The Drive with Jack
Brian & Jackie Ness, Michigan State super fans
(upbeat music) - Jack, I believe you're my good friend, Matt Sloatt, grab a Volcomist, lots of excitement at the two dealerships. What's new with Chevy and Nissan? - Well, Jack, great question. At Nissan, everybody seems to be talking about interest rates. We're offering 0% financing on new vehicles, and we have the all new completely redesigned 2025 kicks on the lot and ready for delivery. It is fantastic. At Chevy, same thing. People are talking about interest rates. Guess what? We have 0% financing on new, and as low as 1.99 used, you got to come check it out. - Great time to get a car and great place to do it. Grab a Volcomist. I said that I like to salute fans, especially fans who sacrifice. And I don't know any who accumulate more air miles following their team. Then Brian and Jackie Ness from Boise, Idaho, and all of the trips that they make back to Michigan to watch Michigan State and follow sports here. Brian and Jackie, happy new year. - Happy new year, Jack. Happy new year. - Brian, I want to go through your fan odyssey and when you moved to Boise, you lived in Michigan for most of much of your life anyway, and then you moved to Boise and became the Idaho Director of Transportation, right? - That's correct. - Yeah. When you did that, did you know then that you were going to be making all of these trips back, or did this kind of happen? - Oh, I figured we'd be coming back occasionally, and it started with maybe a couple of football games a year and a couple basketball games a year, and then spilled over to, well, that for a month, we'll go to the Big Ten tournament and then go to the NCAA basketball tournament, and then more and more football games and more and more basketball games. So it kind of exploded. - Jackie, do you handle all the travel, the accommodations, the reservations, all those things? Now you've got your place up in Gaylord, but do you take care of all the travel for this? - Nope, he still does that all. - He does that too, huh? - Yeah, he wants to take care of it all. - Okay, all right. Do you know how many miles it is from Boise to Lansing? - As a crow flies? No, because it depends on which airport we go through. We either go through Minneapolis or Salt Lake. - It's about 2,000 miles as a crow flies. - Roughly 2,000, okay. So a trip then, you're talking about 4,000 around trip, right? - Yeah. - And how many trips a year, Brian? - Oh, probably too many. Four football games roughly this year. It looks like we'll be about six basketball games, but we're trying to combine weekends. We also were headed to the UCLA USC basketball games in Los Angeles and we're already in Maui. - Right, you were in Maui. - And we were in Maui, they still? - That's correct. And we're making our plans for the NCAA tournament. We're starting to book our Marriott rooms right now. - So you'll be at the big 10 tournament? - We will, yes. We have our rooms already. - How do you handle the NCAA tournament? You just have to wait and see where they are. Are you one of those people that gets hotel reservations at every site and then you cancel? - That's correct. And sometimes you only have about a 24 to 48-hour cancellation window after the brackets come out. So as they're rolling the brackets through on CBS and I see we didn't go to Cleveland or we didn't go to Seattle, I'm canceling rooms as they're going through the brackets. - You wouldn't want to forget the cancel, right? You'd have eight hotel bills, that would be bad. - That's correct. And they're not very kind, they will charge you. - All right, I want to go through the Michigan State year and it was a great year. In a lot of ways, you got championships and one memorable night, Michigan State won the Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championship in Jennison Field House and then you cross Kalamazoo Street and they win the Big Ten Hockey Tournament. Women's basketball was good. Men's basketball back in the NCAA tournament for a record-setting streak. And this year, there's no school in the country right now that has as many wins as Michigan State does in those three sports, two basketball and hockey, it's 37 victories. But so much, Brian, is focused on football and you had concerns about what you have seen from Jonathan Smith, right? - I do, but I'm not sure it's a Jonathan Smith issue. I think it's an NIL issue and whether we can compete with the Alabama's and the Michigan's and Ohio States of the world. - Are you saying that Jackie's gonna have to do less shopping and gonna have to ratchet up the donations or what? (laughs) - You're so funny, Jack. (laughs) - What did you think of the football season, Jackie? You said that you watched it, it wasn't what anybody wanted. - No, no, but I don't like the portal. I hate, I really dislike the portal. I mean, they can, you know, run home to mommy anytime they want and I just don't like it. I don't know how a coach does this day by day when he doesn't know who's gonna be around. It's very difficult for him and the school to continue to function as that portal is open. - Hey, Rob, do you know why Jackie is fine with Jonathan Smith and where this program is going? Because of the place kicker who's gonna be handling the duties for Michigan State next year, do you know Martin Conenson a lot better than any of us? In fact, I think you've had dinner with his family in the last couple of weeks. Do you want to talk about this young man? - He is dedicated, he practices every single day. He really, really wants that spot. He is so hungry to be on the team and he is, he wants it badly. So he is out there working. How far did he kick the other day, hon? - The video I saw was 72 yard field goal. - 72 yard field goal and we know the kickoff went how far? - 90 yards. - 90 yard kickoff. Think about that. That's like through the end zone, through the goal posts, into the net, if they even had the net up, at the end of the stands and over the top of the top rope. - 71 yard field goal, I mean, obviously, he didn't have a rush coming at him and it wasn't game conditions and, you know, it was-- - And he didn't have the gear on and he just had his, you know, shorts and stuff, you know, agreed 100%. But if he can kick that far, then get him closer and we don't have a problem. He has got a leg. - He really does. - Well, that's one of the things that Michigan State had going for it this year. I mean, obviously, Jonathan Kim missed a big chip shot field goal at Michigan that could have made a difference, but he was hitting from long range, 50 plus on a regular basis and Koniton can do that and more, right? - He can, he definitely can. - So, Brian, how did he get to Michigan State? - I believe he was recruited by Jonathan Smith at Oregon State and when Jonathan Smith got the job at East Lansing, Martin followed him to Michigan State. - So that tells me that he has a great shot at the job because the coaches obviously believe in him. He's not someone that they inherited, that they found when they got here, they brought him here, right? - That's correct, but I believe there is someone ahead of him yet in the pecking order. So it'll be interesting to see how that dual shakes out and spring practice. - Okay, all right. Well, we're gonna pay close attention to that. I wanna talk about Tom Izzo's team and where they are, what you saw in Maui and what you think it meant, the win over North Carolina in overtime in that third and fourth place game, wasn't a championship game, but it might be a game that makes champions. - I would agree with that and remember they did that with out Chase Richardson, that he was in street clothes that night. - That's right, that's right. So, Jackie, what's different about this Michigan State basketball team from some of the ones that have been frustrating since Cassius Winston left? - Number one is depths, they have a lot of depths. And number two is they're playing like a team. That's what I see. - Yeah, Brian, it seems like they're getting to the foul line and off a lot, again yesterday, they made three more free throws in Western Michigan attempted, outscored the Broncos 20 to seven at the stripe, but it isn't just the points that you get from free throws, it tells you about your style of play that you are the aggressor, and that shows up in rebounding stats, it shows in your ability to run the court, and Michigan State, depending on the metric you use, is either number one or number two in tempo and points in transition. So, that seems to me like a return to Isoball. - It does, and I think that toughness also is returned to Isoball, and it's interesting, he has some big fish here that you control the ball into them and they can actually catch it, put it up in the basket. - Yeah, and I think there's an identity with this team. You can look at it now and say, oh yeah, that looks like a Michigan State team. And the last couple of years, even when they had good wins, it was Tyson Walker getting hot from the outside or someone else heating up, but it wasn't what we've come to expect for 30 years, right? - That's correct, and the one thing I noticed in Maui is when Kohler was sitting out, and I think it's because that group was playing very well against North Carolina, he wasn't moping on the bench, he was cheering on his team and talking to Coach Izzo, and I just see the support for each other that hasn't been there in past few years. - Jackie, you mentioned the word depth. I think we saw that yesterday when Michigan State got it together in the second half and they built a 20-point lead, and I was looking at the box score at the time, and Jackson Kohler, Jeremy Fierz, and Cohen Carr did not have a basket between him, but it's a different guy each night. I mean, who would have thought that Carson Cooper suddenly would make every shot he took except one? And last year, you know, Cooper couldn't make a free throw, Cohen Carr couldn't make a free throw. - Cohen Carr hasn't missed a free throw this year. - Now, it's great to see that everybody's, you know, even if they're not making a basket, they're there under the basket, they're there to help the team. I mean, everybody's putting in something. - All right, you are back in Boise for the holidays, right, Jackie? - Right, we are. - When do you return to the State of Michigan? - We are looking at our schedule now, we're not making any airplane flight schedules yet. We're waiting for the first of the year, but we're coming. We're gonna be there shortly. - Brad, do you have games circled? You have the schedules like posted up on the wall there in your place in Boise? - We do, the war room is alive and well, and I will say that we look at games that are close together, so Penn State, Illinois, in January. This is crazy, I thought being retired, you could go anytime you wanted to, and I was really looking at that. Oregon, Indiana, close games together, but soccer appointments get in the way. So I guess that comes with age, but that's all right, 'cause we'll be in LA, not too long before that, but then I think we'll be there for the Purdue game, we definitely will not miss Michigan for senior night. - So I'm gonna see you at the USC and UCLA games, correct? - Correct, yes. - So Steve Waite, who was on just in front of you, is also an MSU diehard, lives in Mississippi, is also going to be there, and another guy who I know you're gonna wanna meet, Rod Bar-Mac from the Final Four is not on the schedule, if you get a chance to listen to that podcast, it's terrific, he's gonna be there, along with his broadcast partner, so there's gonna be a pretty good contingent of Michigan State people heading out there, and hey, it's the first time that Spartans are gonna be playing these teams in a series like that, back to back. Oregon and Washington will be coming to East Lansing, and then next year it'll flip, and Michigan State will go to Seattle and Eugene, and the Trojans and the Bruins will come here, so it's gonna be a little bit different, but lots of excitement, and the Big Ten tournament, this year is gonna be unbelievable, because Brian, there is no clear-cut favorite for this championship, there's no Big Ten team in the top nine, and then you have like nine of 'em who are, you know, just throw a blanket over 'em. So they're gonna be some incredible games at Game Bridge Field House. - And the top two teams are the two West Coast teams that are ranked in the Big Ten, in Oregon and UCLA, so- - Yeah, yeah. - Go figure. - Yeah, I think Michigan State will be there at the end, and I really think Maryland might be there too. Maryland is a team, I've been watching closely, but hey, we'll know a lot more about Michigan State Friday night, Spartans resume Big Ten play in Columbus against an Ohio State team that is truly bipolar. I mean, this team lost to Auburn by 38. It lost at Maryland by 25, and then it turns around last week and beats Kentucky by 20. - So you never know what you're gonna get with this Ohio State team. I mean, they have games where, you know, you're just not gonna beat 'em. And then you have other games where you look and you say, you know, that's not a first division team. So we'll see what Michigan State does on the road and whether all the Ohio State people will be back yet from the Rose Bowl. - Wow. - So I wanna give a shout out. - I wanna give a shout out to our new big coach. I mean, he's doing a heck of a good job 'cause our bigs are doing, are coming out of their, I wanna say shell, but they're really performing this year. So a shout out to our new big coach. - You talking about Sadie Washington? - Yeah, I am. He is doing a great job. - Yeah. Well, I think Tom likes his team. He likes his staff that they didn't like his other staff. He liked Dwayne Stevens and he liked Mark Montgomery and he's liked all the coaches he's hired. But I think the staff is really working together well and I think the players like each other. And a lot of times you can recruit players, but it's hard to recruit chemistry and it's hard to find guys picking each other up. I think you saw all you need to know about this Michigan State team. When Cohen Carr hit that three pointer and the way the other players reacted that came off the bench and lifted him up and the same thing when Nick Sanders hit that shot. I mean, it's kind of like, you know, like the Steven is all past. - The new little is-o. - Yeah, exactly. All right, you can tell us the secret. What is New Year's Eve like for the Nessus? Noah Roward? - No, we're gonna sit here and watch Boise State get beat. - And you were Boise State season ticket holders and you went to a lot of Boise State games over the years, right? - In basketball. - In basketball, we never got into the football here, but we're gonna watch them. We're gonna watch Penn State beat Boise State. - Oh, okay. All right, well. - Well, thanks so much for joining us. I look forward to seeing you when you get here for some basketball and congratulations on being Spartan superfans. - Well, Happy New Year, Jack. Thank you. - Happy New Year and Go Green. - To everyone who craves a sweet treat with a little something special, let us tell you about our concrete mixers at Culver's. - There's so many reasons I love fresh frozen custard. It's so rich, so creamy. It's the perfect treat. But when I handcraft it with all of your favorite mixins and see your smiles after every school, it's clear. 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