Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / David Kaplan talks Bears & Chicago sports, Tommy Birch on the Cyclones women & Cubs baseball & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

Transcript

David Kaplan talks Bears & Chicago sports, Tommy Birch on the Cyclones women & Cubs baseball & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:00
Hour number two, Millery Condon, welcome back, Iowa Sports Radio
0:03
Network. Trent and I take you until 2:00.
0:06
Still to come, Tommy Birch, bottom of the hour, variety of
0:08
topics for Birchy we'll get into at 1:30.
0:11
Right now, centuring Stone of eye with a sponsor, our guy
0:14
David Kaplan. We head to Chicago this time
0:16
each and every Wednesday. And here he is, the cap man.
0:19
Hello, Capper. How are you, buddy?
0:21
I'm on that door. We got a bad phone line here
0:26
we're. Going to try you back.
0:27
Yeah, we're going to try you right back.
0:28
You're in a bad spot or we got a bad cell as we will call you
0:31
right back. It sounds like you're underwater
0:33
and that won't work. So we'll get Cappy back in here
0:36
and we'll cover some topics with the cap man, maybe some bear
0:40
stuff still lingering out there, obviously inching our way to
0:43
baseball, etcetera. We'll do that with Cappy.
0:45
And then Tommy Birch covers Drake women, Iowa State women,
0:49
Iowa State women on the road tonight.
0:50
They are a 6 1/2 point dog as they will play in Lubbock again,
0:54
Texas Tech Trump will make some picks and we'll turn things over
0:58
to the boys that are coming off the bench and we'll do so coming
1:01
up here at 2:00. Iowa State tomorrow.
1:05
The on the men as they it's a 6:00 tip against Colorado.
1:09
Kind of an odd one as far as tip time.
1:11
It's certainly grateful for that.
1:13
All right, let's get Kathy back. Hopefully the phone lines better
1:15
that capper here. Are you there?
1:18
Let me push the right button. Cappy.
1:20
How are you? Yeah, right here.
1:22
Good stuff. All well and good, Cap.
1:25
I saw a tweet from you over the weekend that certainly got a lot
1:28
of pushback and a lot of play. And I was surprised that you
1:32
want the AFC and the NFC title games, championship games to be
1:36
played in indoors with the roof over its head.
1:39
Don't want the elements to be a factor.
1:41
Did I read that right? And I'm surprised that that was
1:43
your take. That is my take, absolutely
1:48
100%. I don't want to watch a Blizzard
1:50
where Jim Nance says I can't tell you what yard line we're
1:53
at. That's stupid.
1:55
One one game for. That's Bears weather.
1:58
Single day sporting event. The Bears weather doesn't exist.
2:02
We just lost to the Rams in Bears weather.
2:04
I remember in the 88 NFC title game losing 28 to 3 to the 49ers
2:09
in Bears weather. That is such a fallacy that it's
2:13
such nonsense. No one wants to play when it's
2:17
15 below wind chill or you can't see what yard line you're at, or
2:21
we watch 14 punts. That's just dumb.
2:24
So what about home field advantage cap?
2:27
You get home field advantage through the divisional round.
2:31
I'll give you an example. What about University of
2:35
Connecticut? What are they like 21 and one?
2:37
Do they get home field advantage in the NCAA tournament?
2:41
They get to play close to home. Indiana.
2:43
Did Indiana get home field advantage in the championship
2:46
game or in the playoffs? Semis?
2:49
They did not. This is stupid.
2:52
Isn't it stupid for the fans though?
2:53
Cap? I mean so.
2:55
Travel, you mean? Yeah.
2:56
I mean, so you're going to find out on Sunday that you're
2:58
traveling to New Orleans or Houston or whatever it is.
3:04
Don't Or you just want to make another corporate event.
3:06
We already got one of those. That's the Super Bowl.
3:07
I wanted it on real football fields, real football
3:09
conditions. OK, we're going to agree to
3:13
disagree then, because to watch 14 punts and have Jim Nance go,
3:17
I don't know what yard line that's at what's fun is that and
3:20
the seven that sucked. But your load on an island here
3:23
cat because we know that snow games historically absolutely
3:27
rate much higher than just a quote UN quote normal football
3:31
game. Say that again.
3:35
What do you mean? TV ratings increase when snow is
3:38
flying. Historically that has been the
3:40
case. People.
3:41
Viewers. About TV ratings, we're not
3:43
playing the games for ratings. They're going to rate well
3:46
either way. 30 What was the number, 30?
3:49
Some million. 48 million watch Denver, Denver and New England.
3:53
I'm talking about the Bears. Rams in in cold weather. 38, I
3:57
think 30. Is the biggest NBC game of all
4:01
time for them on Sunday Night Football?
4:04
Well, guess what? Do I care if they got another
4:06
million because there was snow? I do not.
4:09
I want to watch elite athletes have a chance to, you know, show
4:14
what they do period. Where I'm sure, I'm sure that
4:17
your audience pushed back on this, where what was kind of the
4:20
consensus, was it 5050? Was it, was your side getting
4:24
throttled A throttle? Rather in this argument, did
4:27
you, did you pull anybody to pull the audience?
4:31
We didn't do a poll question, but you know what the the idiots
4:36
that will answer a poll question.
4:38
Sorry, but that's where Twitter is where idiots go to play.
4:42
Idiots that will should be outside.
4:46
Where were 98% of them on their freaking couch?
4:51
All right, let's move on because I want to get to this and I've
4:53
been I've been trying to like wrap a string around my finger.
4:57
Make sure that I don't forget to ask you about this because
5:00
apparently Chicago lost a legend.
5:01
I've heard of Terry Boers. Obviously he was a massive,
5:05
massive presence in Chicago sports talk radio dating back to
5:08
day one, I believe, of Chicago sports talk.
5:12
What did he mean, Cap and and how big was he and how big of a
5:16
loss? Obviously his family is a huge
5:18
loss, but he'd been retired for a while now.
5:20
What can you tell us about Boars and the show that he was a part
5:23
of? Boars and Bernstein?
5:24
We're in eastern Iowa and I know for a fact that a lot of people
5:27
in eastern Iowa listen to Chicago sports talk radio.
5:31
How big of a loss Cap? A massive Terry was a good guy.
5:35
I knew Terry for God since the mid to late 80s when he was the
5:40
beat writer for the Sun Times covering the Chicago Bulls and
5:43
I'm an NBA scout, so I crossed paths with him a lot.
5:47
I like Terry and talked to him in a long time because you know,
5:51
he was out of the business and we get caught up in the
5:54
day-to-day. And look, I was not.
5:57
I'm not going to. I never will be as you.
6:00
I will never be as your audience.
6:02
I did not. I did not like their radio show.
6:04
Fact. I despised their radio show
6:07
because they were funny. They were entertaining to a
6:11
very, very large audience. I did not appreciate when they
6:17
would make fun of Ron Sano having no legs or they would do
6:20
things and their response when they would get pushed back was
6:23
always guess what, it's satire. Well, I don't find that funny
6:28
when Ron Sano is one of the closest people in my life.
6:30
Till he died, I worked with him every day.
6:32
I love that man, I miss him. And so I didn't find some of
6:36
that stuff as funny as others. So, and I'm not saying I'm more
6:41
mature, I'm not. I'm probably more immature than
6:43
most people that are listening to your show right now.
6:46
And I'm OK with that. I thought Terry was, as a person
6:50
away from the radio, phenomenal, an outstanding human.
6:54
So that's my take on what their show was, and it is what it.
6:59
Is did they start sports talk in Chicago cap?
7:02
Do I have that right or wrong? No, they did not.
7:05
The score was the first full time sports talker.
7:08
Gotcha. But Boars and Bernstein weren't
7:10
even together. It was Boars and Dan McNeil.
7:13
Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
7:15
Then Dan left. He's been with the score twice.
7:19
When Dan left, they moved Bernstein in there and until
7:22
they till Terry retired, that was the longest running sports
7:26
talk show in Chicago history. It was me and Waddle, 10 years.
7:31
Tommy left, went to ESPN, they surpassed me and Tommy.
7:36
And now it's Waddle and Sylvie and they're on their Tommy left.
7:41
February of O7. Here we are in 26 or 19 years,
7:45
February the 7th, and they will be the longest of all time.
7:50
I don't think that record gets beaten.
7:52
Cap want to go back to the Bears?
7:54
Didn't have an opportunity to talk to you last Wednesday after
7:56
the devastating gut punch loss there against the Rams.
8:00
But the offseason OWL is upon us.
8:02
Two big need positions. Left tackle.
8:05
Not exactly easy to find, and if you do, it's going to cost you a
8:07
lot of money. Or going out there and getting
8:09
an edge rusher. What's more important, if you
8:11
could only choose one and going out and spending some money, who
8:14
would you choose? Wow, I have been that.
8:19
You got to get a left tackle. You have to you're an offensive
8:23
football team now. That's just a fact.
8:25
You are an offensive football team and you've got to be better
8:30
defensively, much better than you were.
8:32
But that all said, if I don't have a left tackle, I don't know
8:37
how the Chicago Bears are going to be able to operate
8:41
effectively and I don't think feel better.
8:42
That's good enough. I do not want Braxton Jones back
8:46
unless it's in a swing tackle backup roll.
8:50
And as you, Trupello is not walking through that door
8:52
anytime soon. So you have a big, big hole now
8:56
if you tell me I can trade a fourth or fifth round pick for
9:00
the left tackle version of Joe Tooney, OK, I'm in, let's take a
9:05
shot, let's see what we can get. But I've got to get left tackle
9:09
short up. And equally important, without a
9:12
doubt, is getting the defensive line short up.
9:16
And cap money, cap salary, cap money.
9:20
They the Bears went from having a ton a couple of years ago.
9:24
Maybe it was as recently as this year.
9:26
Where are they now? Are they bought in the middle of
9:28
the pack capper? Is that where they are they
9:30
toward the bottom? Do you know?
9:33
They cap wise, they have $5,000,000 in space.
9:37
That's it. That's what they have, that's
9:39
it. But they have a ton of
9:42
flexibility to be able to restructure deals, convert to
9:48
bonuses. They've got a lot of things they
9:50
can do and that way that would give them a ton of cap space.
9:55
They could create pretty easily, probably a close to $80 million.
10:02
But you can't do that every year.
10:04
Eventually you are going to have to keep you keep kicking that
10:08
can down the road. The bills going to come due
10:10
eventually. So that's where you're at.
10:13
And that's the problem that you have when you you have to pay
10:18
Caleb. See, right now you've got Caleb
10:21
Williams on a rookie contract. For 30 more years.
10:24
Contract you've got three more years, so the well the you
10:28
really have two more because the then you have two more years of
10:31
the rookie deal and then you get your. 5th.
10:34
Year option and that goes up significantly, but it's not this
10:38
anywhere close to what the bears are going to have to pay him.
10:42
Like if Caleb is who we all believe he is, how much do you
10:46
think his contract is going to be?
10:47
The Max number of years, 65? Well, he gets a five year deal.
10:54
Let's assume after the 5th year option is done, they'll have
10:58
already done the deal. He will get his five years added
11:02
on to that. And those five years minimum is
11:06
300 million minimum because Dak Prescott's making, what, 60?
11:12
I mean, what do you think Caleb's going to be in three
11:14
years? That's 65, yeah, yeah,
11:17
Fairpoint, because the salary caps going to go up a little
11:20
bit, but that correspondingly the the quarterback salaries
11:24
will go up when you when you. Are correct.
11:26
So what you're going to end up having probably in three years,
11:30
three more seasons, I'm going to bet you that Caleb's salary, his
11:34
contract with incentives and with voidable years and all sort
11:38
of certain things they do, probably going to be north of
11:41
400 million. Pretty petty but worth it
11:45
because we've been waiting a long.
11:46
Time in the next 3. Yeah, that's for sure.
11:48
Well, and that kind of leads me to the draft as the Bears do
11:51
have their first three round draft picks, they'll be picking
11:53
at 25 in each of those. So with that being said, at 25,
11:58
are you looking at moving up? Are you looking at high upside
12:01
guys? You look in plug and play guys
12:03
that are ready right now, but maybe don't have the same kind
12:05
of upside. When you look at at least the
12:08
thought process here for this year, maybe the next couple of
12:10
years as it pertains to the top of the draft, what do you do if
12:14
you're that front office? BPA period.
12:19
Best player available. Now look, if you tell me the
12:22
best player available on the board is a quarterback and
12:26
somebody wants him, then I'm trading out of the pick and I'm
12:28
trading the quarterback to get, you know, extra capital.
12:32
I don't think that's going to be the case.
12:34
Picking at 25. So I need a strong safety
12:37
because I don't think they're resigning Brisker.
12:40
I think they'll get a deal done with Byers.
12:42
So free safety will be covered. They need a left tackle, they
12:46
need a rush edge. They need an interior defender,
12:49
they need a linebacker. Somebody's going to be there.
12:52
That is the best player available.
12:54
You'll have three or four guys in like Ryan Peso, he said.
12:58
I had four or five guys in a cloud and I could take any one
13:01
of them. So which deal made the most
13:03
sense? Do I draft?
13:04
Do I trade down a couple? Still get one of them?
13:06
Ryan Polls called it. He hasn't color-coded.
13:09
I got blue players are his best. So if you get to 25 and you go,
13:15
I got a left tackle there, I got a linebacker and I've got this
13:19
other guy can play cornerback, they need a corner.
13:22
Then you just take the best single football player, period.
13:26
That's what you do. I've heard Travis Etienne to the
13:29
Bears rumored he's a free agent running back course with
13:32
Jacksonville, played at college at Clemson.
13:34
Do they need a running back? I guess you always need a
13:39
running back, I guess. But you know, if you if you,
13:43
what's he going to cost you? Because DeAndre Swift had a
13:46
really good year and he makes 8 million.
13:48
So if you let him go, you save 8,000,000 on a cap.
13:51
But how much are you paying for ETN and is it a significant
13:55
upgrade? He's coming from playing in
13:58
Jacksonville where most of the time he plays in warm weather.
14:01
How's he adjusting to handling? Weather.
14:05
Exactly 10 below. So let's find out.
14:09
You know, I got to know all the answers to all those questions.
14:12
That's why, you know, I argue with my producer who I love,
14:15
Shane Norling all the time. He's, well, analytically, He
14:18
died. I said analytics cannot measure
14:21
what's beating in a man's chest. It just doesn't.
14:25
Don't tell me. Well, when he cuts this way, he
14:27
does this 69% of the time. Oh, well, we didn't factor in
14:31
that it's 15 below and it's slippery out and he hates
14:36
playing in the cold. Like, none of that shows up on
14:38
analytics. That's why I've always believed
14:41
I was raised this way by the people that I worked for.
14:44
That. Yeah, it's great.
14:46
If you can tell me, if you force this guy to the this side of the
14:49
floor, more often than not, he's going to miss that shot.
14:53
Great. Well, I didn't realize that the
14:54
guy guarding him doesn't handle somebody who goes baseline well
14:58
and he kills me on that side of the court.
15:00
Like you got to use your head. It's got to be common sense,
15:04
scouting and analytics. It's a blend.
15:08
What's the latest on the stadium cap?
15:09
Is Indiana in play or is that just posturing?
15:13
No, no, there it's in play it. Really is.
15:15
Absolutely. I had a guy said down the air,
15:17
they're not going to Indiana. Stop.
15:19
And a guy called me who is a in the state legislature in
15:24
Indiana, and he said, listen to me, they'll make $2 billion more
15:30
if they come to Indiana because they're rolling out the red
15:33
carpet going, oh, you want that? We'll take care of that.
15:35
Oh, you don't want to pay tax on it, We'll take care of that.
15:38
While you got Governor Pritzker, and I'm not a political guy at
15:41
all, but you got Pritzker. He wants to be the president of
15:45
the United States. I have no idea if that guy can
15:47
get elected, but he wants to be able to say to his base, I
15:52
didn't give in to the billionaires.
15:54
I'm for you, the little guy. Well, if he gives in to the
15:56
Mccaskies, how do you say that? So he has a way bigger agenda
16:01
that he's trying to foster. So I always thought they'll be
16:04
in Arlington Heights. I'd probably still believe that,
16:08
but Indiana's definitely a legitimate option.
16:11
If that does happen and it's not in Arlington Heights, what
16:15
happens in Arlington Heights? I mean, they own all that land.
16:19
Do they sell it for development? What happens out there?
16:22
I, I would think they would sell it.
16:23
They paid 189,000,000 and I would think they could get a lot
16:27
more than that now. And somebody will put, you know,
16:30
there's not many shopping centers anymore because of
16:33
Amazon and online shopping, But I would think you'd see housing
16:37
and, you know, logistics, all of that.
16:41
You know what else? And I, I kind of hesitate to
16:45
bring this up because it's kind of sadly few people, not as many
16:48
people care because I know that you used to spend some time in
16:51
Hawthorne working, you're about to have no horse racing in
16:53
Chicago. And that was once a booming
16:56
market with sportsman and with Hawthorne and obviously with
16:59
Arlington. I.
17:00
Owned a horse that ran at Arlington till whenever they
17:03
sold it to the Bears. We had to get the horse out of
17:05
there, and fortunately we went to watch him run one day, my
17:09
brother and I and our wives, and we're like, boy, isn't it
17:13
beautiful here? And I said, yeah, I'm hearing
17:15
rumors the bears might be involved here.
17:18
And the next thing you know, our horse got claimed that day.
17:22
And I'm like, well, that might be a blessing.
17:25
And boom, claim. And within a month, the Bears
17:28
had bought the property. Yeah, unbelievable.
17:30
Now Hawthorne sportsmen both gone real quick.
17:32
Any Cubs news? Yeah, he had Jen Hoyer in my
17:36
studio yesterday and Chris Goetz, they were both there.
17:40
Both gave us over an hour of their time.
17:42
They're on my YouTube channel. Well worth a listen.
17:45
And for Cubs fans, they're going to love it.
17:47
He told the story of getting the Bregman deal done during the
17:49
Packers game and the playoff game.
17:52
And the second thing he said, please tell me you're not
17:56
trading Nico Horner. And he said, look, we get calls
17:59
on all our players all the time, like every other GM, and I'm
18:02
never, ever going to say there was nothing I'm going to do.
18:06
He goes, you don't know what the next phone call is.
18:08
That said, we have put so much effort into drafting,
18:12
developing, extending Nico, and he's put equal amount of time
18:17
into being a Cub and loves being a Cub and he'll be our second
18:20
base. So he's going nowhere.
18:23
Ken is excited. I'm a Nico hoarded guy.
18:24
He loves Nico, I think a little too much, but he he loves.
18:28
He's a good. Player you listen sometimes noon
18:31
to two, you think he might be a Hall of Famer, but.
18:33
Cooper's down bound baby. Hey, Zach Gallon, there's
18:37
interest. We we know that, and I'm sure
18:38
the price tag's also a part of it.
18:40
What do you think? A gallon, a big step back, his
18:42
worst year of his career, really a season ago, but he's just two
18:45
years are removed from being a Cy Young candidate.
18:48
Your thoughts on Gallon and how he would fit and the cost that's
18:51
also associated with it? I keep hearing 3 for 60 would
18:54
get it done sounds. Good.
18:58
But the Cubs are already like at the luxury tax line.
19:01
So we're all of a sudden they're going to go 20 million over the
19:05
tax. Like, I don't want, I would love
19:07
to have another starting pitcher give you great depth.
19:10
I don't want it to come at the cost of, well, we have to trade
19:13
away that player who I'm counting on because we get to
19:17
get that money back to pay the other guy.
19:19
I like where they're at now. Bleacher Report just ranked the
19:23
teams 1 to 30. The Dodgers are obviously one.
19:26
Where did the Cubs fall in the next 29?
19:31
Top five. 2 are. They 2.
19:35
How about that number? Two, huh?
19:38
Yeah. So ESPN has them.
19:41
One of the five breakout teams said their ceilings.
19:43
Probably 99 wins. If you're discussing 99 wins,
19:48
yeah, you can win a World Series.
19:51
Yeah, you can so. Where do they have the Brewers
19:53
they're? Gonna have a hell of a year.
19:54
I do too. Just out of curiosity, do you
19:56
know where the Brewers were 'cause they, they're never, I
19:59
don't think, get the respect that their record says most
20:02
years that they should get cap. They were 83 1/2 wins, maybe
20:08
15-14, something like that. OK, cool.
20:11
All right, David Kaplan. 89 1/2. And they're the team to beat,
20:15
though, right? The Cubs will.
20:17
Who will finish second to the caps?
20:18
The exact on the bottom half of the Cubs.
20:20
Who in the exact in the NL Central?
20:25
It'll go Cubs and then Brewers. I agree man.
20:29
I think everyone else, the Reds, they didn't do a lot.
20:32
The Pirates did a little more and the Cardinals have gone
20:35
backwards. Yeah, I think the Pirates can
20:36
finish third and then the Reds 4th and the Cardinals right at
20:39
the bottom. That'll kill you.
20:41
Got to see the Cardinals wait down there.
20:43
Oh yeah, it just breaks my heart.
20:45
Thanks, pal. Appreciate what you do for us,
20:47
Capra. We'll talk to you next week.
20:49
You got it. Yep, see you buddy.
20:51
David Kaplan. So we check in on Chicago sports
20:53
with Cappy. Couldn't disagree more.
20:55
Taking the AFC and NFC Championship games away, I'm.
20:58
Surprised by his take. I really was.
21:01
I and it's been out there from other people.
21:03
Yeah, no, I know he's not on the island by himself.
21:06
I just think it's stupid. I we see this, we see this in
21:10
bowl games. What environment was better?
21:12
Oh God. Right.
21:14
So we're going to put that game in Phoenix.
21:17
Yeah, for so Broncos fans and Seahawks fans, they would have
21:20
travelled to where this week to watch their number one seed.
21:23
And it would have been something.
21:24
And you got to have it in the opposite city, right?
21:26
So all right, the AFC championship game is in an NFC
21:30
town and vice versa. It's dumb.
21:33
It's a dumb take. Capy's got a lot of good takes.
21:35
This is a dumb one. Yeah, we all have one who died
21:37
coach in the Cyclones. Oh yeah.
21:40
Saunders kid. What is he up to these days?
21:43
Oh, he's coaching a very high level trend today.
21:45
Everybody's trying. To get through the next year,
21:47
the main clause. He's he's probably going to be
21:50
the most sought after coach this coaching carousel.
21:53
So just. I miss that.
21:54
Yeah, me too. A 125 swinging you miss if you
21:59
want right for 30 years. I do it everyday at 1:50.
22:03
A lot of times you do. Who was your team total under?
22:07
Rutgers yeah, they, they so. Before they went to overtime.
22:10
Oh they they cruised. Past did they So So you never
22:12
had a chance? No, they, they were just getting
22:14
the free throw line a ton more than anything.
22:16
And that, that it's not like they, oh, they hit 12/3
22:18
pointers. OK, yeah, you're going to lose
22:20
that at 60 1/2. Just got to line a bunch.
22:23
And as you can see, it was kind of sloppy.
22:24
Were they? That was a look ahead spot with.
22:27
Michigan looming on Friday night.
22:29
How about is that? It's got to be Fox.
22:31
For sure it is. It's Fox.
22:33
And then we get Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa State play Sunday
22:37
this week. Isn't that?
22:39
Love it. I'll be going to the Thursday,
22:41
Sunday, yes, which is a very, very big.
22:44
I love the clone schedule this week.
22:46
Thursday, home Sunday because there's no football Sunday.
22:49
Just so you know folks. And Friday night, I'm going to
22:52
miss Michigan, Michigan State, Not because of high school
22:55
basketball. What are you going to be doing?
22:56
Going to be watching hockey. Hold on a second.
22:59
Yes, yeah. You're going to be watching
23:01
hockey Where? In Des Moines.
23:03
In West Des Moines at the Rec Plex.
23:05
What's going on there? Ella singing the national
23:07
anthem, no. Kidding is the buck.
23:09
Is that with the Bucks? Player, right?
23:10
Yep. Just by herself.
23:12
No, it's it's her group from her school.
23:14
It's good to say good for her if that's the case.
23:16
That takes some nerves, yes, some courage to go out.
23:19
I don't know if they're on the ice.
23:20
She's never been on the ice before.
23:21
Oh, I'm sure they are now. I'm sure that they put a mat
23:24
down. Yes, video will be rolling, and
23:26
if anybody's going to fall over, it's Condon's daughter.
23:29
Yeah. Well, do you have to sign a
23:32
waiver or anything like that before you go?
23:34
Out there I I haven't. Tara probably has, if there is
23:36
one, and. So I was just scrolling through
23:39
Twitter, do you know what happened?
23:40
40 years ago today. 40 years ago today.
23:43
I mean, I remember the event obviously.
23:44
The challenger? Yes, because it was right after
23:46
the Super Bowl. I was in kindergarten.
23:48
It was a Tuesday. I was home for the day because
23:51
the way that it was set up back then, we went every other day.
23:53
We didn't do half day kindergarten.
23:55
So Monday, Wednesday, Friday, full day.
23:57
Yep, and it alternated. That was my day off and I was
24:00
pissed as a six year old. Well, five year old, I guess.
24:03
I hadn't even turned 6 because I just want to watch Price is
24:05
Right, but that's all I want to do on my day off in January.
24:09
And it was endless. I mean, some of my earliest
24:12
vivid memories are that year. How about Chris Mccullough's
24:15
parents? Oh yes, And that was something,
24:17
if you were in school that day, as everybody else was, that was
24:22
a day where they rolled in the TV.
24:25
Hell yeah. You went to the gym and
24:27
everybody watched it together. It was a teacher bang.
24:30
It was a huge educational moment and this was countrywide.
24:33
So before that, before the accident, they were watching
24:37
people in schools were yes, Oh no.
24:39
Yes, we are going to watch this launch.
24:41
It was a big deal. As another reason, I was like,
24:43
man, I kind of wish we had school today because of that.
24:46
And that, yes, so across the country, people were watching
24:50
live the broadcast. I didn't know that part in
24:53
schools. Yeah.
24:54
It makes sense now that you put it like that 40 years ago.
24:57
My gosh, we're good old. Yeah.
25:00
Miller and Condon, we will be back by back with Tommy Birch.
25:04
Before we go to break, it's keyword time.
25:07
Head to KX and o.com and get into this nationwide contest.
25:10
The keyword is dollar. Dollar at KX and o.com.
25:13
Your chance to win $1000 dollar is the keyword.
25:17
Tommy Birch's next. Miller and Condon talking sports
25:21
with you on the I with Sports Sports Radio Network.
25:26
I'm Miller. Condon.
25:27
Welcome back. 25 minutes before 2 trends, plays of the day still
25:30
to come, 2O clock off the bench, Sean Robertson, Lucas Strain.
25:35
Here's Tommy Birch, Des Moines Register.
25:37
He joins us, gives us a few minutes.
25:39
Hello, Birchie Trenton. Ken, good to talk to you.
25:41
How are you? I'm good.
25:43
I can I can give you all the minutes you need.
25:46
Well, we appreciate that. We'll take each and every one of
25:49
them. I want to start with and I
25:51
didn't know till I read your tweet earlier today.
25:54
I I knew Taylor McCabe was hurt, but I did not realize her sister
25:58
suffered. I'm not sure it's season ending,
26:00
but it seems pretty serious at this point.
26:02
Or right ankle within two hours of each other, Bertie.
26:05
I mean, that's the odds of that happening are just through the
26:08
roof. But but obviously, obviously not
26:12
good news for either of the McCabe sisters.
26:16
Yeah, no, I wasn't at the game, but it sounded pretty rough to
26:19
where I think she had to be helped out the court as well.
26:22
And just really a tough haul around day for the McCabe family
26:26
and both those sisters obviously not only being very talented
26:31
players, but very popular amongst their teammates, among
26:36
fans and stuff like that. So, you know, at least the doors
26:40
kind of being left open, you know, by saying that she's out
26:43
indefinitely, who knows if if she will end up coming back.
26:47
But I mean, just a horrific day for that family of having to
26:51
watch basketball, you know, pretty much see two major
26:54
injuries to their daughters, you know, in in very close proximity
26:59
to each other during the day. Absolutely devastating and a
27:04
tough blow. You think of Taylor McCabe going
27:06
through this in her senior year. There is no medical red shirt
27:09
available. Play too many games are not
27:11
going to be the case. Speaking of medical red shirts,
27:13
we were kind of wondering that about Iowa State when they were
27:16
so banged up. Bounce back factor from the
27:18
Cyclone women. Now the Twister sisters go on
27:20
the road to Texas Tech Definitely a step up in
27:23
competition tonight, Bergie. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be a
27:26
much more difficult team now. You know, I wish they did get
27:30
some help last week during getting Ariana Jackson back.
27:35
You know, I think when you look at the schedule and you see, you
27:38
know, Cincinnati and Arizona, both those teams aren't really
27:42
overly difficult opponents. I wish they was going to be
27:45
playing in terms of Big 12 competition, but you know, the
27:48
way I would say was playing during that five game losing
27:51
streak, it was definitely not guaranteed that they were going
27:54
to win those games. They should win those games.
27:57
But the way that they missed not only Addie Brown but Jackson,
28:01
it's just the way they were playing like there there were no
28:04
assurances that they were going to win those games.
28:06
So to pick up those wins to end the losing streak, kind of get
28:11
some confidence back, get a little mojo back and hopefully
28:16
just kind of get back into rhythm.
28:18
I think is their hope as they go into this road game is is
28:22
definitely important because you know now the way you're working
28:26
at it with Iowa State schedule, the 14th straight wins the win
28:30
over Iowa. Both those things are very
28:32
important. But the way things were trending
28:35
during that five game losing streak, you went from I was
28:39
state like being assured as on the NCAA tournament, possibly,
28:45
possibly, probably being a top four seed where they could have
28:49
hosted man, they they rapidly fell out of the conversation
28:54
where I think, you know, it's it's not hyperbole to say that
28:58
they're NCAA tournament hopes to run life support.
29:02
So you know, at this point, I think they're probably going to
29:05
end up getting around 20 wins or you know, they because they have
29:09
that strong certain the the one against I win the factor that
29:13
Addie Brown has been out area and Jackson missed time and
29:17
that's going to help them when it comes to the perspective of
29:21
what this team is. But to to get a win over really
29:25
tough and a rank tech tech team would go a long, long ways for
29:29
Iowa State moving forward. No question.
29:31
What? What?
29:32
Did they expect Abby Brown to be back?
29:34
Or do they Tommy? Yeah, it's still kind of up in
29:37
the air, you know, that coach family that a couple of times,
29:40
you know, look, is she going to be back?
29:43
And it's just not something he's committed to.
29:46
So, you know, some of the people I talked to around the team seem
29:50
like there is some optimism. And, you know, I think what I'd
29:54
mentioned before, the injuries playing a part when it comes to
29:59
the NCAA Tournament committee. You know, the only way that
30:04
really factors into how you want to feed or where you want to
30:07
place Iowa State or if we get to that point, if they are, you
30:12
know, what French team getting into the NCAA tournament.
30:15
I think the only way that Brown factors into that conversation
30:20
is if she ends up getting back this season or else you're
30:24
talking about this is who Iowa State is at this point.
30:27
And, you know, they they've sorely missed her now.
30:30
Getting Ariana Jackson back was a big boost, but just the
30:34
versatility that added Brown has and all the different things she
30:38
can do from shooting, passing, rebounding, stretching the
30:42
floor, playing, you know, basically the one through the
30:45
five, Everything revolves around her.
30:48
It doesn't revolve around Audie Kirk's.
30:51
Somebody's got to get Audie Kirk's basketball and Addie
30:54
Brown was usually the person doing that.
30:57
So not having Addie Brown's been a massive blow for Iowa State.
31:01
And I think that's where everybody is kind of holding
31:04
their breath hoping that she does get back.
31:06
Because if she does come back, like, man, that's a team that
31:10
can win some games and then AA tournament, if she doesn't come
31:14
back, they're a team that can lose to anybody moving forward.
31:18
We definitely saw that, some of those less losses, head
31:21
scratching, including the Cincinnati one, took the losing
31:23
streak to two and a couple more in there as well.
31:26
Bertie, you mentioned that and Jada Williams against Arizona,
31:30
her former team, that performance, she's sick doing
31:34
it. It felt like there was a little
31:35
something extra there. Do you know how things ended for
31:38
her in Tucson? Yeah.
31:40
I mean, not great, but I don't know how much that like panned
31:44
into it just because it's a new coaching staff.
31:47
It's pretty much an entirely new team.
31:50
I know there are some support staff people and a couple of
31:53
teammates from that former team that are still around that she
31:57
was talking to before the game. I would say what probably
32:01
factored into Jaden just going off is not only was she playing
32:06
with an immense amount of confidence, but like for a
32:10
couple games there, especially during the Baylor game, it was
32:12
really difficult for a lot of people to watch what Jada was
32:16
playing where they were essentially just double teaming
32:20
Audi crust, taking a defender off Jada Williams and saying,
32:24
hey, you shoot it. We do not care.
32:27
We are going to leave you wide open.
32:29
They're leaving her open 5/10/15 feet, just not caring if she was
32:34
going to take a three corner. And I think if you've been
32:38
around Jada Williams, you've listened to her, whatever, you
32:41
know, whatever room she walks into, she is going to be the
32:44
most confident person. And for the first time probably
32:49
in her basketball career, I think we saw her confidence kind
32:52
of waiver. So I think during that Arizona
32:54
game, once she started feeling it, it was probably a thing
32:58
where it's like, OK, I'm going to not only show my old
33:02
teammates, my old team and in my old school just how great I can
33:08
be. But I think it was her way of
33:09
trying to shut people up too. Of saying, look, if you weren't
33:12
going to guard me, I'm going to make you pay and that's what I
33:15
can do. Speaking of making pay, the
33:18
Marlins made the Cubs pay when they acquired Cabrera from the
33:22
Marlins. They need a starting pitcher,
33:24
and it's going to come at a price.
33:25
Owen Casey. I was really looking forward to
33:29
seeing him patrol right field at Wrigley Field Once we knew Cut
33:32
Tucker probably wasn't going to come back.
33:34
He didn't want to come back or they didn't want to have him
33:36
back. Whatever the case may be, Owen
33:39
Casey seemed like a plug and play type of player.
33:42
Tommy, you watched him down here.
33:45
What are the Marlins getting and what will the Cubs fans miss?
33:48
Not seeing Owen Casey develop into what I think is going to be
33:51
a pretty nice Major League Baseball player.
33:54
Yeah, I mean, I think Owen Casey is going to be a guy that goes
33:57
to a couple of All Star games. He's that town.
34:00
And, you know, people in the system were telling me a couple
34:04
of years ago that if you stacked up his his exit velocity
34:09
numbers, those people in the major leagues, he would have
34:12
some of the best exit was in all baseball.
34:14
I mean, the guy just crushes the baseball at an incredible rate.
34:19
And I think he made some really good strides in cutting down a
34:23
strikeout. You watch him play on an
34:24
everyday basis. He's a guy that's got some
34:27
sneaky speed. He can play right field pretty
34:30
well. He's got decent arm, but the
34:33
power, the bad, that is what's going to do the damage.
34:37
And you know, he he had done that at a very high level or
34:41
across AAA over the last couple of seasons.
34:44
And, you know, I think if he would have stayed healthy at the
34:47
end of last season, would have been really interesting to see
34:49
what he could have done getting just about everyday playing time
34:53
at the big league level towards the end of last season.
34:56
But I think it was the concussion he ended up having.
34:59
So we didn't get the plan. He probably would have been a
35:02
guy that would have fought for a postseason spot.
35:04
So that's going to be a mercy gift for the Marlins.
35:08
He's going to be a great outfielder.
35:10
He's going to provide a ton of pop.
35:12
And I think he's got the ability to to be one of the faces of a
35:17
pretty young team for a couple years.
35:19
The most important thing for Owen Casey is he is going to a
35:23
spot where he's going to get everyday and everyday playing
35:26
them. I think if he ends up staying in
35:28
Chicago, he's the guy that's probably, you know, not playing
35:32
every day, facing just right-handed pitching and kind
35:35
of filling in here and there. But in in Miami, he's going to
35:40
get a shot to show what he can do.
35:43
Question for you on a prospect. Jackson Wiggins, guy that made
35:46
his way up, made a debut at AAA earlier than a lot of guys a
35:49
year ago. Is he a guy that down the road
35:52
is going to be a rotation piece? Is it likely maybe more of a
35:55
bullpen guy second season back from Tommy John?
35:58
What are your thoughts on Wiggins and how he fits going
36:00
forward with the Cubs? Yeah, I mean they think he has
36:04
starting rotation type stuff. The problem is last year we
36:07
spend see a lot of it because he was injured, he was hanged up a
36:11
lot her that was precautionary part of it is like, OK, we can't
36:16
take any risk when it comes to shoulder type stuff.
36:18
So when he ended up getting to Iowa, it was a very tight pitch
36:22
down. A lot of people have kind of
36:24
compared it to, you know, the situation I think with Kate
36:29
Horton where two years ago Kate Horton got to Iowa, but he dealt
36:33
with injuries and didn't didn't end up pitching a ton when the
36:36
last season started the year in Iowa, which is flat out
36:40
dominant, got to Chicago and was an important part of the
36:43
starting rotation. I don't think Jackson Wiggins is
36:47
going to be on that type of timeline for two reasons. 1, I
36:51
don't think Jackson Wiggins is Kate Horton.
36:53
That is a very talented pitcher employer that the Cubs have.
36:56
Kate Horton, Jackson Wiggins, very talented too, but I'm not
37:00
sure he's, he's had that type of elite level.
37:04
Plus the Cubs have a ton of pitching depth at the big league
37:08
level where you've got guys there, they're going to start
37:12
the season in the bullpen that very well could have been
37:15
starting rotation pieces or were in the starting rotation last
37:19
year. Guys like Colin Ray, you know,
37:21
Ben Brown, people like that. Ben Brown could theoretically
37:25
start this season in Iowa, but Wiggins is a guy that I think,
37:29
barring any health issues, you're going to see a lot of in
37:32
Iowa this season's name is. But, you know, there's a reason
37:36
why the Cubs like him and there's some reason why the Cubs
37:39
have kept him to where his name is popped up and a lot of trade
37:42
rumors over the last year and a half.
37:44
But the Cubs have kept studying and said we're not going to give
37:47
up on him. He goes ended this year as the
37:50
number 2 prospect in the system according to MLB Pipelines, the
37:54
number one pitching prospect in the system.
37:57
And you pretty much look at every prospect ranking from that
38:01
letter to ESPN to MLB Pipeline, they all have him as the top 100
38:06
guys. So the stuff is there.
38:08
He's shown it when he's been healthy.
38:11
Now he's just got to stay healthy.
38:13
Tommy Birch, Des Moines Register.
38:15
Birchy. Great stuff.
38:15
Thanks for doing this for us. As always, we'll talk to you in
38:18
the weeks ahead. Thank you, Tommy.
38:20
Anything for you guys, Thanks for having me.
38:22
Yeah, good to talk to you, buddy.
38:23
Good to talk to you. Tommy Birch, Des Moines
38:25
Register. So he's #2 by stairs is one,
38:29
right? Isn't by stairs gone?
38:31
Yeah, yeah. I guess still consider him a
38:33
prospect. I I was looking at at a list
38:36
that the way that this prospect site puts it together, nobody
38:40
considered a tier one currently in their grouping.
38:43
Nobody was Chicago. Nobody was Chicago.
38:45
Not Wiggins. Nope.
38:46
That surprises me. The Tier 2 guy tier one players
38:49
are expectations of an All Star level or better all.
38:54
Right. What's Tier 2?
38:56
Just Major League. Above average expectations and
38:59
making the major and being a solid.
39:00
That's not unfair. I think that's fair for those
39:02
guys, yeah. Time out Come back Transplays in
39:05
the day or next Circus Sports sponsors Miller and Condon Iowa
39:08
Sports Radio Network Miller and Condon Welcome back Iowa Sports
39:11
Radio Network Circus sports sponsors Trent's Plays of the
39:15
Day I would favorite 9 1/2 Drake favorite eight and a half 9 1/2
39:19
Somewhere near What are you betting?
39:20
I am going to take the Trojans tonight, going to take USC and
39:23
those 9 1/2 points against the Hawkeyes also fading the Iowa
39:27
State women tonight. So we're going down the other
39:29
side with that one. Texas Tech will lay the 6 1/2
39:32
there. Three other plays for you in
39:34
men's basketball tonight. Want the Bearcats Cincinnati -3
39:37
1/2 as they take on Baylor at home.
39:40
Going to take the Panthers. Short Rd.
39:42
Dog. We're just going to take him on
39:43
the money line plus one O 8 with you and I at Southern Illinois,
39:46
who's dealing with some injuries and Stanford against Miami.
39:50
Weird one there an ACC battle. And it's still hard.
39:55
Really, really is. All right, that's it for us off
39:57
the bench. Coming up next, Miller and
39:58
Condon talk sports with you Monday through Friday, noon to
40:01
two on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.