Career Advice and Industry Lessons

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So it just so happens in the last week I made a connection that I didn't know at the time. I didn't care to somebody at Purdue that over the course of Jaden Ivey's career was in the mix with Jaden Ivey at Purdue. I won't say, I'll just say he was in the mix. And so I called this person on the Jaden Ivey story, and he said, um injuries are tough for Jaden Ivey because he was a gym rat, and if you took the ball away and the gym away he could get lost and he could he struggled um and that he didn't really mesh well with a lot of people at Purdue and then I called an NBA source last night and he said, Well, if Detroit's letting you go and you're a top five pick and they're desperate for guards to go with Cade Cunningham, there's an issue. He said the bigger issue is that the Bulls didn't do due diligence, that the bulls should know better. Like it was well known at Purdue, well known in Detroit, that and I and I don't like when the media talks about, you know, mental illness. I'm not making that leap. That's not that's not I'm not in that space. I did say today though, Danny , um, because I heard a lot of Christians say, well, so you'll keep the criminals , but you'll fire him. And I'm gonna give you what I said on the air. I said at the volume, I have 60 employees. If one of them ever committed a crime, misdemeanor, DUI, something that's illegal, something that's serious, but they were tremendous workers, contrite, apologized, were well liked. I would not fire them. However, if you said quite legally, uh you started talking race, religion , politics at work, and were a bad hang, and it was not productive for the chemistry at the volume, I would fire you. And so this idea that well , what about the criminals? What about, you know, Josh Giddy's story, which was allegations, nothing proven, where it's only allegations, nothing proven, but in small, I would guess conservative OKC , Sam Presti's like, this isn't gonna work. But big city Chicago's like, yeah, we think it is. And he's been terrific. So I guess my take was it's easy to jump to, hey, this is it's religion , it's freedom of speech. Well, we know that argument doesn't hold water. But my take is a lot of times, Danny, that if if you are not good in the room, if you're a bad hang , politics, race , um, religion, they're tough topics in the workplace, are they not? They're tough topics anywhere. Um, and then you certainly don't want them in the workplace , and you've experienced this in your career, I'm sure . There are different rules for different people . Yes. Taylor built Belichick stories. Yeah, like we I will treat all of you fairly, but I will not treat all of you the same. Right? That that's like a tenant of coaching, that's a tenant of leadership. Not everyone knows to, not everyone gets treated the same. If Jaden Ivey was averaging 25 and 12, he could probably ask Joe Cowley, the beat reporter of the Sun-Times, if he had consummated his marriage in the proper way in the eyes of the Bible. Whatever. Like like that that's a I pulled I pulled it up because like for anyone who doesn't know the story, like here's a paragraph from Joe Cowley's column on Jaden Ivy. And Joe Cowley, again, beat writer for the Bulls for the Sun Times, a buddy of mine. Yeah. Yeah, he's good. Before Ivey even stepped foot in Chicago, there were rumblings from Detroit that he was a quote preacher, end quote. Those rumblings undersold it. His interviews became sermons in which he asked reporters whether they had been quote saved and whether they had quote fornicated before marriage, end quote. My bad, I was just checking in on how your knee felt. Like that is odd workplace behavior . You know what I mean? So like but it and and he wasn't performing and the bulls were bad. And so I think you just add all of this up and then you add on the social media stuff. And I certainly was not watching all of his Instagram lives, but like it's just if you become a distraction in the locker room and you are unprofessional in your dealings with professional media, and then you bring it out publicly, so it's not even a story that can be contained because you're doing it on, you know, IG Live, broadcasting it to thousands and thousands of people . It it was a pretty obvious decision for the Bulls, though they have a ton of egg on their face, because again, according to Cowley's reporting, at least some of this was known from Detroit, and this is a front office that has really, really struggled. And also, no players apparently are sad to see him go. Again, based on Cowley's reporting. So it's like you traded for a guy who wasn't good, was a distraction , was unprofessional, and wasn't liked, that's not doing due diligence. That's just a terrible look for the front office. Well, and the other thing is, listen, I do think Christians sometimes get marginalized. The media, I think we would both admit, can be snarky and dismissive. Sure. But there are also Christians who love to uh play the victim and they always feel persecuted. And it's like, guys, you can talk about the Christian thing all you want. Replace his opinions on religion and make them about politics. Now, people will say, well, what about Steve Kerr? Steve Kerr's got multiple trophies. Well, what about Greg Popovich? Not the same rule for every person. That's right. What about Popovich? Popovich is a legend. He's a top three coach in the history of the league. Jaden Ivey is a disappointing, weird player that is injured. And when he goes into rehab, even at Purdue, I'm I I made one call. That's that's my disappointment with the Bulls, the diligence. I made one call. I had one interaction with a Purdue person and they're like, Yeah, he wasn't well liked there. He once he he got I think he got hurt his freshman year, he didn't get to go to the gym, and they're like, he went sideways. He he he was a guy that now I do I think the media should be talking about mental health issues? We don't know shit about that. I mean get let's get out of that space completely. But and I and I've said this before. I Danny, I'm sure you've done this. I've worked at four or five radio stations , two networks, multiple TV stations. You know, in Tampa, I worked with a weirdo and it was a reporter and he got sent out the door and he was very, very capable. He was weird. And it's like he didn't do anything illegal . He just made people uncomfortable. And it's like, bye-bye. And companies have a right to do that. And so, you know, again, that this this kind of perpetual victimhood, the Christians are being attacked. If it doesn't listen, it could be he could have just gotten into politics. And now I know people do say, well, the NBA is very anti-Trump. All right. Well, it's a very, you know, they are , but again , um Kuran Popovich have sort of led the brigade on sort of anti-Trump politics, but they're also not playyers. The're long-term contract management positions. So that's the way the world works. Yeah, listen, and I'm sure that there's plenty of owners in the NBA that are pro- Trumps. So listen, I do not look at the Jaden Ivey situ ation as a freedom of speech issue. No, it's not a free issue. You know, like like but so if that if that if that is being taken up as his cause or his plight and he's good, well then twenty teams should be in line to sign him . But my guess is that's not going to be the case. You know, like if he if he is good enough to get the job, he will. Sports are a meritocracy, ultimately.. Right It's the it's the ultimate meritocracy, more so than politics, more more so than any other form of life. It is the ultimate meritocracy. So if Jaden Ivey has gotten to the point where the juice isn't worth the squeeze. We've seen that time and time and time again. Yes. In every industry. Exactly. Exactly. So I I don't I don't feel sorry for him. I looked at it more through the prism of just another sign of incompetence by the front office of the team that I root for and it's hard to continue to miss the playoffs in the NBA Colin. Most teams make it. Yeah. Well, you know, uh and other I mean, I work for Fox. They got rid of Tucker Carlson and Bill O'Reilly because Bill O'Reilly was so inappropriate, you know, people were getting sued. Now, so well, there are lines in terms of inappropriate behavior. You know, and Fox got rid of people that they thought were entirely inappropriate. So Tucker Carlson did, I don't know if it rises to illegal, but it was certainly inappropriate, his emails in the workplace. So this idea he should sue the NBA. He had seven games left and was going to be a free agent, and they were not going to re-sign him. Every company in any industry, public or private, can say, we're gonna uh give you a $10 million check, which the Bulls did. Here's your guaranteed money. Good luck in free agency. There's no lawsuit to be had. He's not a lawyer who got disbarred. He he didn't get sent. He wasn't in he's not being sent to a jail. It's like, dude, here's a check. Best of luck on the market. Yeah, it's not it's not the exact same situation, but you're right in terms of how quickly he was going to be gone from the Bulls anyway. When I got my job in Kansas City, um the guy before me who I was replacing had gotten a job in Dallas. So classic, just like move into a bigger market story. And I'm driving to Kansas City and I got the U-Haul, and they're like, you know, you're I'm arriving on a Monday or a Tuesday, and you're gonna start the following Monday, but come in, do your paperwork, meet everybody, we'll bring you into the radio station. And I'm driving into the radio station during the time slot of the guy that I'm replacing. And he was a bit of a shock, Jock, still working, actually. Um, and he goes , the topic was Would it be better if the Royals this year won 90 games or the owner died? And we're on the home of the royals. And I was like, oh my God, like, what are you doing? And they they're they but I got an office, they were like, Can you start tomorrow? I was like, Yeah, sure. So this guy just, you know, went out in a blaze of glory trying to make headlines and be crazy. And it's like, that's a that's a thing you could maybe do on like rock radio back in the day if you weren't affiliated with the team and it would be in poor taste, but okay. But you know, there's just there's some things that some companies are and are not willing to tolerate, and if they only have to give you pay you for four days of not working, they're gonna send you going. That's the radio equivalent. It's it's it's amazing it's so it's amazing to me how naive a lot of people are on this. If I had to read one more so you'll keep criminals but let him go for free speech. It's like oh people, this this is not complicated. I said this today. There are tens of thousands of Americans. Tens of thousands of Americans have been arrested. Some seriously, and they are working and highly productive today in corporations or private companies. And there are tens of thousands of people. What there aren't is tens of thousands of people who are viewed as bad for the room and weird and odd and preachy that remain employed for years at a company. That doesn't happen because I've been in environments where that person is shown the door. I've also worked at companies where people have done really dumb things, DUI. They apologize, they're contrite, and they remain employed. Like it's just not people are so naive. This whole NBA, NFL, we we know the NFL. NFL's got some bad guys in every locker rooms. But if they are productive and and again, and people make mistakes, and and you know, they have um they they've come to have gotten therapy or rehab, people are willing to give you second chance. America's all about the second chance. Yeah, and listen, there are clearly, and you referenced some of them with like the Fox employees earlier. Like there are clearly some like where it doesn't matter what your ratings are, and if you cross a line that is untenable for a company because of morality or illegality, then you're gone. But if there is like this is a different topic. I don't know if you want to talk Tiger Woods or not, but like Oh I do, I do. I have it on the list. Go ahead. Okay, okay, great. But like, and like this is not my main Tiger Woods opinion, but like people, there is there is seemingly some sentiment of like the PGA tour is should like cut ties with Tiger Woods . I will be floored if that happens. Right. I have plenty of tiger thoughts that we can get to, but like he is so valuable to them on so many levels. Forget captaining the rider cup or if he plays on the senior tour. Like they are trying to modernize the tournament . Over a million people watch the golf league for it's it's guys playing golf on a simulator, but they over a million people watch it when Tiger Woods plays. Like he he is like a singular force of nature that I do not believe that Augusta or the PGA Tour or his sponsors are all of a sudden going to turn their back on Tiger Woods because of this latest incident? He's too valuable to the entity. Now, that might also be part of the problem that enables him to not change his behavior, but these companies are not going to take up a more um a moral stand against their bottom line with Tiger Woods. Well, and my take on him was people always say when when um you know rich men and rich successful men, often athletes, get into car wrecks or duis . How stupid. How do you not have a driver? Number one, I get in my car five times a day. You know, it's not like Tiger's got a nine to five job. Drop me off at work and pick me up. So Tiger doesn't want to pay a million dollars, a half a million dollars a year for a guy to park outside his Jupiter, Florida home and take him to Vaughn's or uh Safeway. Okay. Secondly, a lot of successful men and athletes are adrenaline junkies. They got six cars, maybe twelve, they like to drive them, and they think they're bulletproof. So if they got a cocktail or four, if they smoke the a blunt or two, they like to get into the car and they hey man, I'm bulletproof. So when I look at that, do I feel bad for Tiger? Absolutely. I I think his job now is to be a better dad, right? The golf thing is secondary. But I I my when I hear people just jump to the how can he not how have a driver? Guys , athletes , you know, it's it's it's an outlier to find a wealthy athlete with fewer than a half dozen cars. Guys in cars. I mean, it's it's an alpha quality. It is a testosterone quality, fast car s, fast driving. And so, you know, I just um I I'm not defending the actions of Tiger, but uh in he's clearly got the a major problem. There was a story about opioids found in his body. It's awful. Well that's the deer pool is listen, the the half a million or a million dollars a year, tiger could afford it, chooses not to because of what you were talking about most likely. He likes he likes either driving his cool cars. I mean that car that he flipped was $250,000 car. Um and he probably has a lot of them. And also this is pure speculation but we have reason to believe it . I mean Tiger Woods has done some shady things with relationships and he might not want a witness to where he's going at all times to see who he might want to see. But the thing that is just so obvious that you talk about having a few drinks or smoking the b smoking a blunt, you know, he blew a zero point zero. He had no booze in his system, but they found two hydrocodone in his pocket. Like he's had a ton of surgeries . He clearly is Is listen, I can't diagnose addiction, right ? It is fair to speculate that he is addicted to pain pills, or at the very least, dependent on them, and is clearly and has just from the last EUI and the toxicology report that came out, there was a bunch of it in his system. He represents a lot of the symptoms of it, glassy eyed, puffy face , lethargic. Um a lot, you know, pill opioids are scary because they work. Like, you know what I mean? Like they're they're very it's it's big business. Someone very close to me has a serious problem with it. We've tried many different things to get them help. It's a scary thing. But if you deal with chronic pain and that the little white pill is the only thing that gives you relief, it's hard to say no to it because dealing with chronic pain is awful, but the thing that you can't do, you have to have better judgment than to get behind the wheel of a car if you're taking opioids every day. You just it's it's dangerous. Like you are a danger to yourself and society. And if he had pills in his system, which we again assume that he did based on his previous history and based on the reports of the officers at the scene and the physical evidence of he had more in his pocket . It's just dangerous, man. It's just it's just straight up dangerous. Even if he's not behind the wheel of a car, taking that being that dependent on that quantity of opioids is just a very dangerous thing. And when he's had a couple dozen surgeries at this point, it's no surprise that that's the situation that he's got himself into. So you're right about men and cars and adrenaline junkie and all that, but if he's taken a high dose of pain medicine every day for chronic pain, he's probably never in condition to drive, if we're being totally honest. Like he probably it's it's a hard thing to manage. So I I do feel badly for him, but he's gotta he's gotta stop driving somehow because or he's got to get the pain situation under control because it's dangerous, man. It's it those things are they are scary with how much they work. I don't know if you've ever had a big surgery, but like I've had spinal fusion surgery, and which is what Tiger has had. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like you can be in the most pain ever, and then you take one of those pills and you feel like you're floating. You're like, this is the greatest thing in the world. Um, so yeah, it's he's he's got a serious, serious problem on his hands. Listen, I take a three millimeter cannabis gummy about a month ago, and I felt like cheech and chong uh in a at a Hollywood party in the seventies. It's like I was so tingly and high. Uh I I woke up the next morning and I told my wife, I'm like, Yep, I'm done with cannabis gummies. She's like, How many did you take? And I'm like, half of one . I'm just, I have thin blood. I'm like, I walk by theraflu. I just walk by it and I'm knocked out. Like, I can't take anything . Today's show brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, Florida Sports book. Biggest weekend in college basketball's almost here. The round of four is set. And what a round of four it is. Michigan, Arizona, Illinois, Yukon. 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If you have a loved one who served in the military, you may qualify for reduced tuition. AMU offers flexible online programs designed to fit your schedule so you can keep moving forward wherever life takes you. Learn more at amu.ap us.edu slash military. Open doors to the future for you and your family with the help of American Military University . Pivot to this. Yeah. I am I am on an island, but I think most officials are great. Uh the NFL, according to NFL ops , over 99% of calls are right . Now , now that's NFL ops, but I think that's a fairly reasonable number. We are watching the ABS system, and what we're finding is home plate umpiring is difficult, but again, half the time the umpires are right, and there's just not that many challenges, which is pretty amazing considering batters are different sizes, the zone is different, the ball's going 98 with movement. And even when you pat your head, it's a cylinder. It's just outside. So officials are good. So there's this sense that you can't go with replacement refs . And in most instances, I think there's very few great of anything, and I'm sure you can find replacement refs. But if I'm the NFL, here's my take. All you people do is complain about baseball umpires and NBA refs . And they're full time . And our guys get 99% hit rate . Our league is growing faster than any other league, so it's clearly tolerable for television and radio and and streaming consumption . Well well it's working. Well why do we have to go full time. The other sports, I mean, you can't win an NBA series without seventy five percent of the fans claiming it's rigged. It's just an automatic, it's rigged. So my take is the NFL's like, folks, we got part-time guys , 99% right. Our games don't take 30 minutes for the last two and a half, like the NBA. We don't need an ABS system necessarily at the, you know, for our calls. And it's working. So so what what's the point of us going full time ? Yeah, the listen, the the argument for going full time is they have the money. Oh that that that's that's probably the only argument. I don't know if the 99% figure is correct. I think that officiating has been damaged, like the public perception of officiating has been damaged by HD television. Like we have this ability to microscopic slow down NBC it zoom zoom in they can show us three replays immediately before the next snap is done. And it's just total. And we're debating it for 45 seconds, for a minute, for a minute and a half on these replays. And then the rules analyst will come on TV and be like, that should be overturned. And then the ref on the field is like, call stands, and we're like, what the hell's going on? You know, so like I think that's why public um opinion on refs is so much is so out of skewed with with out of skew with the reality of it. Like, of course, they're very, very good. And umpiring is virtually impossible. I had a hard time doing it for like college-age beer league baseball when guys are hung over peeling in right field. I was an umpire for a couple of summers and I'm like, this is ridiculous. Like I I I I am straight up guessing as to what is a ball and a strike. So I can't imagine doing it at that level. But I just think that the NFL is in such a position where they're Teflon, whether they do it or don't, replacement refs or not, and they know that. They know Exactly. Exactly. And they and they know it. And so I think that yeah, I think you are probably right with the direction this goes. They win they tend to win labor standoffs with players, they'll win this one with the refs. Like they they are totally Teflon. And I agree by and large, refs are better than we give 'em credit for, but I love that ABS exists in baseball now. Oh yeah, it's great. I do love it. I it's it's a a g gameame it's a g ame show. I get a reveal and a studio audience. It's great. And it goes fast. Like it it's it might be the best use of replay since tennis. Where like tennis you know, tennis is just like in out and it's instant and it's binary, like that's never gonna be topped. But just like the speed of it, how infrequent it's used, the strategy behind like do you save this one or do you use it? Should it be the pitcher, the catcher, the batter? Like it's the the dugout can't call for it. It's great. It's a great ad for baseball . All right, let's um let's wrap it up by going uh hard rock bet . Yukon plus two and a half against Illinois, Michigan minus one and a half against Arizona. Illinois is fascinating. Uh uh they went in heavy into the Europe an market. And Brad Underwood has built a team that is intentional, that is efficient, that's got size. Pezia Stojakovich's son, they got twins from Croatia, and an under -recruited guard woggler who is just unbelievable, 6'6, impossible to defend at the college level. I think they're a handful for UConn. It's impossible to me to not take the two and a half points because Yukon is so good in the second half and they're just so built because they're so physical, they wear teams down. I I think Illinois better. I've watched them now play four times. I watched them twice in the regular season. I've watched them twice in the tournament. I think Illinois better offensively. I think they have more weapons. Um I think they're gonna be really hard to defend. I don't love um Yukon's guards. Uh, you know, Taurus Reid's obviously carried him in the first half against Duke. He's an old school big. I'd probably I think Illinois is gonna win it, and I think it's a one or a two-point game. I would probably hard rock bet take UConn in the points. What say you? So, you know, it opened at a smaller number than that. And so I and I thought the sharp side was Illinois. And so I'd probably like if I had to bet it today, I'd I was like, well, if I was willing to bet it at one or one and a half and I had to bet it today, I'd bet it uh at two and a half. I have some Yukon fut ures uh that I'm just gonna let ride so I won't be placing a bet on the other side of it. The argument I think for UConn is their coach is just much better. Like Brad Underwood has done a very nice job of recruiting, but he is not known for being a great like situational coach. They were winless all of their overtime games this year. He's not a good like , you know, play, like out of bounds play coach. And so, you know, in the event that Illinois gets out of sorts, like is he going to be able to rein it in? Uh I was at the game at the Garden when Yukon played Illinois this year. Yukon destroy ed them, but Waggler didn't play. The fact that Waggler could be is not going to be a top five pick in this draft. I mean, shows how insane the draft is. Like the this it's it's I mean, Boozer at this point , and and he played well against Yukon, but you question his athletic ability, Boozer could drop to seven. I mean, seriously. Yeah, the the dra the draft is ridiculous. Um and I think Illinois has the size where Terrace Reed should not be as dominant. Terrace Reed is a hilarious college basketball player. He he's huge. He's a pretty good athlete. He cannot go left. I like I don't understand. He can't. I he passes up wide open left-handed let like and they overguard his right shoulder. They it just it doesn't matter. He just he can always get to his spot and hit that little right-handed baby hook. I'm like, force him left. He can't do it, but it doesn't matter. He still gives you 20 and 10. Um, so yeah, I think that Yukon is a is a dog. I don't even really think this Yukon team is that good. Uh I've seen him 'cause my nephew goes there. So I saw him twice in the Big East tournament and once in the regular season game in person, all at the Garden against Illinois. Uh but Braylon Mullins has been really good in the past. He's been terrible in March. And it is possible that that shot just unlocks him because he is an NBA prospect as a shooter. So maybe he can go off for Yukon. But yeah, I like I like Illinois in that spot. And then Arizona, Michigan to me feels like the NFC championship game. Yeah. Yeah. Wh where Rams, Seahawks was the real Super Bowl. Right. I will be it. Listen, it's single elimination college basketball. Anyone can win on any given day. But I would be pretty floored if the left side of the bracket, the Illinois Yukon winner, beat the Arizona-Michigan winner. Well , you know, I think that Arizona-Michigan game is going to be all -time. Well, it's the Shaq Kobe team that beat the Blazers in seven at Staples, and you're like everybody knew the winner of that was going to be Indiana. Like it wasn't, you know, it was Rick Smith's was in big trouble. I will say this. I went to the United Center because I wanted to see Michigan in person. Yeah. It's the best passing college team I've ever seen. Oh wow. I think Mara, Adai Mara was a defensive player uh at UCLA, scored five points a game. Now he's up to about twelve points a game. And I asked uh Dusty May, the coach off the air, we were talking before we went on the air for about two minutes. And I said, I I didn't know Adayamara had an offensive game and he said he was a really good passer even at UCLA. He just didn't score a lot because you know their guard play was really good. But he has he's got it I. mean, he is really hard to defend. First of all, he's a tremendous defensive player. So he eliminates just he eliminates a lot of your ideas. It's like Wemby. Like he's just eliminating even the pursuit of certain shots, but he's a tremendous passer. And watching watching Michigan live, I mean you can there's no question. If you go to games live, it's just different. You see different things. Yeah. Um like in even in the NFL game, you don't even see the saf eties when the ball is snapped. When you go, and then you go to a game and you watch an Ed Reed and you're like, holy hell, he is everywhere. Or Earl Thomas for Seattle or Nicki Minwara, if you're a Seahawks fan, you're like, oh my god, he's so much better in person than he is on television. Michigan in person, it is wow. To do a 21-0 run I mean in the Elite Eight on a neutral floor is like whoa whoa whoa whoa. That's playing that's playing that's playing like a low end like the three hundred and eighteenth rated team at home on a on a Saturday night on homecoming or something. You know what I mean? Like that doesn't even make sen se. So I I think I Arizona's got good guards and between Michigan and Arizona, this is why the NIL is great. We could have nine NBA players . That didn't exist when when Duke and Butler played in the final, they shot under forty percent. When Duke and Yukon when when when Butler and Yukon did the following year, they shot thirty-one percent. Well, I mean that's one of the worst games of all time. But that motor you thought game was unwatchable. So the the NIL it they did it to the Indiana Hoosiers and the Miami Hurricanes. It used to be you'd have to go to junior college to solve problems, and those guys there were academic issues. They weren't very good against the competition at the JUCO. Now, ooh, we got we need a corner. And you go buy George's. Like, so you get these college teams. Like Indiana didn't have a weakness. They were literally good to great everywhere. Everywhere. Even Nick Saban's team is you'd be like, they're not very good on the O-line. They've got a bad right tackle. They, you know, their safeties are a little physical, but they can't run. So I mean, I look at Michigan and I'm like , I guess they don't have great guard play, but passing, shooting threes, size, they may have the best player. Yaksel Lindenborg, I'll take Michigan. Yeah, listen, I think it's very close. Uh Arizona's depth is impressive. They just they don't they don't make mistakes. Um you mentioned the size for Michigan though. That's the thing that jumps off for me. They're all huge like like every every every player is gigantic it's like every guard is six five every wing is six nine they've got multiple dudes that's like six eleven seven two like they're they're just huge. And so that tends to be a fairly overwhelming thing in college basketball. They were my pick before the tournament, so I will stick with them, but I do think it is a I do think that game is a is a legitimate coin flip . As As someone who said after the opening weekend of the tournament that Cinderella was dead and that they've taken some of the madness out of March, allow me this opportunity to say these games have delivered. Because that was my thing. I was like, listen, if if you're gonna give me 20-point blowouts and I can't get Cinder ella, um, and which is what the tournament was built on in terms of its popular ity, my whole thing was like, okay, but then Elite Eight Final Four title game, when it's like basically, it's one game on at a time. I don't wanna be watching blowouts. Because if you have a blowout early, but there's four games on at once, it doesn't matter. Oh, the game on TBS is a blowout, I'll lock in on true TV. True T V is a blah blah. Let's go over to CBS. And like the the beauty of the first four days is 64 down to 16, 48 single elimination games in a condensed period of time. It's just awesome TV. And I did think that the opening weekend was lacking because of the margin of victory and the lack of upsets. The end is now much better than the beginning. Correct. And it used to be a tournament that kinda that got worse as it went along because you would see a Cinderella and then they would be in a standalone window, and then they would get destroyed by North Carolina, and you'd be like, Oh, well, that wasn't a very fun Elite Eight game or whatever. And so I was like, Oh, it's still college basketball. So I was a little concerned that we were gonna get blowouts, poor play, whatever the case may be. And we got one or two, but the the second weekend was so great. And this final four should be I mean, Ken Pomeroy says that this is the greatest Final Four matchup ever based on his rating bet between Arizona and Michigan. Two highest rated teams to meet in a final four ever. Um, and so it's like, okay, well, that I'm in on that. And then you got Dan Hurley, who's going for three titles in four four years, first program to have to do that since John Wooden. Uh, and UCLA, like, okay, I'm here for that. And then Illinois is a wildly talented high-end offensive team that can score 90 points. Like it's it's great. It's great. It's like if you ran a TV network and nobody was under contract, that's what college basketball is, and you're like, oh, we could really use Mike and Tony after your show with Nick Wright and Chris Bruce Art and Kevin Wilde, and you could just go buy them, the Murdochs would go, let's just go write a check. All right, Mike and Tony's on our team. Well, that fills a hole. That's a really good half hour. And then you're like, uh, Stephen A. Smith, you want to do an hour and a half, two hours in the morning? I got no contract. All right, we'll fill that hole. That's what it is . You, you, you, every programming network, you have holes, you're like, oh, we'd like to hire somebody, but they're under contract. That's the NBA. College basketball now is like if the NBA, you could trade anybody at any time and there were no contracts. I mean, Michigan's like, you know, we're really good, but we could use a rim protector. UCLA, we'll take yours. And we could use a really dominant older physical player, kind of uh, you know, a six nine, two forty runs the floor. Oh, let's go get Yaxel Lenden borg, who would have gone pro if not for an I.L. So it's like Michigan is good, and it's just like it's just remarkable in college sports now. It is pro sports with no contracts. You could just go get. I mean, can you imagine if you know you're a Bears fan and you're like, man, we could use an we could really use an edge rusher. And and it was you could get any single player, not by trading, just go buy him. And if he liked the contract, he would come and play for the Bears at Rushd . It would it would it would be wild. It would be it would be exciting. It I don't think the leagues would go for it, but you don't think the billionaires would like that? Yeah, I don't think they would love it. I'm gonna give you a two hundred million dollar contract that you can get out of whenever you want. Um I don't think they'd sign up for it, but yeah, the it listen, and it it is a singular thing, like college basketball is a like it was kind of the only place where V CU could beat Duke, and now that's impossible. And so I do have to mourn that a little bit because you're not gonna see you can't the the equivalent of VCU doesn't exist in the NFL. In major league baseball, you know, the pirates can do it for a game, but they're not gonna do it over 162 to get there. The inequality's too big. So like it's gone, but if we keep getting final fours like this, I'm gonna forget about uh Loy ola and Florida Atlantic pretty damn quick. Danny Parkins, Tiger Woods, NFL Reps, The Final Four, and the Jaden Ivey story, which is uh it it's interesting. Whenever there's a controversial story , you know, you I knew when I did the story today