[00:00:03] Speaker A: The following program is brought to you in living color on dailygazette.com or wherever you get your podcast.
The Daily Gazette Company presents the parting Shots podcast. Now here's your host, Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shots. Thank you, Scott Geesy. And welcome to the Parting Shots podcast, available wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe today. Thanks for joining me from the Parting Shots podcast studio in Schenectady, New York, the last podcast of July. It's a good one. Got three segments for you on this edition of the Party Shots podcast. Of course, Mike McAdam will be here for his weekly segment of Saratoga horse racing at the track with Mac. We'll look back at last week's events and look ahead to the Whitney this coming Saturday. Then Tommy Harding, who was a student manager for the union men's hockey team from from 2015 to 16 through 2018 to 19. He's now the communications manager with the Florida Panthers, your Stanley cup champion Florida Panthers. So I talked to Tommy last week about that and his experiences at union. So that story in Tuesday's Daily Gazette and online at Daily Gazette.com. if you get a chance to read that, please do so. There's other items we did not cover in the article that are on the podcast. So I'll have an interview with Tommy after Mac and then Ken Fang of awful announcing, we'll look at the new NBA tv deal and the ramifications of Warner Discovery, the parent company of TNT, losing out in the bidding process. Although they didn't match the Amazon offer. The NBA said no, and it's a lawsuit. And we'll talk about that as well as some Summer Olympics topics on the podcast with Ken Fang. So coming up, Mike McCadam on Saratoga Racecourse. You're listening the parting shots podcast.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: Man, I loved playing high school sports growing up, and it's fun being a fan. Now, don't get me wrong, but sitting in the stands feels like I'm missing out on all the action. You know, I wanted to get back in the game, so I signed up to be a high school official. It takes me back to my playing days. I'm supporting students and I get paid to make the big calls. Do you want to see the game up close? Sign up to become an official in New
[email protected]. dot.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: Want to get all the latest news from the Daily Gazette on your phone or tablet? We have an app for that. The Daily Gazette app allows you to read all the newspaper stories and columns from our dedicated team of journalists. The app is free. You can download the app from the Apple or Google app stores.
[00:02:50] Speaker B: Hi, this is Union College men's hockey head coach Josh Hojie. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:02:56] Speaker C: With Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott.
[00:03:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to the podcast. And Mike McGaddon of the Gazette with his weekly at the track with Max segment joins us now. And Mike, good times out there. Nice weekend with the Jim dandy. And of course the Whitney Stakes coming up this weekend. How much are you looking forward to that?
[00:03:16] Speaker C: Very much so, especially since they drew a full field of twelve. And national treasure is going to be coming back out here for the Whitney after winning a Met mile at Saratoga during Belmont week.
Really interesting race, full field of twelve. There's a lot of undercard stuff that's interesting too. So there's a lot going on this weekend. We got the hall of Fame on Friday too, so as usual it's busy.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: Well, let's start. Obviously it's Whitney week, but before we get into that, last Saturday was the big day for the three year old male division and somehow the buzz horse continued to be the three year old Philly Torpedo Anna before, but before we get there, fierceness remained. I reminded everyone that he's a really good horse by beating another really good horse, Sierra Leone and the Jim Dandy.
[00:04:04] Speaker C: Yeah, fierceness, I think we were talking last week and I said it's put up for shut up time for both fierceness and Sierra Leone. And they both ran great in the Jim Dandy. I think there's even more pressure on Fierceness than Sierra Leone because he had not won a race since March in the Florida Derby. And you're talking about the two year old male champion from last year. A lot of expectations. He's really good, but he has this weird pattern where he has a great race and then a stinker. And his last race was the 15th place in the Kentucky Derby. That was the stinker. But he came back and ran very well in the gym dandy and you know, it was kind of a weird trip. He was ridden by Johnny Velazquez, who decided to take fierceness really, really wide. I mean, he was all the way into the middle of the track by himself on the lead. And then Sierra Leone was kind of ducked in toward the rail and was making a lot of ground and had a lot of momentum toward the wire. But fierceness got there by a lengthen to win and kind of reestablish himself, as you know, one of the top contenders in the three year old male division, which continues to be pretty wide open. I know Dornock put together two good races in the Belmont and the Haskell, and we'll see him in the Travers, but he's kind of waiting for everybody to put together, like a second good race. And in fierceness's case, that came on Saturday in the Jim dandy. And it'll be interesting to see if he runs back in the Travers because he tends to do better when he has some space between races. So I wouldn't be surprised if they hold on to him until the Pennsylvania derby in September. But, you know, they're. Plus, you know, the top trainer Todd Fletcher, also has mind frame to consider for the Travers, so they may want to keep them separated. But, you know, then again, fierceness has been training very well, and it might be, you know, strike while the iron is hot time, you know, coming up on August 24 in the traverse. So we'll be keeping an eye on that between now and later in August. But, hey, fierceness, you know, he kind of showed himself what everybody thought he was after the clunker and the derby. So he's kind of back in the picture, which is good to see. The more the merrier.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Yep. Well, trainer Kenny McPeak did everyone, including himself, a favor by announcing on Saturday that to no surprise, super philly torpedo Anna would go outside the box and run against the males and the Travers instead of staying among her own in the Alabama. Was this the right decision?
[00:06:38] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. And everybody anticipated that. That's the call that he was going to make, the reason of the decision, that making the decision last weekend was good for Kenny McPeek. As he pointed out during the Fox broadcast, he won't get pummeled with questions for the next several weeks about where she's going to run. The Alabama is on August 17, and as I already mentioned, that Travers is on August 24. Everybody knows what she's looking at now. It was also the right decision because, you know, she's probably better than these colts and can win this thing. I mean, if she wins, she'll probably be the favorite. I wouldn't be surprised if she's the favorite.
So they've locked up the three year old Philly division, as far as I'm concerned, and they have higher aspirations. She could wind up being horse of the year if she wins the Travers and maybe comes back and runs well in the Breeder cup this half, I don't know that they'll run against males. Once we get the Breeder's cup time, that might not make a lot of sense, but for the time being, she absolutely belongs in Travers. It's the right move.
She's been winning by open links, most recently coaching club American Oaks. So as I kind of pointed out before, running in the Alabama would be kind of a lateral move for her. It would be just kind of, you know, frosting on top of frosting, really. She needs something a little more substantial. As Kenny McPeek also pointed out, it's better for the Alabama because now they'll get a good field. If Torpedo Anna was pointing toward that race, we might be looking at a three or four horse field where she's one to 20, and that's no fun for anybody, including the betters. I give Kenny McPeek a lot of credit because he's been up out front on all these things. He takes everybody's angles into consideration, including the betters.
He's been very public and accessible and welcoming of questions and offering information and keeping people posted, which really makes our job easier. And it's better for the public to kind of know what's going on, but makes all the sense in the world for her run against males. Last time we saw that in the travels was 2018. Wonder Gadot wound up finishing last of, I think, eleven. The last time a Philly won. It was, I think it was Lady Rotha was the name of the horse back in 1915. So if torpedo Anna wins this thing, that's going to be something we haven't seen in over 100 years.
[00:09:07] Speaker A: Yeah. I was reading your story and I saw one horse name from 1974, Chris Everett. I did he take the time off in tennis to run the race?
[00:09:14] Speaker C: Chris Everett's in the hall of Fame. She, that was, I don't know all the circumstances behind that, but obviously the horse was named after the, you know, hall of Fame tennis player and also was a very, very good horse. I believe she's in the hall of Fame, but I can't remember what I wrote as far as where she finished in the traverse. I think she was third or something like that.
So it does happen every once in a while. Back in the early, you know, the 1880s and back when the track first opened in 1863, it wasn't that unusual for Phillies to run against the males, even in races like the Travers.
And in fact, a couple of them won it in those early years of the track.
These days, they keep them separated in their own divisions a lot more consistently. But every once in a while you'll see a filly like this who just absolutely belongs in there and why not take a shot?
Kenny McPeak has a little bit of history. He had swiss skydiver when the Preakness in 2020, when they had that weird pandemic schedule and the Preakness was run in the fall, she wound up winning the thing. So it is unusual, but when you do have one like this, it makes a lot of sense to kind of expand your options and look at a race like the Travers with a philly.
[00:10:35] Speaker A: Yep. This, of course, is Whitney weekend. And as usual, it is loaded. And the big race itself, Saturday is $1 million. Whitney has drawn a really interesting starting gate of twelve horses that includes Bob Baffer, train met mile winner, national treasure. He's the best horse in North America, according to the weekly NTRA poll. But he faces a stiff challenge from a variety of angles.
[00:10:57] Speaker C: Yeah, you know, he's nine to five favorite on the morning line against eleven rivals. You know, when I was, I get the advanced past performances early enough where they don't have the morning line odds on there. So when I was kind of right, so I hand write it in onto the past performance sheets that I have. And when I was doing that this morning and I was kind of trying to guess what the odds would be on each horse as I looked at it and then wrote it down and I crushed national treasure out of the ballpark, I guess nine to five, right on the noggin.
He does have some interesting rivals in this thing. Trainer Todd Pletcher has three in there.
Let's see. He's got Krupy charge. It's 30 to one.
His, his best shot in here. Why can't I find it?
I'm flipping through these past performances. He's got three in here. Rupees 15 to one. So he's a long shot. Oh, I'm sorry. Bright future, five to one. I'm sorry about the fumbling here.
It happens. It's, you know, especially during Whitney. We're coming off a win in the Salvatore mile. He's five to one. Bright future.
This is a horse that, you know, has a win over the track, not necessarily this distance, but he won the Jockey Club Gold cup last year at a mile and a quarter. The Whitney, of course, is a mile and an eight.
Interesting horse. Arthur's ride, trained by Bill Mott, crushed a 111 buyer speed figure, winning by almost 13 lengths in an allowance race here on June 7, the day before the Belmont.
I looked it up. I think that 111 is the highest buyer posted by anybody in North America at a distance of a mile or longer.
So he's kind of interesting even though he doesn't have a lot of stakes experience. National treasure is a legit favorite. He won the Met mile by six and a quarter lengths.
Other than that, he won the Pegasus World cup invitational back in January and then finished fourth in the $20 million psychic up in February and then took a little bit of a break before he came back and was very impressive running on the front end of the of the Met Mile, a very similar trip to how he won the freakness last year.
So, legit favorite, national treasure, but breaks him post three in a twelve horse field. We'll see how that goes. I'm sure he'll be firing right out of the starting gate, so that number three post probably won't be a problem for him at all.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Speaking of Bob Baffer, I think it was a couple weeks ago his suspension from Churchill Downs was lifted. Your thoughts?
[00:13:43] Speaker C: Yeah, it's so funny. Was like he kind of became this victim. He went from the villain to the victim because. And all he had to do was sort of bend the knee and say, all right, I was responsible for Medina spirits drug overage in the Kentucky derby that led to his disqualification, and Churchill Downs, Inc.
Put him on a two year suspension from all their tracks, which includes several others, including fairgrounds down in New Orleans. And he finally, ultimately, the suspension, I think was about three years, maybe a little over three years. Ultimately, he just put out this statement saying, I want to just finally move past this already. I take responsibility. And in about a nanosecond, Churchill Downs rescinded his suspension, so he's back into good graces.
You know, when you lose Bafford from the triple crown races for three years, you know, it loses a little bit of luster and character and everything. So me personally, I'm happy to see him back in the fold.
No matter what your opinion is of baffer, whether he's still the villain or not, it's better for the sport when he's involved in races like the Triple Crown. So let's everybody just please move forward.
[00:15:07] Speaker A: Well, enjoy the week at the track special on Saturday, and we'll do this again next week.
[00:15:12] Speaker C: All right, talk to you later, Ken. Thank you.
[00:15:14] Speaker A: That's Mike and Pattum. Coming up, we're gonna talk with Tommy Harding, the communications manager of the Florida Panthers and one time union college student manager for the men's hockey team. He's got a Stanley cup ring coming to him, thanks to the Panthers beating the Edmonton Oilers. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:15:40] Speaker D: If you really want to know what's going on in your community you have to read the Daily Gazette. We don't take a side. We're right down the middle, and we're going to get to the truth. Our reporters and photographers are out in the field bringing you updates every minute with trust, accuracy and integrity from the first page to the last page. Independent, probing journalism. We're finding out what's going on in the community where nobody else is covering. It's who we are. It's what we do.
[00:16:11] Speaker C: Hi, this is Andrew Catalan of CB's sports and formerly of news Channel 13 WNYT. You're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shin.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: Welcome back to the podcast. The Florida Panthers won the Stanley cup in late June in a thrilling seven game series against the Edmonton Oilers. Series that the Florida Panthers were up three games and none. And then the Oilers came back to tie that series and forced a game seven down in Sunrise, Florida. But the Panthers ended up pulling it out for their first Stanley cup in the 30 year history of the franchise. And there is a Capital region connection to that. Tommy Harding, who was a student manager for the union men's hockey team from 2015 to 16 through 2018 to 19. He's a communications manager for the Panthers, and he had a chance to be with the Staley cup, and he sent me some pictures. You saw one of the pictures in my article in the print edition of the Daily Gazette on Tuesday. There's a few, couple more photos
[email protected]. with my story, we talked about his experience at union, how he got the job with the Panthers, some other items we talked about that did not make the article that are here on the podcast. So here's my interview with Tommy Harding.
Well, Tommy, I appreciate a few minutes. First of all, congratulations. And has life calmed down down there in sunrise, Florida?
[00:17:35] Speaker E: Well, thank you, Ken.
It has, you know, the first couple of days after, you know, the Panthers won the Stanley cup were a lot of fun. We actually had to go to Las Vegas right after because Sergey Bobrovsky was nominated for the Vesna Trophy. And then we had the draft. And then right after the draft was development camp. And thankfully this week things are finally started to calm down, down a little bit. And we've settled into the summer here a little bit. And now our guys are just going through and doing their various days with the Stanley cup. So that's kind of what's on our plate right now.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: Now do you get a dare? The Stanley cup?
[00:18:08] Speaker E: No, no, no. We were, we certainly had enough time with it.
Our GM, Bolzito was really, really good to us about, you know, being able to celebrate. So. And then obviously the parade was a ton of fun that we had in Fort Lauderdale. So, yeah, it's been great.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: I was going to say if you had it there at the cut, you got to bring it to union.
[00:18:28] Speaker E: You know, I absolutely would have.
So it's been. It's been great. And I've been, you know, I was at Coleman's wedding two weeks ago and we've got Mark Dufour's wedding here coming up in a couple weeks. So, yeah, still really close with a lot of those guys.
[00:18:44] Speaker A: Let's talk about that. Because when we were exchanging text messages, I was, I don't think I knew you because you started late in the 25 26 2015 2016 season, which was my final season. I first go on a covering union. How did you get involved with the program?
[00:19:03] Speaker E: Honestly, I answered a Twitter ad.
I was looking for a job my freshman year at union. I was an economics major at school, and at union everyone tries to fill in their time with other different activities. So I grew up a huge Bruins fan and I loved hockey. I never played, but I saw that ad on Twitter that the hockey team had posted for first student manager. And I went and I did an interview with Matty Steinberg, who was the student manager for.
He was there when they won the national championship. And yeah, I just kind of started shadowing him towards the end of my freshman year and then I was full time next year. We actually had two student managers my sophomore year. Henry Reine was also working there. So there are two of us.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: Obviously, your first full season there in 1617 was a magical run. You know, Mike Vecchione, you know, with the way he season had Spencer Foo as well. Of course, they were both Hoey Baker award finalists. And of course Mike ended up being a hat trick finalist. What was that year like?
You got the NCAA tournament. Of course, it didn't end too well in Cincinnati, but what was that your like?
[00:20:10] Speaker E: It was a ton of fun. Personally, for me, it was just really fun to be a part of a team like that. First of all, I can't speak highly enough of Vex and his leadership. I mean, that line of him, Vidmar and Spencer Foo was on fire the entire year. I mean, every bar we were going into was an awesome game. We also had to play with Jeff Taylor and Nick D. Simone on the back end. So that power playing it was, was on fire the whole year. And it was just a ton of fun. Like it was personally, it was my experience, first experience traveling with, like, a varsity hockey team in college.
And then the thing behind the scenes, too, is how good of a guy everyone was. Everyone really welcomed me in, first of all, and treated me like gold, down from, you know, from Rick Bennett all the way down to Baggs, Dave Bagley, who I worked for, the equipment manager. So it was just an absolute whirlwind and it was cool to see Lake Placid. I had never been to Lake Placid before, and then to be in the NCAA tournament, we got the plane out there, which was a whole lot of fun, and we had a couple of cool days in Cincinnati. Obviously, the game was tough, but it was a really, really fun year.
[00:21:14] Speaker A: Yeah. What was your role as a student manager?
[00:21:18] Speaker E: Yeah, so it kind of started out pretty, pretty straightforward. I'll do it a little bit of like, filling water bottles and getting ready for practices for the team and then doing laundry afterwards. Basically anything that Dave Baglio needed, I was there to try to help him out.
As I kind of went along my junior year and senior year, you know, the opportunities arise just because union is a small school, and I started to help out a little bit with video and a little bit of the social media just because, you know, the videos I see now that the team has were awesome and especially with the new rank going up, all the marketing that they've been doing. But when I was there, we didn't have a whole lot of that, and I was really proud to be part of the hockey team and I wanted to get the word out a little bit. So I just helped a little bit with, like, Instagram and Twitter. And obviously that stuff is now relevant to what I'm doing now, but primarily it was just working with bags and a lot of equipment stuff.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: Yeah, you talk about the social media. How much did that. How did that lead to the job with the Florida Panthers?
[00:22:18] Speaker E: Well, that first year, that Vecchioni year, you know, that was when I really started to get serious about, hey, this is maybe something that I really enjoy doing. I absolutely loved going to the rank every day. I felt good about myself, and it was just awesome to hang around the guys and to be a part of a team. I really missed that from high school, I think.
And then. So I started to think a little bit about, like, what jobs could you do in the NHL? And I talked to bags a little bit and some other people back home, and I started applying to internships to various NHL teams. Obviously, the Bruins is one of them. But I was really fortunate that the Florida Panthers granted me an internship after, I think it was the summer of 2017. So it was after my sophomore year. I started as an intern there, working for my current boss, Adeline Biedenbach, who's the vp of communications down here. And that was when I was kind of exposed to, like, the professional world of hockey, which was very different, but a lot of the same type of attributes. And, you know, in the summer, it's different from the regular season. You're getting ready for the regular season and doing things like development camp, working with the kids.
So that was kind of how I got started. I'm just really lucky that the Panthers hired me for that internship because that's kind of where it led to.
[00:23:28] Speaker A: And when did you become a full time employee?
[00:23:31] Speaker E: Yeah, so it was, again, a surprise. Like, so I interned for two summers, 2017, 2018, with the Panthers. But, you know, as my senior year was wrapping up, I was pretty dead set on working, like, a sales job in Boston or New York. Right around March or April, a position with the pr department in Florida opened up, and my now boss called me and offered me a job. I thought about it for a while because obviously those are two very different career fields, you know, either staying back home or trying something new, living down in a place that I never lived in before. But I talked with bags a lot. I talked with a lot of people that I knew, and they were like, why not go for it? Like, it's, you know, you never know what can happen, and this is what you're passionate about. So I ended up taking that job, just getting really lucky with timing. So I basically started the summer of 2019 full time in the communications department down in Florida.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: What are your responsibilities?
[00:24:27] Speaker E: So my responsibilities now as hockey communications manager, we're lucky. We have a team of five full time right now. So basically my primary duties now are myself and Adeline. We're kind of the ones who travel with the team. So we set up a lot of media interviews and availabilities with the players and coaches during games and practices and morning skates. A lot of what I do is the hockey publication. So, like, the game notes, the media guides, statistics, but also just developing relationships with broadcasters, obviously, you know, the last three years, we've had pretty fortunate to go pretty deep in the playoffs, and you work really closely with the national broadcasters, ESPN and TNT, and those are just really, really great people buttoned up, and it's been huge for us because traditionally the Florida Panthers didn't have that national exposure, so it's been really rewarding. Over the last three, four years to see us kind of burst onto the national scene and then obviously lucky enough to win a cup this year.
[00:25:20] Speaker A: What was the, what were the final like? Because pants dropped out. You're thinking, oh, we're going to, we're going to win this thing in Edmonton. But all of a sudden Edmonton goes back, makes it three. Three. And I mean, just also the travel. I mean, I mean, you guys, you must have been freaking flyer miles for the next five years or something.
[00:25:37] Speaker E: Exactly. Well, first of all, the travel, you know, obviously it's a little different from college and the buses. Like, we're really lucky that the Viola family, they really take care of the team and they spare no expense. You know, we go on a charter plane and we stay in really nice hotels. The meals are all fantastic for the players. So, you know, thankfully, those guys are never really ever worrying about stuff like that, even if it is a six, seven hour flight to Edmonton.
Obviously, the feeling of the final, I think last year for us, at least on the PR side, was just kind of shock and just kind of rolling with the punches as things were happening. You know, I don't think anyone expected us to beat Boston in that first round last year. And for me personally, that was pretty crazy because I had friends and family at every game. You know, I grew up going to Bruins games, so that was a lot of fun. And then being Toronto, being Carolina and both of those series were crazy. Like, those four Carolina games, one of them went to four over time. So we were just kind of, like, so excited and running on energy, I think at least on the PR side, heading into that final against Vegas. And then obviously it didn't work out there, but I think over the summer and leading into the next year, the group of players that Bill assembled were just so dialed in.
I think the hard part is getting through those 82 games after having played in, like, do or die games every game.
But they did such a good job with it and they were focused on one goal from the beginning. The leaders were fantastic. We're lucky with guys like Sasha Barkov, Matthew Kachuk, Aaron Ekblad, Gus Forsling. Like, these are veteran guys who really wanted to win and were really disappointed with what happened last year and they expected to win. And I think we went that whole way this year in the regular season and then in the playoffs, it was a similar story. We had to play Tampa and those guys that terrorized us in 21 and 22.
Every time we play those guys, it's, you know, I think for our players, it's just another level of energy and emotion. Then you're going to Boston again in round two. And obviously there were a ton of storylines there, but it was just a lot of fun again to be back home for me and to see, you know, another win, another series win. And then the Ranger series was nuts again. There's nothing like MSG, and that was a whole big storyline we were working with ESPN on, and everyone was fantastic and we were lucky to win that series. And then, yeah, the final against Edmonton, I think.
I mean, I can't speak for the players, but for us, like, when we went up 30, it was a little bit of a. Just a little bit of a kind of a surprise. It was like, oh, wow, we're here. Like, this is it. And then obviously you lose three in a row and now you're starting to do damage control. But I think everyone felt really calm heading into that game seven.
One of the things that one of our guys said was like, yeah, we've been dealing with and, you know, having to look at that cup and realize that it could be ours if we win tonight. But now they're dealing with it for the first time. And then, so I think going into game seven, all of our guys were really calm and energized and they played great. And it was just a validation of the effort over the last, you know, four years under Bill that so many guys had gone through. And then guys like Aaron EcBlad and Alexander Barkov, who had been here for, you know, ten plus years, it was really cool to see.
[00:28:43] Speaker A: Yeah, man. How important was it for the organization to win the cup finally? Because, I mean, you have Tampa now, who's won three and been to a couple more finals. And HC and Florida, for me, for years had been a franchise where maybe half the crowd was more for the visiting team. Now. Now it seems like they're in sunrise. The Panthers have taken hold. And, I mean, how important was that cup victory?
[00:29:06] Speaker E: Yeah, I think this word is used a lot about electrifying, right? Like, it's just so fun to. I live in Fort Lauderdale, and you drive around and you see all the signs and you see people wearing jerseys now you see people wearing shirts and, you know, again, we're really lucky. We just built a new practice facility in downtown Fort Lauderdale that we moved into right after Christmas. And, you know, not only for the players and staff that get to use that facility, but also all the people in Broward county who are able to use that facility and, you know, they see guys are getting recognized now when they're going out to dinner and, you know, they're. They just love it. It's such a great place to play hockey.
You know, it's. I personally love living down in South Florida and watching the girls because, you know, when I started as an intern in 2017, 2018, it was, you know, people were Panthers fans, but it was definitely different. And the most important thing is winning and sustained success and having an impact in the community. And I'm really lucky that, you know, what Bill has done in assembling this team over the last four years and really changing the tide and a different, like, expectation for winning. So it's been awesome. It's been really, really awesome, and it's just, again, a validation of the efforts that everyone has put in over the last couple of years.
[00:30:14] Speaker A: Well, speaking of Bill Zito, he's a Yale grad. So you guys talk EC hockey at all?
[00:30:18] Speaker E: No, not really. I think he did mention it once to me that I went to union, but, no, I don't bring it up at all.
[00:30:27] Speaker A: I know you're not going to get your name on the cup, but when you get that cup ring in the fall, what's that going to feel like?
[00:30:35] Speaker E: Yeah, I mean, again, just getting back to. It's just like a validation of, you know, obviously not a player, but, like, it's. It's just really cool to see, like, it's. It's. I honestly loved, like, when we were on the ice after the team won, it was the people who had been there for over ten years who had been through, like, the darkest days, so to speak, of the franchise, and now they get to be at the top of the mountaintop, and, you know, not everyone is lucky enough just to see that. Right? Like, there are so many teams, wherever people are working at an organization for 20 or 30 years, and they never get to see anything like that. So it was really cool to see different family members just being overcome with emotion.
Yeah, that's probably what it'll be like, just bringing back to that feeling.
[00:31:17] Speaker A: Yes. I know we're speaking here on July 26, but any chance Vincent Viola will bring the. He's a horse, or a horse. He brings us to Saratoga.
[00:31:29] Speaker E: I have no idea. I don't know. Good question.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: Well, Tom, I appreciate a few minutes. It's a little great catching up with you, and it was a fun ride to watch, and I know you try to bring yourself down and get some rest here. So I appreciate a few minutes, and we'll talk soon.
[00:31:46] Speaker E: Yeah, appreciate it, Ken. And looking forward to the new rink at union. Can't wait to visit.
[00:31:51] Speaker A: Coming up, Ken fang of awful announce. He joins me. We'll talk about a variety of sports media topics, including the new NBA tv deal that goes into effect in 2025 26 and it left Warner Discovery, owners of TNT, out in the cold. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:32:24] Speaker F: Hi, I'm Rick Marshall from the Daily Gazette's martial arts podcast.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: In each episode, I interview artists from.
[00:32:29] Speaker F: Around the region, from musicians and comedians.
[00:32:31] Speaker A: To dancers, sculptors, even video game designers. After you finish the latest episode of.
[00:32:35] Speaker F: The Parting Shots podcast, I hope you'll give martial arts a try.
[00:32:40] Speaker C: Hi, this is Union College hockey along Brock Matheson. You're listening to the parting Shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken shot.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: Welcome back to the podcast. And our friend Ken Fang of awful announcing joins us now to talk about some of the latest topics in sports media. Of course, Ken, first of all, thanks for coming on. And I guess the big deal is the NBA tv contract and we're going to have some fun with lawsuits.
[00:33:04] Speaker F: Yeah, I mean, great to be on with you, Ken. Good to be, great to have. Good to see you again. But let me tell you this, TNT and Warner Brothers discovery is not going to go away quietly at all. So it's going to be interesting as a lame duck to see how Charles Barkley may go off on his own company for doing this. He's not happy. He hasn't been happy for the last, I'd say, six months.
And then going on the lame gut season, who knows what he's going to say? And if I'm Warner Brothers discovery, I pay for him to go away so he can come back the following season. But you know what? Maybe this will lead to some great ratings for TNT and their lame duck season on inside the NBA. So who knows?
[00:33:50] Speaker A: Yeah, we should tell everybody. The NBA new NBA deal, which will start in 25, 26 season, eleven year deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon Prime Video. And the deal does Warner Bros. Discovery had a chance to match one of those deals. They matched the Amazon deal and the NBA said, nah, I don't think, think so.
[00:34:11] Speaker F: Yeah, it's a really interesting how this came about.
You know, ESPN and TNT both had an exclusive negotiating window. Both really didn't have. I mean, ESPN got a handshake deal out of it. But what's the interesting thing, according to Andrew Marshand of the Athletic, that he reported that it was TNT who suggested that, which suggested that they bring in Amazon to negotiate during that exclusive negotiating window. And so they hashed out their own deal and that basically muscled TNT out. So little, little lesson in negotiating here. Don't bring a competitor in your negotiating window and then you're going to find yourself on the outside looking in. And ESPN goated their deal. Except for the finals. TNT decided to nickel and dime the NBA, not meeting the NBA's hoped for price. And then once the negotiating exclusive negotiating window was over, NBC came in, swooped in their deal, basically took away TNT's package. And then Amazon came in and negotiated their own. And now, as we said, TNT is on the outside looking in. And unfortunately, a great relationship that is, goes back to the 1980s is gone.
[00:35:35] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, didn't somebody, Warner Brothers discovery higher up say that they really didn't need the NBA? I can't, I got something, we're in the back of my head. I remember somebody saying that and it was like, yeah, why would you say that?
[00:35:53] Speaker F: Yeah, that was Warner Brothers Discovery chief executive officer David Zaslav. And he said this a couple of years ago to, during a conference and someone asked him, he said, what's the house negotiations going for the NBA or what do you think about the NBA? He goes, well, we really don't need the NBA to do well. Well, he's going to find out. He is going to find out after the 24 25 season. Ten. And Warner Brothers discovery is finding its stock price going down.
It's a big piece of programming that lasts eight months on your network. And when you're going to say, and when you have great relationships and then you fire all of the people who had great relationship with the NBA, you come in and say that that's going to really anger the people, a partner of yours that has gone back 40 years and now we're going to see after 24 25 how Warner Brothers discovery is going to survive without the NBA.
[00:36:51] Speaker A: Yeah, they'll have the NHL, obviously, and they signed on for the, I think with the Big east college basketball package. But that, that's not, that's basically peanuts compared to having the NBA.
[00:37:02] Speaker F: And they also signed to get the French Open as well.
[00:37:05] Speaker A: Right.
[00:37:05] Speaker F: They make it other sports properties. UFC is coming up as well. But I'll tell you, Ken, this is just, it's going to be considered one of the biggest blunders in sports media and sports and really sports television history. You really have to consider this because as I mentioned, this is a relationship that's gone back to 1984 when the T, when NBA originally aired on TBS and then Ted Turner created Turner network television to basically have the NBA on it. And now it's going to be a channel that's going to have a lot of reruns after 25.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: To me it ranks right up there with CB's losing the NFC package of the NFL to Fox. And I was just one of those. I think the only difference was CB's decided not to match it. And of course, you know, they realize they're the error of their ways and they got the NFL back a few years later. But to me that ranks right up there.
[00:37:59] Speaker F: It really does. I mean I also think about really big blunders about a sports television like ESPN not bidding for a Super bowl when they had the contract to go with it when they, when they got Monday Night Football.
I mean really, to be honest with you, it's a relationship as I mentioned, going back 40 years and it was a prize property on TNT. They may have got lost the NFL over the years. They may have lost other sports properties and golf and the like. But the one constant was the NBA. And one of the reasons why they were able to get the NCAA tournament and team with CB's for the NCAA tournament tournament was the fact that they had the NBA and could bring that type of coverage now to the NCAA tournament and bring that type of loose culture with EJ, Kenny and Charles. Now that's going to be gone because basically Kenny and Charles are not going to be there after this coming season.
Ernie Johnson is probably still going to be there, but it's not going to be the same kent and boy, it's going to be really, really interesting to see how TNT and Turner sports try to survive without a huge signature property like the NBA.
[00:39:16] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the thing inside the NBA's. I think what everybody was really upset about that that's going to be gone from the airwaves after the, after this coming season unless ESPN, which probably should do something to get those guys. I mean the ESPN is tried so many different methods and formats with their studio show. This hasn't worked. Or does NBC go after the force in there and try to get them for their games or even Amazon?
[00:39:48] Speaker F: I'd say Amazon because it's more looser. They like when they got Thursday Night Football, took in a lot of the NBC people. NBC signed a contract to produce Amazon's Thursday Night Football package and we've seen that they basically have done pretty well with it and they've managed to get their own type of pregame show and they get their own type of loose type of format. They kind of loose, they loosely based it on inside the NBA. So I wouldn't be surprised if we see at least maybe Charles and Shaq go over to Amazon.
Kenny, I'm not too sure about Ernie Johnson says he will never leave Turner sports or TNT Sports. So at least maybe Shaq and Charles would go. But we have yet to see that. I mean, it's going to be interesting to see what happens in a year.
[00:40:42] Speaker A: Of course, a lot of Turner people are involved with NBA TV. How does this affect that?
[00:40:48] Speaker F: Yeah, well, I would think that the NBA brings that in. Excuse me. They would bring that in house.
What's interesting in the new contract, NBA league pass, which is always under Turner or TNT Sports now taking over the distribution will be Amazon. So I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon somehow gets a contract to distribute or become the lead or make it a streaming product and then it goes under Amazon's package. So I wouldn't be surprised about that. I don't think that, I think now that pretty much that the NBA has said no to Warner Brothers discovery on matching the product. I think they're going to divorce themselves completely and NBA TV will either become part of the NBA or they'll go to one of the other partners.
[00:41:40] Speaker A: Do you think the lawsuit, can Warner Discovery win the lawsuit?
[00:41:47] Speaker F: No, I really don't. I'm not a legal expert, first of all, I'm a lawyer, but I play one on television. But I don't think, to be honest with you, they have a leg to stand on. I think the, I mean, the NBA vetted this before they announced last week that they were going to go with these packages and these partners. So I don't think that they would have done that had they not done their due diligence, Ken. So I don't think that Warner Brothers discovery, you know, and this leaves black blood between these two, you know, once beloved partners. So I wouldn't be surprised if it goes to, it's, if it gets us to be settled out of court somehow, and then Warner Brothers Discovery is just paid to go away.
[00:42:27] Speaker A: Yeah. You mentioned the NCAA tournament. Does that affect the situation? That's still, you know, rock solid with that?
[00:42:35] Speaker F: Solid. That's, that's, that's going to 2032.
CB's and TNT Sports have a partnership. But the interesting thing now is that after this season, what does Turner, Turner really? I mean, they do have the Big east. You mentioned that. But they're not going to have Brian Anderson. They'll still have Kevin Harlan because Kevin still works for CB's. But I don't think they'll have Brian Anderson to work for them unless he still stays with them on baseball. But yeah, all the stuff that TNT, which was, was known for as your basketball network, that's gone. That's gone. They're not going to be known as the basketball network anymore. They're not going to be known as the record of the network of record for the team, for the NBA.
They're just going to be known as just another network with college basketball. So it's going to be interesting to see who they have calling the Big east, but it's not going to be the same people who have called the NBA on TNT.
[00:43:28] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, did you see, do you see Kevin Harlan going over to Amazon? Some of those guys, I mean, I mean who knows with NBC, maybe the no Eagle takes over as a play by play guy there.
[00:43:38] Speaker F: Yeah, I see Mike, they've already said Mike Tirico is going to be the end. Evil is going to be calling games.
They're going to have 100 games. So they're going to have, need a lot of people over there during the Olympics. We've been seeing Noah Eagle and Dwayne Wade working together. So I wouldn't be surprised if Dwyane Wade becomes part of NBC's coverage in 25.
But yeah, I would be, I wouldn't be surprised to see Kevin Harlan go over to, go over to Amazon. I mean it would just, it would just give them more credibility. Kind of like when Al Michaels went over to call Thursday Night Football. You want that credibility? You want that guy who's known to call the NBA and maybe they'll hire some young guy from who's calling local basketball for one of the valley's regional sports networks to go there as well. But at this point, if you want to get some gravitas, you get someone who's well known, and Kevin Harlan is known for that, get, make him your number one guy. And of course they have six conference finals. He could be your guy and call those pretty much for your contract.
[00:44:42] Speaker A: Does ABC still have exclusively exclusivity for the finals?
[00:44:46] Speaker F: Yes, they do. They have twelve. It's an eleven year contract. So they have eleven finals. They will have ten conference finals, though that one year NBC and Amazon will share it. So that's why they'll both have six conference finals. But overall it'll be Mike Breen and whoever is the partner, Doris Burke, you know, I don't know who else is going to be on there.
[00:45:09] Speaker A: Well, yeah, I would think they would probably not hire anybody because they'll probably end up being a head coach.
[00:45:15] Speaker F: Yeah, I know, know who they would hire, you know, they made a really bad move in getting rid of Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy.
[00:45:23] Speaker A: Yeah, I never understood that.
[00:45:25] Speaker F: But what's funny is that because Van Dundy got laid off from ESPN, he went back into coaching anyway. I mean, he will, he really liked his gig and he really liked doing the job of being on television. But because he lost his job, he was consultant for the Boston Celtics this past season and gets a ring for that. And now he's going to go to the Los Angeles Clippers. So kind of a self filling prophecy by ESPN there. But I'm not sure who they're going to hire to go along. They have to get someone there.
But, you know, ESPN does have the finals. They're going to have that. They'll have 80 games. They're going to continue their Saturday night game and their Sunday showcase. They'll have Wednesday night games as well. And that's pretty much going to fulfill that. They also get international rights that they can streamed on Disney plus internationally. So it's a pretty big deal for Disney. They made sure that they would be the home of the finals, even though everyone hates their finals coverage. And Stephen A. Smith. But hey, money talks is we, as we well know, Ken.
[00:46:29] Speaker A: Yes, it does. Well, we mentioned the Summer Olympics and a lot of controversy.
Not sure why there's so much controversy over the opening ceremony. Everybody was thinking, yeah, try to be careful what we say about here. A lot of christians were upset that they thought they were mocking the last supper during this opening ceremony, which turned out not to be the case.
It seems like people are boycotting watching Olympus because of that.
What's your take on it? To me, it just, I think we're in an age now where just somebody thinks that something's wrong and everything just blows up.
[00:47:08] Speaker F: Well, I'm just going to say this, Ken. People see what they want to see and they thought it was a last supper in the greek, in the olympic media guy. They didn't even mention that it was supposed to be one of the greek gods. Of course, the Olympics are based on greek mythology, so that's what that scene was supposed to be. Now, if you saw it during the opening ceremony, there was during this little fashion catwalk, which, and then you saw one of the models walk by and then there was someone that people thought looked like Jesus. It was a plus size model. And then it was, they were sitting at a table. But it wasn't the last supper. It was based on greek mythology. And I'm just going to say that, look, people want to make controversy over stuff that they see and they think they see. And it wasn't that so, but the French, the organizing committee was forced to apologize for it. I don't think they had to. But anyway, it is what it is, and I'll leave it at that.
[00:48:11] Speaker A: My only complaint about the opening ceremony was too damn long.
[00:48:16] Speaker F: Well, you know what's interesting is that, Ken, I was, I came home from work and I watched the whole thing. I watched it through BBC because I don't like watching NBC's coverage. I enjoyed it because a, was commercial free, b, they explained everything. And circum, Celine Dion, who I'm not a big fan of, but knowing what she went through, watching her at the end, I was just, I was a mess. I had to dust my house. So it was a great, it was great to see that, to see Celine Dion sing, especially Edith Piaf at the end, which is a beloved song by the French. So it was great to see that. And, you know, there were some great things like metal. I wasn't expecting heavy metal medal in the opening ceremony. I was expecting to see a headless Marie Antoinette, but it's the French. And you know what, Ken, let's just put it this way. Jerry Lewis was a cultural icon in France. So that's all you have to say.
[00:49:14] Speaker A: That's right. That's right.
Let him eat cake.
So is there anything else out there on the tv side that has been picking your interest?
[00:49:25] Speaker F: Yeah. What's interesting is that the Olympics, of course, are getting a big audience, a much bigger audience than what we have seen over the last couple of Olympics, which were in Tokyo and in Pyeongchang. But NBC's fudging the numbers a little bit. They're adding numbers from their late afternoon and their prime time and putting it together, plus streaming, saying, hey, we got 43 million people watching us. Much better than the, avoid the last since London, not telling you how they're putting those figures together. So you got to take that with a grain of salt. Got to be careful when you hear that. Just want to let people know about that out there, that, yes, it's great to see more people watching the Olympics. We were more interested this year, definitely more than Tokyo because of COVID and, you know, and of course, we get to see Simone Biles and a lot of star power. But just beware of what NBC tells you in their announcements because they're fudging the numbers a little bit, Ken. So we, as one of my favorite characters, Phil Esther House and Hill street blue, said, let's be careful out there. Just, just know what those numbers are telling you.
[00:50:32] Speaker A: I should ask you about recent announcement by the WWE where Joe Testator, who's from Schenectady, was named the announcer, play by play announcer for SmackDown. And Joe's done, obviously done boxing for ESPN, does college football, does a great job with that and has done some offbeat things. You do. I was the host of the coats with the Steph Curry mini golf spectacular for a couple years. What did you think of that announcement that they're, they bring in on Joe testator?
[00:51:04] Speaker F: It's interesting, you know, and Joe's got the voice to do it and he, and he's, you know, there, of course, is the law of Joe test. When something. He's good big is going to happen in college football, Joe test is always there to call it. It was kind of like the law of Gus Johnson. Something big was going happen.
I think it's a good move. I know some wrestling fans aren't happy with it because Joe was in boxing and he's kind of, but I think it's a good move for him because a, it gives into another fan base. And yes, we know wrestling is scripted, but you know, what, you know, what is it these days? I mean, not sports itself, but sports entertainment. We have reality television. It also all part of that. So I think it's a, a good move for Joe, giving him, exposing him to a new audience, and I think he's going to have fun with it.
[00:51:54] Speaker A: Yeah, should be a lot of fun. I haven't had a chance to talk with Joe. Hopefully I'll get a chance before the start of college football season. But one last thing, John Sterling's retirement, which to me, the way it happens, kind of suddenly. Your thoughts about John Sterling's career, you.
[00:52:11] Speaker F: Know, he goes back to, you know, I was a big watcher of the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Hawks back when he was on TBS and they were known as America's team. So when he went to the Yankees, I was like, why is the Atlanta Hawks announcer going to the Yankees? But you know what? He's, now, he was known as a homer he always loved. That was his home team. He wanted to call it. He's a showman.
Yes. His retirement was a, you know, he realized that he never should have come back for this season. And you know what?
The surprise, it took the Yankees by surprise because they really didn't have a very great retirement ceremony for him. They seem like they bought a television for best buy for him. And what's interesting is that Jose? John said, I can't really put it in my house because I have no room for it. But you know what? He has the right to retire on his own terms. Granted, he said he shouldn't have come back for spring training. He didn't want to do it anymore. But you know what? You, if you have gone as long as John Sterling has, you have the right to call your shot whenever you want and however you want. Sure. It wasn't the best way to do things. Maybe he should have gone out last year, made last year's last season and be able to cause last game, because to be honest with you, nobody knew that when he called his last game that it was his last game. Nobody knew. So. But you know what? John is John, and we'll always have some of his great calls. I'm a Red Sox fan, so they always annoyed me. But that's okay. I've learned that John, John Sterling is, like I said, he's a showman.
He's last. He's the last of a breed. I can't think of too many people who are truly homers like he is. And, you know, once you understood that, you know, you could really, I mean, to be honest with you, he was a really good broadcaster when he does, when he wasn't doing the, but he really could do a good description of the games, and he had a lot of fun doing it. And you know what? He'll be missed. He'll definitely will be missed. I know the Yankee fans will definitely miss him. And you know what? Hopefully, he'll be back around and be seen, like during old timers days and stuff like that. At Yankees.
[00:54:23] Speaker A: Yeah, my, I mean, my thought is with that, John, is I think once Michael K left and then. Yeah, they had one year with Charlie Steiner and then Susan Waldman comes in and John had to carry the play by play for all that time. Nothing against Susan Waldman. She does a great job of being an analyst. But I think that, I think John, probably the wear and tear of doing nine innings play by play instead of, you know, be able to split the duties, probably affected. Is affected him toward the end.
[00:54:53] Speaker F: Yeah. You know, what's interesting is that I'll never forget during COVID because he was forced to call games from Yankee Stadium, wasn't and couldn't travel, there would be times when there would be showing a replay on. Yes, and he called the replay as live because he didn't know he wasn't. He was just calling as he goes, oh, there's a home run oh, no, it's a replay. So, you know, you can't fault him for that, because the thing is, is that, you know, like you said, that he's trying to pay attention to all these things and, you know, getting older at the end. But I just think that, you know, you're right about that. He had to call, but in a sense, that's what he wanted. He wanted to call all nine innings. He didn't like it when he had a partner with Michael K or Charlie Steiner giving them two innings. He wanted to call all nine. He got with wish and he got that. He got it with Susan Wallman for all those years.
[00:55:41] Speaker A: Of course, back in when I was growing up in the seventies, I mean, Phillies, for example, they would be switching play by play announcers in and out for each innings. I'm used to that. Not, of course, day and age. They don't really, radio and tv don't share anymore, it seems like. But Ken has always appreciated a few minutes talk in sports media and we'll see what happens with this lawsuit between Warner Discovery and the NBA.
I think I lost Ken there. I think I lost.
Okay. Yeah. Thank you. I want to thank you for coming on again, and we'll talk soon.
[00:56:17] Speaker F: Absolutely, Ken. It's great to be on with you. Very happy to do it. And anytime you need me, I'm right here for you.
[00:56:23] Speaker A: I appreciate it, Ken. Thanks again. And that's Ken Fang, and that'll wrap up our parting shots podcast. No auto racing contest again this week because NASCAR is off for the summer Olympics. Racing resumes August 11, just as Covid-19 mandates are of, that does not mean you should relax, be vigilant. If you have not gotten vaccinated or received a booster shot, please do so. Do it for yourself, do it for your family, and do it for your friends. That wraps up another edition of the Parting Shots podcast. I want to thank Mike Bucadham, Tommy Harding, and Ken Fang for being a part of the show. If you have questions or comments about the podcast, email them to me at shot. That's schottailygazette.com. follow me on x and threads at slapshots.
The views expressed on the parting shots podcast are not necessarily those of the Daily Gazette Company. The Parting Shots podcast is a production of the Daily Gazette Company. I am Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott. Thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time from the parting Shots podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. Good day. Good sports.
