Mavericks, Kyrie’s Redemption, and a Cowboys Mess | Chuck Cooperstein | Ep 268

Nobody would have thought that I would be the one. Rhyner, sports talk. Baseball.

Baseball. Baseball. Baseball.

Baseball. Oh, with the big mic. Oh, okay.

Alright. Yeah. Okay.

Now I get it. We got a lightning strike, boys. What happened over there, Grego?

We had a little lightning strike right outside the window. The Texas Rangers win the world series. Alright.

Alright. Here's a tip for all these Americano league teams. Don't...

What? You said tip. Yeah.

Tip. Okay. With a p.

I would keep jamming. The ticket the ticket colon, nothing but a big Gen X jerk off set. Is this a cool night or what?

I love somebody would hear that and go, bullshit. I'm back, bitches. No.

No. This can't be. Sorry, man.

This can't be. You're live everywhere too. I even have you up on TikTok today.

We're live, you mean? Yes. Right now live.

Really? Yes. I look in that camera.

People are gonna see me. I mean, people see you even if you don't look at it. Alright.

Live at five. It is YDC. Hello, one and all.

Was it you I used to know? Can you hear me call on this old ham radio? Well, we are back with you once again.

It is Your Dark Companion. I would be Mike Rhyner. Hey, sir.

I think You'll be down about it. No. No.

I'm not beating down about it. What episode is this? Two sixty eight.

This is episode number 268. What's the date? October nineties.

This is October 19. If you were keeping score 501. And it's 501.

We are glad you're with us. We are also very glad to have this man who is joining us once again for another round here on YDC. We are, operating in a very timely fashion, I must say, because he is about to go back to real work.

Real work. Real work. He is the man that I like to call the higher authority, Chuck Cooperstein.

Hello, Rhynes. Hello, Chuck. It is good to be here.

Well, it's good to have you here. You hear him doing basketball radio for the Dallas Basketball Mavericks, but that barely scratches the surface of what we know he can do. I've heard him do football before.

He is flawless. I would imagine that he can do hockey pretty well too. You ever do hockey?

I did seven minutes of hockey. The day that Neil Brotin's number was retired at Reunion Arena, it was a Saturday afternoon. And Razor was away, and I was sitting in with Ralph doing, color for him.

And, of course, at Reunion, there was no elevator to get to the top of the arena because it wasn't built with hockey in mind. Right. So they retire Neil's number before the game.

They do this before the game. And, of course, Fox is not... They're they're not wasting any time.

You get roll that carpet up. Right. You guys get out here, and let's and let's get this thing going.

And I knew this was going to happen. So I was prepared on some level. I was not prepared, however, for seven uninterrupted minutes of play by play.

There were no whistles. The puck drops, and they're just rolling lines over every forty five seconds, and it was insane. It was really fun.

It was really fun. And I I know I could do it if, if I was asked to do it, but I've never Oh, I have asked to do it. It was it was really fun.

It was a blast. And reunion obviously was just a great place to work, great place to watch games. So it was, it's something I'll never forget.

We have big history together, this man and me, because I first knew him when he came along working at KRLD. 1984. That...

Yeah. That would have been 1984 at that time. I was still at the zoo.

Nobody know... No... Nobody knew what to make of me.

I mean, not that they do now. I was gonna say that you caught yourself. That is where we first met.

And, you know, we knew each other in a rather casual sort of way. I must say I had not been around many people in my time with his, shall we say, northern sensibility. So I wasn't really, quite used to it, but, you know, be that as it may, he did his thing.

I did mine and never the twain shall meet until the twain did meet. Along the way, you took a job in Philadelphia. I did.

I believe, right? After eight years at KRLD. Yeah.

I was fired because in our business you haven't lived until you've been fired. A couple of times. Yeah.

Right? Battle scars. Battle scars.

So different management came in, different goals. We had lost the Cowboys to KVIL, and they were kind of moving away from sports as a flash point for them even though there was a lot of talent at that radio station Oh, yes. It was.

All levels. On all But the most talented aspect of that station was in sports, and they did not wanna take advantage of it. And they...

I wanted to do Sports Central, you know, because Brad had left, and they elected to go, in a much, much different direction than they did. And I was basically told, that you should probably try to find something else. And, and I did, and I found it basically two weeks later when I got called because the guy who told me you should try to find something else, actually had called the program director in Philadelphia, WIP, and said, hey, you should probably take a look at this guy.

And so I met with the now infamous Tom Bigby. Mhmm. And I was, what, 32 at the time.

Mhmm. Or 33 at the time. And I didn't, I just did not want to not work.

I was terrified to not work. And I didn't do my homework the way I should have done my homework. And so I I I took the job.

I mean, it's Philadelphia. It's a top five market. Great, great, great sports market.

And at that time, that was one of the really big sports stations. Well, was... Yeah.

I it was probably... I think it was the second sports station in the nation after WFAN New York had started. And I was close to New York, still had family in New York, a lot of friends in New York, two hours away from New York.

So if I was going to move, it was probably as good a place as any to move to. Unfortunately, he was very, very difficult to work for. And I'm being very charitable here to say that.

But the people I worked with were fantastic. I absolutely loved them. But he tried to change me, and I wasn't gonna change.

You know, I know I knew what I did well, and that's basically the person I am today. Okay? I don't think a whole lot has changed with me and my style and what, what I think is important in radio and, what that...

What it should sound like and and all the things that I wanted to do in radio. But, I was fortunate enough to get a call from Skip Bayless the morning of the first game of the National League Championship Series. And what year we're talking about here?

1993. Okay. In fact, it was 10/07/1993.

I just finished my show. I had gone home to get ready to go back into the city because I was covering the game for the station and for a whole bunch of other people. And they said, well, hey, we're we're starting a station in in Dallas.

Would you like to come back? And it took less than a second to say, of course, I'd love to come back. Well, let me get you online with the people who were involved.

And the people who were involved were Spence Kendrick, Jeff Dunbar, and Mike Rhyner. And and here and here we are on a conference call being being introduced to one another. And, you know, I was all in, and I was glad to hear that you guys were all in because I was I was ready to move back.

So We were definitely in. And, you know, I I I mean, I think I don't know if I've told this story to you, Rhynes, not, but, you know, the the best part of the whole... There were two parts of it in in that month leading up to when the ticket was finally announced.

And the first part was Halloween of ninety three when, the Cowboys were playing in Philadelphia. And I had invited Brad Sham and his wife to my house. It...

But first, before I did that, I went upstairs, and Craig Miller and and Greg Williams were there, and we had to celebrate. And we did. We we clinked we clinked glasses.

And so I took... Did that. I took care of that.

Went, picked up Brad and his wife and drove back... Drove them back to my house. Now, again, we had agreed that I was coming back.

I put a for sale sign in the ground and I was going to just put that for sale sign on the on the side of the... I had to put it on the side of the house. I was gonna put it the garage originally, but I was put it...

Had to put it on the side of house because it was pouring outside. It was pouring, so we were gonna have to go in through the garage. The last thing I needed this...

For them to see was a for sale sign. And so we're... You know, we have dinner.

It's a great dinner, and Brad's, know, how's Philly treating you? Oh, it's just great. You know?

Everything everything is hunky dory, beautiful, and I'm doing a lot of work. You know? The eagles are fun to cover.

They're interesting. The fans are great. You know, the whole bit.

And that that part of it absolutely was true. And all this time, you knew you were coming back. I knew I was coming back.

And and here's something else that's very important to this story. When we first got the ticket together, when we had all the guys in place and everything like that, One day, I got them all in the same room, and I threw down an edict. Don't tell anybody about this.

Nobody knows. Tell tell your wife. Tell anybody you think you absolutely have to tell, but don't tell anybody else.

It's the greatest secret ever kept in the history of media. It is. It really is.

So I mean, you're... We're talking about a world where people talk. Yeah.

You know? Exactly. Yes.

Not not just texting and whatever. We're actually seeing people together. Yes.

So, so we have dinner. It's great. We're having fun, whatever.

And, and three days later, or four days later, is when Barry Horn wrote the story that the ticket was born. Yeah. Grant calls me and just says, blankety blankety blank.

He's like, really? You did that? So that part of it was great.

And in the process of the ticket starting up and me knowing that I was leaving, I had I had started to very slowly move stuff off my desk. And one day, Big B, who, you know, carried about three fifty with him, you know, down the down... He's bounding down the hall, he's looks at my desk and says, hey, this is...

You going anywhere? He says, as a matter of fact, I am. And so I I...

So I told him and he says, you know, they'll never make it. You know, he he fashioned himself as someone who knew Dallas radio and, he he was from Louisiana, had put... You know, knew people in the in the in the Texas market, in the Dallas market.

He said he's Did he ever work here himself? He did. He did.

He he was at one zero five three. Oh, really? He was, you know, it it wasn't live.

It was... He he was at the fan, the earliest stages of the fan, and, he did what he always did, just made life absolutely miserable for everybody who worked for him. You know, you're you're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but, I mean, really, it's...

He he did... He was a... He was the living embodiment of the horrible boss.

I mean, he he he truly was. So... Yeah.

But he he came here, and you know, he'd had success in Philly, had success in Detroit. And, what... Not not...

It was before Odyssey. What... It was Infinity.

Yeah. In in... So Infinity moved him to Dallas to try to, you know, go up against the ticket ultimately, and he failed spectacularly.

I mean, he... He's he's doing whirlybirds on the way into the ground and and and and exploding. And So yeah, he was here.

But anyway, so I got... I told him, yeah, I'm leaving in just six months in no way at the most. You'll regret this for the rest of your life.

I said, well, I love Dallas. I love the people in Dallas. I know the people I'm working for, and I I wanna give it a go.

And gave it a go. And you gave it a go? You did.

It's the best thing that ever happened to me. Certainly to that point, the best thing that ever happened. To that point anyway.

Well, you're getting ready to go back to work here. I am, and I'm ready, Mike. Man, it sucks to miss the playoffs.

Okay? You know, it's it's really hard in the NBA to miss the playoffs. I mean, there are 30 teams and 20 teams at least get get to play a week more, you know, with the play in.

And when you're not in it... I mean, even if you get to the first round and you lose in four games or five games, the way it's stretched out, you know, you've burned a couple of weeks. I love to play golf.

Okay? I really love to play golf. I cannot play it as much over six months and especially this past summer with it being as hot as it was.

So I'm ready. And and and generally speaking, I'm always ready when the schedule comes out in August. But, man, given everything that we've we've done, you know, in the office completely changing things out, you know, from Mike Schmidt, Stusty May, you know, Kyrie coming back, you know, drafting Morris Johnson and, you know, Deleria and, you know, some of the trades that were made in the summertime.

I really just want to see what it looks like, and I really want to see NBA basketball again. It's it's time for it to be. And and really, this is the best time of the year, on the sports calendar.

Oh, no doubt. There's just... Nobody has enough TVs in their house.

Now, you know, if you have YouTube TV and you've got the quad box, it's still not enough. Right? I mean, Saturday night was just among the most insane nights Yeah.

Ever. Right? This time of year, you got the NBA cranking up.

You got hockey already underway. You've got the NFL in full stride. College football.

College football is is happening. It's in full stride too. And the baseball playoffs.

And the baseball playoffs. It's it's crazy. So I'm I'm ready to join the party and have, you know, occasionally, people check-in on us and see what we're up to.

Well, let's talk about, what we're up to and what you think of what's going on here a little bit because, man, this has been a real, real period of transition for this thing. It's been a wild seventeen months, you know, eighteen months. What?

February of, 02/01/2025. Mean, I that's... That'll be indelibly imprinted Oh, yeah.

In every Dallas sports fan's head forever. As... Well, was it the day the music died?

I don't know. But it was it was certainly end of a phase. That's that's for sure.

You know? And then Kyrie gets hurt a month later. You know, Anthony Davis had already been hurt, and it was just, it was a very challenging time to say the least, and and professionally a challenging time because they had just gone to the finals.

They had put everything in place Yeah. To seemingly go back, and then they, you know, they just put the grenade in themselves, you know, and just pretty much ended it. But, there there has been a lot of work to do both off the court, you know, in the front office, you know, with Rick Weltz coming in, basically lured out of retirement.

He was having a very nice retirement from Golden State, and Patrick Demont was able to lure him back, bringing in Ethan Cassin from Minnesota. There's a lot of stuff going on the business side of the operation, obviously, with the arena and wherever it's going to wind up. At least for now, it's at Valley View.

I don't know that it will wind up at Valley View, but we'll see. You know, they... They've got some things they gotta figure out.

And they dominoes to fall. Right. They they they know that.

But on the basketball side, you know, bringing in a guy like who who has won. I mean, he... And he knows exactly what he wants.

He knows what his team is supposed to look like, what his team, you know, which is different from maybe what somebody else wants. But, I mean, you look at our roster, we're incredibly long. I mean, we're incredibly big.

We have no little guys. Some would say maybe we need a couple of other little guys on our team to kinda balance things out. But, you know, again, we'll see how all that works.

You know, Mike Schmidt came in from Portland as from his assistant general manager's role to take on, you know, pretty much the everyday operational, part of the team. And, you know, he and have known each other for years. And, I mean, you look at how we drafted, and you see we, we draft a kid from Spain, you know, late in the first round or work a trade to be able to take him on Mhmm.

In Sergio De La Reya, who's been terrific in the preseason and I think, really has an extraordinarily bright future. And then they took a flyer and a kid from Russia, you know, late in the first round, a kid, Seva Yushchenko, who in the summer league looked like he really knew what he was doing, but we knew there was no room for the at the end for him. So he's back overseas playing this year to get a little more experience, get bigger.

And, I expect him to be a a big part of this, you know, next year. We're we're taught... And we're young.

I mean, we have... Dwight Powell was released today. So Kyrie is the only player remaining who is over 30.

Yeah. You've got Gafford and PJ Washington who are, I believe 29, gonna be 29, and everybody else is younger than that. Yeah.

So they're very young. They're very athletic, I think. They wanna play fast and in a in a really entertaining fashion.

And fortunately, we have two players that everybody wants to see. And Cooper Flag is certainly a tremendous story, and, you know, I think we're all hoping that, you know, we saw what happened the last time the Mavericks had the rookie of the year and what happened in the second year. And they became more than just a little bit fun.

They became really, really interesting. Yeah. And if, you know, if Cooper is...

If he makes that kind of jump, then given everything that he does... Because he he probably, you know, he defends a little bit better. He he cuts a little bit better.

He's different than Luca. Clearly different than Luca. And the greatest part about all this is that, you know, certainly in my case, you know, this is twenty two years for me with the Mavericks.

You know, I had Dirk for the last fourteen. I had Luca for six and a half, and now I've got this kid. I've always had that guy.

Yeah. You know, there are guys who've been doing this a whole lot longer than I have who've never had that guy. And I just I just can't wait to see where that improvement comes...

How it manifests itself. Right? Just how does he grow up?

And remember, he's not 20 until December 21. It's it's just preposterous how good he is at such a young age. The only the only qualm I have about him, and I'll...

Don't get me wrong. Yeah. I love the guy.

You're allowed to have qualms? Everybody can have qualms? Okay.

I only have one, and that is he really seemed to need a shot last year. Will he develop a shot? I think ultimately he will.

And I think the fact that Kyrie Irving is back after nineteen months away is gonna be able to create space for him to have, more room to shoot the three pointer. And he shot it better really in in the last six weeks of the season. He did shoot it a lot better, and that's pretty much what he spent the summer working on because he knows that shooting 29 and a half percent from three is unacceptable.

You know, he's gonna be taking six or seven of them a game. That's the really cool thing about him. He seems to know what he doesn't know.

Exactly. And he seems to be very, very eager and very willing to work on that. He is the guy...

He is that guy that you tell him something once, and that's the last time you'll ever tell him that. And he'll... Will do whatever it is he has to do to, honor what you have told him.

And so, I I just can't wait to see what it looks like. And, you know, Kyrie is a wizard with a ball. He's just incredibly entertaining.

And and and we and we need... And frankly, we needed that, because we we needed entertainment. We didn't have much entertainment last year.

It was it was it was a slog for a lot of the year. Frankly, it's been a slog in many ways since 02/01/2025. But we...

But Kyrie makes it he makes it fun, and he looks fantastic. He looks like the player he was prior to his injury. And if he's doing his thing and Cooper's doing his thing, that sets the table for a bunch of role players who look like they should be able to play off of these guys.

They just need to be consistent. And, you know, where does that consistency come from? I think Dusty May, we haven't even mentioned yet.

I mean, he's We'll get into him. We'll get into him, but he's, you know, he's looking for answers. And he is...

As he said, I don't know what our starting lineup is. And our starting lineup could be different game to game depending on the particular matchup. I don't know that I'm a particular fan of that, but I I understand on some level what what he's trying to get accomplished, and, hopefully, it won't take him long Yeah.

To see how everything has shaken out so that he knows his his top nine or 10 guys. He he wants to play super fast. And now the Mavericks, they were a top five team in the NBA last year in in fast break points and, and pace.

And so I don't know how much faster they can play, but I think they're going to try to do that. And if you're going to do that, that means you need depth, and you need to be able to play ten and and eleven guys. But there's only two hundred and forty minutes, You know?

And and Cooper's gonna play 32 or 33. Mhmm. And Kyrie's gonna play 30 to 32 in all likelihood.

So already, you're you're... You've got sixty two, sixty four minutes taken care of. You know, where are the other minutes coming from?

And Yeah. And that is his job to be able to figure all of that out. Alright.

I wanna get into him in just a second. But before we do that, what's your take on Kyrie? Kyrie comes here with a little bit of a He had bag...

He had baggage. Checkered past. Yeah.

But I was already to not like him. I was already to build up a case and want him out of here. And the guy has just shut me down on that something fierce.

I mean, he has been the voice of the... Of reason a lot of the time. He has been, really, in what has been a completely chaotic situation.

Yeah. Right? It's...

I will say that I and I'm pretty sure I was in the minority on this, is that I always thought that Kyrie coming here would work. Because number one, the now deposed general manager, and he went back a long way to his time at Nike before he wound up having to leave Nike. And he grew up in Northern New Jersey worshiping Jason Kidd.

So there was no way that he was going to allow them to fail on his watch. Yeah. Right?

Right. He he he was gonna do everything he could to make sure that they look good, as good as they could possibly look. And, hey, he got them to the finals.

You know, he and Luca together got them to the finals. And the and the other reason that I thought it would work was that this was the first time in his career where he was not in the NBA Fishbowl. He was in Cleveland.

He was playing with LeBron. Mhmm. He's in Boston.

The Celtics are the Celtics. They're they're always gonna have attention. He goes to the Nets, and, yeah, the Nets are...

You know, they're the absolute redheaded stepchild to the Knicks, but you're still in New York. Yep. You still can get on the back page in the New York Post and New York Daily News.

I mean, they are gonna pay attention to you. You come to Dallas, and for the most part, even though, you know, our fans are great and they love us or whatever, you you can walk around pretty much on your own. I mean, no.

That that type of behavior is left for the Cowboys. Yeah. That...

That's like coming to the Basketball Wild Wild West. Right? Yeah.

So he, you know, he could pretty much go and do his thing and, you know, not be hounded and, you know, let's face it. Our media is not the same as it is in those towns. No.

It's not. So he could really just sort of fit in, and he did. And it's amazing how how the fans have taken to him here in a way that I don't think he ever had wherever he had been previously.

Now it was close in Boston because he said, I wanna wanna spend the rest of my career here, and then things all went sideways. And then then he was gone. Yeah.

But here, it's just been a a beautiful partnership. Yeah. It really has.

It it really has. And and I think now, you know, he he wants to get back and show that he's still Kyrie, that he still has it. What what makes Kyrie Kyrie?

And I think we're gonna see that. And I think we we saw glimpses of it in the two games that he played in the preseason against the Rockets and against the Hawks. So I hope we are.

Partly because of what it'll mean for the team Mhmm. But also partly because I want good things to happen for him. Yeah.

You know? Absolutely. Absolutely.

So, you know... And he's in an interesting position too because let's face it, you know, if he's good, but the Mavericks record isn't great, given that the Mavericks do not have control of their own pick from this year and the following three years after that, he becomes very, very interesting to a lot of teams that could use someone of his Mhmm. And the Mavericks could be...

Really begin the process of, you know, re... Restocking what they lost in trying to build a championship level team, which ironically enough, they did on... Until they didn't.

Yeah. Right? So it...

That's... It's gonna be something... And let's face it on on the national level.

That's all they're talking about. It's like, how the Mavericks keep Kyrie here? They have to trade him to rebuild everything, accelerate the process, because the future is Cooper Flag.

And they are going to be building around him, and rightfully so. But just... Hey.

What if he's great, Cooper's great, the role players fit in, and the Mavericks are... You know, they're in there kicking, you know, trying to get a a playoff spot, and not just a play in spot Yeah. But a playoff spot.

You know, what does that look like for and Mike Schmitz when you get to the trade deadline in February? Right? I mean, so there's a lot to look at here.

Gives them options. Yeah. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And it's all about options. It is all about options, buddy.

It really... So what do you think about Dusty May? I mean, this was rather out of the blue for me anyway.

It's out of the blue for pretty much everybody. You know, John Shire's name is the one that had been brought up the most, the head coach at Duke Yeah. Because of the relationship with Cooper among other things.

But he wanted to stay at Duke. He had not ultimately achieved what he became the head coach for to where he moved the 18 inches, from assistant to to the big man when Mike retired. And Dusty May was in a great spot because he just won.

Yeah. He just accomplished what you are supposed championship. And he and he and he did it in two years at Michigan.

And given where we are in in college basketball right now, college sports in general, I think he looked at it and said, you know, I'm I'm probably gonna have a really good team at, at Michigan next year. But when would I really have the chance to coach someone like Cooper Flagg who really still should be in college? Right?

He... That theoretic, he could coach him for for the next ten years. You you don't you don't get that.

Even with your best players in college, even if they even if they wanted to be Tim Duncan, right, and just stay there forever and ever and ever, you don't get that type of opportunity. And so I was surprised, but I I think when you look at it now and you see that college basketball, the rules are different. The game's different.

It's a it's a forty minute game. It got a narrower lane, shorter three point line, you know, fewer timeouts, so all all that kind of stuff. But the relationship aspect of coaching is really the same.

You have to be able to connect with your players and get them to do what you want them to do. And let's face it, the league is getting younger, it's not getting older. So not do it now?

And so I I think he he thought it through and and ultimately, maybe more than anything else, the the story that he told, he wins the championship last year. They beat Connecticut, and they had killed everybody in that tournament until the final in Connecticut. That game was kinda like being in the dentist chair with no Novocaine.

Right? That was that was... It was no fun, but but they won.

But he realized that, he had won. He had done his media. He had celebrated a little bit in the locker room with his players, and then he knew he had to get on the phone basically an hour later and recruit.

What's the joy in that? There is there is no joy in that. He Democles hanging over your head.

Right. So he he loves to coach. He...

And, you know, not just basketball, but he's a he's a really good basketball coach. And I think we've seen already just some of the some of the stuff that he wants to run that if it's run correctly, they're... The mavericks could be a really good offensive team.

Really good. But you just to be able to coach kids up, and he's got a really young team. So he's got that, but he's got the time to do that now Yeah.

That he would never have in in college. No. I haven't been around him at all.

I've just seen him on TV a couple times, and I I may be way out of line with this. But you hear that in coaching these days, it's turned into a, hey, let me coach you. I can make you better rather than I'm gonna coach you.

You know? Yeah. And it seems like he's kind of an embodiment of that.

He's he's big into player development. Yeah. Very, very much so.

And you look at his Florida Atlantic team that he took to the final four very unexpectedly as an eight seed. That team was guard dominated. They played fast.

They took a lot of threes, got the ball up and down the floor. You look at his team last year, and they were just gigantic. I mean, they they were they were just, you know, brontosauruses out there.

I mean, they're all just huge and big and physical. Not a great not a great shooting team, but they could just overwhelm you. And you watched how they played in the tournament.

They... You know, they... Teams like Tennessee and Arizona, really good teams, really physical teams.

I mean, it was like Tyson in his prime. I mean, those those games were done in, like, four minutes. Seriously, it's like...

It was incredible what they did. He... They're not gonna have that luxury in the NBA this year, but I think he he knows...

He can coach to his personnel. Yeah. Whatever he needs to do in order to give them the best chance to win, I think he will do.

Not a my way or the highway guy? I don't think that guy really exists in the NBA very much anymore. Maybe Eric Spolstra, maybe.

But I think, again, you see what he's done through the years. He might have been that way earlier in his career, but I just don't think that's the way now because I think it it is about player development, and it is trying... I want to make you as good as you can be Yeah.

So that you can, number one, win, and number two, make the money that you hope that you're going to be able to make in this game, this very short period of time that you have. This is the higher authority, and you are hearing exactly why he is known as that. He is the great Chuck Cooperstein.

That's the And what? That's the wrong one for deadly. So just Oh, it is?

Yeah. So just swing it and go onto it. It's a wrong one?

Yeah. That's the one. Little snake.

Alright. Okay. We'll be back with Chuck in just a little bit.

If you need to wind down just a a tad, go ahead there. Because right now, it is time for the dreaded and feared mid show read. And when we get the right spot up there, I will tell you.

I I got a feeling we're gonna be talking about Dudley's here. Talk about Dudley's. Well, Dudley's is a place that, we do a lot of stuff at here on Little YDC.

And there... There's a reason for that. Number one, they will have us.

Number two, they're a very cool place. It's up on Henderson, just a little bit to the Southeast of Central Expressway. If you like food units, they got them there, and they are quite tasty.

Do you like beverages? Of course, you do. They got those too.

Do you like watching sports on TV? Well, if you do, Dudley's is the place for it. It's an excellent place for it.

In fact, they got TVs out the wazoo up there. If there is a game going on, they will find it, and you can sit, eat, drink, and watch it there. They're at 2729 Henderson in Dallas where, Wednesday, October 7 No.

It doesn't say that twice. We're we're we're we're past that, Mike. Oh, we are?

Alright. Well, screw me then. Hell, I don't know.

Me down. I don't know this stuff. No.

Keep going. Okay. Trying to find the right right spot.

Right? Yeah. Is that it?

Yeah. Okay. Alright.

That's Dudley's. Check out Dudley's, but also check out this. Every Tuesday at 05:30, you can join the Sunset Lounge at Scout And The Stadler for three wide.

Be one of the first five people to give the bartender the password. The password is football. Say that to the bartender.

You will get a free drink or free valet service. Your call on that. Stick around afterward for Ziggy with beer thirty sports o'clock.

Half price valet is available for everyone every Tuesday, 05:30 at Scout at the Stadler. Let the adventure begin, and come check us out at 3 Wide up there. That will be, tomorrow?

It's gonna be tomorrow. That will be tomorrow. Pretty sure you're on tour.

Am I on it tomorrow? Not... I don't think so.

I'm not? Okay. Well, they might as well cancel it then.

It. I know. Don't know.

I don't know if I'm on it. I don't know who's on it. Somebody will be.

It's you, Mac, and Ziggy. Oh, there you go. Me, Mac, and Ziggy.

Me, Mac, and Ziggy? Yeah. Alright.

The great Mac Engel of the Fort Worth star telegram joins us tomorrow. Alright. Can we take a wider look at the NBA?

We can. That was a... By the way, that was just an excellent transition in the spots.

Thank you. Thank you. I'm known for that.

Yes, we can take a wider look at the NBA. All right. Who's good at the NBA this year?

I know that's a very far reaching question, but now more than it used to, it seems to change a bit. Well There's there seems to be more surprises. Well, I don't think there'll be too many surprises in the West.

No. Because I think Oklahoma City and San Antonio are that much better than everybody else. And and, you know, look.

I I like Oklahoma City to to to win the whole thing this year. But if you told me you'd like San Antonio, I'm not gonna bite your head off. I mean, it's...

I mean, they they played seven incredible games last May, and I would expect nothing other than playing seven incredible games next May. There's not a lot of difference between them. I mean, if I'm in the NBA right now, and when I say in the NBA, I mean, like in the office of the NBA, I'm just looking at this and thinking, man, what have we done here?

What do we have? Because these teams are young. Yep.

You know? These are young players who are gonna be around for who knows how many years. Well, when you look at a team like Oklahoma City, so, you know, they they have financial issues and they just signed Case and Wallace of of Richardson.

It's a long term deal Yep. Earlier, I guess, last night. The deadline was today for rookie extensions, and so he got his.

You know, you've got Holmgren with with his money, Shay with his money, Jalen Williams out of Santa Clara with his money as an all NBA player. At some point, you know, there are some really difficult decisions that they have to make. So they got rid of Isaiah Joe.

They got rid of Lou Dort. Mhmm. Got rid of Aaron Wiggins.

Mhmm. But what do they do? They draft two guys in a who played with, and for Dusty May at Michigan, but played with Yaxa Leonardborg and, and Morris Johnson who was the Mavericks top pick.

You know, nine... Three of the first 12 picks in the draft won... Helped win the national championship last year.

But so they take him and they take the guard's mile with Bennett Stertz, and these guys look like, you know, just... It's total plug and play. And they just get out there and they go.

There's just no no drop off for them. And and we know that San Antonio is gonna get better because we know, that they're gonna play Dylan Harper more. Maybe play De'Aaron Fox a little bit less, play a little bit bigger, but still be incredibly young and incredibly athletic and all over the place.

And incredibly wimpy too. Yes. And incredibly wimpy.

There's no need to even mention him because we know that he's there. Okay? He's there.

He ain't going anywhere. But if you look at the West, you got those two, and then you still had Denver, Minnesota, Houston, and the Lakers. I mean, in some order, that's really your that's really your top six teams.

And then and then the fight comes for seven and eight. Mhmm. And hopefully that, you know, if you can get there, you have home court advantage for the, for the play in.

But it's... The the West is pretty settled. The East, I think, is a little more interesting this year.

Obviously, you know, with the Philadelphia getting LeBron. Can I just ask one thing about the West? Yes.

Do you see anybody rising up from down below that can crack the code of those teams you just mentioned? Of Work their way into it? Into into the play...

Into the top six? Yeah. You know, like like Phoenix had a really good year last year.

What they did was beat bad teams and couldn't beat good ones. You know, they've they've gotta find a way to to beat some some good teams. I mean, I I think the Mavericks really are, like, a year away from that.

I think they they... I think they can get into the play in. I do think they...

I think it'll be very difficult for them to get to six. And especially just even look at the Maverick schedule to start the year. You know, they're in Houston.

They're at Indiana in Tyrese Halliburton's return to play. Mhmm. You know, it's just gonna be a wild scene there, on Friday night.

Then they come home the next night, and they have to play San Antonio on the second of a back to back. They go to Miami to play Giannis. They come home and play Oklahoma City.

And then they play Houston in the first of four NBA Cup preliminary games. I mean, that's six That's a murderer's row. That is a murderer's row for a young team trying to figure things out.

If somehow they go, they win a couple of games, that would... That'd be a great sign. It'd be a great sign for them because then the schedule lessens significantly after that.

Yeah. And then at, you know, at the end of the season, they're playing the majority of their games on the road. I think 10 of their last 15 are on the road.

I I I don't think the schedule really works in their favor. And obviously, they've got to stay healthy. They've just not been healthy the last two years at all.

You know, too many important players have missed too much time. If they can stay healthy, may... Maybe they can fight their way in.

I think Memphis is kind of interesting. You know, they're they're young. And like so many teams in the NBA last year, they they really weren't trying to win.

Mhmm. But I I think they're... I think Cameron Boozer is really gonna be good.

He's he's... He just knows how to play. And his teams his teams have always won wherever he has played, whether it's in high school, in Miami, whether it's, you know, in college at Duke going to the final four, you know, he's he's won.

And I would fully expect him to be able to, you know, get them back up and running. So I... They they interest me a little bit too.

What about over in the East? You know, every... Everybody is waiting to see what Philadelphia looks like Yeah.

With with LeBron and with, Jalen Brown and that trade, which I'm still trying to figure how they managed to swing that trade. You know, having that backcourt, that great young backcourt of Maxey and, and Vijay Edgecombe and and Embiid. I mean, your first five is is fantastic.

Their their depth isn't all that bad. You know, they got Anthony Simons, you know, used to be in Portland, was in Boston and Chicago, splitting the year last year. You know, Dean Wade's a really good depth player, versatile kind of player.

You know, I... But I don't know how much depth they have, and I don't know again what Joel Embiid's health is like and what it's going to be like and how many games is he going to be able to play. They're the type of team that could be kinda teetering during the regular season, but they're so good.

I mean, the... There's so much talent there that they're a huge playoff threat. I mean, because the game is just so different when you get to the playoffs.

So... But how does that all work? And you got a championship coach there too and a guy who's crazy enough, does enough wild things and out of the box things in Nick Nurse that he could really make all of that work.

I think Boston is going to be pretty good even without Brown. Tatum's back. And for all the talk of can Tatum and Brown get along?

Well, it's Tatum's team now. And so let's see him a year removed Achilles. Just how much better can he be?

We saw him in the first game back in Boston. That was his... Which was just a crazy scene, really wild.

And it took him a while to get going, then he got going toward the end of the half and he actually played pretty well until they got knocked out. Remember, didn't play in game seven against Philadelphia in the first round. Yeah.

So it's it's it's his team. And they have enough talent around him to make that work. And they play a system that certainly in the regular season is one that works.

The Knicks, the chemistry as... Or indeed as, Jalen Brunson would say, the vibes are impeccable. I mean, you know, they're they're they're they're still on cloud nine after, you know, waiting fifty three years to to win a championship.

But, you know, they... They've had some contract issues with Karl Anthony Towns. You know, is is he gonna get paid?

Are they gonna get him an extension? You know, how how is all that gonna work? Josh Hart the same way.

You know, money stuff gets in the way of what should be something better. I think Mike Brown did a phenomenal job with that team last year. And I think he's a great coach.

I I think Sacramento just made such a huge mistake getting rid of rid of him when they got rid of him. I think they're also the type of team they may just kind of skate a little through the regular season and then try to ramp it up for the playoffs. And I think they may be better suited to playing in the playoffs.

You know, I think that, I think Toronto is a is a much improved team. You got Kawhi over there now. And and now, you know, for the first time in a long time, the East may be better than the West.

In the in the last twenty seven years, the West has won the Interconference series against the East. It... It's been closer the last couple of years, but now, you know, there have been some people that have moved, like LaMel Ball...

Now LaMel Ball moved, East to West. He's one of the few that did that, but a lot of the big names moved West to East. And I think that it it...

The the East to me may have a little bit more juice. And then you got the Pistons, you know, who won the league... Who won the East last year.

They they won 60 games, but were never quite right in the playoffs. Because as you know, Mike, in in the NBA more than any other sport, it's like you you have to get the crap kicked out of you in the playoffs, and understand what that's all about before you ultimately move on and do what you do. You just don't show up and win.

That's when you start to understand that the playoffs are a whole different thing. Exactly. Exactly.

And Indiana, you know, look, they were half away maybe from winning the championship in 2025. And then Tyrese Halliburton hurt his Achilles in game seven. They were leading at halftime of that game, wound up losing by 11.

But Halliburton's back. Most of their core is back. They made the big trade, at the deadline last year to get a beat to Zubats from the Clippers who gives them some real juice down there.

And they got Rick Carlisle coaching them, man. It's like, you know he's gonna find a way to get the best out of them. Yeah.

You can say what you want to about him. A lot of people liked him. A lot of people didn't.

You know, he's one of those guys, a rather polarizing figure, but He can coach his ball. He can coach. He can coach the ball.

He knows ball. And the other team to keep an eye on is Toronto, getting Kawhi. If Kawhi is actually interested in playing and, not being a spokesman for a defunct tree company, look, He's really good.

He... And he had and and he had a great year last year. I mean, just a phenomenal year.

Arguably, his best year maybe in six years. Yeah. He's been a great player for his For whole a long time.

Yeah. And they've got some youth and depth and size and I think they're pretty well coached too. And again, they went through it like a lot of teams do.

They got knocked out in the first round. Maybe they shouldn't have been knocked out in the first round, but they were. And so they learn from the experience and they go on.

It's it's gonna be good over there this year. Then, you know, normally, yeah, you would get the national TV games right. You know, it's Tuesday now, but, you know, it used to be like Thursday night on TNT.

Mhmm. And you didn't really worry about going to dinner, you know, for the first game. What...

You wanted to make sure you were home for the second game, the the late game from the West. Right. Right?

That's not the case this year. No. You're you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to eat in front of the TV.

Yeah. Either that or eat late, one or the other. Wow.

What? You're 52 in. Oh, we're 52 in?

All right. Okay. Well, that's good.

We can hang. I'm not going anywhere. So you had a good off season?

I did. I did. Played a lot of golf?

I did. I played too much golf. You know, that's that's the problem.

You know, it's like... I said, when you... When the season ends on April 12, there's just way too much time to play.

And I I can't do it every day as much as I love it. I... There there are guys who can do that.

I can't. I just... My my brain gets fried.

It's like, I don't know how tour players do do it. I mean, obviously, they're a heck of a lot better than I am, but it's, I mean, I could never dream of doing that, but just that they're out. I've always heard that as guys around here go, you're pretty good.

Well, I mean, it it moves forward. It it it... That's about all it does these days.

I'm an old man now, Mike. Ball ball does not go nearly as far as it used to go. But Tell me about that.

But played a lot of golf and, you know, played with some friends in Ohio and North Carolina. And then, you know, we had the, in August, had the, now fourth annual, Chuck, you have got to get out of the house. You need to go play golf someplace.

I don't wanna see you for a weekend. And so so this year, I went to Whistling Straits, in Wisconsin, about an hour north of Milwaukee. It's where they played the PGA, where they played the Ryder Cup in 2021, and it's phenomenal.

It was just great. I mean... And the weather was perfect because it was so miserable here.

It never touched 80 up there. So it was it was just incredible. So do you...

I mean, you're a basketball guy now. Mhmm. But you used to be known for how much you knew about all sports, how on top of everything you were.

You still that way? Are you still on top of it in football or baseball like you once were? Definitely not in baseball.

Baseball is... I like it more now because of the pitch clock. The pitch...

You know, Eric Nadel told me that the pitch clock saved his career. That, had they not instituted it, know, games being 03:15 and 03:30 every day, that he couldn't driven him out. It would have driven him out.

I I just don't know I just don't know enough of the players, and I and I just get frustrated with the analytical bend of the game and where and where it's headed. You know, just, you know, starting the whole... You know, you can't put starting pitchers out there more than, you know, twice through the lineup, you know, the third time.

We're we're we're getting rid of them. You know, it used to be that we were racing to the bullpen back when, like, when Wash was managing the rangers. Mhmm.

You know, it was the race of the bullpen, you know, starting from, like, the fifth inning or the or the sixth inning. Yeah. Right?

Well, now it's like in the third inning. You know? They they see, like, second and third, whatever, and one out.

It's by committing now. We're we're we're looking we're looking for the perfect matchup for 27 outs, which is just impossible. And I don't know why the game is played that way, but it is.

And so they've made their choice and I've made my choice. But I do... But obviously, this time of the year, I'm I'm gonna watch as much as I can because it's it's pretty compelling.

And certainly, I got actually, when I went to Whistling Straits, I did get to go see the Brewers play. And just love how they play. They're not necessarily the Whitey Herzog Cardinals of the early eighties, but you know, they they do steal bases, and they do hit behind the runner, and they go...

They do go first to third. There are similarities. You know, there there are.

And it's really... And they have... And...

But as opposed to Whitey's team, which really didn't have a lot of power, this... These... They do have some guys that can hit it out of the park.

You know, their their pitching is really good. I mean, their their starters are really good. You know, their seventh and eighth inning guys are really good, and McGill is, is tremendous as closer.

You know, just... It's out of sight. So I I I really enjoy watching them play.

I'm just walking on sunshine because this Yankees Dodgers World Series, which which seemed to be a foregone conclusion. When the series started is not gonna happen, kids. Not gonna happen.

Not gonna happen and the Major League Baseball owners are dying a thousand deaths right now. Oh gosh. They are.

Let let alone Fox, right, from from from the broadcasting standpoint. Well, sometimes you gotta take one for the team. Yeah.

Well well, Fox does. Yeah. Fox does.

The the owners is a different story. And obviously, I I think, you know, we're we're probably watching baseball a little more, the ratings are really good, I think, for the for the playoffs because we don't know when baseball's coming back. You know?

Once once the World Series is done. You know, what I've heard is that that the owners really can hold out until June. And then if after 60 games, if if we...

We're past that point, then they don't get television money going forward. They'll get their money this year. Yeah.

But everything then gets extended by a year. And baseball really does seem intent on redoing their entire media package and what that looks like. And they to do that for 2028.

And if they can't get to a deal, it gets extended out another year. And from their standpoint, that's an absolute disaster. So it'll...

That will be... Well, that's that's the news of the all season, unfortunately. Right?

You know, we we wanna hear about trades. We wanna hear about free agency. As of December 1 hear about.

That's not what you're gonna be hearing about. Wow. But but I but I do follow that.

And obviously, I I follow football. Now... But I will say that I, like, I love watching the NFL now on Sunday because I don't have to be like this.

You know? And because I don't have to talk about it the next day. Yeah.

Right? I can just a little bit more casual. I I can just be watching the moment.

I mean, I'm I'm paying attention, but, you know, not You're always paying attention. Yeah. But but not but not living and dying on every transaction and everything like that.

Really, college football, in a lot of ways, is more enjoyable for me. I love Florida, and had a great time on Saturday down in Austin. It was spectacular.

Even at the expense of my son, who loves Texas like nobody's business. But for the second consecutive year, Florida, which their record is good. They had been terrible the last two weeks against Missouri and South Carolina.

They showed up and they played great, and Texas was not good enough. They poorly. Florida rose up.

But I just love being on a college campus. And even Texas is a little more urban than most major college campuses, but there's just nothing like that scene. There's nothing like the band marches in the stadium.

In the case of Texas, you're hearing the March grandioso. Florida, you're hearing Suwanee. Or at the end of the third quarter when we sing Petty, and absolutely amazing, especially at night games when they turn the lights off and then everybody's got the the flashlights on from their phones.

I hear you sing a lot of things. No, dude. I mean, mean, I I I mean, if I'm...

I mean, should should should I not Go. Should should I not sing him? As opposed to somebody else.

I would think that would be Okay for you. It's totally Okay for me. I mean, Saturday was truly extraordinary, this last Saturday.

But, you know, unfortunately, I I haven't done college games in a while, and I do miss that very much. But there is something magical about getting on my couch at 11:05 when the first game starts and not getting into bed until about 01:05 when when the last game ends. There's...

It... It's really it's really okay. And you're just following all of that and just loving it, every bit of it.

Alright. I gotta get you revved up about one more thing here as long as I've got you. That thing is the Dallas football cowboys.

What a mess. What a mess. Man, that that was, it's kinda sad last night.

They they just... Like, they looked like zombies out there, offensively, for sure. I...

It looked... Now the defense did give up three balls that were dropped in the end zone for touchdowns. Alright?

So it They did. It it could have looked significantly worse than it ultimately did. But they did play better in the second half.

And I'm not here to say that they've solved Rubik's cube here. Are a lot of issues they got to get solved. But the offense is a mess.

And they looked unprepared. And they've looked unprepared at times in almost every game. At some point, it's like the swing pass to the flat, it's like they're throwing it Yeah.

Into the flat. Like, you might want to cover this. Okay?

It's Yeah. They're saying, what do we do? What what...

There's a there's a lot of looking around. Yeah. And and, you know, you can't ask, you know, Quintin Williams to be...

To make every play for you in the line. Now, as it turns out, the Parsons trade was a disaster. Now, it helped the cause that Parsons hurt his knee, and he hasn't been playing.

But they don't have that player. As good as Quintin Williams is, and I think he still is, you've got to have that guy on the edge to be able to put some pressure on the quarterback. And they they don't have that.

And their linebackers are a mess. The secondary has been incredibly hurt. Thought Joey Porter actually played pretty good last night.

He flashed a couple times. I thought he I thought he was okay. But there's...

They... For all the issues that the defense has, they are not going to all be solved instantaneously or maybe even ever. Do they know what to do with Caleb Downs?

I I think ultimately, they do know what to do with him, but they've had to play him out of position because there have been so many injuries. So they... They've had to move him around into spots that, you know, he can play Yeah.

But he he probably isn't best suited to playing them. He wasn't very good last night. And that's...

But I I think he's great. And I and I thought it was a great pick because to me, from the moment he stepped on Alabama's campus and he became a starter as a freshman for Nick Saban, If you can do that, you're pretty special. And to me, he was the he was the best player in college football for the last three years, just regardless of position.

I thought he just... He was way ahead of his time. I mean, he's, he's, what, 19 years old going on 28.

It seemed like he had seen it all. Now, you've gotten to this level, there have been some issues. But I think he's excellent.

Do the Cowboys know what to do with him? I think they do. I do.

But they need to they need to get healthy. Until until they can get healthy in the secondary, at least from what from what I can see, they've got to play him in positions other than his most ideal spot. Wow.

But the offense is a mess now. Why it's a mess given what's out there and what's available to them, I don't know. But I do think Schottenheimer is just another one of these guys that feels the need to call plays and try to manage the game, and he can't do it.

He just... There are there are guys who are capable of doing it. Kyle Shanahan can do it.

Sean McVeigh can do it. But but most other coaches, they they can't do it. Yeah.

And they and they need help. And so, I mean, his first responsibility has to be to manage the game. Yeah.

And, you know, you can't be managing the game when you're, you've got your board up here so that no one can read your lips, that nobody would understand what you're saying anyway. Why we're doing this, I don't know. But he needs to be more worried about that.

Let let Clayton Adams call the plays. I mean, let him let him do that. I mean, I mean, you you hired him to to build an offense for you, or at least help you build an offense for you.

Let them let them call plays. Let's let's see what it looks like. Because because right now...

And again, like, was it at the end of the half? I mean, the Cowboys actually had time to run a couple of plays, and they're just lollygagging their way to the line of scrimmage. Yeah.

And then they they they just simply let the time run out. What are what are we doing here? What are we doing?

They're helped by the fact that the division is terrible. And the Eagles are in big trouble right now, obviously, with Jalen Hertz out for the year. The Giants, I don't really like their team very much, especially with Dart out for the year too, but I do think John Harbon knows how to coach.

The Commanders are a mess given what we saw at the end of the game last week, and who knows what that looks like tonight out in San Francisco. Right? So, I mean, really, as as frustratingly, maddeningly inconsistent as the Cowboys are, they're probably the best team in the East right now.

They're probably gonna be in the playoffs. And not only in the playoffs, but hosting a playoff game. God.

Man, after that Tampa Bay game, I just thought, oh my god. This is this is so much worse than I'd ever imagined it could be. Well, but, you know, they had it.

They were, what, 10 down against Houston, you know, the week the week before. Yeah. And and and in fairness, it's not an excuse, but it is fact.

Schedule Maker did them absolutely no favors, with the, the Rio game Mhmm. And then playing, you know, playing, on the road the next week Mhmm. In Houston, Grant a short trip, but you're still having to get on a plane and go, and then come right back and play, you know, on a short week.

Yeah. And, you know, listen, the Cowboys get that, you know, at least once a year with the Thanksgiving game, but it seems like... And I guess now because everybody plays on Thursday night at some point.

But at that particular time, given their injury situation, especially on defense, it could not have happened at the worst possible time. And I I think that by the time they got to to the Tampa Bay game, they had nothing. They just had absolutely nothing.

I I think they could have had the greatest game plan that was ever developed, and I don't think it would have mattered. But having said that, as our good friend, the late great Spike Dykes at Texas Tech would always say, they got some doing to do. They got some doing to do.

We've had some doing to do here today too, and you have done it, man, the way you always do. Well, it is great to be here. It's always great riffing it with you.

It's an honor and a privilege. Well It really is. Love you, man.

You are the best at what you do. And I'm so glad that we got you out of Philadelphia. Me too.

Way back in week. You worked out very well. You worked out very well.

Very well. Alright. That is it for little YDC for today.

We wanna thank you very much for watching, and thank you very much for supporting our sponsors. Now if you like what we're doing here, one more thing we need you to do is share us on your social media. Get us out there amongst your friends, amongst your peeps.

Tell them about us. Get them on board here. You do that, and it'll be great for everybody.

Thank you, Ashley. Thank you, Becca. Thank you, Charles.

Pleasure, Michael. Alright. The great Chuck Cooperstein here with us.

We will be back next time on YDC. Till then. Bye.

Alright. I'm gonna go take my pants off. Your Dark Companion is a Stolen Water Media presentation.

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