Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / CyHawk Women's Hoops tonight, Tommy Birch previews the game & The Voice of the Chiefs Mitch Holthus joins

Transcript

CyHawk Women's Hoops tonight, Tommy Birch previews the game & The Voice of the Chiefs Mitch Holthus joins · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:23
Hi, good afternoon. Welcome Hillary Condon on a
0:26
Wednesday. The Iowa Sports Radio Network.
0:28
Trent Condon and Ken Miller for the next two hours.
0:31
Tap to your toe to the grand. You know what I was thinking,
0:34
trying to think of my mind when this is is over 50 years old.
0:37
This song, yes, I'm going to say like mid 70s.
0:41
Sounds about right. Yeah, mid 70s, this song came
0:43
out. Music was good back in the day,
0:46
TC it really was. Here's what's coming up on our
0:48
program. Not music, sports, what's what
0:50
we're going to talk to you about, and we'll do so at the
0:53
bottom of the hour with our friend Tommy Birch from the Des
0:56
Moines Register. Look forward to catching up with
0:57
Birchy. The main reason?
0:59
Well, a couple of reasons. Tommy B covers Iowa State women.
1:04
That's his winter beat. I also want to talk to him about
1:06
his summer beat too, because what seemingly the Cubs are
1:09
doing, I don't know if they're going out of their way to
1:12
replace Matt Shaw at third base, but Birchy obviously saw well,
1:16
everyone of his home games when he was here, right?
1:19
And he was really good. So we'll we'll talk to Tommy
1:21
Birch at the bottom of the hour. It is Cyhawk.
1:24
The next couple of nights begins tonight at at Hilton Coliseum,
1:29
where Iowa State is now a 4 1/2 point favorite at DraftKings.
1:33
That number has gone up. It's still 3 1/2 at a couple of
1:36
the other shops opened at what did you say yesterday, 1 1/2 one
1:39
one at Circa. Yes.
1:41
Well, Circa opened up at 1:00. The number is shot up.
1:44
It's like I say now, 4 1/2 at DraftKings for that number.
1:47
That's what you said yesterday. That was your, you speculated A4
1:50
and 1/2 was where this number would go, and that's where
1:53
seemingly it is headed. So we'll talk Sidehawk with
1:55
Birchy and then Mitch Holtis on the Kansas City Chiefs.
1:59
They're back up against the proverbial wall.
2:02
The playoffs. We thought they started last
2:04
Sunday. They are on now.
2:05
There is no wiggle room for this team.
2:08
I don't think, Abu, we'll talk to Mitch about that.
2:10
Where they go, they'll face the Chargers this week and do so
2:14
better than a field goal favorite.
2:16
Surprising to you? Absolutely.
2:18
What about this Kansas City team makes you believe against a
2:22
Chargers team that seemingly always hangs around against
2:25
Kansas City, even when they're not very good, that they should
2:28
be getting 4/4 and 1/2 in some spots over a field goal?
2:32
I thought it was going to be a flat 3.
2:34
That's just really what it was. And the Chargers definitely, I
2:37
think are a live dog here. Travis Kelsey is all pissed off
2:40
and he's swearing non-stop and he's all fired up.
2:43
Until he gets home. Then he's probably OK.
2:46
Yeah, yeah, I'm guessing so too. I guess it's so too.
2:49
But yeah, it's a big spot. Obviously Chiefs, they're going
2:53
to have to win out and they've got a couple of division foes
2:55
before they get to that point. The Broncos on Christmas night,
2:59
that game you said was a Prime, that's where that one will be.
3:04
The two earlier games, Netflix, I believe for the with the
3:07
Christmas Day games before we'll switch over to prime at night.
3:11
So Tommy Birch and then Mitch Holtis and then just kick off
3:15
the second hour of the show. We'll talk to our buddy David
3:18
Kaplan head to Chicago. The latest on Kappy and Chicago
3:22
sports with Kappy, I should say he was at Lambeau Field for the
3:25
Packers and the Bears, but no movement yet free agent wise
3:28
with the Cubs. Were watching that to see if
3:31
anything does come out today. There's been a big signing
3:35
within the last O 10 minutes or so.
3:36
Pete Alonso no longer a Met. He's the second big time Met
3:40
Diaz yesterday to the Dodgers. Pete Alonso, So the Baltimore
3:46
Orioles. Thought they needed pitching?
3:48
In the worst. Way you tried to talk me off of
3:50
them a year ago. I tried my damnedest.
3:52
I didn't listen, no, and that money went off some.
3:55
Money in the in the over the years too, so.
3:57
Some of the futures that certainly last year, not our
4:00
strength a year ago they. Did awful in baseball, yeah.
4:02
Terrible. Pete Alonzo, 264 home runs in
4:06
his career. Yeah.
4:07
And you feel bad for the Mets? I mean how that small market
4:09
team, they just can't afford people apparently.
4:11
Apparently, this is the richest owner in baseball.
4:14
Yes, Cohen is the richest owner in baseball.
4:17
Think about that. The Mets?
4:19
The richest owner in baseball? Second richest the the group
4:22
that owns the Blue Jays. The Rogers.
4:25
Yeah, Rogers Communications. So I saw this little, not even a
4:31
screenshot. It was this post last night.
4:33
I'm trying to find it now. Pursue it to what?
4:37
This is revenue brought in by each Major League Baseball team,
4:41
their payroll. So basically the percentage of
4:44
their payroll to revenue, how much of the money that they're
4:47
bringing in are they spending? Now were they did the teams have
4:50
to open their books or how did they come up with the the team's
4:53
revenues? I don't know if it's an
4:56
estimate. I'm wondering.
4:58
But this is what we. Because owners are very
5:00
reluctant to, you know, take you behind the.
5:02
Curtain In terms of revenue, of course, the Dodgers brought in
5:06
the most money, an estimated $752 million in revenue in one.
5:11
Year. One year they spent 549, plus
5:15
they had the payroll luxury tax another 150 million.
5:19
Second on this list they spent 73% of their revenue on their
5:24
payroll. Good for them.
5:25
Yes, top of the list is the aforementioned Mets revenue. 444
5:30
million payroll 400 + a tax of 7190%.
5:36
But as we bring it back to our regional teams and this.
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Oh, this is going to hurt you. I know it is.
5:42
Well, well, we can go first with my team, the Twins.
5:45
The Twins last year brought in revenue wise $324 million.
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That is 23rd. And baseball payroll 154.
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No luxury tax for the Minnesota Twins.
5:55
They're not going to be paying that 47% though.
5:58
Payroll versus revenue. It's middle of the league, right
6:01
in the middle, 15th. So then why aren't they more
6:03
active? Well, they're still figuring out
6:07
ownership and these silent owners and what's going on on
6:09
that part. Here's the thing, though, that
6:11
for our audience, is going to piss off Cubs fans.
6:14
Oh boy. The Cubs last year brought in an
6:17
estimated $584,000,000. And where did that rank?
6:22
3rd in all a Major League Baseball.
6:24
They did not pay the tax. They spent their payroll 213,
6:30
fourteenth in baseball. That was their payroll.
6:33
So they bring in the third most. They spend the 14 most.
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That is a percentage of 36.4%. That is 26 in Major League
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Baseball. So when it when it's under the
6:45
revenue tab, do you know what goes into that?
6:48
Is that just all? Now this is calculated by
6:50
Forbes. OK, it's not Billy Butt Dart on
6:53
Twitter. It's so it's a reputable.
6:56
There's areas surrounding like the hotel at Wrigley Field, the
6:59
bars like that, the marquee network because that's been a
7:02
drain. I wonder if that's part of the
7:05
of the revenue tab or not. I don't know.
7:08
I'd love to know what makes it up.
7:10
Yeah, but well, that's something for Cappy.
7:11
Maybe he will know as he joins us to kick off the second hour
7:14
of the program. Centurion Stone of Iowa.
7:17
They easy make that possible on a weekly basis and we're
7:19
grateful to that. Cappy in our number 2.
7:22
So Pete Alonso is a Baltimore Oriole second big name to to
7:27
leave the Mets in the last couple of days.
7:30
Cyhawk tonight numbers going up opened at at one.
7:33
It's now 4 1/2. I've been looking forward to
7:36
both of these games both tonight and tomorrow night.
7:40
You know, since we got kind of a feel for both of for all four of
7:43
the teams how they were going to be.
7:45
Obviously T JS team is off to a phenomenal start.
7:48
Mccollum's doing some some really good things over in Iowa
7:52
City. We think Bill Fenley has maybe
7:54
his best team in some time and Jan Jensen, Jan Jensen and she's
7:57
got another very competitive basketball team.
7:59
So these these four school, these four programs, rather, I
8:03
think you're going to put a heck of a show for the state.
8:05
And the first one goes on big ESPN.
8:08
The women are on big ESPN tonight at 6 Bell.
8:11
Good for them. And not only that, they got the
8:13
A-Team. Rebecca Lobo isn't.
8:15
Really. Right, dude?
8:16
Yeah, really. Both those guys are in town.
8:19
They'll be on the broadcast. I mean, good work out of ESPN.
8:22
We, we throw plenty of arrows at that right entity throughout the
8:25
years. Great work getting the A-Team
8:27
there. For this, really, it's so she.
8:29
That's a really good team. That's a really good team.
8:32
I didn't see if Holly Rowe's going to be on the sideline.
8:33
I hope she is, yes, absolutely trifecta.
8:37
That is great. This is a game.
8:39
Let's start analytically at the numbers and and why I think so
8:42
many people were surprised. And thank you to Jeff Benson,
8:45
Mike Palm, Derek Stevens and the crew over at Circa.
8:48
I asked them to get the numbers out early and we should have the
8:50
the Cy Hawk Bens game out here pretty soon if it's not up on
8:54
your circus Sports Iowa app already.
8:55
But I asked them yesterday, hey, can we get this?
8:57
Just a little nudge ahead and they got it done for us when it
9:00
opened up at 1:00. Well, that's actually what the
9:02
analytics say. They say this should be a one
9:05
point game. In fact, Bart Torvik, who is the
9:07
Ken Palm of women's basketball, he also has a men's site.
9:09
He has Iowa actually a one point favorite in this game. 7675 Iowa
9:15
with the rent when actually has them projected a .3 points
9:19
better than them. I was shocked though still I
9:22
thought there would be a little bit more.
9:24
Now here is the reason. I believe that at least the
9:27
advanced metrics, the efficiency numbers aren't quite as high on
9:30
Iowa State can. I stop you for one second.
9:32
Does it factor Hilton into the equation at all?
9:34
Yes, homecourt advantages is. OK.
9:36
All right. Homecourt advantage is part of
9:39
the everything that goes into the system.
9:42
Offensively, Iowa State, really good, 7th in the country and
9:45
offensive efficiency, not very good.
9:47
Defensively though, 69th in the country.
9:49
I mean, that's free McCaffrey territory.
9:52
I think that is the reason that the numbers aren't as good.
9:56
In fact, Iowa State, they're ranked 21st in his ranking
9:59
system in the country #21 Iowa is 12th and it's the defense 9th
10:04
in the country for the Iowa women, a defensive efficiency,
10:07
25th and offensive efficiency. So when you look at it just from
10:10
the analytical point of it, that is the reasoning behind it.
10:14
And when you look at numbers like in a place like circa your
10:17
DraftKings, your fandom, that is also an equation, a pretty big
10:20
equation. It's not feelings if we'd like
10:22
to talk about. It's not.
10:24
No, there are real numbers behind it.
10:26
And the numbers say this should be a point tight spread.
10:29
But we're seeing the betting public, myself included.
10:32
I jumped on Iowa State right away -1 the betting public, says
10:36
Hilton young Iowa team first time.
10:39
Certainly this year in this kind of environment, it's going to be
10:41
completely different. A chit chat rights.
10:43
Never seen anything like this, no.
10:45
Idea what she's walking into. I mean Cyhock means something
10:47
here in the state. Ava Haydn, She's gone on the
10:49
road a year ago, but in limited. This is going to be.
10:52
This is. Boy, she's off to a hell of a
10:54
start, isn't she? Ava Haydn.
10:55
You still got Stolky, you still got McCabe, you still got
10:58
Fierbach. All right.
10:59
They've gone through the holdovers.
11:00
Yeah, but for the most part, this is a really young team.
11:04
That's the reason that I think Iowa State is ready for this
11:07
one. And I certainly like the Cyclone
11:11
side. The game plan.
11:13
What do you do to Iowa to pull off the upset?
11:15
You can't win this game at a slugfest.
11:17
No. With crooks, with Brown,
11:19
there's. There are too many good players.
11:20
They're they're too good, too physical to win.
11:24
Jaden Williams has been phenomenal. 6259 you need to get
11:27
out and run and you need to get out and run with Haydn, who was
11:31
a for six foot 4A traditional post.
11:33
But she's got athleticism. She can move up and down the
11:35
floor. You got to beat crooks down the
11:37
floor. You got to do the same thing
11:38
with Anna Stolkey. You need to get this tempo up
11:41
there. You need to get this game up in
11:43
the 80s. I think that's the only path for
11:45
the Iowa woman to pull off the upset I.
11:47
Guess you're I get what you're saying.
11:48
You got to get the tempo in your.
11:49
Favor I I like, I like your theory behind that.
11:51
Now we don't have we can't there's no props on on players
11:56
in the state of Iowa. That's good, by the way.
11:58
Yeah, that's we like that. There's enough things to bet on.
12:02
But, and I say but if there were, what would the what would
12:06
the Audie Crooks number be? Total points over under what?
12:10
What would you set it up? What does she average?
12:11
She's under 30, but not much. No, not much.
12:14
Let me look just under 2828 points a game. 27 point.
12:19
Is that six or eight? Well, 27 points something.
12:22
Better opponent, good inside team 25 1/2.
12:27
Well, I was going to lower than that.
12:28
I was going to 2220. Three, OK, right in that range.
12:32
And that's the other part. I mean, defensively, do you
12:35
Audie Crooks is going to get hers?
12:37
Yes. We can't let Eddie Brown beat
12:39
us. We can't let all the shooters
12:42
now with Harris and with Hair, you can't let those outside
12:45
shooters for Iowa State beat us. We're going to cover them up.
12:48
Cooks goes off for 3540. So be it.
12:51
But we can't let that secondary scoring.
12:53
Is that the direction that you can go now?
12:55
Jada Williams, as good as she has been at the point guard, she
12:57
hasn't shot the ball well. You can't let her get off and
13:00
hit 4 threes right? You can't allow that.
13:02
You can't allow one of the four matching hair.
13:04
Hairs. Let me look.
13:05
What's her assist? Per game?
13:06
Just under seven, yeah. Great point guard and I want to
13:10
see what chit chat Right does now in this match up because
13:13
she's been banged up already dealt with a concussion, had
13:16
another injury so far this season, mentioned this
13:19
environment unlike anything that she saw at Georgia Tech in the
13:21
ACC. She's walking in to.
13:24
Can she hold up against a player as good as Jada Williams and can
13:27
Iowa slow her down and not allow her to get the easy post entries
13:32
in and those kind of things? So when it comes to kind of
13:35
ranking the enthusiasm meter when it comes to this game is
13:39
this one, I know the latest is always the greatest, right?
13:42
And and it's it's so easy to point to this one because it's
13:44
right in front of us. When Caitlin Clark was part of
13:47
it, it wasn't really you didn't go in thinking that this is
13:50
going to be a really good game. You knew she was going to go
13:52
bananas, right? This has a chance to be a really
13:56
good game trend. Like, like I'm talking about,
13:59
you know, we're, we're still, this is one of the things when
14:01
we look back at some of the bigger games in the state in
14:05
2025, I think this one's got a chance to be one of them.
14:09
Make a guess in the last nine games how many Iowa states?
14:11
Not very many. One, yeah, one win.
14:15
That is unfathomable. It is to me too, yes.
14:18
One in eight in the last nine against this Hawkeye team.
14:21
Your goal. Good game.
14:23
There's been so many good games too.
14:24
But I think this one's got a chance to be one of those, you
14:27
know, even better than good game.
14:29
You got two close to top ten teams #10 Iowa State #11 Iowa
14:34
with everything that kind of surrounds it.
14:36
There's not the vitriol that Cyclone fans had for Caitlin
14:39
Clark. And it was vitriol.
14:41
It was jealousy and hate. Well, and it's still, I mean, it
14:43
was, I'm just not Cyclone fans. But you know, since we're there,
14:47
since we just go got to what are we doing?
14:50
Why can't they just leave her alone?
14:52
Aisha Wilson's name, she's the she's the Time magazine sports
14:56
person of the year, right? Why does she have to bring up
14:59
Caitlin Clark? I have no idea why, right?
15:02
Just enjoy your award. She's not part of it.
15:05
Caitlin Clark didn't seek the spotlight yesterday, reminding
15:08
people that she just wanted to don't forget about me.
15:12
Why do you feel you have to be compelled to bring up the league
15:16
and how good the league is and we don't need her type of thing.
15:19
And she what's the one good thing she said?
15:21
Well, she was she didn't know her.
15:23
She didn't know she wasn't happy when she got hurt.
15:26
Oh good. Oh good, what a big person.
15:28
That's unbelievable but my good God look at the reason more
15:33
people are watching women's basketball even when she's not
15:35
playing is because more people tuned in when she was playing
15:38
and and liked it and came back for more.
15:41
Now there's a lot of us that won't watch it, myself included
15:44
unless she's playing. Just leave the leave her out of
15:49
the story Back to Psy Hawk for a second.
15:53
God I couldn't believe when I read that yesterday.
15:55
Just enjoy your award, you're a phenomenal player.
15:58
She's a phenomenal. Player now we don't know the
16:01
line of questioning and maybe that was a part of it during the
16:04
interview is they kept trying to do it because remember also
16:08
reporters are are willing to do that fairpoint.
16:10
You know you're just going to say no comment and that could
16:13
turn into a bad look too. That's the unfortunate part
16:16
about it. But I'm with you.
16:18
It makes the sport as a whole, the WNBA, so toxic.
16:22
I mean, I told you for years now I, I've pulled away from social
16:26
media. I'm not addicted to Twitter like
16:28
you are anymore. And it's for the betterment.
16:30
I, I certainly, I think overall for my mental health, it is a
16:34
good thing to stay away from that cesspool as much as
16:36
possible. I still use it.
16:37
I still look at it every day, but not like I once did.
16:40
And those are the kind of parts of it.
16:41
I just, I can't it, it makes the sport so gross, just gross with
16:47
all both sides, the negativity and the race baiting and on and
16:52
on and on from both sides. It's ugly and it's not good for
16:55
the sport. Yeah, no, I know.
16:57
I mean the jokes right themselves.
16:58
You know the owner of the Wizards are were the Mystic,
17:01
right? She didn't come out and say why
17:02
didn't you put the whole league on the on the cover of time like
17:05
she asked when Caitlin was on it.
17:07
It's just crazy. Anyways, this game tonight,
17:09
point spread is out for his 4 1/2 Iowa State, his favorite 6 O
17:12
clock ESPN. If you can't be in front of your
17:15
TV, of course it airs on 1040 News Radio 1040 WHO?
17:19
And down the hall from us and the other hall from US is 100.3
17:23
the bus. This can be a fantastic
17:26
basketball game tonight. So what do you anticipate the
17:28
point spread is going to be tomorrow?
17:30
Once we find out either way, So what?
17:33
Ken Palm has it 13. Iowa State favored 13 now Bart.
17:37
Torvick on the other side. His site has it 8 1/2.
17:42
So I think it's probably somewhere in the middle, right?
17:43
Probably 11, yeah, maybe open up right in that range something
17:47
like that right at double figures 1010 1/2 I, I think
17:51
that's. Probably schools coming off
17:52
really well. I mean, Iowa State's win was an
17:54
all timer. Yes, right.
17:56
Historic. Historic is what it was.
17:58
Absolutely. And we'll see if there's more of
17:59
those in line for Iowa State men's basketball this year.
18:03
When I used the term historic Iowa coming off, they righted
18:06
the ship against Maryland. They really never gave the Terps
18:08
a chance at that game. Hit their first 63 pointers and
18:11
the onslaught was on. Did you see Buzz Williams
18:14
mentioned in his call in show the other day that it might have
18:18
been last night? He told one of the officials,
18:20
stop calling falls like as they were going to the free throw
18:23
line endlessly. That game took forever.
18:25
Yeah. And for women's basketball fans,
18:27
they're kind of waiting. Yeah, I'd like to watch this
18:28
game against Rutgers because this thing's a blowout and just
18:31
kept going to go. What's next?
18:32
He told the officials to stop calling Falls on Iowa.
18:36
Buzz was ready. Yeah.
18:37
We have had enough. You throw the damn towel if if
18:41
there is such a thing. So we'll see.
18:43
So if there was a maybe we should save this for tomorrow.
18:45
A trying to come up with a prop for some of the some of the
18:49
men's. So we could probably pick
18:52
Kakart's brain right 'cause he's is he live in Illinois.
18:55
I He's right on the rim, he's right.
18:57
He's right on the It's just a bridge right away if he doesn't.
19:01
Because I'd love to know what some of those props are and some
19:03
of the participants. Again, I'm not saying advocating
19:07
for for us to be able to bet on those.
19:09
We don't need to. There's too much.
19:10
I think it just is We're asking for trouble when it comes to the
19:14
players in that respect. Anyways, Tommy Birch is going to
19:17
join us on the other side. Mitch Holtis is coming up on the
19:19
Kansas City Chiefs. We'll talk to Cappy in our
19:23
number 2. Still waiting for the Cubs to
19:25
make a move. Bears and the Packers that game
19:27
last week, it really truly was. It's just a fantastic football
19:31
game. Bears this week have remind me
19:34
what? What the brownies oh, at home
19:37
and Shadur Sanders, here comes Shadur.
19:40
You know what he's. Been OK, He's been OK.
19:42
He's been OK. Numbers have been eated by a
19:45
couple screen passions on his way, but that's OK, A lot of
19:49
quarterbacks can. Yes, get that better for the So
19:51
they get kind of a layup. Meanwhile, the Packers go to
19:54
Denver, and I'm still surprised this number is 2 1/2 Packers.
19:58
I mean, you talk about a teaser like getting the Broncos over
20:01
the field goal over a touchdown. That is an automatic smash bot
20:05
for if you're a teaser player this weekend, that is a bust.
20:08
Do you play them much? I do.
20:09
I usually one or two kind of every weekend.
20:11
I'll I'll throw in there just a little bit of fun.
20:14
You have two teamers anymore. Used to be used to be able to
20:17
get -110 on A2 team, 6 point teaser.
20:20
Then it was a -, 120. Now you look at the big shops
20:25
-130 -, 135. There used to be a line where
20:32
yes, it was profitable to play teasers, but nearly a -, 130 at
20:36
the big shops? Not going to be the case.
20:38
No, indeed it's not. All right, Tommy Birch coming up
20:40
on the other side. We'll talk to Tommy.
20:43
We'll get Mitch Holtis in here. That game is a noon kick on CBS.
20:50
So I already know the answer to this question.
20:54
Well, I don't know. The answer to the first question
20:56
is, are the assignments out for the local television stations?
21:00
Yet it is Wednesday, so yes, they.
21:01
Are out, so I know the I know what we're going to get.
21:05
CBS has two. They've got a, they've got a
21:08
handful of early games that they could put up.
21:10
There and this is a weekend where we get a double, double.
21:12
Header it is, yes. Both Fox and CBS carry games in
21:15
both time slots. The early time slot.
21:18
I'm as a football fan, I want to watch Buffalo, New England.
21:23
Not going to get it. I know I'm not.
21:25
I know I'm going to get the Chiefs and the Chargers.
21:26
Yep, right. Is that the right move?
21:29
Yes, you think it is? Yeah, I mean the.
21:31
Chiefs, Mahomes and it's the Chiefs.
21:32
It's. Kind of like the Cowboys
21:34
conversation, yeah. Better game Buffalo New England
21:37
when I'm more intrigued by. Certainly more important than
21:40
it, but. In these markets across the
21:42
state, absolutely. The charges of the two seed
21:45
right now in the AFC West and the Chiefs, if they don't win,
21:47
it's, you know, they're not going to the playoffs.
21:51
I think that makes sense. So Fox in the early window.
21:54
Let me take a look at the Fox early window.
21:56
They've got Houston, Arizona, they've got Giants commanders,
22:00
they've got Raiders at Eagles and they've got Cleveland,
22:04
Chicago, and that's what we'll get.
22:06
We will, yes, across the state, everybody will get the Bears and
22:09
the Browns. All right, the CBS late window's
22:11
a no brainer. It is the Packers and the
22:13
Broncos. Yep, and the Fox late window.
22:16
Let's take a look at this bad boy.
22:18
What do they have late? They've got Detroit Rams.
22:22
That's where they should be. Here's the other options.
22:24
Panthers, Saints and Niners hosting the Titans.
22:28
If they don't, and they're liable not to because as I said
22:32
last week, they're not the sharpest group, they have to
22:35
give us Rams, Lions. And they will.
22:37
Yeah, got that one, I mean. Even they got that one right
22:39
statewide. Oh, statewide.
22:41
How about that real quick, Mike in Waterloo, then we'll get to
22:44
Tommy Birch. We'll get a break and then Tommy
22:46
Birch. Mike, you got about 30 seconds.
22:48
Hate the cuts are short. Fire away.
22:50
Hey, we got to celebrate today. Today the White Sox got the
22:53
number one draft choice for. How about that?
22:56
Hey, one more thing. You guys were talking about
22:59
Campbell yesterday about his sideline outburst against the
23:02
players. I can remember too, for sure.
23:05
You remember when I was they played Toledo, he went after a
23:08
Toledo player that's just stuck at my mind because he just
23:12
chewed him out. And another time, a big
23:15
offensive lineman from Cedar Rapids got a a penalty.
23:18
Oh, he just ran over to the bench and just chewed on him.
23:22
Do you guys remember that? No, I don't, but I see him from
23:24
coaches every single week. Don't think that's a good deal.
23:28
Great show. Thanks.
23:29
Thank you, buddy. Good to hear from you.
23:31
Good luck to your cyclist tonight and tomorrow.
23:32
And Matt Campbell, full page letter apparently in the Des
23:35
Moines Register. Not surprised.
23:39
No. Tommy Birch, Next.
23:40
Miller and Condon, Iowa Sports Radio Network.
23:52
I'm Hillary Condon, welcome back just past 1230 on a Wednesday.
23:56
Mitch Holt is still to come. David Kaplan, hour number two
24:00
right now, our buddy Tommy Birch.
24:01
Des Moines Register covers Iowa State women.
24:04
Let's get into it side Hawk tonight.
24:06
Birchy, happy holidays to you and your family.
24:10
So you're doing the decorations on the on the X, some of the
24:13
photos, the family photos, which I appreciate as I do everybody's
24:17
that I know. Anyways, good to talk to you.
24:20
This game tonight, Trent and I both think it's got a chance to
24:22
be maybe not an all timer, but certainly a one that we are
24:26
talking about for a while. Do you see it that way, Tommy?
24:29
Yeah, I think it'll be a great game just because she walked out
24:32
town and both these teams are and you know, I think with Iowa
24:35
State, there's still some legitimate questions that may be
24:38
answered about them because they have been played the toughest
24:42
non conference schedule. Now they have faced some recent,
24:46
you know, pretty good foes. Marquette, Indiana was
24:48
undefeated. But this can be the true first
24:51
true test when it comes to Iowa State women's team.
24:54
And, you know, look, when it comes to last season and how
24:57
last, you know, that season went kind of the biggest bugaboo for
25:03
for Iowa State was ranked opponents.
25:05
You know, it took until the very end of the season for Iowa State
25:09
to pick up a win over ranked team.
25:12
And that really left them on the NCAA tournament bubble for a
25:15
while. So I think this team is better,
25:18
but we're going to find out just how much better they are tonight
25:23
when they play Iowa. We know about Audie Crooks, we
25:26
know about Eddie Brown, and Gina Williams certainly has been
25:29
there. Who else should we know?
25:31
If it's your first glimpse maybe at the Cyclone team or the
25:34
Hawkeye fans that are out there, what are some of the other names
25:37
that are going to be big pieces of the game tonight?
25:40
Yeah, I, I think two players are really going to stand out.
25:43
Possible you're going to be Ariana Jackson.
25:46
Sidney Harris obviously, I think stands around here now.
25:49
Ariana Jackson, because she's been the starting lineup since
25:52
day one. She was a Des Moines Roosevelt
25:54
starter and star and, you know, really a fan favored around the
25:58
program for being a Des Moines kid and Des Moines kid that
26:01
stuck it out at the public school like she did.
26:03
So I don't think anybody on Iowa State's rosters really benefited
26:09
from the play of a body crooks and that tension that she
26:12
generates during a game, sometimes getting double or
26:15
sometimes even triple teams more than Ariana Jackson.
26:19
She's been getting some really wide open looks.
26:23
And I think that her credit she is sitting all those shots.
26:26
She she is not just sitting a lot of shots, but she is sitting
26:29
some big shots as well. I mean, we saw what she did
26:32
during the Drake game and when I was a pummel Drake.
26:36
So a big reason was that dominating first quarter and
26:40
Ariana Jackson just went off. So she has been a giant
26:44
difference maker. Sidney Harris provided a big
26:46
boost off the bench for Iowa State.
26:48
And I would say when it comes to J Williams, I think a lot of
26:51
people look at what she's doing and say like, wow, it's it's a
26:56
phenomenal job at the point guard spot.
26:58
She does a great job of getting on.
27:00
He cursed the ball, getting out, he brown the ball and and
27:03
knocking down some shots. But I think the biggest thing
27:06
that Jada Williams does is she gives I would stay a legitimate
27:10
on ball defender. You watch her guard, the other
27:14
team's point guard and she is just relentless in her attack
27:18
and she gives Iowa, I would say the defense employer that you
27:22
know, at that spot that they haven't had for a long, long
27:25
time. So, you know, Iowa State isn't
27:27
changing its identity by any means, you know, becoming a a
27:31
defensive minded team like T JS, but they have made considerable
27:36
strides in that area from picking up people like Jada
27:39
Williams in the transfer portal during the offseason.
27:43
So I think, I think those three are going to be the the kind of
27:45
X factors, I think so to speak, when it comes to this game
27:49
because like you said, we know what we're going to get from
27:51
Mattie Crist. We know what we're going to get
27:53
from Mattie Brown. It's everybody else that's going
27:56
to be the big question mark. Yeah, Audie Crooks in that game
28:00
against Indiana 47, which was unbelievable.
28:02
The Drake game in the first quarter, to me, I don't know if
28:04
I've ever seen 1:25 to 5:00, if memory serves, was the score
28:08
after the first quarter. So, So with Audie Crooks, Tommy,
28:12
you've seen her all three of her three years.
28:13
It's a junior season. What has she done?
28:15
How has she continued to evolve her game and what does what is
28:18
she better at now than she was? Obviously experience got to be a
28:22
big factor in her favor, but how's she about a different
28:25
basketball player as she's gone along in her Iowa State career?
28:29
Yeah, I mean, I think it's just kind of adding to her back and
28:31
trace a little bit. Obviously this year I think one
28:34
of the things that stood out is she's out of fade away, which
28:37
has helped immensely where she's not just setting up shop in the
28:41
paint and just waiting for somebody to throw the ball to
28:43
her. But look, when it comes to
28:45
audience, always been really simple.
28:47
She's got great footwork, she's got great hand, you know,
28:50
getting her the ball to the post.
28:52
Not always the easiest thing when you've got 1-2, sometimes
28:56
three defenders that are collapsing on her.
28:58
So it's not only a credit to the point guard, but the obviously
29:03
then that Audie Crips is getting those passes and finding a way
29:06
to, you know, crowd them and get them into the basket as well.
29:10
So she's got those two intangibles and then just
29:14
adding, you know, like I said, the fade away.
29:16
But I think one thing that's kind of coming on throughout
29:19
this this season early in the season was much improved.
29:23
But you know, lately it's kind of a little shaky is for free
29:26
throw shooting. It's gone a little bit better.
29:28
Look, she she's never going to be, you know, an 8085 or 90%
29:34
free throw shooter. But I think if you can get her
29:36
close to 80 or just, you know, high 70s, that is going to take
29:41
her to her game, to a whole other level where you're talking
29:45
about 2530 points a game to maybe 35 points a game.
29:49
And that's going to make a big difference.
29:50
Because, you know, I think so many teams, that's going to be
29:54
the philosophy that they go with where they don't have the size,
29:58
they don't have the strength, they don't have the manpower to
30:01
match up with. Howdy Cripps.
30:02
So I think for a lot of teams, it's going to be OK.
30:07
Either we're we're going to send two or three people to her and
30:11
try to guard her or, and hope that somebody else from Iowa
30:14
State has to beat them, or they're just going to start
30:18
filing the heck out of her. Make her prove that she can she
30:21
can hit her free throws. I think if she does that and she
30:24
doesn't like she did early in the season, that's that's going
30:29
to make it even tougher for teams to to find a way to beat
30:32
Iowa State. On the other side, you've taken
30:36
a look at this Iowa team. What should concern Iowa State
30:39
fans tonight with the Hawkeyes coming to town?
30:42
Mentioned earlier they've won 8-9 of the series.
30:45
What is the most concerning aspects of this Hawkeye team
30:47
going up against ISU? Yeah, I mean, one, they have a
30:51
tremendous defense and that's, you know, Iowa State's bread and
30:54
butter is they're going to want to push the cord, they're going
30:56
to want to score, they're going to want to shoot it a ton.
30:59
That's going to be the toughest defensive team that they've
31:02
they've faced this season and and probably one of the toughest
31:06
defenses they'll face all year. So I think from that aspect, you
31:10
know, when it comes Iowa State, look, if they have a night where
31:13
people are going cold, it's going to be a scary, scary
31:18
situation for the Cyclones. Because you know, like I said,
31:22
like we said, you know what you're going to get from Audi,
31:24
you know what you're going to get from Audi.
31:26
But suddenly if Ariana Jackson is not hitting shots, if Jada
31:30
Williams is not hitting shots and Sydney Harris is not hitting
31:34
shots, suddenly you're in a really tough situation.
31:37
So I think from the defensive aspect and then the aspect that
31:41
Audi Chris going to be facing a a legit defender this time is,
31:46
is going to be a tough task for her.
31:48
You know she's going to end up getting hurt, but it's just a
31:50
matter of how much and how much she's got to work for it to
31:54
work. You know, if she's got to work
31:56
for it, then you're talking about taking her out of the game
31:58
a little bit more and limiting her minutes and possibly how
32:02
much she's going to be able to spend at the other end of the
32:05
court too. So there's just so much to it
32:08
when it comes. I would say that we know they're
32:10
a really good team. We don't know if they're in a
32:12
weak team. Are they one of those top tier
32:15
teams yet? You know, they've done
32:18
everything that they should have done early in the schedule.
32:20
They beat up on everybody that they should have and they played
32:24
really well during it. But this is this is the first
32:28
tough test, tough task for Iowa State this season.
32:33
Real quick on baseball, Tommy, I do want to ask you, Matt Shaw,
32:36
the seemingly the the big Cubs, I don't know if they're trying
32:40
to if upgrade at third base. I I can't tell you how impressed
32:45
I was with Matt Shaw switching positions.
32:47
The last thing, yeah, I thought that they had to be critical of
32:50
him was his defense last year. I thought he was unbelievable at
32:53
the hot corner. And he correct me if I'm wrong
32:56
because you saw, I don't know, probably 90% of his home games
32:59
when he was here at triple at the AAA level.
33:03
He didn't play a lot of third base, did he?
33:05
When he was at when and when down here with the I Cubs?
33:09
And were you surprised it it came so quickly to him?
33:13
He played a decent amount, but it totally doesn't shock me
33:15
because I remember talking to like college coaches and scouts
33:19
and advisors and all this, you know, when it comes to match on,
33:22
they were like, dude, that guy will figure it out.
33:24
I think it was in college that he he wanted the starting
33:28
shortstop job and they were like, we don't know if he can
33:30
play shortstop. And he was like, well, I'm going
33:32
to go show you. And he did.
33:33
And you know, one of the things that impressed me about Match
33:36
shot was when he got sent down to the minor leagues this year
33:41
after starting the season in Chicago.
33:44
You know, the idea was it was like you got a hit if you want
33:47
to give back to the majors. And obviously Matt putting the
33:50
work to get back to the big leagues as a hitter.
33:53
But that first say that he was back in Des Moines, he was out
33:56
in the field early getting extra reps at third base, determined
34:00
to show that he could be 1/3 baseman.
34:02
And the fact that he turned himself into, you know, maybe
34:06
starting off as a below average type third baseman to a Gold
34:10
Glove finalist makes me believe that he has what it takes to do
34:14
app from the hitting standpoint as well.
34:16
That's his tool going into it. So if he can make himself a
34:22
great defender, that's not going to be that that big of a
34:25
challenge for him to to turn into a great bat because
34:29
seemingly everybody that you talk to around the game that
34:32
knows match off or Steam match on, nobody seems to have a
34:35
question. He's going to have the big
34:37
league level and do really good job at it.
34:40
He's going to be a really good player, no doubt about it.
34:42
Hey, Tommy, thanks for doing this.
34:43
Appreciate. I think Cyhawk, the women's
34:45
version. Tonight's got a chance to be a
34:47
really fantastic basketball game.
34:49
Tommy, thanks for jumping on. Happy holidays.
34:51
Merry Christmas to you, your wife.
34:53
The two boys enjoy Christmas morning with them and go so
34:56
fast, brothers. I tell Trent with his blink and
34:59
it's gone. Good stuff, Tommy, I'm going.
35:01
To start around 4:00 at our house so I know.
35:05
Thanks, Tommy. Good to talk to you buddy.
35:08
Thanks guys. Good.
35:09
To talk to you, Tommy Birch from the Des Moines Register.
35:11
All right, take your time out. Come back.
35:12
Mitch Holtis will join us on the other side.
35:15
It's the Chiefs and the Chargers.
35:17
We'll talk to Mitch. Papa John's throughout the state
35:19
of Iowa sponsors this weekly appearance.
35:21
That's next on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
35:24
Hi, Millory Condon, welcome back.
35:26
It's the Iowa Sports Radio Network, wherever you're
35:29
listening in the state of Iowa. Glad that you are.
35:31
Let's get right to Mitch Holtis, the voice of the Kansas City
35:34
Chiefs. Papa John's located throughout
35:36
the state of Iowa sponsors this weekly segment.
35:39
Mitch Stratton Ken, thank you for coming on.
35:41
Does it feel like the the whatever margin for error there
35:45
was when it comes to with the remaining part of the schedule
35:48
going to last Sunday night, that would that margin for error is
35:51
now gone. That seem you have to win out
35:54
three against the division rivals and you throw the Titans
35:57
in there. Does it feel like that to you,
35:59
Mitch, as we look at it, that you know, the Chiefs almost have
36:02
to win out if they want to get to the post season?
36:06
No, if they don't win out, it's super infinitesimal.
36:08
Now there's a shot with A and I will say fairly possible.
36:15
People asked me earlier, they go, hey, what's the, you know,
36:18
what's the bright spot here? And I said, well, the Alamo held
36:22
out for 12 days. So that's kind of thought here.
36:27
But you got to win out and then you've got to hope you can help
36:31
the Chargers here lose 3 out of four by beating them Sunday.
36:34
Now the Chargers aren't out of the woods because they have your
36:38
Broncos and Week 18 can and your Broncos.
36:42
We're hoping or playing for A1 feed so they don't play the JV's
36:45
and lay down for them because we it looks like the Colts are
36:49
going to be eliminated there. We know they're out of gas and
36:51
if they're playing Phillip Rivers, I can't even imagine
36:54
anyway the So if somebody else has got to go and right now that
36:58
would be us, that we could help the Chargers be in that role
37:04
because then after that they would play the Cowboys on the
37:07
road, the Texans and the Broncos.
37:09
And I think that's in Denver, they play the Chargers in.
37:12
Yes, this week, Week 2, they were in LA, so they will.
37:15
The game is in Denver. This will be in Denver.
37:17
All right, so here's your If the Chargers lose this game to us on
37:20
Sunday, the Chargers will have to go to Dallas, the Texans, and
37:25
then to Denver. And they'd have to go one and
37:29
three. We got to win out that that's
37:31
kind of doable. You could see that happening
37:33
without getting too crazy. And so that's where we're at.
37:36
But you know, we're in the Alamo trying to fight our way out
37:39
here. Travis Kelsey, very frustrated.
37:42
You could tell with himself, with the team, with just things
37:45
not going well. A lot of explicit language that
37:48
he was using in that one. Is that the prevailing notion?
37:51
A lot of frustration inside that Chiefs locker room.
37:55
Yeah, it's been a that kind of year one just a with the
38:00
schedule. It's not not an excuse.
38:03
And then because it's just been, it's been an oppressive schedule
38:06
for like 4 years. Once this streaming started and
38:09
then everybody wanted the Chiefs and pull a number on their show.
38:13
You're playing Sunday night on the road, Monday night on the
38:15
road, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
38:16
That's one now that leads to used up fuel.
38:20
Then it's been in the seven losses.
38:23
All three phases have been culpable at one time or another.
38:26
The frustration trend is when, hey, one group's up the Dallas
38:30
game where Mahomes throws for four touchdowns and you get 28
38:33
points on the road and then the next week, you know, Mahomes has
38:37
a QBR of unthinkable like 19, but your defense plays great and
38:43
they're absolutely suffocating Houston.
38:45
Then coach goes forward on 4th and one his own 31 and people
38:49
have been discussing and cussing that.
38:50
But then prior to that and special teams was great against
38:55
Dallas, but you had blocks in the back in the game against
38:58
Denver. I mean, so there's just things
39:01
that dust snapped together, but they could.
39:05
So this isn't at least among the group inside the Fort.
39:10
There's no give up yet. But the frustration has been
39:13
kind of what's going to go wrong today because this group's
39:15
playing great, good enough to win, but then they have slipped
39:19
the next week. That's that's where it's been a
39:21
challenge. We got about two minutes left.
39:24
I want to save one for for Papa John.
39:26
Do you think the fact that over the last, I don't know, handful
39:29
of years, they've essentially played another season When you
39:32
factor in all the, I mean, I know the roster changes, but the
39:35
big names have not. Do you think that's a factor at
39:37
all? Mitch it is and I don't want
39:39
people to. It's not an excuse, it's just a
39:41
fact. And it's really a season and
39:44
1/2, 10. Mahomes has played 21 playoff
39:47
games. That's A season and a fourth in
39:50
addition, in a truncated time where everybody else has played
39:53
six seasons or six and five. Now here's what's exacerbated
39:57
this, and that's what I was alluding to, is the fact that
39:59
now you have Black Friday football and you've got, you
40:03
know, you're playing every. We played every game but
40:05
Tuesday, every day but Tuesday. And it's Sunday night on the
40:08
road, you get back at 6:00 in the morning and Monday night on
40:11
the road, you get back at 6:00 in the morning and the margin
40:13
gets slider. But.
40:14
You're using up fuel with an older team when you do that.
40:18
So it's a real challenge to go. We've got to have the Chiefs.
40:21
We're going to stream it on Hulu at Tuesday at 10 AM, and it's
40:24
got to be the Chiefs and they're going to go on the road.
40:26
Well, that's all factored in in the fact that and and that's
40:31
what's different and it's what's different about the so-called
40:34
dynasty and run of the Patriots. They did not have a 17th game
40:37
against the best team in the NFC and they didn't have those
40:39
screaming games. So it's just different.
40:42
It's harder to do now, whether that's going to be the Broncos
40:44
or whomever goes on a run. It's just way harder to do it
40:48
because of the set up now in the league.
40:50
They don't really want you to go on a run.
40:51
They don't want you to dominate. That's what we've got this year
40:54
in the NFL with so much parody. Indeed, music's playing.
40:56
I'll let everybody know if you want to fuel up here.
40:58
Papa John's throughout the state of Iowa, that's where I'd be
41:01
refilling his favorite. It really is.
41:04
He says that all the time. Papa Johnstone, we'll talk to
41:07
you next week, buddy. Thank you, Mitch Holtis.
41:09
Yep. See him.
41:10
Our 2 is next. David Kaplan kicks it off Miller
41:12
and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.