[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign the following program is brought to.
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The Daily Gazette Company presents the parting Shots Podcast.
[00:00:18] Speaker C: Now here's your host, Daily Gazette Sports.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: Editor Ken thank you, Scott Geezy, 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. I hope everybody's trying to stay cool in this heat wave we're having here in the Capital Region. It's been a crazy summer.
It's. Yeah, I wish I had a pool to be jumping into.
But, you know, hopefully, like I said, everybody's staying cool in this hot weather.
Speaking of hot, we have a nice hot show for you on this edition of the podcast. Mike McGadon makes his weekly visit with the at the Track with Max segment with look back at the opening week of Saratoga racing season. The true opening week of the track, of course, the the Belmont Stakes festival and the July 4th Festival before that. But this is the real Saratoga season. We'll look look back at week one. Look ahead to week two.
The Adirondack Thunder of the Echo has a new coach and a familiar face to hockey fans in the area, Sylvain Cloutier, who played for the Adirondack Wedding, Albany River Rats and the Adirondack Frostbite. Well, he's a new head coach. He was named last Tuesday. They had a press conference this past Tuesday, and we'll talk to Sylvan about his new role in the region and how much he's looking forward to coming back to the Glens Falls area. So we'll talk to Sylvan about that. And then our good friend Freddie Coleman joins us from ESPN Radio. We're going to talk about a variety of New York sports topics, including the Knicks with their head coaching chain. So stay tuned for that. So coming up with Mike Buchanan with the at the Track with Max Saban. As we look back, week one of Saratoga and preview week two. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
[00:02:08] Speaker D: I'll never forget the day I decided to go out for the football team.
Mr. Banks, the JV football coach and my history teacher asked me to stay after class.
I thought I was in trouble. He said, hey, Darius, have you thought about going out for football? I think you'd be great.
Fact is, I never played football.
Fact is, I never had anyone tell me I'd be great at something.
So with no experience at all, I signed up and a week later I padded up and was running drills on the field.
I never was great, but playing high school sports was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I was accepted by my teammates and I learned that when someone believes in you, you can believe in yourself.
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Hi, this is Matt Murley of RPI.
[00:03:10] Speaker E: Men's hockey and now recently New York.
[00:03:12] Speaker A: State Hockey hall of Famer. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
[00:03:16] Speaker E: With the Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shot.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: Welcome back to the podcast. Week one of the Saratoga meet is done and we're getting ready for week two. And our man at the track, Mike McAdam with his at the Track with Max segment here on the Parting Shots podcast. Mike, how are things going on?
[00:03:36] Speaker C: Kind of a typical opening week rain reared its ugly head as it always does at Saratoga and kind of had a big impact on the weekend.
You know, the crowds were down for a little bit from the same corresponding week last year.
But the real kind of eye opener was that the, the all sources betting handle took a big hit off of the again, the corresponding first four days of last year's meet.
I was kind of crunching the averages and doing my, had my mathematician hat on and it was almost a 30% decrease in all sources handle over the, you know, per day average.
Let me see, where'd I put my numbers here? They're right in front of me.
So they, they drew 25,507 on average for the first four days last year. This year it was 24,691 per day for the four days. So that wasn't really a big significant drop. But last year, the first four days they drew an average of over $24 million in all sources handle. And this year it was just over 17 million on average for the four days that just ended on Sunday.
And that's a 29.7% drop.
Now it can be partially explained or probably in large part explained by the fact that as I already mentioned, we did get rain which affected Saturday and Sunday, which of course was Diana Day, which was a shame. So they, except for the Diana and the other stakes, the Bowling Green on Saturday, all of turf racing was moved to the main track because the turf courses were yielding.
We got hammered with rain Saturday morning and then Sunday there was still enough lingering moisture in the, in the tracks that they took all of that turf racing off as well, except for the stakes race at the end of the card. So what happens there is, yeah, you get to still run the race, but you know, there's a lot of scratches. It's small field, sometimes it's big favorites and they're just not very attractive betting prospects. So I think that that had a lot to do with the drop off in handle. But man, 30% is.
I don't know if that's really explainable by, you know, four or five turf races getting rained off. So I don't know what's going on there. We'll kind of keep an eye on the numbers as we keep moving forward.
[00:06:07] Speaker B: Maybe racing fatigue of having the Belmont Stakes Festival and the July 4th Festival.
[00:06:12] Speaker C: It's not a bad theory, I don't think, because, I mean, you had, you had Belmont for five days, then you had the fourth of July a couple weeks later for four days.
And you know, we kind of celebrated opening day three times this year. And so you got 49 total days of racing as opposed to 40 during a normal summer meet. And so I think it's, it's funny to say this, but it's almost like Saratoga fatigue set in a little bit off of those other two, you know, festivals. And you know, just people are, you know, it's kind of like a bend there, done that thing twice. And so I don't know if it, that generated any like kind of disinterest or anything. But that, that handle, you know, that doesn't necessarily that, you know, that's all sources. So that's people betting in California on their phones. And so the, you know, the extra festivals don't, I don't know how much that would impact a better out in California or Kentucky or someplace as far as, you know, wanting to bet the Saratoga card maybe, I guess a little bit.
But that was pretty eye opening little stat there. I guess you could have several different theories to try to explain it. I don't know, probably each of them has, you know, carries a little bit of weight.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: Yeah, well, some things never change at Saratoga and one of them, at least in recent years is trainer Chad Brown winning the Grade one Diana. He did it again on Saturday with Excellent Truth out dueled she Feels Pretty down the stretch. What is his record in this race now and why is he so successful?
[00:07:53] Speaker C: What's that?
[00:07:54] Speaker B: And why is he, why is he so successful too?
[00:07:57] Speaker C: Yeah, he, he's won it nine times in the last 10 years, which for any stakes race is just ridiculous. But for a, you know, grade one, one of the biggest perf races for Phillies and mares in the country to, to be able to pull that off. And then he's, he's won it 10 times overall because he won with a horse named Zagora back in 2011 and then he started this recent tear 10 years ago. So he's one of 10 times overall.
You can explain it a little bit because he has a couple clients, particularly Seth Klarman and Peter Brandt who like to win rate this race and races like it.
So they spend a lot of money not only buying horses at auction to that they believe could potentially be good turf horses, but they also are very active, especially Peter Brandt of going over to Europe and kind of cherry picking some of the like second tier turf runners from the, you know, like France and Great Britain and you know, places like that where turf racing is king. They don't have dirt racing over there. So if you could maybe buy a horse privately off the track over there and bring it, bring her over here, she could clean up a lot of these big races. Perfect example. Excellent Truth, the winner of the Diana. This was only her third start in North America, but it was her 14th start overall as a career. She'd been running in France for the last couple years and John Stewart is kind of like a new player on the scene as far as owners. Has been throwing a lot of money around and buying a lot of good horses over the last couple years. Resolute Racing.
He's the one behind Excellent Truth.
I will say so. Chad had two of the six that were entered in the Diana. One of them scratched, which was be your best was supposed to be like a kind of a front running pace factor. So it went down to five horses and she feels pretty really had been on a roll since last year. She's won four straight races, all of them graded stakes, three of them grade ones.
And so she was the queen of the division, you know her females. And then she got into a really, you know, thrilling duel with Excellent Truth all the way down the stretch in the Diana and Excellent Truth just had a little bit extra giddy up at the end to kind of get a head in front or whatever it was, maybe a neck. Where's my chart ahead. So you know, so it was very close and she feels pretty. She'll come back to fight another day. We'll see where she winds up next time. But you know, Excellent Truth kind of really stake the claim in the division. Even though she was coming off two second place finishes, very close ones.
So she's kind of in the picture as well.
But that one's going to be hard to top this coming week as far as just sort of like the drama and the stretch and just what a very competitive, fierce duel it was. The Wire.
[00:10:55] Speaker B: Well, week two kicks off Wednesday and we're taping this on Tuesday, so maybe by the time I post this podcast the nine Race Car on Wednesday will be over. But what can we look forward to in week two?
[00:11:07] Speaker C: Well, before I forget, Mark Cassie, hall of Fame trainer, he's going to win his 4000th career training victory this week and it's kind of an interesting race between Saratoga and Colonial Downs on Wednesday to see who gets the honor of him if he pulls it off.
He's got, he's got three horses entered in two races on Wednesday at Colonial Downs and the first one goes off at like three something and then he's got the same situation three horses entered into in two races on Wednesday, including the Susie o' Kane Stakes race. So it'll be kind of fun to keep an eye on that. I was tracking it on Sunday and Saturday at one of those days he had like 14 horses entered all over the place and he won with three of them to get to 3,999. And then he had one at Ellis park in Kentucky on Monday and the horse got his butt kicked. So he stayed. It was kind of, I wasn't rooting against the horse, but when the horse didn't win I was kind of thinking now that's not necessarily a bad thing because you know, we kind of want Cassie to get number 4,000 at Saratoga and possibility of Colonial Downs in Virginia beating him. Beating Saratoga to the punch exists, but so I've got all those post times marked down so that as soon as it happens we'll know.
And then some really good stakes races going on this weekend, especially the we got the AG Vanderbilt Grade one on Saturday as well as the Coaching Club American Oaks Grade one for three year old Phillies.
And the cool thing about the Coaching Club American Oaks is that we get to see Immersive Brad Cox's champion 2 year old Philly from last year, who was 4 for 4 last year and she gets her she finally got back to the races a couple weeks ago or like a month ago. She had some minor injury that was preventing her from kicking off. She missed the Kentucky Oaks, she missed all this stuff and then, and then she got back on the track on June 16 again at Churchill Downs and in a little listed stakes called the Monomoy Girl. And she got beat by a neck by Take Charge Mullady, who's also in The Coaching Club America knows. So we getting a chance to see Immersive and see if she can get back on the winning track against the horse that just beat her. That'll be fun. But they'll also have to contend with Lakara, who knocked off Immersive, stablemate Good Cheer and the Acorn during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. So she's going to be a force to be reckoned with as well.
Like I said, the AG Vanderbilt has a really fun field. And then on Friday we have the Shoe V which is great too for older fillies and mares and you know, the obvious even money favorite there is Raging Sea, who swept this race as well as the personal Ensign on Travers weekend last year. So we'll get to see her. That'll be kind of cool. And then off the or away from Saratoga, it's Haskell Invitational Saturday at Monmouth park in New Jersey. And the 4 to 5 favorite there is Journalism, who won the Preakness and finished second to Sovereignty in both the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes. So he'll get his start. The field also includes Gosker, who was Preakness runner up behind Journalism, but he's the main man there. And then the other big shots like Sovereignty, Will and Sandman and they'll wait until the Jim Dandy the following Saturday. So the three year old male division cranks it up again after the Triple Crown season with Preakness winner Journalism and the Hassle. And then, then we'll see Sovereignty in the Jim Dandy at Saratoga the following Saturday.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: Is Journalism expected to run in the Traverse?
[00:14:52] Speaker C: Yeah, well, that's kind of the idea. And he'll have an extra week to prepare for it. I mean they're absolutely want to run in the Travers.
You know, the, the debate between should you run in the Haskell or the Jim Dandy, that extra week is one of the factors. If you're pointing towards the Traverse, you get an extra week of recovery. Plus it's a grade one. It's worth a million dollar purse. You know, Jim Danny's a grade two with I think it's like 500 or 600,000.
There's a couple of reasons that the Haskell is more attractive than the Jim Danny, but I think in Journalism's case, part of that, you know, I mean, do you really want to bump heads with Sovereignty again until you have to in the Traverse, running the Haskell million dollar grade one race and you get the benefit of that extra week of preparation and recovery leading into the Traverse? So yeah, absolutely. I mean the Traverse is going to be amazing, especially if both. Both of those horses make it there. And then the. The supporting cast should be pretty good, too.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, Mac, as always, appreciate a few minutes talking in the Saratoga racing. We'll do this again next week.
[00:15:55] Speaker C: My pleasure. I'll talk to you next week, Ken.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: All right, that's Mike McAdam. Coming up, the new head coach of the ECHL's Adironic Thunder, Sylvain Clutier, joins me here on the Parting Shots podcast.
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[00:16:44] Speaker A: Hi, this is Graham Townsend of RPI's Men's Hockey and New York State Hockey hall of Famer. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shot.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: Welcome back to the podcast. Our next guest is a familiar face to hockey fans here in the Capital Region. He played for the Adirondack Red Wings, the Albany River Rats, Adirondack Frostbite as well, and the Adirondack icehawks before that. And now he's a new head coach of the ECHL's Adirondack Thunder. Please welcome Sylvain Cloutier to the podcast. Sylvan, how are you doing? Congratulations on being named the new Thunderhead coach.
[00:17:20] Speaker F: Thank you very much.
I'm doing really well, really excited about this opportunity and, you know, and coming back, back home, I guess.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I mentioned that because you obviously played here in Glens Falls. You played in Albany.
What, what is it about this area that attracted you?
[00:17:40] Speaker F: Oh, I mean, well, it's basically like where my, you know, gone full circle, really. I started my pro career, started there as a player in Adirondack. My life really started there with my wife, and we had, my oldest, started school in Queensbury when I was back with a frostbite, and then, you know, playing three years through the River Rats. And out of 20 years of playing pro, we lived there 11 years. So it was. It was an easy decision. Obviously, I wanted to come back. And even back in the day when I went to Europe and then came back and Barry Melrose and Steve Levy and Mark Podman asked me to come back and play for the Frostbite. It was a no brainer.
[00:18:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
What are your memories of playing in Glens Falls?
[00:18:27] Speaker F: Just the crowd, the atmospheres, our fans at our Red Wing games and especially when we were playing against, you know, arch rivals the River Rats when they came in and you know, with such rivalry in the atmosphere and.
No, just being in. I know it's not the Civic center anymore, it's the cool Insurance arena, but it was a great place to play.
[00:18:50] Speaker B: It's always going to be Glens Falls Civic center to me, no matter what corporate name you put on. I go back, I covered the Hershey Bears back when I first got into this business, 1983, and I covered the bears from 85 to 90. I came up a couple times when the Bears and Adirondack right Wings face off in the called a Cup playoffs. And the atmosphere, oh my God, the atmosphere in Glens Falls Civic center was just truly amazing. The fans were on top of it and it seems like now with the Thunder there that really, really gained a footing in the area and have really been drawing well. And I think a lot of people are happy. It's not ahl, but it's a step below the hl. But it seems like the fans have really embraced the Thunder. Have you, did you get a sense of that before you took over as head coach?
[00:19:36] Speaker F: Yeah, no, I did. And especially from watching, like from afar, obviously I kept an eye on the teams. You know, when you're, you play somewhere for so long, you know, you follow them and you can see just in the videos and the highlights and the games. I've been watching the players returning and watching a lot of tape on them. You can see the crowd's all big crowds are in the fan base. And just at the meet and greet, the turnout we had was, it was amazing. So no, they have really embraced. Always been a really good hockey community.
So I, I think, you know, it's just going to keep going. And yeah, they, they don't call those, they call those fans the best in the achl. And there's a reason for that.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean they've always loved their hockey up there. I mean I thought it was a shame that the Red Wings left town there in the late 90s and I know they had the Adirondack Flames for a little bit. That was just a temporary situation and the Phantoms came in for a couple of years, but I think being able to have those teams even though they were temporary, I guess Showed the echo that they could have a successful team here. And it's happened.
[00:20:38] Speaker F: Yeah, definitely. And I think, you know, obviously our front office works hard at it and really involved in the community, and I think that's a big, big part of the success with having, you know, the fans come up to our games. You got to be involved in the community, and that's one of the things that we do with the Thunder. And you got to keep that going, right? You got to be involved heavily in a lot of. A lot of functions there.
[00:21:02] Speaker B: What got you interested in coaching?
[00:21:05] Speaker F: It was way towards the end of my career a little bit. When I came back to play.
Mark Podman was our coach and I ended up being like a player assistant coach and helping him recruit and, you know, I really got grab an entry even with my last year in the American League with, with the Todd McClellan up in Houston and we won the Calder Cup. I was his captain and, you know, I had a lot of meetings with him and I loved the way he was teaching the game and coaching. So I kind of started picking it up that way. And then when I went to Adirondack with Potsy and then. And I went over to Europe for two years in Coventry as a player assistant there. So it was always there. Like, I guess when you get a bit older as a player, you start looking at what you want to do. And I always enjoyed, you know, teaching at the hockey school when I was a player and taking control of that. So it was. I. I was just something I focused on towards the end of my career.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: What, what are your goals with. What to. For the Thunder this year?
[00:22:09] Speaker F: Well, obviously we got to make the playoffs.
That's one of our goals for sure.
You know, we. We got to build our, our team here right now with me and myself and Ben, but we definitely want to be in the playoffs and then. And then, yeah, we go from there.
[00:22:26] Speaker B: Now you, as we mentioned, you also play for the Albany River Rats. That was a situation where you played at what they call MVP now MVP Arena. I think at the time you played was called the Times Union center and unfortunately the fans did not show up there. I thought that was a shame down to her too. But what was it like playing those couple years with Albany?
[00:22:47] Speaker F: You know what a lot of people ask me because I went from the Red Wings and then you go play for the River Rats when they were your arch rivals and there were still players on that team like Colin White and Ken Sutton and Jordy Kinnear and guys that I had to Battle against the years of the Red Wings against them.
It was a weird feeling the first day I walked into that dress room and obviously putting on that jersey because, you know, really back then we didn't like each other.
[00:23:13] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:23:14] Speaker F: Against each other. Obviously after the games. Yeah, everyone's hockey players. You know, you can, you can hang out and stuff, but on the ice or during warm up, there's no friends. And it's kind of weird when I went there, but I really enjoyed my three years. I had John Cuniff there as a coach, treated me really well. Lou Lamorello took care of my family and myself for three years. So it was a really good experience. I learned how, you know, how Lou ran things, was extremely professional. And those. Some of the things you pick up as a coach too, how you want to run your program.
[00:23:44] Speaker B: What was it like playing in England?
[00:23:48] Speaker F: You know what it was. I, at first when I went, I was like, you know, I talked to a few guys, guys like Barrymore and Neil Martin.
There were third guys I played against in the ohl and they kind of convinced me to go over there to Coventry and totally different. Like the atmosphere is totally different. Like the fans sing during the game and it's like non stop. The crowd is always involved.
It was good because it gave us a chance as a family also to travel while we were over there and with our practice schedule back then when I was there, we.
We practice Tuesday and Thursday and Friday and we had Monday and Wednesday off. So because we had guys that played in the American League or went to college, played D1, were able to go over there and do their masters, the team took care of that, their schooling. So that was a big plus there. So on the days off, on the Mondays and Wednesdays we would travel and yeah, we took the kids out of school. But you know what? It was that experience. You can't get anywhere with all the history over there to travel.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Because Doug Christensen, who played at Union College now is the East Easy hockey commissioner. I think he coached over there in, in that league too.
[00:25:02] Speaker F: Is it Chuck. Chuck Weber or thing?
[00:25:04] Speaker B: Doug Christensen? Yeah. Yeah.
[00:25:06] Speaker F: Oh, Doug Christensen. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, Doug was over there. Yeah, we coached against each other for a while. Yeah.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: What's elizable?
[00:25:13] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: What was it like, coach against Doug?
[00:25:16] Speaker F: It was good. I mean, you know, we played against each other when he was in Danbury and I was in Adirondack. So we had a bit of that rivalry, that rivalry from our playing days. But yeah, no, it was, it was good coaching against him. His Teams were always well prepared, and there's always great hockey games. When we face each other, as, you.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: Know, as obviously the head coach, initially, you have to really recruit players. How important is it to find the right kind of player? And what kind of player are you looking for?
[00:25:46] Speaker F: Well, obviously, we. You know, myself and Ben have been talking a lot since we both got hired, and, you know, I. We were both character players when we played, and, you know, we're looking for guys that come and embrace our community, be heavily involved away from the rink. We're on the ice also. We feel we need to get a little.
Need to get bigger, and we need to have that competitive, that will and the heart. So, obviously, we know that we need skill. We need guys that can skate, but we want to play a heavy game, and we're going to need guys to buy into that.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: What are your goals?
Do you want to further yourself as a coach? May not get some success here with the Thunder? Maybe move on, like, to an AHL team or even an assistant in the NHL?
[00:26:34] Speaker F: Yeah, I mean, you always look to move up the ladder and improve yourself.
Right now, my focus is make sure I build a good program for our fan base and the hockey board, and we'll go from there. And. Yeah, I mean, if the opportunity came. Yeah, of course. But my main focus right now is on the Adirondack Thunder, and, you know, and hopefully I'll be there for a few years and we can build a solid program. And if an opportunity does come. Yeah, we definitely look at it for.
[00:27:05] Speaker B: Sure now, knowing what the weather's like right now, how excited are you to get the season going?
[00:27:12] Speaker F: I can't wait. I mean, you know, yeah, the weather is really nice.
[00:27:17] Speaker B: It's hot.
[00:27:17] Speaker F: It reminds me of Texas. But, no, we're excited. I wish it was that cold or small, but it's going to come by pretty quick. And, yeah, you know, me and. Me and Ben are extremely excited, and we just want to get on the ice with these guys and get going.
[00:27:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, Sylvan, congratulations again and good luck this season. We'll catch up during the season.
[00:27:38] Speaker F: No, thank you very much. That sounds great. Anytime. Let me know.
[00:27:42] Speaker B: All right. Appreciate it, Sylvan. Thank you very much.
[00:27:45] Speaker F: Thank you.
[00:27:45] Speaker B: That's Sylvan Cloutier. Coming up. ESPN Raiders. Freddie Cohen. We'll talk a variety of New York sports topics here on the Parting Shots podcast.
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[00:28:23] Speaker A: Hi, this is union men's hockey alum Scott Boyd. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shot.
[00:28:31] Speaker E: Welcome back to the podcast. And our good friend Freddie Coleman of ESPN Radio is joining us for a few minutes to talk about a variety of topics here in sports. Freddie, how are you? The summer going for you?
[00:28:43] Speaker A: It's been the long, hot summer. We're still not even at the midway point of July, but it's gone pretty good, especially as my first summer as a grandfather since my grandson was born on April 30th. So it's been a really cool summer so far. How about you?
[00:28:56] Speaker E: Congratulations on that, Freddie. That's a wonderful feeling to be a grandfather. I'm not there yet.
[00:29:01] Speaker C: I gotta wait.
[00:29:02] Speaker E: Of course, my son's gotta find a girlfriend.
[00:29:05] Speaker A: But Mrs. Wright will be there for you, my friend. I have no doubt.
[00:29:12] Speaker E: Yeah, I'm doing well again. As we talked before we went on the air here about, you know, it's the Saratoga horse racing season and it's a busy time of year for us and of course in another month we'll get ready for high school sports. So.
So we're getting sort of a busy time for year here in the Capital region. But let's talk, let's dive into the New York Knicks because it was interesting to see they got to the Eastern Conference final, lost Indiana, and then Tom Thibodeau gets fired and they hire Mike Brown.
I'm trying to figure out why, I mean, this team team came close to reaching the the NBA Finals.
Why does James Dolan had a, like had to figure out to have his name in the paper or something?
[00:29:53] Speaker A: Well, I don't think that's the case. I think they looked at that and they took the intel and the insight from the players in the exit meetings and from what I read and people that I know connected to the organization, the common denominator was that they do respect Tom Thibodeau a lot, but they were wondering if he was coaching up where he could make ad announcements enough where they could win a championship or get to the NBA Finals. That seemed to be the common thread from so many different players that the Knicks management, whether it was Leon Rose or James Dillon, had a chance to speak with those guys after they lost in the Eastern Conference finals to Indiana Pacers. I think the Knicks are hoping for what happened with the Chicago Bulls with Doug Collins was a really good coach, but they thought they couldn't Win a championship with him. They moved off from him and they bring in Phil Jackson. And many people questioned that move back then. But then six championships later, it turned out to be the right move. I firmly believe the New York Knicks are hoping for lighting in a bottle because in modern basketball you have more of a modern coach when it comes to Mike Brown, who knows defense, who knows offense and knows how to play a lot of players and maximize that bench. That proved to be the death knell for Tom Thibodeau that as much success as he had getting the team before NBA playoff appearances in five years and changing the culture around, if they believe they were one step away, a couple steps away, he was not able to help them up those steps, then that's why I believe the New York Knicks made that move.
[00:31:08] Speaker E: Yeah, Mike Brown's been around. I mean, I think this is his fifth year team. So what does he bring?
Does he bring maybe a more relaxed locker room? Because we know Tom Thibodoga is an old school coach. And then maybe this day and age, the old school coach doesn't work.
[00:31:26] Speaker A: Well, the old school coach can work, but you better be able to make kind of adjustments in modern NBA. And Mike Brown has shown he's been able to do that because remember when he got to the NBA Finals the first time, the Cleveland Cavaliers, it was basically LeBron James and the LeBron X. He didn't have another guy that could help out LeBron, but they were so good defensively, they made you work for. Until they managed the San Antonio spurs team and got swept in the NBA Finals. That were not going to be denied. And then look when he was coach of the year back in 2023, the Sacramento Kings, where they were so good at player development and having those guys ratchet up the pace and play a lot of great basketball but not lose their defensive identity. He has better personnel with the New York Knicks. He had the Sacramento Kings because he has a Carl Anthony Towns, he has a Jalen Brunson, he has Miguel Bridges, he has an OG Anunoby, he has a Mitchell Robinson. So he has multifaceted players at both ends of the floor that can really make his offense work and make his defense work. So that's been the calling card for Mike Brown, that whatever situation he's been in, he's been able to be a successful head coach. I don't hold the Lakers, that short stint against him. That was Kobe Bryant's team. That was Kobe Bryant's organization. Unless you were going to win a championship, that was an unwinnable situation. But I saw what he did as an assistant of Golden State wars and how you really helped that defense and also player development. And he did the same thing to Sacramento Kings as well. That organization, just a buzzing organization. He should still be their head coach. But the Kings are the Kings for that reason and they're putting out the pasture. Could benefit the Knicks in the long run.
[00:32:50] Speaker E: Yeah, well, the way the the east is going to be shaping up when the season gets in the way in October, it's wide open because you have don't have Celsius is not going to have Jason Tatum for a while with the torn Achilles halberd for the Pacers. He's going to be out maybe for most of the season because he tore his Achilles. I mean Damian Liberty tore his but he was let go by the Milwaukee Bucks. So the east appears to be wide open going into the season.
Is this an opportunity for the Knicks to grab hold of it and maybe be the team that represents the east in the NBA Finals in 2026?
[00:33:24] Speaker A: It's the best opportunity, Ken. They've had since Michael Jordan retired in the 90s and they got to the NBA Finals and lost in seven games to the Houston Rockets in 1994. They have not had this kind of opportunity in a wide open Eastern Conference where everything you said is on point. And even though the Cleveland Cavaliers last year won 64 games, we don't know what that's going to look like with Darius Garland at the beginning of the year that he's going to miss some time. And can they get used to being the hunter and not being the hunter? The Orlando match made a really nice game for Desmond Bain to get outside shooting, but is that going to be enough for that basketball team? So the Knicks should be prohibited favorites going into this season. They may not wind up with the best record Eastern Conference, but nobody has more of a of their team coming back and having all of their guys coming back and adding pieces. Nobody has that in the Eastern Conference and adding a new coach and having like a new breath of fresh air because it's always the case when you move on from somebody you want the opposite of him that you believe can be good for your team. But Mike Brown's a hard moved guy. He is not going to suffer fools gladly like Tom Thibodeau. It is just going to sound different coming out of a different face and a different mouth.
[00:34:31] Speaker E: I would say my 76ers have a shot too, but I don't think they do either because I think that's a team that's going downhill.
[00:34:39] Speaker A: Well, if they stay healthy, they can do some things where it could be a problem. In the Eastern Conference. You have a Tyrese Maxey, a Paul George, a Joel Embiid, and I love Vijay Edgecom as a draft Choice. I think he's going to be really good for the Philadelphia 76ers. They do have guys that can play and Nick Nurse has a championship pedigree being a championship coach with the Toronto Raptors. But the big if is if they can stay healthy and if they can't stay healthy, then you're right. They have no shot of getting out of the Eastern Conference. If they're able to stay healthy, I can see that team potentially be in the top six or top seven getting out of staying out of the playing situation potentially. And that offensive firepower, those three guys, if they're healthy, could be a really pain. Can't forget about the Detroit Pistons where if they're healthy and they're young enough coming, they're going to get Jay N. Ivey back. That's another team that could be in the mix. That could be problems for the New York Knicks or the Cleveland Cavaliers or anybody else.
[00:35:29] Speaker E: Let's talk about the the baseball teams there in New York, starting with with the Mets.
Juan Soto has really not worked out so far, but the Mets are and the Phillies are seem to be interchanging the NLE sleep. Why has Juan Soto struggled?
[00:35:44] Speaker A: Well, I disagree with that because he struggled early. But he was Player of the Month in May for the New York Mets and we saw what he's been able to do to help out that lineup. So whatever the struggles have been, you look at his numbers right now and they're a lot better. If anything, they're on par. Last year when he took the New York Yankees and then once the summer got started, he really, really got high for this baseball team. So we saw that. And I'm sure with all the money that's out there, Juan Soto, people are expecting better numbers. But there are plenty of teams out there that will take the numbers he's been able to put so far this year, where he has over 20 plus homers, over 50 RBIs. A lot of those numbers. People say, you give me those numbers on my baseball team, I'll take that. And I know the money can cloud a lot of things of Juan Soto. But lately he's been a better, better discipline at the plate. He's been able to get more baseline balls, more RBIs with his baseball team. The OPS has continued to climb the slugging percentages over.560. So even though the struggles were there early, we can't say that's been more the case with Juan Soto that so far it's been a lot better lately. And in turn, the Mets made a rally around that with Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso. That's a nice three headed monster a lot of people don't have in Major League Baseball outside of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
[00:36:50] Speaker E: Yeah, I mean, I think it's been an interesting ride between the Phillies and the Mets. I mean it's going to go down to those two teams.
My concern with the Phillies is their offense is so inconsistent that it's going to end up unless Dave Dombrowski, the team president, makes a move before the trade deadline, they're not going to be lasting long in the postseason.
[00:37:11] Speaker A: Well, the Phillies are who they are. They're a team that can be very dangerous when they're like you said, when they're able to stack those innings together and put up a lot of crooked numbers. But then when the offense stalls, everybody stalls. It seems like it's a disease that goes to that whole team when that happens. So even though right now they have a half game lead over the New York Mets for the first place back the first place pulpit in the National League east, both of these teams have enough flaws that you could see that a little bit of a slump could maybe decide this race. Because the Marlins are not going to challenge, the Braves are not going to challenge, the Nationals are not going to challenge. So Ken, you're right. It is a two team race in the NL east and it's really cool that you have these two teams that have that kind of history. And the Mets taking down the Phillies last year in the playoffs and nobody thought that was going to happen. Those kind of potential rivalry mechanics always make for good baseball. You got these two teams in two cities in close proximity. Could be a pretty cool summer and who's going to blink first? And whoever does that may wind up losing the division.
[00:38:07] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:38:07] Speaker E: Meanwhile, we're in the Bronx.
It was 11 minute. The Yankees were in first place and looking good. And I just happened to look the other day and I was stunned to see the Toronto Blue Jays, who have been playing great baseball, are leading the ale. So the Yankees suddenly had some, some contention probably from a team that nobody expected to be challenging. Challenging for first place.
[00:38:29] Speaker A: Well, Toronto can break and they're starting, their offense, starting to come alive, but they are underrated when it comes to their relief and their bullpen they really can't have those shut down innings where their offense gets them a lead and then also that bullpen does not allow that to go back the other way. So I had a feeling that Toronto Blue Jays going to make a race out of this. I'm not surprised to see them. Surprised to see them in first place, of course, but not surprised to see them either near the top or at the top of the AL because they can rake and it's starting to hit a little bit better and their pitching is underrated. But then you look at the Boston Red Sox who won 10 in a row. Nobody saw that coming because in May you thought for sure this team was going to be sellers at the deadline. They could potentially be biased based on that 10 game winning streak. And only three games out of first place when it comes to Toronto only came behind the New York Yankees in third place. That's going to be a fun division because Toronto, New York, Boston, Tampa bay, all playing about.500 baseball and all four of those teams can't stand each other. So you love when hate, hate, hate, hate, hate is going to be a part of your race involving those four team. But that Toronto Blue Jays team, that is a hard nine innings to play. That baseball team, you could be up on them eight to nothing. And you blink your eyes and it's eight to six, you're in a ballgame. They continue to fight every pitch, every inning, every at bat. And those are the kind of teams that can kind of wear you down if you're not careful, not realize how good they are in the American League East.
[00:39:45] Speaker E: And the Blue Jays closer is a local product, Jeff Hoffman from Shake High School, who pitched well for the Phillies and somehow the Phillies decided he wasn't worth the money. And it's, it's proven he, they should have signed him and not Jordan Romano.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: Yeah, it's amazing. Sometimes the best moves are the moves that you don't make. And I understand why the Phillies decided to go with him instead and let him, and let him go to Toronto because you had to make a decision. They felt that Romano's ceiling was a lot better than Hoffman's ceiling. So it hasn't worked out so far. That's not to say it won't continue to work out and we'll see because Hoffman has really adjusted that give me the ball and I'll get guys out. He has that kind of bulldog mentality. And you can clearly tell him, he comes to the game, he just raises the temperature. He says you better bring your best because you're going to get my best.
[00:40:32] Speaker F: Yes.
[00:40:33] Speaker E: We're getting close to the start of NFL training camps. Of course, the jets made a lot of noise in the offseason. I should say noise news in the off season, obviously, the change coaches, new coach now Aaron Glenn, new general manager, manager, and Darren Moji, if I'm pronouncing that correctly, no Aaron Rodgers. So there's no drama there with that.
How important is it for the jets to get back in the end? And is Aaron Glenn the right fit for this team?
[00:41:01] Speaker A: I thought he was the right fit when they decided to go after him, mainly because he's not just a player's coach, but he's a man's coach. You do not have to worry or even be concerned about where you stand with him. If you're doing things the right way, he's definitely going to pat you in the back. If he do things the wrong way, he's going to kick you in the behind. And. And players have really bought into that. That's a big ring. Like Garrett Wilson signed that extension because he loves what he's been able to see from Aaron Glenn. And also bringing his quarterback, Justin Fields, who I think is going to benefit, finally having people believe in him where he did not have that in Chicago for darn sure. He should have had it in Pittsburgh. He leads him to a 42 record to start the season. They put Russell Wilson back in there and we saw how that ended the end of the year when he had to outplay other quarterbacks and he didn't have the ability to do so. Justin Fields, for the first time in his NFL career, has people that believe in him, whether it's teammates or the organization. So that, that could be a major, major benefit for the New York Jets. Having a Garrett Wilson and Josh Reynolds, I think it's going to be really good getting him from Detroit. I think Aaron Glenn has been the right hire so far. You know, it's the one thing you mentioned about the news. We haven't heard anything, any kind of controversy, any kind of fires bubbling under from the New York Jets. They've gone about their business of getting ready for the season. It's not about this player here or that player there. It's about what can we do as a football team to be better than what we've seen and a team that has not made the playoffs in a long, long time. So we'll see if it's the right hire, at least the prove that one way or the other. A lack of production, but on the surface Right now, Aaron Glenn was the right guy and so far I love what I've been able to see and hear as he gets ready for this season.
[00:42:31] Speaker E: Yeah. Meanwhile, the Giants, you kept Brian Daboll, Russell Wilson going to be their quarterback.
How important of a season is for Dabel to spatially save his job?
[00:42:43] Speaker A: It depends on how it looks. Let's say if the Giants win five or six games but they show a little bit of progress, then I could see him and Joe Shane being kept. If you're the same way as you were last year year where you are three or four win team and you look awful doing it, then there's no way those two guys are going to be able to keep their jobs. Definitely. I think they're going to be pretty good. I like the fact that he got Abdul Carter. Now you got him and Kayvon thibodeau. You got two guys that can come off that corner 150 miles an hour and get that pass rush for the New York Giants. I think Roy Robertson Harris is going to be an underrated signing that he's a guy that can stuff the run a little bit and give you a little bit of pass rush as well. Bobby Okarive, the linebacker is going to be really good for them. He can play at an all pro level at times, especially when he's got guys in front of him that can keep him clean. So defensively they should be okay. But the offensive side of football, well, Russell Wilson is your QB1 and Jameis Winston is your QB2. That's going to be a problem. And if I were the New York Giants, the minute that Jackson Dart is ready, I'm putting him out there. Believe me. I think Russell Wolves and Jameis Winston, that's just going to be a fire hazard having both of those guys at quarterback. At a certain point, if you believe in Jackson Dart that much to draft him in the first round, when you believe he's ready, you have to put him out there and get him ready for your future. You are in a situation where you're the New York Giants. Nobody's expecting you to be a playoff team, but you have to show that, that you're going to make steps towards being a team that can be in the playoffs in another couple years. And if we don't see that this year, then there's no way that Brian Dabo, Joe Sheen will be back in 2026.
[00:44:08] Speaker E: Of course, having to be in the division with my defending super bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, that's. That's going to be a tough Task looking back at, I know we haven't talked since a few months, but what did you think of that Super Bowl 59, the Eagles just. I being a Philadelphia, I am not used to, to having a stress free championship that I was so relaxed and it was so enjoyable to watch. I just like this can't be happening. My team having an easy run to a championship.
[00:44:36] Speaker A: I was like, no, it's. This is unbelievable. Yeah. Because the road got easier after they had that Pier 6 brawl against the Los Angeles Rams. That was a team that gave them the most trouble and losing by five points in Philadelphia in the Snow Olympics. And after that they whip up on Washington the second half and they just bleed the blood out of Kansas City from start to finish. So you're exactly right. But it's the shows that when you're able to dominate teams in the trenches, you're going to solve a lot of problems that people throw yet at you. Kansas City's defense is really good, but that Eagles offensive line and that Eagles offense was on such a heater that nobody was going to get in front of them and keep them from being the kind of team that we saw happening. Their ability to run and throw the football, make those big plays and run a game of Saquon Barkley and Jalen hurts. And then when you crept up to take away the running game, he didn't miss a lot of throws down the field. Not just in the super bowl, but also in that playoff run leading to the Super Bowl. When you have the, that kind of two fisted attack and then you got a defense on the other side that they were just playing on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Seemingly every play that team was a dominant team that we're going to talk more and more about and we should mainly because we may not see anything like that. They're going to get everybody's best shot again this year and they're going to be ready for it. But usually dominant runs like that, they don't happen every five years, every 10 years. That was historic. The kind of beat that they put on the Kansas City Chiefs team that was going for history trying to be the first back to back to back super bowl champion in the Super Bowl.
[00:45:58] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:45:58] Speaker E: So should be a fun year.
[00:45:59] Speaker B: I can't wait.
[00:46:00] Speaker E: Obviously a lot of stress for me with the Eagles starting up the Phillies going on. So not really stressful about my Flyers and Sixers just yet, but we'll see what happens there. But Freddie, first of all, how's the radio show going? You're on three to seven every day on ESPN Radio.
[00:46:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Harry Douglas and I having such a blast and people continue to feel us and want to be around us and hear what we have to say. And we put out clips on social media. People are digging those as well. And we had people confused last week because we filled in on Unsportsman like what Michelle Smallman because Chris Cant you never called out. And we have more than a couple people say I thought my clock was backwards. I wake up and you guys are there. But it was a treat to see you guys and hear you guys in the morning. So I firmly believe that we have something special and I also firmly believe, Ken, we haven't scratched the surf how great this show is going to be. And we continue to make those kind of steps. And the best thing about our show is that we enjoy being around each other. There's certain people you put together, they go away. Harry and I are always in constant contact. I think the only thing we don't like like is the fact that he's in Atlanta and I'm in Bristol, Connecticut. But anytime we get together, it's like two long lost friends getting together, picking up right where they left off. So we know how blessed and fortunate we are to have a chance to do that Monday through Friday from 3 to 7 on ESPN Radio, the ESPN at the Series XM channel 80.
[00:47:15] Speaker E: Oh great, there goes your promo. I appreciate you doing that.
[00:47:21] Speaker A: If I don't promote us then I can't expect other people to want to promote us. So you never have to worry about me not promoting Freddie and Harry, my friend.
[00:47:28] Speaker E: I appreciate it, Freddy, as always, I appreciate having on. We'll have you on again before the year is out and you know, again, congratulations on your first grandchild.
[00:47:37] Speaker A: I appreciate that. Yeah. Hamilton Isaac. And he is, he's my little man. And anytime I get a chance to see him with his FaceTime and I got a chance to hold him not too long ago, that's my little man right there. So I know how blessed I to have somebody like that carrying on the quote unquote Freddie Coleman line.
[00:47:53] Speaker B: Appreciate as always.
[00:47:54] Speaker A: Have a great one kid. Take care. God bless my friend.
[00:47:57] Speaker E: You too.
[00:47:57] Speaker B: Thank you. That's Freddy Cole.
[00:47:58] Speaker E: We're back to wrap up the podcast and have the latest winner in the Daily Gazettes auto racing contest in just a moment.
[00:48:20] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Stan.
[00:48:22] Speaker B: And I'm Shen.
[00:48:23] Speaker C: And each week we bring you the Stan and Shen show.
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[00:49:01] Speaker A: Offers redeemable at www.dailygazette.com hi, this is Kenny Albert, the voice of the NHL on TNT Radio, voice of the New York Radio Rangers and the NFL and Major League Baseball on Fox Sports as well. You're listening to the Pardon Shots podcast.
[00:49:18] Speaker C: With Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shot.
[00:49:22] Speaker B: Back to wrap up the podcast, the week 21 winner in the Daily Gazette's auto racing contest was Pat McGrath of Mechanicville. With 50 points. Pat wins a $50 gift card. Congratulations Pat. The VIP winner was Dwayne Leach of all season equipment. He also had 50 points. Looking at the VIP standing is tight up the top. Scott Lucher CapitaLand GMC has 370 points, Jerry Peel of Frankenstein's has 365 points, Dwayne Leach has 300, Nick Platel Grand Premier tires has 245. I have just 190 and Matt Margiotta of S&G Roofing has 80.
I'll announce the Auto Racing Contest winners name and that winner's name will appear in Saturday's Daily Gazette. To play, go to dailygazette.com and click on the Auto Racing Contest banner.
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That wraps up another edition of the Parting Shots podcast. I want to thank Mike Bugadam, Sylvain Cloutier and Freddy Coleman for coming on this show.
If you have questions or comments about the podcast, email them to me at shot. That's s c h o t
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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'm Deli Gazette Sports editor Ken.
Thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time from the Pawning Shots podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. Good day, good sports.
