A couple of nights this week no football, So I've decided to fire up some friends reminisce go old school, get nostalgic, enjoy the phenomenal acting of that great cast, namely one Courtney Cox, I underrated member of the Friends cast.
Neither here nor there. Let's get to our next guest.
Talk a little football, talk, a little baseball, whatever comes our way with my guy, Roxy Bernstein.
Roxy, Happy Friday, Sir, How are you Spence?
That's never gonna get old? It's truly not.
I can't stop the bit, Roxy, I can't stop the bit.
I never will we going come on? Yeah, I'm with you on that A one hundred percent.
Now for our new listeners. I say this every time Roxy joins us.
Roxy.
The cliche one of one is overused. What makes Roxy Bernstey one of one several things. Namely, he is a phenomenal broadcaster. He does a tremendous job on whatever he does, football, baseball, basketball, But he also has a continuing beef with Courtney Cox because he's friends with the lead singer of Counting Crows and she broke his heart. I just we have new listeners, Rocksy, I just have to remind them of the deal.
Spence. Bill Walton was clearly one of one, and I just happened to be one of probably a few. You know, there's a few of Adam's close friends, and we all probably have a general distaste for Courteney's, so I can't be just one of one in that regard.
How is my guy, Adam Durretz these days? How's he doing?
He's good. They just finish up tour. He's all pumped because the Golden Bears for the first time, College Game Day will broadcast from Berkeley tomorrow. In the history of that program, they've never had Lee Corso put on Osky's head or the other mascot Tomorrow with Sebastia the ibis is. Miami's in town to play cal but the first time
College Game Day will broadcast from Berkeley. I hope whoever holds the bleak button with Marshaun Lynch being the guest picker is ready to go when that show comes to a conclusion around nine o'clock specific ten Mountain time tomorrow, because I think that button might get used a few times tomorrow.
Well said, and you know you didn't see my notes today, but you stole my first question because as a proud alum, I mean it has to be pretty cool, and you know what there I haven't seen a ton of them, but I think they're a little bit improved based off of the chaos that that program's had to deal with. I mean, I still chuckle when I say Cal out.
Of the ACC.
But with game day in town, with game day in town in Berkeley and a really good Miami team rolling in the spread is ten, which is sizable, do you think they'll be motivated to make this thing interesting? You think they've got a shot at the upset?
Oh? Yeah, I do. They're at home and Spence. They're a really good defensive team. They have some shortcomings offensively. I have concern about Cal's offensive line. I like the quarterback. I think Bernando Mendoza has grown and now is redshirt sophomore, is comfortable in the offense. They were three and zero going into that game against Florida State and lost a tough one on the road, a game they should have won.
But you know, the kicker misses a couple of chip shot field goals and you don't score on off as a touchdown and you lose a thirteen to nine game. It makes it frustrating, but they went on the road, they wanted Auburn. They tie have tied for the most interceptions in the country defensively, so this is going to
be an inspiring performance. They're going to be ready. There's a lot of hype and buzz around this and Cal's got an opportunity to make a name for themselves on a national stage with a good shilling on game day and if the team can follow it up Saturday night against the You.
All right, Roxy, let's move over to the University of Utah. Before we talk about any game specifically or what comes next, you will not be well. You follow the new cycle. You follow the program. We're former Pac twelve buddies, so you know that for the second straight year, we're dealing with a lot of unknown, a lot of ambiguity about the quarterback under center Cameron Rising. Where I want to start with you is, you know, in the NFL, in the SEC, in the Big ten, you gotta report, got
to report injuries. And Steve Sarksian was asked about this dynamic and he gave a very articulate answer, but ultimately he said the report is a good thing, so that everyone's clear of why we do this reported, so that we can.
Minimize the leaks in our building.
From a gambling perspective, nobody wants to know the truth, right everybody's trying to figure out who's planning and who's not. And then if you don't report, everybody wants to call your student trainers and student managers and ask who's practice.
Who didn't didn't do all these things.
And then Dennis Dodd also quoted a gentleman who has been hired by all P four conferences, and name is Matt Holt, who is known as the founder of US Integrity in Las Vegas, which doesn't sound like the thing, but it is. And he talks about how he advises the colleges to report injuries because if you don't, you're putting your student athletes, your trainers, everybody at risk in the program because those guys in the desert, as we all know, we'll do whatever they can to get information.
So coach Witt is under no obligation report. He believes it's a competitive advantage. Some people would disagree with that, but Kyle's job is to win games, not tell you or me who's going.
To play quarterback.
Do you think we should just make it mandatory for every school to report injuries to avoid the you know, the kind of the chaos we find ourselves here in Slick City.
I think there should be universal policy, not just okay, this league's been does it or that league does it? Especially among the Power for conferences. I think there should be some unity between those leagues that they all do the same thing. And it's not just for injuries, but across the board they played the same number of conference games. I think everything should be even as far as those
power conferences go, and that includes disclosing injuries. And look how you saw Kyle Whitningham last year and even dealing with it this year. How sick and tired was he of answering the question about Cam Rising is he playing? Is he not playing? Who's going to play quarterback for you? On set Saturday? And to the point where I think it became a nuisance in a distraction, I think it can help alleviate some of those issues which you alluded to, that it's all out in the open and people know
exactly and I'll full disclosure. He was upfront and honest with us. He trusted our crew last year when we were what everybody was speculating, is Cam playing, is he coming back? Who's going to be the quarterback? Is it going to be Barnes? And he was upfront and honest with us, and there was a level of trust. But there's very few people that are in that circle of trust. And I get the paranoia the coaches have because my sister's married to a Division one head basketball coach, So
I get it from their perspective. And you keep the opponent guessing because they have to prepare not only for Okay, they're not sure if Cam's going to play, but Wilson whoever plays quarterback when they go up against Utah. So a preparation standpoint, it could give you a competitive advantage, But I would like to see it level across the board. All the power conferences do the same thing.
Yeah, well said.
And you know there is a portion of the community that's really down on Cameron, which I'm not with.
I'm not here for that. I mean, he's hurt and when he's healthy, he will play.
And the knee injury last year was way worse than anybody knew because nobody reported it until a writer from the Athletic Front of the show Chris Comrodnie interviewed doctor Neila Trash and then Cam came on.
Bill's show last year and I felt for him.
I mean, he sounded emotional and he actually went into detail. I think people thought he may have like, you know, sprained his MCL his knee exploded. And the piece that Camaradnie wrote, he had access to Cam and Cam's family.
You could tell it really it really affected him.
He said he didn't want to leave the house his door dash Bill was rising and a lot of dark days.
And you know, the deal with these young football players rocks.
I mean, it's like the old John Calipari quote when he was asked how many NBA.
Players do you have in your locker room? He said I have twelve? Go ask him. You know, they all think that are going these young people. Football is like their identity, It's what they know.
I don't know Cam, if I don't know if Cam's an NFL guy and coach Wit. Every time he's asked about this and he, you know, a reportable reference. The criticism Cam is taking, Kyle will say, well, I'm not on social media.
I don't see any of that.
Well, guess who is his twenty five year old quarterback and he obviously sees it, and he obviously is.
Affected by it.
Do you think that dynamic should kind of change and shift the paradigm as far as how they're handling it, because it feels like Cam is taking a lot of unnecessary heat.
Roxy it's unfair to criticize him.
His body is letting him down. It's not that he doesn't want to play.
He physically can't.
And so how can you take shots at a kid for trying to do whatever he can to get healthy to get back out there on the field, but his body won't cooperate with that. And look, we all deal with physical elements in life, especially as we get older, and there's nothing we can do about it. We do our best prepared our bodies for life. And he's trying to prepare his body to play football and his body's not cooperating right now, and it's brutally unfair to take
a shot at him. Do you think that anybody wants to play more than Cam Rising does? Absolutely not. He wants to be out there in the worst way, but he can't be. And I just don't understand the logic from people that that they take shots and want to criticize a kid when he physically can't go out there and do it, because nobody wants to play. Nobody wants to see Cam Rising on Rice Echo Stadium's field than
Cam Rising. I guarantee you that one hundred percent, and nobody could convince me otherwise for sure.
Roxy and Kyle Boneguro joined us earlier and made a really good point because one of this and look, I'm not the radio host that's he's won tweet and creates a topic.
I mean, this is a real thing.
Okay, there's a portion of the community that feels like Cam is just saving himself for the NFL.
But as Kyle said earlier.
Can didn't play a snap lash year, so he needs tape this year to give the NFL team to show that he's right. I don't know if he's an NFL quarterback, but the notion that he's saving himself for pro football when he badly needs tape to show the decision makers in pro football that he can still play might be the most lucrous thing I've seen so far.
It's it's asinine to think that that is a reality. He's at this point with the injury that kept him out all last year Spence and now I'm dealing with an injury this year. I think that he's got to prove of the GMS. He can get on the field and he can play. That's what they want to see. He's already got the production. They know he's a strong quarterback and a great leader. Right now, it's just a question about his durability. And I think Michael Pennix went
through that at Washington. To be honest with you, he's an older quarterback when he came out last year, just like Cam's an older quarterback. But the knock on him was he couldn't stay healthy and they had to see him complete seasons and he did it the last two years, and that's I think what Cam has to do, to be honest with you, in the eyes of the NFL, they need to know that he can get out there
physically and do it. And you know, what's that old line about a professional athlete, what's their best ability availability? And I think at this point that's what the teams want to see in the NFL, is can Camerising get back out on the field.
Last thing on this then we'll move off it, because honestly, it's exhausting, But it really is the one thing that everybody asks me every time I show up at a buddy's house. So what everyone wants to know what he's playing, because of course there's so much at stake.
This is a good team.
They could go to the CFP and potentially without under with Cam under center for the second straight year. We'll be looking back and talking about, you know, what could have been, or what ifs or what have you. So I get it, but I wonder because there is part of me that understands the frustration about the messaging where every week, and look, all due respect, coach Wit said earlier in the schedule, we are not doing this for gamesmanship.
But see, they kind of did last year every week when behind the scenes it was known that there's no way he's playing. It was maybe game time week in week out, we'll see and then sometimes he would dress, then he wouldn't play. So they did utilize it to use a message where they thought they were getting an advantage last year. Is it an advantage that's a legitimate debate. But I do think there's some credence to the folks around here that are just kind of tired of the
whole like, all right, week to week game time decision. Again, I'm not criticizing Cam and I'm not criticizing Kyle his jobs to win football games. If Kyle wouldn't hand the head coach believes that by not reporting injuries he gets a competitive advantage. That's well within the scope of his responsibilities. But do you believe there's any credence at all to the portion of youth fans around here that seem just to be over the whole thing with the way the messaging has kind of gone down.
I get it from the Utah fan perspective, because you're so invested in the program and you want to see the best players on the field, and so from that standpoint, they've been okay, came back and started and got hurt again, and it's now a year and a half, two years that this speculation has gone on, and until he returns to the field, unfortunately, I think you're going to have this topic front and center and you're going to have to deal with it' spence and oh Stein's going to
have to do with it on his show. But that's unfortunately the nature of the Beast, and we all know who's the most popular player. It's the quarterback and that's what people want to talk about, and it won't change in the NFL right right now, the questions around the Dolphins and Tatonga Bilo and his future. He's the quarterback and that just happens to be the sexy topic for people.
And I get the apathy and the frustration from fans, but at the end of the day, that's what they pay attention to more than anything.
Yeah, yeah, no, well said, all right, So let's move over to where we find ourselves now. I was Arizona rolled in a rice Cycles last Saturday and Rocks and you've been a rice Cycles, You've called game of rice Cycles.
And I can tell you as.
Somebody who's been going to games there since the eighties, went to school there in the nineties, and has been covering them as a medium member for basically two decades in the market, that was as surreal of a night as maybe I've seen in a while.
Now. It's been a little bit misconstrued that I'm knocking on fans. I'm not.
Ultimately, you need good football to cheer for, but Arizona beat Utah on the trenches. Coach, we had talked about that himself on Tuesday, which I did not see coming. Noah Flafiita is awesome when you see him up close, and I just think the fans were left wanting because there was not a lot of noise. Certainly, the muss is the muss, no matter what, right, But ultimately it
was just kind of an odd night. But what do you make of Arizona rolling in town on Saturday and taking care of Utah relatively easily.
They're a good football team and they've got talent, as you talked about it, and it's not just the feedum, but you look at McMillan and you mentioned their offensive line and defensive line.
Play, and that was an angry team that they were getting in that game. And Brent Brennan had his team ready to go as they were coming off sitting around for two weeks after they got it handed to them at Kansas State, and we hadn't really seen Arizona clicking yet, right. They put up sixty one points in their opening game, or however many they scored against New Mexico, then they didn't play well but one against Northern Arizona in week two. Then they go get a hand to them into Little
Apple in Manhattan. So now you're two and one, you're frustrated. You've been sitting on that game of getting pounded by Kansas State for two weeks. You catch a break because Utah's without their quarterback. But Brent had his guys ready to go, and this is, you know, a place that they knew was not going to be easy to come in and win. They had a great game plan, I thought, and they capitalized on some of the ineffectiveness of the Utah offense in that game, because at times Utah had
real difficulty moving the football. And Arizona's a good football team. Okay, Utah probably when a full strength is the best team in the Big twelve, but they weren't a full strength and Arizona basically was. And Arizona had the advantage in that regard and they took advantage of it. They were able to run the football against Utah, They were effective in a passing game. They were able to generate some opportunities defensively and really put Wilson off balance and frustrate them.
Arizona was the better team on that night. Do I think Arizona's a better football team overall? Probably not, But they were on that night, and they took advantage of the situation.
All right, Roxley, last thing before I saw you lose. And I'm doing this for.
My producer, who is a lifelong suffering Mets fan, and I told him, don't do the Mets thing. I mean, I'm a Yankee fan, I'm a Northeast boy, and I know several Met fans. I'm like, don't do the Met thing. Okay, don't do the Met thing where you get excited then they let you down. But I gotta say, what a moment. You know, Alonzo who's struggled for a couple of months.
Agoes deep, they win, they advance.
Do they have four porter Do they have a puncher's chance against the Phillies?
I think they do. I think there's an advantage of both the Mets and the Padres, for example, have and that's the series all have starting tomorrow night is the Padres and Dodgers down in LA. But when you have a team that's already in playoff mode, and the Mets have really been in playoff mode for a few months now, it's not like, Okay, they just kind of back into
the playoffs. They've been having to win baseball games for a while they get off to a bad start and a miraculous run that oddly enough coincided with Grimmiz throwing out a first pitch at City Field, and ever since then the Mets have taken off and last night down to nothing in the Nines and Pete Alonso and all the speculation spence about his future He's going to be a free ation after the year. Does that have bat change the whole dynamic for Pete Alonzo and the Mets
going forward? By how do you let him go? Now? After the biggest moment of his career, he comes up with a home run in the ninth inning of a winner take all Game three against one of the lights out closers in the game, and he lifts the Mets into the Division series against the hated rival Phillies. Yeah, they have a puncher's chance, and they're a hot team, and Lindor is an MVP candidate. He's not gonna win it because his name's not Otani. But this is a team.
It's hard to beat. And you've had a confident group that's riding a wave of momentum and it's hard to get it restarted. I saw it with the Dodgers last year in the Division Series when they were swept by the Diamondbacks. You've been sitting for a week essentially, they've been playing the Phillies have kind of eased into it. I think the Mets had you up a puncher's canton.
To be honest with you, I think the Padres should be the favorite to beat the Dodgers in the other series, even though the Dodgers have the number one seen in the National League.
Wow. All right, man, Well you've done it. Now.
Porters can do the Met thing even more. And I'm going to deal with a sad producer at some point.
All good, apologize, thank you.
No, all good, my friend. Hey, I always appreciate the time. It's always a pleasure. Hope you're well with chat soon.
Okay, anytime, fan talking to you. Take care, having good week.
The great Roxy Burnstein he is on Twitter. Get him on Twitter. Just his name.
It's at Roxy Bernstein. Formerly the Pac twelve Network. Now he's calling baseball at ESPN. My man's a real talent, so check him out.