: The pressure is not on the Utah Jazz. The pressure
40:40
Speaker 2: to make the right decision is on the Washington Wizards.
40:47
Speaker 2: They have taken away any kind of significant angst I
40:53
Speaker 2: think in that Utah Jazz front office, because for them,
40:56
Speaker 2: it's just like, all right, we'll take the next take
40:58
Speaker 2: whoever the best player available.
41:00
Speaker 3: You cannot control the Washington Wizards.
41:03
Speaker 2: There's no credible outlet reporting that the Jazz are gonna
41:07
Speaker 2: intend to trade up to get aj Debansa or Darren
41:10
Speaker 2: Peterson or whoever they think will be the number one pick.
41:13
Speaker 2: They're gonna stay at number two, and the pressure is
41:15
Speaker 2: on Washington to make the right pick for Washington, and
41:19
Speaker 2: we'll take what's left, We'll take what's next. It's where
41:26
Speaker 2: my holiday analogy runs out. My Christmas analogy runs out
41:30
Speaker 2: because I maybe some other people experiences. I never walked
41:35
Speaker 2: down to see the presence under the Christmas tree and
41:38
Speaker 2: it was like, all right, big brother gets to choose first,
41:40
Speaker 2: and then you get the second best thing.
41:42
Speaker 3: We didn't. It was not that way. Maybe it was
41:45
Speaker 3: that way in your house. That would be tough.
41:47
Speaker 2: Present draft for Christmas present draft where Santa Claus this
41:52
Speaker 2: is like, all right, we got an electric scooter.
41:54
Speaker 3: Didn't exist when I was a kid, so bad example.
41:56
Speaker 2: All right, you got an electric scooter, you got PlayStation
42:01
Speaker 2: twenty seven or whatever they have coming out. Now, you
42:04
Speaker 2: got a puppy. So you three kids. Middle child won
42:11
Speaker 2: the lottery. Middle child you go first, pick the one
42:15
Speaker 2: you watch. Pong balls favored the middle child. Sorry the
42:18
Speaker 2: first time ever. Yeah, as a middle child, I could
42:22
Speaker 2: tell you.
42:22
Speaker 4: Little child or the Utah Jazz of that drafts three.
42:26
Speaker 3: As a middle child, I can tell you the pig
42:28
Speaker 3: pup balls never went your way. But I mean it's.
42:33
Speaker 2: Funny because I I'm I'm as excited I think as
42:35
Speaker 2: is appropriate for this draft.
42:37
Speaker 3: But it's weird.
42:38
Speaker 2: Because I'm like, what, yeah, but we're getting the we're
42:41
Speaker 2: getting the bike, getting a really good player no matter what.
42:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, even and I I am least in favor, you know,
42:50
Speaker 4: I told you before, I'm least in favor of trading
42:53
Speaker 4: up for number one. But if you're staying at number two,
42:55
Speaker 4: which I'm I'm glad of that, that's seems to be
42:59
Speaker 4: the reports Jazz are gonna do. I'm least in favor
43:03
Speaker 4: of drafting Carlo cam Boozer in that in that scenario,
43:08
Speaker 4: but you're getting a good player no matter what. Even
43:10
Speaker 4: if you draft cam Boozer, I I wouldn't feel great
43:15
Speaker 4: about it if they did that. That being said.
43:18
Speaker 2: The engine room, thirteen eighty eight South, three hundred West,
43:21
Speaker 2: that's where we're hosting our watch party ESPN seven hundred
43:26
Speaker 2: and ninety two to one FM. Team Gordy Chiasa, Richard
43:29
Speaker 2: Smitty Smith. That's who's important, guys with a combined like
43:33
Speaker 2: one hundred years in NBA basketball. Yeah, also host of
43:37
Speaker 2: the Drive Spence Checkets. He knows a thing or two
43:40
Speaker 2: about whop. I in addition, will be there offering moral.
43:44
Speaker 4: Support and gonna gonna be three plus hours. Its gonna
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Speaker 4: be like you, like you teas, there'll be some there'll
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Speaker 4: be some giveaways. Learn more about those as we get
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Speaker 4: closer to it, But plenty of reason to go down
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Speaker 4: watch the draft with the guys at the engine room tomorrow.
44:03
Speaker 2: Bring in your uh your vouchers, your James Peterson bonus
44:08
Speaker 2: Point vouchers. Yeah, it'll be worth something. You could trade
44:11
Speaker 2: those in for cocktail napkins and or extra straws.
44:16
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44:21
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44:28
Speaker 2: Maybe we don't know. Actually maybe a coaster all right
44:34
Speaker 2: on three, which of course is now the home of
44:38
Speaker 2: ut zhone on three has put out there over underwind
44:42
Speaker 2: totals for the upcoming Big twelve football season.
44:49
Speaker 3: We're gonna see a lot of these.
44:50
Speaker 2: We're gonna see some variation on what these sports books
44:53
Speaker 2: and some of these uh probability sites have when it
44:57
Speaker 2: comes to this upcoming There's one number that, given recent headlines,
45:02
Speaker 2: is completely outrageous, and I'll tell you what that is next.
45:06
Speaker 2: It's The Sean O'Connell Show on ESPN seven hundred and
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Speaker 2: ninety TWOEFM.
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Speaker 1: You were listening to the Sean O'Connell Show from the
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Speaker 1: Murdoch Hyndi Studio of ESPN seven hundred and ninety two
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Speaker 1: to one.
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Speaker 5: A f M.
45:38
Speaker 2: Sean O'Connell show here on ESPN seven hundred ninety twe
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Speaker 2: AFM Craig Bowler. Jack is going to join us in
45:43
Speaker 2: about ten minutes. Ahead of the NBA Draft tomorrow night,
45:47
Speaker 2: We've got a special draft preview show for you at
45:50
Speaker 2: the engine Room thirteen eighty eight South, three hundred West.
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Speaker 2: Gordy Chias of Richard Smithy Smith Spence, Checkets and myself.
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Speaker 2: Getting you ready. Listen to the basketball wisdom of those individuals.
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Speaker 2: home after they buy Advance Windows. All right, wind totals
48:05
Speaker 2: are out, and the big twelve wind totals are downright
48:12
Speaker 2: silly on some fronts, well really one front at the
48:17
Speaker 2: very top of the table. According to BETMGM, Texas Tech
48:25
Speaker 2: Football set it eleven and a half regular season wins
48:30
Speaker 2: for their overunder. Do you believe Texas Tech is going
48:34
Speaker 2: undefeated or not? Is the question that BETMGM is asking you. Now,
48:41
Speaker 2: given recent developments, one might expect, Oh, this is an
48:45
Speaker 2: outdated list. Oh, this was the win total before Brendan
48:51
Speaker 2: Soresby was ruled ineligible and decided he's going into the
48:54
Speaker 2: supplemental draft and he gave up his fight.
48:56
Speaker 3: Nope, this is the current win total.
48:59
Speaker 2: This is now Abilene Christian Week one, that's a win,
49:06
Speaker 2: Oregon State Week two, that's a win. Houston week three.
49:10
Speaker 2: We think that's a win. Sam Houston Week four, that's
49:12
Speaker 2: a win. Colorado Week five, that's a win. Starts to
49:15
Speaker 2: get a little bit tougher in week six, Arizona State
49:19
Speaker 2: October seventeenth, Texas Tech on the road at Cincinnati on
49:23
Speaker 2: the twenty fourth, Arizona I actually think that's a much
49:26
Speaker 2: tougher game than people are gonna give it credit for.
49:28
Speaker 3: That would be one that I might tab as a.
49:30
Speaker 2: Potential loss for Texas Tech, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Baylor,
49:36
Speaker 2: and TCU. So you look at the schedule and then
49:40
Speaker 2: you're like, oh wait, maybe maybe that is the decision
49:44
Speaker 2: that you need to make. Here is Texas Tech gonna
49:47
Speaker 2: go undefeated against that schedule. There is no BYU on it,
49:51
Speaker 2: There is no Utah on it. Arizona State and Arizona
49:57
Speaker 2: I think are both sneaky good teams. I think they're
49:59
Speaker 2: t teams that can cause you some serious problems. I
50:03
Speaker 2: think you have to pencil in a loss based on
50:06
Speaker 2: just the uncertainty of this offseason, based on the fact
50:10
Speaker 2: that you're not gonna get Will Hammond back until probably
50:14
Speaker 2: week four, based on the fact that these are still
50:18
Speaker 2: college football athletes, and while you did bring in some
50:22
Speaker 2: really important transfers, and you short up whatever weaknesses you
50:25
Speaker 2: thought to be able to twice in a row. Integrate
50:31
Speaker 2: a bunch of new players into the system and make
50:34
Speaker 2: them cohesive as a team. Means that you're counting on
50:37
Speaker 2: having the same personalities, the same type of leadership. I mean,
50:40
Speaker 2: last year you had David Bailey and Jacob Rodriguez. These
50:43
Speaker 2: guys are these are remarkable individuals, not just football players,
50:47
Speaker 2: and you had success largely because of that. The Sowresby thing,
50:53
Speaker 2: I do believe there's going to be a cost to it.
50:56
Speaker 2: I don't know exactly what that cost is going to be,
50:58
Speaker 2: but I think it's at least one win.
51:02
Speaker 3: Right now.
51:02
Speaker 2: Bet MGM says the over under is eleven and a
51:05
Speaker 2: half undefeated or not in Big twelve play and in
51:10
Speaker 2: regular season play for the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
51:14
Speaker 3: That to me is still crazy.
51:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's seems like you're pretty safe betting under there.
51:22
Speaker 4: But I mean then you look at the schedule and
51:25
Speaker 4: you go, Texas Tech probably will be favored in all
51:29
Speaker 4: of these games. I would add Houston as a team
51:32
Speaker 4: that's the potential could be a potential loss there. I
51:35
Speaker 4: would agree with you probably behind ASU in Arizona. But
51:40
Speaker 4: Houston is gonna is supposed to be pretty good this
51:42
Speaker 4: year too. They're gonna lose to one of those teams, right,
51:46
Speaker 4: they might even lose to two of those teams.
51:49
Speaker 2: I just don't understand. Like Ohio State's over under is
51:52
Speaker 2: nine and a half.
51:54
Speaker 4: That's the Big Ten. Is ay better than the Big twelve?
51:57
Speaker 4: Those I mean, the Big Ten is better than the
51:58
Speaker 4: Big twelve. Who's the Who's the big non conference for
52:03
Speaker 4: Ohio State this year? I don't I haven't looked at
52:06
Speaker 4: the schedule yet.
52:09
Speaker 3: I don't know. Now.
52:12
Speaker 2: Notre Dame is another team that's in this same category.
52:16
Speaker 2: From a betting standpoint eleven and a half wins is
52:19
Speaker 2: the over under.
52:20
Speaker 4: For Notre Dame. They played Texas again, Ohio State does so.
52:24
Speaker 2: The question that adds the question people are asking is, hey,
52:28
Speaker 2: does Notre Dame go un defeated?
52:30
Speaker 3: Does Texas Tech go undefeat?
52:31
Speaker 2: I mean what, we'll get back into this maybe later
52:34
Speaker 2: on in the show, but that jumped out of me
52:37
Speaker 2: as soon as I saw this.
52:40
Speaker 3: We'll take a break here.
52:41
Speaker 2: Craig Bowlder Jack joins us next television voice of the
52:44
Speaker 2: Utah Jazz to talk about what else tomorrow Night's draft?
52:48
Speaker 2: Does he have any kind of insider information? Darren Peterson
52:51
Speaker 2: or aj debonsa So Sean O'Connell Shaw on ESPN seven
52:56
Speaker 2: y twofmo.
53:01
Speaker 1: This is the Sean O'Connell Show. You are home of
53:04
Speaker 1: the best inside of your utes. Let's get back to
53:07
Speaker 1: OC from the Murdoch Chevrolet Studio of DESPN seven hundred
53:11
Speaker 1: and ninety two one a m.
53:22
Speaker 3: Welcome now number two on the Sean O'Connell Show.
53:24
Speaker 2: Welcome in, Craig Bowler Jack, iconic voice of the Utah
53:28
Speaker 2: Jazz NBA insider for these purposes today.
53:33
Speaker 3: Bowler, welcome back to the show. How are you, sir?
53:35
Speaker 6: Oh see, I'm good. How you been?
53:37
Speaker 3: I'm doing all right.
53:38
Speaker 2: What's the level of anticipation like in the Bowlerjack household
53:42
Speaker 2: for tomorrow night's draft.
53:43
Speaker 6: I'd say, let's roll, man, I can't wait. You know,
53:47
Speaker 6: we'll be at Southtown tomorrow night, big party, five o'clock,
53:51
Speaker 6: dippin' dots, OC. I know that's one of your favorites.
53:54
Speaker 3: So do love me some different dots?
53:58
Speaker 6: So I can't wait. Know it was like the draft,
54:02
Speaker 6: you know two years ago when Ace was taken and
54:05
Speaker 6: the anticipation during that seventeen win season was, you know
54:09
Speaker 6: number one, Number one didn't happen. That belonged to Dallas,
54:13
Speaker 6: and we got Ace and now you know, you got
54:16
Speaker 6: the two pick, and you know there's still there's really
54:19
Speaker 6: no clear path of what you know, the Wizards the
54:23
Speaker 6: Jazz will do. And you know it's that first domino
54:26
Speaker 6: that drops that opens things up. So really Washington holds
54:31
Speaker 6: the cards. I did hear per reports that Peterson had
54:35
Speaker 6: talked to the Jazz, and that was, you know for draft,
54:40
Speaker 6: you know Tomorrow's drafts fromorrow Knight's drafts. So that's good.
54:44
Speaker 6: I mean, you want to make sure that door's open
54:46
Speaker 6: if that's what happens, if you know, aj goes Wan Peterson, Boozer.
54:52
Speaker 6: I mean, there's some talented young players. Oh see that
54:56
Speaker 6: these top four, you know, maybe you can jump into
54:58
Speaker 6: the top five, but the top four with Caleb Wilson,
55:02
Speaker 6: the North Carolina kid, there's a lot of talent out there.
55:06
Speaker 6: The Jazz are going to land a very very good
55:08
Speaker 6: player no matter what.
55:09
Speaker 2: Well, you already hit on something I think is important
55:11
Speaker 2: for me in this draft that you do have to
55:13
Speaker 2: kind of just wait and see what Washington does. There
55:16
Speaker 2: was early conversation when right after the lottery, like I
55:20
Speaker 2: was speculating, a lot of people were all, right, is
55:23
Speaker 2: there anything worth it?
55:24
Speaker 3: Is there?
55:25
Speaker 2: Could you jump to number one? Is that something this
55:28
Speaker 2: team will try to do? And it seems like that,
55:30
Speaker 2: you know, that was just speculation, That was nothing that
55:33
Speaker 2: the team, whether they actually ever even entertained that possibility
55:37
Speaker 2: in the front office, it doesn't seem like they did right.
55:41
Speaker 2: So they'll they'll draft at number two, and to me,
55:43
Speaker 2: that puts all the pressure on Washington because now Washington's
55:46
Speaker 2: got to make the right decision for themselves. But they're
55:49
Speaker 2: going to kind of set the rest of this draft
55:50
Speaker 2: order by picking either aj or Darren. We think, I
55:54
Speaker 2: guess they could surprise us. And then if you're the
55:57
Speaker 2: Utah Jazz, it feels like you're just kind of like, okay, cool,
56:01
Speaker 2: Well they decided that they're taking this guy. That means
56:04
Speaker 2: we are left with, you know, the one B option,
56:08
Speaker 2: and I think you're happy with both. Is there one
56:12
Speaker 2: they'll be significantly happier with?
56:13
Speaker 6: Though in your mind, you know that's only what Danny
56:17
Speaker 6: and Austin know. I tell you, if you break down
56:21
Speaker 6: the roster, they put a lot of you know, effort
56:23
Speaker 6: into the development of many, many players, and one being
56:26
Speaker 6: keyante George. You know, every GM I think we've talked before.
56:31
Speaker 6: Oh see that. I'm sure you've talked to general managers
56:36
Speaker 6: in any sport. I mean, you know, they never show
56:39
Speaker 6: their cards and that's part of the game they have
56:41
Speaker 6: to play. But you know, I've always been told that, look,
56:46
Speaker 6: we'll take the best available player, and I think that's
56:49
Speaker 6: kind of what holds true in any in any league.
56:53
Speaker 6: Then you have to deal with that player and how
56:55
Speaker 6: he is going to fit. And does that mean you
56:58
Speaker 6: have a draft ass set or a trade asset if
57:02
Speaker 6: you want to move a player, because you have to,
57:05
Speaker 6: you know, push your number two pick into the into
57:08
Speaker 6: the lineup in some in some way. Uh So, it's
57:13
Speaker 6: I tell you it is. It's just a game of
57:16
Speaker 6: chance at times. But I know everyone's done their homework
57:20
Speaker 6: and up on a board somewhere they have plan a
57:23
Speaker 6: Plan B, Plan C, and maybe a Plan T. But
57:27
Speaker 6: you know, depends on that first pick. What Washington truly
57:32
Speaker 6: is going to do, I'm not sure. Yesterday's report indicated that,
57:37
Speaker 6: you know, Trey Young had declined his forty eight million
57:41
Speaker 6: dollar player option. But yet the Wizards, quote are still
57:45
Speaker 6: his number one pick, so you know they've already got
57:48
Speaker 6: a young backcourt. And what I mean by young is
57:51
Speaker 6: Trey Johnson, who was their number six pick last year.
57:54
Speaker 6: So I don't know how that pans out with another,
57:58
Speaker 6: you know, another guard unless they have ideas of moving someone.
58:02
Speaker 6: But you know, it's all speculation. I mean, the next
58:05
Speaker 6: twenty four hours will be It's been that way since
58:08
Speaker 6: Draft night or lottery night, but now Draft night is
58:13
Speaker 6: coming up, what twenty eight hours out or so, and
58:16
Speaker 6: so I think you'll hear more and more speculations of
58:19
Speaker 6: what if, what could happen. But until that that, you know,
58:24
Speaker 6: Adam Silver walks down with a card in his hand,
58:26
Speaker 6: We're not going to know.
58:27
Speaker 2: What is your take on the the Walker Kessler situation
58:31
Speaker 2: that we started to get reports on again last week.
58:35
Speaker 2: Walker then took to social media to seem like maybe
58:38
Speaker 2: clear the air a little bit, which I really loved.
58:41
Speaker 2: But you know, there's there's been a lot of narrative
58:43
Speaker 2: and a lot of conversation that this draft pick is
58:46
Speaker 2: just going to kind of be like added on to
58:48
Speaker 2: what is already a pretty cohesive, talented, maybe even deep
58:52
Speaker 2: if you want to say that Jazz roster, because a
58:54
Speaker 2: lot of us assumed that, you know, the Walker deal
58:57
Speaker 2: was going to get done with very little problem that
59:00
Speaker 2: when the time came, Keyante would get extended. That isn't
59:03
Speaker 2: doesn't appear to be this time yet. But you know
59:06
Speaker 2: your thoughts on on the Walker Kessler saga as it unfolds.
59:11
Speaker 6: Well, like you said, I love Walker, and I love
59:14
Speaker 6: the fact he tried to take control of the narrative.
59:18
Speaker 6: You know, that's one thing players have to do. Look,
59:22
Speaker 6: they're represented by agents OC and those agents speak for
59:26
Speaker 6: them in many ways, but there's nothing better them to
59:30
Speaker 6: clarify with your own words, your own post. And you
59:33
Speaker 6: know what, you don't lose just because of an agent.
59:38
Speaker 6: You don't lose that ability or that responsibility to represent yourself.
59:43
Speaker 6: And I thought it was a mature approach to the situation.
59:50
Speaker 6: I've talked to him multiple times. He's all in with
59:53
Speaker 6: the jazz and always has been. You know, he sees this,
59:57
Speaker 6: you know, as an incredible experience. You know, his rookie year,
1:00:01
Speaker 6: sensational sophomore slump came back and then obviously the shoulder
1:00:06
Speaker 6: flares up and he has to have you know, surgery
1:00:09
Speaker 6: and you know, Men's and been working hard on trying
1:00:13
Speaker 6: to get back into you know, NBA shape. But you know,
1:00:16
Speaker 6: if if the Jazz do sign him, you look at
1:00:19
Speaker 6: the front line available for Will Hardy. It's it's ridiculous.
1:00:22
Speaker 6: I mean, there's so many problems that that front three
1:00:27
Speaker 6: with Triple J Market and and Walker give the you know,
1:00:30
Speaker 6: opponent's defenses every night, and then you have to make
1:00:33
Speaker 6: tough choices. And you've got a guard line, you know,
1:00:36
Speaker 6: with Key and most likely Ace and backups and LUs.
1:00:41
Speaker 6: You know, of course, the Jazz this this roster still
1:00:43
Speaker 6: is in flux and motion. I'm sure it all depends
1:00:46
Speaker 6: on what happens tomorrow night and what other what other
1:00:50
Speaker 6: plans that the Jazz front office has, But you know
1:00:54
Speaker 6: they put a lot of time and effort in development.
1:00:56
Speaker 6: See you know that, and believe me, I know the
1:01:00
Speaker 6: last two years with seventeen twenty two wins, but you
1:01:03
Speaker 6: know the bottom line is that you've seen improvement. And
1:01:07
Speaker 6: that's why I think Delta Center. You know, most Knights
1:01:11
Speaker 6: were filled with fans because they went along with the
1:01:14
Speaker 6: ride to watch the progression, to watch the maturation of
1:01:20
Speaker 6: all these young guys since the Ball included Philipowski's part
1:01:24
Speaker 6: of that, you know, Isaiah Collier, and the list goes
1:01:27
Speaker 6: on and on. So you just don't know what the
1:01:31
Speaker 6: total plan will be. But I tell you that first
1:01:35
Speaker 6: that first pick starts the whole process, and whoever the
1:01:39
Speaker 6: Jazz do get at number two could play a big
1:01:43
Speaker 6: factor on what they do from that point on. And
1:01:46
Speaker 6: you know, I just say, man, I'm anxious, and I
1:01:48
Speaker 6: really want to see this team grow and be a productive,
1:01:53
Speaker 6: you know team in the West and be a playoff
1:01:55
Speaker 6: team and you know, challenge. There's a lot of talent
1:01:58
Speaker 6: there as you know, man, okay, seeing and San Antonio
1:02:01
Speaker 6: is not going anywhere anytime soon, and the Jazz want
1:02:04
Speaker 6: to be a part of that.
1:02:06
Speaker 2: When's the last time you had a like a candidate
1:02:09
Speaker 2: of real conversation with Will Hardy because we haven't had
1:02:11
Speaker 2: that opportunity anytime recently. And I would just love to
1:02:15
Speaker 2: pick his brain and know how he's feeling about this
1:02:18
Speaker 2: sort of I mean, it's such a crucial juncture of
1:02:20
Speaker 2: his own head coaching career where now he's been the
1:02:24
Speaker 2: perfect company man, as you know Bowler, but now they're
1:02:27
Speaker 2: gonna take the reins off, right and it's like, okay,
1:02:30
Speaker 2: now go win and you got.
1:02:32
Speaker 3: Some horses to do it. So when's the last time
1:02:35
Speaker 3: you talked to him?
1:02:36
Speaker 6: Talked to him on a flight back from Los Angeles
1:02:40
Speaker 6: final game of the season, and you know, he was candid.
1:02:43
Speaker 6: I think he echoes those same sentiments that he will
1:02:47
Speaker 6: be able to coach. He is unleashed. He will have
1:02:51
Speaker 6: multiple As he told me, just say, you know, look
1:02:54
Speaker 6: at what we have a chance to do, and that
1:02:58
Speaker 6: is multiple different lineups and scenarios. Play big, play small,
1:03:02
Speaker 6: play fast, place slow, and you know that's a dream
1:03:05
Speaker 6: of any coach in the NBA. You know, he started,
1:03:08
Speaker 6: it's hard to believe he's in his fifth season and
1:03:13
Speaker 6: you know, oh, time does pass fast, and you know
1:03:17
Speaker 6: he wants to win. He wants to be a part
1:03:19
Speaker 6: of what he experienced in San Antonio. He has a
1:03:24
Speaker 6: little bit of pop in him, but he also is
1:03:26
Speaker 6: in himself. And you know, people have to realize Will Hardy,
1:03:31
Speaker 6: I think is a talented young coach and we're going
1:03:33
Speaker 6: to see an opportunity for him to go out and coach.
1:03:37
Speaker 6: You know, he's developed and that's what they asked him
1:03:40
Speaker 6: to do. But now that process, it's never totally complete, right,
1:03:45
Speaker 6: But yet for the Jazz, the next step is right
1:03:48
Speaker 6: in front of him, and how could he not be
1:03:51
Speaker 6: excited to be able to coach this group of young
1:03:54
Speaker 6: players and the starting five, potentially the starting five could
1:03:58
Speaker 6: be one of the most dynamic in the end.
1:04:01
Speaker 2: Greg Bowler Jack our guest here on the Sean O'Connell Show,
1:04:04
Speaker 2: talking to the Utah Jazz their draft pick number two.
1:04:07
Speaker 2: Tomorrow night, we will have our own draft watch party
1:04:11
Speaker 2: at the Engine Room, thirteen eighty eight South, three hundred
1:04:14
Speaker 2: West with Gordy Chiasa and Smitty and company. You already
1:04:19
Speaker 2: alluded to this, and I think it's one of the
1:04:21
Speaker 2: most important things to talk about when it comes to
1:04:23
Speaker 2: this Utah Jazz team. As we move forward, you can
1:04:27
Speaker 2: be drastically improved in this Western Conference over what we've
1:04:31
Speaker 2: seen in these tanking years, and you could still come
1:04:33
Speaker 2: up short because of the aforementioned teams, because of OKC,
1:04:38
Speaker 2: because of obviously the San Antonio Spurs, who were the
1:04:42
Speaker 2: runners up in this year's NBA Championship, because the teams
1:04:45
Speaker 2: like Denver still hanging on because of you know, the Lakers,
1:04:50
Speaker 2: they still got Luca. We'll see what happens with Lebron.
1:04:53
Speaker 2: So with all of that in mind, you know, what
1:04:57
Speaker 2: is a realistic, reasonable hope expectation for this kind of year?
1:05:02
Speaker 2: One of trying to win. I've said playoffs are at
1:05:05
Speaker 2: least play in tournament. Can we ask much more?
1:05:09
Speaker 3: No?
1:05:09
Speaker 6: I think that's that's the process. I think we just saw,
1:05:14
Speaker 6: you know, san Antonio prove that they're very talented and
1:05:18
Speaker 6: Dylan Harper and Stefan Castle and wimb and Yama. Wow.
1:05:23
Speaker 6: But you know what, it's a process. So see any
1:05:25
Speaker 6: team and you've been a part of many that where
1:05:29
Speaker 6: you develop and you have to say, oh, that's how
1:05:32
Speaker 6: you do it? Or man, that one hurt because we
1:05:36
Speaker 6: didn't do A B and C. We have the talent,
1:05:39
Speaker 6: but we haven't been there. I think, you know Oklahoma
1:05:42
Speaker 6: City kind of you know, it's hard to repeat, man.
1:05:47
Speaker 6: I mean that's what makes the Jordan era just so
1:05:51
Speaker 6: impossible to not talk about, right because to get there's
1:05:55
Speaker 6: one thing, to win, it is another. The Lakers, you know,
1:05:58
Speaker 6: with the three p I mean, those are great teams,
1:06:01
Speaker 6: and you know what the separator is. It is all
1:06:03
Speaker 6: great talent, but it's the mental game. And I think
1:06:06
Speaker 6: it's where san Antonio is going to have to be
1:06:08
Speaker 6: and understand and learn that they have to be mentally
1:06:11
Speaker 6: tougher to close games out. I mean, they came out
1:06:14
Speaker 6: of the gate and you know, they did their thing.
1:06:16
Speaker 6: They they took massive leads, but couldn't hold it against
1:06:20
Speaker 6: the Knicks. And that's a veterans team who didn't panic.
1:06:24
Speaker 6: And so a lot to be said oc about talent.
1:06:28
Speaker 6: There's a lot of it in this league, by the way,
1:06:30
Speaker 6: but the great, the great teams find a way and
1:06:33
Speaker 6: that is through the mental part of it. And a
1:06:37
Speaker 6: guy named Brunson who's had a hell of a journey
1:06:40
Speaker 6: throughout the NBA and he, you know, he found his
1:06:43
Speaker 6: niche and he led that Knicks team to the world title,
1:06:46
Speaker 6: so or NBA title, however you want to put it.
1:06:50
Speaker 6: But I think the Jazz will have to take those steps,
1:06:52
Speaker 6: you know. That's that's the fun part about it too.
1:06:54
Speaker 6: You want to win now, everybody does. But it's rare
1:06:58
Speaker 6: that you can just put a bunch of young players
1:07:01
Speaker 6: with a scattered veteran leadership that can say, okay, man,
1:07:05
Speaker 6: we're going to win this thing. Look that's that would
1:07:08
Speaker 6: be incredible, an oddity. Could it be done? You know? Yeah,
1:07:12
Speaker 6: in any sport. But I think still the process and
1:07:15
Speaker 6: there's gonna be ups and downs and sideways, but I
1:07:19
Speaker 6: think the Jazz are on firm ground to make some
1:07:21
Speaker 6: big moves and I can't. I cannot disagree with a
1:07:27
Speaker 6: play in opportunity for the Jazz, or maybe even better
1:07:30
Speaker 6: if their health stays on their side. That's that's the
1:07:33
Speaker 6: key for any team. But I like what the Jazz
1:07:36
Speaker 6: are doing and where they're going.
1:07:38
Speaker 2: Speaking of the NBA Championship in the Knicks, Jalen Brunson
1:07:42
Speaker 2: is getting his flowers as well deserved flowers. First championship
1:07:47
Speaker 2: for the Knicks in fifty three years. He was obviously
1:07:49
Speaker 2: the Finals MVP. He was the biggest driving factor in
1:07:53
Speaker 2: them achieving that success, and it was much publicized a
1:07:57
Speaker 2: couple of years ago when he made the decision. It's
1:07:59
Speaker 2: being talked about again, I think for very good reason.
1:08:03
Speaker 2: And he left money on the table. He did not
1:08:05
Speaker 2: take the max money, which is something that I think
1:08:09
Speaker 2: that agents don't like to see. I think that there's
1:08:12
Speaker 2: a lot of probably even other players in the NBA
1:08:16
Speaker 2: who are just like whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't let these
1:08:18
Speaker 2: owners off the hook. You take your max money when
1:08:20
Speaker 2: you can get your max money, but over the life
1:08:23
Speaker 2: is contract, he left over one hundred million dollars for
1:08:26
Speaker 2: the Knicks to spend on supporting cast. And I don't
1:08:30
Speaker 2: think it's going to become a norm in the NBA.
1:08:33
Speaker 2: But is there something that the Utah Jazz or other
1:08:35
Speaker 2: teams can glean from the success that the New York
1:08:38
Speaker 2: Knicks were able to parlay that into?
1:08:41
Speaker 6: Yeah, now, oh see, look that's special one hundred million,
1:08:46
Speaker 6: think about it. But then he knows that the window
1:08:51
Speaker 6: there may not be as wide as maybe what the
1:08:54
Speaker 6: Jazz hope their window will be after this number two pick,
1:08:59
Speaker 6: where it's been well stated that seven to ten years
1:09:03
Speaker 6: is a you know, I'll tell you what. Oklahoma City
1:09:05
Speaker 6: may have that window, San Antonio, Golden State had it,
1:09:11
Speaker 6: but maybe New York know because it's been a lot
1:09:13
Speaker 6: of veterans who have come and gone during those fifty
1:09:16
Speaker 6: plus years that just couldn't get it done. Young and old.
1:09:21
Speaker 6: Massive trades move this, move that because they want they
1:09:24
Speaker 6: want to win. Now. Mentality in New York especially, a
1:09:27
Speaker 6: lot of pressure on New York always has been, always
1:09:31
Speaker 6: will be. And you know what to say, Look, bring
1:09:35
Speaker 6: me the guys that can help me says a lot
1:09:37
Speaker 6: about the personality. Some would say foolish, but no, but
1:09:40
Speaker 6: look now he is an NBA champion, and so what
1:09:44
Speaker 6: is the rest of the New York And look what
1:09:47
Speaker 6: he brought helped bring to the city of New York
1:09:51
Speaker 6: and beyond. I don't know if you can put a
1:09:53
Speaker 6: money a price tag on it. Oc. I mean, that's
1:09:55
Speaker 6: a dream of every player, whether you're a football guy,
1:09:59
Speaker 6: baseball guy, NBA guy, hockey guy, and beyond. I mean,
1:10:03
Speaker 6: it's a title because it basically cements your legacy of
1:10:08
Speaker 6: who you are. And you can stand up and wear
1:10:11
Speaker 6: the ring and say that's what I played my whole
1:10:14
Speaker 6: career for. And you know what if he sacrificed a
1:10:16
Speaker 6: one hundred million I guarantee you on endorsements and just
1:10:22
Speaker 6: just winning the title. Oh see how much? You can't
1:10:25
Speaker 6: put a price tag on that? By the way, And
1:10:27
Speaker 6: I kind of feel like I like the old school approach.
1:10:30
Speaker 6: You know what, I'll take less, make sure we spend
1:10:33
Speaker 6: the money wisely and bring the guys to surround, you know,
1:10:36
Speaker 6: to surround me. And look what happened. It worked. Doesn't
1:10:40
Speaker 6: work every time, no, but it sure did this time.
1:10:43
Speaker 6: And you know, New York's going to be partying all
1:10:46
Speaker 6: summer and all fall and beyond, by the way, So
1:10:49
Speaker 6: you know, I respect the guy a lot. You know,
1:10:51
Speaker 6: a lot of times players will say, let's reconstruct my
1:10:55
Speaker 6: contract to take you know, I'll get paid later, but
1:10:59
Speaker 6: let's us win now. And that's happening a little bit more.
1:11:03
Speaker 6: I know that Mahomes and Kansas City's kind of reworked it.
1:11:06
Speaker 6: Brady tried to rework it a couple of times to
1:11:08
Speaker 6: get Gronkowski back another year or two. But it does happen,
1:11:14
Speaker 6: but it doesn't get a lot of play. This one
1:11:16
Speaker 6: did because they won.
1:11:17
Speaker 3: A title absolutely.
1:11:19
Speaker 2: And you know, maybe the most remarkable thing about this
1:11:21
Speaker 2: whole storyline is that the New York Knicks, of all teams,
1:11:26
Speaker 2: especially here in Salt Lake City, were usually kind of
1:11:28
Speaker 2: anti big market team.
1:11:29
Speaker 6: Right right.
1:11:30
Speaker 2: They were likable, they were fun to watch. They were
1:11:33
Speaker 2: a team that it was like easy to root for
1:11:35
Speaker 2: the New York Stinking Knicks, who should be the evil empire,
1:11:38
Speaker 2: especially owned by Jimmy Dolan. It was like, man, it
1:11:42
Speaker 2: was hard to root against that group, even though you know,
1:11:45
Speaker 2: Victor Winbin Yamen company are equally easy.
1:11:47
Speaker 3: To root for.
1:11:48
Speaker 2: It was like man, this Knicks team, they were a
1:11:50
Speaker 2: team of destiny, was special. That was one of the
1:11:52
Speaker 2: craziest things for me is how the whole NBA embraced
1:11:55
Speaker 2: that it was kind of time for the Knicks to
1:11:57
Speaker 2: win it again.
1:11:58
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, you know last year was the smaller town market.
1:12:03
Speaker 6: You know, love affair with OKC and SGA MVP waned
1:12:09
Speaker 6: again this year, but san Antonio steps in their way
1:12:12
Speaker 6: and says, hey, hey guys, we're here now. And you
1:12:16
Speaker 6: know what, the NBA has to love the storylines, right O,
1:12:19
Speaker 6: see of what happened, because if I'm not mistaken, I
1:12:23
Speaker 6: never thought this would happen, but it did. In the
1:12:26
Speaker 6: sense of viewership, first time since the Jazz Bulls ninety
1:12:31
Speaker 6: eight series that this type of eyeballs on a championship series.
1:12:37
Speaker 6: It was mesmerizing. You couldn't turn off the TV. You
1:12:40
Speaker 6: could walk out of the room thinking the Knicks weren't
1:12:43
Speaker 6: going to pull it off, or that san Antonio was
1:12:45
Speaker 6: actually going to run away with the title. But you
1:12:47
Speaker 6: walk back in the room and all of a sudden,
1:12:50
Speaker 6: a couple of three point shots, a turnover, miscute boom,
1:12:54
Speaker 6: and what's twenty nine points has been trimmed to twelve,
1:12:57
Speaker 6: and as you know, the NBA is all about it's
1:13:01
Speaker 6: all about fandom, it's all about the home court. And man,
1:13:05
Speaker 6: the way some of these games turned out were just
1:13:08
Speaker 6: epic in my opinion, And you know, the Knicks just
1:13:11
Speaker 6: had a way. And you're right sometimes you just thought
1:13:15
Speaker 6: that this was supposed to be and that New York
1:13:18
Speaker 6: was going to finally taste a championship. And what two
1:13:22
Speaker 6: generations basically, I mean, you know you put it together.
1:13:25
Speaker 6: Think about it. The Jazz weren't even a team when
1:13:27
Speaker 6: they first played for a title. Well, this is year
1:13:30
Speaker 6: fifty going on year fifty two for the Jazz, and
1:13:35
Speaker 6: just think about the years that you know, New York
1:13:38
Speaker 6: had not had a title, you know, and the Jazz
1:13:40
Speaker 6: are kind of like in a position like they'd like
1:13:42
Speaker 6: to be in a situation where they could get back
1:13:45
Speaker 6: into a championship run as they did in ninety seven
1:13:47
Speaker 6: ninety eight. That's a long time ago. It doesn't seem
1:13:50
Speaker 6: it oc but think about Carl and John and Hatts
1:13:56
Speaker 6: and Jerry Sloan and Phil on a sec Man, big
1:14:00
Speaker 6: Dog Antoine Carr. Those are names that still resonate. But
1:14:04
Speaker 6: you know what this group of young players would like
1:14:07
Speaker 6: to be the next group that Jazz fans remember as
1:14:11
Speaker 6: well who got them into an NBA tie not only
1:14:14
Speaker 6: got there, but can they win it well, because that
1:14:17
Speaker 6: would be That'd be a hell of a parade down
1:14:19
Speaker 6: Main Street. I'll tell you that.
1:14:21
Speaker 2: All respect to Jalen Brunson, I think one thing for me,
1:14:24
Speaker 2: if I'm looking at these recent finals through a Jazz
1:14:27
Speaker 2: lens is I'm encouraged by the fact that Brunson elevated
1:14:34
Speaker 2: himself with this win to be a league superstar. But
1:14:39
Speaker 2: he's the most unlikely of all league superstars to win
1:14:42
Speaker 2: a championship recently. In the NBA, in the last decade
1:14:46
Speaker 2: two decades, you've needed like a top five player to
1:14:50
Speaker 2: win a championship, and the Jazz, we like their roster,
1:14:54
Speaker 2: they don't have that. I think maybe this New York team,
1:14:57
Speaker 2: similar to what we saw from the Detroit Pistons couple
1:15:00
Speaker 2: of decades, agoes like, Okay, you can actually win a
1:15:02
Speaker 2: championship with depth, with just kind of a quality, rounded
1:15:06
Speaker 2: out roster, and I think that's what we need for
1:15:08
Speaker 2: this Utah Jazz, unless whoever this number two pick is
1:15:11
Speaker 2: ends up being a perennial All Star, like a good point.
1:15:16
Speaker 2: This is not a superstar driven team, I guess, but
1:15:18
Speaker 2: you can win even without that.
1:15:21
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think it goes back to old school kind
1:15:23
Speaker 6: of way of doing things. You know, it's called team
1:15:25
Speaker 6: and if you buy into it, and I think the
1:15:28
Speaker 6: Knicks did. I mean kat he was bought in, Brunson
1:15:33
Speaker 6: bought in. You had Jordan Clarkson who played you know
1:15:38
Speaker 6: not you know, in his mind he'd like to play more, right,
1:15:40
Speaker 6: But I feel good for jac because of the career
1:15:43
Speaker 6: he's had. But he's a champion now. And he did
1:15:46
Speaker 6: play minutes, you know, during the regular season, and he
1:15:49
Speaker 6: jumped in, hit a few buckets, hit a three year,
1:15:51
Speaker 6: had a steal, and you know, he liked to play
1:15:54
Speaker 6: more minutes. But pretty much Mike Brown knew what his
1:15:56
Speaker 6: rotation had to be and would be. You know, you
1:16:01
Speaker 6: make a great point. We were so enamored OC a
1:16:04
Speaker 6: few years ago where every team had to put on
1:16:08
Speaker 6: display the big three, right, had to be the big three,
1:16:13
Speaker 6: And I mean general managers pulled their hair out trying
1:16:16
Speaker 6: to figure out who they could, you know, put in
1:16:20
Speaker 6: a position next to their one superstar, who then would
1:16:24
Speaker 6: bring in a second, maybe recruit him himself and then
1:16:27
Speaker 6: you have to add a third, a complimentary player, and
1:16:31
Speaker 6: then get no money left. By that time, you're just
1:16:34
Speaker 6: trying to beast the rest of the roster together by journeymen,
1:16:38
Speaker 6: young players on rookie contract deals, hoping that they had
1:16:41
Speaker 6: enough that could support these guys. Now, I think the
1:16:45
Speaker 6: league is in a turn where they're just trying to
1:16:47
Speaker 6: find depth, depth, and two way players who can play defense.
1:16:53
Speaker 6: And look at the last three championship champions are Boston,
1:17:00
Speaker 6: Oklahoma City, and I think a very tenacious New York
1:17:03
Speaker 6: Knicks team that was able to get it done. If
1:17:06
Speaker 6: you showed me Brunson at six as a six footer
1:17:10
Speaker 6: been able to be an elite player in this league.
1:17:14
Speaker 6: Big T always tells, Look, if you're a six footer,
1:17:17
Speaker 6: you have to have something incredibly special to take your
1:17:23
Speaker 6: team to a title. And I watched Brunson. It was
1:17:26
Speaker 6: non stop fury. His ability to feel pressure left or
1:17:31
Speaker 6: right and spin and get into the paint, and his
1:17:34
Speaker 6: tear drop, his push shot to finish, and then his
1:17:38
Speaker 6: uncanny ability to take on Biggs and finish, I mean,
1:17:43
Speaker 6: and then to get back and play defense the best
1:17:45
Speaker 6: he could. I mean, those are this is a great story.
1:17:49
Speaker 6: New York story will be written and remembered. But because
1:17:52
Speaker 6: it was a bunch of guys who got together and
1:17:54
Speaker 6: decided with a coach, Thibodeaux out last year and Mike
1:17:58
Speaker 6: Brown comes in and oh see, it's just like wow,
1:18:02
Speaker 6: is this written? Was this supposed to be? And I
1:18:04
Speaker 6: guess it was because it happened, and it only is
1:18:07
Speaker 6: going to motivate I think san Antonio even more so
1:18:11
Speaker 6: in this offseason. They'll take a breath. They probably are
1:18:14
Speaker 6: already trying to figure to get back into the gym,
1:18:17
Speaker 6: but I think they had to take a breath just
1:18:18
Speaker 6: because of the shock value. But this Spurs team learned
1:18:22
Speaker 6: a lot by the way young they know it hurts.
1:18:25
Speaker 6: They don't want to feel it again.
1:18:26
Speaker 2: All right, last thing before I let you go, Bowler,
1:18:28
Speaker 2: I always appreciate your time.
1:18:31
Speaker 3: The Jazz here.
1:18:32
Speaker 2: You know, up next the Utah Jazz will be picking,
1:18:36
Speaker 2: and I think they're just going to take whoever. The
1:18:38
Speaker 2: Washington Wizards don't, so I guess it's more of a
1:18:40
Speaker 2: question about who do you think Washington's going to take
1:18:42
Speaker 2: at one when we get to that draft tomorrow.
1:18:46
Speaker 6: Well tell you O, see, I wish I knew man,
1:18:50
Speaker 6: You know, it's hard. It's hard to say you got
1:18:53
Speaker 6: aj you know led the nation in scoring, you know
1:19:00
Speaker 6: you have. We haven't talked Boozer, right. I think he's
1:19:03
Speaker 6: shown much better in camp in his workouts, faster than
1:19:11
Speaker 6: I think I knew he was because Duke played a
1:19:13
Speaker 6: little bit more slower pace of play. Peterson still is
1:19:19
Speaker 6: the one that just kind of makes me just don't know.
1:19:22
Speaker 6: I'm in a wonderment of him. And I'm sure with
1:19:26
Speaker 6: the Jazz, the interview process for all three of these
1:19:30
Speaker 6: players had to loom large on this decision, wouldn't you agree.
1:19:34
Speaker 6: I think that when you invest this type of money,
1:19:38
Speaker 6: which I believe is ten plus million on the number
1:19:42
Speaker 6: one pick, that you've got to get it right. And
1:19:45
Speaker 6: the Jazz know they have to get it right at
1:19:49
Speaker 6: number two because it's a franchise changing decision, right, and
1:19:56
Speaker 6: all three of these players bring something special, and you know,
1:20:01
Speaker 6: I cannot figure out and I've looked through and look,
1:20:04
Speaker 6: I know that we talked about Trey Young, right, and
1:20:10
Speaker 6: you know what they're going to do in their back
1:20:12
Speaker 6: court and Trey Johnson. I just I would probably think
1:20:19
Speaker 6: the number one pick could be a j But I'm
1:20:22
Speaker 6: also concerned not concerned, but I'm intrigued by would they
1:20:27
Speaker 6: try to trade that pick to actually enhance their potential
1:20:34
Speaker 6: of even a quicker rebuild. I don't know. So for me,
1:20:38
Speaker 6: I'm just I'm going to sit back and just watch
1:20:40
Speaker 6: this whole thing unfold. I will tell you this. Caleb
1:20:44
Speaker 6: Wilson's Dan good and Boozer's got a lot of play. Peterson,
1:20:49
Speaker 6: I don't know much about his personality, even though we
1:20:52
Speaker 6: got a taste of it. But the games that the
1:20:55
Speaker 6: three games that I saw him play in the videos
1:20:58
Speaker 6: that I've been watching, man, there's some talent there. And
1:21:03
Speaker 6: aj debonts that we saw plenty of what he can
1:21:06
Speaker 6: do playing in Provo, and plus he's got a couple
1:21:10
Speaker 6: of years in the valley playing that Utah Prep and
1:21:13
Speaker 6: then on down to BYU. So whoever the jazz, whoever
1:21:18
Speaker 6: the jazz is, you know, you know what see I
1:21:21
Speaker 6: know I'm rambling, but the jazz may not have the
1:21:24
Speaker 6: ability to They're not going to be able to dictate
1:21:27
Speaker 6: who they want. It's just going to fall to them, right,
1:21:30
Speaker 6: And so that's that's why you have Plan A, Plan B,
1:21:34
Speaker 6: Plan C or Plan D, and then you have to
1:21:37
Speaker 6: make decisions based on that pick, and I can't wait
1:21:40
Speaker 6: for it to happen. Man, the clock is ticking and
1:21:43
Speaker 6: Jazz Nation we're going to find out, and we're going
1:21:47
Speaker 6: to find out soon, and then we'll have to talk about, Wow,
1:21:50
Speaker 6: what's he bring? How the rotations will be, would you know?
1:21:54
Speaker 6: And the speculation of do the Jazz make you know,
1:21:58
Speaker 6: moves and decisions? All that's going to start to play out.
1:22:01
Speaker 6: Free agency coming around the corner, and man, i'd tell
1:22:04
Speaker 6: you it's a great time of a year. And then
1:22:06
Speaker 6: we got Summer League. And what's the beauty too, is
1:22:08
Speaker 6: to have the Jazz have their number two pick in
1:22:11
Speaker 6: the house and Memphis roles into town right with their
1:22:15
Speaker 6: number three pick. And so it's gonna be fun basketball
1:22:19
Speaker 6: up at the Huntsman Center. And about let me do
1:22:23
Speaker 6: my math. Fourth of July what two weeks a little less?
1:22:28
Speaker 3: I mean, it's crazy. It never stops. Bowler.
1:22:33
Speaker 2: You'll you'll be on top of it. We'll do our
1:22:35
Speaker 2: best to stay on top of it. Also, always appreciate
1:22:38
Speaker 2: your time, my friend.
1:22:38
Speaker 6: Thank you all right, Oh see, take care, Good talk
1:22:41
Speaker 6: to you.
1:22:42
Speaker 3: Great Bowler, Jack Television Voice of the Utah Jazz.
1:22:47
Speaker 2: Great stuff from Bowler, as always, and yes, it's a
1:22:50
Speaker 2: big investment in this number two pick. But like I said,
1:22:53
Speaker 2: the pressure is on Washington. You take whoever you think
1:22:58
Speaker 2: is best fit for you, and then and the Utah
1:23:00
Speaker 2: Jazz will get the next best thing. And that next
1:23:04
Speaker 2: best thing, by the way, we'll make a ten million
1:23:06
Speaker 2: dollar year one salary, just under eleven million dollars in
1:23:11
Speaker 2: year two, eleven to three in year three as the
1:23:18
Speaker 2: number two pick in the NBA Draft. Daily Dump is
1:23:22
Speaker 2: coming next. One of the greatest athletes of all time
1:23:26
Speaker 2: coming back to big time competition.
1:23:30
Speaker 3: Will it be a successful comeback?
1:23:32
Speaker 2: We'll discuss it next on The Sean O'Connell Show ESPN
1:23:34
Speaker 2: seven hundred ninety twom.
1:23:41
Speaker 1: Feeling out of the loop, Let's catch up on today's
1:23:44
Speaker 1: biggest headlines and the Daily News Dump, where we flush
1:23:47
Speaker 1: out the biggest stories of the day on The Sean
1:23:50
Speaker 1: O'Connell Show and Utah's number one Sports Talk ESPN seven
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Speaker 1: hundred and ninety two one a f M brought to
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Speaker 2: conditioner causing some trouble plumbing, heating and cooling. Actually, the
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Speaker 2: truck with the duck Rob from Valley Plumbing. He's going
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Speaker 2: to be coming in this week. He might have another
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Speaker 2: Looking forward to that on Wednesday. Look for the truck
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Speaker 2: with the duck for anything your home needs. James, have
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Speaker 2: you selected it? It is a silly question. You've already
1:24:51
Speaker 2: jumped on the Jordan bandwagon for the World Cup go
1:24:56
Speaker 2: against Jordan. I was about to ask you if you've
1:24:58
Speaker 2: decided to like to hop on the bandwagon of any
1:25:02
Speaker 2: severe underdog nation. Cape Verd is the one for me,
1:25:06
Speaker 2: partially because I selected them to win their group, which
1:25:09
Speaker 2: they haven't yet. But so were they an underdog really?
1:25:11
Speaker 2: If you saw this coming, oh see, uh, cape Verd
1:25:16
Speaker 2: has like two people that were actually born in Cape
1:25:18
Speaker 2: Verd as players for the nation. Oh a couple of
1:25:22
Speaker 2: years ago they went and they found as many high
1:25:25
Speaker 2: level soccer players as they could that had parents that
1:25:30
Speaker 2: had Cape Verd and roots or whatever, and they offered
1:25:32
Speaker 2: them chances. So you got guys from Ireland, guys from
1:25:35
Speaker 2: Spain guys from wherever, but they still have a decent
1:25:40
Speaker 2: amount of cape Verdy. Kirasal only has one player on
1:25:43
Speaker 2: their team who was actually born in Kirosl same reason.
1:25:48
Speaker 2: It's it's like fifty thousand people. They just don't have enough.
1:25:54
Speaker 2: But Kirasal representing well. Cape verd another draw they drew
1:25:59
Speaker 2: with Spa and then in that scoreless draw, their goalkeeper
1:26:05
Speaker 2: ended up being like the story of the World Cup
1:26:08
Speaker 2: tournament so far. Vezinyo, the forty year old goalkeeper. He
1:26:12
Speaker 2: went from like fifty thousand Instagram followers to like nineteen
1:26:16
Speaker 2: million or some absurd number. And I fame is not
1:26:21
Speaker 2: for everybody. I'll tell you James, he actually really stunk
1:26:24
Speaker 2: in their game yesterday.
1:26:26
Speaker 3: He had some struggles.
1:26:28
Speaker 2: Man like balls that were already in his control or
1:26:32
Speaker 2: should have already been his control on like a friendly bounce,
1:26:34
Speaker 2: just flailing and missing them, and were it not for
1:26:40
Speaker 2: an off side then he would have given up ah
1:26:43
Speaker 2: what would have been the game winning goal on in
1:26:45
Speaker 2: exactly one of those scenarios. I mean, he was like
1:26:48
Speaker 2: he was diving and just missing things, like in the
1:26:51
Speaker 2: right position, but his hands would not find the ball.
1:26:53
Speaker 2: It was not great but still kate ver another two
1:26:58
Speaker 2: two draw and their hopes are live in this World
1:27:01
Speaker 2: Cup tournament at two points through two games, which they
1:27:05
Speaker 2: was that their first ever World Cup game against Spain.
1:27:08
Speaker 2: It was their first ever World Cup point. I don't
1:27:10
Speaker 2: know first point, that's what it was.
1:27:13
Speaker 4: I knew it was a first for them, and obviously
1:27:16
Speaker 4: not a win because they they drew in that game,
1:27:19
Speaker 4: yet to get their first World Cup win. But now
1:27:23
Speaker 4: they go from they they went from being a nation
1:27:27
Speaker 4: no World Cup points to now back to back games
1:27:32
Speaker 4: getting a point and even a game where you said
1:27:35
Speaker 4: where you said it. Goalkeeper struggles a lot more than
1:27:39
Speaker 4: he did in the first game where he was lights out,
1:27:42
Speaker 4: a clean sheet there against probably the best team in
1:27:45
Speaker 4: the tournament, gives up two goals and yet they still
1:27:48
Speaker 4: come away with the draw. Like this is an incredible story.
1:27:51
Speaker 2: It's like ordaining for Cape Baird right now, because he
1:27:54
Speaker 2: just goes on this incredible run to popularity and then
1:27:57
Speaker 2: he comes out in the next game and he's stunk
1:27:59
Speaker 2: it up yesterday. Man, Now he made a couple of saves,
1:28:01
Speaker 2: so I shouldn't be too hard on him, But there
1:28:03
Speaker 2: were moments where I was like, oh, is he was
1:28:06
Speaker 2: he like out partying last night as he hung over
1:28:08
Speaker 2: or something. It was just like he looked like a
1:28:10
Speaker 2: forty year old guy who doesn't even play soccer. On
1:28:13
Speaker 2: some of these exchanges, it looked like it looked like
1:28:15
Speaker 2: you would have probably, yeah, you know, they wear those
1:28:20
Speaker 2: big old Mickey mouse gloves and it's supposed to make
1:28:24
Speaker 2: it so like you've got more traction, more surface area,
1:28:26
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff. And he was just somehow
1:28:29
Speaker 2: like he would dive through, he'd make the right read,
1:28:32
Speaker 2: he would dive the right direction and then just miss.
1:28:35
Speaker 3: He'd be like what happened?
1:28:36
Speaker 2: Thankfully his back line guys would just clear it out
1:28:39
Speaker 2: of there or whatever. There was one that was an
1:28:41
Speaker 2: offside call that Uruguay just won two steps too fast
1:28:47
Speaker 2: into the box or else they would have been able
1:28:48
Speaker 2: to go up three to two in that one.
1:28:50
Speaker 3: But I'm glad, I'm glad for Kate Verd.
1:28:53
Speaker 4: And they hold on you saying he's he's the Josh
1:28:56
Speaker 4: Hart of Cape Verd.
1:28:57
Speaker 3: Right now, it's an exact equivalent.
1:29:01
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having my back teammates and
1:29:04
Speaker 4: for being offside, or else this would have been really bad.
1:29:07
Speaker 3: Yes, basically the.
1:29:08
Speaker 4: Way the way Josh Hart was like, thank you Ogionanobe
1:29:11
Speaker 4: for tipping that in.
1:29:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, I will screwed that game up.
1:29:14
Speaker 2: He said he would have lived with regrets for years,
1:29:17
Speaker 2: which is one hundred percent accurate. So anyway, Cabo Verd,
1:29:21
Speaker 2: let's jump on the bandwagon people, mostly because I picked
1:29:24
Speaker 2: them to win the group.
1:29:25
Speaker 4: If I hadn't, if I hadn't already rolled with Jordan,
1:29:28
Speaker 4: they would be my team.
1:29:31
Speaker 5: Uh.
1:29:32
Speaker 2: Serena Williams, we already got the announcement that she intends
1:29:35
Speaker 2: to play doubles at Wimbledon alongside her sister Venus. Serena
1:29:40
Speaker 2: also throwing her name back in she is going to
1:29:42
Speaker 2: be a wild card entrant to singles play at Wimbledon
1:29:46
Speaker 2: at forty four years of age.
1:29:48
Speaker 3: You're gonna get to see it I up close. Probably.
1:29:51
Speaker 2: I'm so hopeful that I like, I'm a huge mongous
1:29:55
Speaker 2: Serena Williams fan and the fact that at forty four
1:30:00
Speaker 2: that she's I.
1:30:01
Speaker 3: Mean she was.
1:30:02
Speaker 2: She came back at what the Queen's Classic, Yeah, last
1:30:07
Speaker 2: week two weeks ago. You know she was ripping one
1:30:10
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty mile an hour serves in that tournament.
1:30:12
Speaker 4: I mean the talent, the talent, doesn't go away. The
1:30:16
Speaker 4: ability doesn't necessarily go away when you have a long layoff.
1:30:19
Speaker 4: What the question becomes do you have enough for that
1:30:24
Speaker 4: to be consistent over a long period of time. And
1:30:28
Speaker 4: we'll see as a singles player in Wimbledon first time
1:30:31
Speaker 4: in four years.
1:30:32
Speaker 2: Now, here's what I'm curious about with Serena. For the
1:30:36
Speaker 2: bulk of her career, in her prime, she was very
1:30:41
Speaker 2: obviously a level of athleticism, speed, physicality. She was like
1:30:46
Speaker 2: a standard deviation above everyone else. At forty four, when
1:30:52
Speaker 2: you know you've fallen off a little bit, you are
1:30:54
Speaker 2: just not as fast, you are not as strong.
1:30:56
Speaker 3: It just happens.
1:30:57
Speaker 2: Right, Is she now on a level of equal athleticism
1:31:02
Speaker 2: to some of these people.
1:31:04
Speaker 3: Four years away?
1:31:05
Speaker 2: Has her technique fallen off enough that now she's like
1:31:09
Speaker 2: more equal to the competition, or has that much time
1:31:12
Speaker 2: away dropped her down slightly below the acting? I mean,
1:31:16
Speaker 2: that would be the expectation that you're not able to
1:31:19
Speaker 2: just jump back in after that much time away.
1:31:23
Speaker 3: We don't really do this in a lot of other sports.
1:31:26
Speaker 2: I guess in golf you can kind of get away
1:31:28
Speaker 2: with it, right, And it wasn't like for her, she
1:31:34
Speaker 2: was just kind of done playing tennis. There were some injuries,
1:31:37
Speaker 2: but it wasn't like she had some big catastrophic, surgically
1:31:40
Speaker 2: repaired issue that she had to spend a lot of
1:31:43
Speaker 2: time rehabbing. It's like she had another kid. She kind
1:31:46
Speaker 2: of moved on to life as an endorser. Life is
1:31:49
Speaker 2: a business person, life is a mom life like and
1:31:53
Speaker 2: there's nothing wrong with that. The most successful tennis player
1:31:56
Speaker 2: women's tennis player ever now she's back. I really hope
1:32:01
Speaker 2: she goes on a run here. I hope I get
1:32:04
Speaker 2: to see. They're gonna put her at center court.
1:32:07
Speaker 4: Absolutely, she's going to have matches at center court the Owll,
1:32:12
Speaker 4: England Club at Wimbledon. She's gonna be facing a high
1:32:16
Speaker 4: seed because she will come in unranked because she hasn't
1:32:20
Speaker 4: played in four years. So it's gonna be gonna be
1:32:23
Speaker 4: every match that she has will probably be a compelling match,
1:32:26
Speaker 4: not just because this is the return of Serena Williams,
1:32:29
Speaker 4: but because she's probably gonna play some of the top
1:32:31
Speaker 4: players in the world right off the bat, because she's
1:32:35
Speaker 4: gonna be a lower seed and an unranked at a player,
1:32:39
Speaker 4: very low seated player because she hasn't played in four years.
1:32:42
Speaker 4: So it's it's gonna be exciting. I can, I can
1:32:46
Speaker 4: I reign on the parade just a little bit. I'm sorry, Okay,
1:32:49
Speaker 4: I'm annoyed that that we I'm annoyed that she and
1:32:55
Speaker 4: everyone around us made such a big deal about her
1:32:59
Speaker 4: never playing again for four years ago. This is this
1:33:03
Speaker 4: is different than a lot we've seen players that over
1:33:07
Speaker 4: the years that have been Brett Favre for example, that
1:33:12
Speaker 4: are like this, this is it, this is it, and
1:33:14
Speaker 4: then the next year he's playing, Oh, that's it.
1:33:16
Speaker 3: Then he plays again.
1:33:18
Speaker 4: Right, Aaron Rodgers is turning out to us now it's
1:33:20
Speaker 4: this is different, but it still is just like I'm
1:33:25
Speaker 4: remembering four years ago, her not her being very noncommittal
1:33:28
Speaker 4: about saying she's retiring, and then she finally comes out
1:33:31
Speaker 4: and tells Vogue that she's retiring, Like just don't say
1:33:36
Speaker 4: anything then, Like, I don't understand why you need you
1:33:39
Speaker 4: already get all the attention. You don't need the attention
1:33:42
Speaker 4: that comes with is this your last match? Just just
1:33:45
Speaker 4: play and then if you don't play, for if you
1:33:48
Speaker 4: don't play again, then we know what was your last match.
1:33:50
Speaker 3: So this is I think a legitimate gripe.
1:33:52
Speaker 2: This is one thing that is difficult about individual sports. Okay,
1:33:58
Speaker 2: we get overly obset with when it's a it's not
1:34:02
Speaker 2: a team sport, when it's an individual sport, right, And
1:34:05
Speaker 2: this is the all time like cross for combat sports
1:34:11
Speaker 2: to have to bear, for MMA to have to bear.
1:34:14
Speaker 2: When there is someone who's a transcendent star in that
1:34:18
Speaker 2: sport or in boxing, or in golf or in tennis,
1:34:25
Speaker 2: eighty percent of the fan base is attached to that person.
1:34:30
Speaker 2: There's like twenty percent of the fan base that is
1:34:33
Speaker 2: just a fan of the sport. A humongous portion of
1:34:39
Speaker 2: your revenue, your marketing, your everything is geared around stars, right,
1:34:45
Speaker 2: and Serena is the ultimate, the biggest ever women's tennis star.
1:34:50
Speaker 2: So for her to be flirting with retirement like they
1:34:54
Speaker 2: have real lives, she has a real life, right, But
1:34:58
Speaker 2: probably from the very beginning she acknowledged like there's gonna
1:35:01
Speaker 2: be a time I want time away, but there's gonna
1:35:04
Speaker 2: be a time where I want to come back.
1:35:07
Speaker 3: And we kind of don't allow that.
1:35:10
Speaker 2: Right where you say, well, are you retired or not,
1:35:14
Speaker 2: I'm gonna take off four years. No, we don't know,
1:35:18
Speaker 2: so you're retired. Wrong answer? Four years is a retirement. Okay,
1:35:22
Speaker 2: then I'm retiring right, Like, I don't know if she's
1:35:25
Speaker 2: allowed to say it any other way. And this is
1:35:28
Speaker 2: like Connor McGregor is coming back. He's fighting in three
1:35:30
Speaker 2: weeks in the UFC. He hasn't fought in five years.
1:35:34
Speaker 2: They never stopped talking about him, like he was an
1:35:36
Speaker 2: active member of the rosters. He hasn't he broke his leg.
1:35:39
Speaker 2: He was taking steroids, doing movies, swimming on yachts, selling
1:35:44
Speaker 2: liquor brands, doing mountains of cocaine. Like the guy was
1:35:48
Speaker 2: just a maniac. And every single press conference, when's Conna
1:35:54
Speaker 2: coming back, When's Conna coming back? We did this with
1:35:57
Speaker 2: Tiger for a decade. I remember, and this is one
1:36:01
Speaker 2: of the probably my worst hot takes. I distinctly remembered,
1:36:05
Speaker 2: like right after the Tiger Woods downfall, right and then
1:36:11
Speaker 2: the injuries and then who knows what else, being like, guys,
1:36:15
Speaker 2: it's been seven years since Tiger Woods won anything meaningful.
1:36:20
Speaker 3: Let's move on, Let's talk about something else.
1:36:22
Speaker 2: Tiger Woods is never coming back to do anything special
1:36:25
Speaker 2: in this sport.
1:36:26
Speaker 3: Shows you how much I know about golf.
1:36:28
Speaker 2: But I remember, just on live radio, just be like,
1:36:31
Speaker 2: can we stop doing this? We don't do this to
1:36:34
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan. We don't do this to anybody else in
1:36:38
Speaker 2: any other sport. When is Roger Clemens coming back to pitch,
1:36:42
Speaker 2: he's been gone for eight years, leave him alone, right,
1:36:45
Speaker 2: and then of course Tiger comes back.
1:36:47
Speaker 4: Roger Clemens, by the way, was in the Brett Farmer
1:36:49
Speaker 4: and Rodgers category first. So this is I and I acknowledge.
1:36:55
Speaker 4: And when I aired that early grievance of the Week,
1:36:58
Speaker 4: it's only Monday that it's not all on Serena. It's
1:37:02
Speaker 4: probably mostly on how she's covered, but it's still just like,
1:37:05
Speaker 4: can we I'm just so tired of the contrived farewell
1:37:10
Speaker 4: tour that has to happen for every star, Like just
1:37:13
Speaker 4: stop playing and then we know that.
1:37:14
Speaker 3: You retired, Like that's that's what I wish.
1:37:17
Speaker 2: We'd go back, right, But they but they're not allowed
1:37:19
Speaker 2: to just stop playing, that's the thing, right if Okay, So,
1:37:25
Speaker 2: like I can't use Phil Michelson is a good example
1:37:28
Speaker 2: right now because he's falling from grace, right, And let's
1:37:33
Speaker 2: say Scotty Scheffler, okay, just decides he's not playing anymore,
1:37:39
Speaker 2: and you just the next eight tournaments you don't see
1:37:42
Speaker 2: Scotty Scheffler in the field right.
1:37:45
Speaker 3: The first question is Scotty Scheffler hurt?
1:37:47
Speaker 1: No?
1:37:47
Speaker 3: Okay. The next question is is there some kind of
1:37:50
Speaker 3: family emergency going on? No?
1:37:52
Speaker 2: Okay? Uh is there something we don't know about? If
1:37:55
Speaker 2: you get arrested, no kind of scandal okay, and arrested again,
1:37:59
Speaker 2: like and then you get you check all these boxes
1:38:01
Speaker 2: like no, Scotty Schffler just doesn't want to play golf anymore.
1:38:03
Speaker 3: Scotty Schffler is just done. Right.
1:38:06
Speaker 2: Then everyone's like, so you're retiring and he has to
1:38:09
Speaker 2: be like either say yes, I'm retiring, or he has
1:38:13
Speaker 2: to give us some answer just like well, I'm just
1:38:15
Speaker 2: taking some time off I feeling. And then people are
1:38:17
Speaker 2: like no, uh no, that's not We don't accept that answer.
1:38:22
Speaker 2: Can't leave it alone till we hear how long if
1:38:24
Speaker 2: he's retired.
1:38:25
Speaker 3: How long, Scotty? How long?
1:38:26
Speaker 2: Like so and if you don't, if you don't even
1:38:30
Speaker 2: know the answer yourself right, because a lot of these
1:38:32
Speaker 2: people just get burnt out. Can you imagine most of
1:38:37
Speaker 2: us cannot Can you imagine being Serena Williams.
1:38:41
Speaker 3: She cannot go anywhere.
1:38:44
Speaker 2: She is as famous as any female athlete has ever
1:38:48
Speaker 2: been on planet Earth.
1:38:50
Speaker 3: She can't go anywhere. She's very recognizable.
1:38:53
Speaker 2: She has a very distinct look, her physical size, the hair,
1:38:57
Speaker 2: all of it. Like you can't hide if you're Serena Williams.
1:39:01
Speaker 2: I've been in the same room as Serena Williams zero times.
1:39:04
Speaker 2: I thought I was because Venus Williams was in the room.
1:39:07
Speaker 2: Oh and I was just like, oh, oh, oh wait,
1:39:09
Speaker 2: that's Venus. But still cool, cool, still really cool, right,
1:39:13
Speaker 2: But like that would get very exhausting, especially when you
1:39:17
Speaker 2: get married, especially when you start having kids, which she
1:39:21
Speaker 2: has kids, right, Like, at some point you're gonna want
1:39:23
Speaker 2: to just be like, all right, I'm just gonna like
1:39:25
Speaker 2: exit the public eye for a while. But then because
1:39:28
Speaker 2: we want to know if women's tennis is something we're
1:39:32
Speaker 2: excited to watch right now, it's more exciting if Serena's involved.
1:39:36
Speaker 2: So Serena, are you gonna play or are you retired?
1:39:39
Speaker 2: And she has to come out with fine, I'm retired, unretired.
1:39:43
Speaker 3: Let's go. She's coming to Wimbledon.
1:39:46
Speaker 2: She's not only playing doubles with her sister Venus, She's
1:39:48
Speaker 2: gonna play singles as well. I hope it's a run.
1:39:52
Speaker 2: I hope it's a dominant run. I hope that we
1:39:55
Speaker 2: get something great. Yeah, and this will.
1:39:57
Speaker 4: Not my annoyance with the unretired I'm not really retired,
1:40:03
Speaker 4: an unretired thing, waffling thing, and the farewell towards and
1:40:07
Speaker 4: everything will not skew my experience watching her at Wimbledon.
1:40:10
Speaker 6: I will.
1:40:11
Speaker 3: I'm with you. I hope she. I hope we see
1:40:13
Speaker 3: a deep run for her.
1:40:14
Speaker 2: You're gonna be You're gonna be sitting back there, armshold
1:40:16
Speaker 2: that have straight sets now, unbelievable. Serve there, Serena. But
1:40:22
Speaker 2: you should not have said told vote you were retired. No,
1:40:25
Speaker 2: I won't have it.
1:40:26
Speaker 4: UH.
1:40:27
Speaker 2: Speaking of great female legend in the sports world, Linda
1:40:34
Speaker 2: Cohne is retiring in a week, the longer, the longest
1:40:41
Speaker 2: ten yured sports center anchor, has done more sports centers
1:40:44
Speaker 2: than anyone in the history of the show. UH reporting
1:40:48
Speaker 2: that the final shows will be Friday, four, eight and
1:40:51
Speaker 2: nine pm. That is how many sports centers has she anchored,
1:40:57
Speaker 2: So she's over five thousand.
1:41:01
Speaker 4: They had they had a recently had a celebration of
1:41:05
Speaker 4: her five thousand sports center. So's she's done a lot
1:41:09
Speaker 4: of see five thousand and six hundred and fifty according
1:41:14
Speaker 4: to the Google AI overview.
1:41:16
Speaker 3: So that was a few years ago then that they
1:41:18
Speaker 3: had the five thousandth But.
1:41:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, thirty four years at wow, Yeah, she's going to
1:41:27
Speaker 2: conclude the run June thirtieth. That is a significant amount
1:41:32
Speaker 2: of time. Good for Linda Kohn and for anyone to
1:41:41
Speaker 2: be in a job for that long, you just have
1:41:44
Speaker 2: to be ESPN has gone through how many different iterations, changes,
1:41:52
Speaker 2: budget cuts, acquisitions. To be a constant through all of
1:41:58
Speaker 2: that flux is truly remarkable because when Disney buys you,
1:42:04
Speaker 2: they sometimes want to put their own people in, or
1:42:06
Speaker 2: when you know they you've got to start squeezing down
1:42:09
Speaker 2: on the budget and they're getting read. They got rid
1:42:11
Speaker 2: of some huge, huge names, right. Other guys left voluntarily,
1:42:16
Speaker 2: but Linda Cohen congratulations, she's like the last of She's
1:42:21
Speaker 2: not an og beginning of ESPN Sports Center anchor, but
1:42:25
Speaker 2: she's like the last of that, would you say, thirty
1:42:29
Speaker 2: four years So it's been early nineties that she joined.
1:42:33
Speaker 2: Of all those iconic people, Dan Patrick, Rich Eisen who's
1:42:37
Speaker 2: back with ESPN now back with Sports Center, Stuart Scott,
1:42:43
Speaker 2: there's so many more that joined around that time or
1:42:46
Speaker 2: a few years later. She's the last of those Sports
1:42:50
Speaker 2: Center anchors, and I would guess that most people can't
1:42:55
Speaker 2: really name many of the others that are that are
1:42:58
Speaker 2: on today. That's that's where the show's gone. But she's
1:43:02
Speaker 2: she's definitely alleged. The first Sports Center aired in nineteen
1:43:06
Speaker 2: seventy nine. September seventh, nineteen seventy nine. Chris Berman, George Grand,
1:43:14
Speaker 2: Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard bob Ley, sal Marciano and Lou Palmer.
1:43:19
Speaker 2: They were the anchors. It's wild nineteen seventy nine. She's
1:43:26
Speaker 2: been there, like you said, for thirty four years. Congratulations
1:43:29
Speaker 2: to her. All Right, we got to double up here.
1:43:31
Speaker 2: We'll talk a little World Cup little RSL with Jason
1:43:33
Speaker 2: christ the president of soccer operations for oursel and for
1:43:37
Speaker 2: the Utah Royals. That's next on the Sean O'Connell Show,
1:43:40
Speaker 2: ESPN seven hundred and ninety two ONEFN.
1:43:49
Speaker 1: You were listening to about Sean O'Connell show, your source
1:43:53
Speaker 1: for the best hutes football cover y, here's from the
1:43:56
Speaker 1: Murdock Hundi studio of ESPN seven hundred.
1:44:04
Speaker 2: Proof. Jay Action in the FIFA World Cup just went
1:44:08
Speaker 2: final Argentina to nil over Austria. Leo Messi scored both
1:44:13
Speaker 2: of those goals. The brace puts him at eighteen all
1:44:18
Speaker 2: time scoring in the World Cup, number one alone by himself.
1:44:23
Speaker 2: Miroslav Close was the previous holder of that record, and
1:44:28
Speaker 2: now Messi in this twenty twenty six World Cup has
1:44:31
Speaker 2: passed him and stands alone killing Himbape hot on the
1:44:34
Speaker 2: heels and definitely within striking distance of the record if
1:44:38
Speaker 2: he continues to play. But a nice game for Argentina again.
1:44:44
Speaker 2: Talking about that and all things soccer, Jason Chrice, RSL
1:44:47
Speaker 2: and Utah Royals, President of Soccer Operations, stops by courtesy
1:44:51
Speaker 2: of our friends over at beer Bar, your home for
1:44:53
Speaker 2: World Cup Soccer on ESPN seven hundred and ninety twoe
1:44:57
Speaker 2: AFM Jason, Welcome back to the show.
1:44:59
Speaker 3: How are you, sir?
1:45:01
Speaker 5: Thanks for having me. I'm doing fine, doing well. I
1:45:03
Speaker 5: had a little vacation this past two weeks.
1:45:05
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, I was going to ask you, how how
1:45:07
Speaker 2: much is the you know, the daily grind still on
1:45:11
Speaker 2: it or you know you're getting yourself caught up in
1:45:14
Speaker 2: World Cup love and action like the rest of the
1:45:16
Speaker 2: American sports fans.
1:45:19
Speaker 5: Well, it's interesting because I went to Italy with my
1:45:20
Speaker 5: wife for our thirtieth anniversary. We spent two weeks over there.
1:45:23
Speaker 5: And what strange as when you're in hotels over there,
1:45:26
Speaker 5: you can't really see much of the World Cup. They
1:45:28
Speaker 5: don't they don't broadcast all the.
1:45:29
Speaker 3: Games, especially because they didn't make it.
1:45:32
Speaker 5: Yeah exactly. I think it's maybe because they're a little
1:45:34
Speaker 5: bit angry. But anyways, they didn't get to see much.
1:45:37
Speaker 5: But now that I've been back and watching most of it,
1:45:39
Speaker 5: and it's been incredible. I was fortunate enough to go
1:45:42
Speaker 5: to see the US game in Seattle on Friday, and man,
1:45:44
Speaker 5: what an experience that was.
1:45:46
Speaker 3: What an incredible atmosphere.
1:45:49
Speaker 2: Really all of these games have had, but especially these
1:45:51
Speaker 2: US men's national team games, and you know, I've been
1:45:54
Speaker 2: I've been having soccer people for lack of better term,
1:45:58
Speaker 2: on for the last couple of weeks, and uh, you know,
1:46:01
Speaker 2: there's there's always been I don't I want them to
1:46:04
Speaker 2: say a disconnect, but there's always been sort of like
1:46:06
Speaker 2: a barrier to entry for the average American sports fans,
1:46:11
Speaker 2: someone who didn't come up playing soccer, to really jump
1:46:14
Speaker 2: on board, to really love soccer, to understand the way
1:46:17
Speaker 2: the rest of the world feels about it.
1:46:19
Speaker 3: Do you get any.
1:46:20
Speaker 2: Sense that this World Cup is helping to break that
1:46:23
Speaker 2: down at least a little bit?
1:46:25
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think so.
1:46:26
Speaker 3: I think so.
1:46:27
Speaker 5: I mean it's interesting. I think in the in the
1:46:29
Speaker 5: prior three World Cups, my experience at least just even
1:46:33
Speaker 5: going around our country to different places with the Sea Games,
1:46:35
Speaker 5: I was amazed at the atmosphere in a lot of
1:46:38
Speaker 5: different places around just watching the games and watching the
1:46:40
Speaker 5: World Cup, and then it kind of goes away a
1:46:43
Speaker 5: little bit. So I'm hopeful that in this World Cup,
1:46:44
Speaker 5: because it's in our country, it's gonna it's going to
1:46:47
Speaker 5: have a broader impact than that, on a more long
1:46:49
Speaker 5: lasting impact, and I think it will. I mean, just
1:46:52
Speaker 5: being around and seeing how much everybody's watching and watching
1:46:55
Speaker 5: the games and talking about the games, I'm hopeful this
1:46:57
Speaker 5: is going to have a massive, massive impact on on
1:47:00
Speaker 5: our soccer culture in our country for many years to come.
1:47:03
Speaker 2: And with that, obviously, RSL has, you know, the academy
1:47:07
Speaker 2: system and homegrown prospects that are now playing at the
1:47:10
Speaker 2: professional level, and we're seeing on the World Cup stage.
1:47:14
Speaker 2: You know, some of these countries are fielding guys that
1:47:16
Speaker 2: are eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old. These young players, this
1:47:20
Speaker 2: next generation of great stars. Even as Leo Messi scores
1:47:23
Speaker 2: a brace and what we expect to be his final
1:47:26
Speaker 2: World Cup, plenty of games left to play, I think
1:47:29
Speaker 2: for Argentina in this World Cup, but you know, he
1:47:32
Speaker 2: and Cristiano Ronaldo, I cannot foresee either of them being
1:47:37
Speaker 2: involved in the next one. And so next, this next
1:47:39
Speaker 2: crop of stars that the world is developing. I mean,
1:47:44
Speaker 2: can we see that infrastructure is our infrastructure in the
1:47:46
Speaker 2: United States at a place now where we're talking about
1:47:51
Speaker 2: our guys maybe being in that group eventually, if not
1:47:55
Speaker 2: in the next one.
1:47:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, obviously we have several dreams of American
1:47:59
Speaker 5: soccer people, you know. The first and foremost, and I
1:48:02
Speaker 5: think ultimately much more important one is for us to
1:48:05
Speaker 5: actually win a World Cup.
1:48:07
Speaker 7: But maybe these two things go.
1:48:08
Speaker 5: Hand in hand. The second one would be to develop
1:48:10
Speaker 5: a player that's seen as a truly elite player in
1:48:14
Speaker 5: the world, you know, a top three to top five
1:48:16
Speaker 5: player in the world. And I think we've got We've
1:48:19
Speaker 5: still got a long way to go with that, but
1:48:20
Speaker 5: I do think we're heading in a very positive direction.
1:48:23
Speaker 5: As somebody that's out and watching a lot of the
1:48:25
Speaker 5: Academy games and our not only our players, but all
1:48:28
Speaker 5: the academy players from across the country and all the
1:48:30
Speaker 5: different MLS teams. I'm really impressed with the with the
1:48:33
Speaker 5: work that's being done there, Really impressed with the development
1:48:37
Speaker 5: of the individual players from a tactical perspective, technical perspective,
1:48:40
Speaker 5: mental perspective, all the all the areas that I think
1:48:43
Speaker 5: we're doing a really nice job. And so yeah, I
1:48:44
Speaker 5: think there's there's absolutely no reason why in the future
1:48:48
Speaker 5: we couldn't have the next Leonelle Messier Christiano Ronaldo that
1:48:51
Speaker 5: comes from the US.
1:48:53
Speaker 2: My explanation, my excuse for why America is not elite
1:48:57
Speaker 2: in soccer has always been the same one everyone else
1:49:00
Speaker 2: uses that it's not It has not been a popular
1:49:03
Speaker 2: enough sport in the US for the elite athletes to
1:49:07
Speaker 2: decide that's what they're going to pursue when they're twelve, thirteen, fourteen,
1:49:11
Speaker 2: fifteen years old. The best athletes in the US end
1:49:14
Speaker 2: up in American football or they end up in basketball.
1:49:17
Speaker 2: Baseball is its own thing, I guess, but I don't know.
1:49:21
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's a proper explanation, if it
1:49:23
Speaker 2: ever was, I don't know if it is anymore. Because
1:49:26
Speaker 2: we're this nation of you know, immigrants, and there's a
1:49:28
Speaker 2: lot of families that are American now that didn't start
1:49:31
Speaker 2: out as Americans who soccer is their first love and
1:49:34
Speaker 2: they're funneling their kids into soccer instead. So if if
1:49:39
Speaker 2: it's going, if we are going to get like Achillian
1:49:41
Speaker 2: and Bape from the US, is it because he's gonna
1:49:45
Speaker 2: be the son of immigrants?
1:49:46
Speaker 3: Is it God?
1:49:47
Speaker 2: Or is it gonna be like an elite, elite athlete
1:49:49
Speaker 2: who could be a football player, could be a basketball player,
1:49:52
Speaker 2: could be a baseball star, chooses soccer instead, maybe because
1:49:56
Speaker 2: he watched the twenty twenty six World Cup and saw
1:49:58
Speaker 2: what Messi did or.
1:49:59
Speaker 5: Something go there, you go, yeah, No, I think it's
1:50:02
Speaker 5: about it's a couple of factors. I think one of
1:50:05
Speaker 5: the factors is to actually be able to visualize heroes, right,
1:50:08
Speaker 5: And so for a young aspiring athletic person in our
1:50:12
Speaker 5: country over the past thirty forty years, right, their heroes
1:50:17
Speaker 5: were baseball, basketball, and football players, and so they wanted
1:50:21
Speaker 5: to aspire to be that because there wasn't even a
1:50:23
Speaker 5: professional league in our country and it wasn't like this
1:50:25
Speaker 5: was the day and age of internet. So you weren't
1:50:27
Speaker 5: watching the German Bundesliga on the weekends. So I think
1:50:31
Speaker 5: there's a little bit about that. There's also a little
1:50:32
Speaker 5: bit about moving up in social economic status, right, I mean,
1:50:38
Speaker 5: in the majority of their countries, Argentina is Brazils of
1:50:42
Speaker 5: the world, that soccer represents a way for them to
1:50:46
Speaker 5: essentially get out of the slumps. Right. There's just a
1:50:50
Speaker 5: lot of money in it, and I think for our
1:50:52
Speaker 5: country that's always typically again been basketball, football and baseball.
1:50:57
Speaker 5: But now as our professional league continues to grow, our
1:51:00
Speaker 5: players start to make more and more money, I think
1:51:01
Speaker 5: it is it represents that opportunity for our young people
1:51:05
Speaker 5: as well. So I'm hopeful with the sort of combining
1:51:08
Speaker 5: of those two things that that opportunity exists for us.
1:51:13
Speaker 2: I don't know every number that's in your phone, but
1:51:15
Speaker 2: I hope Tim Howard is in there. I need you
1:51:17
Speaker 2: to call him and tell him. It is un American
1:51:22
Speaker 2: to go on television and tell your audience it's impossible
1:51:25
Speaker 2: for the USA to win this World Cup.
1:51:27
Speaker 3: That is the thing that we need.
1:51:28
Speaker 2: That is the final ingredient in the recipe, because we
1:51:32
Speaker 2: are front runners. As much as we don't like to
1:51:34
Speaker 2: admit that, to ourselves. The reason why we get so
1:51:37
Speaker 2: excited about the Women's World Cup is because we know
1:51:39
Speaker 2: that the US has a great chance of winning that thing.
1:51:42
Speaker 3: When we're you just won the group. Don't throw cold water.
1:51:46
Speaker 2: On my hopes and dreams here, Tim, Tim Howard, I mean,
1:51:49
Speaker 2: I'm obviously being facetious, but there is a certain element
1:51:52
Speaker 2: to like perpetuating that belief as we ride this wave,
1:51:57
Speaker 2: isn't there?
1:51:59
Speaker 6: Yeah?
1:51:59
Speaker 5: No, I mean I think there's real validity to the
1:52:02
Speaker 5: idea that what you put out in the world can happen, right,
1:52:06
Speaker 5: So speaking things into existence, I'm a proponent of that,
1:52:10
Speaker 5: and so why would you say anything else. I think
1:52:13
Speaker 5: that there's you know, that we should all believe. I
1:52:16
Speaker 5: think that's also part of being an American as well,
1:52:18
Speaker 5: is to be the eternal optimist. And so that's you know,
1:52:21
Speaker 5: my father always taught me that he was. He was
1:52:23
Speaker 5: the optimistic guy for sure, as a leader of our family.
1:52:27
Speaker 5: So I wouldn't say anything less than yeah, we can
1:52:29
Speaker 5: do it.
1:52:31
Speaker 2: Jason christ is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell show,
1:52:33
Speaker 2: RSL and Utah Royals President of Soccer Operations. So now
1:52:37
Speaker 2: that you're back from Italy, and you're you're having a
1:52:39
Speaker 2: chance to sit down and watch some of these games.
1:52:42
Speaker 2: Are you able to do it from just a passionate
1:52:44
Speaker 2: soccer fan perspective? Or do does the does the executive
1:52:48
Speaker 2: mind always? You know, you're always like, Okay, that guy
1:52:51
Speaker 2: who just came in for eight minutes for Cabo Verd,
1:52:53
Speaker 2: what can we do to get him to like?
1:52:55
Speaker 3: Is there any of that going on while you're watching?
1:53:00
Speaker 5: Yes, of course the work never stops in my mind,
1:53:02
Speaker 5: to be completely frank and honest, and obviously coaching the
1:53:06
Speaker 5: game for a long time, I have a love of tactics,
1:53:10
Speaker 5: so especially when I watched the US play, I'm analyzing
1:53:13
Speaker 5: the tactics there more than anything else and trying to
1:53:16
Speaker 5: figure out whether I agree or disagree with decisions that
1:53:18
Speaker 5: are being made. So yeah, the job never leaves me,
1:53:22
Speaker 5: and I'm continually going to look at the smaller countries
1:53:25
Speaker 5: and the players there and see if there would be
1:53:26
Speaker 5: opportunity for real salt Lake.
1:53:28
Speaker 2: For sure, ignorance has been blissful for me when it
1:53:31
Speaker 2: comes to watching this US men's national team. I don't
1:53:34
Speaker 2: know enough to know whether I should be questioning Mauricio
1:53:37
Speaker 2: Poschatino with his lineups or his formation or the tactics.
1:53:41
Speaker 2: You do not have that blissful ignorance. So I mean,
1:53:44
Speaker 2: I think the results speak for themselves. But is there
1:53:47
Speaker 2: anything on the positive or negative side that a change
1:53:50
Speaker 2: that he has made that you think is significant here?
1:53:53
Speaker 5: Well, I think, first and foremost, you said it absolutely
1:53:56
Speaker 5: correctly that the results are what matter in a tournament
1:53:59
Speaker 5: like this. You know, it's all well and good to
1:54:02
Speaker 5: play the most attractive soccer, but to be doing that
1:54:06
Speaker 5: not getting results would certainly not be good enough. So
1:54:08
Speaker 5: I wouldn't I'm not going to detract or be a
1:54:10
Speaker 5: negative person about about what I've seen with the US.
1:54:14
Speaker 5: I would say, frankly, I thought in this last game
1:54:16
Speaker 5: against an opponent that sat back and was very negative,
1:54:21
Speaker 5: it did prove to be extremely difficult for our team
1:54:23
Speaker 5: to create goal scoring chances, and I thought we lacked
1:54:26
Speaker 5: a little bit of tactical acumen to open the opponent
1:54:30
Speaker 5: up and to actually create those good chances. But frankly,
1:54:33
Speaker 5: I don't think that as we enter the knockout stages
1:54:36
Speaker 5: that we're going to, we're going to be facing many
1:54:37
Speaker 5: opponents that are going to try to put all eleven
1:54:40
Speaker 5: players behind the ball and within forty yards of their
1:54:42
Speaker 5: own goal. I think the opposite might be true, So
1:54:46
Speaker 5: I don't put a whole lot of weight into what
1:54:48
Speaker 5: I saw in that game, other than to say I
1:54:49
Speaker 5: would have liked it to seem to see us be
1:54:52
Speaker 5: a little bit more tactically astute to create more goal
1:54:54
Speaker 5: scoring chances.
1:54:55
Speaker 2: What do you expect from the final game of group
1:54:58
Speaker 2: play because you're going against a team that's eliminated, you
1:55:02
Speaker 2: have won the group already. That chain when you don't
1:55:05
Speaker 2: have pressure or the pressure has changed on both sides
1:55:09
Speaker 2: like it could alter the dynamic of the game. So
1:55:12
Speaker 2: how do you anticipate this next one playing out?
1:55:15
Speaker 5: It's difficult, really difficult to say. All I could say
1:55:19
Speaker 5: is that if I was coaching the team, I would
1:55:21
Speaker 5: certainly start with number one. Anybody that's had a yellow
1:55:24
Speaker 5: card doesn't play, because I'm not going to take the
1:55:27
Speaker 5: risks that they're not going to be available for the
1:55:29
Speaker 5: first knockout stage.
1:55:32
Speaker 3: And number two.
1:55:33
Speaker 5: I would look at it as an opportunity to get
1:55:35
Speaker 5: more players out there playing minutes, to show me what
1:55:39
Speaker 5: they're capable of and to earn the trust, because to
1:55:42
Speaker 5: go through the knockout stage, you know that there's going
1:55:45
Speaker 5: to be injuries, there could be potential suspensions, and to
1:55:48
Speaker 5: have a deeper group of players that already feels like, Okay,
1:55:52
Speaker 5: I got my opportunity, I'm in this tournament.
1:55:54
Speaker 6: I did well.
1:55:54
Speaker 5: I'm ready when I'm called upon. I think that's meaningful.
1:55:58
Speaker 5: So I would like to see him make you know,
1:56:00
Speaker 5: five six changes. I think there's three or four guys
1:56:02
Speaker 5: that have yellow cards. Those guys wouldn't play, but I'd
1:56:05
Speaker 5: like to see another two or three changes as well,
1:56:07
Speaker 5: just to get more players involved in this tournament such
1:56:10
Speaker 5: that if we need them in the latter stages, they
1:56:13
Speaker 5: are ready and ready to rock.
1:56:15
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna lie to you, Jason.
1:56:17
Speaker 2: I thought that there would be some opportunity for us,
1:56:20
Speaker 2: maybe even in group play, to come on there and say, ah,
1:56:23
Speaker 2: this would have been you would have been better off
1:56:25
Speaker 2: if you had moon Man on this roster. That wouldn't
1:56:28
Speaker 2: have happened to Team USA if Diego Luna was out
1:56:31
Speaker 2: there for them, I guess, thankfully, from a patriotic perspective,
1:56:35
Speaker 2: that hasn't happened yet. But have you seen anything even
1:56:39
Speaker 2: as he is not on the roster, where maybe you
1:56:43
Speaker 2: know he or any of the RSL guys Goza whoever
1:56:45
Speaker 2: would have fit in to this formation, fit into this
1:56:48
Speaker 2: US men's national team roster and been a help.
1:56:52
Speaker 1: Yeah.
1:56:52
Speaker 5: I mean, I think starting off with the fact that
1:56:55
Speaker 5: the US in possession is playing the same game model
1:56:57
Speaker 5: that RFL plays, I think that's that would be useful
1:57:01
Speaker 5: and the likes of Luna and Goza would fit into
1:57:04
Speaker 5: that seamlessly. I would say again that, you know, against Australia,
1:57:07
Speaker 5: against a team that was sitting back so deeply, we
1:57:11
Speaker 5: needed a player like Diego Luna to come into that
1:57:13
Speaker 5: game that could potentially unlock it. Now, obviously we won
1:57:16
Speaker 5: the game to zero, but I do think that, you know,
1:57:19
Speaker 5: an opponent like that is the exact opponent that that
1:57:22
Speaker 5: that you want to have a Diego Luna against. With
1:57:24
Speaker 5: his creativity and his ability to create things individually, I
1:57:28
Speaker 5: think that that could have helped us a bit.
1:57:31
Speaker 2: Have you spoken with him directly privately since he was
1:57:36
Speaker 2: omitted from the roster.
1:57:38
Speaker 5: Yeah, of course I was very concerned for him and
1:57:42
Speaker 5: also disappointed, very disappointed I think for our club but
1:57:46
Speaker 5: also for Diego and a lot of it just didn't
1:57:49
Speaker 5: quite make sense to me, so I was worried about
1:57:51
Speaker 5: how he would take it. And I think he's obviously
1:57:54
Speaker 5: done a very good job. And this is a kid
1:57:57
Speaker 5: that has literally come from nothing and has always the fighters,
1:58:00
Speaker 5: So I don't see the situation being any different. He's
1:58:03
Speaker 5: just going to have to get back out there and
1:58:05
Speaker 5: fight and show that he belongs for the for the
1:58:07
Speaker 5: national team games that are coming up after this World
1:58:09
Speaker 5: Cup in the fall of the opportunity and for him
1:58:11
Speaker 5: to show that he's he should be a part of
1:58:13
Speaker 5: that group coming forward.
1:58:16
Speaker 2: What are your RSL guys up to today? When does
1:58:19
Speaker 2: the work begin again or begin in earnest again for them?
1:58:24
Speaker 5: Actually, they all got three weeks off from our last
1:58:28
Speaker 5: game at Minnesota, and they started training Wednesday of last week,
1:58:32
Speaker 5: So now they'll be they'll be in and training. We
1:58:34
Speaker 5: have a friendly game against Nashville this weekend. Nashville actually
1:58:37
Speaker 5: came out to Salt Lake here to train for a week.
1:58:40
Speaker 5: We'll play a friendly game with them on Saturday, and
1:58:42
Speaker 5: then from there going forward we'll have like regular sort
1:58:45
Speaker 5: of friendly matches to prepare our players. I mean, this
1:58:48
Speaker 5: is essentially a second preseason, is exactly what it is.
1:58:51
Speaker 2: Uh Burnley coming in in mid July. Is is Burnley
1:58:55
Speaker 2: the JJ Watt team? Does he does he own piece
1:58:58
Speaker 2: of that?
1:58:59
Speaker 6: Yeah, it is.
1:59:00
Speaker 5: And also Alan Pace who's from Utah and Dave Checkets
1:59:03
Speaker 5: are are both and Allen's actually the chairman of the
1:59:06
Speaker 5: board and make the principal owner of the team. And
1:59:08
Speaker 5: then Dave Checkets is on the on their board. So
1:59:11
Speaker 5: a lot of familiar faces.
1:59:14
Speaker 2: It shows you exactly where my dumb football brain works
1:59:17
Speaker 2: when I think of a soccer team, Well, there's a
1:59:19
Speaker 2: there's an NFL guy associated with that one, and I
1:59:21
Speaker 2: leave out the important Utah figures in it. So what
1:59:26
Speaker 2: is the what is the ramp up like for when
1:59:29
Speaker 2: you're in these friendlies and you know you're coming off
1:59:31
Speaker 2: an international break, especially for a team that does not have,
1:59:36
Speaker 2: you know, guys on the US men's national team has
1:59:38
Speaker 2: not sent to an entire roster full of players out
1:59:41
Speaker 2: for international duty. What is the ramp up like, like,
1:59:43
Speaker 2: what are the what's the emphasis in training right now?
1:59:47
Speaker 7: Yeah?
1:59:48
Speaker 5: And training right now, it's just about getting the guys
1:59:51
Speaker 5: physically back up to a place where they can play
1:59:54
Speaker 5: ninety minutes.
1:59:54
Speaker 6: Thanks.
1:59:55
Speaker 7: I think we did a.
1:59:55
Speaker 5: Fitness test for the guys actually on their second day back,
1:59:58
Speaker 5: and the fitness level showed the be pretty good and
2:00:01
Speaker 5: then as we get closer to the season, are closer
2:00:04
Speaker 5: closer to the renewal of the season, I should say,
2:00:08
Speaker 5: then it's going to be about really fine tuning things
2:00:10
Speaker 5: and preparing them to fight for this second half of
2:00:13
Speaker 5: the season. So the Burnley game is on the fifteenth,
2:00:16
Speaker 5: which is one week one week exactly prior to our
2:00:20
Speaker 5: MLS return, which that game is on the twenty second
2:00:23
Speaker 5: at LAFC. So that game is going to be a
2:00:27
Speaker 5: time for us to really fine tune things with our
2:00:29
Speaker 5: starting group, and so the fans can expect to see
2:00:32
Speaker 5: a really strong lineup out there to play against a
2:00:34
Speaker 5: Burnley team that will be in the middle stages of
2:00:37
Speaker 5: their preseason. So it should be a real I think
2:00:40
Speaker 5: it's going to be a great game and a great
2:00:42
Speaker 5: experience for everybody to see our guys after for so
2:00:45
Speaker 5: long off, but also to see what a team that
2:00:48
Speaker 5: is was just in the Premiership last league with last year,
2:00:52
Speaker 5: what those players might look like.
2:00:54
Speaker 2: I would be remiss if I didn't also ask you
2:00:56
Speaker 2: about this Utah Royal squad that's been off to a
2:00:59
Speaker 2: really good started their season and what number two this
2:01:04
Speaker 2: is a the NWSL is a product that like a
2:01:08
Speaker 2: lot of women's sports is having its moment in American culture.
2:01:13
Speaker 2: But also, like I think we need to amplify it more.
2:01:16
Speaker 2: And I mean I don't follow it enough. I'm not
2:01:19
Speaker 2: doing a good enough job making sure that I'm asking
2:01:21
Speaker 2: the right questions and getting out there and things like that.
2:01:24
Speaker 2: But you know, what do we need to know about
2:01:27
Speaker 2: the royals and what we can do to support this NWSL?
2:01:30
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean that's a fantastic group of young women.
2:01:35
Speaker 5: It really is that there are. I started working with
2:01:38
Speaker 5: them almost exactly a year ago. I was very hesitant
2:01:41
Speaker 5: and nervous about it because I had frankly never worked
2:01:44
Speaker 5: with women's sports at all. And it's just been such
2:01:48
Speaker 5: a rewarding experience because these young young ladies are not
2:01:53
Speaker 5: only ambitious and terrific professionals, but they're fantastic people and
2:01:58
Speaker 5: so thankful of everything that that we do for them,
2:02:01
Speaker 5: and the resources that we've been able to put behind
2:02:03
Speaker 5: them has been nothing short of spectacular. The Miller the
2:02:07
Speaker 5: Miller family has has been aligned with me and the
2:02:10
Speaker 5: other leadership to to really put the right amount of
2:02:13
Speaker 5: support around our players from a medical and health perspective
2:02:17
Speaker 5: to a performance perspective and we've done some they've they
2:02:22
Speaker 5: have provided some real strong support and I think we're
2:02:25
Speaker 5: seeing dividends for that. You know, the girls have really
2:02:30
Speaker 5: have a tight knit group of as a team and
2:02:33
Speaker 5: have just performed. I think from a performance and athletic perspective,
2:02:37
Speaker 5: that's performed extremely well this year. So I think we're
2:02:41
Speaker 5: we're getting a lot of dividends paid from the work
2:02:44
Speaker 5: that has been put in and from the resources that
2:02:46
Speaker 5: have been put behind this group. So if you haven't
2:02:50
Speaker 5: been out to a game, I tell you should come.
2:02:52
Speaker 5: But we've started to get more and more fans. The
2:02:54
Speaker 5: atmosphere of the games has been fantastic, and the and
2:02:57
Speaker 5: the team is nothing short of of of phenomenal. You know,
2:03:01
Speaker 5: they're second place in the league, but I think we
2:03:04
Speaker 5: have a game or two in hand, so we handle
2:03:06
Speaker 5: that right the right way, we'll be back in first place.
2:03:08
Speaker 2: I actually I got some family coming in and we're
2:03:11
Speaker 2: coming to the I think the game against Gotham is
2:03:15
Speaker 2: the one we plan on. July tenth is the one
2:03:17
Speaker 2: we're planning, and it'll be my first I'm really excited
2:03:20
Speaker 2: about it. Like I said, I have family coming in
2:03:22
Speaker 2: to visit, and that was one of the things like
2:03:25
Speaker 2: we got to check that box. We want to go
2:03:26
Speaker 2: to a Royals game, and I was like, sweet, I
2:03:28
Speaker 2: think I can make that happen. So I'll be calling
2:03:31
Speaker 2: someone in your building to try to get I don't know, some.
2:03:33
Speaker 5: Kind of you can call me. You can call me
2:03:36
Speaker 5: because it's funny because I have an extended family coming
2:03:38
Speaker 5: in at the same time and we're also all going
2:03:40
Speaker 5: to be at the game.
2:03:40
Speaker 2: Awesome, Well, enjoy the rest of this World Cup. I
2:03:45
Speaker 2: can't tell you how much I appreciate your time helping me.
2:03:48
Speaker 2: You know, I'm jumping on the bandwagon, Jason. I'm well
2:03:53
Speaker 2: late to it, but I'm jumping on the bandwagon, and
2:03:55
Speaker 2: I think we need results on the men's side in
2:03:59
Speaker 2: order for thee to really join me in crowding along
2:04:03
Speaker 2: with the people like you who've been on this thing
2:04:05
Speaker 2: the whole way.
2:04:07
Speaker 3: Awesome.
2:04:07
Speaker 2: Welcome aboard, as Jason Christ RSL and Utah Royals President
2:04:12
Speaker 2: of Soccer Operations. World Cup Talk brought to you by
2:04:16
Speaker 2: beer bar RSL Back in action with some friendlies Burnley
2:04:20
Speaker 2: FC coming in July fifteenth at seven thirty pm if
2:04:24
Speaker 2: you want to check that out. The Utah Royals will
2:04:28
Speaker 2: be back at America First Field looks like that July
2:04:32
Speaker 2: tenth game.
2:04:32
Speaker 3: They're back in action July fifth in Chicago.
2:04:35
Speaker 2: But July tenth and then July eighteenth they're at America
2:04:39
Speaker 2: First Field, So we'll see you out there at the park.
2:04:42
Speaker 3: I suppose. Yeah.
2:04:43
Speaker 4: I wonder how they were able to arrange that friendly
2:04:46
Speaker 4: oc with they don't know the organizations, don't know each
2:04:50
Speaker 4: other at all.
2:04:51
Speaker 3: It's fun to hear.
2:04:54
Speaker 4: I knew Spence had mentioned on the air about his dad,
2:04:57
Speaker 4: Dave check It's being involved in Burnley. I that Alan
2:05:01
Speaker 4: Pace was a Utah and and the chairman of the
2:05:03
Speaker 4: board there.
2:05:04
Speaker 3: That's pretty cool. I actually I must have missed.
2:05:06
Speaker 2: I Unfortunately I ignore Spence far too often when we're
2:05:10
Speaker 2: having conversations, and I must have forgotten that his dad
2:05:15
Speaker 2: was involved in Burnley. Now, like I said, I'm a
2:05:19
Speaker 2: dumb football guy. So when JJ Watt is part of
2:05:22
Speaker 2: the ownership group, I'm like, Okay, that's his tends out
2:05:24
Speaker 2: to you. Yeah, that's his team. And obviously his wife
2:05:27
Speaker 2: is from here too. So like there's two Utah connections.
2:05:30
Speaker 3: You got.
2:05:30
Speaker 4: You got Alan Pace, the chairman of the board. Who's
2:05:33
Speaker 4: who's Utah connection?
2:05:34
Speaker 2: There?
2:05:34
Speaker 4: You got Dave check it's the former owner of RSL
2:05:37
Speaker 4: and we all know what Dave Checkett's been involved in.
2:05:40
Speaker 3: And then uh Helia Watt.
2:05:42
Speaker 4: JJ Watt's wife is from Drapers, so that one was
2:05:46
Speaker 4: probably an easy one to set up for for RSL.
2:05:50
Speaker 2: UH sincere thanks to Jason Christ and everyone who comes
2:05:54
Speaker 2: on to talk soccer with me, because I know what
2:05:58
Speaker 2: it's like having rudimentary conversations about a sport that you
2:06:04
Speaker 2: are possessed of advanced knowledge over, right, like when I
2:06:08
Speaker 2: have MMA or combat sports conversations with people who it's
2:06:12
Speaker 2: just not their thing. I enjoy it, but I don't
2:06:15
Speaker 2: know if everyone does. I enjoy it, but I don't
2:06:18
Speaker 2: know if everyone in those shoes likes to have to
2:06:21
Speaker 2: explain the very basics to me when I'm talking soccer.
2:06:24
Speaker 2: So I really do sincerely appreciate Jason Christ giving us
2:06:29
Speaker 2: that time and the gap between attention and passion for
2:06:34
Speaker 2: soccer in some of our other American sports, it doesn't
2:06:38
Speaker 2: have to be as large as it is even for me. Right,
2:06:42
Speaker 2: there's only a certain amount of bandwidth.
2:06:43
Speaker 3: But like.
2:06:45
Speaker 2: I'm not lying when I'm saying I'm jumping on this bandwagon,
2:06:49
Speaker 2: and I think part of it is because a lot
2:06:51
Speaker 2: of the tactic, a lot of the motion, a lot
2:06:54
Speaker 2: of the especially how goals are set up in soccer,
2:06:58
Speaker 2: is similar to what we see in hockey.
2:07:00
Speaker 6: Right.
2:07:00
Speaker 2: You can see that that final couple of passes, you
2:07:02
Speaker 2: can see the puck motion across the face of the
2:07:06
Speaker 2: goal or in the case of soccer, obviously it's across
2:07:08
Speaker 2: the face of the goal, and and the scale is different,
2:07:11
Speaker 2: and the number of players is obviously different, but you
2:07:13
Speaker 2: can see some of it like coming together and that
2:07:15
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, it has helped me connect those dots a
2:07:17
Speaker 2: little bit more.
2:07:18
Speaker 4: But watching the watching this Argentina match, which another incredible
2:07:25
Speaker 4: performance by Messi, as you talked about with Jason, I mean,
2:07:28
Speaker 4: what else is there to say about the guy? But
2:07:31
Speaker 4: the I found myself going, oh, it's kind of in
2:07:34
Speaker 4: the neutral zone, you know, in the middle of the
2:07:36
Speaker 4: field there, just like I'm like, wow, Apparently hockey's really
2:07:41
Speaker 4: helped me understand soccer a little bit more.
2:07:45
Speaker 2: A random fan just popped up on the studio show
2:07:49
Speaker 2: behind Rob Stone and the guys just started started talking
2:07:54
Speaker 2: to him. Let's uh, let's fire up the security a
2:07:57
Speaker 2: little bit more. Uh, Argentina to nil over Austria. Let's
2:08:04
Speaker 2: get back into some conversation about what's going to happen
2:08:07
Speaker 2: tomorrow for the Utah Jazz. How how critical is this
2:08:10
Speaker 2: juncture for the Utah Jazz franchise. We are, what twenty
2:08:15
Speaker 2: eight hours away from when their pick will actually be in,
2:08:19
Speaker 2: twenty nine hours away when their pick will actually be in.
2:08:22
Speaker 2: It's a Shan O'Connell show on ESPN seven hundred and
2:08:25
Speaker 2: ninety two one FM.
2:08:27
Speaker 6: Another one, that's the test.
2:08:32
Speaker 7: Another one.
2:08:34
Speaker 1: You're tuned to the Shan O'Connell show from the Murdoch
2:08:37
Speaker 1: Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred at ninety two one
2:08:41
Speaker 1: A FM.
2:08:55
Speaker 2: Eight seven seven three five three zero seven hundred. That's
2:08:58
Speaker 2: how you text me? Tell me right now? This number
2:09:01
Speaker 2: two draft pick that the Utah Jazz hold tomorrow night
2:09:06
Speaker 2: when we're sitting there at the engine room thirteen eighty
2:09:09
Speaker 2: eight South, three hundred wests and either aj Debansa or
2:09:13
Speaker 2: Darren Peterson here's their name called as the number two
2:09:16
Speaker 2: overall pick to the Utah Jazz. How critical is it
2:09:22
Speaker 2: that that works out for the existence of this franchise
2:09:27
Speaker 2: as like the number one pillar of professional sports in
2:09:31
Speaker 2: the state of Utah. Now the Smith Entertainment Group is
2:09:36
Speaker 2: in a really I think comfortable and unique position in
2:09:38
Speaker 2: that even if the Utah Jazz stuff falls off the rails,
2:09:43
Speaker 2: they got a good thing going on with the Utah Mammoth.
2:09:49
Speaker 2: So if the NBA thing is not ideal, well your
2:09:55
Speaker 2: NHL thing steps in to take the place. Or I
2:09:59
Speaker 2: guess if you're right, Ian Smith, and you are now
2:10:02
Speaker 2: a stakeholder of sorts in BYU Athletics and BYU Athletics
2:10:06
Speaker 2: is really thriving, then you feel good about that one
2:10:09
Speaker 2: as well. I I'm trying to articulate for myself, not
2:10:15
Speaker 2: even just for you, for myself, my feelings on just
2:10:19
Speaker 2: how crucial this draft is for the Utah Jazz, because again,
2:10:23
Speaker 2: it's odd. It's like that that Christmas when you were
2:10:26
Speaker 2: eleven and you knew the present you were gonna get
2:10:30
Speaker 2: it was gonna be one of two things. It was
2:10:31
Speaker 2: gonna be that bicycle or it was gonna be the PlayStation,
2:10:34
Speaker 2: and you were like, all right, man, I'm happy with
2:10:37
Speaker 2: either outcome. And of course you know they're both formative
2:10:42
Speaker 2: for you. The bicycle gives you a level of independence.
2:10:44
Speaker 2: You can ride around the neighborhood, you go see your friends.
2:10:48
Speaker 2: The PlayStation probably doesn't actually do anything good for you,
2:10:52
Speaker 2: but you create a bunch of fun memories with it.
2:10:57
Speaker 2: If AJ Debon says the bicycle and that's your number
2:11:00
Speaker 2: one choice but you don't get it, you're still happy
2:11:03
Speaker 2: when Darren Peterson aka PlayStation ends up under the tree
2:11:07
Speaker 2: for you.
2:11:09
Speaker 3: But what if it.
2:11:11
Speaker 2: Turns out that you stink at play in PlayStation and
2:11:14
Speaker 2: you lose, And you're like, if it doesn't work out,
2:11:17
Speaker 2: we know who the draft pick is going to be.
2:11:19
Speaker 2: It's gonna be one of those two or I guess
2:11:21
Speaker 2: there's some weird outlier possibility that it's Cam Boozer. But
2:11:26
Speaker 2: if it doesn't work out, if that individual and I
2:11:28
Speaker 2: think there's a lot of question more question marks around
2:11:31
Speaker 2: Darren Peterson are around a J debonce. If that guy
2:11:34
Speaker 2: doesn't work out, after you've tanked and after you've aggressively
2:11:39
Speaker 2: pursued this draft pick, if that doesn't work out, to me,
2:11:43
Speaker 2: it doesn't feel like it's a Dante exam situation. To me,
2:11:48
Speaker 2: it feels like the sky is falling because you have
2:11:51
Speaker 2: built your whole franchise identity, your whole franchise last three
2:11:56
Speaker 2: years around achieving this. You thought, hey, man, let's sag
2:12:02
Speaker 2: for Flag, Let's go after that Cooper flag pick.
2:12:05
Speaker 3: Let's stink for this.
2:12:06
Speaker 2: For whatever reason, you didn't do it as aggressively for
2:12:08
Speaker 2: Victor Wembinyama, much to the chagrin of plenty of people.
2:12:11
Speaker 2: But for Flag you were going all in on being
2:12:14
Speaker 2: terrible and it didn't work out. But Ace Bailey was
2:12:17
Speaker 2: a happy little consolation prize. It worked out. Okay, The
2:12:20
Speaker 2: consolation prize here is not You're not gonna feel that
2:12:25
Speaker 2: way about it, right. Ace Bailey has been a pleasant
2:12:30
Speaker 2: outcome and surprise because you were disappointed initially. You're not
2:12:34
Speaker 2: disappointed initially here. You're happy with the result. You're excited
2:12:39
Speaker 2: about number two. So if number two doesn't work out
2:12:41
Speaker 2: to be really excellent, potentially great for you, that's when
2:12:45
Speaker 2: the disappointment comes in. There's no pleasant surprise with Darren Peterson.
2:12:49
Speaker 2: There's gonna be no pleasant surprise with AJ Debontsa. That
2:12:52
Speaker 2: guy has to be a what, a multiple time All Star,
2:12:57
Speaker 2: A franchise player.
2:13:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's got to be. Whoever they picked number two.
2:13:06
Speaker 4: In number two overall, in with the way that the
2:13:11
Speaker 4: top three guys in this draft have been talked about,
2:13:14
Speaker 4: particularly a AJ Debonsa and Darren Peterson the way that
2:13:18
Speaker 4: they've been talked about, Tracy McGrady, Kobe, that type of
2:13:22
Speaker 4: those type of comparisons. You're not just looking for a multiple,
2:13:25
Speaker 4: multiple time all start that needs to be maybe not
2:13:29
Speaker 4: the best player in the league, but it's got to
2:13:30
Speaker 4: be an all NBA player. It's got to be like
2:13:33
Speaker 4: the guy you traded away four years ago, Donovan Mitchell
2:13:35
Speaker 4: probably better.
2:13:36
Speaker 2: Okay, let's do Let's go back fifteen years, all right,
2:13:41
Speaker 2: just for the sample size, actually, just because there's some
2:13:46
Speaker 2: more recognizable names. Let's go back, and I'm gonna say,
2:13:49
Speaker 2: I'm gonna ask you, James satisfied or disappointed with the
2:13:53
Speaker 2: outcome on the number two pick over these last twenty years?
2:13:57
Speaker 3: Ish, okay? All right?
2:14:00
Speaker 2: Marcus Aldridge to the Bulls at Draft Knight trade of
2:14:05
Speaker 2: the Blazers the Blazers. The Blazers were happy with LaMarcus
2:14:09
Speaker 2: I would say, satisfied. Kevin Durant obviously obviously, yeah, Michael
2:14:14
Speaker 2: Beasley not satisfied, Okay, Hashim the beat uh yeah, bust
2:14:20
Speaker 2: yep not satisfied.
2:14:21
Speaker 3: Okay. Evan Turner.
2:14:24
Speaker 4: Not satisfied, although he did have a really long career,
2:14:27
Speaker 4: but not satisfied. Okay, Derek Williams not satisfied. Michael Kidd, Gilcrest, Nope.
2:14:35
Speaker 4: Rest in peace of Bobcats by.
2:14:36
Speaker 3: The way, Yeah, I.
2:14:38
Speaker 2: Could not stand the Bobcats existence. It was a terrible name.
2:14:41
Speaker 2: It was a terrible look. The whole thing bothered me.
2:14:45
Speaker 4: Uh. Victor Oladipo Yeah, okay, Uh, obviously sorry with Oladibo
2:14:51
Speaker 4: obviously would have been much better had he not gotten
2:14:54
Speaker 4: the injuries. So, but he was on a He had
2:14:57
Speaker 4: a nice career, especially in that compared to that draft class.
2:15:00
Speaker 3: All right, here's another one with some strong Utah ties.
2:15:04
Speaker 2: Jabari Parker Yeah, no, okay, D'Angelo Russell in twenty fifteen.
2:15:10
Speaker 4: No, I mean you, there might be some people that
2:15:13
Speaker 4: think he has earned it, but I don't think that
2:15:16
Speaker 4: he's earned that.
2:15:17
Speaker 2: Okay, Brandon Ingram, Yes, yeah, Okay, Lonzo Ball no, okay,
2:15:26
Speaker 2: Marvin Bagley the third definitely not.
2:15:30
Speaker 3: John Morant, Yeah, but tell it wise.
2:15:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, And he's had he's definitely if his career ended
2:15:39
Speaker 4: today and you were only looking at the basketball, he's
2:15:42
Speaker 4: lived up to the hype.
2:15:43
Speaker 2: Yes, in his career. He just unfortunately it's more than
2:15:46
Speaker 2: basketball with him. James Wiseman to the Warriors, Yeah, no,
2:15:50
Speaker 2: Jalen Green to the Rockets, No, but plenty of time
2:15:54
Speaker 2: for him still, Okay. Chet Holmgren, I would say, I
2:15:59
Speaker 2: would say ned out, yes, but a terrible end of
2:16:03
Speaker 2: the season.
2:16:03
Speaker 3: So you got question.
2:16:04
Speaker 2: Marks, recency bias aside, you're happy with him at number two?
2:16:09
Speaker 2: Brandon Miller, No, Alex Saw. I'm sorry, Brandon Miller. He
2:16:16
Speaker 2: for now let's be on the fence with Brandon Miller. Yeah, okay,
2:16:20
Speaker 2: Alex Saw, Yeah, same thing. Still need more, we need
2:16:24
Speaker 2: more of a sample size, okay. And Dylan Harper. So
2:16:26
Speaker 2: these guys, these these.
2:16:27
Speaker 3: Dylan Harper absolutely in the playoffs, right, these.
2:16:30
Speaker 2: Most recent guys. So what I just did there were
2:16:32
Speaker 2: ten guys that were.
2:16:34
Speaker 3: Bus at number two.
2:16:35
Speaker 4: They were that were like definitely not on the fence,
2:16:37
Speaker 4: bus kind of thing.
2:16:38
Speaker 2: And then there were like three guys that are kind
2:16:41
Speaker 2: of on the fence. And then there's the recentcy like
2:16:43
Speaker 2: we'll see to be determiners. But there's like ten guys
2:16:46
Speaker 2: that were bus. That's how critical this is for the
2:16:49
Speaker 2: Utah Jazz because it was probably I mean, I don't
2:16:54
Speaker 2: remember exactly what the conversation was like in two thousand
2:16:58
Speaker 2: and nine when the Grizzlies Draftfted Hashim the beat?
2:17:01
Speaker 4: Did you do you have the whole? You don't have
2:17:03
Speaker 4: that pulled up anymore? I do do you have? Who
2:17:06
Speaker 4: was behind the beat? Like this? This is just this
2:17:10
Speaker 4: is just the number two pick.
2:17:13
Speaker 2: So and again, drafting is such an inexact science, and
2:17:18
Speaker 2: we have perhaps deluded ourselves with this draft, in particular,
2:17:23
Speaker 2: into a belief that the outcome with these players individually
2:17:27
Speaker 2: is certain and assured that aj Debonsa is going to
2:17:33
Speaker 2: be a great NBA basketball player. I remember thinking that
2:17:38
Speaker 2: Zion Williamson was a no brainer NBA All Star MVP candidate.
2:17:44
Speaker 2: I remember watching him play and not realizing that that
2:17:49
Speaker 2: level of amplitude and the reliance on being the physical
2:17:54
Speaker 2: powerhouse that he was in college was just not going
2:17:57
Speaker 2: to translate as effectively to the NBA, even if there
2:18:00
Speaker 2: were no questions about work ethic and weight control and
2:18:03
Speaker 2: things like that. I would remember thinking like, Oh, that
2:18:06
Speaker 2: guy is just a monster. Because you fall in love
2:18:08
Speaker 2: with the traits. You fall in love with the acrobatics,
2:18:12
Speaker 2: the high flying, the dominance, right, you get sucked into like,
2:18:18
Speaker 2: look he blew up a shoe because he's so powerful right,
2:18:22
Speaker 2: and you the acrobatics, even the even though stuff they
2:18:25
Speaker 2: weren't dunks.
2:18:26
Speaker 4: I still remember the highlight block volleyball style block against
2:18:31
Speaker 4: Virginia where he'd like nearly jumped as high as the
2:18:35
Speaker 4: guys shooting for this, as tall as the three point
2:18:39
Speaker 4: shooter was, and he smacked it into the stands like
2:18:42
Speaker 4: you saw that and you went, oh, yeah, he's gonna
2:18:44
Speaker 4: be great at defense too. He just hasn't worked out
2:18:49
Speaker 4: for him from a health standpoint two thousand and nine.
2:18:54
Speaker 4: By the way, the guy picked right behind the pete
2:18:57
Speaker 4: was James Harden.
2:18:58
Speaker 3: Okay, all right for OKC That just not a good
2:19:02
Speaker 3: pick for Memphis. That was Steph Curry's draft.
2:19:06
Speaker 4: Ricky Rubio was in the lottery there, DeMar DeRozan was
2:19:09
Speaker 4: in the lottery.
2:19:11
Speaker 3: There was a lot of good players.
2:19:13
Speaker 4: Memphis just picked the wrong one and number two with
2:19:16
Speaker 4: the team to beat.
2:19:17
Speaker 2: So and look, maybe there were people, maybe there were
2:19:21
Speaker 2: gms and personnel guys around the league that we were
2:19:24
Speaker 2: pounding the table saying what are you doing with I
2:19:26
Speaker 2: don't remember, I truly don't whether or not you know,
2:19:29
Speaker 2: maybe there were people who were saying, like, go get DeRozan,
2:19:32
Speaker 2: Why are you picking this guy. But in this draft,
2:19:37
Speaker 2: where there is I think less argument about who the
2:19:40
Speaker 2: correct player is in these top three, top four, it's
2:19:44
Speaker 2: still hyper critical because the individuality of these players matters
2:19:51
Speaker 2: more in basketball than it does in any other sport.
2:19:55
Speaker 3: The ability of.
2:19:56
Speaker 2: These guys to live up to the expectation matters more
2:19:59
Speaker 2: for the UT Jazz than it does for most teams
2:20:01
Speaker 2: right now, because if your final product after this rebuild
2:20:08
Speaker 2: is Walker Kessler, Lowry, Markinen, Jaren Jackson, Junior Keyontay, George
2:20:15
Speaker 2: Ace Bailey, you are a playing team every year.
2:20:19
Speaker 3: That's it.
2:20:20
Speaker 2: If you are all the aforementioned plus some nice bench pieces,
2:20:25
Speaker 2: plus a multiple time All Star, now we're at least
2:20:30
Speaker 2: entertaining the possibility of something else.
2:20:33
Speaker 3: Now we're talking about at.
2:20:34
Speaker 2: Least maybe like a Rudy Gobert Mitchell type Jazz at
2:20:42
Speaker 2: least hopefully fingers crossed.
2:20:45
Speaker 4: You want more than that, but you're right, hopefully that's
2:20:49
Speaker 4: the baseline with this. Like, if you can get to that,
2:20:52
Speaker 4: then we're gonna say, all right, you have these pillars,
2:20:57
Speaker 4: you have these building blocks. Now, Austin Ainge, Danny Ainge,
2:21:02
Speaker 4: now work your magic. Let's see what else you can do.
2:21:05
Speaker 4: But you have to have those fill out the rest
2:21:08
Speaker 4: on the margins. Absolutely. I'll say this, Ace Bailey's the
2:21:14
Speaker 4: flashes that Ace Bailey showed last year, that he showed, Hey,
2:21:19
Speaker 4: I can live up to the immense potential potential that
2:21:24
Speaker 4: that I was thought to have going into my freshman
2:21:28
Speaker 4: year at Rutgers. Right, that kind of hedges kind of
2:21:33
Speaker 4: hedges what happens with this draft a little bit. If
2:21:38
Speaker 4: for whatever reason, let's say we're just gonna assume AJ
2:21:41
Speaker 4: goes to the to Washington and the Jazz picked Darreon Peterson.
2:21:44
Speaker 4: If for whatever reason, health not a good fit, whatever,
2:21:51
Speaker 4: he doesn't live up to the hype, but Ace Bailey
2:21:53
Speaker 4: does and exceeds it, you probably net out just find
2:21:57
Speaker 4: that way. So I would say it's not it's potentially
2:22:02
Speaker 4: not quite a devastating if the player you get and
2:22:06
Speaker 4: number two overall doesn't quite work out to the level
2:22:09
Speaker 4: you want him to, but obviously still want him to
2:22:13
Speaker 4: work out the way you want to, because you could
2:22:15
Speaker 4: be a you could be a title team in a
2:22:17
Speaker 4: few years if both those if Ace Bailey and Darren Peterson,
2:22:21
Speaker 4: if that's the pick, end up being superstars. That's that's
2:22:25
Speaker 4: kind of why I make the assertion I make, and
2:22:27
Speaker 4: I'm glad that you brought Ace Bailey into the conversation
2:22:29
Speaker 4: because he deserves to be in the conversation. But it
2:22:33
Speaker 4: can't be this year's number two overall pick or Ace
2:22:37
Speaker 4: Bailey working out. It has to be an and proposition.
2:22:40
Speaker 2: Do you know why it has to be an and
2:22:42
Speaker 2: proposition Because Dylan Harper and Stefan Castle and Victor Webbin
2:22:47
Speaker 2: Yama are.
2:22:47
Speaker 3: On the same team. Yeah, they've all worked out so far.
2:22:50
Speaker 2: Right, because Oklahoma City is the third youngest team in
2:22:54
Speaker 2: the NBA or whatever they are, Like you, it has
2:22:58
Speaker 2: to be and propositions. You can't cannot be an or
2:23:01
Speaker 2: and I wish it was. I wish you had that
2:23:03
Speaker 2: kind of wiggle room you actually you actually can't say.
2:23:08
Speaker 3: I hope that Walker Kessler works out.
2:23:10
Speaker 2: To be an elite All League Rudy Gobert type defender,
2:23:15
Speaker 2: or this number two pick works out okay, or Ace
2:23:18
Speaker 2: Bailey works out okay, or Keyante George continues his.
2:23:22
Speaker 3: Growth and becomes an All Star.
2:23:23
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, if you want to talk NBA titles, you need
2:23:26
Speaker 2: an and on all of those. You need an end
2:23:30
Speaker 2: on at least three of the four. You need an
2:23:32
Speaker 2: improved Walker Kestler. You need an improved Keyante George, you
2:23:36
Speaker 2: need an improved Ace Bailey, and then you can say,
2:23:39
Speaker 2: all right, we'll do or on the number two pick now,
2:23:42
Speaker 2: but you need there's too many things that have to
2:23:45
Speaker 2: go right if you want to contend for real, because
2:23:50
Speaker 2: you don't have the megastar, at least not that we're
2:23:55
Speaker 2: aware of. Maybe Darren Peterson can be that. I mean
2:23:58
Speaker 2: when we had.
2:24:00
Speaker 3: When we had the why is his name escaping right now?
2:24:04
Speaker 3: The Kansas play by play.
2:24:05
Speaker 2: Guy, Yeah, it'll come into my mind. When we had
2:24:10
Speaker 2: him on him, He's like, I really think his ceiling
2:24:12
Speaker 2: is Kobe. It's like, okay, well, if that's what it
2:24:16
Speaker 2: ends up being, if he ends up being Kobe Bryant. Now,
2:24:19
Speaker 2: all of this blow hard stuff I'm shouting about means
2:24:23
Speaker 2: nothing but relying Brian Haney, that's right, Sorry, Hanny. Relying
2:24:30
Speaker 2: on that is just stupid. Expecting or anticipating that is foolish.
2:24:37
Speaker 3: Well, he better.
2:24:38
Speaker 2: He's going to turn into a generationally great player. He's
2:24:40
Speaker 2: going to be a top ten player in the history
2:24:42
Speaker 2: of the league. What you want is you want someone
2:24:44
Speaker 2: who can be a top ten player in the current league.
2:24:48
Speaker 2: You need someone who could be a top fifteen player
2:24:50
Speaker 2: in the current league, and hope that you've got number
2:24:54
Speaker 2: twelve on your team. You've got number seventeen on your team,
2:24:57
Speaker 2: you got number twenty eight on your team.
2:25:00
Speaker 3: You're cooking with gas, all right. If you have two
2:25:04
Speaker 3: of those.
2:25:05
Speaker 2: I just don't think it's enough because I'm looking at
2:25:08
Speaker 2: San Antonio and they got some problems. They got to
2:25:10
Speaker 2: work out how to perform under pressure. But you're not
2:25:12
Speaker 2: even there to make them crack under pressure if you
2:25:15
Speaker 2: don't have this and that and that and that. I
2:25:20
Speaker 2: love or propositions in my own life because I'm like,
2:25:23
Speaker 2: would you like a chocolate chip cookie or would you
2:25:26
Speaker 2: like ice cream? In the NBA, it demands no, I
2:25:30
Speaker 2: want both. I want and I want my chocolate.
2:25:33
Speaker 4: I want the chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich, thank
2:25:36
Speaker 4: you very much.
2:25:36
Speaker 2: And I want whip cream on top of it. And
2:25:39
Speaker 2: I want one of those little Maraschino cherries absolutely, And
2:25:42
Speaker 2: because this is Utah, I want to wash it down
2:25:45
Speaker 2: with a swig. That's just too much. You've now given
2:25:48
Speaker 2: yourself diabetes. I want and the NBA we need and
2:25:53
Speaker 2: the realistic thing for a jazz fan, right now. And
2:25:57
Speaker 2: unfortunately this is true by the way Utah fans, BYU fan,
2:26:00
Speaker 2: It's all true in sports right now. You can't have
2:26:04
Speaker 2: a great quarterback or a great defense. If you want
2:26:07
Speaker 2: to win, you have to have And we are living
2:26:10
Speaker 2: in an and world. I need this, and I need that,
2:26:12
Speaker 2: and I need that. I don't just get to have
2:26:15
Speaker 2: a nice car or a nice house. This is Utah, baby,
2:26:18
Speaker 2: you're keeping up with the Joneses. You gotta have a
2:26:21
Speaker 2: hot wife and a nice car, and a good house
2:26:25
Speaker 2: and a cool dog. I said all those things because
2:26:29
Speaker 2: I have them all. Oh, I see do what I
2:26:31
Speaker 2: did there. We'll bias there.
2:26:33
Speaker 3: Shout out to the hot wife. What's up girl?
2:26:35
Speaker 2: Anyway, take a break, incredible radio right there. Gotta take
2:26:43
Speaker 2: a quick break. We're gonna come back. We're gonna give away.
2:26:45
Speaker 2: Do we have something to give away today?
2:26:47
Speaker 3: We do not. Today we'll give away James Peterson bonus points.
2:26:51
Speaker 3: I do have a fun trivia question for you.
2:26:53
Speaker 4: Try to get those cocktail napkins tomorrow at the engine room.
2:26:57
Speaker 2: The engine Room, thirteen eighty eight, three hundred West. We'll
2:27:02
Speaker 2: start at six o'clock for our NBA Draft show. OC Spence,
2:27:06
Speaker 2: Gordy Smitty breaking it down all through the first round.
2:27:11
Speaker 2: Little cross Talk next on The Sean O'Connell Show, ESPN
2:27:14
Speaker 2: seven hundred NINETYWOEFM.
2:27:24
Speaker 1: She were listening to The Sean O'Connell Show from the
2:27:27
Speaker 1: Murdoch Hyundai Studio of ESPN seven hundred and ninety two
2:27:31
Speaker 1: one a half am.
2:27:37
Speaker 2: Cross Talk on the Sean O'Connell Show, brought to you
2:27:39
Speaker 2: by our friends over to Advance Window Products eightn't want
2:27:41
Speaker 2: a five oh ninety one hundred twenty five hundred dollars
2:27:45
Speaker 2: off ten windows or more and a lifetime warranty on
2:27:48
Speaker 2: those windows. Give them a call Telemoc sent you, or
2:27:51
Speaker 2: go to Advance Windows dot com. Fun fact, Leo Messi
2:27:58
Speaker 2: has scored five World Cup goals this year. He is
2:28:01
Speaker 2: now a top the all time standings by himself eighteen
2:28:06
Speaker 2: in his illustrious career. How many goals have his teammates scored?
2:28:12
Speaker 2: Eight seven, seven three, five three zero seven hundred. We
2:28:16
Speaker 2: don't actually have anything cool to give away today, but
2:28:19
Speaker 2: I just want you to answer the question anyway.
2:28:22
Speaker 3: Tell you what a lot of people are going to
2:28:23
Speaker 3: talk about the goals he did score.
2:28:24
Speaker 2: I'm focused on the fact that he he missed, missed
2:28:28
Speaker 2: a penalty kick. I don't get the hype. Ladies and gentlemen.
2:28:32
Speaker 2: You could add another hat trick, leo, and you screwed
2:28:35
Speaker 2: it up, not even on frame from the spot. Give
2:28:37
Speaker 2: me a break, e spense.
2:28:39
Speaker 8: Embarrassing, overrated, right, I mean, let's just find someone needs
2:28:44
Speaker 8: to say it out loud.
2:28:45
Speaker 2: I'm glad that we are the ones who finally said
2:28:47
Speaker 2: what needed to be said.
2:28:48
Speaker 7: Like is he even good?
2:28:50
Speaker 8: Let's let let's put the greatest of all time aside
2:28:53
Speaker 8: for a moment, like is heven? Would he even be
2:28:56
Speaker 8: in the rotation for the Utah Jazz? He wouldn't even
2:29:00
Speaker 8: playing time?
2:29:00
Speaker 3: What is he? Five to five?
2:29:02
Speaker 7: Let's stop talking about like he's amazing.
2:29:04
Speaker 3: It's a great point.
2:29:05
Speaker 8: By the way, the record's about to belong to this
2:29:07
Speaker 8: fellow that's about to play. He's got fourteen goals and
2:29:10
Speaker 8: he's like twenty seven.
2:29:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, killing himbape and France noted PFL fight fan killing
2:29:16
Speaker 2: himbape by the way.
2:29:17
Speaker 3: Oh really, he's been to three of our events.
2:29:20
Speaker 2: So any of you were working, all of which I worked,
2:29:23
Speaker 2: did you did you meet him?
2:29:24
Speaker 3: I did not meet him.
2:29:25
Speaker 7: Unfortunately, I was gonna say, have you met him.
2:29:27
Speaker 3: Did you meet him?
2:29:28
Speaker 2: No? Unfortunately, that's one of the down sides of being
2:29:31
Speaker 2: on the broadcast is like, these really cool celebrities show
2:29:35
Speaker 2: up and I just get to be like point at
2:29:37
Speaker 2: him sometimes thumbs up occasionally.
2:29:40
Speaker 7: Never interview them on the broadcast or anything.
2:29:42
Speaker 2: We did that for a while and it turns out
2:29:44
Speaker 2: people hate it. So the people that you're interviewing, well,
2:29:47
Speaker 2: they hate it. But also like fight fans are very
2:29:51
Speaker 2: I mean, he'd be like watching a World Cup game
2:29:54
Speaker 2: and then they're just like Marshawn Lynch wants to say
2:29:56
Speaker 2: something about the soccer game sense and all the soccer
2:29:59
Speaker 2: fans be like, who's this shut up.
2:30:01
Speaker 8: Break down the rear naked choke called Sean, I don't
2:30:03
Speaker 8: care that killing and Bapa is in the building.
2:30:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've told the story before, but we had Victor
2:30:08
Speaker 2: Winnbinamache up at one of the ones in France and
2:30:11
Speaker 2: he couldn't stand up for the whole night because as
2:30:14
Speaker 2: soon as he stands up, everyone knows where he is,
2:30:17
Speaker 2: right if he stays seated, he's the same height as
2:30:20
Speaker 2: everyone else.
2:30:21
Speaker 3: So we had to say seated the whole night after
2:30:23
Speaker 3: he got into the arena.
2:30:24
Speaker 7: So bad, so Wemby's a fight fan.
2:30:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, Wemby's fight fan. Very nice Wemby. He did that
2:30:29
Speaker 2: whole like Shellon Monk training stuff. He's into martial arts, yes,
2:30:33
Speaker 2: I think he's He's probably more into martial arts than he.
2:30:35
Speaker 3: Is into the fighting.
2:30:37
Speaker 2: He's the sense I get because you know, some people
2:30:40
Speaker 2: are really into like the breath work and the discipline
2:30:44
Speaker 2: factor and the meditative state, and I'm more of like that.
2:30:48
Speaker 3: I just like to punch people in the head.
2:30:50
Speaker 7: So no, uh no spiritual part of the fight game
2:30:53
Speaker 7: for you.
2:30:54
Speaker 8: Actually, zero literally zero literally none. No breath work, no,
2:30:58
Speaker 8: no meditating.
2:30:59
Speaker 2: I am not a martial artist like I love the
2:31:03
Speaker 2: martial arts guys, you know, like George Saint Pierre.
2:31:06
Speaker 3: I have a ton of respect for him. I think
2:31:08
Speaker 3: it's so cool.
2:31:09
Speaker 2: He's like he's all about self mastery and discipline and
2:31:12
Speaker 2: all this great stuff and it's wonderful.
2:31:15
Speaker 3: I like fighting. I'm not a martial artist. I like
2:31:18
Speaker 3: to fight.
2:31:19
Speaker 8: This is a microcosm of the way you live your life. Correct, Okay,
2:31:23
Speaker 8: not very balanced. Bullet at China Shop. Happy Father's Day,
2:31:27
Speaker 8: by the way, Thank you anything to you, thank you anything,
2:31:30
Speaker 8: fon exciting.
2:31:31
Speaker 3: You know, just regular dad day, it was cool.
2:31:34
Speaker 2: Okay, we got some I got some gear from the
2:31:37
Speaker 2: got some clothes from my wife, who is I think,
2:31:40
Speaker 2: mostly embarrassed by my regular wardrobe so continues to fill
2:31:43
Speaker 2: it out with things she picks.
2:31:46
Speaker 8: Is she I'm gonna ask you this, I know the answer.
2:31:49
Speaker 8: She's not necessarily a bargain hunter the way you are.
2:31:51
Speaker 3: That's right.
2:31:54
Speaker 7: So you guys balance each other out.
2:31:56
Speaker 8: Yeah, sure, So your tendency to be extremely cheap is
2:32:00
Speaker 8: out of necessity.
2:32:02
Speaker 2: My tendency to be extremely cheap is hopelessly out based
2:32:07
Speaker 2: by her opposite behavior. But it's as close as balance
2:32:12
Speaker 2: can be achieved in a couple, right, You guys are
2:32:14
Speaker 2: hanging in yang.
2:32:16
Speaker 3: There's a yin and a yang to all of it.
2:32:18
Speaker 7: The newest member of the Utah Jazz tomorrow.
2:32:20
Speaker 3: Night will be here, Darren Peterson.
2:32:23
Speaker 8: That's where I am with it as well, and I
2:32:26
Speaker 8: think that's what they should do if AJ's won and
2:32:28
Speaker 8: he's there too. I heard you guys talking about the
2:32:32
Speaker 8: importance of getting this right tomorrow, and you made a
2:32:35
Speaker 8: really good point about the totality of the rosters. Like
2:32:40
Speaker 8: Shay's awesome, Wemby's awesome, but both teams are just ridiculous,
2:32:46
Speaker 8: you know, so you have to have four or five
2:32:49
Speaker 8: guys and hopefully more than that. Oklahoma City, like they
2:32:53
Speaker 8: have a lottery pick. Oklahoma City has a lottery pick
2:32:56
Speaker 8: this year, and thankfully not the Jazz is lottery pick.
2:33:00
Speaker 7: I mean it is eleven or twelve.
2:33:01
Speaker 8: I can't remember which one, but still they are going
2:33:03
Speaker 8: to add another lottery pick.
2:33:06
Speaker 7: And I don't know where he's gonna play. There's no
2:33:08
Speaker 7: room for him.
2:33:09
Speaker 8: He's gonna play on their G league teams, league, you
2:33:11
Speaker 8: know whoever's And by the way, every player, like there
2:33:15
Speaker 8: is a clear line of delineation between four and everybody else,
2:33:19
Speaker 8: but between like five and fifteen are ten really good
2:33:22
Speaker 8: basketball players. And Oklahoma City has shown wherever they've been
2:33:26
Speaker 8: able to draft, they typically pick the right player, like
2:33:30
Speaker 8: Cason Wallace, what was he eighteen or twenty?
2:33:32
Speaker 7: So they're going to pick another really good player twelve.
2:33:34
Speaker 8: So the point you were making a spot on if
2:33:37
Speaker 8: you're just a novice basketball fan, you know who Shay is,
2:33:39
Speaker 8: you know who Wenby is.
2:33:41
Speaker 7: But san Antonio like.
2:33:44
Speaker 8: Kiante last year, very impressive Okay seven game series against
2:33:48
Speaker 8: San Antonio. Guess who guards Kante? George it's stefan Castle
2:33:52
Speaker 8: for seven games. What does Kyante look like against Stefan
2:33:56
Speaker 8: Castle when you're trying to beat San Antonio four times
2:33:59
Speaker 8: in seven.
2:34:01
Speaker 2: Well, the answer to that question is a lot different
2:34:04
Speaker 2: if you have drafted the next Stefan Castle or you've
2:34:09
Speaker 2: drafted the next Champenny. For hell's sake, I don't know,
2:34:13
Speaker 2: like you just that's the thing is, you have to
2:34:15
Speaker 2: get this thing right. And because there's no in my opinion,
2:34:20
Speaker 2: there's no real question about, well, did you choose the
2:34:24
Speaker 2: right guy? Because if you, no one is going to
2:34:26
Speaker 2: be like, why did they choose Darren Peterson it too?
2:34:30
Speaker 2: Or why did they choose aj debonceat too? I don't
2:34:32
Speaker 2: even think that many that many people question if they
2:34:34
Speaker 2: chose Cambooseer a two more people, but not a ton. Right,
2:34:39
Speaker 2: then it becomes the onus becomes one of development, one
2:34:42
Speaker 2: of communication with the player and setting that guy up
2:34:47
Speaker 2: to succeed as a professional. But a lot of it
2:34:49
Speaker 2: is now an individual responsibility for whoever that person is.
2:34:53
Speaker 2: And that's where it gets scary for me. I trust
2:34:55
Speaker 2: the Angels, right, they know more about basketball than I
2:34:58
Speaker 2: could ever hope to know. They're going to pick the
2:35:00
Speaker 2: right guy. But then that guy has to live up
2:35:03
Speaker 2: to being the right guy because you can't have a
2:35:07
Speaker 2: really good Ace Bailey or a really good Darren Peterson.
2:35:10
Speaker 2: You have to have both if you want to compete.
2:35:11
Speaker 8: Yeah, and look, the reality is every year, you know,
2:35:15
Speaker 8: this is a unique year because of what most basketball
2:35:18
Speaker 8: people believe to be a number of different I don't
2:35:22
Speaker 8: want to say can't miss, but every year there's a
2:35:24
Speaker 8: player that's categorized as I can't miss, that completely misses
2:35:28
Speaker 8: Greg Godin Stromiles Swift, we could Anthony Bennett. I mean,
2:35:32
Speaker 8: we could say here all day and talk about players
2:35:34
Speaker 8: that were supposed to be this or that. It never
2:35:36
Speaker 8: turned out to be this or that for whatever reason,
2:35:38
Speaker 8: because there are so many variables that have to fall
2:35:40
Speaker 8: into place for a young player to step in and
2:35:44
Speaker 8: play very well right away and then eventually develop into
2:35:48
Speaker 8: what we all believe he can develop into. But it's
2:35:51
Speaker 8: so far from a sure thing. And every year there's
2:35:53
Speaker 8: a player that's drafted between twelve and seventeen that turns
2:35:57
Speaker 8: out to be Kohi or Giannis or whatever. It's a
2:36:00
Speaker 8: difficult thing for all these pieces to fall into place.
2:36:03
Speaker 8: But based off of the team they have right now.
2:36:05
Speaker 8: If they get this right, it really can and maybe
2:36:08
Speaker 8: three to five years put them in that category of
2:36:12
Speaker 8: teams that will be throwing punches in the Western Conference.
2:36:14
Speaker 8: It's not realistic to expect them to do it next year,
2:36:16
Speaker 8: no matter who they draft, but if they draft the
2:36:19
Speaker 8: right player and Ace keeps growing and Keante keeps growing,
2:36:21
Speaker 8: and you know, the Vets continue to not age suddenly
2:36:27
Speaker 8: like a marketingner Jared Jackson junior in their late twenties,
2:36:30
Speaker 8: in three to five years, I think we could have
2:36:31
Speaker 8: something pretty special. It's not realistic to expect it overnight,
2:36:34
Speaker 8: but if they get it right tomorrow night, in three
2:36:36
Speaker 8: to five years, we could be in for some really
2:36:38
Speaker 8: exciting basketball.
2:36:40
Speaker 2: We will be doing our draft special down at the
2:36:43
Speaker 2: Engine Room, thirteen eighty eight South, three hundred West. Gordy Chiasa,
2:36:47
Speaker 2: Richard Smithy Smith Spence Chick. It's myself going through the
2:36:52
Speaker 2: entire first round of tomorrow Night's NBA Draft.
2:36:55
Speaker 7: Will you give out free high fives tomorrow?
2:36:58
Speaker 3: Free?
2:36:58
Speaker 8: I know for a cheap guy. I mean, how about
2:37:01
Speaker 8: fifty cents per high five?
2:37:05
Speaker 3: Get you go there.
2:37:06
Speaker 8: I'll do it for twenty five twenty five cents per
2:37:08
Speaker 8: high five how much money you're gonna walk away from
2:37:12
Speaker 8: with tomorrow Tomorrow night.
2:37:13
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go zero cents, zero, you get zero. High
2:37:15
Speaker 3: Fived's gonna pay me per high five a quarter?
2:37:18
Speaker 7: I think people would pay a quarter for Sean.
2:37:20
Speaker 2: I actually think, I actually think we're really No one
2:37:23
Speaker 2: carries cash anymore.
2:37:24
Speaker 3: But you can venmo me a quarter and I'll give
2:37:27
Speaker 3: you even a fist bump in that case.
2:37:28
Speaker 8: Just send an aggressive amount of venmo requests for twenty
2:37:31
Speaker 8: five cents to have a night.
2:37:33
Speaker 2: Okay, Wow, Daffodil International University in Dhaka, Bangladesh down of course,
2:37:40
Speaker 2: in Leo Messi and Argentina supporters, man, the World Cup
2:37:45
Speaker 2: really is something exhawesome.
2:37:46
Speaker 3: It really is.
2:37:47
Speaker 8: It's so cool, like you do not have to be
2:37:49
Speaker 8: a soccer fan to appreciate the spectacle. And as I've said,
2:37:53
Speaker 8: if I've said it once, I've said it a million times.
2:37:56
Speaker 8: I don't think any of us over here in America
2:37:59
Speaker 8: have any idea what this means to people worldwide. I
2:38:01
Speaker 8: don't think we even have a small frame of reference
2:38:03
Speaker 8: for it. I think that's probably accurate. I mean, you
2:38:07
Speaker 8: see in Bangladesh there's thirty thousand people wearing messy jerseys
2:38:11
Speaker 8: in some random school Like I can remember when Messi
2:38:14
Speaker 8: first signed with MLS and our guide Trey cute little bird,
2:38:19
Speaker 8: cut this little bird. I asked him, I'm like, what
2:38:22
Speaker 8: does Leo Messi meaning on a worldwide scale? And he
2:38:24
Speaker 8: compared him to Jesus Christ, which felt aggressive.
2:38:28
Speaker 3: Yeah.
2:38:29
Speaker 8: Then he won the World Cup and people are there
2:38:31
Speaker 8: was wailing and gnashing of teeth. Folks were celebratory worldwide,
2:38:36
Speaker 8: tears running down their face, and like, look, I don't
2:38:39
Speaker 8: know Jesus personally. I don't know Messi personally, but if
2:38:42
Speaker 8: you see the way people react to our Lord and Savior,
2:38:45
Speaker 8: it's not a far cry from the way people react
2:38:48
Speaker 8: to one Leo Messi.
2:38:49
Speaker 7: Well, you get right with your maker, Sean. A lot
2:38:54
Speaker 7: of work today.
2:38:54
Speaker 2: I was about to make a really terrible joke about
2:38:57
Speaker 2: one not missing a penalty kick, but we're gonna We're
2:39:00
Speaker 2: gonna leave.
2:39:00
Speaker 7: That alone in Sandals.
2:39:03
Speaker 3: Stay tuned for the Drive with Spen's check us. Thanks
2:39:05
Speaker 3: for listening to the shot Ol'condall Show. We'll do it
2:39:07
Speaker 3: again tomorrow on ESPN seven hundred and ninety two ONEFM.