The Jason Smith Show with Mike HarmonMike Harmon and Aaron Torres head out to Las Vegas and check in with the marvelous Todd Fuhrman for all the great Sweet 16 and MLB Opening Day odds!!
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Hey, greet Eggs, Welcome in.
Second half gets underway here Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with Me Mike carbon No, Jason Smith to night, taking a sojourn up North, checking out colleges, check it out college food. Yeah, maybe going to some basketball games.
I don't know. Wait, is he pulling up Billy Madison? He's going back to school? Back to school? Yeah, it could be third grade. Baby, what do you think? I don't think he possd.
We'll have to ferret that out and see, uh, exactly where he goes to it.
All I'm saying.
I'm saying, just a coincidence that he has to take the time off when his Texas Tech Red Raiders are playing in San Franciso and he happens to be in San Francisco School.
I think that could very well be Garan's onto something here. Cherracuse was a.
Front the hold time, Yeah, front wow is a well orchestrated front low these many years because we never really did go back and try to find the history of the Jason Mason Show.
Because it probably didn't exist. Now this is next level stuff. Can we think he was getting up early in the morning to do a radio show?
Well, but since I'm watching NYPD Blue Back and you brought up the the sip of Witz character, now we have to strap him to a chair, put the heat and the lamp on him, and threaten him with the needle to find out truly his background.
How about that?
I'm down all right, We'll have to do that on Monday. It'll get hot in the studios here at Fox Sports Radio. Hey, and it is the Tirac dot Com Fox Sports Radio Studios. Tyrac dot com will help you get there an unmatched selection, fast free shipping, cre road hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tyrac dot com the way tire buying should be watching Boston go through the motions here as the fourth quarter h opens up here one oh eight eighty one, the beatdown of Phoenix.
Hey, can I ask you a question? Yeah? Go ahead.
So I think you're an NBA guy. I was for most of my life. But you mentioned going through the motions. Now the Celtics are going through the motions because they're.
They're playing really good defense. I'm sorry, JJ Reddick, I'm.
Sorry not show you say going through the motions. And it's like, every time I turn on an NBA game, it's thirty points as the final score, and I just where do you stand on the whole state of the NBA.
I know it's not on the rundown. We don't know. No, No, we can start here. We got plenty of time.
We got Todd Ferman coming up next, you know, and look everything is fluid, man. That's I mean, it's in ink, but it's not really in ink, right, It's just.
How do you get into this?
Like I understand and listen, I understand we're going we're on during the NCAA tournament, and I understand the whole the quality of play in college is not the same as the NBA. I just don't know how you can get jazzed up for every It seems like every single time I turn a game somebody's winning by third.
Well a couple of things first week, Well if they got the tip in today, so maybe I should shut my mouth Lebron James.
So you got that, you got your buzzer beater, So everybody that could plain and you got one.
This week we got we got our March buzzer beater. No, we're expecting it.
But we got one. And it was the forty year old guy. Yeah, I know that took care of business. Okay, so check that box. Look the NCAA tournament, we watched a lot of these games, right, Yeah, it's they're sloppy, like even the good teams like it gets money, right, shooting's bad.
Uh, but you at least they're getting forty minutes of effort.
You know.
It's not quite the Nolan Richardson forty minutes of hell. But to your point you were making earlier in the show Get Podcast Wherever You get your audio Jason Smith Show with Mike Carvion looked for the Wednesday edition with Aaron Torres talking about why JJ Reddick hates him. But the synopsis of it is basically the defensive effort right and being able to play by the rules of yesteryear, because we do have a lot of shots Lebron talking to McAfee talking about those guys from the seventies, Ah, Jannis would score two fifty.
Like, no, we wouldn't.
Yeah, But like whenever we want to do these time portal things, we watch too many Marvel movies.
For one thing, Can I say one thing really quick? Yeah, go ahead.
That is the dumbest conversation ever, because like when JJ Reddick originally said all these guys in the fifties were plumbers and summers, It's like, yeah, okay, but they also drove. They also got to games by train, and also wore Chuck taylors and had jobs in the offseason. So Kawhi Leonard can't stay healthy for two weeks in a row, and now he's traveling on a train and he's wearing Chuck Taylor's.
Okay.
So like, if we're gonna really do the compare eras, let's compare eras. It's like, oh, Jannis would score two und and fifty points. Well, here's the thing. If Yannis was playing back in that day, he wouldn't have the nutrition, the weight training.
I mean, but that's just it. What rules of engagement. I was exactly like, I get to come as twenty twenty five Yannis.
Exactly back to nineteen sixty four.
Does Wilt Chamberlain get Yannis's weight training, because if so, Wilt Chamberlain would put up two fifty as well.
That's all, says Bill Walton.
Get the diet and exercise that you have today, whereas back then you didn't have necessarily the supplements.
That's what I'm saying. In a you know, vegetarian slash vegan diet.
They didn't have whatever you're working on that cuts off thirty pounds two weeks or whatever.
Well, no, it's been a couple of months seeing on the long slow ride. But it's but it's fun. A couple of bounds a month, a week, I should say, And you know I'm gonna.
Have my uh my chocolate shake a little bit. That's okay.
It's about yeah, no, Well, it's part of their play, part of the program. Check the programs. You know, I'm playing the work work playing. But when we do this time travel thing, it's always I get the advances of what I've gotten twenty twenty five and I go back there.
Well what about they get the other way? Exact right. Also, of these guys.
That were good ball handlers, played ferocious defense, yeah, every night, and maybe a Wilt, maybe a Kareems. Maybe these guys, if you bring them forward into this era, I think they'll be Okay, that's what And you actually emphasize the outside shot.
Well, and the opposite is true too.
Okay, maybe Gianness isn't the best example because he's one of the few current players that actually shows up to play every night. But okay, let's put Kyrie on it. Not Kyrie, Let's put Kawhi on a train. Let's put Anthony Davis traveling road games on a train wearing Chuck Taylor's he can't stay healthy now, but he's gonna go dominate back then stop. It's it's just I could go on and on with that, but where are you at it?
Like the state of the NBA.
But that's the thing, right is you've got a huge divide, no question about So it's like college to a degree. Right, we can run them parallel of you've got your haves and well constructed teams and good organizations. It's the same thing we talk about in every sport, right the way the Dodgers run their organization. Forget about the money spent. There's all these guys dying and clamoring to be part of what they have, right to have Dave Roberts as their manager, to be in that clubhouse, to be in that environment. Yes, winning certainly helps, but they're treated you know, five star. That was the thing under Mark Cuban in Dallas, right. He did everything he could to try to make them a winner. Right wherever he could make an investment in the facilities around the facilities, he did.
I'm rolling my eyes just at that trade in general, it has nothing to do with you your.
Point, so separate point right. Trade and the new ownership and the GM and everything else. But when we get down to it. You know, the NFL for years it was here's the Patriots, there's the Packers San Francisco. Now Detroit gets in the mix. Grat Pittsburgh grab ball. I mean, it's very small, maybe a quarter of the teams in the league that you just say, okay, they have a vision of how they're trying to construct things. The NBA is the same thing. It shuffle up and deal every couple of days, every couple of years. You don't develop players because you don't have an opportunity to, right, you draft a kid who is all on potential, right, which is the whole other thing, which is if you can ratchet up the nil money too, but to where it really parallels, you know, slot on the first second round in the history of the NBA.
But that's another conversation.
Right, But but we talk about the guaranteed right, once you get into the second round, you're not guaranteed.
Right, They're all going back to college.
So you would just go back to college at that point, all things equal, unless you've got the handshake agreement of you're going to make our roster, Brownie James, here's eight million dollars. Oh, by the way, your dad signed deals. So for cap purposes, this all works out for us. But that's neither here or there. But it's it's a tough product. Night tonight. You're hoping for one or two games that really gets your rapt attention, or a big performance or string of performances. Like right now, you know the Chicago and and me they're not a great team, but they're playing pretty good basketball. And Kobe White, who has been the favorite and I've said this on the show before, right, Kevin Durant and so many others loved his game and like, wait, wait till this kid gets to play well after they got rid of zach Lavine, DeMar Duros and all of that. And now it's Josh Giddy whatever folks think of him and Kobe White running the show. He's back to back Eastern Conference Player of the week, right, scoring thirty five a night. And really they're running up and down and they're playing a great efficient style of play, young legs, let's run you out of the gym.
Is it sustainable? No?
But for the moment it's fun and exciting. But you get, you know, a rise of a player like that that for a short period it's like, all right, new guy on the scene. I think about early in the season, SGA's a new commodity, but he was treated like he was right, like wow.
Look at this guys. This guy's been playing in the league. How many years at this point? What is it? Five year six?
Right?
It's like it's no different, just a different role and getting a little bit of shine because they're winning. But for the product as oh yeah, it's problem yeah, and baseball is gonna be even worse this time around. I mean you're gonna have a couple of divisions that are competitive, and while most teams aren't gonna be as bad as the White Sox or the Marlins, there's gonna be in the Angels are there, I mean where you're praying that Mike Trout can just come out wave his little hat. So I think game day to day, you pray that you fall into a good game. Old Hey, I'm gonna watch it, and at four minutes, if it's close and I get my alert, I'll turn it on.
I hate to say it because it's a very cliche talking point, but I think in light of and I know how much you like talking about ratings and stuff, in light of the NCAA tournament setting yet another record, of course, a WNBA is on fire, the women's tournament last year was on fire, and the NBA keeps tanking, and I you know, I just think this week, specifically, when it's so clear that people want competitive basketball players just giving effort, and then you turn on a signature NBA game. Now, again, in defense of the NBA, we did have a buzzer beater in the early game of the doubleheader. Lakers beat the Pacers at the buzzer. But again, then you have Celtics sons, and I know the Sons are struggling, but it is still Kdie, it is still Devin Booker and they're just getting run out of the gym. I like you said, I.
Oh, Jason didn't did even play? That's the right.
I mean, he's sitting there with in his street clothes. It seems to have avoided serious injury. That was weird on air the end.
They need to bench him for the season. They done. He needs the rest. Okay, so they had their title.
He should just sit down, even though we could potentially get the Celtics and the Lakers.
You guys really want to watch that again?
Yeah?
I want to see how it plays. Damn it.
See how Jackson Hayes measures up when it matters. Look at that, he just shakes and he can't keep a straight face. But you look at the games tonight, five point game Washington Philadelphia, two of the worst teams we've seen in decades, Toronto all over Brooklyn. What is that a thirty point burial? You get the buzzer beater with the Lakers, Clippers win by thirteen, Nuggets win by ten. Clearly we'll keep watching you know Milwaukee, Hopefully Dame will be okay and you'll get Gianni's full strength down the stretch. Hell, Jokic missed a bunch of games, so you got the stars that you're trying to look night after night. Who's going to be available? And then we have this one one twenty two eighty nine. But the one thing the NBA does have going for it, they just signed a seventy six billion dollar rights deal that's of all of the contractual stuff. And I'm a big nerd with this as you want it to right. I love the business of it. I did at one point pay for an MBA, so that's where my brain goes. I want to Santa Clara, I am a bron m NBA okay, so.
I am an MBA.
So I love watching when these reports come out and trying to figure out where the noises and contracts. It's why I spend probably more time on spo track and over the cap than most people do. Even if we don't talk about it. It's fascinating to me, so you start getting into the fuzzy math of it all. I would have liked to have been in the room when that's negotiated. Just to try to explain, like, I get global expansion, I get the global game and players coming in, but I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around and live sports being the bastion last bastion of must see TV, right because you're not going to watch a taped game. But seventy six billion, I'm with you, over a decade, I'm with you. Well, that number just kind of gets me.
And here's the other thing.
I understand that you're paid with the market dictates, but when guys are gonna start making seventy five million dollars in a season, I don't think they're gonna suddenly be more motivated to be on the court, to be in shape, to be this, to be that. Now you're gonna have the stars like Jayson Tatum who basically show up every night. But I think the guys that are kinda not fully invested, I don't think they get invested by getting significantly more money. And I will say lastly, I still truly believe, in my heart of hearts are something fishy about the Luca trade That doesn't add up to me. But the argument was, now you're gonna be paying them seventy five million dollars a year when you give him that super Max when he when his contracts up, it does not really in shape, injured a lot all of that. So I don't know, it's just it's just gonna be interesting.
But that's that's the thing, right and Frostburn comes over the top with the worth every buck. Still years twenty five to thirty. We're not talking thirty one to thirty five, yestin. I think listen, I was on air when the trade happened. I still think there's some fish about, but I would love to see what's behind door number two other than hey, you know what, you're gonna wear it and for the rest of your life you're gonna be called an idiot, which is part of the process. We can get back to that after we talk to our guy, Todd Frohman out in Las Vegas coming up next, talking about the Sweet sixteen, talking odds and prop bets, major League Baseball season starting. Yeah, this is the one you've got to hear as we get ready for the dawning of a Look, hope Spring's eternal and maybe he'll dash some of it because he's sarcastic just like the rest of us. He's coming up next aeron torres in for Jason Smith. I'm by Carmen. This is Fox Sports Radio. Hey, tires matter. They're the only part of the vehicle that touches the road, and they're responsible everything acceleration, breaking, steering and handling. Tread confidently with new tires from tire Rack. Whether you know exactly what you want or you're looking for expert recommendations, Tirac makes it easy. You're gonna get fast, free shipping, free road azer protection, and convenient installation options including mobile installation where they bring the tire installation process to you wherever you are, your home, your office, anywhere in between.
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Bel the rhythm, feel, Rive, get up, It's that time.
Yes.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Welcome back here and it's Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with Me Mike Carmon. Now Jason Today, Aaron Torres in his stead. We're cruising along year on a Wednesday. Buddy is I'm having fun?
Man?
I mean, we just got to bash the NBA for half a second. But that's okay. They just okay times.
Now, we just need to do the fuzzy math, figure out what the average margin of victory is for all these squads. While you do that, I'll introduce our next guest, a legend, a man who's been with us for many a year, answering the call to make sense of everything Las Vegas. Give you some news and notes and tips of the trade. Founder of the Bet the Board podcast worked over at Caesar's. You find him on Twitter at Todd Furman, the man, the legend, the myth himself. It's odd Vegas calmed down after all the chaos of last weekend, hey, from.
The opening weekend, But fortunately for college basketball fans, it sets up what, at least on paper, appears to be a very good slate of games in the Round of sixteen. But you know, honestly, Harm, I'm just thrilled at Aaron decided to show up today. I figured he'd go on fishing once the Yukon Huskies were eliminated, vacationing with Smith, who I thought, at last check was going to follow Syracuse to the Crown and spend quality time.
Oh oh wow, full of jokes today.
Well, you had Smith had picked and really built the bandwagon for Saint John's, so clearly that didn't work.
That was going anytime. Smith and Arne are jumping on the same team on Sunday nights, eulogize the Johnnies long before they ever landed in San Antoino.
All right, we'll get We'll get Aaron's retort on the Yukon Huskies here and Danny Hurley in a moment. How much exposure is there for Vegas with all of these favorites still alive.
You know, for most of the books, in terms of the futures market that I've spoken to. They're not too concerned if Duke were to go on to win the national championship. Duke's odds were pretty short all season long. Florida and Auburn were actually widely available at some longer shot price tags as recently as November, but they're not teams that often attract a whole lot of recreational actions. So the biggest lie ability at least consensus, and of course every book will be a little bit different that they were worried about with Saint John's because it didn't matter how short those numbers had gotten on the Johnnies' Big East champions people continued to bet them and to win the national Championship, get to the final four, win the region, and everything else that came along with it. So some books will be having sweats going forward. And when you look at some of the potential long shot tickets that are out there, you know, Arkansas maybe a team that could be a thorn in some book maker side, knowing that they were available at some pretty substantial prices as recently as the tournament beginning, let alone a month ago.
Tod I want to first of all, as far as you CON's concerned, I got one thing to say. It's portal season, baby, That's all I care about.
I mean, look, with Danny Hurley in the way he behaves on the sideline, I can't see what top recruiter will.
Want to run the stores to go play for that mad man.
Not to mention that, I don't know if he did the best. Well, I don't know if it's his fault, but they had Liam McNeely they got last year, and I wouldn't say he developed quite the way everybody expected. I just want to ask you big picture. You know, I love Vegas. I love I was just telling the guys Frostburg.
I've been out.
I usually come out for Conference championship week, but with the PAC twelve, you know, rip, it just felt like, you know, didn't really need to be out there this year, But just for people like me who are always working that weekend and haven't had a chance to get out, just describe the vibe or are you someone that because the tourist gets so crazy, you just stay away from all the craziness.
Well, I actually had a chance to go down on Friday night watch the better part of the second half between Michigan and you see San Diego which was a fascinating game of course, as we saw it unfold, I'm pretty electric environment. But what you mentioned, Aaron, I mean, I think it's always interesting, almost as a case study, not to get inside the head of a sports better or a sports fan. But you have three very distinct college basketball weekends out here in Vegas during the month of March, and each one is unique in its own right. And that you mentioned conference tournaments.
Does lose a little bit of a luster without the Pac twelve.
It'll be great when the Big Ten tournament comes out here in a few years. But you have such a high volume of games on that Wednesday and Thursday and Friday played at a high level, teams living and dying with their bubble resumes, and some of the one bid leagues as well. Plus you have the luxury of seeing some great games in person. The opening weekend of the NCAA tournament feels a lot more like a frat party. Everyone comes in there excited and can't wait to tap the keg on Wednesday night early Thursday morning, and by the time Saturday rolls around, even if the results have fallen their way, it looks like four o'clock in the morning when you're leaving the bars and everybody's calling for last call. And then this weekend, in my opinion, one of the more underrated weekends for college basketball, because you're not watching games wall the wall, you have a chance to enjoy weather, which is usually a little bit better, and games don't tip off until later in the afternoon, so you can do your thing during the day, find a comfortable seat and watch some of the best basketball that we'll see with a multitude of games, knowing that we have four on Friday and four on Thursday, and at least this year some of the best matchups that we could have hoped for on paper when the committee seated the field.
So as we get ready, we were watching replays of the opening series from Japan, because well, we're delinquent here.
Company guy, harm you're a company.
Guy, hey Man, one more click, making it making it work for us here. But we get ready tomorrow in earnest for the baseball season. Yesterday, Smith and I were debating the Dodgers against the field for this year, as they have a very short what is it plus two to twenty price but a number of contenders in the National League.
How deep do you go in a field.
I mean, I think when you're looking at the National League, you know, the team in their own division, in the Arizona Diamondbacks, in my opinion, might end up being the biggest competition for the Dodgers when you look at it, the way that they went out there, bolster their pitching staff a little bit, bringing a bona fide ace, and Corbyn burns the paratop the rotation with Zach Gallen, and it's a group that didn't hit quite as well as people expected last year with Corbyn Carroll taking a while to figure things out. When you go through the National League Central, in my opinion, that's a division of who becomes the toughest smurf. Can the Reds break through with their pitching with the Cubs that are going to cry poverty and not spend a whole lot of money to bolster their roster be able to break through the National League geese is intriguing to see, you know, who emerges from that heap.
I think the Phillies are.
A little bit overvalued the way that they're currently being priced. So there are some teams capable of knocking the Dodgers from their lofty perch. But when you mentioned the betting market, a ton of respect being paid to them with a win total at one oh four and a half odds a shade north of two to one that are out there, and if you can make a compelling case for other teams, it's going to offer all sorts of opportunity and upside.
You know, Todd, Mike and I were talking a little bit earlier about just this weird situation with the Minnesota Vikings where they come out today and say, well, you know, we like JJ McCarthy, but you know, we haven't given up. But I guess really two questions. One, I would ask you, because you follow this stuff as closely as anybody with the Vikings, do you think it is a reflection that JJ McCarthy isn't healthy? Do they not trust them trust him? But two, I think this is the real question I want to get to. Does Aaron Rodgers actually move the needle in any like? Is anybody going to be rushing to bet and over or nunder or number our lines going to are you know, win total is going to change if he signs here or there?
Or is he just what I kind of think.
He is, which is like a C plus B minus quarterback at this point.
You know, he's a filler in my opinion, to be a downgrade from what we saw last year for the Vikings with Sam Darnold, But he could be an upgrade in Pittsburgh because I still think even in the twilight of his career, he gives them a little bit more of a dynamic playmaker under center than what the Steelers had in Russell Wilson and Justin Field. So be interesting to.
See how all of that unfolds.
But you mentioned the Vikings and maybe it's a combination of factors. I won't claim to have any inside information to their front office, whether it's not wanting to put pressure on JJ McCarthy, whether he's not healthy. And this is a team last year that didn't have a lot in the way of expectations, and quite frankly, the way they're being treated in the betting market this year, they don't this season either. Is there the longest shot in that division behind the Lions, the Packers and all of that optimism for Harms Bears in terms of what Ben Johnson can do with second year quarterback Kayleb Williams, So I think the Vikings can kind of slow play it a little bit. Kevin o' has done more with less in terms of quarterback talent, and we'll see exactly what JJ McCarthy can bring to that tape bring to the table in what will amount to his true rookie season on a surgeon that they repaired knee.
Now sarcasm, bucket filling up very quickly. But Russell Wilson really moved the needle, huh joining the Giants.
Yeah, he didn't do a whole heck of a lot, But good on Russ to say he expects to be the starter for the Giants as they approached the off season. And I think one of the other storylines. Look, I don't rule out the Giants using one of their top draft picks to get a quarterback. I mean, whether it's Shad or Sanders that may be available at number three.
We're going in a different direction.
I mean, Russ and Jamis create a very interesting quarterback room along with Tommy DeVito. But there's a reason the Giants win total as it currently sits is right around four and a half. And I'm not sure there are people running over men, women and children to bet the Giants over that total.
All Right, I got one last one for you brought the scenario to the crew earlier. Every one of them said started singing, Come on, take the money and run, or deal with hitting an imaginary plunger on the table. Find out our bet. This is off of the hard Rock Bet cash out opportunity. At forty nine twenty seven dollars. Volunteers won the College Baseball Dodgers in the books the buck Eys the Philadelphia Eagles fin our our parlay alive with the possible pay out of one hundred and sixty eight grand here with Dukes still alive, do you take the forty nine and change?
Or do you know, Mike get Ride?
You know?
My take on it is always you know where someone's at from a financial standpoint. I mean, if this becomes life changing money to have fifty thousand in your pocket, you take it, you say thank you.
And you move on with your life.
But if you have a little bit more gamble, maybe you let it roll one more game with the Duke Blue Devils, you know, nearly a double digit favorite against Arizona. But I think what's always challenging for someone in this particular spot if you don't have the liquidity to hedge when you want to hedge properly. You're kind of at the mercy of the sports book. So I wouldn't fall somebody for deciding that five bucks they can happy to throw away and if they lose that that's all they'll feel. But if the fifty thousand will have a material impact on their life, absolutely no shame whatsoever taking the money and buying yourself something nice to remember what amounts to a pretty historic type.
Run todd sins with this level of betting acumen or luck or however the conversion it's harm it's the latter, but continue, Yeah, but the convergence of the betting gods and smiling in their favor.
You wouldn't you take the fifty grand? You got to be able to get at.
Least a something equivalent to an nil deal of that kid carrying around the boom box, can't you?
I mean, you figure out exactly what's out there. But harm You come from a family of horse betters. How many times when they had a chance to win a pick five going into the final leg are they walking the window to box the field? You know that they're trying to hope they can hit the bonanza and not give up any of the potential upside. There's always a little bit more in that better's mentality. They think they can extract a little bit more blood from a stone, and you never know what's going on inside the head of somebody that sits with the opportunity to make such a windfall, right aroun one hundred and fifty K.
I look so forward to sitting and betting on horses across the country when I visit Vegas in a couple of weeks with you, Todd.
You'll be dealing doing that on your own.
The days of me sitting in the sportsbook at nine point thirty at night at quarter horses at Los AL or something that I reserved pre COVID that are officially in the rearview mirror.
You're dead to me, he's Todd. F there you go.
We'll drag eron towards and then we'll get you out for the post Los Al drinks there, Todd.
Yeah, look, I can respect it. I mean, with the twelve people in attendance at Los L trying to chase their losses for the day. Bet in college football and college basketball, it's a special breed, my good man.
Well, and I'm proud to be part of that community at Todd Furman where you find him on Twitter. Thanks for stopping down with us, buddy. Always a pleasure, Always a pleasure.
Guys, enjoy the games this weekend.
Thank former Odd's Bank or turn for co founder Bet the Board Podcast analyst CBS Sports HQ covers Sharp six hundred and comes and hangs out with us again at Todd Furman at Bet the Board Pod. Get Smarter football season, college football, Pro football.
There's nothing better you're going.
To hear to get you to the winners uh Winter Stable Winners Circle, to take that horse racing analogy all the way home. He's aratoris in for Jason Smith on Mike carbon As we come to you from the Tirek dot Com Fox Sports Radio Studios. Now it's time to turn our attention to a man with the voice from God. He has been blessed. He will call many a win and he will take your positive or negative phone calls. Come Charger season. But we'll debate that later on. It's Isaac Lohencron.
Get up.
Time.
I love how you gave positive and negative equal weights when in so many years it has been the negative.
Yeah, but it's a harborball era. I saw the roll boards. They convinced me to buy tickets.
What's interesting is those billboards of Harball were to scale precisely. Also to scale precisely the size of the excite bit of the finish of the NBA on Wednesday night in Indianapolis, as the Indiana Pacers led the Los Angeles Lakers one nineteen to one eighteen in the final seconds of the fourth quarter, we'll pick two.
To the wind. Lebron James at.
The buzzer call on ESPN as Lebron of the Lakers what in one twenty to one nineteen.
It's always tricky when you know you kind of touched the ball, you kind of see to the rail light around the backboard, and you don't quite know if you've got an old time.
I thought I had it on time, but you never know.
Now the nerds over at opt to Step, excuse me, the statistical professionals at opt to Stats, who have no problems getting dates, somehow found that Lebron James, with that buzzer beater, became the first player in NBA history to have a game winning buzzer beater against the same opponent with three different teams. Buzzer beater against the Pacers for the Heat in twenty thirteen, for the Cavaliers in twenty eighteen, and for the Lakers here in twenty twenty five. Denver's Nikola Jokich's thirtieth triple double of the season thirty nine points, ten rebounds, ten assists at a one twenty seven one seventeen victory over in Milwaukee. Bucks were without giannis On Tetakunpo because of a sprain left foot. The Celtics were without Jason Tatum because of a sprain left ankle, but they wanted Phoenix by thirty one thirty two to one to oh two. Kristaps Porzingi scored thirty and twenty nine minutes on ten of fifteen shooting from the field.
Guys, thanks so much, iilo. Yeah.
One of the subplots in that Laker game was the fear that suddenly there was going to be the end of the seemingly interminable uh Lebron James scoring streak of at least ten points per game played finished with thirteen on the night. But I saw some notes in the betting market for that one, talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars in the market every game as if you know, you're betting past nope, ass at the craps table. So you've got people that are bullish, and then there's folks just betting against him. Tonight's tonight, tonight's you know.
And that's like the five dollars parlay that wins you one hundred and fifty? How many five dollars parlays did you lose to get the one that could potentially win you one hundred and fifty. It's still probably a net positive, but there's probably a lot of crumpled up five dollars parlay tickets that this guy's not telling us about.
Yeah, there's no question about it. That's just it. The one that that gets in. That's like when folks post and ideal in the trading card world, when any ever anybody puts up there, look at the one to one I got from one pack right, one pack in one box from the third case that you.
Opened, got exactly That's what I'm saying.
I mean, we're still trying to figure out the whereabouts or the identity of the kid and the family that pulled that Paul Skiings card that.
Sold for one point one.
Was that the guy that they were down the suite with Livvy Dunn.
Is that yeah, yeah, just sold uh and the pirates ended up Uh, I'm sorry. It was Dick Sporting Goods that ended up buying it. So they're going to display it at one of their stores in the Greater Pittsburgh area. So no Skens has to go to Dick's pretty much. Yeah, you at least you go by and pay tribute. It's kind of like when Captain America's walking through the old display at the museum that's paying tribute to him and his buddy Bucky and everything.
And the kid recognized him. He just goes interesting. Paul Sken's is gonna have to do that with regularity.
I think they should put that in a contract somewhere, random payment where he's just kind of lurking near the card.
And see if anybody recognizes that it's actually him.
He's Ertoris and for Jason Smith out Mike Harmon as we continue, Yeah, we did get the shot across the bow about Danny Hurley.
Let's talk about that for a moment, shall we. That's okay, I still like Todd. You'll hear from Todd. You'll get your revenge or try to. We'll do that next year on Fox.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven PMS.
Hey, welcome back in Fox.
Sports, a Radio Jason Smith Show with Me, Mike Carmon, Aaron Torres in for Jason Smith. Today, as we rolled through, I'm looking at one of our monitors in the post live sports right. We got the replay of the series from Japan on FS one, but also a celebration of a guy that gave me some of my first radio opportunities, Robert.
Wool On Artless. That's all I remember. Arless.
He had a sports radio show, and I did some fantasy hits, and at some point he was getting ready to start working on his He always had movie deals and but he was starting to work on an off Broadway play oh wow, like history and whatever. So he was taking some time off and I got to sit in for him.
So some early opportunity.
Can I say something that's gonna sound kind of mean, please, I'm glad we're past the era of just random celebrity gets sports talk. And it's not like I deserve, it's just there was an era where it was like oh, we're gonna put Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football. And then you referenced and I know, Jerry Ferarra love sports. I don't want to be a critic, but Jerry, you know, Uh, Robert Wooll apparently had a show. It's like, how about we just get people that have covered the stuff. I don't know, what do I know?
But in the end, it's you know about enraging, engaging, entertaining and informing. We had our guy Lakers Lakers owner uh, part of part of the Fox Sports Radio Alumni Association. So you know, we've got We've got a lot of guys that and women that have passed through.
And I's gonna say, there's there's a few others. I don't We don't have to go through all about it.
I mean we could. You want to name check every anybody else the car?
What sticks in your craw Aeron Taurus other than Danny Hurley was an early ouster from this year's NC Double A Tournament. Now he's become the guy and and we'll get into this a little more next hour. But where everything old is new again something you and I talked about a little bit before the show. But we bring it to the masses, to our global audience of how all of a sudden, Cali Peri Patino and all these guys are warm and fuzzy. They are the guys that were the scourge and problem. Everything's wrong with college Basmas, those guys, and now it's like, eh, because we know them, we're good. Meanwhile, you got Danny Hurley over here trying to figure out his lane.
Well, no, when we came in the studio, Will Wade from NC State and I actually know what coach waited a little bit and I like him, but I mean he was mister strong. I think i'd say the A word, right, I could say strong at He was the strong ass offer guy. And it was like a got caught on wiretap and that was what dogged him forever. And then he goes to the NCAA tournament last last week. Yeah, I took the NC State job. Then he's oh, yeah, uh, I'm helping my players get the biggest deal possible they win that game. Oh no, it's the guy. I know for a fact. There's coaches in their dms right now. It's a great thing. And so I do find it funny. Probably the two biggest uh, you know, admittedly there haven't been a lot of upsets, but the two biggest warm and fuzzy stories are Calipari's revenge and also Will Wade with the biggest probably the it is statistically the biggest upset that we've had so far in this tournament. And then, oh, by the way, Patino was the story of all season. Now again, if I had known Jason Smith and Arnie Spaniel were on that bandwagon, I probably wouldn't have picked him to go as far. But doesn't change the fact that, yes, to your point, everything old is new again and and I think it's uh, I think it's interesting to say the least. How I think just I just think it's a metaphor for life.
Is we just what's the right word I'm looking for.
Is that we we get into nostalgia and romanticizing. It's just things that in the moment might infuriate us, seeing like, ah, you know what, it's just.
Time heals all wounds. It just it.
It is like Jeter was the most hated player in the league for a long time and then it's oh, it's time for him to retire, and oh my god, Jeter's leaving, and you know, We talked about the Jim Nantz eleven year retirement tour, but it's like, then Jeter's leaving and it's like, oh, you know, I always like that Jeter guy.
It's like, oh, you actually.
Hated him for ten years when he was beating your brains in, but now he's old and you kind of like them. And it's the same with Patino. It's the same with all these guys. You have a couple of days, you know. It's a metaphor, unfortunately for society, is that we build people up, then we tear them down, and then once we've seen them down, we build them back up again. I think college basketball specifically, this march maybe is the best metaphor for you.
It's the curiosity, right, It's also what we know, like we don't really know the players.
And I'm not doing the old guy boy.
I really want guys to be there for three years thing, because it's really an interesting dichotomy that we have because the women's game, you're forced to stay. And with the growth of the WNBA, the expansion, we talk about the Valkyries sal San Francisco, ten thousand plus season tickets sold. Maybe there's an opening in the books and re examining the rule that they have on file, right, because when Juju went down the other night, it became a hey, she's not drafting eligible.
I think it's the opposite.
I think the NBA needs to put that rule in keep guys in college so they build their brands a little bit. Listen, the Cooper Flag thing. Cooper Flag is not coming back to college. But I'm telling you, if I'm Nike and I'm gonna be paying them ten million dollars a year anyway, stay at Duke for another year. You're more marketable at Duke than you are for the Washington Wizards.
But it's categorically true, right Yeah.
Well, when you talk about a couple of the teams that would likely be at the top of the draft, now you look at what Reesa Shay and those guys got, yeah, a seven million dollar deal.
Right.
No, that's and I.
Do think, and I've said this on my show, I think at some point, a very and I understand how fully guaranteed contracts work, but I think a very high caliber player is going to come back. And I think it's going to be the shoe companies that again are basically like, dude, you want to stay, We're going to pay you a crazy amount of money anyway. And I think the other thing too, with all of these deals, I think college athletes are probably making way more than a lot of people realize. And so it's like, if I want to stay anyway, you can get insurance for all this stuff to cover you if you ever have a career ending injury. So it's not gonna happen with Cooper Flag, but I think it will happen eventually. But I think the NBA needs to look at the women's game and the growth of the women's game thanks to Angel Reese and Caitlyn Clark, now Juju Watkins, page Beckers, and maybe take a page out of their.
Book Curiosity as it Goes. Obviously one of my favorite quotes of the year. Look, I'm a Northwestern alum, so it's not often I celebrate the fighting a line eye, but I'll do it. Here was when Brad Underwood was asked about Cooper Flag and what he should do hang out in college, have fun, find a girl. Oh yeah, well they didn't do all that right. That was actually a story.
Cooper Flag was like basically decided not to date at Duke because he didn't want to get attached to anybody. But no, I listen, it's a broader conversation. And again I understand the idea of fully guaranteed contracts in the NBA. But again, if you're making eight nine ten million dollars, which I'm I would guess Cooper Flag is maybe between like seven to ten million dollars this.
Year, well, I mean the estimate was that Juju was north of twelve. Really, I didn't even see that. I believe it.
I know she's there's a bunch of estimates based on the brands involved in what some of their known contracts are. And then you start doing the whispers and whatever when you start talking about your top top players. Certainly we're getting into that double digit millions. So maybe, maybe, just maybe it's not so fuzzy math after all.
There you go, All right, he's erin torres al buy carbon.
As we continue here, we get back into the wonderful world of the NBA.
Before we had
Todd Fermana, we were starting to talk about quality of play, the NC Double A and where we meet in the middle
