Jake & Ben: Full Show | Ashley Smith will represent the Utah Jazz at the NBA Draft Lottery | Stev…
And now it’s 10:00 a.m. Let’s just get down to it and it’s time for your sports picks. Strap yourselves in, folks. From two guys who have covered the teams you’re passionate about for years, we are professionals. This is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. It is Jake and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jake Scott, Ben Anderson, thank you for uh making us a part of your day. What’s going on, Ben? You having a good one? Doing well. How are you? Uh I’m good. Although uh I do want to start the show this way if you don’t mind. Uh the passing of one Tom Wharton. I don’t know if you saw that news today. Uh passed away at 74. And uh I had a little bit of a connection to Tom. I I knew him a little bit. His late wife uh Gaan was my sixth grade teacher. Okay. Yeah. And Ben, you know, like I had I had a lot of great teachers, but some, you know, really like impact you. You you just stick with it. Like anyway, she was one of those teachers for me. And uh I actually the coincidentally got to know her two sons too of well their four sons in college and uh they’re a great family. He was a great man and I was really sad this morning when I uh when I saw that news. 74 74. So uh if you’re not familiar with Tom, he was an outdoorsports reporter for the Tribune for mostly preps forever. did preps on the sports side for the most part. I think he was an editor briefly. Wrote some books. I could be wrong about that. Wrote books. Yeah. Um and uh was a was a great dude. Was uh randomly active on Twitter in his later years. Quite I uh looked up my interactions with Tom uh that I had had on social media and the one I found was he and Kyle Gunther arguing which was it. It fit both of them perfectly and honestly like it made me feel good because that’s what Tom did is he argued on Twitter and that’s what my friend Kyle Guthther did as well. It just like honestly like it gave me a warm feeling in my uh in my chest. He was a pretty respectful Twitter arguer. No, as as Twitter arguers go. Yeah, he was he was pretty respectful. No, the world needs more Toms, man. Great dude. Uh has a bunch of grandkids. like was a great uh terrific grandfather. So, uh our sports community hurts uh a little bit today with the passing of uh Tom Warden. Yeah. A staple within our uh community. Okay. So, I wanted to start there so we could we could uh be bright and cheerful today because I’ve been accused of being moody this week and I don’t want to do that. Okay. So, there is shout out Tom. Shout out to Tom. Yeah. But I want to be sensitive to Russ too and not Moody. So, but let’s talk about the big news. There’s actually lots to talk about today. Obviously, playoff basketball uh on and off the floor as uh as we will get into. But, uh the big news that broke on this very station, no big deal. In fact, Ben, I feel like we did the perfect leadup yesterday to that news because a big topic on our show was who was going to represent the uh the team at the lottery. Now, I suggested JP. Yes, I was obviously ignored, which is fine. I’m used to it. It’s all right. I think JP would have done a terrific job, but we did find out who is representing the team at the lottery, Christian. And luckily Christian was uh producing yesterday so he was the one you know manning the ship and making sure everything was in the right place because you need your top guys on that sort of thing when you’re breaking news. Uh here is Ryan on with Hansen SC Ryan Smith that is sorry on with Hansen Scotty yesterday. Right or wrong? I mean we just we’ve never moved up. Why not this year? Why not us? I think we’re due. I think this is a good draft and you know we’re in a good position. You know, we’re guaranteed a top five pick and you know, obviously everyone wants number one. My lucky charm, Ashley is going to go represent Jazz. I think she’ll be the first first the first woman who’s ever done that. I just broke that to you guys right now. Whoa. Right. I’ll probably get in trouble for that because I’m sure the league’s going to come out with who’s representing us. But look, she’s always been good luck for me and she was down for it. I haven’t been able to grab it. A didn’t get it. So, let’s break the mold. and um you know she’s a big part of this. So that is the news. Ashley Smith will represent the team at the lottery. Now I do think that JP would have been the perfect selection but if they didn’t go with JP all jokes aside, I actually think that’s pretty perfect in this way. Like whether the news is good or bad and I don’t know her well. You actually know her a tiny bit. You you know her better than me. But like I bet her reaction will be appropriate either way. Does that make sense? Like she won’t stink face it like Kevin Oconor. You saying JP would have thrown a fit? Yeah. Broken his glasses. Oh, something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Some sort of, you know, JP understands when he’s on camera. He would have understood how to become part of the story. But I think whatever she does will will come off as appropriate because what you really are is the poster for the news, right? you’re the you’re the first one associated with the club who gets to react or is going to react like that’s what it’s kind of how it goes down in history. You know what I mean? So it actually is a randomly important decision to make and I think they made a a a pretty good one actually. So there are two things with this and Ryan actually didn’t clarify it but we have since learned what is actually going to happen. So there are actually two lotteryies. There’s the actual lottery which is held behind closed doors and it has representatives from all 14. In this case, it’s 13 teams. It actually might be 14 because some of the teams have traded picks, but they’re protected. So, like if Sacramento jumps up into the top four, they will get the pick. If it stays where it is now, it goes to Atlanta. There are a couple of those situations. So, I don’t know if like I don’t know if Sacramento and Atlanta have a represent representative there regardless, but there are representatives from every team in the lottery behind the closed doors and there’s media members locally for every outlet if they want to go and some national media members, Zack Low, etc. is going to be there uh that watch the actual lottery to confirm that Adam Silver isn’t behind the scenes being like the Spurs with Cooper flag would be great. So, to confirm it’s not rigged and then they release the video actually of the drawing after. But what Ryan didn’t tell us if if that’s where Ashley’s going to be or if she’s going to be on stage because when Ryan says, “I went and I didn’t get it and Danny went and he didn’t get it.” They were behind that. Oh, interesting. Okay. They were not. Ryan and Danny have never been on the stage for the Jazz. It was Colin Ston and Thor Bailey, if I remember correctly. However, Ashley will be on the broadcast. Okay. She will She will be on the broadcast. So, I that’s where I was confused. He didn’t really because when he talked about how he did it, he did it differently. He was not on the broadcast. Okay. But Ashley will be. So, to your point, I do think you’re right. She will offer a great response regardless of what happened. Yeah. Good news or bad, like I bet she’ll do it. I mean, not that like if it’s bad news, she’ll be doing handsprings or has to force like a uh like a a a uh what’s a like a TV guy like smile? What’s a what’s an occupation where you have to smile all the time? Like a greeter at Walmart. Yeah. Right. You know, like one of those forced like I’m being forced to smile at you. No, no, no. You don’t have to do that. But you can’t like like I don’t I’ll never forget Kevin Oconor. You don’t want to be that. And again, as we have said, the Jazz have an 86% chance of not getting the number one overall pick. And while I think you’re happy top two, like you’re really happy if you get top two, there’s a huge drop off from one to two. So there’s going to be some natural frustration because most likely the Jazz are not going to win the lottery likely. So Ashley will have to respond. Well, I have spent a little bit of time with her. I was very surprised at how authentic and how much I liked her. Now I do think that if they win, this is what she should do. Although I don’t think she will. She should be doing like kicks and like rubbing it in everybody’s face and being like, “Yeah, yeah, pace that.” Like I don’t think she should go full shack where he was like rapping at Kobe or whatever, but D Reynolds style celebration like really rub it in everybody’s face. Okay. But I don’t think she’ll go that route. I think if the Jazz get the number one overall pick, it’s going to be very hard to contain the excitement. Oh, I’m sure. Big smile like probably like really excited face. You know what I mean? I hope we got that. Oh, she should scream like that. Like that. Oh, he played it at the same time. That was good. Uh-huh. Yeah, it would be. She would be very excited. That would be awesome. Yeah. Well, maybe she’s the good luck charm. Or maybe it’s just Utah’s year after moving up, you know, what should have been the second overall pick in the uh hockey draft, but because you can only move up 10 spots, they jump to to four. Would be very cool if the Jazz won it this year as well because Ryan’s right also there. He talked about how the team has really never moved up. They did move up from six to three with the Nennis Caner pick in 2011. That did not end up being a great pick, but that does count though. But it counts. You moved up. Yeah, absolutely. You moved up three spots. You won part of the lottery. So, I think the Jazz again would be very happy to be in the top two. You’re ecstatic if you’re number one because you get the best prospect you’ve ever landed as far as prospect. Not, you know, the odds of Cooper Flag being better than Car Malone are slim. um being better than John Stockton or Slim, but no players ever had a higher expectation than Cooper Flag would have coming to Utah. To those numbers nerds out there, I wonder if there’d be a way to quantify the odds of what San has happened to San Antonio from the Tim Duncan draft on the fact that they tanked and one season and got the first pick. And I realize they didn’t tank just one season in this latest iteration, but to have WBY roll around and you get that hit the luck on that particular year. I wonder what the actual odds of that batting average. Yeah. Like what would that be to land those two particular number one picks? Yeah. This is like and in in like an island of Yeah. extreme victory. It’s not like it was the process where they sucked for 10 years, right? And got the number one pick. They were snipers. They were not a hose. Yeah. You know, they were the odds of that are if you if you calculate in the blind luck, like the the lottery luck, all of that stuff. You know, Ryan talking about how the Jazz have really never moved up. That’s that’s pretty much true, right? That that should be true for most everybody. Again, yeah, by the odds, that should be true for pretty much every team, right? Because the odds suck. Even when they were weighted more heavily towards the teams that were the worst teams in the NBA, when you had a 25% chance of winning versus 14, still not good. Yeah. Yeah. Still not a good percentage that you’re going to get it. So to get it twice in two monumental drafts, not just, oh, you accidentally won Zachary Reese. No, you’re getting a Hall of Famer. And we’ll see what happens with Wimby, but I mean, he’s on that trajectory. The train is on the tracks, right? So what are the actual odds of that? It’s got to be one in a zillion. Yeah, it’s not high. It’s not high. They’ve had a lot of luck. So here’s where the the the bribes come in. Oh, I mean, because that’s There’s no way that they didn’t. I’m just kidding. We talked about hockey, though. Like hockey when they were in Arizona had 15 years of lottery picks that never moved up once. Like that’s the thing. There are teams that have randomly, you know, the Penguins randomly win and get Sid the Kid. Yeah. You know, the Capitals randomly win and get Ovuchkin. Like franchise changing players out of nowhere. And the the the Arizona Coyotes had never moved up despite the always being in the lottery. And not just 10th, 11th, like the third worst team, the second worst team and never won. And to rub it in, Gary Bman literally tells Ryan Smith, “Good things happen to good people.” Yeah, that was tough. It’s a tough blow. It’s It’s just It’s wild how much that plays into it, you know, and I know it’s kind of designed that way, but I It is It is crazy how much that does indeed play into it. The luck or the luck? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. and why it it should be so offensive when teams like Philadelphia and the Clippers and Sacramento and Phoenix just and Cleveland just boot these number one picks are these these high lottery picks where they don’t even get players. You know what I mean? Like the the Clippers in the Do you remember the Clippers in their run in the late 90s and 2000s in the draft where they got like the number one pick and they picked Michael Ola Candy? Yikes. That stiff lasted like three years. Yeah. You didn’t get I mean it’s crazy. Charlotte, it’s crazy these these franchises that just boot these opportunities that just don’t come your way. You know what I mean? Like don’t come the Jazz way because the Jazz aren’t bad that often. And when they are bad, they don’t get have good luck. Yep. Yeah, it’s true. It should just be offensive these franchises that just are so bad at decision- making. Um, so yeah, we’ll see. Monday, one of the bigger days in uh recent memory for the Utah Jazz. You can get Ben’s live reaction on the afternoon show. I will. I’ll be uh at JCWs. Will uh will Ben react that way? Scream. Yeah. I don’t I don’t think he would. No, because I’ve got to multitask and I’m going to be coordinating getting an article up really quickly. So, you can work while screaming. Ralph was working. It’s true. I’m not a good multitasker. I can’t have sound on in the background when I’m writing or anything. Some people can really do that. I can’t. So, that’d be hard for me. Yeah. That’s the argument I always try to make with my parents as a kid, right? Like, I can study with the TV on. Yeah. No, I cannot. I could have I I could have a game on getting plenty of work done. Instrumental music maybe, but I don’t seek it out. Some people like want to have music on while they’re working. Not me. I find that distracting, too. Yeah. But then again, distracting could be good when you don’t know what to write, but you don’t seem to encounter writer’s block all that often. No. And this, you know, writing Monday night’s very easy. In fact, you know, are you going to have it made? Of course. Yes. I will have if the Jazz win the number one pick, this is what it means. If the Jazz win the number two pick, this is what it means. If the Jazz win, you know, fall to three, four, five, this is what it means. I If they get fifth, I want the headline to be the shaft. That’s it. It’s not going to do good. How do the Jazz do in the lottery? Well, they got the shaft. It’s going to do bad SEO. We got to worry about that. Number one pick rolling in it. Yeah. What should the headline be there? I don’t want to do like jazz capture flag. Like that’s that’s what everyone’s doing. Easy lane. I agree. Yeah. It’s got to be something more just epic. Transformational, you know? Jazz flag their guy. Yeah. I was trying No, that’s terrible. Don’t use that. I was trying to use a like a different way to use the word flag. Jazz planted a top draft lottery. Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Don’t do that. No. I’ll have to work on I’ll workshop it this weekend. You should we should have headline writers here. That’s like a special skill. There’s a lot of bad headlines out there. Not that yours are. Sorry, that’s not what I was implying. But like again, the game has changed. Somebody should be able to make a make a living cracking out good headlines. It’s not about what looks awesome for the kids selling the newspaper on the corner anymore. It’s about when I type something into Google, how am I going to be the top search result on Google? Yeah, right. That’s all headlines are. So, they’re super boring. It’s name, number, question mark. Your headline should all be provocative words. Okay. I mean, nothing but Yeah. I mean, can we say these words on the I It should be really provocative like I know. I don’t know where you masterpiece of dog. Oh, if you could spell the five. Maybe that like masterpiece and dog s are both provocative words. Yeah. Yeah, like exact. Great example, Christian. That would actually be really good if they fall. Yeah. Yeah. Like masterpiece always lands. You should use that all a quote unquote power word, which is an SEO thing. Yeah. And and dog. Yeah. Who isn’t Googling dog ass? Utah fans vote Cooper flag sexiest man alive. Like something like that. That’s how you’re going to get clicks. There you go. You get some traffic. We should work on that. No, honestly, if you want to get traffic, which is as stupid as it is, and it’s not something we do at KSL at all. So, and I’m glad we don’t, but it would be like, check out Cooper Flag’s girlfriend, you know, Jazz Land top pick. Check out his girlfriend. Like, that’s how you if you want to get a ton of traffic to your site, you can just do that. Could you lead every headline you write with huge scandal breaking, right? Huge scandal, Jazz win by five. Yeah. Jazz lose again. Conspiracy. Actually, that’s the good way to falsify. There you go. Conspiracy colon lose by lose by six. Yeah. Why? This has nothing to do with what he wrote. Yeah. Oh, you still clicked on it. But anyways, if uh if the Jazz win this pick and win Cooper Flag, Ashley Smith, who is the co-principal of SEG, like she’s very involved in everything they’re doing at my understanding. And like I said, she’s very intelligent. Oh, that doesn’t matter in this case, but she will be infamous if the Jazz win the number one overall pick. Infamy in a good way. You know, she’s not just a face and not just a wife. And I think a lot of people don’t understand that. I think there is the assumption that that’s what she is. Uh and I No, I know that and you know that. But in this case, it doesn’t matter. I mean, like owners have sent family members and things like it’s it’s about putting a good face on it. It’s about the TV show. Yeah. Like even if she were not involved or whatever, that wouldn’t matter. Now, the actual sitting in the lottery behind the scenes, which we talked about, is apparently quite boring. And one of the reasons they don’t do it that way, I got asked about it today on Twitter, is because they do it in reverse order. They decide the number one pick first because why would you do 14? You don’t draw 14 times. You only draw four times to figure out the top four picks. So, they figure out the number one overall and then Sarah Todd from the Desert News told me that like the she was in she’s been in the the room before the year the Spurs won. They also won the number two overall pick because they don’t pull your combinations out after you win. You’re given you know there’s a thousand one combinations and you just have a number code. They got number one and then they also got number two. Number two. That’s funny. But you can’t win twice, right? So you have to go do the drawing all over again. So it’s boring. The Spurs, dude. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Exactly. But that’s the thing. Yeah. I was going to bring that up that the fact that not only did they win the number one pick that year, they also got the second. What are the odds of that? Stack that on top of everything else we’re talking. Just don’t give them Cooper flag. That’d be boring. Did I yell there? Don’t want to see that. No. Okay. You got close. Yeah. All right. Careful, pin head. I’m sorry. No need to insult me. Jeez. All right. Top three stories of the day at kslports.com. Coming up next, Jake and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Hey, bro. You hear us every day with our crazy opinions. Hey, how you doing? Well, now it’s time to hear from you. Hey, great show. Download the KSL Sports app and fire off your thoughts with the call-in tab on the bottom of your screen. This show is fantastic. It’s the one that captivates me the most. You can tell PK to stop singing. Let Jake and Ben know what you really think of the jazz. Tell Hans and Scotty about your favorite barbecue spot or what color of tie JJ should be wearing on TV. The best entries will be played on the air. Download the KSL Sports app now and hit the call-in button to let your voice be heard. I think you guys do an incredible job. This is 975, the KSL Sports Zone. It’s time to break down the biggest stories of the day. This is the top three stories of the day on kslsports.com 975 KSL sports. Jacob Ben, how does it feel, Ben? How does it feel? Want to remind you you can nominate the esports volunteer you know for the Hercules hero of the week. Submit your nomination kslports.com/contest. Listen every Thursday to JJ and Alex for the winner. Help us celebrate the efforts of those volunteers making an impact with the Hercules Hero of the Week. Sponsored by Hercules First Federal Credit Union and Beehive Meals. That was the song you see. I do. I saw I heard that. Okay. You didn’t respond. Googling things. Oh. Uh time for the top three stories of the day. KSLports.com sponsored by our friends at Jbrooks Jewelers. Cherish your love with Jbrooks Jewelers. explore their expertly crafted engagement rings made from the finest materials. Jay Brooks Jewelers. All right. Uh Christian, where do you want to start today? Number one, lot of playoff action. The Timberwolves tied things up last night and then tonight, the Cavs have an opportunity to go down 300. Have an opportunity to go down three-0. I like how you were yesterday’s game was awful. Not even worth talking about. Uh predictable though. Yeah, exactly what you thought. And I guess what was what what it did highlight is how surprising it is that both Boston and Cleveland are down 02 because traditionally we saw it with Oklahoma City as well in the other series. You lose that first game at home and you’re the favorite and in a lot of these cases kind of the overwhelming favorite and Minnesota certainly is now since Steph Curry has gone down with a hamstring injury. You just come back and you lambast these teams in game two. You just absolutely blow them off the floor. It was like again 30 to 15 in this game early. Golden State just could not score in the in the first quarter and then really throughout most of the game. But it’s what OKC did to Denver. The fact that it’s actually what Boston did to uh New York as well. Cleveland did not do I guess Cleveland did do it. They were up 3215 after one and then everyone has come back since. But not being able to hold on to those leads in those other series is surprising versus what we’ve seen in the Western Conference. um the off the court controversy and then we can we can jump further into the Cavs though. Draymond Green picked up his fifth tech Ben. He uh fed his elbow to uh Nas Reed. He said, “Uh here you go. Eat this for uh for breakfast or dinner, I guess.” Uh after Reed just fouled him, here’s uh what Draymond had to say after the game. Look like the angry black man. I’m not an angry black man. I’m a very successful, educated black man with a great family and I’m great at basketball. I’m great at what I do. To the agenda to try to keep making me look like an angry black man is crazy. I’m sick of it. It’s ridiculous. Now, Ben, I wanted to play that sound because I actually think it it leads to an interesting topic. I I think Draymond is not being honest with himself about his own anger. Um, do we need to offer some background on the stereotype of the angry black man? I don’t think so. You think people understand that? Yeah. I mean, it’s just it’s a trope that has been used. It’s a racist trope that has been used to define like that that right, black people are unwieldy, but in this case, uncontrollable. I think he is not acknowledging his own situation. I think he’s I don’t know what he’s doing, but he does have an anger problem. And honestly, I have people in my life who have anger problems and and don’t get me wrong, not like abusive stuff. I’m not talking about that. But have issues controlling their anger. I used to work with a guy. I was telling you his stories about it off the air the other day. People have a white guy. Yes. Yeah. if we need to know his uh his race. Um who deals dealt with real anger problems and it really worked against that particular guy. You know, put himself in some some circumstances that were not necessary because he had issues with anger. It’s a it’s a real thing. Now, here’s where I will defend Draymond a little bit, but I this is where it’s it’s complicated. Draymond is an angry player. Yeah, he he plays better when he’s angry. He’s angry when he plays. Uh we were talking to David James off the air. Again, if we want to go with another white guy example, John McEnroe was an angry tennis player. Yeah. And his behavior was terrible. Yeah. And he was divisive. If you want to look at Draymond Green and his anger being divisive, but he would throw these tantrums and then just whoop the opponent right after because he was better when he’s angry. Now 90 I would say like 90% of athletes anger totally ruins them. Right. Again, I identify with this topic because I was an angry tennis player and it really sunk me. Yeah. Like it made me a way worse. Hurts more players than it helps. It it absolutely does and I I learned lessons from from that. Certainly in life when I was angry when I was a golfer. I didn’t like the sport. I didn’t like myself when I was playing the sport. And one day I had to be like I I got to just enjoy this and realize that I’m not on the PGA tour. So not all my shots are going to be good. Most of them in fact are going to be bad. Do I want to enjoy myself or not? Right. And after that epiphany, I really enjoy the game a lot more. But Draymond is an angry basketball player and has anger issues. You’re choking out other players, right? You’re caving in and faces at practice. You know, a dozen different examples. You have Ramona Shelburn who has to write career rehabbing fluff pieces, right, for you to be unsuspended by the NBA only for you to act more egregiously days after your return. What year was that? 2022 20. Was it that recent? And yeah, elbowed Nerkach. Yeah. Last year. Like those are angry Yeah. issues, you know what I mean? Yeah. And so to take the the whole trope thing out of it, I don’t think he’s being honest with himself when his anger actually is a tad bit justifiable because it’s how he competes at a high level. And how do you, you know, Steve Kerr’s challenge is how do you harness that without hurting the team because it’s hurt the team in the past, right? That’s the problem is with with Draymond is there are too many occasions where it goes overboard. It’s okay to get texts. It’s okay to get angry. It’s okay to play that way. You have to draw a line though where it no longer hurts your team. Otherwise, it’s a negative. And too often Draymond lets it become a negative. That’s his problem. He got suspended in the finals. That’s the most egregious example. It lost him in the finals. It did. He got so angry. He was kicking guys in the groin and it cost them a he got suspended because he picked up his whatever fifth flagrant or sixth technical whatever it is and had too many points as they call them and was suspended a game that was a must-win and they had to face LeBron in game seven and lost. But yeah, choking Rudy Gobear, getting suspended and then elbowing Nerk in the face or whatever which whichever one happened first, like that’s too far. You’re getting suspended, you’re hurting yourself. Jerry Sloan was an angry person and at times when he bumped the referee went too far. Yeah. And got suspended for it and that hurt the Jazz. That’s not good for the Jazz. Michael Malone was an angry person. It hurt him. It broke the culture in Denver. It’s why both he and Calvin Booth, now maybe Calvin Booth just sucked at his job, but it’s why they’re both unemployed right now. He’s an angry person. Um, if you know, you often get angry at Christian. If you were to walk into the next room and start choking, choke him or kick him in the groin. I would pull you aside and say, “Ben, I think we’ve got some anger stuff we really need to get a hold of.” Yeah. Meanwhile, Christian is writhing on the ground with a a sore groin and a what? Like like sore larynx. Bruised neck. Bruised neck. Yeah. Collapsed larynx. Um yeah, Cavs Pacers tonight though. Pacers a chance to go up 03. Yeah, that very fun game. I would love to see them go up three. And then the late game back to Denver Nuggets Thunder. Um I don’t want to use a term that you always make fun of me for using, but this is an important game for Denver. If Denver wants to be able to some momentum in this series, I would highly recommend they win this game. Now, the series doesn’t end if they lose this game tonight. So I can’t say Mhm. and it’s the ultimate value that they win this game. This is not a game seven. No. But I would very highly recommend that team win this game tonight to hold on to homecourt advantage that they have stolen after winning game one. Well, first of all, I appreciate the the great effort to not say must win. I do. I It shows me that you you are a courteous person. So I I would like to thank you. But then you go right to the importance of homec court advantage. What are you doing? Well oh it’s like it like it matters. So to justify your must-win take you go right to another thing that I don’t really believe in and that’s homec court advantage. It would be nice for Denver to not have to win on the road again. And technically they don’t have to win on the road anymore. All right. You can’t apply must win to a take followed by it would be nice for them. I didn’t say it was really nice for them to have home court. I didn’t say. Yeah, it would be nice. You really wanted to say must win and then that take is Oh, well, it would be nice for them. But I didn’t say that. It It would be nice for me to find $100 on the street. I think regardless, it would highlight. I don’t need it to feed my family. The momentum Oh, I yelled there. of the series would highly favor or at least stay somewhat even if Denver wins this game. Stay somewhat even. If the Oklahoma City Thunder win this game, the series tilts heavily in their favor. Okay, that’s way better. Stay somewhat even. Very funny. All right, what is next? Christian number two. So much has happened in the past week we may have forgot. Will Hardy got expended extended. Ryan Smith opened up about that. He signed up to do what is in some ways a little hard where we’re rolling with I don’t know what is it, nine guys under the age of 23 and he’s going to develop these guys. We like Will more today than we did when we hired him. He’s a gamer. He’s all in. It’s how a culture and a vibe should feel between my position and Danny and Jay-Z and Will. You know, we’re going to win with Will and we’re going to win in Utah and I want him to be able to see the work pay off as we start pulling out of a rebuild. Good synergy, Ben. It’s important. We were just talking about angry white man Michael Malone and Calvin Booth and the lack of synergy they had in Denver. And that doesn’t even involve the Crunksies who are notoriously horrendous owners. But you have the owner in Ryan Smith. Uhhuh. Who we know is tight, synergistic with Danny A and also has Will Hardy’s back. And I I believe him and I have gotten the same sense. Now he’s saying it. I don’t need to interpret what he’s saying, but even if you don’t want to believe him, I I do think that Will has added equity to his job performance and the belief in him by what he has done over his first three years versus, oh, we liked him as a prospect there and we kind of recognized his warts. I don’t think that’s the case. Not that he doesn’t have warts, but that they like him more now than the day they hired him. I want to talk about uh the and I know this is a buzz word but Ryan referred to it the culture he’s he’s building in a second but just to comment on your your Denver Calvin Booth Michael Malone and not that I am defending Michael Malone by any means but I think the only thing Calvin Booth had synergy with was the bottle of rubber cement in his top drawer cuz the guy that built it in Denver went to Minnesota right Yeah. And that’s when Calvin Booth got the got the gig. Uhhuh. And it’s been rough. Every move they’ve made since then has been rough. Right. He was not good at his job. The owner made a good decision there. I don’t know about the the Michael Malone and the timing thing, but firing both of those guys at the same time. Probably the first I don’t mean sniffed. I mean smelled rubber cement in a while. It’s a good smell. I never huffed it, but I It smells good. I just don’t use rubber cement in my life anymore. Well, all I know is it was it was screaming at Calvin Booth. Top drawer. Top drawer right there. Calvin, before you make this call, how are you? I’m going to put you on mute for a second. Okay. By the way, obviously just joking. Satire. Uh, but I do I do like the vibe that uh that Will Hardy is creating within that building. I mean, you get to probably look at it a little closer than than I do, but seeing the relationships and accountability and that sort of thing, it seems to be pretty healthy to me. Um, because he’s not like he’ll have tough conversations with his players. He’ll he tells the media about it. He’ll he’ll do those things. They had tough conversations with John Collins before the year last year. I mean, he’ll he’ll level with you, but at the same time there there is he’s not a like cold person. You know, cold people who love to tell you how it is. You ever have those people in your life like just oh, I’m just dying to cut you to the bone. He’s not that. There is warmth to it. And uh I I think it is pretty healthy what what he’s building over there. Having talked to Ryan, I know he’s good at not putting himself in between the decisions the team makes and Danny A. I know Danny A where it could have gotten weird is he really gives a lot of or I don’t want to say gives Justin Xanic has a ton of responsibility. Yeah. And I think he has cart blanch to do his job uh and to do it responsibly without Danny A like looking over his shoulder. I haven’t gotten that sense uh talking to the people I’ve talked to. And Will Hardy is not trying to power struggle and overtake the front office to say you got to do it my way. So those things that could go wrong, those relationships and those dynamics that could go wrong don’t seem like they have it all. Everyone really does seem to feel like they’re on the same page. So what’s next? Number three. This was just announced this morning. The ballpark at America First Square is going to host the MLB’s Home Run Derby X Finals this September. Do you want to describe what that is? Can you explain what that is? Apparently, it’s some new format of the home run derby. They sent out a press release this morning. Uh, basically it’s like a home run derby with defense in short. It’s like a game kind of. Each team has uh four or the tour features four teams and it’s kind of like the old shooting competition in the NBA All-Star game. Remember they used to have a WNBA player, an NBA player, and a legend. Yeah, that’s what they have. They have a major league baseball legend. They have a uh softball player and a women’s baseball player. Oh. So, that’s cool. Yeah. Go see the balls. Well, you know, cool at altitude, too. And then Yes. I think the reason why they’re happy to come to Salt Lake is the balls are going to fly. Oh yeah, they’re going to be mashing over say Salt Lake, but yeah, to Utah. You’re all right. I still call the Hurricanes the Whalers. So, we’ll forgive you there, Ben. So, yeah, you get points for home runs and points for uh for defensive stops. Threeon-ree co-ed competition built around power hitting and athletic catches. In all honesty, with a new facility, like show it off any way you can. This is great. I mean, this will this will get it out there. It’ll get video out there. It’ll get pictures of it. It’s that’s a great thing. Yeah. And check it out. I don’t know who’s the legend in like will we get one through Utah or is it all MLB affiliated teams, but like conceivably Dale Murphy could head this up, right? Oh, you think Dale can still mash? He is joining Hansen Scotty today at 205. How coincidental. What a coincidence. Think Dale can still m I saw him in person maybe a couple years ago still look pretty good. Uh it’s like 75y old guys who can still swing the clubs. Yeah, right. Like there’s something about that swinging motion that you know how to do it or you don’t. So yes, I bet Dale can still mash. They could mash back in the day. Yeah. Tickets for this go on sale May 22nd, 9:00 a.m. at slbs.com. Awesome. All right, there you go. We’ll have more Jake and M coming up next. Stay tuned. 975 DKSL Sports Zone. This is This is DJ and PK. Joined now by BYU athletic director Tom Homo. Look forward over the next five, six years. Is BYU going to get boxed out in whatever realignment is coming or do you think the Cougars a decade from now are going to be competing at the highest level with the biggest schools? Right now, we’re planning to be in the game. If there’s a situation that football pulls away and they take the 60 top schools, are you going to be in that? We’re going to look at that and we’re going to see what it’s going to take right now to get into that 60. But it might not be 60. It might be 40 or it might be 80. And so as we learn, we’re at least we’re on the trail. We’re in the game and we can adapt as we go. If we can continue that, we’ll be in a good shape no matter what the decisions are that are made external to BYU. [Music] Catch DJ and PK mornings from 6:00 to 10 on 975. The KSL Sports Zone. The sports you love. The teams you can’t live without. Sense of urgency. This is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jake and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone Jake Scott Ben Anderson. That being said, Ben playoff or not playoff uh basketball playbyplay very difficult on the really fast game really uh very difficult to do. Um and we’re lucky to have uh people around here who are very good at it. Not that uh people know the genesis of that conversation, but uh and uh play I would imagine especially uh at uh the uh what what was uh Van Gundy calling the greatest uh environment he’s ever been in there at Cleveland. Yeah. Very difficult to do. Yeah. Uh, but do you think the Cavs really I mean what a disappointing ending that this would surpass if if the Cavs were to get even gentleman swept in the second round by the Pacers. This would surpass that Clippers series as bigger disappointment Donovan’s experienced in the playoffs. Right. Enormously. I would think so. Even though they did have the best record in the league that year. They did, but the gap between the Jazz and that Clippers team that had Kawhai, and I know by the end of the series, they didn’t have Kawhai, but had Kawawaii and Paul George, nobody believed it was that big. The gap between this Cavaliers team and what we thought this Pacers team was throughout the season is quite a bit larger. And that’s not that there’s not a lot of respect for the Pacers, but but your disrespect for the Pacers incredibly good all season long and seem to be quite complete. Now, you and I have pretty intimate knowledge of watching Donovan Mitchell’s career and the flaws that can come out of it and they have been on full display. And look, the reason they are down 02 is a huge largely due to injuries or at least partially due to injuries. Darius Garland hasn’t played. Evan Mobley didn’t play the last game. DeAndre Hunter didn’t play the last game, but no, that this Cavs team has much higher expectations and also though we didn’t realize it at the time with the Jazz how short their their leash was. Like this gets ugly quickly in in Cleveland. Next year they already have 217 million on the books. It’s over the second tax apron projected to be about$ 160 million $170 million the luxury tax next year. They have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, nine players on on the roster. Yeah. So, you’ve got to add six more players that are all going to be veteran minimum players, and you’re losing Ty Jerome, Sam Merrill, who are like rotation level guys for them. So, it’s really hard. Um, well, I know what I’d do if I were Cleveland. I’d moved Darius Garland yesterday, but agreed. There’s so much overlap with Donovan. You could use that money in so many better ways. They should have previously. And that’s not because Darius Garland isn’t a good player. He’s a very good player. That’s the thing. He’s a very good player. You should have used that to find somebody who would come in and cover up more of your weaknesses. It never made any sense. and and me it makes a lot of sense coming from the general manager that made the decisions, but it never made any sense to put Chris Paul next to James Harden. It never made any sense to put Rusty Westbrook next to James Harden, right? There’s so much overlap there. And remember the argument, the argument always was, well, we’ve got a Hall of Fame point guard on the floor the entire game. Okay, great. Yeah. Well, twothirds of the game that other Hall of Fame point guard is standing there with his redundant. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you could use that with better players that could perhaps make James Harden a better player. You know what I mean? Like, it doesn’t make any sense for Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland to be on the same team. Again, it’s almost a compliment to Darius Garland. It’s like, you’re really good, but you’re also really good at the same stuff that he’s really good at. Uh, yeah, they they need a rangy defensive wing. You’ve talked about it. Yeah, they could use Pascal Seakum. There’s a lot of guys they could use. Oh yeah, Ben, get some hot wings. Uh uh so they’re they regardless of what happens this year, I think they run it back. I think they try and fill out their roster with minimum guys and maybe a couple of veterans who are like, “Well, I’ll be happy to fill in. I’m a minimum guy. I’ll just take whatever.” I think I would use the I mean, and we’ve already buried Cleveland. Kind of funny. Watch him come back. But um it I would use the disappointment as a excuse to do something drastic like we just got creamed by the dang Pacers in the second round. We’re trading this guy. I I think they could. I think what front officers generally do, especially when there are injuries like there are in this series, they use it as an excuse to not do anything. Yeah. Which is so cowardly. I watched honestly and and I’m not trying to call anybody I guess cowards but um I watched the Jazz do it with Mike Connley’s hamstring. Yeah, exactly right. He gets hurt the last game of the gentleman sweep over the Memphis Grizzlies. Like the last play doesn’t get to play at all against the Clippers. The Jazz loses and they say, “Well, we’re Mike Connley away.” You weren’t. No. Yeah, that No, that didn’t in fact. They did it with Donovan, right? Donovan’s ankle. Yeah. And you know, injuries are are certainly legit, but don’t let it cloud your judgment. Yeah. The Cleveland, we can agree, even with the injury issues, Cleveland still should probably beat the Pacers, even though honestly the Pacers, all they did was go to the conference finals last year. When are we actually going to buy into the Pacers being being really good? But the Cleveland still should win this series. I mean, the best team in the East with a couple injuries should still beat probably the Pacers. The reason they will run it back though is because they have one more year. I talked about $217 million with nine players under contract. And I don’t know if they have a first, no, I think their first goes to the Suns this year, you know, to the Jazz and Jazz traded the Suns. That might actually even be in Charlotte. Now, regardless, I don’t think they have a first round pick because they made one last year. uh in 2026 27. So a year from now, if they don’t win next year, they have 1 2 3 4 5 6 seven players under contract and they’re at 230 million. They go up 15 million and they lose two more players. Like they’re not going to be able to keep this unit together. Nope. At all. I think they’d be foolish to run it back, but we’ll see. I I like the Pacers tonight. I don’t know if the Pacers are going to sweep the Cavs. Do we know availability of any of those guys? I haven’t seen it, but I just honestly haven’t looked. Here’s the other problem with the Cavaliers. Not to get too far in the future, but Donovan Mitchell has a player option in 2027 2028. So, they have two more years with him guaranteed under contract. You don’t let him go into his player option year because he becomes an unrestricted free agent if he opts out. So, you either have to extend him next summer or you have to trade him that year, which is what the Jazz wanted to avoid. You know what’s funny? I mean, they they have had to choose between Garland and Mitchell the since the day they traded for Mitchell. Yeah. And you remember Darius Garland wanted to get traded. Hello. Yes. And they convinced him to stick around. That was the uh origin of that drop. Yeah. Adele was making moves. By the way, I had someone DM me and say, “I’m a tax preparer and I love to listen to your show, but if I tune away for 30 seconds, I come back and you’re talking about a Somalier and you’re talking about Adele and you’re talking about Flatface and I don’t know who you’re talking about.” So, when we’re talking about Adele, we’re talking about Clutch Sports, the uh representatives. Rich Paul. Rich Paul. Because Rich Paul is his girlfriend is Adele, right? Adele. Now, to be fair, Flatface is something my four-year-old called a guy in the parking lot. So that’s not a thing. But if you’re saying all these nicknames, which we are heavy at nicknames, while I do think we have a group of dedicated listeners who probably like that they’re on the inside track of our inside language, we should probably explain it once in a while. I will make sure I do a little bit better job of when you say the Somalier, I will say JJ Reic. For example, Ben, to this will be a good exercise. For example, Ryan Smith came on the Hansen Scotty show and broke news yesterday. Yeah. about Ashley Smith going to be the representative at the lottery. We were we were pretty excited about that because Ryan had been on Armpit’s show 15 minutes earlier and uh did not break the news. Chose instead to break it here on the KSL Sports Zone. Armpit is Pat McIn. Armpit is Pat Mc. What are you doing? Sorry, I’m reading this guy’s post because Yeah, there’s even more names. I said we’re doing an exercise. I wasn’t hearing and Christian filled in. Here’s the example. I apologize. That was my fault. He says, “I like the show. One minor issue. I’m filling out some corporate tax and listening to the show. Sometimes I tune out briefly. Then I find myself wondering who is Rusty? Who’s the Somalier? Who TF is hot dog? Who Why are we talking about Adele?” Hot dog. And I said, “That’s good advice. It’s our special charm. I’m sorry I tuned you out for a second during the exercise because he’s right. Six different nicknames there. Okay. Wait, wait, wait. Let’s start from the top. Okay. I I love that that you got this message cuz he’s right. We should I I should be better at explaining some of these things. All right. Let’s go. Find myself wondering who’s the Somalier JJ Reic. Who’s Rusty? Uh which one exactly? There’s Rusty Wilson. Yeah. And also Rusty Westbrook. Well, and now we added a new Russ who’s a dedicated listener to the show who thinks Jakeo. He’s Russ though, not Russ. He doesn’t like that you yell. Which is why we did a Russell draft. We did on Wednesday. Hot dog. That’s uh Tenon Horton Tucker. But also that’s THT. And if you don’t listen regularly, there’s a new version of THT whose name is VHT. VHT who’s an entirely different person but still plays for the Jazz. Not hot dog, but plays a lot like hot dog. Okay. And then Adele. Uh that’s code for Rich. And I uh in all honesty, I find agents and things like that really interesting behind the scenes stuff. And if you’re covering in the NBA, Adele comes up a lot. So, Tamro, thank you for the Thank you, Tamro. We’re happy to explain anything and I apologize for not uh participating in the exercise. I blew it. All right. Steve Bartle, which is in fact his name, is next. 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Who’s got it better than us? Your home for the best sports coverage in Utah. You’re listening to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jacob Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jake Scott, Ben Anderson. Ben, we have um huge show news that we’re gonna have to get. We got to get to Bartle here. Okay. But we do have some show comma business that we need to to get to involving uh a relationship with a listener. Okay. So, we will get to that at 11:30. So, stay tuned. But right now, we got to talk to Oh, we’ve got Cole at 11:30. We’ll wrap up the show with it. So, tune in for that. We’ll we’ll wrap up the show with our show comma business. Uh but right now, we got to get to Bartle. So, hit it, Christian. Covering the youths better than anyone else. This is youth insider Steve Bartle of KSLsports.com on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Steve, happy Friday. Happy Friday, man. I’m uh I’m captivated. I wanted to hear about this uh relationship. There seems to be a lot of it’s big sports relationship drama in college in sports in general. Well, there’s been some drama on our show this week and uh yeah, and we we’ve got an update. We’ve got an update, so stay tuned. Tune in tomorrow. Yeah. Uh, all right, Steve. Be good. Speaking of the uh University of Utah, uh they have wrapped up spring football. Really, the big story since then is the retirement of Cam Rising. Was this what was expected? We knew he wasn’t going to be back at Utah, but was this where it was trending the whole time? Yeah, this is uh this was expected. Um you know, this was um you know, after what was it? January, February is when this started to trickle out that, you know, Cam was likely to be done with his playing career. And, you know, it’s still seeing that announcement and and all of it, the reality of it, I think hit a lot of fans. So, you know, Utah fans knew it was coming, but I think it still just kind of um was shocking to see it. and and so, you know, it’s it’s led to a lot of conversation about Kim and and remembering what he accomplished at Utah and, you know, really when you look at what he did in those two seasons and in 2021 and 2022, you know, he comp he accomplished quite a bit and I think, you know, those two seasons alone put him, you know, in the conversation for not only, you know, the best quarterback, you know, in Utah football history, but, you know, I think he even belongs in the conversation of greatest figures within program history, whether it be player or coach. I think he had that sort of impact because it wasn’t just, you know, what he was doing in terms of his execution, but you know, he he was the sort of personality that that, you know, just he was captivating. He had that charisma and that aura that, you know, just uh uh brought a lot of attention to the program. And so, you know, it’s it’s pretty wild that an injury he suffered in week two, which was initially thought to just be, you know, a cut, maybe a dislocation, has turned into this. And I think, um, you know, it’s just a friendly reminder that, you know, injuries, um, you know, it robs a lot of players. Cam is not the only one to be forced into early retirement. He’s not the only athlete to have experienced this, but um to appreciate these guys while they’re on the field and while they’re competing at a high level, I think it’s just a good reminder of all of that. Uh would you buy in with this take, Bartle? Is he the re the biggest reason that fingernails Ben uh I can’t Williams will not go down as a college football legend. Now, I don’t think Fingernails is that great, but Heisman Heisman Trophy winner. He was the next big thing, the Wendy’s commercials, all the things. I do not think he will be remembered as a college football legend. And the biggest reason is Cam Rising. Yeah, I think there’s a lot to that. Um, you know, when when you consider the fact that, you know, Caleb Williams, Lincoln Riley, um, that first year was that 2022 season, they were undefeated. All of the talk was about USC and that offense and Jordan Addison and Caleb Williams throwing the ball around and, you know, they come to to Salt Lake City. Youths had already lost two games, you know, that season. They lost a tough one to Florida in the season opener in Gainesville. They lost in Los Angeles to UCLA against, you know, a Chip Kelly team that that was a group that has suffered quite a bit of uh um quite a bit, you know, to the youths in the years past. And so a veteran group getting revenge on Utah that that the week before, you know, and everything pointed to USC getting the win in Salt Lake City, but Cam Rising had and and Dalton Kitten Kade and and and those boys just had a a different plan and to interrupt, you know, USC’s um you know, their season and what they were doing at that juncture and then to do it again in the Pack 12 championship game. uh I think really robbed Caleb Williams, Lincoln Riley of those big moments and and I think that is I think what put Cam in that conversation with the greatest figures in program history is he was the face of those moments and I think that that’s big. So yeah, I’m with you J. I don’t think that’s crazy. I think Cam really uh, you know, robs Caleb Williams of those big moments. Is he a guy you would expect? I know he’s going back to his high school to be offensive coordinator. At least that’s the report. Is he a guy you think has a future relationship with the University of Utah? What a great question, Ben. And I think, you know, I think there’s there’s going to be, you know, it’s probably going to take time. Like I I think the last two seasons there’s been a lot of frustration, not not necessarily within the program, but just a lot of frustration in general all around Utah with how things have have unfolded. And then again, it’s an unfortunate reminder that that injuries are what they are. and and you know it it sucks that it it robbed Cam of his high highest ceiling as a player, but you know it created a lot of frustration um these last two seasons with how Utah went about um you know the injury conversation around Cam and and I think uh there’s uh a lot of emotions that that have boiled and so you know I think there’s there’s a good relationship but I do think uh you know there’s there’s some relationships that probably need to be mended. And I think Cam um you know Cam is going to need time away and and uh and all that because there was a lot of you know the internet is a is a pretty brutal place and you know there’s a story out about Tyrese Hallebertton right now in the Athletic I think that talks about you know him being online and reading a lot of the comments you know about him this this season and how he got into a pretty dark space mentally and I think there’s a similar story here with Cam And so I think, you know, he’s going to need time and I think that’s fair and I think that’s understandable. Uh and I think Cam, you know, is the type where he has that sort of mind, you know, as as a quarterback and um you know, now as as he transitions into the role of coach. I think he’s he’s a star in the making. I think he has that type of mind and, you know, I do think he has the potential to uh coach at the college level and maybe that ends up, you know, back at Utah and and maybe that takes him elsewhere, but I do think he has the potential to uh to end up as a coach at this level. Now, Bart, I hate to ask you to rank all of them, but I I think people are dying to know where you’re going to put Jonathan Crosswide. Rank the Utah all-time quarterbacks for me. Give us five. the top of my head. Yeah. No, we need all [Laughter] you know there’s uh there’s you know obviously you start with Alex Smith with what he did those two seasons. Um you know being in that uh that that Heisman conversation being the number overall pick what he did in in the NFL though it’s I think it influences how we view Alex Smith and and all that. I think he’s the clear-cut number one. I think um you know you can put Brian Johnson number two, you can put Cam Rising number two, but I think that’s the top three. I think it’s Alex Smith, I think it’s Brian Johnson, and I think it’s Cam Rising as the top three quarterbacks in in Utah history with what they accomplished here at Utah and all that. And then from there, you know, I I I give respect to Scott Mitchell for doing what he did at Utah, you know, at a a different era of of football where the passing game wasn’t what it was. You know, he was a guy that just spread the ball around. And then I give a lot of credit to to Tyler Huntley with what he accomplished over the course of his career getting Utah to the Pack 12 championship game two years in a row. Though he was injured in 2018 and wasn’t actually able to participate in that in that game, he still did a lot to get Utah uh in position to uh to get to those games. Those are are where I start the conversation. There’s other great quarterbacks that have come through the program as well. Gross up obviously again another different different era completely different era with what he did but he’s still a name that you hear when you talk about quarterbacks and there’s there’s other great ones as well but for me that’s the that’s my five Frank Dolce is going to be bent you you left him out Steve hey I I expect to hear from Frank soon I’m sure I’m a Charlie Brewer guy for myself um let me get this straight you Landon King goes to Duke Bryce Duke goes to Utah Mikey Matthews goes to Cal. Tobias Merryweather transfers from Cal to Utah and then Mikey Matthews still ends up at UCLA. Am I right on all these transactions? Yeah, that’s pretty good. What are Utah’s new transfers? Uh who are they and what should fans expect? Yeah, I think there’s I think Utah, you know, with the transfer portal, especially the spring window, I think they did a really good job of addressing areas that they need to and and obviously to start out the spring portal window, losing Zack Williams, you know, that was tough. Uh, you know, he was a guy that that emerged as as as a weapon for Utah. You know, Kyle Whittingham, you know, named him, you know, the the guy that separated himself as as wide receiver one in that room. So to lose him, that was a tough blow. But I think Utah responded well with the guys that they brought in, not only in Tobias Merryweather, uh, but also Larry Simmons. And, you know, these two guys are, uh, Larry Simmons comes from Southern Miss. He was a former four-star recruit that, uh, started his career at Old Miss, transferred to Southern Miss, and, you know, he caught 27 passes last year for 460 something yards. uh he’s got a a build and an athletic profile similar to to Dorian Singer. The the skill level, the talent, the the ball skills. We’ll we’ll get a better feel for for that. That was where Dorian Singer was really good was, you know, you threw it his way and he was he was going to come down with it. So, we’ll we’ll see where Larry Simmons is on on, you know, in terms of that with his game. But then Tobias Merryweather, you know, there’s when you talk about going from a guy like Zack Williams who emerged as wide receiver one to to now bringing in a Tobias Merryweather, there’s um an interesting conversation. Zack Williams to me was best suited as a really really good Robin, not necessarily a Batman type of type of receiver. Um you know, better suited as a wide receiver, too. and and I think he just lacks some of those elite traits, those elite qualities that you want in a wide receiver one, a true wide receiver one. And I think Tobias Merryweather, um, you know, he hasn’t been able to put it together just yet. He started his career at Notre Dame, transferred to Cal, had a had a, you know, he’s got some modest career production, but you’re bringing in a guy that has those elite qualities. 6’5, 195 lbs. So, he’s got great size for the position. He’s got speed. Um, you know, there’s there was a viral clip going around of him where he clocked in just a shade under 22 miles per hour. So, he can he can move a little bit. He can be that vertical presence which, you know, I I don’t know that Zack Williams was was able to offer that. He didn’t have those traits. So, you know, there’s a bit of trade-off. And I think for for Utah, you know, I think he’s exactly the type of player that will pair quite well with Devin Dampier and this offense. You know, this is going to be an offense that uh features the run game, but they want to take shots down the field and not just, you know, period. They want to they want to push it down the field quite often. And so Merryweather is a guy that I think fits that profile and fits that mold that that they want at receiver better than a Zack Williams does. So, you know, altogether I think Utah did well to address that loss and and to improve the room ever so slightly than than what they had coming out of spring bowl. And then, you know, they they finished up uh by rounding out that running back room with the addition of Bryce Duke, who’s a bigger back at 6’210, you know, a former three star that started at Virginia Tech. They added a defensive tackle from LSU, a true freshman at 6’2, 313. So, you add another big body to that defensive line room. And I think you feel much better about that group that you’ve added another big body um to that room. So, you know, all in all, I think Utah did well to utilize and how they utilized the portal this spring cycle to keep their guys um and then to to add uh pieces to address areas of deed. Steve, we thank you for all of your great work and your appearance on the show. May you have a great weekend. Thanks, Steve. Same to you guys. Appreciate you fellas. See you, Steve. That’s our buddy Steve Barl. Do you agree with his ranking of the Utah quarterbacks all time? I think Scott Mitchell’s got to be up there. Yeah, he’s in the convo. Yeah. As far as most talented quarterbacks of all time, Scott’s probably number one. More than Alex. More arm talent. Yeah. Yeah. Like traditional quarterback talent. Yeah. He threw for more yards than Alex did, I think. Yeah. Alex was only there for Yeah. Yeah. You could you could argue Alex too, but the winning just didn’t come with Scott. Scott didn’t they didn’t win a ton of football games was there, but I don’t know if he had it. Whereas Cam I don’t think is nearly as talented as Scott Mitchell, but they won. Sure. Is that a fair assessment? Yeah, Cam’s a winner. Not that Scott Mitchell wasn’t, but Cam also had, you know, a ton of talent around him. He’s really ideal for Kyle Winningham and Utah in a lot of ways because they don’t ask you really to do all that much, but you got to go out and make the plays it takes to win at the critical times. No, there’s, you know, we we don’t compare them and they’re athletically different styles of players. Like there’s a reason why Deon Dampier is probably a really good fit for Utah because Cam was at his best honestly making a couple of throws and really utilizing his legs well. That’s probably the best way to describe Cam. wasn’t like a super prolific passer. Had some okay games, but wasn’t a prolific passer. Deon Dampier make a couple of throws that keeps the defense honest and then destroy teams with your legs. Don’t get hurt. Cam lost a couple games for him. Yeah. When it came down to a time to make a play because not everybody can be perfect, but that Florida what the the pass was it a two-point conversion or was there were they trying to score when they were at trying to score? They could have kicked a field goal at Florida and he threw it at who? Keithy’s feet or somebody like that. Keithy tripped, but there was all kinds of stuff. Yeah, but yes, I mean, notoriously Cam took a quarter to get going as a passer. He just would come out, he’d miss guys. So, but they won. I mean, to to win the Pack 12 is is not something a lot of people predicted would happen. Went to two Rose Bowls, right? Really impressive. Kind of backed into the second one, but yeah, impressive. Still won the game he had to. He did indeed. Uh, so big thanks to Bart for jumping on with us. We’ll talk to Cole Bad Baggley, the fallout from the name coming up next. And then, yeah, sounds like a headline. And then we have Show, Business that we got to do before the end of the show. Okay, so stay tuned. It’s Jake and Ben, 975, the KSL Sports Zone. This is Hance Olsson and Scotty G, the head coach of the BYU Cougars, Kevin Young. Coach, I got to know with what you’ve put together, how excited are you to get this 25 26 season rolling? Obviously AJ gets a lot of those headlines within you. You know, you tack on the return of Richie Saunders coming back and then you bring Rob Wright in who’s obviously a heck of a ball player. I think we have a nice blend of continuity from last year’s team and blending in a lot of high-end talent, which on paper looks good. You know, it’s going to take a lot of work for those guys to come together. But you know in terms of excitement extremely excited you know especially you know I’m operating more from a level of confidence having a little bit more familiarity with what we’re walking into whereas last goround I had no idea what to expect. So that’s given me a lot of confidence here in this offseason. Catch Hansen Scotty weekdays from noon to 3 on 975 the KSL sports zone. Well, whether it’s the Jazz, Utes, Cougars, or Aggies, these guys have got you covered. Time to eat, fellas. You’re locked on to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson 2 on 975 KSL Sports Zone. Hard that’s going to last. Dream coats on the ice. Jake and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone. You can win big every Wednesday on the KSL Sports Zone on Win Ticket Wednesday. Next week, uh you can win tickets to go see Ice Cube and the four decades of altitude or altitude attitude uh North American tour coming September 17th to the Maverick Center. Tickets are on sale now liveation.com or uh listen all day on Wednesday for your chance to win. It’s your fault that I I can’t wear my glasses at work, so I keep messing up all this stuff. Attitude. Of course, it’s ice cube attitude. Why would it be altitude? And where is his glasses? He can’t see without his glasses. That That stupid drop is the whole reason I don’t wear my glasses to work. You shamed me. Such a good It’s such a good drop. She You’ve shamed me into not wearing my glasses and I can’t even read. I’m going to start wearing mine. Uh joining us. Well, let’s uh let’s hit the open. Go ahead, Christian. with complete coverage of the Utah Hockey Club. This is Cole Baggley of kslsports.com on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Joining us now, let me double check. Cole Bagley covers uh now the Utah is the text on your Utah Mammoth. Do you have the font bumped up to the biggest size? Do you want to see my so I can see everything when you’re at a football game? Hold on. Hold on. Cole, you’re very important. But Ben has asked to It’s that size. Oh, it is big. It’s huge. Christian can read it from where he is. I’m surprised Cole can’t read it over the radio. Hi, Cole. How are you? Good. How are you guys? Uh, hey, speak blind. I’m blind. That’s where I am. You are. I cannot believe how large that text was. Uh, all right. Let’s start with the uh Well, I guess let’s start at the beginning of the week when the Utah Hockey Club won the lottery and moved up from 14 to four. That’s as high as they could go. So, they could not jump up to second. They couldn’t have even jumped up to number one. But, uh, pretty amazing. And, and you know, Cole, we talked about this a couple times. I’d asked, “Hey, what role is the draft going to play versus free agency?” And you kind of thought like it’s it’s a piece of the summer, but it’s not a huge piece. I have to feel like it it becomes a high high priority now. Yeah. I mean, it it suddenly comes into play. I mean, probably just right beneath free agency, right? um you know when they were originally you know set out to pick somewhere between 10 and 14 um it wasn’t as important but now you jump 10 spots you’re up at number four you know and you’re in the conversation of some very talented NHL prospects um mostly forwards who you know all of them are very unique and have uh you know very individual type of skill sets but they’re all most of these guys are all fairly big and and there’s some very very good uh um young players that are they’re going to be in those conversations. And so, yeah, this this suddenly, you know, Utah entered the chat um in terms of the draft and um this is going to be uh very impactful on on what this team looks like, I think, this next season and it’s only going to propel them forward in terms of uh you know, trying to um you know, become playoff contenders. All right, I see the banners on every overpass in town. The cat is finally out of the bag. It’s officially officially officially official officially now. Mammoth, how’s it landing out there? I think incredibly positive. Um, you know, I’ve seen a handful of, you know, disappointments, uh, on, you know, some of the platforms, mostly Facebook and stuff like that. U, but on X and Instagram and Tik Tok, you know, I think people are responding really well to it. And you know, something that kind of stood out to me that that Ryan Smith talked about in the press conference the other day was, you know, as as Mammoth be became the the clear front runner, uh, as it became more obvious with every every night that that the uh the fans survey was was held in in late January, early February at those uh three games, it just felt like it was meant to be. Um, you know, they they started looking into it more. They realized that there is a pretty rich history of of mammoths in Utah. You know that, you know, 10 I believe the most recent was about 10,000 years ago, the the Colombian mammoth roamed many of the landscapes here in Utah. They found fossils all over the place. One of the most completed um you know, skeletons of of a mammoth was found in Utah. And there’s you know, there’s a museum in Fair View. So, you know, it’s not only is there, you know, a connection to the state of Utah in terms of Mammoth, but fans have really rallied, you know, behind it. It feels like a unified fan base, you know, behind this new mascot. I think they nailed the branding with with all the Easter eggs found in the Mammoth, whether it’s the state of Utah outline, the M that’s found within that, the the tuskshaped U, and then of course the, you know, the the snowcapped mountains on top. you know, this to me this seems like a home run and I think fans are responding, you know, really well to it. How long do teams keep jerseys in the NHL? Is this, you know, is this what is going to be around for the foreseeable future? Do they add alternates? How does that work? Yeah, I think in terms of, you know, like when Nike took over the NBA contract, it seems like every single season, every team has got one or two new jerseys. You know, in soccer, you know, whether that’s the MLS or you you go over to Europe, they’re changing almost their their jerseys every single season. Whereas the NHL, I think, is a little bit more similar to the NFL and Major League Baseball where, you know, these things are kind of set in stone. They’re set in place. They don’t change all that too often. Rebrands do happen, of course, but you know, you look at you look at, you know, like the Rangers, those jerseys have have been the same as long as they’ve been around. The same with like the Philadelphia Flyers, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Toronto Maple Leaf. Slight tweaks um you know, will happen every now and again, but for the most part, you know, things don’t change all that often. We will probably see alternate jerseys, you know, down the road. Every team does have an alternate, so a third jersey or, you know, with when they do play in an outdoor game, you know, I’m sure we’ll see some sort of incredible new sweater for that. But yeah, these these are probably the jerseys for for, you know, a good amount of time. And I think uh they look fantastic, especially that mammoth uh on the the black jersey. It it looks really good. Now that all the locker room cleanout and final press conferences and and that sort of thing are all uh said and done, what was uh most compelling that we learned kind of postseason or was most compelling to you? I think two things, you know, first off, just how much these players enjoyed Utah. Um it was very refreshing, right? um you know for a a market that you know the NBA has struggled to bring in free agent talent and you know at times have struggled to maintain talent that they’ve drafted you know for the most part I think all these NHL players have loved Utah they’ve embraced Utah I mean the fact that a guy like Michel Sergeev is saying that you know this is a guy that won two Stanley Cups in Tampa and is beloved in that city and you know in ex interviews he said that Utah is his home and it’s a place that he could potentially see himself living after he retires like I don’t know of a much uh better compliment that that this place could receive. So you know that that was you know overwhelmingly uh positive in terms of you know how the players feel about it. The second thing is that as a whole from the front office through the staff and the players expectations have already uh started to rise. Um you know this last year was all about playing meaningful hockey. uh Bill Armstrong, you know, just continuously hammered in that, hey, look, we’re going to play we’re going to play meaningful hockey and we may or may not get in the playoffs. There’s no guarantees, but now, you know, next year is playoffs are bust uh for the Utah Mammoth. Uh which is exciting. You know, that’s you want to have that kind of mindset. You know, you don’t want to be a team that goes, “Oh, well, we might get in, we might not.” No, it’s it’s changing. And I think that’s something that was missing um for most of their time in Arizona was this, you know, that was an organization that just didn’t necessarily expect excellence. And now with, you know, in Utah with new ownership and revamped energy, you know, uh some veteran presence, uh guys like, you know, Sergeev and and Ola and Ian Cole and Stland that have won Stanley Cups, they know what it’s like to get there. Um, you know, things are going to change and the expectation is that Utah will be in the playoffs a year from now. It I I get the sense now that you have not you, but the the hockey club and the Mammoth has a team name, has a jersey. They’re rebuilding the arena to make sure that everyone in the lower bowl next year will be able to see both goals. They have this lottery pick. They have a new at least one but probably several names in free agency, maybe several names in free agency coming in. It just feels like we’re going to come back next year and see a different feeling organization that is fully established that doesn’t feel transitory anymore. Am I wrong on that? Do you get that impression? No, I I I think you’re spot on. Um, you know, there was I mean it was it was a incredible inaugural season and they were able to just focus on hockey, but you know, the the the rebuild hadn’t really fully taken that next step yet into seriously pushing for a playoff spot. Um, and now with there’s just so much momentum for this organization right now and it feels like the momentum has doubled or tripled since they played their last game. um you know, with with all these things going for them in terms of jumping 10 spots to the fourth overall pick and being able to to you know, either use that um to trade and and get a really good player that’s, you know, more prepared and more ready now or keeping it and getting another guy, another you know, Logan Culie type player or Dylan Gunther type player, you know, high in the draft that is is going to be a major part of this franchise moving forward. um you know the amount of money they have to spend in free agency, $22 million with names like Marner and and Bennett and Ecklers, like there is there’s some very legitimate talent um that’s going to be expecting a you know a fairly significant payday and Utah is in a position that they’re not going to be out of any conversation. You know, to basically to quote Chris Armstrong, that’s what he said at his ex interview was there’s no conversation that we won’t be able to entertain. And then, you know, now they’ve got this this uh this mascot, this name, this brand, this identity. Um and it’s just all coming together. It just feels like everything’s kind of coming up up Utah right now. And yeah, I think it’s going to drastically change um this culture, which is, you know, they’re trying to build that championship culture, that winning culture. Um, and so it’s it’s going to be very this summer is is pivotal in what the next five, six years are going to look like. And if they can get it right, you know, I think already this next season is going to be very different in terms of how competitive they can be. Cole, thank you for coming on the show. We appreciate it. Have a great weekend. You, too. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Cole. It’s our friend Cole Bagley giving us uh his insight into the Utah Mammoth. just when I got used to saying the Utah hockey game. I know I said in the interview. Um it’s just been an exciting 12 months. I imagine Cole has felt like his hair’s been on fire a little bit, but you know, between the team moving, un uh unveiling the jerseys the first time when it was the Utah hockey club, introducing the players, seeing the players break out, seeing the team actually winning games, and then everything that has happened now in the last 12 days that feels somewhat gargantuan is, you know, you forget that there was a this is their second draft. Male Sergeev was traded for on draft night. Just a ton of of big pieces to the puzzle have fallen into place. It’s pretty exciting. All right, we have some show comma business coming up next. You keep saying that. Very important. Say show business. That means something else. Yeah, it is. It is business pertaining to the show. Yeah, you got to punctuate that, right? Yeah. And actually, I think it is a punctuation on something that’s been happening this week. Oh, there you go. Right. It’s a it’s a period or an exclamation point or just maybe the next chapter. I don’t know. Stay tuned. Semicolon. More next. Jake and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present this is JJ and Alex. Big TH Bailey joining us. Thor, it’s so weird that the fate of a franchise can come down to a random drawing, but that’s just how it is in the NBA. Is it too much hyperbole to call this one of the most important moments in franchise history? Look, it’s not a perfect science, but I don’t think it’s hyperbole at all because your goal is to hopefully get the top pick. I mean, that’s not just your goal, but you know, the other teams that are involved in that as well, but again, it may not happen, but there’s some great players coming out in the top five. I know everybody’s talking Cooper flag this and Cooper flag that, but you know, I I think there’s definitely talent there that can help the Jazz continue to progress based on maybe what they’re trying to do with all their other assets. But no, I I don’t believe it’s hyperbole at all. It’s it’s it’s a really important time and and they’re going to be a lot of eyes on it. Catch JJ and Alex afternoons from 3 to 6 presented by G2G bars on 975 the KSL sports. The sports you love. The teams you can’t live without. Sense of urgency. This is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jacob 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Join Hansen Scotty coming up on Monday from noon to 3 at RGs Exteriors 4235 Farm Road in West Jordan. Also, this segment is brought to you by Peach Doors and Windows. Amazing home transformations begin with Peach where fivestar reviews are the norm. Call them today for your free inhome estimate at 8015661255. Ben, we had a bit of a controversy earlier in the week. Uh Russ, a listener Wednesday. Wednesday, uh submitted a comment at kslsports.com that was not very flattering to me. Do we want to read the original? I don’t think so. I don’t think we need to. He was a big Ben fan. He said that I’m detracting from your career basically. He said uh said you’re holding me back. I use the word bozo too much. I’m moody. You said you yell too often and I yell too much and you call too many people bozos. Something along those lines. Yeah. You don’t call and he thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room. I think that’s right. Thank you for pointing that out. So, we did share that constructive feedback on the show. Mhm. Cuz I that’s how we are. Uh and Russ has submitted another comment. been today during the show today. So, he has been listening. Shout out Russ or somebody made it made him aware. Okay. Because it is a bit that we’ve been playing with all week, including, as you mentioned earlier, the Russ draft that we did on Wednesday. Yeah. Just assume he’s listening, Christian. You don’t need to say that he was made aware of it. Uh, he has responded. He has sent in a response. Yeah. My sincere apologies for my email comments regarding Jake Scott. My intent was not to take a cowardly jab at Mr. Scott. It was my attempt to make the show better in my humble opinion. Thanks for reading my email. I can’t wait to see how the zone continues to develop as a worldclass program. We are not world class, but we appreciate the flattery. Frankly, Russ, apologies not accepted. What? You’re going after Russy not needed. It just reminded me of how mean he was. I would say apology not needed, Russ, because I think your original email was right and everything you said. Of course, that’s your opinion. Uh, no, I’m actually just kidding. You know what? Uh, you know what, Russ? I appreciate him getting back at it. Thanks for You know what? Thanks for letting us make a bid out of your email. Absolutely. Apology accepted. And, uh, yeah, I should probably be more open to criticism. Hatch it buried. Hatch it. Absolutely buried. And I mean this sincerely, thank you for listening. Absolutely. The most important thing you can do and I think it’s absolutely awesome hilarious that Russ got back to us. So Russ, you are now part of the show lore. Welcome. Yeah, love the listenership. Love the interaction. We both talked about how while there are plenty of examples and the one time I think we did take an organic call, we had to dump it because the guy swore immediately. So, one of the reasons we don’t take calls, but radio has evolved a little bit and we have the call-in feature which we love. We do and advise people to use often at kslports.com uh or the kslports app. More importantly, use the app. That’s it. Not the website. Thank you. But we miss interaction. Yeah. No, interaction is fun. Absolutely. It’s why, you know, we’ve talked about uh adding names or nicknames that we’ve used on our show. Our listeners are probably also familiar with you Chasta Trailer. Now, that’s his actual Twitter handle, right? Or Wild Turkey Fart Blunt, my personal favorite. I love that guy. Or Colton Chennowith. Yeah. Yeah. We’ve got we’ve got a lot of of regulars who reach out to us and we we like the reach out the outreach. And you know what, Russ? I heard you. I’ve been trying to scream less. Yeah. I feel like my yelling has has been kept better in check since his email. I told I said though that bozo is going to be a tough one. That’s that’s just that’s just there. Um can’t be perfect. I can try and be less moody. I can work on that. And I often am the smartest guy in the room. So I don’t know what to do about that one. Yeah, that’s hard. That’s a hard one to That That’s dumb yourself down. That’s really a challenging one. Maybe I’ll pull a Calvin Booth and start sniffing glue before I interact with people. Uh, by the way, quick addendum. I I don’t know if Calvin Booth sniffs glue. That was that was an assumption on my part. Sure. I didn’t want to get sued. Allegedly. Again, you are very smart, though. Thank you. Thank you. What a what a lovely compliment. Uh, Monday we come back. But no, in all seriousness, shout out to Russ. Yeah, Russ. Shout out to Russ. We’re fans of Russ. Uh, we made it into a bit this weekend. It was actually kind of fun. Monday we come back. Jazz fans, enjoy your last weekend before probably having your hopes down. You should see me at home. Have to be a Debbie Downer. I’m super moody. Okay, I believe that. Are you moody, Christian? No. No. You seem more solid. Yeah, you especially my wife has a very tough job, so I need to be the You are the bring her back down. I was about to say stable one, but that’s not what I mean. Grounding. Yeah. Yeah. Grounded. Yeah. Right. Okay. Yeah. Cuz I’m sure your wife is very stable. That’s not what I was alluding to. You’re married to one of those lunatics there, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, you got to keep loonies. Didn’t mean to step in it there. I’m very stable person, I’m sure. But yeah, she does. She has one of those careers that’s uh that’s high stress, right? She can’t afford to take home to work with her because inevitably she’s going to bring work home. Now, Ben is not moody either, meaning he’s dreary all the time. Like sullen like a like a like the straight out of a Tim Burton movie. Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly. Okay. He is uh uh Kabad Crane. Get behind that. Tim Tim Burton made a Nicabod Crane movie, didn’t he? Isn’t Johnny Depp in it? Sleepy Hollow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Movie stunk. I kind of remember it. Well, that one and From Hell both came out, right? Aren’t they both Tim Burton? They both stink. Wait, From Hell is the uh that’s the the Jack the Ripper one, right? Jack Ripper. Yeah. Yeah, that one wasn’t terrific. That may not be Tim Burton. Maybe it’s just It’s not Tim Burton. That is Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp. Yeah. Okay. You mean the guy from the lawsuit? Yes. Okay. Amber Herd’s boyfriend. I think they were married. X. Yeah. Well, married is different though. Sure. All right. Uh, thanks to everybody out there, Russ included, for listening to the show. We greatly appreciate you. We will talk to you on Monday. Hans and Scotty are coming up next. 975 VKSL Sports Zone.
Jake & Ben Full Show from May 9, 2025
Hour 1
• Ryan Smtih revealed that his wife Ashley will be the representative for the Utah Jazz at Monday’s Draft Lottery.
• Top 3 Stories of the Day: NBA Playoffs, Ryan Smith comments on extending Will Hardy, America First Ballpark to host MLB Home Run Dirby X Finals.
• Nicknames and inside jokes are a large part of our show, so it’s time we explain some of them to get listeners up to speed.
Hour 2
• Steve Bartle, Utah Insider for KSLSports.com, joined the show to talk about Cam Rising’s legacy after the former Ute announced he is medically retiring from football.
• Hear from Utah Mammoth Insider Cole Bagley on the team’s name change and everything it means for their momentum going forward.
• Burying the Hatchet
