Oxford's Eugene portions of this show are recorded
strap in and be prepared I love growing the game
I can guarantee you any other West Coast team
that's watching this, I'm sure USC is gnashing
their teeth right now saying, how come we couldn't
have thought of this first? Interesting guests.
Kelly Gray. Mike Parker. Coach Mark Waskowski.
Melissa Lombardi. Max Torres. El Toro. Joining
us. Sharp Opinions. I think if you're a supporter
of the NBA, that you should at least have some
level of interest in the WNBA. Because the things
that interest you as a NBA fan should still interest
you as a WNBA fan. That's just my opinion. And
some smiles. Can you guess what position I played
in football? Left out? No, I did not. Yeah, exactly.
I had to think about that for a second. But yes,
actually, I did not play. I was not big enough.
Goose tried to kill me today on the golf course.
Advance warning was given. It just apparently
was not heard. I will dispute that in a court
of law. It's Danny Havel. If you're driving and
you're trying to do this in your head, pull off
the side of the road. I don't need any accidents.
Justin Grossweiner. I love to hear a coach go,
we're going to focus on that bad four -game stretch
the rest of the season. season we will never
do that again that that might be a good point
i don't know i mean maybe you could do that maybe
that's another strategy danny and justin starts
now on fox sports eugene and fox sports newport
hello Welcome. Hi, it's out the Delta Triad,
Crystal Palace, Fox Sports, Eugene Fox Sports,
Newport, the Bigfoot Beverage Studios. You can
follow us on all the socials, Danny and Justin,
wherever you podcast Danny and Justin as well.
It's the fastest 60 minutes in sports. We have
a loaded show for you on a Monday. Thanks for
tuning in. Oh, my goodness. It's hot outside
and it's hot inside. We are going to have AJ
Cannell in just a few moments, the voice of your
Portland Fire, and then Adam Rittenberg. The
rabbi is going to come in. We're going to figure
things out with Brendan Sorsby because there
is no more movement. Oh, my goodness. This is
the best thing ever. Adam Rittberg is going to
join us from ESPN. We're going to talk about
Brendan Sorsby. We will also talk about Oregon
football and where he thinks the Ducks are going
to be this next year. There was a sugar ant that
just walked across my little platform here. However,
I'm Danny right over there. is Justin Grossweiner.
We call him Baby J. What up, boy? What the heck
is going on? Big 12, Texas Tech, Brendan Sorsby.
I'm excited to have Adam come on and help break
it down, because what the heck is going on? Well,
there's a lot of stuff going on, including the
World Cup, which we're going to try and... We're
going to get to all this stuff. So listen, we
have an hour. We're going to cram all this in.
You want to talk about a packed show? We have
a packed show. We're going to have good, bad,
and ugly in the last segment. We want to talk
about Egypt and Belgium in the World Cup. We
want to talk about what happened in the World
Cup this past weekend. You got to hang out at
my house. You got to watch a lot of World Cup.
I didn't. So you have a lot more than I have.
So we're going to do all that. We're going to
get to it. Yeah, we'll get over to the Oregon
Man Collects hotline right now. at 343 -5673.
Welcome in our good friend. He'll be our good
friend. He is your voice of the Portland Fire.
It's A .J. Cannell. You can follow him on the
socials at A .J. Cannell with a K, not with a
C, on the Oregon Mad Clinics Hotline. A .J.,
welcome to the program. Danny and Justin, thanks
so much, and I appreciate you getting the spelling
right there. Not everyone does of the last name,
so I appreciate it. Well, I just have to say.
Here he goes. Here comes Justin. My last name
is Grossweiner, which typically gets misconstrued
as Grossweener. So I am very much very in tune
with spelling and pronunciation and all that.
And Danny is as well. Danny Havel. Yeah. Yeah.
It's freaking five letters. I don't know how
they screw it up, but whatever. All right. So
we got that. We got that taken care of. So this
has got to be a blast because. expansion team,
Portland gets WNBA back, women's basketball is
on a rise. So, I mean, it's got to be exciting
for you. So talk about your arc with the team
because, you know, you're a younger broadcaster
that's looking to try and break in, and you have
that opportunity, which I think is awesome. So
talk about that arc for you first because...
this is a team that is going to have a lot of
support, and I know you feel that. Oh, 100%.
And I don't know if it was possible to fully
understand that until I was actually in the building
in Moda Center for the first game. Right. And
it was a sellout crowd. It was a loss against
Chicago by 15 points that still ended in a standing
ovation by the fans. And that, if anything, tells
the story of what the Portland Fire fan base
has been like. I think almost every home loss
this season, regardless of what the final point
total was, even the home losses end in a standing
ovation in recognition of the efforts from the
fans. So just from a broadcasting perspective.
I've been around the block a little bit, although
I still consider myself young in in my career.
Dude, you are young. That's all right. You are
young. When when we do these jobs, you know,
at least like live event jobs, play by play jobs.
For me, the most important element of that is
the crowd and the adrenaline rush that comes
with the importance of the game as reflected
by the energy in the building and the crowd.
And again, like I said, this has been better
than anyone could have possibly conveyed beforehand.
I think that's a credit to the Portland fan base,
but also to WNBA fans in general. I've learned
now in my first year in the league, it's really
just a special league in terms of fan support.
Well, and finding the right club, because expansion
is scary. for a league. It's like they need to
find, they do all their metrics. They kind of
like, okay, so, and it's Portland and Toronto.
I mean, two wildly, I mean, two different countries.
So now they're finding like, okay, so how much
success can we have? And I think they found a
gold mine in Portland. I would agree. And, I
mean, Kathy Engelbert, WNBA commissioner, was
actually in Moda Center for the first time in
a, you know, since the expansion became official,
since Portland actually started playing. She
was there a couple of home games ago to discuss.
And I believe it was before, yeah, it was before
the Phoenix game, I think, that she was there,
unless I'm losing my mind. No, you're not. No,
you're good. The Vegas game, pardon me, before
the Vegas game. And it felt like a victory lap,
to your point, like in the sense that she shows
up to one of the two markets that they chose
to expand, you know, starting this season, and
the victory lap component being like, wow, this
has just played out perfectly. I think we have
as much fan support as you could possibly imagine,
number one. And then the other point that she
was making, just this would be more general about
just the decision to expand, and they're expanding
more starting next year in the WNBA, but just
the fact that there have been players that were
role players on previous teams. And this is literally
lifted from the commissioner's pregame media
availability before that Las Vegas game, that
there were role players on their previous teams.
that are now on these expansion teams, and they're
stars. And they're, you know, bona fide go -to
players. And I completely agree with her on this.
She's a commissioner that, you know, maybe has
been a little bit polarized among some of the
fan base and even the players in recent years.
But I would agree with her wholeheartedly on
this, on that point about the former role players
stepping up and that being a sign, as she said.
that the league was ready for expansion. It was
the right decision to expand because they had
enough talent to do so. So I think Portland,
we're seeing sort of both sides of that, that
this was the right market for a variety of reasons
to expand to, and that also the team is overachieving
around some of those players that are rising
to the occasion in these new roles. And I know
Danny wants to talk to you about expansion and
team building in the WNBA. But I want to ask
you about these players because you mentioned
there are some players that were role players
on other teams. Some of them were fighting for
spots in the league. And here they are on this
Portland Fire team. And like you said, they're
playing very significant roles. How do you think
that's shaped the identity of this particular
team in year one to have that sort of identity?
Because you can understand if a lot of these
players had chips on their shoulder. Yeah, I
think. Megan Gustafson, after the Indiana Fever
win, probably reflected it most accurately how
a lot of these players are feeling when she said
that, and Gustafson, she was a National Player
of the Year in college at Iowa before Kaitlin
Clark was. And Gustafson, 29 years old, has been
in the WNBA eight years and has been on multiple
teams. And she said that... Probably more, I
think, talking about her WNBA path, because I
know she thinks back on her Iowa days fondly.
But she said after that win over Kaitlyn and
the fever that she had never felt respected as
a basketball player, at least, in any previous
teams compared to here in Portland. This is the
first time she feels fully respected as a player.
And I think... To varying degrees, that's probably
how a lot of these other players feel. Now, they're
trying to build around younger players as well,
and just bringing in somebody like a Carla, late
22 years old, expansion draft pick from Golden
State. I don't know if it's an idea where she
wasn't respected, probably just the fact that
Golden State had a bunch of other young players
and Carla. was left unprotected in the expansion
draft and she was just simply available and Portland
liked her her upside but one way or the other
whether it be some of the veterans on the team
um or or some of the younger players that inherently
in order to be picked selected in the expansion
draft or otherwise acquired by an expansion team
they kind of have to be left on the side of the
road a little bit by somebody else um and so
I think that that acts absolutely goes towards
the chip on your shoulder mentality that it feels
like all these players have. And the thing about
this team that's so fun to me is that I had no
idea how good they would be coming into the season.
I didn't know if they were going to be winless.
I didn't know if they were going to be, you know,
66 % winning percentage. Like, I just really
had no idea. But what was your expectation coming
into this season, and how have they performed
compared to those expectations? Because you knew
a little bit more than I did, for sure. No, we
didn't know anything more either. My expectations
coming into this season were Alex Sarama, head
coach, first year, has a completely different
way of, you know, first year being like first
year as a head coach in WNBA, youngest head coach
in WNBA history. He comes in with an expansion
team, and he says that, like, his system is going
to fit well for an expansion team, but it's going
to take time. Even he said that it's going to
take years to fully really bear fruit. And so
I'm thinking, okay, that makes sense. And honestly,
you got Juju Watkins next year, number one overall
pick in all likelihood, like this team is going
to be in the running for that. Yeah. I mean,
that's, that's, I think what everyone pretty
much would be expecting. And even in the, in
the expansion draft, which everything is happening
on such short notice with the collective bargaining
agreement, the negotiations going on. You think
about it, Portland's first regular season game
was on May 9th. The expansion draft, so the first
players being acquired, was on April 3rd, so
basically a month before the season begins. They're
having to put together an entire team from scratch.
And in that expansion draft, it looked like,
to me, that Portland took the approach of going
more with young players and upside and development
long -term, whereas the other expansion team,
the Toronto Tempo, was in a little bit more of
a win -now mentality with the players that they
were selecting, like a Brittany Sykes or Marina
Mabry. Those are... Those feel like more win
-now players, whereas Portland's acquisitions
sort of felt like more long -term plays. What
I think nobody expected was that some of these
longer -term plays have stepped up more quickly,
number one. And then some of the veterans that
you thought might be like role players only,
like Augustuson, have become go -to players.
well and then the number one overall pick Bridget
Carlton has by and large lived up to that as
well for the number one pick from the expansion
draft so things have just kind of come together
a little bit more quickly and of course you know
that the WNBA draft lottery is based around the
previous two years winning percentage for the
expansion team they're just going to take their
winning percentage from this season But I mean,
I think it's pretty safe to say at this point
at seven and eight through 15 games of the season.
Like, I just don't think that preseason conversation
about draft lottery is very relevant anymore.
That Portland is completely overachieved. I think
they're going to keep on winning games. I don't
necessarily know that their final winning percentage
is going to be, is it going to be like this close
to 500? Is it going to be better? Is it going
to be worse? I still don't really know because
I think there are other teams that are struggling
and there are more wins to be had. Once the scouting
report gets clearer and clearer on some of these
players that have overachieved, maybe they come
back down to earth more, as we've kind of seen
during that four -game losing streak as well.
So, I mean, long answer there, but I think the
expectations preseason were basically nothing.
I mean, nobody had any idea, and if anything,
we probably thought they were going to be pretty
bad in terms of win -loss record, but maybe with
some developmental promise. It turns out we're
seeing... that developmental promise with actual
on -floor results in terms of wins. It's been
pretty cool. The Fire at 7 and 8 take on the
Minnesota Lynx at 10 and 3 at the Target Center
in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Tonight you'll hear
it right here on Fox Sports Eugene, Fox Sports
Newport, as we are with the voice of your Portland
Fire, A .J. Cannell. You can follow him on the
socials A .J. Cannell with a K, not with a C.
K -A -N -E -L -L. And he joins us. So I want
to talk about the last question is kind of like
the mix of what Coach Sarama is doing. And also,
is there a built -in ability to have more success
in an expansion team because of the wildly popular...
expansion of women's basketball within the United
States to be able to have kids, not kids, young
women that are going to jump in and go, you know
what? We can pull some Europeans in. We can pull
some other players. But there's a lot of rookies
on this Portland roster. So is there a built
-in, you know, kind of blend between what Alex
is bringing into this? Because, you know, we
got... they're shooting shots in their socks.
They don't even have shoes on. And then also
finding kids that can come into the league. Let
me do this second question first, and you might
have to refresh me on the first one. Because
my mind was kind of occupied. That was an interesting
question. I haven't thought about it that way
before. I would go, I mean, I would say, like,
USA women's basketball has been really strong
for a long time. I would actually go more towards
when you think about how the game is becoming
more globalized, that's something that this Portland
front office, led by Vanya Chernevich, who came
over from Golden State, Golden State Valkyries
were the first ever expansion team to make the
playoffs last year. And Chernevich, who's from
Slovenia. And Alex Sarama, who's from England,
I think they've clearly made it, I don't know
if a mandate is the right word, but they've made
it a priority to go after international players.
I want to talk more to the front office and the
coaching staff about that philosophy, but I think
probably, if anything, it just comes down to
the familiarity that they have with some of these
international players and the scouting that they
put in. Probably as well, something that helps
an expansion team that can't just go and grab
the biggest possible names right away from the
states is that if you feel like you have a scouting
advantage in Europe or otherwise, then you could
probably find a little bit of an edge there by
bringing in smart acquisitions that are undervalued.
And you look at some of the acquisitions that
they've made. And those are players that would
fall into those categories. You know, I mentioned
Leite a couple of times already. She's from France.
They brought in Taya Oblak, Carla's backup, Carla
Leite's backup, 35 -year -old rookie from Slovenia,
the same home nation as the general manager.
And Oblak has been pretty dependable in her rookie
season in the WNBA. She was, you know, a champion,
decorated champion across. different leagues,
the Czech Republic, Turkey, and this is their
first year at 35 years old in the WNBA. They
brought in Frida Buhner as their second round
pick from Germany, just 21 years old. Their first
round pick was a draft in Stash. So that's the
other interesting thing is that all the success
that they're having, they didn't even have their
first round pick, which in theory would be like
your highest value acquisition. Coming in as
an expansion might be your first -round pick
in the collegiate player draft. And that was
Ayanna Martin from Spain, who is staying in Spain.
She's a draft and stash. I think she'll come
next year. So a lot of their, I think, savviest
acquisitions were actually international players.
And I think that, to me, is kind of the common
thread in terms of roster development with this
year's Portland Fire. Can you remind me of the
first part of your question? No, is it easier
to build something? And does Alex, head coach,
does he have a different way of approaching this?
Yeah, I think he has talked about how this was
a perfect fit for an expansion team with his
system because it is different. teaching style
called constraint led approach which essentially
he would probably be better at explaining it
than me but he you think about repetitive practice
and how a player might take the same jump shot
when they're warming up from the same spot and
how his Part of his philosophy, this is definitely
not the end of it, but just part of it is they've
done a lot of research that some of that repetitive
practice actually for basketball can be negative
towards a player's performance. You know, for
instance, hey, today at the end of practice,
y 'all are going to stand on one foot and you're
going to get your shooting in that way. you're
going to spin around three times and then try
and shoot it. Or you're going to wear a blindfold
and take a few free throws and see if you can
find the rim. So maybe this is sort of a more
extreme example. There are other more subtle
ways that they're putting this constraint -led
approach into practice. But, you know, there's
plenty of literature about it online. It's very
interesting. Again, it's called CLA, constraint
-led. And he's basically kind of trying to rewire
the players' brains a little bit. And there's
a lot that he's doing differently just in terms
of player development, player instruction that,
again, is very, very different than probably
a lot of them are used to. But with an expansion
team, a lot of younger players, a lot of players
that don't have egos, that just are willing to
embrace whatever their role is going to be coming
from these previous teams where they had oftentimes
a lesser role. That's why he thinks it's a good
fit to come in and try this new system. He's
our voice of the Portland Fire. You can hear
him right here on Fox Sports Eugene, Fox Sports
Newport. He is AJ Cannell. Follow him on socials
at AJ Cannell. But this is going to be a long
season. Well, actually not that long, but it's
going to be fun talking to you this year. So
thanks for being on the program. I think it's
been a long early part of the season for Portland
because they've had the most games played up
to this point in the entire league. So it's been
a bit of a grind for everyone that's with the
team. We're looking forward to a little bit more
of a spaced out schedule as the season goes along.
But definitely look forward to catching up with
you guys. Feel free to reach out anytime. Absolutely.
Thanks, bud. So Portland Fire, 7 -8 on the season,
looking to get back to .500 against the Lynx
tonight at 5 p .m. right here on Fox Sports Eugene,
Fox Sports Newport. Lynx are 10 -3 on the season.
We come back. It's Adam Rittenberg. The rabbi
comes back. The Big 12 is suing Texas Tech. Yeah,
big development. Breaking the up. That's right.
We'll talk to Ed Rittenberg next from ESPN on
the Danny and Justin radio program. Good, bad,
and the ugly coming up in the last segment of
the program. We'll wind up what we saw from the
weekend, World Cup, College World Series. Alabama's
now been eliminated as Texas knocks out roll
tide. 14 -2. Not rolling right now. No, they
aren't. He just got rolled over there in Omaha.
But let's head on over to the Oregon Mancoins
hotline at 541 -343 -5673. Welcome in our good
friend, the senior writer, college football for
ESPN, at XM College Host. And you can follow
him at ESPN Rittenberg. It's our good friend,
the rabbi, Adam Rittenberg, as he's driving through
Chicagoland as we talk about what's going on
and what is going on, the topsy -turvy world
of college football. Rabbi, thanks for joining
us, bud. We appreciate you. Yeah, you bet. Thanks
for having me, guys. All right, so Brendan Sorsby
and Texas Tech and the Big 12 and betting and
this scourge that seems to keep coming up in
college football. I mean, how does the thing
get played out? Because for our perspective,
it's like it's pretty cut and dried. You bet
on college football. Go ahead. You're done. And
it's not like the facts of the case are not in
dispute because even Brendan Sorsby's team, and
God bless the kid, you know, I think he's got
talent, but he admitted he bet on college football.
That should be it. End of story. So why are we
dragging this out, Adam? Why? Well, the why is
because the NCAA can't enforce its own rules
in the system that it's currently set up because
you have. The ability, especially with a player
like Brendan, who's got a strong agent and a
lot of money behind him, and then he ends up
using Jeffrey Kessler as his lawyer, who has
taken the NCAA to the legal woodshed over and
over, is able to get an injunction from a friendly
local judge, and that's who it is. They can spin
it however they want. That's how everybody outside
of that state is going to look at that ruling.
I mean, legally, it's a ridiculous ruling, but
it's still an enforceable ruling, at least as
it stands now. And then you obviously have the
support from the attorney general's office in
the state, which is telling the Big 12 if you
sanction Texas Tech or if you sanction Brendan,
you're going to be subject to legal action. And
then obviously the counter lawsuits today I think
were significant. Basically both sides are digging
in. Texas Tech clearly wants Brendan Sorsby to
not only recover from his addiction but play
for them. And the Big 12 clearly wants to penalize
him and ensure that he doesn't. play for texas
tech so that that's where we have it it's a standoff
between the conference and the school and there's
obviously a lot of legal maneuvering going on
with the you know different with both sides but
obviously a multiple states involved now too
and of course they so they have this new lawsuit
now for the temporary injunction and it's it's
classic almost like american politics where they
don't like a ruling so they take it to a higher
court so i guess my question is like Is this
where it stops? Or do you think this is just
going to keep on going higher and higher? Because
it just seems like one of those things where,
like, I just don't know where this ends exactly.
Well, right. And, you know, I think, again, the
fact that both sides are so dug in, it will be
interesting because obviously there's more support
on the side of the Big 12 with all of its other
members agreeing that this is the right thing
to do to prevent him from playing. There's support.
from multiple state attorney generals' offices
saying that the letter that was sent from the
Texas attorney general last week doesn't have
merit and that the Big 12 should be able to enforce
its bylaws independently and be able to sanction
a member as it sees fit. I mean, it's not apples
to apples, but obviously the Michigan situation
a few years ago in the Big 10, there was no legal
pushback against the Big 10's ability to suspend
Jim Harbaugh during the season. That was their
right as a conference, and certainly Michigan
and its fans and certain political folks in that
state didn't agree, but you didn't have this
playing out the way it has. I think part of it
is the school involved. Part of it is who their
super booster is, who believes he's the one to
change college athletics. That's going on simultaneously
here. I'll just say it to you guys. Wouldn't
college, was college athletics better when we
didn't have to hear about Cody Campbell every
day? Yes. I mean, it just was. And regardless
of how you feel about player compensation or
cooling media rights or a congressional bill,
the fact that we have to talk about this guy
every single day is not a good thing. And we're
talking about it right now, and we're going to
continue to talk about it until there's a resolution
in this Sorsby situation. Absolutely. And you
can hear his frustration in his voice. At ESPN
Rittenberg, he joins us. It's the great Rabbi
Adam Rittenberg joining us on the Danny Justin
Radio program. So I think this, and I think it's
getting washed over. a little bit and i want
to focus on this a bit because you touched on
it right from the beginning is the toothless
the the lack of ability for the ncaa to get in
and really dig in and enforce and manage what
goes on in college athletics especially for football
because that's the revenue generator so adam
doesn't this kind of amplify how The NCAA needs
to figure out how they can become more relevant
when it comes to the entire conversation, when
it comes to managing college athletics. Well,
again, legally, they do need help. I mean, this
is, you know, the cry for federal help and congressional
help is amplified by this, which is the irony
here. Cody Campbell's been behind the Saving
College Sports Act and has pushed back against
the Big Ten and the SEC's concerns of it. But
again, it does. does require some type of action
at that level to allow the NCAA to enforce what
everyone pretty much agrees is a good rule and
then not be subject. to an injunction, not be
subject to you'll find the friendly local judge
and make the exception for little Brendan or
little Trinidad or whoever it is. Because that's
where we're at right now. I mean, essentially,
the sport went from being a largely beloved sport,
but probably an unfair sport because of the way
players were not being compensated at all for
their work for decades and decades, to a sport
that is much more equitable for the players,
but essentially one that you've turned over to
the players. Like, if you were to ask people
in college athletics now who runs college sports,
the only correct answer is the players, their
agents, and their attorneys. They run college
athletics. Nobody else does anymore. And until
that changes, these situations, like Charlie
Baker's statement, I think it was today, about
the residual effect of not resolving the Sorzi
case and what could happen with other lawsuits,
like, he's not wrong. Because everybody wants
to win. Everybody wants to get an edge. And they
may all be saying the right things about how
this is wrong for Texas Tech. But if they have
a player in the same situation, you better believe
they're going to find a judge and get an injunction.
And in many cases, find a way for that player
to be allowed to play. So I don't want to say
it this way, but if you were a betting man, is
Brendan Sorsby going to play this year? You know,
I'm pretty cynical about this since the initial
injunction was granted. And so I think he will
in some form or fashion. But there's a lot of
pressure now, right, on Texas Tech. I mean, they
are really, you know, backs against the wall.
Everybody else is against this in their conference.
Pretty much everybody else around the country
is against this. But they are emboldened by the
injunction that they received. They're emboldened
by the relationships they have with state politicians
in a very powerful state like Texas. They're
emboldened by who Cody Campbell is. it's just
a tough one to predict. I think a lot of schools
would fold because they would see the morality
in this. And here's the thing. They put together
that video last week, which was widely panned,
and rightfully so. But there was so much in that
video about addiction and mental health and supporting
Brendan Sorsby through this. You can still do
that. That's what we've said all along. He can
practice with the team. He can be part of the
quarterback meeting. But it just comes across
as insincere when you're so tied to him playing
as part of his recovery. We all know why you
want him to play. It's why you paid him all the
money coming off of a playoff appearance to replace
a quarterback who wasn't ultimately good enough
to win in the playoff. That's why he's there.
And no matter what they say about this is good
for his career and good for his recovery, no
one's really going to nod their head in agreement.
And you mentioned earlier about how the players
are running college football at this point. And
I think that fact's really key. And something
Danny was talking to me about and kind of questioning
right after this happened was, like, how did
Texas Tech not ask him if there were any situations
sort of like this that they need to know about?
And I guess my response was that I don't think
that a school is going to— They want to ask the
question. They're not going to want to ask that
question because they're placating to the players,
right? They want to get the player—they're recruiting
the player. Like, the player has the power, and
they want the player to come to them. So isn't
that sort of how these relationships— are at
this point yeah although again i don't think
um that that they would you know ruin their ability
to attract other players if they said hey you
know what we obviously didn't know about this
i mean there's no way they would have recruited
brennan sorsby if they knew about this like i
totally believe because again it's been such
a a clear line in college sports. I covered the
situation much closer in Iowa, the state of Iowa,
when that state executed a raid against college
athletes for gambling while in athletic facilities
at places like Iowa and Iowa State. And these
were much fewer bets. I mean, Hunter Decker is
the starting quarterback at Iowa State. He lost
his eligibility for good based on one bet. on
Iowa State football to win his freshman year
when he wasn't even playing. You know, there
were other athletes that were strung along by
the NCAA. I'll just say it, were treated unfairly
by the NCAA and ultimately lost their eligibility
for not even betting on their team. And so this
is how seriously it's been taken. You could argue
it has been punitive, the policies that the NCAA
has had in the past. But everybody agrees. If
you are actively betting on your sport, on your
team, over and over and over, you know, you then
forfeit the right to play. I mean, it's just
the scene is that way, and there's such agreement
across the board that's the right way to go.
So let's now get back to what's going to happen
this fall. So you put out a really in -depth
evaluation of the teams in the Big Ten. As we
head to the fall. So what's your evaluation of
Oregon? Because Dante Moore and the plethora
of skill positions. And there's still some questions
on the offensive defensive line. There might
be some other questions defensively. New coordinators
on both sides of the football for Oregon. But
Dan Lanning seems to be building something that's
on an arc. You know, he's made one step and then
another step. Get to the semifinals last year.
Is this the year for Oregon? Yeah, I think it
should be. I mean, this is a two -year projection,
so it's 2026 and 2027, which is obviously hard
because so much changes year to year. And just
candidly, if this was a one -year projection,
Oregon would be higher than four on my power
rankings. They lose a lot. They're going to lose
a ton of players after this year, and they've
certainly shown the ability. to recruit from
high school, to recruit from the portal. They've
developed well. They haven't had a ton of staff
turnover, even though they did lose their coordinators
this past year. But I look at Oregon as a team
that has a lot of the ingredients. needed to
compete for a national championship your offensive
line might be the only spot that you're just
looking how do they fill those gaps how do they
build the depth that's necessary to withstand
you know what could be a 16 or 17 game season
but you have the quarterback you have a defensive
front i think they'll be better at receiver than
they were last year they always have enough options
to carry the ball even though they struggled
with injuries at the end of last year. The only
question with Oregon, and really the big question
around Dan at this point, is what's up with these
blowout losses? Why has Oregon been blown out
in the last two playoffs, and how does that not
happen again? Oregon certainly is talented enough
to go toe -to -toe with anybody that I see going
into the season, yet they have those two big
stains on their resume and how they ended the
last couple of seasons. So I talked with Dan
about that. I think he isn't somebody who lingers
and dwells on those moments, but you know they're
going to be motivated if and when they get in
that situation again. All right, Rabbi, we appreciate
your time. I know you're busy, and man, whatever
time you can give us, we love it. Take care of
the rest of the week. I know you got a lot more
going on. We'll be watching and reading what
you give us on the old Brendan Sorsby situation
and everything on college football. We love you,
man. Thanks. Okay, guys. Thanks for having me.
Have a good one. There he goes, the rabbi at
ESPN Rittenberg, senior writer, college football,
ESPN, Sirius XM, college host. He's an adjunct
professor, by the way, in DePaul, which is awesome.
And he's a Cubs fan. And he is a Cubs fan. And
he does a podcast as well, the Finding Dolores
podcast. I've talked about this before. We've
talked about this, yeah. So you've got to go
back to listen to that. So when we come back,
good, bad, and ugly for the weekend. What else?
We want to talk about World Cup. Tiago Splitter
is hired by the Bulls. We'll talk about that.
We've got all that going on here in the last
segment of the program, Danny and Justin. If
you missed any of the Danny and Justin radio
program up to this point, please go back to the
podcast. We already had A .J. Connell, the voice
of the Portland Fire, the WNBA team, the expansive
franchise who are taking on the Minnesota Lynx
tonight. You can hear it right here on Fox Sports
Eugene, Fox Sports Newport. And we just got finished
with Adam Rittenberg from ESPN. Really great
insight on the whole Brendan Sorsby thing from
ESPN. So you can follow the rabbi at ESPN Rittenberg.
You could almost hear his frustration talking
about some of this stuff and how passionately
he feels about it. Yeah, so that was awesome.
So go back to the podcast if you've missed any
of that. All right, good, bad, and ugly from
the weekend. We're going to dive right into it.
We're working on a couple of interviews for tomorrow
as well as we pack in a show here on a Monday.
We shouldn't have to work this hard on a Monday,
I'm just saying. Dude, I want to ease in from
the weekend. I know, I know. Okay, all right,
so good, bad, and the ugly. So my good from the
weekend, Chicago Bulls. are finalizing the hiring
of Portland Trailblazer interim coach Tiago Splitter
as the franchise's new head coach. He is going
to succeed Billy Donovan as the Bulls head coach
after stepping into the head role in Portland
last season. He was great. He's 41 years old.
Got the number seven seed, 42 -40 record. After
literally the day after the season started, he
had to step in as Chauncey Billups was pulled
away for all of his off -season, off -court stuff
that happened. He did a great job. So we like
Tiago Splitter. Yeah. I've been turned on Tiago
Splitter. I remember coming into the end of the
season, it was kind of like, all right, I wasn't
sure. But then they got into the play -in. obviously
he didn't have any of his assistants like you
mentioned he's coming in that second day of the
season to actually just take over as the coach
kid coach there's so many things that he didn't
plan to be this way So I think this, in a way,
could be a good hire for the Bulls because I
think they might be a better sort of fit for
him for a team that isn't getting expected to
make a run next year. How do you think he reacts
in Chicago, though? It's a bigger media market
than Portland. Bigger media market, but it's
a blue collar. They like a team that plays hard.
They're going to like the guy that just gets
in and digs in. I think so. I think so. I think
they like a hardworking team, and I think Tiago.
What the Blazers did defensively last year, hard
work and team. So I think he'll be liked in Chicago.
Chicago fans are excited. What's good has been
the World Cup. It's been awesome. I wasn't really
hyped on the fact that it was in America too
much until I realized that the schedule of the
games, I could watch all of them. They were not
on at like 6 in the morning. The schedule's been
great as well as just the plays. Because it's
based here in North America. It has been. And
it's been cool to see these teams and countries
interacting with these cities. I don't know if
you saw the Red Sox game where all the sky. No.
I did not. And, by the way, Cape Verde and Spain.
Cape Verde and Spain. Yeah, it's been a super
fun World Cup. So, you know, lots more. The United
States had an awesome performance in their first
match. So, I'm super hyped. So, dive right into
your bad. That being said, the hydration breaks.
I think are a little interesting. And, you know,
I understand the idea of you want to get the
players to make sure that they're hydrated and
healthy and all that. But they're doing it for
commercials. Like, let's be honest. They're doing
it because it's a bunch of Americans and they
want to have those commercials. We cannot consume
anything unless it's in four or five minute segments.
By the way, 34 -year -old Victor Van Dyke from
the Netherlands national team, well -known player,
criticized the breaks. Basically said, as a viewer,
he doesn't like them. But it doesn't seem like
even as a, again, 34 -year -old in the game,
which is not an old man's game, he didn't think
it was that big of an advantage for them or anything
like that. Interesting. I think that it's just
like, you know, I could do without the hydration
breaks. I'm all for player safety, but everything
else would be great. I love that you focused
on that, by the way. That's awesome. The good,
the bad, the ugly from the Danny and Justin radio
program. My bad from the weekend. Dana White
standing at a dais saying. You know, the winning
fighters, they're at 3 a .m. on Monday, and he
says they're never going to do another thing
at the South Lawn of the White House. Thank God.
I'm not a big Dana White fan, but you know what?
Only thing he said is he can't afford it, and
that's why you shouldn't have done it. That's
all I'm going to say about that. So, whatever.
The UFC on the Lawn of the White House, yeah,
not a fan. The Ugly. I'm going to go right back
to the World Cup. Germany cruising past the small.
How does Curacao enter into the World Cup? How
do they get there? What qualifier? They lost
7 -1, and that's embarrassing. It was 1 -1 at
one point. Okay. It ended up being 7 -1. It was
embarrassing. It's not like they pulled the goalie
at the end, and they were trying to catch up
at the end. It was no Germany -Brazil at least.
So I'll remember that one. And that's been literally
the only lopsided one, but still, they need to
figure out how they get Curacao into this whole
thing. Right. We've got to thank Kate Verde for
keeping another one close today against Spann.
Absolutely. My ugly for the weekend, I think
there's no other place. sorry dom then i can
go then the san antonio spurs blowing yet another
lead yeah they get down 23 to 13 in the first
quarter they're down at halftime they're down
entering the fourth quarter and then they of
course have a 29 to 18 advantage in the fourth
quarter and win the nba finals 94 to 90 so uh
you know great i think there's a lot of great
things about it i'm really excited for new york
fans and um Small guards and Chicago high school
legends like Jalen Brunson. But at the same time,
it was ugly. Let's be honest. We all knew it
was happening that fifth game. So here's the
only thing. And I'm going to have to hear all
the New York fans coming in. By the way, that's
the good, bad, and the ugly. from the weekend
here on the Danny and Justin Radio Program. Thanks
for tuning in. And by the way, again, big thanks
to Adam Rittenberg for joining us, A .J. Connell
for joining us on the program. We're efforting
Waz tomorrow for Oregon baseball because there
is some movement. Angel Laia has entered the
transfer portal for Oregon baseball. A few names
are starting to trickle out now. So, not unsurprising,
although I think with the, and Angel's just a
freshman, I think that, you know, for his camp,
I think they saw that there's going to be a check
that's going to be there that maybe Oregon can't
afford. And maybe this is more of an issue that,
you know, Oregon needs to address in terms of
holding on to talent. With the dollars that need
to happen in college athletics. We've talked
about this. I kind of think, though, that it's
just one of those things where it comes to the
territory at this point. I don't disagree with
that. But I think there's going to be a section
of the fan base that's like, why couldn't we
hold on to this kid that you recruited? It's
because there's always going to be a bigger fish.
There's always going to be a team out there with
more money than you. And you're going to have
to operate wherever you can with the money that
you have. And I think I said this after they
lost coming into that Monday, was that, you know,
they have a lot of young players. We kind of
knew that. And there was a lot of expectations
of players coming back. But they're going to
lose a couple guys. And you hope that it's not.
like four or five of the guys but you knew that
somebody that you liked wasn't going to be on
the team the next year that you by in terms of
their standing you could have expected to be
and i'll just say on this and on this program
we love angel we did we got to meet angel i i
did at least so i got to meet angel like great
kid really nice guy so i don't want to hold anything
against let's just hope that he if he decides
he's going to move on to greener pastures now
by the way Just so people understand, you enter
the transfer portal doesn't mean you end up leaving
your team. Can I just say that, though? Because
there have been players. But it's the reality,
Justin. You put your name in the portal, it's
like you become a free agent. It doesn't mean
that you're not going to go back and sign with
the same team that you were on. Maybe it will
be a beaver. I don't know. Really? I don't think
so. Speaking of the Beavers, though, Trey Morris,
the freshman All -American, also entered the
transfer portal today. That's a little bit of
a hit. Yeah. I think that both of these teams,
they're going to take their lumps. So here's
the other thing, is that Mitch Canem loses Rich
Dorman, who's his pitching coach for the last
14 years. That could be one of those things.
Because Trey Morris is a pitcher, right? Absolutely.
I just it's it's we're going to watch it as we
go through this offseason. I think both of these
teams are in good shape. Like, I think that these
are sort of some red flags, but I'm not sounding
the alarm bells yet. Like, we kind of knew this
was going to happen, that there's both of these
teams based on their financial standing. They're
not going to be able to keep everybody. But I
think they're going to keep almost everybody.
Everything was being made about Oregon being
that homegrown team. I think that's going to
continue. I don't think they're going to go out
there and get a bunch of guys in the transfer
portal that are the big names. They're going
to do that Vanderbilt kid who didn't have a great
season for Vanderbilt, but he played for Vanderbilt
and played great when he was at Cal State Fullerton.
So I think that's more of the Oregon speed, and
we'll see what Oregon State does as well. But
I'm not worried about these teams yet. So did
I talk about big bets? We have not talked about
big bets. You have about 30 seconds. I got it.
I got it. Big bets. Baby J wins the weekend.
No, Laura won. No, actually, Laura did win. Yeah.
So both of you went four and one. Laura won the
tiebreaker. Yes, she did. So I think the tiebreaker
was like 184 points. Yeah. Which would have been
in the goose range. Well, I went highest. I knew
that I didn't win it because I went 222. You
went to room 222. I knew everybody was lower
than me. Laura went 4 -1. The only game she missed
was Ole Miss. I went 3 -2. You went 4 -1. Goose
went 0 -5. How about that, Goose? You overtook
Goose, and I'm only one game behind you. We're
all within two games of each other. So that's
fine, which is fun. It's good. Comparity is good
in sports. We're all 500, though. Oh, a joke!
I got fired from the bank today. A woman asked
me to check her balance. So I pushed her. Dad
jokes. God, we're so really bad. We're 500. We're
doing our best. All right. What state has the
most streets? What state has the most streets?
You're not going to get this. I'm not going to
get it. No. Rhode Island. You know, I was kind
of thinking. Rhode Island. I was sort of thinking
northeast. It's got to be the northeast. Island's
got a bunch of roads on it. It's Rhode Island.
By the way, if we're so bad, it means that it's
easier for people to beat us. That's right. Your
opportunity coming up on Friday. Yep. Big bets
on the Danny and Justin radio program. Great
job as well. As always for baby J doc. Thanks
for listening. Go back to the podcast. If you
miss Adam Rittenberg or AJ canal fire on tonight
against the links. God bless. Put a smile on
your face. Someone else's that they deserve it.
So do you back tomorrow with the radio program,
the fastest 60 minutes. Peace.