Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / David Kaplan talks Chicago sports, Nick Marovets on the Cyclones & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

Transcript

David Kaplan talks Chicago sports, Nick Marovets on the Cyclones & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

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Our number 2 welcome back. It's Miller and Condon on the
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Iowa Sports Radio Network. Trent Condon joined today by
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Nick Marovitz from Locked on Cyclones.
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Little Blues Brothers coming back here now.
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You're a youngster. Bring it up often.
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Have you seen the Blues Brothers?
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I haven't, but I was just thinking this is really good.
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I'm going to listen to this later.
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There you go. So it's from a movie, I believe
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1980. It was released.
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David Kaplan joins us. This is his intro music.
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Well, sweet home Chicago as we go to Chicago now, the cat man,
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yet another youngster that has not watched the Blues Brothers.
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It feels like this is becoming more and more than norm, sadly.
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But Cappy, I have a little insider information with Ken
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away today. Ken.
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Ken's never seen Blues Brothers. Ken hasn't either.
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No, no, and as he is nearing retirement, I feel comfortable
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now saying it so you can yell at him next Wednesday.
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OK, how old is Ken 8079? 67 I believe.
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How can you be in that age and not have seen The Blues
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Brothers? It's one of the most iconic
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films of the 80s. He's Canadian.
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I, that's, that's his only excuse.
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That's the only thing I could come up with.
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How somebody of that age of that era has not seen the movie is
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completely befuddling. And he likes movies, He likes
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comedy. I, I don't get it.
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I can't wrap my Ryan. So you have to peer pressure
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him, make him watch the movie before his retirement date comes
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here, coming up here at the end of June.
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God bless, man. I don't understand it, but yeah,
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it's a great movie. Great.
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Absolutely is Nick, you put that on your list too.
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OK, it's on there that that is homework for you going forward.
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Well, Kathy, let's get into Chicago sports before we get it
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to the here and now. You told me that you're re
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watching a game from 28 years ago because it is the
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anniversary. It is what dubbed the Carrie
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Wood Game 1998. I was a senior in high school.
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I remember the game vividly. There's a story with a couple of
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guys here locally that had tickets for the game, made it as
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Far East as Altoona and Prairie Meadows.
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Stopped to have a couple of pulls out there and didn't make
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it to the game. Kathy, you were there though.
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Take us back 28 years ago in the incredible performance from
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Carrie Wood. So I was working the game, I was
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in the booth and, you know, we're excited to watch Carrie
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pitch. It's, you know, the beginning,
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the infancy of his big league career.
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He's a great dude and he's a, you know, guy they drafted, I
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think force overall. He throws just gas.
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And we're like, oh, this will be fun.
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It was chilly. It was probably colder than it
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is today. May 6th, 1998 and the crowd got
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bigger as the game went on because he struck out Biggio to
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start the game. Fastball up the first pitch of
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the game, he hit the umpire in the mask like Sandy Martinez was
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our backup catcher. He's catching that day first
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pitch and it goes right past his glove and hits Jerry Meals, the
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umpire right in the face. Jerry Meals takes his mask off.
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He's looking at it and Chip Kerry and Steve Stone are like,
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OK, this guy's got some other worldly stuff today.
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He strikes out BGL and then up comes Derek Bell, who at that
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point was hitting four O 3 leading baseball.
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He strikes him out and then he gets Jeff Bagwell 123 or like,
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oh, that was cool. And it just kept piling up and
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the crowd just kept getting bigger.
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And there was this dude who's now deceased.
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His son has done a bunch of interviews.
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He would make K's like at the FedEx Kinko's store, and he
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would always hang him up. When Kerry pitched.
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Well, he ran out and so they had to get more and they're putting
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the K's up. It was insane.
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And then the last out was Derek Bell.
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Terry later told me that's when he injured his elbow and that
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last pitch of that game and the next year he ends up having to
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have Tommy John. He snapped off one of the most
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wicked pitches. He called it a slurve, and it
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was so insane. It breaks 5 feet.
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Derek Bell has no chance. That's 20, and the game is over.
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And you hear Pat Hughes make the call, Ron Santos right there and
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Ronnie's line. But we may not have won a World
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Series with this kid keeps pitching this way.
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We will. And boom, he strikes out Derek
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Bell. And you hear this idiot in the
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background of the broadcast screaming.
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That's me hugging Joe Montagna, the actor.
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Yeah, that's a true story. We're like, oh, my God, I've
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never seen anything like this. And, you know, Kerry went on to
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have, by his thoughts, probably a disappointing career because
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of injury. But that is the single highest
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graded pitching performance in the history of Major League
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Baseball. That 1998 team, the Cubs team
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that that made a run into the playoffs and Kerry Wood, when
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you look back, you mentioned the injury and the injury that
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happened in that game. Is he one of the biggest Chicago
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sports? What ifs?
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If injuries obviously are different, who else is on that
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list? Mark Pryor.
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OK. For sure.
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And then Derrick Rose has to be on that list.
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GAIL Sayers, who although he went to the Hall of Fame, his
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career was cut short after, I think, six or seven seasons
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because of two severe knee injuries.
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And we didn't have the treatments that we have today.
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It was late 60s, early 70s when he got hurt.
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So GAIL Sayers certainly belongs on that list.
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Like there's a handful where you go, God, that guy would have
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stayed healthy. But I think it's got to be Wood
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Pryor and Derrick Rose at the top.
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Yeah, that's a really good list and for Chicago fans, certainly
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a sad list. Well, we go from 28 years ago
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that seems impossible to today. And this Cubs team continues to
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play great baseball. Couple walk offs in a row now.
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Doing it against Pagan 2 nights ago shouldn't count because I
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saw that guy's work and sadly he went down with a hamstring
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injury. But this Cubs team, I mean, does
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it feel special? Does it feel different?
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Is it just a team going through a hot streak?
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How do you see it in the here and now with this Cubs squad?
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Well, what did I say to you guys before the season?
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You can pull the tapes because it's on there.
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I told you they can win the World Series and I actually have
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a ticket on them to win the World Series.
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I do. I truly believe that this team
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is right there to win it all. They are outstanding.
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The best defensive team in the game.
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You got Gold Glove second base, Gold Glove shortstop, Gold
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Glove, third base, Gold Glove left fielder, Gold Glove center
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fielder. Suzuki, fine, he's serviceable
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out there and then good catching.
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That team can absolutely win it if they're willing to go out and
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pay the price. I don't mean in money, I mean a
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profit capital and go get at a top end starter.
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Whenever one of those gets moved, whether that's Sandy, Al,
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Contra or somebody else, that team, if they stay healthy, they
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can win the World Series. Maybe my favorite play was the
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pick off play the other night against Della Cruz where you had
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Bush kind of cheating off of first base and then just the
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timing play and to nab a guy with that kind of speed, now he
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was leading a little bit too. And then the crowd and the
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reaction and hearing Bush's home run.
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And that's why I don't know, I'm not a fan.
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I'm not a Cubs fan. So it just feels a little bit
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different there. What do you win 13 games in a
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row? Wrigley 2?
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That's going to help. Think people are a little bit
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more amped up making their way in Cappy.
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But just do you feel that? Do you have that different type
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of feeling with this group? I do, I truly do.
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They've got veterans, they've got chemistry.
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They've got, you know, a bunch of pitching injuries.
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You know, no Justin Steele, no Kate Horton.
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Theo may walk through that door later in the season after the
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All Star break. Kate Horton's probably gone all
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the next year. But you have veteran leadership,
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big hits and big spots. The other night, you know, Craig
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Council pulls all the right buttons.
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He pushes, OK, I want Conforto to hit here for Shaw.
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Damn game-winning home run. Right now they're on that roll
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and they've won seven in a row, 13 in a row at Wrigley.
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They have won seventeen of their last twenty.
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That's how you build leads in division.
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So we'll see what happens. And a division that still
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appears to be very good, we see the return back out there is
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Valencia. So you get your closer back, the
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bullpen starting to find its footing, it feels like and rolls
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being a little bit more clearly defined.
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What do you go through? And you, we talked just a couple
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weeks ago about all these injuries and it wasn't just with
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the Chicago Cubs, it was the Iowa Cubs.
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And it was AA and all the way through the organization health
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wise, how things are bouncing back here and and how good you
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feel about Valencia and the rest of that bullpen now.
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Yeah, watching Valencia hit one O 1 when he pitched yesterday, I
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think it was yesterday, yesterday, I think it was
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yesterday. He pitched really well.
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I mean, he has just got an electric arm and now he's got
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some experience and he's pitched in big games.
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So I'm excited to see where this thing goes.
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They still need, as I said, one more elite level starter.
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I mean, look, if you can get Sandy Alcantro, you're going to
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pay through the nose in prospect capital.
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But tomorrow, I keep saying this on the air, tomorrow's promise
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to no one. You could wake up with this
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exact team next year and go, Oh my God, we've got six guys on
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the 60 day IL season over talk to the Braves a year ago.
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What happened to them? Right now, you're living this.
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If the right deal presents itself, you got to do it.
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Go in and it's short playoff series, anything could happen
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when we get to the postseason. We've certainly seen that in the
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past. We go from the Cubs across town,
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something that hasn't happened very often.
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Our conversations probably the last, what, 5-6 years?
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Cappy. But the White Sox, they're in
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the right division. That helps because the El
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Central stinks as there is nobody above 500 at this point
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in time. I still don't think this is a
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team that can contend even in a terrible decision division for a
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crown, but a little bit of hope at minimum for the White Sox.
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Yeah, the Sox are playing good baseball.
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They play this afternoon. I'll be watching it in my
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studio. And they literally, if they had
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won last night, they would have been in first place on May 5th,
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1st. I don't know who had that on
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their bingo card. I didn't think they'd be bad,
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but I didn't think they'd be good.
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So we'll see how they do today. I'm not sure they're going to go
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add on to the degree that the Cubs, the Yankees, teams like
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that will, then they're probably not in their window to win yet.
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Their contention window hasn't opened.
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But they're better than they get credit for and it's super cool
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to watch. If we do get to late July and
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they're hanging around whatever the race looks like, but they're
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in there, how much financial flexibility do you anticipate?
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Yeah. They're not going to go out
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probably for some big ticket items.
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But are we working around the periphery or are they willing to
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go out there and spend for, you know, a couple of higher priced,
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you know, veterans that are out there?
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So I was talking to AGM, not in Chicago, but he's a friend of
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mine and we were just BS ING about the willingness to, you
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know, add on at the deadline. And he said, bro, let me tell
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you something, let me teach you something.
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I said tell me. He said money never plays into
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it at the deadline. Never.
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He said that's the biggest misnomer that's out there.
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It's all about what prospects they want from your system.
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For example, the Cubs tried to get Mackenzie Gore or Joe Riot
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last year and the price was, and I confirmed this with multiple
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people who would know the price was from the Minnesota Twins.
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OK, We want Matt Shaw, we want Kate Horton and we want Owen
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Casey Sounds. Pretty good and.
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The Twins, OK, we'll see you later.
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Thanks a lot. And then the Washington
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Nationals wanted some variation of a deal just like that.
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And so it makes no sense because you traded Casey for Cabrera.
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Matt Shaw plays almost every day for you.
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And Kate Horton, I know he got hurt, but he was your #1
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starter. So why would you do that?
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That's the decision Jed's you're going to have to make.
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If the Marlins, for example, say OK, you can have Alcantra,
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you're taking all the money. So rest of this year and all of
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next year and then he walks, he's a free agent unless you get
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him extended. And then they're going to ask
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you for Pedro Ramirez and they're going to ask you for
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Jackson Wiggins, your number one pitching prospect who's banged
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up right now. But I think he's going to be OK.
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And then they're going to ask you for maybe the kid they
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drafted, Ethan Conrad, who's a big time outfield prospect.
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OK, so I'm giving you a #1 starter and I'm giving you 2
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starters in your lineup and I'm getting a year and two months of
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Sandy Alcantra. You better win the World Series.
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That's why you're in it. Pressure would be on, no doubt.
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Want to jump over to the Bulls with you quickly cap and they
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have a whatever the title that they're using what basketball
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operations BB something like that.
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Somebody in the front office. They get the guy from the Hawks
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now. It felt like for a while maybe
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was trending towards the GM of the T Wolves, Matt Lloyd on
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getting the job there in Chicago.
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Give us some insight into that and a glimmer of hope for the
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Bulls that maybe they found the right person to get this thing
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turned. Yeah, he's doing his press
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conference right now as we speak and I'm going to watch it.
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I say I'm taping it in my studio and I'm going to watch it.
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But everyone I've talked to in the league, I scouted in that
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league for four years, they love this guy, said outstanding
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evaluator of talent and a great communicator of the message,
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which our tourist Karnishovis and Mark Eversley were the
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single worst front office at that that I've ever covered in
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my career in nearly 40 years. So I'm excited to see what he
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does, who he hires as a coach. I would think they have the most
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cap space in the league and almost 60 million, I would
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think. There's nobody really out there
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to sign in terms of a big ticket and that's signing LeBron James
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or an older player because you're not ready to win.
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But what I do think they could do is say, OK, you want to park
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money on my cap for a year, I'll give you a name, Dory and Finney
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Smith. You want me to take him off your
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books? Done.
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I want your first round pick for the next two years, something
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like that. And all of a sudden you have all
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these assets and in two years, that's when you get creative.
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Well. There's definitely a team that
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is built to win now and that is at Soldier Field, the Chicago
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Bears. We talked about the draft with
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you last week, Cappy. I want to talk about one of
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those draft picks and a lot of consternation that I saw online.
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Now we know what social media is and it's a cesspool all over the
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place. But the Sam Rouse Roushaw pick
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at in the third round, another tight end.
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People say you already got Loveland a year ago.
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You got commit there for another season.
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What are they doing? I think you and I both know
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certainly Ben Johnson, the way things are built in a lot of two
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tight end sets. But did you see the same kind of
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blowback? And did you like the Roush pick?
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I loved the pick. When I made calls and found out
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from people who know more about him than I do, I loved that.
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See, we ran. I think Durham Smythe played 270
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some snaps last year. He's no longer here.
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He was our third tight end. That's three tight end personnel
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that Ben likes to use. Probably third most, I think was
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the breakdown I saw. Third most in the NFL.
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So if you're going to let Cole come at walk after next season,
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you're going to need a replacement.
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And if they like this guy and Ben said that's my guy, I want
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him, then go get him. The GM's job is not only to
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build the team, to get his coach the players he wants to work
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with. A lot of pressure on the defense
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to take a step forward. They were so banged up a year
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ago and maybe one of the guys facing the most pressure coming
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into the year is going to be Tyreke Stevenson.
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How do you think he settles in this season on the other side
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opposite Jalen Johnson? You feel good Stevenson.
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Is there another level he can get to?
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There better be. He wants to get paid, you know.
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We all remember the Hail Mary screw up where he's off partying
16:48
with the fans in the corner. However, Kyrie Stevenson made
16:53
that same mistake again this year, just not as egregiously
16:56
and not as visibly. And Kevin Buyer, my guy ran over
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and grabbed him and said bro, the play is not over and he got
17:05
him away from there. Those are immature moves that
17:08
cannot continue to happen. And he's out of contract after
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this year. So if he harbors any desire on
17:14
getting paid, and I don't mean a one year deal, I'm talking about
17:18
like a four year big money deal, he's got to have a hell of a
17:22
year. He's talented enough to do it.
17:24
They went out and they brought in a bunch of defensive tackles,
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draft one of the sixth round and then a bunch of undrafted guys
17:30
too where they just throw it a bunch against the wall here.
17:33
Grady, Jarrett, Dexter, both those guys, they're veterans,
17:37
but just hoping to find something there at the defensive
17:40
tackle position and and building up some kind of depth.
17:44
Yes, and they believe better health.
17:47
Having Jaylen Johnson back, he was out most of the year.
17:49
Having Tyler Gordon out, he's back.
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He was out most of the year having those guys back.
17:55
Plus don't forget Austin Booker didn't play the week 9 last
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year. They believe he can become a
18:01
double digit sack guy. So if they're right, and if
18:06
Dexter in a final year of a deal plays better, they believe
18:10
they've got what they need on their defensive line, they
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better be right. That's all I'll tell.
18:15
You Austin Booker, does he have like the wingspan of like an 8
18:18
foot guy boy? It feels like he has long arms.
18:20
Is that just the way he looks or do you know that?
18:22
Did he have like a huge wingspan when he was in the draft a
18:25
couple years ago? He does have a a big time
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wingspan and he has a great motor for when I was scouting,
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the thing I always looked at first, obviously you have to
18:35
have the natural ability. You walk in the gym and if the
18:39
guy's A63 power forward, you know he's not going to the NBA.
18:43
But if he measures out right, if he has a motor, if you have a
18:48
motor, you can't teach motor. Either you got a work ethic or
18:51
you don't. You can lie to yourself, but the
18:54
man in the mirror will never lie to you.
18:57
You know, if you got a worker, I mean a grinder who gets up every
19:01
day, I don't feel like doing this, and they find a way to get
19:05
it done. That's who Austin Booker is.
19:07
So if he's healthy, I think he's got a chance to have a hell of a
19:10
year. There he is, David Kaplan,
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Centurion Stone of Iowa. It sponsors our conversation
19:15
each and every week. Cap appreciated.
19:17
And next week you got to have Ken give him a hard time about
19:20
the Blues Brothers. OK, tell Ken he's better than
19:22
that. I was hoping, I was hoping peer
19:25
pressure is going to work. We'll get him to do it all
19:26
right. Have a great day.
19:29
You too, that's David Kaplan. He's got a lot in front of him.
19:31
He's re watching the carry would game.
19:33
He's got a general manager press conference with Bryce and Graham
19:37
taking over for the Bulls. A busy afternoon for the cappy
19:39
and appreciate his time. Chicago sports.
19:42
You're not a Chicago guy, Not really.
19:44
No, no. You missed the window of the
19:45
bulls. Too young for that.
19:47
When the Bulls were the thing yes, I mean everywhere.
19:51
A huge one. Never had the pull of any of the
19:54
Cubs. The Bears, white.
19:56
Nothing, even in eastern Iowa. Say, yeah, it was.
19:59
When you lay it out like that, it makes sense.
20:01
It would make sense for me to be in that camp.
20:03
But just so happened to be a Patriots guy, which I know that
20:07
we've gone through that story and it is what it.
20:09
Is and there's a lot of people of your age that also
20:12
repatriates. Yes, I am.
20:14
I'm aware of that. But no, I I just think with all
20:17
of the other sports, I kind of ended up falling into more of a
20:19
bandwagon type of watching situation and admittedly, none
20:24
of the Chicago teams were that good.
20:26
Yeah, and that's a part of it, too, because I told this story.
20:30
So I grew up right next to the Minnesota border, on the correct
20:32
side of it, on the Iowa side of the border.
20:35
And everybody, though, was Minnesota sports fans.
20:37
It was the North Stars. It was Timberwolves weren't a
20:40
thing yet, but it was the North Stars, the Vikings and the
20:42
Twins. Well, I was 7.
20:44
The Twins won the World Series. That was pretty easy When I was
20:47
in kindergarten, the Bears won the Super Bowl.
20:49
I jumped a board on that one. So that's why everything except
20:52
for the Bears are Minnesota sports teams of what I root for
20:56
just because that's really what everybody did.
20:58
And then I want to be a little sucker and yell, my grandpa
21:00
yelling at the TV and swearing things out of us.
21:03
He's watching the Vikings. I'm like, I'm gonna root for
21:04
this other team that's a lot better and does the Super Bowl
21:06
shuffle. That seems a lot more fun.
21:09
And then since you then over the last 40 years, it's been it's.
21:12
Quite the same. Yeah.
21:13
No, I'm. I'm an outlier.
21:15
Generally. Growing up, we didn't have a lot
21:17
of sports on in the house. And so I kind of had my free
21:20
reign. Like, you know, generally fandom
21:22
gets passed down to you and the degenerational trauma is laid
21:26
upon you and you have to deal with it.
21:28
I was like, this team looks good.
21:30
I guess I'll, they're in the Super Bowl every year.
21:33
Yes, I am. And it's worked out pretty well
21:35
since. You've had plenty of successes,
21:37
no doubt. That's Nick Berevans hanging out
21:39
with me today here on Miller and Connie.
21:40
We're going to take a quick time out, come back on the other
21:43
side. Lot more to get into.
21:44
And I got a question for Nick as he covers the Cyclones on a
21:48
daily basis with Locked on Cyclones, a podcast and on
21:51
YouTube. How do you cover this football
21:54
team with all these new faces? That's coming up next year on
21:57
Miller and Condon, 1:30 on a Wednesday.
22:00
Miller and Condon continues on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
22:03
Trent Condon, Nick Marvitz hanging out with me today.
22:07
Nick Most of the Locked On Cyclones podcast, daily Iowa
22:11
State content each and every day talk to the world of Iowa State.
22:15
But we're we're getting to the offseason.
22:17
We are, we really are. I gotta say.
22:18
You've been playing some heaters today.
22:20
Oh, yeah? Yeah.
22:21
You're liking the music, huh? All right, Yeah.
22:23
Green Day earlier. Yes, absolutely.
22:25
Little Weezer. Yes, enjoy my Weezer.
22:27
Was listening to some Weezer on the golf course when I was yeah
22:30
golfing in South Carolina a couple of weeks back.
22:32
You play music on the golf course.
22:33
I do, yeah. Always try to keep it very low
22:36
though, just in case, because there's still some people that
22:39
do not enjoy any kind of music out there.
22:41
Depends on the company who you're with also.
22:43
Absolutely. I played a little bit by myself,
22:45
so that makes it easy too. Yeah, you have.
22:46
To worry about Jimmy Buffett or something you feel?
22:48
Like, no, don't Jimmy Buffett. What?
22:50
I'm not a Parrot Head. No, no, not at all.
22:53
You're a Parrot Head, huh? I can't.
22:55
I cannot believe you just. Said that it doesn't.
22:58
It doesn't do it for me. Oh, I will just throw on Jimmy
23:01
Buffett for no reason, you will. What are we doing here, Trent?
23:04
Yes. So when you go old school, is
23:07
Jimmy Buffett for you? What else old stuff do you like?
23:10
Oh, man, old See, I thought you were going to go like beach
23:12
vibes. Yeah, because that's beach vibes
23:14
for me. Anytime we're at like the
23:15
Ozarks, right Waters involved. Jimmy Buffett is on.
23:18
Jimmy Buffett absolutely is. It does not have a super long
23:22
selection of songs that we play. I'm not going to lie, you know,
23:25
and say I've. Got 4 hours of.
23:26
Jimmy Buffett going, but it has to be weaved in absolutely old
23:30
school. I mean how old are we talking?
23:32
Because 80s from now is 45 years ago, right?
23:35
Just stop making me feel old. I've just got to throw the
23:38
facts. Out well, because when Ken's
23:39
here, I play a lot of 70s stuff for Ken and I like most of it.
23:43
Most of it's pretty good. It's also things that I usually
23:45
pick myself, so they're usually songs that I also have an
23:48
enjoyment with. So growing up, I think everybody
23:52
has that certain time where you go back.
23:56
It may be as a youngster as the pop music, you know, it was
23:58
those kind of things you jumped in.
24:00
For me, it was New Kids on the Block, Michael Jackson, Prince,
24:03
as we talked about yesterday. And then you start to evolve a
24:06
little bit. But my first peek back was the
24:09
Steve Miller Band. That's a good.
24:10
One, yeah, like a lot of bangers in there.
24:13
There really. Are, I know some people from the
24:15
era hate Steve Miller, but when you're kind of going back in the
24:19
archives, that's one. But I think my favorite, and I
24:22
had a long stretch. I loved Led Zeppelin, yes.
24:25
Good pick. That was, I believe, the first
24:27
cassette tape I had for my car. There you go.
24:29
Cassette tape. Wasn't an 8 track no.
24:32
No, not at all. Not that old.
24:34
It was a cassette tape and then you had to use the cassette tape
24:37
with your CD player that you put the portable CD player.
24:40
You could play it. Oh, it was a disaster.
24:41
Just and of course. Walkman with your.
24:43
Headphones, every single bump that you'd hit and skip.
24:45
It was absolutely terrible. Do not have to worry about that
24:48
anymore. But want to jump back from the
24:51
music into your Daily Show? Locked on Cyclones and you're
24:56
covered. A football team and we know how
24:57
important football is. Absolutely that.
25:00
Honestly, you have no clue. We, we, we take educated
25:05
guesses, right? But that's all it is.
25:07
And yes, everybody in the content space has gone through
25:11
coaching changes, but in today's environment and how it went with
25:14
Matt Campbell and all the players that went along with
25:16
them, it was still in comparison, a pretty young team
25:19
that had so many guys that had eligibility coming back.
25:23
And now you're almost completely flipping over the roster.
25:26
How do you know? How do you come up with
25:28
understanding what this guy was, what I think jumping up levels,
25:33
going up to the Big 12, those kind of things?
25:35
How do you do it and feel confident that you have a good
25:38
feel about this football team? Well, I'll tell you what, you
25:40
know, going back to December 5th, I'll never, I hesitate to
25:43
say I'll never forget that day, but I don't think I'll ever
25:45
forget it. It came out of nowhere.
25:47
I had a a tweet alert the night before.
25:50
Hey, Matt Campbell might be going somewhere.
25:51
Like when is he not in conversation?
25:53
Right? Like that's just kind of how it
25:54
goes. I kind of brushed it under the
25:56
rug and next morning it's like red alert, by the way, you don't
26:00
want, you don't have a head coach anymore.
26:01
And then what, 12 hours after I got that first alert, we had our
26:05
next head coach. It was like, OK, from a content
26:09
perspective, we get to have a coaching surge.
26:11
You can find the silver lining. And then bam, Jamie Pollard was
26:14
like Jamie Rogers the guy. So from that, I do remember all
26:18
of that going down and it it it was like they just ripped your
26:22
heart out with like no more Matt Campbell and that means
26:24
basically no more team. But then you're like, if they
26:27
pick this coach that fast, there has to be something here like
26:31
they're just has they, you don't make that decision lightly.
26:34
So there's that. That I, I definitely factor in
26:37
Washington state fans love to throw out like, 'cause, you
26:40
know, he was obviously there only a year and was supposed to
26:42
be there longer. Like look out.
26:43
The same thing can happen to you.
26:44
And I don't know if that's going to be the same case.
26:47
It is all, I guess for now. I'm, I'm definitely hopeful and
26:52
I I definitely am optimistic, but I don't know if it's rooted
26:57
in delusion or if it's more so based on his success at SDSU and
27:02
his success in, I mean, six and six.
27:05
Is that a successful season for Washington State?
27:07
You could argue that point, but look at a few of the games that
27:10
they lost. I thought they were very
27:11
competitive in those games. And he's brought his whole
27:13
staff. Jimmy, excuse me, Jamie Pollard
27:16
talked about how that was a bit of a selling point.
27:18
And I do trust his ability with that staff.
27:22
If you if you brought just Jimmy Rogers over, what would he do
27:26
with, you know, Mauser and Haycock?
27:27
Had he not tired, that would be a whole different dynamic.
27:30
But he's basically bringing his whole system and I'm sure we're
27:33
going to talk about it. He brought a lot of his players
27:36
as well and he knows what they're capable of.
27:37
So there's a lot to be excited about, but there's also a lot of
27:40
question marks in the air. That most definitely is and you
27:43
go through and and some of these names are guys that we've heard
27:46
about or know a little bit. Jaylen Raider, the quarterback,
27:49
is the easiest one because Iowa State played against Arkansas
27:51
State last year. He's been around for a while.
27:54
Even if you're a casual observer, it's a name that you
27:56
think you do in college football.
27:58
I saw Zane Flores with Oklahoma State last year, though it
28:01
didn't go very well. But short of that, it's just so
28:04
much guesswork and figuring out. And really for me, the biggest
28:06
question is putting together completely a new offensive line,
28:10
because had this argument seemingly every single year.
28:13
September, Iowa State offensive line almost across the board, it
28:17
stunk. And there were times by the
28:19
middle and the end of the year that they at least have morphed
28:21
into a decent offensive line. But looking back at the Matt
28:25
Campbell era, if I'm looking at at a knock, I think it's a line.
28:29
And for a guy that wasn't a line has that kind of background.
28:32
I had a bunch of different guys with that background.
28:35
It never felt like they got it completely right up front on
28:39
that offensive line. And and now you got to do it
28:41
with a new group of guys from all kinds of levels.
28:43
You got guys that were in the SEC, then you got guys that were
28:46
D2 trying to Med meld that all together.
28:49
I think it's going to be difficult, but very well is the
28:51
key of this offense being at least competent.
28:53
You're #1. Absolutely.
28:55
And I think that was, it's clear that that was Jimmy Rogers main
28:58
focus. When you look at like what
29:00
happened in the portal and what his recruiting talents are, I
29:03
think that's an area where they're going to win in the
29:05
trenches. Switching to the four man front
29:08
on the defensive side is a change.
29:10
But I think that that's been both offensive and defensive
29:13
line is like we might lose the game at wide receiver, we might
29:18
lose the game at running back. We will not lose the game in the
29:22
trenches and being in that position, I think is, you know,
29:25
you're going to win more games because of the trenches.
29:28
Like you could easily lose the game because your offensive line
29:30
is out of sorts. And having the focus there, you
29:33
know, you'll have to, we'll have to see exactly how it plays out
29:35
because I'm not going to act like Jimmy Rodgers, the first
29:37
head coach to ever be like we should.
29:38
We, you know, we're going to focus on the offensive line.
29:40
Like everybody knows that that's a key part of the the offense.
29:44
But I just think initial first indicators, it wasn't like, oh,
29:48
we're going to go grab a flashy wide receiver.
29:50
We're going to build from the inside out.
29:52
I like that. When you look at Iowa State this
29:54
year, can you get to bowl eligibility?
29:56
I I think that's a baseline for most of the fan base.
30:00
With the turnover, all these new faces, can you get to six wins?
30:03
Is is that realistic? Even six wins you with what
30:07
Rogers did a year ago at Washington State, you see that
30:09
as a realistic goal. I do I, I think you could push.
30:12
I think I got put my fan had on a little too heavy and got to
30:16
nine wins but. That's too heavy.
30:19
That's that's a bit of a rage. I could see seven if all went
30:24
perfectly well at the same time, we could be looking at three
30:28
wins. We could be looking at four
30:29
wins. So I'm optimistic that they'll
30:31
get to a bowl game. And I do think that Jimmy Rogers
30:35
with his experience, you know, at Washington State, he did
30:38
almost the same thing, right? He I think it was like 70 plus
30:40
new players. There was the number.
30:42
So it's not like he's never done it before.
30:44
He doesn't have a spring portal this time.
30:46
And there's that to consider. But at the same time then he's
30:49
not losing players to the portal.
30:50
He's he's keeping them and then able to retain the the scheme
30:55
implementation and and all of that kind of stuff.
30:57
So, so I think 6 is a reasonable number.
30:59
I would say if they ended up at six wins, that's a successful
31:02
season. That's and I think that's a good
31:04
goal, right? It's it's attainable.
31:06
Building block and and kind of starting things off on the right
31:09
foot. Speaking that offensive line
31:11
this is from back couple weeks ago during the open practice.
31:13
The old line that went out there at least first at the time from
31:16
Eugene Repay left tackle was Jake Taylor from Oklahoma.
31:19
Not Jake Taylor for Major League though that'd be awesome.
31:22
I know how good of a left tackle he would have been.
31:24
Left guard Kate Moss from Sioux Falls back to a non D1 program.
31:28
Your center from Charlton State was Braden Smith, Colton Amick
31:32
who came in from Wazoo along with Coach Rodgers and then
31:34
Garrett Rutledge, one of the few returners was out there at right
31:38
tackle. So that was the offensive line
31:39
out there. Just a bunch of different pieces
31:41
that are there. So that's your baseline.
31:44
Get to a bowl eligibility. Good solid season.
31:47
Let's go on the hardwood then next.
31:48
And when you look to this season, a lot of buzz dubbing
31:52
in, even losing at all time great couple of heavy, heavy
31:56
heads at the top. But Tamen Lipsy wasn't just what
31:59
a tremendous player he was. He was the embodiment of exactly
32:02
what TJ Otzelberger what that tenacity, hard nosed, diving
32:06
after loose balls, everything that you're looking for.
32:09
He was the backbone of your program.
32:11
You're not only losing a starter, you're losing feels
32:13
like a little something extra with Tamen Lipsy.
32:15
But they went in right away. They identified the guys they
32:18
wanted. They got him.
32:19
Speaking of content, you weren't able to get a whole lot of
32:21
content because they were done in three days, but what do you
32:24
look at your expectations for this Iowa State team?
32:27
Where do you sit here on May 6th?
32:30
Yeah, to touch on the team and Lipsy thing, another piece of
32:32
that was he played for the front of the jersey, right?
32:35
And so I do feel like that echoed with this team a little
32:38
bit. Like you didn't lose a Torre or
32:41
a Plato or even like Jamari Bateman, you know, those kinds
32:45
of guys, the young guys especially could have hit the
32:47
portal. I thought they had great
32:48
seasons. And so to build off of that,
32:50
looking to this next year, I really do like the young core.
32:54
I thought Plato made a lot of, you know, he took steps in the
32:57
right direction. Was he, you know, an all Big 12
33:00
guy? No, I'm not going to act like he
33:02
was ridiculous at the end of the season, but his I saw his
33:05
minutes go up and maybe his box score didn't look phenomenal at
33:09
the end of the year, but I thought his contribution was
33:11
there and he looked more confident.
33:12
So between him as a bigger player, Blake Buchanan returning
33:18
on the inside, I really like just the returners from this
33:21
past season. Obviously Bateman is going to be
33:24
kind of the three-point threat and Torre defensively, I really
33:27
like the roundness of this team at this point.
33:29
We'll see how the transfers kind of fit, how they gel because we
33:34
didn't really grab like big names.
33:36
You know, they were, they were obviously Otz's guys.
33:39
They were guys he wanted, but they weren't huge names.
33:43
Everybody knew. So we'll see how they fit in and
33:45
what kind of contribution they can have.
33:47
I think a reasonable expectation is to be in the Big 12 race, you
33:51
know, in middle to to late of conference play.
33:54
If they're falling out right away, that's disappointing
33:57
season. So they get to the Sweet 16
34:00
again, but it just against Tennessee didn't go well.
34:04
And on the heels of what happened against Old Miss the
34:06
year before in the round of 32, is that, look, only one team's
34:10
happy at the end of the NCAA Tournament, right?
34:11
Everybody else loses. Well, maybe.
34:13
Maybe I'm a fan. Relatively happy.
34:14
Yeah, but but you're still playing the what if game.
34:17
Yeah, you know, you got you got the lead with eight minutes to
34:19
go, to go to a final four. And we knew what happened in
34:22
those final 8 minutes. So that's always going to stick
34:24
around and be there. Absolutely.
34:26
There's one team happy that was Michigan this year, that it
34:28
ended the way that they wanted to.
34:30
But how much does that linger just the way that the seasons
34:34
have ended the last couple of years?
34:35
Not just losing, but getting bullied in that last game of the
34:38
year. Well, the bigger thing to me is
34:40
the last four big seasons for Iowa State, Iowa, excuse me,
34:45
basketball the last two years and football the last two years,
34:49
we have been extremely limited by injury.
34:51
And I hate to play that card, but, and I'm not saying like I
34:54
obviously was going to win if Joshua Jefferson was in, they
34:56
were going to win the whole thing.
34:57
But to have that question mark stamped on the season, like you
35:01
don't have any linebackers and you go to the Big 12
35:02
championship game, right? You have no safety, no
35:05
secondary, essentially. It's just there's so many what
35:10
ifs about that kind of thing. And then last year it wasn't as
35:13
prominent like Keyshawn was. He was trending down towards the
35:17
end of the ending of the year. But I would say that that was
35:18
affected by the injury. No Milan for a stretch there.
35:22
It's just I, I, I don't look at the ending of the season for
35:26
basketball because that's where your question came from, as a
35:29
disappointment because of coaching or because of somebody
35:32
didn't show up. It's just honestly for me, more
35:34
of like a man, what could have been like it wouldn't have been
35:38
a, it wouldn't have been a Final Four appearance.
35:39
Like Michigan's a really good team.
35:41
Or I guess it could have been, but it's just the question mark
35:43
it that gets me. Every single time.
35:46
It's going to be sad, it's going to be frustrating.
35:48
Have you seen our buddy Bart Torvik?
35:51
Maybe. He's come out with his
35:53
projections. This is not like his full
35:55
analytics everything in there, but at least a projection for
35:59
next season. With all the transfers coming in
36:02
Iowa State pre season, take a guess.
36:04
What in the Big 12? No in overall in college
36:07
basketball, let's. Say 1619.
36:11
OK, I that's pretty accurate. I'm gonna lie.
36:14
They're pretty good. What do you got for the
36:16
Hawkeyes? Goodness, mid 20s. 42.
36:21
OK, I was, I was giving you a little bit of grace there.
36:24
Down quite a bit on that front. Those full projections, though,
36:28
he'll get everything into a system and spit something out
36:30
here pretty soon. But at least a glimpse #1 Duke.
36:33
Do you think that's accurate? Pretty good, I like his
36:36
analytics. I like Torvic a lot.
36:38
As far as Iowa goes, I mean, I think I would say it's about the
36:40
right spot. I would maybe arrange more
36:42
towards the mid 30s for Iowa. I think they're going to be back
36:45
a tournament team and probably the same kind of position.
36:47
I was impressed with the coaching last season.
36:50
I mean, I did not expect it to get implemented that quickly
36:54
essentially. And the crazy thing is, because
36:56
of what happened in the NCAA tournament, people forget losing
36:59
to crappy Penn State team, a crappy Maryland team at the end
37:02
of the year, because you remember what happens in the
37:05
NCAA tournament. Just the the importance of what
37:07
that tournament does, good or bad, that is the reality as you
37:11
can for get away. What happened in front of a
37:14
couple 100 people in State College, PA on a Saturday
37:17
morning because of what happened in the NCAA tournament.
37:20
Yeah. 19 for Iowa State, 42 for Iowa or due for a time out.
37:24
When we come back on the other side, it is time for my picks of
37:27
the day. So we go 3:00 and 2:00 on
37:28
Monday, 2 and 3 yesterday. That's not bad.
37:31
We're right back to 500 again for the week.
37:34
Can we get over the hump? Normally, the answer is no.
37:37
We will try. That's coming up next year.
37:39
I'm Miller and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
37:53
Wrap things up on a Wednesday. Miller and Condon on the Iowa
37:56
Sports Radio Network. I'm Trent Condon, joined today
37:58
by Nick Marvitz, as he has for the last two days.
38:02
Yeah. Thanks for hanging out with me.
38:03
It's been fun. Yes, it's that quiet time, but
38:06
we got plenty of cyclone talk in there.
38:07
We talked a lot of Hawkeyes earlier on, so we got to whet
38:11
both of our appetites today. That's not a bad thing.
38:13
It's been a great day, yes. What are you going to be
38:15
watching when you get back home tonight?
38:17
What's on the docket for you? What kind of catches your eye
38:21
saying, Oh yeah, I got to be watching that one this evening?
38:24
I mean, I I'm a big NHL guy so I'm going to try to catch a few
38:29
of those games and and keep up with with the hockey side of
38:32
things, give them their flowers. But the NBA probably will
38:35
dominate the the TV is my guess. The NBA and I, yes, I'm going to
38:39
be certainly looking forward to the Timberwolves and the Spurs
38:41
coming up on this evening. Yeah, I think it should be a
38:44
good one. I'm I'm also going to be
38:48
intrigued. Mentioned earlier, no Embiid
38:50
tonight for the Sixers. So the point spread jumped up as
38:53
you'd anticipate would be the case when you lose a guy at that
38:56
stature. In a way, I think I like the
38:58
Sixers even more now. I'm getting more points on top
39:00
of it. I'm getting what is it, 10 1/2
39:02
now in the market. So going to be jumping aboard
39:05
with that. That's going to be one of my
39:06
plays. I'm also going to play over in
39:07
the first quarter of that 154 1/2 the total for the first
39:11
quarter. I think we're going to see some
39:13
points early on them running a little bit more, obviously with
39:15
no win beat. So that is a couple of the plays
39:18
that I got here for today. Going to play Nathan Ivaldi over
39:21
5 1/2 strikeouts against the Yankees tonight, plus money
39:24
there, plus 1/12 for Ivaldi. I'm grabbing on the Timberwolves
39:28
again now. I think this is going to go one
39:30
of two ways. It's going to be physical
39:32
nature. Even if Edwards doesn't go,
39:34
they're going to be right there in the end.
39:36
Or just that toughness is going to keep them close or the Spurs
39:39
are going to win this thing by 30.
39:41
This is 1 where you look at those alternate spreads that are
39:43
out there and when you're looking at all spreads, you can
39:46
get some really, really good plus money.
39:49
This might be 1. If you're going to get involved
39:51
with the Spurs, that would be the way that I'd be looking at
39:53
it. Not just a cover of 10 1/2,
39:55
maybe cover 19 and a half, 24 1/2.
39:58
But really, run away with it. Because we've seen this, too.
40:00
The crazy thing is the last, I think, four NBA champions, Maybe
40:04
it's the last five. Have been beaten by 30 points or
40:07
more in a playoff game. Isn't that wild?
40:11
Can you? Even going back 15 years,
40:14
there's no way a champion could get beat like that.
40:17
Maybe in a regular season game, not in a playoff game, playoffs,
40:21
playoffs. But it happens often.
40:24
It is just our new norm of the NBA.
40:26
What a weird sport. It's it's very possible.
40:28
I actually don't hate that play at all.
40:29
I think it yeah, you're right. It could be close and the
40:31
Timberwolves will be in it, or they effectively they are not
40:35
going to say it but take the game off and are OK with
40:38
splitting this one. Get healthy all of a sudden,
40:41
this film, you know, hey, we don't have it tonight, let's get
40:43
him back. He's going to go tonight.
40:44
But not playing him 38 minutes or anything like that.
40:48
You just go to the bench, go to the young guys, go that
40:50
direction, punk this game, and then get ready for game #3 we'll
40:54
be doing the same with the Wild as they await until Saturday.
40:57
That is such a long layoff, but I think there's something going
40:59
on up there. I think Dane mentioned that to
41:01
us yesterday that the reason that the schedule is all kind of
41:04
wonky with the Wild and Avalanche series.
41:06
So hockey tonight, I'll probably flip on the the Ducks match up.
41:11
Didn't get a play on that. I, I should go right back to the
41:13
well, I thought they played really well in game #1 empty
41:16
netter at the one made it 3:00 to 1:00.
41:18
But there's something about that Anaheim team.
41:20
I, I just, I like them. Coach Q is obviously stud as a
41:23
coach, as a person, that's a different conversation.
41:25
But Anaheim, man, those jerseys are ugly though the orange.
41:30
Hideous. Hard to get behind those.
41:32
I like Vegas in this one. I'm not going to die so.
41:34
They're starting to round into form and you talk about
41:38
pedigree, they don't know anything that's up.
41:40
Winning in Vegas. Pretty true.
41:42
Yeah. So came to an organization, it
41:44
just they won right away and it's just continued year after
41:47
year after year how good they are.
41:49
I don't know how much I'm going to get into the Canadians and
41:52
the Sabres tonight. I don't know why I just can't
41:55
get into that series. I'll tell you this though, if
41:57
every other game is a blowout. Yes, you know what's going to
42:00
happen. We're going to get over there.
42:02
Baseball. We got the Cubs going again this
42:04
evening. 640 first pitch as the Iowa native Colin Ray will get
42:07
the ball again against Brady Singer. 640, the first pitch
42:10
there. The Twins play the Nationals.
42:13
I usually make myself about, I don't know, an ending before I
42:15
get frustrated and start yelling at my TV and find something else
42:18
to watch. That's usually how my baseball
42:20
night of viewing goes. And it's usually finding my way
42:22
over to the Cubs. Well, that'll do it for today,
42:25
Nick. It's been a lot of fun.
42:26
I did have one thing. You hung out with us on our TV
42:28
show Inside the Numbers on Mediacom, and we never got to
42:31
it. Point spread Psy Hawk, What
42:34
would you make the line right now at the Nick Casino?
42:37
Give me Iowa State by 1 1/2. No shot.
42:43
We will hopefully see that live this summer and you'll be
42:45
getting a whole lot more than 1 1/2, I will tell you that much.
42:48
OK, seven and a half, 10 1/2. Wow, I didn't think he'd go
42:51
that. Direction.
42:51
It's going to be a big number now.
42:53
Should he bet it? That's a different way.
42:55
Yeah, that's. Good.
42:55
Thanks for hanging out with us today and yesterday.
42:58
Appreciate it, Nick. Thank you.
42:59
That'll do it for today. Off the bench with Sean and
43:01
Lucas comes your way next year on the Iowa Sports Radio
43:04
Network.