Yes, folks, it’s that time again. Fred and the Fantastics on PodClips, on BLEAV with Laura Snoke, Art Sorce, Mark Mancini. We will talk this, that and anything in the wonderful and wacky world of sports, and we’d love your input. sportsfred@aol.com, sportsfred@aol.com. Mark, you’re big on the Clippers and the Lakers as we head into the weekend of, folks, we’re taping this at 1 o’clock on Friday, so we’re talking about the National Basketball Association this weekend. Mark, What do you think is going to happen to the Lakers and the Clippers?

I think they’re going to meet for the Western Conference Final. They’ll push the Dodgers almost off the cliff and the city of L.A., at least for seven games, can have one hell of a series. This will be bigger than pretty much since the Kings went to the first Stanley Cup, but I think it’s going to be big. I mean, the Clippers are ready, the Lakers are ready. I’ve been seeing this from the start. Artie and Laura and Fred, the Western Conference Final. You better put all your shekels on this, it’s going to be these two battling it out.

Laura, what do you think?

I think it would be great. I think both teams have a long way to go to get there. I like the Lakers, they’re playing really well, I like the Clippers, they’re playing really well. It’s a good thing Kawhi Leonard is playing well, he’s healthy, apparently. We have some bad injuries with the injury to John Morant and the injury to Jimmy Butler, so I don’t see the Warriors coming out of that series without Jimmy Butler. We’ll see. Oklahoma City came out 29 points behind and came back and won the game, so I think they’re going to come out of that series. We’ll see. I hope Mark’s right. He can shed his title as the World’s Worst Sports Handicapper.

I feel bad my Bucs are on the brink of going home for the third straight year.

Art, what do you think? Ratings are down again in the NBA, and I don’t watch too much of it anymore, but your thoughts, Art about the NBA class?

I have to question the NBA a little bit. They had a chance to show Denver and L.A. last night nationally, and they put that on the NBA network and went in another direction. As much as I’d love to see the Lakers and J.J. Redick. And what a great job he’s done this year. Play against the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard, showing that when he can play, he still has the magic to lead a great team. But, you know, I don’t know. As I look at it, I still say Oklahoma City, they’re a tough team to beat. I mean, that kid can score from anywhere. I look at the East as I find really amazing to me. And I say, Indiana is the surprise of the entire NBA playoffs. What they’ve done, as you were saying, Mark, to go up against Milwaukee, it comes down right now tonight to Dan Lillard, he has to step up and score and have one of the games of his career. Or they’re down three games to none and they’re done. So, I mean, look at it from that perspective. I think the Celtics are in trouble. And I’m going to tell you, the more I watch Cleveland, the more I see a really good team, and here’s what’s funny about Cleveland. They’ll dominate a game, they’ll let them back in and then the last five minutes they play with them, they toy with them, and then that could come back in hot later on. And you’re right.

Boston will come out of the East if Milwaukee goes home because Boston,

Are they healthy, though, are they healthy? Are they healthy? That’s my question.

They got experience. I, you know, Cleveland, you gotta lose the win. And what I mean by that is, you can run roughshod through the regular season. But when it comes to matchups,

You and I, we’re going to, we’re going to put a really good sandwich on that one. You take, you take it, I’ll take the other side.

I like, I like Boston in that one. But, you know, is, is J.J. Redick the next Pat Riley? He’s well dressed.

I think he is, yeah,

He’s well dressed,

Yeah, he’s great.

I’m pleasantly surprised how awesome he is.

I love that guy!

Yeah, I like the, the banshee, the “banshee mentality” that he wants players to play with. I love it.

And what? And what a year Austin Reed’s had, you guys? I looked at his numbers for the entire season, averaged almost 20 points a game, played great. I mean, that’s the guy that if he can step up and they get some, you know, some of the other guys to fill in the Lakers. I mean, I gotta tell you, I’ve never seen LeBron happier than I’ve seen him the last like five or six games.

Oh well, cause, you know what? I think LeBron would be happy right now if he never scored another point, and he had,

Here Luca, here Luca.

I mean, he just loves to pass the ball and he’s got a great, you know, he’s. He loves to pass to Luca, he loves to. I mean, it’s. I, I think J.J., J.J. Redick is going to be the next Pat Riley. I think he’s done a great job, he’s got a great attitude.

The NBA is hoping you’re right, just so you know.

I like him.

They want New York, they want Los Angeles, and they want to get the Bulls, they want to get those major cities to be powers again.

Yeah, the Knicks and the Pistons is going to be a war. I still like Detroit to beat them and Spike Lee.

You really do, huh?

I like the Pistons, scrappy, shades of the eighties,

And you are, and you are the world’s worst sports handicapper.

Okay.

Aside from that Fred, I love,

When is Shedeur Sanders going to get picked in the NBA, I mean, the NFL draft? Shedeur Sanders, what’s up?

Who’s going to touch him?

I don’t know. I mean, I thought the Steelers would, at least, you know, grab him. Needing a quarterback.

Let’s say, let’s say he’s hovering around late second round. What are the five teams out there? I mean, New Orleans. What would you lose by picking him in the late second round or early third round? I mean, you got, you got, Carr, go ahead, no.

If you’re a general manager or a coach. And you know that Sanders’ dad is going to butt in and cause grief, you just might not touch him. I mean, you know, if that weren’t the case, he’d have probably been taken in the first.

So it’s like the basketball family that played in LA and Levar.

The Balls, the Balls.

Yeah.

The same thing. I wouldn’t touch him, and again, you know, if my job’s the line, I assuredly wouldn’t touch him. And you know, he’s talented, no question, but I think he probably would have been a first-round pick.

Folks,

You know who he reminds me of, guys, honestly, Caleb Williams, and I’m not sold to Caleb Williams.

Well, I like Caleb Williams.

But I’m saying the way they run around with the ball loose in their right hand and then they just fire it down the field.

Let me, Artie, here’s the problem of it. And you guys have watched football as long as I have, too, and you played the game. You know, when did you have a bust in the 70s and 80s as much as you’re having bust with quarterbacks now because these guys aren’t learning the system in and out. They’re just throwing the fire. So when they throw seven interceptions and they throw two touchdowns, the team’s ready to tank and draft another quarterback.

Let me tell you something, quarterbacks, you go back, just look at Cleveland from 1985 all the way to Mayfield and you will see, what, 25 guys that were running,

Brian Sipe wasn’t a bust.

That’s one guy out of 17. I’m all good with that. What I’m saying is it’s a crapshoot. Do you have something that measures someone’s heart? Can you get inside their brain and see, you know, it’s Friday night? I want to go drink a couple Scotch and sodas.

You know what caught my eye with Cam Ward and the guy that

How humble he was was what caught my eye.

New Orleans, the pick, New Orleans these guys are. It just seemed like they were just grateful and they’ll do whatever it takes to stay in that city. With that New Orleans pick and the Tennessee pick, it’s great.

All right, let’s take a quick break and come back with more.

I got to say one thing, Fred. You get a guy that loves the game of football, who is a gym rat, and you got a winner.

Yeah.

All right, we’ll take a quick break on Fred and the Fantastics.

Folks, back on Fred and the Fantastics with Art Sorce, Laura Snoke, Mark Mancini, I’m Fred. You can email us at sportsfred@aol.com, sportsfred@aol.com. Okay. The end of collegiate sports? You know, it’s depressing, but I think it’s a reality. It’s got to stop. Too many kids are transferring. UCLA and Tennessee, basically making a trade of quarterbacks. Art, how do we resolve this problem?

Well, Nico Iamaleava sacrificed $2 million to come home and play for UCLA. The kid Aguilar, who was the quarterback that they had taken from Appalachian State, goes back to Tennessee. He’s going to not get as much money as Imo did so. The team that won was Tennessee. They saved $2 million. But the point, yeah, it’s like crazy. A de facto trade is exactly how it is, which is illegal, but it happens. And when are they going to put parameters on how many times you can transfer and when you can transfer?

Laura, what do you think? You’re a big collegiate sports fan.

I think that the problem is, is that for so many years that the players were just treated like indentured servants. And so when they finally got emancipated, the pendulum kind of swung all the way to the other side.

And it always does that, doesn’t it?

It seems to in history. I don’t begrudge the players making whatever money they can make, I really don’t. They’re the ones that are bringing the fans. I think there will have to be some rules to preserve. Because they’re going to kill, they’re going to be the goose that killed the golden egg, or whatever that metaphor is,

You’re 100 percent right. How much money is too much? What happens, what happens if, five years from now, a college kid’s making twice as much money as an NFL player?

Well, what about the person that’s in the corporate world that’s sitting there and getting a six-figure salary? And they’ve got a worker that comes up to him and says, You know what, can I get a two-dollar, three-dollar raise? Well, we can’t give it to you now.

So, it’s called capitalism.

Yeah, so I mean, well, you don’t. You don’t want to give me a raise, but you’re making sure you make six figures. So I don’t see the difference of these players now. Asking for a piece of the pie when an athletic director was making 20 million a year, or a coach is making 10 million a year.

Now does a position, does a position player other than quarterback deserve more money than a corner or a defensive end, or a linebacker, or a backup offensive tackle? At what point in time? I mean, you’re a team, right? We’re all cohesive, we’re one unit against the world. Or are we?

Well, when did, when did we start worrying about gymnastics in college and stuff? I mean, if Johnny,

When Paul Steen started pitching for the Pirates,

But when Johnny is doing that

In professional sports, on professional sports teams, there’s a disparity in salaries between the players.

That the guys that make, all the guys that make all the money take the other guys out and make sure that they take care of them.

It doesn’t seem to ruin cohesiveness of the team. Right, so why would it ruin cohesiveness on a college team? I think, you know, they’re going to end up being quasi-employees of the university, they’re going to have to sign contracts like pros.

Well, I don’t know, because, Laura? If they’re jumping to the Big Ten and they’re making big money. And then you get these big schools coming in your backyard and you’re getting three times face value, you’re making money. So obviously you can pay the people that are making the money for you, the money.

And when you’re talking about six billion dollars, five-year television rights, billion, there’s a lot of money to be spread out amongst the youngsters.

Exactly.

And the coaches are making 12 and 13 million, not all of them. But, you know, like your Franklins, and your Days, and your Lincoln Riley.

Let me, let me ask you Artie. So when the players in baseball say, we don’t mind meeting the owners halfway, but the owners don’t want to show us the books. They’re losing money,

Owners are never losing money.

Exactly!

Every day, the franchise gains about one hundred thousand. Ask Artie Moreno.

So they get the fans to buy in, oh the poor owners, man, they’re paying these guys left and right, and they don’t really have any money. When was the last time an owner didn’t make money in any sport?

All right, let me ask you a question. Well, the only one I can think of is Donald Sterling.

Yeah, he had to forfeit it, he made it, but he had to forfeit it.

You don’t, you don’t think this is, well, Laura and Fred, you don’t think the Dodgers just made all their money back on Ohtani when they went to Japan there, the Angels should have tapped into that.

Yeah, sure,

All right. Final thoughts on Fred and the Fantastics. Laura, your final thoughts as we’re taping this Friday afternoon, your comments.

Well, I’m looking forward to the NBA. playoffs. I love the NBA playoffs. I’m actually going to record the Laker game because I’m not going to be around until later tonight. I’m also looking forward to watching the clay court season in tennis. Not a sport we talk about a lot, but I love watching clay court tennis because especially on the men’s side, because,

Such an incredible game on clay.

You can see that there’s more shot making. I think there’s nothing more boring than a serve, which is an ace or a miss, I mean, there’s, you know, we like to see rallies, which is why I think women’s tennis is almost a lot of times more entertaining than the men’s game. But it’s going to be a great sports weekend and glad to have you back, Fred.

Yeah.

Thank you very much. Mark, your final thoughts.

Well, I’ll tell you it’s, it’s a nice weekend. I look for the Pirates to just bring out the brooms and sweep the Dodgers. They got, they got schemes going,

Don’t bet on it!

They got Bednar going, they got Falter going.

We know where to bet on now, don’t we, right?

I, wait a minute. I was kind of disappointed when they couldn’t sweep the Angels, but I think they’ll carry this in. The Dodgers are slipping a little at bottom of the lineup. Got a little, you know, threads there, so I like, for the Pirates, look for the Bucs to get off the wagon. And I don’t know. Demi Moore, at 60, looks pretty darn good as I’m looking through some of these pictures.

You know, she grew up in, in Jaclyn’s neighborhood, my wife, yeah. So here’s what I’m excited about. I want to see why they don’t like Cam Skattebo, my favorite little running back out of Arizona State, who plays really hard every play. Then I also want to find out what’s going to happen with Shedeur Sanders. I think it’s intriguing. I remember watching Aaron “Ego” Rodgers drop all the way down to, like, 27th, and the Packers finally said that Brett likes, we’re going to take him. And then the other thing I want to, I’m going to watch the NFL draft and have some fun. Hey, spring is here, the team is back together, I’m excited about that. You look great, Fred, love you Laura, Mark.

My, my final thoughts. Cooper Flagg making twelve and a half million in advertising and things like that, only going to make twelve million as he jumps to the National Basketball Association.

By the way, who is Shaq’s agent?

Yeah, who’s Joc Pederson’s agent?

He’s even better. How many hits has he got this year, two?

He goes 0 for 42. And he gets a base hit on Thursday night as a pinch hitter. So now he’s one for 43 and, like, two for 60 something, all right.

Dragging home seven million a year.

Yeah.

That’s it for Fred and the Fantastics with Laura, with Mark and with Art. Thank you Mario, very much and stay tuned for more of Fred and the Fantastics.

Bye, everybody.