Transcript 0:00 From the past to now, we cut right through. This is The Long View. [rock music] Welcome to The Long View. 0:16 This is Ryan Welton with my buddy Clay Horning. We've known each other for 30 years, and together we provide the experience and the... 0:24 We've watched the games, we've covered the stories, and we just sort of have- We've heard it all... a view. We've heard it all. 0:30 [laughs] And this is our weekly podcast where we talk about not only OU sports, but we talk about some politics, we talk about some things that are in the media, professional sports, you name it. 0:41 If it's worth talking about, we will talk about it here, so we appreciate it if you would like and subscribe wherever you do those things. Clay, let's just start with, uh, just a recap. 0:50 Uh, in the corner of my eye, I will tell you, I'm watching, I'm watching Tottenham versus Leeds. Spurs, who are, like, one of the big five in the EPL- You got Leeds on the money line. [laughs] Do you really? 1:02 Do you really? No, I don't. [laughs] Okay. I, uh, I was gonna, like... Why? I was like, I don't... Because they haven't beaten Spurs in the past five months. 1:10 Well, you would have to take Leeds because it's, uh, part of the title of a great album by The Who, Live at Leeds. There you go. But, uh, yeah, this... It wasn't live at Tottenham. No. 1:21 No, it wasn't, although they probably would be playing in that stadium these days. That's right. But, but Tottenham, man, they, they're suffering this year. 1:28 They, they look like the gang who can't shoot straight, um, especially at home. And it's like- I just love that you know it. Well- And you know at home... well, a- and yes, I know at home. 1:38 And by the way, we've, my family, wife, stepdaughter, and I, we visited Tottenham Stadium last year. The neighborhood, it wasn't open for anything. Now you're connected to it. And, and we- Yeah... 1:49 we had fish and chips across the street. It is, it is a great neighborhood to get shivved in. [laughs] So anyway, I kid. I love, uh, London, all neighborhoods. Um, so anyway, last week we talked about OU softball. 2:03 The week before we talked about OU softball, and we talked about this- And we're probably gonna keep doing it until they're done. Every... Well, right. I mean, we need to. But yeah. 2:10 Well, we, we talked about a singular scenario, and that scenario being that because, uh, the Sooners really won't commit to an ace, they're in these situations where they're having to win high-scoring games, and they're not. 2:22 Well, and I don't... I, I still... Th- yeah, they lost their opener, which was a quarterfinal game. They had a double bye, as it were. 2:31 They lost their opener at the, I almost said Big 12, at the SEC tournament in, uh, Kentucky, in Lexington, and it wasn't just that they lost, it was, uh, starting... Wait, what was the pitching in that one? 2:50 Oh, yes. I wrote a whole column about it. It was starting Guachino again, and it was bringing in Bearson after that, and then in a f- well, I, I forget the score. They brought in Lowery toward the end. 3:05 But anyway, and then they bring in- Yeah... uh, Lowery, who we've been led to believe is their best pitcher. She's had the best earned run average on the team the whole season. Doesn't quite have it now. 3:15 She's also thrown more innings than anybody else, which I think is the best indicator of who the coach has the confidence in. But she's... hasn't thrown more innings lately, and it's just, it's messy, messy, messy. 3:29 Now I've also boned up on the regional and the super regional possibility. Same. Same. Um- Same. And I've, I've got some notes here. So where do you wanna go now? One, one... 3:38 Well, one note q- real quick so that we can, uh, sort of mollify the trolls. Sydney Bearson, uh, you said Bearson, but we... the pronunciation police are out there, so, uh, we'll just, we'll keep them at bay. So 3:52 y- you look at the ring, regional, they start out with Binghamton. I believe that's... You said Binghamton, Binghampton. I, maybe I'm watching too much, uh, uh- There's no P in it. Uh, uh, yeah, so I said Binghamton. 4:03 Uh, but then you said Binghampton. Well, I mean- But anyway. [laughs] But it's H-A-M, Binghamton. It's Ham-ton, yeah, not Hamp-ton. Yeah. Yeah, right. 4:12 So, uh- I, I was wrong with that for most of my life is why I'm- Well, I, I believe there is a British club, Binghampton. Oh, that's a good shot, and they've got a goal. Spurs up 1-0 right now. It's not nothing. 4:23 You've got it live. 50th minute, no offside. Beautiful goal by Mi- by Mathias Tell, a French national, uh, who hi- anyway, great match. This is good. You need to get into a cricket team. That would be fun. Um, yeah. 4:38 [laughs] I think I'll just go with India, or maybe, may- maybe England. I don't know. No, in the Indian league where they play it in two to three hours, uh, that's- Yeah. Right... yeah, what cricket's become. 4:48 Um- Anyway, okay... you got Binghampton, you got Kansas, you've got Michigan. Do any of those teams scare you at all? No. No, no, the only... I mean, I think Kansas is, uh, the best of the three. Um, Kansas can hit. 5:05 That's what Kansas can do. Kansas is slashing, and when I say slashing, I mean their batting average followed by their on base followed by their slugging percentage. 5:14 And we can go over it again if we want to, what slugging percentage. But anyway, Kansas is hitting 331, they're on base 420, they're slugging 586. Now that's very good because they are where they are, uh, with a, 5:31 uh, 14 and 10 record in the Big 12. But, uh, despite having an earned run average... O- oh, no, it's not that bad. It's not that bad, but it's, it's still a run worse, run plus worse Sooner, 378. 5:45 The Sooners are slashing 389, 488, 800 so, you know, 200 points higher than the slug, which I think is the most important thing. 5:56 So anyway, yeah, if, if a Kansas pitcher gets hot and the Kansas bats get rolling and, you know, uh, Cassidy Pickering and Kendall Wells remain in slumps, Wells is one for her last 14. 6:10 Uh, there were talks of Pickering, talks like people met. 6:14 Talk- there were talks of Pickering, uh- I thought it was the minister of peace talksWell, ending her slump 'cause she had a big RBI single and a home run, and we're testing my short-term memory at A&M. Um, but 6:29 she went hitless, uh, at the Big 12 Tournament, 0 for 2, two strikeouts. She walked once. Um, so she's just two for her last eight. I mean, that, that's not... 6:41 When she's hitting 250 over three games, she's not out of her slump. And, uh, so anyway, uh, you know, OU's lineup is sort of two short- two players short of where those players have been all season. 6:54 That's a little problematic. But OU, you know, better, better pitching despite what we've said about it, clearly better hitting or what should be better hitting. 7:04 But Kansas is a capable team, whereas Michigan, which has a nice looking record, was still sub-500 in the Big 10. Uh, is that right? Let me see if that's... No. Yeah, that's right, 11 and 13. And, uh, and just... 7:19 And what's Michigan's earned run average because I have it here. It's 4.58. So y- uh, you know, anybody can catch fire, I suppose. Right. Any pitcher can get really hot. 4 point, 4.58 ERA- Yeah... against the OU bats. 7:32 So I don't, I don't see any problems, uh, in the regional. Um, I can move on to their possible super regional if you'd like me to. Well, let, let, let's just talk about that real quick. Yeah. 7:41 Because y- when you look at the brackets expanded, it looks like it's gonna be Oregon, right? And, and, and- Um, it's... 7:48 I- I think it's most likely going to be Oregon, but I think another team in that regional, uh, would be more problematic for OU. Okay. Tell us about it. Okay. That's- I presume it'd be the number, number five seed.... 8:01 Mississippi State. Which one? It's Mississippi State, and for one reason. Mis- First of all, Mississippi State cannot hit a lick, uh, by the way, because they're hitting 274 on base 360, slug 462. 8:12 But they have a team best, or, or they have a team 2.24 earned run average, better than OU by almost a run. They have, uh... 8:22 I, I like the old school-ness of they have two pitchers whose names I can produce if I have to, but I'd have to look at my notes a little more, but, uh, who have thrown, you know, all but some of their innings. 8:33 They're both around 150 innings this season, whereas Lowery, OU's busiest pitcher, has thrown 114. So, uh, you know, um, I don't know what they're gonna do for scoring runs. 8:47 Uh, I think, you know, Oregon has earned its number 14 national seed, and Mississippi, Mississippi State has earned whatever that makes it, you know? 8:57 But, uh, but they have pitchers that could conceivably hold OU to one or two runs if OU's not having a good day at the plate and they're really on. 9:08 And, you know, even a team that's hitting 200 points, you know, or maybe not 200 points, but, you know, with that vast difference between, uh, OU's ability at the plate and their ability at the plate can still score three or four runs sometimes. 9:24 You know, and Mississippi State posted that in the same conference as OU in the SEC. I don't trust, uh... Like, Kansas is 378, and the Big 12 is... 9:34 You know, in the SEC, they'd probably be four and a half or something like that. Right. So- And the Big 10, so how's the Big... And I have a reason why I ask that. How's the Big 10 compared to the SEC? 9:43 Big 10 flourishing in every other sport. Well, I, I would say, and it's not that I've boned up on this one much, but I would say they're... it's top-heavy. I mean, I don't think Rutgers is doing a heck of a lot. 9:55 But, uh, UCLA with offensive numbers is the only team that compares to OU in the country. 10:02 Uh, I think their gift is, that OU doesn't have, is half the time they're facing inferior teams like, like first and second division. Uh, there is really no second division in the SEC. 10:16 I think 12 teams in the field of 64 from the SEC, unless it's 14, you know? So, uh, yeah. I mean, you're, you're a leg up on everybody if you've put together something good in the SEC. 10:29 Well, if you're looking for a storyline, should it... should it go scratch and should it be Oregon, take Audrey Lowery versus Lindsey Green, all right? So Lindsey Green- I wrote down Lindsey Green's numbers right here. 10:40 I have them too. Keep going. 2.73 ERA over 161.2 innings pitched for the season, which is considerably more than Lowery. So clearly Oregon is kind of all in on an, having an ace. 10:54 Do you think Patty Gasso changes the strategy and really leans into Aud- Audrey Lowery, whether it be in the regional or maybe saves it for the, the super? Um, 11:05 well, the only way I can make sense of what she's done with her pitching, which has made no sense for the most part for two or three weeks, is that she doesn't love anybody. 11:17 And, uh, and sh- uh, uh, and she certainly ca- I mean, if somebody gets hot, she'll roll with it. You know, she's not, uh, loyal to any of them I don't think. 11:28 I just think it's been odd how she's been going with her s- conce- seemingly numbers two and three more than her number one for the, that three-week period we're talking about. 11:39 So, uh, um, but you know, my advice in the column I wrote, which is out right now at oklahomacolumnist.com, uh, was to find your best pitcher or the one that you think you'll need during this post-season run and throw her against be- being Upton for three or four innings. 12:02 You know, shouldn't give up a run. You certainly hope they don't. Shouldn't give up a run, and get that confidence moving. 12:10 And having only thrown, say, three innings, you know, you can bring her back tomorrow winner's bracket game if you need to. 12:17 Um, and, uh, and then once you've done that, you know, you c- you can pitch every day if you need to. Now, it could just be OU's starts hitting again, it won't matter, and she'll just sort of save everybody in a way. 12:29 Win, win 15 to four games. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I, uh, so maybe, uh, invoke a little Steven Stills here and love the one you're with. [laughs] That's right. 12:40 I'm gonna h- I'm gonna try to be alert for references from here on out. So I, but- I'm one down on that count. 12:45 So I, I want your reaction to something because, um, after the loss, uh, to Georgia, Patty Ga- Gasso said that she was gonna, uh, work them till their, their hands bleed. Oh, yeah, that's right. 12:57 So- Till their hands bleed... wha, what, what does that mean? While they ask for more. What, what, what, so what exactly? Because what exactly are they going to work on? Well, what... 13:07 I get what she's saying, and I'll tell you what it means to me, is that we're going to go in and, you know, we're going to practice, and if we're, uh, you know, taking in field 13:22 and, you know, a, a fielder just, uh, you know, relaxes, doesn't charge the ball that oughta be charged, they're gonna stop practice and they're gonna fucking talk about it. And, uh, um, and o- or, you know, if it's BP, 13:42 if there's a lazy swing, if, you know, if by chance, uh... 'Cause I think you can throw different types of pitches with your pitching machines. 13:51 If by chance, you know, somebody's swinging at balls out of the zone, we're gonna stop practice. Talk about it. Yeah. Right. Right. It's g- it's g- it's gonna be hard. It will, it will be made hard again. 14:02 And I don't know that a, that softball is like... Let me think of a sport that this is like. 14:10 Well, you know, a football coach can certainly make a practice as difficult or more difficult than a game, keep you from having rest, whatever. Uh, in the old days, keep you from drinking water. Um- Hello, Schnelly... 14:24 I, yeah. Uh, so, um, she'll make it, you know, less relaxing, you know, than most of their games, whi- which, and most of them, of course, have been plenty relaxing. But, uh, yeah, I, I mean, I, I get it. 14:40 And I- there are limits as to... You know what, there may not be right now because school might be done. But, uh, if the semester's over, there may not be limits on how long they can keep them. It's... 14:53 Well, I, it's, uh, actually the semester ends on the 15th. Okay. Well, they can just get that far. If they could just [laughs] get through the first regional. Right. So let me, let me ask you this. 15:04 Let's say that they get past Oregon or they get past Mississippi State, whoever the super regional's against. That will be at, at home, um, almost certainly. I mean, I don't know why it wouldn't be. It can't not be. 15:14 Yeah. Right. They'll either be eliminated or they'll be playing at home in the supers. So I, I need to look at the map again, but couldn't our first r-... Our. Oh, yeah. Texas Tech? Is that where you're going? Yes. 15:26 Well, then, yeah. That's trouble. Well, yeah. Y- yeah. They will... Well, I'm not positive. I think there may be a reseat. I don't know if there's a reseating that takes place. I oughta know that. 15:43 So I'm not positive just by looking at the bracket you know who your first round opponent would be. But it pro- you know what? If, if the seeds hold, it's probably the case. So let's just say it is, that, uh, 16:00 yeah, they would have to face Texas Tech and Najara- No... Canada. There's, there, there's no reseating. Okay. Well, uh, they'd have to face Tech and... Now, is it Kennedy or Canady? Uh- It's Kennedy. 16:13 It's gotta be Kennedy. It's K-A- No, it's not... N-A- It's C-A. It's, it's C-A. Oh, okay. Yeah. Um, yeah. 16:21 Well, anyway, since she had a 0.57, I think it was, earned run average her freshman year at Stanford, we've known about this girl who's now at Texas Tech, where they have a softball benefactor that, uh, is bringing, is bringing players in. 16:38 So yeah, I mean, they'd, they'd have to get to her. And, uh, yeah, there you go. There you go. Yeah. 16:46 Well, it's, uh, your overall thought right now as you see it, I mean, things, opinions can change after seeing a regional or a super regional. Where, what, what is the trajectory for this team? Well, 17:01 I, you know, what you have to do is win your first game once in Oklahoma City. We're, we're not gonna pick them not to go to Oklahoma City. Uh, and once there, you gotta win your first game or you're... 17:13 You gotta win your first two or you're in a heap of trouble, you know, because you're gonna have to come back and win two, win two straight to sort of return to the winner's bracket, and then win again, you know. 17:25 And they're not deep in the circle. So I guess right now I would not pick them to win a national championship. 17:33 Uh, I would, uh, I would give them 50/50 to get past, uh, Tech, but then they'd h- who- but they gotta face a winner in the next game. And so I guess that's just where I am. Now, 17:48 if they scored 10 runs every game their first, you know, the super and then in this first weekend here, 17:55 uh, you know, I, I will say something along the lines of I, I can't make them the favorite because of their pitching, but the scenario is, I guess what we've always said it is, that they just hit the cover off the ball, it doesn't matter. 18:11 Which, so they always have that chance. I mean, they don't just have a puncher's chance, they have Ernie Shavers puncher's chance. There. Boom. Reference. Nice. Okay, let me give you another one. 18:23 Who's famous in the golden age of heavyweights for punching the hardest? Harder than Foreman. Uh, harder than Roy Jones? Does Roy Jones... Doesn't Roy Jones- He was a counter puncher... fight defensive fights? 18:36 Or that's Mayweather. Yeah. But, uh- But let me ask you, just a, an OU reference. Um, is this edition of Patty Gasso's softball squad, um, in Billy Tubbs territory? Just score points. Um, 18:51 I thinkI'd have to go back and look- Now, I'm not saying that as a bad thing Oh, oh, I know. No. 18:56 I just think it happens I'm just saying I would have to go back and look at their slash lines to even determine if this is the best offense they've had. It might be the third best off- or the fifth best- Wow... 19:03 'cause she's been loaded so much. 19:06 Uh, yeah, uh, there have been times in the past where there was no UCLA-type team that was right there with them in the, in the national rankings in these categories, but that just may be that the sport is catching up to OU, 19:20 um, in terms of hitting. So, I mean, here's the... 19:26 She's gonna have to go into the portal and unless she finds a freshman superstar that is great from the start, which is unusual, it's probably been eight to 10 years. Uh, uh, Paige Parker would be the last one, I think. 19:42 So she's gonna h- have to go into the portal and get the best there is, and then hope they, they're developing somebody that's even better. 19:51 And the, the year they had, uh, Alex Duracco, if that name rings a bell- It does a little bit... she was a transfer in from Michigan. 20:00 I can't remember who led them in innings that year, but they had an ace on top of her, even while Alex was a very frequently used number two, had the best earned run average on the team, you know. 20:13 But, so, but they just haven't... This is two straight seasons they haven't had that. And they didn't really, and really three, 'cause Kelly Maxwell was, like, 2.1 earner. She wasn't the best. 20:26 She wasn't one of the 10 best, I don't think. May- well, maybe. But anyway, didn't have that sparkling 1.5 or better ERA. 20:37 All right, we have a, um, a robust lightning round, but real quick, I'm just trying to catch up here on OU baseball. We can do that. 20:45 Uh, they, they, well, they just, just real briefly, they lost two of three to, uh, Arkansas over the weekend. A team that looked so great at the start of the season is now 31 and 18. Do you have any concerns right now? 20:59 Well, yeah, I do. It's their starting pitching, and then after that, it's their relief pitching. 21:04 [laughs] And none of their starters had, uh, their best start was from number three starter Cord Rayjor, who gave up five hits and four earned runs in, in five innings. Cam Johnson lasted two and a third, gave up four. 21:19 Uh, LJ, uh, Mercurius gave up five and six in one and a third. You know, just bad, and when he goes to using, you know, he ob- he likes to use a lot of guys for one inning or one plus innings. 21:36 If he throws four relievers, one of them is gonna give up four runs before he gets an out. That, that seems to be the pattern. So it's just their pitching, it looked so good before the conference play began. 21:48 It doesn't look as good now, and it's, and it's oddly hit and miss. You know, it's not like... So it's like they're great and they're awful more than they are good and less good. 22:01 Um, and I, I would say this though, they're 13 and 14 in the conference. You know, last year at heading the SEC, there were fears that they would just get wiped out, you know, because they just... 22:13 So for a second straight year, they've proved they belong. Right. It's a great point. But they, but they're not on the same level of, say, the top third of that conference. 22:21 They're almost, they're out of the polls right, they're out of the coaches poll right now. They're out of D1 Baseball's poll. They're still ranked 20th by Baseball America. 22:30 Uh, oh, and this Thursday, Friday, Saturday, this week, they play Tennessee in Bricktown, which ought to be interesting to see if the, the people come out. Right. 22:40 So they're good, but- Vols fans, I remember- They're not gonna host unless they do a lot of work. Right. Right. I, I remember when the Vols came to, uh, Norman for football, and campus was orange. 22:52 It was filled with orange. Volunteers, I believe. Well, you remember the College World Series in 2022? I'm sure Skip Johnson remembers it. That entire crowd was Mississippi. You know what? 23:02 It will be, uh, and I think they'll get there, in Oklahoma City, it will be, would you call Nebraska cherry red? Uh, but anyway, it will be that red. That's what will take over Oklahoma City. Okay. Good. 23:16 'Cause they've got the best fans in the world. Nebraska does. Oh, oh, oh. Okay. So Nebraska's here also? Yeah. Yeah. Well, no, Nebraska's, I think, gonna make it to Oklahoma City. They're, like, number four. Oh, oh, oh. 23:28 Right. Yeah. Right, right. You're talking- We're, we're going back to softball... softball team. Yeah. 23:30 Uh, you know, if, if I'm projecting storylines, a Jordy Ball finish her career national championship would be pretty cool. Well, you know what? And the thing about Jordy is... 23:41 Ugh, you know who used to drive me crazy, batter? I know we're up against the time. She would, like, take laps around the circle between pitches. The shot, the pitch clock was invented for her. 23:52 Um, it used to drive me crazy. Uh, I went to, yeah, after I went into the newspaper and went to one game as a fan, I could stand it more in the press box where, you know, I've got a water, a drink. 24:05 Anyway, but, uh, but she's- Yeah... she's never been one of the hardest pitchers in the country. That's how we tend to define pitchers. 24:12 But she gets the strikeouts, and she's one of the most suc- and so she, she, I mean, I, she has to be comparatively a Tom Glavine type figure. You know, um, not, not a Bob Gibson, not a, not a fireballer. 24:28 Not, not- So- Well, oh, yeah, or not working fast. She's like Kenley Jansen in working fast. [laughs] All right. It's our favorite time of the show. It's the lightning round. 24:42 Um, sometimes you have an idea of one of the questions I'll ask because we talk about it beforehand, and there's one of those. But we're gonna start out with a couple of, um, ones that you have no idea about. 24:52 Now let's start- That's all right... with hockey. Let's start with hockeyOkay All right. 24:55 There, I don't know how much you've watched the playoffs so far, and I've just sort of- I've watched plenty, but, uh, I don't read it. I just- Okay, that's-... kind of watch it. You d- but that's, that's good enough. 25:04 There are two teams- Oh, it's more than I watch of the NBA. There are two teams who have never won the Stanley Cup in the playoffs. Does either one of them have a chance to win it all? 25:15 Let me think if I can even think of who they are. Um, are, is, yeah, I mean, the Kraken didn't make it to the second round, did they? Uh- Kraken are not in the playoffs. Yeah, uh, well, then what's the... 25:28 Oh, the Utah, the Ma- Well, no... was, is Memphis still in the playoffs? They... No, I mean, no, no. I mean still in the playoffs. Okay. It's the Buffalo Sabres and the Minnesota Wild. 25:37 Oh, well, the Wild I should've had immediately, and the Sabres, if I'd thought about them, who are the team I follow right now, I would've told you they lost to the Stars the year the Stars won it. You bet. 25:47 Uh, they had the best goalie in the history of the sport maybe, uh, in his prime, Dom Fashek. Oh, uh, Fashek, yeah. Um- So but, but let me... 25:56 And, y- you know, when I look at the playoffs right now, I really watch- They're down 2-1 though. Uh, yeah, they are... the Avalanche and the Canadians. Yeah. And I think the Canadians are probably gonna win that series. 26:03 Whoever comes out... Well, huh, the Cadi- the Canadians don't get a lot of shots on goal. They've sort of scored with, uh, smoke and mirrors, but whoever comes out of that I'm rooting for. 26:15 If it can't be the Buffalo team that I picked up on when I saw, like, a 10-minute thing on Tage Thompson, who is their high scorer, the Sabres, uh, and fun to watch without the puck, although he hasn't been that offensively busy lately, um, 26:31 it is the Canadians. It, it's... I, I, I want Canada to win a Stanley Cup. I agree. Totally agree, especially Les Habitant- They're the better country these days, honestly. 26:44 Well- I mean- [laughs] But, but, uh, so I, I will tell you this though. I think it's, uh, I, I think we're probably looking at, uh, Vegas and Carolina... what's Vegas doing in its series? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. 26:57 Is Colorado still in these playoffs? It's Colorado and Carolina. Yeah, I could... Yeah, the Avalanche. Yeah. I don't know. I was gonna- No momentary lapse in reason... 27:05 I like John Tortorella a whole lot, who is Vegas' coach. Uh, I don't know how great a coach he is. He's, you know, coached, like, eight teams so far. It's crazy. I got, got breaking news for you in Spurs-Leeds. 27:15 Somehow Leeds has a penalty kick. I'll tell you how it goes right now. You don't miss penalty kicks. No, it's 85%. He's gonna make it. Right. Well, you know, uh, we'll, we'll see. It, it... And he did. It's 1-1. 27:30 And, and I, I, I always hated... Here's a, here's a sports pet peeve that I've never voiced, and it's like, it's always bothered me, so you'd think I'd remember it when I think of them. 27:42 It's you make a great play, you, you score from 30 yards, or you make an unbelievable pass, or as a team you just da pa pa pa pa and score. 27:56 Yeah, s- celebrate a goal like it's the first goal you've ever scored in your life, sure. You score on a penalty kick, go to the center of the field and kick off again. Right, so- You, you deserve no celebration. 28:10 I make that shot 50% of the time. Right. I... So this guy- Even now. [laughs] This guy, this guy ran around and did this. Shh. And but the thing that's ironic about that is Tottenham Hotspur's stadium is already quiet. 28:25 There's no shhing needed. And can I, can I give you a quick lightning... Uh, did we finish our- Yeah, yeah... our NHL? Give, give some, yeah. Was there a... Because, um, okay, if you are a, 28:39 uh, a huge fan of an Engl- English Premier League team, are you more excited that you won the EPL in which there is no post-season, or that you win Champions League 28:57 when, um, the next year that you qualified for by doing so well the year before in the EPL? Right. 29:03 S- so I can, I can answer that question easily for you, and I borrow upon the expertise of my buddy Jeremy, with whom we record Bedlam Buds, and he's watched this longer than I've been alive. We're, we're the same age. 29:14 But, uh- [laughs]... it's Cha- it's Champions League. In fact, he would say that arguably Champions League is actually bigger than World Cup. It, it, it draws... It, it is just- Jeremy is this? Jeremy Cook. Okay. 29:28 Yeah, but, but he, he, he knows his soccer. And, uh, it's, you know, World Cup is country, but Champions League is club. And it's, it's like- Well, what about the, what about the Club World Cup? 29:42 That, that's a thing, you know. Yeah, I, I know. Yeah. [laughs] But, but it, it only started. Okay. I mean, there were, like, MLS teams in there. So it's like the EPL. There were... Yeah. It's like the UFL. 29:52 I mean, so Champ- Europe has Champions League. I believe, uh, the United States has CONCACAF or w- something like that. They have their, you know, where, uh, Canada, Mexico, United States competes. 30:03 But US fans would be happier, fans of MLS teams I think would be happier with an MLS championship than with a CONCACAF. I mean, unless there's- Right, because the, the, I, y- maybe. 30:16 I think US fans are happier when the national- There were no playoffs, though. Then it might go the other way. Well, uh, w- w- I think US fans are happier when the national team wins. 30:25 That's when the soccer diehards are really into it. Well, sure, 30:31 but it's just sort of that s- And same with England, by the way, but, but the Champions League- Would, would you think that most, uh, soccer fans in Europe or Britain in their, who are in their 80s would rather have the EPL title or Champions? 30:47 But the point being they've been following this stuff for 60 years. They are beholden- I, I think it de- I think it depends which club. 30:55 The na- The, the year that Leicester City won it all, the EPL, um, the, for people who had been following and, uh, been a fan of Leicester City for 100 yearsThat's it. They can die now. It's like with the Cubs- Right... 31:08 winning the World Series. And I, and I think they would rather win the EPL- Right... given their history- Right... than finish second and go win champions. 31:16 Whereas, whereas Arsenal, dude, they win it every five years anyway. It's like the Dodgers. At some point you're like, "Eh" Have you read books or only watched the games and gleaned all this? 31:29 Um, I've watched the games, I talk a lot of soccer with Jeremy, and there is a fantastic book called How Soccer Explains the World. This is the reason why I'm a Spurs fan. 31:40 Um, and, and that in concert with, um, an online quiz that Bill Simmons did when he was with ESPN, where you could take your baseball fandom and equate it to, um, an EPL team, and he described the... 31:56 He described Spurs as being like the Brooklyn Dodgers. Very, very blue collar, work ethic, um, union. Um, now of course, Tottenham, their neighborhood, they, they call it Yiddish Army- Yeah. 32:09 Secondary sort of to the- Well-... to the Yankees when they were in New York. Right. Yeah. 100%. 100%. Uh, Tottenham has this thing called Yiddish Army. 32:17 I don't know how, uh, big it is still, but a, a heavy Jewish population there. I, I'm not Jewish, but I'm sort of like, "Okay, they feel, um... There's a chip on their shoulder." I like chips on their shoulder. 32:28 That's why I always liked Mike Tomlin with the Steelers, even though he- I like chips on shoulders as long as it's not Kelvin Sampson's shoulder. [laughs] Fair point. 32:37 But, but there's, there's- Or as Gary Nevid once called it, a boulder on his shoulder... on his shoulder. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but there, there's a reason why, you know, people picked... I, I... 32:47 Actually, for me, it was their previous stadium, White Hart Lane. It was loud, it was tiny, um, and it had just a lot of grit. And at the time- It w-... they had a manager named Harry Redknapp who just... 32:59 I, you know, just, it was a great vibe. I was gonna offer you a reference that I don't even think you would recognize. Uh, I was gonna say it's the Fredrickson FieldHouse of soccer stadiums. 33:09 Fredrickson FieldHouse is where Oklahoma City University, when they were called the Chiefs and they were an NCAA team and coached by Abe Lemons, played. 33:17 So I remember that they used to do well, and they used to, uh, uh- Yeah... be, uh, in the NCAA tournament. Would that be Fredrickson? Yeah. And were not in the NIT. They were always in the NITs. 33:26 Would, would that be Fredrickson named after Gray Fredrickson? I don't know. I don't know. If... You could... Well- You know, you, you know Gray Fredrickson? No, I don't. 33:34 He, he, he died recently, but he was the co-producer of, uh, Godfather and Godfather II. Oh, yeah. And, and The Outsiders. But he's from- That predates that... he's from Oklahoma City. Yeah. 33:46 I think, uh, Fredrickson FieldHouse goes back to the '60s. I say co-producer. I think co-director. He w- Okay... he won a, he won an Academy Award though. Couple of them. Works well with others. Yes. 33:56 [laughs] Works well... 100%. Okay. 34:00 Um, so this one we sort of pre-discussed, and this is something that I've been covering for Oklahoma Memo, and I'll, I'll give you the insight that I have, but let's talk about the Sarah Polston case. 34:09 Sarah Polston, um, was involved in a DUI crash. 34:14 She was the DUI offender that nearly killed a 20-year-old three years ago, and it, uh, the 20-year-old had to be in a coma for, uh, like a couple of months, little more than a couple of months. Life forever changed. 34:26 And, uh, the offender, Sarah Polston, was sentenced to eight years in prison, which usually there are some higher percentages of time that you have to spend in prison before you can be released. 34:37 However, she was released to house arrest, to GPS ankle monitor wearing, after 73 days, and we've learned over time that this may have been because of some influence that her husband had with the governor, who may have made calls in support of her. 34:56 We know he made calls, but nobody has actually ever heard what- We know-... the governor said, except we have heard what the husband has said about the calls. Um, yeah. 35:08 Which I think he could not have been talking about anybody other than Stitt. No. Agreed. Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. So- So what's your, what's, what's your take on this whole situation? 35:19 Does it- My take is the rules don't apply to Kevin Stitt as Kevin Stitt sees them, and then when he's caught, he tells you, "Oh, no, no, no. It's just a grudge from the attorney general." That's what I think. 35:28 But, uh, and so... And, oh, also, yeah. We don't know what he told, uh, the Department of Corrections to do. The person that actually signed off on it, 35:42 I believe, was signing off of, on it at the behest of the Department of Corrections. So it's, uh... I- if it is as I think it occurs, Stitt is speaking to Department of Corrections. 35:54 Department of Corrections makes a recommendation to, uh... I don't, I don't have the chain of command down, uh, but to the person who would have to sign off on it for it to happen. So just a li- little bit of background. 36:08 Okay. There are mechanisms in play for somebody to get out after this amount of time on GPS. As you noted before we talked, it is not typical, but that law is there. 36:19 And in fact, after the fact, all of a sudden the state legislature is coming up with laws to make sure that this doesn't happen again, and Governor Stitt, on News 9, uh, last week said, "Hey, I'm all in favor of this law." 36:33 Um, however, I would just note, Clay, as I told you- He's not in favor of not having at least the appearance of a conflict of interest. Right. Right. So, uh, 36:43 as I told you beforehand, I filed a Freedom of Information Act request with, uh, the governor's office, with the state attorney general's office, and with the Department of Corrections looking for any communication, email, phone call, text, anything, uh, between the governor and the DOC, uh, related to this case to find out, because this is the thing we're missing. 37:02 Uh, viewers, listeners, understand a grand jury is always one-sided. It's... There's never a defense there. You only hear one side of things. 37:09 And by the way, uh, grand juries, I mean, they're done in, in secret all the time. 37:14 They would indict a ham sandwichUh, there's a lot of truth to that, but- There was a whole, there was a whole Quincy episode about the, the danger of grand juries I love Quincy. 37:23 I especially love the open when somebody faints during the au- autopsy. That, that might be me. Okay. So I've got two... Well, you've fin- But I've got two- Yeah... specific things to say about this. 37:33 I, I was just gonna say, the, the, the... Yes, if he, uh, exerted his influence, technically even if he did, they were still within the law to release her, period. 37:44 Hate the law, you know, the, the law's gotta change, but they were technically within the law even if that happened. 37:51 But if he did exert influence, I think we have to have, you know, bigger questions, and I don't know that states have hearings about such things, but this is, this is a big deal. 37:59 They don't have them in an age of super majority Republican, uh, in the, in the legislature. But this, this is a big deal, would you not agree? It should be. It won't be. I don't know that it is... 38:16 If what makes it a big deal is sort of a public reckoning about it, that, uh... And, and I guess for my purposes, that's what I'm saying it is. 38:26 I don't, I, I don't think the average citizen in, uh, Oklahoma even knows about it. Because you're gonna have to read about... 38:33 If you're not on, uh, social media, which many people aren't, and you don't read a newspaper, which almost nobody does anymore, there you go. My hands are out. I- I'm exa- exasperated. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 38:47 A couple things, and, you know, you could say, "Well, Clay, you have no, uh, evidence to think it's as cut and dry as you said you think it is." Well, here's, uh, one quote from Stitt about it. "I did zero favors, okay? 39:02 So that's first and foremost. And the grand jury, basically, the grand jury said there's no criminal wrongdoing from the Department of Corrections, from the government office, from anybody." 39:11 Okay, first of all, that's my dramatic reading as Kevin Stitt. Secondly, so he says, "I didn't do anything, zero, and it's not criminal." But to me, what he's saying is, "What I did was not criminal." 39:28 Well- He- the grand jury- But also-... tore him a new one, and he wants to use it to exonerate himself. They actually toured the DOC a new one more than they did- Okay... Kevin Stitt. 39:38 Because note in the grand jury report, they said, "No malfeasance, no willful malfeasance." Willful is the important word. I'd like to go read the law. And that, that... 39:47 It almost makes me wonder if, uh, Gentner Drummond, despite his hatred for Kevin Stitt, which is real, uh, Gentner Drummond, the AG in the state who's running for governor, um, despite all that, he wasn't... 40:02 You know, he may have not put an indictment for the governor on the table. He's not... He doesn't want that war. So, so either that- So- I, I, I agree that could be- Okay... something there. 40:12 But I would say the other thing is, so, um, if, if the grand jury's not gonna come out with an indictment and also say that there was nothing done wrong, but still say all these other things, why do that? 40:25 I think you get to offer... The grand, in, in this, you know... In a sense, grand jur- grand juries are not just there to offer up an indictment or decline one. 40:40 They're there to perform an, their own investigation. The evidence is brought to them. They give you deliverance of it. They pass some kind of judgment. This is what that statement was. Great. Good point. Um, okay. 40:55 Also, but this is, this is just, this has gotta go in the greatest hits column. Stitt, "I never called to say put an ankle bracelet on her." Really? That specific thing you didn't ask for. 41:11 You could have asked for a millions, for a million things without saying, "Put an ankle bracelet on her," that gets her in that ankle bracelet, that, uh, for all intents and purposes commutes her sentence. 41:25 Uh, so when I read that, I was like, that's too, that's so, that is so easily the truth and, and, and not, but, but not exonerating. I mean, and when you start to read bad denials, you presume guilt. 41:42 Well, he- So that one makes me think he's guilty- Got it... of whatever the grand jury's saying he's guilty of, even if it's not- There's, there's a l- there's a lot of parsing semantics. Yeah. Semantics. 41:51 For example, if you've ever filled out, uh, this is my first personal- Which goes right back to Vrabel and Russini, come clean. Don't p- You know, you're saying nothing now, but w- when you speak, don't. I mean, grovel. 42:06 Admit to everything. Right. I agree. And your, and, and then you get to start at zero again. You don't start at negative 10. Yeah. Or whatever. By the way, Leeds almost won it right there with the goal. 97th minute. 42:20 There are 13 extra minutes s- of stoppage time. Oh, that's another thing. I've nev- I've never seen th- I've never seen that much. Oh, hit the top bar. No, that's a whole lot of faking injury. 42:31 That, [laughs] that is a whole lot. That's a whole lot of flopping, man. I, so- You know what? And that's another thing about s- I, I mean, this is a pet peeve everybody has about it. 42:41 Flopping and faking injury, literally faking injury, is like, uh, it's not... It, it's more than a part of the game. It's a tradition. 42:53 And it's r- uh, 'cause whenever that happens when I'm watching a soccer game, I keep my eye on the guy who's down, who's holding his shin with both of his arms and rolling on the ground. 43:07 Then when I see the replay, I look to see if there was any contact with his shin, and frequently there wasn't. It's just their feet got tangled up. And then when we leave the replay, and this is, by the way, the... 43:21 If you wonder what I am good at it, sort of as a journalist, it's noticing. 43:27 Um-And, uh, and then when they come back, I try to find that guy on the field again as he's still down, and is th- and he's still on camera when he gets up and jogs as though he was never hurt in the first place. 43:40 There's a guy down right now. Oh. He's holding his shin. Just coincidentally. Hey, this has been a good conversation. I mean, I, you know, I, I think, uh, um, a lot of people are talking about this. 43:50 Um, uh, from my perspective, um, I, you know, I don't go into this to defend either side. I just sort of look at the processes. I think the processes are interesting. 44:00 The agenda, the reason why the attorney general, uh, uh, y- you know, uh, got a grand jury together to talk about this is interesting. Um, where there's smoke, there's fire. I know that's cliche, but I think that's true. 44:13 And that's why- He only hires his friends all the time. Well, it's- I mean, which is not a... whi- which is par for the course. 44:18 Oh, and I didn't even s- get to say that, and the thing about it is it's so brazen to do things that are ethically dubious, to, to be very softball about it, and it is, it's the age of Trump. 44:33 It's, you know, as I said to you before we got on the air, when you get caught, the only penalty is you don't get to, uh, continue to exercise, uh, uh, you don't continue to carry on in the thing you got caught doing. 44:51 But you're not gonna lose your job. You're not gonna be charged with a crime, and, and hardly anybody knows it anymore. 44:58 It's not part of, uh, a, you know, a universal conversation in the state or in the country, and life just goes on. And that's... 45:07 So, you know, the last person who was concerned about, you know, losing his next job about this was Kevin Stitt, you know? Who cares? Right. Well, I mean, I care, but- This kind of stuff is over. 45:20 Well- [laughs] It's- Yeah... it's, it's just a, man, it's, it's a, a oligarch mentality. Yes. It is, uh, uh, you know, for ye- Oligarch behavior... not to be or something like that, yep. All right. 45:35 Good conversation, man. We didn't even talk- We're here to save everybody. We, we didn't even talk about any Thunder basketball, and we could... 45:41 I have this whole topic that we ought to get on, why are the Thunder so hated nationally? 45:44 It's because LA is a city of seven million people, and Oklahoma City is a city of a million people, and LA's been in the NBA- That's, uh-... for 100 years, and the Thunder haven't. It, there's just more... 45:55 I mean, Thunder fans are often ridiculous, too, but they're, the partisanship as a population is, like, 10 to one. Well- So-... 46:04 except that, well, except that the, the Thunder, this, this team is made up by great dudes, not just good dudes. Right. That's, that's- They believe in the good dude energy... his game of it. 46:12 They play beautiful basketball. They play beautiful basketball. And SGA is not a flopper. I- He's not... I'd say- He just, he goes to the hole, and they, they- Well, he goes-... don't make it out of nothing... 46:23 down as a way to absorb the force of coming down. He's always l- if, if there is no whistle, he does not gonna, he's not gonna land on all fours and try to brace his fall that way. 46:35 But if there is a whistle, he always finishes on the ground, and that's part of his game. Yep. And it, and he's doing it to save his body. But he, he never doesn't at least get hit. He draws contact, sure. All right. 46:49 But he's not a flopper. The Long View. Today, it not only means the long view, the broad view. These are an hour long, so I hope you folks enjoyed them, and I hope that we engaged you on some topics of, uh, politic. 47:06 [coughs] I'm gonna die here in the last few minutes. And hey, come after us. You disagree- Do it... bring it. As long as you're not giving us a hard time about how to pronounce a name. Right. Ryan wants to hear it. 47:17 Don't, don't, don't get sophomoric. Uh, but I would, I would love to hear, uh, from people who agree with me, especially on the, um, Vrabel-Ruzzini case. I'm gonna cough again. 47:26 [coughs] I need to just hit the dump button. Dump. I'm coughing. Yeah. Well- I've been talking so much, it gets me worked up. But, uh, you know, I just think our standards have lowered. It's like I'm tearing up. 47:39 I'm not really tearing up. I'm just gonna cough my head off. All right, man. Until next week- Okay... until next week, it's The Long View. Like, subscribe, do all the things. Actually, let's wait here one second. 47:50 Spurs have one more corner kick. We're at 103 minutes. This is crazy. Come for the pod, stay for the soccer. [laughs] All right. Here we go. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. It's... 48:00 Oh, they're gonna blow the final whistle. Uh-oh. No, no, one more. He's kicking it in. A header. Oh, no. Leeds kicked it out. It's gonna be it. But is it? 48:12 And I actually like soccer, but you just hit on another thing about soccer. Oh, it's over. No, it's not. They always let the play finish- They always let the play finish... before it's over. Right. Right, right. 48:23 So- Isn't that how-... there really is no clock... isn't that how we used to do it when we were playing, you know, uh, simulating games in the backyard with the basketball hoop? You always let that final play- Sure... 48:33 you know, happen. Yeah. Yeah, you alwa- you called out the time as you were taking the shot- [coughs] Sure... and it was always right before the buzzer. Dude, there's one more corner. We gotta give this one more corner. 48:45 I've got a, [coughs] I've got a podcast to record after this. I don't know that I'm gonna survive. Here we go. Well, we hit some course traffic. Here's the kick. Surely this is it. Here's the ki- Oh, nice. Oh. 49:00 No, this has gotta be it. We gotta go. It's The Long View. Clay, Ryan, take us out.
