Gwynn & Chris On Demand
Gwynn & Chris Sept. 24th Hour 1: Padres-Dodgers starts tonight!
Yes indeed Tuesday live from the laying ham. Tony Gwen Jr. Matt Scravey. Chris Ello out. He's a hot dog eater. And Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Miss him. He'll be back at the end. I probably think next week, right? Yeah, next week. He'll be back next week. Until then, you get Scravey myself, Adam Klug on the ones in two twos. I believe Braden's a friend is going to join us at some point, right? Are you. I'm here. I'm ready to go. Well the stream's kind of jacked up, Tony. But aside from that, I'm ready to go. Well, the stream is projected for me because I'm not on it right now. So therefore you get the three of us here. Padres back in action here tonight. Dodgers, you know, for some reason we're still playing 17 games out here in LA. The last game of the day. Padres off yesterday still picked up a half a game. The Diamondbacks get taxed by the the Giants who who have all of a sudden started trying to play spoiler. They had it just coming off. I don't think they were playing anybody significant the last series, but they played pretty well in that series as well. So Padres chance to clinch tonight gentlemen. When here, Clint is a chance for the playoffs. They still had to win a few more in order to seal the deal on hosting the series. But all of a sudden we got some movement just below the Padres. It had been the Diamondbacks and Padres duking it out basically over the past three weeks. Well, Mets caught him and now sit in that two spot. The significance of that is that the Padres would then host the Mets as opposed to the Diamondbacks. I like hosting, but I'm not so happy about facing the Mets. I think the Padres can beat any team, but that team gave him troubles this year. Yeah, the Diamondbacks have given them trouble too. I mean, by just to be clear, that tiebreaker is not settled. I believe it's even right now. And so the Padres Diamondbacks whole who has the tiebreaker will settle itself as well in that last series. But yeah, I will say this, the Diamondbacks pitching looks taxed. We watched the milkman. What's his name? Zach Gallon. Zach Gallon. He got hit up pretty good in his start. Meryl ended up believing, I think after the third inning, even though they won that game, but they've struggled bullpen wise. It's going on a couple of weeks now. And you have to start to wonder, are they, is that the legit? I mean, I don't think there's a question. I think that's the legitimate weak point of the Diamondbacks. Yeah, I mean, I think the one thing that I'm confident going into the playoffs with the Padres is that they have a better bullpen and better pitching staff than most of the other teams that are in the playoffs. Definitely have the better bullpen, I think. Of course, the Braves and Mets are facing off against one another. So that will pretty, I think that will, that will, you know, set itself up for it. So because that Braves are going into that series behind the Mets two games. So they got a pretty much sweep in order to take the lead before the last three games of the season. I think one of them plays Philly, if I'm not mistaken, to end the season. Let me check out the Phillies schedule. I'm going to double check that. But I think the Padres are in a very, very good spot. That's the Cubs and the Nationals. That's what the Phillies have left. Sorry. That's the Cubs and the Nationals. I'm sorry, the Braves are playing the royals, the last three games of the season. And they're fighting for their playoff lights. Braden, what's your feeling on it? On a game tonight? Well, you know, in this kind of spot the Padres are in, I think they're a great spot. I mean, you win tonight. You're in the playoffs. That's, that's check number one, right? One of your goals of the season is make the playoffs. And then after that, you start thinking about your other goals, right? Trying to win the division and other things like that. But I mean, you couldn't ask for a better situation. The only, the only way the situation would have been better is if the Rockies held on to beat the Dodgers on Sunday, because then it would have been a little bit more obtainable. You know, I think it's going to be difficult for the Padres to win the division. You know, that's just based on math for a lot of people out there that, you know, have been, have been on Craig and myself on the midday show about, oh, you're not believing in the Padres. That's nothing to do with belief. It's just in terms of the way math works, it's going to be a difficult task for the Padres to win the division. Now, they are in control of their own destiny, right? If they win six in a row, they will be division champs and they will have a buy in the first round of the playoffs. But I mean, you're asking an organization now, this is a different team, right? I mean, every year is a different team, but you're asking an organization, the Padres to go up to Los Angeles and sweep the Dodgers for the first time since 2013. You're asking them to go into Arizona and sweep the Diamondbacks in Arizona for the first time since 2012. And even though it's a different ball clip now, I mean, that's still a hard ask. And, you know, for me, it's when you start getting into what needs to happen in order for you to win a division and you got to start sweeping teams, I think that's a hard ask to ask a team to go out there and sweep. But to me, it's one game at a time, you know, as talk show hosts, we can sit there and we can look in the future and start playing some games. But Tony, you know, being in being in a locker room, being in a clubhouse, you know, just focus on what you can control, control the controllables. And right now, tonight, you have an opportunity to pop some champagne after the game by getting a victory over the Dodgers. That should be priority number one. And then after that, it's just icing on the cake for the Padres. I think the best part of what you said there is that as broadcasters, we can look out and play game. No, we can't. We can't. That's why we try to tell everybody, you can't play these things out on your own. These things always are end up different. Now, is it possible the Padres could go in and sweep the Dodgers? Yes, I do think that's a possibility. I think the biggest question is, then are you saying that they would have to, not you, Braden, I'm saying in general, the people who really want the division who I think we all want the division, but it is no doubt a tough task. Because then you're going to have to go in and at the very least take two of three from the Diamondbacks. And that series, which also can be done, but it's a tall order. I mean, that would have the Padres losing three games in the last 12, or excuse me, two games in the last 12 games of the season when they face the Astros, the White Sox, the Dodgers, and Diamondbacks. This is a tall task. If they pull it off, I think it'll be nuts if they pull it off. Certainly would love to see it. But I agree. They think first things first, cleanse the playoff spot, set your sights on hosting a series. And if you, if you're, if you do that, I think you give yourself a fighting chance to, to maybe win a division when it's all said, then I just think had these been the last three games of the season, we might be having a different conversation. Right. And that's what the scenario was for those who like to bring up 96. That was the scenario. They were down to last three games of the season, and they went in there and they got it done. But to now expand that to another, another three game series against a team that's also fighting for their playoff hopes, I think it's a little bit of a tall task. Michael King will go against NAC for the Dodgers. I believe the following day, what was the, Jack Flaherty is the following day. And then the compensator in Bueller against CCS. And then Bueller for the Dodgers going on was that Wednesday. So, or excuse me, Thursday. But yeah, should be should be a lot of fun. Metz in Atlanta started 420. So we'll be able to kind of follow that one as it goes. How about the, just remember baseball, how about the Mariners whoop in the Astros yesterday to pull themselves within one and a half. They're back from the dead. It's like the undertaker gift. They tried to sell off the season. Now they right back in the, the, the middle of the, the, the shin dig right now. Yeah. Julio Rodriguez found out he can hit again, you know, it's nice. It's great. It's all good. Right. You got nothing, huh? Seattle mayor. I mean, they're hanging around, right? But I was actually, you know, I don't really go back to the Padres, but you know, just to, just to talk about how difficult the task is at hand. I mean, Tony, you were on a team that had to do that exact same thing in, in 2010, right? Well, you had to go up to San Francisco, win three games in a row, took the first two, you know, just from your perspective of, you know, that trying to win three games in a row as a professional ball club against a team that I think ended up winning the World Series that we're, you know, what was, what was the mindset for you guys? Obviously a little bit different because you weren't guaranteed a playoff spot, but that, that would have forced a game 163 against Atlanta if I'm not mistaken. I don't remember who it was going to be against, but it's a great question. And what I'll tell you is that everything has to go perfect. And through the first two games, everything went perfect. And one thing went wrong in the last game, you know, Matt Latos didn't have his best, you know, wasn't his normal self. And that was all it took. I mean, and that, and so to your point for everything, for the Padres, win the division, everything has to go perfect. And so that would then mean carrying that six games over, over that, that kind of, you know, you know, that kind of energy would have to last over six games. And that's tough, and that's tough. And you know, I would also say this, the Padres in that year, the '96 at least, Padres, I mean, tracked down to Dodgers by playing so well last week and they went into playoffs and got swept. Say Lewis came in there and just ran him over. And then, you know, you, you build up that kind of energy to get someplace you could empty the tank. And I don't think this team needs to do that. They're there. They're right there. You know, they already have made this, I think, one of the better seasons we've seen in this franchise in terms of what they were able to do. But yeah, that's a tall task. Not saying it can be done. Again, I want to see it happen more than anything. I've said before that this team reminds me of the 2010 Giants, which is a team that, you know, no one really expected them to make a deep run, but they got hot at the right time. They had a team with a bunch of veterans on it. They had a team with some young guys on it. And that's what this Padres team reminds me of. They're hot at the right time. They're heading into the postseason with veterans that know how to play the playoffs. I think they're set up really well. Yeah. We'll talk more about these very same Padres. Mark Ziegler will join us later in the two o'clock hour. We'll talk a little bit about what's going on with the Mount West to pack 12. It's getting crazy. A lot of moving and shaking, a lot of bluffing and gambling going on. We'll to break. We'll kind of touch on the subject next segment, but we'll really get into it. 240 same. We've got a Brayden versus the fan here today. The big five will also tap in with Sam Levitt in the five o'clock hour as he will be at Dodger Stadium. I'm here at the Langham currently waiting for some line. Oh, that's what you said earlier. You said the welcome to the. I was like, what the heck you're at. Tell me what you think you was talking about. I may have. I thought it was the first word. And then I forgot to Google it. And then, yeah, now we're here. Tony is at some nice restaurant in L.A. just posted up right now. We're just popping out here. I'm literally looking at a white wall right now as we are doing this show. So it's not fun. No, it's not. But it's all good. We got to do. We got to do. All right. Let's step away. Let's get to break when we come back. I mean, even the even the Los Angeles Times is talking about the Padres and how they could pull off the what you know, what was that one thought thought to be the impossible, which is beat the L.A. Dodger. We'll get into it on the other side. Morgan and Chris to 19 on the clock. Tony Gwen Jr. Matt Scravey, Brayden Soprano. And the Padres embark on pretty big three game series. And not just the folks in San Diego are taking notice of this. Up in Los Angeles, Bill Shakin, who I know very well, certainly has caught has been paying close attention to the Padres. Big article came out in the L.A. Times yesterday. It's a big picture of AJ's mug with his mess. He's well manicured. He's been well manicured all year. Yeah. It's different for and he's highlighting the fact that, you know, you know, they, you know, they started with a little shot of this. You know, this may not surprise you, but AJ Preller has run the San Diego Padres for longer than Andrew Freedman has run the Dodgers. Not by much. The Padres hired Preller in August 2014. The Dodgers hired Freedman two months later. And since then the, this is a par a get the little shot, he gets a shot off. Since then the Dodgers have dominated the nationally West for the Dodgers eight division championships, three NL championships, one world series championship for the Padres. This is this part was especially stab, stabby, better, zero, and zero. Yes. All true, but nonetheless, little shot, but it basically an article that, you know, they're making the point that, you know, for the first time outside of the 2020 season, the Padres have a chance to finish closer than they ever have, if not catch the Dodgers before the season before the season ends. And he goes into a lot of the really brilliant moves that AJ has made throughout the course of the season and how it's kind of lined up with the, the Dodgers and some of their issues they've had this year. So it, it, it's not just in San Diego, they're, they're known as despite what I'm sure LA people try to convince everybody on Twitter that they're not paying attention. They paying attention. And that, and that's great, because I saw I told you about this yesterday. There is a Dodger fan on Twitter over the weekend trying to plead with Dodger fans to realize that he wasn't hating on the team. He was just being truthful that this team might not be built to go to the World Series this year, especially their pitching staff. So I mean, that shows that the fans are thinking that way. I honestly don't know how you can come to the conclusion that everything you've seen. I know they signed show a tiny, but there's been nothing that you've seen this year that says that the Dodgers are built for a World Series run this season. Like if you're just being honest and objective about it, right? They don't have, this is probably the worst starting pitch that they've ever had in, in this whole run that they've been on. And worse because you got a bunch of dudes hurt, you got a bunch of dudes not throwing well, coming off of injuries. So I don't know how how you can come to a conclusion that this team is, is in for or has a World Series based on how we, what we've seen that they're constructed for a World Series run. No, I don't think so. I mean, you mentioned the pitching, the pitching, and pitching wins in the postseason, right? I mean, that's, that's, that's what it is every time. And, you know, you have to have good pitching. You also have to have some good, some good bats to hit the other teams, good pitching, but collectively as a whole, I, you know, I like the Padres roster top to bottom better than I like the Dodgers roster top to bottom. In fact, I mean, you start looking at the teams that they're going to compete against in the national league, not just the Dodgers with the Padres in the postseason. I like the Phillies team more than I like the Dodgers. I think they, they bring a scarier atmosphere. Yeah, but, but yeah, but on the same time and they're pitching stats better. In terms of the pitching staffs of just the teams that are in the postseason and then maybe the one team that might miss out, you know, I like New York's pitching staff better than the Dodgers. I like the Padres pitching staff, better than the Dodgers. I like the Phillies pitching staff, better than the Dodgers. Uh, and, and honestly, you know, the Dodgers don't have anybody like Chris sale. And even though Atlanta's pitching staff is not on the same par, probably, it's probably close with Los Angeles, you know, you got the Cy Young probably winner to start a series if the Braves make the playoffs. I mean, I, I would rather play the Dodgers in a best of three game series based on the pitching matchups that have to do with Chris sale in game one. So from a pitching standpoint, you know, I, I think it's safe to say the Dodgers have the, the second to worst pitching staff in any of the teams in the national league, they're going to make the postseason. I think it might be a little bit better than Arizona, but if you really want to dive into the weeds, I'm sure you can make an argument for both the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers to have a better pitching staff against each other. And if pitching wins in the postseason, I'm not necessarily worried about the Dodgers pitching staff compared to all the other teams that the Padres might have to face. And the other thing too, I mean, it just feels like this year in, you know, in grand, I don't want to, I don't want to curse the Padres for these next three games. They'd be careful. It just feels like the Padres have just had the Dodgers number this year, Tony, and the games that they have played. And you look at that lineup. Nobody. I don't think anybody's got a better top three in baseball than the Los Angeles Dodgers. But you start looking at the lineup from top to bottom. The bottom three for Los Angeles is just, I mean, as Chris Ella likes to say, there's a lot of AOs at the bottom of that batting order for the Los Angeles Dodgers, where I'm not, I'm not necessarily afraid of that spot either. But I just feel like Tony, you've watched a lot of these games. It just seems like the Padres have had LA's number this year. They have that there is no getting around that. The Padres have played better. They've, they've done a lot of the things that the Dodgers have done to them in the past, right? They've, they've slugged them and pitched them to death. And when it matters, I think the games have been close. Don't get me wrong. These ain't been blowout games. I mean, the Dodgers are still a really, still a good team despite their flaws. But the Padres have done to them what the Dodgers had been doing to them for a long time. You know, they need a big homer. Somebody can go pro far hits one, hits one out. You know, you need a big night. It seems like it was pro far a lot in the Dodgers series. Yeah. And an extra motivation, Tony, right? You know what I'm saying? So like it's, it's, that has been true. You know, and friend, you can't curse. If they lose it, they go because you said that they had been playing well. No, I'm going to blame it on. You know, I don't need the last thing I need is Scravie mentioning me on Twitter and then getting everybody. Oh, I'm going to deal with everybody on that. I saw, I saw in the, in the, in the chat. And I think it's very interesting for both you guys. But I mean, think about our attitude as Padres fans the last couple of years of, you know what, you only have to beat the Dodgers in five in the postseason. And the Padres were better built to beat him in a best of three or a best of five. Now you look at a potential series with L.A. I like the Padres chances in seven based on how the pitching lines up. What a difference a year makes, but also to really emphasize just how the Dodgers pitching rotation has fallen since the last couple of years. Now some of its injuries, but you know, we all got injuries that we got to deal with at this point in the year in the sanding for the playoffs. But at the same time, I mean, that rotation the Dodgers had, and I go back to 2020 when it was the shoe was on the other foot, right? And the Padres had LaMette banged up and they tried to go with Clevenger on an injury. And they had Chris Patek start in a game and Craig Stanman had to start a game for a win for the Padres. And I mean, they had, they were limping in with pitching. And you're like, well, I guess we got to only have to beat him in five. But you start looking at it now. I like the Padres chances in seven against a lot of teams in the National League compared to years past. It's like, we only got to get them three times. And we can think here's, here's, here's what I'll say to that. And I think it, it, it's important that we, we mention it. The outs, the Padres, although they have had injuries, they haven't had injuries that, you know, knocked you out, knocked him out. And I say that to say, the Padres have been fortunate from that standpoint. Yes, there's been, you know, you had to miss time for the first personal stuff that was going on. You had, you had Tottie miss a little bit of time during the season. But this is what has made this, to me, the best roster put together is that they were built to, to be able to sustain while guys were out. And typically, that is what happens to the Dodgers. This isn't the first year the Dodgers have had injuries. They typically have had the depth to hold things down. Yes, they've always had some young guy to come up and fill in the spot. They've always had that. This is the first year that I can remember in a while where they didn't have the, they didn't have the, the depth that they're used to having. And the dudes who had picked them up in the past aren't, aren't those guys right now. And on a flip side, the Padres, although they've had injury, they've been able to avoid really major injuries, especially in the pitching staff. I know Joe was the one that kind of dealt with it, but he's bounced back from that. He's been able, and it happened, it's all about timing, right? These injuries for the Padres happened in areas where it wasn't like, you could, you could sustain it. And it was early. Now everybody is coming back healthy and is healthy. The Padres clearly have an advantage. I wanted to get into Mr. Fisher's letter a little bit today, but I think we got plenty of time for that. That's a major eye wash time. The one thing I want to tell everybody, the audacity, I know people sometimes go ahead. It's great. We got no, the one thing I wanted to tell everybody is that I didn't realize this yesterday, but in his letter, he misspelled Loma Prieta earthquake and he spelled it Loma Prada. I'm like, first off, it was kind of weird to mention an earthquake like that before, but he, he spelled it wrong. You got to get it right. You have to have someone check that like seven times because he didn't, he didn't read it. He didn't write it. He didn't write it or read it. And now Jessica Klanchman is posting hers on her Twitter of the Oakland Coliseum with the in the outfield in center field. It says, thank you Oakland. So like, where was all of this love for the last 18 years? They're like packing in all love into the last three, three days, basically, three games at the Coliseum. The, the, gosh, the, I can't think of the worst. They must have not got the season tickets of memberships for Sacramento next year that they were hoping for. Oh my goodness. I talked to someone who lives in Sacramento. They're like, this is a disaster and it's not even begun yet. I don't even, I doubt the player's association really wants to sign off on that either. And they haven't signed off on it yet. Haven't, right? No, they're going to do it. They, they just, it's going to be, it's going to be, it's going to be a tall task. Just telling you, like the amenities, the, the things that you need, that you don't even think about for a big league team to be in there, it's, it's just different. It's going to be, it'll be, it'll be a tall, it's going to be a big job for the folks who run that stadium in Sacramento. Like, I hope that they have more than just troughs in the bathroom since we've talked about the professional baseball players get to have their own little stall. I think they've worked hard enough to get you a little bit of practice. You know what troughs make me think of, and this, this is for the folks that have been part of FES forever. It makes me think of Yuma. That's all they have. Yuma at spring training facility. All they have. It's just long troughs. That reminds me, that reminds me of Norman, Oklahoma. Oh gosh, these are places I don't want to go. And Knoxville, Tennessee, man, that's that's where SCC country's got a lot of troughs out there. Let's get to, let's get a break. A lot bubbling in the Mountain West, Pac-12 kind of who's staying, who's going. Mark Ziegler, the one who is most informed on this deal. We'll join us next. We'll talk a little bit of San Diego State and how they align with what's going on. We're going to Chris on the other side. 237 on the clock told we're going junior, Matt Scravey, Braden Suprenton. Lot going on right now in college sports. Teams changing it up in terms of their conference, new conferences adding, I should say new conferences, old conferences adding new people to the mix. And we need to sort it out. Mark Ziegler joins us here on Quinn and Chris, San Diego Union Tribune. Mark, how's your day going, my friend? Scoring. Okay. I got my, my conference score card out. I'm writing it in pencil, not in pen scratching and racy stuff out. Change every 10 minutes. That's probably a very wise decision to go with pencil here. Just talk to a little bit about what's going on. I mean, the Pac-12 came out last week. They had a lot, it seemed like they had a lot of momentum. You know, San Diego State was one of the additions. This week, it seems like the plan that the Pac-12 had has been somewhat had some cold water poured on it. Teams from the AAC, at least at this point, have elected to stay. You had a few of the teams that the Pac-12 had their eye on, elect to stay in the Mountain West. And then Utah State decides they're going to jump ship. Where are we at now? And how do you see this thing kind of shaking out? Well, that's a pretty good description. I think, I think the initial plan was from the start, because, you know, I don't think those Mountain West schools are jumping into a league, not having any idea of who else is going to be in it. And so I think the whole plan from the start was going to be the two leftover Pac-12 teams who are going to stay and watch the state before that, that jumped on September 12th, San Diego State, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State. And then they're going to add three from the AAC, Memphis, Tulane, and either maybe South Florida, or UT San Antonio. And then they're going to go get Gonzaga. I would get them to nine, give them a nice 18 conference football schedule. We play everybody else once. And then they're going to go get Gonzaga, which, you know, they've been talking to as a tenth member just playing basketball and other sports, but not football. And that seemed to be the whole plan. And they got the first six of it, see, they just, they just couldn't get that done. They weren't as far as I understand, along as they thought they were with those schools. And the AAC jumped in, knowing that they were trying to leave and sweeten the pot, probably, and they decided to stay. And all of a sudden, you're in scramble mode, you know, the Gonzaga thing is off the table, or not off the table, but in limbo right now. And now the Mountain West takes all these exit fees and poaching fees that the PAC 12 and the departing schools are going to have to pay. And throws them back at their members saying, "Hey, you want to stay?" Well, we'll give you some, you know, little financial enticement, you know, for the effort to stay. And all of a sudden, they're staying, and it's a scramble to just get teams to fill out your league. And that's kind of where we're at right now. Utah State decided to go. UNLV is on the fence right now, and everyone's waiting for that, and I think that would be sort of the big domino to fall next. One way or the other. Real quick follow-up on that, Mark. You talked about Gonzaga and that being table for now, is it, do, does the PAC 12 want to get the football side of this thing done first before they, they go the Gonzaga route? Or is Gonzaga looking at it like, you know, we want to make sure you guys got your ducks in a row first before we start jumping that way? That's a good question. I think it's the latter because there was a report yesterday that the Gonzaga deal was done, and all of a sudden the Gonzaga officials are calling everyone who will listen saying, "Oh, no, no, it's not." And I think they're looking at this thing going, "Is this league really got us, you know, crap together here, or is this kind of a circus that we're jumping into?" And, you know, it's probably a little bit of both at this point. I mean, conference realignment's never clean and linear. It's always messy. And so, you know, will they end up in the league? Yeah, possibly. I think they would really like to see Memphis in the league, you know, a big-time basketball power that has a big arena, it has a lot of NIL and a long history of being very good, one of the best non-power conference programs out there, along with, you know, programs like San Diego State and Gonzaga. And so, I think that was a big entice with them, not in the league. You know, I think it becomes more of a 50-50 proposition for them. Talking to Mark Ziegler here of the San Diego Union Tribune about the PAC-12 conference, Mountain West. And my question for you, Mark, is we heard from JD Wicker that they did not accept a spot in a bigger conference. I believe it was the big 12 because they weren't going to get a full share. And I think a lot of people are split on whether that was a good decision or not. What do you know about that and what do you think about the decision? I'm really glad you asked about that because I think that, you know, that was a quote and story I was writing about the Mountain West. And I'd ask them a question about, you know, making sure it's financially viable. And the question was in the context of if you leave the Mountain West and go to a PAC-12, and you know, you might get a little bit extra TV money, but say you get only $2 million per year and you pay close to $20 million in exit fees, it's going to take you 10 years to pay that back and make yourself whole again, is that financially viable? And his answer was, any time you look into this, you have to look at the financial viability. And he used that as an example. Now, I think it was taken out of context and maybe it was, and maybe I should have provided more. I thought it was kind of already, we've already hashed this over. But what happened was they were talking to the, as I understand it, they were talking to the big 12. The big 12 said, well, if we invite you, if we invite you, it will be a half share with really no path to getting a full share. And Sandy said at the time was also talking to the PAC-12, we said, look, we'll get you up to a full share pretty quickly. And geographically, it made more sense. It's what they always wanted to be in. And so they just kind of pushed forward with the talks of the PAC-12. And as we know, came within literally hours of being part of that conference a year ago. And then the whole thing falls apart. And then the big 12 deal was likely almost certainly going to be contingent on four PAC-12 teams not coming. If those four, you know, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah decided not to go to the big 12. And maybe the big 12 is more interesting than Sandy of State. And they could further those conversations and share. But once those four schools came to the PAC-12, all those offers, they were never really on the table, but they were never going to be on the table at that point. I hope that makes sense. It did. Yeah. Yeah, it does make a lot of sense. And, you know, being the resident big 12 fan of the group, it would have been nice to see the Aztecs in the big 12, obviously, if they could have been able to pull that off. But, you know, my question for you, Mark, about, you know, how this is playing out. I mean, obviously, it seems like it's a little bit better than the Mountain West. But, you know, the big sell to a lot of people, at least, I think, from a perspective that a lot of Senate and state fans have was, you know, this is going to be a path to potentially being a a power conference with some invites and kind of holding out hope for, you know, maybe Cal and Stanford to come back or what have you based on how this progressed yesterday with a lot of schools saying no, and then some schools on the fence, with it being a lot of the same schools already in the Mountain West, how much of a boost to the TV deal do you think they could potentially get? Obviously not seeing any of the numbers. And, you know, as this slowly starts to play out, how much more of a step up is the Pac 12 conference going to be for San Diego State in comparison to if they just would have saved the money and not left the Mountain West? Well, there's a lot there. I think, I think, you know, the short answer is, yes, it's a step up. Is it a big step up? No, it's a little baby step up. It's not the step up that anybody wanted, including J.D. Wicher and Adele DeRatori, obviously, who wanted to be in the real Pac 12, not this version of it. I think the big question is going to be how TV networks view Oregon State and Washington State, because basically you're coming with, you know, the upper half, maybe not even all the upper half, but maybe the upper, you know, schools are the upper two-thirds of the Mountain West. And in your joining Oregon State and Washington State, we're in a power conference, but largely we're in a power conference because they joined it over 100 years ago, and they just kind of were along from the ride. They weren't really the revenue drivers in that conference. Every now and then they'd have a good team, football team, or basketball team, but by and large, they were just on the coattails of UCLA, USC, Stanford, Cal, you know, Oregon, Washington, all those are the schools. And so how are the TV networks view them? You know, if you look at, since I see a South staff, I think Dennis Don from CBS Sports posted, since 2016, you look at the average television viewership and where they rank nationally. Washington State, I think was 43rd, and Oregon State was in the 60s, and all these Mountain West schools are in the 80s, including San Diego State, for the most part, either because they don't have much of a national brand, or because they have a smaller market, or whatever the reason. But the problem with looking at that saying, okay, you got a number 43, you have a number 63, or whatever it is with Oregon State, is they were playing Pac-12 schools. They weren't playing themselves. They were playing, you know, USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, and big games where you would pack viewers from elsewhere. What's their value going to be when they're playing Fresno State on a Friday night at 7.30? And I think that's what the TV networks have to figure out, and that's why there's such a big fluctuation in what they could get versus what they might get. And will they get more than they are currently getting in the Mountain West? I would think so. Are they going to get significantly more than if the Mountain West is stuck together? Maybe, but is that enough to offset $18 million in X-Sees? I'm really not. And so that's where the tricky part of these negotiations come into play. Mark, a few days ago, I think it was the Aztecs Hoop Team released their non-conference schedule. What do you think of it? I mean, there's some names that stand out, but how would you rank this non-conference schedule versus, you know, maybe some of the ones that hadn't recent passed? Well, I bet it's the shortest they've had in like 20, 30 years. That's a function of the Mountain West going to a full double round rob and a 20-game conference schedule. It really leaves them with only maximum 11 games. They're going to play nine. And it just makes it really hard to sketch the games. They have to play a conference game in the first week of December, which is a pretty popular win, but to get non-conference games. You got to play one right after Christmas, where they usually play their final non-conference game. It just makes it really tricky when you've got the, with you've got finals week, which is almost 10 days, where they don't play games. You have a Christmas break. You have a Thanksgiving break. So it's really hard to get enough games. They've got nine. And it's a hard schedule. It is really hard. I mean, you've got five really, really hard games. You've got Zag, Curtain, Oregon, and Texas A&M, a 12-day period with no games in between them, no soft landings, no games against a Patsy service, work on things. All four of those teams probably will be ranked. And then you've got a neutral court game against Cal. It's in San Jose. And just like they played Cal and neutral court game last year in San Capistrano, in front of all Aztec fans, that one probably could be skewing more toward Falcons. So that's not quite a road game, but it's more like a road game. So that's a tough game as well. And that you layer on at a very young game. This has been a young, fantastic team we've seen in several years, particularly when you go back two years and you look at the team, the place of the National Championship, the entire rotation, we're senior, fifth year, senior, sixth year, senior. And this is going to be, you know, three freshmen are probably going to be in the rotation, and one of them is probably going to start. So it's a big change for them, and the big change early. So I think people got it for their expectations and they might not eat a winning record by the time we get to Christmas. But this team, by the time they get to February with the kind of talent size they have, the coaching they have, could be pretty good. And that's going to be the story of this season. That usually is how it works for this Aztec program. They get better as the year goes along. This is kind of the inevitability though, Mark. Like you have these older teams for so long. Eventually, the young ones have to have a chance. I'm looking forward to it, most certainly. Mark, I think it will be worth, Mark, I think I'm sorry to cut you out. I think it's going to be one of the more interesting and exciting in that way teams we've seen in recent years. I think the other ones you kind of knew what the floor was, you kind of had an idea what the ceiling was and then where are they going to go. This one, the difference between the floor and the ceiling is enormous. And so, you know, it's going to be, we'll just have to pull up and get our popcorn and see how it goes. Yeah, everybody, get your popcorn ready. Mark Ziegler, San Diego, you attribute. As always, Mark, thank you for coming on. Thanks, Mark. Yeah, my pleasure to talk to you Mark Ziegler, San Diego Union Tribune, breaking down the chaos of the Pac-12 Mountain West conference. It is chaos. It is chaos and, you know, don't get me wrong, I will take the baby step up. But man, they were that close to playing out in that conference. But, you know, in some ways, it's better that, you know, this way, because right, because they would have hopped into that conference, the moves still would have been the same, right? USC, all those schools still with a left. And so, and then it would look, then I feel like it would have felt worse at that point. Then we hopped in thinking it was one way. You're being in the three pack right now. You're being a three pack, which is half of a six pack, which is not very good. Nobody wants a three pack at the gas station. They don't even sell those. Oh, they do. They sell three packs. Tall boys. Tall boy, three pack. So you think you get the same. At least they're tall boys, though, at that point. You got the 12 ounce three pack right there with San Diego State, Washington State, Oregon State. To me, I mean, I was very critical of this move when it first happens just because of the first time under the show. Well, I just, I don't, I don't get it. I just, I don't get it from San Diego State. It's a slight advance. I guess they had to make a move. I don't get it from a Washington State Oregon State perspective either, where they have this gigantic asset in San Francisco called the pack 12 network. And there's like two conferences that won it. And I just feel like it was a panic move by then to start placing this thing together, because they had a time when you suggested that they did with it. I think, well, the thing was is everybody's waiting for the ACC and what's going to happen with that lawsuit with Clemson and Florida State because of Clemson and Florida State win that lawsuit. They're going to bail. And then you got all these teams going all over the place that are power five schools that, you know, they could be able to jump in on or maybe they get added to the ACC with their network or maybe they get added to the big 12 at their network. There's a lot of different, there was a lot of different plays for Oregon State and Washington. So I just feel like they, they, they felt the pressure of 2026 and having to be in a conference that they just had to strike as soon as they could. And to me, it just doesn't feel like they had a full plan together. And I thought yesterday with four AAC schools saying no was a tough, tough blow to the pack 12. It is for now. I would say that the timeline is what has them, had them make the move the way they did. There's no guarantee that that lawsuit's going to be done anytime soon before you would lose out on the automatic status that the pack 12 has. So I think they kind of had to move when they did. It wasn't ideal. Certainly you were hoping that that ruling for Clemson and Florida State would have already come. It hasn't. And so you got to start getting your ducks in a row. The work, the, the thing that could end up happening is, you know, you get your eight teams and then you, you know, the lawsuit, let's say it comes through and it finishes up and Florida State comes and when then you still be able to bring some of those other teams on that are going to have a hard time getting into any of those conferences. So yeah, gonna have to compete with the big 12 or some schools there. But at least, I mean, Boston College sounds a lot better than Wyoming right now. I can't, I hear no lies in it. All right. Three o'clock hour on the other side little daily gambit come your way more when chris