Hey everybody, it’s Fred and the Fantastics right here on BLEAV and on PodClips. We’ll discuss anything and everything in the wonderful and wacky world of sports with Laura Snoke and Art Sorce. And you can email us at sportsfred@aol.com, sportsfred@aol.com. As we speak, we’re taping this Friday afternoon, Art, who’s going to win the US Open in Pittsburgh? Not far from you. Why aren’t you out there?

Well, you know, last week I put on so many miles walking around Robert Trent Jones Golf Course at the LIV event, it took till Thursday for me to feel like a normal human being. But to answer your question, it’s going to be the kid that got second place last year, excuse me, last week up in Canada. Mr. Burns is going to win it because I got him at twenty-five to one. And my other pick is Hovland, OK, and Hovland is from Norway. And for whatever reason, in real big tournaments, he seems to show up. He has this innate ability to hit the ball on the fairway. And when you look at the rough at Oakmont and you see it five and a half inches, and then they go around and they feather it, you know, like teasing your hair to go straight up and it’s like, well, you leave the rough alone, let it lay down a little, would you? Being an old golfer, I mean, I’m like, there’s nothing worse than when you look down straight down at your line, you go, give me my 60 degree sand wedge. And you’ve got 220 yards to the green and you have to punch out sideways into the grass and you might not get there. That’s the other thing. So, you know, it’s an amazing test. It’s the 10th time they’ve played this. That course goes back to some great champions, I mean, all the way back to Bobby Jones, you guys in 1925. Then you got Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan. Some of the greatest players of all time have basically displayed their greatness on that course. And I got to tell you, it’s fantastic, but it is carnage if you are a professional golfer.

Laura, do you follow golf? Do you watch it on TV? I know you’re big on tennis. Do you watch golf?

Sometimes, yeah. I mean, not like, not, not religiously, but I do. I follow it sometimes.

A young kid from L.A. J.J. Spaun has the lead, you know, and, and I mean, this kid, this young guy, is a full-blown diabetic. He has to monitor himself over the five hours of playing golf. He’s about five seven and a half, he’s half-Hispanic, half-Filipino, and he has come so far in the last three years. He was like, 800th in the world. And now here, he is, sitting on top of the professional golf world with the lead, and he’s playing well right now. That’s a great story from East L.A.

No, a great story indeed. Folks, you can email us right here on Fred and the Fantastics at sportsfred@aol.com, sportsfred@aol.com. So much to talk about, including the NBA playoffs. Of course, it’s a interesting scenario in that right now, the Pacers are at home, they’re up two games to one and they are six-point underdog against Oklahoma City. Laura, who do you think is going to win? Of course, Mark Mancini, the world’s worst sports handicapper, liked Indiana, which would mean that we’ve got to go with Oklahoma City. Call your bookie now. But Laura, who do you like? You know the six points isn’t a lot, except that some of these games end up 30 and 40 points advantage for one club or another. Who do you like as far as the Indiana versus Oklahoma City? Laura?

Well, I picked Oklahoma City at the beginning of the tournament, to win it in six, that could still happen. Although I don’t know, Indiana’s, they just got unbelievable resilience that they, they, they never give up, and, and,

How about the teamwork that they exemplify?

It’s incredible.

Yeah, Rick Carlisle has done a great job of coaching in my opinion, you guys.

So I think it’s anybody’s game, anybody’s championship right now, I don’t really know how to pick it. I mean, I think Indiana is getting Oklahoma City a little rattled, you know, they seem a little rattled, you know, they don’t quite know how to, they think they could, they thought they could just steamroll, that’s kind of my feeling about it, that they thought they could just steamroll over Indiana and they’re, and now they’re down 2-1, so, uh, tonight’s game should be really exciting.

Art. Who do you like? Indiana or?

Uh, I’m going, I’m going, I’m going with OKC tonight to even it up at two games a piece. I don’t think they’re going to cover the six, I think they’re going to win. We haven’t really had a nip-and-tuck game except for Game Two, which was, I mean, or I believe it was Game One that was incredibly exciting. Um, I just have a funny feeling that, that Oklahoma City is going to have a big game tonight. And then I believe they go one, one, and one in the series, back, back, back. So then I’m looking at, at OKC in game seven, probably winning it at home. But I gotta tell you I, I wouldn’t sell Indy, Indiana short right now. I mean, Rick Carlisle, to me, has put that team together. Uh, I just love the way they’re playing basketball, they seem to really like each other. And you know, there’s a lot to be said for teamwork in sports, and that’s the reason why they’re up two games to one, as we said.

Especially team sports.

Alexander, of course, started with the Clippers. They traded him into Oklahoma City.

Doesn’t surprise me at all, Fred.

You know,

The Clipper curse!

For Paul George, but part of that deal included five first-round draft picks and, and Alexander and a couple of other players for Paul George.

So you’re telling me the Clippers get five?

Yeah.

But, but look, look where Indiana is, where OKC is, so you’re going to be picking 30-32nd.

Hey, it’s unblanked. And that was after Sterling. So, I mean, I don’t quite understand how the Clippers would have made such a deal. Because Alexander is obviously very, very talented. You see him, you know, I saw him play five or six games in Kentucky. I could tell you he’s going to be a star and, uh, but maybe not this good, but he’s certainly not, you’re not going to give up five number-one picks and him and somebody else too, for Paul George, who’s, you know?

Fred. Let me ask you a question with two of those teams playing, how are the ratings nationally for the NBA? Have you heard any info?

I heard they were better than expected, to tell you the truth. And again, you’re making a good point. I mean, they’re not major market clubs, good cities, so you’d be a little bit surprised. Let’s take a break and come back with more Fred and the Fantastics right after this.

Hey, welcome back everybody, Fred the Fantastics with Art and Laura. I am Fred. You can email us at sportsfred@aol.com. Heard, of course, on BLEAV and on PodClips. You know, we just talked about the NBA. The NHL, though, is most exciting at this point in time. You’ve got the Edmonton Oilers locked up with the Florida Panthers at two games a piece. But three of those four games went into overtime, one of them went into double overtime. Art. I grew up loving hockey, my mother was from Detroit, my father was from Chicago, so when the Red Wings met the Blackhawks, we’d sit in front of the TV and watch it when I was very, very young. I don’t follow it as closely now, but I’ve seen a lot of this action, and three out of the four games in overtime, you can’t beat that.

No, they’ve been exciting. I got to tell you, playoff hockey is very, very exciting. Watching these two teams, you know, this reminds me a little bit of the 1960 World Series, where Florida dominates when they win, okay, and then the close games, you know, in overtime, seem to be going toward, you know, toward the Canadian team. And I really would like to see an NHL team from Canada win it this year, to be perfectly honest.

It’s been a long time.

Yeah, it’s just sort of hard to believe that Florida has a good hockey team. I mean, has there ever been any ice in Florida ever?

And we used to say the same thing about the L.A. Kings, right?

Yeah. Well, I mean, Florida is even worse than L.A. I mean, it’s just, you know,

I got to give a shout-out to two people. All right, my favorite all-time basketball color analyst is Dick Vitale.

Right?

And Dick Vitale just got picked up for another two years and, with ESPN, and he’s going to be, he’s 86 years old, he’s just had his 86th birthday. And the other one is Lee Corso who is going to do his final game on College Game Day on August 29th at Ohio State Stadium. Texas comes to town against Ohio State, and that’s going to be his final, his final television appearance after 30 years. The coach with all his head garb, but all his, you know, and he’s a great guy. I’ve known him for years and I just wanted to give a shout-out to both of them. Two of my all-time heroes, Dick Vitale and Lee Corso.

Laura, ESPN. They kept, certainly, Dick Vitale, but they’re getting rid of a whole slew of guys for financial reasons. Does it matter to you? I mean, can you keep track of who is on staff and who’s not on staff at ESPN?

Oh, I mean, not really, but, what drives me crazy about, is ESPN the one that does the player’s mic when they’re playing in the middle of the game?

Yeah, when they interview them right in the middle of the game?

I mean, it makes me nuts. I mean, I get why they’re doing it, but it’s just it’s, it’s, it’s just not. It’s so anti-sports.

It is.

They put a microphone on somebody while they’re, while the game is going, and then they interview the players and the coaches while the game is going. I mean, if I want to watch, I want to watch the game. I don’t want to watch interviews, and I want the players to be paying attention to the game. You know, I don’t know, but I mean, I love Dick Vitale,

I agree with you 100%.

I love Dick Vitale, so.

Let me end this by talking about an interesting story that my wife, Sandy, put together for us. She’s a big music lady, and, Hang on Sloopy, you guys have any idea what school it’s the uh, uh, the, the, the, the music for that school? Which school uses this official rock song, Hang on Sloopy? Which school? Any idea?

No,

Very powerful football school. The most powerful,

That’s very funny, though. It doesn’t seem like a football song.

So would it be, is it Ohio State?

Ohio State, all right. So singer and songwriter Rick Derringer some way, somehow got, to somebody else who loved the song. He had some power at Ohio State. Since 1965, Hang on Sloopy has been the fight song for the Buckeyes of Ohio State. I did not know that. I love the song. It was number one on the Billboard, I think, in ’65, but uh, Ohio State is Hang on Sloopy,

So someday he may have a chance to dot the I in Ohio in the pregame show.

Well, Rick just passed away two weeks ago, so,

He’s not going to get the dot the I, then.

He won’t, he won’t, probably won’t, dot the, although nowadays, they could put him in ice and he’d come back like Ted Williams.

Ted Williams and him could both do it. They’d be, I mean, they’d be ready to roll. So what about Aaron Judge, you guys? I looked at the stats in Major League Baseball, he’s behind Cal Raleigh, who has 26 home runs, he has 25, but he’s leading in RBIs, he’s leading in runs, he’s leading in average hitting .392. I mean, has anybody ever won, like five of the five hitting statistics? I’m just, a question I have because he’s just having an amazing year.

Amazing.

Laura, what do you think? I mean, uh, you’re not a Yankee fan, but, uh, he’s obviously a dominating player.

Oh, absolutely, yeah, definitely. I mean, I, I’m not a Yankee fan, of course, but um, I love to watch him play. I mean, they’re great.

They’re great, between he and Ohtani. I mean, what a great generation of, of unbelievable, multi, multi-incredible ballplayers. I mean, wow.

All right. Final word Laura, 30 seconds.

I’m going to say we lost, it’s not really about sports so much, but we did lose two, you know, in my view anyway, great musicians in, in this week, and, and Brian Wilson, and, and Sly and Sly and the Family Stone. So, kind of, when you were talking about music, I kind of, I remembered that. And I’m just looking forward to the game tonight between the Pacers and OKC. I kind of think who wins this game tonight might win the Championship. Certainly, if Indiana wins, it’d be pretty tough for Oklahoma City to win, but I think OKC is going to win tonight. But we’ll see.

Art, 30 seconds.

Well, I want to give a shout-out to Dennis Tobler, who had the Superfecta in the Belmont Stakes. And I went with him. And I’m real happy about that. Way to go. Make your bets, Dennis Tobler.

Wait a minute. I’ve done that a million times. You bet 12 bucks, you got $13.80 back, give me a break. It doesn’t happen. I mean, the odds of that happening are one in, I don’t know, five or 10.

Okay, so I played chalk with him. At least I won!

$1.80 on $12, Art, if you only bet, is that the only one you bet?

No, I, I had a couple of exactas in there,

But then you lost if you bet anything besides the top three. I was thinking about the same thing when they announced $13.80.

Superfecta for you, four in a row, yeah.

Okay, okay. Four,

It’s a little tougher, a little tougher, you know? The other thing I wanted to say is if you get a chance, because they only play there probably three times in the next 25 years, get a chance, watch a little bit of the golf on Sunday. Because you’re going to see something you haven’t seen in many, many years. You’re going to see guys that make 25, 30, $40 million, okay, out there playing a golf course where they’re over-matched on, and it’s kind of fun to watch the greatest players in the world hacking it up.

I don’t want to see an albatross. All right, for Art, for Laura, folks, that’s an inside joke, for Mario. Thank you guys and gals for listening to Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and PodClips. Bye, everybody.