Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / David Kaplan talks Bears Draft & Cubs, Russ Carew on the NFL Draft experience & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

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David Kaplan talks Bears Draft & Cubs, Russ Carew on the NFL Draft experience & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

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Our number 2, Miller and Condon, welcome back.
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Iowa Sports Radio Network. We're with you until 2:00.
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Circus Sports sponsors, transplays of the day.
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Those coming up here at about 10 minutes or so before 2:00.
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Off to Chicago we go. Here's the cap man, David
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Kaplan, Centurion Stone of Iowa sponsors Cappy during his weekly
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appearance. Oh, Capra, how are you?
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What's up bro, how are you? Good to talk to you.
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When you heard the Justin Steel news, what was your reaction?
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Not a shock. We got like 700 pictures on the
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injured list. So disappointing.
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But when I hadn't heard that he was, you know, getting close, I
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knew he was throwing. I hadn't really heard.
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Yeah, we're counting on him by the mid to late May, I had said,
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you guys, I thought it would be June and then to hear that he
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had a hiccup and now it will be till it won't be till after the
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All Star break. That's disappointing.
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But you can't count on a guy coming up Major Arms 3 anyway.
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Whatever you get the bonus, you got to go out and find a way to
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go make a deal as soon as possible to get more depth in
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that, certainly in that bullpen. Any theories of why?
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And this is not just a Chicago Cubs problem, it's an Iowa Cubs
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problem. It's a Smokey's problem, it's
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throughout the organization, just this rash of injuries.
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Now I know some people have got some crazy theories, the reason
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why, but anything that you've been able to look at, anything
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that makes sense in your mind of why we just had that or it's
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just that's pitching in 2026. Well, there's two things for me,
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a that's pitching in 2026, plus I had multiple guys, Brad Keller
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said last year. One of the reasons I picked the
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Cubs is because of their pitch lab, he said.
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It's better and it's different than most teams in baseball, but
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when guys are getting more spin rate on their breaking balls and
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their velocity, Brad Keller says velocity went up a mile and 1/2
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per hour to get him just north, just South of 100 miles an hour.
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He's like, I never threw that hard.
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Well, there's going to be extra torque on your elbow and on your
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arm. And so it is what it is.
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Mean if you're going to ask somebody to put that many more
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rotations on it, it means you're going to snap it that much
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harder, which is going to put more stress on your forearm and
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your elbow and all of it. And then you're taking a guy.
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The human body wasn't built to throw 100 miles an hour.
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And unless you're getting that power from your trunk, your
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backside, your thighs, if you're not getting your power there and
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it's more arm, one of the pitchers was telling me, Ben
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Brown, I was talking to him. He said your power, the arm has
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to be like a lever, just a delivery system.
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The power has to come core and trunk push off with your legs.
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He goes if it's with your arm, it's unsustainable like that.
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Any news on Dansby Swanson cap? I have not heard yet.
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I, you know, I try to see if I can come up with something.
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I do not see a roster move and they play this afternoon.
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So I have not gotten an e-mail and I'm on the Cubs e-mail list.
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I haven't gotten a text from anybody around there.
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So right now, it does not sound like an IL spin, but I'm
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watching Dansby come up with A2 run double early in the game,
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and he's standing on second base, you know, given the little
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hand motions that they make. And the next thing I know,
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they're like, yeah, he's got a glute cramp and he's out.
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What? I don't know how that happened.
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If he does have to miss, do you put do you move Nico to short as
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they did late in the game last night?
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Matt Shaw is second and then obviously Bregman at third keeps
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Suzuki and right by the way, made hell the catch in right
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field last night. That was he really did.
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So would that be the most most likely way the infield would go?
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Obviously Bush and then Shaw, and then Nico and Bregman at
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3rd. Yeah, I'm not playing Nicky
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Lopez. Hopefully not, no.
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No, that guy's, yeah, I'm sure Mrs. Lopez would tell you he's a
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wonderful human. He's not a great baseball
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player. Go that direction.
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Don't doubt. You know, one thing I brought up
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with Ken and just watching, I watched a lot more Cubs last
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night than I have in a while. They're so good defensively and
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we know up the middle how strong they are when healthy.
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Obviously with Nico and and Dansby, what they do, they're
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Bregman's a tremendous third baseman.
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Hap could win his fifth Gold Glove in left field and
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obviously Pico Armstrong in center field.
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It's underrated. Is it something that's brought
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up often? Because I don't think you can
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overstate the importance and we so rarely talk about just how
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good this team is defensively. Yeah, I think they're the best
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defensive team in baseball. I do believe that.
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You know, you've got a solid, not spectacular, but a solid
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first baseman. You have maybe the best second
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baseman in the game at in Nico. You've got a multi time goal
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Glover in Dansby, you have Alex Bregman, a Gold Glover and the
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guy that backs him up was a finalist for the Gold Glove last
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year. Matt Shaw, as you mentioned, you
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could have a five time Gold Glove winner in left.
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You have I think the best defensive outfielder in the game
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and Pecore Armstrong say a serviceable.
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He's certainly not a anything close to what you would call A+
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defender, although last night's play was outstanding and you're
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solid behind the plate. So they have very, very
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accomplished defenders now. If you can pitch and you can
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defend, then offensively you just got to do enough and
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they've got a really good offense.
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The problem is I don't know how well they could pitch on a
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sustained basis because of the number of injuries.
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Let me ask you about by Esteros who caught not last night, the
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night before the night he had a Grand Slam in.
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What's the plan for him Cap, as far as availabilities to catch,
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Obviously my and Kelly are there and they're both healthy and
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still doing their thing. What about by esteros?
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How many times? Health being what it is for my
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and Kelly, they're both fine. How many times you see by
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Esteros catch this year? I don't think you'll see him
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catch a lot, but I do think you'll see him catch more than
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they probably planned because that dude can rake, so all he
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does is hit. And I don't know if you heard
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the story Craig Counsel told the hitting coaches at spring
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training. Don't even talk to him.
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Leave that kid alone. Don't do anything with his swing
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because all he does is hit. And I mean, right now he is the
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top to bottom. He doesn't have as many home
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runs. Murakami's a rookie, although
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he's a veteran player. But if you take top to bottom
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every statistical category, Moistus by Steros is the #1
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rookie as an offensive player in the sport.
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Again, he does not have the thump that Murakami gives you.
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So another week goes by and yet everybody is still above 500 in
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the Central. What is the team that concerns
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you most at this point in time? Who's the team that still
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lingers? If the Cubs aren't going to win
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the Division, I think it'll be this team.
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It would be the Reds because they have a lot of talent.
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I don't think they have enough depth of their pitching, but it
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is a definitely a talented team. They've got good players,
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they've got young athletes. I don't know if they have enough
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pitching to hang in there. They have so far through a
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month. Let's see what they do for six
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months. But again, the Chicago Cubs, I
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thought they had enough depth. We counted one day on your show,
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9 different guys that you feel comfortable if they made a
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start, if there was injury. I'm not saying you want all of
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them in your rotation. Well, all of a sudden Ben Brown
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has become a multi inning but fairly high leverage reliever.
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They brought him in the other day in a tie game.
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Javier Assad, I don't want him starting for me.
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He looks just OK. Jordan Wicks is injured.
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Jackson Wiggins, who we counted in there is injured.
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Kione, he's going today. He's OK.
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He's a serviceable arm. Like if you could for a guy like
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that, you would because he's a quality human.
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He's a good pro, but he's not what you would go.
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Oh man, I got a number one or two starter so showed his pitch
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really well. Will that continue?
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You can't weather many more injuries.
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I will tell you, you lose another starter and you got big
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time trouble. Yeah, no, no doubt about it.
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Interesting. Well, Cap, let's go to the
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draft. Your thoughts on what the Bears
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did? Obviously the safety time and
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fell to them that a lot of folks had.
9:03
The Vikings fans were beside themselves that he's not a
9:06
Viking. It seemed like he was ticketed
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there with a Harrison Smith seemingly going to retire and
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yet there he was in the Bears plucked him.
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I think they got a great win, Cap, I really do.
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Your thoughts? Yeah, Dylan and I, I was not
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sure how you pronounce it, so I check.
9:21
It's Dylan Feeneman TH Yeah, Dylan Feeneman.
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Their my, their metrics, their analytics did not give them a
9:31
very good chance to get him. Once it passed Minnesota, then
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they went OK, we got a shot at this kit.
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I was surprised he was there at 25.
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I think it's an outstanding pick.
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He has speed. Look how much faster their
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defensive backfield is now. Kobe Bryant and Dylan Feeneman
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versus my guy. You know, I love him.
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Kevin Tired, CJ Gardner Johnson and Jaquan Brisker.
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You're much more athletic. You're younger.
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I think you have a chance to have a really good D backfield
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if Kyler Gordon, Jaylen Johnson, if those guys are healthy.
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But you still have to get more pressure upfront.
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Now, if you're better in the back end and you're quicker at
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linebacker, Devin Bush is really quick.
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That will give you a chance to give more time for Austin Booker
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and Montez Sweat to be able to get to the quarterback.
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So we'll see if they've done enough to improve their pass
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rush, which they were not great pass rush win rate.
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Maybe they go sign Cam Jordan. Cam Jordan's a guy who's played
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for Dennis Allen. He's 36 or 7.
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He was solid last year. Maybe you signed him to a one
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year deal. We'll see.
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What did you make cap of the fact afterwards when they were
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asked the question? I'm not sure which culture would
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GM answered. We said we're counting on on
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Turner and Odingbo, 2 guys that were injured last year that they
10:59
both think very highly of, to solve their defensive line
11:04
needs. Do you buy that cap?
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Well, those are interior players.
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I know they signed Dial with Dango to be a rush edge, and
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then they said, yeah, he's way better as an interior run
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defender, and then he blew his Achilles.
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So you want me to believe a guy in his sixth year coming off an
11:23
Achilles is going to be a better pass rusher?
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I don't buy it. You tell me he's going to be
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really good against the run if he's healthy, that I do buy.
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And I they really like Shamar Turner.
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They took him in the second round pick 60 a year ago.
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So if he's healthy from his ACL injury, yeah, they've got plenty
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of depth there. I just need to see more pressure
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on the quarterback. Definitely needs to happen.
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And that's been kind of the Achilles heel.
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Want to go to the pick that had a lot of local interests?
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And for us Bears fan slash Hawkeye fans, let's put a smile
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on her face. Logan Jones makes his way there.
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A guy that went through it, started a defensive tackle,
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moved to center, had some snapping issues as a sophomore,
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but he has come a long way. What are your thoughts on Logan
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Jones making his way over to Chicago and after the departure
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of Drew Dahlman? Certainly something that's going
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to help up up front. Sensational pick because you
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have Garrett Bradbury under contract for just this year.
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This doesn't. You don't have to play him next
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year, although he'll get opportunity and then it's his
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job. And when I see someone compare
12:33
him favorably to Jason Kelsey, I'm like, OK, sign me up.
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Now, I'm not telling you Logan Jones is going to the Hall of
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Fame, but I can tell you that was the highest rated dude and
12:44
people in Chicago are ecstatic that he's here.
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Any update on the Bulls search for new head coach?
12:53
Well, they're not going to do anything until they hire a front
12:56
office basketball head. And that I think is going to be
13:00
Matt Lloyd. He used to be with the Bulls.
13:02
He started in media relations, started scouting games for John
13:06
Paxton, and then he went from that to working in the Bulls
13:11
front office basketball side. And then he went to Orlando and
13:15
now he's the GM in Minnesota and I think he has a real chance to
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be the next Executive V B and then we'll see.
13:24
I would think he'd bring Mike and Nori with him.
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That's the top assistant. Minnesota, very well regarded
13:30
guy. I don't think he's going to
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bring Tom Thibodeau here. I don't think they're going to
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go that veteran route. What about the Blackhawks
13:38
offseason? It felt like maybe they were
13:41
going to take a step forward. This year obviously did not come
13:43
to fruition. What do they have in their
13:45
offseason and how are Blackhawk fans after obviously that great
13:48
run that they had? It's been a lot of
13:50
disappointment here recently. Yeah, I mean, they're really off
13:54
the radar screen here. They are.
13:57
I've said on the air, if they don't make the playoffs next
14:00
year, heads should roll. It's been 6 years now and you're
14:04
not even in the playoffs. And in my opinion, the NHL
14:09
playoffs are like a public toilet.
14:10
Everybody gets it. I don't understand how you can
14:15
be this inept this long, but they just signed their GM to an
14:19
extension so we're going to see how much pressure they put on
14:23
them. They should be active in free
14:25
agency. They should go get a big name
14:27
player. But it's time to take a step.
14:29
Or for me if I was the owner so heads would roll.
14:34
All right, Cap, who wins the Derby?
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Wow, I really like Further Ado I do that.
14:43
That is a really, really good horse at.
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Keeneland he is. He was great.
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At Keeneland. Holy cow.
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But the Kentucky Derby is not at Keeneland anymore.
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And by the way, Keeneland, the nicest, coolest place.
15:02
It's amazing. Like, yeah, as lousy as I think
15:08
Churchill is in terms of it's a dump, I really, really, really
15:14
was blowing away how beautiful it was there.
15:19
But my pick for this race, like, I haven't locked it totally in
15:23
yet, OK. But there's a couple of horses I
15:26
really like. Really like Chief Wallaby.
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Yeah. I do.
15:30
Too, 8 to 1. But I'm a big Bill Mott guy.
15:34
I like Commandment. Yeah, that is a very good horse.
15:38
And then further ado. That'll probably be my exacta.
15:44
The last time the horse Renegades the favorite, it's in
15:48
the one hole. Got a horrible, horrible post.
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The last time 86, the horse won the Derby in the one hole 1986.
15:56
Bill Shoemaker. What a year.
15:58
Yeah, Ferdinand. Bill Shoemaker.
16:01
That's exactly right. We'll those will be probably
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will you box those up cap? Is that what you're going to do?
16:09
Yeah, All right. Throw merging market down on
16:12
your ticket. Emerging market?
16:16
Let me see. He's 15 to.
16:17
One number is emerging market. I think he's 15. 15 to one, he's
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the 15 horse my partner tells me won the Louisiana Derby.
16:27
He's a great trainer. Has Chad Brown.
16:28
Yeah, he is. Good stuff Capper, appreciate
16:31
your contribution to our program as always, as does our audience.
16:35
Have a great week. See you buddy.
16:37
You're the man. Good to talk to David Kaplan as
16:41
we talk sports with Cappies from Three Favorites Come.
16:45
On you don't like that one some. Prices in there.
16:47
Well, I put together myself my first exact a box, have you?
16:52
Yes, as I was putting together our TV script over on Inside
16:56
How? Much How many horses did you
16:57
include in it? Just two.
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Oh, OK. Yep, just two all.
17:00
Right, and they are. I simplified things very much
17:03
and this is also what I give to my kids.
17:05
Give them a $2.00 bet famously. What was it 4 years ago when
17:09
Ella hit? Yeah, it was unreal.
17:11
Rich strike a Barbie Dream house.
17:13
Yeah, yeah, with her $160 or whatever that she returned on
17:16
that one. So I put together Renegade and
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Dan and Berman. I like Dan and Berman.
17:22
That's the Japanese or by the way.
17:23
Now that that bought that exacta, what would that take?
17:27
Dan and Berman wins 0 for your north of 100.
17:29
OK, yeah, you're north of 100. I'm taking you're spending 4
17:31
bucks. Well, I'm sure you'll go a
17:34
little higher than $2.00 tickets.
17:35
But probably. By the way, I did my first vlog.
17:39
You did, yes. Well, and I had three people
17:42
join me if you want. If you're interested in the
17:44
Kentucky Derby, go to praymeadows.com.
17:46
Click on the YouTube page and you can see it's like 50
17:50
minutes. We handicapped the whole race.
17:53
Comment on from every one of them.
17:55
Jeff Holdorf, track announcer Bobby Newman and a guy by the
17:58
name of Mike Wilkening who used to cover the NFL Pro Football
18:02
Weekly. Remember Hub?
18:03
Art Kushes? Yes, and then he went to
18:06
profootballtalk.com. He's a huge race fan.
18:08
So that's up on the YouTube channel at prairiemeadows.com.
18:11
58 minutes. So do me a favour and just click
18:15
on it. Would it kill your listening
18:17
audience? Come on, do the old man a
18:19
favour. Absolutely.
18:20
Get a little knowledge while you're at it.
18:23
We're. All going to have our own
18:25
conversation tomorrow with Dick Girardi.
18:27
Who turns forward to it? Always enjoy the conversations
18:29
with Dick. I am so ready for this race and
18:32
normally I am so wrong on this race.
18:34
Well, it's it stuck up me so much because it's Monday, I
18:38
think you said and because it's still April, I know it's for
18:42
Saturday. And what is it?
18:44
I guess Friday will be the first.
18:45
So yes, the second just because of that.
18:47
I guess it just hadn't even registered in my mind that up
18:50
here we go. It's somebody that is well
18:53
removed from the world of that and we got our schedule for the
18:56
weekend will be done well before the Derby.
18:59
Will you? Yes, yes.
19:00
Softball tournament will be our Saturday games will be well
19:03
wrapped up. So get in front of the
19:05
television, get the best fight. Come out to the track, there's a
19:07
race before the Derby at 5:00 and then five races after the
19:11
Derby. I'll.
19:12
Give you Taras number. You put that in front of her.
19:14
I think it's a great idea. Bring the kids.
19:17
That's not a bad idea. We have not been out there for a
19:19
couple of years, Jack. Jack's got a gambler's mind,
19:22
right? He loves numbers.
19:24
He. Loves never too early to start
19:25
him TC we already. Have And that's not a bad idea.
19:30
Maybe we'll see out there Prairie on Saturday.
19:32
I'll be there and I think it's going to be mobbed or Derby
19:35
goes. Just before
19:36
sixprairiemeadows.com. Click on the YouTube page and
19:39
there you can see the 50 minute Derby handicap that I hosted.
19:44
Anyways, we'll take a time out. We're going to get back into the
19:47
NFL draft. Before we do that, a couple of
19:50
things I want to tell you about Centurion Stone.
19:51
They sponsor CAPPY on a weekly basis.
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Centurion Stone of iowa.com. Their showroom is at 5525 NE
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22nd St. in Des Moines. 5525 NE 22nd St. in Des Moines.
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With the weather turning and it's going to be, it's starting
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to get nice outside and summer's going to be here, you're going
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to spend a lot of time in the backyard.
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Want to do a little something special?
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If you got a pool, if you got a grill, a little area out there
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update that area or inside the house.
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Centurion Stone of Iowa has a premier selection of stone
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Cappy. All right, let's give you a
20:29
chance to win $1000. They can spend it on the Derby,
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yes, hit the KX and o.com or whatever your station's website
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is. Once you're there, pop up box
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will appear. Type the keyword coin.
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Coin, your chance to win $1000 coin at KX and o.com Coin, KX
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and o.com. We're going to talk to Men of L
20:51
Draft with Russ Carew coming up next.
20:53
I look forward to catching up with Russ as we'll kind of go
20:56
behind the scenes for his entire weekend.
20:58
What he was able to participate in Trent's plays of the day
21:02
coming up as well Miller and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio
21:05
network. I'm Miller and Condon, welcome
21:07
back Iowa Sports Radio Network Trenton can with you until 2
21:11
Trent's plays of the day circus sports sponsor those.
21:14
Do you have a bunch of plays today?
21:16
Yeah, we got a continued thing stash so.
21:20
What do you have? 10 yesterday, 8 the day.
21:21
Before, yes, 4:00 and 4:00 on Monday, five and five yesterday.
21:25
We are up for the week though in terms of units, I think I'm up
21:28
.2 units. Well, it's on the plus sauce.
21:31
Back that up every single week though.
21:33
You're making money trench, not your job.
21:35
No, not that much. Definitely not going to be
21:38
happening there. But yeah, we got a handful of
21:39
plays, we got some props, we got some games and looking forward
21:42
to some hockey tonight. Did you bet the draft in the end
21:45
or no? I did not.
21:47
Yeah, Woke up that morning and forgot it was off the board.
21:50
Oh by then yeah cuz a lot of states take the. 24 hour rule
21:53
got me and I think this is probably the second or third
21:55
time. Oh yeah, I'll just do it the day
21:57
of. Oh yeah, I forgot.
21:59
Yeah, you can't do it that way. Good stuff.
22:01
All right, Speaking of the draft, Russ Carew was there
22:04
lucky duck in Pittsburgh to take it all in as part of the Chiefs
22:08
contingency. And he joins us to kind of recap
22:11
the weekend and just share that experience with us.
22:15
So on a scale of 1 to 1010 being a just unbelievable experience,
22:20
what would you rate it, Russ? Oh that's an interesting one.
22:25
I would rate the being able to be in the amphitheater area, I
22:32
guess that's what I'm going to call it, and being able to go
22:36
back scenes and actually meet the player the chief drafted as
22:40
a 10, maybe an 11, because that's like a thing you're never
22:44
going to do again. The general organization of how
22:48
the draft was set up and the problems that they had with
22:54
communication and working through things, I would rate as
22:56
like a three. So I think to the generic fan,
23:00
like if I would have just gone as just someone who just showed
23:04
up, I think it would have been just fine, no problems.
23:07
But as someone who had to go and had a bunch of obligations to go
23:10
here, to do this, to go here, to do that, to go here, to do this
23:13
and be there at these certain times and meet with certain
23:16
people, that side of it was awful.
23:20
And I'm going to reiterate awful.
23:23
But the experience of being able to do those things when you
23:26
physically get through the brain damage of getting there and
23:29
doing them was outstanding for anybody that was kind of like up
23:35
and down bag. Yes, for anybody that missed it
23:37
last week, take us back through. So if you didn't hear Russ with
23:41
us last week, he called in from Pittsburgh Thursday night.
23:44
Russ had an opportunity. He was not only those goofy fans
23:47
that you see going crazy with all the pics and you got to see
23:50
them with the Chiefs second pick, but with the first pick
23:53
you got to go in the stage relay.
23:55
That story once again, just absolutely incredible.
23:58
You got to be the person to hand the jersey to Rod.
24:03
Yes. So I knew going in that I was
24:06
going to do that. So basically we got into the
24:09
amphitheater there about an hour ahead of time.
24:13
They hand you a little card that you got to wear lanyard.
24:17
And then they said here's the deal.
24:19
When the Chiefs are close, we're going to go have you.
24:22
Someone's going to come up from backstage, they're going to grab
24:24
you, they're going to take you backstage.
24:25
You're going to go to the pressing room, you're going to
24:30
either get the phone call or write down the the name for the
24:32
person who is picked. And then you're going to hand
24:34
that to the person who's pressing the jersey.
24:37
And then they were going to hand you the jersey.
24:38
You're going to walk backstage with us.
24:40
And then we're going to go in and have you go hand the jersey
24:43
to the commissioner after you get done.
24:45
And I said after he gets done reading the pic and I said, OK,
24:49
outstanding. Well, I'm, I'm a sick, twisted
24:53
individual who's physically at the draft but yet cannot get off
24:56
his phone and Twitter to see the pics coming in early because I
25:00
just wanted to know kind of what was going on.
25:03
And I see the Chiefs trade up to pick 6.
25:09
And I'm like, I'm like, Oh no, Oh no, they traded up.
25:12
And then out of nowhere this lady comes screaming across to
25:16
us. And it's like, where's the guy?
25:18
And I'm like, I'm like out in the aisle because there's aisles
25:20
in between where each team's groups at.
25:24
And so I'm already out in the island.
25:25
I'm like, I'm right here. And she's like, we are literally
25:27
going to run. So you need to be ready.
25:30
And then it's like 100 yards, 150 yards backstage.
25:33
So she's like, let's go. And the pick ahead of us.
25:39
What was that? Arvel Reef, I think or no, it
25:43
was Cardinal Tate. Cardinal Tate was coming off
25:46
stage as were trying to walk through their insecurity is like
25:49
shoving me and her out of the way.
25:51
So I'll take and get around us. And then as soon as he gets
25:54
around us, we're literally like sprinting backstage.
25:57
And she wasn't kidding. It's like 100 yards because the
26:00
amphitheater part is built half into the stadium, so they use
26:04
some of the stadium facilities for it.
26:07
So we're sprinting backstage, we get into this big room, it's
26:10
maybe like 20 by 2030, by 30, something like that.
26:14
And there is 10 people in there. And like every jersey you can
26:18
imagine, every team's got multiple jerseys in there.
26:21
And then they've got this big table in the middle that just
26:23
says last names, everyone's last names who possibly could go.
26:27
And so they've got them all pre printed up and then they've got
26:30
these two large presses to press the names on the jersey.
26:34
And then they've obviously got people on phones back.
26:36
They're getting calls from the Brain Center for the NFL.
26:41
And so the thing I will never, ever forget, and this is kind of
26:46
totally idiotic, but something I will never forget is that the
26:49
two pressing machines, one of them is bedazzled with like
26:53
10,000 little tiny rhinestones on it.
26:56
And my youngest daughter does similar things.
26:59
She actually took like my headphones case.
27:01
I haven't bedazzled it with the Royals logo on it.
27:04
And so it just so reminded me of like my daughter going bananas
27:07
on that thing. And so I'll, I'll just never
27:10
forget that it literally is 10,000 little rhinestones on it.
27:13
So they press the, the jerseys, they put the names in on the 2
27:18
presses at the same time to make sure that they're accurate or I
27:21
mean, that they both look good. One is a backup.
27:24
So I walk in there. So like, who do you think it's
27:27
going to be? And I'm out of breath and I'm
27:29
like, I'm like, hang on one SEC. I'm like, I'm going with it's
27:36
either Bane, Delane or Mckinlan and they're like, well, the pic
27:41
isn't in yet. And then literally no sooner
27:43
they say that then the lady apparently got the pic and it's
27:46
like it's lemon and I'm like, what do you guys are being?
27:48
It's not lemon, it's Delane and I'm and they're like, well, what
27:52
do you think? I'm like, I'm not going to
27:54
complain. Sounds good.
27:55
I mean, I got the mentality of what they were doing.
28:00
So they start pressing the jersey, they get it done.
28:02
The guy says hold out your arm. And I'm like, OK.
28:05
And he's like, no, no, like you're going to prom.
28:06
I'm like, OK. And so he folds the, gets the
28:10
jersey out, checks it, make sure it's the right name, spelled
28:13
correctly, all that stuff. It's square on there.
28:15
And then he, yeah, that's really good because I asked him, I'm
28:18
like, if you guys ever put the wrong ones on before.
28:20
And he's like, yeah, it's happened.
28:23
So so they go hand it to me and then he folds it and puts it on
28:28
my arm. And he's like, listen, you
28:29
cannot touch this jersey. You cannot unfold it.
28:32
You cannot show anyone the jersey and the name on the back
28:35
of it because no one knows outside of this room until you
28:38
get on stage. And I'm like, oh, OK, so then
28:42
I'm prom walking backstage up to the side.
28:46
So there's two sides. There's the green room side,
28:48
which is, let's say to the right.
28:50
And then there's to the left side of the stage, which is
28:52
where, let's see, it was Cynthia Freyland, Colleen Wolf and
28:59
Rendez Barber were going in and out of and seeing the event kind
29:03
of on the side. And so I ended up being right
29:07
next to the three of them while I was waiting and pulling the
29:12
jersey out like I'm at prom here for a solid 5 minutes.
29:15
And you got to see how like, you know, you see them on TV so you
29:21
don't really know how tall people are.
29:22
But it, it kind of surprised me how small Colleen Wolfless and
29:29
lady who was standing next to me is kind of directing traffic was
29:32
like, yeah, she's wearing 3 inch heels and I'm like, no way.
29:35
And she's like, yeah, so it was pretty cool.
29:37
So I got to, I got to actually meet those 3.
29:41
So then Goodell goes up there, reads the pic, and then they're
29:46
like, OK, go, go on stage. And I and so I start walking
29:49
out. Well, Goodell's just like
29:53
writing his name on the the card for the pic.
29:58
And then he's just kind of like turning around and taking it all
30:00
in and just ignoring me. And it's so awkward.
30:03
Let me tell you. You walked on a 400.
30:06
Yeah. In front of 400,000 people.
30:08
And you're just like, OK, you're going to get done there.
30:12
So I ended up having to be like, hey Raj, do you want the jersey?
30:15
And he's like, Oh yeah. So he comes over to me and
30:18
shakes my hand. That's what I think of the pick.
30:21
And my answer was I think it's a great pick.
30:24
Like the guy didn't allow more than two receptions a game the
30:26
entire year and has 0 penalties. I'm like, what do you think the
30:28
Chiefs knees like good point. So he's like points over here.
30:32
He's like, let's get your picture taken.
30:34
And then, you know, we do the picture thing with the jersey
30:39
and then I walk off stage and then I kind of get escorted out
30:43
back to the front. During the walk back to the
30:46
front, they let me poke my head in the green room.
30:48
So I get to see the other players in there, which is
30:50
really cool in their families. And then as we were going back
30:55
to the seating area, Delane was actually walking out of the
31:00
seating area and the amphitheater because every draft
31:05
pick was basically going down into the crowd to where their
31:07
inner circle for their team was and getting selfies done.
31:10
So he had just got done with that.
31:12
And as he was coming off of the stage area, he is just in tears,
31:17
like visibly so excited and so happy.
31:21
And his girlfriend's there and his mom and I think his dad.
31:24
And so literally, he's just in tears, excited.
31:28
Like, I can't believe this is where I want to go.
31:30
Just so excited. And as I'm walking by, I'm like,
31:32
hey dude, welcome to Chief's Kingdom.
31:35
You're going to love Spags and you're going to love Dave
31:36
Merritt. And he just comes up to me and
31:38
like gives me, shakes my hand and like gives me like a bro hug
31:42
kind of thing. And he was just so excited.
31:44
And then I just walked back down there and watch the rest of the
31:47
draft. And it was, I don't know, it was
31:49
just one of those things that it happened so fast.
31:51
It probably happened in the course of like 8 minutes.
31:54
And it wasn't for probably another half hour that I kind of
31:57
took a breath and was like, holy cow, did that just really
32:00
happen? And it did.
32:03
So yeah, it was definitely one of those things I'll never
32:06
forget my life. And it's the weird stuff
32:07
sometimes. Do you think of?
32:09
Was there, do you believe there was 350,000 people that joined
32:13
you with that draft on opening night?
32:15
Was it? Did it feel like you were in a
32:16
crowd of that size? So we were separated.
32:21
So there's a big fence guard rail that they put up between
32:25
the amphitheater area and then everyone else, right?
32:29
Yes. And then the peons.
32:31
No, I'm just kidding. Trust me, I've been those peons.
32:35
So yeah, there I, I would believe there's a lot of people.
32:39
I don't know if it was 400,000 people, but I mean, it was a mob
32:43
out there. I, I thought it looked actually,
32:45
I would say pretty similar to what Trenton I saw in Kansas
32:48
City where there was just, there's just a lot, a lot of
32:52
bodies. I mean, there was a parking lot
32:53
that was completely filled to the brim with people out there
32:57
that you could see. So I would say it's probably
33:00
close to that. We went to the the way that they
33:03
set up the draft this year was a little unique in that they set
33:06
it up in multiple different areas.
33:09
And so downtown Pittsburgh is kind of separated by the two
33:11
rivers that you obviously see on all of it fly over videos.
33:14
And so they have in a park area down at the kind of point where
33:20
the two rivers meet. And in that park, we went there
33:25
ahead of opening night and there was probably 120,000 people
33:30
there. It was slammed and that was
33:32
before the red carpet kind of event.
33:35
So yes, I would believe that there was probably something
33:37
like that. I mean, it was, it was busy for
33:40
sure. Well, Russ, we know you're about
33:42
as big of a draft, Nick, as you're going to find out there.
33:45
Let's start with your Kansas City Chiefs, your thoughts
33:47
overall. We talked a little bit obviously
33:49
about the first round picks with you on Friday, but after that,
33:52
what you thought of the final selections and you texted me on
33:56
Saturday. Got a quarterback controversy
33:58
now with Ness Meyer Come to town.
34:01
Yeah, actually I really like what the Chiefs did this year.
34:04
There were a couple of pics that maybe would have gone a little
34:06
differently. But I mean, they they addressed
34:09
what they needed, which was they needed corner.
34:11
And I think they, you know, after the news of Jerrod Mccoy's
34:15
injury and re injury and bone plugs surgery needed and all of
34:20
this stuff kind of came out, I totally got why he fell to the
34:23
fourth round. And so I think they got the best
34:28
corner in the draft. I think with Peter Woods, they
34:31
took a guy who's got a lot of pass rush juice, who's 2024 film
34:37
and stuff was a lot better than 25 because I think in general
34:41
that school is really struggling.
34:45
So I think that was good. I like armies and Thomas.
34:48
I was really surprised they drafted him because he was not
34:51
the prototypical chief defensive end.
34:54
He's a true pass rush specialist.
34:56
So I was really surprised. So I thought that was good.
35:01
They took a corner from slot corner from Oregon Kennedy, and
35:08
I like him. I think that's something they
35:10
need. That was a real struggle that
35:12
they've had for the last two years when they would move
35:15
Mcduffie out of the slot and then they got Emma Johnson from
35:19
Nebraska. I think he's one of the top five
35:22
4 running backs in the draft and he's got a lot of ability to
35:27
catch the ball in passing situations, which is what the
35:30
Chiefs want. Cyrus Allen I think was a a nice
35:34
little interesting pick. He's wide receiver from since he
35:37
was one year since he and then three years in like smaller
35:42
school and when he was with since he I thought he actually
35:44
had a pretty good thing going. He's kind of more that slot
35:47
receiver. So he's going to work, I think
35:49
pretty well for the Chiefs. And then Nussmeyer, I think
35:52
that's an awesome pick because I mean, if you looked at going
35:55
into this last college football season when I was looking at
36:00
like the 2026 way too early mock drafts, if you actually look at
36:06
it's rather hilarious. Nussmeyer's like the number one
36:09
quarterback and then Peter Woods was one of the top five players
36:13
and they both took them. I think Nussmeyer's potentially
36:17
for the Chiefs, a really Great Hall of a backup quarterback
36:20
that then in a couple of years you could trade off kind of like
36:24
Andy Reid did with like Kevin Cobb back in Philadelphia days.
36:28
Actually, I think you're going to keep him in trade, Mahomes.
36:31
Oh, definitely, Definitely. We're going to send them to
36:33
Denver, too. Well.
36:35
By the way, they need a quarterback.
36:38
I'm not sure you've seen that news.
36:39
It is not good for Bonex. They're operating on him again
36:42
and they think it's chronic and yeah, not good.
36:45
Anyways. Well, we'll listen.
36:46
No, I did not see that. It's not great.
36:49
Glad you had. Glad you enjoyed it.
36:51
Like to live vicariously through the experience that you had out
36:54
in Pitt. Where is it next year?
36:55
Washington. Is that right?
36:57
That sounds right. Yeah.
36:58
Washington. Yes, BC next year.
37:01
Good stuff. Thanks, Russ.
37:02
Appreciate your support of the radio program and of the draft,
37:07
and glad you had fun. Yes.
37:10
Thanks guys. Appreciate.
37:11
It yeah, good to talk to you Russ Guru Graphite construction
37:13
our sponsor for all of our draft coverage as we LED up to it did
37:17
our mock draft on Monday how did we do by the way, anything OK OK
37:21
yeah got some miss miss more than we got that's.
37:25
Usually. What it is just takes one move,
37:27
Love going to three and essentially the draft was over
37:31
for the. For the rest of it.
37:32
And then it just all falls apart from there.
37:34
But there were a couple of, Oh yeah, we had that one, we had
37:36
that one. But just a fun exercise to go
37:38
through that every single year with the draft.
37:40
And boy, when you look at forward to next year and how big
37:43
it's going to be, Oh. My God, all the quarterbacks.
37:46
I I have the numbers here for you.
37:48
As far as what? Who's going to be the number one
37:50
pick next year? The betting odds are out, Smith.
37:55
It's not. It's not in the what?
37:57
Quarterback. Do they love Arch do?
38:00
They now it's also a betting market.
38:02
People see the winning name plus 250.
38:05
Where's Smith? He is the third betting choice,
38:07
7:00 to 1:00. OK.
38:09
So who comes between them and what other quarterback?
38:11
Or is there an edge rusher? It's a QB, Who is it?
38:16
Dante Moore, Yeah, 4 to 1 tall. Is he?
38:19
Is he 6 foot? Oh, I think he's is he 61, I
38:23
believe, yeah, maybe even 62. Is he?
38:26
Smaller to me for whatever reason.
38:28
He is listed at officially 63. Well, we'll find that out once
38:34
they get to the combine. And of all of a sudden that's 6
38:37
foot and three quarters, like, OK, that changes things a little
38:41
bit. Julian Sayan's a fourth choice.
38:43
Is he? Yeah, I like saying.
38:45
I love this kid. At four, you're like saying or
38:48
the next guy you're about to say.
38:50
The next guy I'm about to say. Who is it?
38:52
CJ Carr. Yeah, man, Notre Dame, they're
38:56
loaded. They're loaded.
38:57
Well, aren't they the favorite to win it all?
38:59
They were one of the favorites I know to make the playoff just
39:02
because of their path and that joke of a schedule that they're
39:04
playing again this season. I thought that they're one of
39:09
the short prices to win it all. They are.
39:12
I'm pulling it up here. College football, more college
39:15
football. Looking for futures National
39:17
championship right now. This is on FanDuel.
39:20
Ohio State is the betting favorite, plus 550.
39:24
Notre Dame is the second choice, 7 to 1.
39:27
Texas. Where's Indiana?
39:28
They're the fourth choice. Them and Oregon, both 8 to 1.
39:32
Georgia plus 850. Miami 12 to one.
39:36
I wish we knew what Texas Tech was prior to the news.
39:40
They're down to 27 to 1. Are they really?
39:43
I also saw it is at least at FanDuel it has flipped.
39:48
We said yesterday they were still minus Muddy and it jumped
39:51
from like the -150 they were to -110.
39:54
Now you can get plus 1/15 on the Red Raiders to win the Big 12.
39:59
He did you see how many bets he averages 20 bets a day.
40:04
Yeah, there was a. Time every day that ends in Y.
40:06
Right, we joke when I get up to 8 or 10.
40:08
Right, 20 bets average per day. And it's cumulative.
40:12
It's not. And think of how those bets
40:15
stack up. Even if you're betting 5 bucks,
40:17
right? And he was, you're doing 20 a
40:19
day, right? That's eight days you hit that
40:21
$800 threshold. He's he's flown by it.
40:25
If he's not suspended. He's done.
40:27
If he's not, there's going to be another lawsuit coming from Iowa
40:32
and Iowa State athletes. Well, there should be absolutely
40:35
precedent's been set. Right, the rules were in place
40:39
during this time period when he was at Indiana.
40:42
If he bet on Hoosier Games Boy, read in between the lines.
40:45
It certainly feels like he. Did.
40:47
Yes, he did. Then.
40:49
It's easy. Yeah, that's black and white.
40:51
You're done, right? And on top of it, if the NCAA
40:55
just a week ago vacates four wins from Kirk Ference, even
40:57
though he was truthful and outright, and they do that
41:00
because, well, you know, this is our rules.
41:03
These are your rules. And if it doesn't happen, there
41:06
is going to be something shady going on.
41:09
And I point right back to the energy businessman that's
41:12
funding all this for Texas. Well, now, he came out yesterday
41:14
and said he's not doing anything behind the scene.
41:17
Now, it's easier said than done, right?
41:19
Of course you're not going to go on Twitter and admit, yeah, I'm
41:21
up, I'm up to no good. If you could only see what I was
41:24
doing behind the scenes. Of course not because it was
41:27
there was already a lot of people, you know, taking that
41:30
approach that you are and he wanted to kind of nip that in
41:33
the butt or try I guess. Brendan Sorsby is his agency,
41:37
along with his lawyers include two of the biggest lawyers that
41:41
have won multiple lawsuits against the NCAA.
41:43
Well, he's got the right people. I wonder who's paying for that.
41:47
Well make $5,000,000 it's. And he's already, he gets it per
41:50
month. So this is broken down per
41:52
month. He's already received some
41:54
payments. Will he get his next one?
41:55
Well. That's just it.
41:56
You just wonder, all right, Trent's plays of the day,
41:58
they're coming up next. Miller and Condon on the Iowa
42:00
Sports Radio Network. Back with you one final time,
42:03
it's Miller and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
42:05
We are short. Ken is out of here and I'm out
42:08
of here after these picks. We got a 7 pack for you today.
42:12
Let's get into it. Start with hockey. 2 plays, two
42:15
underdogs, Penguins plus one O 3 as they look to force a Game 7
42:19
and I'm going to grab the Mammoth tonight plus 141 in Las
42:23
Vegas. Too many points tonight in
42:25
Orlando. I know Detroit back against the
42:28
wall. I think that the Magic, though,
42:30
hang around in Detroit tonight. I'll grab the 10 1/2.
42:33
Speaking of that, Game 2 prop bets in that one this evening.
42:36
We're going to go Kate Cunningham over 2 1/2 three
42:39
pointers. He struggled mightily in the
42:41
fourth quarter of good price plus 165.
42:44
If Cunningham could get 3 or more 3 pointers, Anthony Black
42:47
under 10 1/2 points in this one. This evening. 2IN baseball,
42:51
we're going to go with the Cubs. Even money at Circa against the
42:54
Padres this afternoon and Segano over 3 1/2 strikeouts for the
42:58
Rockies this evening. That will do it Back with you
43:01
tomorrow at noon. Coming up next off the bench,
43:04
Sean Lucas, they got you covered on your drive home.
43:07
Thanks for being with us. It's Miller and Condon on the
43:09
Iowa Sports Radio Network.