Bob Ryan and Gary Tanguay tackle the biggest stories across the game of basketball, including the Celtics' recent performance, the beginning of Caitlin Clark's WNBA career, how dangerous the Knicks are, the NBA Draft, and the Nuggets' surge back from the dead. All that, and much more!
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The Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman Podcast is powered by:
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SportsTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 Well, it is that time again for the Bob Ryan, Jeff Goodman Tagway Along for
00:26 the Ride Zoom and Pod. Jeff is on assignment. That's what we're going with.
00:31 >> [LAUGH]
00:32 >> Jeff is on assignment.
00:34 Couldn't make it today. We'll do our best to fill in for him. We are brought to you
00:39 by PrizePix, the exclusive daily fantasy partner of CLNS Media. Pick more, pick less.
00:44 It's that easy with PrizePix. Bob, we got a lot of work to do here. Just to tease,
00:50 folks, we will talk Caitlyn. The Knicks are dangerous. The draft, eh. And how about those
00:56 nuggets? But we lead off with the Celtics. And despite the fact that they are in control
01:01 of what we've seen so far in the playoffs, the quality of their play, are you concerned?
01:07 >> Yes, I'm wary. I hate to use the word skeptical. But then I keep thinking about it. Are we
01:17 all overreacting? Blown leads are not endemic to the Boston Celtics. Blown leads are part
01:25 and parcel of the NBA. They're not necessarily blown leads as much sometimes as they are.
01:30 Surge, counter surge. And teams get hot and cold and all that. We are holding the Celtics
01:37 to an extent. We have a specific circumstance here. No other team has the particular dynamics
01:43 in this tournament, if you want to call it, that the Celtics do. They have the particular
01:48 dynamic because they've got a recent past history of teasing their fans, losing a finals
01:54 with a lead, then having the tease last year of coming from 0-3 and then losing game seven
02:01 at home. These are scars for fans and media to a degree.
02:09 So we've seen them fail. And we've seen them, and then they have been circumstances of big
02:14 loss leads, including the 22-point lead they lost to this particular team they're playing
02:18 right now during the regular season. They lost that game to Cleveland. Everybody harps
02:22 upon it. So maybe we overreact when maybe it's a little bit more of a normal NBA ebb
02:29 and flow and surge and counter surge.
02:31 But it was even, and then the last game, there was something there, 15-point lead, looked
02:39 like they were heading in the right direction in the fourth quarter. And next thing you
02:42 know, they're one max stress open three from Harold. It could have been a two-point game
02:48 if he makes that shot. And so people are anxious about that. And you tend to forget how they
02:56 got the lead and how they got the lead was the guys that you wanted to step up, stepping
03:01 up, namely Brown and Tatum. Are we too hard on them, frankly? Should we take a pause,
03:10 take a little mental time out here and give these guys a break? They're getting these
03:15 leads because they're good players.
03:16 Well, you also have to maintain the lead and know we are not being too hard on them. I
03:22 don't. I don't. I mean, they won the game at the end. But what I wonder is if it's going
03:28 to come back to bite them at some point where they don't expect it. I'm looking ahead to
03:32 the Knicks and I understand the Knicks are better. I think the Knicks will beat the Pacers.
03:36 I think the Knicks are better than Cleveland, but they're still down a man, as we know,
03:41 and the Celtics should still beat the Knicks.
03:47 The question I have for the Celtics right now is, you know, which team are they going
03:51 to be and can they jump from one to the other? Can they go from being Jason Tatum's team
03:57 where he gets his shots and he gets his 33 points? And can they go from being a complete
04:02 team where they share the basketball and they get quality shots? And I think sometimes there's
04:08 a struggle with that. You know, I mean, you know as well as I do, you know, in the fourth
04:13 quarter, that's when the stars in the NBA want the ball. That's when they want to come
04:17 in and get it done. And, you know, the guy in Denver, the big guy, he's just as happy
04:24 passing the ball as he is shooting the ball. We'll get to them in a minute. So I wonder
04:28 if Tatum's ego or the perception of who he's supposed to be as the guy gets in the way
04:36 of the team.
04:37 Well, it's a tough line to walk for guys with the range of skill that he has. I've seen
04:46 lots of great players. And the word I always use is calibrate. You have to calibrate your
04:50 skills and your game with your teammates and how best to, when to do what, when, when to
04:58 shoot, when to pass, when to, you know, and when you can get a shot anytime you want.
05:04 He could force up, you know, he could go as Johnny Moose would say, he could go tricky
05:08 dribbling himself into a fadeaway 23 footer, you know. Steph Curry does all the time and
05:15 they go in, you know, but he can do that. But is that the course of action you want
05:20 to take at a particular moment in time? The answer is probably no. Yeah, there's a, there's
05:27 a responsibility. It's hard to learn. I say very often that the difference, I'm jumping
05:33 around here, but difference between the vintage Michael Jordan and what LeBron James has become,
05:39 had become was that Jordan had to learn how to share and LeBron had to learn how to assume
05:45 the responsibility that we're talking about it being the best player and stepping up.
05:51 And it's not an easy call at how to do that. And it just isn't. And it's only available.
05:57 This is only a problem when players are supremely talented and have the range of skill that
06:01 these particular people that we're talking about have. And Tatum falls into that category.
06:06 He's a guy six feet 10 or whatever, 11, who has, can handle the basketball very smoothly
06:12 and is quick and agile and limber and all that. And he can do what he wants technically
06:19 on the court. But the problem is you don't want to always do what you can do. You know,
06:25 you'd have to know when not to do that. And, and they have a team. We've only had a, we
06:29 had, I forget which game it was, but we had a game in a playoffs this year, but it had
06:32 a beautiful box score, you know, everybody over 15, you know, it was great. And this
06:37 one they had, you know, and yeah, that's, that's the ideal ultimately, you know, not,
06:42 not every night, Tatum 33, Brown 28, there's 61 of your 103 points or something, you know,
06:49 that's not, that's not the way to go. I don't think that you want all the time it's there,
06:54 it's available. And it's, and that's the only way you can win a game. Fine. So yeah, but
06:58 this, we, we keep having the same discussion, the same discussion, the same discussion,
07:03 and we're going to keep having it, I'm afraid, because, you know, and that's just the nature
07:08 of the beast. Meanwhile, they, they are up three to one and, and we expect that they're
07:13 going to win this series. And, and, and we know they have to up the game a little more
07:18 in the next two rounds. And that's what we're looking for. And by the way, sooner or later,
07:24 we presume that we'll get Porzingis back. And, you know, then that's in terms of winning
07:28 the championship. That's, that's, that's, yeah, I mean, that's necessary. Yeah, we've,
07:32 we've talked about that. I do want to point out though, in game four, yeah, game four,
07:43 you know, Tatum goes to the hoop, dishes to Brown, Brown keeps the J that seals it. You
07:48 know, that's the type of stuff you like to see. I mean, boom, oh yeah, the hoop and he
07:52 gave it to Brown and Brown, you know, that's, there's no doubt that Jason Tatum is the best
07:58 player on the team. There's no doubt. And there's no doubt that he's a top five player.
08:04 You know, we all know it. I think that sometimes I feel that he, he thinks, and the mentality
08:10 of the NBA is he thinks he has to do it every game and he does it. Now, the reason, you
08:15 know, Anthony Edwards is scoring like 40 points in Minnesota is because he has to, right?
08:20 I mean, he has to same thing, you know, SGA and OKC, he has to be the guy, you know, Tatum
08:27 doesn't have to know what to tell.
08:31 Not what the teammates he's got. No, that's the thing is it's like, Jay, I would say,
08:36 Jason, everybody knows you're a great player. You're a perennial all star. If you keep going,
08:40 you're going to the hall of fame. You don't, you know, he doesn't have to do anything else.
08:45 You know, if you guys play as a team, you probably got, you got a damn good shot as
08:49 a banner. I mean, look at this. We have no problem. Who cares? Who has a problem if Holiday
08:55 or White are given a big shot? No, no problem. No problem. No, all no, they wouldn't be where
09:02 they are without Jason Tatum. They just wouldn't be. But I wish he knew it. You know what I
09:10 mean? It's it's there's a thing. My late great mentor, Frank Power at Boston College, used
09:18 to call and what Ty's got, he is called the connection. And it was the connection between
09:24 the head and the body talent and the connection, necessary connection to to utilize the talent
09:30 you have from the control tower up here, you know, and and it's and the great ones figured
09:38 out. Larry figured it out, you know, for example, you know, how to check it, figured it out.
09:43 I'm just I don't have to restrict it to Celtics. It's Duncan, Duncan, Duncan. Duncan was right
09:50 now. Duncan was a very different player than, you know, than Tatum. He didn't have this
09:56 face up dexterity. He was his great asset was post up, you know, and and and rebounding
10:05 and defense. And I was a wonderful player, but a very different they would be highly
10:09 compatible. You know, there would there would be a wonderful pair. But I think Bob, sorry
10:13 to interrupt you. But do you think Tatum could take Duncan's mentality?
10:18 Duncan is I don't know, Duncan is so flaky, so laid back and unflappable. You know, I
10:26 don't know how much of this stems from, you know, I've often speculated, it's a great
10:29 unanswerable thing. I said the greatest asset that Duncan brought was that he wasn't born
10:35 here, that he didn't grow up in the AAU culture, that he grew up in an entirely different culture.
10:40 Right. And and and his blessing was he was born in the US Virgin Islands, not in the
10:46 United States of America. And and that he came without all the baggage, the AAU mentality,
10:51 you know, and that has infested this these generations of players, every all the rest
10:56 of them all have to, you know, get through this AAU nonsense. I got to get my touch.
11:01 So he was he was, you know, and of course, he was perfectly suited for the coach and
11:05 the coach was perfectly suited for him. And that's a marriage that was truly made in athletic
11:11 heaven, you know, Popovich and Duncan, and that you don't get too many great pet pairings
11:17 like that. So, you know, it's so it he's an he's unfinished. There's unfinished business
11:24 and he's not a finished product in that regard. If he is if this is the finished product,
11:29 well, we're going to have to step back and deal with it. And we'd like to think that
11:32 this. I don't think it is either. And I like him. You know, I sit there and I I like him.
11:39 Tatum's a good guy. I mean, he's a good guy. He's a good you know, appears to be a good
11:43 father. You know, we know that scholarship. I mean, you know, he's working for where he
11:49 comes from, the kids in St. Louis, you know, teaching them about establishing long term
11:54 wealth and education. I mean, I like I'm rooting for this dude. I like I really am. I'm really
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12:59 So I guess the prediction, what's how, Bob, you're the wordsmith. The demise of the Nuggets
13:08 was greatly premature and exaggerated.
13:11 Words of my death are exaggerated, yes, Mark Twain. Well, it looked bad. I mean, when you
13:17 lose 0-2, you're 0-2 at home. Teams come back from 0-2, but seldom when they've lost them
13:23 both at home. And now it's a completely different mentality. Last night, they figured out a
13:30 way to neutralize Edwards. They finally got to Edwards. He was 5-15. He was out of sorts.
13:37 And meanwhile, conversely, after there was so much talk about how with their triumvirate
13:44 of big men, they've got three big guys, you know, with the pro-ethnic towns, Gobert and
13:50 Nasri, that they had befuddled Djokic. Well, last night, Djokic, on the night when he gets
13:59 his NBA, and he shows the people how justified it was, you know, goes to 40.17 rebounds,
14:08 how a nine assist. Did you see the one play he made when he tipped the rebound himself
14:13 and in the same motion, do a 70-foot touchdown pass for a sneak away layup?
14:19 I did not. I got to look it up.
14:22 I'll tell you how many people that I've ever seen in the NBA that have ever done that.
14:27 The answer is zero. Even my friend, I love the great Bill Walton. That was something
14:33 I never saw him do. You got to see this. It's just, and it's so casual. It's so logical
14:40 for him. The game is just so logical. And he does it always at his pace, you know, and
14:48 we know that. Anyway, but we were having a different dialogue three days ago. Oh, gee,
14:53 they're bothering him, you know, so I, he certainly showed the world last night. But
14:59 there, that's a fascinating series. I certainly everything's back in your favor now, but boy,
15:06 not many people were sure that it was going to come out this way.
15:09 But in hindsight, which is always 2020, if there was one player that would be unflappable,
15:16 as you say, and would not be bothered by being down 0-2 and going on the road, it's him.
15:22 No, the noise and then they and whatever noise there was, he would ignore and, and, and no,
15:27 no question. So that's a that's a great resurrection. And now I want to see the response. You know,
15:34 now we're going, you know, it's a, it's a one received response.
15:41 It's over. It's over. All right.
15:43 Yeah, more than like, I mean, I put my money on Denver. I mean, to win the series. Yeah.
15:49 But I want to see, you know, how hard they have to work to do it and how Minnesota is
15:52 going to, but regardless, okay, they're going, let's say they fulfill the comeback and it
15:56 makes a little history there with coming to a no-two when you lost your first two at home.
16:00 But the fact is that Minnesota has let the world know that they're going to be around.
16:04 And I felt that way at the end of the regular season. Yeah. And, and they're going to be
16:08 around. Meanwhile, the other Western series I can't read. I can't read the OKC Dallas
16:15 series. Yeah. No, which is, you know, it's, it's, I don't know. I don't know.
16:21 How is having something to do with it as far as Dallas is concerned.
16:24 Yeah. Donchik is just, Lukic is just limping around. But Donchik, Lukic, Lukidonchik, Lukidonchik
16:31 is limping around, but they had, they've had their moments and, and the other guys, you
16:37 know, are pretty good. No, I suppose so. It's not that one. I just can't read it.
16:43 I'm kind of like, eh, you know, after Denver, Minnesota, then you go over to that one and
16:47 you're like, eh, you know, it doesn't really matter.
16:50 Well, yeah. OKC, you know, they were, they were the number one seed.
16:55 They were.
16:56 Based on the tiebreakers. There was three way tie. And, and once I read a nice little
17:01 thing about, you know, Holmgren, Holmgren is, he didn't, you know, get the rookie of
17:06 the year, Wimberjana did it.
17:07 Right.
17:08 When they got an asset there in Holmgren, if that, but once again, if the body, the
17:12 body, it's still, he's still, I have to my look at him. I still can't believe what I'm
17:15 looking at. You know what I'm saying?
17:18 Right.
17:19 Does he weigh 200? I mean, I don't know.
17:21 I don't know. But it looks like he's, he could fall over.
17:24 But he can play this game. And what a shot blocker. He, in addition to being seven, three,
17:29 he's got everything that, you know, of the instinct and the timing that a shot blocker
17:32 that makes a great shot blocker, not the, and he's, he's got that, he's got everything
17:35 going for him as a shot blocker.
17:37 You know, it reminded me when you talk about the Denver series, I remember Reggie Jackson.
17:43 I don't know if Dan wrote this or you wrote this or somebody wrote this when the Red Sox
17:47 went up on the angels and Reggie Jackson was playing for the angels and somebody saw Reggie
17:52 in a store and he said, it's over and we're not coming back from this. And for some reason
17:57 that popped into my head when I saw how Denver came back, you know, memory lane.
18:02 That was a champion. That's a championship response. You know, that, that, that they
18:06 have shown big time to championship response and reminds you that, you know, we, we, you
18:12 know, you and I agreed that they was the, no matter how many games the Celtics won regular
18:15 season, you know, Denver's the favorite, the Celtics have to prove they can beat them.
18:20 And that's the case.
18:22 All right. After seeing the Celtics to try to take a different angle on this now, after
18:29 seeing how the Celtics have played down at times to Cleveland, is there a danger against
18:35 the Knicks? Well, assuming it is the Knicks and I still want to, I want to salute what
18:40 they're doing. I mean, what you and give Leon Rose credit for building a roster. This is
18:45 that has sustained this. They are missing three very important players right now. And,
18:54 and, and, and, and Randall, who's not been out since the end of January, and Anobe who
18:59 won't be playing in their next game, Robinson, who was their darting center, not, not Isaiah
19:04 Hartenstein and Bogdanovich, who was a, you know, a useful sub and, and Brunson, well,
19:11 he was hurt, but apparently he looked pretty good last night. And they, they won't go away.
19:15 They keep reinventing themselves. I'm, I'm really, and now Alec Berks, who was buried
19:21 doing nothing and well, guess what? He's, he's helping them now. I'm just saluting him.
19:28 And Tibbs has done a tremendous job and boy, are they sticking up for him? Josh Hart is
19:32 like, it's like his spokesperson. Now he, he's so angry that people, if people wanted
19:38 to knock Tibbs and he shoots off every day about it. And you know him very well. No,
19:44 I love a little bit. And I, you know, I liked him. I had some nice, I remember having one
19:47 really good conversation with him during the 10th of the night, the 2008, you know, run
19:52 in LA and, you know, and I knew him casually, but no, not really, but you know he's very,
20:01 he's just such a basketball, you know.
20:04 That's why, that's why I root for the guy, because I remember when he was with the Celtics,
20:08 I think some of the locker room guys or some people always used to say something like,
20:13 you know, Tibbs has moved in, you know, he's like, he didn't even leave.
20:18 Oh no, he should have a cot there, you know.
20:21 You know, one of those guys and just Steve Clifford's the same way, you know, who went
20:27 to the university and made a farm with him, shout out, you know, guys that just, you know,
20:32 who else am I, you know, guy, oh, who coached Philadelphia. He was from Portland, Maine.
20:40 Oh, Bob Brown.
20:41 Yeah, Bob Brown, like, you know, his dad, I saw his dad coach against us. I mean, you
20:46 know, these guys that like go to Europe and they go to Argentina and they go anywhere
20:50 to coach, you know, I mean, Tibbs is that guy. I just root, I mean, again, I've said
20:54 it before, it sucks he's coaching the Knicks, but you know, you gotta love the guy. I just
21:02 love him.
21:03 And it's interesting, he and Carlisle were opposing assistants over 20 years ago when
21:08 the Pacers played the Knicks, when Larry was coaching, Carlisle was his assistant.
21:12 Wow.
21:13 Yeah, his assistant was Tom Thibodeau.
21:16 That's hilarious.
21:17 Yeah, there's a great picture in the post today of, of Rick next to Larry during that
21:24 one of those playoff series, you know, so, but I'm not writing off. I'm sorry, I'm not
21:32 writing off the Pacers.
21:35 I know it should do. I mean, I
21:37 I'm going to say I'm going this way.
21:39 Yeah, I did. But you know, the star of the Knicks, I just that guy
21:44 He came back with another one 44 last night.
21:46 He's Superman. I mean, that kid.
21:49 Playoff time, there is nothing like it. I mean, the energy, the effort amps up a good
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23:30 I have a question for you though about coaches because I've had this discussion. It seemed
23:35 for a while that you were going to have to be, it goes to show in the media to quote
23:42 the great William Goldman, we don't know anything. Nobody knows anything. Nobody knows anything,
23:47 right? Because I thought for a while, like when doc was the coach, I thought we were
23:51 going to, and then Jason Kidd was coaching. And I thought, okay, in order to be an NBA
23:57 coach and in order to get the attention of the player, you had to have played in a league.
24:02 I thought that's the way we were going. And it's not true. You see a guy like Thibodeau,
24:08 right? Or the kid coaching at OKC.
24:10 Okay, Don Yo and Nick Nurse.
24:13 Nurse is another guy. And of course, Joe, I mean, here for the Celtics.
24:18 Chris Flint and Chris Finch in Minnesota.
24:22 Right.
24:23 Another guy.
24:24 Another guy. I mean, so I think it's interesting if you study, it'd be a good overview for
24:30 somebody, you know, and study the 50 year swing. There was a period of time when the
24:35 coaches were all, when I came into league and, you know, the coaching covering in 69,
24:40 we had a lot of coaches who had played in the league and then we got an influx of college
24:44 coaches. All of a sudden there was, there was a, you know, the Dick Matas and the Cotton
24:49 Fitzsimmons and the John McClouds.
24:51 Right.
24:52 And that was the way to go for a while there, you know, and then we swung back and it'd
24:55 be interesting. I mean, you're making a very good point and it'd be a very good study.
25:01 And you're right. There was a theory going on that you had to get their attention. You
25:05 had to be somebody that they could, you know, and that they could identify as an NBA person,
25:12 a player. So it's interesting. Yeah. But we've had a, we've had a swing back and forth on
25:20 that one over the years. It'd be interesting to see, check it out.
25:23 Yeah, it is. It's, it's, it's fascinating right now. What's going on in the league. I don't
25:27 know, Bob, I just, I need something to do this summer. I just wrote down a little note,
25:32 coaches. I don't know. Maybe I'll take it a break from the old teaching. Maybe I'll
25:36 look into that. So Caitlin, 20 in the second half, 10 turnovers.
25:45 10 turnovers.
25:48 Welcome to the WNBA.
25:49 Well, they're laying in wait for, and, and, and there's a two layers of things going on
25:54 here. You know, one is the general idea of the hotshot kid, whoever it happens to be,
26:00 you know, and, and they, they want to, and the other one is the racial thing. And that,
26:05 that finally someone's addressed head on more than once this week, you know, and the fact
26:09 that there've been so many of these wonderful black women, great, great, not good, great
26:16 players that have, that have, have been with us over the years and not getting the, the
26:24 kind of attention that this new white girl is getting, not to mention the $28 million
26:29 contract, Nike, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of talk out there. I knew it
26:33 was going to happen. It was sooner or later. It had to happen. And it's here. It's all
26:36 hitting out, hitting the fan now. But anyway, I don't think it had anything to do with what
26:39 happened last night, but I'm just going to general terms. You know, that, that, that
26:42 issue has been aired out now it's airing it out.
26:45 But also of course it is Bob and it's there and it needs to be addressed. No doubt about
26:49 it. The one good thing is she's bringing attention to the league. So she brings more attention
26:54 to all the players, because as you mentioned, she's not the greatest player to ever come
26:59 into WNBA. Not by a long shot. I mean,
27:02 She's the greatest long distance shooter that, you know, and, and that, and that gets your
27:08 attention, but you know, was she Maya Moore, was she, we can go on and on.
27:12 Was she, was she AJ, AJ? No. But that's a, but, but here's the thing is that, you know,
27:23 I think, you know, it's always good because the, the league's getting attention. So you
27:30 see that you'll see these other players, there's no doubt about it. But, you know, is there
27:39 an unfair, it doesn't matter what I was going to say, what I was going to say, I lost my
27:44 train of thought there for a minute. It doesn't matter whether it's the NBA or the WNBA or
27:49 whatever, when the hot rookie comes in, yeah. You got a target on your back. Same thing
27:55 with Larry. You know, it doesn't matter. You know, when Tatum came in, when you're the
27:59 number one pick, whoever you are, when LeBron came in, what can you do, rook? You know,
28:05 and that she's going to go through that. It happens in the NBA. It happens in the WNBA.
28:08 Yeah. Yeah. No, she's really going through it. It's going to go through it. And because
28:12 there is that, you know, resentment, if you will, that there was so many players haven't
28:19 gotten the attention that they deserved it. Sure. But anyway, but right. There's no, look,
28:23 but this is a rising tide lifting a boat here. I'll tell you for the, for the WNBA, it's
28:27 phenomenal how we're even talking about it, the way we do it. Like I said, so many times
28:32 during the course of the winter, you know, I had more conversations and, you know, three
28:36 and a certain two and three day periods about women's basketball. And I hadn't 30 years,
28:39 right. I mean, local, just people, guys, people at the coffee shop, you know, unimaginable
28:45 and, you know, and this is a great thing for them. So I hope they can follow through. I
28:49 hope it put up one of the great season. I see the Las Vegas Aces got off to a good start
28:53 and you know, they're the prohibitive favorites. Again, the Liberty won their first game. They
28:58 loaded up last year and you know, that would be good for the league if you know, they,
29:02 they fulfill their destiny too. So, well, I, yeah.
29:07 But she bounced back. I mean, the kids tough. Oh, she bounced back in the second half.
29:12 She started off poor. Right. She backed back. She, she went up eventually four for level
29:17 was four for 11 on three. She only took four twos. She was five to 15 overall, three assists
29:23 and the 10 turnovers. So yeah, there you go. And two quick fouls. When I tuned in, she
29:28 was on the bench because you know, that would have night last night, you know, I'm watching
29:31 hockey. I'm watching the Knicks. No, really. You know, I watched, I watched the Bruins
29:35 game in its entirety and, and flipped on the Knicks and, and then got to see the last period
29:40 and a half after the hockey game. And, and, but then I had to check out the 20 of eight.
29:45 I said, Oh my, I said, Oh, the women started seven 30. I check in and she's on the bench.
29:49 She had two fouls right away. So that was sad.
29:53 You need more TVs, Bob. You know, it's been a problem recently. The draft just doesn't
30:00 have the sizzle at once. Did it? Well, I don't know if it ever will. You know, it's funny.
30:03 I think all the obsession, how, how much, how many trees died, how many voices were,
30:11 were exhausted talking about the NFL draft and the quarterbacks. And, you know, it started,
30:17 it started as soon as the super bowl was over. It never stopped until April 20, whatever
30:23 that date was of the draft, you know, and it won't stop now. Of course, we've got the
30:27 whole Falcon sting that won't go away. You know, the Falcon sting, you know, and okay,
30:33 this draft, it's like, there's, there's no marquee college player, American. There's
30:39 nobody. And I can't tell you the name of that French kid that they're saying is going to
30:44 be the number one pick. Unlike last year when we did have something to talk about.
30:48 There's so many ways to get above the problem is there's so many ways to get to the league.
30:52 You can, you know, you can wait to hear you play in the G league. You don't have to go
30:56 to college.
30:57 Right.
30:58 No, the system is, is, is, is different. They, they have a real PR issue here.
31:03 I can go to Spain. I'll go play for a year in Spain. And then
31:05 And there's a, and there's a combine kind going on right now that, you know, unlike
31:09 football, I know it's televised, but nobody cares. Right. Nobody cares. And
31:14 What do you think, what do you think it is about football?
31:18 Well I, the football's advantage is twofold. Well, maybe then for sure. And then we can
31:25 start a one betting. It's the greatest betting vehicle sport easy. One has been forever
31:32 Two and it's, it's an event. It's only one of during the season. It's once a week.
31:36 You end up, there's a pattern, a rhythm. You play the game on Sunday. You talk about the
31:41 game that just was played on Monday to it. Do you beat it to death? You maybe take a
31:45 deep breath on Tuesday and then Wednesday, you start build up for the next one and talk
31:50 about it excessively for three days. And then, and the cycle repeats itself now for 18 weeks,
31:55 17 games, 18 weeks. Okay. For people it's, it's, it's a building and people love that
32:02 they love the violence of the game. It's a, but if it's specifically the draft, okay.
32:07 Because the draft, this is my, I was in the, I was in the elevator with a national sports
32:15 personality. This was the old giant stadium. And there was somehow we were in with the
32:24 fans going up to the press box. I'm not going to say who the person was. Fan comes on in
32:30 like just breaks down the whole game, right. To this national personality, right. Just
32:36 like you, Bob, I'm sure you've experienced this. You've got people telling you what play
32:42 should be called what's wrong with, but this guy goes on and on. I gets off the thing,
32:46 elevated. The guy turns to me and he just goes blankety blank fans and he shakes his
32:50 head. I have never heard, and I don't really get into the draft, but you know, I've got
32:56 kids and I will play, we'll go into different sports and all this stuff. And I talked to
32:59 the dads and all this stuff. I have never seen sports fans become GMs like they do in
33:10 the draft. It's almost the way they used to second guess the Red Sox manager. Now, I mean,
33:16 you got guys following the draft as if they're running a team. I mean, it's really a little
33:22 crazy. Well, I think they know what's going on. But what I find amusing is that it's one
33:29 thing to have an opinion for Joe fan and you, and that includes you and me to have an opinion
33:34 on a quarterback or, or maybe, maybe even a wide receiver. The old days are running
33:38 back, but now nobody even knows what they are or wide receiver. But it's, don't tell
33:44 me that the average person has the right to give an opinion about a center. They do though,
33:50 or a safety. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And you know that I'm sorry. There's somebody, maybe
33:58 if you were a really good high school football player, maybe, and you really pride yourself
34:01 in your knowledge of the game, maybe you actually do watch and study and have an opinion on
34:07 who's a guard versus a tackle, you know, which for most people couldn't tell you who gives
34:11 a damn. You know what the worst thing was? As soon as they, as soon as they made the
34:15 all 22 available to the public. Well, but it's a, the game, but you have to, but they
34:23 put the, like, like from a, from a marketing perspective. And I talked about this in my
34:27 class this semester, I see the NFL has created this 365 year machine to the point where the
34:36 draft is just, and people know, I mean, they know all the players and they know, like,
34:43 they know all the players. They think this guy should go here and this guy should go
34:46 there and above. I've just now. And, and, and believe me fans, you have a right. I've
34:52 just never seen anything like it. Now, just get back to what, yeah. And before we can
34:57 wrap it up, the VA versus the NFL back in my day when I was covering the league and
35:02 I went into my own and I don't know how I became a columnist if I did it still did it,
35:07 but I used to have the responsibility of writing about the draft and, and I, including the
35:13 famous mock draft. I know I researched it and, and yet, but there was a guy said, you
35:19 make a point. Everybody was four years or three or at least three years or you knew
35:24 who these guys were. I went to the drip and they didn't call it a combine. I think what
35:29 they called it. I went, they used to have the what's going on now. I went to it in Orlando
35:33 once. I went to it in Chicago. I got the notice. I discovered guys. I famously called the,
35:38 I have to say, I'm giving myself my props here. I called D Brown. I picked them. I,
35:43 and they took them. I, I called it and they did it because I had, I had done my research,
35:50 you know but you could do it now. You know, you got to, you got to know the GLA, you got
35:56 to know the ignite, you got to know, you got to know, you know, Antarctica. I mean, who
36:01 knows? I don't know. And the biggest problem, the biggest problem, the biggest challenge
36:06 is the age because you know, there's a reason for the most part why 19 year old kids don't
36:12 go into the NFL because physically and emotionally they're not ready. They need it. You know,
36:19 they need more. They got to be 20, 20, 21, 22. You know, now you get 19 year old kids.
36:25 I mean, you just mentioned like webbing Yama and the guy for OKC, the big dude. I mean,
36:33 they're both 19, right? Well, home, it's a little over 20. Yeah. They're kids. He set
36:38 up the first year. Yeah. They're kids. Oh, you know. So like when you go on the draft
36:42 and you go, I'm going to take this 19 year old. Yeah. You know, I can't, I can't fairly
36:48 expect anything from that kid unless he's the next LeBron until he's 22. But I used
36:52 to, but I have to say, I used to love, you know, I loved it. It was my thing. You know,
36:55 I love basketball. So I was into it and I really prided myself on, you know, on learning
37:00 things and doing the homework and all that, you know, and I enjoyed it was work, but I,
37:06 but I enjoyed it. But I don't know how you can do it now. Yeah, it's hard. It's hard.
37:10 No, it's hard. All right, Robert, Jeff Goodman, Mr. Goodwin brought you by prize picks, the
37:15 exclusive, exclusive daily fantasy partner on the CLNS media network. Pick more, pick
37:20 less. It's that easy with prize picks. All right, Bob, we'll talk to you soon.
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