All right, let's get it drives on Monday afternoon, ten minutes past the hour of two o'clock. The weather is great. It was great all weekend. It's about eighty two degrees and sunny. You can feel it. You guys felt it over the weekend. Didn't you fall? Us on the way? College football is on the way? NFL preseason Week one in the books. We've got a scrimmage for the University of Utah to talk about. We've got some sound from practice.
Coach Wit and some players talking about the first two weeks of camp Kyle as Utah continues to prepare for their opener coming up in Man just under three weeks now.
We know right around the corner.
And you could kind of feel the weather turn a little bit this weekend.
Couldn't you felt good out there?
BYU with a scrimmage this weekend as well, both BYU and Utah scrimmage number one of training camp. So, of course, the storyline down in Provo continues to be who will be under center? Aaron Roderick a little feisty, little spicy after their scrimmage, talking about how sloppy the offense looked, and at the University of Utah. No questions about who QB one is, maybe some questions about QB two, some questions about that wide receiver room captains have been announced.
We'll get into that on the show today. And we have a new poll. It's pollseason, guys. You know that prior to the starter college football we overreact to nebulous, mundane, unnecessary things like AP polls and coaches polls and such. But we do have the preseason College Football EP Poll. Neither Utah or BYU making a cut as far as the top twenty five goes both right on the outside looking in. So we'll kind of review that on the
show today and get you ready for Utah football. Gets you ready for Big twelve Football BYU Football.
Utah State.
We'll open up against UTAP all three of our in state teams opening up on the thirtieth, So fun Saturday, just a couple of Saturdays away and Big twelve football college football right around the corner. As I reference Week one of the NFL preseason in the books, a lot of local players either trying to make teams or trying to make positional matchups going their favor. We saw Zach
Wilson on the field for Miami looked pretty good. Tyler Huntley in backup duty for Cleveland after shad Or Sanders had a very nice preseason debut, leading the Cleveland Browns on three different touchdown drives. Jackson Dart with a really good game for the Giants. A lot of buzz around Jackson Dart back.
In New York in the.
Tri state area, so a lot of football to get to on the program today. RSL fans not happy today. RSL brass coaches front office not thrilled about the officiating in New York over the weekend. I guess technically New Jersey is where the New York Red Bulls played soccer.
RSL took a one mill lead in the third minute Gozo got his third goal of the season, but it was two goals from New York in the second half, won via a very questionable penalty kick after Diego Luna was very questionably sent off for a second yellow.
There was just so bad.
Now.
The silver lining is Diego looks hired and so he's gonna get the week off. RSL travels to Charlotte coming up this weekend for another road tilt. As a result of the loss over the weekend and some of the results it didn't go their way. RSL on the wrong side now of the MLS playoff line. Hopefully they can get the old tunesa kid ready to roll with his work, visa and healthy and into the lineup. Rawan Cruz has played a couple of matches now, so little RSL on
the program. Probably the most quiet time of the calendar for the offseason in the NBA. There's still a little bit of news and a little bit of buzz surrounding a couple of big names.
Another rumor surrounding Giannis today.
I don't know that that is anything that is going to go down, but Jonathan Kaminga hasn't signed. There some pretty good players in pro basketball still looking for homes. I'm not sure that the Jazz are gonna make any other moves after bringing back the mini van last week. George Yang will be back in Salt Ake playing some basketball for the Jazz coming up next year.
So not a ton of NBA storylines.
We do have opening night schedules, we do have Christmas Day schedules. We're still a few weeks away from getting the actual schedule, so mostly college and pro football right now.
A little bit of RSL for the local flavor and.
If anything comes down in the world of pro basketball with the Utah Jazz, of course we'll bring that to you. So a lot to do on the show today. Good to have you guys with us. Happy Monday. I if you had a great weekend and are off to a good start to that work week. Got a fun week plan for you guys a couple remotes. I'll be at the Red Zone store up on campus on Wednesday, getting you guys ready for game day. We have our Utah football welcome party coming up on Wednesday here at the station.
So excited for that. And we'll be out in about a little bit on the program leading up to football season, which is a fun time of year in the market. All right, Our first guest today the Wall of the Wasatch Hall of Famer Nick Rimando stops bot. He's doing some coaching for the RSL Academy kids. We'll get Nicky's take on Ratha Cabral channeling his inner Nick Rimando with some penalty kick saves. Cabral had another one on Sunday
against New York Fox and MARSL. And then see what Nicky has going on with a special Cause in our community. We'll tell you about on the program.
Today.
Our friend from KSL Amy Donaldson, joins me live and studio. We'll get the update on what Amy has going on.
We'll do some.
Local sports, college football, maybe a little Utah Mammoth, whatever else Amy has going on today, we'll bring her in. We have a lot of sound from practice, and this time of year typically we launch in a lot of our practice sounds, so you guys can kind of understand the tone and tenor where Utah football is at just a few days away. Honestly, we're kind of counting down the days now for Utah football to open up at the Rose Bowl against UCLA. So we'll bring you some
practice sound today. Then our friend Brett Siancia from Pick six Previews, who's a really fun football mind to talk about prior to the start of these college football games. As we're kind of getting there, he'll stop by today later on in the four o'clock hour. So Nick Rimando, Amy Donaldson, a little sound from practice, Brett Cianca Picked six Previews, Me Spence Check, it's all of you, the
great listeners, and that guy Porter Larson. On a Monday afternoon, so less than three weeks a we can now actually get into it. Say, we are days away from the start now of college football. I don't tell you what this weekend. If you went outside, and I know you did, you sampled some lovely spring water. According to your social channels,
you could feel at this weekend, couldn't you. This is the first weekend where you're like, Okay, it's still really nice and warm, but falls right around the corner.
Yeah, there was a there was a little tinge of fall in the air, and you mentioned that I got out this weekend. I regret to inform you I saw some yellow leaves high country. Yeah. That means we're officially
starting to turn the clock. As you know, when you're just days away from Utah football, fall is fall is just around the corner, but starting to take shape things at fall camp, right, You're starting to hear a little more finality to some of the position groups, some of the talk around, some of the questions of the offseason, and uh, just in time, because like you said, we're
within three weeks from football, and Kyle and co. Are not quite halfway done, but just about just about halfway done with ful.
Kim no doubt.
Week three of camp Kyle began today up on the Hill. Bring us some sound and some media reaction from that coming up in the four o'clock hour. But Nick Romanda will be our first guest before Nikki stops by courtesy of our good friends at Prize Picks. Welcome back, Prize Picks. It is time now for your opening tip.
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Drive with Spence Check its on Utah's number one sports talk Now into the studios of ESPN seven hundred to set the scene for the show. The opening tip of the Drive is brought to you by Prize Picks. Use the code ESPN seven hundred and run your game with Prize Picks.
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Can run your game all season long. Poleseason, folks. You guys know the deal.
As we are preparing for games, we like to react to polls, and obviously, if you pay attention to the sport, you know that the AP poll typically carries a lot more weight than the AFCA coaches pulled the USA Today, coaches pull whatever you want to call it that was released last Monday. It more or less is an unserious endeavor. More often than not. As we've talked about last week, these are head coaches that are basically, you know, sourcing this stuff out to sids and other people. Some coaches
have never even filled the thing out. Other coaches have done on once or twice. And there are other coaches on record, as our buddy Kyle Bonnagurro told us last week to say, they typically look at what the media is doing anyway and just kind of carbon copy it. Coaches are busy, they don't time to dig into like you know, the k State two deep juxtapposed to Indiana
or whatever. They've got their own program to run. So the AP Top twenty five pool is typically one to look out with a little bit more of a serious, serious tone. I was surprised to learn that Texas is your AP number one team for the first time in program history. I mean that is a blue, blue, blue blood college football program that's had a lot of success over a number of different years, multiple national championships and such.
But they find themselves.
Steve Sarkisian and Arch Mannion found themselves atop the AP twenty five pole out one.
Penn State, who is your favorite to win the Big Ten?
Comes in at two, followed by Ohio State at three, Clemson at four, and Georgia at five. Now a little bit of a difference between the AP and the coaches coaches when Texas, Ohio State, Penn State, Georgia, Notre Dame, Notre Dame comes in at six. For the AP, both polls had Oregon at seven, Bama at eight, LSU at nine, Miami at ten. Arizona State, just like in the coaches poll, comes in at a eleven. They are your highest ranked Big twelve team. Other Big twelve teams of note, case
State was twentieth and the coaches pulled They're seventeen. In the AP poll, you're looking at Iowa State of twenty two, Texas Tech and that new oil money roster infused with a lot of talent comes into twenty three, and both BYU and Utah barely on the outside looking in, but they're right next to each other. So Boise State is the final team in the top twenty five and then BYU would be twenty six, Utah would be twenty seven. Okay, BYU did make it in the top twenty five for
the coaches pull at twenty three. Utah would have been thirtieth in the coaches poll based off of others receiving votes. So as far as the ap goes, not as high on BYU, but higher on Utah, which is interesting. So both teams, both BYU and Utah football scrimmage won over the weekend.
After the first two weeks of fall camp.
Brigham Young still has not decided on a quarterback, and Aaron Rod in front of the show stops by a couple times throughout the course of the college football season. I was a little more spicy than we typically see a Rod during camp. He kind of bemoaned how sloppy the offense was. Now, both these programs, I find this kind of interesting, and this is a little bit of
a paradigm shift. If you're a BYU fan and this is as a result of Kalani Satake cutting his teeth under coach with this is a defense first program.
Now, just like you, Tayas, BYU's the same.
These were the top two scoring defenses in the Big twelve a year ago. BYU is the number thirteenth rated overall defense in the entire country.
They return a great linebacking corps.
We know the deal with Kiano Toadavasa, you know, essentially transferring down to Provo. I don't know if you guys heard about that, you fans, you may have caught win of that. So just like here in Sau Lake, now, oftentimes when these scrimmages are held, it's pretty one sided. And if you listened to Kilani and a Rod after BYU scrimmage, number one, defense dominated the entire thing.
It feels like there's a little bit of momentum.
As far as naming the top two quarterbacks, it looks like it's gonna be McKay Hillstead and the bear Bachmeyer kid, the freshman who played a little bit at Stanford. A Rod wanted bear Bachmeyer out of high school badly. But it looks like maybe Trayson Borgaeo is going to be the odd man out of this race. But we are less than three weeks away from game day, and as Jason Beck talked about last week, it's time to game plan. Specifically, if you're Utah, it's time to put in the UCLA
game plan. And if you're BYU, yeah it's Portland State, but you've got to figure it out.
Man.
Like, I don't think it matters who's under center against Portland State. You could probably play a quarter, you know, a running back under center and still get that win. But at this point, when it comes to that position, you have to have a better idea of where you're at than I feel like BYU does. Now, is there a chance they know who the starter is?
Sure?
There is?
And a Rod and Kalani today, according to sources, have decided they are going to wait until game day to announce it publicly, which I think oftentimes is silly. We've been over this with both Utah and BYU, this clandestine approach to like injuries and the ambiguity surrounding your roster about who's going to play and who is and I don't find that to be a competitive advantage. I'm not a college football coach, and that is a topic that's
been highly debated, so we'll see what happens. And of course that's probably the biggest storyline in state when it comes to our local college football teams, because if you do not have a quarterback that you like, you might
as well not even kick off. Now, for Utah side of things, it's nice that we know that the job is Devon's as far as the race to be his backup, I feel like every time coach Becker Coach Wit are asked about that position, they have a lot of really nice things to say about the bird fickling kid who probably plays a little bit more like Devin than Isaac does. Does that play into his favor? Bird is known as a little bit more of a dual threat. Isaac can run a bit. It's not like he is a Peyton
Manning type pocket quarterback. You can't get out of the pocket if he needs to. We've seen Isaac escape before. It's not like he can't do that. But that's a race to watch out for. The running back race though, and you'll hear from Coach Wood in the four o'clock hour. We all thought that job was wayshants and it probably still is. But you know, a running back room now by committee essentially, and look, that's not a bad thing.
I don't think that's a knock on anybody. I think you want a crowded running back room with a lot of different options.
The wide receivers, you know, both Coach Waiting.
Coach back kind of alluded to the fact they feel good about their top seven. There are seventeen wide receivers on the roster. There's only one wide receiver that has more than thirty career catches. Okay, so that's one of the reasons why I continue to be a little bit skeptical about exactly what this offense is going to look like.
I know there's a lot of hope.
Devin named the Newcomer of the Year in the Big Twelve, and I feel like there's a lot of optimism about what that could look like. But simply because I haven't seen it and I'm unfamiliar with the schemes, I'm unfamiliar with the talent. I will continue to say observation, not conclusion. Certainly, during the non conference portion of Utah schedule, which includes winnable games, all three of them should be winnable games. Both Utah and BYU have a pretty soft non non
con schedule this year. Utah at UCLA, they host cal Pauly, then they'll be up for the Porter Larson Bowl in Lara meet to take on the Wyoming Cowboys. Utah in BYU should interconference plan defeated, And if you look at the way BYU schedule shapes up, there's a legitimate shot that they're six and oh heading into the Utah game and Provo. So it's Portland State at Stanford East Carolina an unserious non con endeavor, It's at Colorado. A ton
of question marks about Dion's team this year. West Virginia is probably one of the three worst teams in the Big Twelve, and Brett Brennan is coaching for his job this year down at Arizona. No a fafeed is back, but defensively there were a sieve. There's a good chance that BYU is six and oh entering game week for Utah in Provo, and Utah's task is a little bit tougher. Utah has one of the top three toughest schedules in the Big twelve. BYU has one of the bottom three
toughest schedules in the Big Twelve. After the non con Utah will host Texas Tech, a team that a lot of people are very very curious about because of this infusion of money and this infusion of talent on the roster. They're at West Virginia and Morgantown, which should be a win, but then they get Arizona State at home. Utah has two of the best teams in the conference in their
first three conference games. The good news both those games are rice cycles here in Salt Lake, and then we see what Utah and BYU have against each other down in Provo after the ASU game.
So fun time of year.
Still some question marks on both rosters with some positional battles, but we are getting close to game day.
Another honor for Spencer Fano.
Today, Chris Lowe named ESPN's All American Team for this is All of College Football All American Team ESPN, Spencer Fano is your first team All American offensive tackle and he's the only player I believe in the Big twelve to make the team. So another nice kind of just you know, honor for Spencer Fano, who is not like he needs any more. It's kind of been the spring slash summer Spencer Fano as he shot up a lot
of draft wars. He was also named a captain today along with his brother Lander Barton is also going to be a captain. I think, Kyle, I believe it was Caleb who got the final nod. I think it was two offensive linemen, a defensive lineman, and yeah, Jared Kump is who it was.
So there you go, there you go.
So no, Devin Dampierre a little surprised there, but Utah football naming their four captains today.
As we're getting ready for the season.
We got our friend Amy Donaldson from ksl's going to join us live in the studio to talk about here are two different local sports topics. We'll do some college football Namy and see what her latest projects are.
Are formulating through.
Right now, we've got Brett Ciancia from Pick six Previews. We'll bring you some sound from Utah football practices. We're nineteen days away from Utah and UCLA. Ironically enough, speaking of Ucla, we have a former Bruin.
On the show.
You guys know him as the Wall of the Wassatch, the Goat Hall of Famer Nick Romando. Monday Afternoon, NICKI Happy Monday man.
How you doing, Spens?
What's going on, doing great, doing great. How are you doing, man.
O, good buddy, I appreciate your time. Do you stay connected to UCLA at all? Are you a basketball football fan? You stay connected your alma mater.
I mean, I wouldn't say stay connected connected, but I definitely looking at the score, seeing how they're doing. Obviously, my son's a big hooper, so we pay attention to the basketball team more so, but always love when the Bruins win.
Wait, your boys, uh, your boys a basketball player?
Huh yeah, he's a He's a big hooper. That's his sport. I mean, obviously, you know he loves soccer and he plays for his high school, but his main sport is basketball. So going into a senior year at East and and uh, it's really been fun to watch him and growing in the in the sport and see how happy he is on the court, and and uh yeah, I'm just really looking forward to a senior year.
I can't believe that that kid's a senior. I remember him running around following you when you were playing for ourself back in the day. He's a senior, that's wild.
Nick, don't blink your eyes. I know, man, daughter's gonna be a sophomore. My son's a senior, So yeah, I'm in it. This is a fun time for me.
That's amazing.
Hey, I wanted to start out with your thoughts on watching Rafa Cabral this year. You know, during the league's cup run, there was a little Now, I this is kind of sacrilege because you did this at a high level for a number of years and you guys lifted a cup, but there was a little romando field to kind of the way. He was stepping up in big moments during pks and he's the only player on the team that has played every.
Minute this year. What what?
What?
What are your thoughts watching Cabral play for RSL this year exceeded expectations.
I am a big, big fan of Rafa. He showed up not only in the field. You guys don't see all this stuff. You know that I see, you know the training ground and you know in the locker room at the gym. He's a real leader at the squad. He's obviously putting the work on the field, showing up, making the big says like you said in that first game against Club America, coming up big in the PK shootout. But just this presence back there, his calmn to the back line, and obviously you need a goalkeeper to make
the big safe for you here and there too. But a big fan of Rafa another p case that last night against New York, But I don't think he could do any more for the club. He's been lights out for me so now.
Obviously the result didn't go to the club's way yesterday, but overall the form has been so much better, Nick, I think they're you know, they have two losses in the last eleven, you know, some draws here there, and of course that does include the league's cup run. But a nice win over Club America, one of the powerhouse clubs in this region, kind of felt like a road game in a way. But why do you think the club has turned it around? What do you most attribute the better form too?
I think it's sometimes it takes a little time to get on the same page. Obviously it's later in the season now, but guys are finding their rhythm. Guys are performing, you know, better now. And you know, obviously Diego's having a highlight year and the confidence that kid has is matched and you know, hopefully you know this weekend and Charlotte, we get a three points to get back into that
playoff position. But I see him every day their training sessions, and the guys are putting in the work, you know, as we're getting better, every every other team in this league's getting better too, So we just got to keep pushing.
Tell me how it's been for you to witness this rise for Diego and as somebody who wants upon a time kind of had a similar rise, you know, through Gold Cup run and then you solidified a spot with the national team and you played in a World Cup, and you know, it's been fun to kind of watch people around the country notice what we've seen from him over the past couple of years. But what stands out most about the way he's risen up this year, NICKI.
For me, he's got that dog mentality. He's out there fighting, he's said in the press, he's scoring goals, He's doing it on both sides of the ball on the pitch, and he's just he's a fan favorite. You could see you turn on social media or the TV, everybody's talking about the kid, and he's just doing it, going out there and doing what he's done for you know, for so so long, and uh just really proud of him. I'm glad he's getting the spotlight and it's it's just
he's just really fun to watch. He's out there butting his butt every every single week, and I'm really looking forward to see what comes of it.
I also wanted to get your thoughts on Gozo, a player who I knew nothing about prior to the start of the season, and I had Pablo on I think it was after the first goal that Gozo scored and before you actually talied a goal, he was dangerous for another through a number of games, and I said to Pablo, I'm like, I think he got something with his kid local which is always fun West Valley kid. He gets his third goal over the weekend. If he continues to work,
stay healthy. What does he look like when he's fully formed?
In your opinion, yeah, he's he's Listen. We had him last year with the Monarchs, did his time there, saw him in the you know how to note with the academy. Like you said, local kids, he always always root for them. But Gozo can stretch the defense. He could, he could run for days. He could he could start the press. Uh and he's always done that. Now seeing him doing that at the highest level is even more special for me to watch. And again he's bagging goals now, so
his confidences continue to go up. He's a he's a he'll listen to the coach, he'll do his role. He's a great kid. So just rooting for the kid and and and happy to see him, you know, succeeded on the field.
Have you had a chance to watch Roland Cruz? And I'm not sure where we're at with the Olatunji kid. I know they're working on his work visa. But two big time additions in the attack during the transfer window?
Nick, what what sort of info can you share with us?
No?
Yeah, I haven't seen much of him just when he comes on into the game. Obviously hasn't started yet, but uh, he's a big presence up there. He's very technical and I think once he starts bagging some goals, like any forward, you'll get your confidence. And it takes time, right, you can't just expect you know players to come in and make it impact all the time. And it takes time to know your your teammates, to flow to flow, how play,
get used to the league, who you're playing against. So you know, I'm excited about what I see in cruise.
So ultimately, as a result of the loss over the weekends and some uh some games that didn't go RSL's way, the team is now back below the playoff line with a handful of games left. So if I ask, and I know you're RSL optimistic, I know you always look on the bright side. But if we can get these two strikers or these two attacking players kind of ingrained in what Pabla wants them to do, what's best case scenario for the rest of the season, how do you think you could look?
Yeah, I think I think we're going to make the playoffs the way you know, Pablo has this team going right now and training and fighting. It was unlucky this this last game. Obviously one to three points there and it would have been great for us, But you just got to keep your head down, keep working. I'm very optimist, and I think I think we're going to be in the playoffs come come the end of the year and hopefully make a good run of the playoffs.
All right, Nick, is today your pick a ball tournament? Is it the Rise pick a Ball Tournament? Is that today?
Yes?
It is second annual Rice Charity Classic, So, uh, pick a ball tournament today at Second Summit. Cider festivities and games start at five with the tournament starting at six. It's a huge day. We did it last year. We got a you know a lot of people that attended, a lot of you know, good words from from people, and we had to do it again. And yeah, this Rise at Rise Athletics Foundation. What we do is try
to make soccer more accessible in our community. So everything raised here tonight and through the foundation, we put back into the community and just try to make soccer give soccer drawl. And Uh, today's a day. I've been stretching all day long, so I don't pull anything, and yeah, ready to make an impact on that court, all.
Right, before I say you lose.
Let's move over to a story that is kind of permeated throughout our community. I've seen it a lot on the news and social media. It is heart wrenching.
Man.
He's three years old, Carrie's three years old, and we're looking for a bone marrow transplant.
So what do you want our listeners to know?
Nick?
Can they help?
Yeah?
Yeah, no, we caught hold of this story and we're gonna, you know, have a table there at second sum Insider. Carrie is a three and a half year old member of our community. He was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive brain disorder called sleebro ald. He is in urgent need of a bone marrow transplant due to this aggressive nature of the disease. We need to find a donor match for Kirie in a short period of time, so we all have kits available tonight at the pick a Ball tournament.
The test is just a quick and easy swab of the cheek. We are looking for potential matches between the age of eighteen and forty years old. If you have either Asian or Italian heritage, the possibility of being a match increases, So if you are, please come out and get swabbed. Time is of the essence, and at this point it's a numbers game, so please come out, pick up a swab and find let's find a match for Kirie. It goes without saying that this cost, the cost of
medical care is and will continue to be significant. Medical bills are already piling up. The family has set up a golf fundmeed for Kirie's care. So if you're if you are multiple ways to get there are multiple ways to get involved and show up for this young boy and his family who are already going through so much. So again, if if you have the time, if you haven't already, if you're the between the ages of eighteen and forty, please come out get swabbed, come out to
the event. There'll be some great raffle prizes and some fun times there. But more importantly, I think we want to find this kid cure.
More information and links to the GoFundMe and Carrie's journey can be found at the website Hope for Kiri dot org. Nick, thanks for the time, buddy, and have a great event tonight.
Okay, I appreciate it. Thank you since.
Okay again Hope for Kirie dot org. You may have seen this story circulating on social media. A bunch of our local news outlets have covered it as well. Beautiful little kid man, he's three and a half years old. You bought up this website and say your heart string so you can head to the website Hope for Kiri dot org and there are links for the GoFundMe that
you can donate. You can join the donor registry and then they have locations where you can go get swabbed to see if you're a match and as Nikki just said, at his pickleball tournament, and I would encourage you to go to Nick's socials just his name at Nick Romando on Instagram or Twitter probably TikTok. He has the information about the pickleball event tonight that you can go attend and you can enter to win some raffle prizes.
You can play some pickleball.
And while you're there, if you're between the ages of eighteen and forty, just take a couple of minutes, get swabbed and maybe you can save this kid's life.
I mean, three and a half years old man.
So hope for Kiri dot org and let's bring in Tony now to tell us more about this Tony, how are you, sir?
Hey spend some great her are you? Man? Thanks for having me.
I'm really I'm good man, and my heart's aching as I'm looking at these pictures of this young man three and a half years old. I can't even imagine. So tell us about this journey, Tony. What's what's this been for you? And how can we help?
Yeah? So, Kiri has been diagnosed with cerebral ald It's a manifestation of his original diagnosis of adreno leukodystrophe or ALD for short. It was discovered in his newborn screening and since then he goes to biannual checkups and imaging to make sure that the disease hasn't progressed to this cerebral ALD. On July twenty third, we went to one of his routine MRI images and unfortunately, later that day we got the worst news that they found that they
believed to be cerebral ALD in his brain stem. So we had a consultation with his doctors that following Tuesday, and they told us this planned forward which entails a bone marrow transplant, which I know you and Nick Ramonda were just talking about. So Kiri is his mom is Kim Bodian, and I am of European descent, So we're having kind of a challenging time finding a match for him. These bone marrow industries are kind of only in like
developed countries. So Kiri's his two siblings were in a match, and after your siblings are in a match, the best chance you have for finding a viable match is a random stranger somewhere in the world. So we've made this huge push to find a donor and their community response
has just been incredible, the support. The donor registry only had about three thousand people before we started making this push, and as of this morning, they've had eight thousand new members join just in Carrie's name alone, as well as everybody else who joins through their own avenue. So the support has just been incredible. Krie is going to go in for his bone marrow transplant in the first part
of September. Carrie's mom, Jasmine, called and asked for an update last week and they were still looking for a bone marrow transplant. And it's kind of a long process. There's a lot of reasons that you can get ruled out, and it's also time sensitive. So that's why it's really beneficial to have multiple options and why we're making such a big push to find multiple viable options for Kirie.
Well tony of things and including the many things I am as a father. So my heart goes out to you. How you doing, man, how's the family doing throughout this process?
We're you know, we're doing really well. We've, like I mentioned, the support from the community and the love that we feel. I mean, there's total strangers out there running events to get swabs for Kirie. It's just been been so powerful and so impactful for us, and you know, we're doing good. We told our kids that Kirie is going to go to the hospital for a while, and you know, he's just such a sweet kid. His first concern was, am
I going to get my siblings sick? He wanted to know if he's gonna his little brother and his older sister sick. And then his sister's response was, you know, well, we have to bring him stuffed animals and blankets and I don't want him to be alone up there, and it just, you know, it was really special. They're really close. But we're hanging in there, and you know, we have all the supportant love from our community, so I'm sure we'll be just fine.
How's Mom doing.
She's doing good. She's a doer. Her and her family have just been amazing to the second to process everything. But they jumped right into action, and this huge campaign is it is a result of them, so really lucky.
So we've got Nicky's pickleball tournament tonight and there will be kits there where people can go get swat.
Is that true?
Yep, that's correct. We'll have a table set up. We have about one hundred and fifty kits. I'll be there with a couple more voluntcreacious volunteers, and we have a pre registration. If you text six one four seven four, that's six four seven four is the text Hope for Kiri to that you can actually get sent the pre registration screening so you'll know if you're eligible. Save you some time to come down. But we'd love to see
you come down. Support Rise Athletics in the community, and yeah, we'd love to see you guys, regardless of if you're eligible or not.
Hey, Hope for Kirie dot org is the website. There's a link to the go fundme, and there's a link to join the Donna registry. So let me ask you this, twenty four listeners that can't make it to Nicky's event tonight, are there other locations they can go to? Is the website the best place to go to get more information?
Go ahead?
Yeah, thank you for the reminder. The website that hopefkiri dot org has all of the links for the Bone Mirror registry, to go fund me, all of that stuff, and it has a list of all of the amazing businesses that have graciously signed up to have test kits. We update that every night at like seven pm. So what you see on there right now is the most up to date information that we have about who still
has kits. And then there should be a couple more of these events that we promote through Hope for Kiri on Instagram and all of those other social media's as well.
All right, Tony, Well, we'll continue to push this out, man, and if you need anything from us, you just got to reach out.
This is the important stuff.
We talk about football and basketball and soccer, but this is the important stuff. And you know, if we can do anything to help you out and rally the community, please reach out.
Best of luck and my heart goes out to you and that little boy.
Okay, thank you very much, Bence, thanks so much for the time. I really appreciate it.
You got it.
So the website again is Hope for Kirie dot org. Nick Romando's charity pickleball tournament. Tonight, we'll have a bunch of kits. They're present for you guys to go get swab looking potentially between the ages of eighteen and forty and as a result of the nature of both the backgrounds of the mother and the father. If you have Italian or Asian blood, you're more likely to be a match. Unfortunately, Carrie's two siblings were not a match for him. He is three and a half years old. And this is
heartbreaking because they're running out of time. That's what it comes down to. It's cerebral or cerebral ald devastating, an aggressive brain disease, and we're looking to find a bone marrow donor in a match to try to save this kid's life.
So they're running out of time. And again, Hope for Carrie dot org.
Nick Romondo's pickleball tournament tonight and as Tony just referenced, Tony is is is Carrie's father? Text right now six one four seven four. Text Hope for Carrie to six one four seven four and they will text you a pre screening just kind of something you have to fill out before you actually screen, like a pre screening document that you fill out before you head over to the
pickleball tournament. On the website Hope for Kirie dot org, there are links to the go fundme page, there's links to the donor registry and how you can get involved, and there's also information about where the new kids have arrived at several locations. So if you can't make it to the next pickleball tournament tonight, on the website Hope for Kirie dot Org are other locations where if you just have a few spare minutes today go see if
you can save a life. Let's see if we can give this kid a bone marrow transplant so we can watch him grow as opposed to the other possibility at the age of three and a half, which I don't really even want to wrap my mind around.
All Right, we'll catch you quick break.
We're gonna bring Amy Donaldson, our friend from KSL Live in Studio today.
Brett Siancia picked six previews.
Slide's gonna join us today, steven S and Sylvester, so we have a lot of college football for you guys later on. It is the Drive on a Monday, and it's good to have you along for the Red all Right Show, Rolling along today, Join Live in Studio once again. Bye, my good friend Melissa from Soundsleep Metical Less.
How are you doing great?
Great to see you as always, so I can speak personally to what it's like to have trouble sleeping let's start with the adverse effects on one's health if they're not sleeping well and sleeping consistently.
Okay, you know you've got to sleep well. If you're not, then obviously you're going to be tired the next day. But also there's lots of long term side effects to not sleeping well, things like anxiety, depression, confusion where you're just not you don't feel like you can think as clearly, but also stuff like high blood pressure, high blood sugar levels, and even more serious stuff down the road like dementia and stroke.
So you guys have an oral appliance, and I remember the first time you showed it is me. I was blown away because it's just so small and convenient. It's not a seapath. Let's hear about the oral appliance that you guys have a sound sleep medical that can help people sleep better.
Yeah, it is way different than a seapap. You know, with the seapap you got to have electricity, distilled water, You've got a mask and hoses. This is like a custom made mouthguard. You just wear it on your teeth during the night and it's perfect, the perfect fit for you, super slim, so it's very comfortable. What it does is stabilize your airway to keep your oxygen levels up, snoring goes away, and you're just sleeping so much better.
You have a.
Warranty on all your devices and also major medical insurances.
Yeah.
Yeah, we are in network with almost every insurance company, so you likely have a benefit you just haven't used yet. The other good news is it does qualify for things like HSA flex spending and we have zero percent financing if.
You need it and you have a special offer Melissa. For our listeners who call you today, let's hear what that is.
Yes, call right now.
The number is eight oh one three three five nine eight two four. You can also find us and schedule at soundsleepmedical dot com. When you do that, you will automatically get a free sleep test. This is like a little kit of equipment you get to do at home in your own bed. Bring it back to us the next day or two. We'll download it in a free sleep consultation where you will explain those results to you.
All of that completely no obligation. It is a great deal.
Call today, it's eight oh one three three five nine eight two fourths. Well, how's that for timing? Look at that. We've got Stevenson Sylvester rolling by the show today. Brett Sancia Pick six Previews will join us.
Want to remind you if you miss last segment.
Nick Romondo joined us, and then Tony joined us and Tony's three and a half year old son, Kiri, needs a bone marrow transplant and we are looking for a match. So Nick Romondo has a charity pickleball tournament today and I want to let you know. It's at Second Summit Hard Cider, which is at forty ten South Main Street in Mill Creek, and they've got about one hundred and fifty kits where you can go get just a quick mouse swab. It takes just a couple of minutes. If
you have some time today, please head down there. We do not have a match for Currey yet and time is running out. If you are planning on heading down there, you can text Hope for Kiri to six one four We're seven for and they'll send you kind of the document that you need to fill out prior to getting screened.
If you're not available to head down there today. The website has hoped for Kirie dot org with a link to their GoFundMe and link to join the donor registry, and then information about new kits when they arrive at other locations. So we're gonna push this as hard as we can. Let's save this kid's life. He's three and a half years old. Cerebral ald It's a devastating and aggressive brain disease.
So between the ages of eighteen.
And forty, you're more likely to be a matchined if you have Italian or Asian heritage as a result of the lineage of Carrie's parents. So again, Nicky's pick Aball tournament starts in about an hour and forty five minutes at Second sum at Hartsider at forty ten South Main Street in Mill Creek. Live in studio today our friend Amy Donaldson, which always makes me smile.
Hello, Amy, how are you hello?
I actually ooh gosh, I don't know if that's my hell? If I'm coming in you can control your ears? You sound good to me?
All right, good, I won't worry about it.
Then.
I actually am was a registered a donor, a bone marrow donor for many years. Okay, I am unfortunately over forty at this point, I am chairly barely right.
I have been aged out, and I have no Italian or Asian heritage. I'm like full Scottish, little English and a little Scandinavian blood on my mother's side. Nobody gives a rip about my you know, twenty three and me, But that's that's kind of my ideal.
How you been, It's good to see it.
Yeah, I've been good. I have also been sending that message out. I hope we find and I hope we register a ton of donors. Yeah, for sure, because I had got registered because my best friend from high schools son got leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant, and so he just asked everybody to get registered and I was hoping I would just was a match for him.
I was not. He found a donor.
Through this registry, okay, and it saves lives, and it's really I had never was lucky enough to be able to donate, but I have no people who have and friends who have, and it's for a healthy person. It is no problem, and yeah, it's an amazing thing to be able to do.
Yeah, three and a half years old. I'll just keep pushing the website. Hope for carried. He's got two siblings. Neither were a match unfortunately, and times running out. We had his dad on last segment and you could just hear like the emotion in his voice. You and I are both parents. This is this is something no parents should ever go through.
No.
And if you've had I know you yourself have had, you know face that.
It could be deadly situation.
I had a kid who had open our surgery twice, once at eleven months and once at fifteen years old, and probably will have to have it again.
And it is, I think the worst thing.
Because you like to think you could handle anything, you can do anything, you'll do anything, but there's it just reduces you to like, oh you you really have no power here, you have nothing. You can just love and so, like I said, hopefully his efforts will help a lot of kids, but also his And yeah, please go get registered at the time.
It's it's not hard for sure, and you can play pickleball. My god, there you go.
I was really I was like, I'm going to play in the pickleball tournament because I love pickleball so.
Much, but I have to work.
Well, we'll get you out of here.
And I just came out of my basement to talk.
To you, though, oh, did you really well?
I've been writing all day.
So Hope for Kirie dot orgon again. If you can head to Nikki's Pickaball tournament. Text Hope for Kirie right now to six one four seven four, and they're going to send you the documentation you need to fill out.
Uh.
To just get swapped takes a couple of minutes forty ten South Main Street and Mill Creek starts at about four forty five.
What are you working on? What's the latest with you?
Working on?
So many? I have so many little you know, plate spinning and know how that is, you know me never just one thing. But right now I am working on a podcast that will be launching probably February to April of next year. Okay, I can't talk about it yet, but probably close the next couple of months. But it's a sports related but yeah, it's a sports related podcast,
which I didn't plan on doing. I actually had a different podcast that I had been working on, and this one had kind of been on the back burner, you know how that is, just always having this idea and it's sort of bubbled up to the top. So that's what I've been working on, and it's consuming a lot of time. I'm also I've been working on a book. So I went to a writer's conference a few weeks ago, and I have writing coach who's checking in with me now?
And there?
Do you have a writing coach?
Oh?
I have?
My husband jokes about this, I go to more writing classes and conferences. He's like, you'd think you don't know how to write, but no, it's it does help.
Does it really like you don't?
Yeah, and they know things or they've come at it from a different perspective. I mean the people think that because you write for newspaper, you know how to write writing for newspaper and then switching to podcast completely different game. I questioned my decision every day for two years.
Why did you.
Give up something you were good at for something that you suck at? Now I finally feel like I'm like in first grade of podcast writing.
Don't suck at it. Let's be clear.
I don't think you didn't made those first drafts. I should send you. I should send you a Blooper rail. You would enjoy it. Actually, porter would enjoy it. But yeah, it's tough. I mean it's a different kind of writing completely, and so just for fun, I took a screenwriting class in the spring and it really like just made me kind of reinvigorate it with fun.
I mean, this is the thing.
When you write every day in one form or another, it's hard to like then say I'm gonna go have some fun and write some more because you're tired. It's writing is like it's a little piece of your soul goes out into the thing. And yeah, so I love it. I'm doing my column again for a KSEL Sports Soka. My first column last week. It's going to be run on Wednesdays. So I'm happy to be doing that again
because I love I have missed covering daily sports. I'm not going to be doing daily sports, but I'm going to be writing about some of the issues and players. And have I asked for ideas and I have been. I think I have one hundred ideas.
Ok.
I still ask for them because I mean, I think if we find a donor through this, I would love to talk to whoever ends up being a match, or if somebody else finds a match because they shared their story. I just remember, this is why we share stories, right, This is why we do it to connect. We do it to help each other. And remind us that none of us are in this game along.
What is your well said? What's your first cassel column? Is it?
It was on?
It was on the Former Brothers new gym, oh Nice and I actually submitted it a couple of months ago, but there was some maternity leave for someone else involved in and some I was working on something else. So we finally got it done. But there's still time to donate to the gym. And for sure, it's always timeless from what the former family has done for this state, and not just in boxing, giving kids a sense of community, giving them a place to go. The young men that
I found. His mom is a recovering addict. She've been cleaned for a year when I met them. Saved their lives. They don't have a dad in their lives. They have all these amazing male role models and they get to He gets to go every day for free. Kids go and they can box for free. They learn discipline, how to take care of one another, the value of competition and good sportsmanship. Right, there's so many things and now and they have a study facility there. I don't know if you've been out there yet.
Yeah, I was there for the opener we did my show out there.
Yeah, yeah, I think I was out in the morning when they did they so, yeah, it's deluxe. I mean I was so happy because I love the.
The fact that there's a support.
Like I've combat sports have always been a safety net for a lot of people living on the margins of society. But now there's a safety net there that's going to give them more options even if they don't make it in boxing. They have community, they have study skills, they have help with their homework, they have food to eat, there are a lot there's they have access to athletic trainers. They're just so much support there, and it's a beautiful
building to boot But yeah, I love it. And the if you have if you don't know anything about the history of boxing in Utah, all that stuff you used to be in Don and Jane Fulmer's basements and probably Jay's garage and now it's like this amazing museum and yeah, it just makes you like, oh, there's a lot here in the state that I don't know anything about, and it makes you super proud.
Well, and you're not going to meet a sweeter guy than Larry Fomer.
No, I mean, just like maybe one of his brothers.
Well, okay, fair enough, but he's one of those guys where every time, whether whether he's in studio or I've been out on remote, he just puts you in a good mood.
You just feel happy around Larry.
And I should say in a couple of weeks they have an outdoor boxing match coming up. So they poured this cement slab on the property that I believe they they I don't they rent or lease, but for like a ten bucks or a bucket year or something from the county and it they're gonna have outdoor boxing matches.
But they used to back in the day.
That's awesome.
But instead of Chicken coop, they're going to be in this amazing venue and there we be real restrooms in case you're on the fence.
That's always my requirement.
Yeah, got it.
Is there a place to go to the bathroom? I'm down?
And is there food?
You know? You know me, food is maybe more important than the restroom.
And porter how long?
So Deontay Wilder was there, Yeah, and he sat down and I didn't know what to expect. We probably did a forty five minute segment with him, didn't we. I mean, he just yacks poetic forever.
Yeah, it was.
It was a good long it was.
It was most of our radio hour, which yeah, about forty forty one.
I miss it.
I'm'n have to go back and list him because he was wonderful with those kids.
People need to know Porter's magic with the clock based off of my lack of clock integrity.
I think we call it time blame with ADHD.
Yeah, and that's that's really what it is like.
So I've always In fact, it's interesting because you brought up the podcasting dynamic. You know, for two years, I was not doing this job. I just did podcasts only for two years. And when you have that experience, I was about, oh, we're turning six this week. This show is six years old this week, which is pretty pretty interesting. It both seems like it was yesterday and forever ago.
I don't really know how to you know, time is such a mental construct, but during my two years of podcasts only, you just see the movement of this attention economy moving digitally and online. So when I first took this job, I told Cavon, I said, I want to try to make live radio sound podcasting. I said, what that means is I'm blowing through my clock all the time. Like, if I have a conversation that's going well, I want.
And one of my favorite pieces of feedback I get is if somebody sends me a message like, hey, I was running errands and you had Deontay Wilder on and I sat in the Harmon's parking lot and I listen to you for forty five minutes.
Done it.
That's the coolest thing, you know.
Or I've been coming home or and I've been I have to hear the end of this.
Yeah.
Yeah, And it's not like you can't go you can't listen to it on podcasts later, sure, but you're in the moment and there's an energy and an emotion to it, right one hundred percent. But I'm I'm gonna have to look that one up because I mess.
I don't remember why.
I think.
I think Larry told me you were there, but I had that was crazy.
Yeah it was great, but but it it And yes, like part of my approach is thinking about the person who couldn't hear the interview live, who gets home from work and pulls up the podcast page and says, wait, forty five minutes with a world championship boxer. I'm going to listen to that, but in real time, it just it makes my man in there spend different plates on his head when he's got to deal with my you know, wait, you're supposed to go to break here, but I just approach it differently.
You see how.
People pay the bills. But that's I actually would love to see us figure this out. Actually talk to one of your sales managers about this. How do you make this less transactional? Like I you give advertisers, give us, give you money, and then you give a product. Right, and the listeners are the the people you're trying to sell stuff to.
Right, what if it was all we are all trying to do the same thing.
We're trying to create this community and we all benefit from it. So the advertisers that support your show, that listeners support them because they're not going to have as many ads, they're not going to have as many bricks, but they but they support those advertisers because they're supporting this unusual you know, a format that.
To me is like, oh, let's figure let's try that.
That would be super fun to try, but it's hard to get sales to go along with it because they're like, but we've got this many ads and da da da da, because that's what advertisers are sure will work. Yeah, and I just say like, let's just try it a little bit. And podcasting is a great place to try it, yeah, because there's you know, it's such a I feel like it's a creative you could say chaotic universe, or you could say a rap show whatever, but it's a place
you can try stuff. And so we're with radio. As you know, there is a way of doing it. We've always done it this way. We're not going to change our minds, Amy, So don't come in here with your new fingled idea.
Yeah.
Well it's and you know, for years and years and years, I would hear this thing from sales staff or you know, front office folk up in you know, the upper tier offices, like we need more time spend listening TSL. They always say that, so we need to turn If somebody's listening to your show for seven minutes of time, how do we turn that into twenty? And like my whole thing is like, okay, well we don't go to break if
something is compelling, that's how we do it. And then we try to convince them to sit in their car and listen to a good conversation.
The easiest way, and this is what I I because I do narrative podcasting, so I tell a story over episodes. And the easiest way to lose people I listen to narrative podcasts I make them is to interrupt and try to sell me something because it reminds me that I'm not part of the story.
Right, all the work.
That is, it's dropped in random this.
Universe and all of a sudden, now you want to talk about tires. No, no, right, well let's go back to talking about how did you find belief in yourself to become a world champion? How did you envision that when nobody around you had that kind of success from them?
Right?
Like, that's the thing, that's the conversation you want to be involved in. And if you tell me at the very beginning, hey, this company makes this possible. As you and I see this a lot in outdoor community. We will support a company that doesn't do ads on our shirt because we want a shirt that we can wear wherever we want. We will looks like a billboard, right, But it takes some level of trust.
Yeah, yeah, so of all of because we had a mad Dog on Chris Russo, who was kind of the first. He and Mike Frances did Mike and the Mad Dog when I was a teenager in the Northeast, and it was the first like sports talk radio show.
Uh.
And it was you know, those two going back and forth. And in a way they are real pioneers like you. Hear a lot of like.
The steven A.
Smiths get Bayless getting the credit for this Embrace debate. It was Mike and the Mad Dog before anybody else. And we had Dog on the show like a month ago, and he said, every live radio host can be a podcaster.
Ten percent of podcasters can do live radio.
That's what I believe that.
But what's your.
Experience been, because I wanted to ask you, like, you've done live radio, you've done podcasting, and you write a lot's what's the biggest energetic ask of the things.
That you've done.
What do you mean energetic ask?
Like you referenced earlier, when I write something leads my body. And when I'm done with the show, every day I go home and I sit in my backyard for like thirty minutes, and I want to talk to anybody. I'm just sitting there, like you know, like the energetic ask of doing this for four hours every day is a different ass than it is for podcasting because we have a clock. As I reference, I blow through it. But there's no like hey pause take two, like we are
live right now. This is a live micro I think.
So they're different.
So live radio to me, and I did twelve years sports talk radio, and I mostly did high school stuff, but then filling in every time I did a four hour show versus my two hour show, I was reminded a how.
Much more.
You know, preparation goes into it than you hear in a two hour or a four hour show, right you double or triple it, right, Like It's it's crazy how much more you have to prepare to do a couple of hours of live radio. The other thing is you can't be I'm me, like, I don't have an alter ego. And when you do live radio, no one wants sad you, nobody wants anger you.
They want they want this happy.
Give me information, make me feel better about life, tell me some stuff about the world, right and and you like and I see that. I actually it's one of the things I love about your show is and you is that there is a dynamic of where like, okay, that we're not going to be just happy. Sports is fun, right, Like we're gonna we're gonna be real at times. But I think for the most part, radio radio, live radio is a persona that for me, I find incredibly difficult
to maintain. I can't be this thing you need all the time. It's like it's like putting on a good face for your kids or something when you're pee oed. You know, we've all been like in a fight with our spouse and we have to go to a party and pretend we like each other. Like that's what I feel like. Live radio is like whatever you're feeling.
You know.
Taylor Swift has a song you can do It with a broken Heart, and Jason Kelsey talked about that, like so many times you have to sit down in front of a microphone after you lose a game and you want to punch everybody in the face, and you have to sit there and try to be a good sport and talk nice and be happy and not say what kind of freaking dumb question is that? Because there's a lot of dumb questions in those parts, yes, meeting right. So to me, live radio is exhausting because of the
masking aspect, and so that's I'll put that aside. End the amount of preparation that nobody, everybody think should just go on and just shoot the crap, right, So there's no respect for the amount of work it takes. And a lot of people who don't work can make it in this business and we're all in the same boat. That is very problematic for me, and I don't like that because I'm a fair Everything has to be fair.
So then podcasting for me is different because I do narrative podcasting and it's years of thinking and researching and doing all kinds of interviews and reading all kinds of books. The one I'm writing for next year is I've read at least six books on this subject. And you have to immerse yourself in a story in a way that is.
It can be traumatic.
I mean I feel like sometimes you can, especially with a true crime podcast, you can engage, you can feel some secondary trauma or it triggers your own trauma your own life, right, And so there's that aspect of it. And writing for me is an absolutely participatory sport. It is not. I know people who I remember talking to another journalist about this way will not name who said, Stot, you just need to put a put a wall up
between your emotions and the thing you're covering. And I was like, I don't know how to do that, right, right.
That's a thing about you, though I'm glad.
Well, I mean, I think it's it, but it makes it harder to do a dish what they call it, a quick and dirty sure, right, So that's why I didn't like quick and dirty. I was like, I'll do the cancer story because I can get into that, I can feel that, and I will be tired and sad and like you say, you don't want to talk to anybody after, but I'll feel like I did something of value.
And for me, the reason to write anything or do any of this is that you do something to educate people, to inspire people, or help them figure out a problem. We can talk through a problem or an issue that's that we face as a group. So and then as far as newspaper writing or you know, my writing, I do on my own book that I'm writing, it is
the single most difficult thing I've ever done. And part of that is you're as a journalist and a person's kind of you, you've kind of lived half in the public eye and half out right, you have to kind of two lives. I've kind of I've not done that. I've kind of just let my life be my life. But in going through the book that I'm writing, it's a lot of parts that I haven't even shared with my closest friends. Right, So some people know about it,
some people don't. But it's a book about grief and about losing my stepdaughter and taking care of my grandmother until she passed away.
And so I.
Once wrote about being a victim of domestic violence and a column, And if you haven't had that experience, you're not going to understand what I'm going to say. But it was the most humiliating thing that I ever experienced as a professional journalist to have my boss call me and say two things. That's the best thing we've ever run in the paper, which is supposed to be a compliment, right, And the second one was, I can't believe that you were a victim of I can't believe our amy was
a victim of set. I can't believe that, which is like completely reinforcing all the shame stigma, right, So I know sharing stuff like that it's good and we should do it. And I know the cost now because I've done it and I've asked other people to do it, and so that part of it, like writing, that is very difficult. But it's also I always say, the work is the medicine, and sometimes medicine sucks, baby, But I'm willing to do it because it's the only way I
know how to live. So that's the which one's more emotionally exhausting in the short term. This live radio people and everybody is a critic, I mean, and in live radio, you get it right. I mean, I was a sub and at X ninety six one morning and I'm watching the text line and they told me, don't watch it.
I can't help it.
I do it at KSL two and I was like responding to people who are criticizing me or saying why am I wearing what I have on? And they're like, stop, stop doing that. But for me, that's my old newspaper thing. Like I remember when I wrote a column about Max Hall when he had said the crappy stuff about you utab and I got five hundred emails within twenty four hours and there's no way I'm responding at five hundred emails. Yeah, I read most of them. My colleague is pretty much
at all. I just let them have my email because they were stunned at what people would say to a woman journalist.
Right, it was an education for all of us.
Yeah, but I remember responding to a lot of those that people were like, why are you responding to that? Because here's the thing. The minute you respond to people, they become themselves again. They come back into their body, whatever, whatever tick them off, whatever sent them out where they could say something nasty to you. Then they come back and they go, oh wait, that went to a real person, and that real person has thoughts, and now I have to defend this really creepy thing that I said.
I don't do that.
When people threaten violence, I just those people just get blocked. But the people who I think, this guy's not a bad person. He has a wife and children. I'm gonna do his kids a favor, and I'm going to give them a little bit of insight into what he said and why that's a problem.
And it does disarm people.
I mean, I don't look, I'd never had the tech sign fold up.
We don't take phone calls. I am really never on social media.
My approach to the whole thing has changed a lot over the path, like I would say.
Doing this show.
And also I need to give Gordon Monson some credit for kind of changing my approach during the final few years of our show together, because I'll occasionally stumble upon a show I did a number of years ago. If I have it, I have a few interviews that I liked, saved or whatever, and I'm like, you took yourself so seriously, Like when I was young in this business, I'm like chip on my shoulder, I'm going to prove to.
Everybody I belong.
I know what the narrative is around who my father is and why I'm where I'm at. So I'm going to be better than everybody else, and I'm going to be a lot better than everybody else. So you know that I deserve to be here, and I just let all that go. And I don't take myself near a seriously. And I want to use this platform to help people and you know, have fun, and it should be fun.
This is the toy isle of life.
But at the same time, it's such a great conduit to make a difference if you just don't take yourself in the craft as seriously as I think most people do.
What you felt about your parent, who your dad is, I felt that about being a woman. Sure, I'm like, I'm gonna be better, I'm gonna work harder, I'm going to do everything you ask me.
I'm gonna do it.
I'm gonna do eighteen times more than you asked me, because then you're gonna love me. Then I'm gonna be in the fraternity. And guess what you're not. You're never it's not there's always going to be somebody saying you're only here because you're a woman, or you don't know what you're talking about because you're a woman, Like that's always going to happen, same as it's always going to happen.
I had somebody say to me when I had your dad on my podcast and we did a bonus episode with your dad, which was amazing, and I had a business person say to me that was amazing, that was like how to be successful in business? That one and the one with Jason christ like love the bonus e great. They were bonus episodes. And then literally the same day I got an email from somebody who said, so, did Spence get that interview for you? Or did Dave reach out to you? Never did it occur to them that
I bugged you and your dad? And let me just say that your dad was so nice that I bugged him two or three times and he's back east doing his thing. One of the calls was like clearly, like right around midnight, like I just had to do what I to do, and he was like, whatever you need because he believed in what I was doing and it wasn't about he didn't know me. He was like, I try, I believe, I want to share this and I believe this is a great project.
And I'm going to do it.
Yeah.
It had nothing to do with any of the things that everybody thought it did. And I'm like, Dave wouldn't know where to get.
My phone number.
I'm pretty sure, But like, I don't even know if he knew you and I knew each other until I interviewed him and said, oh, I've been on Spencer's show a lot. I was like, you don't know if he put.
Your mom did?
Yeah? Yeah, and they were great.
Have you and we actually do need to catch a break, Yeah, Ben.
We'll do some more coming up next with Amy. But have you changed the way you kind of approached the whole thing?
Like you reference authenticity, I think the other thing that I just realized that I needed to do because it's really hard to do this for four hours and then
change back into who you are in real life. And I noticed there was kind of a dynamic that was occurring where I was carrying over, like my on air persona into my real life and like, you know, i'd have friends and you know, people that I spend time with that dude, I don't really want to debate you right now, like you're not on air, you know, And so I try to be just more authentic to who I am with this. And I do think there's an intimacy to live radio that's a little bit different. It's
a very intimate platform. It's one of the reasons I like it. Like I'll go do a TV hit with Dave on KUTV. It's seven minutes, you know, And this is different because you're on air for hours at a time, and I think people honestly feel like they get to know you in a way. And so where I give Gordon a lot of credit is him encouraging me to As Robin Roberts said when she got her Lifetime Achievement Award, this line is always stuck to me.
Make your mess, your message right.
And so whether it was stuff I was going through personally or you reference you know, my health issues when I was young, a brain tumor nearly killed me.
Gordon's like, go on air with that. I've never done that before.
I don't want to do He's like, no, you will be stunned at the reaction of our listener.
Gordon's actually given me some career changing advice. Gordon and Brad Rock two best pieces of advice I got.
So have you changed the approach over the years.
Do you feel like I would say now people who know me, No, I just I could never do what you guys do because I can't be like I'm just me sure and nobody wants to put that on air for four hours. I mean, it's true, but I and I don't blame them, but I you know, in one hour, I guess you can handle it one hour a week for sure. But I think that Gordon told me you're great at this. You're a really good sense of humor. You know what you're talking about, but you won't let
people in on the radio. And if you people can get their sports information anywhere. If they don't care about you, if they can't connect to you, they're not going to listen to you. And that changed the amount I was willing to let people in because as a print journalist, the lines are really clear. Sure when you do when you grow up in newspaper news in a newsroom, there it is no pun intended black and white, there's no gray area. You go to a banquet to cover it.
In awards banquet, you do not eat, you do not participate, You are not part of the story. That changed when I went to sports and I was completely out of my element, and Gordon gave me that advice on because I was doing sports talk radio, and you can hear the difference when you have print reporters on versus broadcast report or columnists. Print reporters are always pre editing what they want to say, because that's how we write, right.
We think and write it and then we edit it and change it and go over and over until it sounds the way we want it to sound. That's not a luxury you have in broadcasts. You just have to own what you think, what you feel, and how much you're willing to share. And that was a shift for me. So the change came then. And then I would say, Brad Rock, the other significant change is really struggling in sports, probably looking to get back into news and leave sports.
And he saw me at a ski event. I was covering in a pre Olympic ski event, and he said, and I was expressing to him my frustration and why I wanted to go back to news, and he said, you're trying to be us. He said, the thing that makes you valuable is you're not us. So what if you don't know the latest scores and stats, or you don't know who the I score was, You can look that up, he said, what you when I come and talk to you, you know whose grandmother has cancer. You
know where their fiance is sitting in the stands. He's like, you're the only person I know who went over and sat with Larry Miller at a WNBA game and never came back to press row because Larry invited you to stay, and you stayed, and you have three or four stories now from that and a column. He's like, that's what you do well. And you need to value that, because that's what we value. And I realized, like when you try to when oftentimes the thing you hate.
Them about yourself is your superpower.
The fact that I cannot put up walls around my heart and around how I feel and what I think, that's actually the reason I can connect people who've had experiences I will never have, whose children have been murdered and they found their kid in their own house, right, Like, I have to sit with them, and I have to write something about that. I have to put you in somebody's shoes who's forgiven the killer of their son's murderer, right, And that's a thing that you can't do if you
have any anything between you and them. You really have to just surrender yourself to the story. I always say, Everyone's like, well, how do you decide this?
Or that?
It's the story for me, and it sounds hokey, But the story is what I serve, and I serve it completely and it takes a toll. But I'm also like, I feel super lucky that I get to see and be inspired by the people I have come in contact with over the years. But for me, that's that moment. Gordon's in the broadcast side and Brad Rock on the print side. What those were the two people who said, like,
stop trying to be something you're not. And Gordon's was just like, if you don't let us in, we're not going to listen and nobody you know you can.
There's so many places to get information. Why would I come to you?
Yeah?
And he and he was right.
You know when you say the work is the medicine, you know if I'm because it's and we do have to catch break and we will. But it's funny all these thoughts, this is why I like having you in that come to my mind about like stretches of doing the show when nobody knows that off air of my life was like crumbling, right, And so my dad would always say it says Vince Lombardi line, a pro is at his best regardless, right. So that light goes on at two o'clock. It doesn't matter what's going on out there,
you can't bring it in here. Right, And there is a therapeutic nature doing the show or riding a column.
Right.
I covered a hockey game Utah Grizzly soccer game, hockey game while my kid was in the ICU at primary children's and everybody was like, what are you crazy? And I was like, you know what the to escape is, Yeah, I for two hours. I'm not a mom whose kid might die in surgery.
I'm a writer. I'm covering hockey and no one gives a crap up. It's a game.
Yeah, no, it is all right. We'll catch a break. Amy's live in studio for another big segment coming up.
Don't forget.
We've got slide today Stevenson Sylvester at four o'clock for some utes. Brett Siance pick six previews for some college football, so stay tuned. The AP Top twenty five pull is out. Friend Amy Donaldson, MUKSL and other platforms over the years, is live and studio for another big segments. You're to bring in Stevenson Sylvester.
Today.
Utah had a scrimmage over the weekend. We are nineteen days away from game day. And then Brett Ciancia picked six previews. Will stop by, so Amy referenced during the break.
Last segment was like a.
Twenty five thirty minute hit just on a lot of different things. You know, we went all over the place talking little inside baseball and you know, maybe some people like it. Maybe some people don't, but that's okay, beauty of podcasting as you can listen to whatever part of the show you want to later on, but it's we're live now. I'm not going to use the term that I used during the break about the situation in the WNBA with certain things being thrown off on the floor.
The WNBA finds itself in a really interesting place. And I was recently with family members for a family reunion and my sister in law was the Mountain West Conference freshman of the Year at BYU and basketball. She unfortunately hurt both of her knees and so kind of cut her career short. They live in Indiana now. They live in Carmel, Indiana, and my little niece, Martha May, has this Kaitlin Clark jersey she wears all the time. And I'm actually going to visit them this weekend. We're going
to a game. We're going to go see Kaylen Clark and the fever play.
Is she back?
Is she back from injury?
I don't know. I hope so. I know she had missed seven or eight straight games.
What do you make of the way that she has covered What do you make of the way that the sport is covered now as a result of the rise popularity that I hate to say, it does seem to be because of Kaitlin Clark.
I'm not saying it's only her, but.
No, no, I wouldn't disagree with that.
What I guess what I would say is there's coverage from people who don't know anything about wom's basketball and don't know anything about the league and don't care about that, and they feel like they have to get on board with everything that's popular.
And she's definitely like.
She's a she's you could ignore women's sports and you could ignore the WNBA ninety percent of the time before Kaitlin Clark. Yeah, but once she broke on the scene in the in the NCAA tournament, there just was too much grassroots affection for her and really for the women's game. And so you saw this everybody sort of saying, oh, well, this is super popular, we have to do something about it.
And you see this a lot with non traditional sports, but with when it comes to women's sports, and I would say women's basketball.
In particular, Oh really, Yeah, why do you think that is?
Because I think there is a actual bias. There's a gender slash sexual sexuality bias and if men most of the media, I mean, they did these surveys every year when I was covering the Olympics, and they were eighty five to ninety percent male and similar statistic white. But all of my bosses, all the bosses in almost all the news organizations across the country are are middle aged white guys or older, right, And so they drive and
decide ultimately what we cover. And most of my colleagues were guys, very few men of color, lots of but lots of males. Even if they're men of color, they're all almost all male. And there would be time there were times in my career where I literally did not see a woman unless I was covering a woman's game for weeks at a time professionally, right, just you just and I would be like, oh, I would notice when
I saw another woman journalist. I have a mini a selfie in my phone of me and the one or two or three other one and there were four of us at a football game.
I made a sack of selfie.
You put it on on social media because it was four of us, right, it was a high school game, so you know, there you go.
But anyway, that was just so rare.
So when most of the people deciding what to get covered where you spend resources in media, are men, it's gonna be a tall order for women to get even thirty percent of the coverage if you just take a look. I mean back in the day we had daily newspapers.
I did this all the time. I would keep track of how many stories would go on the front page, both at the Trip and at Desright News for women's sports, and it was always a controversy b yu, or it was like a local mom story, like which I written myself mom and also an athlete, right, so I or if you know there were first there's always you know women, Oh it's women's History month. Oh it's an anniversary of Title nine. We did those stories, right, but like they
just didn't make the cover. And that what I tell people is when you pay attention to something, that's what you're telling people what you care about. So you don't pay attention to something you don't care about it. And a lot of these guys, I would say sports talk
radio is a hopbeed of this. But there's a lot of newspaper and a number in broadcasts as well, who haven't paid attention to the WNB, don't even know how it works, don't care, and don't really see it as a league and an athletic league worth investing their time, energy and money. And so those people now are forced to to commentate and cover and I heard so much crap, so much bs, so much you know, vomit, verbal vomit.
I'll just say from that those people who had had nothing good to say about women's sports.
I covered the WNB when when.
Utah, when the Utah Stars were here, I was a sidebar person for Linda Hamilton, two women covering Hamilton.
Yeah, professional sports league.
And I it was the greatest three years of my professional I loved it so much, was so fun. I've also bought season tickets that I shared with two other families because I couldn't afford them by myself, because I was a single mom at the time, and I took my daughter those games so she could see even if she didn't play sports. See these options. You want to see women and you want to go. We've seen political speeches,
we've seen musicians. You want to see them in all these different roles, right and so, and I'm a kid, you know, grew up on that cusp of Title nine. I got opportunities my mom didn't have because of Title nine. So I was very cognizant of this when I took my kids and did things my two daughters. But to listen to them talk about the rise of Caitlin Clark and why she was so popular and what was happening
was disgusting. It was disheartening, It was infuriating. And there were a lot of really great journalists who I won't repeat all of their but you can go back and read them. Sarah Spaine among them, who kept saying, hey, you guys are new to this game. Let me help you out, and they just spit on her just you know, you don't know you're talking about you're a lady who wants to be in sports, and you know it was that was really hard. So there were really there was
really good coverage of the rise. But I'll tell you look at go back and watch the press conference when she got drafted and the guy who's talking to her Doyle, Oh yeah, so yeah, I mean so and you and I I think we talked about that. But she's had to deal with who is her boyfriend? Is she straight or gay. Uh, Paige Buker's same thing. You know, is she Sophie what's her name? That plays with Caitlyn plays with Kaitlin Clark. Now you know she's hot and she's
you know violent. We love this, you know. So like there's this subset. So there's really good coverage out there, but you have to work for it. And then there's a lot of noise of people who who may know other sports, really popular guys, some of them I like and listen to their podcasts, who really really missed and instead of like correcting it.
There's been a couple that have corrected.
It, but a lot of them have come in and not said, I don't know this space. Let me let me come into this space intelligently, let me come, Let me educate myself. Let me bring people in who will help me navigate this place in a way that isn't harmful. Because women already endure it. Why do you think there's so much abuse in women's sports? Right? There are things
that we already endure. There are things we're so lucky to be here, we're so happy to be at the table, We're so happy to have your breadcrumbs that we just don't ever ask for what we actually should get. And case in point, when the women wore at the All Star Game, pay us, pay us what we're worth or whatever.
The T shirt said something about the pay like pay us what we should may or pay us what we're worth, and everybody was upset about it, and people like Sarah Spain said, look at the TV contracts, look at this, let's compare it to other leagues.
Are the women making what they should make?
Right?
And everybody's like, well, they don't make money. Well, there's other leagues that don't make money that pay their place players millions of dollars, right, So that's not there. It's very complicated. But I think that the oversimplification and the sexism that's inherent in our business has made it both amazing and super fun. And I loved it. We've talked about it. It's giving me a lot of hope for
the future. But it's also just tiring. How many people just refuse to evolve and learn and just say, oh, I learned this today. They just can't be wrong, and that's a bummer.
Yeah, And you know the.
Shirts that the women wore Overall Star weekend, it was really easy in a vacuum to give a snapshot reaction about Okay, well, how much money does the league generate? What is the revenue of the WNBA. The ultimate reality is NBA players receive about fifty one percent of basketball related income and WNBA players receive about nine point three percent of their basketball related income. Now, I don't have their P and L statements. I don't know what that
league makes compared to the WNBA. I do know evaluations for teams have gone through the roof to the tunes of hundreds of millions of dollars. But everybody in this attention economy, and that goes back to the sex toys being thrown on the floor. I mean, this cryptocurrency meme coin company is taking credit for it because they were clearly looking for attention.
No but, and this to me is peak American sports moment. Women have fought and fought and fought just to get a tiny slice of attention, a tiny slice of the financing, a tiny slice of what's out there, right, and they finally get it.
They're having this moment.
Women's sports in general is having this moment where they're getting attention or people want to invest financially in them. They want to invest their time with them. They want to learn their names. This is amazing, right, They want to pay attention to their records. And these dudes say, either, we don't care about them, we just want share of their attention. This is what happened, and this is what I think happened when Kaitlyn Clark came.
On the scene.
These sports talk guys and these there's some male columnists and podcasters who decided, oh my god, these women are having this moment, and they couldn't let us have this moment. They couldn't educate themselves, they couldn't defer to another. There were plenty of women who've covered the WA and womenen who've covered women's basketball in the WNBA. They could have had on their shows, but they didn't do that. They had to take a piece of that moment for themselves.
They can't just let them succeed. They can't let them into this universe that they decided long ago was theirs, and they get to decide who comes in and why.
It's maddening.
But to me, that sex toy thing was the same situation as the Kaitlyn Clark coming on the same here's this moment. It's super fun where everything has to be a controversy, everything has to be about she's pretty and white, and so everyone else is trying to beat her up our you know, and I will say, there is a bias.
You look at coverage.
Look at the coverage for womenolleyball players or women's soccer soccer players compared to women basketball players, or women boxers
or women wrestlers or anything like that. There is a These men are in charge decide who's attractive and who will sell, and we all know it sells, so I don't have to say it, but I could say it in a lot more direct way, which I do off the air, and that is that when they decide that, they decide that the pretty attractive women are worth investing in, and they play sports that men think are feminine, that are okay, and in fact, male volleyball players are still
fighting for respect because it's so much a women's game in the US.
Yeah, and a corner Covid never won a tournament, but you know she was dating.
I think she married a singer pop singer. I can't remember. I'll eat the Iglecias guy or whatever who.
By the way, I had the displeasure of seeing him perform live at like an NBA event. Good looking dude could not sing a lick that's a side, but had a corner.
It was a perfect example.
Tennis skirt attractive, never won a tournament, but was like the biggest star in her sport because of the way she looked.
Biggest start because the media would pay attention to her. Sure, this is the and this is the thing. And then but if you get media attention, then you can get sponsors. And this is what I always say, Like when we brought the Royals back, amazing investment from the community, you know, the organization, but I kept saying, like, there's this gap.
How are you going to get the media to pay attention?
Because if you can't get the media to pay attention, your sources of money will dry up. Because nobody wants to pay for something that just operates in the dark, right. They want attention. They want to be part of a winning thing. And especially when you're not winning, how are you getting these women sponsorship deals? How are you getting sponsors for your program so that you can buy the players you need, so that you can get the investment
that you need in those women. And that's the missing link. That nobody really can answer.
So the last WNBA CBA was five years ago. Okay, So here are some figures to just give you some context as to why the shirts were warn and why the players are asking for more, because the easiest thing for people to do is to use the narrative and look, the early years of the WNBA were bankrolled by the NBA. Nobody's running from that, but that was in the late nineties. That was twenty eight years ago.
It was also their decision right to invest in women's sports.
So here are the figures.
So last year, an eleven year, two point two billion dollar TV deal with Disney, Amazon Prime, and NBC Universal, the league reported to jump of forty eight percent in attendance, one hundred and seventy percent increase in viewership, and a six hundred and one percent rise in merchandise sales and expansion fees and valuations now roughly average around two hundred and fifty million dollars.
Okay.
So again, these figures indicate that the money is there in a way that it has been prior to. And if you're a player and you look at the NHL where they get forty eight percent, you look at the NBA where they get fifty one percent. You look at Major League Baseball where it's fifty NFL the same, and you are realizing that you are entitled to nine point three percent of the revenue generation to buy your league. Put yourself in their shoes, you would be pissed off too.
And I think, I mean I covered them when they had to have part time jobs or full time jobs overseas, but no, they did both. I mean some of them had full time jobs and one was a paramedic. I remember this, And I mean Kate Starboard was a scientist. You know, she's still like I followed her alder in COVID.
She's like I made. She's a professor and a scientist, and she was one of the best wings in the w NBA at the time, right, Like, so, I I have trouble with just the ignorance of they're women, so they had all the required it is it's that you don't really belong here. And really, let me just say, all those people who talk like that, they're just telling on themselves at this point. So I'm fine letting them talk because now I know Who'm not listening to.
Let me ask you about And this is an interesting dynamic here because a lot of young rookies in the NBA. There was a book called the Jordan Rules, you know Michael Jordan. When he was a young player in the NBA. The Detroit Pistons had a rule, no layups, no donks. You go in the lane and we're going to take your head off.
Okay.
So this isn't something that has only ever happened to Kaitlin Clark, but there does seem to be some treatment of her from her peers. Oh, it's a little bit no confusing to me. Why no, why what do you think that is?
So again I'll say this is there, that's not an figment of your imagination.
That's true. And here's the thing.
When you when you're a woman in business, they convince you that your biggest competition is other women because there's only room for one of you at the big table. So if you want to get in the big table, the room where it happens, then you've got to beat out all these other women. They don't tell you the men are your competition, just the other women.
Right.
So women are not the worst women. The worst people to me in my career have been other women in a lot of cases. Interesting, right, My mentors are mostly men and that is not an accidents because women are pitted against each other through in business. Now that has been shifting, right. So imagine you grew up in that situation and you're all competing for it. There's only this tiny tiny bit of spotlight, you know, this little tiny
pinhole of spotlight. And if Caitlin Clark takes it all, there isn't any for Aja Wilson or Asia Wilson, there isn't any for you know, anybody.
Page Bukers like, you can't have.
Two stars like we love in the NBA that there's a bunch of good rivalries.
We love, we love. That's what made the NBA great.
It was what made it solved, and it was what made it a billion dollar business. That's what works is these rivalries. Is the good guy and the bad guy, is the villain and the and the hero. All those things really work. We love them, right, But we as women are taught first of all, no one wants to be the villain.
You're the villain.
You're never getting a shoot al' you know what I mean. So you we can't do what men do. You can be Dennis Rodman and make a zillion dollars because you're the bad guy every I mean, think of hockey.
Hockey wouldn't be hockey without a lot of people stepping up to say, I want to be the villain, the enforcer. I want that role.
So women don't get to do that, right, And that's why I love the Sophie Cunningham storyline because she's hot, so they're gonna let her be a villain. And I mean, I love the commentary out of that. And also, like thought, here comes the verbal vomit. Right, Oh, they hate her because she's beautiful.
No, they don't.
They hate her because she's being a villain. But she's being she's able to be a villain because she's hot.
You know, she was not hot.
If she looked like some of the other women in WNBA, that would not be allowed, no one. They would be like, get that, put that animal in chains. I've heard this said about women basketball players, right, And so my problem is when you look at this, you can't look at it in isolation. It is part of society, and we are told there's only so much for us, for women, it's a finite amount of resource, and what a lot
of young women are learning is that's a lie. There's as much as we want to make there is no It's like love, there's no finite amount of it. We can we can create a table, we can create a different universe. And a lot of the women are embracing it. Some of the women, especially the older women, are still in doctrine of the way I was, which is, hey, your competition is other women. I rejected that, right, but like a lot of women haven't. A lot of women
in my age are still in that mindset. And they're in that mindset because if you want to get rewarded, you have to play in a men's world. I don't care about getting rewarded at this point. So you know, my reward is I get to do a job I love, sure, and I work for a woman, and I work with women.
So there you go.
All right, well said, before I set you loose, give me a quick thought because you referenced the royals and they trade alley for six hundred k spread out over three years, and you know the coach comes out is like, yeah, she wanted to be traded. I mean, I can't speak to that. I don't know if that's the truth, but it's not even not a very good team. And she was she might be the starting striker for our women's national team during the next World Cup cycle.
Oh, I'm sure.
And the last time they were here, they were second in n USL and attendance. Portland was the only other city they was out drawing Salt Lake. I haven't seen the up to date numbers, but I've seen the crowds. They're not the same that they were. And now the Royals last time around had Becky and Kristin Press and several World Cup stars. But man, you get rid of Ali, and she seemed to be the main reason people are showing up.
Well, I think I don't know. I don't know about why people are. I know I'm a season ticket holder and I know why I do or don't try up and it's not because of Ali. But I think the hard thing about the Ali trade is that they center.
To Kansas City, the best team in Luiza. Yeah, who didn't need any help.
And it just doesn't make any sense why you Yeah, you trade Donovan Mitchell, but you don't send him to your you're in conference rival, like you.
Don't you know what I mean?
Like there's some okay, you don't want to stay here or whatever. The reality is, right whatever, this story behind the scenes is, we have to this, we have to part ways. But they seemed like shooting yourself on the foot, right, And it seemed like like no, there was no no self preservation mode. I guess you know what I mean, like, Okay, well this has to happen, but we're gonna.
Do what we can to get X y or Z yep. It was like, let's just be nice for her. She wants to go there.
Friends are there so cool, and it just seemed like to me, it's reminded me of like like a college thing or a little league thing, like it's not that big a deal.
We're just friends, right, We're just having fun. And I'm like, this is business.
Yeah right.
So I think that was the thing that was baffling. I believe that she didn't want to stay here. I believe the coach when he was talking, and I think he's an amazing coach. And I know Dunny went off on David's show and said, you have to wonder, you know, what's happening or whatever, like what kind of culture they building?
Whatever?
Those are good questions to ask, right, But like I think you can talk to the women and they love what's being built there, and they love the way it's happening.
Right.
We did a little off the record thing, and I don't know that I've met a male coach that I would rather play for.
I don't know them at all.
Yeah, and I won't talk about what was because it wasn't off the record thing, but I asked very pointed questions, including like do you know when your players are on their periods? So yeah, I want like these are OK, because these affect a woman's help in a way that I mean. I I'll never forget covering World Cup speed skating.
Uh.
You know, this is the highest level of speed skating outside of the Olympics. And the woman who was the best speed skater in the world at one thousand meter what finishes a race goes over and throws up in a garbage can. So I'm thinking you mustut the flu right, I mean, you don't see that otherwise. So we wait for our time in the mix Suner and I say, you know what's going on. I started my period this morning.
I eat food. I shouldn't have eaten food. It always makes me sick and starts talking about it because anyone new sided period knows it affects your health. It affects your ability to do all the things you do all the other days.
Right.
And it was the first time though a professional athlete had brought it into the mix zone, and the men were visibly like, I don't want to talk about it.
About it like whoa, whoa, WHOA Why.
I wouldn't feel comfortable asking that question, why.
Are we going here? Well, I wouldn't ask. I didn't ask are you on your period?
Right?
I wouldn't ask them on that, but I would say, like, what's up with you?
I would say that to a male athlete, you just vomited in a garbage can after your race.
What's going on? I'm not feeling great.
This is what happened, right, what I talk I've had a football players. I three Taco Bell burritos and it was not a good choice. So you asked us questions because they give you context for what's happening. But like what I'm saying is women have not women are higher. Instead of knee injury that loosened your joints, they're all kinds of problems, back injury, neck injury. There's no higher concussion proto. The highest rate of concussion in high school
sports is girls soccer. So there are reasons to know those things, right, and so I want to talk about those things with coaches and trainers and owners, and they haven't been It hasn't been allowed, So I thought the perfect place was this off the record thing. It did make some people uncomfortable, I think, but you know who didn't get squeamished about it the coach. The coach who was like, not only do I know it, I know who and what and how it impacts them, And I
changed things up for them based on that. That's great, And that to me is like, that's where we have
to go with coaching in general. If we're going to be that sensitive about a man's injury, or you know, we try to be that sensitive now with mental health, right, why wouldn't we also factor and if you know women, you know their cycle is a hormones are a major part of their lives, right, and so why wouldn't you Why wouldn't that be a thing we talk about with trainers and medical staff and coaches, right, But that's not happening. So I will say I don't know all of what
went into it. I was shocked at that there wasn't an attempt to get more or to make it so that it didn't hurt the Royals in the short term, and that it didn't hurt so much in like a morale. From a morale perspective, there should have been I think a bigger statement about, hey, this is a situation. Here's why it's going to feel the way it's going to feel. But it was like, like, don't ask, Let's pretend that
this doesn't matter, and it matters. We already have it, as we've said, Uh, you know, an inferiority complex.
We don't need, we don't need to fuel that fire.
We need to address it right out of the gate and say this is going to hurt, but here's why it's not going to be. Here's why you shouldn't worry. Here's why you should still come out and support us. Here's what we're still doing, you know, and that that didn't happen.
Amy, that is our time. It's always great.
To should you talk about Chris is a Madison arcle.
I know, I know, but we are like ten.
I know, I know, and I'm super excited you have Sly. I love Sly but.
We'll get you back soon. Okay, great to see it, Amy Donald's and our friend from KSL. All right, like any good coach, it's time to update the game.
Plan for a healthy lawn.
As the hot weather continues this month, make sure you're using IFA's Step three Summer lawn Food for healthy turf that stays green and every season. IFA is Step three lawn Food. It's the ultimate lawn owner power move. With our good friends at IFAK, I got Brett Ciancia joining us from Pick six previews coming up in just a little bit, we'll break down the entire Big twelve the landscape of college football, So stay tuned for that Week three of camp.
Kyle going on up on the Hill.
Our next guest, one of the best to ever do it at the University of Utah, longtime NFL VET. You can hear them on our broadcast and bounce around TV radio around town. Our guys Stevenson Sylvester on a Monday afternoon, sly, happy Monday Man, how are we hey?
How you doing? How you doing? How are you doing?
Brother good Man and good I appreciate the time today so as somebody who has been through a fall camp experience, with coach wit. Week three starts today, sly, are we talking about UCLA specific game prep? What's kind of the tone and tenor of week three of camp under Coe Win?
And all you're trying to do is not slap the man next to you. That's all you're You're in the dog days of camp.
Man.
It's it's crazy. You don't start uh u c l A prep till next week. So next Monday will be started prep. This is this is gonna be kind of the last week of training camp and then you know, next week is an adjustment of going back to school and and all the other logistical things outside of football you gotta take care of.
Is next week. But this is just I'm I'm tired.
This is the last week of training camp, and let me not try to get in a fight because I'm tired of seeing the same guy's face.
These is what they call the dog days.
It's real. I asked coach on Saturday if they're in and he's like, oh, yeah, we're in the dog days now. So but yeah, man, right right right now? Is it's it's just good man. This team they're they're looking really good. I saw their scrimmage on Saturday. I saw practice on Thursday. I like where we're at. You know, of course, you're not exactly where we're supposed to be, and I'll expect us to be exactly where we want to be to a few weeks into the season. But I feel confident heading into UCLA.
So as somebody who's been able to get eyes on the team in a way that most don't. Let's start with just a big picture question slide, which is what gives you the most confident that this will be the back you know, the bounce back season most people are expecting for Utah year two in the Big twelve.
Well, it has to be a competence on the offensive side of the ball, right. I wasn't secure after spring, right with the new offense, Jason Bank coming in, people coming in and out. But the team that I saw this past Saturday is very different than the team I saw in spring. As far as functionality, of course, there are new players with the transfers, but as far as everybody being able to cohesively work together is what I saw is a benefit.
And you know, from.
Short yardage plays to red zone plays, some of the most effective and efficient and most important parts of the football game. Are those areas right? Can you convert on third down? Can you convert in the red zone?
Right? The most important.
Statistics and and we saw a lot of situational football on Saturday, and so I was very excited to see who's going to be their targets. You know, who are they going after, Who's actually standing out? Even this late into camp. You know, you get late in the camp and guys are just like, man, I'm tired, I'm tired of working. But you've seen a lot of guys who
are still bringing the energy. The competition was there, of course, you know the defenses in Scaley and and shrew Shaw and the rest of the defensive coaches got those guys always on point. But the competition that I saw was was terrific. And I love the offensive output that I seen on Saturday.
So it's it's interesting.
This is the time of year where or you know, the Coaches Poll comes out last week, ap Pool comes out today. Anybody in college football media is making their predictions. And last year it was almost a consensus the Utah if they weren't picked to win it, they were picked as one of the top two teams. I mean, not just US locally, nationally, everybody expected Utah to win the Big Twelve championship a year ago, or at least be
in that championship game. And there are some people this year that have picked Utah to win the conference, but not many, and they have not been ranked in the top twenty five with either of the coaches or the ap pole. What sort of dynamic does that give the coaching staff to motivate the team and do you prefer to be the hunter or the hunt? Did because last year target on Utah's back year, one of the Big twelve, longtime Big Twelve member institutions turned off at some of
the hubris. Oh you think you're gonna come into the conference and dominate right away? None of that is their slide this year. How did the coaches use that as motivation?
Well, I think even before last season, it was an uncomfortable position for coach Witt. I think he alluded to it in media days before the year started last year. He's like, I'm normally not in this position, So this is something that We're gonna have to navigate around. And I think coach WIT's always been in a hunter position, you know, as a mentality as him as a player.
From his playing days to the coaching days at Utah and everything that he's been a part of, he's always been overlooked and so that's just been a comfortable place for him to be able to be like, Okay, I have aspirations, I know where to go set when you're on top, it's kind of like I got to keep people at bay and that's just a different type of
Honestly it shouldn't. But like when you're motivating guys and you having all these outside voices, you're just gonna have to that's a different conversation that you have to you have to tell people because a head coaches or a coach's main job is to motivate.
How do I get guys to be the best that they can be? Right?
And that's why coach Witt is so good. But he's just more comfortable in that hunter position. I want to go get those guys who say that they're on top, and that's that's kind of his mentality. So last year was different, and that's why I think this is more of a comfortable flow as far as the conversation that needs to be had with motivating this team and what what to get out there. Right, there's so many things out there, and last year was an experience, right, and
so what did you take from that? What did you learn from that as far as what depth did you need to have, What type of game planning did you need to have, What type of contingencies do you have to have in place to handle adversity?
And I think that this team is.
Is more equipped from that experience last year to go into this year and and and really take the Big twelve on and and get to that Big twelve championship game.
So coach Wit isn't usually effusive with praise. I mean, he will get he will give credit where credit is due. But for a program that has had Tony Bergerstrom and Zane Beatles and Caleb schlatter Off and Garrett Bowles and Chris came out to and plenty of other offensive linemen that I could name, for Kyle to say this is the best offensive line he's ever had in twenty one years at the University of Utah. When Kyle himself will make those types of maybe borderline hyperbolic statements, I think
people stand up and pay attention. Another honor today for Spencer or Spencer Fono, who was named as an ESPN preseason All American and the best offensive tackle in the country according to a lot of outlets.
Are you in lockstep pair?
Do you believe this could potentially be the best o line that Utah has ever had?
And what does that mean for Devin under center?
No, I mean, I'm a guy that is you got to prove it instead of somebody saying it.
Right.
If you guys remember last year he said this is the best offense that he's ever had as well, Right, so even with one guy gone, how does our offense fall the way it did last year? So as a motivator, as we said, that's stuff that he has to say. Hopefully he's motivating this offensive line to be better and holding them because one thing that coach Witt has ever since my playing days, his biggest thing is leader, set the bar and demand everybody live up to that bar. Right,
So everybody's got to live up. And so if this offensive line is highly touted with to all Americans preseason all Americans, they're they're they're leading the forefront, so you expect a lot out of them.
So that's what I believe is coming from them.
But I'm not I'm not crowning anybody before it's said and done. If I see two hundred plus, uh, two hundred plus rushing yards on the ground per game and great offensive protection and allowed Devin damp Here to get the ball downfield and give him time, That's when I'll do it. You know. I got to see the work instead of hear the work, right, And and that's just one thing that we all have not been privy of, is the consistency of work, because it can all fall apart.
This is supposed to be one of the best offenses Coach Witting has ever had or been a part of last year, and and that.
Was just not the case.
And so I'm more on the sense of I want to see it and I can't wait to see it in the Rose Bowl.
There's no better feed.
I think Spencer final is everything that he's I think he's worth every praise, every accolade that is out there.
Right. He's extremely athletic, he's a great leader. Guys love him.
Uh.
He does everything pass, protect, get out and run and in the screen game. Uh, he's great in the run game. Double team blocks, single blocks. You can put him on an island. He is your prototypical you know, backside block, and that's exactly what you need to have for a new offense. And and so I love Spencer final and
and being able to have that weapon. But I love all the other weapons that on this team, from Michael Mochafizi to Jared Cump to to toky I to Caleb They're like, these guys are great and up and coming. Uh Corner Canyon, you know, I call him an all American.
The guy was all world and and I Garcia. I can't wait to see him actually do some stuff because he's had a year to grow and be on here and he's going to be a contributor in this and and and I think that since this offensive line is so important, you're gonna see a lot more of them, right, You're gonna see a lot more offensive line output this year.
And I'm I'm talking about run game being huge away Sean Parker, the Currie Rogers, all these guys that are running football Andrews you can see them having breakout years.
I'm looking forward to that year.
Where we had Makai, Bernard, tamy On Thomas and sorry and forgetting the other running backs name where you know, those guys could each go for one hundred yards per game, and it'd be easy.
I'm looking for an offensive line year like that.
Man, So it's supposed to be big outputs, but I don't want to put too much on this offense. I want to keep them in there, get their heads focused, and take it game by game and and and and see that output. Forty plus points a game is what we should be at.
Interesting stuff there.
I'm glad you mentioned it because coach with himself, I think, and I'll just speak for myself, I was under the impression that it was going to be Wayshan is like a bell cow. And look, you always want multiple like, there's nothing wrong with having two three four backs you like as you reference. But tell me what you've seen from both way Sean Parker and Aquari Rogers, the two running backs that are competing for carries.
According to Kyle himself, Oh man.
The biggest thing for me is their stature, right.
I think Wyshan is a really solid running back, and the Curis is extremely versatile from the stuff that I've seen as far as catching the ball out of the backfield and.
Being a very very very good, complimentary back.
They've been given our defense fits and that's something that just doesn't happen, right. It's you got guys on that defensive front with Levanni de Mooney, Jone, o'hall, lander Barton, even coming down to the box with Ta Johnson, and you see our offensive line and running backs have some success, man, And that's just that's great. That's good on good, right, And that's what I saw inside. I saw the first team versus the first team and everybody giving each other
back and forth. Man. Defense doing great, offense doing great, and it's awesome, man.
So I love to see it.
I can't wait to see the Curie Rodgers, of course, was in the system, so this is something that's very familiar with him. He's being able to help all the other running backs and understanding exactly what they should be looking for because he was in the system last year. Way Sean Parker, he is. I believe he has the capability of being that thousand yard rusher we need, right, we need a thousand yard rusher.
I think we're gonna get it from Devin Devins. Speed is just elite.
I mean in practice right now, we can't really tell because you want your quarterback more focused on trying to complete that pass.
But boy, when he.
Wants to pull that ball down and run, good luck defense. And so we get to actually have another quarterback being a thousand yard rusher because of that. But there's a lot of talent across this board, and I'm very, very excited to see who's going to be the star of this offense. I don't think there's a number one yet, right The closest for me right now is hey, tight
end you right, Dallan Bitley. I man, he looks big, he looks fast, he looks determined, and I'm telling you, folks, watch out for that guy.
He's gonna be a big factor in this offense.
And I can't wait to see what he does against other competition besides our own. But he's somebody who I've seen put in the work in this offseason and it's definitely looked like it's paying off.
Man.
So seeing all the weapons that we have at our disposal, it's gonna be absolutely awesome.
Very nice.
The Utah does not have a quarterback battle on their hands like BYU and some other schools. We know the jobs devins, but behind him, I've been somewhat surprised to hear all this Afuseid praise for Bird Ficklin. I don't know anything about the kid at all. I'm not and on him. I'm just saying I thought the job would be Isaac's. It's interesting when you listen to Kyle and coach back talk about Bird and you know, kind of dig into his pedigree a little bit. He does seem
to play more like Devin does than Isaac Wood. I'm not saying Isaac can escape, We've seen it before, but I wonder if that dynamic gives Bird a little bit of a handoff. How do you think that qb room is developing behind Devin as of now?
Sly, it's more for me, it's gotta be game plan, right. Bird Finkland is talented. When you watched him in the spring, you're just like, this kid's a.
Freshman, Like, like, what the heck?
Just a left I'm telling you, As a defender, you practice right handed quarterbacks. Right your your best cornerback is the left cornerback because that's the right side of the offense and the right But when you have a left hander who can do the things that Bird Flinklan is doing, it definitely puts your defense in a in a complex man and and so I love his talent.
You know, I still think he has them developing going. He's a freshman, right.
We saw great things from Isaac last last training camp in spring, and and we were solid on him coming in and in the season.
It just it was a lot of adversity. It was hard to handle.
It was a lot a lot of pressure, and I don't want to see that from bird Finkland. I still think there's a lot of development going. But one thing that I've seen that I loved is Isaac. You know, Isaac always thrown a great football, right, and I think that, you know, he hasn't had that sort of attention on him this offseason. He's been able to relax and and and dive into the playbook and and really immerse himself
into this team and be a leader. And I've seen a lot of development of him just over the past week of from what I've seen in the spring to now. And it's more of a comfortability and confidence, right. Being a quarterback is all about confidence. And I had never understood that till I was in the same locker room
with Ben Roethlisberger. That guy had an elite confidence about himself that even if he threw an interception, he knew for a fact I'm gonna get a touchdown, right, and he's just know my odds of touchdown to interception ratio. I'm gonna put my team in the best position win, whether it's running the football or handing the ball off, I mean, or throwing a touchdown to Mike Wallace or hinz Ward.
And I just.
Love that that energy and that confidence that Ben Roethlisberger had, and at the quarterback position, that's what it's all about. So if Isaac can hone in on his confidence and don't let the outside noise or anything else shake it. He's a talented guy, as I said Bird, people's talented left handed guy that puts defenses in a very hard position. But he's still a freshman, right, and so he's got a lot to learn, a lot of experience, a lot of speed of the game.
He's got to understand and consistency with throws. Right.
We saw last year where simple out routes or simple flat routes were thrown into the dirt without pressure, right, And that's that's freshman like behavior. And so I saw some of that from Bird. But you know that's not saying that he can't throw the football, but it's about consistency and confidence at the quarterback position.
One more positional group questions.
So there are seventeen wide receivers on the roster. There's only one though, that has thirty career catches in college football. That's Ryan Davis, the new Mexico transfer coach. Witt himself with Sean and I Big twelve Media Days, discussed a little bit of I don't know if it's consternation, just unknown in that room.
So what you're.
Understanding about how that wide receiver room is shaken out as of now sly.
As I said, I was alluding to that.
I was just like, there's a lot of talent and there's no number one. I was like, Dallan Bitley for me right now is the number one and he's tied in. But in the receiver room, I was seeing so many guys get touches, get looks, and pass the ball and do some amazing things from freshman from freshman's to sophomores to seniors to new transfers. I don't think that's determined on who we're going to get the ball to, because insistently and one of these guys, these guys are all talented,
and I think they're all worthy. So whoever ends up winning, Uh, those jobs are winning, those targets I'm gonna be happy with. I think it's gonna be it's gonna be awesome. I actually like Tobias May Merriweather.
Right.
He's a six four sixty five body that's long, strong, and extremely competitive and he can go up and get the ball. And he's had a great, great training camp. He's a new transfer, so we didn't get to see him in the spring, but uh, he looks great and I'd love to get him the ball and in deep passing situations because if defenses want to crowd the box for Devin, you're.
Gonna get a guy who could take the top off the defense.
In in Tobias Merriweather, and who can be double cover from the post safety and the cornerback and he can come down with it.
That excites me, right. And and then uh, Dadrian Zipperer.
He's a guy who's been in the system and been around and you know he's just a redshirt sophomore, but he's a guy that can run all the routes. I loved his route running the days of practice that I've seen thus far, and so we just have no idea who's going to be that guy to come out right and from it being Nate Johnson or it being Justin see the Stevenson, there's not a number two, number one guy.
But I think by the time game comes.
We're gonna see we're gonna see those guys step up and make it happens.
Live before I say you loose, I have a question about a teammate of yours, and I've often said this before, and I'm sure it could be open for debate, but I believe the two thousand and nine Sugar Bowl win over Alabama is potentially the best individual accomplishment that any Utah football team has ever had, obviously capping an undefeated season. And it was one of my first Utah football teams I covered as a full time media member.
So I have a soft spot in my heart for your team, as you know.
And Chris Camaraddi, our friend from The Athletic, wrote a really powerful piece on one of your ex teammates, Greg Newman, who sadly passed a few years back after a battle with CTE. I just wondered what your memories are of Greg and what your perspective is. We had Chris on the show last week and he kind of talked about it, so before I said, you lose just your thoughts on just that entire process and journey watching your ex teammates struggle the way he did.
Yeah, I appreciate you bringing that up and shedding light on Greg Newman and just knowing that. My biggest takeaway is it could be any of us, right that's suffering, and we don't know.
But Greg was great, just a highly competitive human being.
And you know, I was doing a story with his mom and sister and I found out even more things that I didn't even know about him, right, and and and so it just brought me back to just his energy and what he was willing to do for our football team.
Right.
He was a defensive end linebacker in high school, but it was a defensive end for us, and was.
Playing three techniques. He rotated down And.
I don't know, folks, that that is not an easy thing to do, right, to be a two hundred and sixty pound and essentially being double team by multiple three hundred plus pound guys every single play and him winning. He was just an extreme, extreme motor and I just
knew that he was a competitive guy. He loved winning and he was he was a leader on our defense and loved playing with him because it's exactly what I said about coach Witt and leaders, right, they set the bar and demand everybody follow it.
Greg Newman was that type of guy. He was a very determined guy.
And even after football, right, he he went to he was very good at numbers and financials, right, so he went to Wall Street. He was doing very well on Wall Street until COVID hit and you know, he couldn't be in a competitive environment and things just got worse right after that. And so but he was just a
very dedicated person to the team. Is a big reason why we went undefeated in eight or O nine, And I just I loved him as a teammate and I appreciate, you know, everybody shedding light on that situation because it's not something that we should pass over. And from talking with his parents, it's like it could be anybody, right, there's uh, there's people who's snowboarding and you're going down a half pipe and and you have head injury and it's in there. Everything should seem fine, but there's one
point where it can. It can really mess with you. And so, uh, Greg just had a he had a tough goal of it, you know, you know, finding himself after football, and you know, he was just a great human being. He loved being around people, love giving back and helping out where he could. But yeah, he was a big, big part of our undefeated year in two thousand and eight.
It s li thanks for the time, my friend, appreciate it. On Monday, have a great week and we'll get you.
Back on soon. Okay, you got it.
Thanks Vince all right, the great Stevens and Sylvesteria one of the best to ever do it at the University of You taught the linebacker position. Super Bowl winner in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Part of our broadcast team and we'll be part of our Utah football coverage all year long. Speaking of you, Taugh football. More football coming up. On the other side, Brett Sianca Pick six previews. He's got a little bit of an issue with the
eight people believes Utah should be ranked higher. All right, special thanks to Nicki Rimando hopped on.
The program a little bit earlier. Will remind you.
About the community event that we're supporting, So Hope for Kiri go to Hope for Kirie dot org.
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There and support and again the website is Hope for Kiri dot org. All right, joining me now, one of my favorites do some college football, my buddy Brett Siantia from Pick six previews on a Monday afternoon, Bret Happy Monday, man, how are we doing.
Hey, thanks for having me on. You know, at that time of year, it's preview magazine season, it's everybody's undefeated, everybody's optimistic. So excited to break it down for you here talking Utah in the Big Twelve.
Yes, sir, So let's let's get right into it. We're about a mile away from RISKL Stadium, We're about nineteen days away from the beginning of the season for the Utes. You like Utah a little bit more than the AP poll. So the AP pole comes out today. Utah among the others receiving votes in the Pick six preview magazine you have us, The Utes rank number twenty two. So what's you're reasoning for ranking Utah in your top twenty five?
And were you surprised to see them unranked in today's a people, Yeah, I was shocked.
I guess I shouldn't be shocked anymore with what comes out in the preseason. But there were five teams that I disagreed with that should be ranked that the AP did not rank, and that was USC, Baylor, TCU, and Utah and Auburn, but the three Big twelve teams. But with Utah, yeah, I mean what you have here is one of the best offensive lines in the country, the entire two deep return from last year, which is extremely rare.
The defense, you have to trust what Morgan Scaley does every year, one of the best coordinators in the game, a couple of All American candidates and all conference guys on that side. And then the big The big deal with Utah this year is their revamped offense. And of course in twenty three it was a ton of injuries and twenty four the quarterback had a ton of injuries. But now everything you know. They're restarting with a new scheme,
bringing Jason Becko from New Mexico. It's really a dynamic, run heavy offense and he got an electric guy at quarterback with Devin Dan Pearce. So a lot to like from Utah, And yeah, they're certainly deserving of a preseason rank. I think sometimes the voters just looked too closely at last year's record and take it at face value. You got to consider everything that went into last year, So I like you tell the bounce back into the top twenty five and contend for a Big twelve title.
I want to follow up about Devin About Devin Dampier, who is bringing a lot of hope to a market that's just frustrations with a quarterback position over the past couple of years. You know, you just ultimately always felt bad for Cameron Rising. You just couldn't stay healthy after a couple of dynamic years they led you Todd to
win a couple of Pack twelve championships. What should our listeners know about Devin based off of the research that you've done, and do you think he'll be able to seamlessly transition into higher competition in the Big twelve juxtapposed to the Mountain West.
Yeah, with Devin damp here, you're getting a dual threat. And I know that term has used a lot, but he really encompasses the term. I mean he had a thousand rushing yards last year, thirty one total touchdowns, and you know a lot of those yards rats are contact too. You get a finger on him, you can still you know, escape And in run he had five hundred and twenty yards after contact rushing. So a true dual threat. Really
elusive in the pocket too. Stat I put it in the book here this year was he was number one in the country in evading sacks in the pocket. He was pressured one hundred times, only took four sacks. So four out of one hundred times he was pressured, was he actually corralled for a sack? You know, he's got escapability from the pocket and go pick up a first down with the legs and the pocket breaks down. But here's the catches.
I don't think the.
Pocket will be breaking down too much with this offensive line in front of him. So to your other part of the question, you know, stepping up from the Mountain West to the Big twelve, certainly that'll be an adjustment. The game will be faster, but also he benefits from having a better line in front of him. This is a real Big twelve, my number one Big twelve offensive line,
a top ten national line. So while you know that step up in competition is a negative, he gets a stronger offensive line and probably some better players around him here at Utah, So I think it's going to be a breakthrough season. He earned the All train for at spot in my book. You know, it's funny have an All American team and all Big twelve team, but in the magazine with all these transfers, I put an all transfer team in there, and he certainly deserves the Big twelve spot.
There, just real quick, a little bit of a non sequitor, but based off of what you just said, how has the changing landscape of college football affected your ability and your one of my favorites? You know, we used pick six on the show all the time. Like, for instance, Bronco Menadla has eighty new players in logan and most programs at least have fifty to sixty and some more than that.
How has that changed the way that you've had.
To adjust to do your job, to try to analyze groups of players that are entirely brand new just from a year ago.
It's complicated the preview magazine process tenfold. I mean I launched this back in twenty twelve, and if you go back in time to twenty twelve, that was still the BCS era. We had something called the Big East and the Pac ten and just a simpler time. But yeah, now, you know, back then you would look at just returning starters, recruiting and who left early for the pros, if anybody that was it, that was the formula. Now it's so
much more complex. But I do go player by player, position by position and really just put context in the book about you know which transfers are important, which ones had success at the last level, because really every situation is different. But I think that's it's it makes it more complex from my angle, but I think to the reader it brings a lot more value because you can pick up the Pick six previous magazine and learn right away about who's coming in, who's leaving why, and put
it within the context of the team. And you know you're not going to find abbreviations or acronyms or jargon. I mean, it's it's pretty straightforward and I tell you what's going on in each program, all right.
So generally speaking, it's interesting to see your rankings as far as Big twelve teams go. And then you know the unseious endeavor of the Coaches poll last week. The ap pol involves people that do seem to pay attention. Where does Utah rank? You can throw a tier out there, who do you like in the Big twelve? You know how many teams you think can legitimately win this conference. They didn't even let us do a Big twelve preseason media poll this year because we're all so wrong about
who's going to look like a year ago. But I guess I'll ask you, what's your tier one level of Big twelve teams this year and where does Utah fit in.
Yeah, well, I think it's the most wide open conference I've ever covered here. It's my fourteenth year doing Pick six previews and do all four Power four conferences, and I think this is the most wide open yet. And I say that because, you know, talk to head coaches, talk to coordinators about some of their opponents coming up, and try and get them to talk about who the
favorites are. They'll give you ten different teams. You know, they'll say, there isn't really a favorite here, which is a cluster of top twenty five and top forty caliber teams. I tend to agree. I see a lot of top twenty five teams in here, and you know, I narrowed it down to early seven, if you can call it, narrow it down seven teams I think can win it. I went with Arizona State. I went with the defending champs.
I don't think last year was a fluke when you look back at it with my advanced stats in the book, they were legit. They bring everybody back except Camps Kataboo, who's a big one. At running back, but pretty much the entire roster returns. I like them to go repeat and I have them playing Texas Tech in Dallas and Texas Texas situation where eight win team last year, but they go out. They rally all this oil money from their boosters and they signed twelve blue chips from the portal.
That's more than the rest of the conference signed combined. So huge talent influx in the in the Lubbock. So I'm going for Arizona State vers Texas Tech. Strong considerations from Baylor in Utah and TCU, and then I would drop it down a tier to the Kansas State, Iowa State and even BYU down there. But so Arizona State Texas Tech to play, and then I can really argue hard for Baylor, Utah and TCU.
I know you already referenced the offensive line, but Spencer Fono another honor today named first team ESPN All American. You know when you look at you know Dane Brugler, for instance, released his summertime offensive line raykingss. Spencer is the number two tackle in Caleb Lomu as the number five tackle.
You for It's earlier, Brad, You think Utah.
Has the top ten line in all the college football coach with himself, which is uncoach with like pretty effusive with his praise, saying he thinks this is the best offensive line that he has had at Utah in twenty one years.
What sort of benefit is that for Devin?
I know that's an obvious question, but Devin put up some gaudy numbers last year in New Mexico without an offensive line that's even in the same stratosphere as this. So how that official is that dynamic for Utah's offense this year? And dig in a little bit deeper on the O line, how good you think they are?
Yeah, well, that's really the key strength of this offense. I mean it probably it goes without saying, but that is one of the key parts of why I have them ranked in the top twenty five. Is that offensive line. Because you want to generate the consistent run push, you know, because you lose your running back, you lose a lot of receivers, but you want to have that anchor, that rocket offensive line. I think they have that. I agree with you. At Spencer Fano here in the number one
spot on my first team All American team. Again, you know, just like ESPN. Like you said, I've got him on there. But yeah, look at Utah. You can start to throw out some of those stats from last year, and you know that gets brought up about how poor they were offensively, and I think you just got to look at it last year with the Green of Salt. I mean, they were down to their fifth quarterback at times. It was really unlucky there with injuries in twenty four and especially
twenty twenty three. So you got to look at individual talent and you got to take some of these coach clips for what they're saying. I mean, you're right about coach Witt. He's very close to the vest with some comments on position groups. So for him to throw that praise out there, that catches my eye, and I think they're going to live.
Up to that.
So that's a great place to start when you're building a top twenty five or a Big twelve contending team. Is the offensive line. It's going to make everybody else look better, and I think that's going to be, you know, one of the strongest in the country.
You TA has had seventeen running backs go over one thousand yards. Way Sean Parker is looking to be the next one to do that reference in the local media last week he wants to touch fifteen hundred yards. Acqui Rogers is also in the mix for RB one Wyshaan with a really solid the freshman campaign of wall Zoo over five yards of carry. What are you expecting? And I don't know how they're going to split the reps.
And it's great to have more than one back in your room, but let's just assume that way Shawn's able to grab that starting job. What sort of back is he? What should our listeners know about him?
Yeah, well, it's good to have two of them. And I saw him from fall camp. They were talking about how the coaches were saying that they're one A and one B right now, so it looks like they're gonna split even if it's a sixty forty split of carries. Get them two guys back there. Of course, Rogers is familiar with the new Mexico offense coming with Jason back end with Dan Peere. He knows the scheme. But yeah, I think you have your starter with way Shaun Parker.
He was rated the number four transfer running back in the entire country this cycle, so put up a ton of yards at a breakout season at Washington State. They know, I know they weren't the Pac twelve last year, but at the time it was still considered a power forward type team, so that was impressive to break through as a starter right away. But yeah, I think you have a proven commodity with him and then Rogers the guy that knows the scheme, albeit stepping up to the Big
twelve level. But that's a good one two punch, and you know, I think you got to like what you have there.
All right, let me let me dig in on on Byu for a minute. You know, of course, they had pretty surprising season a year ago, jumps opposed expectations. They go eleven wins, they get a good win in the Alimable over Colorado. Obviously, the Jake Retz laugh stuff is the main headline that people have been focused on around here.
They have not named the starter, and you know, ultimately, whether it's the coaches puller, the ap pol, you know, the the ambiguity quarterback hasn't necessarily changed people's optimism about who they could be because like Utah, they are a program now that really is defense first.
Klanie cut his teeth under Kyle j.
Hill cut his teeth under Kyle, so they got a ton back on defense. We don't know who the quarterback is going to be, But what are your expectations for BYU this year?
Brett Well, I had a lot of questions with BYU coming into the Reds last situation, even before that broke. I mean, you're like, and at the offensive line, losing three starters, and these are long time guys, longtime starters, contributors, all big twelve guys. So three offensive linemen departed, pretty much the whole defensive line left. Both corners were gone. So I already had a couple questions at BYU. Now that's not to say that twenty twenty four wasn't a
fluke or anything. I mean they were legit last year. My game Greater formula actually had them first in the conference. At the end of the year. They were really strong. But projecting forward to twenty twenty five, a lot of questions. It got worse after spring. Of course, the quarterback situation you touched on looks like you're going to be starting at BYU a true freshman, eighteen year old bar Backmeyer who wasn't even there for winter or spring and was
ever at Stanford, so that's a huge question. And then also two receivers that could have come back left or lost eligibility with Lassiter who applied to the NCAA did not get renewed. And then of course Keilan Marion, an All conference receiver kick return specialist, departs from Miami. So not only do you not knock out your starting quarterback, lose two legit receivers from the projection. So that bumped them almost out of the top forty for me down at thirty eight nationally.
Interested to follow up as to why you believe the job is Bear Bachmeyers. And you know, Aaron Roderick, offensive coordinator for BYUS in front of the show, and he's saying a lot of nice things about bear Bachmeyer. The McKay Hillstead kid has eight starts under his bell the Utah State. So you know, is that the best guess you have that it's going to be Bear under center.
Give me your thoughts on that.
Yeah, that is a guest here. Of course I'm not there on the ground in Fall Camp. I'm out here based in Pennsylvania. But when I try and project forward and look at this upcoming roster, I was looking at it. You had Hillstet from Utah State. You got poor Gay from Western Michigan. Like you said, not that experience as a starter either one of them. Maybe a handful of starts. But bear Bachmeyer, guy, I know at Stanford in springball was repping with the ones, and I know that Byu
is stronger right now than Stanford is. But I think you had a four star process back They're a bigger blue chip billing than these two guys that were there. So yeah, that's my guest right now. It might not be a week one starter. Maybe it'll take a few weeks in the September, but in terms of upside, I think you got to like what you had with Backmeyer.
What do you know about UCLA Brett It's Utah's opening opponent at the Rose Bowl. It's at nine o'clock Mountain time kick. A lot of people around here not thrilled about that, but that is the opening game for the Utes in their non con.
What do you know about the Bruins this year?
Yeah, well, coaching chains last year, of course, they made the switch over to the Big ten and took some lumps early in the year, started out one and six out of the Gate. They did notch a couple of big wins in the back half of the year. They beat Rutgers, who was a strong team at the time, beat Nebraska, beat Iowa, so they got close to bull eligibility there last year. But they really were rated by
the transfer portal this year. I don't know if that's a lack of booster support or funding or whatever, but a lot of starters departed from UCLA, and of course they'll cover it up with the big headliner at quarterback. They went out and got Nico after the Tennessee Nico drama in April, as the former five star quarterback, one of the biggest NIL deals in history when he originally
signed with Tennessee. So yes, they got the headliner, but a lot of other guys, starters in the offensive line, the receiver room, were proached by other power forward programs. So I see a team that's going to be stuck towards the bottom of the Big ten. I see that line opened up around a touchdown. I believe in Utah's favor. I would like that if that holds, because I just don't see UCLA really contending.
For much this year.
Utah's opening Big twelve game is Texas Tech, and you referenced this when I asked you about your tier one in the Big twelve. How real will this nil effect be when it comes to not just the interim, but do you feel like they're building something that Big twelve teams need to look around and be a little bit concerned about.
I mean the money that's being thrown around down there.
I asked coach went about it during Big twelve media days, and like every other coach, he said, well, it would be nice to be, you know, to have that type of advantage, but how real will that investment manifest itself both this year and then years to come as far as what they're doing down in Texas Tech?
Yeah, well it's two different parts here. I think for twenty twenty five, that is a question, and similar to echo a coach, Witz said. When I'm talking to other Big twelve head coaches and coordinators, they bring up the Texas Tech situation and they're blown away by the raw talent coming in. But the big question that they all had was how quickly can it gel? You know, there's a lot of new personalities coming in. They all want
their starts, their nil money. It's a pretty big experiment, so I can't wait to keep an eye on that this year. I think it's fascinating a program that really hasn't had much success over the long haul of college football, so you know, a little one year window to really break through. But in terms of staying power going forward, I think they're going to remain a player. When you take Oklahoma and Texas out of the traditional Big twelve foot print, of course they were the two giants. Now
they're in the SEC you throw them out. It's actually Texas Tech and TCU are the top five year recruiters, Utah third, So that's really your top three of consistent recruiters. They were already up there. Now you're going to layer in all this big oil money and you know they're going to just continue to acquire these massive classes. I saw they just signed a five star a couple of
days ago in the twenty twenty six class. So it's continuing and this might be a you know, a test of proof of concept this year, but I think it's going to stay a while.
In Texas Tech, Utah gets Colorado here in saut Lake Rise Ecles of course, no Shador, no Travis Hunter. They're both in the NFL. What are you expecting from Dion's group this year? Another big twelve team Utah has here in Salt Lake.
Well, they lose two of their biggest stars of all time, and obviously with Shader Sanders the quarterback going pro, their Heisman winner Travis Hunter going pro. But I think they still remained strong in some spots. I like their defensive line. Their pass rush was really strong last year. That's going to remain stout.
The receiver group.
I know they lost pretty much their whole four sum of starters, but brought in a couple of nice pieces and now the recruiting at a better level than they used to, so they still have firepower at certain positions. It's going to come down to a quarterback, whether Caden Salter, the former Liberty quarterback, if he can continue to have success at the college level here at Colorado new offense, or if they're going to turn it over to a five
star freshman Julian Lewis. So that's the question at quarterback. There was the off season drama whether coach Sanders would return, and thankfully he's in good health.
And we'll be back.
So that's great. But I don't see them contending for the conference. I see them down there. I have them ninth in the Big Twelve. Still a solid team. They'll be tested, but I think you Tall will take care of business there.
Last I want to ask you about one more Big Twelve team, brother, then I'll set you loose.
And now that that's Baylor.
You know Dave Randa, I felt like he was coaching for his job last year, and he good coach. I mean, we had some local ties and you've had him on the show before.
It's a road game for Utah this year near the end of the year.
So I feel like Baylor is one of these schools in the Big Twelve that a lot of people really like and a lot of people are kind of like. I guess we'll kind of wait and see. What's the ret siance prediction for the Baylor Bears this year?
Yeah, Well, Baylor, they figured it out a couple games in last year. They started out with a different quarterback. He was a Toledo or a mac transfer at the Kwan Finn it wasn't clicking. They make a quarterback change about six games in the Sawyer Robertson and at all flips. They end up winning six straight games. They rallied to a nice bowl, almost beat LSU in that bowl game, but really really searched towards the end of the year.
But the catch is that they get everybody back. I mean, this is one of the most veteran teams in America, top twenty in returning production on both sides of the ball, which is really rare nowadays with the transfer portal all that movement. So I see a really solid team here. I mean I have them seventeenth in the country. The offense is going to remain strong. Question is defense, But you guys know David Randa, He's a defensive genius. So I think with a more veteran team this year on
that side of the ball, he'll make it work. So I like Baylor. I almost picked him to win the conference. I've got them seventeenth nationally and I have them over seven and a half. This is actually my best bet of the year if you're looking at that.
So I like them.
It's gonna be a tough.
Test for you to Brett.
Where can people go find your work, Bud?
And I thank you.
Yeah.
Pick Sixpreviews dot com. It's the only place you can find the magazine and we have it in digital format and hard copy. You buy the hard copy. We gave the digital as well, and then we have the Pick six plus if you're looking for in season stats updated every week. So Pick Sixpreviews dot Com, Pick six Previews on Twitter.
Thank you, my friend, always good stuff. We'll get you back on soon. Be safe.
Okay, oh thanks anytime.
Appreciate it all right.
Brett siancy I Picked six Previews one of the best college football previews around to tell you all of its touch points. To check them out at Pick six Previews on social media before we catch a break. It is the triumph return of Ryan from the Dish professionals. Give them a call eight oh one four two four Dish and simply save a lot of money on a lot of things.
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