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Just In Time Sports, come and get your whoopie
takes Come and get it, he gon' tell it to you
straight, to you straight Welcome into the show
Welcome in to the newest edition of the Justin
Time Sports Podcast. I am your owner and host,
Justin Jackson. This is season seven, episode
two. Excited to be back. I told you guys we were
coming back weekly. We're going to figure this
thing out. We're going to be back on the air
every single week. You guys are going to podcast
me weekly. It may not be every Tuesday and Wednesday,
but once a calendar week, you will hear from
me, my thoughts on what's happening. Like I said,
basketball affords us a little flexibility because
games happen every single day. So we can, I mean,
there's lighter days, of course. There's days
that are a little bit lighter. Like you'll have
those TNT, or they used to be TNT, excuse me.
Those Amazon Prime exclusive windows or Peacock
will have a Saturday night game. And in case
it affords us a little bit more flexibility in
regards to with football. pretty much got to
make a choice you're either going to be a recap
early preview show or just a really good preview
show we tend to be a really good preview show
record usually that Wednesday night or that Thursday
night going into the weekend as opposed to coming
like that Tuesday night or Monday night right
after Monday night football there's a pure recap
show this year debating doing two shows a week
maybe during football of having a recap show
and then a preview show but we'll get off that
that's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that
you guys don't particularly care about but that
kind of leads us into what we're not talking
about what we are not talking about is the world
baseball classic you guys typically don't care
about baseball most of the country doesn't care
about baseball until we get to the world series
or at least deep in the playoff run or shohei
otani's gambling we're also not gonna talk about
The Pat Riley statue. It looks really cool. It
is probably one of the Lakers are the masters
of statues. I don't know why the Miami Heat didn't
commission the same guy or figure something out
as far as company to get a statue. But Pat Riley
statue looks amazing. And we're also not going
to talk about that rather hilarious back and
forth between Mario Cristobal, who's the head
coach of the Miami Hurricanes. and kirby smart
who's the head coach of georgia two of the best
10 coaches in the country uh having a little
back and forth joust about carson beck so that
was rather entertaining it was rather enjoyable
seeing again two of the best 10 coaches you can
argue kirby smart may be the best coach especially
at the collegiate level with all the different
things that go into coaching these days like
roster building and whatever and of course mario
cristobal taking a dying corpse of a program
in miami and they were in the national championship
game last year at midfield down by a touchdown
or less With Carson Beck having the ball in his
hand to potentially go win that thing. So, you
know, that was hilarious. But that is all we
have for JTS Quick Touch. Because again, we're
not talking about any of those things, but I
would feel remiss if I didn't at least bring
them up. But let's get into what we are talking
about. We are starting off. with the olympic
games now the olympics themselves are wrapping
up in milan and the big story from team usa aside
from some personal triumphs and the amazing attempt
by lindsey vaughn to come back and win gold again
is the hockey team specifically our men's national
hockey team now i want to give a shout out to
our women hockey team as they won gold five or
six days before the men did, or at least it felt
like multiple, I mean, it was multiple days for
sure. But it felt like, you know, about a week
between the tournaments. I know that didn't happen.
That's like basketball. The men, the women finish
about a day or two in front of the men. It probably
was that way for the hockey team. The gap just
felt bigger for whatever reason. But the women
hockey team defeated Canada. the gold game to
win gold for Team USA then it was the men's turn
so obviously the miracle on ice is always remembered
why because it was the last Olympics that the
US men's national team has won gold now recall
and walk with me on this Remember how I spoke
about last week, Kevin Durant's shot is romanticized
as the shot to send them to the finals, not the
shot to get them to another chance, to get them
to another round, to then get to the finals.
But it is romanticized as if Kevin Durant's toe
is behind the line. It's Brooklyn versus Phoenix.
And, you know, instead of Milwaukee beating Brooklyn
and then going to another game and then going
to the finals. The Miracle on Ice, my entire
life, felt like was romanticized as the gold
medal game. I've heard people tell stories from
Sochi. I've heard people, you know, talk about,
oh, the lowly American kids had no chance against
the big, bad Soviet hockey team. And how, you
know, like I said, no one had a shot. And it
was the greatest victory in men's national hockey
history. so on and so forth right because understanding
a lot of that what made it so great was our political
climate at the time in the world and the soviets
still had the iron curtain up but for the first
time it was fracturing and you can kind of see
the holes in the soviets but one of the main
things they had was their athletics because of
i mean look at it now what used to be the soviet
union is home to a lot of top athletes. The former
Soviet Union, if the Soviet Union had a basketball
team, they would have Luka Doncic, they would
have Nikola Jokic, they would have a lot of the
great middle European players we're seeing would
all be on one Soviet team, right? Along with
whoever Russia puts out into it. Well, that was
the case in hockey. Pretty much the best players
from each of these individual cultures made up
the Soviet Union Olympic team. They actually
dominated a couple of Olympics in their peak
because of this athletic regimen. History lesson
aside, that was the backdrop to America sending
a bunch of college kids to the Olympics. Think
about it. This is pre -1992. for the USA men's
national team. Well, in 1980, we were still sending,
as they're popularly called, the college kids
over to the Olympics. Professionals ended up
coming in for hockey, I think in either 84 or
88, but it was before the dream team in basketball.
Anyway, so defeating Russia was not the gold
medal game. defeating the soviet union was the
semi -final game to get them to the gold medal
game it has always been romanticized it is popularized
in the movies and the clips and the emotion and
the stories and the name the miracle on ice all
these different things like it was the gold medal
game it was just the game to get you to the gold
medal game Ultimately, the U .S. ends up winning,
which is partly why the Miracle in Ice stands
up, which is similar to the Kevin Durant shot
because Milwaukee goes on and wins the title.
You kind of skip the part in the middle. So a
lot of people's brains goes Miracle in Ice, gold
medal. Kevin Durant's foot, NBA title. Well.
this game actually this time the us national
team their big game the big show moment the big
here it is was actually in the gold medal game
versus ironically canada again so the women's
team already defeated canada to secure gold now
the men's team has the opportunity to do the
same thing it goes into overtime And the golden
goal is scored by the US men's national team
to secure the first gold medal in men's hockey
since the Miracle in Ice year of 1980. Absolutely
spectacular moment. Canada, this is Canada's
sport. This would be like if Canada beat us basketball
in men's and women's. Like the pure, I guess,
panic or shock or... whatever you know would
occur would be mind -blowing because just like
James Naismith invented basketball in America
hockey was invented in Canada that is their game
often you don't get to know the true origin of
a sport running has been running since running
has been running right so you can't really quantify
running events in the olympics now the marathon
has its origins like the runner the messenger
ran 26 .2 miles and died at the foot after delivering
the message so that's why the marathons are 26
.2 miles to to exemplify his you know his feet
okay fine you don't you know horse racing has
been a thing since they were able to be tamed
okay fine but most of the time like you know
wrestling comes from pancreation like there's
there's different olympic origins but even then
it's more of story and folk tale and kind of
you need a little bit of don't look at boy you
need a little bit of historical leeway for the
story to work basketball and hockey are two sports
you don't need that for i know james nate smith
invented basketball in america i know that hockey
was invented in canada so for the us to defeat
canada literally in their sport twice men and
women for the gold is spectacular i mean the
u .s basketball team in the olympics um in france
and paris had the opportunity to do it as well
they defeated the french men in the gold medal
game And then had the French women lost to who
the U .S. women ended up blowing out anyway.
But the French women lost. Otherwise, they would
have got doubled up in their home country. But
absolutely spectacular victory for our Olympic
team. Kudos to them. Look forward to them in
2030. But absolutely spectacular. And it adds
another layer to the hockey season, the NHL season,
because it happens in the middle of their season.
Like the Olympic break doesn't affect the NBA,
but it definitely affects hockey. So they're
going to go into next season and the next part
of the season. Absolutely roaring because they
pause their Olympics. They pause their season.
Canada win. Canada loses. And now they go back.
So it's going to be very entertaining. Some of
those road arenas are going to be wild. But enough
for the Olympics. They are over and so is me
talking about them. Let's jump into the NBA as
the National Basketball Association is roaring
at full force. A lot of big games tonight. I'm
actually recording this during. the games but
i don't want to talk about the games the reason
why is or the individual games the reason why
is they're currently happening so i don't want
me to be able to discuss you know philly indiana
because it's gone final already but milwaukee
miami is still going new orleans golden state
is still going cleveland is actually putting
a hurting on new york that's an interesting one
specific because I will talk about the Cavs.
I may bring that one up. But regardless, I won't
go into standings or anything like that because
the games are currently happening. Houston. Should
I say San Antonio? We have a problem. Area 51
is legit. By that, I mean the San Antonio Spurs
are a team to be reckoned with. What they just
did to Detroit was very impressive. Detroit is
the number one seed in the East. Detroit has
a legitimate shot of making the NBA Finals. I'll
talk about why I don't think they will, but they
have a legitimate shot to make the NBA Finals.
Some people, and I can see the comparison, some
people are comparing them to the Derrick Rose
Bulls years. where they have an MVP -level guard
who does everything for them offensively, and
they got a bunch of rough riders and tough dudes
and bullies and just enough shooting and all
-world defense to cause havoc every single night
and to have the ability to make it out of the
East. Because if you remember, the Derrick Rose
Bulls, Ran through everybody and just met the
best player to ever live in LeBron James. So
going back to the Pistons, they look like there's
no LeBron James in the East. I mean, they had
as good a chance as any to make it to the finals,
and they still do. But what San Antonio just
did them was a display. That was a display of
power. Victor Winbinyama, Stephon Castle, and
the rest of the crew, that was an impressive
show, especially defensively. They really locked
in on Cade Cunningham. They really made him work
in this game. It's very rare. There's a phrase
in NBA lexicon called shooting a tour date, you
know, where it's like 3, 4, 11, like March 11th,
like, you know. Numbers you'll popularly see
on a poster for a tour date. That's kind of,
you know, until you have a bad shooting night,
you're shooting a tour date. And Cade Cunningham
shot a legendary tour date. Five of 26 for 16
points. He ended up with 10 assists. Dante Robinson
goes five of 15, but 11 of those were from three.
Ron Holland goes 5 of 13. Devin got him Jenkins.
He goes 3 of 10. But Victor Wynn -Binyama, I
mean, and the Spurs did not play well offensively.
You got Victor Wynn -Binyama who goes 6 for 16.
He did have 17 rebounds. De 'Aaron Fox goes 4
of 17. You know, Vassell shoots amazing. 10 for
14, including 7 of 11 from 3. And Stephon Castle,
7 -16, not bad. But their big contribution is
completely voiding Cade Cunningham. And when
you're able to do that to him, when you're able
to... I mean, no one's done it consistently all
season, but when you're able to bother him to
such a level, it changes the possibility of Detroit
winning a title. But what I want to focus on
right now is San Antonio. And the problem, my
warning message at the beginning, was not related
to the rest of the NBA. No, not at all. My warning
label at the very beginning was to the San Antonio
Spurs. I do not think they are able to win a
title this season. I am a person who studies
the game of basketball. I'm a person who studies
historical trends. My favorite subject in history,
my favorite subject in school is history. i will
study the trends i will lean on history whenever
a decision needs to be made i believe in precedent
okay i say all that to say the san antonio spurs
are trying to do something that has only been
done one time in nba history and that is basically
going from never winning a playoff series as
a group to winning big and making the finals
it's only happened one time in nba history and
that is and that is the orlando magic of shack
and penny now there are instances your brain
could be saying well justin what about kareem
and magic in 1979 for the lakers i'm not counting
bill russell celtics what about that group that
group had never won as a unit You're right, but
they had one playoff series before. Most of them
had. Kareem had a title. Magic wasn't in the
league yet, obviously. But a lot of those guys
had had success in the 70s. The Lakers of the
70s actually weren't horrible. They weren't beating
Boston, but they weren't horrible. They made
the playoffs every year. They won a playoff round
or two. They just needed a spark. Insert Magic
Johnson. But everybody else, every other group
has the story of we lost early and it bounced
us back. The reason why the Tragic Johnson thing
stuck so hard with Magic was because he walked
off the floor in 1978 or 79 as the national champion
of the college basketball after defeating Larry
Bird at Indiana State. 15 months later, he's
the NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers
and he's finals MVP. He does not struggle truly
in the playoffs for one year. So his comeuppance
came a little later. But every group has to go
through the growing pains. It's just how it works.
You don't go from not winning anything. To all
of a sudden, you're in the finals. And if they
get to the finals, they very well could win the
championship. To very well winning the NBA championship.
That's not happening. And I get it. I'm going
to sound like a hater. And Victor Wimbinyama
is amazing. De 'Aaron Fox has never done it.
Stephon Castle has never done it. Victor Wimbinyama
has never done it. Harrison Barnes, again, I
don't remember if Harrison Barnes is even on
the team. Feels like he is. He hasn't done it
in ages. When was the last time Harrison Barnes
mattered to a team? He did, 15 minutes against
the Pistons. When was the last time Harrison
Barnes mattered to a team? I'm going through
this list. The only people on it with legitimate
experience in big moments is Harrison Barnes
and Luke Cornett. And Lou Cornette was a very,
very deep bench player on it. And Harrison Barnes
was so good at it that the Golden State Warriors
shipped him off and signed Kevin Durant to just
fill his spot. I always say all the time, Golden
State's advantage was they presto change old
Harrison Barnes into Kevin freaking Durant. Period.
That's what happened. So, as amazing. And as
spectacular as Victor Wimby is, as Area 51 is,
as those guys are just, oh my God, they're over
the moon special to go from never doing it to
doing it at a championship level has never happened
in the history, in the history of the NBA, but
one time. And that is the Kobe, not Kobe, the
magic. With Shaq and Penny. That's it. That's
the only time. So, because of which, I'm setting
the precedent of, they won't do it. Now, the
Spurs have an advantage. Oddly, it's the same
advantage the Magic had. None of the groups in
the conference have done it. Besides Oklahoma
City. OKC has done it. But... Let's go through
the Western Conference quickly. We'll go through
the Western Conference quickly. Number one seed
is the Oklahoma City Thunder. We know they can
do it. They just did it. The number two seed,
those Spurs we're talking about. The three seed
entering tonight, like I said, I don't want to
talk about standings, but entering tonight, the
Houston Rockets. Kevin Durant's done it. We know
that. He's been to three finals, won two of them.
He speaks about how hard it is to win all the
time. Who else on the team has done it? Jabari
Smith? No. Fred Van Vliet's injured. So is Steven
Adams. There's a lot of talent and a lot of experience
from that Houston team that had they had them,
probably pick Houston. Because soon they don't.
There's a lot of reps they don't have together,
especially as a unit. Denver's done it, but Denver's
beat up. Very beat up. I mean, if they don't
have Aaron Gordon, they've got no shot. So Denver's
beat up, but they've done it. So I've got two
groups, but one's very injured. Heck, Oklahoma
City's very injured. The Lakers don't have it.
We'll talk about them in a couple of minutes.
And the Minnesota Timberwolves might be the most
frustrating team in the NBA. And none of their
guys have done it. So if San Antonio is going
to do it, a year like this year, where out of
the top six, only two groups have legitimately
done it, this may be your best year to do it
if you're San Antonio. Because I assume Oklahoma
City is going to be healthier next year. One
would assume Denver. They're pretty married to
this core. mostly runs it back next year you
can't have that bad injury luck again so because
of which if you're san antonio you've got to
make your run this season i had a topic in here
about the calves but i won't mention the calves
because i was gonna talk about how routinely
bad they are against really really good teams
and they got boat raced By the Oklahoma City
Thunder. They got out physicaled. They got out
worked. They got out coached. They got punked.
By the Oklahoma City Thunder. And currently they're
beating up on the Knicks. Those same Cavs. Beating
up on the Knicks. So I won't mention the Cavs.
I was going to lay into them a little bit. But
they're beating down the Knicks. Which shouldn't
shock anybody. The Knicks do this. Them and the
Timberwolves. are just fluctuating up and down,
can't get a hold on, don't understand why they
do the things they do and play the way they play
and hustle the way they hustle or don't hustle.
It's just not enjoyable because you don't know
what team you're getting. You don't know if you're
getting the Knicks who can go toe -to -toe with
anybody but Detroit. Or are you getting the Knicks
who probably should be on the Rochester Knicks
or wherever the G League team is? And same thing
with Minnesota. You don't know if Minnesota is
going to be this world beater, noise talking,
can't believe this team is where they are in
the West with this level of talent. And Edwards
flying to, yeah, they're down 30 in the fourth
quarter. That makes sense. Like in this, you
know, both teams are very similar in that aspect
between New York and Minnesota. But getting back
to what I was talking about, that Cavs team is
trying to figure it out on the fly. You can kind
of see the rotations are a little off, but they're
figuring out against the Knicks apparently as
they are handling the Knicks right now. They're
up 20 in the fourth quarter. But let's talk about
and one of the main things I want to talk about
when it came down to the NBA was the Los Angeles
Lakers and Luka Doncic. Let's play an exercise.
I don't typically do these because they feel
a little drawn out. However, this one's an important
one. I'm going to before I do the exercise, I'm
going to ask you something that when I ask it
to you, you're going to say, Justin, you're crazy.
Which is fine, but then I'm going to explain
it. I'm going to ask you this question. The question
is, is Luka Doncic potentially the greatest number
two to ever win a title? I repeat, is Luka Doncic
potentially the greatest number two to ever win
a title? Your immediate brain is, well, he's
not a number two. And my response is, isn't he?
Pay attention. Over the course, again, I'm a
history person. Over the course of Luka's career,
his athleticism has dwindled. Now there is rampant
reports of him drinking and him not taking care
of his body. He just really got in the way last
season. so on and so forth, right? And the ability
has slowly gone with it. Now, he's beating people
cerebrally, but he's doing that at 27, not 37.
Usually in the NBA, modern days, We've looked
at it as, okay, from ages 25 to about 32, 33,
you are at your peak of your athletic powers.
In the words of Reggie Miller, you still have
your superpower. You are at the peak of your
powers between 27 and 32 to 33, and then you
wane off athletically, and if you're still at
the top of your game, you beat people with your
brain. That is what we were trained to think.
Why? We have LeBron. We have Steph. We have KD.
Luka is closer to Melo and Rasheed Wallace. But
over the course of the NBA history, starting
with, I'm not going to do Bill Russell Celtics,
starting with Magic and Kareem, there is always
a number two that a lot of brains said probably
could have won a title on his own, but didn't.
But probably could have. Let's go through them.
Let's go through just the big ones. I'm not going
to go to every team. Let's go through some of
the big ones. Magic and Kareem. At the time Magic
arrived, could Kareem have been a number one
in a championship team? I would say yes. I think
they were put together poorly prior to Magic.
Magic kind of unlocked some of the levels of
those guys. But I think. that the Los Angeles
Lakers could have won a title with Kareem. How
do I know this? Four or five years later or earlier,
Kareem had won an NBA title with the Bucks and
Oscar Robinson. Okay. Let's transition. Let's
transition. Let's go to the 80s now. We started
in 79. Let's go to the 80s. Two people I want
to bring up, Kevin McHale and Joe Dumars. In
the right situation, could Celtic Kevin McHale
lead a team to a title? Absolutely. In the right
situation, could Joe Dumars or the Detroit Pistons
have led them to a title? Absolutely. Let's move
a little further. Let's go to the 90s. Scottie
Pippen is the key. I don't think Scottie could
have handled it mentally, but if you tell me
on the court, could Scottie Pippen have led the
Bulls to a title? Absolutely. go a little further
Shaq and Kobe to me are two number ones I think
it's Shaq Shaq and then Kobe as far as who was
the number one but because they flip mid -air
I'm not going to count either of them as the
number two because they again pretty much flip
their roles mid -air another People I want to
use is David Robertson and Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan's
the number one. Could David Robertson have led
the Spurs to a title at that age? Maybe not,
but he was still a legit player. Then you move
a little further, the big three Celtics. Kind
of feel like the Spurs where you don't really
know who's the one, but you don't know who the
two and the three is. You feel like it moves
around. The next big one is the Miami Heat. LeBron's
your one. Could D -Wade have led them to a title?
Could he? Yes. We've just seen it a couple of
years prior. Then, of course, there's Golden
State with Kevin Durant as your alpha. And Steph,
again, we see it before and after KD, as your
number two. I say all that to say, I think Luka
Doncic fits a lot better in the D -Wade, Kevin
McHale. Steph Curry on the Warriors with KD box
than he does LeBron James, KD, Larry Bird, Magic
Johnson, so on and so forth. Here's why I say
that. There is a certain level of dedication
and mental and emotional maturity I don't think
Luka has. We crack jokes. all the time about
Jokic can't wait till the season's over to go
be with his horses and he may retire just to
go horse training and be a great equestrian and
we make all these jokes about Jokic right but
Jokic has reaffirmed multiple times that is nowhere
near his plans to go sit on somebody's farm when
played with horses all day when he still has
the ability to play in the NBA. I think Luka
might actually be that. I think what's distracting
Luka off the floor may be even more of a bigger
impact to Luka than what's actually on the floor.
Luka Doncic is 27 years old. We're not talking
about a player in his 30s. We're not talking
about a player, you know, that's had some injuries
and they're just trying to survive basically
we're talking about a person i'm sorry he's well
he turns 27 in a couple of days so a near 27
year old this guy's born two years after me and
he is waning considerably in athleticism i have
another question regarding luca Or maybe not
a question. We'll see how it develops. But I
have another thing regarding Luka. I think Luka
is closer to our stars of the 80s and 90s and
not our stars of the 2010s, so on and so forth.
Why do you say that? Because we think, man, 27,
you should be just getting started. And people
hear about, you know, Michael Jordan at that
age. what he was doing and the ability he carried
long after that, so on and so forth. I think,
well, actually, I know a majority of the players
then were physically tapped out by 30, 32 at
the latest, where you would finally see that
real decline. I look at Carmelo Anthony, Rasheed
Wallace, guys who were Absolutely exceptional.
And then they became good. Feels like overnight.
They went from otherworldly to good. You know,
still were a starter. Still were high level player
to they're done. And it felt like it happened
like a falling star. Like you've seen it at the
top of its peak. And it was amazing. And then
it just didn't do the altitude. It didn't do
the dedication. It didn't do the life. And it
fell. And it fell faster than it could heal itself.
And I think Luka, you know, committing all this
money to a weight room in Slovenia and all this
other stuff, I think that was him acknowledging
the damage is done and I need to fix something.
But I just think it's too late. And so I think
in order for Luka to win a championship, he's
going to have to enter the Scottie Pippen, Steph
with the Warriors with KD. hell bob koozie you
know realm of i have to be an amazing number
two because i think the damage is done already
to his body physically but to be a number one
So I think he has to be the world's best, too.
No shame in that game by any means. It's just
obviously not the path people would have thought
for Luka. And especially me even verbalizing
it. Some of you may say, Justin, you're insane.
But it's the truth. He cannot be a number one
on a title team. He needs to be one of the greatest
twos of all time. That is how he will be successful.
That is how he will win titles. It is not by
him being the dude. And the Lakers, quickly,
are one of the worst teams in the NBA playing
anybody who isn't awful. They are amazing against
bad. And they are bad against good. We're not
even talking against great. We're talking against
They are bad. They are negative in the season
point differential. They have a horrible net
rating against anybody that is not the bottom
10. I heard a statistic the other day referencing
net rating against the top 10 teams in the league.
It was on Colin Cowherd's podcast. Without going
too far in the weeds, it was everybody in the
top 10 of that stat, which is the net rating
against the top 10 of the NBA. Everybody in the
top 10 of that stat hit as you would figure were
the top 10 teams in general. And then there's
the Lakers, who was 29th. They're the only team
in the NBA with a negative point difference on
the season. And yet they are. Fifth or sixth
in the West right now, between fifth and sixth.
They are so bad against anybody who can pressure
the ball and dribble. They don't like defense.
They don't like ball pressure. And heaven forbid,
if you dunk twice on a fast break, the game is
over and they will lay down and get blown out.
It would not shock me one bit. If the Los Angeles
Lakers losing five in the first round and three
of those games are blowouts and J .J. Redick
is trying, but when your number one is Luka and
you don't have anybody in the realm of possibility
who can challenge him, it leads to you getting
boat raced whenever things go poorly. So the
Lakers have a lot to figure out. The 41 -year
-old man isn't the answer for you. But my question
is, is Lucas? Welcome back into the show. And
now let's trade the round ball for the oblong
ball. Let's go from the world sport. Okay, I'll
try it. The world sports soccer. Let's go from
basketball to America's sport, America's pastime
with football. Now, it's going to be a two -part
college and NFL situation. We're going to start
off with college football. Last week, I broke
down my calendar, right? Because a lot of the
issues in college football stem from the calendar,
in my opinion. Obviously, playing a national
championship game on like January 26th is an
awful idea. However, most people seem to simply
accept the fact. That we're going to play football
after New Year's Day. I don't get it. I don't
understand it. Me personally. I have the plan.
You know. It's take four weeks out of the schedule.
And you play football on New Year's Day every
year. And you're out of the NFL's hair. Slide
week one to week zero. Take away the non -district
bye week. Take away your. Leave your conference
bye week. Take Army Navy week. And take the week.
uh after that you've moved your whole schedule
up a month there's 31 30 to 31 days in a month
26 of them is what you need i have just created
a schedule that ends on january 1st however i
it was brought to my attention that i forgot
to address a couple of things number one before
i go into this The coaches in Army -Navy are
now agreeing with me. Why? Because they're thinking
financially. Because they play in a conference.
Which means they could be in their conference
championship game all week. That's Army -Navy
week. So the head coach simply said, we should
move to either a four -hour exclusive window
on Thanksgiving. or that Friday, or that Saturday.
The reason being is that we can make the conference
championship game, and the way the calendar is
set up, we either have to choose to play Army
-Navy or to play in the conference championship
game if it were to arise to that. And you can
simply just move Army -Navy to Thanksgiving week,
which is, by the way, the exact week it had in
my plan. Move Army -Navy week to Thanksgiving
week. and therefore you create the ability to
play an exclusive window i believe i had it army
thanksgiving week or it might have been the week
right before but regardless the fact that the
coach of the school was willing to meet was willing
to move army navy means it's possible which means
my idea is firmly on the table as opposed to
kind of a pipe dream because that was the main
thing i was focused on was Army, Navy doesn't
get moved. They have their own week. However,
back to things that were brought to my attention
regarding my calendar. Number one is the recruiting
side. So I focused a lot on the on the field.
How do you fix on the field? How do you fix on
the field? How do you not have coordinators working
two jobs? How do you wrap up college football
by January 1st in the Rose Bowl? That was my
focus. However, I mentioned recruiting, but I
didn't exactly fix it. So the transfer portal,
I actually did mention the transfer portal. The
transfer portal, remember I said two windows.
That was the one from January 2nd to January
16th. And then there was the one after spring
football. And you had to be enrolled by July
1st or you were ineligible for the next season,
okay? i did not mention national signing day
so this is not the national signing day of my
youth there are two this is not lurking message
boards this is not you know i remember i was
in school during signing day we could have our
phones And just, like, my life was swinging,
it feels like, on every single pick. I was updating
pages every hour or every time I could find a
computer. I was updating pages trying to make
sure I didn't miss any big signings. It was insane.
I remember the big hat reveals on the Under Armour
All -American Games and Army Games. And it was
wild, right? Not the signing day of my youth.
However, there are two now. So the initial signing
day and the calendar at some point has to run
into a rough spot. Here it is. The initial signing
day will be three days after the conclusion of
the first transfer portal window. OK, so instead
of it going like it is now where it's freshman
sign in December, where you're signing in the
middle of the playoffs. I don't like that idea.
To National Signing Day itself being after the
portal window. Now, you're probably saying, and
I battle with this back and forth, well, Justin,
if I'm a program like an LSU, I'm just going
to fill my roster from the portal. I'll never
recruit a high school kid because in two years
when he's developed, I'll just go sign him out
of the portal. And my response to you would be,
okay, but we see how these portal acquisitions
move, one. And two, just because you sign there
or just because signing day is there doesn't
mean you have to sign right then. If a kid, if
a prospect, if a player. still wants to sign
with the university early and go to school early
and so on and so forth, he still has the ability
to do so. But National Signing Day itself for
the high school class does not start until three
days after the portal, which means the portal
goes from January 2nd to January 16th, three
days, and then January 19th or 20th. the freshman
signing day is okay then you have your traditional
time period and then you sign again right before
spring ball so remember the current signing date
is the middle of february you sign again Right
before spring. So let's say spring starts March
24th. You're eligible to start spring practice.
March 20th would be the day of the second signing
period. So you sign the first time January 20th
and then hypothetically you would sign the second
time March 20th and then you are done with acquisitions
besides late transfers, so on and so forth. And
I think that will also give a lot of clarity
to the portal. So, for instance, if I'm a quarterback
and my recruitment came down to, and I'm going
to use it, LSU and Texas. When I'm looking at
the roster, I'm going, okay, LSU has Sam Leavitt,
who's going to graduate. Arch Manning is going
to go pro. I'm going to no lose, but I guess
I'll go Texas. okay and you sign you but you
tell yourself i'm not gonna sign until the second
signing day and then texas lands or correction
back up a little bit you sign you go to school
you're a great player but you decide to go into
the portal well if you're a portal guy no i tried
the first time it doesn't matter As a portal
guy, you now can see the full landscape because
the whole freshman class is in and at least most
of the portal class is in when you make your
decision, which is why I like that second high
school window being right before that second
portal season. So therefore, the freshmen have
priority there, but they also understand the
landscape. That is my addressing to signing day.
There is the transfer portal window from the
2nd to the 16th. National signing day number
one is on the 20th. Then there is regular activities,
so on and so forth. And then right before, the
Wednesday before or whatever, of the second transfer
portal window, the spring window. that is when
the second signing day will occur. So that way
your freshmen still take priority to your transfers.
And lastly, on our round the country, the round
the world of sports in this case, we're going
to do a quick round trip around the NFL really
quickly. So let's get into it. Trent Williams
of the San Francisco 49ers, First ballot, or
I won't say that anymore because of Bill Belichick,
a NFL Hall of Famer at the left tackle position.
His contract at this point, it was always designed
to either be renegotiated, traded, or released.
It's just not coming together well. And so Trent
Williams is a candidate to be released by...
The San Francisco 49ers, he will have suitors.
If he is released by San Fran, he probably doesn't
go back to San Fran. He will have plenty of suitors.
Patriots, please tell me you're listening. Patriots,
please tell me you're listening. But Trent Williams
will have plenty of suitors for his services.
Kirk Cousins will be released on the first day
of the league year. It moved 24 months in the
making. Remember, when they originally signed
him, they signed him to a four -year, $180 million
contract, but the guaranteed money was gone after
year two. Six weeks later, they draft Michael
Penix, his replacement, and in a world where,
I know I said it, I said, well, they got their
current and they have their future. And Michael
Penix has the ability to not play football in
Atlanta and make a whole bunch of money, not
get hit and kind of watch Kirk Cousins do it.
That didn't happen, of course, but Kirk Cousins
will be a free agent with the opportunity to
land elsewhere. Not sure if he does, but the
opportunity, of course, will be afforded to him.
kyler murray now this is a little bit of a messy
situation i'm still gathering facts about it
but what i do know about it is that the general
manager made a statement regarding to having
let's call it communication with kyler murray
because there's a new front office and a new
coaching staff in charge of the arizona cardinals
and of course big giant um i wouldn't call him
big giant a issue in the room is kyler murray
so kyler arizona cardinals gm uh said that he
has talked with kyler to discuss last season
um however a source said that kyler has not talked
to the team since last season ended um so a lot
of stuff there uh kyler got hurt of course had
a tumultuous season got hurt in week five uh
placed on ir and never came back he had a foot
injury and so conflicting reports there on whether
they did talk whether they didn't talk uh so
on and so forth kyle pitts of the Atlanta Falcons
receive the franchise tag from the team in an
effort to negotiate a long -term contract. Obviously,
Kevin Stefanski and that new brain trust in Atlanta,
led by Matt Ryan, who's the president of football
operations there and running the team, they clearly
see Kyle Pitts as a vital part of their future.
Kevin Stefanski probably sees a really, really,
really souped -up version of David Njoku. So
if he can get somebody to get him the ball, I
expect Kyle Pitts to have a pretty solid year.
It is a little hilarious, however, that one of
the reasons why the previous administration got
fired was that they weren't very good at selecting
players at the top of the draft, only to proceed
to the new coach attempting to re -sign one of
those players from the top of one of those drafts
to a very large lucrative contract. after said
player has been generally regarded as kind of
a bust. And that, in and of itself, is a microcosm
and a fairly accurate description of the NFL.
And of course, the NFL combine is right around
the corner. Whenever the combine happens, aka
the underwear Olympics, there tends to be a lot
of back and forth regarding should players throw,
who's going to work out, who's going to run,
who's going to lift, how do interviews go, so
on and so forth. Typically, the combine should
not change your opinion of a player one way or
the other. What they do in shoulder pads and
a helmet on Saturday nights was very, very, very
much more important than what they do in a compression
shirt and compression shorts running in, like
I've said before, the underwear Olympics. But
that is all I have for you today. Thank you guys
for rocking with me for this hour. Make sure
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of sports continues to deliver great storylines
and great moments. This is your owner and host,
Justin Jackson, signing out. Thank you.