Latest / Chuck in the Morning / Chuck & Buck 12-16 Hour 3: Gene Steratore, Everett Fitzhugh and injury impacts.

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Chuck & Buck 12-16 Hour 3: Gene Steratore, Everett Fitzhugh and injury impacts. · Chuck in the Morning

0:00
Speaker 1: It's time for Checking Buck's weekly visit with former NFL
0:03
Speaker 1: official Gene Sterotur brought to you by Bmwcattle. Looking for
0:08
Speaker 1: a new or used BMW or something else even, come
0:12
Speaker 1: check us out at Bmwcattle, conveniently located between I five
0:16
Speaker 1: and I ninety near the stadiums now with Gene Sterotor.
0:20
Speaker 1: Here's Chucking Buck.
0:22
Speaker 2: Well, we look forward to it every week. That's what
0:25
Speaker 2: we do.
0:25
Speaker 3: Our chance to chat with the greatest NFL official of
0:29
Speaker 3: all time. Jene Sterotor is with us right here on
0:32
Speaker 3: Chuck and Buck in the mornings.
0:33
Speaker 2: Good morning, sir, Good morning fellows.
0:36
Speaker 4: How are you.
0:36
Speaker 2: We're doing great, We're doing great.
0:38
Speaker 3: I'm curious though, before we start breaking down some plays
0:41
Speaker 3: and some rules and stuff, did Philip Rivers in any
0:45
Speaker 3: way inspire.
0:46
Speaker 2: You over the weekend.
0:47
Speaker 3: Did you think to yourself, it is time for a comeback.
0:50
Speaker 3: I can still do this. I can come back and
0:53
Speaker 3: still be the greatest NFL official of all time.
0:58
Speaker 4: It's so funny, Chuck, I think this is a third
1:00
Speaker 4: radio interview this morning, and everyone asked the same question. Yeah,
1:04
Speaker 4: so it is one that must be out there, and
1:08
Speaker 4: it makes me a little warm and fuzzy. When you
1:10
Speaker 4: see really someone just older than they should be playing
1:14
Speaker 4: in that game. And you went right to me on it, Chuck,
1:17
Speaker 4: I mean, the tie there is fantastic.
1:21
Speaker 5: And to be.
1:22
Speaker 4: Perfectly honest, there was that moment where you know, our
1:26
Speaker 4: our our careers kind of paralleled themselves for that fifteen
1:29
Speaker 4: years or so, and you know, it looked awful familiar
1:33
Speaker 4: to me. And then I watched last night's game only
1:36
Speaker 4: thirty miles from where I live and realized it was
1:39
Speaker 4: seven degrees and I.
1:41
Speaker 6: Thought, you know, this chair in the studio. You know, Jane,
1:45
Speaker 6: what do you think I think if it's.
1:47
Speaker 4: Two steps in a football move? Okayjane, we don't like you.
1:50
Speaker 4: But back to the chair, I went. I just that
1:53
Speaker 4: was about how long it lasted?
1:54
Speaker 5: Check, She thought about it for a second.
1:59
Speaker 4: It did, Bucky, It went right through like the morning breeze.
2:02
Speaker 2: Does you know, like it.
2:04
Speaker 4: Just catches your hair for a second if you have
2:06
Speaker 4: some no, but you know, and and then off we went.
2:13
Speaker 2: By the way.
2:13
Speaker 3: What was Rivers like Because a lot of fans, if
2:15
Speaker 3: you weren't a Charger fan or a Colt fan, you
2:18
Speaker 3: didn't like Philippers because it looked like he just whined
2:20
Speaker 3: the entire game to the officials, what was he like
2:23
Speaker 3: to officiate? Did you enjoy officiating his games?
2:28
Speaker 4: I loved officiating them, and yes, he waned the entire game,
2:31
Speaker 4: and yes, to officiated most of it. And it was
2:34
Speaker 4: a beautiful thing. You know, my older brother Tony was
2:37
Speaker 4: a back judge on my cruise, so naturally when Phil
2:40
Speaker 4: thought maybe something happened downfield or there was a legal
2:43
Speaker 4: contact or holding, he loved to start that eight to
2:47
Speaker 4: ten yard sprint down the field of voices, opinion and
2:50
Speaker 4: displeasure and you know, kind of being the younger brother saying,
2:54
Speaker 4: and my job was to protect a quarterback and knew
2:57
Speaker 4: he was going downsield to kind of you know, my brother,
3:01
Speaker 4: just for that minute, I was like, go ahead, go
3:04
Speaker 4: for it. You know, I got a couple to throw
3:06
Speaker 4: out there too, you know, say this to him while
3:08
Speaker 4: you're you know, as you turn around, just to catch
3:10
Speaker 4: him off guard.
3:11
Speaker 5: But no, he was.
3:12
Speaker 4: He was a joy and just intense and you could
3:15
Speaker 4: see it, right. I mean, the beauty of the game
3:18
Speaker 4: is it brings out the uh, the youthful vigor in
3:22
Speaker 4: all of us. That and it's really did why I
3:24
Speaker 4: did stay as long as I did in officiating and
3:27
Speaker 4: you could see rivers immediately more right back that. Look,
3:30
Speaker 4: it's it's game time, man, you know. And the intensity
3:33
Speaker 4: was up and so was the talk. So I thought
3:35
Speaker 4: it was a really cool thing to witness.
3:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was. It was.
3:39
Speaker 7: I agree it was cool, even though as a Bronco fan,
3:41
Speaker 7: I was one of the ones that couldn't stand watching
3:43
Speaker 7: him whine and talk trash dum it talking trash across
3:48
Speaker 7: the field with no cuss words, like, you can't do that,
3:51
Speaker 7: that's not right. But it was cool to see a
3:53
Speaker 7: guy come out of retirement. I I am curious, man,
3:57
Speaker 7: your thoughts just the way in which the game is
4:01
Speaker 7: officiated now, I mean, they're trying to protect guys, and
4:03
Speaker 7: I know if a receiver is trying to make a
4:06
Speaker 7: catch and you don't want to go to his head.
4:08
Speaker 2: I get that whole thing.
4:09
Speaker 7: And yet there's times too where a guy gets a
4:12
Speaker 7: hit and it looks like the defender was just doing
4:14
Speaker 7: what he's supposed to do. There's one in that Chargers
4:17
Speaker 7: Chiefs game. There's actually a couple big hits in that one,
4:20
Speaker 7: but one in particular where the guy ends up getting ejected,
4:23
Speaker 7: but it kind of looked like he was committed to
4:25
Speaker 7: going in hitting the guy in the chest. Then the
4:28
Speaker 7: receiver drops down, Thornton's kind of drops down, so he
4:32
Speaker 7: hits him in the head, and then because he's laying
4:34
Speaker 7: on the ground now of a sudden, they eject him.
4:36
Speaker 5: Is that the way it's supposed to be called?
4:39
Speaker 4: Ato, Bucky, You're just so right on all those points
4:41
Speaker 4: because I do think, Look, the player that was laying
4:44
Speaker 4: wood on those hits is one of those players that
4:48
Speaker 4: you won on your squad, right, because he causes receivers
4:52
Speaker 4: and quarterbacks to think twice before throwing over the middle.
4:56
Speaker 4: There's a huge element in this game that need to
5:00
Speaker 4: continue to happen that way. That's a big part of
5:02
Speaker 4: this game, and the rules quite honestly.
5:06
Speaker 5: Have taken some.
5:07
Speaker 4: Of that element out of the game because of the
5:10
Speaker 4: level and the amount of files that occur there. That
5:13
Speaker 4: throws over the middle aren't nearly as dangerous as they
5:16
Speaker 4: used to be because of the rules, and as you said,
5:19
Speaker 4: the first hit was a classic hit within the rules
5:22
Speaker 4: with force to a player's chest depletes him and imposes
5:27
Speaker 4: his will, right, And I am sure on that field
5:30
Speaker 4: when you get hits like that, a lot of people.
5:32
Speaker 6: On that field, like to start selling.
5:35
Speaker 4: Wolf cookies a little bit and letting people know they're
5:37
Speaker 4: out here for the whole day. It's the beauty of
5:39
Speaker 4: that business, right, I mean, that is what this is about.
5:42
Speaker 4: And then, as you said the second play, I think
5:45
Speaker 4: he initially did have a perfect target level and I
5:48
Speaker 4: think he realized it the element of that. And it's
5:52
Speaker 4: so hard to do this in real time. I can't
5:54
Speaker 4: even I would never be able to even think what
5:57
Speaker 4: goes through their head or how great they are to
5:59
Speaker 4: try them pipulate that the leading with the head portioned,
6:04
Speaker 4: trying to maybe get a little shoulder in, but still
6:06
Speaker 4: a little more just too much torpedo. Like we used
6:09
Speaker 4: to think we're the best hits in the NFL ten
6:11
Speaker 4: years ago, which now we get one to get out
6:14
Speaker 4: quite honestly in defense of the player initiating the shot
6:17
Speaker 4: in many cases and not the receiver.
6:20
Speaker 6: But then as you said, like this.
6:21
Speaker 4: Receiver is doing what a human would do. He's ducking
6:24
Speaker 4: to protect himself. Now he lowers what was a good target,
6:27
Speaker 4: and now it becomes a hit on a defenseless receivers
6:29
Speaker 4: head and neck area.
6:31
Speaker 2: So now you have a foul.
6:32
Speaker 4: Those are hard plays to you know they're hard plays
6:35
Speaker 4: to rept it is the rules are the rules. And
6:39
Speaker 4: then as far as the ejection was concerned in that situation,
6:43
Speaker 4: I think I did speak to it.
6:44
Speaker 6: Briefly on air.
6:45
Speaker 4: When there is a flag down in the NFL for anything,
6:49
Speaker 4: but in sportsmanlike unnecessary roughnesses those plays, New York then
6:53
Speaker 4: can come down and way in Now. I was told
6:57
Speaker 4: after some communication with the NFL in real time on
7:00
Speaker 4: at play, was this a play where New York came
7:03
Speaker 4: down and initiated And their response to me was the
7:06
Speaker 4: officials were contemplating potentially ejecting.
7:10
Speaker 6: On the field.
7:11
Speaker 4: Did not make that initial assessment right on the field,
7:15
Speaker 4: but with collaboration from New York, and that goes up
7:18
Speaker 4: a different level to true vincent and the people in
7:20
Speaker 4: operations that are a little above that that are in
7:23
Speaker 4: the room. They made that decision. Now, whether that's based
7:26
Speaker 4: on previous behaviors and other games, or what their standard is,
7:33
Speaker 4: or how they kind of process that, that's kind of
7:35
Speaker 4: into the office.
7:36
Speaker 6: But the ejection was confirmed or.
7:39
Speaker 4: I think basically made at the end of the day
7:42
Speaker 4: from the office and not the officials of the field.
7:45
Speaker 2: I had a conversation with my mom last night.
7:48
Speaker 3: She said she was going to be sending me some
7:50
Speaker 3: Christmas fudge, as she tends to do, but this year,
7:52
Speaker 3: I'm going to order a batch of woof wolf cookies.
7:55
Speaker 2: That's what I'm going to order for the Christmas Wolf clip.
8:01
Speaker 4: And when you're an older guy out there with the
8:03
Speaker 4: young guys and you can try to you know, I'm
8:05
Speaker 4: not up with all the stuff that happens in the
8:07
Speaker 4: generations that followed me, But every once in a while,
8:10
Speaker 4: you can even throw one of the ones that we
8:12
Speaker 4: used in the seventies back down to them and it's
8:15
Speaker 4: like your jeans and the drawer there, chuck, you know,
8:18
Speaker 4: if you leave, if you leave them in there long enough,
8:21
Speaker 4: actually comes all the way around again and you're.
8:23
Speaker 6: Making a fashion statement.
8:25
Speaker 4: So you know, I would try to keep a few
8:27
Speaker 4: of those late sixties, early seventies one liners and throw
8:30
Speaker 4: them out there to the next generation and then they would.
8:33
Speaker 6: Look like, dude, I like that one.
8:34
Speaker 2: I'm going to use it.
8:35
Speaker 6: You know, I said, just.
8:37
Speaker 4: Give me some credit on it back end, but go,
8:39
Speaker 4: you know, feel free to go with it again.
8:41
Speaker 5: Us looks is when we used it.
8:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Christmas Wolf cookies are the best, I mean,
8:46
Speaker 3: so Delicious Jeans is with us here. CBS rules analyst
8:52
Speaker 3: joins us every week to talk about some of the
8:56
Speaker 3: calls in the National Football League. Just curious since before
9:00
Speaker 3: where we get off the Chiefs game. Now that Patrick
9:02
Speaker 3: Mahomes is hurt, will NFL officials stop rigging games for
9:06
Speaker 3: the Chiefs?
9:09
Speaker 4: No, but more than likely what's going to really happen
9:12
Speaker 4: is and it happened this year. And it's ironic, isn't it.
9:15
Speaker 4: Like the last couple of weeks the Chiefs they just
9:19
Speaker 4: didn't pull off the big wins. And I think they
9:21
Speaker 4: lost six games within one possession this year, so you know,
9:25
Speaker 4: they were probably a possession away from the schedule or
9:28
Speaker 4: their you know, their record looking different. But all of
9:31
Speaker 4: a sudden, it's like there are a few penalties there
9:33
Speaker 4: against Kansas City and they're losing, you know, And sometimes
9:38
Speaker 4: when you start to foul, you start to lose. There'll
9:42
Speaker 4: be a new team here on the horizon that will
9:45
Speaker 4: now be getting the unexpected favor of the officials as
9:49
Speaker 4: they succeed as teams again.
9:51
Speaker 2: And listen, by the way.
9:53
Speaker 4: Those guys are playing up in Seattle right now, they
9:57
Speaker 4: have a chance to be one of those teams.
9:59
Speaker 6: Or other successful and it's fun to watch, it really is.
10:02
Speaker 3: All right, Well, let's talk about silks. There are a
10:03
Speaker 3: couple of plays. I mean, we did win the games.
10:06
Speaker 3: We're not going to grouse too much up here, but
10:09
Speaker 3: it did seem like there were a couple obvious pis
10:13
Speaker 3: up to us up.
10:14
Speaker 2: Here in Seattle.
10:15
Speaker 3: One on JSN in the first half, one against Rashisha
10:19
Speaker 3: Head in the second half. We assigned you to look
10:22
Speaker 3: those up and tell us what you thought whether or
10:25
Speaker 3: not we got screwed over there.
10:27
Speaker 5: Yeah.
10:28
Speaker 4: I thought the first one was a PI. That's a
10:32
Speaker 4: play the deepest official on that sideline, it's his receiver.
10:35
Speaker 4: It's the widest receiver. It's kind of man to man
10:37
Speaker 4: one on one coverage. That's his lock in key from
10:41
Speaker 4: snap to in this case, snap to ball. That's a
10:45
Speaker 4: play you got to get. There's enough restriction there, there's
10:48
Speaker 4: enough of.
10:48
Speaker 2: A turn there that he put that.
10:50
Speaker 4: Receiver at a disadvantage and really went beyond the rule
10:54
Speaker 4: or what would be allowed. I would say, to give
10:57
Speaker 4: him an opportunity that.
10:58
Speaker 5: I thought was a foul.
11:00
Speaker 4: The other play, look, technically, I think if you throw
11:03
Speaker 4: nobody says too much for me. And again It's not
11:07
Speaker 4: like I put this into my element all the time
11:10
Speaker 4: when I refereed. But if you watch that play, the
11:13
Speaker 4: moment that d back got to Shahed, he kind of
11:16
Speaker 4: puts his arms up in the air and soccer style immediately,
11:20
Speaker 4: you know, as he started to run and the ball
11:22
Speaker 4: is still a ball that you can make a play on.
11:25
Speaker 4: And it was almost as if immediately when the contact
11:29
Speaker 4: and that defensive back started to snuggle and occur with him,
11:32
Speaker 4: he was already in his I can't get to this
11:36
Speaker 4: ball because of this contact action. I think if he
11:40
Speaker 4: plays a little more and fights back through that defensive
11:43
Speaker 4: player who did not have his back toward the football,
11:46
Speaker 4: so he wasn't playing the ball, which means, you know,
11:49
Speaker 4: contact to him becomes a little more technical. I'm going
11:52
Speaker 4: to call it a little quicker because of that. But
11:54
Speaker 4: I think if Shaheed doesn't just throw his arms up
11:57
Speaker 4: like I'm giving up right now, as the ball still
11:59
Speaker 4: was a three steps away from a play, plant your
12:02
Speaker 4: legs start to work back towards the inside through that
12:04
Speaker 4: defensive back who hadn't got his head around, and I
12:07
Speaker 4: think that play becomes an easier play as far as
12:10
Speaker 4: a foul is concerned. The tough part about it is
12:14
Speaker 4: we know we've seen that play this year. This is
12:17
Speaker 4: me speaking philosophically. I think it's I like those plays
12:20
Speaker 4: as no calls. I think those plays just the way
12:23
Speaker 4: that one blended and again the way he reacted to
12:25
Speaker 4: that initial contact and blending. I would love that to
12:29
Speaker 4: be a consistent no call because I think players adjust
12:32
Speaker 4: to that. But when we see it throughout the league
12:35
Speaker 4: that as soon as that happens, they know a flag
12:37
Speaker 4: is coming or it's coming more often than not, I
12:40
Speaker 4: think we lend ourselves to that behavior right where the
12:43
Speaker 4: expectation now is that's automatically they called that. They called
12:47
Speaker 4: that last week or two weeks ago, and it wasn't
12:48
Speaker 4: a lot of contact. So again that's just a personal
12:52
Speaker 4: thought on that play. But then you know, look, because
12:57
Speaker 4: of the contact, if they throw it and they go
12:59
Speaker 4: to Gene and Gen, is that really enough for pass interference? Yeah,
13:02
Speaker 4: I can break that down and tell you, yeah, he's
13:04
Speaker 4: not playing the ball. He makes it a little early
13:06
Speaker 4: contact and make it you know, and kind of agree
13:09
Speaker 4: with a call. But I like it personally, Again, that's
13:12
Speaker 4: personal opinion that when I like could be looking at
13:15
Speaker 4: them and good fellas Man's game today and I'll fight
13:17
Speaker 4: back and get the football here. Give me something more
13:20
Speaker 4: to earn this. This is a big file in a
13:21
Speaker 4: big game.
13:22
Speaker 7: Yeah, Jean, there was a play in the Jets Jacksonville
13:27
Speaker 7: game where the Saunders guy gets objected for making contact
13:30
Speaker 7: with official and just first and foremost. Even though there
13:32
Speaker 7: was times I wanted to absolutely beat an umpire or
13:35
Speaker 7: two wow over the course, I did a couple of times.
13:37
Speaker 2: Yeah I didn't.
13:38
Speaker 7: I didn't because that that obviously is unacceptable. You just
13:42
Speaker 7: get mad and leave it at being mad when it
13:45
Speaker 7: comes to that. I'm all about protecting you guys, you know,
13:49
Speaker 7: especially when if if you guys make a call and
13:51
Speaker 7: somebody comes up and shoves you or really is alluding
13:55
Speaker 7: to I'm mad at you and I'm going to then
13:56
Speaker 7: get physical. That is, there's no place for that, and
13:58
Speaker 7: I think punishment should be. But is there a gray
14:02
Speaker 7: area where you can make contact? I remember years ago
14:05
Speaker 7: somebody was celebrating and just getting ready to do to
14:08
Speaker 7: a giant fist bump and clocked a referee and it's like, okay,
14:12
Speaker 7: well that he wasn't trying to do that on purpose.
14:14
Speaker 7: Is that still a flag or is there a gray
14:17
Speaker 7: area where you're like, Okay, you're trying to break up
14:19
Speaker 7: a skirmish. If a guy is just pushing people away
14:22
Speaker 7: from himself and he actually touches an officials, is that
14:25
Speaker 7: ejection worthy?
14:28
Speaker 6: Oh that's a good point.
14:29
Speaker 4: Look in my career, I always empathize with what the
14:33
Speaker 4: players are dealing with. And you have a couple of
14:35
Speaker 4: big guys that are pushing and giving themselves the business
14:39
Speaker 4: a little bit that hasn't elevated, but I need to
14:41
Speaker 4: break it up. If I did make a decision to
14:44
Speaker 4: go in there and try to separate these giants, I
14:48
Speaker 4: knew that if I always felt like, if I go
14:50
Speaker 4: in there and I catch a flipper or an arm
14:53
Speaker 4: flinging out where he doesn't realize who it is, it's
14:56
Speaker 4: even trying to separate him, and it just happens. And
14:59
Speaker 4: as you said, incidental is the word. And now I
15:01
Speaker 4: get kind of clocked for that. I put myself there.
15:05
Speaker 4: It's not mandatory that I go in there and physically
15:07
Speaker 4: break you up. I can blow my whistle five or
15:10
Speaker 4: six times. And what I did more than not buck
15:12
Speaker 4: quite honestly to not put myself in that situation, was
15:15
Speaker 4: I would blow my whistle, which is allowed whistle in
15:17
Speaker 4: close proximity, and then I would get it out of
15:20
Speaker 4: my mouth and start yelling that the play clock was running,
15:23
Speaker 4: which would always stoke the offensive players because of the
15:26
Speaker 4: way they were trained, like get yours out of here
15:29
Speaker 4: and go back to the huddle, because they're going to
15:30
Speaker 4: have a delay a game. When you yell the play
15:33
Speaker 4: clocks running on a football field, when big guys are
15:35
Speaker 4: tied up, you'd be amazed how quickly a lot of
15:38
Speaker 4: them separate this situation. I can't tell you that's Bori's cheek.
15:42
Speaker 4: Who is I think thirty plus years in the NFL.
15:45
Speaker 4: It's his last year. He's been around the business a
15:47
Speaker 4: long time. Did he talk to Saunders a couple times
15:51
Speaker 4: throughout the game? Was there something else that happened in
15:54
Speaker 4: there at that moment that kind of stoked him to
15:57
Speaker 4: go beyond incidental? And it was like, look, I've been
16:01
Speaker 4: with you know, three times here in the last five
16:03
Speaker 4: minutes on plays, and you hear me next to you
16:06
Speaker 4: and you throw that arm in the direction of the voice.
16:09
Speaker 6: You know.
16:09
Speaker 4: I don't want to read too much into it, but
16:11
Speaker 4: there isn't a level of incidental contact that should be permitted.
16:15
Speaker 4: But then I appreciate you saying it. It's not easy
16:19
Speaker 4: when you're out there man, and that intensity, and these
16:21
Speaker 4: guys are legitimately upset and a lot of times for
16:24
Speaker 4: valid reasons and that things happened. But contacting officials we
16:29
Speaker 4: take extremely serious.
16:31
Speaker 6: But I do think there's a window there to.
16:33
Speaker 4: Understand what incidental contact is and what happens in the moment.
16:37
Speaker 6: You know too, So that would be my take on it.
16:40
Speaker 5: Yeah.
16:41
Speaker 3: I don't know if you watched the Olio State Michigan game,
16:43
Speaker 3: but there was like a player that headbudded an official
16:46
Speaker 3: and didn't even get tossed from the game. He got
16:48
Speaker 3: a fifteen yard penalty, but it didn't even get tossed
16:50
Speaker 3: from the game.
16:51
Speaker 2: It was very strange. I did see it, Chuck, Yeah,
16:54
Speaker 2: and you're gone. You're just gone, gone, right gone.
16:57
Speaker 5: You're gone?
16:58
Speaker 6: Yeah, yet not even yours is gone.
17:01
Speaker 5: Yeah.
17:01
Speaker 4: I mean those are plays where I'm a talker, as
17:03
Speaker 4: you guys can tell, right, I mean, but there are
17:06
Speaker 4: those moments and games where behaviors like that happen and everything.
17:11
Speaker 5: Stopped and you're out of here.
17:13
Speaker 4: Escort him out now, because no, that leads itself to
17:17
Speaker 4: so many different layers of something that makes this game
17:20
Speaker 4: not something we like.
17:21
Speaker 5: So yeah, I agree with you.
17:22
Speaker 3: Well, I don't think that I'm going to get the
17:24
Speaker 3: chance to wish you a happy holiday next week, so
17:27
Speaker 3: I'm going to do it right now. And I'm very curious.
17:31
Speaker 3: We all as children had that one Christmas gift that
17:35
Speaker 3: we always remembered that kind of changed our entire childhood.
17:39
Speaker 3: Was yours a striped shirt and a whistle? By chance?
17:42
Speaker 2: Or is there something else?
17:46
Speaker 3: You know?
17:48
Speaker 4: Actually, I don't even really remember a gift that jumped out.
17:51
Speaker 4: I mean, we were from an old school Italian family
17:53
Speaker 4: with seven kids, and the ref shirts because of my
17:57
Speaker 4: late father. They were in every room every year day,
18:00
Speaker 4: you know, they were part of the couch furniture, that's
18:03
Speaker 4: what you threw over the chair and then had a
18:04
Speaker 4: whole winter if the dog wanted to lay there in
18:07
Speaker 4: the wintertime or something. So h But I think the
18:12
Speaker 4: gifts that I remember most, quite frankly, were the ones
18:16
Speaker 4: that were either really basic and required some creativity. I
18:19
Speaker 4: remember the erector set. If that dates me a little bit,
18:23
Speaker 4: I know that goes way back, right and I look
18:26
Speaker 4: back and think about that gift and think and they
18:29
Speaker 4: put actual.
18:29
Speaker 5: Steal in there, you know.
18:31
Speaker 4: It wasn't this plastic pre formed stuff like this was
18:34
Speaker 4: like I remember opening up thinking, hell, I can build
18:37
Speaker 4: like a building with this, Like this is real good material.
18:40
Speaker 4: You know, I can fix the fender on the car
18:42
Speaker 4: and the driveway with this stuff.
18:44
Speaker 5: You know.
18:44
Speaker 4: But looking back, it was it was good to be
18:48
Speaker 4: part of such a huge family, and the chaos of
18:51
Speaker 4: Christmas and the joy of the family really was the.
18:53
Speaker 5: Greatest gift of all. If that doesn't sound so warm.
18:56
Speaker 4: And fuzzy, that's right here on a beautiful Tuesday morning.
18:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, Merry Christmas to you and yours. Thank you
19:02
Speaker 3: so much for being with us all season long, and
19:06
Speaker 3: look forward to more conversations here in the future.
19:09
Speaker 4: Thanks guys, I have a wonderful holiday and good luckless Thursday.
19:12
Speaker 3: All right, Jean Stator joining us right here on Chuck
19:15
Speaker 3: and Buck. His segment brought to you by BMW Seattle.
19:19
Speaker 3: Looking for a new or used BMW or something else,
19:22
Speaker 3: even in time for the holidays, perhaps check out BMW Seattle,
19:27
Speaker 3: conveniently located between I five and I ninety near the stadiums.
19:31
Speaker 3: Coming on next, Everett fits you joins us, what's wrong
19:34
Speaker 3: with the crack and we're gonna let the voice fix
19:36
Speaker 3: at Sports Radio ninety three point three.
19:49
Speaker 2: Good to have the voice joining us here again on
19:51
Speaker 2: this Wednesday.
19:52
Speaker 3: The Voice of your Seattle Cracking hasn't been called many
19:56
Speaker 3: wins as of late, but we're gonna get to the
19:57
Speaker 3: bottom of that.
19:58
Speaker 2: Good morning, Everett, Morning, Chuckie.
20:02
Speaker 8: Have you taken more vacations we talked about this beginning.
20:05
Speaker 5: Of the year.
20:06
Speaker 2: That's true.
20:07
Speaker 8: You you took a break around Thanksgiving and you know what happened.
20:11
Speaker 5: We didn't win a couple of games there, So were
20:14
Speaker 5: you back home?
20:15
Speaker 3: I have a couple more days off this upcoming week
20:19
Speaker 3: going into the holiday, so maybe that reverses it.
20:23
Speaker 2: Maybe that takes it right out of the.
20:25
Speaker 5: Content for your sake, be hope.
20:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right.
20:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, because light Wakie keeps sending me nasty emails under
20:33
Speaker 3: yeah ever fits you the voice of your Seattle Cracking
20:36
Speaker 3: with us right now? I mean, where where is the
20:40
Speaker 3: alert level around the organization?
20:43
Speaker 2: Right now? I mean this is eight out of nine
20:46
Speaker 2: games that they have lost.
20:49
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean I think it depends on what circle
20:54
Speaker 8: you run with, what what room you walk into it
20:58
Speaker 8: at any certain time day.
21:00
Speaker 5: I think in the locker room.
21:02
Speaker 8: The most frustrating part about all of this is you
21:06
Speaker 8: can see how hard the guys are working. You can
21:09
Speaker 8: hear Chander Stevenson and Jordan Eberley and Lane Lambert. You
21:12
Speaker 8: can hear in their voices, you know, the the uncomfortability
21:18
Speaker 8: with this situation because the players are playing hard. I
21:23
Speaker 8: mean you almost you almost wish this was a stretch
21:26
Speaker 8: of games where they're getting blown out by four or
21:29
Speaker 8: five goals, because at least you can say, well, hey,
21:32
Speaker 8: you know they don't have it, but this is the
21:33
Speaker 8: team that's still limiting teams to two goals, maybe three goals.
21:37
Speaker 8: They're getting burnt by, you know, a couple of mistakes,
21:41
Speaker 8: a couple of empty net goals. And if you take
21:44
Speaker 8: out the two oiler games, the nine to four and
21:47
Speaker 8: the four nothing oiler losses, I mean, these have all
21:50
Speaker 8: been games where the Kraken have been in a position
21:54
Speaker 8: in the last five minutes of the third period to
21:58
Speaker 8: minimally get a point to overtime, if not get wins.
22:02
Speaker 8: So that's that's the most frustrating piece about all of
22:06
Speaker 8: this is that despite the record, the team isn't playing poorly,
22:11
Speaker 8: They're not playing bad. It is a mistake here, It
22:14
Speaker 8: is a bounce there, it is a it is a
22:17
Speaker 8: momentary lack of detail here that is ultimately losing the
22:24
Speaker 8: crack of these games.
22:26
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, obviously they're not intending to do it,
22:29
Speaker 7: and yet yeah, it seems like it's similar fashions in
22:33
Speaker 7: which they're doing it, whether it's close games and they're
22:35
Speaker 7: just not finding a way to get the edge or
22:38
Speaker 7: you know, and then regardless of the empty net goals
22:40
Speaker 7: where it looks different on the scoreboard than the actual
22:42
Speaker 7: game itself. So I'm where is the main thing, I
22:46
Speaker 7: mean when you see them skating, you know, and practice,
22:49
Speaker 7: and what is the main thing that they need to
22:51
Speaker 7: shore up to find a way to just kind of
22:53
Speaker 7: flip the tables a little bit.
22:55
Speaker 8: Well, we've talked a lot about special teams, whether that's
22:58
Speaker 8: the power player, the penalty kill. I mean, penalty kill
23:00
Speaker 8: is getting better as of late. So they were they
23:06
Speaker 8: allowed a power play goal in nine straight games, and
23:09
Speaker 8: I think rock Bottom was the four for five effort
23:13
Speaker 8: the Oilers had on the power play a couple of
23:15
Speaker 8: weeks ago. So the power the penalty kill has improved.
23:18
Speaker 8: The power play still continues to be a work in progress.
23:22
Speaker 8: I've always contended that if you need one of the
23:26
Speaker 8: units to be strong, I'd rather a strong penalty kill
23:29
Speaker 8: because that just takes away the momentum from the other team,
23:32
Speaker 8: and that can really deflate a lineup and deflate a building,
23:36
Speaker 8: especially if you're on the road. So the PK is
23:39
Speaker 8: going in the right way, it's still the offense. I
23:42
Speaker 8: think it's still the offense. It's still you know, the
23:45
Speaker 8: crackner getting shots. You know, the last six games or
23:48
Speaker 8: seven games, in five of those games, Seattle has accounted
23:52
Speaker 8: for twenty eight or more shots. So Ley Lambert has
23:54
Speaker 8: been saying, I want the guys to be selfish. I
23:57
Speaker 8: want these guys to shoot more. They're shooting more. They've
24:00
Speaker 8: run into some pretty good goaltenders in the last couple
24:02
Speaker 8: of a couple of weeks. But you know, all of
24:05
Speaker 8: these I understand our excuses, and at the end of
24:08
Speaker 8: the day, we're in the NHL to win hockey games.
24:11
Speaker 8: And Laida said multiple times the excuses are there. We're sick,
24:15
Speaker 8: were hurt, were injured. No one cares. I don't care.
24:18
Speaker 8: We have to win hockey games. And at a certain
24:21
Speaker 8: point you gotta you have to man up to a
24:24
Speaker 8: man you have to challenge each other internally collectively, uh
24:29
Speaker 8: to to get it done. So you know it's going
24:32
Speaker 8: to be a very difficult task tonight against Colorado, the
24:35
Speaker 8: best team in the league.
24:37
Speaker 5: But Seattle has played a lot of the top teams
24:41
Speaker 5: in the league. They've played them pretty close this.
24:44
Speaker 8: Season, and I've gotten a couple of of of wins
24:47
Speaker 8: that on paper around the league probably were unexpected.
24:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm tired of Lane using me in my vacation
24:55
Speaker 3: time as an excuse in the locker room.
24:57
Speaker 5: That's right on the board.
25:00
Speaker 8: Yeah, see what the side says, because this is an
25:03
Speaker 8: FCC regulator show.
25:04
Speaker 6: But it's it's it's not kind.
25:07
Speaker 2: He's not mixing words, is what you're saying.
25:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, let's talk about this Colorado team, because I
25:13
Speaker 3: don't know if everybody's aware of what they're doing so
25:16
Speaker 3: far this year. They've lost two games this season. Who
25:20
Speaker 3: this entire season twenty six wins, two losses. And I
25:24
Speaker 3: already thought Everett that Nathan McKennon was the best player
25:28
Speaker 3: in hockey and just didn't get credit for that. And
25:30
Speaker 3: he's leading the league in pretty much everything. So what
25:35
Speaker 3: on earth? What kind of a buzzsaw have the Avalanche
25:37
Speaker 3: turned into in twenty twenty five.
25:40
Speaker 8: Well, they've calmed down, they've cooled off a little bit.
25:43
Speaker 8: They're only seven to one and two in their last
25:45
Speaker 8: ten games.
25:46
Speaker 5: Is that all?
25:47
Speaker 8: Yeah, they've cooled down quite a bit from where they've been.
25:51
Speaker 8: I mean, listen, it doesn't get more complete than the
25:55
Speaker 8: Colorado Avalanche when when you look at their their top
25:59
Speaker 8: line is arguably the best trio right now in the NHL.
26:05
Speaker 5: They can score from the blue line.
26:07
Speaker 8: Defensively, they leave the league in scoring with obviously Kill
26:10
Speaker 8: mccarr and Devon Tamees back there their goaltending, the wood
26:14
Speaker 8: Shed Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgwood.
26:16
Speaker 5: Scott Wedgwood already up to fourteen wins.
26:19
Speaker 8: This season, So, I mean, it is it is remarkable
26:22
Speaker 8: what's going on in Denver.
26:25
Speaker 5: And this is the team that you know, two thousand
26:28
Speaker 5: and two.
26:28
Speaker 8: They're coming up on or twenty two, rather, they're coming
26:32
Speaker 8: up on five years since they've won the Cup. And
26:35
Speaker 8: a lot of people will tell you within that five
26:38
Speaker 8: year window, you know you need to start either retooling
26:42
Speaker 8: or you need to tear it down. Very few teams
26:45
Speaker 8: can stay that consistent for that long. And the Avalanche
26:48
Speaker 8: have been one of those teams that have been able
26:51
Speaker 8: to retool. I remember last season after a first round
26:54
Speaker 8: exit to Dallas, fans in Denver were calling to blow
26:58
Speaker 8: up the team. They were calling for Jared Bennar, They're
27:01
Speaker 8: head coach to be fired. And it's like, guys, you
27:04
Speaker 8: just came off the Cup a few years ago and
27:07
Speaker 8: you've just made the playoffs.
27:10
Speaker 5: I think it's now five six.
27:11
Speaker 8: Years in a row for the Avalanche, So they're now
27:15
Speaker 8: getting back to a place of dominance. I mean, everybody
27:18
Speaker 8: had Colorado on paper winning the Cup before the season started.
27:22
Speaker 8: I think now that has just been solidified more. They
27:25
Speaker 8: made a couple of big trades last year. They had
27:28
Speaker 8: a couple of big free agency signings that have paid
27:30
Speaker 8: off dividends for them at Brock Nelson, Martin Achius, and
27:33
Speaker 8: Brent Burns. So this is I mean, not arguably, this
27:39
Speaker 8: is definitely going to be Seattle's toughest game to date.
27:43
Speaker 8: But like I've said before, this Kraken team, they have
27:47
Speaker 8: beaten the league's best this year. I go back to
27:51
Speaker 8: a game in Winnipeg in early no late October where
27:56
Speaker 8: the Kraken shut out Winnipeg on their whole ice three nothing.
28:00
Speaker 5: It was just the third time Winnipeg.
28:02
Speaker 8: Had been shut out at home in two seasons, and
28:05
Speaker 8: just their fifth or seventh loss at the time, seventh
28:09
Speaker 8: home loss in the last two years overall. They then
28:13
Speaker 8: come back home and beat Edmonton three to two. That
28:16
Speaker 8: was their first win over the Oilers in eight tries. So,
28:20
Speaker 8: I mean, for Seattle, this isn't new. Playing the top
28:24
Speaker 8: teams in the league isn't new, And maybe this could
28:27
Speaker 8: be that turnaround wake up call that this team has
28:30
Speaker 8: been waiting for. I'll tell you what, if the Kracking
28:32
Speaker 8: want to win this one, it's going to be a
28:33
Speaker 8: defensive game. This is not going to be a four
28:35
Speaker 8: to four, three, five to four Kracking win.
28:38
Speaker 5: I mean, this is going to be a greasy, grinding game.
28:43
Speaker 5: If the Kracking won.
28:43
Speaker 3: To have success, well no, I can't imagine a better
28:47
Speaker 3: spark though, for a team that needs one, is to
28:49
Speaker 3: pull an up set against at home against the best
28:52
Speaker 3: team in the NHL.
28:53
Speaker 2: So all right, let's get that done tonight. Thank you, sir.
28:56
Speaker 2: We appreciate it, and we will be listening.
28:59
Speaker 5: All right, good fellas, Ashley take care.
29:01
Speaker 2: All right, Everett FETs you the boys.
29:03
Speaker 3: If you're Seattle cracking right here on the flagship Sports
29:05
Speaker 3: Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. Six thirty pregame with
29:09
Speaker 3: Mike and then Al and Everett show will be taking
29:12
Speaker 3: place starting at seven o'clock. Everett joins us every Wednesday
29:16
Speaker 3: at eight thirty. By the way, how about getting Shane
29:18
Speaker 3: Wright going? Can't wait to talk to Al about this tomorrow.
29:20
Speaker 3: No assists since December fourth for Shane Wright, no goal
29:25
Speaker 3: since November twentieth, and he is seventeenth on the roster
29:29
Speaker 3: in ice time.
29:30
Speaker 2: Seventeenth Oh wow? Was Isn't this supposed to be the
29:32
Speaker 2: big step forward year for Shane Wright? So yeah, very
29:36
Speaker 2: big mystery there from Shane Wright this season?
29:39
Speaker 5: All right?
29:39
Speaker 2: Coming up next Seahawks rams.
29:41
Speaker 3: So we count down the minutes to Thursday Night Football
29:44
Speaker 3: on Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
29:56
Speaker 2: That's the third time I've done that Today. Rick new
29:58
Speaker 2: isis is going to join us today.
30:00
Speaker 3: At nine o'clock College Football Insider. We got the college
30:03
Speaker 3: Football Playoff to preview, this Michigan jomp thing going on
30:07
Speaker 3: out there, and so much more. Never a dull moment
30:09
Speaker 3: these days in the college football world.
30:11
Speaker 2: Also, the old Judge will.
30:12
Speaker 3: Stop by at nine thirty, and let's face it, we
30:16
Speaker 3: are just this isn't just counting down day by day
30:19
Speaker 3: to Thursday Night football.
30:21
Speaker 2: It was like minute by minute.
30:22
Speaker 3: I mean, this is monstrous game coming up here this Thursday.
30:27
Speaker 3: And the Seahawks seem to be pretty healthy. I mean, yeah,
30:31
Speaker 3: everybody has their injuries this year, but man, to get
30:34
Speaker 3: to this point in the season, this is about as
30:37
Speaker 3: healthy as as you can hope to be. I think
30:39
Speaker 3: the Rams are also enjoying that this season. They've had
30:43
Speaker 3: a pretty healthy campaign as well. But if there are
30:47
Speaker 3: two things to point out, Greg Bell says that there
30:50
Speaker 3: is an injury there with Charles Cross, something to monitor
30:53
Speaker 3: throughout the course of the week. And I'm almost certain
30:55
Speaker 3: DeVante Adams is not going to play for the Los
30:57
Speaker 3: Angeles Rams. And even though he didn't hurt us all
31:00
Speaker 3: that much in game number one, one catch, one yard,
31:03
Speaker 3: he did score a touchdown with that he is a
31:06
Speaker 3: red zone demon with this Rams team, and I think
31:10
Speaker 3: they have become a lot easier to defend when it's
31:13
Speaker 3: just Nikua and not Nikua and Adams.
31:16
Speaker 7: Well, I don't remember exactly what it was for Nicu,
31:18
Speaker 7: something crazy eight catches or nine catches and over one
31:21
Speaker 7: hundred yards. But and you're right, Adams only had the
31:25
Speaker 7: one catch for one yard, but it was a touchdown.
31:27
Speaker 7: He's got fourteen touchdowns on the year, Nakua, and the
31:31
Speaker 7: next best, which I think is Kobe Parkinson, they have
31:34
Speaker 7: twelve combined touchdowns. So red zone threat, yes, most certainly. Now,
31:39
Speaker 7: I mean I have a feeling you it's it's going
31:42
Speaker 7: to be diminished to yes, exactly. I think they'll find
31:47
Speaker 7: a way to find somebody. Now, just the tricks of
31:50
Speaker 7: the trade. DeVante Adams knows how to get opened down
31:52
Speaker 7: there in limited space and Matt Staff, yeah, is that right? Okay,
31:59
Speaker 7: well just ask him that. But I imagine you're you're
32:02
Speaker 7: right that he is. Obviously he's he's figured out a.
32:04
Speaker 5: Way to do it.
32:05
Speaker 7: He was carved out an unbelievable career. But the health
32:08
Speaker 7: is one of the issues. You get to this point
32:09
Speaker 7: in the season, and I don't know for sure how
32:13
Speaker 7: healthy everybody is, you know, even the guys that are
32:15
Speaker 7: able to play, You don't you don't know how ding
32:17
Speaker 7: dinged up they are at this point in time. But
32:19
Speaker 7: it's going to be an important part in this final
32:21
Speaker 7: stretch drive for sure.
32:22
Speaker 9: Well, and I do think, yeah, Nicoua is a threat,
32:25
Speaker 9: but don't worry.
32:26
Speaker 2: I asked AI if Pooka.
32:27
Speaker 9: Nakula was going to play, and and A I said,
32:30
Speaker 9: Nicua is expected to be a top target, potentially seen
32:33
Speaker 9: heavy usage if Cooper Cup has issues.
32:35
Speaker 2: Oh so.
32:38
Speaker 9: I think really fine then, because Cooper, like I mean,
32:41
Speaker 9: if he's playing for US.
32:42
Speaker 2: Now, that's the problem with AI. They are just not
32:44
Speaker 2: up on current events really or not.
32:46
Speaker 9: I was like, wait a minute, this seems grossly inaccurate.
32:49
Speaker 2: In the movies, they seem to be a little more
32:51
Speaker 2: up to speed.
32:52
Speaker 9: Yeah, those robots, they don't really know what's going on.
32:55
Speaker 3: Yes, Pooka Nikua could have a great game if Flipper
32:58
Speaker 3: Anderson doesn't get in a.
32:59
Speaker 2: Way, it's like hold on.
33:03
Speaker 9: So yeah, I did think at one point that the
33:05
Speaker 9: Nikola injury was a little bit more serious, but yeah,
33:08
Speaker 9: I was just cramping.
33:09
Speaker 2: So he's he's good.
33:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, Uh, Nicoole, we'll have a big game if Jim
33:13
Speaker 3: Everett can get him the ball. Thanks A, I appreciate you. Uh,
33:18
Speaker 3: Nicole is a monster and he's going to be a
33:20
Speaker 3: monster either way. But I really do think that it's
33:23
Speaker 3: you know, Adams what he brings to the table. Not
33:26
Speaker 3: having him in this game is a big boost for
33:30
Speaker 3: the Seahawks. I mean, we are going to have to
33:32
Speaker 3: face a quarterback starting quarterback this week.
33:34
Speaker 2: I guess what gives.
33:36
Speaker 7: Isn't didn't they have like a rule or something that
33:38
Speaker 7: we didn't play first stringers.
33:40
Speaker 9: Got two days.
33:41
Speaker 3: It's crap, is what it is. Yeah, that we're not
33:44
Speaker 3: facing I was hoping for Wolford, okay, come out of retirement. Yeah, yeah,
33:52
Speaker 3: that would be crap. If we have Garoppolo too, where's it?
33:55
Speaker 3: Why don't we bring Why why doesn't Jim Everett come
33:58
Speaker 3: out of retirement?
33:59
Speaker 2: We got you to that. Well, didn't Jim Tomay come
34:02
Speaker 2: out of retirement? We're just throwing a baseball player. But yeah,
34:06
Speaker 2: something to monitor.
34:07
Speaker 3: I think that is a huge advantage if you don't
34:10
Speaker 3: have to worry about Nkua and Adams because Ninkua is
34:13
Speaker 3: a handful enough. Something that we'll be discussing, of course,
34:16
Speaker 3: throughout the week here on the radio program. Coming up next, though,
34:20
Speaker 3: Rick new Eisle gets a set for the college football Playoff.
34:24
Speaker 3: We'll also ask him what he's hearing on that Michigan
34:26
Speaker 3: Front and More Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM,