Hey, it’s time again, that’s right, Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and PodClips. Anything and everything in sports, and maybe a little politics too. With Laura, with Art, with Matthew, our sports historian, and love to talk about this, that and anything in sports. You can email us at sportsfred@ol.com, sportsfred@ol.com. And first of all, I would like to talk about, we’re taping this Friday afternoon, folks. Friday night at Dodger Stadium, you have the Yankees against the Dodgers. Now I don’t know who’s going to win, but it’s Max Freed against Gonsolin for the Dodgers.

Max Freed’s coming home, right?

That’s a total, it’s a total mismatch. So obviously the Yankees should win or the Dodgers have home-field advantage, I guess. The bottom line is the Dodgers are in a mess and I’ll tell you why. And Laura, I want you to intervene here and get involved. Because the Dodgers without Snell, without Glasnow, have only Yamato to be like the dominating pitcher come playoff time, obviously they’re going to make the playoffs, but you need either Glasnow or Snell. And, you know, you talk about Freed. The Yankees made a much better deal with Freed than the Dodgers two years ago made with Glasnow and last year made with Snell, because they are injury prone.

Now, Art, you played football. There are such a thing as players who always seem to get hurt. Snell and Glasnow would be Number One and Number Two. Why would they spend that kind of dough when they knew the history?

Well, they must have Brinks trucks piled up all over Dodger Stadium somewhere. Because they seem to have plenty of money, okay, and they can go out and get who they want. But I gotta tell you, I agree with you 100%. I mean, Snell to me just didn’t make any sense. I mean his clubhouse presence, a lot of reasons there. Plus he’s had the injury problems. But Fred, what’s going on in the second year now of the Dodgers having all these injury problems? You know, the Tommy John surgeries? I mean, it’s prevalent in other organizations, but not to the level it is with the Dodgers. And Mark Pryor is a really good pitching coach. I have a theory of myself. I don’t think they run as much as they used to, I don’t think they do long toss the way they used to. I remember Steve Carlton putting his arm into a big tub of brown rice and massaging it around. I wonder if there’s things that they’re not doing that the guys did in the ’60s and ’70s to throw 300 innings.

Okay, I would agree with you if these guys have always been Dodgers. But Snell has been injured no matter where he’s been. In Tampa with San Diego, with San Francisco, Glasnow, the same, they’ve been injured wherever they’ve been now. Laura, you’re a big-time Dodger fan. Do you think they overpaid for Snell and Glasnow? Maybe they could have gotten Freed and brought him back home.

You know, hindsight’s 20-20, right? But I mean, I did see a statistic that the Dodger pitchers are more injured than other pitchers in the majors. We talked about that on another show, whether it just seemed that way or that was true, and it is true. So they have a lot more pitchers, maybe, so that, you know statistics, what’s the joke about statistics? Basically, you know, you can say anything you want, justify it by a statistic. But yeah, I’m really disappointed in the Dodgers this season so far. I mean, they have a great record and all that.

But they just called up Bobby Miller again from Oklahoma City. Did they not?

Good luck with that.

Yeah, I mean, he’s such a good prospect, but he’s another one who keeps getting hurt. And I like this young guy. Kasparian. He’s like what we used to call long relievers, remember in those days when you had long relievers?

Maybe they’ll make him a starter, but I can tell you this Landon Knack is not Blake Snell or Glasnow.

Landon Knack is,

Yeah, what’s up with Dustin May you guys?

He’s pitching better now, but he’s not as dominant, he’s like a three or four.

Not the same after the surgery, huh? Let me ask you this question, OK, you got a question, and I got a question, What’s up with Mike Trout? They said he has a bruised knee. A bruised knee and he’s out 40 games.

Well, how many times the last two or three years has he played?

I don’t know, but I say, send him to Philadelphia.

They had Bryce Harper’s out too, he was out for that game, that’s why they lost that second game to Atlanta and all that. He’s hurt, Bryce Harper. I mean, Schwarber is the one carrying the Phillies this year, he’s the one who’s powering this.

Did you see the ball he hit at Coors field, the right field? Oh my God. Schwarber, the middle linebacker, All-State middle linebacker at Illinois High School.

Do you think the Dodgers are going to use this June 15 trade deadline or go for a free-agent rental later this summer? Do you think they’re going to have to do that? I mean, do you see anything in the wind? Some type of a trade?

If Snell and Glasnow aren’t back and one of them’s not back, I think they definitely have to go in that direction.

Yeah, you also have got the postseason deadline of July 31st, so they got to do something within the next month or so.

I never did understand. I agree with you, Fred. I never understood the Blake Snell trade. I just, you know, I wasn’t a real big fan of his, you know, when he was playing for the Giants. And I don’t know.

And Art mentioned something also,

I mean, in the beginning of the season, they were, it was like the Dodgers have so many pitchers. What are they going to do, how are they going to put together a routine?

I don’t know. I looked at the fantasy thing. They had 12 starters listed, I said they might need all 12 of them.

Yeah, let me tell you how.

We’ll see what happens with Ohtani. You know, Ohtani’s been pitching to live batters, so we’ll see.

What do you got, Fred?

No, let’s do an ethnic question because I’m going to show you how political this world has become. Matthew, you get involved, Laura, get involved, Art, get involved. Because even I’m astounded at this. I threw something on Facebook like the following: You ready? I said, Donald Trump, because of his DIA, DI, DEI thoughts wants the Orioles, demands the Orioles deal away one of their Jewish starters because it’s DEI.

We’ll deal Kramer away. I like Kramer,

Wait a minute, wait a minute. They got Dean Kramer and they got Dave Kovich, not related to Maury, so they got two starters among the five. So I actually wrote that, Do you know how many reports I got?

Is that true?

No, of course, not. of course not, but the point is people believed it. Tell me, this world’s not going nuts, Laura,

I can’t tell you that.

I can’t either. We’re on the opposite sides of the polarity pool. But yeah, it’s crazy, you don’t know what to read. There’s so much clickbait on the internet. You go, what, huh? I don’t know, they’re just saying that,

I know. I mean, the thing is, in a fascist society, the truth is always the first casualty. In fascism, always, it’s always the first casualty to go.

That’s right.

How close are we? Matthew DiBiase.

I thought I saw Benito Mussolini around the corner.

I’m not sure if they passed the law or just passed part of the legislature. But Oklahoma is going to pass a law that is going to mandate that the textbooks say that the 2020 election was stolen mandate.

I could semi-believe it.

Not even question it.

No, that’s true. And there were, I think, 70 court cases challenging the election and they didn’t win. They won one case. But it had to do with timing of ballots and didn’t change the result.

Isn’t it a little late for that? I mean, honestly?

No, nothing is late for Donald Trump. He has grudges to go back to when he was born.

I mean, Florida passed the thing saying slavery is beneficial.

Really?

Really, yeah, that was the governor of Florida.

Yeah, DeSantis, yeah, DeSantis and all that.

All right. We’re going to take a break and come back with a whole lot more on Fred and the Fantastics right after this.

Back on Fred and the Fantastics with Laura, with Mark, and with Art. And you can email us at sportsfred@aol.com sportsfred@aol.com. Let me just throw this out. A very sad note. A youngster for Baylor Bears, defensive lineman got killed in Greenville, Mississippi. He was shot. What are we going to do about it? I don’t know if it’s a sports thing, I think it is. What are we going to do about protection of people? As far as gun laws are concerned?

Don’t let him go to the University of Georgia.

No. On a serious note, Laura, do you have any thoughts about gun laws? Because an 18-year-old youngster, Dave Alex Foster, doesn’t make 19 and he’s going to start this year for Baylor. I don’t know when you read something like this, you say to yourself, should everybody have a gun? I don’t know. Laura. What do you think?

No, I don’t think everybody should have a gun.

I don’t know, it’ll be like the Wild, Wild West, people running around.

The Wild, Wild West wasn’t even the Wild, Wild West.

I think that’s why Hollywood fictitious. Yeah, exactly.

They used to have to put their gun when they went into bars, they had to check their guns. I mean, it’s a fantasy. You know, the United States has gun deaths that exceed every other country by so many. The mantra that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. That’s true. But people can kill a lot more people with an assault weapon than they can kill with a tip.

That’s where I kind of agree. When you get to a situation where you can shoot 1,000 rounds off in 10 seconds, do we really want that?

Yeah, why? Why do you need that?

If you’re going hunting, you’ve got one bullet,

Actually, gun deaths, when we had the assault weapons ban that our Congress passed, gun deaths did go down, and as soon as that ban was expired, gun deaths started increasing. I mean, it’s very easy to kill somebody,

When you go into a stadium nowadays, they make the women have the clear purses. So my question is this. The NBA is in a situation right now where it seems to me like they like seven-game series or six-game series. The Knicks found themselves down four games to one. They had a great Game Five,

Three games to one.

Great Game Five, three games to one,

They had a great Game Five. Now they go back to Indiana. Does the NBA want Indiana to play against Oklahoma City in the finals? Or do they want a New York or large-market team playing? That’s my question.

Of course, they want the large-market team. The thing is the pressure is on Indiana. If they don’t win Game Six, the Knicks take it in seven. Because with last night’s game, they’re high as a kite right now, they’ve got the crowd, the crowd is re-energized. Actually, the pressure is more on Indiana Saturday, tomorrow night, than it is on the Knicks. That’s kind of what I’m thinking, too.

If Indiana doesn’t pull it, they have to. A victory is essential for the Pacers tomorrow night.

They’ve gotten close so many times, I remember with Richie,

The Pacers have never won an NBA title. Their last championship was in 1973 in the ABA, 1973 in the ABA, which is ironically, the Knicks’ last championship, too.

He was never a Pacer. Dampier was the Kentucky Colonel. We’re talking McGuinness, we’re talking about Bob Netolicky, Roger Brown. Mel Daniels. Those Pacers remember, they were the greatest team in the ABA history. Slick Leonard was the greatest coach, according to my calculations, and my future basketball coach.

You know that Slick Leonard was still doing games for the Pacers when he was in his late ’80s as a color analyst?

Boom, baby.

That’s unbelievable.

Don’t you guys think that, as far as basketball goes, Indiana-Oklahoma City I think would be just a great matchup?

I have nothing against it. I would love to see Indiana break its streak in Oklahoma City. I would love nothing better.

Hang on, hang on, except this. I agree with everything everybody said, except one thing. Do you know when the NBA finals begin?

June 15th, June 20th.

No. June 5th, which means that Oklahoma City is going to be out for 10-12 days before they play again.

That’s a great point, Fred.

That’s a major, major disadvantage. It’s almost like going to opening season again, opening practice again. The other team is going to play Saturday night, so they’re going to have a weak advantage.

It’s like we talked about in baseball, when you have that period off of, like, a week, how do you stay game-ready and fresh?

You guys watched Oklahoma City? I don’t know if it’s going to make any difference. They are so good.

How improved is Chad Holmgren, guys?

So good and they’re so young and they’re so athletic.

Here’s the great trivia question.

I don’t think it’s going to make any difference.

Who’s the coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder?

Daigneault. Mark Daigneault.

How many people wouldn’t even know that Mark Daigneault is the coach, the guy is so under the radar.

I didn’t even know,

That’s what I mean. I watched every game and I didn’t know.

That’s what I mean,

It’s crazy, but I know who the coach of the Knicks is.

Do you think the folks in Seattle are happy or sad that Oklahoma City might be the champion?

I used to love Seattle.

Well, this is only the second time that Oklahoma City has made it to the NBA Finals. The last time was,

2012,

Yeah, with Scott Brooks, yeah Scott Brooks,

Scotty Brooks is a good coach, too. Why he’s not an NBA head coach, I have no idea.

Let’s talk quickly about the WNBA. Caitlin Clark hurt her hip or something. She’s going to be out for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, it seems every time I read anything about the WNBA outside of Caitlin Clark, it’s Angel Reese, her arch-enemy,

Or racism, or racism, or racism.

Now she’s accused some fans of being racist. Now they’re saying she’s making the whole thing up, Art. Do you have an opinion?

I really don’t, because I’m so tired of that. I mean, these girls are playing such great basketball. Let’s focus on the fact it’s like watching the girls play softball in the NCAA. The game is so exciting and they’re so into it. And they’re playing with such zest. I don’t want to get into all that stuff.

Well, can I just say that’s easy for you to say as a white guy? Now? I know you’re like this, I know now that you are this.

A white guy that played with 80 Black guys in college.

No. I’m thinking, you know, it’s pretty hard if you do hear those comments, so and I don’t think they’re made up. I think there are, you know, there are comments that are directed to Black players.

But doesn’t it work both ways?

The thing is Laura, I saw in the

No. It doesn’t.

You don’t think that they’ve shown any racism toward Caitlin Clark? You really don’t.

I mean, the thing is Laura. The Indiana incident, she said. The Indiana fans were saying. They claim that they did an investigation. They found no substance to back up that there were racial epithets directed at Angel Reese or anything like that. They just issued a statement to that effect. Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. One thing about Caitlin Clark is what a draw she is. The fact that she’s out now, she’s lost two games, and the Indiana people have a two-game losing streak. They say that she’s sitting out now with injuries. Attendance is literally going down to zilch before she even joined the WNBA. When she’s sitting, you know, when she’s playing, it’s, you know, you’ve got a crowd. But when she’s sitting because she’s hurt, no one’s coming.

I mean, she’s probably the best player, she’s probably the best player in the WNBA.

Let me throw you guys something that Art said. I think he makes sense from this aspect. If you’re an African-American player, a Black player, and you know in your heart because Caitlin Clark is white, she’s getting more response and more money and more everything. Would you not be slanted against her? I mean, would you not internally feel that there is?

It would be a natural reaction, actually.

Yeah, yeah, but the thing is, though, in terms of the money, one thing if I. I don’t mean to be, I’m not trying to be insensitive or anything like that. But if I were a veteran WNBA player, actually, I would be grateful for Caitlin Clark for blowing out that salary cap. So because you’re a woman, you’re not going to make x amount of dollars, and she blew that cap to ribbons with her rookie contract, I would be putting an arm around her and saying thank you, thank you.

Look at the ratings she got in college. She blew the men away in the championship game. I mean, that was one of the greatest things I ever saw. Because I’ve always believed that women deserve to be, you know, really celebrated for what they do, academically and athletically. And that was what Title IX and Proposition 13 was all about, many, many, many years ago, and to see it happen finally to me was just wonderful. And I think women’s athletics is fantastic. And there’s some things we have to work on as a society that we all talk about and know. And you know, it’s just something that we have to deal with.

The thing is, there are some jealousy factors because, hey, she did turn around the Indiana Fever. They were cellar dwellers. They were playoff contenders last season, now they’re hurt, now they’re below the zone, in the playoff zone, they’re out of the playoff thing. She’s got to get healthy, hopefully she gets back soon and she can revive the team. So they’re still far away off from being a championship team.

Isn’t Vegas still the best team, though, in women’s basketball?

Vegas Aces?

What’s that?

The Vegas Aces?

Yeah, yeah, and the Lynx? They’re like one of the top teams and New York too.

Yeah, the Liberty,

All right, final question.

Ventura is the top rebounder at WNBA, Ventura is,

Final question before we go on. Fred and the Fantastics. Cooper Flagg had two major sponsors at Duke. How much money do you think he made on those two sponsors? Laura. make a guess.

I think multimillions, I think.

How many?

Two sponsors gave him,

Two-and-a-half million?

Art. What do you say?

3.6 million,

Okay. 3.6, 2.4. Matthew. How many?

I’ll take either one, by the way,

I’ll take a guess, I’ll say four million. Just a guess.

The answer Are you ready for this? Folks? If you’re listening, I don’t want you to faint. Two sponsors, $28 million.

A shoe company? I’d be back at Duke, I’d be back at Duke.

New Balance was one of them. I forgot the other one.

So they got Ohtani and they have Cooper Flagg, but that’s $28 million for a freshman from Maine. Oh my God, how do you go to the NBA?

New Balance? New Balance and I don’t know what the other one was.

No wonder my tennis shoes cost so much.

I think maybe a bank was the second, I forgot, but it was $13 million and $15 million. $28 million. All right, and Cooper Flagg’s twin brother, who’s 6’7″, not 6’9″, and he’s a year behind him in school, he’s only a 3.75 student, Cooper was a 4.0, he’s playing for Maine. I’d love him to be the leading scorer in college basketball.

The Maine Bears, I think they are. Something like that.

He was an All-American, that’s why, and he went to Maine.

No, the kid’s for real, no doubt about it. But, I mean $28 million to play as a freshman in college? I definitely was born way too early.

You didn’t make that much kicking, did you?

Well, not that much. I had to make sure those lights went on at Dedeaux field all the time.

All right, for Art, for Laura, for Matthew, for Mario, thank you guys and gals for listening to Fred and the Fantastics, and don’t forget to email us at sportsfred@aol.com, and back with more down the road. Bye, everybody!