Babe Laufenberg on Cowboys Hope, Christian Parker’s D & the NFL’s CTE Reckoning | Just Wondering

On today's episode of just wondering with norm hitskas, we'll spend some time with cowboys radio analyst, babe loffenburg previewing the cowboys season that begins next week. And in the last part, two football stories, one about a game that's gone, and one sadly about players that are gone. And now a word from our title sponsor. Eying retirement? We aim to turn your nest egg into a paycheck with half the amount you've been led to believe. Fluent Financial combines in house portfolio design risk management with income generating investments designed to aid your financial independence. Our goal is to develop an effective portfolio strategy to help you retire sooner and have a better lifestyle. Fluent Financial can also implement a program that allows business owners to install a cash balance plan, which may potentially reduce income tax payments. You've worked hard to become successful. Let us help develop an effective portfolio strategy that works for you. Learn more today about Fluent Financial. Retire sooner, better lifestyle. For more information or to schedule a meeting, visit fluentfinancial.com or call (972) 852-4800. The lion's share of this week's just wondering. We spent chatting with Dallas cowboys radio network game analyst Babe Lofenberg. This year will be year number 30 in the booth next to stellar play by play man Brad Sham. After a college career where he left Indiana with a slew of single game and one year passing records, Babe was drafted by the Washington then Redskins that started a nine year journey through the NFL. Two of those years spent with the Dallas Cowboys, 1989 and 1990. That second year, he backed up some dude named Troy Aikman. He was the Channel eleven TV sports anchor and sports director for eighteen years and has been named the best sportscaster in Texas three times. Buddy, it's good to talk to you again. Norm, good to be here. Thank you. And, really excited about football starting up again as I think a lot of people, not only here, but around the country are. It was good to get some college football this weekend. Yeah. Even though TCU didn't show up. Yeah. Boy, that was a tough one. I watched that, entire game, and their offense just bogged down. Hard to tell the conditions. I mean, you know, it was raining over there in Ireland, but, yeah, offensively, they just did not look good after the first quarter. They they played pretty well the first quarter, and then North Carolina just shut them down. Babe, not wishing to sound like I'm sucking up to start an interview. Over the stretch of years listening to you, one word pops up in my mind, and that's honest. A lot of a lot of teams, network announcers can turn into homers because they want to please the organization they're they're working for. But you, good or bad, weigh in. And I wonder if you've ever had any blowback from players about some of the things you've said on broadcasts. I think one time, I won't name the name, but there is a receiver here. Well, I've got a couple, I guess. But let me just go up front, Norm. I know how hard that game is. Trust me. No one knows more than me, and no one knows how hard that quarterback position is more than me. So I I understand it's a really tough sport, and I never I never rip people. I don't go into hyperbole of, boy, that's the worst pass I've ever seen in my life or that's the worst tackle I've ever seen in my life. If you do say things like that, you haven't seen a lot of football. Right? So but I do I I I feel I have an obligation to the audience to be honest. And anything I say on the air, I'm always ready to back it up. Now I I may be wrong from time to time, but I'm I'm ready to go back it up, talk to the players. I'm always in the locker room. So if a if a player did have an issue with me, they they kinda know where to find me. I'll never forget, though. I won't I won't name the receiver. But, during the game, I he ran what you call a four pump, and the linebacker lit him up, and he got hurt. You know, just ribs kinda. I don't wanna say just ribs, but, it wasn't a season ending injury. And I I said, he's not even supposed to be in there. Linebacker never makes a play. He just he ran the route incorrectly. So Calvin Watkins, I was going into the to the locker room. This was a Valley Ranch, and Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News writer, beat writer, says to me, hey, babe. Just wanna let you know, Joe Blow is looking for you. He didn't like what you said. I said, oh, okay. So after Joe Blow finished his media scrum, I stood around. I wasn't gonna confront him, certainly, but I just stood there. So if he wanted to say something to me, you know, I was available, I was ready to just say, hey. That that that is on you. That's not the way you run that route, and he never said a word. Has the owner ever said anything to you? You know, a couple times, but I'll be honest. One of two things is happening. I don't wanna say he doesn't care what we say, but he gives us some freedom to to be honest about the team. And the other option is he never listens. He doesn't hear what we say. But, no, I've I've really never I swear to you, I've never had a directive. I I don't know. Brad may have had a directive, but I've never had a directive to make it sound better than it is. You know what? Let's face it. If I'm a cowboy fan and they're they're playing bad defense like they played last year, you gotta tell it. You gotta tell your audience. They're they're playing bad defense right now. Yep. Over the last three decades, which corresponds by the way with exactly when you brought you entered the booth. I I'm not sure you're not the jinx here, but anyway. Well, let me say, Norm. I was like the third guy in the booth for a number of years. So I was I was in the booth for all three Super Bowls in in the nineties. And so, you know, I guess I guess there are a lot of people over the course of thirty years who are probably responsible for this jinx. Well, the the guy that gets the lion's share of the blame is Jerry Jones. Does he deserve it? Well, I I I think when you're in charge of the organization and everything pretty much runs through you, it's it's gonna be a situation where you're gonna get the credit, you're gonna get the blame. Obviously, there hasn't been the credit to go around recently. You know? Nobody's talking about who was responsible for winning that Super Bowl. But, you know, obviously, he's the most visible owner, I will say, in all of sports. I was gonna say in the NFL, but in all of sports. And the amazing thing to me is how they've been able to market this team. And I say that as a positive. These other team, you know, New England, they they had the iPhone. Right? I'll never forget an interview with Steve Ballmer, one of the co founders of Microsoft, obviously owns the Clippers and multi multi multi billionaire. And he was doing an interview with Charlie Rose. Remember the old Charlie Rose show around the oak table? And anyway, Charlie Rose said, what what's the biggest mistake you had? And he pulled the phone out of his pocket because he was a Microsoft guy and he said, you know, we never saw this coming. So I I think this owner sees everything coming and the amaze business wise business wise. And the amazing thing is as you know well, all the things that the league suited for initially and said, you can't do this, you can't do that. Then they said, wait a minute. That's a pretty good idea. And he's made a lot of people in the NFL a lot of money. Do you do you get the feeling that Jerry well, everybody knows Jerry wants a Super Bowl that doesn't have some Jimmy fingerprints on it. But do you feel Jerry is starting to really feel the pressure of his own personal clock? He'll turn 84 in October. Yeah. You know, I I always say, Norm, I I can barely speak for myself eloquently. So for me to get in the shoes of someone else and say, hey. This is what they're feeling. It's the old thing. Right? You don't need to die to cover a funeral. But the problem is we try to tell people how the dead man feels. Right? I think he's feeling this right now. Oh, yeah. So I it's hard for me to answer for the cowboys owner. But, certainly, if if your goal is to get a Super Bowl, and he has stated he wants to have more Super Bowls than any other owner, and you're 84 years old, you better get working on it pretty quickly. Eventually, this the leadership of this team is gonna pass in the hands of some Steven. Can you give us a guess if you think the way they do business will change much if when Steven's at the helm? Oh, I'm sure it will. Just I I think if any if if they put you in charge, Norm, it would change. Right? If they put me in charge. People have talked about Troy Aikman. If Troy were in charge, things would change. I think that's just the nature of any business. You're gonna come in and wanna do things your way. I do say, obviously, financially financially, I don't know that I'd change anything because as we know, it's the most valuable franchise in sports. And and again, the amazing thing is now they have not been a bad football team. That's the misnomer. Right? They have they've been the number one seeded a couple years. 2007, they had a great team. They had home field advantage. Giants came in and beat them. Then the Giants went on to beat an undefeated New England team in the Super Bowl that same year. But, you know, the Green Bay game where Aaron Rodgers, third and 19, you know, completes a ball on the sideline to his tight end. You know, they're they're they've they've run into some bad luck as well. But, you know, this is not a New York Jets team or New York Giants team over the last ten years where, you know, you've just been inept in every department. And the amazing thing to me is, you know what, Norm? If you if, you know, if you live in Chicago, you gotta you got two baseball teams to root for. Right? If you live in New York, you've got two of everything. But I can be a Jets fan or I can be a Giants fan. And if you wanna be a front runner, you just go back and forth. But over the last ten years, those are the two losingest franchises in the NFL. So you really don't have a choice. You go into the same stadium to watch the same crap every week. We're we're gonna, in the second part of this interview, get into this season. Okay? But I wonder something. The last two years, this team hasn't been very good back to back seven win seasons, and the vibe around those teams actually didn't feel very good. Am I correct that the vibe around this team feels a lot differently? Oh, no question. And, you know, who who do you wanna give that credit to? You know? Is it Brian Schottenheimer starting from the top? Is it Christian Parker, the new new defensive coordinator coming in? I will say this, the talent level defensively, I mean, it's not even close to what they put out there last year. They're and quite honestly, I I thought it was a huge mistake at the start. You know, you're counting on Savone Rebel coming off a knee injury. You're counting on Trayvon Diggs, and we know a little bit about his mindset. Doron Bland had the foot injury. And and so your your secondary was I mean, was like, I don't know who they're gonna cover, and that was day one. It wasn't like you went into the season, and that happens to teams. Right? You go into the season, all of sudden, you'll you lose three or four starters. You know, going you knew going into that season, we're we're gonna be really deficient at corner. And then you trade, obviously, elite pass rusher in Micah Parsons a week before the season starts. So we you always talk defensively, right, about rush and cover. Rush and cover. They couldn't rush, and they couldn't cover, and that led to the worst defense in the NFL. We'll we'll get into the question of what is or is not this team this year and Babe's personal concerns about the club when just wondering continues. What do you want from your favorite restaurant? Fantastic personal service, a cheery, welcoming, spotless atmosphere, and of course, food. The primest of beef, Wagyu, and lamb. Incredibly fresh seafood, lobster, salmon, shrimp. Hall of Fame food from a Hall of Fame restaurant. Two locations of Bob's Steak and Chop House, the original Bob's on Lemon Avenue, and the gorgeous new Bob's at Craig Ranch McKinney. Do you bet on football? I'm Norm Hitskas, and I've been handicapping sports for the last five decades, and what an incredible last two years we've had picking games. For all of our college and pro football selections, plus the NCAA basketball tournament, we've posted a wonderful five twenty seven winners and four thirty four losers. After subtracting the juice, if you're a $200 a game player, that's a tidy profit of right at $10,000. And unlike those big betting services, we don't cost an arm and a leg. $200. That's it. $200 for the entire package of football and basketball picks. Email right to you every week. Sign up by clicking on the link below, and let's have another solid profitable year. This is Dave Loeffenberg, the Cowboys radio analyst for the last three decades plus. Okay. How far do you think this team can go? Well, I think they're they're capable capable of getting to the Super Bowl. Now I'll put maybe 10 teams into that category. You know, I haven't kinda sat down and drawn up a list, but and I look at this way too, Norm. Last year, the only team to repeat as a division champion was Philadelphia. Mhmm. The other seven divisions had new division champs. So we know how quickly things changed. The two teams in the Super Bowl did not make the playoffs the previous year. New England had been a four win team in each of the two previous seasons. So things can change so quickly in the NFL. And again, I we all know they're bringing back virtually everybody on offense. The offense should be pretty good. But I I always say, don't just take it for granted that you're pick up where you left off. Dak had a tremendous year last year. I I think he is a good quarterback, you know, bordering on a great quarterback. But quarterbacks, as we know, they have they have up and down seasons. Javonte Williams, he stayed healthy last year. Gotta keep him healthy. But again, defensively, you know, the I I think the whole mantra of this offseason and through training camp has been if the defense can just be average, the offense can carry him. Now that being said, you know, Seattle everybody talked about Seattle's defense. Right? And Seattle's defense, and they won it for him. And they allowed the fewest points in the NFL last year. But their offense was the third highest scoring offense in the NFL. And the other two teams that were there, the Rams and New England. So you could talk about defense wins championships, but New England and Seattle played in the Super Bowl last year. Seattle won the Super Bowl, and the Rams are the favorite to win it this year. You know, Christian Parker is a a brilliant young guy. Everybody around the league so respects him, but nobody on this team has played his system before. It's a completely new system to them, and I wonder if at least at the start of the season, we may not be expecting a little bit too much for the improvement of the cowboys defense. Well, I I I think you're a 100% accurate there because this is gonna take him time to assimilate into game action. And and even Christian Parker, you know, this will be the first time he's had to adjust. Right? And and I always I hate the halftime adjustments. I always say if you wait till halftime to make your adjustments, the game's over. So you're adjusting every series. You know, obviously, he's been around it. This isn't his first rodeo. But now he's the guy. Okay. How are we gonna handle it? Here's how we're gonna do. Guys, what you wanna do? Now you you talk to him. Anyone that's watched his interviews or watch been able been fortunate enough to watch him on the field in Oxnard going through training camp. Impressive. Impressive guy. Sharp. Seems to be all about it. The players seem to really have embraced him and what he's doing. And it's funny too, Norm. They talk about how young he is. He is 34, 34, 34. I don't in in today's NFL, I don't really look at that as too young. Is he young? Yes. But is he not capable of doing the job because he's 34? You know, Kellen Moore was a head coach last year at 36. Joe Brady is now the youngest head coach in the NFL. He's 36. Sean McVeigh, we all know how good he's been. He was 30 years old when he got hired as a head coach. So I I don't need I don't know that you need a 20 apprenticeship before you can be a defensive coordinator and a defensive play caller. So right now, you know, I I always say you can sell two things. Right? You can sell hope, and you can sell performance. They certainly couldn't sell performance based on last year defensively, but there's no question in my mind with the defensive upgrades that they've made in terms of personnel and Christian Parker, I think you can sell hope right now. I I personally have three areas of concern. I wonder what your major area of concern is for this team. Are you gonna give me your three, or you want mine first? Oh, no. I want yours. You you may have one way off road. You may teams or something. Well, let's let's let's start with, and this just goes for every team in the NFL, health. Right? You gotta keep your quarterback healthy, those types of things. But as far as just the area of concern, and it's not great concern, but it is of some concern, We all know the most important position on the field is quarterback. Right? Most important position. If you don't have a quarterback, you can't win. Well, the the next most important, I'll say, position group is pressuring the quarterback. So your quarterback's the most important guy. The guys who affect the quarterback are, to me, next in line. And those are your defensive those are your pass rushers on the outside. Rashawn Gary, we know what he is. I think he's gonna be solid. Malachi Lawrence, the second round draft excuse me. First round draft pick, twenty third pick in the draft. We we've seen where these pass rushers come in, and you're expecting great things out of them. And it just doesn't happen the first couple years. I remember Rod Maranelli saying Oh, bless you. Oh, go ahead. Like his Iraqu life. His Iraqu. He was gonna have double digits. I actually had two. So I always remember Rod Maranelli. I was talking to him one time, and I said, what do you tell these guys out there? And he said, Rod Maranelli, of course, great defensive line coach, many years in the NFL. And he said, first thing I tell him, you know the things that worked for you in college? They're not gonna work up here. So I always love when you get to training camp and the pads come on that first day and there's a pass rush drill norm. And here comes that you know, I don't care if he's a first rounder, but here comes that pass rusher lined up. And he's got the move, and he's got a spin, and the offensive tackle's like, seriously? And then poof. Just the arms come and the kid says, oh boy, this is gonna be different. That was number one on my my list to pass rush. No. Who is attached to pass rush? I'm a little concerned about cornerback. Doron Bland has been hurt the last couple of years, but when he's been well, he's been just pretty average. And Ravot, well, we throw out last year. He didn't seem ready to step in last year. I'm concerned about the depth of that position also. And if you're not getting a stout pass rush, your cornerbacks are under heavy pressure. Well, I I think they're a lot better there too. And I I think one thing they can do is throw numbers at at that position. And, you know, you talk about Jerome Blanton. Remember, he had the five five interception returns for touchdowns two years ago. The foot concerns me. That's a second operation on on your foot. And obviously, as a quarterback, you know, you gotta be able to run. So I'm I'm I'm knocking wood over here. You gotta hope that holds up. Sibone Revel, to your point, came in, I don't know, about week eight last year, had the ACL injury in college. And in my mind, when you're a rookie and you don't get that foundation of OTAs and mini camps and then training camp, it's just almost impossible to just assimilate into a NFL defense and be expected to go cover these wide receivers when you've had no foundation for, again, OTAs, mini camps, training camp. And that's where Savone Rebel was last year. The Cowboys made a trade to get a Steelers lineman named Broderick Jones, a tackle who could play left or right. It it's obvious they were very concerned about the backups and what they saw in Nate Thomas and and, Drew Shelton. Yeah. Does tackle worry you? Well, I'm gonna backtrack just a bit on that, and it sounds like I'm hedging my bet. An answer to your question, yes. Because Terrence Steele, I hate to use the word regress because Mhmm. You know, I don't know how you play more and yet regress, right? Usually, you know, the more you play, the better you're gonna get. And that offensive line possession position, excuse me. You you can be good for fifteen years. You can be great for fifteen years. It's not like a running back that gets beat up and Mhmm. You know, 3,000 carries into his career, he's kind of done. And he might be 28, 27. I think we saw a little bit of that obviously with Zeke Elliott. But Lane Johnson over there playing right tackle. Jason Peters at left tackle for San Francisco. I mean, these guys, 35, 36, 37, and still at the top of their game. So it just baffles me a little bit how Terrence Steele has regressed. I mean, was a solid right tackle, wouldn't you agree? Lately it's slip up solid. Yeah. And lately it's been I won't say a liability, but he just hasn't been as good. But I do laugh about the swing tackle position norm because people tell, hey, this guy, swing tackle, we need a swing tackle. Well, if you're not good enough to go over there and get that job at right tackle or left tackle, now you've got to work both positions. People I know, without getting into all the technicalities of it, you say, well, look, you're on the right side or the left side, just block the guy in front of you. But everything is different. Your hand placement is different. Your kick step is different. Your stance is different. And so again, the notion that, well, he's not gonna be a starter, but we'll make a swing tackle. I mean, that's a that's a difficult job. Yes. If let's put deck aside for a moment. Jake? On the question of injuries, other than deck, who is the player the cowboys can least afford to lose? That's a I hate to even think in those terms because we're we're already sidelining a guy. You know, I I shoot. Receiver? Either one of those guys, obviously, C. D. Lam or George Pickens, either one could be a number one. And and whether you want to call them 1A, 1B, some teams, they lose that number one guy. I'll give you a great example, Terry McLaurin. Mean, that's all Washington had at wide receiver. I mean, they had other good players, but there was no one that was going to step into Terry McLaurin's shoes and be that number one guy. Cowboys do have that ability. I think they're pretty deep at that receiver position, as a matter of fact. So you can sustain an injury there. Offensive line, never like to get a guy hurt. Williams, obviously, they paid him big money to be a dominating force in the middle of that defense. But I always say, defensive tackles, short of Aaron Donald, if he's playing inside, a guy like that, if they're a pass rusher from that defensive tackle position, defensive tackles really don't win and lose your games. I've never have you ever, on a Monday norm, said, you know who lost the game for the Cowboys? That defensive tackle. I'll bounce this back to you, babe. Okay. Tyler Smith. Tyler Smith would be a massive loss. I mean, they could put a good player at left guard. He's not a bad football player at all. No. Your line looks so your team looks so different if Tyler Smith isn't starting. Well and I was looking at it like this, Norm. Let's let's just say one to 10. We've got Tyler Smith as a nine. Okay? TJ Bass, let's just put him as a six. So we've dropped down three levels here, three numbers. You can afford to lose that guy, whoever that guy is, if the guy behind him is can come in and kind of do the job. Now let's say you left guard I'm going to put a left guard and this is this obviously isn't Tyler Smith. Let's say left guard is just a a six or a seven, but the guy replacing him is a two. That left guard is more valuable than the guy who's a nine because the drop off isn't as severe. Does that make any sense? Yep. It does. Okay. So that's why I always look at it. Can that position hold you hostage if we lose this guy? And to me, you plug TJ Bass in. Are you gonna be as good as you were? No. But will he hold you hostage? Are you gonna have to work around him as an offensive play caller or give him help on every play? You don't. You don't. Now the tackles, that could be a different story. Nate, the two tackles right now, Nate Thomas and Drew Shelton, just watching them through camp, watching them in the preseason games. They may be great down the road, but they are not ready to play NFL football. This this conference, this this NFC East, this used to be everybody, somebody different wanted every year, but the Eagles have taken control of this group the last few years. The Giants won back to back Super Bowls, and then you alluded to them earlier in the fourteen years since they won the back to back Super Bowls. They have one playoff win and seven coaches, but I wonder if the Giants aren't about to change. John Harbaugh, who took over their head coach, is a brilliant successful head coach. You're To your point, they are about to change. They went out and pay maybe I don't know if he's the highest paid coach, but he's right up near the top. And but he's gonna be worth the money. I I don't care what they paid him. He is gonna be worth the money. And I got a big chuckle. I don't if you saw social media or whatnot, Harbaugh's speech in front of the team, and everybody was kinda making fun of him. And what what the hell is that about? And I wanna say the guy's got an eighteen year track record. I'm really gonna look at his opening speech to the players and say, oh, well, he no. That's not the guy. And I'll go back. Remember, probably the two worst opening press conferences for head coaches that I can pretty much ever remember were Dan Campbell and Nick Sirianni. You know, Dan Campbell was biting off kneecaps and you're like, where the heck is this going? And Nick Sirianni was the same. Now, I'll grant them this. Remember, was COVID. So they were doing Zoom conference call with the media at that time when they announced them. So I think it's different if you're in that situation and you don't have faces to look at and people to respond to. But right now, I think anybody would take Dan Campbell as their head coach. And the Nick Seriani thing amazes me, Norm Howell. Okay, he's been there five years. They've made five playoff appearances. They've made one Super Bowl excuse me. They've made two Super Bowls, and they've won one Super Bowl. And they want him fired up there. Only order only George Siefer won more games in his first five years on the job than Nick Sirianni has. And Nick Sirianni is, like, on the hot seat. Explain that one to me. And by the way, they they put their starting quarterback on the same train out of town. Oh, are you are you talking about the Super Bowl MVP? That guy? That guy. Yeah. Okay. That guy. Yeah. No. It's hey. As we all know, Philly Philly is a tough down. It's not what have you done for me lately. It is what have you done for me on the last series? A couple of a couple of big questions to finish. When you're deeply into a game analysis on the air, is part of you still playing the game? That's a good question. I never think that I am, you know, playing the game, but I'm I'm still thinking like a quarterback. I'm still thinking what would I do here? How would I handle it? I mean, before the play starts. That's why, honestly, I love listening to Tom Brady. I know people want to take shots at him anyway. They want him to not be good. There is a segment of the population that wants him to not be good. But I love listening because you know, he will he's not an after the play guy saying, oh, well, they shouldn't have done that. He's saying, hey. Here's how you handle that. Here are your options. So I I try to present that kinda to the audience. But, yeah, as far as as as actually playing the game, it's funny. I I spoke to Chris Young earlier today, Rangers general manager. And I had to I had to I wanted to talk to him because I heard him do an interview just last week, and he talked about he goes down. They asked him where did he watch the game from? And he said, basically, sometimes I'm up in the box or the press box or wherever he is. But he said, I also like to go down to the field, down down low in the seats, because he said that reminds me how hard this game is. So when I heard that, I I had to talk to him because I will always preface my comments for the most part about the quarterback, right, interception, whatever it is. I always started out with saying, two easiest places to play quarterback from. 200 feet in the air where we get to sit and see everything, right, or your living room couch. Now when you're on your living room couch, how how did he miss that guy? You know, quarterback. How did he miss that guy? He's so well, if you're down there on the field, you got a guy six eight in front of you. Right? You don't you don't see everything. You're playing beat the clock. The play clock's counting down. You're trying to set protection. I mean, it's a whole different ballgame. I'll never forget Edward or Norm, obviously been covering the NFL for forty years. Right. Right. One year, ESPN had their layoffs, and I don't like to use the word firing. Right? But so I had been laid off, and he did the sideline reporting for, I believe, Westwood won, but he was a sideline reporter for Monday night football. He came to me one day. We're up at the star, and he said, I don't know how you guys ever complete a pass. Because once you get down there on the field and you realize, oh, this is a little this is a little different. You get a greater appreciation for it. So I love Chris Young. Here's a guy who obviously pitched, what, Sixteen, seventeen years in Major League Baseball. I mean, he's he's been around it all his life, and he did it. He played it. He's gotta go down and get down basically behind the plate to remind himself of how difficult the game is. So I love that honesty in that. Finally, we've talked so many times over the years. I've never asked you this question. You just mentioned baseball. You were also drafted by the San Francisco Giants. Have you ever, ever sat down late at night with a glass of iced tea and wondered if you should have taken that road? No. I I never have really. Now if people saw me play quarterback, some of them would say, hey, why didn't you go play baseball? No. And and and quite honestly, Norm, I went to Stanford my freshman year. Unfortunately, Bill Walsh went to the forty niners and next. John Elway came in. I transferred after my freshman year, but I started out playing baseball. I was playing baseball at Stanford as well for legendary baseball coach Mark Marcus, recently passed away. But one of my favorite coaches in any sport of all time. But yeah, at some point, I just said, you know, football is gonna be my thing. And and once I transferred, then it became a little more difficult. And when Bill Walsh I'll I'll tell you a little story about Bill Walsh quickly here. So when he signed me and and, again, I met with the baseball coach, the whole nine yards. He said if if it turns out that you're a better baseball player than football, although I will say, Norm, he said we we landed the best quarterback in the country, Bill Walsh. He said, if you become a better we'll pick up your scholarship. And, you know, baseball, you know, was a lot of halves and partials and things like that, as you know. So that told me a lot about Bill Walsh. Now it never came to that. I don't know if it ever came to that where I said, okay, coach, hey. I'm just gonna play baseball. If he would have said, yeah. We're not gonna do that. I know what I said. No. I think I think he would have stayed with that. But but I like but, you know, you know what's funny, Norm? I played football basketball baseball in high school, and I was a good basketball player. I have a letter from Bobby Knight sitting in my room. I think I framed it. Anyway, I think we're just coming off their undefeated season of 1976. Right? Now I'm getting a letter from Bob Knight saying, think about Indiana. Little did I know I would be there, but playing football for Lee Corso. But basketball was my favorite sport. I love basketball. And I was obviously decent at baseball, decent at football. And I was I was a good basketball player, but I'll be honest with you, Norma. I looked around, and I did not see a lot of six three white power forwards in the NBA. So I say, you know, that may that may not be my calling. By the way, there still aren't, babe. No. No. You know, we it's not a situation where you say, boy, if I had if I had just been 20 born twenty years later. Yeah. No. There still aren't. Hey. I appreciate the time. It's always good to catch up with you. I hope our our paths cross in person soon. Great to talk to you again, Norma. I appreciate it. Appreciate your time. Thank you for having me on. Stolen Water Media is making a move. After two plus years, it's time to change and keep up with our growth. You can continue to view all eight of our podcasts on our Patreon pages. But now you can get all episodes at www.stolenwatermedia.com. This is a developing story, but you can begin by watching and listening right now at www.stolenwatermedia.com. Continue to find all audio wherever you find your favorite podcasts, and some you may not have heard of, but I think will enjoy. Are you just wondering where your next spectacular vacation will be? Relax. Feel the sun on your body. Let your cares melt away at the all inclusive Cerenian Bay Resort in Southern Belize. It's literally built right on the sand. The ocean, your ocean, is just a few barefoot steps away. Laid back luxury, terrific food, a swim up bar, a spa, air conditioned gym, unimaginable service, fishing, snorkeling in gorgeous turquoise waters. Do you want relaxation or do you need adventure? You choose at Ceridian Bay. Mary and I have been there three times and this summer will be number four. Take a cozy bungalow for two or bring the whole family to villas that can accommodate up to 14. Sirenianbay.com, sirenian. The sand and the sea are just waiting for you to get here. Two football notes to finish. Last week, the NFL announced the end of the Pro Bowl. That's about twenty or twenty five years after the game actually died. They tried all sorts of things to keep it on life support, they changed the schedule, the format, they went to a skills competition, nothing worked. The truth is that all sports except baseball are really struggling with their star games. Take hockey for instance, the game degenerated into a total no defense games, and then they went to some skills competition, and this year another overhaul. They're calling it an international style format. There'll be five eleven man teams, one from Sweden, one from Finland, one from Canada, one from The United States, and one from the world, that's everybody who doesn't come from one of those four countries, and they'll play five minute games in a round robin schedule, Count me out. In the NBA, it used to be fun, then it descended into a total do not get hurt and do not play defense game. They keep trying to freshen it up, and these games are getting stale. At least in baseball, you've got what actually passes for a game, but the problem these days with these star games is players make huge money, the games don't mean as much, they're televised everywhere, they don't want to get hurt, and the games descend in nothing more than a moderate workout. The NFL at least deserves congratulations for admitting that the Pro Bowl's time has long passed. Now it's officially dead. The funeral should have been scheduled twenty five years ago. And finally, in recent episodes of Just Wondering, we've talked with former cowboy stars Tony Caseyus and Cliff Harris, and we've touched on CTE, that's chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It's a progressive brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head. It's found in boxers and soccer players, and it's all over the NFL. It took the league years and years and years to admit it, to address treating it, and to protecting against it. The early symptoms of memory loss, anger, depression. That leads to significant confusion, balance issues, and full dementia. Recently Cowboys guard John Nyland, a friend in the years I covered the team there, passed away and he had significant CTE. The effects of CTE can begin as early as a player in his 30s, and new research shows exactly how massive the CTE problem is. A medical journal published reports of a study that found, and this is a quote, at a minimum, this is a minimum, nearly a quarter of all former NFL players who died in the period of 2016 to 2021 had CTE, I'm gonna get this right, neuropathy at death, but this one is sadly much much much more. This piece of information. From 2008 to 2021 there were seventeen twelve former NFL players who passed away. Three thirty eight of them had their brains donated for study And that study found that of the three thirty eight brains studied, three fifteen had CTE to some level. That's ninety three point two percent. The players who passed away averaged 66 years old. These days the average American male lives to 78 years old and before they pass away, those players and their families often endured years and years of misery. Now the NFL has begun honest measures to try to protect players. They changed kickoff rules where a lot of concussions happen and they allow Guardian caps now to cover helmets and Well, concussion results of the league seem to be trending in the proper direction. It'll be decades before we even understand the impact of the current changes, because CTE can only be diagnosed and detected after death. My wife, Mary, is the co creator of Full Moon Healing Balm, and I guess I'm the reason this terrific cream was developed. A few years ago, I began getting these huge, ugly blood blotches just beneath the skin of my arms and hands. The condition's called senile purpura. And no, you don't have to be senile to experience this embarrassment. It happens as you age. And then to cover it up, we begin wearing long sleeves even when it's hot. It took two years working with a New Jersey lab to refine the all natural ingredients of full moon healing. Gently massage a very small amount into the skin, and within a day, the blotches begin to fade. See now, purpura usually takes weeks to disappear, but this balm cuts the timeline to about a week. And ordering's so easy. Just go to the website, fullmoonhealingco.com. Podcasters, the football season starts in just a couple of weeks. College football debuts right at the end of August. Do you bet college football games? I've been handicapping games for more than forty years now. And the last couple of years ever since my retirement from talk radio, I've been selling my picks. The price is ridiculously cheap. We ask $200 That's for the entire football season, college and pro, and the NCAA basketball tournament thrown in. How well have we done the last two years? Five twenty seven winners, four thirty four losers, if you're a $200 game player, after the juice is subtracted from losing plays, if you're a $200 player, that's right at a $10,000 profit. Dollars 200 the picks get emailed right to you every Friday, and several times during the basketball playoffs, obviously. How do you sign up? That's easy. Send an email to my stepson, Zach Danz, and he'll get right on it. The email is Zachary. Dans, DANZ@gmail.com. Zachary.dans@gmail.com. Let's go out and have another winning season. And now a word from our title sponsor. Today's episode has been brought to you by Fluent Financial, Retire Earlier, Live Better, and by Bob's Steak and Chophouse on Lemon in Dallas and in Craig Ranch in McKinney. Bob's, a Dallas tradition for more than thirty years. If you've enjoyed Just Wondering, please hit follow and a fresh new episode will land in your mailbox early every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. Should you know a sports fan who might like our work? Please share our contact information with that person. Thanks for listening to today's episode of Just Wondering. I'm Norm Hitschkes, and know that every day, I'll be just wondering about something. And I'm Mary Hitschkes, and I'll just be wondering too. This is a Stolen Water Media production.