This sounds like a request, is it?
It is?
Yes? Who we got Lake Street Dive?
All right, Christopher Camarade, Wednesday afternoon, It's sunny and you know, kind of nice.
Why aren't you sitting across from me today?
I have a sick kid home with me who is getting to digest all of the cartoons and he knows that he can milk it for as long as he can.
So that's where we find ourselves in this chapter of parenthood.
Godspeed. What's the deal with the track today? I know nothing about it?
Well, I guess in honor of the happy Gilmour two trailer going to My Happy Place. And my happy place is jam band music in the Summertime, which is about as opposite as it can get from right now.
Jam band music in the jam band music in the summertime.
I'm with you on that, See cat with you on that.
I know you are, I know you are, and I think if you got it, Lake's Dive saw him at one of the Twilights, one of the year's fun jam band from Boston. I think you would dig them, man, I mean, I know, I know that you can get a little bit.
You can get down with the jam bands.
I know that if you can let the guitarist riff for a while, maybe let the trumpets go, you can get into it.
Oh, you'll find me shoes off, gummy jam band summer at some point You'll you'll find me at some point this summer with no shoes and a gummy enjoined it.
There's no doubt one with the earth.
Yes, yes, well, said Chris Well. Well, Well said ck Lake Street Dive. Okay, I'll check it out. What what are the kids into? When Connor was Leo's age, it was Blues Clues, it was Dora, it was that dumb Barney, that freaking purple dinosaur.
Oh my gosh, what like?
None of the cartoons that Connor liked were digestible for adults.
What's Leo into these days?
There's a show called Paw Patrol.
I've heard of Patrol.
Yes, And as soon as I said that, he looked over at me and smiled. There's this show on PBS called Wildcrats, which is cool because it's like a human to cartoon show where these two guys are supposedly like adventure anthropologists, Indiana Jones types, and they go into the world of animals in a cartoon version, so.
He likes that as well. But it is.
Reprehensible to say the least. I spend a lot of time with my EarPods and let's just say that.
Yeah, they if somebody could create a cartoon, the kids love that, Adults kind of latch on.
SpongeBob doesn't count.
Like, if you could create a cartoon, the kids are glued to that, adults don't want to rip their hair out.
I think that's a million dollar idea.
There's this show called Bluey out of Australia, and it's about an Australian shepherd and its family. And the episodes are very short, and it is tender, and it is heartwarm, and it is one that actually is decent, and it is the one show that my son cannot stand.
So the irony in that is very thick.
Yeah, and I'm out of the market for having children. Mine's grown, so I'll never experience. Did you ever have to watch Dora the Explorer for any reason at all?
I did not, but I remember hearing about it.
Dude.
It just like I can sing the map song still to this day, and it used to bother me so so badly. But let's move on from that into more nonsense. So porter and I were talking earlier. NCAA tournament time means we have to get familiar with True TV, and True TV is airing reruns of Eastbounding Down after basketball.
Did you consume Eastbounding Down?
Maybe my favorite comedy show of all time?
Oh wow, okay, yeah, yeah, I.
Mean so much so that back when streaming wasn't really a thing and you had to buy episodes on Apple back in the day.
Do you remember this?
Of course? Of course.
I have them all on my still all these years later, and travel days like when you're on one of the Delta flights that doesn't happen to have the Wi Fi connector doesn't have the screens. I pull it up, man, and I just sit in that. I sit in my window seat and I just laugh out loud, and I probably look like a weirdo. But it is a show that takes me to a place that just makes me happy. It's brilliant and offensive and no way could be done today, but man, it is.
It's so ironic. You bring that up.
My buddy and I were driving home from our indoor game on Monday. We were talking about eastbound and how much we loved it. And yeah, it's a great show, probably my favorite comedy series of all time.
The Adam Scott cameo is the agent kills me every single time. But Danny McBride, for me is a benefit of the Dowd creator. Like, if I hear that Danny McBride has done something, he's got my attention.
I mean, I'm with you without a doubt. I think. Yeah.
That show also had like insane cameos beyond Adam Scott, like Craig Robinson as the one eyed like villain, the antagonist, the guy who Kenny took out his eye, Will Ferrell Elite as the as the car salesman, Ashley Schaeffer.
McConaughey was in it. I'm trying to think who else.
Marilyn Manson had a cameo in it.
Sudakis as his best friend Shane who did body surfing, It's in Myrtle Beach, and Ike Baron holds it's it's it is so bad and it is so I mean, like if if I know, I know there is a the twenty percent of the drive Monday to Friday two to six, it gets too woke. I don't think this for for your listeners. This is where we're a little anti woke on me, spound and down, but it's a great show.
It's funny.
Danny McBride has carte blanched Vice Principles was amazing. I don't know if you saw that. It was only two seasons, but kind of. Goggins is like coming out party from like a comedic point of view and laid the groundwork for maybe my favorite comedy character of all time, Uncle Baby Billy and righteous Gemstones like yes to your point, got there eventually. Daniy McBride can do no wrong.
Is Walton Goggins properly rated? It feels like he is having a moment because are you watching Why Lotus? He's killing in White Lotus?
He is, and he was really good in Fallout, which is a adaptation of a video game, popular video game like ten years ago. But yes he is. I think he's having his excuse me, having his moment justified. I don't know if he saw justified. It was great and justified. So but baby Billy man.
So good, so good.
The song when he's singing with like the clam on his back, Hallelujah with a payday at this fake Jesus resort I mean, I'm just yeah, we could go on for hours.
If you're having a bad day, just google Will Ferrell, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride. He's bounding down out takes. That's one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my entire life.
I'm not kidding. Let the boy watch, Let the boy watch.
All right, Well, last week we did fifteen minutes on Philip Seymour Hoffman. So yeah, you never know where we're going to go. But we will move on now and talk a little sports. So it is official, Christopher that Alex Jensen has been hired as the seventeenth head coach and Utah men's basketball history. The press conference was on Monday night. Did the show at the John John M. Huntsman Center on Monday afternoon. Actually, let me start here.
It's going to get a facelift, the Huntsman Center is and it could be a massive construction project.
Several boxes have to be checked before we're there.
And I am one, certainly As I age that I'm prone to nostalgia and memories, and walking into the Huntsman Center on Monday certainly reminded me of a lot of fond days when Alex was playing and I was a student at ed Utahn. The Huntsman Center has a lot of history, but I think this is probably the right move.
Yeah, I mean it feels like it does need a little love.
Yeah, without or doubt. I mean, if you look at that campus, even from the time I went to school, which is.
Sixteen years ago, like it is night and day, just from the like the academic facilities, like the buildings.
That were up there when I was there, was.
Like, if that earthquake hits that's supposed to hit, we are all done. Like we're in a building that is like mad Men era built. So the fact that they're going to give a facelift or you know, potentially have a new place for what I would assume will be called the Huntsman Center still is necessary.
It's a it's a cool place and has a great history.
You know, the Magic Bird Final four run was here, but like there hasn't been that much. There's been no Huntsman Magic Man like like you know, Lynn Roberts teams have have been fun in the last couple of years, but like other than that, it just really hasn't you know, obviously hasn't struck the chord with the fan base for
a multitude of reasons. So it's a cool old building, but I think it makes sense to be able to fund a significant revamp on a antiquated building, even though it's cool for sure.
And we had Doctor Hill in studio yesterday, and you know.
Doctor Hill, the Cores hired.
Rick mcjerison was around when Alex was a player, and Alex reached out to Doctor Hill and talked to him before he decided to take the job. And this feels, Chris like a hire that simply has just been given the thumbs up by everybody all over the place, whatever wherever your spot is in this ecosystem, if you played for the school, if you're in the administration, if you cover the team, or if you're a fan or whatever.
Feels like everybody's on board.
But then, of course the next step is understanding how the staff is going to look. But what what are the boxes that have to be checked until you know, prior to finally seeing consistent big crowds in that in that building.
Yeah, I would start with I mean, if we're going to invert the pyramid like one star talent, two tantilizing style play, three wins like you kind of have to have an amalgamation of all those three. And obviously they can come, you know in waves, like you can have star talent that might underachieve for a while and blossom
into something major. You could be like those BYU teams that frankly like in the last decade haven't been great in the postseason, but like they've played an enticing style of basketball, and you know, whether it was Dave Rose or Mark Pope or whomever, like they got people to want to go to their games or watch their games. Utah just simply hasn't had that for quite a long time. And like there are other teams in college basketball across the country that I figure that out.
Utah, for whatever.
Reason, amongst you know, several you know, generations of coaches now in the last twenty years, hasn't really been able to nail that down. So I think that is one thing that faces Alex like right off the right, off the back, like he has to get good players and he has to install a system where it's like I know in this you know, you know, pace and space era, like that is going to be you know key for
a lot. Yeah, I got you, but I know that is going to be paramount for a lot of teams, and it might work for some teams, but like just I don't know, man end up on Sports Center Top ten, like give give give a casual college basketball fan a reason to tune in to watch Utah play whomever. Wh who are going to out there for the sake of being funny this week West Virginia, Like like, give the people a reason to tune in.
And I guarantee you.
Utah fans not only haven't really been tuning in the last or so, but like the casuals who probably remember Utah being you know, fun way back when, definitely haven't been paying attention.
So that matters too.
When it comes to the staff.
We've discussed it, but it seems like every time I read anything about it or hear anything from people, there is this feel like, yeah, you got to just get.
All the Utah guys.
You just got to get And look, I've said this probably twenty times. I'll say it again for those that haven't heard. If Andrea wants to come, that's the higher you make. To me, that's a no brainer. And part of that is me. I'm sorry, I know you want to be a gen xer, but I am, and as a gen xer, you walk into a gym with Andre Miller on your bench, that's cache incredibility that's hard to find.
But beyond that, I think we're doing.
Alex maybe a little bit of a disservice by saying, Okay, just hire everybody else that wants to have the job that, once upon a time may may have played at Utah. He's been away from the college game, certainly for twenty years, and he's been in pro basketball on a number of different levels during that timeframe as well. And I'm sure he has relationships and has cultivated relationships that are beyond this ecosystem and this community what sort and I've been
and I talked to Doc Hill about this yesterday. If we use the coach with model, he has coaches of all different races, and he tries to balance things out within state guys, out of state guys, and certainly you need people that understand the just the way things work around here. Sometimes I feel like that's a little bit overstated. But generally speaking, as we wait to hear how Alex fiells out his staff, what are you expecting to see?
I mean the fact that he's coming from the league.
Probably lends to the theory that he might be willing to bring some guys that he's met along the way to work with him, and maybe not premier front bench NBA assistants, but guys that he got to know over the years, whether it was in the G League, D League, Jazz, Mavericks, whatever.
Alex doesn't really strike me as like the really like super nostalgic type in that, like, I don't think he believes that they'll only be successful if they only have guys with Utah guys and like all you have to do is look down in provo And I know Utah fans hate hearing something like that, but like Kevin Young hired a bunch of dudes who really don't have much
many ties to BYU at all. I mean, he hired wild White, who was you know, Rudy Gobert's D League, G League coach back in the day, and like was like coaching in Germany. So like, all you have to do is find the right mix of guys and find the guys who are good at recruiting and recruitingly, it's a good players period.
Yeah, it does. Honeymoon period. Uh, you know, because we do this weird thing.
I've talked about it before where sports fans just seem to love you until they don't. And the Donovan Mitchell example in our market is what I always go to where like that dude walked on water, Untell you very much did not. And right now, everything, as you like to say, is the kids like to say the vibes are high and good vibes around the program, you know, and that's that's a good thing, you know. Me though,
I'm gonna say it results over vibes. How long How long does Alex get before we start doing the thing where we're like, hey, maybe this wasn't the right call.
Well, I'll start off by saying it depends on what his nil budget is, because I think in this, in this era of college athletics, you have to take that into account right off the bat.
So if Alex has a.
You know, treasure trove of money to go out and compete, then like I think you are going to be leaned upon to get results very quickly because money gets good players now and we've seen at BYU. So what are you saying, dude, I'm on the radio. Sorry, we are in.
An era now, where.
You have to be able to pay good players, and Utah hasn't had good players lately and he's going to have I mean, is it is it unrealistic to say four or five years like this is? This is kind of the tricky part, you know, bringing home a legend of a program that was representative of a heyday that's always going to be measured up to. Like I'm not saying it's not going to work out by all accounts. Alex is a you know, a really good coach and a guy that should be able to turn things.
Around, but homecomings don't always work out.
I mean, like you can look as recently as you know Mike Woodson at Indiana, a guy who was a head coach in the NBA for a very long time, and I think Mike Woodson was like a star player under Bobby Knight back in the day. And like Mike Woodson didn't have much success at Indiana at all. So I know every example at every.
School is different.
But for me, it's going to start with how much money does Alex and his staff have at their disposal and what kind of players they can bring in in I say one or two years.
Nor of ball and grinder of tape, apparently Chris Camraadi on the program, good Mike Woodson knowledge.
The example I keep coming back to.
I can remember when BYU hired ty Dettner, and all of my BYU bros, all of my BYU family members are like, all right, Championship game over tied is the man Heisman Trophy, And within like four games, people down there were like, he has no clue what he's doing.
He's never coached college football before.
Well, correct me if I'm wrong.
I feel like Tye jumped from like one a Texas private school football to being BYU's offensive coordinator.
I think that was I think that was the jump.
So yeah, I mean, I'm sure if you ask Polani in retrospect, that was a learning moment for him and like proof that no matter how far you back, how far back you go in terms of nostalgia, it doesn't always equate to results in present day. And but there are also you know, tons of examples as well, so
it's it's hard. Man. I'm always going to be with you on results over vibes, and I'm always going to be with you on you have to understand this place, the culture here, and how to get to people, and for too long, Utah has missed out on some of the best and state recruits, not only to be Yu, I mean they were losing guys to Utah State, Spence. I mean, like I know, Utah State has, you know, is a legacy school. Guys like Sam Merrill will go
to Utah State because they're legacies. But like, you've got to get some in state players that are really, really good. I mean growing up, like when I moved here, there weren't that many good.
High school basketball players.
But since I got into this job thirteen years ago, there have been a lot of good players come out of the state. And like we churn out pro players quite often now. So it's not hard to be able to set your recruiting boundary not too wide. But you've got to be able to win the head to heads with people in state.
Yeah, one hundred percent, you know.
And we keep talking about the Majeris model where you were able to get superstars like Van Horn and Andre from out of state Doliak and then supplement it with the Britton Johnson's, the Josh Grants of the world that played here locally. All right, speaking of results over vibes, the red hot Real Salt Lakes streak as RSEL has won two of their last three. They go down to Houston and get a result, which they never do. My guy Diego gets his first goal. Your guy Diogo also
opens his bank account. Kids, that's a soccer term. So it he changed in the k take on RSL after a couple of decent results over their past three I mean, I'm ref rushing our guy Tom Bogert every day to see if a nine's on the way, but we continue to wait.
No change.
RSL ran into a team whose fortunes and current roster construction is much worse than their own. They lost their starting goalkeeper to a torn aco like five minutes into the game, so the Dynamo or downs fence. But you know, credit to ourselves. They won in a place that historically is very difficult for them to win at Diego Ludaman Like I shudder to think where this club would be without him, not only from an on field point of view, but from a you know, marketing point of view, from
an excitement point of view. Like eventually, we talked about this a few weeks ago when I was in the studio with Trey before the Conquer CAF series started, like
when not if? When Diego is sold, it's going to be a huge bummer for the fan base, and I think like a fan base that's already kind of on edge trying to figure out what their plan is where they want to go, that that to me is a very fascinating subplot to this season because they simultaneously need this kid and need him to star and ball out like he does and like he can.
But if a number comes.
Across the desk of Kurt Schmidt and those guys and you talk to Diego and he wants it, you have to do it. So, like I know you've talked about how this is an odd point of like contention for you as a as a fan, learning that like some.
Players just exist to leave.
But this is the reality of international club soccer and it's going to hit ourself pretty hard here, I would say in the next I don't know, I don't I think he might finish out the season, but it could happen as early as summer. Last year, nobody really saw Andrescomas being sold to Europe in the summertime, so you never know how quickly these things can move.
Why haven't you deleted Twitter. I mean, you don't even send out your work anymore.
It's a good place to find things to make fun of people to send to my friends.
Yeah, and I would be sad if that threat ended. I'm just wondering, like, are you you got anything in the hopper?
Anything? Cook an e c K pieces dropping anytime.
Soon, we'll see, you know. I'm just I'm still decompressing.
Man. I'm I'm hibernating Spence. I'm I'm I'm not down bad, but you know me, man, I I need these I need these rays to come out and grace my skin for several days before I can really turn things around.
I'm joking.
I'm gonna help out with some March Madness stuff on remote and we'll see. Like, you know, I'm living the the plush life of taking care of a sick toddler and watching Pow Patrol. So that's that's my day.
As I was fighting through a h and you know, Monday was your boy's birthday, a little Saint Patti's day. So I'm fighting through uh, the hip, the shoulder, the back, shoveling wet snow yesterday morning.
I'm not gonna lie. You came to my mind. How did that storm hit you?
Oh? It hit me hard, man, Like, I don't know what this.
I feel like this season, of all seasons, we're getting like really crappy, like East Coast wet snow, Like the greatest snow on earth has not graced Salt Lake City like one time.
This year.
It's just been this wet, sloppy snow and it's get I mean in theory, I guess it's easier to just push, but you don't want to lift it.
You want to throw out your back.
I know they say, like like shoveling heavy wet snow is a leading cause for heart attacks and older men. So like we're we're the age now, Spence where we gotta we gotta watch it a little bit, So don't push yourself. I didn't push myself. Leo helped me. He's I'm probably the reason he got sick. But I guess I'm looking outside right now and the snow is giving way to brown brass, which is a transition to to
next weekend. It's going to be seventy degrees and I'm sure my guy is going to be out somewhere.
Getting getting his bag.
Of clubs, chomping at the bit. I cannot wait to get out and play. And we're going to drag you out at least couple of times this year.
Right, I'm ready. Man, I don't think I got out last year. And there's only one person not to blame, and it's me. It's everyone else's fault. I hope you know that.
Yeah, no, it always is, Christopher. Right, go attend to your child, buddy. Thanks for the time.
Thanks man,