BaD Radio - Recap - 3/1/11

Tuesday 3/1/11

Episode: 2882

Location: Studio

The Mix: “Did Mr. and Mrs. Wes get together and name their son Vitamin?” - Norm

The Open: “Alcohol makes you text message young boys”. Part 1 Part 2

12:30 – Brad Richards: The great Brad Richards joins the show – Tom didn’t lose his number this time. He didn’t win the BaD Radio Fantasy Football Championship but his team won the Super Bowl. Back to hockey; Brad talks about the hit that has knocked him out of action for the past 3 weeks, calling it a “perfect storm” of a hit. Dan asks how much the concussion played into the trade negotiations. Brad says that it didn’t really get to the point where that would have been an issue. He goes on to say that he’ll keep his options open once free agency comes around, but Dallas will be the first team he listens to. If everything goes as planned, he should be in the lineup within the week. Despite what is reported on Wikipedia, he is not an accomplished pianist.

1:00 – Gay Not Gay: What is the age limit for a grown to play in the snow and it be gay? Is it gay to create a Facebook page for a newborn baby? Yes. Is an Oscar watching party gay? No. Is it gay to make a mix cd for a buddy to workout to? Yes. Getting married during intermission of a hockey game. Not Gay. Wearing jerseys that say “Bride” and “Groom”? Gay. Is it gay to be in a photobooth with another dude? Pretty much.

1:20 – Quick Segment: This segment lasted about 5 minutes and was pretty much just banter about the NFL Combine. High Point: Tom Gribble can run a 5.6 40 yard dash (the fastest on the show).

1:30 – Jesse Holley: The winner of 4^th and Long, Jesse Holley, joins the show in studio. He considers 4^th and Long a blessing and is a former Wide Receiver at the University of North Carolina. He was supposed to come off the show, join the Cowboys for a week or so and then be cut in order to make room for a “real” player. His skill, commitment and usability have made him a useful piece in the Cowboys machine. Going into his final preseason game against Minnesota, he thought that he had to make a special teams play or two in order to make the team; he ended up returning a punt for a touchdown.

1:50 – More with Jesse Holley: He gives a lot of credit to Sam Hurd for helping/mentoring him in playing special teams. At North Carolina, he was anti-special teams. That all changed when he joined the Cowboys. “If I want to keep my jersey, I have to do something that the other guys won’t do.” – Jesse Holley on changing his mindset when he got his chance with the Cowboys. In Canada, he only played with the B.C. Lions for one week. He was getting paid less up in Canada then he was being on the practice squad with the Bengals. 4^th and Long was contacting schools across the country and asking if they knew of any players that could play on Sunday and had on-camera charisma. They got Jesse Holley’s name and he had to get to the Orlando tryout on his own, while working at T-Mobile. This is an amazing journey. It went from 100,000 to 25,000 to 50 to 12 participants. After a free ticket to Orlando from his Grandma and free room and board from a family friend, the pieces were starting to fall into place.

2:40 – Surprise from Surprise: Evan Grant is watching another Spring Training game and he already seems beaten down. Netfali Feliz will get a start on Thursday in a split-squad game. Evan reports that Feliz has shown some confidence, but it is a hard slider and he needs to get a pitch that will slow a batter’s bat down. The idea behind the Frankie Francisco trade; the Rangers had too many “1 inning” guys and Frankie was the best trading piece. Keep an eye on Michael Kirkman as a sleeper.

3:00 – WTDS: On this day in 2011, I got to sit in during Why Today Doesn’t Suck. Happy Birthday to Justin Bieber and Throat Yogurt.

Listen to BaD Radio everyday from 12 – 3pm on Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket. I do, and I has opulence.

Wes Bullard

What do you do?

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

I don't know what sort of decisions you made today. Personally, I tried to keep track and the biggest one is where I had to decide between Lowe's or Home Depot to purchase a replacement toilet seat today. I wish I was making this up. I ultimately made the decision based on who looked like it had fewer cars in the parking lot (which is likely to be exactly the opposite rationale to use when selecting a store). I will not reveal the winner of this battle so as not to ruin any future sponsorship opportunities for the organization.

Regardless, I believe my decision will impact 0 lives, and those who go on to use my new toilet seat over years to come will not second guess my decision on message boards and sports talk shows.

For this, I am thankful. There are clearly those in leadership positions in all walks of life who really must make decisions which will be evaluated and second-guessed.

And in the next day, Stars General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk is one of them.

I want to be clear: There are actually people making decisions (world leaders) who will likely impact more lives with their decisions, but the decision that faces Nieuwendyk before Monday, February 28th at 2pm Central time, is one that will impact my hockey consciousness quite a bit.

Now, there are mitigating circumstances here. Brad Richards, the subject of this decision has an expiring contract. Richards, in my opinion, is one of the very finest players in the NHL. Richards also holds a no-trade clause. And, last, but certainly not least, Richards has a concussion.

So, what do they do. Many of you have asked me what I would do. And, I wish it was a simple play.

I would extend Brad Richards' contract. I would have done it a long time ago. I believe the Stars have offered him options along those lines. But, if you are Richards, wouldn't you want to know who your bosses are before you pledge allegiance to play the rest of your prime? Wouldn't you want to know that your bosses are committed to helping you win another Stanley Cup? Wouldn't you simply want to know that your new bosses are here to win and are going to be able to sign your checks for years to come?

I believe Brad Richards wants to play here. I also believe that he wants to play here assuming this team has a firm direction in place with ownership. His contract runs through June 30, 2011. Will there be a new owner here by then? It would be foolish to act like anyone knows. If not, you lose one of the best players in hockey for nothing.

That would be very bad. You don't want to lose something for nothing. You don't want to take your team's shiniest resource and lose him in the summer without any parting gifts.

So, do you take one of the best players in your sport and trade him now? A few years ago, the Texas Rangers pretty much received the supplies for their future based largely on the trade for Mark Teixeira. At the time, there was a legion of people who were very unimpressed that one of the best players in the sport was sent away for a collection of kids who had never accomplished anything in the big leagues. Sure, they might be players some day, but Teixeira is a player now! And who has ever heard of Elvis Andrus or Neftali Feliz anyway? Those people who said things like that have changed their tune.

A real difference is that the Rangers were not going to the post season in 2007. They knew their direction and the present tense had nothing to do with it. But, the Stars have a present tense that could include being a playoff team for the first time in 3 seasons. Not a horrendous drought, but the bodies in the seats at the American Airlines Center suggest that some good news for the franchise could encourage people to return back to the arena.

This season, the team has played some very nice hockey for large portions of the year. If adding Brad Richards would change the fortunes in New York or Los Angeles, wouldn't adding Richards also catapult the Stars to new heights? Watching Alex Gogligoski and Richards man the puck on the power play seems like a most delicious scenario that I would sure like to see.

But, to see it, Joe must risk losing Brad for nothing this summer. Ugh.

Your options: Get something for Brad now. But, because of that concussion thing, the offers may be less than if Richards was on a 15-game point streak in full health. Or, keep the band together which may scratch that itch for the next few weeks, but as we know - in sports - there are no guarantees. Richards could return and help you go deep in the playoffs. Or, he could return and you miss the postseason altogether. Either way, teams will break the bank to get him in July. Teams where he will not be the savior- just the final piece of a puzzle.

Door #3 would be that extremely rich man with a never ending thirst for Stanley Cups that wants to make the Stars a Cup contender immediately and wants to keep Brad in town through 2017 buying the team before the summer and we all live happily ever after and use July 1st to finish out the roster and bump our heads on the salary cap again like the good ol' days.

If Joe asked me what to do, the first thing I would ask him is why he would ever ask me what to do. But, the second thing would be to tell him to swing for the fences. If a GM is making him an offer that he cannot refuse, then he knows that he has to do what he has to do. Hit a home run or don't swing.

But, all things being equal, I assume that the offers will not be aggressive because of the health issues. I assume that Joe will arrive at the conclusion that sometimes you have to worry about today because tomorrow has too many unknown components right now. Get #91 back out here and let's see what this team can do for this stretch run.

And if you know any really rich guys, tell them we have about 120 days to get these other issues sorted.

As for Nieuwendyk: No pressure, Joe. But, every GM has a few moves that decide his legacy and his overall approval rating. I would imagine that odds are excellent that this will be one of them. Let's hope he gets it right for the sake of all of us who want this team to do well.

Decisions far more important than toilet seats, no?

BaD Radio - Recap - 2/24/11

Thursday 2/24/11

Episode: 2879

Location: Studio

The Mix: “You ever played the Fart Trumpet?” – Bob “Noooooo.” – Norm

The Open: “Lookin' to get back up on that pogo stick.” Happy Flag Day in Mexico, Hermanos. With the Homer Bowl 11 today, Bob needs to brush up on his Homer Bowl trick (similar to his Super Bowl trick). There need to be a DVR that automatically records car chases, no hitters and goalie fights as they happen.

12:35 – NBA Trade Deadline: In Bob’s perfect world, Dan has to anchor around-the-clock coverage of the NBA Trade Deadline. At one point a few years ago, it seemed like Baron Davis was one of the better players in the league when they beat Dallas in the first round of the playoffs. The Bee-Beard can be deceiving. Now he joins the Cleveland Cavaliers after being traded from the Clippers; his last great play in a Clippers uniform was throwing a pass out of the sunroof of a Kia as Blake Griffin jumped over the hood and dunked it. The Mavs are being linked to J.R. Smith and Tayshaun Prince this morning. It’s doubtful that anything will materialize between the Mavs and those players; but like every year, the Mavs are always in trade discussions.

12:55 – Homer Bowl: The time is upon us when possibly unknown sports broadcasters will have their name immortalized in the record books.

3^rd Place – Boston High School Football: “NUTS AND BOLTS, WE GOT SCREWED!” The 3 Minute Mark.

2^nd Place – Arkansas High School Football: “AND THER’ AINT NO FLAG!”

1^st Place – Florida Atlantic announcer Dave LaMont: “And I’ll fight anyone of you if you want to.” Good luck getting this guy on the air.

1:30 – Jesse Holley: The Dallas Morning News has petitioned Bob to write up a breakdown of every Cowboy on the 53-man roster. His latest entry was reality star turned special teams contributor Jesse Holley, check out the write-up here.

2:00 – Tom’s Oscar Opinion: In a wheels off moment, Tom said that Inception won’t win Best Picture because it already won with Dances with Wolves. Listen to that here. Then in Why Today Doesn’t Suck, Grubes makes a funny.

2:20 – Brad Richards: How does Brad Richards affect the Dallas Stars at Monday’s trade deadline? A few months ago, it was a safe bet that Brad was going to re-sign with the Stars before he hits free agency at the end of the year. The lack of ownership will limit what the Stars will be able to offer; while it could be market value, it won’t be anywhere near what some of the big boys can offer. It will be his last run at free agency and he’ll be the top free agent on the market; all these signs point to him going elsewhere at the end of the season. That brings trades into the picture. Dallas will be looking for a deal – similar to what the Texas Rangers did with Teixeira – in which they get a lot of young talent and build for the future. A likely dance partner in a trade would be the NY Rangers, but they’re also the team likely to spend a lot of money on him at the end of the year via free agency. It depends on how much the NY Rangers think Richards can help them in a championship run over the next 2 months.

2:40 – Evan Grant: Reporting from Surprise, AZ, Evan Grant reports on the Rangers first intra-squad game. Mike Napoli grounded into a double-play on a 3-0 count. The trade is a bust… Evan’s lineup guess: Kinsler, Andrus, Hamilton, Beltre, Cruz, Young, Moreland, Torrealba, Borbon.

3:00 – WTDS: On this day in 1982, Wayne Gretzky scored his 77^th goal of the season, breaking the record for most goals in a single season. He ended up with 92. Happy Birthday to Terry Bowden, Vince Ferragamo, Mike Fratello, Jeff Garcia, Floyd Mayweather, Eddie Murray, My Daughter went Black and Never Came Back, Kristen Davis, Steve Jobs, Philip Knight, Edward James Olmos, Abe Vagoda and George Thorogood. Spares include Tom Burleson, Nick Esasky and Paul Gruber. They didn’t get to the RIP’s but Mitch Hedberd was born on this day and is now dead. Genius.

Listen to BaD Radio everyday from 12 – 3pm on Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket. I do, and I has opulence.

Wes Bullard