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It's just so damn dramatic. That's what it comes down to. But man, it is time for the big show.
Big hour.
Do it every Thursday right about now with our friends Gordon Monson and Craig Bowler. Jack get our Healthy Car Special for fifty nine to ninety five at Big O Tires, which includes a conventional oil change, checks on alignments, breaks, batteriason more. We want to keep our customers safe on the road and help them save money on tires and service. Check them out online. Big O Tires has over fifty locally owned and operated locations in US. Visit Big o'tires
dot com to find a location near you. Gordon Monson live in studio. We missed it the last couple of weeks. How you doing, buddy, I'm doing well. Thanks, Yeah, it was phoned in. You did, Bro, I'm better. I'm better in person.
You are?
I say it all the time. And our next guest, who has my sincere permission to always be over the phone and not in studio because he is such a true pro Craig Bowler, Jack Bowler, how are you?
He's spent some good I'd rather be setting alongside you and Gordo, but appreciate just the time to chat.
Man.
It's Gordo. How you been man, I've been all right.
I mean, staying out of trouble for the most part as far as you know.
Well, Spence and I don't believe that, but we'll try to take your word for it.
Today.
Well, it's great to have both you here and Craig. We're gonna take advantage of having you with us for the first segment to do just a little bit of jazz, just a skosh, because ultimately people on football were going to give him college football Gordon's been writing about both BYU and Utah. Both BYU and Utah remain clean, and your beloved case State Alma Mater had to go home with the yel. But our friend Howard Beck, who joins the show for the NBA Daily Assist every year with
the Ringer, he does this every year. He talks about his tiers in pro basketball and trying to understand the direction of the team. It's not a win lost guests, although Pelton did that today. It's more of like, Okay, here's what the Raptors are doing, here's what the Knicks are doing. Here's what Howard wrote about the Jazz. Okay, and I'll read it in Craig. I want your.
Reaction, yes yes, quote.
And as for the Jazz, they might be the most confusing of all. A team that jettison it's two all stars two years ago, isn't good enough to make the playoffs and isn't bad enough to nab a high draft pick. They could have dealt lowry market in a dozen times by now, but they instead gave Hi him an extension that makes him ineligible until next summer. They're neither trying to win, nor they're trying to lose the epitome of a franchise with an identity crisis.
What do you make of that, Craig no I think you know he's spout on. I think there is an identity crisis. From my chair, I'm not privy to all the inside, behind the doors conversations, but you know, we will talk tomorrow in a press conference with Ryan Smith and Danny and Justin Zannik, and maybe some of this
will be clarified. I think it's very clear that they kept marketing as a centerpiece of a of a young team that maybe Danny again has something Spence and Gordo that he sees marketing able to lure someone else in. I don't know, but you have to win to do that. And you know what I think is here is that the Jazz may fly under the radar of popularity for the first time in eons because of a hockey team in town that's going to steal a lot of eyes from the Jazz. Now do they fly under the radar?
Maybe they like that, you know, but I find it still intriguing for me that you have two professional teams in town, Vine for eyes, television, Vine for ticket sales, Jazz and the Utah Hockey Club and sponsorship money. And you know, when you're both winning, it makes it a little easier. There's so much excitement surrounded this hockey team, and I totally understand why, but you know that doesn't
give the Jazz a pass. I mean, the one thing this team's always done was trying to be a playoff team, and right now, very few give them any chance of winning thirty games, maybe twenty five, unless something happens of maybe oddity, that one of these six young players that have been taken in the last two years now three this past summer and three last summer, actually one or two of them pop. And what I mean by that is that they make a huge advancement in their development
as an NBA pro. I guess we'll all wait and see, but no, it is unpredictable. It is a scratch of the head of what direction the Jazz want to go. And I think you know, we all talked to three of us, had many summer conversations about marketing, and he's right, you know, he was in every rumor. He was in every discussion, mostly with Golden State and other teams that were interested in marketing. To really put that particular team over the top UH market, and I think chose to
stay here. And you know what, that's a rarity by itself, Svince, and I think we're gonna get the answers we need to know here very soon. We're going to play first preseason game a week from tomorrow night, and it's gonna be let's just say this, it's going to be youth on stage. I mean, there's no there's no question about that.
Pordo from my band, and I mean this sincerely. I don't know that I can remember a season that's approaching with this little buzz and excitement about the Jazz in our market. That's just my kind of my feel about it. Where you're at right now as we enter training camp and as Craig mentioned, the first preseason game right around the corner.
I agree with the spence. And last year I was shocked that the building was as full as it was a game after game after game, and I wondered, how long can this last? I mean, Jazz fans are really good fans, and they have that reputation around the league. But but maybe it's maybe it's you know, U tall
football BYU football. Maybe it's Utah hockey club. Maybe there's other things going on that are distractions to the jazz and Bowler, you've brought that up a lot about what the relationship will be between hockey and basketball and whether there's a friendly competition there or how that goes as far as ticket sales is concerned, And I don't know.
I agree expectations are extremely low. Bowler, and I just don't see a likelihood or any kind of high percentage or even a modest percentage that they're really going to provide a product this year that people are going to go, wow, look at this.
Yeah, there'll be little, you know, tidbits here there, Keyante, you know, growing, Cody popping, whatever it is, but nothing. And I think Howard's point is the right point. And I've been on it for two years. I was never like trade everybody and get rid of Dennis and Quinn. I was never that guy. But okay, that's the deal, all right, then go all in on a rebuild. Howard's point is the one I've been yelling about for two years. What is the direction? Where is your lane? And everybody's
talking about this prior to the NBA season. Anyone who writes about the Jazz are just kind of like no clue man, no idea, some decent pieces here or there. You know, Craig will give you the final word. The let's do some college football Spence.
I think you know what maybe led us all astray was one comment last year after the season with Danny when he said he was potentially big game hunting, and I think that just kind of stuck thinking that the big move was imminent, right, wouldn't need to agree? I mean that comment to me when I sat there, I thought, oh wow, okay, now we kind of see youth with another piece or two with marketing most likely, and then
they'll let the young guys grow around a veteran. I can't say core, but you mix and you still don't achieve what you want, but you have a blending of talent and also a way for young players to understand what it takes to be a pro in this league, the work ethic right, and how to take losses and how to handle wins and balance all that that did not occur Drew you Banks, Patty Mills, you know, long long term veterans, and so that may or may not
have any role in this team at all. I just see marketing the centerpiece and around a bunch of young nineteen twenty year olds. I think I'm intrigued with Walker Kessler. Will he win games?
You know?
Not by himself? And of course Philipowski has some talent out of Duke of this early second round pick, Cody Williams, what does he do? Does Hey does keante bust open? Is this guy really the guy that's going to run this team? I don't know, And I guess we'll all I hate to say this, we'll all find out together. But as this conversation continues, people I run into asking the same thing. I said, Look, you know I don't have I don't have that magic, you know magic, but
you know singing ball that can predict anything. I think we just have to find out together on what what direction Danny really thinks in the evaluation of these young guys, if the actually are going to stick, or if there'll be pieces that would be moved before the trade deadline
or next season. But yeah, it's kind of interesting to watch the Jazz for the first time in a long time not be the talking point of the fall going into camp, and to have a hockey club and NHL franchise really kind of stealing the headlines right now, All right.
Let's do some college football, because Craig, I know your time is limited. I want to get some of your takes here, but Gordon will start with you on the Utes going to Stillwater and getting to win with their backup quarterback. Now, I've been talking about it all week. I don't love the lack of information, but I understand
why Kyle does it. And until Kyle gets the email from the Big Twelve saying we report injuries now like the NFL and the SEC do, he's going to continue to hold information back if he thinks it gives him an advantage. His job is not to tell us who's
playing quarterback. His job is to win football games. And it just looks like the same old utes, doesn't it, the same old coach with a team, no matter who's under center, they're going to run the ball, they're going to tackle, they're going to be prepared, work hard and win four to oh one tone conference play. Where you at with the youth right now?
Nowhere near as good as if came rising were playing, for sure. I mean that's clear for anywhere to see. And you know, I mean maybe Cam thought he was going to have a chance to play, but I was told that it was the kid who was getting all the reps during the week, So I think that was pretty much what they were planning on. But they hid that pretty well because most people I talked to thought Cam was going to give it a go. He was not.
They beat that team, one of the best teams that they'll face all year long on the road, playing Utah football, punching them in the mouth, that's what they did. And that defense, that defense is tough. And I know a lot of people wondered a little bit about, well, what happened at the end of the game, giving up two touchdowns and two two point conversions? What about that? By that time the game was over with and Amy Lovewood
was just holding back on that offense. He saw the three turnovers in the first half and didn't want to risk that with Wilson quarterback, and so he went extremely conservative. And so the Uthes pick up two hundred and forty nine yards rushing and they play old school Utah football,
And I think they answered this question. Guys. People wondered, can the Utes really come in from that Nandy pamby Pac twelve and come into the Big twelve and punch these teams in the mouth the way that they are accustomed to doing and the way they have built a reputation around. That's exactly what they did on the road in the place they had never played before, and they showed the Big twelve what Utah football is all about.
And the thing is, when Cam Rising is back, that team is going to elevate in a way that is going to be pretty interesting to watch because Cam Rising's presence on that team lifts everybody, even the defense, I think, because all the players rally around that. Yeah, they're giving the kid a chance and he's coming along and he's he's a talent, he is, but he's just not ready to take the utes to the level at which they can play. And when they are at that level, watch out.
I could see this team winning out.
One of the three of us went to a school that is in the Big twelve and it's familiar with the landscape of the Big twelve and Craig Bowler, Jack, you know that Mike Gundhi does not lose in Stillwater. He just doesn't. That's a tough place to play and you roll in there with your backup through freshman QB, you get a win. Where are you at now at the start of the season for the Utes.
I'm impressed. Gordo said it. The ground game with Micah Bernard blew me away. His strength is ridiculous, Guys, after the initial hit he's averaging about seven yards of carrier. Then Mike Mitchell gives you some strength on the goal line too. But you know the defenses where it's at thirteen points a game allowed on a four and oh start. You know, I think for me, I get so many people and guys, I think this Cam Rising thing has
angered some fans. Look, I don't know when he's coming back, if it's you know, last week we talked about him playing or that's why I spent you kind of I thought pulled the string or the trigger on the Vegas line. They knew something right, we didn't. And I think that it is time to let people know who's in who's out.
I mean, look what happened at UNLV with the kid Matthew Sluka, who's out now and quit the team over one hundred thousand dollars promise on an nil look, and Cam's making reportedly did you say seven figures?
Those are the rumors. I mean, the problem is, like everything else, there's no one place to actually get anything that's real. We're all kind of guessing, right.
Well, this was the problem with UNLV. You know, the assistant coach at Lesley promised this type of one hundred thousand dollars payoff. And I think it's just getting to the point now where fans are like again, I think it's a danger time in college football. Look, UNLV they decide to jump in the Pac twelve. Excuse me, they decided to stay in the Mountain West. But Utah State jumps with a few other teams. You know, the whole
landscape is just rocky, unpredictable. And you know what, if you're gonna pay players, I'm I'm in the position now, and you guys know, I'm old school. I didn't like the fact players being paid, but I get it. But if it's now that way semi pro football in college, then if you're getting paid, then they should know if
you can play or not. I mean, this is gambling, by the way, Spencer, you and I talked about it last week about how it slid four points in a matter of what for two hours, and so how does that play into the betting scheme of college football when you don't know who is on the field. I love it being paid. I think this is a danger time right now. And UNLV's quarterback maybe the tip of the iceberg on this.
Yeah, that that story yesterday since shockwaves. I love how when paying players was illegal, Jerry Jerry Tarkanian with just paying everybody and not even apologizing. Now it's legal and he's like, no, we can't do it. You know, it's interesting that it actually comes from Vegas. Let's move over since.
Suing the answer, Yeah, yeah.
And as he should. But since Craig only has a few more minutes, let's do a little BYU.
Then we'll start something. I got news for you guys. It's gonna get worse.
Oh sure, but let's do that next second, because let's talk a little BYU, so Craig will give you the first crack of this since you have a couple of minutes left BYU. Also a clean start. We had a rod on last week and I said, you know what gives you because they were three and oh last year. Then they get into conference and it just didn't go well. They'll spin it like, hey, we were a couple of plays away from winning three more games. Great congratulations, print
the shirts. They have not won a road game in the Big twelve, their own to five. They go to Baylor as an underdog. Give me your thoughts. Do you think the start of the season from Brigham Young is actually real? Are they really this good?
Well?
Okay, I know people say I'm gonna try to protect kse State because That's where I went, and look, it was an implosion by by Kansas State. But I will say this, what teams have to do when another team implosed is when the ball lands in your hands, then you must take advantage and punish them. And that's what BYU did with Kalanie Sataki and and forcing the turnovers.
K State coughed it up. You throw the pick the young kid, Avery Johnson, sophomore, and all of a sudden they aren't mature enough to handle that type of of collapse. Is I'm going to say?
So?
You turn it up, turn it over three times and the ninety yard punt return was a beautiful thing. That's a top three play of the year at the moment in college football. They may rise as the year rolls on, but uh, the Kingston kid showed incredible talent, speed, nimble, patience, picked up the blocks and basically that was it. K State was done and I was just sitting there going Wow, I've never seen this team or a team lately implode like they did. But By you took advantage of every opportunity,
and that's what winning football has. You have to do that to win against a ranked team, mind you, and now by You find themselves ranked twenty two in the coaches pulls. So the Baylor game may be the one the tipping point. Never easy to win on the road. Baylor has some highs and lows in their program, but they're a favorite of a field goal, or so I think, and that's usually what happens when you're at home. You
get the three point advantage unless you're really bad. So this I think this game Week five, Game five may be the one who really get to see who BYU is unless Baylor just wants to hand it to him, right, But I don't think they're going to do.
Gordo, you sat here two months ago and you said they're better than people think. Media picked BYU thirteenth in the Big twelve poll, Vegas set over under four and a half them as six. You said two months ago you thought BYU is better than people think. So far you've been proven right.
Well only because that's what coloniy Sataki told me to my face. We talked for almost an hour and he I couldn't believe how optimistic he was because I was a skeptic, and he just went on and on and said, no, no, no, this team is better. Then people don't have us right. They don't have us right. And so far he's been right and everybody else was wrong. I think I've seen enough how to BYU this year to really believe that they are better. Now are they better than Kansas State?
If those two teams played on a neutral field ten times, I would say BYU might get three, maybe two. And yet that's the way it went on that particular night with that home fueled win. That was a big win for BYU. And I understand that Kansas State is good bowler. I'm not going to run the Wildcats down. I think I think that's a good team that will bounce back. But b YU has more than we than They're one went away from tying how many wins they had last year,
and I know they fell apart last year. They lost five straight down the stretch. I don't see that happening this year. They have they have Houston on the schedule. That's going to be a win, right, So what happens on the other this team could go eight and four. I don't know what they'll do, and I'm not predicting it one way or another. I'm just saying that that team is better than we thought it was and a
lot of that has to do with that defense. That that that that run we were talking about against k State Bowler, I mean, the defense scored, the special team scored, and the offense score. Boom boom boom and Oliver. That's that's the kind of thing that you look for if you're a coach hoping that a team is coming together. And that's what Kolani SAIDI said, what.
Happened, and Gordon, I'll tell you this. Also, they held Kansas State on two very impressive early drives and just field goals when you thought they were just marching down the field. Right, So there's early success. You'll hold them to three twice and then they take advantage of the turnovers. What I saw in BYU was better speed than I expected. And the defense can can move sideline to sideline. I
was impressed. I was impressed. But Baylor's a different story on the road, as you guys said, and I wonder how they bounce back after Dion and the Buffalo's got a Hail Mary overtime when and let's see what happens if Baylor has a little anger on their side as well. Well.
Craig, I appreciate the time, man. We'll set you loose and look forward to seeing you back in studio when you can.
All right, yeah, I'll be there next week. And you know what, I got five minutes. I'm gonna listen when you guys get back. That's an il thing. I'm sorry, it riles me up again. It's I don't know what direction college football is going, but it's ever changing and we're not done. But the nil, when we look back on it in twenty years, is going to be the centerpiece of what this if college football imploded, or if it actually he became an NFL semi pro league, you know what I mean.
I don't know, Laura. I'm gonna tell you what's gonna happen.
We're gonna do that coming up next with our guy, Gordon Craig Thanks for the time, buddy.
We'll talk soon.
Bye bye.
At the Big O Tires Fall Sales Event, we go big for our customers. Come into any one of our fifty locally owned and operated locations in Utah and save up to one hundred and twenty dollars off four in stock tires. Not just any tires, one hundred and twenty dollars off our legendary Big O brand tires, including our Big Foot eighty and legacy tire lines. This sale won't last, so come in now through October thirteenth to get yourself
a new set of Big O brand tires. It's the Fall Sales event at Big O Tires.
The team you trust.
Maybe Gordon Montson Live and Studio for one more segment. Gordon, I have a concept of a plan for this segment, if you'd be so kind. Okay, So we were talking nil last segment with Craig Bowler, Jack, Gordon Montson Live
and Studio. And so when the news came down yes yesterday that Vegas was losing U and LB was losing their starting quarterback Matthew Sluka after a three and zher start where they had actually elevated themselves to the Vegas favorite to be the G five rep in the expanded CFP over a verbal promise for one hundred K from an assistant coach. It caught my antenna in a way that most of these nil stare stories just don't now.
I started the show off today just with a conversation about it's not good or bad, it's just different, and it's really up to you to decide if you can look past it to consume the sport that you love. Every sport has something that you have to look past if you want to enjoy it. The NBA has load management. I will yell about that until Am ninety five. The NFL, there's political statements heard people say I'm not watching football, calling Kaepernick Neil right, and so it's like, all right,
if that's your thing, fine. You know, the brain injuries, the CTE stuff, I think disillusion to a lot of people. But you know, NFL ratings are at all time. People are still watching college football. So I do think it's an issue that needs to be figured out. But I also believe that if you want to watch college football and enjoy it, it's here. If you don't have to deal with it, this will.
Be disappointing the Bowler because Bowler's old school. But it's going to get worse. I think it's well, it's going to get worse and it's going to get better. More and more corporate involvement is coming, and I think you'll even see teams sponsored by certain companies and certainly giving money for something in return. That's definitely on the horizon,
especially at the bigger programs around the country. We all remember during the summer we saw that thing about the Big twelve being brought to you by All State maybe or some It's going to continue to get more and more tangled, but I think there will come a point. They will come to a point of salary caps. I think that is something that will happen. And the problem with that that is, you know, players have been being paid forever and it's gone on under the table and
people were cheating. If you have a salary cap, will that stop people from cheating? You're still going to have payments under the table. But I think it does make sense from an institutional standpoint to limit how much dough can flow to the players. And I think that they've got to get that under control in order to make it seem at least legitimate.
Can we call it how it is and just say that this is professional sports. Yes, that's what it is, and ultimately for football only. And this is where it gets complex, because there are several different layers here to figure out how to preserve Olympic sports and figure out how to preserve athletic departments overall. If football simply just leaves the NCAA and in a way kind of leaves the athletic department him ride, the ramifications are deep. So I don't say this lightly, but it is time for
football to break away from the NCAA. It's time to hire commissioner. I don't know who it is. It's time for that commissioner to enact a governing body that's very similar to the NFL and hire a deputy commissioner and build out a college football headquarter office to figure all this stuff out and operate it as if it essentially is a minor league feeder system for the NFL. It's
time to do it. I don't love it, because I think we all love what made us all fall in love with college football, and that was it wasn't tainted by money, but it was we just didn't see it. It wasn't tainted by money in front of our face. The problem is it was tainted by money in the back room by a bunch of old dudes that were getting rich on the backs of employees who they didn't pay. So they were a serial anti trust violator for about
one hundred years. And it's about time they're not. And so we're here now, so let's be grown ups and let's not yell about kids getting paid, and let's put some regi you know, regulations in place. Because I heard from some people at the U yesterday after my show. It's pretty clear, Gordon, nobody knows what to do. Nobody knows how to traverse this space. And if you're a
young athlete, go get yours. But until they allow the athletes to unionize and collectively bargain the way they do in pro football, to come up with a contract and come up with a cap. And yes, you sign contracts, guess what happens when you sign contracts, you don't transfer. It solved.
I just did it.
I just saw the transfer port right, So like at least we alleviate that. And yes, there are slots in place, like there is in pro football. If you're a starting caliber quarterback.
This is what you're worth. Boom boom boom.
I hate to say it, it's just far past the time where college football just needs to lean into the pro model.
And that's coming. Yeah, that's all coming already. You see programs that are hiring CEOs to run the program, and so this is just a matter of time. One thing I've learned and you've learned it too, e Spence, that when it comes to college football and college sports in general, the thing is like it's like turning an aircraft carrier. I mean, it takes forever for things to be put into place to make it official. And this will take
some time too, but it's on the way. So the bad news for all you amateurism lovers out there is that that's not what it is. That's not what it was back when you love the amateurism, and it certainly won't be what it will be moving forward. It will be pro football and it will be better organized.
And honestly, I just think if you want to be an alarmist, if you want to, you know, be the mule at the end of Don Quixote sounding the message about things. You know, the bottom line is Saturday's in the fall are still going to feel like Saturday's in the fall. And as I talked about Gordon, if you want to continue to watch a sport, go to games, spend money on tickets and whatever it is, you're gonna have to look past some things. That's just the deal.
And things change, things progress, and sometimes we don't like the way things progress because we're afraid of change. We want to stay status quo because we like that. The thing is, there are several elements to the pro model that I actually think will improve the sport. I don't need to see fifteen FBFFCS teams play each other for three weeks. I don't need to see Ohio State bludgeon some poor small programs so they can get a check
to go down and support their school. I understand the dynamic, but from a viewer standpoint, I think college football's main problem is week in and week out, it doesn't have enough brand games. It has four or five, and then as the season progresses sometimes you get more. But then Nick Saban week eleven, you know, schedules little sisters of
the poor. They're playing like a glorified by leaning into the pro model every week we'll have probably fifteen or twenty like brand matchup games, and I think that's actually.
Good for the sport. Yeah, and the records that were so clean, as you mentioned, you know, those will become a sort of a dinosaur because if you're playing tough teams every week, then your record, a record of nine and three is going to be absolutely stellar. I'd rather have that than what you just described. Who wants to watch these games sixty two to nothing. I mean, it's a waste of time. It's not fun for anyone, even the players. They go out there and they're playing against
an inferior team. You know, it's a joke. It's a joke to them, and they can't focus the way they should. If they did focus, it would be two hundred and twenty to nothing. And so yeah, get rid of that. And I understand that the teams that need some money, and I don't know what the answer is for that, but it would be nice to have competitive games every single week.
So Week one Iowa forty, Illinois State zero, Okay k State forty one, Ut Martin six, Tennessee sixty nine, Chattanooga three, all right, Old Miss seventy six, Furman zero, Alabama sixty three Western Kentucky zero. I could keep going. I don't need those games on my TV. And if I'm a television executive, I'm a little bit more excited if my Week one game is Oregon Ohio State, right, and week in and week out, my big brands are playing each other.
It's what happens in pro football, and as TV money has really taken over the thing behind the scenes, it's kind of what has to happen with college football in the area of them breaking away from the NCAA and surviving on their own. That's why it is going to be the forty or whatever biggest brands, because they know that's where the money is. I don't have to tell you about what happened with English soccer when all of the superclubs almost broke away to start their own high
level league. Like when powerful people get involved, they see where the revenue streams are, they're going to do everything they can to make it happen. In college football, what that means is big brands playing each other every week.
Well, as you know, Spence, I made a study of that. Oh yeah, no, I'm a professional soccer situation and I agree with you. I think we're of one mind on that.
Was there one club that really pulled the plug on that whole operation that you blame more than the others?
Oh, I would say probably man, you and you?
Yeah, why would you buy just a bunch of just like hubreast that thing?
That's just arrogance. I don't like that.
Yeah, you know, I like scrappy Yep.
That's why. That's why I like Uh, that's why I like Liverpool.
Oh, you're a Liverpool supporter now.
I was like, this is one thing I've never figured out completely and I won't be picked to it because I don't want to leave people behind.
It makes us feel infurious.
But Liverpool and Everton, you know, how does where's the dividing line on that? I'm not I've never been able to figure that out. That's a little beyond me. But I will say that, uh, I every once in a while you'll have a big upset and that that sort of encourages these underdogs to go out there and fight the fight. But they're so rare that it's not worth putting up with all the other nonsense that happens in
the meantime. And I do look forward to teams really having to bring it every single week, and you know, then you have an upset like we saw on Saturday night be while you beat in Kansas State. That was a huge j upset, and yet it happened and it was exciting. And so you can have upsets even when you have teams that are a relatively similar level, and so that doesn't get eradicated from the game.
Let me ask you this, because you've been doing this a long time and you've seen a lot of things. And I'm now old enough where I've seen some things, but not as many things as you've seen. And my whole premise on this nil stuff is and I heard media members, I read media members sounding the alarm that this was the end of college football. I heard smart people who I respect say about two two and a half years ago, Okay, now it's real transfer portal nil.
This game is screwed. I just referenced the and I excuse me, I just referenced the NFL stuff where a lot of people were disenfranchised with the CT and the brain injuries and the Kaepernick stuff. Whatever that stuff is. NBA load management, too much money guaranteed contracts, Major League Baseball,
juicee we could keep going. Have you ever seen anything in your career it actually does end up having a super adverse effect on a sports league that people enjoy consuming NFL College for like, cause I feel like sometimes it's just clickbait and fodder for content where it's like
the sky is falling his chicken little. I'm like, no, dude, I woke up on Saturday a couple of weeks ago just as juice to watch Utah by you play football as I did five years ago, Like Saturday's in the fault, Gordon still feel like Saturdays in the.
Fall, and they will continue to do so. I mean, you're gonna have the reactions and that's okay, But the sky is not falling and it won't fall, and as long as people care about the teams they root for, it will be okay. It'll be different. You nailed it, Fence. People don't like change and they glom onto things that they sometimes are not what they think they are, and but it'll be okay. This stuff will evolve and it'll
be it'll be fun to watch. The thing that comes to mind when you said that it was kur Flood when a free agency started coming into baseball and people thought, oh my gosh, these guys are going to bounce all over the place, and it's going to give the players all the power and all this, and there were certain union leaders who did a really good job of empowering players.
But I mean that might still frustrate some fans because they care about these players and then all of a sudden one day, when they're contract is up, when they have the freedom to do so, they're gone. And that's troubling to some people. But it wasn't the end of the sport, and it hasn't been the end of sports in general. And in some ways that fluidity has helped bring some hope to certain teams that were in a bit of a funk and they found a way to
climb out of it because they could add players. This is especially true in the NFL. You see teams. I mean, who used to talk about the NBA and it was like you could pencil in the teams that were going to be in the playoffs way in advance, and you knew who was going to be in the finals, and at least you had a good idea. In football, a lot of times you really didn't have an idea, and that made it more fun and why because there was fluidity amongst suppliers.
Yeah, it's weird, Gordon because a lot of things because you reference free agency and in my mind, I'm thinking nil and in my mind I'm thinking load management. In my mind, I'm thinking CTE. It all comes back down to one thing, and that is the power of the almighty dollars. It's follow the money. You'll always find the answers. The golden rule is the man with the gold makes
the rules right. And ultimately, when it comes to where we're at right now societally, where the middle class is really being squeezed out and most of the wealth is can you know, essentially in the pockets of the top one percent of our country in a capitalistic society, when a middle class is being squeezed out, if there's a chance to join that one percent, people are gonna do whatever they want to do, even if it's at the expense of the consumers that watch their product. Nobody gives
a rip. If people are mad that a quarterback's getting money, they're gonna do whatever they can do to pad their bank account and take care of themselves. Load management is about one thing and one thing only. That's getting NBA players to their second and third max contracts, because that's when generational wealth spills in. Agents realize that suddenly it's like, oh, we need to preserve the health.
No, you don't like.
Ultimately, there's no data that indicates load management leads to longer careers, it leads to bigger paychecks when they get to their second or their third contract. Why did the NFL cover up CTE. They didn't want lawsuits because they want to preserve their cash as well. This all is
kind of tied into the same similar dynamics. Certainly societally, when the middle class is being squeezed out and the best life is over there, everybody's going to do whatever they can do to go to that life because that's what looks fun.
That's so true. I mean, remember when two million dollars a year the salary, You go, oh my gosh, that's so much money. Yeah, well now it's like fifty million.
The money is it's so stupid now the one group.
I do feel sorry for those middle class fans who want to go to a hockey game but they can't get a good seat, and they certainly can't afford season tickets. I worry about those folks. And that's that's been a bit of a problem for a long time now, because there's always somebody out there who has the money to do it, who has the money to fill that seat, either through corporation to corporate dollars or some other way. And like you say, the teams don't care because they're racketing the money.
Remember Gordon, two years ago, Jason Kidd, after a playoff win, took the podium and said, what you guys don't understand is we're millionaires chearing for each other. And I was like, dude, I know, right, Yeah, I know, Jason, but don't say that out loud.
And that's dangerous because what we love. How did we get hooked them on sports? To begin with?
Competition?
Competition, that is, that's what we want. And that's why certain exhibitions that you see where it's not really a competition, it's just and sort of what you talked about with these lopsided scores, they're not competitive, and so they don't intrigue, they don't hook us. Competition hooks us, and we stay
hooked even if the dollars are ridiculous. But I do feel for that family out there that father or that mother wants to take daughters or sons to a game and they can't afford to do it, not with a good seat right right.
Oftentimes can't afford to do it period, and then oftentimes save up for months to do it, and they show up and Luca stays in Dallas and Lebron loves Los Angeles. It's like it's all connected, and the message continues to be we don't give a rip about you, yep. And how long does that last?
I don't know.
I say this all the time. I can yell about the NBA having a load management issue, and they can send me their profit and lost statement and be like, where's the issue?
Man?
And I get it. I just think it's sad that that really is where all the energy goes in our country.
It feels like it does at least, And then people what happens is people say, well, it's the fan's fault. Why don't they just walk away from it? Why do they pay attention to it? Yeah, Well here's why. Because your granddad or your grandmother rooted for a certain team, and they pass that intergenerationally down to their their kids and then their kids. You're dead or mom, passes it down to you, and you care about these things in a way that you don't care about what Brandon milk you buy.
Sure, it means a lot to a lot of people, especially I've always said this. I probably said it with you back on our show back in the day. It feels like your college fandom is a little different than your allegiance to a pro team. More often than not, there are exceptions, but in college, it's it's where you met your wife, it's where you met your friends, it's
where you grew up. It's where your community. Probably my community still exists as a result of going to you, right, And so watching Utah football hits a little bit different than watching the Jets because I didn't go to Jets University and I didn't, you know, meet my friends there, and you know, I didn't raise it disappointed through Oh certainly I didn't raise my son in the shadows of the stadium. I just think the college fandom hits a
little bit different. But just what sucks is, and I hate to sound I don't know, man, and maybe I'm just getting older. I just feel like it sucks that the people who are in charge feast upon the love and commitment that people have for their teams with only one goal in mind, and that's creating revenue stream. That's
how it feels now. Honestly, part of me is like, I wonder if the new NBA ownership thing is to be like a cool, young, hip guy with joggers and make a bunch of money and not really give a rip about whether your team wins and loses because you're part of the club.
I don't know, boy, I'll tell you it's It does make you wonder if one day fans will revolt and say I can't keep doing this. But we I mean, we talked about that your's eghostment and it's still moving forward. So there is this huge appetite to have a rooting interest, to have something that you care about, to have your feudal army that you can get behind that will go to someone else's city and conquer as. The people in
Kansas City. How they feel about pro football right now, they're pretty turned off.
Sure, yeah, it's just you know, when you think about it, it's like legalized heroin dealers. You know you love your team so much. We know that you're addicted to how much you love the team, and we know that you love your escape from life, so take a price that just went up twenty percent. We know that you need the jazz in downtown Salt Lake City, and there's a lot how south. It looks really nice. You got an extra billion, right, you know, and we'll stay right like that.
That's just where I guess we're at. Maybe I just need to start accepting it. Not really Well, if you talk about like rage against the machinery, you talked.
About college sports being professionalized while professional sports is professionalized, And what is it about. It's about the same thing that every other business is about. It's just that this this dopa bean that is released through through the connection to teams keeps fans coming back.
All right, Gordo, before I set you loose, If Utah and BYU played ten times neutral field tomorrow, well they couldn't fit ten games in tomorrow, but right now in the season, not how they're gonna evolve before November ninth, that those two, how do you think generally speaking they'd match up?
Right now? Utah wins eight or nine of those.
Yeah, I think I'm with you. What do you want to see from BYU at Baylor? Because I still and I've got to give Kilani and a Rod and all those guys a lot of credit. I heard Kelly Pepinga give an interview where they were very forthcoming and honest about how fortunate they were last week. Now, A Rod called a couple of great kill shots here in the red zone. Get touchdowns, not field goals. They did that right, but only two forty nine of offense and Case State
ran the ball. Well, So there are still in my mind like Utah's Utah. It is what Kyle's built this thing up. It's ticking, it's going down the track. There's still questions for me about BYU. What do you want to see from them against Baylor on Saturday.
I think that BYU defense is exactly what Kilani he told me in August that it was better than it had been a lot better. And they have these athletes that are coming up that are Jack Kelly. I mean, this could be an NFL type player and he's coming up and they're they're they're filling holes and they're doing things, they're filling roles, and so that defense is really surprisingly good. Uh, but the offense has to get better. The offense, the offensive line has to create a push, and there's been
a lot of injuries in that running back room. And Moa was injured, you know, I mean he looked promising. I don't know how severe his his ankle is, but he's got a bit of a problem. So can they continue to improve the run game and Jake Rutzlov can he continue to mature as a quarterback. That's what needs to happen. I think the defense is ahead of the offense. We'll see if the offense can catch up.
All right, coming up next, we're going to be bringing Max Bredos. Will do you just a little soccer a little RSL. We'll get back to some college football, Gordo real quick. Rslc's Austin FC coming up this weekend. Who's the most dangerous player on Austin FC?
I think Jose Perez.
Don't. You can't do that anymore. You can't just come up with a Jose Perez name because a lot of people play soccer. Gordon, it's not allowed. I know you're not on the radio as consistently as you used to be, but you can't do that anymore.
Yeah, you know, I haven't paid that much attention to Austin because they bore me.
Oh, my gosh, they have a player named Perez. Well done, Gordon, good to see what. We'll see you next week, right, the Great Gordon Monson. Brought to you today by Clearwater Distillion, the only distillery in Utah County open on Sundays on site or in state liquor stores. The football season is kicked off and Clearwater is the official spirits provider for our VIPESPN seven hundred tailgate we have at every home game. Try to scandal us no sugar, no additive is great
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