Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: The following program is brought to.
[00:00:05] Speaker C: You in living color on elliot gazette.com or wherever you get your podcast.
The Gazette News Group presents the Parting Shots Podcast.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Now here's your host and shot.
[00:00:18] Speaker C: 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. We have another great show for you, another spectacular spectacular show. We'll get you ready for the Union men's and women's hockey weekend. The men head to the north country take on St. Lawrence on Friday and Clarkson on Saturday. I'll speak with forwards Brandon Burr and Parker Lindauer and defenseman Tyler Dunbar. The women are also on the road. They head to Central New York to take on Colgate on Friday and Cornell on Saturday. I'll speak with head coach Tony Macy and defenseman Stephanie Bourque and forward Matty Leaney and and then we'll get you ready for Super Bowl 60. Yes, it's here Sunday night on NBC. They'll be it's the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, two teams I don't think we expected to play in Super Bowl 60 as will be out in Santa Clara, California. I'll speak with Dan Ball, former host of sports Talk show and 10:45, the team here in the Capital Region. He's now an executive producer for the afternoon show on WEI in Boston. So we'll talk all things Patriots and we'll talk a little bit about Red Sox. He's also the pre game and post game host for the Red Sox radio network. The flagship station is WEEI and we'll talk about his days on RPI hockey when he was the broadcast for ESPN and he's back again to do UAlbany men's lacrosse.
I was on a conference call with NBC on Tuesday. Chris Collinsworth and Mike Tirico, they'll be calling the game Sunday night. We so I got some sound from that get that getting their thoughts on Super Bowl 60. I also had a chance to ask the pair of question. You'll hear that coming up a little bit later. And then as a tradition like no other, the Gazette staff offers up their picks for Super Bowl 60.
So let's first get you ready for Union hockey this weekend. We'll talk about the men's and women's teams in just a moment. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
All of us love sports, but not all sports are created equal.
College sports have big budgets, dedicated alumni networks and corporate sponsorships Professional sports have even deeper pockets. Millionaire owners, lucrative TV and radio deals and merchandise sales.
High School sports have you Everyone agrees high school sports give us plenty of reasons to cheer, and now's a great time for us to give back.
Supporting your hometown high school won't cost you much, but it will go a long way to ensuring the games we love the most are here to stay. New York High School sports. They're good for our kids, good for our community, and best of all, they're good for you.
This message presented by the New York State Public High School Athletic association and the New York State Athletic Administrators Association.
Welcome back to the podcast. It's Union Hockey Talk as we always do every Thursday, of course, on Wednesday's podcast you heard men's head coach Josh Algae with on his weekly appearance. The Garner Charge is coming off a 42 loss to Dartmouth last Friday in their only game of the weekend. Union struggling right now in conference play. They find themselves in ninth place in the standings, which is not good.
That would mean a first round road game in the ECAC Hockey tournament. Union is only a point behind Yale and two behind Clarkson, but the time's running out. There's eight games left as we begin the stretch drive to the ECAC Hockey Tournament. As I mentioned the open, the Garner Chargers head to the north country this weekend. They'll take on St. Lawrence for a 7pm game Friday at Appleton arena in Canton. And that's a 4pm game Saturday against Clarkson at Cheel Arena. And we had a chance. I had a chance. I was the only reporter at Tuesday's media availability. I don't know how that happened, but let's the one thing the Union has really had trouble with the last three games is their power play. Not that they're not scoring. They did get a power play goal in the loss to Dartmouth, but they've only had one opportunity in each of the last three games. So what do they have to do to get some more opportunities? Let's hear from players Parker Lindauer, Brandon Burr and Tyler Dunbar.
Well guys, the last three games you only had one power play in each of those games. What do you got to do to get more power play attempts, starting with Parker?
I mean, I just think like moving our feet and not really getting worried about power plays. Penalties like the refs are going to call what they're going to call. We can't worry too much about that. It's not really in our control. But just focus on our effort and if you're moving your feet feet, they'll eventually Come and you'll get some power plays. Tyler yeah, I mean, I agree with that. I think, you know, as long as we're doing things the right way, it's. It's something that's not entirely in your control. So, like moving our feet and making sure, you know, we're being hard and physical and that kind of thing brings us success in that department. Brandon yeah, I'd say just working hard and forcing the other team to take penalties on us. Has it been frustrating not getting more than one, one power play attempt in each of the last three games? I don't know about frustrating. It's not great, obviously, like, we like scoring goals in the power play. It's where offense comes from and I mean, we'd like more, but it comes.
[00:05:53] Speaker D: Down to us, I guess.
[00:05:54] Speaker C: Tyler yeah, I mean, obviously you'd like to, you'd like to get as many opportunities as you can, but you know, we're not trying to focus on things that are out of our control, so it's not something that's talked about too often. Parker. Yeah, I mean, just like Dunny just said, you can't really focus on things that you can't control. And right now our special teams are really good. Power play and pk. So when it comes, we'll be ready. But for right now, we're not too worried about it.
You guys go up to St. Lawrence and Clarkson this weekend.
Last time you guys faced both those teams, you split beat St. Lawrence lost to Clarkson. The Saints are a better team than what made what you saw back in November.
So how important is it to go up there on Friday, not take them lightly and get the jump on them? Yeah, I mean, every game from here on out is kind of do or die for us, and we're trying to get ready for the post season and end of the year. No matter where we finish, we're going to be ready to go. And I think getting off on a strong foot on Friday is going to be crucial for us. Tyler.
Yeah, no, they're definitely a better team than we saw in the beginning of the season, and so are we. So, you know, we're ready for the opportunity and we're definitely not taking any games lightly at this point in the season. Brandon yeah, we got to make sure we're ready.
[00:07:10] Speaker D: Like every game in the ECAC is.
[00:07:12] Speaker C: A tough game no matter who you play, and they are. They have gotten a lot better since.
[00:07:14] Speaker D: Last seen them, so be ready to go.
[00:07:16] Speaker C: Right now, you guys are in ninth place in the standings, a point behind Yale for That final first round home ice game two behind Clarkson, who face on Saturday.
Do you think realistically home ice first round bye is still attainable for this team? I mean you never really know. All we can do is just win games going forward, so hopefully that is obtainable. But we'll have to find out to how important will we at least get in that position for a first round home ice game?
[00:07:46] Speaker E: Home ice is important.
[00:07:47] Speaker C: Like we love playing in front of our fans. They give us a lot of energy. So that, that is a very important thing to get. Tyler? Yeah, absolutely. Home ice is super important. And you know, at this point in the season everything's a win or every.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: Game, you know, you're thinking about winning.
[00:08:02] Speaker C: And just to build towards that ultimate goal. Parker? Yeah, I mean no matter where we finish in the standings, we're going to give it our all in the playoffs too. But I think we owe it to the fans here at Union. They've been with us all year long that they deserve another game here at home. So that's our goal this year, is to give them more games in the postseason than they signed up for.
Last question, who are you picking for the Super Bowl? Parker?
Seahawks.
Tyler? Seahawks. Brandon?
[00:08:32] Speaker A: Yeah, Seahawks all the way.
[00:08:33] Speaker C: No question.
Now let's talk about the Union women's hockey team. The Garner Chargers know that they will be on the road for the ECC hockey tournament in a couple of weeks. There's four games remaining in the regular season and and they close out the road portion of the regular season schedule this weekend with a pair of three o' clock games out in Central New York. They'll be at Colgate on Friday and at Cornell on Saturday.
So basically Union best they can finish right now is in 10th place. They're in last place right now.
So it's a matter of trying to string some wins together, maybe get a favorable spot for the EC hockey tournament first round game. But there's a lot more going on with the two of the players, senior defenseman Stephanie Bourque and junior forward Matty Leaney. They are tied for the Union all time Division 1 record for points in a career with 68. They share that with Elise Nichols who played for the team from 2003 to 2007.
So they're in a little friendly competition with that.
So I had a chance to ask them about that as well as what's going on. So let's hear first from Stephanie Bourque and Matty Leaney.
Well guys, you have two weeks left here in a regular season. You guys know you're going to be on the road for the first round game in the ECAC hockey tournament. So starting with Stephanie, what's the goals these last two weeks as you get ready for the postseason?
[00:10:00] Speaker E: I mean, yeah, we obviously want to play the right way and prepare ourselves for that. It's just one day at a time. Everyone makes the playoff and you're fighting to live another day. So it's just kind of playing the right way and putting ourselves in the best position moving forward to be able to do that.
[00:10:15] Speaker C: Maddie?
[00:10:16] Speaker E: Yeah, just exactly what Steph said, trying to set us up for success and taking it one day at a time. I think, you know, we want to be at our best selves for that first round. So just working towards that every day.
[00:10:27] Speaker C: How important is it to be able to move up in the stand? Right now you guys are in last place. I think you guys want to at least try to get maybe in a ninth spot where you maybe have a, a little bit of a better matchup than maybe than a 512 matchup.
[00:10:39] Speaker E: Yeah, for sure. I mean, no one likes to be in last place and I don't think we're a last place team. I know we believe that in the locker room. So just like we said, working every day to keep moving up in the standings and you know, that just comes with sticking to our structure and everything.
[00:10:53] Speaker C: Stephanie?
[00:10:53] Speaker E: Yeah, I mean Matty said, basically said everything. It's just about like playing how we know how to play, playing good D zone because that's going to create good offense. But at the end of the day, like I think we can beat any team. I think anyone can beat anyone in our league. So it's just going to come down to who wants it a little bit more during that playoff game.
[00:11:10] Speaker C: What do you have to do to avoid those five goal second periods given up in the light and you had both back to back games over the weekend with Brown and Yale.
[00:11:18] Speaker E: Yeah, I think it's, it's. We got away from doing the little things right a little bit. So I think it's just being way harder to play in our D zone, not letting them have that much time and space and being being able to play a full 60 minute minutes is something that we struggled with a little bit all season. So I think it's just really harping on playing a full 60 being extremely hard to play against in our D zone and we should be fine.
[00:11:40] Speaker C: Maddie.
[00:11:40] Speaker E: Yeah, I agree with everything Steph said. I think like she said with the whole 60 minutes that's been kind of the Story of our team this whole year trying to figure out how to put the full 60 together. So I think just being exactly what she said, hard in the D zone and just putting more pressure on them, we can't back off.
Our conference is a really good conference and everyone plays a full 60, so we got to do the same.
[00:12:01] Speaker C: You guys played Colgate and Cornell well here a couple months ago. You beat Cornell in overtime, lost to Colgate, a tough one.
Can you. How important would it be to replicate that on the road?
[00:12:12] Speaker E: Yeah, super important, especially coming down the stretch here. Like you said, with playoffs, it being our last four games. So just taking every opportunity to learn and grow and put ourselves up in a best position we can for playoffs.
[00:12:23] Speaker C: Stephanie.
[00:12:24] Speaker E: Yeah, no, I agree. I think it's just going back to playing the right way and it'll be good for our confidence. And normally we do match up well against these two teams and obviously no one likes to lose. We hate to lose, so we want to win. But it's just really harping on playing well D zone because the two teams that we're playing are very good offensively. So we just got to make sure that we're ready.
[00:12:41] Speaker C: Of course, over the final at least five games. For you guys, it's going to be a battle for the top all time point leader in Division 1 history here at Union, starting with Stephanie. What's it like right now as we speak, sharing that title with Matty and of course Elise Nichols.
[00:12:59] Speaker E: Yeah, I mean it means a lot, but I know at the end of the day like she's gonna beat me to it and that's more than okay. I think she deserves it. You know, all season she's, she's been playing great hockey for us and putting a lot, a lot of points and scoring a lot of goals for us. And I think it's, it's just going back to. She's playing the right way and I think she does. If anyone deserves it, it's her. But also, hopefully we won't, she won't hang on to the, to that record for long. Hopefully Tony's got some good players coming in that that'll be beat those records as well.
[00:13:25] Speaker C: Maddie?
[00:13:26] Speaker E: Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's anyone that I want to share this spot with. And Steph, Steph's someone. It's been someone I've looked up to this entire time that I've been here. She's always had my back and I've always had hers. So being able to like share this and like grow Together is something super important to me. And I think just kind of what we came here for is to help build this program up. And I think that's a testament to what we're doing and breaking records together and stuff. So it's super cool.
[00:13:49] Speaker C: Is there a friendly rivalry?
[00:13:52] Speaker E: I don't think so. You know, like, when she scores often, sometimes I get the assist. So, like, maybe this weekend that's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna make a good pass and she's gonna score and then we can both break. Break the record at the same time.
Yeah. I think my favorite thing is when Steph scores and I just go speed first, just jump on her. So, no, no competition. I think we're each other's biggest supporters.
[00:14:12] Speaker C: Last question. Who you pick in the Super Bowl?
[00:14:15] Speaker E: Oh, you know, I think the Patriots are playing really well. As much as it hurts me to say it, but I do think that they have a good chance.
[00:14:24] Speaker C: Who's your favorite team then?
[00:14:26] Speaker E: I don't, you know. Well, I like the Bills and I think that was a hard loss and that hurt a lot of people, especially upstate New York. But Matty, it's Seattle, innit?
[00:14:35] Speaker B: Right?
[00:14:36] Speaker E: Yeah, I'm going with them just because I'm from the west coast, so I think that'd be pretty cool.
[00:14:40] Speaker C: Patriots, you go with.
[00:14:41] Speaker E: Pardon?
[00:14:42] Speaker C: Who are you going with? Seahawks.
[00:14:44] Speaker E: Yeah, Seattle.
[00:14:47] Speaker C: Now let's get the thoughts of head coach Tony Macy about his two players who are battling for the top spot in the career points, as well as his thoughts on the remainder of the regular season.
[00:15:00] Speaker D: How to get your points this weekend.
[00:15:04] Speaker C: Well, you have four games left here in the regular season. We know you're going to be opening playing that first round game on the road. What's the goal these last four games?
[00:15:13] Speaker D: It's the same thing we've been saying all year here. And you know, at times I'm sure the players think it's a broken record, but we have to be better defensively. Our last two games, you know, we let our defending lapse in the second period and then both teams were able to capitalize. So that's. That's a big thing for us is we've got to defend better.
We know it in the room and you know, we did about an hour and a half video session yesterday on strictly that.
[00:15:40] Speaker C: Yeah, because those games this week past weekend against Brown, Yale, 5 goal second periods in both games. What do you got to do to prevent that when you face go on the road to Coyote and Cornell this weekend?
[00:15:52] Speaker D: Well, I think, you know, it's obviously a theme that we're working on here, especially after this past weekend, early in the year, I would have said it was our third periods, which I think our third periods have been better. So now as of recent, we've got to make sure our second periods are better. So it's the mindset of making sure that we're committed and consistent in the defensive zone, in our roles throughout the course of the game and especially right now in the second period.
[00:16:18] Speaker C: How important will it be to move up in the standings over these last two weeks? Right now you're in last place, but you don't want to end up having to play the fifth place team in that first round game.
[00:16:29] Speaker D: Yeah, I think, you know, going into it you want to put yourself in the best position possible. Playing a lower seed is definitely something that you want to do. I think that for us it's a matter of gaining confidence to grab points.
Are points there to be had for sure. You know, I think that we've played Cornell and Colgate both well this year and same thing with Harvard and Dartmouth.
So I think that we've got to make sure that we're committed to defending hard to make these, you know, low scoring games like we've said in the past, and you've quoted me on it like it's a race to three. We can't make it a race to five, six, seven, eight. Right. So we want to make this low scoring games and in order to do that we have to defend better.
[00:17:17] Speaker C: I mean, you did beat Cornell here, you almost beat Colgate. So does that give you guys confidence going out there this weekend?
[00:17:24] Speaker D: It does. I think it all depends on how we're going to play. Right. If we're going to defend well, we'll have an opportunity to win those games and give ourselves that opportunity. I think that having success in the past is neither here nor there. Can be, it can be good, it can be bad. Just all how you prepare for the game.
[00:17:43] Speaker C: There's going to be some excitement over these last four regular season games, plus that first round game.
Stephanie Bourque and Magdalena are going to be battling to see who ends up being the all time leading point getter for this team. Right now they're tied for the top spot.
Just talk about those two and what they've meant to the program and how do you see this playing out over the last two, three weeks?
[00:18:06] Speaker D: Yeah, I think in the end I think it'll be.
Could be either of them. Right. Like the, the crazy thing is I think a lot of them have points on either of their own goals, Right? So if Matty scores some, a lot of times Stephanie's part of it and vice versa. So it could end up coming down to the end of the year and then both being tied at the end of the year. So I don't think either of them really care who ends up with it as long as they result in wins.
[00:18:32] Speaker C: No friendly rivalry between two and a man like that.
[00:18:35] Speaker D: I think at the. At the end of the day, yeah, there probably is. It's like, hey, if we're both getting points, that means we're probably winning. And, you know, obviously if they go back and forth, they're fine with that as well. And even Stephanie's already said she's like, I know I'm not going to hold this a long time because Maddie's got years. And, you know, even with our freshmen and sophomores putting up points, you know, they have opportunities to do the same. So as cool as it is, she also understands, like, hey, I'm not going to hold this for very long. It's the same thing with last year with Marin and her, you know, getting the defensive record for points and saying the same thing last year. Like, I'm not going to hold this very long because Stephanie's going to come along and break it as well. So it's a good problem to have when. When you do that.
[00:19:23] Speaker C: Would you always like to see Stephanie at least get it at the end of the year? Got way. She at least hold it all next season when Maddie gets ready for.
[00:19:32] Speaker D: I think that would be. That'd be something that could be cool. I also think, like, at the end of the day for both of them, they. They just want to win more games down the stretch here and make our season as long as we can.
[00:19:43] Speaker C: Got a Super bowl pick.
[00:19:45] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. I'm going with the Patriots. I want to see Mike Vrabel win it strictly because of how things ended in Tennessee. It's always good to see a coach have a good rebound.
[00:19:57] Speaker C: Here are a lot of super bowl picks from the union hockey personnel. So we'll get you ready for Super Bowl 60 between the Patriots and Seahawks. Dan Ball, former sports talk show host here in the Capital Region on 1045, the team. He's now in Boston as an executive producer for the afternoon show there. And Wei, so we'll talk with him, get his thoughts, especially on the Patriots. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
Speed, skill, physicality.
[00:20:26] Speaker E: Home to college hockey's elite teams, coaches and student athletes.
ECAC hockey 12 programs competing at the highest level.
A league where champions are born and.
[00:20:37] Speaker A: World class professionals are trained. Where history is abundant and a commitment.
[00:20:41] Speaker E: To the cutting edge is unrivaled. The best facilities, the fiercest competition.
ECAC hockey. There's no experience like it.
[00:20:59] Speaker C: Welcome back to the podcast. It's time to get ready for Super Bowl 6 60. On Sunday, NBC will have the game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, a rematch of Super Bowl 49, of course. Remember what happened in Super Bowl 49 with the Malcolm Butler interception on the goal line with the Seahawks going for the driving winning touchdown and a call that's been debated a lot over the years.
So we're going to get to the Patriots perspective of the game.
We're going to talk to a man very familiar to people here in the capital region, one time host of the sports talk show on the 1045 the team here in the Capital Region. Of course, he was the voice of RPI men's and women's hockey on espn. He will be doing EU Albany men's lacrosse on ESPN this season and he's the executive producer of WEI Afternoons out there in Boston, it's Dan Ball. Dan, welcome to the podcast. How are things going in Boston?
[00:21:54] Speaker A: Hey Ken, it's great to talk to you. Thank you so much for, for dialing me up for, for this one big game out here in the Boston area. But all is well. It's, you still have a lot of people around here who are pretty shocked to say the name of, of the teams that are playing in this super bowl this Sunday. So all is well and it's great to be able to catch up with you.
[00:22:12] Speaker C: Yeah, great to catch up with you too. Let me just ask you, this team with 4 and 13 last year, they bring in Mike Vrabel who had gotten fired by the Tennessee Titans and who expected this. I don't think any, nobody could expect this to happen at the Patriots this year. Everybody thought the Buffalo Bills would run away with the AFC east again and it didn't happen. The Patriots ran away with the AFC East.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: It's pretty incredible, isn't it, to see where we're sitting right now compared to expectations. I mean we on our show had former Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer on to start the season. He gave a range of 8 to 11 wins. He gives 8, 9, 10, 11 wins as a possibility and still somehow missed it. The closest that we personally saw out here was Taylor Kyles who covers the Patriots for CLNS Media, who, who, who said they had 13 winnable games not 13 wins, just 13 games that he believed they had a chance to win. The vast majority, including everybody on the, on the show I'm lucky enough to work on, had between seven and eight wins. If you were in that column of the standing traffic on the broadcast in the hunt after Thanksgiving, then a lot of people would have called that a success. So I can't find anybody in all the digging around that that was brave enough to say that this team would win the games. They did have an MVP candidate as a quarterback and have the kind of culture turnaround that they ended up having in such a short amount of time.
[00:23:38] Speaker C: How much in Mike Vrabel in just one season change the culture of the pitch? Because you know, we saw what happened with Belichick and was very tight lipped. I mean there was really no emotion in that for the longest time. But you look at variable, he's anti Bill Belichick.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: He is. It's interesting, he has some of the mannerisms of his coach when he speaks to the media. He has some of that sarcasm that the media hated and Patriots fans around here loved. He also has a little bit of the, the Petty I know more than you kind of game calling. Every now and again you'll see him situationally do something that brings back shades of Belichick when he was purposely taking delay of game penalties to, to back up the punter and kill clock and all that kind of stuff. But by and large other than, you know, just flashes in the pan. Yeah, he is completely different than not only Belichick, but the one year gap that Patriots fans want to forget in Gerard Mayo. So he really had two different eras that he had to clean up coming into the, into the season and he made his mark immediately. They turned over well over 50% of the roster during the course of the offseason. They at some point, either via cutting or via trade, got rid of every single captain that was on the Patriots from a season ago. So he made some pretty bold moves when it came to personnel for a team that was so young and had so many guys that were eating up salary cap and not performing. But it was those strong moves in the off season that then gave the power to the the right individuals on both sides of the football and really kind of set this team off and running. So it was a tumultuous off season after another coaching change in New England. But you can't really fault the bold moves that he made given what we're talking about now.
[00:25:27] Speaker C: Yeah, just he seems to have a lot of enthusiasm on the sideline. We really. And maybe once in a while we saw Belichick smile. But you watch him, watch him on the sidelines. He's. He's like a player. I mean, he gets, he gets into it and just, I think the raw emotion that we see and I think that has attracted a lot of fans of the fans of the Patriots.
[00:25:50] Speaker A: Absolutely. He is, yeah, he is a coach almost in name name only at this point. It was a, it was during the course of the playoff run at the end of one of the games where he head butted Milton Williams and cut his lip and was, was parading all around the sidelines, going to all of his defensive guys, going, look at my lip. Look at what just happened. He, it was a badge of honor for him. It's the same guy who, when Antonio Gibson returned to kick against Miami in week three, I think it was down in Miami, ran the length of the sideline at full speed to keep up with Gibson all the way down because it was such an impactful play. Yeah, he's, he still has the same borderline psychosis that you would think of for a guy who played as well as he did and played as hard as he did in the NFL. And I think that's, that's something that these guys have really resonated with. They needed a steady hand, a confident hand, just given how young the team is. And he's brought that brash nature while also being very, very caring behind the scenes, really emphasizing players, mental health and all of the different things that come with the modern day athletes. So it has been about as good as you could expect for a coaching hire in the NFL.
[00:27:02] Speaker C: And I have a lot of props for him because when he takes questions, he's always giving the first question to one of the female reporters. I think he did that in Nashville with Teresa Walker. He does that in Boston with Karen. I don't remember how to pronounce Karen's last name, but.
[00:27:17] Speaker A: Oh, Karen Greegian.
[00:27:18] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:27:19] Speaker A: Yeah, one of the best.
[00:27:19] Speaker C: Yeah. So. And I've met Karen on a few occasions in college hockey circles, but she's a great reporter. But just where did, at what point in the season did everyone realize that maybe they had something special here with the Patriots?
[00:27:36] Speaker A: I think it was that first game in Buffalo against the Bills in, you know, they had really, they had toiled in mediocrity. They, you know, you lose a couple of games at the beginning of the season, lose to the Raiders, lose to the Steelers, and you think about that, that Miami game in the Middle of it. If Devon Achan doesn't step out of bounds, you're a toenail away from, from starting a season. Oh, and three, then against Carolina, you don't just win, you really win. So it at least gives your offense a little bit of confidence. But you think about the primetime standalone Sunday Night Football, and it's Josh Allen, the guy who 31 other teams in football want if you pump them full of truth serum as their quarterback against Drake May, who the best comparable that anybody can think of going into the year was we want him to look like Josh Allen did in year two. The same build, same athleticism with, with how he plays the game. And you go out and you win and you win the turnover battle. And May makes a couple of tremendous throws and tight windows. And you also get Stefan Diggs, a really signature victory back in Buffalo. So it's a statement to show that you can keep up with the, with the preeminent power in your division. It's a statement game for May on a, on a big platform. And he's performed extremely well in these, in these kind of standal big game so far this year. And you really, you really get Stefan Diggs involved and get him that win that he wanted to be able to prove. He's still here. He can still compete with some of the big dogs at the wide receiver position. So from that point on, it, the train was out of the station and nobody in the NFL has been able to catch it since then.
[00:29:14] Speaker C: Talk about Drake May, his second year as the quarterback of the Patriots. How much has he improved and how much credit do you give Josh McDaniels, the offensive coordinator?
[00:29:25] Speaker A: It's a, it's. I'm glad you brought up Josh because that was going to be the first thing that my mind jumped to, is how quickly the pairing of coordinator and coach were able to flourish. And a lot of people out here, myself included, were unsure how that that kind of arranged marriage would, would work out here in New England, given that, you know, a lot of Josh's success has come with just your very traditional pocket passers. Tom Brady, absolute surgeon in the pocket. Even Mac Jones in that first season, was able to get the Patriots to the playoffs being a, a poor man's surgeon in the pocket. So Drake's biggest question coming into year two was could he develop into a pocket passer at the NFL level because too many times last year, as soon as he felt pressure, as soon as he dropped back, he would escape and he'd be throwing on the run. And it led to a lot of turnovers. And it really put him in a lot of dangerous positions in terms of just staying healthy and staying on the football field. And a lot of those things were what we saw in early stages of Josh Allen's career as well. But he instilled such a confidence in Drake May's game to be able to read the pressure, to know when to step up in the pocket and throw and when to escape, but how to do it wisely and safely and not hurt yourself or cost your team. So McDaniels gets a lot of credit. The entire offensive infrastructure, Ashton Grant, Thomas Brown, guys with a lot of experience that are surrounding McDaniels on that coaching staff have made Drake May into a guy who looks like he's ready to stick around, is much more of a, much more of a sustainable talent than it seemed like, you know, Jaden Daniels was going to be a season ago. And Ken, he's a, he's a freaking superstar out here. And he might even be secondary to his wife, the Queen of the north at this point. They have been embraced so heavily by people out in Boston so quickly and a lot of people thought he was going to be good. I would struggle to meet somebody who thought he was going to be this good this quickly.
[00:31:20] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, just the way he, the AFC Championship game, when the snow started coming down the second half and just the way they, the offense managed that second half, they knew not to throw the ball because it was impossible to see what was going on. And then May makes that game clinching run for the first down. Just talk about that play and just his maturity and be able to take that and make that run and get that game clinching first down.
[00:31:49] Speaker A: What a perfect microcosm of the growth and the relationship between McDaniels and May that you mentioned in the last question. I mean, they go to the line, they get in the huddle and McDaniels tells Drake, May, this is what we're running, the naked boot. But you cannot tell your offensive lineman that you're going to do this. They wanted everybody on that offense, lineman, running back, wide receivers to sell that run as best as possible.
And that's McDaniels. After a season's worth of working with Drake May, trusting his quarterback with the season and putting the game on his shoulders. And you saw all of it there. The relationship manifests itself into a one on one battle in which May, despite whatever shoulder injury he may or may not have stiff arming his way to a first down, celebrating. You saw the Mic'd up Clip of that's how you do that. That's how you do that. He points to the first down and goes and celebrates with Will Campbell and Hunter Henry. So it was so many great things about this season all in one, the confidence in the quarterback to just make a superstar play. The quarterback executing the kind of personality and growth and confidence that you've seen year one and year two and just a tremendous play in a tough situation to send a team to the Super Bowl. So if you want to, you want to put on tape exactly where this entire offense has come from beginning of the season to now, that's a, that's a damn good example of all of it.
[00:33:11] Speaker C: What's going to, what is it going to take to beat the Seahawks? I mean, their defense has been awesome and this is another team that I don't think anybody expected to be playing for Super Bowl. I mean, I think we're all looking at my Eagles maybe repeating and of course the offensive quarters stunk the entire year and Eagles and Frank, quite frankly, my Eagles got what they deserve. They got beaten by the 49ers and just some bad offensive. But anyway, what's it going to take for the Patriots to pull off? I know I'm me bitter.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: Nah, no, no. You know, fifth offensive coordinator in the last five years, but who's counting? I'm not worried about that.
[00:33:48] Speaker C: Well, we just, I just before I came in, I just found out that Jeff Stoutland, the offensive line coach, is leaving the organization. So all hell's interesting. All hell's breaking loose in Philadelphia.
[00:33:58] Speaker A: So he's finding out that they're banning the tush push and he's like, I'm getting out of here. I got nothing. I got nothing else to add.
[00:34:04] Speaker C: So what is it going to take to beat the Seattle Seahawks team with the quarterback and Sam Darnold, who was a disappointment with the jets, he won 14 years last year at the Vikings. Vikings decided to move on with from him and go with J.J. mcCarthy. And I think they got to be regretting that's that move.
[00:34:21] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. And I still, I go back and look that say you found something so great with Darnold. You didn't have McCarthy for an entire year after, after he gets hurt at the beginning of the season and you just hand him the keys to the car. Anyway, I know Kevin o' Connell is probably, you can count on one hand the amount of quarterback developers that are in his class, if not better. But that that all aside, Seahawks found their man. He was. He's been a drastic improvement over Geno Smith and you pair him with Jackson, Smith and Jigba in that offense with the the compliment of Cooper cup embracing his role as a number two in this league. And that offense has been has been really, really good. But the loss of Zach Charbonnet has been interesting because though Seattle isn't overly efficient in their running game, they're somewhere in the 20s, 22nd I want to say in EPA on the run they use it to set up the pass. It's been extremely important in that the the duo of Kenneth Walker and Charbonnet has was really the reason that they did it.
So finding a way to limit what Kenneth Walker can do is kind of the drive starter I think is big. But you have to win the turnover battle against Sam Darnold. I read that he's the first quarterback to lead the league in turnovers to get to a Super bowl since eli Manning in 2007.
And Darnold in his four games against the against the Patriots hasn't played him since 2021. But in his four games with the jets and the Carolina Panthers has been outscored 123 to 23. He's got one touchdown in either eight or nine interceptions in the games that he's played. There is still that little element of the seeing ghosts Sam Darnold that Jets fans know, know and love. So Zach Kerr, the interim defensive coordinator since the bi week, has really been dialing up the pressure. The Patriot Patriots have been doing a lot more in terms of changing their masking their their blitzes, the disguise blitzes, the phantom pressures and things that got C.J. stroud seeing ghosts a couple of weeks back. Weeks back. So I think defensively being able to get Darnold uncomfortable and trying to get the ball on the ground and get the same short field advantage that you did the one time that you scored a touchdown against Denver is going to be so huge. And if you do that, I think Drake may shoulder injury or not, can at least game manage his way to a low scoring victory for the Patriots. But this is tough. This is tough and unlike any other playoff game that the Pats have seen this year. Ken, there's no excuse that you can point to. There's no two injuries on the offensive line, there is no C.J. stroud falling apart and there's no backup quarterback playing. You get a relatively fully healthy Seahawks team against your group and now it's time to put up or shut up.
[00:37:01] Speaker C: And they'll probably play in some good weather which they haven't done in the last couple of weeks.
[00:37:05] Speaker A: No kidding.
What a change that'll be.
[00:37:08] Speaker C: Yeah.
Obviously this is a rematch of Super Bowl 49. Of course, nobody from either team was on that team. But has there been a lot of talk in Boston about that game when there was with the Malcolm Butler interception that sealed the improbable win for the Patriots, when the Seahawks were driving for the touchdown, they were on the one yard line, did not give the ball.
[00:37:28] Speaker A: To Marshawn lynch, one of the most confusing play calls in NFL history still to this day. And oh, absolutely, there's been, there have been plenty of shades of not only that matchup, but just the history between the Patriots and Seahawks dating back to the 90s. Their last 10 matchups have been decided by one score and have really come down to the last two minutes. Now, Seattle has a 7 to 3 advantage in their last 10. But it's, it's pretty much the, the written rule, you write it in pen, that New England and Seattle play close games. That just seems to be how these two franchises match up. So it's been a lot of fun. We are kind of put together. Afternoon show here this week has been Greg Hill with Ted Johnson and Jermaine Wiggins, both of whom won Super Bowls with the Patriots. So we've had a number of different guests come through. Actually, Malcolm Butler is leading off our show, recording this or talking on Wednesday leading off our Thursday show.
So he's going to give his first person account on Thursday of how it happened. Fans have been eager to, to bring up what worked well. And so it is, it is a nice little extra element to this for sure that Patriots fans have such fond memories of, of what happens when you take on Seattle in the Super Bowl. So if there weren't enough cool storylines to follow this week already, that's certainly been another.
[00:38:49] Speaker C: Well, give Malcolm my best for not playing in Super Bowl 52, getting benched.
[00:38:54] Speaker A: Oh yeah, you mean. Yeah, give Bill Belichick your best. Someday. Someday, Ken, he's going to tell the real story of why he didn't play in that game. There are a million different theories floating around, what was going on off the field, what happened during practice and what the involvement of Belichick was or was not. But someday, I'm crossing my fingers. Two o' clock tomorrow on our afternoon show, he finally sets the record straight. But we may never hear that story. I don't know. But I will make sure to say, to say hello and thank you on.
[00:39:24] Speaker C: You speaking of Belichick.
[00:39:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:27] Speaker C: Last week it was announced he was snubbed at his first go round for the Pro Football hall of Fame. And this week we found out Patrick Patriot Robert Kraft was also snubbed. What's been the reaction like in Boston about that?
[00:39:41] Speaker A: Utter shock. Utter shock and really a complete distrust of the, of the voting process for the Pro Football hall of Fame. There have been a few, one, one or two and then a handful one or two media members and then a handful of fans he engaged with via, you know, text and online chatter and things like that who say, oh, he's a jerk, he's a cheater, he deserved this. But I think it's nearly impossible to make a convincing enough argument that the black marks on the resume of Bill Belichick in any way out outweigh the winning across multiple different programs. The, the winning in New York, the winning with New England, and just the, the historic levels with which his teams were able to, to be successful. So it's been utter shock. People cannot believe it. And it's kind of, it's turned its way now into people wondering, well, when Tom Brady gets on the ballot, Kraft has been been seemingly punished for his involvement in different scandals. Bill Belichick is now being punished for not only scandals, but seemingly just petty vindictiveness that members of the media and other members of the NFL circle may have. People are wondering, okay, does Tom Brady now have to sit out a year despite being the most obvious hall of Famer in the history of the NFL? So it's really taken a lot of people aback and made the general question being of Bill Belichick's not a first ballot hall of Famer. Is any coach ever a first ballot hall of Famer from here on out? It's really, it's caused a lot of distrust when it comes to people even, even interacting with the hall of Fame.
[00:41:17] Speaker C: Well, you're also the pre game and post game host of the Red Sox coverage on the Red Sox radio network.
We'll have you on. We get closer to the start of season, but just give me your general thoughts on the offseason for the Red Sox. I know they signed former Philly pitcher Rangers Suarez, which disappointed to see him leave Philadelphia, but I'm happy he's not in the NLE with the Mets or anything. So I'm happy he's in Boston. But just, just a couple minutes about what the Red Sox have done in this offseason. Have they done enough?
[00:41:46] Speaker A: The last part? No, I don't believe they have. And funny enough, you know, I was, I jumped on with, with Michael Johnson, who took over my spot on 145, the team a couple of weeks ago, the day before Ranger Suarez signed. And I cursed them out, up, down, left, right and center about the fact that the Red Sox were too scared to make, to make a signing, too scared to make a financial mistake that would anyway negatively impact their bottom line. And then the next day they turn around and they signed Ranger Suarez. I, in a vacuum, loved it. I love the one, two punch that that gives you at the top of your rotation. I think it slots Brian Baio and Sonny Gray both into better spots respectively, as your number three and number four. And then you have, you know, 10 borderline major league pitchers that are gonna duke it out for that number five spot. I liked it. But outside of that vacuum, you addressed a strength that your team already has, which is starting pitching depth, depth, and continued to ignore. What is the biggest issue that you've had since you traded Rafael Devers, which is a power bat in your infield. You had a chance to sign Pete Alonso. You bakket giving him the years that you want. He goes to a division rival. You have a de facto captain and bench coach and Alex Bregman that everybody sings the praises of, your manager included.
You think that Scott Boris is bluffing with the offer from the Cubs. He's not. And he ends up leaving despite coming back to the table and saying, if you give me a no trade clause, I'll sign there. So I'm fine with the, I'm fine with the Ranger Suarez signing, but I just think the Blue Jays have continued to get better. The Yankees are returning Garrett Cole and make the move with Bellinger and are going to continue to be a powerhouse. Everybody around you continues to spend money to try to get better, to chase down the Los Angeles Dodgers to. And there is a, there is a real, real vitriol around the ownership and the leadership group of the Red Sox and whether or not they have the stomach anymore to actively chase down championships or is Fenway park just the cash machine that funds the Fenway Sports Group? So I, I like their group. I'm really intrigued to see what Roman Anthony can do. I think he's, he's about to be the face of this franchise in a year's time, but I just don't think they've done enough to keep up with the big dogs. And it's, it's been a bit of a culture shock to see them bakket at spending the kind of money they used to.
[00:44:06] Speaker C: How much fun is going to be doing you Albany men's lacrosse. Even though the weather is probably going to be freaking, freaking cold when you do some of these games early this.
[00:44:13] Speaker A: Season, we're going to be bundled up there in that booth. They love to open the window in the booth at Tom and Mary Casey Stadium. And as much as me and Mike Tessero complain, they keep on doing it.
[00:44:24] Speaker C: How about you miss RPI hockey?
[00:44:26] Speaker A: Oh, I miss it all the time. It's this season. I was so incredibly blessed and lucky to kind of fall into that when I left Quinnipiac and then came up to the Capital Region.
And it's such an exciting time around the program too, watching from afar to see the, to see the quick work that Eric Lang has done to kind of change over the program on the fly, use the transfer portal to his advantage. And so I'm excited to see what the future brings. But I mean, Ken, you know, you know better than anybody. A night spent in the booth with Dan Fridgen is a night well spent. And a night spent at the Recovery Grill having a beer after is an even better one. So I adored my time there. I was so, so incredibly grateful for the opportunity. And I've been lucky enough to stay in the ECAC doing some, some spot starts as the color guy back down at my alma mater at Quinnipiac. So I've kept, I've kept in the ECAC world, but it's, it's definitely been, been an adjustment not having not have an RPI in the, in the fan base to be able to talk about. And same thing with the Firewolves. I was fired up for another season, no pun intended. And then you see, they, they relocate back up to Oshawa. So I stay in touch with Glenn Clark, their head coach and gm. But I was, was really looking forward to another season to come back to the Capital Region there, but that was not the case. So there's been some, there's been some team turnover and on the professional side for sure.
[00:45:50] Speaker C: Well, let's wrap it up with your super bowl prediction.
[00:45:53] Speaker A: Super bowl prediction not going to be popular. I have the Seahawks 27, 23 over the Pats. I think the, I think the yellow brick road comes to an end just one game short. They've had a heck of a season. I think they're going to be back in this spot for years to come. But Seattle by Seattle by a nose and what should be an instant classic and once again come down right to the end.
[00:46:16] Speaker C: Where can people find you on these social media platforms?
[00:46:18] Speaker A: Oh, thank you for asking yeah, Anball Bahl on Twitter and Instagram and I guess that counts as Facebook as well. And if you want to hear me, Wei afternoons two to six out here on on Wei in Boston and the the affiliate network and a handful of spot starts on the, on the weekends and with the Red Sox as well. So if you follow me on Twitter, I'll post when I'm on and give us a, give us a call if you, if you hear my voice, we'd appreciate it.
[00:46:44] Speaker C: Dan, I appreciate it again and great talk catching up with you. And I said once we get towards the end of spring trading, we'll talk more about the Red Sox.
[00:46:53] Speaker A: Ken, I look forward to it. Thank you again for thinking of me. You are, you are truly one of the greats. And I remember just real quick, my, my first ever blackout game at rpi. They moved us out of our normal booth to just in the middle of press row for, you know, whatever technical, technical reason. And so you had to deal with me screaming in your ear for three periods for that first RPI union game and you were fan freaking tastic about it. I would have been annoyed to holy hell by the end of it, but you would feed me a couple union notes. I'd turn around and use them on the broadcast and falsely claim them as my own. So I've always, I've always loved our the chance to catch up and talk hockey and I appreciate, appreciate you as a, as a colleague and everything you've done for me and I look forward to doing this again.
[00:47:36] Speaker C: I appreciate it. Help me, help me stay awake. And if I missed something, I knew what's going on.
[00:47:42] Speaker A: You might have been deaf and you're right here by the end of it. But what you stayed away.
[00:47:46] Speaker C: I'm sorry, I can't hear you, Dan. Appreciate it. Thanks again. We'll talk soon.
[00:47:53] Speaker A: Thanks, Ken. Sounds good. Go Pats.
[00:47:55] Speaker C: All right, that's Dan Ball. Coming up, we'll continue our Super Bowl 60 preview. I'll have sound from Tuesday's conference call for the NBC announcers Mike Tirico and Chris Collinsworth. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
Stay informed with the Daily Gazettes E Edition. Download our app, sign up to receive our newsletters and enjoy exclusive reader rewards when you join our growing community today. Head over to www.dailygazette.com to check out our membership plans. And remember, when credibility matters, trust the Daily Gazette.
Welcome back to the podcast as we continue our look at at Super Bowl 60 between the new England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday I had a chance to be on an NBC Sports conference call with Mike Tirico, the play by play announcer and Chris Collinsworth the analyst. This will be Tirico's first Super Bowl. He's also hosting the Winter Olympics primetime coverage. It's going to be a busy time for him. Collinsworth working his seventh super bowl, the fifth involving the Patriots. So we'll talk a little bit more about that in a moment.
So I broke down some of the interviews during the podcast and our first interview first question was about a Week 5 matchup on October 5, a Sunday night game against the Buffalo Bills and the Patriots in Orchard Park. The Bills were favored, but the Patriots pulled out a 2320 victory that changed the trajectory of both teams. Collinsworth and Tirico were asked about that game.
[00:49:41] Speaker B: I don't know if I went all the way they were going to make the super bowl on that night, but you knew something was different.
It really did. And I think that it was the first time that the thought crossed my mind that now the Bills know what it's like to play against Josh Allen because Drake May was out there making those plays, running around big throws down the field, making plays with his legs and they sort of had the equal. It wasn't, you know, I'm not going to put Drake completely in that category because Josh has done too much.
But so many times in this league it takes that special player to come into an organization and make those special plays. And the biggest moments to where you go, oh, this is really happening. You know, when Tom Brady led that first drive for the touchdown in his first super bowl late in that game, I don't know that any of us thought that that was going to be Tom Brady the goat, the greatest of all time.
But certainly Drake May has now shown us over the rest of that season that it was no fluke and that now there is an equal to the Buffalo Bills in that division.
[00:51:01] Speaker F: Thank you.
[00:51:01] Speaker B: Mike.
[00:51:02] Speaker F: You want to add anything?
Hey, Alan, Sure. I concur with everything what Chris said, what Chris just said. And when you think about the bills being 40 and they were the bully on the block in this division for the last half decade. So for New England, they had to go through that team to win the division and that was a huge part of it. And Stefan Diggs coming back and all the energy that was that last year at Highmark and it felt like up until that point the Bills were going to be the team and then that opened the door for doubt.
And I think that played out as we went through the rest of the season. So did I walk out of Orchard Park Sunday night, back down Milescript Road thinking, hey, the Patriots are gonna be the Super Bowl? No.
But did we say, hey, the Patriots might be a pretty good team? Yes. And here they are.
[00:51:53] Speaker C: This is the second Super bowl meeting between the two teams. They faced off in Super Bowl 49 and the Seahawks were on the Patriots one yard line and ready to score the game winning touchdown late in that game.
But instead of handing the ball off to Marshawn Lynch, Russell Wilson had his pass intercepted by Malcolm Butler at the goal line. And that sealed the Patriots 28, 24 victory. Collinsworth was on the call of that game for NBC and he was asked what he remembered about that play.
[00:52:21] Speaker B: You know, it was Marshawn lynch running it to the one.
It was goal line defense coming in for the Patriots and spread offense coming in for Seattle and were they really going to throw? And I think Belichick, was he going to call the timeout?
But when the interception actually happened, I didn't know what happened. I can tell you that now. I was watching the field, I started to watch the monitor so I could see it up close.
And I remember going, no, this is a piece of history. I want to see it with my own two eyes. And I didn't want to just watch it on the monitor.
And there was an explosion of bodies that all hit at the same time and the crowd went crazy.
My first thought was, I don't know who has the ball. And secondly was, I don't even know who those players are that just ran into each other. It was so chaotic. And then in a moment's time, Al screamed out, malcolm Butler, interception, whatever it was.
And I just sitting there going over and over again in my mind thinking, MARSHawn lynch had two tries from the one. If he didn't make it the first time, then so be it. But you're also going to take additional clock off, which is going to give Tom Brady less opportunity to make a play. I did consider the possibility of it being a pass, but I thought for sure it would have been a run pass option out of the pocket in some way. So the play shocked me in every way imaginable.
And then when it was intercepted, I just sat there literally. I've never timed it, but for 45 seconds thinking, what am I going to say about all that stuff that was going through my head?
And I said, just say what keeps repeating in your mind. And that was, I can't believe that call.
I don't know if I said it once, I don't know if I said it twice, I just don't remember.
But that was the one that I kept coming back to.
And then of course, I saw those guys at the combine, Pete Carroll and Darrell Bevel and all those guys at the combine a few weeks later. And so we talked it through. But by the end of the conversation, I still was I couldn't believe the call. So that's where it ended.
[00:54:54] Speaker C: As I mentioned earlier, February is going to be a busy month for Tirico and NBC. Besides calling the Super Bowl, Tirico will be the PrimeTime host of NBC's Winter Olympics coverage. The opening ceremony is Friday. Tirico was asked how he is at balancing both jobs.
[00:55:08] Speaker F: The advantage with the Olympics is being a part of it all year and all few years leading up to it.
Last March, doing the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston was part of let's build and be ready for what was ahead coming up this spring, this winter, I should say, with the combo of the Olympics and the Super Bowl.
For me, this is beyond comprehension to be able to have the trust of the folks who we work for and with to be able to do both of these events. But it does not happen without the absolute best team in all places. Let's not forget starting the NBA and our Sunday night basketball franchise last week.
We all are propped up on the shoulders of not just the most talented people, but the nicest people at NBC and they have everything ready to get you there, make sure you're prepared to be on the air, have all the research you could ask for, and all we get to do is get on TV and talk. This is not a hard job physically. We're not building buildings. We're not digging ditches. We're talking about sports. And we are treated very well along the way. And the opportunity is one that you budget your time, be prepared and go have fun doing it. And if I can't have fun and embrace and enjoy this month and this week specifically, then I should go find something else to do. And thankfully I'm I'm staying here for a little bit.
[00:56:34] Speaker C: So finally it was my turn to ask a couple of questions. My first one was to both Tirico and Collinsworth about former coach Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who guided the team to six super bowl titles, being snubbed in his first time eligible for the Pro Football hall of Fame, as well as Patriots owner Robert Kraft not getting in either.
[00:56:54] Speaker B: My I'm just going to give you, I don't know why I'm doing this. I'm giving you all my first thoughts that pop in my head.
And when I heard each one of those, yeah, here goes. Everybody's running for cover now.
My first thought was, why do we have a Hall of Fame? Honestly, if those two guys aren't in the hall of Fame off the bat, I mean, what else can you possibly do to. To earn a spot in the hall of Fame? And so I, at least during my time in the league, we've never seen anything like it, that combination. And of course you're throwing in Brady and Brable and a lot of McCourties along the way and some different people, but it's. It's a. I don't get it. Honestly, I. Sometimes I think you think long and you think wrong. And I think that's what's going on, Mike.
[00:57:48] Speaker F: And just. Yeah, just adding my 2 cents. I agree with Chris that these guys are hall of Famers. Sometimes if you're sitting there and doing those types of selections and ballots, there are other circumstances, like who's on the ballot for the last time, who needs to get in? How do you balance it? Am I going to take someone from the non player category? And you start to overthink it. And without being in the room, it's very hard to be critical of why did X number of people not turn in a ballot with those guys as hall of Famers. But clearly, if there are coaches in the hall of Fame and there are owners in the hall of Fame, those two guys need to be in the hall of Fame for it to be a legitimate hall of Fame. Period. End of thought. Will that get fixed here somewhere down the line? Probably. Does it change your life significantly if you're not a first ballot hall of Fame? I don't know. I'm not in any hall of Fame, so I can't answer that. We don't get whys with each ballot. We just get results and we don't even get the numbers. We just get here are the hall of Famers. So all we're doing is a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking to the results of the vote without ever getting the answers. So it's going to be hard to sit down at some point and say concretely, this is why it happened.
Appreciate the voters who have spoken up. They've led some very interesting thoughts into the conversation. But when you come back to 30,000ft, if you're going to have Canton, it's going to represent the history of the league. Those two guys have to be in there.
[00:59:14] Speaker C: Finally, Collinsworth is calling his sixth Super Bowl. I may have said seven earlier, but that's my fault. Sorry. Of course it's his fifth involving the Patriots. I asked him his top three Patriots super bowl moments that he has called and being a Philadelphia Eagles fan, I was pleased to hear one of his choices.
[00:59:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I've got to stop and think for a minute now. I think that the Seattle game that we did was number one.
I think the New York Giants game was number two. That was unbelievably dramatic there.
Yeah, the Philly special was pretty special too.
I mean, it's.
The Philly game was so stunning from what came out of Philadelphia, you know, to be able to pull that off with a backup quarterback and the whole thing. So probably number three. I mean, they're all been really good, right?
That my first game, my first super bowl ever was Jacksonville with Fox and Joe and Troy. So that's pretty special for me.
Yeah, it's been an amazing run.
It was funny that as New England started to make that run this year, you know what, they start off one and two, something like that. But they started to make that run and I remember thinking, there's just no way. There's no way this is going to be New England again the year that we're doing the Super Bowl.
And it just always seems to fall that way. So it's great. It's great. I mean, it's been a tremendous edition. It's the first where Belichick hasn't been a part of it. And I've. If you're a broadcaster, you've had ups and downs with Bill over the years. I've got to say that the Super Bowls that I called with him, they were always ups.
He was incredibly open and honest, forthright when he agreed, he'd say it. When he didn't agree, he'd say it.
And so now. But it's interesting. One of his guys is taking the reins and have him right back in the Super Bowl.
[01:01:35] Speaker C: Well, Chris, I'm a Philly native and I appreciate you mentioning the Philly special there, so thanks.
Coming up, the Gazette News Group staff makes their super bowl selections. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
[01:02:05] Speaker A: How can you measure the value of education based athletics?
[01:02:08] Speaker E: Well, the value is in what makes it invaluable.
[01:02:12] Speaker A: That's because school sports aren't just about winning.
[01:02:15] Speaker E: They're about learning and growing.
[01:02:18] Speaker A: School sports aren't just about gaining trophies and accolades. They're about learning life lessons, bringing a whole community together, developing character and integrity, having coaches who mentor you and teammates.
[01:02:30] Speaker C: Who become lifelong friends and you can't.
[01:02:33] Speaker A: Put a price on any of that. That's what makes education based athletics invaluable.
Of course, when you participate in school sports you want to win and become a better athlete, but the purpose is so much greater. Becoming a better person.
Support your local school sports programs and if you have a student, encourage them to get involved.
[01:02:55] Speaker C: This message presented by NSFA and the New York State Athletic Administrators Association.
[01:03:10] Speaker B: Foreign.
[01:03:19] Speaker C: Back to the podcast as we continue our look at Super Bowl 60 between the new England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. And one tradition we do every year at this time is get the picks and thoughts of the Gazette News Group staff. So I had a chance at the last couple days to record their picks and here they are.
Hi, this is Daily Gazette reporter Chad Arnold and my Super Bowl 60 prediction.
[01:03:45] Speaker A: Is the Seattle Seahawks.
[01:03:48] Speaker C: Because I always been a Sam Darnold fan and I think this is a good time for him to kind of get, you know, some retribution for some of the negative things that have been said about him over his NFL career.
[01:04:01] Speaker A: Particularly his time on the New York Jets.
[01:04:03] Speaker B: So I'm on the Seattle Seahawks.
[01:04:06] Speaker C: Sam Donald plus that defense.
[01:04:08] Speaker A: I'm all in.
[01:04:10] Speaker C: Hi, this is Daily Gazette paginator and bird columnist Colin Bullbrook. My Super Bowl XXI prediction is Seahawks by a million. Go Hawks.
Hi, this is Daily Gazettes coming tonight.
[01:04:23] Speaker E: Reporter Erica my Super Bowl 60 prediction.
[01:04:26] Speaker C: Is the Seattle.
[01:04:29] Speaker B: Hi, this is Daily.
[01:04:30] Speaker C: Gazette Deputy online editor Geno Dimonich. My Super Bowl 60 prediction is a.
[01:04:34] Speaker D: New England Patriots victory.
[01:04:39] Speaker C: Hi, this is Daley Gazette managing editor John McIntyre. My Super Bowl 60 prediction is the moon of Patriots and that's because I didn't have a choice because I grew up 25 miles north of Boston. There is no choice.
Hi, this is Daily Gazette reporter Ted Remsnider. My Super Bowl 60 prediction is Seahawks 24, Patriots 17 and I think it'll be a low scoring game and the defense will bring it home for Seattle.
Hi, this is Daily Gazette executive sports editor Will Springstead. My Super Bowl 60 prediction is Seahawks 24, Patriots 14.
It's only just Patriots beat them once. Now it's time for payback.
Hi, this is Daily Gazette sports writer Drew Wemple. My Super Bowl 60 prediction is the Seattle Seahawks. I think this is revenge for not handing it off the last time and can't see the Patriots win it again.
Well, my pick, I'm going with the Seahawks. They're going to get the revenge from A Super Bowl 49 what should have been a second straight Super bowl title for them. Instead, it started their downfall. Well, it's Seahawks 35, Patriots 17. I think the Seahawks defense is going to be too strong for the Patriots to overcome. So that's it. That's the super bowl preview here on the Parting Shots podcast. Let's go to break. We'll wrap things up. And as we head into break, we remember Chuck Negron, co founder of the singing group Three Dog Night, who passed away Monday at the age of 83. And this song started it all. Joy to the world Rest in peace.
[01:06:19] Speaker A: Chuck Jeremiah was a bullfrog was a good friend of mine I never understood a single word he said But I.
[01:06:31] Speaker C: Helped him a drink his wine.
[01:06:37] Speaker B: Wild.
[01:06:38] Speaker C: Singing Joy to the world all the.
[01:06:44] Speaker A: Boys and girls now Joy to the.
[01:06:47] Speaker C: Fishes in the deep blue sea Joy.
[01:06:51] Speaker B: To you and me.
[01:06:54] Speaker C: If I were.
[01:06:55] Speaker A: The king of the world Tell you what I do I throw away the cars and the make sweet love to you Sing out your world all the boys and girl Joy to the fishes Joy to you and me.
If you really want to know what's.
[01:07:36] Speaker C: 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 gonna 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 community where nobody else is covering. It's who we are. It's what we do.
Back to wrap up the podcast. Don't forget to make your selection in the Delly Gazettes. You pick em football contest for the big game on Sunday. Live up until 6:30 to make that selection between the Patriots and the Seahawks. Of course, you heard my pick earlier. The Seahawks are going to win Super Bowl 60.
Well, speaking of contests, the auto racing contest is back. Select five drivers each week and predict the order of finish. The fan with the most correct points for the race gets his or her name in the Daily Gazette on Saturday and if wins a $50 Hannaford gift card and you'll get your name mentioned here on the Parting Shots podcast.
Go to dailygazette.com and click on the auto racing contest banner. The site will be live on February 11th.
Just because COVID 19 mandates are easing, 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, don't forget to download the Daily Gazette app and sign up for our E Edition so you never miss a headline. Subscribe today at www.dailygazette.com. we have a lot of great specials going on. When credibility matters, Trust the Daily Gazettes.
That wraps up another edition of the Parting Shots podcast. I want to thank Brandon Burr, Parker Lindauer, Tyler Dunbar, Tony Macy, Stephanie Bork, Matty Leaney, Dan Ball, Mike Tirico, Chris Collinsworth and the Gazette staff for being a part of the show.
If you have questions or comments about the podcast, email them to me at Shot. That's S C H I.
Follow me on X Threads and Blue sky at Slap Shots.
The views expressed on the Parting Shots podcast are not necessarily those of the Gazette News Group. The Parting Shots podcast is a production of the Gazette News Group. I'm 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 and icy out.
