00:00So, Nick Friedle was on with us yesterday, and it started with an article he wrote, and it was interesting,
00:06depending on sort of which part you read or which clip you listened to, you sort of thought that Nick
00:12Friedle was either saying, hey, there's a lot of cool stuff that the Warriors can do the rest of this
00:18year, or you thought Nick was basically saying, well, this year's over.
00:23And I don't want to get, like, all woo-woo on everybody, but every time somebody is like, oh, this
00:29season's over, I always go, over doesn't exist.
00:33That's not a thing.
00:35Well, for this team, yes.
00:36There are 10 teams that over-exists for this year.
00:39Even that, I don't agree.
00:41Like, to me, over doesn't exist.
00:44The season is over when there are no more games.
00:46But whatever your team is doing in this particular moment, in theory, they should be trying to achieve something.
00:54They should be trying to get young people going.
00:58They should be trying, even if they're tanking.
01:00Why would you tank?
01:01Well, we're kind of trying to get the draft pick for, maybe DeBancho will be on our team, and we're
01:07going to try to be good next year, or we've got a two-year plan, or whatever.
01:11There's always something that you can kind of top into.
01:14That's the way I look at it.
01:16So, in fact, I threw this out to you guys earlier, and I wonder what your answer would be.
01:23And 888-957-9570, y'all can answer this, too.
01:27If I took a championship off the table at the beginning of the year, would you still watch?
01:32Of course.
01:33You would.
01:34The years 1981 through 2014 are on the phone.
01:39I would go to a ton of Warrior Games, not only when I lived up the street, but when I
01:43was a kid,
01:44we would jump in Scott Elliott's Mustang, my brother, Mikey 1.0, by the way, and Scott, and I was
01:51the plus one, and we'd zip over and watch Warrior Basketball.
01:54We'd watch Rod Higgins and World Be Free and all the rest of the fellas, Purvis Short, Joe Barry Carroll,
02:02and you knew that they weren't going to do anything in June.
02:06They probably wouldn't even make the playoffs, but you went because you enjoyed basketball, and that's why, as a sports
02:12fan, I've always done that.
02:13I don't need my team to win a championship to enjoy games.
02:17I'll watch tomorrow.
02:18I don't think either of those teams is going to win the title, but it's going to be a damn
02:22compelling game.
02:23Well, and there's a lot going on, and that's why I said what I said yesterday, said it again today
02:29in the crossover, and I firmly believe it.
02:31I think that tomorrow night is the start of next season.
02:34That doesn't mean that I'm cashing in or giving up on this year.
02:40I don't think anybody, if you want to, like, do the rational thing for a minute, nobody would predict the
02:47Warriors to compete for a championship or make a playoff run this year.
02:51They're allowed to.
02:53That's the other way that I would answer the question.
02:55It's always not over because I don't ever act like I know what's going to happen next.
03:00I have thoughts.
03:03Right.
03:03I think X, Y, Z is going to happen, but I've been wrong, and the surprising happens, and by the
03:11way, the surprising is the best thing in sports.
03:14It's the absolute best thing in sports.
03:16Yeah.
03:17Almost got one this morning with Checha leading Canada deep into the third period, and the announcers are talking about
03:23how this might be the best Canadian team ever, and they're down 3-2 in trouble.
03:27It's one of your favorites with March Madness when you go to Vegas.
03:30Vegas, it happens within games every single day of March Madness, which is that even if it's only for a
03:37half, or maybe it's for 10 minutes into the second half, or whatever.
03:41That 14 or that 15 or that 16 seed, they're giving them the business, Dibs, and you're like, is this
03:47the one?
03:48And sometimes it is.
03:49And usually not, but sometimes it is.
03:51So, like, I'm there for that, and then I'm also there for, if we're right, if we're right, and this
04:00is a fool's errand, or even if it's not a fool's errand, just Jimmy Butler got hurt.
04:06Jimmy Butler got hurt.
04:07Kristaps is only going to play 15 games.
04:09It'll be mixed results.
04:11You'll be in the play-in tournament.
04:13Maybe you pop out of it.
04:14Maybe you don't.
04:15And it's just kind of, you know, just the air's out of the balloon.
04:19Like, even if it's not, I find there's all kinds of stuff happening in there that is very relevant and
04:28matters a lot for next season.
04:30No doubt.
04:30And it's not just Kristaps and can he stay healthy.
04:33It's something that Nick Fidel said yesterday about pods.
04:36This is a huge stretch for pods.
04:38Once, he'll be eligible for an extension in the offseason, and if he plays like he did in the first
04:43half, he may not get the contract he wants.
04:46If he returns to form from year one and year two, he might get a nice extension.
04:51So, there's more at stake than just will Kristaps be healthy enough to play X amount of games.
04:55Remind me in about 10 minutes to tell you the story of what happened this morning.
04:59It's my youngest's birthday today.
05:0213?
05:0312.
05:0312, okay.
05:03Young Jude turned.
05:0412's a great year.
05:05It's a great year.
05:06And he's very excited for his final year as a, like, he's a year away from being a teenager.
05:11And I keep wanting to tell him, I'm like, yeah, age 13.
05:18It's great.
05:19Big difference.
05:20When you're 12, you get to be the oldest kid on the Little Diamond.
05:23Right.
05:24So, for me, the 12-year-old year was, I mean, it was a bummer because we stunk, but it's
05:29like, yeah, you wait to be 12 for Little League.
05:31I'm always amazed that you remember, like, I couldn't tell you a damn thing about how good or bad we
05:36were each, like, I don't remember age 12, like, what was my Little League team's record?
05:42I have no idea.
05:43We were 4-14.
05:45Back then, you had keepers.
05:46So, I got drafted as a 10-year-old because my brothers were really good.
05:49And I just didn't grow.
05:51So, by the time I was 12, they had had me for three years.
05:54I got the opening day start, and I'm just a soft tosser.
05:57I throw one in the first inning, fly ball, left field.
06:00Dave Williamson, he's under it.
06:01He's under it.
06:02Whammy!
06:03In the face, broken glasses.
06:05Here comes the ambulance.
06:07And, of course, you know, I said right away.
06:09Inside the park home run.
06:10Well, I think the kid stopped at second.
06:12And I turned around, of course.
06:13I'm like, catch the ball!
06:15And then I turned to the scorekeeper.
06:17That's an error!
06:18That's an error!
06:18That's an error!
06:19That's not an earned run.
06:2125-minute delay.
06:22I give up 14 runs, and it's over.
06:24Anyway, the reason I bring it up.
06:25Anyhow.
06:25I was going to tell you.
06:26Remind me to tell you the story.
06:28One of his gifts today.
06:29I bought him a big box of basketball cards.
06:31Nice.
06:31He loves to collect cards.
06:33In back-to-back packs.
06:39Oh, boy.
06:41Back-to-back packs.
06:43He gets Kaminga, and then Pods.
06:47Back-to-back packs.
06:48I'm not making this up.
06:49What is going on here?
06:52The reaction in the room from both him and his older brother, I've got to share it with you.
06:58Because it's just, it's perfect.
07:00It's absolutely perfect.
07:02So, anyway, that's why I was smiling when you brought up Pods.
07:05Gotcha.
07:06I had a little Kaminga Pods experience with a couple of younger fans earlier today.
07:13How much does a pack of basketball cards run you now?
07:15Like seven bucks?
07:16No, like that.
07:17It wasn't just a pack.
07:18Like, I got one of those little boxes that probably had, I don't know, maybe eight packs.
07:23Gotcha.
07:24Whatever.
07:24I think it was about 30 bucks.
07:26Okay.
07:26Something, whatever.
07:27You know what I mean?
07:28I'm not, we're not like, I know exactly what brand I'm getting.
07:31And we're just like, yeah, he likes the basketball cards.
07:33So.
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