I was watching this show, I think it was Hulu last week, and it had the biggest beefs in celebrity I think it was the nineties, the biggest beef between celebrities and the nineties, right, And they're going back and forth, you know, a lot of Tupac Biggie, you know, and they were ranking them, you know, they're ranking them, and for some reason they completely decided to ignore the Roxy Bernstein Corney Cox beef.
I thought it was malfeasance on their part. Interesting was this a CNN thing? Was it the nineties documentary or whatever?
It was the nineties, like biggest beefs between celebrities and the nineties.
And for my money, I don't know that.
There's a bigger beef between, you know, than between our next guest, Roxy Bernstein and the great Corney Cox.
Roxy. Happy Tuesday, sir, How are you Spence?
I just want to know. Was Vanilla Ice and Sugar Knight on there?
Oh?
Was that part of the beef?
It was not, But Shug I think was featured, I think three or four times, which is not surprising at all.
How you been, my friend?
I'm good. You know. It's getting the real grind of the season. But I'm good, you know, bouncing around doing what I do.
There you go, there, you go? All right?
Right off the top, Is there any way to fix the NBA All Star Game?
I don't know, to be honest with you, right, And is there a way to duplicate what the NHL slash hockey has done? Considering how great this four Nation's face off has been and the anticipation that a lot of people have for Thursday night with the final between US and Canada, I mean, is there a way to generate it internationally? And will they care enough? That's the other thing. And I'm not exactly sure, Spence, what you can do to make the NBA players care. They tried to do
something different this year. I think there was a little bit more of a player participation and excitement about it, but I wouldn't even come close to putting on the same level what hockey's doing right now.
Yeah, and we'll get talking in a moment, because the Four Nations Canada US game by far was the dopest thing I watched all weekend. So we'll get to that in a moment. But I don't know that the NBA at this point roxy has any other choice than just to admit what we're all seeing, and that is nobody gives a rip about this. It is simply a celebration of the league because and I don't want to be the old man yelling at a cloud about this, but you remember, once upon a time that was the greatest
pickup game in the history of everything. When the best players in the world cared about playing in that game and wanted to beat each other, there was nothing better. And now, honestly, there's just nothing worse because to your point, I don't care if you play it in the Bay, I don't care if you play it in Salt Lake. I don't care if it's US versus International, East versus West.
These dudes can't even be bothered to play hard for a large portion and then Lebron shows up and he's like, yeah, I'm out, just so you know, like I'm just not even participating. I think at this point the league just needs to admit that they're seeing what we're seeing and it's just unwatchable, and then that's just kind of a deal, now, you know.
And look, I had an issue with Lebron. Did this weekend you take the spot from somebody else that could be there and made himself the center of attention in a lot of ways that all of a sudden dropping it on everybody, I'm not playing. That's the frustrating thing I had with with what Lebron did. But the NBA, it's look, I don't want to be this, get off my long guy. But when we were growing up, Spence, Michael Jordan cared right when he wanted to be involved.
He had to win and he wasn't alone. Larry Bird took the floor, Magic Johnson. They wanted to win desperately and it meant something. Now we're exactly going all out and trying at the beginning. No, but when the game mattered and they had to play defense late in the game or they had to make a physical screen on somebody,
they were doing it. You're not seeing that right now with the NBA in the All Star Game, with the young stars and having those teams there, it just is a different feel than it was for whatever reason.
Last thing on this And look, we both work in media and I do some TV. You do a lot of TV and call a lot of games, and so I understand, and I'm a grown up. So this is a front facing revenue generating product, and you have television partners that you need to take care of.
But if I'm a player and I play hard.
And I get a win and we advance on, and then you tell me that I have to sit down and listen to Kevin Hart make fun of Shaq's hat for thirty minutes before I'm playing again, I would be roxy.
I would be so annoyed.
Because you know the deal, Like, if you've ever played any sport at any level, Okay, you play hard for a while and then you sit for a while.
What happens? You get tight?
Like they even interviewed Yokitch and they're like, hey, what have you done during the break? He's like, I tightened up, you know, Like if you're trying to avoid injury the format itself while they're force feeding us Kevin Hart, I thought was horribly misguided.
They're one percent with you that when you play all right, you want to keep going. You don't want to sit because then, as you alluded to, you get stiff and you make yourself susceptible to an injury. You want to keep going, Like, okay, could you set up two courts? I don't know what you could do if you're going to try to do a format like this and keep
guys going, oh, we got next. Right, That's the format that they used is not viewer friendly and even player friendly to that regard, and there has to be a better solution. I just look, I'm not smart enough to figure it out. That's the job for Adam Silver in the NBA to try to get a better fit for what this should be. And look, it's not necessarily a joke like the NFL had become with the Pro Bowl. Baseball does a decent job I think with the All Star get and making it competitive, and guys are out
there and they are competing. But right now I'd say that the NBA is probably third as far as those All Star games. And look, I'm not including the MLS in this, but I think with what hockey as right now is clearly number one. I'd put the Major League Baseball game number two. Then then a third would be the NBA, and they're All Star weekend.
Well, somebody didn't watch hay SU's FREDA and the Skill Challenge in the MLS All Star Game a year ago.
Apparently, Rocky you tuned out on that one.
Huh, sorry, I am not up with my MLS, my bad, All good, all good, All right, let's move over to hockey, and before we talk about what we saw last week and what we could see on Thursday.
We are a new hockey market, so give us a little you know, context and maybe even a history lesson US Canada hockey is among the best rivalries in all of sport, period. But help us understand just how intense this rivalry has been before we talk about what's in front of us. Now, Hello, did you drop? He's still there? But Roxy, Roxy, are you there?
Hello?
Check one too? All right, we'll try to get Roxy back. Four nations face off coming up on Thursday. That will be the final US Canada. It's going to be played in Boston, which is a great hockey city. After the US was able to be Canada two to one in an event that's three fights in the first nine minutes. So I thought that was one of, if not the most entertaining products all weekend long. At its peak, five point four million American viewers watched the tournament.
And so this is a new thing that hockey is trying to do.
And as of right now, the early returns have been very, very positive. So Matthew, Brady Kachuk, and J. T. Miller each had a fight to open the game.
JT.
Miller fought a dude that's twice his size. But of course the Kachuck brothers started things off. So let's get Roxy Bernstein back on Roxy. Unfortunately, we didn't hear any of your answers, so I'll just ask it in a very short way, give us a little bit of context as to why US Canada in hockey is so intense.
Well, that was the best thing I was said all day. It's Bence clearly.
Oh damn it, Okay, your best. You know.
It's funny because on the international stage, international hockey, it was more Canada Russia. When you go back some years, and it's only within the last I don't know, twenty years or so, maybe twenty five years, that the US has really surged and this rivalry is heated up between Canada and the US. And it's clear that this matters to the guys in the dressing rooms, to USA hockey, Canadian hockey, and they went out there and responded like it.
Especially when you get Matthew Kudtruck dropping the gloves right off the opening face off, and you get a brawl going. And the only thing that would have made it more intense, I think Spence is if he had fought Sam Bennett, initially his teammate in Florida, right, instead of Brady Kachuck fighting Sam Bennett, if you got Matthew Kachuck and Sam Bennett fighting each other off the opening draw. But I'm
not expecting the same kind of physicality. If you will, I'm not expecting fights off to get go on Thursday night. I think it's going to be a physical hockey game. Could we see some sticks come up and pushing and shoving, Yeah, I think we're going to be witnessing that. But if you look at the win and the game settled in, it became a smart defensive game that the US played.
And when you have the best goaltender in the world, which the US does with Connor Hallibuck, and the way the defense really shut down, I thought the firepower of the Canadians that was more the story, even though the headlines clearly were the three fights coming in the first nine seconds to get the night started. And was there a build up from the booing of the anthem. I think there was part of that and the Kachucks wore it on their sleeve out there and took out some aggression.
But this has become a rivalry I think over years just because of the US has elevated their platform on the international stage in hockey, where for years it was Canada US and that was international hockey for a lot of people, or I mean Russia and Canada, I should say so.
Ultimately, I just was chuckling when I was listening to some of the coverage earlier today because they were talking about some of the players that are heard on both sides, and there was a sound sound bite where I think it was Brady Kachuck and may have been Matthew, one of the Kachuck brothers, was asked like, hey, you guys are you know you had to see it for the portion of the game against I think it was Sweden and there are rumors about guys being banged up in there,
and he's like, we're playing just so you know, like we're we're playing on Thursday.
There's no doubt.
And it's one of the things roxy not to go back to the NBA bashing, but I love pro basketball and I'm mad at it right now. I just I love that hockey players will just show up because, look, this obviously means a lot more than a exhibition game. So I'm not going back to Lebron entirely, but it's one of the things that I've always loved about hockey players. They're they're they're real tough guys, and they care about competing.
They care about showing up and playing because it makes the product better, obviously, and.
That's the mentality, and that's the hockey mentality. If you go back that you're gonna play, if you could blace up your skates, you're gonna go out there and playing. And I know some of the NHL teams are obviously a little nervous about it when they see, for example, Charlie McAboy and the injury that he's dealing with right now. Matthew Kachuck was a scratch doing a little lower body injury from yesterday's game, Brady Kuchuck. Then they for precautionary reasons,
pulled them from the game yesterday. So that's the tough thing for the NHL is they're so invested in this event and it means a lot, and it's clearly elevated hockey on the national stage. Here in the United States, and with the television ratings that they had for the game on Saturday night shows that there's interest. And now you move forward and you just hope that you're going to get the best product on both sides because of the injuries. And look, these guys are out there to compete,
They're out there to win. They're not just mailing it in. This isn't just okay a whole hum event. National pride means a lot to these players, and it's evident the way they've responded so far in this tournament.
Before we move off to hockey stuff, and you know, you've got a game to call tonight, so I want to do some college basketball with you in a moment. I just wanted to kick the tires on where we find ourselves year one with the Utah Hockey Club. They are right now as my computer refreshes, there's six points behind the Canucks and a full eleven points beyond the Avs for the wild card. What a peg like won't go away. It's wild what the Jets have done this year.
But your thoughts on I guess I'll just say the first half, even though we're more than halfway home of the season for the Utah Hockey Club, and you think there's a chance they're able to catch the Canucks and maybe be a wild card playoff team this year.
There's a chance, yeah, And you have Calgary lodge in there in between, and some of the teams have dropped off, like, for example, Okay, Saint Louis is a couple points behind Utah. The Seattle Kraken, to me, have been a major disappointment. They firmly expected to be in the playoff race, but they're well out of it right now. Is there are eleven points behind the Canucks. Nashville has been another huge
disappointment of the Western Conference. But the opportunity is there, and I know the schedule could be favorable here coming up for Utah with some home games and even though they haven't played great at home, they've actually been a
better team on the road for whatever reason. But there's gonna be opportunities here and they're gonna have to hit a really good run here to open up the second half, if you will, because Vancouver and Calgary both have a game in hand on Utah, so they're gonna have to, I think, play at a pretty brisk pace here to make a push. Can it be done. Absolutely, it can be done. And the injuries that Utah has dealt with on the blue line, Connor Ingram missed a good chunk
of time when he was away from the team. The injuries even up front that they've had to deal with, that's been a concern. But they've tried to piece it together here and set themselves up to make a run. They're in this thing and they're gonna have an opportunity now they're gonna have to help themselves out. There's been certainly drama surrounding Vancouver with the whole JT. Miller situation
in Elias Petterson. But there's gonna be opportunity here. When you look at the schedule what's looming for Utah and you open up the second half, Okay, it's gonna be tough. You're at LA, but then you have a run of home games Vancouver, Chicago, the Wild New Jersey. There's some other clutch games coming up, like, for example, the Leafs
still come here. They're going to be opportunities, but they're going to have to hit the ground run into the second half in place a really good hockey coming out of the break, all.
Right, Before we end with thought on BYU and their basketball program, let's give a little love to Craig Smith and the Utah Utes, who over the weekend was able to get two home wins against the two Kansas teams. They beat the number seventeen team in the country, Kansas, who I don't know, man, I don't know. The Jayhawks I believe were preseason top two or three, maybe even preseason one, and that group does not look like a connected group to me at all.
But a good win for the Utes.
They were an underdog, and then k State, who had won six straight prior to their trip to Provo.
You know, that was a really good basketball game.
And the best thing that I saw, in my opinion roxy those two games that I really haven't seen much of from Utah this year is their ability to close. You know, they were in the game. It was seventy two to seventy two at Cincinnati. Then since he ended on like a thirteen to two run. They were close against West Virginia, they were close against Oklahoma State, even Baylor. They had some moments, but the closing stretches have been difficult because they do not have a ball in hand.
Lead guard decision maker that has the ability to make dynamic things happen like they did a year ago with Davon Smith. But with five games left, you know, you look at the rest of the schedule, they're gonna have to pull off some upsets, but they might be a double digit win team in conference in the Big Twelve. They're seven and eight with five games left to play. And I want to get too far ahead of myself, but I'm really happy for Craig. Next year is the
final year of his deal. So what are your thoughts on this year from the utah Uns.
This was a big weekend, I think for him and the program to get those wins, and it is a little more difficult for them to get things done offensively. They're a tina has to do it by committee. Yes, Gate Madson's your volume shooter and your go to guy. Would need a big bucket, as he was with huge shots against both Kansas and Casetate last night. But it's a team that shares the ball that they average eighteen assists per game, their top ten in the country and
assist and that's the way they have to play. They have to be connected offensively, and the effort on the offensive glass the last two games has been phenomenal. It's not just Ezra Sr. That they appeared to me wanted it more. They were the more aggressive team in these two games. And now you go out and they have five games left before they go to Kansas City in the Big Twelve Tournament. Getting to eighteen wins is a realistic possibility for this team, and you mentioned the double
digit wins in the league. They have to prove they can win on the road, and that's what they're gonna have to do. If they're going to try to get out of the first day, maybe even the first two days of the Big Twelve Tournament, They're going to have to go to Central Florida and win a tough home game against West Virginia, but they got to win at home. If they can go three and two of these last couple of games, I think that bodes well for them.
And I think that for a team that was picked what sixteenth spens in the preseason poll, and if they can finish right around middle of the league seven dates, that would be I think a really big accomplishment for this group.
So Kevin Young has a litany of talent at his disposal. He's got two potential well one lottery pick with Diegor Demon and then a lot of people think Kennon Catching's is the first round player. So there's some you know, some seven figure players on this roster according to a lot of reports. And what I've been told and started off, you know, not great as far as what we were expecting. But they've they've kind of settled in now. They had a couple of losses Arizona, then at Cincinnati where they
got trounced. They go to Morgantown to get a win over just a pain in the ass. West Virginia is the tough team to play against. Yeah, and then they end that six game winning streak from KSE State and it really wasn't close. When this is going to sound reductive and simplistic, but when Brigham Young is knocking down shots, that's a tough team. Kevin's got a tough team. So
they see Kansas tonight. You're on the call, so kind of saying, question your thoughts with year one under Kevin Young, what do you expecting tonight?
Is the Jayhawks are down in Provo.
And this is an enormous game because the winner of tonight's game between KU and BYU will have the inside track at the five seed because you'll have the only matchup between the two teams this year, so you'll have the tiebreaker. And then can you make a push to get into the top four, which would be a huge boost. You get to buy into the quarterfinals if you can do that. And so for BYU, they've been dominated at home.
Kansas has been very inconsistent this year and they've in fact, they've lost three consecutive road games to unranked teams, which is kind of unheard up Spence for a build self team. But this BYU team, I think they've gotten better as the season has gone on. And this is an adjustment
for Kevin Young. Right, he's an NBA guy and both of the last number of years with the Suns also with Philadelphia, so he's going through a learning curve of the college game and learning the tendencies of going up against Bill Sell or a Scott Drew in this league, and that's a it's a big adjustment. I think it's a bigger adjustment than people realize what Kevin Young has had to do this year. And that's why I think they've gotten better and better is this season has gone
on and for example, tonight is a big opportunity. They know it, and it is going to be rocking Marriott Center. This is this is a game that BYU has been waiting for for a long time. This is a reason why, in a number of ways, BYU is so active in wanting to get to the Big twelve. It's not just the money, and it's not just the more exposure, but to get a blue blood on your home floor. It's the first time a blue blood program will have been
to the Marriott Center since the late eighties. And that's what BYU has tonight.
All right, before I say you lose a college football question, because for the second time in four months, I guess, I'll say conference leaders from the SEC and the Big Ten are meeting in person to discuss common ground. Is what I'm reading during a critical decision making period in college athletics. So the meetings are talking about the House first, NC Double A and future governance and all that stuff.
But maybe most importantly simply to the consumer and people like us they love to watch and cover the sport, is the conversations about the college football playoff and what the two most powerful conferences. If it's not the two best. It's the two most powerful power of the perse. We know the deal rumors about both these two getting four auto bids and you know the Big twelve and the ACC getting two and the G five essentially being shut out. So we are in the middle of this, you know, neoliberal,
capitalist takeover of college athletics. I mean, there's no denying that. But it appears that maybe these two conferences are trying to expedite this process to kind of move things even more in their favor.
Does this concern you at all? How do you think it plays out before I set you loose?
Uh? Yeah, that concerns me. And because it's just so unstable the landscape of college athletics right now. And that's the frustrating and kind of unnerving thing about this whole movement that we're seeing. And look, the SEC is still ticked off that Alabama didn't get in, right, There's no doubt that on selection day when they saw Alabama left out, which I do believe was the right move, even though
potentially they were the better team. But I thought that SMU had earned it and deserved to be in the playoff. For what happened during the course of the season, but that's what they're trying to do, is they're trying to make an exclusive club. It's US and the Big Ten against everybody else, and they're trying to gang up on the competition, and they're not going to be happy. I don't think until they get control. And look, I think we're headed. This is just my feeling of speculation, Spence.
I think we're headed to college fotball breaking away and being its own entity, that it's gonna just be college football governed by a body, and every other sport, including basketball, will probably go back to a regional model. But I believe that's where we're headed, and it's gonna be the haves and the have nots. And I don't know if it's going to be a premier league like system from soccer, but we could be headed in that direction. I don't see this model being sustainable. I really don't.
Yeah, the danger, you know, in what is being proposed is if you dilute the regular season in college football, you are taking away what makes it special. You have to games have to matter rocky. You can't just automate like sorry, Bama, don't lose four times, like that's the like. You can't minimize or dilute the regular season in college football, or in my opinion, you're taking away what makes it so special.
Compon championships should matter and that's what the Mini valued, and I applaud them for that because SMU was the Big Twelve champ, but they didn't win in the Big Twelve championship game, so they but I think they deserved it because of what they accomplished in the season, and that's what the framework they laid out before the season was that if you're a conference champ, that should be a significant thing to add your resume as far as what the committee will look at. And that's what they
got rewarded for. And now if you're going to take that away and you're talking about that's what it would devalueate the regular seasons about. Then we're just going to take a look. And it's kind of like the old Siston that we had. Well, I'm looking at just the eye test tells me Alabama's better than them. Alabama should
be in That's not what this should be about. And luckily, even though we had those blowouts in the first round this year, I do believe the committee got the right teams in the playoffs.
Roxter, you're the man.
Enjoy that cougar tail tonight in Provo and have a great ca Okay.
Oh, it's never a b YU game, but you don't have a cougartail, right.
No doubt, no doubt. If you finish the whole thing, I'd be wildly impressed. It's very unhealthy.
I won't and I won't even even try to.
Okay, I'm just a couple of.
Bites, guy. Just need a little little bit of a sugar boost before the game.
Moderation and all things Roxy, including moderation. By the way, my friends have a great call.
Okay, anytime, thanks for having me.
I had the great Roxy Bernstein, he'll be on the call to I b YU. Welcomes in Kansas, down to Provo. That game is on ESPN. It's at seven o'clock.
Utah was able to take care of the Kayhawks here at the Huntsman Center over the weekend. All right, before we catch a break, I want to tell you about my friends at Ogden Clinic Hadley Dermatology.
Now here's the deal.
If you're like me, once this weather finally turns for good, you'll be outside all the time. You'll be playing golf all the time, You'll be hiking all the time. You'll be in the sunshine a ton.
Now.
The reason I bring that up is I did not know this until we started working with our friends at Augmen Clinic Hadley Dermatology. We lead the country per capita in skin cancer diagnoses. I did not know that. It makes sense. We live in the desert. It gets very hot here, so Ogden Clinic, Havley Dermatology. They're offering you a chance to get a free skin consultation just to kind of make sure you're good.
Now.
I've known Jason and Michael for years and they're good friends of mine, and every year they say, look, we know you're out golfing a ton.
Just come in. Let's check it out, make sure you're okay.
We're going to do a comprehensive check head to toe, because early detection can save your life. Now if you have not been checked recently or ever. Quite frankly, I know there's some of you out there and you're thinking yourself, Man, I'm in the sun a lot. Take advantage of this because it saves you a grip of money, and then you know exactly what sort of hand you've been dealt they're also offering twenty five percent off of laser treatments,
so it's going to be pool season here. Don't be the guy that takes off the shirt and you look like a gorilla. You can get that taken care of, or hair in other parts of your body taken care of. That's your business, not mine. Twenty five percent off of that as well. They do anti aging, they do body sculpting, injectables, Botox. We had a Valentine's Day Botox special twenty percent off, So take advantage of the deals. These are good people. They'll take great care of you. And pick up the
phone and call this number right now. It's eight oh one six five seven five six six four.
That's aight.
Oh one six five seven five six six four. Eight oh one six five seven five six six four