Furness Show 3-20: Danny O'Neil, Steve Palazzolo, Daily Power Play, Noah Fant.

Danny O'Neil joins us to give a Husky perspective on Troy Dannen leaving Washington for Nebraska. Danny is going between his emotions of anger and hilarity, because this situation is quite baffling. Who hires the next head basketball coach? There are a lot more issues at play here too. What does his abrupt move mean for UW?   Steve Palazzolo, Pro Football Focus provides a look at the Seahawks' newest linebackers, a big need for the team. Why was Tyrel Dodson ranked so high on PFF? Steve takes us through all of the Seahawks' latest acquisitions. Plus, a look ahead at the draft and what's going on in Pittsburgh.   The Daily Power Play!  Noah Fant, Seahawks Tight End tells Ian why he decided to return to the Seahawks, what he's learned about the new coaching staff and how he feels he'll be utilized by Ryan Grubb. He also discusses the relationships he has on the team and with those that have left. He's got no problem with Aaron Donald's retirement.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome in busy show. Coming upin a few minutes. Danie O'Neil will
join us, so stay tuned forthat. Also, we're gonna do this,
We're gonna check with Steve Halozobo bottomof the hour one thirty Pro Football
Focus week we visit. We scheduleSteve to do weeklies this time of the
year to talk draft. We can'teven get to the draft yet because the
Hawks have signed so many guys sinceour last visit with Steve, so we'll
get into that coming up at onethirty and two o'clock. Speaking as signings,

(00:21):
Noah fanse Seahawk tight end will joinus as he's back in the fold.
We'll get his thoughts on why hecame back, probably had some chances
to go elsewhere, Ryan Grubb andmuch more. All of that coming up
on the show today before we dialup Danny O'Neil, who's going to join
us in just a couple seconds.Of course, longtime media guy here in
Seattle, who is back in NewYork now. But I know he was

(00:43):
kind of asking the question to day, what the hell's going on in my
school? He's a U double bum. I'll let him answer that. I
will tease this. Listen to Softytoday at three o'clock. There's some Troy
Dannon stories out there. I don'tknow which ones he can and can't tell
on the air. There aren't peopleshedding a lot of tears out except for
this. And I think this isimportant. The person Okay, so he's

(01:07):
a bad fit. That that willbe what you hear from everyone, and
it's and it's pretty pretty evident.It's pretty evident that that he you know
that that for whatever reason, hedidn't like it here enough to stay the
going home. He's not from Nebraska, he's from the Midwest. Whatever.
It's a convenient thing. Matt Ruhlementioned that it's a it's I guess a

(01:29):
lateral move. It's in conference,same conference. But the person that's gonna
hire the next AD is the onethat just hired this AD, and that's
the president of the university. Uhuh. I'll leave it at that.
Just that's that's what you need toknow a man about time. It's not

(01:49):
my school. That's in the crosshairsof places elsewhere. I don't know the
last time I spoke to this guyon the air or in person. I
think I saw him in a Seahawkgame a couple years ago somewhere. But
you know, he's a big dealback in New York. He's got the
substack writing books. He's a he'sa novelist. He's an author as well
as a journalist. Long time Seattlemedia member. Our good friend daniel' neil

(02:09):
joint just right now on the BeaconPlumbing hotline. Hello, sir, how
are you good? How are youian? It's been a long time,
buddy. I've probably we ran intoeach other at a football game and I'm
trying to may was it in NewYork? Where was it? I know
I saw you in the last yearor two, but it was like kind
of a two strangers passing in thenight through the press conference, through the
press box. But it's good tohear your voice, man, it's good

(02:30):
to hear from you as well.Yeah, a lot has happened since then.
Washington's had a couple of athletic directors, a betrayal around the around the
conference. The beloved PAC twelve isnow the TUPAC. Yet a lot,
it's so much going on. Ilisten. I always think when people talk

(02:51):
about my school with when people goto Wash it talk about Washington State,
and they're trying to analyze and talkabout it. I was thinking, Yeah,
you leave my house like you leavemy house alone. It's my place.
It's where I went to school.It's something I hold near and dear,
my daughter, my wife, weall. I mean, that's my
school, and it's if it's yourschool, it has a whole different place
in your heart. And so foryou, this is your school, Washington.

(03:15):
So I'm not going to kick rocksor anything like that. I just
want to get your thoughts. Whenyou saw the news today, I'm sure,
like most of us, you probablythought, wait a second, Okay,
that's not that can't be a realTwitter account, That can't be real
and all that. But once youfigure out it was the real that Pete
Famil had it, what went throughyour mind as a Husky? So my

(03:36):
initial reaction was to be very pissedoff, because as someone who was reluctant
to leave the Pac twelve, whoreally still has mixed feelings about that,
my initial reaction is to feel thatthere's a certain amount of this that my
school deserves, and also to beangry at other Huskies who have been angry

(04:00):
at me over my reluctance to goto the Big ten because it would appear
that Washington has been something of atwenty two caliber program that has wandered smack
dab into the middle of a threefifty seven magnum world in which people keep
taking our ads and coaches, whichI was led to believe was the whole

(04:20):
reason that Washington needed to leave thePac twelve. Otherwise this was going to
happen. So that was my initialreaction, then followed by intense seething anger
at Troy Dan and all of those. You know what, it's hard.
It's hard being a college fan thesedays because it's easily I think you'd agree

(04:41):
with me, Danny. College athleticsare easily the most emotional sport that we
have. And yes, I knowtwelves, I know South end zone neck
tattoo. Guy, I'm talking toyou. I know what you live and
breathed by every first down, andyou know by every penalty and every time
Pete Carroll throwed it through a challengeflag in Europe. I know that it.
College sports is different and the emotionsrun because it feels personal. It

(05:04):
sounds like with Dan and leaving thisfeels as a Husky alum. This feels
personal to you, Yes, andit also feels I mean, the fear
that I have is that everybody's runningfrom something, that there's something stashed in
some corner of Husky Stadium, orthere's some burly budget item that everybody's like,

(05:27):
Aha, we've got to get out. So that's that's that's one part
of it. It absolutely does feelpersonal because Washington football and Washington Athletics and
the school is something I do carea great deal about. And I mean,
to go through a season like lastyear, which was so incredible,
and then to have all of thatturned to ash, and then there is

(05:51):
an element of it's really frickin funny, Like there is a level at which
this is really really funny. Who'sgonna the basketball coach? Well? The
timing is unbelievable, isn't it.I Mean, God, you just fired
the coach two weeks ago. Hecoached his last game on Wednesday, and

(06:13):
and you're gone the fall six dayslater. Come on, and you,
Danny, you fired him before thetournament because you didn't want the Dan Monson
thing to happen. You were afraidthat Dan Monson was gonna like you didn't
want Long Beach State to happen toyou, or they got on a run,
got to a tournament, and thenall of a sudden, you're like,
damn, are we stuck with MikeHopkins? So you and we want
to get ahead of the game.But now, who's gonna hire the basketball

(06:34):
coach? Now, realistically, there'sthe possibility that that's already set up.
Sure like that that that could bethe case. But if it's not,
you're gonna have to fire hire thebasketball coach before you hired the A d
You can't wait like that. Letme let me get to hurt a second.

(07:00):
Let me get let me get tohurt a Secondanny O Neil Joints.
Let me get a hurt a second. Here's the thing, though, like
you said, like well, firstof all, that like you know what's
going on, is something buried atHusky Stadium. I always think back to
Softy talking about how the fact hismom used to always tell him there's that
they built t Mobile Park on topof an Indian barrel burial ground, and
that's why the Mariners have never beengood. In fact, it was that
whole area and that's and you knowwhat, listen underground Seattle Chief Sells Chief

(07:25):
Seattle. I'm in. I mightbelieve Missus Maller. I think I think
I'm in on that one. Sowho knows what's buried out at Husky.
Maybe they did something, they uneersedsomething when they renovated it and got rid
of the got rid of the moat. I don't know, but there's something
going on. The basketball coach isinteresting though, because let's say you were
way down the road with Danny Sprinkle. Well, like the guy that would
have been down the road with himjust went to another Big Ten school.

(07:46):
Wouldn't that be a red flag forhim or anybody else? For sure?
Yeah, I mean they just they'vehad two athletic directors in six months concert
And it's not like he's going toa Nebraska that is on top of the
world like Nebraska. No, I'vebeen getting its lunch eating and it's head

(08:07):
dunked in the toilet in the BigTen for a solid decade now. So
yeah, yes, there's there's alot of problems. Well, yeah,
it's not like Tom Osborne's there andthey're rolling they're rolling out with the with
the Nebraska offense and just kicking everyone'steeth in in the big ten. No,
this is you know they're on bythe way. I find a certain
humor in the fact that so inthe middle of the night after a horrific

(08:33):
season changing, upset, weird,lots of stuff was going on inside the
program loss at cal Berkeley, BillMoose didn't get back on the charter and
go back to Pullman. Instead,he flew to Lincoln, Nebraska and was
announced the next morning as the newathletic director of Nebraska. And now they
come back to the same state andget a guy that he didn't lose a

(08:54):
football game. You know, Iguess the only thing would have been it
worse is if it would have doneit the day after they lost a national
title game. But still they goget this guy and they bring him in
and Danny. You know, theconcern you would have on a serious note,
as you mentioned, is like,what's going on there? Well,
don't we have to look at thepresident and say, okay, you hired

(09:15):
maybe Dana was a bad fit.Let's assume that you know the stories and
the things behind the scene that wehear. It's like, okay, this
was not going well. He wasrubbing people the wrong way, and then
he left. But the person thatI don't know if that's a Troy Dannen
problem or is that a president ofthe university problem because she hired him.

(09:35):
Yes, this does all eventually walkits way back up campus, and I
think that there are some other signsof the amount of arguments and the fighting
that Jen Cohen had to do toget what she felt was appropriate funding for

(09:58):
a football program. I do thinkthat there it ultimately does walk back up
to upper campus. I am veryinterested to listen to Dave Maller today at
three pm Pacific to here exactly whatmay have occurred with regard to mister Dan.
And but I would agree with thatof I'm there's only so much that

(10:20):
I'm gonna buy the whole bad fitidea with with Troy Dan and that this
just wasn't gonna work. I don'tknow how much this sets Washington back,
because he wasn't there that long.And I actually think that he did a
pretty good job in segueing from Kaylinde Boor to Jedfish. I think he

(10:43):
handled the debor situation about as wellas you could. I don't think there's
anything he could have done to keephim, and I think that they did
they did make some very a verystrong and aggressive move to to acquire what
looks to be a coach that couldbe a really good fit for this current
era. But look, there's thereare some challenges that the University of Washington

(11:05):
is facing right now. Some ofit comes from having the junior Happy Meal
for the Big ten media rights.Some of it comes from the relationship between
the athletic department and upper campus,which is something that has been trained at
various points. Hell, going backto Mike Leude getting getting getting sort of
pushed along to have Barbara Hedges comein there. So there there are some

(11:28):
fairy issues, deep issues beyond justthe fact of who's going to hire the
freaking men's basketball coach. I mean, right now, Jed Fish is the
senior guy in the department. Rightof your three most important jobs in the
Washington Athletics department, Fish is goingto have tenure seniority. Oh my gosh,
just mak him the ad. Thehell I was just making the a

(11:50):
D. You know, somebody wassaying like, oh, maybe they'll go
get the guy from from the Universityof Arizona ver a D. Because he
was like, well, yeah,maybe, I guess like We're Washington's going
to hire the ad of but oneof the schools that it wasn't eager to
stay with in the in the Pactwelve that's gone to the Big twelve and
had the whole negotiation go sideways withFish. I don't know, man,

(12:13):
it's a mess. You mean,the only the only school that's in worse
financial shape on the West Coast thanWashington State and Oregon State, that that
Arizona. Yeah, I go gethim. That'd works, That probably worked
pretty well. That's a smart move. Well why not? Why wouldn't you
go get him? I'll wrap itup to this the end. He just
inherently what concerns you the most?Is it the disconnect, as you said,
do you think between upper campus,the school president, the athletic department,

(12:37):
the battles at whoever the new athleticdirector may have to fight. Is
that it? Or the fact that, you know, what we thought was
more of a destination. You know, listen, losing Caitlin to Boord Alabama,
everyone understands that one losing it.Losing an athletic director to a fellow
Big ten member, that is notI don't think it's on your level.
I mean I know it's Nebraska.This is a nineteen eighty, right,

(12:58):
this is this is two thousand intwenty four. What's the most concerning thing
for you? The most concerning thingfor me is is that what you just
mentioned who you lost your AD twoand it is what you would, at
the very least hope is a pureprogram in the conference you're joining. But
the bigger picture, and the thingthat makes me saddest is, look,

(13:20):
I loved the Pac ten and thePac twelve. Yep, I wish that
the Big ten champs still played thePac twelve champ in the Rose Bowl.
I don't like the college football playoffs. I understand the rationale that my school,
the University of Washington used and decidingit needed to join the Big Ten.
I understand that. But my fearis what do I fear? Is

(13:43):
that my school has given up theties it had, the rivalries that meant
something, and it has joined aconference where it is going to be a
geographic outlier, and that it isdoing so with one arm tied behind its
back. And while this may havebeen the best financial choice that you may
have signed yourself into competing with abunch of teams where You're going to end

(14:05):
up being on par with an IllinoisAnd that is just depressing and so aggravating
to me, because honestly, Ialways looked at Nebraska as kind of the
danger scenario for Washington, which isthey left the conference that they were a
cultural fit in, they went tothe Big Ten. Their football program has
suffered in the meantime, and youcan give me all the explanations about why

(14:30):
that's happened and the bad coaches thatthey've hired, but they've found themselves in
a conference. They're not a goodBig Ten football program. They're more of
a volleyball school is at least that'swhat they're known for. And my fear
is that Washington just lost their adto that program. So what does that

(14:50):
say about what Washington is walking into? You're writing books substack? Where can
people find your work these days?My friend? Thanks for coming on.
I appreciate you having you on.It's great to talk to you. I
do have a subsett called The DangApostrophe, and I write some columns for
Seattle magazine Christian Capele, and Ido a podcast called Say Who's Say Pod,

(15:11):
And I'm just generally available anytime youwant to call him. Talk to
you. Hey, don't help mewith a good time, Danny exactly.
Hey, great having you on.I appreciate it. And Misery lest company
enjoy it. Out here in thestate of Washington. It's a good,
good, fun time to be acollege fan. Hey, take care man,
We'll talk soon, and thank you. Sound good. Take care of
you. There you go. Thatis that is our our friend, Danny

(15:33):
o'ni all. All right, we'lltake a break, we'll come back.
Steve Palazova Pro Football Focus. Didthe Seahawks really get the number one linebacker
in the National Football Well, PFFthinks, so we'll find out next.
It's time to do a deep diveinto the numbers and the grades around the
NFL with Steve Belazolo from Pro FootballFocus. Our weekly look at PFF dot

(15:58):
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(16:18):
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(16:41):
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thanks, And then they bring aStevepelo's old PFFPFF dot com. Sir,
how are you doing great? Thanksfor having me as all it. Are
you a March badness guy? Uhno, I do not have time to

(17:02):
think about March madness. Wow,busy, I know, I know,
I know, I know. You'rethat's well, that's why we have you.
That's you know what. That's actuallygood to hear. That's why we
have you on right now. You'renot distracted, you can break down all
these things. Let's go through thesethese these in the last is we spoke,
like literally hours after we spoke,the Seattle Seahawks went out and signed
Tyrel Dodson from Buffalo, a linebackerwho started a bunch of games last year

(17:26):
when Molone got hurt. And thefirst thing that everyone's writing about, tweeting
about, and talking about this isthis is how far we've come, sir,
Hey, he was the number onelinebacker by PFF last year. What
are we getting in this guy?So it's interesting because I obviously like PFF,
and you know, it's my it'smy company. I don't own it,
but it's who I work for.Uh, you know, it's a

(17:48):
little misleading, you know. Leadingwith that, he did have the one
breakout season last year Dawnson for forthe Bills. I think he's he's always
been a very good run defender.Mixes it up. I think I think
he'll add excellent value there. Andhe had a great He had a great
season in coverage. I know,the coverage grade was very good. He
was somewhat protected in that scheme.So when you think coverage linebacker, a

(18:08):
lot of times you think, Okay, this guy is gonna be instinctual and
great zone player and he's gonna matchup with running backs and tight ends,
and I don't know if that's necessarilythe guy that Dawson is. I think
actually Jerome Baker might be more ofthat guy. But Dawson's a good,
a good solid player. He forsome fumbles last year, made some big
plays, has some length, willknock, you know, knock away passes,

(18:30):
break up some passes. So again, I think he's a He's a
very good player. I would justsay the PFF grades they're descriptive of what
happened. I think that's how heplayed last year. But they're not always
the best when predicting linebacker play yearevery year. So I'm just tempering expectations
a little bit. He's a good, solid player, but I don't think
you're getting loop Keiekley or anything,or the next Bobby Wagner, paulz Ola.

(18:51):
This is this is where everyone forthe first time wasn't yelling at you
or me or all of us aboutthe PFF grade, and now you're tempering
our enthusiasm. Looking fellow. Whenit comes to a defensive line, I
you know, found the table forit. When it comes to linebacker play,
I'm like all right, just becareful with it when you're trying to
predict things going forward. Okay,that's good then, because Jerome Baker,

(19:12):
the free agent from Miami, didn'traise his highs PFF. So maybe there's
an upside for this guy, rightthere is I mean to me, look,
I think they're good, complimentary players. From a grading standpoint, our
run defense grades are very solid forlinebackers, and Baker's been a little bit
below average in that department over thelast few years. But he's an athletic.

(19:33):
I think he's like more of yourprototypical on paper coverage linebacker, and
because of that, he gets putinto more of those more difficult situations.
So I think you'll see Baker havingto cover running backs, having to you
know, get really good depth andzone and make plays, and he has
that ability. He's had a fewsolid seasons for Miami, and again,
I think he's a really nice complimentto what they have in Dawson. I

(19:57):
think Jenkins had already signed, butI know keve On Wallace had not,
so the other safety they picked upWallace from Tennessee. What are we seeing
with him? Uh? Cave OnWallace's fine. Yeah, I liked him
a lot coming out of college.I think he underachieved a little bit over
the last few years with with theEagles and then with the Titans. But
he did have he had a goodseason last year. As he didn't he

(20:18):
didn't make his mark with the Eagles. Did have a good solid season last
year, seventy plus coverage grade.I think he can move around a little
bit, you know, as faras covering slot receivers and playing in the
box and playing deep. So Ithink it's a I though it was a
good signing Jonathan Hankins from Dallas,big, big body, and it sure
feels like Mike McDonald in in Baltimorewhen he was there. He liked having

(20:41):
big dudes, maybe just like someabsolute beef up front. They went back
to the Seahawks. They bring backLeonard Williams we talked about last week.
They still have Jaron Reed and DraymondJones under contract. But they went out
and they picked up Jonathan Hankins fromDallas and they kind of got him in
that little second wave. Maybe abargain to pick up there some depth in
your middle of your defensive line.It's definitely good depth. I mean Hankins

(21:03):
is a really interesting one because whenhe was on the field, and I
don't know if these numbers made therounds, but you know, on the
field over the last couple of yearswhen Hankins is out there, Dallas average
something like a yard for carry lesswhen Hankins is out there. Now that
again, the PFF grade doesn't necessarilymatch that. You know, early in
Hankins's career we had him as aas one of the better interior defensive lineman

(21:25):
against the run. That play forplay production isn't necessarily there. But for
whatever reason, when he was outthere for Dallas, and I know theoretically
you want to have the big threehundred and forty pounder out there and eating
up blocks and everything, so there'ssomething to it when he's been out there.
The run game has been much betterwhen it comes to the Cowboys over
the last couple of years, sothere might be something there. But yeah,
he's a good, solid depth playerI think at this point for Seattle.

(21:48):
Steve Paalozolo Pro FOOTBALLFOCUSPFF dot Com joiningus. I believe it was after
we had you on last week thatSam Howell was then traded for for Seattle
and they they got really busy.It's like they didn't realize that we had
John last Tuesday. I believe itwas, so I'm not sure what they
were thinking. So Sam how isinteresting. You know, they get him
effectively. They flop you know,a fifth and a sixth, and they

(22:10):
flop a third and a fourth.So he goes for a third and some
other moving around, but you geta fourth in return. They had two
third round picks. Sam holl comesin. It sounds like there won't be
a quote competition, but you know, in the twenty one and twenty one
touchdown interception rate, I mean there'sa lot of numbers that don't look good.
At the top of the list,Steve, I think would be the
fact that the dude got sacked sixtyfive times. That's probably not all on

(22:32):
him. What do you guys thinkof Sam How? Yeah, this is
an interesting one. I know therewere rumblings that Seattle really really liked him
coming out of the draft. Imean, not liked him enough to pick
him before the fifth round, butthey liked him enough and then go make
a move. The backup quarterback carouselis just out of control this year.
But I think the what you described. Remember when they played Washington last year.

(22:53):
I think Howell when we had talked, I believe Howell was coming off
a game where he had one ofthe best throws of the week, one
of the worst throws of the weekis a red zone interception, and one
of the best runs of the weekon a scramble on like third and long
or whatever it was. To me, that's been the same Howl experience so
far. You know, just thevery Boomer bust. You mentioned the sacks,

(23:15):
but you can also just stand inthere and make incredible throws. And
he's a quirky runner, you know, he kind of runs like a fullback
and probably shouldn't, but he's productivedoing it. So to me, I
think it's a fascinating by Low becauseif any of those backup quarterbacks that move,
you know, the Sam Howl,the Kenny Pickets, Desmond Ritter,
if any of those guys catch on, there's value there, you know,

(23:37):
either in a backup situation where youhave to start some games or in of
all of those quarterbacks. To me, I'm always interested in the Boomer bust
type of prospects because it's like,hey, if we could just cut back
on the sacks. If we couldjust cut back on some of those bad
decisions, there's something to work withthere. I know it's a big if,
but I'm interested in what they haveto work with. Let him sit

(23:59):
and develop. And again, ifHall has come in and win some games.
He has some high end potential andhe showed it with Washington. He's
just going to cut down on someof the negatives. I like you,
First of all, we got tosave that the Sam Holl experience for some
reason. For some reason, Ifeel as if at some point in the
twenty twenty four season we're going tobring that back up. Remember when Palazolo
gave us the Sam Hall experience line, that's what we just experienced this for

(24:22):
this past Sunday. I just feellike that could come up. Get ready
at some point, the Sam halexperience. But that's you mentioned that.
The quarterback market even backups. Imean, hell, look at Pittsburgh,
I mean, what the hell's goingon there? You go get fields after
you get Russ. I mean,Team Russ cannot be happy with that.
That to me is the most fascinatinglittle room that's going to be taking place
in the in the offseason. Iswhat's going on in Pittsburgh with the quarterback
room. I mean, I thinkI think part of it was, you

(24:47):
know, I think a lot ofthings analytically obviously, and I think of
the idea that you're going to takea chance on a quarterback. You're hoping
he becomes a top eight to tenguy and then you might have to move
on. And I think you're seeingthat around the league right now. And
all of that is okay. Now, the problem there is the human element
of this. Right, Kenny Pickettwas a first round pick, he was

(25:07):
a starter. They go get RussellWilson and he's not happy and he wants
out. And so to me,Pittsburgh just went and they said, okay,
so you're not gonna be the backup. We're gonna move on to another
guy that was, you know,drafted in the first round, and he'll
be our backup now and he'll bejustin Field. And so Pittsburgh was in
this, you know, kind ofa rough transition period at quarterback, and
they reshaped the room on the Chiefs. Right, got rough for barely anything.

(25:32):
They get justin Fields for basically aconditional six that could become a fourth
to just maybe try to get betterthere right, try to get the Russell
Wilson magic backs, try to developjustin fields, and that's all they can
do. When you don't have atop pick to use in the draft on
one of the top two or threeguys, that's all you can kind of
do. And I think that's whatPittsburgh's trying. Let's see, let's see

(25:52):
what we can do. We triedKenny Picketts for two years. We're willing
to move on and let's see whatwe can get out of Russ. That's
a good starting point for next weekwhen we actually now that the really Wave
one and Wave two, and withouta lot of salary cap room for us
here in Seattle, I think Ithink we can turn our off season focus
to the draft next week, sir, and maybe even talking a little bit
about quarterbacks that could be out therein the draft next week. Let's let's

(26:15):
do that. I we have Steveonon during this time of the year to
talk draft, and we haven't gota chance to do that yet. We
got plenty of time, so let'stalk draft next week when we have you
join us in all right, Iam ready all out draft talk from here
until late April. Let's do it. And no marsh madness, No marsh
madness for Pellas. I'll just strictlysitting on that caffeinated ice water from Cascade
Ice Water and powering through film ofcollege football players, and we'll start using

(26:38):
that knowledge next week. Have agreat week, sir. Thanks Thanks.
I was drinking the Cascade ice onmy sixteen hour trip back to Massachusetts last
week, so that was, ohgosh, ringing endorsement get me through the
trip. I'm going to pass thatalong our guy Todd's gonna love hearing that.
So we'll have to get some moreout to you soon and we'll do
that. Thanks man, talk toyou next week. That's good, Thank
you. There you go. StevePalazolo joining US Pro Football Focus p f

(27:03):
F dot com. You can subscribethere. Other draft guides up right now.
It's fantastic material. You can gocheck that out at PFF dot com.
All the free agent to grades,all that stuff is all up there
p f F p f F dotcom. All right, take a break,
come back, we'll check in withthe Daily power Play. Next.
Baulkin shoots one in on gold deflectionand they start. It's crasby stop.

(27:30):
This is the Daily power Play.Deep Slot one timer mckenneth now Ian Fernez,
Sun Sports Radio ninety three point threek j r f M Daily Power
playing You're Home for the Crack atninety three point three kJ r f M

(27:55):
Cracking on their way to Vegas.They are taking on the Golden Knights tomorrow
and then against the Coyotes in Tempeon Friday, fifth and final back to
back games the Kraken will play thisyear. They're one two to one in
the first game at back to backsthis season. Well Borgan's going to play
his two hundred NHL game tomorrow.Andre Berkowski has come alive as of late.

(28:15):
Six points in his last six games, four goals and two assists.
I mean those are against Vegas.I should say Vegas will be a little
bit of a focus the last matchup. In our What's Krack and TV show
tonight seven o'clock over on Fox thirteen, Darren Brown, Sound of Hockey,
myself Chris Krabtree will discuss Andrews.You produce and cover a lot of games

(28:42):
for the Kraken. Would you agreewith me the most? And we're going
to discuss this tonight with the fellasthe most impactful pivotal play of the twenty
twenty three to twenty four season probablycame in the last matchup between these two
teams, with sixteen seconds left fromthe crack and holding a one goal lead,

(29:03):
and with sixteen seconds left to go, they decided to not find where
Jonathan Marshashaw was and boom, nextthing you know, it's a tie game.
They lose an overtime. Not onlycould you not afford to lose the
game, whether regulation overtime, youcouldn't afford it to go to overtime,
right, You didn't want to givethem that extra point. It was a
massive swing and they have not beenthe same since. No, And it's
it's a huge you could tell.But just to drop off of the play,

(29:26):
it's like that. It's like thatone play and that one goal with
like what sixteen sixteen seconds left,My god, it changed the transje yep,
and I think it was Alexiak hada chance to rim it Outphi and
hard baby, get it out ofthe court. Just get it out,
man, Just get it out.Find a way. My old h when

(29:51):
I was in Salt Lake, ourold coach, remember the New York Islander
Stanley Cup champion teams. But scoringused to say. He used to yell
at my guy, Rod Miller,who was a defenseman, Hey, kiss,
what do you mean kiss? Kiss? Keep it simple? Stupid?
Ah, yes, fantastic, getright out of the zone, high off
the glass, Nope, rimmed itout, didn't get out, puck in

(30:12):
the back. They have not beenthe same, not the same. It's
it's crazy how much like that oneplay in eighty two games kind of changed.
I mean, who's to say thatthey were gonna wing it, but
they haven't been the same. No, And it's like they kind of gave
up after that. So at leastthat's what it seems like on the ice,
it feels. It just feels.I mean, it's a lost cause.

(30:33):
Now they're they're they're not officially eliminated, but they're out. I watched
just a little bit of practice todaywhen we're out there taping our show,
and I saw it's interesting. Ijust think this is, let's say something
positive for a second. Joanni Gordon, first guy on the ice again.
Every time, it's just he's shovelingice for his goal goal tenders. It's

(30:55):
just it's just it's sometimes it's thelittle things, you know, when I
look back on this, I mean, he hasn't had the best season,
but man, you get everything fromthat guy, and it doesn't matter if
it's at CPA, in a gameon the road, in a game one
of the eighty two, or inpractice. I watched him come out early
today just working on a shot,working on some little things. He was

(31:18):
out there a couple three minutes beforeanybody else was. It's ten thirty practice.
It was ten, ten, tentwelve when he was out there,
just something. You know. Nextguy out by the way was Jordan Everley
just signed a new contract, right, Like that's what you need to know
about those guys. Like there's WillBorgan out there early, kyler Yamamoto,
guy's been in an on lineup outthere early. I mean just that those

(31:42):
are the things that you just kindof look ook at. You've got guys
you can build around, some highcharacter dudes, and then you got some
others that just yeah, some passengers. You've got some passengers on the good
good train crack and the need togo. Yeah, but those guys are
not it, man, they arenot it. And I just I I
watched me some thirty seven out therejust knipe and doing his thing. We
get just working on the little things, and you just kind of nod your
head and go, that's that.That's the guy that you you want in

(32:07):
your room and you want him around. But anyway, that's Uh, what's
cracking seven o'clock tonight over on Foxthirteen. Do we have Cracking Weekly tonight
and same time probably seven o'clock herein KJR. Okay, so you got
that, you got all things crackingtonight on the radio on TV. We'll
check out once. Why not?Why wouldn't you can? Well, you
can record the TV easier. Yeah, that's true. I mean I can
go back and listen to Cracking WeeklyI think podcast page. Yeah, yeah,

(32:29):
so go check them both out.I don't know who's on with this
one watch the other. Yeah.Okay, we're good, We're good.
No offense, no offense. Momentsaway. Now from the Star Rentals Sports
to us your ninety three point threekJ R FM sports headlines. Biggest news
of the day. These headlines broughtto you by Buddies, Goodies and Glass

(32:51):
A huge breaking news we all earnedthis morning. Just after five months at
Washington Athletic director Troy Dannon trades inpurple and gold for Scarlet and Cree of
Nebraska. He's out the door,six year deal guaranteed with the Huskers out
there, and we all we'll continueto have reaction. You are definitely going
to want to turn tune into Softyat three o'clock today as he and Dick

(33:14):
react to this news. We hadreal baseball this morning. Padres and Dodgers
faced off in South Korea show.Hey Otani recording two hits in his Dodgers
debut. LA's eighth inning rally ledtwo four runs and a five to two
win. Now, let's get intothe show, all right, two o'clock
hour. I in finus with you, thanks for joining us here. On

(33:36):
ninety three point three KJRFM by tobuy a snow call me Casino Snowcasino dot
Com reached out a couple of daysago for uh so, I'm gonna get
a couple of seahawks on. Guysthat have signed contracts, Guys we've talked
to before, Guys we've found theradio show that are coming back top of
the list, number eighty seven tightEnd. Noah fan, He joins us
right now on the Beacon Plumbing hotLine. Noah, how are you?

(33:59):
I'm doing good. How are youguys? We're good, We're good.
Uh, You're back in the fullwith the Seattle Seahawks. And it was
a it feels like a fairly shortlived free agency. What was it like?
Yeah, I mean, pre agency, it's crazy, lots of you
know, lots of fields and interestand call some different different suitors. But
Seattle was the best fit for me, and it was a really cool situation

(34:22):
to be able to go back there, especially with a lot of familiar faces
in the building and uh, youknow, a new coaching staff that I'm
excited to play for. So it'llit'll be really good. I want to
get to the coaching staff Mike McDonald, Ryan Grubb in just a second.
But were you close at all?Did you contemplate did you think about going
anywhere else? Were there other offerscoming in? Was it or was Seattle

(34:45):
always your number one in your priority? Yeah, I mean obviously I was
always open to her to going backto Seattle. That was the that was
the first thing on the docket.But there was definitely other other offers out
there, other interests that were youknow, waighing our options and and things
like that with my agent. So, but you know, turned out all
all all fitted right, and UHwas able to go back to Seattle on

(35:08):
a good deal for me, SoI was I was happy to be able
to go back there. Uh.When you when you came here a couple
of years ago, you know,you came via a trade, so you
had no control over that. Andthat's got to be the hardest thing for
a player, right when you don'thave control. But you came here and
it's Pete Carroll and and you knowyou're part of the Russell Wilson trade.

(35:29):
There's all this stuff going on,but it was a Pete Carroll and the
Pete Carroll group. Now that they'regone, let me look back just before
I look ahead to Mike McDonald,because Pete's you know, I think he
should be a Hall of Famer.He led this team, was only Super
Bowl ever, you know, incredible, incredible coach. But what was Pete
Carroll like for you as a player, What was it like to play for

(35:50):
him the last couple of years.Yeah, obviously, you know, it's
always a misse amount of respect aroundCoach Carroll's name, and I actually enjoyed
playing for him, you know,regardless of the excitement of playing for the
new coaching staff or not. Obviouslyyou show your respect to previous coaches.
And I've always enjoyed playing for Pete, you know, great, great coach

(36:13):
and you know, always brought theenergy every every day and made it fun
to go to work. So there'salways that respect there for sure. No
one, did you ever what's agood story? What like the first time
you walked in it was a basketballcompetition in the in the auditorium or or
something. Do you have a goodPete Carroll story that you kind of were
like, Damn, I'd never seenthis before in football, whether it was
at Ile or it did Denver,I never saw this type of stuff before.

(36:36):
Was there any a Pete Carroll energymoment or something that jumped out at
you? Yeah, I mean itwas really just all of it. I
Mean, he runs his program unlikeany other and like you guys said,
the from the shootoffs and the TVTthe different types of meeting, but they
you know, plank on people alittle bit and stuff like that. Just
him being bouncing off the walls thatpractice and running back and running gassers that

(37:00):
practiced is just like it's something sucha cool thing to kind of experience,
especially you know, with the guyand she's a seventy two years old,
so it was it was definitely onefor the books and and a great memory.
And you know, I definitely enjoyedthat time Nola fan joining us here
on the Beacon Pumpany, holl I'mback with your Seattle Seahawks this season and
resigning after a brief flirtation with freeage. How's the hand, by the

(37:21):
way, I know you left thatlast game against Arizona with the hand injury.
You all good, healthy to getready to go? Yeah, no,
I'm doing well. I uh,it was that was a crazy situation.
I fractured a bone in my handas it's right after the season,
and I had to plate put inand so it's all good to go and
it feels great. I love itall. Right. Well, so the
decision comes to come back to Seattle, it's the organization. Let's start first

(37:42):
with a general manager, because I'msure you were talking to John before you
started talking to Mike McDonald and RyanGrubb. You know, the Schneider's the
one constant in the organization. Wasthat an influence for you to come back
Having John still here? Yeah,definitely, I think I think that that
relationship with John has always been reallygood. He's always had for me and
coming over in the trade and thingslike that, and you know, I

(38:02):
was able to have some good conversationswith him, and you know, I
think he's one of the one ofthe best games out there, man.
I mean from the honest conversations thatme and him have had and just talking
about where my game can go andand all those things and where I fit
into things. I just I hada respect for that and you know,
wanted to still be a part ofthat so with him. So I'm excited

(38:23):
for that. We kind of fellas a level of excitement us in the
media and Noah that when we metMike McDonald for the first time, I
had a chance to do a sitdown interview with him in a radio setting,
and we've talked to him on TVand everything else, and it feels
like with him, Uh, there'sa there's an aura about him and it's
hard to explain, but you know, some guys have the it factor.

(38:44):
Pete certainly had it, but ina different way. Pete's energy was just
like you said. I mean,the dude was seventy two years old and
he's running around with more energy thanany of us can combine. But Mike
McDonald kind of had that IT factorat least when I met him and first
interacted with him. What was yourfirst impression? What are your impressions of
Mike McDonald's. Yeah, I thinkI think from when I was first talking
with him, you know, obviouslygreat coach and obviously you know, coming

(39:07):
from uh being the DC at theRavens, he knows what he's doing,
I mean, young coach, allthose things. I think the biggest quality
that I've kind of that kind ofleads into that hit factor with him is
that I could already tell just fromlike a short conversation with him that it's
easy to follow him, Like it'seasy to like he's the leader of men
and knows how to really get getthe most out of each person, and

(39:29):
you know, just talk with himabout you know, just figuring out,
you know, where guys fit intothe program and wanted to all do it
together and things like that, reallyunderstanding exactly you know each player and who
they are. I can tell thathe's really going to put his all into
it. So I'm excited for that. Yeah, I mean, I not

(39:50):
to bring up bad memories. Butwhat they did to you guys defensively in
Baltimore. I was at that game. That was no fun. So I'm
sure for you you're like, Okay, that's cool. I'm glad to have
this guy on. Jumped out youabout that defense that day. I mean,
obviously they shut everybody out and theydid what they did, But what
jumped out of you about what MikeMcDonald and that defense was all about.
Yeah, I mean that was definitelyone of the best defenses that we played

(40:13):
against. I think they do areally good job of disguising different things.
But the guys in blitches, thisguysing coverage, disguising all these they have
all these different looks, so youhave to be really on your p's and
q's of like what you need todo and what's you need to be looking
for and things like that. So, I mean, I couldn't imagine a
better person to take into talent thatwe have on defense. And uh,

(40:36):
you know, I'm excited just toreally see what you know, he's going
to do on that top of theball. So I think it's gonna be
great. Nofan joining us for acouple more moments. All right, Well,
for you to come back, Iwould assume that, and and maybe
I'm wrong here, but I'll makean assumption. No fan joining us he
infronts with you this afternoon. Iwould assume that that for you to come
back, you'd want to have anopportunity to get really more involved in the
offense. And when you've got thosethree receivers, when you got JSN as

(40:59):
a second and your guy and throwTyler and DK in the mix, I
mean, there's there. But Ialways kind of look back. It's like,
hey, wait a second. TheSan Francisco forty nine ers have debo.
Uh, They've They've got Ayuk.They've got some guy named McCaffrey.
It's pretty good and catches balls.Jennings is there as well, but Kittle
still gets the ball. So Inever buy into the fact that you can't

(41:19):
get you know, everybody involved atsome point. But for you, you
know, you should have been inthe end zone. I still think you
were. Monday night football. That'sfine, didn't matter. You guys score
the next play. But but foryou, as a red zone target and
a tight end who is athletic andcan really do some damage down the seams,
you got to get some assurances.So what have your conversations been like
with Ryan Grubb Because the new offensivequartern came in and I don't you probably

(41:43):
don't watch a lot of Washington footballlast year, but he used the tight
end. Jack Westover is gonna getdrafted, Devin Colp's gonna get drafted.
They're two tight ends. So thisguy knows how to use it. But
what what were the conversations like withhim? With Ryan Grubbing? You,
Yeah, I know, I meanobviously from the start, it's just been
us really getting to know each other. I like it. We all we
both know each other's past, pasttrack records, and he knows what he's

(42:06):
getting in me, and I know, just like you said that there,
you know, he does runs theoffense that are great at using tin ends.
So I think more of the anything, it's just been us getting to
know each other, getting to knowwhat my goals are, getting to know
you know, how he sees,how he sees some things to be fitting,
and going from there. So Ireally enjoyed like being able to talk
to them, you know, beforefree agency because I was still on the

(42:29):
team currently and being able to kindof feel that out and talk to him
and talk to coach McDonalds and thosethings, because it was like part of
the reason was like, Okay,I feel comfortable to be able to know
that I can go back here.So I think that's that's the biggest thing.
What are your goals? What?What? What you mentioned though?
What? What? What are somethings what can you share with us in
Seahawk fans? Yeah, I thinkthe biggest I mean the biggest thing,

(42:52):
like you guys said, is justbeing more involved. Obviously, you know,
I'm I'm never going to you know, blow up shop or anything.
I wanted to be doing the bestthing I could to help us win last
year, but definitely thought there wassituations where I could be more involved and
more targeted. But that was lastyear. So this year, I'm just
looking to you know, be moreinvolved in that on that standpoint, and

(43:13):
you know, really be able touse all all my athletic gifts and and
get into that end zone a fewquite a few times. So I'm excited
for it. And and uh,like you said, I know that you
know, there's other targets and stuff, and we have really great receivers and
things like that, but like yousaid, we got the forty nine ers
that are a prime example and adivision rival that you know they're able to

(43:34):
do it, so why not us? So I'm I'm that's the that's the
you know, the standpoint I'm takingto it. The what's your relationship like
with Gino? Because you know theyyou guys signed Sam Halle from Washington,
but but John's not. Johns Shutterhas been on record saying it's probably gonna
be a quarterback competition. It's stillGeno's, it's still Gino's job. What's
your what's your relationship like? Whatare your thoughts on Geno? Yeah?
No, I think my relationship withGino is great. I think that,

(43:58):
you know, over the last twoyears talking to him, you know,
being able to play with each other, I think that it's it's been something
that's been super easy. So uh, I'm excited to you know, keep
that going. And uh, youknow, I think that he has all
the tools to be able to getus there, and uh, you know,
I'm excited and uh to see whereexactly you know, what the new
OC with grubs. Uh, I'mexcited to see exactly to which heights we

(44:22):
can take things. So I'm I'mI'm I'm looking forward to that. I
don't want to end on a downnote, but I will end on this
just because I think it's it's worthmentioning you guys. You know, for
the last two years, he hadsome serious consistency in there with you and
Colby and Will in that tight endroom and Tyler Mabray who's still with you
guys and has resigned, and Tyler'scoming back, who's on the practice squad
last year. But uh, italways kind of felt like watching you guys

(44:42):
warm up and as a group,pretty tight knit group with you and and
Will Disney and Colby Parkinson. Theyboth move on, uh to other teams.
Uh. How does It's the NFL, right, that's the way it
works. It's just part of thebusiness. But a little bittersweet to see
those guys take off and get opportunitieselsewhere. Yeah, definitely, I mean
obvious, you always build those relationshipsand that's when at the same time,

(45:05):
it's like you said, it's alwayscool to see those guys be able to
go get those contracts and and beable to uh get some you know,
life change money and be in areally good situation for them. So that's
always a really cool thing. Butyou know, obviously I always say this,
it is like in any any tightend room, You're gonna be hard
pressed to find a tid end roomthat's not pretty close knit and pretty you

(45:27):
know, like's having fun together andthings like that. It's just something about
the tight end tradition that gets theseguys in there that you know, like
to have a good time and anduh like to you know, make some
good friends and stuff. So Iexpect fully expect the same thing. And
then we signed Farrell and you stillgot Tyler, Yeah, still got Ready
Russell and you know those guys.So I mean I'm really excited for them,
you know, definitely still still superclose with uh Tyler Mabry. That's

(45:52):
my guy. So that'll be agood start to the room for sure.
I think he could be a prettygood player, don't you. I think
that guy's got it that all thetime. Man. I mean I know
that, you know, our tightwas pretty packed this last year. But
I've been able to you know,be around a little bit, being Denver
be here, and he's got time. Man. I really do believe that.
And I think that it just takesit, you know, sometimes it

(46:14):
takes a little bit of time toreach your uh, you know, to
get on your path. But man, that dude, I got a lot
of faith in him, and Ithink that he's got a real shot to
to do some dammage. So I'mexcited for him and know ill I will
end it on this. This isa good note for you. You'll enjoy
this. Uh. I'm assuming youdidn't shed any tears as a guy who's
on the line of scrimmage and hasto do a lot of blocking as well

(46:34):
as pass catching. When you sawthat ninety nine for the Rams retired,
when when Aaron Donald stepped away,Yeah, that's definitely you know, that's
definitely helped for everyone involved, forsure. I mean, obviously you never
turned down the competition, but that'sa that's a different level of you know,
obviously first ballot Hall of Famer guy, So that's a different level of
a level of player right there.But yeah, you gotta be a little

(47:00):
bit happy that a guy like thatretires. It's like, hey, man,
nice career, congrats, go enjoyyourself. See I don't. Yeah,
for sure, it's fun going againstyou. I can tell my grandkids
about it, but I don't needto see you anymore, man, that's
all right, take off right,Hey, sir, I'm sure, I'm
sure you know he's excited, andyou know, I'm pretty happy that he
will be getting Hey man, whetherit be Kyler Murray or Geno Smith,

(47:24):
brock Purty, that's one thing allthese guys in this division have in common.
It's like, hey, you know, tip of the cap, best
I've seen. Thanks about say allthe nice things and just you know,
go enjoy retirement and don't plan oncoming back, buddy, have a good
one. Go find a beach somewhere. Hey, Noah, thanks so much
for coming on in the off season. Glad to hear you're healthy with the
hand, and we'll look forward toseeing your t's in the mini camps.

(47:44):
All right, Yeah, thank youguys for talking. There you go,
that's Noah Fan joining us here onthe Beacon Plumbing Hotline this afternoon. Great
having him on as he comes backto Seahawks. And and you know,
thirty two catches last season, fourand fourteen yards didn't find the end zone.
And I'll just you know, youcan kind of tell when you talk
to him and you listen to whathe says about I'm never gonna be the

(48:07):
guy to blow things up, Ithrow a tantrum and do that stuff.
But he did feel and I likedhere, and like, yeah, there
was opportunities there and there were youknow, it just i'd laugh this morning,
God was it. I don't knowwhat show was. I'm just flipping
through the channels and I heard someoneraving about how the Bears have taken these
massive steps forward because they're gonna getKayleb Williams, and they got rid of

(48:27):
Justin Fields and they now have ShaneWaldron in there. And like, I
don't think Shane Waldron would have beenback even if Pete Carroll was he was
still here. I think they weregonna make They had to make a move
that, you know. It justit just there was too many times when
you'd look and say, hey,as a game war on or as things
took place, it just wasn't there. And I thought Curtis, Curtis or

(48:50):
Corbin once we talked about it,it's like it looked like he schematically looked
like game planning wise, you know, we felt like Waldron was pretty good.
Most guys seem to be good aboutthat. It was in game.
It just never kind of clicked,and part of it is, Man,
you've got guys that are mismatches,no offense, A pretty athletic dude,
and there's a reason he was afirst round pick. Use him. Thirty
two catches, four hundred and fourteenno touchdowns, just not enough, like

(49:14):
not enough. This is a guythat can be a dude for you,
and so I want to see whathe can do in the future before we
get to text spot on the hourfour nine four or five to one on
the Tulomari team Tullamore do text linewat game time, god Ian, what
the hell is going on? Marchmad has started yesterday. We've got it

(49:37):
on nine to fifty tonight right,I believe the playing games games starting tomorrow
at nine am Pacific time, rightafter Chuck and Buckdal They'll end an hour
early tomorrow nine o'clock courtesy of Westwoodone and UH and all of our great
sponsors will tell you about the nextsegment too, And don't forget to go
to ninety three to three kjro dotcom and fill out your bracket right now.
Some great prizes including tickets to literallyeverything crack in Mariners Sounders. You

(50:00):
do have football, you love basketball, pizza, gift card from Peysique,
so much more. Go fill thosebrackets out, but they got into the
way. Yesterday, the very firstgame was Wagner and Howard. It was
a matchup of two sixteens are goingto take on North Carolina. The winners
was gonna take on North Carolina.Wagner Seahawks defeated Howard seventy one sixty eight.
Great game. It was a blowoutfor most of the game. Wagner

(50:21):
led start to finish. Howard cameback, had a chance to tie.
They had three shots to a threepointer to tie at the end. They
fell just short. After the game, Bryce Harris, who is kind of
the star player for the Howard Bison, he scored sixteen points in that game.
He sat down at the podium andI wanted to play this sound because
in a day in which our breakingnews is an athletic director leaving a school

(50:44):
to go to another school, maybechasing the money, maybe not coaches leaving
for bigger opportunities, everybody walking aroundsaying nil. Monday, the portal opened
for college basketball, even though we'rein postseason right now, and there were
five hundred people within the first fortyeight hours in that portal. It will
be over two thousand probably when it'sall said and done. Everyone's saying,

(51:05):
what can you give me? Nilthis? Coaches wanting more money, athletic
directors wanting more money. Network's payingjust stupid money for big schools and big
conferences. After the game yesterday,Bryce Harris in postgame after losing a first
four game, had these words aboutI think what college sports still should be
and for many are all about.Just to reiterate, it comes down.

(51:34):
It comes down to basketball, butalso comes down to having connections with who
we are as long as teammates buthuman beings. You know, playing on
a basketball team is one of themore beautiful things in life because it gives
you a group of brothers who havea common goal, and it allows you
to have a deeper connection past justbeing a teammate. You know. So

(51:57):
what we speak a lot about ishaving brothers, you know, And when
I have brothers, You're gonna gothrough things with your brothers. You're gonna
have good moments, You're gonna havebad moments. You're gonna have moments where
you're mad at your brother, yourbrother's mad at you. But you guys
have to go through the rocky mountainand get over it, so especially to
reach to reach that common goal.So I mean, you know, in

(52:17):
a nutshell, that's basically what thatwas. You know, just understanding each
other, you know, understanding ourwives, you know why we play the
game, you know who introduced usto the game, what's carrying us through
any type of adversity that we have, whether it's basketball wise or in life
in general, and just carry onand be able to lean on one another.

(52:43):
That's Pryce Harris from Howard sixteen.See that lost yesterday in a first
four game, and it resonated withme because I've mentioned this a number of
times on the air, and andersyou an athlete, and you know,
I mean, it's gonna be unright. It's your teammates, it's your
teammates. And it's the part thatI never can comprehend. And I think
sometimes when I say this, peoplethink that I'm, you know, old

(53:06):
guy yelling at clouds, not thinkingkids should should have an opportunity to make
money and things like that, Andthat's the furthest thing from the truth.
That's not the case at all.I just wonder what has been lost over
the last couple of years with collegeathletics, because what it should be about,
whether you're playing high school sports orcollege sports at any level, no
matter what the sport is, itshould be what Bryce Harris just said,

(53:30):
It's about the bonds and the friendshipsthat you make with your teammates. It's
also why I find it really hardas a parent to understand and would find
it hard as a parent to understand. Listen, transfers happen, and they
happen for a reason if if you, you know, if my kid wasn't
playing at all and saw no windowof opportunity to play at a particular school.

(53:53):
I totally get I get that,like I one hundred percent get that,
because there are certain positions you're quarterbackor whatever, where you just you
don't see a lane to get everon the playing field, surface, court,
whatever it is. I understand that. But the multiple transfers I don't
like, multiple times, three fourtimes. I don't get that. I

(54:15):
cannot comprehend that. And yeah,our school has them, every school has
those kids. I get that,But I don't get the fact that you
go through all these things because thebond of your teammates and who usually end
up being half of your roommates shouldbe the most important thing in twenty years
from now. You're probably not talkingabout the three schools. You're talking about

(54:37):
my buddies and my teammates and mybrothers or my sisters, whatever might be,
And that's what's being lost. Iheard my buddy Gary Peiris say this
today on this podcast, and Ithought it made sense. When you open
the portal as early as we havenow for both sports football and basketball,
right after the season, the mediasee after the season, you're dealing with

(55:01):
so much emotion, frustration, etc. That you can't make a rational decision.
You're not thinking about the bigger picture. You're thinking about, Man,
this dude didn't this dude didn't playme. Screw him, I'm out of
here type of thing. And you'regoing and you're like, wait a second,
I'm not thinking about I like theschool, I like my academic progress,

(55:22):
I like the path I'm on toget my degree. I like my
roommates. I love my roommates.I love my teammates. No, you're
being told to make a decision twentyfour hours after your season comes to an
end. You're not rational. You'renot thinking about all the things that Bryce
Harri has just talked about Hell,this guy made transfer next year, who
knows, but it sounds like he'smade some bonds and some friendships at last
a lifetime, and I think thathas to be taken into account. Sometimes

(55:42):
we got to protect ourselves against ourselves. And in the case of the NCAA,
this is another great example of justtake a step back, change what
those rules are, don't go downthe road all the time of like the
immediacy of it, like wait,just wait. The fact that they've got
the portal open during the middle ofMarch, before March Madness starts, before

(56:04):
the nit starts, is just mindboggling stupid. It's it's the dumbest thing
ever. But again, think aboutwhat Bryce Harris said and always remember that
that's what it should be about.Again, whether you're playing high school sports,
your kids playing high school sports,hell, whether your kid's playing grade
school sports right now. I mean, any parent knows this. Some of
your best friends, your kids bestfriends are probably who his little league or

(56:27):
her little league softball, baseball teammates, football teammates. Those are probably your
best friends. Not many people areno a fan and get into the show.
That's what matters,