00:00Well, but Joe, something caught your attention in terms of you wanted to compare how this Warriors run is ending
00:08compared to the ends of the Giants and 49ers runs from yesteryears.
00:14Yeah, you know, I was thinking about like the Giants, right, Sam?
00:19And I feel like in a weird way, the Warriors have replicated some of what the Giants did at the
00:25end of their run with Posey, Crawford and Belt.
00:30They pretty much stuck with their guys until the wheels fell off.
00:34Now, Posey retired a little prematurely and kind of out of left field.
00:39But I think most Giants fans would say the last few years of all those guys wasn't great.
00:48No, it was below what the standard they had set.
00:52You know, like 2017, hey, you're coming off of a 2016 playoff run.
00:57You lose. You still think you got it.
00:59Yeah, 2018, not so good.
01:012019, I think you let Madison Bumgarner go.
01:05Bumgarner was still on the team in 2019, but that was he was it was set to go.
01:09That was Farhan's first year.
01:11It started off with Bochy saying this will be my final year.
01:132019 felt less like a let's compete year.
01:16It was more like let's just say goodbye to everybody and feel warm and fuzzy on the way out.
01:20And it felt like it all hung on for maybe what?
01:25Three years too many.
01:27Yeah, probably.
01:28I mean, with the way Buster finished out his last year, you can probably maybe set him off to the
01:33side.
01:33But 2021 was a great outlier.
01:35It was a fun little.
01:36That was kind of like a last hoorah, so to speak, where it was just like you get one last
01:41fun moment with three of your favorite players from that dynasty.
01:44Think about where you were in 2022 because you had Crawford and Belt and all those guys on the team.
01:47Was that great?
01:48No.
01:49Was it entertaining?
01:50In hindsight, 21 felt like the perfect kind of curtain call for Buster, Brandon, and Brandon.
01:56It's a great way of putting it.
01:57And it just felt like it kind of delayed the inevitable and actually made it more difficult to get to
02:03where we are today,
02:04where it feels like they're kind of the same team that they've been forever, which is underperforming, just slightly more
02:10expensive.
02:11Well, also, I think it comes down to it's like, what's the lasting image you have for Barry Bonds?
02:16It's him kind of walking off the field for the last time on a last place team as a guy
02:21who's just kind of a fraction of what he used to be.
02:23I don't think about that for Bonds for me.
02:25Well, OK, may not.
02:25But I guess I'm talking about the lasting image, like the lasting image of Buster Posey was going out in
02:30a playoff series.
02:31Granted, they lost the playoff series.
02:33Yes, that I agree with.
02:33He had that big home run in game one.
02:35And I feel like that's everybody's lasting image.
02:37My last image of Bonds is him at the play going like this and then hugging his son.
02:41Yeah, but that's me.
02:43Yeah, I guess I guess the general, the casual lasting image, I guess, is what I'm speaking of to here.
02:49But with Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford, those were, you know, fan favorite guys.
02:52But their lasting image is you hung around maybe a year or two too long.
02:56How many people do you think of the fan base?
02:58How many people do you think were ready to say goodbye?
03:01I think a lot of people ready to say goodbye.
03:04Maybe at the start of 22.
03:05I don't know, but I feel like midway through 22, end of 22, everyone's like, you know what?
03:10Buster maybe did have the right idea.
03:12Maybe it is time to pack it up on this era.
03:14So I say that that's one end of the spectrum.
03:18Some kind of hanging on too long.
03:19That would be like the Warriors kind of running it back again this year and not making a lot of
03:25wholesale changes.
03:26Yeah, I think even in one of the many stories that have come out, even said, I think it was
03:30the first Ramona Shelburne story where part of the request for Steve Curry is they don't want to go.
03:35They don't want him to coach for just another year or just another year or two.
03:40They want him locked in for three or four years because we don't want you to hang around for two
03:44years for a nostalgia tour.
03:46If you're either in, you're in for the now and for what comes next, not just for the let's all
03:51say goodbye.
03:52Then the final curtain call.
03:53Exactly.
03:54All right.
03:54So that's one way.
03:55Like the Giants went out one way.
03:57That was the end of the end.
03:58And really, it was a slow, long, quite frankly, boring death.
04:03I don't think anyone would disagree with that.
04:05No, it was those are painful games to watch.
04:07And what made it more painful, it was you were watching your heroes essentially kind of die on the vine
04:14in a way that was like they deserve better.
04:16Like they did not deserve to go out like that.
04:18Well, I mean.
04:20Weak and feebly.
04:21I mean, you know, Crawford had to play for the Cardinals.
04:24Bell had to play for the Blue Jays.
04:26You know, I keep playing even though the knee was telling him not to.
04:29The Niners right now.
04:30You could argue the end of the dynasty came earlier than this.
04:34But really, the lasting image of the end of the Niners dynasty is September 27th, 1999.
04:40And do you guys all know what game I'm referencing?
04:42I do.
04:43But for those who are unfamiliar, why don't you tell the story?
04:45It's the game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sun Devil Stadium, Arizona State, where Lawrence Phillips misses the block and Steve
04:51Young gets absolutely annihilated by Aeneas Williams.
04:54And he's lying on the ground.
04:56And basically, he's had his second concussion in like three weeks.
05:01And I think it was the seventh or eighth or maybe ninth in his career that was actually diagnosed.
05:05He probably had dozens.
05:09And it was over.
05:10You know, I've never played football again.
05:12I mean, it was just over.
05:14Right.
05:14And like there's a clean like the door slam shut.
05:17There's no denying it.
05:19There's nowhere you can go from here.
05:21Your quarterback's down.
05:22The heartbeat of your team is down.
05:23Like they did find Jeff Garcia a couple years later, Sam.
05:27But most people were like, it's over.
05:31Because Steve Young was awesome.
05:33Those were good Niners teams with Jeff Garcia.
05:35But like they didn't have that extra like oomph that the Steve Young teams had or obviously Joe Montana's teams
05:42before that.
05:43And you could say, hey, the final final was Jerry Rice leaving.
05:47Right.
05:48For a lot of fans, because that was the final big piece.
05:51But really, to me, like it was Steve Young getting knocked out.
05:55And we were in denial, similar to the Giants situation where, oh, no, we'll find the next guy and we'll
06:01keep it going.
06:02But like the reality was it was pretty, pretty simple.
06:04And they also had tons of dead cap money, which prohibited them from being able to spend like they appropriately
06:11needed within the league.
06:12You also saw the rise of the Rams and these other teams in the NFC.
06:16And the Niners felt like an afterthought.
06:19And so that's that's the abrupt, quick pull the carpet out from underneath everyone ending to a dynasty.
06:26And I'm not sure either is a great way to go out.
06:29Like, I don't think there is a right or wrong way to end this thing for the Warriors.
06:33And that's why I'm really conflicted, because it's like on one hand, did I really enjoy years of, you know,
06:40Cron Belt and those guys like just not being good enough?
06:44Not really.
06:45But the highlights were when they stepped to the plate is, hey, remember when Brandon Belt hit that home run
06:49against the Nationals?
06:50Brandon Crawford steps up to the plate.
06:51It's like, hey, remember that double play he helped turn in game seven of the World Series?
06:55Like when these guys step into the plate or, you know, like when Jerry Rice is playing his last game,
06:59it's like, hey, remember when Jerry Rice had that great year in 86?
07:03Like when you see these guys at the end, you see them maybe not so much.
07:07You're not paying attention to the shortcomings on the field in the moment,
07:10but you're still seeing the memories of what made those players special.
07:15And you asked a question last night, you know, on our show called, like, what compels people to go to
07:19games?
07:20And I do think there is a level.
07:21I do think a lot of Giants fans fell into this.
07:23And I'm sure a lot of Warriors fans fall into this.
07:26They still want to go to the games.
07:28They might know what the outcome is going to be.
07:29Yeah, Giants probably going to take a fat L today.
07:31But my favorite players from yesteryear are still there.
07:34I still like to see the Brandon.
07:36But that only lasts so long.
07:37I agree with you.
07:38And Steph Curry is a significant bigger draw than Belt and Craw.
07:42No, absolutely.
07:43There's just no denying it.
07:44Belt and Crawford, maybe you could say 22, you were going to the park because,
07:47oh, I love my Brandons.
07:48I want to go and support my Brandons.
07:49Yeah, but attendance wasn't great.
07:50I don't think that held up after 20.
07:52No, I agree.
07:53Steph Curry being the, you know, cosmic megastar that he is,
07:57his kind of, you know, burning out time is going to go a lot longer than guys like Crawford or
08:02Belt.
08:02I would argue putting in Jeff Garcia after, you know, they had a couple down years and Garcia kind of
08:09comes out of nowhere and he goes to the Pro Bowl.
08:11Everyone knew Garcia was way less than Steve Young, who was also way less than Joe Montana.
08:17You were kind of, there was a gradual stepping down to the quarterback.
08:20But I still think that that era was a lot of fun and very entertaining, right?
08:24Yeah, you had some great games.
08:25You had that wild card win over the Giants in there.
08:27And T.O. emerged and Garcia emerged.
08:30But we all knew what we were watching was probably not a champion, but it was fun.
08:35And now, years later, I think we look back at the Garcia era with a lot more love and appreciation.
08:42I wonder if the Warriors keep their draft pick.
08:46Let's say they get lucky.
08:47And it's a guy who's never going to be as good as Steph Curry.
08:50But is the Jeff Garcia to his Steve Young or Joe Montana, and it's a light metaphor here.
08:56Like a better Jordan Poole.
08:58Yeah, yeah.
08:58Like, is that good enough?
09:00Is that a more entertaining product than running out Kawhi or LeBron or maybe bringing Kevin Durant back or just
09:09standing pat with the old team that they have now?
09:12Is that more entertaining and satisfying for fans?
09:16I'm not sure.
09:18Like, I legitimately, I don't know.
09:19Like, I feel so conflicted on the path that this team should take.
09:25Why don't you noodle on this for a little bit?
09:26We'll get into it some more on the other side.
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