Furness Show 4-22: Kraken Press Conference, Ron Francis, Jess's Bifandom.

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Let's say downstairs where the CACI changes in the Kraken organization.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Let's head to the podium too.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
It's Nottha Hallway.

Speaker 4 (00:10):
Hi, everybody, thank you for being here today, Good afternoon.
Yesterday was a difficult day as we parted way with
our coach. I want to sincerely thank Dan and express
my gratitude for his hard work and dedication over the
last four years, both here and in Coachella Valley. Last
week we made an announcement announcement about our reinvention to

(00:33):
ticketing and benefits on the heels of our first season
with a new broadcast approach. All of this to show
our appreciation for our fans, our growing fan base, as
well as our fans and season ticket members that have
been with us since year one. I want to thank
Todd for building this organization from the ground up with

(00:53):
a truly fan first approach. But today we're here to
talk about the team, and we're here to talk about
a hockey structure that we believe will improve us and
lead to a sustained playoff team. I want to give
Ron credit for building this hockey organization from nothing, and
after four years, we have a lot of key pieces

(01:15):
in place. But we're anxious to take the next step,
and that starts with Ron moving to President of Hockey Operations.
He will elevate to work more broadly on scouting, player
development as well as overall management. But everyone at this
table is committed to winning. Our hockey folks and our

(01:36):
staff have worked hard and deserve winning. Our partners and
our fans who support us every night deserve winning. So
we're moving to a model that many teams in the
NHL have adopted with the president and a GM, and
we believe that will set us up for the future.
So in addition to Ron, we are elevating someone else today,

(01:58):
someone with his own grit resume of hockey achievement, who
also helped us build this great organization that we have
a lot to be proud of. So I'm going to
turn it over to Ron to introduce our new EVP
and new general manager.

Speaker 5 (02:12):
Thank you, Sam.

Speaker 6 (02:14):
First, I do want to start by thanking Dan Balsma
and his wife Mary Beth for everything they did for
our organization in the past four years.

Speaker 5 (02:22):
Days.

Speaker 6 (02:23):
I guess they're never easy, but they are terrific people
and we wish them nothing but the best moving forward.
As we look forward with this organization. I think it's exciting.
You look about where we're at, the amount of cap
space we have, the amount of draft capital we have,
including ten first and second round picks in the next
three years. We look at the list of talented prospects

(02:44):
we have coming. You look at the fact that free
agents have wanted to sign here in Seattle because of
our city, our fans, our facilities, and our ownership's commitment
to building a winning team. So those are all exciting things.
And we start tonight in coach la Valley. Third consecutive
year they're playing in the playoffs, So that's where we're
trying to get to here with the Krack and we're

(03:05):
trying to make this organization be able to get to
the playoffs and be there on a consistent basis. And
that's where I'm excited about what we're doing here today.
As Sam said, there's probably well over a third of
the teams already that are using this kind of setup,
and talking with a lot of those guys, they feel
that this has helped their organization propel themselves forward into
getting to that position quicker. So this is something we've

(03:28):
been talking about for a while and I'm excited that
it's happening today. The man sitting next to me, I'm
excited to introduce him. Jason has been an assistant GM
for ten years with the Pittsburgh Penguins, of which he
was part of three Stanley Cup Championships. He sat in
the gym chair for three years in Buffalo. We work

(03:48):
together at the World Championships in twenty nineteen for Hockey Canada,
and recently he has been our assistant gym for five years.
He's bright, he's hardworking. He shares the same passion that
we all do, and that's making the Cracking an organization
one that is competitive each.

Speaker 5 (04:05):
And every year.

Speaker 6 (04:05):
So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce our new
executive vice president and General Manager, Jason Botchro.

Speaker 7 (04:20):
Thank you very much, Ron for the kind words. I
really do appreciate it, Sam, Victor Todd and the entire
ownership group. I thank you for this opportunity. It's an
honor to be the second general manager of the Seattle Kraken.
I'm deeply committed to building a winner for this organization

(04:41):
and for this city. I've been a part of the
Crack and since the beginning, I know the players in
this organization, I know the staff in this organization. I'm
very proud of what we've accomplished. But as we head
to hear into year five, it's time for our organization
to take the next step. I've had the opportunity to

(05:04):
be a part of Stanley Cup champions I've as a
player and executive being a part of organizations that's had success,
and in my mind, the pieces are here for the
Crack and to have success in the future. One we
have strong supportive ownership. Two, we have a passionate fan
base that brings an intensity every game night to climate Pledgerina. Three,

(05:29):
we have a core group of players that love being
in Seattle and want to have success here. And finally, four,
we have a pipeline of young players coming who are
pushing for spots on the NHL roster. The future is
very bright with the Seattle Cracking. The summer is going
to be extremely busy. I am excited about the resources

(05:51):
that I'm going to have at my disposal to improve
this roster, and I can assure you that we will
improve it for next year and build on this team
for not only all year next year, but for.

Speaker 5 (06:01):
Years to come.

Speaker 7 (06:02):
I can't wait to get started. Thank you very much.

Speaker 8 (06:12):
Well, I'll just chip in with a couple of things. First,
Dan Biosma is a really wonderful man. I saw him
in the locker room of the Calder Cup finals twice.
We didn't win, but it was an incredible achievement and
he came here with the best of intentions and I
think we all wish him the absolute very best. And

(06:32):
I will then sort of transition. I'm so proud of
so much of what we've done, building arenas, building training centers,
building out coach Hella Valley, building out our brand, going
deep with the community. But we still have work to do.
And I'm a guy that the last two organizations I

(06:54):
was with one one to the Super Bowl and the
other one to the Stanley Cup Finals. I would like
to think I know what the pedigrees of winning are
and I believe we have it.

Speaker 5 (07:05):
We have it.

Speaker 8 (07:06):
Ron who's deeply committed and stood up an organization during
a very tough time.

Speaker 5 (07:10):
We have it.

Speaker 8 (07:11):
And Jason, who's humble, but three consecutive gold medals as
a player led Hockey Canada. He has got an incredible
resume and he might be looking as though he was
a candidate of convenience, But in fact this guy was
going to be a general manager in this league at
some point in time, and I couldn't be more proud

(07:33):
to sit.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
Next to him.

Speaker 8 (07:34):
But I at the end of the day still at
our ownership because today was not the path of police resistance.
People weren't saying we had to part company with our coach.
But our owner has been incredibly supportive and pushes us
for excellence. So when you talk about a pedigree and
winning and dreaming about winning and building a long term

(07:56):
winner here, it does start with ownership, and we're all
incredibly blessed to have a great owner. Welcome sir, You're
gonna love Seattle and we're honored to have you as
our general manager.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Thank you very much. Thanks, thanks time.

Speaker 9 (08:10):
We'll move to questions now, so as we get going here,
just put your hand up, Mike, thank you very much,
and we'll bring a mic over and get started.

Speaker 10 (08:21):
I'm gonna use this one.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Thank you all for doing this.

Speaker 11 (08:28):
Mike Benton KJR. Radio For anybody here at the table
with the on ice goals in mind, how much can
you walk us through with the change of responsibility between
Ron and Jason and how that reflects the goals of
talent acquisition and where this coaching start is going to
go as well.

Speaker 5 (08:44):
Yeah, I know we've talked about this.

Speaker 6 (08:47):
I feel strongly that if we're asking Jason to step
into the GM chair and manage all those responsibilities, that
he has to have final say in decisions. We will
have discussions. I will give him my opinion. I know
it won't be one hundred percent well in agreement all
the time, but we will have those discussions. But at
the end of the day, he will make the decision,

(09:09):
the final call in those regards.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
You know, there's there's so much to.

Speaker 6 (09:13):
Do with the job from you know, players and agents
and managing your staff and stuff. And this will free
me up in some regards to do other specialized things
where I can work closely with our young prospects, give
them information maybe a little quicker as to whether we
think guys are gonna make it or not make it.

(09:33):
It allows us to make decisions on signing guys or
trading guys, mentor some of our young players get out
on the road with our staff. You know, there's there's
there's more than enough work for two of us to.

Speaker 12 (09:43):
Do blend drive us from Davy Jones locker room. Yeah,
question that if both Todd and Sam would be willing
to address, I'd appreciate it. Is it Is it legitimate

(10:03):
to question the very very top of the organization, the
judgment at the very very top when you fired a
coach who was a Jack Adams finalist and then fire
his replacement one year later.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
For sure, it's fair.

Speaker 8 (10:27):
And you know, we live in a world where lots
of people question things. I remember people questioning us starting
this whole thing and bringing hockey to Seattle. But I
do think we have a track record of being committed
and deeply committed to doing the right thing. The path
of least resistance for both these guys and the owner

(10:49):
was to do nothing on the coaching side.

Speaker 5 (10:52):
But they thought we could do better.

Speaker 8 (10:55):
They thought that a move could actually move us closer
to winning faster. So the question's fair. But there's a
conviction at this table that we're doing the right thing,
even if it means making tough decisions.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
People are questioning us means they care, and that's good
news for us. And like I said, Ron built this
hockey organization from nothing, and we have great foundation here
and My job is to support Ron and now Jason
and have interesting and difficult discussions, but to support their decisions,
because that's the role they're in.

Speaker 13 (11:33):
Curtis Krabtree, Fox thirteen. For whomever feels best position to
answer this one, Can you guys kind of walk us
through the decision with Dan and when you made the
choice to go a different direction, and if there's a
coach available or something you had in mind, or was
this purely on Dan's performance that you guys decided to
go a different way.

Speaker 6 (11:52):
No, I'll had a lot. Yeah, you know it would
have been easiest. Odd said just to leave things and
go forward. I just when why in the games. I
didn't like the way we were playing. I thought our
team could use more structure, more details in our approach,
and the end of the end of the day, we
didn't get the results that we were expecting this year.

(12:12):
So yeah, the easy path is probably just sit there
and say, Okay, we'll try it all again next year.

Speaker 5 (12:18):
I hope things go better.

Speaker 6 (12:20):
This is not an easy decision to make, but you know,
this organization is about trying to take some risks and
do things, and we just felt that at this point
we needed to make a change going forward. I'll let
Jason talk to that, but it's it's still early in
that process to you know, there's nobody at the top
of the list right now that we're saying this is
our guy.

Speaker 7 (12:39):
No, And from that standpoint, we'll Ron and myself will
put a list together here. We'll certainly begin interviewing people
and going through that process and then continue to evaluate
the situation from there.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
You're listening to the news conference of the Cracking Community
ice Plex with KRACKING new General Edger Jason Bottrell, President,
Ron Francis, my majority owner Sam Holloway, and also Todd
light Wiki. As major moves made in the Cracking organization
of the whole of the Cracked Nightey three point three
k RFM.

Speaker 5 (13:12):
It will be.

Speaker 7 (13:13):
Certainly up to the discussion once the new coach will
come into the equation there. We've been happy with our
assistant coaches what they've brought to the table. Jess Campbell
will certainly be back with our group here moving forward.
From that standpoint, We've like what she's done with our
young players. We think whatever coach we bring in here
from head coach standpoint will have to work closely with
our younger players. Ron and myself will look close at

(13:36):
different opportunities to bring in players, whether it's from a
free agent standpoint over trade standpoint. But a big part
of how we're going to move with this organization forward
is our young player stepping in and not only players
from CV or juniors making a step to National Hockey League,
but our young players in the National hockey taking another step,
whether that's the Matty Benier's or Ryker Evans a Shane Wright,

(13:58):
and that will be a big part of finding a
new coachure.

Speaker 14 (14:03):
If the players not presently in the pipeline and it
doesn't appear that he is where priority wise is finding
number a true number one center for you.

Speaker 7 (14:14):
I think that's always a priority, and you can never
have enough number one center in this organization. And look,
I think from just a team standpoint, we need to
get back to our identity, which is speed. If you
look at where we were a couple of years ago,
teams continually talked about how fast we played the game.
You know, it's something that I think we have a

(14:34):
lot of skaters that can move well. We got to
find a system that just allows them to show that
talent a little bit more. We'll continually look for star players.
We'll continue to look to develop them within our system.
We have another high draft choice this year. We'll look
at trade possibilities. We have draft capital from that standpoint,
but in the meantime, until that star player arrives, we'll

(14:56):
continue to try to improve our team from an incremental standpoint.
You saw what we did with the player let Coco
coming into our organization, you know, bringing an element to size,
a net front ability. Those are things that we certainly
want to so we'll continue looking at all different scenarios
to try to add to our group.

Speaker 14 (15:13):
Want a little quickie fall up to Curtis just out
of curiosity. As former players, I asked Dan about this
last week, the O and twelve in the back end
of back to backs, lack of passion, lack of preparation,
lack of conditioning, Like as former players you were on
a team run by the way, that's three number one centers,

(15:33):
but like as a hall of fame or what goes
into losing twelve all twelve?

Speaker 5 (15:39):
Yeah, you know, it's a good question.

Speaker 6 (15:41):
We've done a lot of work on it. You know,
you look at the travel schedule, but really outside of
two games, like, for instance, the last game with Salt
Lake City, we play in LA, we get the Utah,
our guys get to bed, you know, probably walk into
hotels at three in the morning. By the time you
get to sleep, it's five, so that puts you out
of this advantage the next night. That happened a couple times,

(16:02):
but not all twelve, so that can't be an excuse.
I thought maybe it was our conditioning that we weren't
in the shape we needed to be in because a
lot of times with our travel schedule we don't practice
as much, you know, do using our tracking data, we
actually skated faster in the second game than we did
in the first game, so that tells me probably not conditioning.

(16:22):
We looked at goaltending starts right. Gruby started six, Joey
started five, Stetska started one. So it was a question
that we we struggled with finding an answer to and
asking the players there really wasn't There wasn't a simple
solution to it. You know, we've got to find a
way to be better in back to back games. I

(16:42):
mean oher to twelve. That's if you go five hundred,
which is probably the norm, that's twelve points and puts
us in a different position at the trade deadline. So
it's something we need to address special. With the schedule
game probably being even more condensed next year, I think
we'll face more back to back, so our mindset right
out of the gate has to be much better in
that set.

Speaker 5 (17:00):
Can they do back to backs?

Speaker 15 (17:02):
Beckro Mike Verrell, Seattle Times Dead Center for Todd, I'm
curious you mentioned knowing the pedigree of winning and being
around winners and just kind of understanding what that looks like.
And obviously this franchise hasn't won as much as some
people would have hoped in the first four seasons, But
were the pedigrees or the aspects of Jason and Ron
behind the scenes that made you confident that they're the

(17:23):
ones that continue to guide this ship forward.

Speaker 5 (17:26):
So appreciate the question.

Speaker 8 (17:28):
I think you know, winning is winning is a lot
of a lot of things. One of the things that's
about his facilities. We have outstanding facilities. The players in
the NHL recognize that and view us as having some
of the best facilities. We have amazing fans. The fans
have filled the building up and they have created the

(17:51):
league wide perception that we have a real hockey town here.
We have a great owner. She has been so supportive
and acknowledging her dad, we are going to win. We
are going to win, And that was something so important
to him. But then when I looked to the two
guys to my right, Ron Francis has been a winner

(18:16):
his entire life. He's a member of the Hockey Hall
of Fame. When the book is written someday about standing
up this organization during a global pandemic, there will be
stories revealed that just demonstrate how incredibly difficult that was.
But he not only stood us up, he did what
he said he was going to do. He said, we're
going to build an incredible cupboard of incredible prospects. There

(18:38):
are going to be the formula of success going forward.
And we've done that. We have thirty seven prospects and
we rank very, very high. And then Ron attracted other people.
The challenge with Jason sitting here is most people think
it was pre ordained. But in my opinion, he was

(18:59):
going to be the general manager of the team and
it was going to happen soon.

Speaker 5 (19:02):
And I am.

Speaker 8 (19:03):
Thrilled that he chose to say that it is Seattle
that he wanted to apply his tread. He is so
well respected. I got notes this morning from other people
I know around the league saying this guy is fantastic.
And so when you add all of that together, those
are all the pieces that I felt that we finally
got together in the Seahawks. Those are the pieces that

(19:24):
came together when I was with the Tampa Bay Lightning,
and I feel those pieces are in place here.

Speaker 9 (19:30):
Darren brown Son of Hockey and NHL dot Com for
ad Jason, congratulations. From your standpoint, you mentioned looking for
star players, but what are some areas of opportunity for
the in terms of personnel for the team that you'll
really be focusing on upgrading this offseason.

Speaker 7 (19:46):
Well, I think, like I said, we have to get
back to our trade in which is a speed game.
If you look at the areas for improvement, I'm not
going to say size, I'm just going to say strength.
We have to find ways doing a bare job in
front of our own net and finding and doing a
bare job of getting to the opposition net. Those are
areas that we just haven't got to. And I say

(20:07):
strength just because you look at a player like James
Schwartz finds a way to get there and be one
of our top players from a NetFront presence. So that's
going to be there. And then to me, there's still
a development of skill across the board that we have
to do. Wherever we ended up in the standings, we
have to continue to improve and add to our skill
level in all areas. It's not as if we're one
player away right now from a Stanley Cup championship. We

(20:29):
have to become a perenal playoff team first and then
find our way. But to me, it's going to come
from two fronts. It's the young players pushing up into
our organization wanting to be a part of things. And
the great thing that we're excited about is not like
one player that we're focused on right now in Coachilla Valley,
Like I look at a scenario where Robert Kron and

(20:50):
his staff is done from an amateur staff from our
draft picks, it's a wide range of players. You certainly
have the skill players that a lot of people talk about.
You saw this year Yanni Newman making a step in.
We have go a yet Furcus down in Hushell a
value right now, But then this year you look at
a Villaneuve in junior or Melanson this year bringing a

(21:10):
physical element. Molguard came over this year at the end
of the season. He's going to now play the World
Championships for Denmark. So we have a lot of different
types of players coming up into our organization that I'm
not just sort of opining it on one player. But no,
it's going to be exciting from trying to find more
skill at the NHL level, like when we made a
trade for Coco, but also finding you know, the next

(21:32):
level of younger players. We will leave roster opportunities open
for competition from our young players because I think that's
going to be a great chance for us to really improve.

Speaker 9 (21:40):
As a team those opportunities. Do you foresee using buyouts
possibly this summer?

Speaker 7 (21:46):
Look, I think it's a situation where we'll look at
everything over the summer one on.

Speaker 5 (21:50):
Where we're at. You know, at the end of the day, we.

Speaker 7 (21:52):
Were making a commitment to improving our roster and whether
that's buyouts, whether that's trades. You know, that's that's the
easy part of my job right now, is the draft
capital that's at my disposal from whether we make those
selections or we utilize it to make trades. It gives
us a lot of different opportunities here and moving forward
to make some adjustments to our roster.

Speaker 9 (22:16):
Answer my questions last one is do you have any
criteria in mind right now in terms of your next coach?
I know was very early in this process, but in
terms of what you're looking for.

Speaker 7 (22:25):
No, And that's something that we look forward to just
begin in our discussions and getting to know people a
little bit better. From that standpoint, I think one that's
there's gonna be a lot of attributes that you certainly
come into. I think finding someone who's a leader down
there in a locker room, you know, has a voice
as a strong voice, is certainly good at communication, but
also good at utilizing the resources that this organization has,

(22:47):
whether you talk about R and D development staff, information
from Coachella Valley, like our strength and conditioning staff, there's
a lot of information I think that a head coach
or CEO down there can certainly utilize and building his
lineup and building his roster, and we want to find
someone who's willing to utilize all that to you know,
put the best team forward on the ice for the Kraken.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
The same bag Wjen's locker room.

Speaker 10 (23:13):
Three coaches in five years, what would you say to
those who have concerns, especially from potential coaches who might
view Seattle as a more volatile organization where coaches are
not allowed the runway to see their long term vision through.

Speaker 7 (23:31):
Look, I think it's a situation that's already been talked
about already here tonight, Like we are dedicated to winning,
and that's from that standpoint there, and you know where
you can talk about the volatility. It can also talk
about the excitement of our younger players. Like you look
at talked about Centerman's centerment before. We have a center
situation here right now of you know Stevenson right veneers

(23:53):
down the middle with Berkeley Cat and also another one
that we certainly have signed that we have high hopes
for in the future too. So I think a coach
looks at this situation here and looks at the talent,
looks at the opportunity, looks at our facilities, looks at
a dedication to win in and I think it's still
an opportunity for a lot of success here and a
lot of opportunity, you know, a lot of future success.

(24:13):
And we take a step back, like look, the last
year or two hasn't gone the way we wanted it.
It hasn't made expectations. But what I'm excited about and
when our when we have our conversations with Matty Benier's
and I talked in my first comments about just players
wanting to be here and wanting to have success like
that first year for Matty Benier's when he played fourteen
playoff games, that was important for his understanding of what

(24:35):
it takes to be in the playoffs, what it takes
to have success not only in the regular season, but
moving forward there. So I'm ecstatic that there'res in this organization.
There's a culture of winning in the Coachella Valley. There's
a culture of our players having success as a group.
Now we have to find ways to get back to that.
But from a coaching standpoint, I think there's so many

(24:55):
resources at their disposal here and they're excited about what
we've you know, as I'm alluded to, whether we free
just want to come here, young players coming up through
our system, to me, it's a great opportunity moving forward
here for them.

Speaker 11 (25:08):
Grandam Oscaz king five sports, what are you looking for
for in the next head coach?

Speaker 14 (25:13):
The last TU didn't have.

Speaker 7 (25:18):
I would say that's an excellent question from that standpoint,
Like I think you look at it's the balance of
finding ways to continue to develop our young talent. You know,
I think it's always a fine balance for coaches to
open things up, allow for the offense to grow, but
also keep the details. From a defensive standpoint, and you know,

(25:40):
I alluded to earlier about just our NetFront presence in
the offensive zone, but also the defense zone. I look
at our defense being a strong group that should be
one of the key elements of our organization and our
team's success, and the numbers this year just don't show
it from that standpoint. So that was disappointing there. But

(26:00):
I think we can talk about players coming in and everything,
but once again we've talked about our younger players have
to continue to develop and showing that development is going
to allow us to get to obviously the playoffs and
our future success.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
All Right, you have been listening to the live news
conference of the Cracking Community ice Plex with owner Sam Holloway,
Todd light Wiki, new GM Jason Bodil, and former GM
now new President of Hockey Operations Ron Francis. Major changes
made in the Kracking organization. Much more to come here
from the Kracking Community ice Plex. We'll take a quick break,
come back with more. Nine three point three KJFM.

Speaker 16 (26:38):
You're listening to the home of the Husky, the Kracking
and Seattle's best NFL Draft coverage gen the twenty twenty
five NFL Draft. Now back to Ian Fernanz, probably brought
to you by Snowball me Casino on Sports Radio ninety
three point three kjr FM.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
All right, welcome back with the thirty two part and
girl Cracking Community ice Plex today. News commerce still going on.
There's still some conversations down. They're actually having it in
the lobby of the main entrance of the Cracking Community
ice Plex. I'm upstairs with a thirty two bar and
grill set up up here. But you got the nuts
and bolts of it. You got pretty much what was
going on. Ron Francis will join us coming up at
two o'clock and we'll go through some things there. I

(27:18):
know Andrews has some questions he asked me in the break,
and we'll get to those in the next segment.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
Let me play catch up.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
Here if I can not catch up like on the fries,
but catch up with what we got to do. We
got the cash contest sports right at ninety three point
three KJFM brings you the Grand Slam Cash for your
chance in one thousand dollars every hour. Listen each weekday,
every hour between six a seven p for the nationwide
keyword to enter on our website at ninety three to
three KJR dot com.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
This hour's word is grand. It is grand.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
Go enter that right now at ninety three to three
KJR dot com. We didn't get to that because the
owner of the Crack and Sam Holloway was speaking right
as we came out of the break at the top
of the hour, and frankly, I'll be honest with you,
not many owners in our town, if any, are present
for big events and news conferences and answering questions from
the media. So I did not want to step on
this Halloway there at the start of the app. Oh,
now it is it is. It is refreshing to have

(28:09):
the owner there when you're making big changes and tough
changes and firing people and they're to answer questions. It's
fair refreshing. Yeah, I'll just leave it at that. It's
refreshing to have the owners be accountable. Let's just well,
move on, okay, I want to Normally on Tuesdays, it's
time of the year, we would have had Joe Shean on,
but we had to postpone that because of the news

(28:31):
conference at WON. Normally we'd have Steve Palazola on, but
we told Steve, hey, we're not really sure how long
things is going to go, so obviously we didn't have
Steve on today. Rest assured we have plenty of draft
coverage coming this week. We have plenty of draft coverage
coming this week. That this will not be the last
time today I tease this, but I will. I want
to make sure people know this. We didn't have great

(28:52):
co cell on last week, but we have great co
cell on this week. Not for one, not for two,
not for three, Lebron four at least four segments. So
about an hour and a half tomorrow, Hugh Millin and
Greg Cosell talking Seahawks draft, what the needs are, what

(29:14):
about the offseason moves kind of an all encompassing thing.
And if you remember what we did back in the fall,
right just oh yeah, I think it was bye week.
In fact, I don't think I know it was bye week.
The bye week during the fall when there was no
game for Greg Cosell to break down on that Friday,
we had Greg on the show and we had the

(29:36):
segment with Hugh Millen and Greg, and I think it
went like an hour where we just kind of did
a mid season review of where the Seahawks were. And
I know we had a lot of great feedback on that.
A lot of our listeners really enjoyed having those two
guys who have known each other for years and have
great respect for each other, just just talk football and
talk Seahawks football. So I thought, you know what'd be
fun is if we did that pre draft and how

(29:58):
much draft we get into, not sure how much, but
we're gonna start with the off season and what they
have and haven't done in the off season, what's going
on with that. So that's coming up tomorrow, starting at
one o'clock. So a little different format tomorrow, a little
different way of doing things tomorrow, but we're gonna have
that coming up tomorrow at one o'clock with Hugh and
with Greg Cosell. And what I told Hugh, to be

(30:21):
honest with you, I said, Hugh, I just you take
over you you take it.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
Where you want. I'll get us in and out of
the breaks sort of maybe on time.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
Yeah, maybe you.

Speaker 17 (30:30):
Did really well. Actually yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
We'll we'll do that. That's coming up tomorrow on the show.
So Hugh and Greg Coasell pre Draft show special brought
to you by Seattle Cider. Also I would kind of
lump in there what the Seahawks have done in the
off season special as well. So the minds of Milling
and Cosell tomorrow coming up at one o'clock. So really

(30:52):
special pre draft show. Can't wait for that coming up tomorrow.
All right, we'll take a break, we'll come back. We'll
kind of put a bow on the first hour, including
the news conference you just heard right here on KJR.
You're home for the Seattle Cracket and your best NFL
Draft coverage. Will do that next night three point three
ky your FM.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
All right, we're back. I like the music.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
Well, don anders are you having that PTSD? You're on
your are?

Speaker 18 (31:21):
We are?

Speaker 5 (31:22):
We are?

Speaker 1 (31:25):
I'm not having PTSD, although I did see our great
producer Scott Malone earlier and Ryan Shaver, and that's weird.
The whole weekend without doing any games was very strange.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
I didn't like it.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
I'll be honest with you. I didn't like it at all.
Really kind of missed it. Wow, kind of missed it? Well,
I miss I mean, I think it's because of the playoffs.
It's our daily power play. We should tell you this.
I want to get to a couple of other things
besides hocking. A second, but daily power played by by
Isquahanda Kaboda. The largest inventory of Kumoda tractors and construction
equipment in King County, plus with steel and Honda power
tools is the Kuahanda Cabota. Your one stop shop is

(31:59):
quahd a Combota right off fin ninety Exit fifteen, largest
inventory compote equipment in King County. Obviously, the big news
cracking yesterday firing head coach Dan Bilesman after one season,
Jason Boderaw moving into the GM spot he was the
assistant GM before. Also Ron Francis moving up to team president.
Ron will join us coming up here at two o'clock.
I was just noticing and Anders has a question about

(32:21):
the hockey.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
I'll get to that a second.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
So last night in the NHL playoffs and the NBA playoffs,
I'm not sure if you guys, I'm assuming you no
baseball yesterday, right, people were probably watching some other things,
right and the yeah, I don't get to the NBA
in a second, because it was almost almost as good.
So this is the sket this was last night in
the NHL. These are the final scores three two in overtime,

(32:43):
two to one in regulation, four to three in overtime,
six or five in regulation with the final goal scored
in the final minute. That every game last night in
the NHL playoffs, all one, two, three, four of them
were decided by one goal. Two went to overtime last night.
NBA was almost as good last night. It was quite

(33:04):
but almost as good. Pistons over the Knicks one hundred
and ninety four and a six point game, Pistons winning
on the road to even that series one game apiece,
and Clippers Nuggets that series is tied one game apiece
after the Clippers come back to beat the Nuggets one
o five, one oh two. So a three point game there,
a six point game, and every NHL game last night
decided by one goal? Did you have enough to do

(33:24):
last night as a sports fan, like like, this is
the greatest, this is the greatest time of the year.
And yes, Anders, there was some multi screens going on
at one.

Speaker 19 (33:33):
Ye yes, yes, yes, yes, yes I was, but I
was mostly just going wait for it, back and forth.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
Ye, commercial comes, boom, flip it over.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Okay, there we go Big three by h Schrader to
knock out the Knicks, which I love to see.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
Ah, but you're a Celtics fan. Why is that not?

Speaker 2 (33:56):
Why would you?

Speaker 19 (33:57):
Because my aunt is a huge Knicks fan and we
text about the whole game. He and my my my
husband and my aunt actually started texting each other like
two years ago and I don't even know about it.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
So you're a Knicks fan kind of too.

Speaker 19 (34:08):
I root for my aunt. I root for the Knicks
as long as they're not playing the Celtics.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
How about that.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
This is a summer topic. But now you just got
me going like, there are certain I'm not a big
rules guy in sports. I mean, you you can do
whatever you want, but there are certain rules you need
to abide by. And I have to have this argument
with my wife all the time. Is from Alabama and
tries to explain to me she likes both Auburn and
Alabama and what no, whoa buddy.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
One hundred percent? You can't do that? No, And she's like,
just I can't you.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
Can like it's like how Ian's a closet forty nine
Ers fan.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
Yeah clause yeah if if if love hate or his hate, Sure,
that's exactly what I am.

Speaker 19 (34:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
No, that's about the furthest thing from the truth. But no,
it's it's Nicks. If you're a Celtics fan, which you
which I are, just cannot be a Knicks fan.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
It's just it's not I can.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
Root for the see Okay, but what's the reason you're
a Celtics fan.

Speaker 17 (35:03):
Because of Mike? For what I love?

Speaker 18 (35:05):
Right?

Speaker 5 (35:06):
You know?

Speaker 19 (35:07):
So I am a Celtics fan, and I also my
aunt is like the biggest Knicks fan ever.

Speaker 17 (35:13):
She is just like stat and she know ever, I.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Just think this is this is just beyond unacceptable.

Speaker 17 (35:19):
Will be unacceptable then like.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
Four nine four five one, that is the soon to
be named but right now unrestricted free agent text line
four nine four to five one, feel free to text
in right now I'm gonna messed up as just like
if you like, just now, I know Fane kind of
has these same rules, like he's got the Gonzaga you
doub love, which you really?

Speaker 2 (35:43):
I find that.

Speaker 19 (35:44):
That one's not as bad as mine to be honest,
he's in state. I I honestly, I'm I'm being very
genuine right now. I think that mine is worse.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yeah, it's close.

Speaker 19 (35:55):
It's because Gonzaga doesn't have a football team. I guess
that's where I don't thee but basketball.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Washington has a basketball team along.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
Not saying that, you know, you're sure they were last
place in the Big Ten this year.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
They were eighteenth out of eighteen.

Speaker 19 (36:09):
But yeah, we're Yeah, relegation is in soon order, I think,
But I no, no, I would I just say that,
like I think that Dix is more acceptable than mine.
Boston New York hate is at another level.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
What we could do with Jeff four nine four or
five one?

Speaker 17 (36:24):
Elliott Bay?

Speaker 5 (36:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (36:25):
What what can we do? Just is this is where
do we go?

Speaker 5 (36:29):
How do we do this?

Speaker 2 (36:29):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (36:31):
Mariners by the way, in action tonight? Uh, they're back
after a day off to starting a series in Bolston
against the Red Sox coming and as what do you
know about the Red Sox? You're mister Baseball Weekly? What's
the show called again?

Speaker 3 (36:44):
Mariners Weekly?

Speaker 2 (36:45):
Thank you?

Speaker 18 (36:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (36:45):
Red Sox can hit and they've actually got some pitching
this year too, So they're a pretty dang good team.
They they got some good young studs. I don't know,
they're a good team. That's it's gonna be a tough
series the Mariners. They they would be their fifth in
a row if they win it.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
We thought going into this road trip this was like
a like a pretty a barometer trip in a sense,
like let's see where these guys are, right, Like, are
they and take the series in Cincinnati? Okay, Reger whatever
they are? But you know, squeak out a couple wins
in Toronto over the weekend and I'll be you know,
extra innings and everything else that went on. But that's

(37:19):
typical Mariner baseball. Thing's gotta be close. But they get
the win. And you said, four straight series win in
their last ten nine and three in their last twelve
games as well. This team's this teams coming along Boston's
a test, is what you're telling me.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
This is a good test.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
Yeah, I think, especially because it's the type of team
they are with the ballpark they plan is very not
a good matchup for the Mariners because they like those
low scoring or pitching duels. That's not what these are
gonna be. These are gonna be you have to outscore
your problems here.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
Yeah, but you know what, you got a big old
green monster and you've got the power hitter that is
d mo.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
Dylan Moore, don't even get me started, Dylan Moore, you American.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
League Player of the week with the green monster staring
him in the face. H He's gonna put back to back.
He's gonna put back to back American League Player of
the League wards together and shut you the hell up,
is what he's gonna Don't.

Speaker 3 (38:07):
You hate him too?

Speaker 2 (38:09):
Well?

Speaker 1 (38:09):
When I heard he's kind of an ass hat, like,
I don't. I didn't really have any any feeling towards
him one way or the other. But I kind of
heard he's a kind of a donkey, So I don't know.
If that's the case, then I'm then I'm not a fan, right,
Like I don't. There's a I'm gonna use a term here,

(38:29):
there's kind of a tan of quality to him, right.

Speaker 3 (38:31):
Oh, well, now you can say that that tanna' is
not on the crack. And by the way, reading against Winnipeg, Oh.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Did you see him running around like this?

Speaker 1 (38:40):
God, he goes down like he got shot, like like
he's dead to the world and face down and meanwhile
the team's scoring a goal like.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
This total drama, queen.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
Every every check has to be like, if he doesn't
hit somebody, just make sure you jump up and hit
the glass. What sounds like he did with your stick. Yeah,
it's just no watching. And I like Winnipeg man, I
love Kevin Sheavel day off and I'm rooting for them,
and then I'm watching that nonsense and I'm like, Okay,
I can do without that. But uh yeah, I think
Demo seems like the Brandon tan of of of the

(39:14):
Marris just kind of like kind of a fan favorite.
But then the people that deal with him saying, yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:19):
Role player guy thinks he's way more important than.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
Yeah, that's that's yeah, yeah, hey role player guy.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
Demo is basically a fourth liner, but he thinks he's
a first line.

Speaker 17 (39:29):
Yes, it is that it is, Yes, I mean, does
he have that about him?

Speaker 1 (39:35):
That's what I hear. I'm not in the clubhouse, you
guys are. Yeah, okay, that's what I hear.

Speaker 3 (39:39):
I don't notice it because he doesn't talk to you.
He doesn't talk to anyone.

Speaker 17 (39:42):
Everybody talks to me.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
Yeah, listen, if you're going to be that guy, you
gotta be Willie Bloomquist and talk to everybody. Now, poor
Willy had to do. He was actually the team spokesman
for like three years because nobody else would talk. That
was the richest Pagan's time. Yeah, it's like will He's
like the only guy in the clubhouse. It's like I
didn't even play tonight. I know, but we need a
sound bite. But at least he would do it. It

(40:06):
sounds like this guy thinks I again fourth liner. He
thinks he's a first liner. And then he gets a
damn American League Player of the Week that should have
gone to Cal.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
I don't care.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
That should have been Cal's award. Should be Cal's award
every week. You know, I'll just give it to him
every week. Yeah, exactly, all right, we'll take We'll take
a break stick around nine three point three km now from.

Speaker 16 (40:26):
The Star Rentals Sports Tests Jordan ninety three point three
kJ r FM Sports Headlines.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
Head lines back to by Frost Brewed Corps. I choose chill,
lots of news and cracking land. We're here at the
thirty two bar and grill with the k c I
cracking letting. Dan Biles would go yesterday looking for a
new head coach, Ron Francis promoted a President of Hockey Operation.
Jason Bottrell takes over as a GM. We'll hear from
Ron Francis. Why will he's sitting right across from me.
We'll hear from him. Just a couple kind of confert
that we're gonna hear from me in a second.

Speaker 5 (40:52):
Yeah, as long as the thing works, I'll be.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
Getting Okay, there we go.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
In NHL playoffs last night, every game decided by one
goal to overtime games as well. UH Devils and Canes
tonight in game two sends leaves game to tonight. Panthers
Lightning Game one of that series. They're a little lake
getting going down there in Florida. They do things a
will slow down there. Wild and Golden Knight's Game two
tonight in Vegas as well. NBA playoffs a couple of

(41:17):
close ones last night. Pistons were the Nicks one one
hundred and ninety four climbers on the Nuggets one O
five one oh two. Men's and Manners begin a series
in Bostonday, looking for their fifth straight series win. Bryce
Miller gets to start for Seattle. Don't forget our cash
contest every hour Sports Radio ninety three point three KRFM
brings you the Grand Slam Cash if your chance at
one thousand dollars every hour. Listen each weekday between six

(41:39):
a seven p for the nationwide keyword to enter on
our website ninety three three KJR dot com. The word
this hour is money money. Go to nine three three
KGr dot com. Yeah, cash money baby, as in salary
cap money. We'll talk about that right now. Well, I appreciate,
I appreciate the music. I appreciate the music. Choyce Anders,

(42:02):
thank You're welcome. I don't think this is copyrighted if
we're using it on the Kraken flagship radio station. But
that's the KRACK and Hockey Network theme song done by
one Jerry Bruckhammer, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 5 (42:15):
Is that right? Yeah? Yeah, not bad?

Speaker 2 (42:19):
Who is it done by? Honzi? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (42:21):
Well Bruckhimer a friend of Jerry, a friend of Jerry's exactly.
Ron Francis is sitting down with me here. The thirty
two Bar and Grill news conference is over. Change has
been made, and I wanted to sit down and have
a conversation with Ron and kind of go through everything.
First of all, I appreciate you coming bye.

Speaker 5 (42:35):
Thank you, my pleasure. Glad to be here.

Speaker 1 (42:37):
It's been I'm sure a little bit of a whirlwind
over the last few days. At the same time, decisions
that are made that are significant, like your role, Jason's role,
and Dan being let go, I'm assuming those aren't done
in twenty four hours overnight.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
Correct.

Speaker 6 (42:52):
No, In the case of my role in Jason's roll,
this is something that's been in talks for well over
a year. You know, the timing of it maybe not
ideal with the you know, the changing of the coach
the day before, but this is something we've been talking
about and you know, there's probably more than a third
of the league using this kind of set up now.
And talk to a lot of those guys that have

(43:13):
done it, they feel that it's really beneficial and helping
move their programs forward. And you know, I look at Jason,
He's had a ton of experiences and assistant Jim been
in the chair before, and you know, I'm not getting
any younger, and he is young and got a lot
more energy, and at some point he was going to
get a job someplace, so this made perfect sense for

(43:34):
us to transition him into this role. And I'm excited
to continue to work with him moving forward.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Yeah, that's the conversations that are taking place between you
and Samantha and Todd and Victor and everybody else, and
with Jason involved. How much of it was, Hey, we
have this guy that's been here for a while now
and is probably going to be sought after by other teams.
We don't want to lose him. You want maybe do
some different things. Was that kind of what all went

(44:01):
into it.

Speaker 6 (44:02):
I would say that's part of it, but I don't
think that was the sole reason. Right, You're not just
going to make a change because you're worried about losing
somebody kind of thing. So we talked about it kind
of where we were. You know, it sounds wrong to
say this, but there is more than enough work for
one guy to do. I mean, you look at our staff.
We have seventy people. When you start factoring the people

(44:24):
that work in the office, our R and D team,
our amateur staff or pro staff, our part development staff.
You know, you got coaches and trainers, and that doesn't
include probably about another seventy eighty players. So there's a
lot of people you're trying to manage and stay on
top of and the word that some people said when
I talked to him in sort of researching this and
having the discussions with our ownerships, it sort of stops

(44:47):
from you, stops you from taking shortcuts, right, you have
the time to dig in and do things the right
way and properly. And you know, so we feel, you know,
with Jason stepping in the gym chair, there's a lot
of the day to day stuff he'll deal with, and
then there's a lot of other things that will keep
me busy and involve, which is what I want to do.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
Leadership point out too that in the organization itself, others
in upper management have moved around as well, right, Like,
this isn't unique just to the hockey side. I mean
Todd LAIWICKI I don't know how many different titles he's
had since he came here. But and I say that
with all due respect, like Todd's you know, he's he's
that Victor de Bonus came in in a some almost
on the business side, similar situation. Victor came in as
kind of maybe the Jason Boderel the business. As Todd's

(45:29):
moved up the ranks, it has more of a broader
view of things, so that's something the organization has done before,
even on the business side.

Speaker 5 (45:35):
Yeah, I know, it's definitely none on this.

Speaker 6 (45:37):
You know, Todd one from president moved up and Victor
stepped in as president. You know, Samantha Holloway, our owner
coming in and spending you know, more days in the
office and being around that kind of shuffle things a
little bit too as well. And you know, like I said,
this has been prevalent around the league. I mean, Vegas
was probably one of the first ones a long time ago,
and George McFee stepped up and gave it to Kelly mccrimmin.

(45:57):
And then probably the most recent is what happened in
Washington with Brian McClellan and Chris Patrick.

Speaker 5 (46:03):
So it's around.

Speaker 6 (46:05):
I talked to a lot of different people and kind
of researching and talking about this and and our discussions.
We think it's going to help us move things forward,
and that's what we're excited about.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Vancouver does it too, right, They got Patrick galteen and
then Jim Rotherford.

Speaker 5 (46:18):
Yeah, so just they have it. Calgary, Toronto, there's there's
a lot of this.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
So this is in a lot of ways in northdo Yeah,
for what are you looking forward to doing next, Like,
in terms of this new role, what are the things
that maybe you didn't have time for before that you
feel I can really help move this organization faster forward.
Like you said, some of the things that you kind
of look forward to doing in the spring, in the
summer of the fall.

Speaker 6 (46:41):
Yeah, you know, I think one of my strongest suits
is is being able to watch players and make a
quick assessment on who they are and what they are
capable of. And you know, the press conference is today.
I'm on a flight to Dallas for that for the
U eighteen tournament. That's going a lot of kids in
this year's drafts. So with the amount of picks we have,
it's important do they get my eyes on that see

(47:01):
that might not have been something I could do for
you know, an extended period of time in the past
where I might be watching one video other things, but
see them live I think is valuable. I can get
the Coachella Valley, I can spend time with our prospects there.
I can get on the road with our amateur staff
or our pro staff and help in regards to draft
eligible guys, whether it's free agents, trade possibilities. I can

(47:22):
get on the road with our player development staff and
kind of look and assess the players that we have,
and you know, it's such a critical part of the
process to make sure that we're getting those decisions quick
as we can and as accurate as we can, so
we make decisions, right, is this somebody we want to keep?
Is this somebody we want to move in a deal?
So those are all important things. And just even with

(47:43):
our own team here, like you know, you walk into
the room as the GM and everybody kind of hesitates
a little bit, you know, And if I don't have
that title, I can you know, have those conversations with
Matty Benier's or Shane Wright or Ryker Evans, and you know,
in Berkeley the cat hear have those conversations and try
and mentor these young kids to get them to where

(48:04):
we wanted to get to a quicker Hopefully.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
The guys that sit in your role, whether it be
GM or president, inherently probably also are scouts at hard right,
And you mentioned it. I mean, I'm sure there's a
number of times, especially now that you've got this we're
four years into it. We have this pool of players
just in our area. You've got two kids up in Everett,
you got a kid in Spokane, you got a kid

(48:27):
in Portland.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
I'm sure there's a lot of nights.

Speaker 1 (48:29):
You say it'd be great to jump up to Everett
or down to show where, maybe take a quick flight
over to Spokane to watch Berkeley and what have you.
You probably didn't have that opportunity before and now you can.
Like you said, watching them in person tells you a
lot more, doesn't it.

Speaker 5 (48:40):
It does tell you a lot more.

Speaker 6 (48:42):
I mean, we do have the capability and the access
to watch anybody who wants shifts on video. As soon
as their game is done, we can pretty much start
watching it.

Speaker 5 (48:51):
So that is a valuable tool.

Speaker 6 (48:53):
But I think getting out in the field live and
watching things kind of where I cut my teeth in
the business too. I started in player development and then
progress through that up the ranks to assistant gym and
coaching and finally a GM. So I that's something that
I enjoy. It's something that I enjoy being a part of.
You know, it's interesting. My boys are in the organization,

(49:13):
so I get to go sit and watch a hockey
game with my son and talk about what he sees
and what I see and how that works, and so
I I you know, I'm excited about that part. You know,
in my relationship with Jason, it's not like I'm saying, hey,
good luck, see you later. You know, we'll have those discussions,
the hard discussions on players, and you know, we're not

(49:34):
always going to agree, and that's that's good, right. We
shouldn't agree on everything, but we're gonna have those discussions
and we'll work well together to make sure that we
do everything we possibly can to continue to improve the
Crackit organization.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
Ron Francis here with us run in this market. A
lot of our listeners are you know, most of their
listeners are probably baseball marinor fans as well. Mayors have
a similar setup, different sports, similar set up, the Adreda
Poto and then they got Justin Hollander. We all believe
that the Bucks stop with Jerry, not Justin Justine still
he's named GM, but kind of an assistant GM. What
about in this organization? What what kind of responsibility and

(50:08):
final decision making does Justin have compared to Ron Francis.

Speaker 6 (50:11):
It's funny you brought up Jerry because we're good friends,
and he sent me a text today saying regrets in
the president. I said, I just want to be like you, buddy,
But yeah, I no, you know, we had this discussion.
We had it with with Jason, we had it with ownership.
I strongly believe before asking Jason to sit in the
chair and handle the day to day operations, that people
have to know that he has final say if he

(50:34):
goes in the locker room. Players have to know that,
you know, staff has to know that. So we will
have the discussions, and you know he will. He will
have those conversations with me because I believe he values
my opinion. And uh, but at the end of the day,
if I'm asking him to sit in the chair, he
has to have the ability to make the call that
he thinks is best for the organization. And I think

(50:55):
that's the only only right way to do it for us.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
The last big move that you made obvious so you'd
be born moving to the new role, was you were
the one that let Dan Biles might go.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
What went into that decision?

Speaker 6 (51:07):
Yeah, I mean, it's that's never easy. Dan is a
terrific person. You know, he and Mary Beth have done
so much for this organization. You know, he was here
for one year, but he was with us for four, right,
you know, people sometimes forget that and just terrific people
and can't say enough good things about who they are
and wishing all the best. You know, sometimes you have

(51:28):
to make tough decisions. When we went into the season,
I had expectations for our team, you know, I thought
we could play a certain way.

Speaker 5 (51:38):
A lot of.

Speaker 6 (51:39):
Nights I wasn't comfortable with what I saw, whether it
was a structure in the D zone or new to
zone or little details that I think maybe I think
we should have been more on top of our capable
of doing. And at the end of the day, I
feel our team is better than we performed this year.
And the easy thing would have been to say, hey,

(52:00):
all right, you know what didn't go well this year,
Let's let's give it another season. Let's see what happens
next year. The hard decision is to do the one
we did, because you know, he was on the job
for one year, one year, so you know, I just
felt it was the decision we had to make to
move us forward. You know, Jason and I talked about this,

(52:23):
We're in agreement on it, and you know, we don't
have a guy that we say this is our replacement
right now. There's going to take time to go through
that process, but we just felt based on how this
season went and where we were at, we wanted to
make a change and try something different moving forward.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
You can't make that move without the support of ownership
because you have to go back and say, hey, Sam,
we need.

Speaker 2 (52:48):
To hire another coach.

Speaker 1 (52:49):
We'll have effectively three coaches on the payroll least for
one year, three head coaches. Not every ownership group, not
every organization, would say go for it if you think
this is the right move. So what does that say
about the ownership?

Speaker 6 (53:00):
What was that conversation like, yeah, I mean, listen, it's
never a fun conversation to go tell them we're gonna
add more money to the payroll. But from day one,
our ownership is and I've said this, they've been fantastic.
And you know, in building our rink, there was probably
areas they could have cut corners on and they said no.
I remember one thing we were talking about the sweets

(53:21):
and Bondo didn't like it, and he brought in Rockwell
and they said, what is this going to cost us more?
And they said something like thirty million dollars and he said,
we haven't cut corners. Now we're not going to stop.
He wanted it done right. Same thing with our practice facility.
You know, I still think it's the best in the league.
The way we treat our players and their families, the
way we travel, where we stay on the road is

(53:42):
all first class. They don't cut corners. They want to
do it right, and they want to be successful and
at the end of the day, they want to win.
So it's not an easy conversation to have, but they're
firmly behind trying to get this thing right and win
hockey games. And that's why they're willing to make make

(54:02):
the agree and make the hard decisions like we had
to make the other day.

Speaker 1 (54:05):
I know it's kind of a jacent question, but what
do you think the timeline is on a coach? Would
you like one before the draft?

Speaker 5 (54:11):
Yeah? I think we should have one, hopefully before the draft.

Speaker 6 (54:14):
I mean, there's so many things that go into it, right,
you know, is the person you know yet to be fired?
Is the person already fired? You need permission for teams
to talk to players, if or to coaches. If you
know somebody is on somebody else's staff, you have to
wait and and see how their things go. It could

(54:34):
be at the NHL level, could be the HL level.
You know, the coaches are all done now in college
you can look at that, and junior some of them
are still playing. So there's there's a lot of things
a factor into your decision. But you know, we've already
worked on a list that we think, uh, you know,
has has some real good names on it, and we'll
work through that list as quickly as we can and

(54:55):
make the right decision for the organization.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
Just prior NHL head coaching experience. Is that a necessity
or not. I don't think it's a necessity, you know.
I you know, a good friend of mine is al famous,
and I remember having a conversation with him and he said,
everybody tells me I got no head coaching experience. And
he said, but nobody will give me a job to
be a head coach. How do I get that experience?

Speaker 6 (55:14):
So, you know, I think having head coaching experience somewhere
is valuable, whether that's at the American League level or
college level or junior level. I think being in charge
and showing what you can do when you're in charge
is important. But I don't think necessarily having to have
an HL head coaching experiences as a deal worker or not.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
What will they inherit the new head coach with this
hockey team.

Speaker 6 (55:38):
Well, you know, I think we have a good team.
I think we've got some good veteran pieces, some core pieces.
We've got some real good young talent in our lineup
that we're expecting to take another step moving forward next year.

Speaker 5 (55:50):
You know, we.

Speaker 6 (55:52):
Forget sometimes how young they are. Matty Beneer's just turned
twenty two this year, Shane Wright just turned twenty one,
and they're playing a tough position in center. Then the
National Hockey League, you know, rikers, young ties, young, you know,
Coco really and all things that. We've got a lot
of young players that need to take steps. We've got
a lot of good pieces that are going to push
in training camp. So getting you know, the coach to

(56:15):
understand that and what we have and and help make
those assessments and and you know, willing to work with
those guys and continue to develop them because we think
those are key pieces for us moving forward and taking
steps as an organization. So he's going to step into
an ownership group and a and a management team that's
going to support him. He's gonna have top notch facilities,

(56:37):
and he's going to have players that want to win
and be successful. So we think there's a lot to
like about this situation and this opportunity. And I'm sure
somebody will feel the same way that we hire.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
Do you think I mean, but no state income tax
it helps too.

Speaker 5 (56:52):
That doesn't hurt either. Yeah, I think.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
That's when people tend to forget sometimes no state income
tax are for players.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
Or coaches coming in.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
Yeah, I mean, young guys assume me, you know, the
Kappo Coco comes back and the you know, the newman.
It's gonna probably take that step next year. I mean,
what we saw from him looks like he's real close.
I know you've told us before on TV and radio
that Berkeley's going to be here probably the start of
the season and some young guys pushing some guys trades fore.
You can see all that stuff that Jason's gonna worry about.
With your help and the and the offseason comes into play.

(57:19):
The one thing I'd wonder is, and it's been brought
up a few times, three coaches in three years or
three and five, how we want to look at it.
Do you think that's a detrimental. I think that worries
anybody that would want to come and take this job.

Speaker 6 (57:31):
I think there's thirty two coaching jobs in the National
Hockey League. If somebody gets the opportunity, you're going to
be excited about it. And we will have those discussions
behind closed doors as to why we made the changes
and what we're looking for. And I don't think that
will be an issue or stop somebody from from taking
the opportunity.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
Here.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
Where do you think we're going to be with this
team a year from now? Do you think we'll be
watching games on TV with other teams or do you
think this team can be a playoff team next year?

Speaker 6 (57:53):
Ron No, Listen, I firmly believe going into this season
this is the best team we had. I firmly believe
that we were capable of playing in the playoffs. You know,
I can't sit here and say it was injuries per
se we had. I think we had one hundred and
fifty some last year. This pie season we had like
one hundred and twenty, So it was less injuries. We
did have some key ones, obviously losing Ebbs for forty games.

(58:15):
Your captain, your voice in the locker room makes it
more challenging. Losing one of your top defensemen and done
for six weeks makes it challenging. Johanni Gord for two
months before we traded him.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
Those hurt Joey.

Speaker 6 (58:26):
Yeah, Joey first stretch, so you know, even Grooby for
a little bit. And we've had a lot of things
and everybody deals with that, So that's that's not an excuse.
But I firmly believe that we are capable of challenging
to be a playoff team, and that's the first step
getting in. But then we need to do it year
after year, being consistent and continue to build them what

(58:47):
we have and that's how you build a championship team.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
In the end, as you look back on your four
years as the general manager before moving to the present's role,
four years a GM, what are you most proud of?

Speaker 2 (58:58):
What do you like?

Speaker 1 (58:58):
What do you what do you look back and say,
this is this is what I really want to look at.
I mean, and there's wins and losses of playoff appearance,
things like that, but what what are you most proud of?
What you accomplished here in four years?

Speaker 6 (59:10):
You know, I think I think probably the people we
brought in and how we've built this and and we
did it all. I mean, nobody saw COVID coming, you know,
some of the stories, you know, sitting in my office
and looking at paint and tiles and carpet samples, and
trying to design a locker room or building downtown with

(59:32):
our our locker room at CPA and here, trying to
hire people to work for this organization, and a lot
of times not being able to travel to meet them
face to face, having to do that via zoom or
via phone. And I'm really proud of the people we have.
I'm really proud of what we've built. I think we're
closer than some people think after this season, and you know,

(59:53):
I'm excited and looking forward to UH to proving that
statement true.

Speaker 5 (59:58):
And h I didn't come here.

Speaker 6 (01:00:00):
I didn't move my family across the country to come here,
not to succeed.

Speaker 5 (01:00:03):
And that's still my goal.

Speaker 6 (01:00:05):
I want this organization to be successful and I want
to be a part of it when it is.

Speaker 1 (01:00:09):
I will say this, I'm glad you brought the COVID
because I was going to do that. I you know,
having been with the team on the road for a
few games the first year, whenever it was sick, and
some other things happened. Knowing the challenges once the season started,
with the end towards the tail end of COVID, I
can't even fathom what it was like putting everything together
before that and then running a hockey team in COVID,

(01:00:31):
people having to get tested in masks and all the things,
the challenges you had. That was a remarkable accomplishment just
to get through the season as a new team. And
I mean that, that to me jumps out, because that
was It's one thing to challenge to the challenge to
start an expansion team and hire everybody from scratch, every
interview being done on zoom and everything else.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
That's that's a remarkable thing.

Speaker 6 (01:00:50):
Yeah, I know it was. I mean, you know, and
you couldn't go out. We weren't allowed into the bubble
to scout because we weren't a team yet, so we
couldn't win. We had to watch our games on team
to scout leading up to the expansion until it loosened
up a little bit.

Speaker 5 (01:01:04):
You know.

Speaker 6 (01:01:04):
We built labs in the locker room here and at CPA.
Guys came to the rink every day, had to get tested. Yeah,
go back sitting in their car, wait for a result.
If it was green, they were able to come in
and practice. If it was red, they'd do a second test,
go sit in the car. If that one was still negative,
they had to go home. You know, we probably spent
a half a million dollars in just COVID testing that

(01:01:27):
one season. And I can tell you that if the
league had not shut down for those few days between
Christmas in January, I don't think we had enough healthy
players to put in a lineup for a couple of
those games, between what we had going.

Speaker 5 (01:01:38):
On here and what we had going on in the minors.

Speaker 6 (01:01:40):
So it was an interesting challenge, not something I want
to have to go through again, but you know, we
went through it.

Speaker 5 (01:01:48):
Like I said, we have good people.

Speaker 6 (01:01:49):
They care and and you know we're all in this
together to build a winning team and that's what our
goal is.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Well, and we'll still see you around, still busy doing
what you want to do.

Speaker 5 (01:01:59):
You won't get rid of that easy. I'll be around.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
You know what you have to do more TV with
us next year.

Speaker 5 (01:02:03):
I'll be happy to.

Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
Bett'll probably Bet will probably change you down for radio
as well. So just just to know all those things.
Appreciate the last four years as a GM. Looking forward
to working with and meeting Jason as well. But appreciate
all you've done too here in Seattle.

Speaker 5 (01:02:16):
My pleasure.

Speaker 6 (01:02:17):
I appreciate everything you've done for us, and I really
enjoyed watching on our broadcast this year.

Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
So well, there's any success there, there's one, Brommer. Uh,
there's one. I appreciate you for you. Yeah, you know what,
I'm not going to be shut out. I like that
you have to start some place. I'm not even sure
my wife voted for me. All right, that is Ron
Francis will take a break. Check the text line four
nine four five to one.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
Coming up next.

Speaker 16 (01:02:41):
You're listening to the Home of the Husky, the Kraken
and Seattle's vest NFL Draft coverage gen the twenty twenty
five NFL Draft. Now back to Ian Fernez, probably brought
to you by Snowball Me Casino on Sports Radio ninety
three point three kJ R FM.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
All right, we were back a shoe brought to you
by Sol collom Me Casino let usno casino dot com.
So it's close at casino and hotel opening up this
summer Sportsbook two. We'll get some texts in the second
and there's real quick You asked me a question earlier
about the interview or the conversation.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
Yeah, I think just it's less a question more of
an observation. I want to just know how you how
you feel about it as someone who is a little
bit closer to the situation than I am, just optically
as a fan of the Kraken. When you fire your
head coach but then promote your GM, that tells me
there's some kind of disconnect because usually it's like, Okay,
it's either one you fire the head coach and fire

(01:03:39):
the GM, like start all over, or you fire the
head coach and you kind of keep your job. The
GM's kind of not on the hot seat. But that's
the next step, you know. That's where I kind of
think the Seahawks are right they fired the head coach
with Pete Carroll coming to Mike McDonald, But you never
see it going the opposite way, right, So I'm just
curious on your thoughts on how that would look to

(01:04:00):
a fan.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
Yeah, I can understand the optics of it. I think
there's a lot of optics that I think people have
questions about is you know, I mean, you fire Dan Biosma,
but at least Jessica Campbell's sticking. I mean, there's those optics.
There's the optics of Ron firing a coach and then
getting bumped up and promoted the next day. I think
that the NHL, and I thought he did a pretty
good job of articulating this understanding that the NHL does

(01:04:24):
this model more often, yeah, than other teams. It's not
quite half the league, but it's over a third at
least twelve now thirteen. I guess teams have this president
and then of hockey operations and a general manager because
of the way it works.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
And I know.

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
People are absolutely just going to just despise the Mariner comparison.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
I get it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
I know, I mean Ron's buddies with Jerry and reference that.
I already saw the text people, Oh you know, it's
you know, that's fine. I think the reality of this sport,
and kind of with baseball as well, on set is true.
You almost do need that person that's at thirty thousand

(01:05:05):
feet that is overlooking the entire organization, because it's not
just the twenty two players or twenty players that are
here in Seattle. It's another twenty that are in Coachella Valley,
and then there's another thirty that are signed playing elsewhere,
whether it be junior hockey, maybe they're unsigned, still playing college,
maybe they're playing in Europe. And this broaden net of

(01:05:27):
and it's a lot like baseball, where you've got you know,
it's not just the Mariners, it's Tacoma, it's Arkansas, it's Everett,
it's are the nuts still around Modesto?

Speaker 5 (01:05:34):
Whoever?

Speaker 1 (01:05:35):
It is right like, you've got this this big group
of players, and you know, the scouting day to day,
whether it be amateur scouting for guys you're going to
draft or players that you already have drafted and having
remember the NHL, you draft a guy, you don't have
to sign them. You have to decide whether or not
to sign him. He mentioned Tyson Jugnath from up the
Portland Hahawks. He's on side. He hasn't assigned yet, Like

(01:05:56):
they've got to make a decision on him. Are they
going to sign him or not. He's going to go Actually,
I think Ron s going to go up there tonight
and watch Everett and in Portland play. He's got two
players from Everett that are that are drafted haven't been
signed yet, and they've got to also juggnat through. They've
got to decide if they're going to sign too. So
there's a lot to do besides worry about the team
day to day. So I understand the optics. I would
say that this has been in the I know that.

(01:06:16):
I can tell you for a fact. I asked him,
but he told you. But I'll tell you too, I've
known this has been in the works for a long time. Okay,
and Ron was the guy that fired by ALSMA. They
didn't want Jason Botdrill's first active business to be a
decision that was already you know, that had probably been
made a few weeks ago by a group as an organization.

Speaker 2 (01:06:33):
So I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
Hopefully that explains it. I know, I see like, oh,
you know, you work for your softballing and I get that.
I'm just trying to explain to you what's going on.
And I've been critical of this team. I don't think
like like, if you've listened to this show, I'll tell
you when I think things aren't good, right, you know,
I mean, and I think that they're trying to do
the best, and I think the bottom line is they're
never going to be complacent.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
And I think you have to appreciate.

Speaker 3 (01:06:55):
The other thing I noticed, and I want to get
your thoughts on from the press conference because we didn't
really get a chance to follow up on that was
I don't know what your thoughts on, but I was
a little disappointed in the kind of focus on the
long term aspect of things. And I get this this organizations,
this is only their fourth year, they just completed, but
me as a fan, I kind of want to see

(01:07:16):
a little bit of sense of urgency where this should
be a team, a team that's competing next year. And
I get they said that multiple times, but it seemed
like their rationale for a lot of these moves were
because Ron did such a good job kind of laying
the foundation and we have this prospect to pull the
pull from. And I don't think that was ever a negative.
I just think it was the the NHL team that's

(01:07:37):
really the only thing that's kind of lagging a little
behind it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:40):
If they were, if it wasn't, if there was no
sense of urgency and it was all long term, they
wouldn't fire Bilesma. Okay, I think it's simple as that
all right, all right, Yeah, they expect to be in
and want to be in the.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
Playoffs next year, so that's fair.

Speaker 1 (01:07:52):
All right, let's get some text four on four or
five to one. Oh, jest crushed.

Speaker 17 (01:07:59):
I'm getting right, I mean rightfully, so I get it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:03):
But you brought this up earlier.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
We were talking about all the close games last night
in the playoffs, and there were a ton of them.
NBA had a six point game in a three point game,
the NHL had four one goal games last night. I
said something about, good job on the Pistons beating the Knicks.
Just didn't like that because she's apparently a Knicks fan.
But maybe he's listening to in the thirty seconds, knows

(01:08:25):
that you're a Celtic fan. But diere a Celtic fan.

Speaker 19 (01:08:28):
I am number one overall. I just love their team
so much. But that doesn't mean that what am I
going to root for the Pistons.

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
This is like a dog rooting for Nike. You will
never bleeping happen.

Speaker 19 (01:08:38):
Since the Fortune, though, I do think that I'm worse
than Fain, though I will take that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
Ben says, Oh, this is Fane. You dub Gonzaga all
over again.

Speaker 17 (01:08:51):
I mean, I think I'm worse.

Speaker 2 (01:08:53):
By fandom, Jess as by two six.

Speaker 3 (01:08:57):
And I like that.

Speaker 17 (01:08:58):
I would just like you know that I'm a Bye fan.

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
You are a fan I am.

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
But the thing is, thank god your you, Jess, because
there's other people that there'd be a human resources report
right now going.

Speaker 17 (01:09:09):
In we have human resources.

Speaker 2 (01:09:11):
No, we don't. You know that. I know that softy
every day.

Speaker 19 (01:09:15):
No, yeah, I will say though, if the Celtics were
playing the Knicks, which they reasonably could, then I would
be rooting for the Celtics.

Speaker 1 (01:09:23):
Let's wait to get to that now, you know what,
and you know what, I'm rooting for that to happen.

Speaker 2 (01:09:27):
I'm rooting for the Celtics and then they can both
to win. I want to see it. I want to
see how tormented.

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
She either asked what she is She has root against
her husband or against her aunt, and it will be
eating her alive.

Speaker 2 (01:09:38):
And we will care to we will care. We will
bring that up every damn.

Speaker 17 (01:09:42):
Now you have a reason to root for both teams.

Speaker 2 (01:09:45):
There we go.

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
Let's see Tana was the man who genobily of hockey.

Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
I do remember.

Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
Only that's funny.

Speaker 2 (01:09:55):
That's a great poll.

Speaker 1 (01:09:58):
Jess should be a fan of her local teams from
growing up. So she grew up on Long Island, she
should be a fan of New York teams. Boston, she'd
be your hated rivals. What are we doing?

Speaker 5 (01:10:06):
Okay?

Speaker 19 (01:10:06):
Well, first of all, okay, I grew up a Mets Jets.
I hate the Patriots. That's Jets Islanders, right, So I
actually I hate the Rangers more than I hate the Bruins.
I hate the Yankees more than actually I hate the
Yankees and the Red stuff equally.

Speaker 17 (01:10:22):
So I do have fandom.

Speaker 19 (01:10:24):
It's just that when you're talking about a L, n
L or AFC, NFC, I do have some.

Speaker 3 (01:10:29):
By curiosity question, Jess go, do you have yeah? By curiosity,
my god, I'm do you have stronger sports hate or
sports love? Because I feel in some cases for me,
I have stronger sports hate than I do sports.

Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
I think most sports fans do.

Speaker 19 (01:10:48):
When it comes to the NFL, I hate the Patriots
more than I love other teams.

Speaker 17 (01:10:52):
Yes, so I so for the NFL.

Speaker 19 (01:10:54):
But like I said, I dabble, you doubt I'm polysports arests.

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
All kinds of new terms, new terms here today a
Celtics and Knicks fan.

Speaker 2 (01:11:06):
What you yeah, he's a red and nope, probably like
the Jets and.

Speaker 17 (01:11:10):
Patriots, Yes and nope.

Speaker 1 (01:11:13):
Yeah, that's an interesting dynamic. We you should get into
at some point that like hate more so than love.

Speaker 3 (01:11:20):
I know that's the case for college football with me,
because I don't really have a college football team that
I've followed.

Speaker 19 (01:11:25):
Yeah, it's easy, though, it's really we all hate them.

Speaker 2 (01:11:28):
I like them.

Speaker 17 (01:11:28):
Actually, do you like them when they're playing?

Speaker 1 (01:11:32):
Because I like them because every time they it's kind
of like I like I Yeah, like the I I
feel that way towards Washington, and like when Washington wins,
I feel like, you know, I've lost part of my soul.
And but when Oregon wins and Oregon wins and it
makes Husky fans upset, that gives me great.

Speaker 3 (01:11:49):
George, rather a Husky loss or a Coog win.

Speaker 2 (01:11:52):
Oh well, coog win.

Speaker 1 (01:11:54):
But okay, actually, this year, I don't know. This year,
Barnes storming, weird independent schedule. We're playing I don't really care.

Speaker 2 (01:12:01):
We got some good guess, jess. We're playing Oregon State twice.

Speaker 17 (01:12:06):
We're also playing UVA, jmu Ole miss.

Speaker 18 (01:12:09):
All on the road.

Speaker 2 (01:12:10):
Oh yeah, I can't wait for the James Madison.

Speaker 17 (01:12:12):
That's a great mu is a very good I said it.

Speaker 2 (01:12:19):
You're more of a Homer than I am.

Speaker 19 (01:12:21):
Very Hey, they're actually a legit team. Sure, okay, well
it's just like Boise State used to be make up.

Speaker 2 (01:12:27):
But we're playing for a conference title again. That's in
a year.

Speaker 17 (01:12:30):
All right, that's in two years ago.

Speaker 2 (01:12:31):
All right, we're good. We're all good.

Speaker 1 (01:12:33):
Here we'll be joined by mister Maller next. All right,
a couple things. Softy joined us one. As we mentioned,
uh after today, it's all draft all the time the
rest of the week on this particular show from one
to three, we got a big day.

Speaker 2 (01:12:54):
Hugh millon radio tomorrow. I should point.

Speaker 20 (01:12:56):
Out Maller mill and Million Maller Draft. Before that, you've
got the mind of Millin along with the mind of
Great co Sell on my show for probably at least
an hour and a half tomorrow talking about the draft
and the Seahawks O season moves.

Speaker 21 (01:13:13):
Yeah, by the way, okay, good, so you've heard ye.

Speaker 1 (01:13:20):
Anyway, that's tomorrow, Great co Sale Hugh Millan on this show.
Before Hugh heads to the Queen aneerall and does the
Millan Maller Maler, Millan mock draft.

Speaker 21 (01:13:29):
How about if the crack and called that press conference
for Thursday at five o'clock.

Speaker 1 (01:13:33):
Well, here's the thing I'm gonna I'll give you a
little insider trading tip tip.

Speaker 2 (01:13:38):
They trading.

Speaker 1 (01:13:40):
They knew that the John Schneider press conference was yesterday
at once, they knew the draft is coming up on Thursday,
and they said, well, we're probably gonna do something on
Tuesday for all our moves.

Speaker 2 (01:13:53):
So that's what they did.

Speaker 18 (01:13:54):
Smart smart move.

Speaker 2 (01:13:56):
But hey, real fast, little sad news. You remember this
name Mike Patrick.

Speaker 1 (01:14:00):
Yeah, yeah, former voice of Sunday Night Football for eighteen
years on ESPN. He was honestly maybe one of the
most underrated play by play guys ever.

Speaker 21 (01:14:10):
Well, the greatest sole greatest job that Mike has passed away,
by the way, Yeah, he just died today at the
age of eighty years old, longtime ESPN broadcaster. The greatest
job that Mike Patrick ever had was playing babysitter for
Joe Thiseman and Paul McGuire. Because if you ever watched
that Sunday Night Football broadcast, I have never really been
that broken up about a broadcast crew coming to an end.

Speaker 18 (01:14:30):
I was desponded the one up.

Speaker 21 (01:14:33):
Well, they were good together because Joe Thiseman and Paul
McGuire genuinely hated each other's guts. Yes, and it showed
on TV. Yes, I mean Thiseman would call him out,
tell him how dummy was. McGuire would call him ignorant
and stupid, blah blah blah. Yep, you're dumb. No, you're dumb,
you're old, No, you're blind. Are you're watching the game?
What the hell's wrong with you? It was freaking amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:14:52):
Correct.

Speaker 21 (01:14:52):
McGuire would just sit there and let these guys go
at it. Man, it was tremendous. So we don't we
don't have enough of that anymore on actual play by
play broadcast. Like remember when it was Bill Walton and
Snapper Jones every now and then we bust each other's
balls on TV. Yeah, doing the NBA for NBC. Those
guys would go out every now and then. And then
That's why I was so bummed about the Van Gundy

(01:15:15):
Mark Jackson group getting blown to bits.

Speaker 18 (01:15:17):
Because those guys would go with each other as well.

Speaker 1 (01:15:20):
They would agree they were a gang. Those two guys again.

Speaker 21 (01:15:23):
Van Gundy and Mark Jackson were great together and they
busted that up for what I think is a lesser
product to be totally honest.

Speaker 3 (01:15:28):
With, especially in Warriors games, because then they made fun
of Mark Jackson because they got good after you.

Speaker 18 (01:15:32):
Exactly, Yeah, so good, so good. It was like, it's
like what you see.

Speaker 21 (01:15:37):
For those that don't remember, those broadcast crews and the
Jackson van Gundy thing was like two years ago. It
was like the NBA on TNT the Inside the NBA
Show during a game, Yes, right, with Shaq and Kenny.

Speaker 18 (01:15:50):
And but by the way, how great would that be?
And those guys are losing basketball?

Speaker 21 (01:15:53):
I know that that's kind of a bummer that we
never got to see Shaq and Charles and Kenny and
Ernie all on of on an actual broadcast for a
game together.

Speaker 1 (01:16:02):
Yeah, they should have just regular They should have done
a regular season games because those seats are so worthless anyway,
you know, I mean.

Speaker 18 (01:16:08):
Something, man, Yeah what that heck man? Let him do?

Speaker 21 (01:16:11):
I mean, I'm sure Ernie's done play by play before, right,
Ernie Johnson, Come on, I remember.

Speaker 2 (01:16:16):
He did baseball. He did baseball play by play the NFL.

Speaker 21 (01:16:18):
Harland works for tnd TBS. He could step in and
do it with those guys. But Yeah, that's uh, I
forgot about Mapper Bill Walton. Snapper, Bill Walton was.

Speaker 2 (01:16:27):
A great They were a great tan.

Speaker 18 (01:16:29):
Did you ever meet him, Steve Jones, by the way,
he jes.

Speaker 2 (01:16:32):
He was in Portland on you met him a lot, right, Yeah.

Speaker 18 (01:16:34):
So he was a salty s o b very Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:16:36):
I hate to talk ill of the dead, but yeah,
he was. He was not a nice.

Speaker 18 (01:16:40):
Person, but he was a salty. That's why he said
salting instead of something else.

Speaker 2 (01:16:44):
By Yeah, he was not.

Speaker 1 (01:16:45):
But but the funny thing is is Walton was the
opposite of that, right, And but when they did stuff
to get when I know, when Snapper passed away that
you know, Bill Walton was the first to just kind.

Speaker 2 (01:16:54):
Of be broken up about it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:56):
And Bill was different on the broadcast back then than
he was the last few years of his tenure.

Speaker 2 (01:17:00):
But yeah, we're losing them, buddy, we're losing we are.

Speaker 21 (01:17:03):
Yeah, well you and I are next, by the way, Hey, yeah,
I think we'd be on that list, but we're you said.

Speaker 2 (01:17:08):
Text, I said it, text? Really, what was your problem?

Speaker 18 (01:17:10):
Ask and so Andrews?

Speaker 21 (01:17:12):
What would have been going on on your show at
one fifty one this afternoon that caused me to text
Ian the f question mark, question mark, question mark, what
was happening on your show at that time of day?

Speaker 18 (01:17:26):
What time? One? He loves you by the.

Speaker 2 (01:17:31):
Way, Yes it was Jessica's love.

Speaker 17 (01:17:34):
Yeah it was fandom.

Speaker 2 (01:17:36):
Yes that is she's a by fan.

Speaker 17 (01:17:39):
Yeah, thanks for leaving me out that text.

Speaker 21 (01:17:42):
You can ask texted, well, I know your problem. You're
messed up in the brain. If you Boston the Knicks
at the same time, you got a bigger problem. What
does root and freaking Okay, that was what we're going
to ask you.

Speaker 2 (01:17:52):
What's worse?

Speaker 18 (01:17:55):
I agree to Knicks.

Speaker 21 (01:17:56):
I mean, look, you dubbing Zaga fans don't like each other.
There's no question about that. Boston and New York fans
want to murder each other. Are you from either murder
each other.

Speaker 19 (01:18:06):
It's one thing if you're talking Jet's Patriots, another thing
if you're talking Yankees Red Sox.

Speaker 17 (01:18:10):
But this is completely different.

Speaker 19 (01:18:11):
I mean, if you're talking to me rooting for the
Pacers in the Knicks in the.

Speaker 18 (01:18:14):
Era that you're wrong, Hey, listen, you're right. You admitted
it in the air that you were that you were wrong.

Speaker 21 (01:18:21):
It's unacceptable that you are now going to be No,
it's not you said it, did I not hear Andrews?

Speaker 17 (01:18:27):
I said I'm worse than Dick.

Speaker 2 (01:18:29):
Wow, you know what I feel like it? Patrick, between Joe,
just kill the music.

Speaker 18 (01:18:37):
Kill the music for a second.

Speaker 21 (01:18:38):
If it's if it's unacceptable, how could you be worse
than Dick? You literally just admit it. It's unacceptable.

Speaker 17 (01:18:43):
I didn't say it's unacceptable.

Speaker 18 (01:18:45):
You just said it.

Speaker 17 (01:18:46):
I said that I'm worse than Dick.

Speaker 3 (01:18:48):
I'm hearing, I guess at the top of the show.
So we should probably break.

Speaker 2 (01:18:51):
Oh god, yeah, here we are.

Speaker 18 (01:18:54):
You're off the hook. You're on my hook.

Speaker 1 (01:18:55):
I'm Mike Patrick, that's Jill and that's Paul maguire the hook.
It's rooting for people to know what it sounded like.
That's what it was. All right, what do you got
coming up with the show.

Speaker 18 (01:19:04):
Let's see what time is it?

Speaker 4 (01:19:06):
What?

Speaker 5 (01:19:06):
What day is this?

Speaker 18 (01:19:07):
Tuesday?

Speaker 21 (01:19:08):
Dans of Boston Pride of MBI Ridge right, he's gonna
join us, coming up around three o'clock or so before
Husky practice today. Mike Florio the Butthole himself, will be
with us about three twenty eight in this afternoon.

Speaker 18 (01:19:19):
A little fun with audio.

Speaker 21 (01:19:20):
We're gonna head to uh where we're going. We're gonna
go to Jacksonville and we're gonna go where else were going, Boston, Austin.
Thank you, Patriots, Chris Price, Yes, my fault, we're doing that.
At four o'clock, John Wilner is gonna join us, Brian
Schmeitzer from the Brian Schmeitzer Orchestra will join us, and
you never know who else lands jer Line as well.

Speaker 2 (01:19:40):
Thank you Ford, thanks and appreciation.

Speaker 21 (01:19:44):
Completely blown away by Justinman's admission that she roots for
the Celtics and Nicks.

Speaker 17 (01:19:47):
I can't not when they're playing each other.

Speaker 2 (01:19:49):
I want them to be we gotta break, believe.

Speaker 3 (01:19:53):
Thank you for the mild mannered and marginally objectionably Inverness.

Speaker 2 (01:19:57):
This is paddle day, saying so long everyone,

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

The Breakfast Club

Dateline NBC

Decisions, Decisions

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Furness Show 4-22: Kraken Press Conference, Ron Francis, Jess's Bifandom.

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}The Breakfast Club

Dateline NBC

Decisions, Decisions

All Episodes

Furness Show 4-22: Kraken Press Conference, Ron Francis, Jess's Bifandom.

The Breakfast Club